A Different Type of Exercise

Lately my exercising has been in working to get two rooms redone in our house. Painting, hauling, bending, stooping, all with a nasty cold, has me exhausted each night!

Husband's Office

 Our dining room is full of 'stuff' from the emptied office.

 I can't wait to get this all organized again!!!

  This is the only shot I could find of our bedroom before we painted and carpeted it:

 Note the orange 1960's carpeting!

This is an after photo of the same room:

 It is a mess because all our renfaire garb is on the bed. Normally it is all stored in the closet in my husband's office. I will try to get a nicer photo, once everything is done, done. hahahaha

I might not be out walking, but at least I am not sitting! Till next time though, walk-on, y'all!

Positively

The weather has been as good here has it has been as bad in the Northeast this week. It finally got to me and I went for my first walk since Ziva left. I won't lie, it hurt. However, it also felt good to get out in the sunshine. I am still amazed at how safe she made me feel, when walking with her. I randomly look at web sites like PetFinder to imagine another dog in my life. Then I just think that it is too soon and that I should wait until my two little dogs are gone. Ack...I don't know which way I will go. But at least I DID go for a walk.

A few days ago I received a card from a blog reader 

that I happen to know in real life: 

She knows I go to yoga classes a lot. She noted that I had met my goal of no smoking for all of 2014 and wanted to send kudos to me for having done so. What a sweet thing to do! It actually helped me to not try one cigarette, just to see if I still hated the stench. So I remain smoke-free. Thank you Brenda! You're a peach!

I am focusing my energies on purging the house. It is daunting. I am getting exercise by all the hauling and moving and stooping and lifting and carrying and tossing and and and just everything! It has been exhausting but oh so rewarding! The less 'stuff' to worry about, the less worry there is!

That's my theory and I am sticking to it. Till next time, walk-on!

Waltzing Matilda

Around January 12th, I blew all my goals/resolutions out of the water! I did it in style. I did it. I did not do the real goal setting work that needs to be done to insure successful goal achievement! Bad me. Bad, bad, bad!

What have I done? Well, I have cut WAY back on the wine, quite successfully, I might add. I am actually very proud of myself on that front. I also DID inquire about a trainer. I can't swing $25 an hour though, so that isn't going to work. And I have purposely stayed more active, but I have not been timing it to be sure I am doing at least ten minutes at a time. 

I changed my eating habits, going back to something that is more comfortable for me, to deal with, yet is quite effective. It works as a lifestyle change, not a diet, but I am not ready to share it with you yet. This is me, figuring out what my personal maintenance plan will be. I am enthusiastic about the results so far, and about this being what my new lifestyle will evolve to.

I am hoping to not get the winter blues. I often do suffer from it, usually about February. I think it coincides with the lack of sunlight exposure. I try to remember to step outside at least a little bit, each day, so I can keep the blues from becoming overwhelming.

Moving forward I am looking to a new year that is full of answers to what my life will be like, going into the future.

  

I shall keep you posted on my progress!

Recently a documentary has been making the rounds in our area. "Forks Over Knives" discusses the benefits of a plant based diet. If you see the movie, be sure to see some of the comments or reviews about it too. One review that I especially like is found at Raw Food SOS.

That's the latest from these parts. Oh, wait! You might want to know why the title of this posting is "Waltzing Matilda"! This refers to a breathing technique that I have had some success with for de-stressing and for falling back asleep when I wake up at zero-dark-thirty in the mornings. Like the Waltz step, the breathing technique goes 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4. Breath in for a count of four, hold for a count of four, exhale for a count of four, and hold for a count of four. It takes a little practice to get the timing smooth and correct for your personal lung capacity, but it really works well!

Now, that is it for today. Hope you are all Walking-On!

