Changes

Changes come in many forms and this year I have made quite a few.

1.  Diet--thanks to My Fitness Pal app I now make healthier choices when eating.  By tracking my calories I have learned to eat better plus I've learned when you eat better you feel better.  I've also found I'm not doing the unnecessary snacking because my body is satisfied.

2. Fitness--I walk at least 10,000 steps a day and I miss my daily walk if I don't get it.  I feel sluggish, my stress and anxiety levels go up and I feel as though I'm letting myself down.  In the past I always tried to get some sort of exercise everyday but in the past 12 years I had become a couch potato and with the inactivity I gained too much weight, my knees, feet and back hurt daily.  Now the pains are gone and I also sleep better at night.

3. Weight loss--by adhering to my calorie and fitness tracking I am now almost back to my pre-Houston weight.  It has been relatively easy for the most part but not without some aggravation.  It did not happen overnight.  I've been on this journey since February.  I'm hoping to have the final 3 pounds off by the end of August.

4. Shoes--I'm now on my 3rd pair of shoes.  It's amazing how fast you go through shoes when you walk everyday.  I knew I needed new ones when my feet starting hurting after my walks and my little toe starting peeking through the side.

5.  NO more Dr. Pepper--this ties in with #1.  I used to drink a Dr. Pepper 1st thing in the morning.  Well it has 150 calories in 1 can.  I had to decide if I wanted to use calories on a soda pop or save them for something fun in the evening like a cup of ice cream.  I chose the latter.  I have not had a Dr. Pepper or soda pop of any kind since March.  Guess what....I don't miss them.

I hope I have officially passed the hump of making this a lifestyle change.  I can't imagine going back to my old ways.

Step update:

June 1-30

Steps:  356,222
Miles: 166.8

TOTAL-so far

Steps: 1,698,342
miles:  770.2
weight loss: 22.2 lbs.  (3 more to go!)

Second pair of retired shoes.  Notice the hole in the side.  Gotta love crooked toes.  

Wogging

I've reached a new phase in my fitness/wellness journey.  I am now "wogging".   Wogging the term I use for my morning walk/jog intervals.

Each morning I go for a 2.5 mile walk and had worked up to a fast pace walk.  After a few weeks I decided to challenge myself and see if I could jog a little between lamp posts.

I'm not going to kid myself, it was a hard thing to do but I worked up a very nice sweat and elevating my heart rate felt very productive.

Each week I tried to jog a little further by jogging 2 lamp posts and walking 1.  My pace was a 12 minute mile.  Not fast but enough to feel great.

I am now up to jogging about 1/2 of the 2.5 miles at a 10.5 minute mile pace.  I feel invigorated after these wogs.

I'm convinced the cause of my new obsession is the Jawbone UP bracelet.  Since it tracks my steps and pace I only have to challenge myself and hold myself accountable.

April 27- May 31

Steps taken: 481,378                    Distance traveled: 218.2 miles

Total since starting February 19

Total steps taken: 1,342,120           Total distance: 603.4 Miles
Total weight loss 19.4 lbs.

Might be time for a new pair of shoes.

Another Stamp In My Passport

Craig and I recently had a very relaxing trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The trip was a surprise to me.  I only found out about a week before we left town.  Craig wanted it to be a surprise for my birthday.

This trip we decided would be nothing but pure relaxation and that is what it was; tons of laying on the beach and just walking around town.

We stayed at what was basically a bed and breakfast call The Bungalows.  While it was not in a house it was small with a total of 16 rooms each with it's own hammock.   It was just a about a mile from the beach and a shorter walk to everything else.  So we took advantage of the close proximity of everything and just walked everywhere.

View from our room

Craig was in heaven

The breakfasts each morning were fantastic.  I wish the señoras who prepared the meals would come to my house and cook breakfast.

Each morning was a different fruit plate which was a variety of mango, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and kiwi.  We had fresh juices of watermelon, papaya and hibiscus.  The main breakfast dishes we were served were a vegetable omelet, apple pancakes with walnuts, banana pancakes with walnuts, Mexican style eggs benedict and cinnamon french toast with a cream cheese and walnut filling.

