The long and winding road to fitness, day 197

Another pretty good day today.   Getting my exercise in and eating healthier, still not perfect, but much better than it has been.  I’ve noticed I’m sleeping better.  Of course, not having to go to work may have something to do with that.

I got my cardio in on the exercise bike today.  I’m trying to alternate walking and biking in the hope that I’ll be able to avoid hip and/or knee pain.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it works.  I did core exercises today too.  So far I’m not experiencing a lot of muscle soreness, very mild.  Not sure if that means I’m not working hard enough, not doing enough, or that I didn’t totally lose the fitness I’d worked so hard for.

I pulled the crock pot out today and made a pot of chicken chili with quinoa instead of pasta.  One of my friends (thanks, Chris) mentioned that they had tried that in an effort to make the chili a little healthier, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.  Not bad, not great…but it was okay.  I may play around with the recipe and see if I can improve on it.  The quinoa did make it thicker and I think you could either reduce the amount of meat in the chili or do away with it altogether.

I’m definitely going to make this again, I just think I want to figure out how to make it better…then you can bet I’ll post a recipe with all kinds of pictures.

I was out running some errands today around lunch time.  I have to admit, I did consider stopping at one of the multitude of fast food joints I drove past…but I didn’t!  Instead I drove home where I had tilapia and half a sweet potato for lunch.  A tiny step in the right direction…making it just a little further down that winding, bumpy road to fitness.

The long and winding road to fitness, day 83

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Okay, I must admit, I’m writing this long before the day has ended.  I found out yesterday afternoon, late in the work day actually, that my schedule was going to change for today and that I was going to have to close tonight.  With all of my sleep woes, I knew I would need to at least attempt to get some sleep tonight and getting home late from work kind of makes that super difficult.  I didn’t want to have to stay up even later trying to write a blog post…a post that probably wouldn’t even make much sense what with me being tired and sleepy. 

So…I’ve already biked and walked this morning…did core strength training.  I’m sure I’ll be extremely active at work today too.  That’s the easy part of my day to report on…the exercise.  The eating?  Well, I ate my usual healthy breakfast, took my vitamins.  I have to figure out what to take for my dinner tonight.  Lunch will be some flaxseed crackers with Laughing Cow cheese and a low-sodium V8…not the best lunch in the world, but not terrible either.  Dinner, I still don’t know…I’ll have to figure something out soon though.  I know I do have some chicken veggie burgers at work, so that’s a possibility along with  a spinach salad and a piece of fruit.  Hmm…that sounds pretty good…quick and easy too!  That’s it…not enough veggies, but still decent.

How do you deal with unexpected changes to your daily schedule?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 81

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Wow..this was a long day.  We went in to work at 5 am to try to get some work done before it got too busy.  Oh, did I mention, this was my day off?  But I told my boss I’d come in for a few hours.  I had to cancel my hair appointment that I had scheduled for 10 this morning, but I was able to do some of the things I needed to do this afternoon.  I left work at around 11:30, so it still felt like I had the day off…well, except for that getting up in the middle of the night thing…  I was able to finish what I went in to do though, so one task complete, a million more to go…

I managed to eat pretty well today and walked, biked, did lower body strength training and stretching.  I stopped at the grocery store after I finished everything else and picked up some healthy food…spinach, peaches, sweet potatoes, cottage cheese (I think I’m on a cottage cheese kick right now), skim milk, whole wheat bagel thins, popcorn, turkey chili (with the cooler temps, I thought chili sounded good) and some Crystal Light raspberry green tea on the go things…little individual packets that you mix with water…pretty good.  I thought that would be a good alternative to diet Pepsi or other drinks at work.

I couldn’t believe it, today it only got up to about 64 degrees after nearly 100 on Saturday…crazy!  One thing about colder weather, I like making soup.  I make a pretty good vegetable soup in the crock pot…oh, and a minestrone that is delish.  Something to think about in the next few days.

Do you change how you eat when fall arrives?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 79

Image by Bob Jagendorf via Flickr

This was a good day as far as exercise and eating goes, everything concerned with work?  Well, that’s another story.  It was crazy busy today and that kept me from accomplishing much of anything and we have so much we need to get done.  Just take a deep breath, it’ll happen.  Just not today.

For exercise, I walked and did lower body strength training this morning before work.  Then I rode the exercise bike this evening.  I was never so thrilled as I was when the timer went off tonight…okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but you know what I’m saying.  That’s why I like to work out before work, because I’m always just so darn tired after work.  But I did it…good for me~

I ate exactly what I’d planned, nothing from the vending machine.  I have to admit, one time I walked back into the break room and would have bought something from the vending machine but I didn’t have any ones in my pocket.  That’s one way to avoid buying that stuff, just don’t keep any money on you.  So I just sat down and talked for a few minutes.  That was just as good as chocolate…hahaha!!!

The temps here have finally cooled down.  I actually wore a jacket to work this morning.  And needed it.  I think it’ll be down in the 50s every night this week and just in the 70s during the day.  I love this!

