Bringing the Fun

For Valentine's Day my sweet hubby bought me an ipod. This is the first ipod I've ever had. My children have ipods but we've not really had the "extra" for me to have one. Seems like there is always something taking precedence.

Very rarely do we get to give each other a "big" present so this was a huge surprise. And I LOVE IT!! Especially when walking on the tread mill....what a difference. Walking or jogging to music sure makes it more fun. The one I have can pick up radio stations and I really like to exercise to the "oldies" cause the beat is usually fast paced and makes me want to move.

Now if I can just remember not to sing out loud when using it....

Measuring Activity is an Eye Opener

So last week I bought a pedometer. Weight Watchers encourages us to have a goal to walk 10,000 steps a day. [the above picture is not their most current pedometer, it's the only one I could find to post.]

Oh my! I am woefully lacking. After wearing the pedometer for close to a week I have found that I barely get 5,000 steps in a day just in my normal daily routine.

We went out shopping for most of the day on Tuesday and even with all the walking around the stores I still came up short on the 10,000 mark.

It's interesting how we think we, um...I mean, how I think I am getting in a lot of activity until I have something that measures that activity. What a shockeroo!!!!

There have been maybe 3 days where I made it to at least 8,000 steps...and I felt like all I did was walk...lol!!!

My hubby showed me a website about walking 10,000 steps a day and I was encouraged to see that they tell you to work up in increments. thewalkingsite.com/10000steps

"A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day."

I'm glad to read this because after seeing how few steps I actually get I don't feel so overwhelmed trying to get in 10,000. I'll just do my best at getting as many steps a day as I can and keep increasing them each week until I reach the goal of at least 10,000 steps a day. It may take a while but that's ok because I believe increasing them in small increments will help me to make this into a lifestyle.

And making it into a lifestyle is doable and worth the time and effort, especially doing it a little at a time. I figure it's like wanting to run a marathon. If you aren't a runner you can't expect to enter a marathon and be able to run it without training and building up your endurance. This is no different.

It may seem silly to some that I am in essence training myself to walk 10,000 steps but I know that in the big picture of my life and my health it will be well worth it. And hopefully my example will also challenge my family to do the same.

Activity Points in the Snow

Time sure does pass by quickly sometimes....like this last week.

Just to catch up...I lost -1.6 pounds the week before this last one and then this last week I ended up gaining +.8 of a pound. Not sure what happened as I've stayed within my points and even got in some good exercising since we had an incredible snowfall and I couldn't resist taking my kiddo's out sledding, two days in a row.

Let's just say that sledding down a hill is lots of fun...but walking back up, now that can be challenging. Especially when one is wearing old shoes with very little tread....I had to wedge my feet in sideways so I wouldn't slip and fall. Actually, I did slip and fall a few times but thankfully I didn't hurt anything or anybody...lol!!


Here is an idea of the size of the hill we sled on the second day. We parked in the hospital parking lot and walked across the highway [over a bridge] to sled down the steepest hill we could find. Where I live in Texas there are not a lot of steep hills. It was fun and lots of semi's would honk their horns at us.


This next picture shows my daughter and one of her friends sliding down on a real sled. Since it doesn't snow much here no one really has sleds but since our friends have gone to Colorado in the winter they just happened to have some awesome sleds that they shared with us. On the above picture if you notice....we used some laminated wall maps as our sleds....yep...laminated wall maps...lol!!!
And when you couldn't control the sled...this is usually what happened. I too had a few spills like this one but thankfully no one was taking any pictures of me.




Let's just say that we were very wet and cold when we finished our sledding. But it was totally worth it. Lots of good memories made this day. And a super fun way to earn activity points.

Say What!!

So tonight my 18 year old son informs me that I was the topic of conversation when he was getting his teeth done, Or rather my weight loss was. Of course I am looking at him like he is crazy cause I haven't been to his orthodontist in over a year and wondering how they would know about my weight loss.

He then reminds me it was when he went to the dentist the other day. I smiled and told him that we were talking about it when I was at the dentist a few weeks ago getting my teeth cleaned. Now that I've lost close to 60 pounds I guess it's becoming more noticeable to others.

He replies...."I just can't look at you...I can [only] tell when I see some old pictures." Say What!!!

Talking to him later he was trying to explain how he doesn't notice "subtle" changes.... I think the boy needs to stop while he's not that far in the hole. :-)

Actually I totally understand what he is saying but I just had to give him a hard time. I have a grand baby living with us; she has been since she was first born. Looking at her now, I know she is bigger than when I first saw her...but how much bigger isn't apparent until I look at her in a new born picture.

But as for losing weight and being noticed....it's nice that people are finally starting to notice. And even if my son can't tell how much I've lost...he can at least tell that I've lost.

It's a Journey NOT a Race

We've all heard the saying..."never go shopping when you are hungry", and yet how many of us actually follow that advice? Apparently not me!

Yesterday I ran some errands with the hubby. On our way home we needed to stop at the store to pick up a few items for dinner. As we were entering the store I mentioned how hungry I was and that this probably wasn't a good time to be shopping. But I resolved that I would not give in to my hunger.

Of course we get to one end of the store and I realize we need something from the other end, of which we had just been. So, crossing the front of the store I mention to my hubby that I will have to buy a bag of pretzels to snack on since I was so hungry I was starting to have some low blood sugar symptoms.

His response was, in my own words since I can't remember the exact way he said it was..."it would have been a Cadbury [candy] but now it's pretzels."

Yep, in the past I would have bought a candy bar to appease my hunger. And honestly, I can't remember the last time I've bought a candy bar for myself.

This is the difference between a race and a journey. I am not in a race to lose the weight, however, I am on a journey to change. I believe that even when I get the weight off, I will still not be buying myself a candy bar for a snack. Now, this doesn't mean I will never by a candy bar but rather it won't be the first thing I think of when needing a bit of food in my body.

It's these kinds of changes....the ones that aren't that obvious to me...but yet something that even my husband notices...that stop me in my tracks and make me realize...I am not the same kind of eater I was...and it gives me hope....that I'll not be that kind of eater again.