Fresh fruit and juice appetizers at breakfast

Needless to say we were glad we were walking every place.

We tried out a few of the street side cafes.  Our favorite was a little open air taqueria.  We walked by several times and it smelled delicious so we had to give it a try.  It tasted even better than it smelled!!!

Notice the roasting pork to the left

The fresh vegetable tray to add goodies to your taco

2 roasted pork tacos with grilled green onions on the side

The only 2 "adventures" we took were a zip-line and repel excursion and a sunset cruise of the Sea of Cortez and a short jaunt around the peninsula to the Pacific Ocean side.

The zip-lining was a blast.  We rode 9 different lines.  The longest being around 300 yards with a speed of approximately 35 miles per hour.  There was just 1 repel site at the half way point of the zip-line course.  It was a 180 foot cliff.  It was exciting and I handled it like a pro.  Several other women went to the edge, started crying and refused to even try.

Me getting fastened in

Here I go

Craig getting fastened in 

And he's off

Ready position for the 180' repel

Repelling down the wall

Craig in ready position

On his way down

The sunset cruise was beautiful.  We saw the famous arch, a pack of sea lions and a humpback whale spout.  The boat captain tried to catch up with the whale for a better look but he was gone in a flash.  At least we saw the spout and a little of the tale.

El Arco de Cabo San Lucas a.k.a The Arch of Cabo San Lucas

Sunset Cruise photo op

Sunset on the Sea of Cortez

The rest of the time we were just lounging beach side doing absolutely nothing.

Beach on Sea of Cortez

You don't swim on the Pacific side because of what you see here.

Can't wait to go back!!!!

Just Keep Walking

It has been a little over 2 months since I have started my journey of tracking my calories and counting my steps.  And what a journey it has been.

I am now so accustom to taking my walks I feel sluggish all day when I don't get one in in the morning.  Walking has truly helped my anxiety and stress levels.

I choose to walk with no headphones, music or even my phone.  As I said in a previous post this is my time; it is for me.  I find that if I'm listen to music or have my phone with me my mind just won't relax.  I enjoy listening to the sounds around me.

To mix things up a bit when I take my usual path I will jog between every other street lamp.  It's not a lot of jogging and to be honest these old knees won't hold up to a long jog but with the small amount of running it kicks my heart rate up and brings on a very nice sweat.  (I am my father's child...I love to sweat!)

Counting calories has become a part of my routine too.  I'm not annoying about it and don't look at my calorie counter when we are out with friends.  I'm pretty good a guesstimating which selections are the best.

All in all this has been an easy transition.

Between March 27 and April 26 I took 429,732 steps or walked 193.8 miles.

Since my journey began I have walked a total of 860,742 steps or walked 385.2 miles.  I have lost a total of 13 lbs..

So for now I'm going to JUST KEEP WALKING.

These Shoes Were Made For Walking

February 18 was the starting point for a somewhat change of lifestyle for me.  As I told you in my previous post I have decided I needed to do something for me.  While it could be considered a selfish act on my part in the long run it will benefit my whole family.

Research has shown there is a direct link between a person's cognitive functions and exercise along with nutrition.   There is an alarming rise in dementia as well as Alzheimer's.   It has been determined good nutrition, hydration and physical exercise can help to prevent the onset of these conditions.

So for me it was a "no brainer" ( no pun intended ) that now was a good time to get started with a daily program and lifestyle change.  To be quite honest I thought it would be harder to maintain it as a daily routine but I've found it to be quite the contrary.

Daily nutrition is logged using the Fitness Pal app on my phone.  It is to log my daily caloric intake.  It is super easy to look up different foods to help make choices.   My first day or two I had a mental thing going on thinking I would truly starve but to be honest after the first couple of days I found I was eating so much of the right kind of foods that I was full and had to make myself have a couple of snacks so I could get my needed calories for the day.

Breakfast has never really been my thing but I've been told over and over again how important breakfast really is.  Come to find out a person's metabolism slows down while sleeping and in order to "jump start" your metabolism, in the mornings a person should have something to eat within about 45 minutes of waking up especially if you are going to exercise in the mornings.  Otherwise your metabolism will slow even more because there is no energy source for the body to pull from.

