Monday, March 21, 2011
More than 10,000 today!
Wow! It is really hard to walk 10,000 steps in a day! But I did it today! I hit 10,978. It took some effort, though. I walked to and from a lunch appointment and then I walked to and from an evening meeting. Since I've never counted steps before I guess I assumed I was more active than I actually am. After all, although I have a desk job, I'm not the type of person to sit at a desk all day. I pace. I go talk to people face to face whenever I can instead of emailing or calling. I climb stairs instead of taking the elevator. But 10,000 steps is a lot, and it's going to be hard to maintain that on days when I'm stuck home with the kids. After all, even if I drag them with me, I can only drag them so far. But I'm up to the challenge. Bring it on!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Eat Well. Live Well. Challenge
My workplace is sponsoring a Live Well. Eat Well. Challenge through our local supermarket chain Wegmans. I'm leading a team. We're competing against other teams throughout the city government I work for. The goal is to eat a minimum of five cups of fruits and vegetables per day and to walk at least 10,000 steps. I got off to a bad start today. I have a house full of relatives visiting for my daughter's birthday, and she wanted pancakes for breakfast. Of course, you can't have pancakes without bacon and eggs. So I didn't even look at a vegetable until afternoon. I did end up exceeding the fruit and veggie goal, however, with a healthy dinner of braised carrot soup, salad, and 12-grain sourdough bread and a post-walk apple. Yum!
The steps were more of a challenge for me: Even with an after-dinner walk I only hit 8,522 steps. I used to exercise a lot--weight-bearing exercises three times week at the gym and regular walks in the neighborhood with my husband. Then came my two children. Besides stretching out and weakening all of my abdominal and other stabilizing muscles, they've taken a severe bite out of my workout time. I'm lucky if I can even make it to the gym once a week--lately, it's more like once a month! So the exercise part of this challenge will definitely be the hard part. But for me it's the most important part. I have a long history of chronic back pain that I used to manage well through exercise. The pain is starting to return. In addition to hurting, it makes me tired and cranky. I don't want to be that person. I want to be healthy and happy for my children, so I desperately need to get back into a regular exercise routine. I'm hoping this challenge will be what I need to jump start that process.
Wish me luck! And stay tuned for my progress!
The steps were more of a challenge for me: Even with an after-dinner walk I only hit 8,522 steps. I used to exercise a lot--weight-bearing exercises three times week at the gym and regular walks in the neighborhood with my husband. Then came my two children. Besides stretching out and weakening all of my abdominal and other stabilizing muscles, they've taken a severe bite out of my workout time. I'm lucky if I can even make it to the gym once a week--lately, it's more like once a month! So the exercise part of this challenge will definitely be the hard part. But for me it's the most important part. I have a long history of chronic back pain that I used to manage well through exercise. The pain is starting to return. In addition to hurting, it makes me tired and cranky. I don't want to be that person. I want to be healthy and happy for my children, so I desperately need to get back into a regular exercise routine. I'm hoping this challenge will be what I need to jump start that process.
Wish me luck! And stay tuned for my progress!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Good intentions gone awry...
Life has been hectic over the past few weeks. Part of it is that I've been putting in long hours at work. Part of it is that my 15-month-old son thinks his day should start at 4 a.m. On days I work, I've been coming home late, rushing to put dinner on the table, bathing the kids and putting them to bed, and then crawling into bed myself, sometimes as early as 9:30. On my days off, I've been spending all day reading and doing art projects with my kids, catching up on laundry and all of the household tasks that are neglected on work days, and just trying to catch my breath. I haven't had the energy to check email or post here. So much for good intentions...
This blog is not the only aspect of my life--or my good intentions--that has been neglected. My first few posts may have left you with the wrong impression.You see, I was feeling quite good about the fact that I had prepared healthy from-scratch meals for my family several days in a row, and I may have come across as a bit preachy. I may have misled you into thinking that I'm some health food guru who always gets it right. Ha!
The truth is that, like most people, I struggle everyday to make healthy choices, and I often fail to live up to my own standards. Last week, for example, we ordered a pizza one night (at least I get veggies on it!), ate left-over pizza the next night, and picked up $6 meals from Wegman's prepared foods counter on another night. Oh, and until this past Sunday I hadn't been to the gym in weeks.
This blog is not the only aspect of my life--or my good intentions--that has been neglected. My first few posts may have left you with the wrong impression.You see, I was feeling quite good about the fact that I had prepared healthy from-scratch meals for my family several days in a row, and I may have come across as a bit preachy. I may have misled you into thinking that I'm some health food guru who always gets it right. Ha!
The truth is that, like most people, I struggle everyday to make healthy choices, and I often fail to live up to my own standards. Last week, for example, we ordered a pizza one night (at least I get veggies on it!), ate left-over pizza the next night, and picked up $6 meals from Wegman's prepared foods counter on another night. Oh, and until this past Sunday I hadn't been to the gym in weeks.
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