Accountability

 Haven't written here, and I miss it.  For me, writing here is what helps hold me accountable.  And I was thinking about accountability lately.  We all need that something or someone to hold us accountable for things we can't seem to control.  Like alcoholics have AA and a sponsor, someone they can talk with when things aren't going well, or when they feel like they're going to slip back into some bad behavior.   

We all need a little help now and then to get through the difficult times.  Years ago, I smoked, but I was able to quit.  It's a funny thing for me, being able to give something up.  Maybe it was because I didn't really enjoy it, more of a social thing.  And drinking was never a problem for me either.  In my twenties, I drank often. But then in the 90s, I went for eight years without touching a drop.  It's an off and on thing for me.

My struggle -- ok, I have more than one struggle -- but the one that's the hardest for me is exercise and eating right.  Or maybe it's about finding the right combination of the two.  But losing weight has always been my struggle.  I have always been overweight, and at this stage in life, I'll always be overweight. But every pound lost is that less pressure on my body, and maybe that's the bigger point.

I've tried using this as a method to holding myself accountable.  I've hired trainers, done a few different weight loss groups like WW, and tried some of the apps that you have to enter data in and that's supposed to help you with accountability.   While they're sometimes successful, it's not a lasting success and I find myself starting all over again.  

I've used this as my accountability for my self challenge of walking in a park every day for 30 days.  That was my most successful challenge  I thought I could do it here with the treadmill, but a trip to see my mom interfered; and now there's work issues as well that keeps me from keeping my commitment.  I did manage 10 minutes before work and 13 minutes after work.  I guess that counts, but it wasn't my full intention.  I have lofty goals in my mind, but can't seem to get it in reality.

This week, I committed to Baked Oatmeal; I got a recipe and made myself six XL muffins.  So far, I've had one every day.  I also committed to eating avocado every day with my evening meal.  So far, so good.   Maybe this *new thing* will be what works.   I'm crossing my fingers!! 

Keeping It Going

I hopped on my treadmill again today and did my 15 minutes.  My calorie burn was a little bit higher, but I'm not sure my distance was more than last time.  I keep wishing my treadmill would show distance in two digits, not just one.  But we can't have everything we wish for! 

Keeping our bodies healthy isn't an easy task, and if you're one of the younger ones reading this, please know right now that it gets MUCH harder to keep fit when you're older.  So if you're thinking of making changes for better health, then don't wait.  Just my two cents! 

 

Self Challenge is Hard

Today, even though I didn't want to do it, I jumped on my treadmill and did my 15 minutes.  I increased my speed, so achieved 0.6 miles ... and my fitness score per my treadmill is 46.  Every little bit better is just that much better for me.  I struggled with the heart rate, my treadmill isn't always accurate, but my fitbit was acting up and not displaying the correct heart rate.  I cleaned the contacts, maybe that will help.  

 

Palm Frond Mess!

 My new challenge isn't going as well as I was hoping or planning on.  So I'm thinking I'm going to switch back to walks in the park and taking photos.  At least that's something that gives me a reason to get up and out of the house. 

I just couldn't get myself motivated today, and spent much of the day in my jammies.  I forced myself to dress and take care of the many palm fronds that fell down in the last storm.  You can see by the pic that they covered my yard - 34 fronds in all, 3 of them stuck in the tree.  I stuffed 16 of them into my garbage can, and the rest are on the side of the yard ready for the next week.

New Month, New Challenge

Because it's the first of a new year, and most people make resolutions, I've decided that I'll keep going with my personal challenge once  a month.  Since I know that I need to work on a few things, I tried to incorporate that into my challenge.  I'm challenging myself to do at least 15 minutes on the treadmill on the Fat Burn setting, which utilizes some incline.  

My goal will have several points to it.  First, I'm trying to reduce my cholesterol, which won't be tested until May.  My doc has given me that long to control it with diet and exercise.  This challenge will help.  Second, I'm trying to reduce my Resting Heart Rate via my FitBit.  I used to be in the low 60s, but it's increased over time, and was 71 twice last week.  Not so good.  Again, to doc wants me to keep my blood pressure in check, so this challenge will help with that too.   And thirdly, I'll count it as an added bonus if I lose a couple of pounds as well. 

In order to reach these goals, I know that I'll have to also make incremental changes on the treadmill settings by increasing speed, or a longer duration. 

I'm not sure I can complete this challenge with the goals I'm setting for myself, but I'm going to give it my best shot! 

Happy 2022!!

Two things usually cross our minds on New Year's Eve/Day :  What did we learn this year?  and what do we hope for in the new year?  I was thinking about these two things today.  What did I learn?  That I'm not as young as I used to be.  When I fell back in Feb, while it was my arm that was the immediate pain, other pains surfaced later, which tells me that my body doesn't recup itself like it used to when I was younger! Then when I was at Mom's during her breakdown in Oct, I realized that caring for an aging parent isn't very easy to do.  They were the adult, you were the child, and "you're never too old to do what your mother tells you."  But there's a tipping point and you have to be the adult because they're behaving like a child!   Which gave me insight into the next few years as well, and I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it.   And will apologize to my daughter now for what's to come in my future!!!  :/

I learned or maybe came to the conclusion that I'm ready to retire, mentally.  But monetarily I just gotta keep doing what I'm doing.  I learned that I have less patience with people in general, and even less patience with people who don't seem to have any common sense .. or is it brains?   I learned that while I'm doing a job that doesn't thrill me any longer, I can keep at it by having mental short term goals, taking it one day at a time.   I learned that I can still challenge myself to do something and stick with it.... when it's something that interests me.  lol  And I learned that what's important isn't *things*, it's people.

What do I hope to achieve in the upcoming year?  To do things that please me; to take care of my health and home; and maybe even to think up a few new self challenges.  Oh, and to take more pix and paint more rocks.  lol 

When it comes to taking care of our health, we naturally care more when given a bad or scary prognosis from our doctor.  What if we stepped up and starting doing things that are good for us now instead of waiting until there's a problem??  That's one thing I'm going to focus on, taking time to do the things that are good for me and my health.  We all need time to relax, and we all need to take the time to do something that's good for our body by exercising.  The question I'll be asking myself is this:  Is it more important to have a floor that's vacuumed or to take that 15 minutes and take a walk instead??  At my age when you're still working full time hours, there are only so many hours in a day.  Why should chores be more important than our health?  

So, here's to 2022! May it bring health and happiness to each of you! 

I'm sure once I figure out what my next challenge will be, I'll let you know! 

Bright blessings!