Getting Healthy

I kept trying to put this in a Facebook post, but there were too many details and I couldn't keep it succinct. I like my Facebook posts to be short enough that people actually want to read them. So blog post it is!

Eight weeks ago, I decided that it was time to get healthy. It was time to take more control of my eating, and to exercise, and basically to take better care of my body. For eating, I'm just trying to eat less. No more extra helpings, no more late-night snacks, no more binge sessions. Just moderation.

For exercise, I chose a couch-to-5k program. Technically, it more of a couch-to-30-minute program, but that doesn't sound nearly as catchy. Basically, it takes someone with a fitness level of pretty much zero, and has them running for thirty minutes at a time by week 9.

I just finished my last workout of week 8, running for 28 minutes.

There are three workouts each week, and I do them on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On the days when I don't run, I do other exercises. I enjoy Pilates, aerobic dance, and Tae-Bo. 

And I'm not going to stop after week 9. I'll keep adding a little bit to my time each week, until I actually can run the full 5k. At my speed, that will probably be somewhere around 45 minutes. After that I'll either slowly work my way to 10k or some other distance goal, or I'll work on my speed - doing the 5k in less time. Anyway, I'm in this for the long haul - I'm committed to running as a way to get healthy and fit, and then as a way to maintain that health and fitness.

People talk about a "runner's high" that they get when they go for a run. I think I have experienced something like this, except that I don't like running. I look forward to my run days, I'm excited to lace up my super-pricey running shoes, and after my run I feel great! But while I'm on the treadmill, man, I just really don't like running, and I never have. So really it's kind of ridiculous that I chose running to get healthy. But it just seemed to make sense.

But whether I like running or not, I like the fact that I do run, and I like what it is doing to my body. As far as weight goes, I've lost about 6-7 pounds in the last eight weeks. Not as much as I would have liked, but I'll take it. I've lost an inch off my hips, and two inches off my waist. I've dropped a ring size. I'm getting tone and definition in my thighs. Zaylee and Jeff have both pointed out several times that I'm getting skinnier.

Anyway, if nothing else, it gets me to take a shower 4 times a week, which, I'll be honest, I haven't always been good about...

Resolutions

I wasn't going to post my resolutions here, because basically this blog is a forgotten entity. But I decided I should be accountable somewhere, even if no one even reads this. And it's too much to write in a Facebook status.

I have two resolutions this year. Clean and organize the house, and get healthy. Simple, basic. Stuff most people resolve to do every year and give up within a week or two. But still, I hope to actually accomplish these two things.

Resolution 1 - Clean and Organize

My plan for cleaning and organizing is FlyLady. I am starting with the 31 simple baby steps to establish habits and routines for decluttering and eventually having a clean and organized house.

I started by "shining" my kitchen sink. Because I have a tan-colored granite composite sink with a matte finish, it won't actually shine. Even the fixtures won't really shine, being oil-rubbed bronze. But I can clean it thoroughly and make it gleam. When it's clean it's beautiful. I first "shined" it on January 1st. Over a week later, I have maintained that state of cleanliness.

Forgive the beat-up walls and lack of back splash. That's something we'll work on later this year.

Anyway, what started as a clean sink slowly spread throughout the kitchen. Wanting to keep the sink clean, I've kept up with the dishes. The counters get wiped more often.

Even the table gets cleared and wiped, instead of leaving dishes and crusted-on gunk for days at a time.

Now the whole kitchen, despite being incomplete (like I said, we'll finish the remodel later this year), is a clean and pleasant place to work in. I have actually been making bread because I have a clean surface to knead the dough. And I clean up that surface immediately, wiping away the flour and the sticky bits of dough off the table and washing the measuring and mixing dishes before the dough has been rising for 10-15 minutes. And it feels great!

A clean kitchen encourages cleanliness elsewhere. I have been able to get the living room in some semblance of order. Even though there's still a pile of wood in the corner that needs to be put out in the shed, at least we can walk from one end of the room to the other without stepping on toys and papers.

I even decluttered the computer desk. This was a huge area of clutter for me - trash and papers and all sorts of junk would pile up and pile up. There was barely enough room to move the mouse around, and I was constantly worried that one pile of papers or other would topple over if nudged too hard. But now the computer desk is cleared off, all the trash thrown away, and all the important stuff put away. It's much more pleasant to be at the computer now.

Of course, this is just a small portion of the house. There are still two bathrooms, four bedrooms, a large family room, and a laundry room that are all filthy. So my goal is to continue to use the FlyLady system and eventually declutter all throughout the house. Once I've gotten rid of what we don't need, don't use, and don't love, I'll be able to truly beautify our home.

Resolution 2 - Get Healthy

This resolution comes with a lot less of a plan, and a lot less initial success. But here goes nonetheless.

This year I want to lose weight and get healthy. I've been gaining weight steadily since Audrey was born four years ago. Now, at about 210 lbs, I am the heaviest I have ever been. I am not going to pick a specific amount of weight I'd like to lose, or a specific dress size I'd like to eventually be. My goal is not about weight or size, it's about being healthy and feeling good about myself.

That being said, there are some non-scale victories that I definitely want to see happen this year, in no particular order.

- I want to be able to sit in my reclining chair without feeling like my neck fat is trying to choke me.
- I want to lose my double chin.
- I want to be able to put on my shoes and socks without having to grab my pants to heave my foot up to where I can reach it.
- I want to be able to sit comfortably on the floor, and then stand up easily.
- I want to sleep comfortably on my side again, without my weight causing pain in my shoulder and numbness in my arm.
- I want to be forced to buy a whole new wardrobe of cute clothes that fit me properly and are flattering.
- I want my upper gut to not stick out farther than my lower gut.
- I want to have less heartburn.
- I want my waistband to not dig into my tummy when I sit.
- I want to be able to wear my wedding ring again.

I had a great deal of weight loss success years ago by keeping track of my calories and exercising regularly. I've tried on a few occasions to get back into doing this again, but always seem to lose motivation quickly. Well, FlyLady advocates doing 15 minutes of "loving movement" (aka exercise) everyday. Once I add this to my daily routine I should be more motivated to get it done. If I can just get my eating under control I really hope to be able to accomplish at least some of the things I listed in the next year.

Anyway, this is what I hope to accomplish this year. With FlyLady I've made a promising start. Maybe I'll actually even post updates throughout the year, no promises though.