Well, tonight it’s going to be early to bed for me.  We have a truck tomorrow and I need some sleep.  I hope you all are having pleasant weather as well as pleasant dreams!

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 78

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This was such a pleasant day today.  I woke up to a light rain, something we really need.  I went downstairs, got the newspaper, fed the cats, made breakfast for myself, then took my breakfast and the newspaper upstairs and sat in bed, propped up with my pillows,  eating breakfast while reading the paper.  Ahh…how peaceful and relaxing. 

I was inspired by last night’s episode of a hoarders show to clean house.  I completely cleaned the bedroom..it looks so nice.  Who knows? It may enable me to sleep a little better tonight.  I vacuumed and dusted, cleaned the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen.  I really enjoy coming home from work to a nice, clean house.  Now if I open that front door tomorrow evening and that little monster Spooky has messed up the house, I’m going to be so mad…oh probably not really.  She does have a tendency to drag her toys out of her toy dish (someone once gave me a huge cat dish, a dish that is much too large for a cat to eat from.)  It’s so cute that I decided to use it to keep her toys in.  A toy dish instead of a toy box.  Poor little kitty, she’s so mistreated.

I had a good day of exercising…biking, walking, strength training and stretching.  My eating was just okay.  I, once again, should have eaten more veggies.  I’m working on it though.  I have my menu planned for the week and my goal is to fit in a few more veggies than I’ve been eating.  Veggie burgers and either cole slaw or a large salad at work, spinach in my smoothies, a low sodium V8 in the afternoon.  That would be better than what I’ve been doing.  I really admire these folks who manage to eat 8 or 9 servings of veggies each day.  Not sure how I could manage that…guess I’ll just have to work my way up to it.

 

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 21

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That’s right, 21 days…3 weeks…I haven’t been perfect during this time, but I’m putting forth the effort.  I’ve exercised every day, not always for a lot of minutes, but something each day.  I’ve been eating better almost every day, a lot more veggies, a lot less junk.  I’ve consistently tracked my nutritional intake each day and have been able to notice the improvements I’m making.  It’s hard to believe that it’s already been three weeks.  I’m feeling better after only three weeks, just think how much better I’ll feel after the next three weeks are over.

Today I ate about 1650 calories and rode the bike for 15 minutes before work, walked twice, once for only 10 minutes, the other time for 40 minutes, and I did some core exercises, only 5 exercises, 2 sets of each today.  I also got in a lot of walking at work (as usual) and actually managed to get a few things done.

I’m wondering, when (if) you’ve been on a health and fitness kick, what’s the longest you’ve managed to keep it up?  I’ve actually been able to be steady for over a year (with a few minor slip-ups).  Now I’m aiming to make it permanent…the health and fitness thing, not the slip-up.

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 10

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Day 10?!  High five to me!!  Ten days of exercising, eating more good-for-me foods, and focusing on living a healthier life!  I really can tell a difference after only ten days and I know it’ll just keep getting better as I continue along on my journey.  I’m so excited about how much better I feel and how much happier I am!

I went in to get my hair cut today (just a trim, my hair grows so fast that I have to get it cut once a month to keep it looking decent), then I walked down the B-line trail (a railway converted to a walking/biking path) to do a little grocery shopping at Kroger.  I’d intended to take a picture of all that I bought, but I didn’t think of it until I had everything put away…and I wasn’t about to pull it all out again!!  I bought grape tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, watermelon, bananas, diet Pepsi (I swear, I am going to give it up eventually), PopChips (which I immediately divided up into individual serving bags…lesson learned from previous experiences with the PopChips), baked tortilla chips, dried pineapple (I use this in my homemade trail mix…mostly dried cereal with some dried fruit and maybe some nuts), black beans, Truvia, popcorn, skim milk, string cheese, Greek yogurt, Babybel cheese, natural peanut butter, whole wheat bagel thins, oj, fish and, as a reward for sticking with it, another book (I’m a voracious reader, always have been).  So a pretty good trip as far as buying healthy goes…spent more than my $50/week goal though…oh well, if I can feel this good, it’s worth a little extra expense, right?

I prepared my version of the summer salad that someone brought to me at work yesterday…tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, peppers, mushrooms and, of course, my Hendrickson’s sweet vinegar and olive oil dressing (I bet you guys think I get paid to mention that product, but I don’t.  I just seriously love it!).  Holy moly, this stuff is the best…and I’m sure it’ll be even better when I can get just picked tomatoes and cucumbers…yum!

Today, I ate 1680 calories, did 15 minutes on the exercise bike, walked for 20 minutes, did upper body strength training, 10 exercises, 2 sets of each, and about 10 minutes of stretching.  I also spent some time outside pulling weeds and watering plants…oh, we had just the nicest day here in Indiana…low humidity, temps in the lower 80s with a nice breeze…gorgeous!  I was so lucky to have today off work.

This is how I feel today…I sincerely hope you do too!!

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