Set Goals, Not Resolutions

I don't make New Year's Resolutions. I set goals. The more specific you make your goals, the better your chances are to achieve them.
Last year I had two goals. One was to walk a minimum of ten minutes per day. The other was to not smoke any cigarettes. I achieved both!
This year I am going to set three goals:
*The first goal is to do a minimum of ten minutes of any type of exercise or extra activity, per day. I don't want to be restricted to just walking.
*The second goal is to see if I can find a strength trainer that I can afford. I will do this by first contacting a gym that I know I can afford and see if there are any trainers that are available near the times I am looking for.
*The third goal will be the hardest. I will not buy wine this year. I am not saying I won't drink wine, but I will not personally buy any. This will help me to cut down a LOT. I am abusing it and if I don't get a handle on it, it will mess up how my meds work. It could also lead to full fledged alcoholism. I don't want to go there.

I am excited about the new year. There is something about new beginnings and fresh starts that appeals to me. I've been working hard in my studio to purge junk, sort, organize, and make it pretty. It was cluttered. It was overweight, so I am putting it on a diet. ha ha ha

Yoga class is tomorrow, then I will work in my studio again. I have four boxes to go through before I will give myself a break and actually do some sewing therapy! Till next time, walk-on!

Wrapping Things Up

Hello all my neglected blog readers! It's turned out to be quite the roller-coaster ride of a month here.
First the bad stuff. As many of you know, I lost my beloved Ziva a few weeks ago. Abby is in mourning too. In time we both know that we will be able to move on. For now Abby and I are not going for walks out on the trail. It just doesn't feel right. It is ok though, to mourn. We are still getting our exercise walking done. Sometimes we walk in the house, out in the back yard, or at the Center. Someday there will be another dog to walk with. For now though, we are adjusting as best we can. Thankfully, Ziva's passing has been the only negative in my life, over these past few months.
In other news, the results are now in, regarding the wine experiment!
10-14-14 I started with a waist measurement of 43"- 45".
11-14-14 One week of cutting my wine consumption in half or less I had not changed. I was still at 43"- 45".
12-14-14 Two weeks later there was a big drop to 41"-43".
These results are not conclusive but it seems to encourage my resolve to back off on the wine even more. In fact it will be one of my New Year's goals.

I have just two days left to make the full year's commitment of walking ten minutes per day. I am going to change that next year as well. I am going to do a minimum of ten minutes per day (or more) of any on purpose exercise. This will be goal number two for the new year.

We had a nice holiday last week and are looking forward to the new year. I am contemplating trying to find a trainer that I can afford. I did so very well with that one, three years ago. I will at least make that be goal number three. I can just try to find one. . . you know, make the effort to at least TRY! hahaha.

Here's to your health and well lived life in 2015! I am SURE it will be a better year for me and I hope it will be a better one for you all too.
Have a great new year and walk on, dear readers, walk on.

You Can't Believe Anything These Days!

Recently one of the members of our weight loss support group brought in these measuring spoons. So what's the deal about them? Well, they are BOTH stamped as being one teaspoon. That is correct, each one is called a teaspoon!!!

I don't have much else to say for today. It has not been a very good week here. All will be well, eventually though.

For now, I just need to keep on walking on! I hope you do too.

Happy Thanksgiving...a few days late

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Do you see our turkey on the meat and cheese plate below:

Good food, good friends, good weather, good times. Isn't that the way it is supposed to be? I think so.
Walk-on!

Day Seven - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

Exercise: Nice walk and then leaf raking.
I am grateful that my husband did the lion's share of the yard work today. We have nine mature oak trees and the leaves were thick! He was out there for HOURS!!! I am also grateful that my son did his science fair experiment today. Finally, I am grateful for the fantastic weather (well the wind was a bit much for leaf work!!!) and the leftover turkey hash we are having for supper made for an easy cooking day for me and it will be yummy!

From a week ago, I went out to the trail and they put rocks across the opening to the street to keep vehicles out. I wondered if they moved the two downed trees too.

They HAD!!! We walked all the way to the other end with no more trees blocking the path. At the other end they also put rocks up to keep vehicles out. It was wonderful to have the trail back!

Even Ziva approved.

She liked the rocks and even got up onto one of them.

Such a proud puppy!

To fulfill the Happy Thanks-I-Can-Move-Giving Challenge we need to donate stuff for a good cause. I have four full bags of clothing and household items that I no longer need. We will deliver them tomorrow morning!

