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I’ve had many so called medical experts tell me that I shouldn’t try running because it’s to high impact. I understand where they are coming from but I have to do something to burn calories and low impact only works so well. I’m going to give running yet another try but I have a different plan this time. I’m not going to follow a C25k plan really, I’m going to start with walk/jogging. There are trails near my new apartment so I am going to work on milestone distances. My plan is to start out walking, jog until I can’t job any more, and then walk until I can jog again. I’m going to do this for specific distances until I find that I can jog more than walk. Once I’m ready, I’ll extend the distance and just keep going and not stop.
Intermixed with this will be bike riding, swimming, elliptical work, and weight training. I need to get active again, no mater what it takes.
From now on I will never give me up and I will never let me down. After everything that went off track the last year or so, it’s time to get back to getting the job done. Here are my goals:
- Read and work through the “Food and Feelings Workbook”
- Exercise – I’m going to use a mix of fit deck cards, swimming, elliptical, weights and walking/biking outside. I moved into an apartment complex that has both and indoor and outdoor pool as well as a small fitness room with an elliptical and a weight machine. I also live really close to a park with a walking trail and right by two bike trails. No excuses. I have plenty of at home work out stuff I can do too.
- Eat whole foods and cook more. I’m going back to my focus on whole foods and eating more vegetables and watching my overall intake. No more sweets and soda, it’s not good for me and I don’t need it.
- Blogging more. Blogging keeps me motivated and I need to get back to it.
- Weighing weekly. I need to get back to knowing what my weight is and keeping track so I know when I’m going in the wrong directions and need to make adjustments.
Some friends and I have started a small group trying to lose weight during the holiday season, the time when a lot of people might gain. We had our first weigh-ins this week and are going to support each other. I’m going to revive this poor blog as a way to track my progress and get back into the habit of living healthy. I was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia but I want to move on from that and not let if hold me down. I did start a new blog about that though: Hello Fibro
My starting weight is now at 343 pounds, I’ve gained quite a bit back in the last year or so but it’s time to move forward. This is my new beginning.
I read somewhere about how everything in life is just a series of choices. Each choice that we make either furthers us on towards our goals or sends us off on the wrong path. These decisions are neither right nor wrong, they are just different. I have been making choices that take me down the wrong path for too long and it’s time to turn around. I want to keep going on this journey and the only way to do that is to solid my resolve and make the decisions that best support the outcomes that I want.
I tried to do the 2 week goal plan, and I still think it’s a great idea, only I’m not so great at setting proper goals. I need to take some time to focus on what I really want to be doing and then make goals that lead me in that direction.
One of my current goals, however, is to start keeping this website updated. I need to be accountable to something. From now on I’m going to consider the decisions that I make and hope I start making the ones that take me in the direction I want to go.
My time schedule is finally evening out but it leaves little flex time and even less time to get to a gym. I’m debating just suspending my gym account and doing workouts at home. I’ve added volunteering two afternoons a week to my already full schedule so that doesn’t help. My issue with the gym is that it adds at least 30 minutes to my workout time just in getting there and home again. I have not made a decision on this yet though.
A sample day for me, a Tuesday:
5:30 – 6:30 AM : get ready for work, feed animals
7:00 AM – 3:30 PM : work, lunch
4:00 PM – 6:30 PM : volunteer
7:00 PM – 9:30 PM : study, take exams, homework, feed animals, eat dinner
10:00 PM – 5:30 AM : sleep (I rarely get to sleep this early though)
For various reasons I have not been focused on living my life to the fullest and I have slipped back a bit into my old habits. This is just something that happens and all I can do now is move forward.
In order to move forward I’ve decided to take things a little bit slower and make changes using a 2-week goal setting plan. The way this works is I set a goal I want to achieve in a two-week period and then add a new goal for the next two-week period. Most of these goals will be things that will stay ongoing even after the 2 week period is up. I plan to blog about my goals so I have more motivation to stick to them.
Also, I needed to come up with a reward to motivate myself to keep going – so, at this point, every time I meet a two-week goal period I’m going to buy a new pair of fancy socks.
Week 1-2: Oct 3-16
Goal: Work out at least 4x a week for at least 30 minutes (go to the gym whenever possible)
Plan: I have created appointments on my calendar to go to the gym after work on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. I also kept Saturday mornings open so I could go out biking, walking or other activities. I decided to make the goal working out vs. going to the gym because I can still work out at home if I get a schedule crunch that leaves no time to get to the gym.
Angela’s Theory of Getting Stuff Done
Step 1: Decide to do it
Step 2: Do it
Step 3: Finish or sustain it
So for example, I want to start running.
Step 1: Decide to start running
Step 2: Walk/Run
Step 3: Keep running
Or let’s say I want to eat healthy
Step 1: Decide to eat healthy
Step 2: Make gradual changes until I’m eating healthy
Step 3: Keep eating healthy
In the end, the important part is just doing the work that needs to be done and not worrying.
Stop whining and just do it!
Just a quick announcement: I purchased my own URL for the blog and it will be moving in the future, as soon as I find time to work with it. I am going to be starting http://www.helloangela.com to talk about all my fun life journey stuff. It should be great because I’ll have a lot more control over the content, layout and the likes. I’m in the middle of my first quarter of school and I’m moving so my time is a little crunched at the moment. I may have to wait until the quarter break to really get going. For those that are interested, I’m going back to school to become a medical assistant and I’m really excited about that!
I am calling this year, 2011, the year of the rockstar. I challenge you all to be your own rockstar and do all those things you know you should but sometimes don’t. Reach inside, find your inner awesome and create your own rockstar persona.
I’m starting new with a fresh outlook on things. I weighed in this morning, I’m tracking my food again and I have a couple of fitness plans ready and scheduled. I’ve been to the gym twice this week and I’ve worked out at home. I put all my workout plans on my calendar and stick to them like I would meetings or other appointments. This is a commitment I have made for my life and I’m sticking with it.
So with that in mind it’s time to announce that I am training to run a 5k, possibly at the end of March or early April, depending on which one we pick. I have a few friends joining in so that will keep me motivated.
I am also participating in the Live Healthy Nebraska challenge through work and am happy to have something to show my progress and a team to work with to stay motivated. I’m feeling a lot better than I have in months so it’s time to get back to living the life I want.
The last few years I decided that I was no longer going to set New Year’s resolution because I feel like I should be working on my life goals all the time and not just at the start of January only to give up. The new year is a good time to reflect on things so I have nothing against other people using resolutions, if they work.
I haven’t been as active as I have wanted because of a few factors but I’m moving forward and doing my best. I’m working on getting slowly back into the habit of going for walks and adding activity to my week. I’m going to try to go to the gym with a friend twice a week and then do things at home in between that time.
I picked up an awesome book, Anatomy of Exercise, and I’ve been doing a lot of those workouts. This book is nice because it highlights what muscles are being worked, what muscles are supporting and also gives you advice on form and what to avoid. It’s been a good read so far.
I’ve also started tracking my workouts on DailyMile and I’m really enjoying the community oriented parts of the site. If you join up be sure to add me as a friend!
Last week they had an event at work about wellness and one of the service offered was a free wellness check – I got the results back today:
Glucose – 83 mg/Dl – normal range: 70 – 105
Cholesterol – 132 mg/dL – normal < 200
Triglycerides – 66 mg/dL – normal < 150
HDL – 48 mg/dL – normal > 40
LDL (Direct) – 66 mg/dL – normal < 100
Looks pretty good to me!
Angela
