There Is More Than One Way To Exercise

There's a couple of things that have been going around in my head:

1.) Why more people haven't noticed that I've lost weight.
I realized yesterday that part of the reason people may have not noticed (I say "part" because see #2) is that I've been at this weight before. Been here. People noticed then, and got used to it. Then when I crept back up, went back down - same thing. So some people have made comments on me losing weight, but really I've just been getting to where I was. Makes sense. I was still wearing all the same clothes, they were just incredibly uncomfortable on me.

2.) My clothes do not fit as nicely as they did last time I was at this weight.
Specifically my pants. I think my pants were looser. I'm cursing myself for not taking measurements, but I truly feel like my belly parts are bigger than they were last time I was at this weight. I had pants that I could put on that I can not right now. So either some of my fat has migrated, OR I have a huge tumor brewing in my midsection. The hypochondriac in me leans to the second option, but realistically, I'm starting to get the midsection bulge that people get around my age. Sigh. It's frustrating. But it is also motivation to continue to lose more until I DO feel my pants sliding off my behind!

3.) There's more than one way to exercise.
This one is SUPER important to me. Like I said in another post - I'm not much of a gym person. But during the winter months (or hot summer months), it's sometimes hard to get outside. So I do my Walk Away the Pounds, or other similar workouts, in the house. I haven't been at the gym in a couple weeks. I don't really miss it. I like the equipment, but I don't like the extra time I need to carve out to go there, and the extra preparing I have to do. I like to wear my pajamas to workout at home. Less laundry. I workout in my socks. I hate shoes.

Yesterday I took my son to a lunch buffet. I ate reasonably, but not being able to accurately count the calories made me nervous. I needed to do a workout. But I also had other things I needed to do. I feel resentful (weird, I know), sometimes at the time it takes to keep oneself healthy. I reminded myself that good, hard, work is a natural, productive way to get some exercise in. That's what I decided to employ.

I rearranged my living room. I scrubbed walls, vacuumed carpets, tossed away junk, moved furniture. If I gave my home and hour of HARD WORK a couple times a week, I think I'd be happier in my home. I'd get things done. Not all workouts have to be in the gym (especially for those of us who don't like to go there). Simply being active around the home is good, too. Intentional movement. I worked up a sweat, used muscles, and got things done. Love it.

The few weeks that I made the gym a priority, my house went to shambles. I am going to remind myself to mix it up a bit and use the sidewalks for my walks, use my videos, use the gym if I want, but also use the simple things God put in front of us to keep our body healthy: work.


Twice this week I shoveled for a workout. Not only my sidewalk, but my neighbor's. It felt good.

My body likes intentional, productive work and play. My mind and spirit seem to, too. Sometimes I like a good workout in the gym, too. But it really did my spirit well to put time into my house. For me, that worked.

Exercise Making Me Tired?

Is it possible that exercise makes you tired?
And hungry?

I found an article the other day (I'll have to dig up the link again) that spoke to exercising and hunger, and why some people don't lose because they are ravished, eat more, and stay the same weight.

I know people say that they have more energy when they workout. Maybe they mean stamina? Or do they truly mean energy? I would say I might have more stamina... but not energy. Maybe it's something that will come with time. I find I'm tired, my body is sore, and I'm way more hungry.

But my body craves the movement. I can tell.

Yesterday I was busy cooking dinner, and more than anything would have liked to get down to watching something on Netflix, but I had a strong urge to get going for a nighttime walk with my dog. So I set off, taking the hill straight off, and logged about 43 minutes of walking. I didn't get the distance I get on the treadmill, but then I was wearing boots and avoiding ice at times. But I was at a decent clip and was sweating when I got home.

The air felt... so good. The night breeze, just getting out felt good.

But it was a "rest" day.

Now today I'm supposed to hit the gym after work and I'm still beat.

I'm not a die-hard gym person, and I do enjoy walks, hikes, and biking outdoors.

So I'm contemplating today switching to the bike instead of the treadmill. Just to switch it up a bit, to give different muscles some work, and to give my walking muscles a break. We shall see.

I will still hit the circuit after (works arms and a bit of legs). I don't like to have to lug a separate bag to work and everything, but I could find a million excuses not to go.

I don't have an gym bag - something I'd like. I'm saving that for a month's worth of going consistently  and the hope of getting under 260 at some point in the next decade. I'm not sure what will come first.

EA Sports Challenge Day 2

Yesterday I wrote about my first experience with EA Sports Active. Today was my second.

