Life in Liz's Shoes

Mash-Up

2012-01-26T08:21:00.001-08:00

I've slacked a bit in posting so here's a bit of a mash up of everything:

• I went back to the gym on Tuesday. I think it's the first time I've gone in 2 months. I walked a 3.0 mph on the treadmill for 20 minutes. After 15 my foot was feeling it so I stretched really good afterwards.
• I am going to the gym again today to do another 20 min.
• I weighed in and I've gained 5 lbs. I'm up to 214. I'm ok with that as I know I'm getting back into the exercise groove ( although slowly) and it was over the holidays. I know it won't stay for long.
• I think I've finally beat the Tuesday temptations! Every Tuesday this month I've had the worst cravings for a chai latte. But as my goal for the month is to break my habit & replace chai with hot tea I haven't given in yet. And this Tuesday was the first I didn't even think about one and I was even having a bad day which usually makes me want one more :)

I think that's it for now. Have a great rest of your week.

Sometimes a Time-Out is a good thing

2012-01-22T18:37:00.000-08:00

I've been doing my stretches for plantar fascitis 3-5 times a day for the past few weeks - and I will be for the next several too. It's odd though because I have to take time out and basically stare at the wall while I stretch.

I can't see the tv or whatever else is going on or my stretch isn't stretching like it should. It's hard to hold a conversation when you can't look at the other person. The cat thinks I'm odd as she walks under me while I'm stretching.

I told hubs the other day that when I go and stretch it feels like I'm in time out. I just have to stand there and stare at the wall.

And when I'm at work I go into the stairwell to do my stretches because the only other place that really has room is the hallway but I feel like a dork so I go in the stairwell where I'm less likely to have anyone see me stretching.

It really is like a time out.

But that's kind of a good thing.

We all get really wrapped up in our lives and our jobs and everything and it gets hard to step back and take a few minutes for ourselves.

Because I have to take breaks and stretch - otherwise I my foot and ankle start aching and become a pain - I'm forcing myself to take little breaks throughout the day where it is just me and some quiet and some stretching.

It's amazing how much better I feel after stretching too. All over, my entire body, just feels more awake and more centered after I do a few minutes of quiet stretching.

I was talking to my co-worker about it the other day and she said that maybe that's why cats and dogs stretch their whole body when they first wake up - it centers them and puts them in a good mood to start their day.

I'm thinking maybe I should start stretching in the mornings to wake me up and put me in a good mood.

A time out can be a good thing, as it is a few minutes of quiet me-time :)

Do you stretch in the mornings?

There's more to healthy living than just diet & exercise

2012-01-17T21:48:00.001-08:00

"You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends nose."

My grampa used to tell us grand kids that all the time when we were little. There's a few morals to that story, I guess, isn't there:
-personal space
- boundaries
- do things for yourself
- make your own choices

I've been on this journey for a while now and I read a lot of other blogs too and usually the main focus of a 'healthy living' blog had a lot to do with what you are eating, what you are trying to limit or not eat, what kinds of exercising or training activity you are doing, and whether you are gaining or losing weight.

But in order to truly be healthy & live a healthy lifestyle there are many more parts of the whole. In addition to diet & exercise one big one is your emotional well-being. Of course you need the bare necessities - a roof over your head, etc. - but your well- being is really important.

When you're going over your calories or meal planning and eliminating the junk, or even if you are eliminating the mind-junk ( a la mizfit!) you also need to think about the other junk in your life.

Maybe you hate your job & it drags you down, maybe you work or live with people that take advantage of you & are wearing you out.

If your home had a leak and was poisoning you, you would do something about it wouldn't you? Well, if your environment is in essence poisoning you then you need to make the choice to do something about it.

I had a good friend, even a best friend (although I use that term loosely in reference to her now) for several years. We hung out together all the time, I watched her kids, I was even there for the birth of her youngest. We worked together, we traveled together, we even lived together for a bit.

It came to a point though when I realized that she was taking advantage of me. My time, my money, my friendship were all one sided. She didn't treat me with respect or do her part to make things fair to me.

I realized that I needed to make some changes to my life in order for me to be happy. At the time I worked a crappy part time job & provided daycare for her kids full time (we lived together but worked different shifts & the state paid me for her daycare). I knew I needed a better job. I needed more money and I needed to do a job that I liked & that was better suited for me.

I gave her 6 months notice that at the end of summer I would be quitting my day job & the daycare job so I could get a real full- time job. A month out I gave notice at my day job & reminded her that she would need to find a replacement soon as I would be looking for a new job in a few weeks.

Well, this is when her true colors came out. She freaked out on me. Said I was abandoning her & her kids. Told me that she would lose her job because she didn't have daycare, etc.

Remember, she still had a month before I was done & she had known this would happen for 6 months.

She ended up telling her work that she needed to change shifts so get kids could go to a daycare place (she had way more than just the one daycare option but was really trying to get a better shift at work). They said that didn't work for them & she would need daycare that allowed her to work her swing shift (which I know she could have found). She didn't do it & they let her go. She blamed me and kicked me out.

She betrayed me, threw all my stuff out and was not at all friend-like to me.

Luckily I had hubs (we were dating at the time). I was able to move in with him (which turned out to be one of the best choices I ever made!).

I contacted my "friend" by email to let her know that she needed to get her own car insurance & cell phone within a month as I would be having her removed from my plans/policies at that time and I never talked to her again.

