The Big Commit--April 2021

Instead of posting my stats in the right hand "diary" portion, I will start posting in the blog section to even things up. I didn't realize how very long that had become because I was doing it for so long and so long ago. I started a decade ago. Ten years makes a big difference from one's 50s to 60s. Though one of my sons was kind enough to say about a picture from 8 years ago that I looked the same, but he had changed, whew! If only he looked a a bit closer. Not only physically, but in terms of strength, things have changed, and not for the better in all cases (there are benefits of aging, but . . . . ).

So here's my commitment:

1. Lose 18 pounds (my current numbers fluctuate by the day, so I'm erring on the higher side) before classes resume in the fall. Coincidentally, that is also the number of weeks before classes start again. Honestly, if I can't lose one stinking pound a week, I'm not trying hard enough. 

2. Gain strength--my arms are pitiful. My lower back needs support.

3. Gain flexibility--my neck cricks and cracks, my knee is starting to hurt again. 

I had to laugh that one of my concerns was pre-menopause effects on my attempts to lose weight. Ha! That paled compared to post-menopause, yet both are just hurdles that I would have at any time and any age. Maybe my metabolism and other issues are pressing back in ways I haven't had to deal with before. 

So I need to push harder.

SO TODAY IS T-18. I'll record the week's activities in this blog. Commitment is one thing, accountability is another.

WEEK OF APRIL 18

Sunday, April 18--P-90 Cardio. Standing at my desk right now. Will try to stand at least a portion of every day. Walked at Maple Knoll with my father-in-law.

Monday, April 19--long hike around Sharon Woods with backwoods trails. 3-5 miles. 

Dear Reader--I walked, and ate conservatively. It was also rainy and cloudy this week somedays I didn't walk. Which were which are exactly what I can't remember. 

My options: If I don't want to spend a lot of extra time in getting anywhere, I choose Sharon Woods, just across the street from me--lovely, areas of seclusion and back trails, sometimes rather crowded. My neighborhood. What I opted for twice this week--one son to me "you can just walk out the door, Mom." Wise son. So I do that sometimes, though the route I take (though I could retrace steps or go down roads I don't, typically) is only about 25 minutes. I can spend 90 in Sharon Woods.

I will try to do more to account for myself!

WEEK OF APRIL 25

Sunday, April 26--Walk at French Park--off main trails, lots of fallen trees and broken bushes across the path, but made. it interesting. Took trails I hadn't before. Over an hour. Strenuous at times. 

Also, slow-paced walk around Summit Park with father-in-law.

Monday, April 26--Weigh in. Down 2 pounds! Nice! Motivating. Today and tomorrow should be nice, so planning on a bike ride after my dentist appt tomorrow on a trail I haven't been on in awhile.

New Commitment (Who Needs New Year for Resolutions?)

Sunday, April 18--A new commitment

I looked at another diet community that promised that they and I would use psychology to lose weight. That I needed to think about food in a new way. 

No. I've done that. This blog reminds me that I've done it and can do it again. I paid attention to myself during this time and did what I knew I needed to do.

Fast (though in some ways it seem so slow and so long) forward, and here we are, perhaps on the cusp of the changing face of a pandemic, perhaps it's only an illusion. The fact is, we don't know. Could other versions of the coronavirus take hold strongly enough that even those of us who have vaxxed up with be subject to the deadly possibilities of essentially a new virus? I can't wait any longer in my house for the day when I'll have all the ways I can be active again, because I don't need to. I drove close to where my work location is to get my haircut, and during rush hour. I hated it, and I remembered that I could spend over an hour in the car to get to my office to sit to do work to go to a meeting where I would sit again, and so on. Yes I walked in between, but not so much that I can't do that at home as well if I incorporate more action, more cardio, and more avoidance of what I shouldn't do and shouldn't have.

I've stopped drinking more than one drink a week, mainly due to GI other medical concerns. It doesn't suit me anymore.

I don't bring in food to my house that I know I'll indulge in, like potato chips or ice cream. 

I eat a 90% vegetarian diet with 10% fish.

And today, I just recommitted to cardio. My one walk per day and a little gentle yoga just won't cut it. I know it. I have to do something about it.

I'm back to P-90 or my other exercise tapes in the morning, and plan to alternate cardio and strength. I will also walk and bike on weekends, but have to develop a workable plan for that. I send Sunday evenings with my 95 year-old father-in-law, so Sunday mornings I need to leave early if I'm going to bike. Soon, my Spring teaching term will end and I can bike weekday mornings. Once it's not 37 degrees when I wake up as it was this morning, that will be an encouraging time to bike 20 miles. 

It doesn't take more time either. I spend far too much time checking social media, or roaming around online, reading what I consider to be interesting things, but which are not helping AT ALL. They contribute to my spreading backside. I will also cancel a couple of streaming services and go back to contributing to PBS Passport and then one other--Netflix or HBO max. I don't spend much time watching television anyway, so I think it makes sense to cancel those things that I do on my butt.

Whew! Lots of commitments, but so far, the proof is yet to come. That's why I'm returning to this. It helped before--why not assume it can help again.