It's been a fun challenge. I would do one like this again! ‪#‎TGChallenge‬
I hope you are all Walking-On and keeping your belts from having to be let out a few notches!

Day Six - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

24 hours ago our first company arrived for Thanksgiving. We had great foods and wonderful conversations. We played several games of Farkle, a dice game. The day did not start well though. Ziva bit one of our smaller dogs, Tipsy, and drew blood. This morning I took him to the vet and he should be alright. We have antibiotics and pain meds for him. Poor little guy. :(

Exercise: A soul cleansing walk, even though I am dead tired today!
I am grateful for my youngest son today, as he turns 14! Happy Birthday kiddo!

Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge. It has been a fun distraction as well as a fun challenge. Thank you Roni, for organizing this all!
#TGChallenge

Day Five - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

What a day! I am copping to having my exercise be all the walking I did today, in house. From the time I finished my second cup of coffee till after the last of the guests left, I only sat long enough to eat! lol
I am grateful for the company because it recalled years gone by of when my Mom did the Thanksgiving Feast. I have tears from the memories. They are good tears though. :)

Will walk-on a bit extra in the morning. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Day Four - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

Exercise: Yoga and a walk.
Grateful: I am grateful for all the students that showed up at the yoga class I taught this morning. They loved the special practice we had and told me so. It is nice to get positive feedback.

I am grateful for the students in my healthy living class who showed up. The three of us had a great time and talked about how we were going to celebrate the holidays.

I am grateful for the two strong young men who helped me by bringing boxes down from the attic and ran to the store for more pie crusts and vacuumed and so much more. It made a huge to-do list a huge done-it list.

Walk-on and Happy Thanksgiving weekend!!!

Day Three - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

Exercise: 30 minute walk outside.
Grateful for: this gorgeous day! The sun is shining, it is a bit cool, the sky is blue, and the walk was invigorating! I am also grateful that I have all the Thanksgiving feast ingredients in the house so I can start baking and making stuff tomorrow!

Day Two - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

Exercise was Yoga today.
My grateful posting was: Day 2: I am grateful for a bright sunny day, a great yoga practice this morning, and that my little dog wasn't badly hurt by my stupid big dog this morning. #TGChallenge.

Day One - The Happy Thanks-I-Can-MOVE-Giving Challenge

I did my 30 minutes of 'on purpose' exercise today. I started with a short walk and added exercises that I plan on developing as the new year comes in. It involves squats, sit-ups on the ball, side steps with stretchy band, leg lifts on the ball, arm curls and more. When it is only 20-30 minutes, it really is easy to add such easy exercises!

My grateful posting on FaceBook this morning was: Day 1: I am grateful that I have a nice warm house on a rainy day, with family around, and time to work in my studio without guilt!
‪#‎TGChallenge‬

I am working on several bags to donate to charity later this week. I love this challenge! See you tomorrow!

Walk-on and Happy Thanksgiving week!

Come Quick!!! It is a one week challenge!

Roni from Roni's Weigh blog has issued a fun challenge:

I am doing this. How about you? You can check out Roni's blog clicking on the above poster.

Walk-On everyone and Happy Thanksgiving holidays!

Same Thing, Different Time

This will be a quick post as I either do a little one or do none at all! I have also shamed myself into posting since some bloggers, that I respect a lot, are also having troubles being consistent or feeling the content is inadequate. You know what? It really should be ok. I mean for the other bloggers. Not so much for me. I have a few followers and I DO feel I owe them a posting more often than what I've done. But I do feel repetitive and like I owe more magic pills of wisdom to help others lose weight too.
Then I feel like a hypocrite because I gained some weight back. Why can't I give myself credit for having lost SEVENTY pounds and having kept it off for over two years? Not only have I lost the weight, AND in spite of having gained some back, overall, I am down TEN FREAKIN' INCHES off my waist! That counts for something, yes it does.
Tonight I am trying to give myself credit for what I HAVE done.  If I really want to re-lose those 25 pounds, I know I have to exercise a little more. I am not sure if I will. I am going to keep on walking and keep on with yoga. I might add more strength training. I am not sure how I am going to go about that though. If money was no object, I would hire a trainer. I work well with a trainer. I don't have to think. I just have to DO. It might make a good Christmas gift this year. I will ponder that thought.