I got a few emails & texts over the months. Not nice ones. Anyone that had been friends with both of us she convinced that I had wronged her & I lost those friends (I guess they weren't real friends either). When I got married she sent me a cheeky email. I never replied and instead blocked her.

It's been nearly 4 years since I got married. I looked her up on facebook once or twice to see how she was doing. I don't hate her. I wish her well & hope her kids are doing good. I think it's normal and natural to want to know if someone was doing good (and I really do hope she is doing good, I wouldn't wish the opposite on anyone). But at the same time I don't really want to know her or befriend her anymore.

Well, today I had a Facebook friend request from her. I looked at her profile to see how she was doing. She's apparently going through a break-up which is probably what got her thinking about old friends. But she's alive, healthy & her kids seem good.

I thought about it for a bit but I decided to ignore her friend request.

I'm happy. I love my life, my job & my husband and she never supported my happiness & she didn't support my relationship with hubs at the time either. I'm really in a good place and I don't want to be dragged down with her negativity or drama. I really probably shouldn't have even looked at her profile to see how she was doing because I know more than I care to.

I'm going to keep ignoring her friend request because for me that is a healthy choice. I don't want the possibility of dragging up old stuff & rehashing it. I don't want to get brought into new drama. And I don't want my feelings & friendship taken advantage of. I don't want to be depressed and I don't Wang an unsupportive friend. Those aren't healthy things for me.

Today's experiences made me Wang to share my story with you so you can remember that living a healthy life is more than just diet & exercise. It's also about getting rid of all the junk & negativity in your life so you can be around & be supported by what matters.

So give up your people-junk if they are blocking your journey to a healthy & happy life.

2012 Healthy Habits Challenge - check in time

2012-01-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't been so good about posting lately. Sorry about that. Life, ya know. Work is busy, hubs and I are enjoying actually talking to each other in the evenings and relaxing in front of the tv - so I've been living life rather than blogging.

And I'm ok with that. The reason I'm ok with it is because I know I'm not being a flake and just being lazy, eating too much and not taking care of myself.

I'm eating pretty well, prepping meals, and making mostly healthy choices. I'm doing my physical therapy and stretches, my advil routine and icing my foot/ankle as prescribed.

So, with all that I feel like I am starting this month & year off pretty well.

I want to focus a bit more on eating better. Making better plans for the week, eating more balanced meals, eating some new things that aren't the same old same old.

But on to other things now.... so I'm sure you're wondering how I'm doing with my 2012 Healthy Habits Challenge :)

To recap - I am challenging myself to create a new healthy habit every month in 2012. For January I chose to work on replacing my near daily chai latte (usually from starbucks, nonfat grande 200 cals) with hot tea.

I started off the year really good. I wasn't even craving it at all and just drank water the first few days. Then I had an early appointment one day and stopped at starbucks, and I think what saved me this day was that it wasn't my regular starbucks where they know my order and start making it before I even order...it allowed me to actually 'try out' ordering my new drink. And it worked. I actually went back to my regular starbucks that afternoon and got a hot tea as well.

Then it was back to water for me for the most part and I enjoyed a nice hot tea (chai tea bag) at home with my breakfast over that first weekend. Then on the 2nd Monday of the new year, I tried to convince myself that it was 'okay' if I got my chai in the afternoon as the habit I was trying to break was my morning fix. Luckily I didn't buy into it and held off. Really, I still can't believe that 'excuse' almost worked on me - just because it's the afternoon jeesh!

Then last Tuesday, I had the worst cravings for my old friend the grand nonfat chai latte. I knew that the only way I would not give in would be if I completely avoided starbucks. Which is hard to do when it's in my building and a lot of coworkers go throughout the day. But I held out and avoided it the entire day and drank a lot of water.

I made it through the rest of the week without the cravings and when I wanted something warm/hot I had a hot tea. I think it helps that I've got chai tea bags so the flavor is a bit similar.

Today though I had a chai latte. But it isn't what I consider a real chai latte.

Let me explain. Hubs and I stopped for bagels and 'coffee' (which technically I don't drink coffee, but we call it that, haha) at the market down the street. I asked him to get me a hot tea, but the 'barista' (I'm not sure if they qualify for that title) was so un-attentive and we couldn't see the options they had for tea and I needed to go over to the other section to get our bagels made - so I told him to just go ahead and get me a chai latte.

Now, I don't count this against my healthy habit challenge because the chai latte that I'm addicted-to/trying-to-replace is made with a chai concentrate that they add water too and then steam with milk so it has that foamy milk on top like a latte. The kind they make at the market is not from concentrate, instead it is from a brewed tea (basically they've got a pitcher of chai they made from water and tea bags) and then they put a bit of milk into it and warm it up. It's never very hot, doesn't get foamy on top, and the consistency is like tea and not like chai which is think like hot cocoa or something.

The calories are at least half in this kind of chai than my regular too, and the flavor is different because of how its made/what it's made of.

So, in my mind - even though it sounds like I am rationalizing it - I didn't cheat and give in to a chai, instead I had a hot tea with a splash of milk.

Still, even if I were to count it that would be once in 15 days, which is great considering that prior to the new year I had them 4-5 times a week.

So, I'm counting this as a success so far!

How is your New Year starting off?

