Today is Monday. Today is the day most people go back to work. Today is the day some people complain how it's going to be a long week.
Today is the day I start over. I've decided I'm going to start doing several things to change my life, one by one.
Namely, I'm going to start exercising. This weekend, Chris and I went to the Sports Authority in the mall to get his baseball cleats for softball. I'm jealous, because no one asked me to be on a team, and I like playing softball. Every Saturday they play for an hour against other teams in their church and it's a lot of fun. I watched two weeks ago and had fun, but it reminded me that I do NOTHING to get real exercise, except maybe walk to the bus stops and get groceries.
So, while we were there, I picked up a new workout DVD. I've needed one. I have a pilates floorwork video, but I need cardio. I had a video by Crunch called Fat-Burning Pilates that was AMAZING. But it was VHS, and I also left it back in Michigan, along with my Carmen Electra's Fit to Strip (also awesome). It was the first step to getting into good shape, again. Mind you, I'm a curvy person by nature. I will always have hips and thighs, nothing I can do about that. However, the gut? No. The flabby arms? No. The almost-noticeable double chin? NO WAY. I'm at the greatest weight I've ever been. It stops here.
The second thing most people would say to do is eat healthier, but I don't think I can get much healthier without cutting out all indulgent food completely. I'm a big fan of salads and vegetables and fruit, so no protesting there. I'll just have to quit the midnight snacking (which is easy because we're too poor to afford junk food anyhow). My second thing is working on healthy sleeping habits. It's hard to do so when I'm half-manic at the moment, but it's possible. Because I don't have a full-time job, I don't have much to wear me out during the day. I clean and chase after rabbits, but other than that, it's lazy days for me. I'm hoping adding exercise to my weekday regime will wear me out so I'm tired enough to go to bed before 1 AM.
I guess the healthy way to exercise is not to overdo it. Four times a week is a good start. That's what I'll work on, then. It's way too hot still to even think about taking up jogging again, but once it cools off, I may do four days on my workout, two days speed walking, one day off. I remember last spring when I was just running roughly two miles every other day I lost ten pounds easily. I'm working on gaining some muscle back though, so I don't expect to lose a lot of pounds but actually build muscle.
My one problem is that I am a calorie-counter. Some people can't do this very well. They usually end up cheating and it doesn't do anything for them in the long run, except make them feel worse. I am good at calorie-counting because if I set goals, I can keep them. It's getting myself to actually set goals that is the problem. Sometimes my calorie-counting can get out of hand, though, which is the problem. On my last diet I set myself at 1500 a day, to start with, just so I could lose some weight quickly for when I visited Michigan. After that, it went down to 1200, to 1000. That's not healthy, plus I was walking/running three times a week. I got pretty thin but I also got pretty sick. I started getting really bad headaches everyday and I felt worn out, started sleeping way too much, and had a constant cold for like a month. I cannot do that again. But, in order to make sure I'm not over-eating or under-eating, I HAVE to calorie count.
I'm sticking to 1500 a day. That gives me leeway for five small meals like I do now, but I'll be watching the size and snacking between meals.
Because I get overwhelmed pretty easily, I'm going to start with just this for the week. Next week I'll add one more healthy change to the list (like, doing laundry once a night so that I'm not falling over it in the middle of the night). I think this could change my life around. Usually when I start making these small changes it leads to one large change and suddenly, I have a full-time job that I love. I'll cross my fingers that happens.
Now, I'm off to change into my workout clothes and put my trainers on. We'll see how this workout goes!!
**EDIT**
I did the workout. It says 40 minutes on the back- it's closer to an hour. I did my best. I didn't have to use my inhaler at all, but I did have to take SEVERAL short breaks because Jillian Michaels means business. I guess she was one of the trainers on the show "The Biggest Loser". I'm going to bet I made the right choice choosing this video because I won't be able to do it all the way through after a few times. It's going to take at least a month to do all 56 minutes straight through. Note to self: need better sports bra because there is a LOT of jumping.
Monday, September 21, 2009
A Little Life Changing
Blogged by Nicolette around 1:59 PM
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10 ghetto sass:
Small changes are the best. They are easier to implement and stick to than trying to change everything at once. Good luck to you. I'll be thinking about you. And, by the way, next time you go to your hometown, would you take a picture of the shoe tree? It be perfect for my blog. :)
I won't be heading there until December, but I will DEFINITELY get a picture! As a matter of fact, I'll ask one of my friends to try to do it sooner. :)
And yes, change is good, but one thing at a time. I think I'll do this just fine.
Good luck with being a healthier you. I am making small changes in my life as well and you are right eventually it does turn into one big change.
I made some of these changes last year. I wish you luck! Lost some much needed weight and got new clothes to boot! BTW, that the thing everyone forgets: the cost of a new wardrobe if you loose enough. Ug!
I found some great workouts that fit 1) my desire to avoid gyms and 2) avoid spending money on equipment (not easy). Men's Health online had some great stuff. It was short schedule and high impact. I actually got a six-pack from it!
I kept telling female friends that surely Women's Health does too. So, I finally found it:
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/belly-off-club
You should look into accupressure to get the allergies turned off...
Good luck with all the changes. I could stand to follow a few of these too.
Ya I really need to start getting exercise. I'm such a weakling. I used to do pilates, which was not only a butt-kicker workout, but it was fun! The thing is, I'm actually severely underweight, and my doctor specifically told me not to workout as much as I was. She told me to do a little running or power-walking instead... boring. I need to go get myself a workout DVD. Good for you for deciding to get healthier!! :]
I'm in the same mindset you are, I want to change my life too, especially with losing weight.
I also need a better sports bra, the only ones I have are from when I was 11 and they are completely stretched out and pointless to wear, lol. There's lots of stuff flying around that shouldn't be.
I found Carmen Electra's Fit to Strip hard to work out to. It was mostly set up to teach...I didn't know how to get a full aerobic activity out of it once I'd learned the steps. So I made up my own dance learning what she'd taught, but that was only 3.5 minutes or so... I was just very disappointed but I would have loved to take a real cardio strip class. The closest Nashville got to it, though, was pole-dancing lessons, which were $99 for three lessons or something like that? No thanks!
Leslie Sansone's walking tapes are very good. I'm more into using equipment, like treadmills. We don't have room for a treadmill right now so I'm using an exercise bike!
I totally relate to the calorie counting thing! It's just so simple to crunch the numbers and see results... it's like a game. It can definitely get out of hand a but too easily though. I've been there too.
I totally relate to the calorie counting thing! It's just so simple to crunch the numbers and see results... it's like a game. It can definitely get out of hand a but too easily though. I've been there too.
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