In other quick news, the trail is still closed. Oh I do still go out and climb over under and through but if it's been wet I don't like to do that. Maybe I will hike out there with a saw and trim off a few branches so I can go around the trees a bit easier.

Speaking of walking, Spark People sent me this notice a few weeks ago:

According to their records, I have walked a distance of 1,800 miles since joining them. That is about 600 miles per year! Neat!

That's the latest my friends. I hope you are all doing the best you can do, and trying the best you can try, for today. Then go back at it again, tomorrow.

Walk-on!

October Trail Tails or Tales?

A few days ago we ventured out to my favorite trail. We wanted to see if they've mowed down the weeds. The trail is growing narrower and narrower!

It was still overgrown though. As Ziva and I walked along we saw an orange kitty. Well I saw it. Ziva was tracking it with her nose! She never looked up and actually saw the cat! hahahaha  We also saw a huge jack rabbit with ears as long as its body. Finally, in a flash of white, we saw the tails of two grown deer as they bounded off the trail. TOO COOL!!!

I am not fast enough to get photos of such things. I did manage to take a photo of Ziva and my shadow though. Gads it felt good to be back out there!

Today's weather was also perfect. I was working on a tricky project in the sewing studio and around 2pm I needed a break. We took off for a walk. The first thing we came upon were these pretty purple-y flowers:

I am not sure what they are. The bees were really enjoying them though! I was listening to my podcasts as we walked along. I decided to make a big hike out of the day and went to see if anything had been done to clean up the remote part of the trail since the last time I was out a few days ago.

There sure was something that had been done, and we were not too pleased about it!

Someone had cut a tree down to block the trail! At first I thought perhaps it was the wind we had had about a week ago, but then I saw this:

Mother Nature does not make such clean cuts.

We managed to climb over the branches though and took this parting shot as we left the roadblock:

As we neared the end of the trail, and our turn around point we came upon this:

Yes, another tree down. What the heck! This one wasn't as easy to climb through, but we did. I took another photo from the other side of this downed tree too.

I suppose the owners of the properties near the trail are tired of the shenanigans that go on at night. There are often signs of parties and such things. I still don't think this is right though. I guess I will keep going through these obstacle courses, if I want to keep using the trail.

We ended our walk today by flushing out a young hunter. I think it is illegal to hunt on the trail because it is in city limits. He thought I didn't see him and turned and walked away. When I came around a corner, he had mysteriously lost his rifle! The little chit had ditched it in the brush and was walking towards me with his phone, as if he were out for a stroll. If I had seen the gun I might have been tempted to grab it! Dang little whipper snapper!!!

So how did you spend your Sunday afternoon?
That's all for tonight. I plan to keep walking and hope my dear readers will, as always, walk-on with me!

What has Abby been up to?

Abby has been busy. Late in September you could find her busy in her sewing room, repairing and making new costume pieces!

She likes going to renaissance faires! Do you know what they are? Imagine you have gone back in time to when Queen Elizabeth the 1st was queen. The time would be around the 1600's through the 1700's. (give or take a hundred or so years)

Abby, her husband, and her young son all dress in costumes that could have been found way back then. They all play music! Abby plays a penny whistle, which is similar to a flute. Her son and husband both play many different instruments with strings. When they play music, Abby sets her basket down in front, just in case someone wants to tip them. They have a lot of fun!

Abby has also been struggling, as you all know by now. She can't figure out why her weight is not moving in a more favorable direction.

She's been trying to walk more.

She's been keeping a food journal, although she really hates that!

But her weight would still keep going up and down and up and down, over and over. Since May, she's been around 217-220 pounds. Why?

She is so tired of her muffin top.

Her belly seems to be hanging out even more these days. Why?