Catch Up Time

2012-01-09T21:08:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've missed a few days here, and I have.

I ended up being sick on Thursday. I thought it was a stomach bug but after a while I kind of figured it might be from all the advil I was taking. My doctor had me taking 600mg 3 times a day and that is way more than normal for me.

I missed work that day and felt a bit better on Friday so I went in. I also had my first physical therapy appointment on Friday morning. They checked out my foot & ankle, showed me some stretches to do and did a scraping procedure, then iced & taped my ankle up.

I felt a lot better that day, but starting that night my foot started bothering me again. I did my stretches 6-7 times a day over the weekend and am still doing it.

I had another PT appointment today, and saw a different guy, but he did an ultrasound procedure on my foot and ankle and then did some more of the scraping procedure on my foot, arch and ankle.

It's sore, but he said it would be. He said it shouldn't be hangover sore though (I've never heard that phrase before) - he said it should hurt tonight but when I wake up in the morning I should feel fine. We'll see :)

I'm supposed to continue my stretches, ice my foot at night, keep taking advil (just 400mg as needed though) and to also do easy-boring-repetitive exercise. So, looks like I'll be heading to the gym tomorrow to do some walking :)

I'm hoping I heal soon. I'm tired of this. But I'm glad I'm seeing a doctor and taking care of myself rather than possibly making it worse.

Well, I'm off to relax for the evening. I'll chat more tomorrow.

I hope your week is starting off great!

Water, Water, Water

2012-01-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

That is my goal today - and the rest of the week.

I've been feeling kind of fat and bloated lately and I think the best thing I can do is to try and eat good and stay within my calorie range, and drink a ton of water, to make me feel better.

I'm sure my snacking, baking, cooking, and just vacation-time in general over the past 3 weeks has brought this on. But all my clothes feel a bit tight, even though I know I haven't really gained any weight.

So, I'm trying my best to drink a lot of water to get rid of the water retention and bloat.

I usually drink a small (as in 8oz) glass of water in the morning before I leave the house, then at work I get a glass of water and my breakfast (usually oatmeal), then around 10:30 or so I need a refill and get another glass of water (at work they are 12oz glasses). Then with lunch I have another glass after lunch, and I try to get one more in around 4pm before I head for home.

When I'm at home I usually do pretty good as I'm generally thirsty and my drink of choice is unsweetened ice tea or water. I usually have 3-4 glasses of water or ice tea at night (12 oz again) and I take a glass of water with me at bedtime and sip it throughout the night.

Now, this would be on a good day. Lately, work is when I've had a hard time getting my water in as I've been so busy that I haven't even hardly gotten up, let alone gotten a drink. I have been finding myself thirsty and looking around about a half hour before lunch and realizing I haven't drank a thing yet.

So, my focus this week is to try to get back to that good schedule of mine and drinking approx 100 oz of water a day.

How is your water intake? Do you have a regular routine or do you struggle getting enough water in?

P.S. I'm 4/4 on days of no chai. To be completely honest I haven't replaced it with tea, I have actually just had water instead.

Diagnosis: no exercise for me

2012-01-03T20:49:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned it a few times now, but my foot has been bothering me. It isn't a horrible pain, but it aches after I walk even just a bit and I can't bend my foot in because it is too tender.

It all started on Thanksgiving - at the end of the day, when everyone went home, I sat down to relax and when I tucked my foot under me it was so tender and I couldn't figure out why.

I massaged it a bit, I put my foot up and tried to relax it and be real careful with it. It stayed that way for a few days and then I kind of forgot about it. I'd been on my feet a lot that week in all my prepping for Thanksgiving and I figured after I rested it I would be fine.

But it didn't really get fine. It kind of stayed the same. I had to be careful with my foot and couldn't bend it and had to prop it up on the coffee table. If I walked a lot then it bothered me more, but it never really went away.

I started wearing only athletic shoes (no heels or boots) so that I could support my feet more, and I wore them even when I was in the kitchen cooking when I would usually be barefoot or in socks.

So, after 5 weeks I figured it had been long enough and decided that I should go see a doctor. I've been too scared to hurt it worse so I haven't been to the gym at all.

I went this morning to the doctor and she said it most likely is either Achilles tendinitis or a heel spur. She thinks it is most likely the tendonitis though and that the inflammation that has built up on there is what is bothering me.

She told me that for the next 3-5 days I should take 600mg of ibuprofen regularly, do some stretches, tape my foot to support the Achilles at night, and make an appointment with physical therapy so that they can do some sort of sonar pulsating thing to break up the inflammation.

If that doesn't make it improve in the next week or so then I will need to go in and get xrays and see a podiatrist.

I'm hoping that I just need to break up and get rid of the inflammation and it will solve the problem. But I'm glad that I decided to see the doctor. I mean, come on, resting it for 5 weeks didn't help it at all - and that was the first thing the doctor would have had me done was rest it, so after this long something must be wrong with it.

So, for now I am supposed to keep resting it, take the anti-inflammatory, tape it at night and wear supportive shoes. I can do that.

It is hard though to not be able to go to the gym, or even to go for a nice walk (especially with our mild weather lately). I have so much motivation with the new year and my new goals and just how I feel overall right now and I can't really do anything about it. I want to do cardio, haha.

I hope my motivation lasts and in the mean time I'm going to work on staying within my calories and doing what I can to stay healthy.

