I got a new idea for the new year from one of the guru coaches that I follow for New Year’s Resolutions. I thought it was pretty interesting and will be giving it a try. He says to write a paper on 2011 as if it’s already Dec. 31, 2011. Write down all the things you’ve accomplished for the year. This is very close to what another teacher of mine teaches about starting with the end in mind, sort of backward planning. Hey, anything that will help! LOL. I’m tired of carrying around this extra 50 lbs. I’m tired of looking at clothes in a 1 or 2X.

So, I wish you all a Happy New Year and much success as we all try our own thing to bring us to better health and a sexier, new us!

My mother has been in ICU the last 3 weeks, so the only exercise I’m getting is walking to her room, but I am taking total advantage of it. I walk briskly to get my heart rate up. It’s a fair distance from one end of the parking lot to her room in ICU so it’s sort of like “heart training” and I do it at least 3 times per day. Now I just hope all those health gurus are right when they say 3 ten minute walks are as good as one 30 minute walk. Today I will be adding on walking from my house at least once. I’m actually fairly close and so have decided there really is no excuse.

Instead, I seem to be more like Kirstie. If you added all the pounds I’ve lost and regained… and here I am again trying to go down the scale instead of up.

I was doing pretty good with the weight training and swimming at the Senior Center, but then my mother had emergency surgery and has been in ICU for the last 3 weeks. What I do to keep in shape now is park on the far end of the parking lot and walk briskly to her room in the hospital about 3 times a day. It does at least get my heart rate up. They say 3 ten minute walks is as good as 1 thirty minute walk. I hope they’re right. LOL. I’m working on just walking to the hospital next. It’s not that far, but it seems like I always am headed for the store or somewhere afterward, so I don’t do it. Even in my own ears, that sounds like another excuse. Maybe I’ll make today different.

My son is the epitome of fitness lately. My daughters tell me he has transformed himself completely. He and my oldest daughter were having a heart-to-heart (she is overweight just like her mother) and he told her she just had to try for 2 weeks. Two weeks seems a lot more doable than a lifetime. He swears after just two weeks she’ll feel so much better she won’t want to quit exercising and eating right. So I am taking his advice to heart, only for 2 months instead of 2 weeks. We’ll see where I am come Labor Day.

The Importance of Walking

>>>Walking can add minutes to your life.
>>> This enables you at 85 years old
>>> to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing
>>> home at $7000 per month. This is my reason. DWB

>>> My grandpa started walking
>>> five miles a day when he was 60.
>>> Now he’s 97 years old
>>> and we don’t know where he is.
>>>
>>> I like long walks,
>>> especially when they are taken
>>> by people who annoy me.

>>> The only reason I would take up walking
>>> is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.
>>>
>>> I have to walk early in the morning,
>>> before my brain figures out what I’m doing..
>>>
>>> I joined a health club last year,
>>> spent about 400 bucks.
>>> Haven’t lost a pound.
>>> Apparently you have to go there.
>>>
>>> Every time I hear the dirty word ‘exercise’,
>>> I wash my mouth out with chocolate.
>>>
>>> The advantage of exercising every day
>>> is so when you die, they’ll say,
>>> ‘Well, she looks good doesn’t she.’
>>>
>>> If you are going to try cross-country skiing,
>>> start with a small country.
>>>
>>> I know I got a lot of exercise
>>> the last few years,……
>>> just getting over the hill.

>>> We all get heavier as we get older,
>>> because there’s a lot more information in our heads.
>>> That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
>>>
>>>>>>> AND

>>> Every time I start thinking too much
>>> about how I look,
>>> I just find a Happy Hour
>>> and by the time I leave,
>>> I look just fine.
>>>
>>> You could run this over to your friends
>>> But just e-mail it to them
>>>>>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>> If you don’t forward
>> this to 1 of your friends within
>>>>the next 5 minutes your belly
>>>>button will unscrew and your
>>>>butt will fall off.
>>>>Really…. It’s true Ha! Ha! Ha!

The Senior Center is closed on Sundays, so Sunday is basically a “rest” day whether you need it or not. That is fine with me as I’m usually busy with church until around noon, and then I like to spend Sundays doing things I normally don’t take time for during the week.

I must confess that I ate like a pig yesterday, cleaning the last of the potato salad and the last of the fettuccine alfredo out of the refrigerator. Don’t even want to think about what that cost me calorie-wise, but now they are gone so I don’t have to worry about reaching for them anymore. I have gotten a lot better about eating more fruit, etc. I love this time of year when watermelon, blueberries, and strawberries are plentiful. They make such a great additive to my yogurt. Cheap grapes and 94% fat-free popcorn are taking over the “snack” spots.

Today I need to take my measurements. I realized over the weekend I hadn’t done that yet, and I know how encouraging it can be if you’ve lost inches, even if you haven’t lost any weight. Wouldn’t you be happy to lose 10 inches off your waist even if you hadn’t lost a pound? LOL. That would work for me!

It’s free to join if you are a resident of the city, they have a gym that is pretty doggone good, and they have 3 swimming pools indoors. Well one is a spa, but still…

So I go in now and work out on the machines, weightlifting and the treadmill, then I go right over to the pool and swim. It is so delicious! I so look forward to working out every day now!

The people are all so nice and helpful. Wherever you live, if you’re old enough (50?) look in your yellow pages or online to see if there is a place near you. Have you been there done that? Your experience?

The fitness room is really nice. They don’t hold any classes, but there is a lot of equipment and a lot of variation. In the meantime, while waiting for my chance to make it back to the center, I have been a worker bee at a church “flea market” and have picked up a couple of Pilates videos. Just like my old ones that seemed to get lost in the move, these to were donated “unopened”. LOL.

If you’re a resident of the city you can join for free. They have a fitness room, 3 indoor pools and classes. If I could find something fun to do, I might stand a chance of making it work. I haven’t had much luck finding an exercise buddy, so maybe this will do the trick. I did see one thing on line called “walk and talk”, so here’s hoping… All I know is I’m not paying for any more gym memberships, although Curves still catches my eye every once in awhile. LOL.