30 Day Challenge

OK. so I started a 30 day challenge today.  The challenge is to walk 30+ minutes a day.  Now I've been wearing a step tracker for several months now, and regularly get 10k+ steps a day.  The problem is they're not strung together, because the best "bang for your buck" when it comes to walking is to do it non-stop for at least 10 minutes.  My goal is 30 minutes a day.  Every day.

After I had lunch, I thought "why not give it a try by walking my BigBox store?"  Well.  Two problems arose.  Shoppers thought I was an employee, and on the clock.  Since I wasn't, I didn't want to interrupt  my exercise time for work time.  I can see how this isn't going to work out as a normal plan.  Too many customers want some assistance ......   So I suppose if I want to get in some lunch time walks, I'll have to head over to the gym's treadmill.  So much for best laid plans.

After work, it was off to the gym where I got 22 minutes on the elliptical, then did some stretching.  I was going to do some weight resistance, but after my fall last week, I didn't want to push my already sore spots to the limit on the first day.

Today's total:
  12 minute walk
  22 minute walk
  22 minutes elliptical
for a grand total of 11,184 steps.

An OK start to this 30 day challenge!

Set a Goal

I was up early this Monday morning - I couldn't sleep past 2:30am last night, wondering what kind of a mess I would walk into a work.  That always happens on a Sunday night, it's just how I am.  But after working a few hours on Saturday, I need to slice a bit of time off every other day this week, so I left about 1pm and headed for the gym.

I got 30 minutes on the elliptical, 16 minutes on the treadmill, and managed to log 11,584 steps today!   My old trainer, Russell, was there.  We talked and caught up a bit -- and he asked a question that for me was easy to answer at first.  "What's your current goal?"   I had to laugh, because my only goal for the week is to get to the gym every day.   That's enough of a goal for now.

Or is it?

On my way home, I had more time to think.  It's important to have goals, and while I came to the conclusion that my goal for the time being is about as much as I can handle, it's not enough of a goal to keep me motivated.  I am a numbers gal, so I realized that I needed to set some numbers in place for me to achieve.

Goal 1.  Elliptical - 2 miles in 30 minutes
Goal 2.  Treadmill - 1 mile in 15 minutes

So with that said, today's achievements:

Elliptical 30 minutes, 1.95 miles
Treadmill 16 minutes, 1.0 mile

So there's room for some growth,
small enough goals that they're
achievable by the end of this week
if I work hard at this.

No weight loss in 7 days, but that's ok--
there wasn't a gain!
If you're measuring success in small increments,
that'll work for me :)
*pat on the back*
258#

October Resolve

Weight loss is not just a matter of "diet" ... which is the worst 4letter word I know!   But I've come to realize that weight loss is a state of mind.  If you're not in the mind game, nothing else will change.  I wasn't able to keep my mind on it, to keep focused, and now I'm left to wondering why I have allowed myself to wander from the line I set for myself.


Now the question is:  How do I get myself back there, get my resolve going again?

I was saying one week at time
then it was one day at a time
but I'm finding that I can't hold my resolve for a whole day.

So the new thing is one hour at a time.
Just one hour.
I can do this.

Having good choices on hand will help too.
I bought HoneyCrisp apples for this week.
and I haven't had a bad week... until today.
cheeseburgers for lunch (ba daa bop ba pa... i'm lovin it)
and then a taco salad for dinner.

Its October.
And my one goal is 10+ fitness minutes a day.
day 2 and I'm on track.

Let's have a great month!

Day 4

It was S.H.I.T day == So Happy Its Thursday!  hehehehe  I survived another day, even though not enough got done.  Only 6 more days to go.  When I think of it like that, my head hurts!  But I plod along, doing as much as I can .....

There was a celebration of sorts and my BigBox store provided lunch to celebrate 4th quarter earnings - there were sub sandwiches, chips, soda and cake.  Nothing real fancy, but I was diligent and stuck with my salad.  I had packed an extra protein bar in case the urge to indulge hit me, but I survived!  Sometimes its those little battles that are harder to fight than bigger issues! 

I'm gonna give myself a big pat on the back, I was checking numbers and stats and found that yesterday's weigh in was the mark of 35 pounds lost in the past year.  Yay!  When I realized that I'd reached a number I hadn't seen in ... ohhhh.... a long while... I remembered some custom sized toe rings I got when I still lived in California.  I slid them on my toes, and Taaa Daaaa!  they fit!  Who knew toes got chubby too???  *laughs*

Can't wait for sandal season to get here, and I can show them off :)

Here is today's quote from SparkPeople (where I do all my tracking)

And I think its important for us to remember.  So many of us gripe and want changes, but are unwilling to do those things that will create change.  It truly doesn't take much, its the little things that grow into bigger things that create change.  When I started at the gym, it was only 3 days a week; I could only walk for 20 mins on the treadmill and I was thrilled to be able to do one mile.  Now, two miles is the norm, but on days when I have a little extra time, my goal is 60 mins, or 3 miles, whichever comes first.  And my pace has increased, nothing less than 3.8 mph.  It took a while to build up, but just a little bit added up to bigger things.  The same can happen in our lives in other ways.  Maybe your goal is to be happier at work (yeah, I know, some things don't seem possible!! hahah)  but happiness is an attitude as much as anything else.  Sometimes all you have to do is smile.  It catches on and people smile back.  Pretty soon, people are smiling instead of being grumpies -- its the little things.  Got a project  that will take a lot of time?  Break it down into bite sized pieces, and do a little bit.  Pretty soon-- you're halfway there! 

Change isn't easy, but it's worth it!

10 teaspoons

I listened to an interesting woman who was talking about heart health and how it relates to what we eat.  Our food choices these days are quite different from how we used to eat 50 years ago.  So much more of our foods are processed and/or prepared by corporations and not in our own kitchens.  And in my own quest and struggles with weight loss, I like information, all kinds of information, so that I can make informed choices. 

Her recommendation?  Limit sugar intake to 10 teaspoons per day. 

If you're like me, you read labels.  You know there is added sugar in every food we eat.  But the problem is that sugar content isn't listed in teaspoons on the label.  Plus, carbs convert to sugar in the body as well.  So how do you calculate those 10 teaspoons?  You can take the number of carbs in grams, subtract the fiber grams, and divide by 5. 

Lets take a slice of 12 grain bread.  19 carbs.  3 grams of fiber.   (19-3)/5 = 16/5 = 3 teaspoons.
and that's just one slice of bread!  And most of us eat two slices of bread for a sandwich, or with breakfast.  Hmm, this might be more difficult that we imagine!!!

With two slices of toast for breakfast here, I've reached more than half my limit for today....  lots of meat and veggies the rest of the day for me!  

I'm going to attempt this to jump start my week and see if I can get some momentum going in my weight loss journey.   If it works well, I'll keep you posted!!