How do you deal with injuries?

P.S. My January goal/healthy habit challenge is to replace my near daily chai lattes with zero calorie hot tea. So far I am 3/3 on this!

2012 Healthy Habits Challenge

2011-12-29T19:56:00.000-08:00

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I got the inspiration for my 2012 Healthy Habits Challenge from a challenge I put together at work for the month of November, you can read about it here. Basically for the month you tracked & got points for doing new healthy things in the hopes that they would become habits.

I've been thinking on that a bit and I decided I wanted to do something similar for 2012, but that was personalized for me. So I did :)

I put together a chart & calendar for my wall so that I can be reminded daily and keep myself motivated to create new healthy habits. How I've decided to work it is with what I'm calling "The Challenge" which basically says to:
1. Choose a new healthy habit to focus on each month
2. By the end of the month a habit will be formed
3. Each new habit builds upon the others so that by the end of the year I'll have 12 new healthy habits

I think this fits together really well with the purpose of my blog - following me on a journey to become healthier. I think the goals are measurable, attainable, and good for me.

I will pick a new habit to work on each month - I won't be doing this more than a few days before the start of the month because if I was to pick now things would change and life would happen and there is no way I would be able to let's say do the goal I set for July. So I will figure them out as I go.

To start with, my January goal is to replace my Starbucks Grande Chai Latte with hot tea.

I get a chai on average 4-5 times a week. They are 200 calories a pop (using nonfat milk). If I say I went 5 times a week, that is 1000 calories a week, and 4000 calories a month. A pound is 3500 calories - so by cutting this out (and replacing it with 0 calorie hot tea - I don't use sugar or sweetener) I can save myself over 12 lbs of calories in the year.

That can really add up!

So, that is my first goal - habit - to work on. I think it is totally doable.

I plan to have my last chai latte on New Year's Eve :)

Anyone doing anything similar or interested in joining along with me?

Why I want to wait till the first

2011-12-28T20:36:00.001-08:00

Now I know that this totally contradicts my post from a few weeks ago about not needing to wait.

But I'm in a different mindset now and am wanting to wait.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not just letting myself go crazy or anything from now until the first. Not at all. Actually my routine is pretty normal right now. Sure, there was a bit of holiday eating and still a slice of pie left for tonight, but nothing outrageous.

The thing about waiting until the new year though....you know sometimes, especially at this time of year (and sometimes about a new week or a new month, but a new year is the really big one), there is such a feeling of excitement and anticipation about the beginning of a new year.

A new year is a fresh slate, a clean start, a new beginning. Things start over, the clock gets reset to zero - it's exciting.

That's how I feel about the new year and why I am excited to wait for it.

Last year I started the new year with a New Year's Eve Midnight 5K - Portland's First Run. This year I'm not, in fact right now I am not even working out at all because my foot is bothering me so much right now.

I did however call to make an appointment for my foot. But it's with a new doctor as they opened up a neighborhood provider and I haven't been there before so they have to call me tomorrow to let me know when they can get me in. But that is a different story...

Last year I started my year with exercise and it was a great way to start the year. But this year I am working on trying something new. I am going to work on some resolution goals for the year to improve my live and lead me down my journey to a healthier life.

But you'll have to come back tomorrow to see my plan for 2012!

Are you waiting until the first? Are you making any resolutions or goals for the new year?

Pedometer Fail

2011-12-27T19:20:00.001-08:00

I wear my pedometer a lot.

Seriously, like 95% of the time probably.

It helps me to stay conscious and accountable for my activity level. I like to know how I did that day and if I need to pick it up a bit the next day. I also like to see how my trends are...did I beat last month's total steps? Am I getting a good weekly/daily average? What percentage of my steps are aerobic.

Well, last week I accidentally left my pedometer in the pocket of my jeans and proceeded to wash them. I didn't know it until the dryer started making an awful noise as the pedometer was being tossed around the inside of the dryer.

I pulled it out as fast as I could and it the display was not right. I figured that like a lot of devices that get wet, if you let them completely dry out then they usually will end up being ok.

So, today I noticed that my pedometer was blinking. Instead of having some weird, funky symbol/display on it, the clock was blinking on it.

I was excited, so I tried to set the timer and I couldn't set it. So, I thought maybe I should plug it into the computer because the memory is probably full since I haven't downloaded the data recently. But that wouldn't work - I got a not responding message.

So, I tried putting a new battery in it. Same thing.

I'm hoping that it will eventually 'dry out' more or get better and be fixed. I just replaced it a few months ago (after my previous one died after going through the wash).

They aren't expensive, but around $30, and I don't want to be spending that every few months (I had my last one for 2+years).

I tweeted @OmronFitness to see if they had any suggestions.

But other than that I am just hoping that it will start up and work for me again soon. I want to track my steps again, and I've got a walking/steps challenge coming up at work that I am going to host and I need to be able to participate in too.

If you've got any suggestions I would really appreciate it because I've failed my pedometer.

Getting ready for the new year

2011-12-26T14:26:00.001-08:00

Well, the holidays are basically over now and it's time for me to get back in gear. I'm working on setting myself up for success in the new year.

I've got a project in mind for my new years resolutions/goals that I'll be sharing soon. I've also got a few other things on my mind that I'll be blogging about soon - things that I want to do to improve my life, health & well-being.

I think that 2012 will be a good year!