I don't know what I was thinking, really. After working out yesterday I showered (but didn't wash my hair), and went out for dinner with a friend. I think that was part of my motivator in working out - dinner. I enjoy socializing, but I don't enjoy the setbacks it can bring on. I have improved my eating habits. - But I haven't gone 100%


Example: Ordered turkey burger (I actually like them) and fries. Got the mayo on the side. Removed top bun, dipped fries in may and put thin layer on sandwich. No dessert. Had a beer.

Normally, I would have eating it all, nothing on the side, and had the beer... and maybe dessert.

Example: Ordered ruben sandwich, skipped the fries, gave my husband 1/4 of the sandwich, split a dessert (ate about 1/3 of it), drank coffee.

Normally, I would have ordered all, ate all.

Compromise. Heading in a better direction. I can live with those compromises. I don't feel cheated, I still feel like I splurged. I still journal everything I ate. But knowing that I went out Monday, Tuesday, and have a girl's night on Friday - I can't skip exercise. I need to be diligent every other day of the week, AND put in some exercise time. Because I fear stepping on that scale next Monday.

I could feel my workout from yesterday. It felt good. Muscles that have been asleep were alive. Achey.

I woke up, not exactly early - but I could have slept later. I sat in the recliner, stared into space, felt my body, the achey muscles. And decided I was going to do another workout, even though I HATE that freaking legstrap, and I HATE working out, and I HATE working out with the Wii.

I used the extra strip of velcro (designed to make the legstrap tighter for the little people), and rigged it to be bigger for us horse people. It worked. Never slipped off. Stayed put.

I did my Day 2 workout. I sweated, I lunged, I did every stupid exercise it told me to. On a scale of 1 - 10 I felt I did about a 7. I wasn't dying, but I wasn't drenched like the P90 knock-off we have. I felt good. Better than a walk. I like the incorporation of arms and punches, runs.

It took up time (I was hoping to be out of the house shopping right now), but as someone said, THIS IS MY JOB. My body, my health, is my job. I've never put taking care of myself first. I'm trying to at least put ME up to the front a bit more.

I need to get in one more day of exercise this week, and that shouldn't be a problem. I know I was saying that I wasn't going to exercise just yet - but I hear my body craving it. I also hear my body being more hungry when I exercise, so that kind of sucks in it's own way.

Yeah, I Was A Runner... For A Minute

I hate to even put this out there - but I feel GREAT.

I suspect the honeymoon won't last forever. But I'm hoping it will.

We went to a movie, I had to walk all the way to the top, up the stairs, in front of everyone. Piece of cake. No worries. Back down, back up. No problem.

Yesterday we were at a big sporting event. Last year this time, I didn't like walking in front of everyone through the gym. Yesterday - who cares!? I was fine.

It is amazing what feeling (better) in your own skin can do for you. I want to continue to reinforce that. I know that I felt better at 260-anything than I did at 290-anything. That should be a no-brainer.

It is a constant day to day struggle, an effort, to always be watching (meticulously) what I'm eating. I will not lie. But it'st he only thing that has worked for me. The only thing. 

A few days ago I went for a walk with my son and husband. I have short legs that take small steps. Anytime I walk with my husband or sons, I take two steps for their one. I've accepted this as normal. My son, though, is a teenager and he's not as compassionate to my disability as my husband, so he doesn't even notice that I'm practically dying while he's happily jaunting along.

We're walking, it's dark, and I get this insatiable desire... need to run. I felt like my body just needed to DO IT. So I did. Not anything graceful and pretty like those twiggy runners you see floating along the sides of the road. No, more like the old men who shuffle-run down the street and you wonder if they are indeed dying instead of running.

I shuffle-ran.

And I liked it. As I shuffled, I said, "I'm a runner." I received a funny look from my husband. "I am. I'm a runner. I've seen plenty of people in their runner gear, going around town doing this. I'm running, see? See?"

You know what my husband said?

"It's a start."

Interesting. I fully expected him to kind of laugh at me, but he encouraged me. I don't know if I could have kept it up for the full 20 minutes that I normally walk, but I kept it up for 5 of them. I tried to pick up the pace for a bit, but then I got that belly-flap sound that I was talking about yesterday and I stopped. Enough of that.

I haven't really been exercising much the last couple of weeks. I've been trying to keep busy, keep off my butt more, but not really pushing it yet. I will. Just not yet. Maybe a shuffle-run here and there.