Poor Abby. So how has she been approaching all this? She tried going out on her favorite trail but found it was all grown over and hard to walk through.

So she started walking in town more. The weather was nice and that helped. She also looked LONG and HARD at WHY her body and weight was doing what it was doing. She did research and read up on things.

One day, she looked at her belly again:

Ugh. Talk about your spare tire! Why? Her food journal showed she was eating the right amount of calories. What could the problem be?
Then she asked google the question: "Beer, wine, alcohol, bellies". She had heard of beer bellies. Could wine cause the same thing? She always accounted for the calories in the wine she drank. Surely that couldn't be the issue! But no, there it was. . . article after article explained why drinking wine, or beer, or spirits could cause the belly fat issue. Damn!

What she found out was that the body's metabolism will work on metabolizing alcohol first. If you eat  at the same time, or after drinking, or snack during or after drinking, those food calories will go straight to storage. . . in the form of fat! That is the simplified version of the process.

So Abby has decided to cut way back on her wine intake. She took her belly measurements on the 14th and will take them for the next two months to see if just decreasing her wine, will make a difference.

While she's doing that, she still plans to go for walks. She adores this time of year! Stay tuned to see how Abby's experiment works out! And walk-on dear readers!

Grumpy Mornings

I am grumpy this morning. I've been journaling my food and walking more and my weight was up yesterday. I know I shouldn't let this bother me so much, but it does. I really struggle to find the balance between a weight I'd be happy with and the work I have to do to maintain that weight. I used to dream of being 150 pounds. That was about three years ago. Then when I stopped losing around 185 pounds, I thought that 175 would be more realistic. Then my weight went over 200 again, so now I am saying I'd be really happy to just be in one-derland.

Since I am grumpy I will share one pet peeve. I am so tired of skinny women saying they need to lose 10 more pounds. If you look good, have a good body fat percentage, can't you be happy there? I know, we ALL have trouble accepting how we look is really not the pounds on the scale. Does ANYONE out there, actually LIKE how they look?

So what did I do on this grumpy morning? Did I sit at home and eat a bunch of bread? Nope. I went for a walk. I went for a three and a half mile walk. It hurts so much. My left knee has osteoarthritis in it and it can get very painful. But I did it. I am sweaty. I need a shower. I am also not so grumpy now.

So if you're grumpy too, just Walk-On dear readers, Walk-On!

The truth hurts good!

Shame on me for not posting sooner. I've been preoccupied and busy. No, that is a lame excuse. I really wonder if it is worth writing about the same old same old. I bet there are only one or two people that even read this blog of mine. Oh well. If even ONE person reads this blog still and it helps them out, I will keep on posting. It might only be a few times a month, but I will post anyway. . . just in case.

Autumn is just around the corner and it is my favorite time of the year. Today I walked on my trail. I haven't been out there for many many months. Sadly, I won't be going back there any time soon. It has become terribly overgrown and it is hard walking through tall grass and weeds. Plus I worry about ticks. It was still nice to be out there though. I should hit over 10,000 steps today because of it too! I will be sticking to the pavement though. We have a pretty decent neighborhood and I can go in many different directions so as not to become bored with the same pavement each time.

I've lost a few pounds and am back under 220 again. I will admit I am ever the skeptic and I don't know if this is the road back to one-derland or just a fluke. I hope it is the roadway!

School has been back in session for a month now. It is nice getting back into a routine. My Friday yoga class still has people showing up. I hope I am doing right by them. I take it very seriously. I want to help. I also love the attention and positive feedback. Being the oldest child in my family makes for somewhat of a narcissistic personality. I try to keep that a positive trait though. I will admit I like being the center of attention. (Why is that such a bad thing?) I balance it out with caring for my family. I also try to remember to ask how folks are feeling and to recall their personal stories that they've shared so I can ask them how that situation is. For me, that takes a bit of work to do. I feel good about myself when I remember to do that though.

I need to go start supper. Speaking of food, the biggest reason some weight has started to come off has been that I am keeping a food journal again. Damn I hate how well that works! This is the sort of truth that hurts in a good way! hahahaha

Walk-On!!