I hope you all enjoyed/are enjoying a happy holiday season!

P.S. I'm looking for a pinterest invite...please send me one :)

What a pain in my ...... heel?

2011-12-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

Last week after working on the carpet in the other room it left me feeling like I had done squats all day. I think I strained the muscle in one of my legs a bit because I couldn't hardly walk or do stairs for 3 days and then it still took another day or two to feel normal. I ended up just taking it easy and stretching in order to heal.

I drove 3 hrs on Saturday over to my hometown and hubs and I got to visit with my mom, my brother & his wife and my niece for a bit and enjoyed a nice dinner out all together. Then on Sunday we picked my niece up and drove her over to our place for the week. I didn't take my pedometer with me on the little trip because I thought with all the driving I wouldn't end up getting very much activity in.

Boy was I wrong. when we got to town we met my family at an outdoor mall and after lunch we walked, and walked, and walked. Then we drove to my moms to look at her house for a bit, then walked downtown to get a bit of shopping done. We probably did about 3 miles, which for not expecting any was quite a bit.

We walked a bit more the next morning too as we went to breakfast. So, I got lots of activity in which was nice.

Unfortunately, it ended up hurting. For about 3 weeks now or so I've had these little pains in my heel. Well, to be honest I am not sure it is in my heel or my Achilles. I did a bit of googling a couple weeks ago and I think it could be inflammation or micro-tears in my Achilles. I haven't gone to the doctor yet as I was hoping I could rest it and it would go away.

I've been avoiding heeled shoes as much as I can, I've been wearing athletic shoes a lot, and even at home I've been trying to wear at least socks, if not shoes, as I wander around. I've been doing a lot of stretches that are good for the Achilles too. And in general I've tried to not be overly active, but not lazy either.

It's odd, it doesn't really hurt when I'm moving around but I notice it later. My heel area is very sensitive when I try and curl my legs up under me when I sit on the couch, or when I bend a certain way.

My plan was to go to the gym yesterday and today, but yesterday my heel was pretty sore from the walking over the weekend still, and today our plan is to walk downtown for a couple of hours so I don't want to over do it. Tomorrow and the next day my niece and I will be baking though, so I want to go to the gym in the morning first since we'll just be standing around most of the day and I'd like to get my activity in.

So, overall, while I haven't made it to the gym that much I have been conscious of my health and my activity and I'm ok with that. I'm not giving myself a free for all to be lazy. Instead I'm being careful.

Are you able to get in your activity during the holiday season?

Home repairs count as workouts right?

2011-12-12T22:14:00.001-08:00

So I've got a pretty new house, been here not quite 2 years so far & my cat has totally ruined my spare room.

Granted the room had been empty since we moved in, so she must have assumed it was there for her to do as she pleased. And she decided to use it as a litter box. Just pee, but cat pee is the worst & so hard to get rid of the smell.

I used cleaners, home/natural products, even rented a carpet cleaner & couldn't get rid of the horrible smell.

So for the last 4 or 5 months or so I've just kept the door to the room shut.

But my 11 year old niece is about to come up for her annual holiday visit. This is her 3rd visit up with us at Christmas time and she'll be here for a whole week this time. I'm picking her up on Sunday (she lives 3 hours away).

So in order to get the spare room ready for her I ripped up the carpet & pad over thanksgiving weekend. That was easy! It only took about 10 min to get it up. So I decided that was good for then.

This past weekend my plan was to cut the carpet & pad up into pieces so I could throw it out, sand the floor & baseboards where the pee had soaked through, and then paint the baseboards.

Well I spent about 3 hours on Sunday cutting up the carpet, pulling up the tack board, and getting the staples out.

I was wiped out after that. Sweaty. It was quite the workout. So I left the rest for today.

I was going to go to the gum today but am so sore from yesterday I decided to make today a rest day. I feel like I spent 3 hours doing nothing but squats and whatever exercise works my arm like I did :)

Seriously, my muscles are so sore today. It took everything I had every time I had to go up the stairs, haha.

I went in and sanded today but I forgot to get a paintbrush so I have to save that for tomorrow.

So after I paint I'm going to roll out a scrap of carpet I've got, blow up the air mattress, and put a little set of drawers in there. It will make her feel at home and I think the cat will think its a real 'room' now and not mess it up.

So that's my plan, home repair was my workout and now I'm going to take a bath to make my sore muscles feel better.

What kinds of 'home' stuff do you count as workouts?

Don't set yourself up for failure. I'm working on it.

2011-12-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

So the other day on twitter, Mizfit, replied to a tweet that really has been flying about my head for the last few days.

Basically the first tweet said something about 'setting a schedule to work out 5 times a week starting tomorrow'. Carla (aka Mizfit) retweeted it but added that something along the lines of 'that's great, but you don't have to start out at the max, try starting with 3 times a week so you don't over-do your goal setting and then give up'.

It really was much simpler, and probably more eloquent, in the 140 character tweet than my description here... but you get the idea.

I've been thinking about this and thinking about this and really trying to hold on to it these past few days.

As you know from my last post I started my exercise on Tuesday this week. Normally my goal is 5x a week and if I start the week late or miss a day I tend to give up as there aren't enough days left in the week to get my 5x in and I just wait to start fresh the next week.