Daily exercise is logged on my Jawbone Up band.  It logs each step I make.  My goal each day is 10,000 steps.

I've become very selfish with my walks.  Unless something extremely important overrides my walk I start every day with a moderate pace walk to jumpstart my day.  I try to leave my cell phone home so I have time to clear my head, relax and listen to the sounds of nature around me.  It's amazing how many different sounds you hear if you don't have you music playing or talking/texting on a phone.

Since starting my daily logging I have lost 7.5 lbs..  I'm very pleased with that number.  I do have a ways to go but slow and steady wins the race.

I retired my first pair of shoes on March 25.  I can't believe the amount of ground I've covered.  For the half  month of February, I took 85,199 step which translates to 37 miles and for March 1-25  I took....drum roll.....346,811 steps or walked 154.4 miles.  Grand total for so far is 7.5 lbs., 432,010 steps or 191.4 miles.  I honestly can't believe it!

I'm more committed with each step I take to keep going.  

I Am AcCOUNTable

Over the past few years anyone who knows me has been told how mad I am at myself for getting so out of shape and adding so many unneeded pounds.  I am holding myself acCOUNTable!

It's no ones fault that I sit idle for so many hours.  It's no ones fault I eat enough to fill a grown man twice my size.  It's my fault.  I am accountable.

I have grown tired of hearing myself say "I need to get these pounds off" and "What happened to my thighs".  I am acCOUNTable.

Time has come for a change!

First step:  Getting ahold of my daily diet routine

In order to get a realist idea of what I'm doing wrong I decided to chart my calorie intake.  The problem was I didn't want to have to carry a notepad to write it down then head to the computer to look up calories for individual foods, drinks and snacks.

I found an excellent smart phone app called My Fitness Pal.  You can find it in the app store on Droid and iPhone.   This app allows to you connect with friends to see their progress and offer encouragement.  No, you don't see their weight or other personal information unless a person chooses to make it public.  I of course did not and will not make that information public.   After entering your starting weight and your goal weight it will tell you how many calories you need to consume to maintain your metabolic rate and still lose weight.  It also has a fitness tracker which will adjust your calories with fitness to give you a net consumption for the day.

I was shocked at what I was consuming without realizing it.   Now I think about am I eating because I'm hungry or just bored.

Since starting my daily calorie counting, I have been surprised what I have learned about my eating habits.  Now because I'm aware of my consumption I am making healthier choices.   And believe it or not at the end of the day I'm usually scrambling to find something last minute to eat because I'm under my daily metabolic calorie count.

I am now acCOUNTable.


Second step:  Get moving

With each decade a persons metabolic rate slows down.  In order to keep that from happening a person needs to move.  I was under the impression that with all the movement I general make during the day since I'm a fidgeter I was probably not too bad off.  I have read many times in order to improve your health/metabolic rate a person needs to walk 10,000 steps a day.

No problem...I was sure I was doing that with all the up, down, in and out of my daily routine.   

WRONG!!!

I purchased a Jawbone UP band.  The UP band has an app on Iphone and iPad but not on Droid.  It tracks all steps taken during a 24 hour period.  All you do is plug it in to you phone or iPad to sync.

I found out I was only taking about 3000 steps a day with my daily routine.  I was shocked!!

Time to get moving.

Taking walks by myself was something I didn't like to do and made every excuse in the world to not do it.  Now it has become my own personal challenge to take those 10,000 steps a day.  After all I am acCOUNTable to myself AND this is for ME.

I have discovered if I take a 40 minute brisk walk I can add about 5000 steps to my 3000 daily count.   I want those 10,000 steps for ME.   I deserve 40 minutes of ME time.

The UP band has a "timer" which makes the band vibrate if you have been inactive for too long which reminds you to get up and move.  Plus it has a sleep mode you turn on as you go too bed to chart your sleep cycles.  If you don't get enough sleep you are hurting your metabolic rate too.

All in all, I think I'm on the right track and I'm having fun with it.  Both are now a part of my daily routine and I'm making slow progress.  It took me years to get where I'm at so I don't expect a quick fix.  Slow and steady will get me the changes I need and want.   This is for ME.

I am acCOUNTable.