But that doesn't make sense. Why would I follow that reasoning. Just because there are less than 5 days left in my 'week' doesn't mean that the world doesn't go on after Saturday... duh, it's just the day after today, etc.

So, anyways, I have been thinking about that tweet and trying to be more flexible and realistic and by using that tweet as my basis this week I have not felt guilty that I waited until Tuesday to get my first workout in. I didn't feel guilty that I used Wednesday as a workout day either. And I most definitely didn't talk myself into not going today since it's already Thursday and I only worked out once so far.

Instead I went on in to the gym and got my workout done.

And I plan to rest tomorrow, and maybe Saturday too, but to go back to the gym on Saturday.

So, you not only don't have to wait until the first to start. You also don't have to worry about when the week starts or ends or anything. Just do it. Or do it tomorrow, as long as you do it.

I'm working on trying to not set myself up for failure.

How do you do it?

You don't have to wait to start on the first

2011-12-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

I am here to say that you don't have to wait to start on the first. You don't need to start on the first of the year, the first of the month, or even on Monday, the first of the weeek.

That can be a powerful statement to really 'get'.

You are the one that chooses what you are going to do and how you are going to do it.

So, yeah, I've been MIA for a while. I admit it.

I totally lost my motivation. The last time I worked out was the day before Thanksgiving. Yep, that was 2 weeks ago.

But I'm done with the excuses, and hubs wants to join me too, so as of today I am back at it.

I am proud to say that I went to the gym today and did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 25 on the bike. I feel good about it too. And you know what, today was Tuesday, the 6th of December.

So now, I just need to keep remembering that today is the day regardless of if it is the first or the beginning of whatever.

I hope you are able to not worry about waiting to start on the first, or Monday, or whatever and that you can choose to start today!

Do you wait until the first of the week or the month or the year?

Still recovering and (maybe) a loss?

2011-11-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday didn't happen the way I expected. I had the same excuses in the morning, but I packed up my gym bag and planned on going after work.

Then hubs called and wanted to have a dinner date since it was payday, so instead of the gym I went home and changed and we went downtown for dinner (it was good too and I ate way too much!).

This morning I went and tried again. But I could not get up. I went to bed at 10pm last night and was asleep as soon as I hit the pillow, and slept hard the whole night through. When my alarm for the gym went off at 5:30 it was like getting woke up out of the deepest sleep, so I reset my alarm for 7:30 to get up for work.

I put my packed gym bag back in the car and planned to go after work today. And you know what, I did go! Although just for 20 minutes on the elliptical. That was all I could do. I felt good doing it, but I hit the 17 min mark and felt wiped out so I kept at it until 20 and quit.

So between how hard I slept last night and my energy zapping out of me so quickly at the gym today I am thinking that I am still recovering from being sick. So I'm just going to keep going to the gym and try to add time a little at a time until I get back into things.

Now, I haven't weighed in for about a month now and figured it would be time. Plus I wanted to see what type of damage might have been done from being sick . Also, I looked it up and the last time I had logged exercise (which I always do) was the week of October 10th - so it's been a while.

So, when I got to the gym tonight I stepped on the scale and was shocked to have to keep sliding the little thing over. I kind of think it might be a fluke. It was a huge loss for me and in the 3 years I've been on this journey I've never had a loss (even for a month) of more than 3 lbs. If it's true then I am down to 204 which would be a 5 lb loss. I don't believe it though, so I am going to weigh in tomorrow too and see what that is. Then I will log it into my sidebar - whatever that number is.

But I am secretly hoping that it isn't a fluke and that I have a new weight. If so, and really even if not, then I am going to do my best to keep the number moving down...I'm so close to onderland!

Anyways, that's where I'm at. I'm trying to not let the excuses get to me, trying to recover slowly and healthily so I can do good.

It's mid-week, how are you doing?

I let my excuses win today

2011-11-14T20:25:00.000-08:00

So, yeah I didn't make it to the gym today.

Here's my excuses that did me in:
-I stayed up too late
-I didn't sleep well
-My eye was all twitchy when I woke up and was sore and distracting
-My leg cramped up a bit

So no points for me today.

But, I did track all my food today. I almost did good with that too. I ate my oatmeal for breakfast, my minestrone soup for lunch with a small salami & cheese sandwich, a bit of steak with chimichurri sauce, brown rice pilaf and sauteed tomatoes and squash, and finished with one of the pumpkin muffins I made yesterday. I was great, about 15 calories under my goal and then I remembered that I had a Starbucks chai this afternoon. Boom - 200 calories. So, I went over by 185 calories.

I did have 4 pint glasses of water at work and another 4 at home so at least I got all my water in today.

I did however get my gym stuff together (and hubs too) so that it's all ready to go in the morning.

So, I'm all ready to begin fresh in the morning.

Are you letting the excuses win?

I miss the gym...really I do.

2011-11-08T14:58:00.000-08:00

So, last week I ended up with an awful head cold. I really thought I was getting better at the end of the week. And on Saturday I felt almost normal. But on Sunday I began feeling worse and I went into the doctor.

I have an upper respiratory infection, which is a cold, flu, sinusitis, etc. The good news is there is no sign of pneumonia. The doctor gave me some antibiotics and some cough syrup. I went home after my appointment yesterday and rested and took today off work too to get better.

The other good news is that my blood pressure was good (110/78), my pulse was good (82), my oxygen level was good (100%). And my weight was good too. I went to the doctor back in September for a regular checkup and my weight at the doctor was 211 and yesterday it was 210.5 and I'm sure I was wearing heavier clothes and shoes. So I'm pretty sure I haven't gained any weight by being sick.

When I was preparing for the new month of November I was really looking forward to going to the gym, especially with the Healthy Habits Challenge I am running at work. Then I got sick and have just felt like crap. The worst of it is that I just don't have any energy at all. If I did I would be going to the gym.

So, I'm just doing what I can to get rested and healthy and once I am I am going to get right back into my groove where I want to be.

Well, that's all I've got for today. I'll check in when I'm feeling better.

Up all night and the death clock

2011-11-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

So, I don't know if any of you watch Up All Night on NBC or not...anyways I was just watching this week's episode tonight and at the beginning Chris gets all worried about when he will die and looks up his death clock (.com if interested) to see when he will die and lo and behold it is the same year as his lifetime Sports Illustrated membership runs out.

Now I don't really buy into that kind of stuff but thought 'what the hey, I'll check that out' so I googled it and put in my info, and apparently with my optimistic attitude I will live to be 92.

That's actually a bit short for people in my family, but maybe if I lower my bmi I'll get to 100.

I just found it interesting that there is (of course there is!) a website that will calculate when you will die based on just a few simple facts about yourself.

Now, I'm not being morbid, I don't really believe this, but I did find it interesting.

92 is a good long life. My family generally gets to the 99-103 range though so I feel a little slighted, but I 'll bet if I make changes now to be healthier that I will surpass the ripe old age of 92 :)

How do you feel about finding out how old you'll be when you die?

Healthy Habits Challenge & being sick

2011-11-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't fallen off the wagon or anything. I've just been sick.

Let me tell you this head cold I've got can just suck it.

I am not happy with it. It's knocked me on my butt. I missed a day of work. I've got no energy. Maybe the only good thing about it is that my appetite has been cut in half. Ugh.

Oh well, that's life. I've done pretty good at staying healthy so far, so I guess it was just my chance to finally catch what's been going around. I'll get over it soon. In the mean time I'm resting and staying hydrated drinking lots of hot tea.

Now, on to the Healthy Habits Challenge.

I mentioned last week that I was putting together a challenge for work. I'm part of the Wellness Team at work and about this time of year people start asking us for a challenge to keep them motivated when it starts to get all gloomy outside (and here in Portland is stays gloomy for way too long, so we definitely need some sort of challenge to motivate us).

We came up with a plan that would help everyone no matter how active & fit they already were. One of the problems we have is that I actually work with a pretty active group and most of them are pretty good about what they eat too, so finding a challenge that they don't automatically win can be hard.

So, we wanted to find something that would challenge everyone and we are calling it the Healthy Habits Challenge.

Basically, for the month of November you strive to do healthy things that are either in addition to what you already do or something new. For every one you do you get a point and the weekly and monthly winners will get bragging rights.

So, for example I have a goal to go to the gym 5 times a week. In reality I end up going about twice a week. So I would give myself a point for every trip to the gym past the initial 2 that week.

Or, here's another example: I go to Starbucks about 4 times a week and get a nonfat Chai Latte - 200 calories. If I switch it up for a zero calorie hot tea - or skip completely and just drink water (or hot tea) at my desk then I get a point.

We listed some samples like this on a little worksheet for my coworkers to track their points. Other ideas were to do a side swap and instead of fries to get a side salad, or to add an extra 10 minutes to a workout, or to take the stairs, etc.

It's pretty simple and challenges everyone on the things they need to work on. And, best of all, it's making the super troopers (the ones that workout once or twice a day already and eat good) have to really get creative in order to add more healthy habits to their routine - and they're happy for the challenge.

I'll keep you posted on how the challenge goes, what people think of it, and any good ideas that I get from it.

Now, I'm off to go lay down and rest for a while.

Do you have anything you would like to make into a healthy habit and part of your daily routine?

Not quite what I planned

2011-10-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well, this week isn't quite how I planned.

I think I've been around too many sick people and taken too many flights in the last week...I am not actually sick, but feel like I'm close to it and just fighting it off. So, I've been taking it easy.

I haven't made it to the gym. I have been trying to eat well though and I've been getting in lots of fluids, taking my vitamins and getting my rest so that I don't get sick.

I am also working on putting together a healthy habits challenge for work so I know that will get me motivated soon :)

I'll share the details once I have them figured out.

I did have a great weekend in Salt Lake City though! The blocks are so big there - I walked a ton! I walked +15,000 steps on Friday, +10,000 steps on Saturday AND Sunday. I'm quite impressed actually, especially since 2 of the days were 'flight' days where I typically don't get many steps in.

We went to SLC for the Portland Timbers vs Real Salt Lake soccer game. This is the first year that Portland has had an MLS team and it was their final game of this inaugural season. They drew 1-1 and it was a good game.

We wandered around SLC, ate at both In-n-Out and Crown Burger, saw Temple Square and even drove out to visit Park City. We had a great time. Here's a few photos.

Enough with the excuses!

2011-10-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

These are the thoughts running through my head:

On Monday I just didn't feel up to it.
I needed my sleep.
I needed to pack for my trip.
Work wore me out and I couldn't get to the gym after work.
Tuesday I couldn't go as my cab was picking me up at 4am.
I didn't get back home from the conference in San Francisco until 10:30pm.
Wednesday I was tired - I had such a long day the day before and didn't sleep well so I couldn't go to the gym today.
I didn't feel up to it after work either as I was still tired.
I've got a plane to catch early Friday morning and won't be able to workout then either so I might as well skip Thursday since it will be my only day to work out and that isn't enough for the week, so I might as well skip it.

eeeerrrrrccchhhhh........................hold up

What did I just say?

Did I seriously just say that I shouldn't work out tomorrow because even though it is the only day I can get a workout in, just doing one workout this week isn't enough and I since I can't do or 3 then I should still skip it?

Really?

I mean Really??

I'm tired of my own excuses. I always I have excuses. I'm tired of it. I'm never going to see a real change or make real habits if I don't get serious with my consistency and the only way I'm going to do that is if I quit giving in to my excuses.

So, even though I had an off week and will not get 3 workouts in. I can and will get in a workout on Thursday.

I will be active over the weekend. While I will be out of town and won't have access to my gym, I will be in Salt Lake City. It will be mine & hubs first time there and we will be wandering around and exploring and I'm sure I will get plenty of steps in.

And I know I am coming in late on Sunday night, but I will go shopping on Monday and meal plan and be back at the gym for next week.

I am going to take charge of my habits and rein in my excuses.

Now, how about you?

Let's talk about pants

2011-10-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

Almost all summer long we had 'casual days' at work. That meant that instead of our normal business casual (slacks and a nice top) we could go casual and wear jeans, Capri's, etc. I love being able to wear jeans and Capri's. And even sometimes dresses and skirts.

But now we are back to the regular dress code, which means I'm back to wearing my slacks - and now that the weather has cooled off I've even had to break out the sweaters and boots.

But one good thing about this is that my pants fit pretty good right now.

In the past I hated to wear my slacks. They were just uncomfortable and the minute I got home I would rush to my room and change into jeans or jammie pants. If we were going to be going anywhere after work then I would bring jeans to change into. I just could not wait to get out of my work pants.

Now days I really couldn't care less. The last couple of weeks there have been many days when I've come home from work, made dinner, and by the time bedtime rolled around I was still in my work clothes.

So another plus, in addition to feeling more comfortable in my slacks, is less laundry - and that's a bonus :)

But what about those trusty jeans I wore all summer (and even longer)? Well they are still around - trust me I still wear them on days I don't need to wear slacks. But they are showing their wear.

We do get to wear jeans on Fridays and I wore mine today. After work I hit up the gym and when I was changing I noticed the the inner thigh of my jeans had basically worn through since the last time I wore them.

Yep, there were holes. I'm glad I didn't (or anyone else for that matter) notice at work because that would have freaked me out. But now I've got to toss them.

They aren't my only pair of jeans, just my most worn in and one of my 2 go-to pairs. I've been holding off buying anymore because I wanted to be down another size first, but I might have to bite the bullet and just do it.

Who knows maybe I'll find a new favorite pair - and if I'm lucky they'll be a smaller size :)

What kinds of changes have you noticed in yourself and your clothes?

Where oh where has my motivation gone?

2011-10-11T19:59:00.001-07:00

That is how I felt yesterday and again this morning.

I have all these plans to workout every morning before work and to eat right and to really get on the losing weight track... and then I somehow don't have the motivation and I find all kinds of excuses and talk myself into going back to bed with the promise of working out after work.

But then I've got things to do, like work late, I'm hungry and need to make dinner, then I ate too much and can't work out, and on and on and on.

Boo.

Today I did it again. I brought my gym bag to work (as I did yesterday too), and I basically new that I wasn't really going to go. I needed to go back to the pet supply store to exchange the thing I bought yesterday... I want to eat dinner before 8pm, etc.

And then my supervisor went to the gym at lunch. She is trying to go twice a week at lunch. She's on week 2. She went 3 times last week (I went once). She's went today so she's halfway to her goal for the week and I hadn't gone in a week.

I felt a bit jealous (odd, right?!) and guilty and then I decided that I would go after work after all.

And I did. I even worked late about 1/2 an hour and still went. I even went before I went to the pet supply store (even though it's next door to the gym).

I still did my exchange at the pet supply store, I still made dinner and was eating by 7:30.

I got my workout in. I did it. I even weighed in - and I'm down 1.5lbs from last week (I knew it was sick/tired/bloated last week).

Now I just need to keep it going and go again tomorrow.

I really need to do it in the morning, so I can have it done and not keep trying to find excuses to not go.

Where is my motivation?

Do you know where your motivation is? How is your journey going?

Back on plan

2011-10-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I spent last week fighting off a cold. Not a lot of energy, weak, achy, and a low grade fever.

I decided to rest as much as I could.

I am back to feeling great now and my plan is jump back in with a full week of early morning workouts.

I'm looking forward to it.

The holidays will be coming up before we know it and I want to have my good habits in place before then. I would also like go weigh a bit less too :)

Anyway, today I am working on testing out some recipes for Thanksgiving. If they turn out I'll let you know tomorrow.

I'm roasting a whole chicken today to try out the herb butter recipe I'm thinking of. I am also trying a batch of stuffing in the crock pot - a recipe hubs found for me. I'm also roasting some veggies based on a recipe I ate at a friends house.

Well, that's all for me today.