Complicated Simplicity

an intentional 2012...week one

i know it's only week one. i know that there are 51 more weeks in the year. that's a lot of time to forget about my plan to live with more intention.

instead of dwelling on what may happen, i am choosing to celebrate what did happen.

this week got 2012 off to an amazing and intentional start.

for seven days in a row, i intentionally walked at least a mile.

it has been so great. paul has walked with wa and i every single day and it's been nice to spend that time together-away from other distractions. so far i'm feeling great and enjoying every moment. thinking about intentionally increasing my distance by half a mile this next week for a couple weeks. eventually, i want to be doing five to six miles every day (in one or two walks). it's helped me to finally realize that i can walk places we would normally drive to, as well (like target and the library-both places we walked to this week).

for seven days in a row, i have read three chapters from the Bible with paul.

i've mentioned before how difficult it can be for us to read the Bible together. this time, we're just reading. no major discussions. just reading the Bible together. three chapters at a time. the plan is to have read through the entire thing by the end of the year (probably a tad earlier as we started before Christmas, although we took a break while we were in Michigan). we started with exodus vs. genesis because we've read genesis together many, many times. so, we will end with genesis. :-)

for seven days in a row, i have written daily gratitudes.

i write them in my goodness book (mines a different color combo than this one, but otherwise the same). it's such a great exercise and has reminded me to be thankful for both the good and the bad. it also helps me to think/work through the situations in our life and see how i can grow from them. it's been incredible already.

for seven days in a row, i have taken photos.

instagram has been awesome for me. i snap photos all the time. i also have been trying to take one photo with my DSLR as well (generally the ones i post here). photography is once again joyful and i look forward to finding things to capture every day.

for seven days in a row, i have taken a self-portrait.

i use the everyday app. it's awesome. i'm hoping with all the exercise i've been getting, that my face will get skinnier as the year goes on. :-)

for seven days in a row, i have done an intentional act of love.

this one can be hard for me sometimes because things can become boring and routine. saying "i love you" can be just something you do all the time. this has forced me to really think about how i respond toward paul and the things i do for him. it's been really great to evaluate my actions and pay attention to how i express my love to him.

week one was a smashing success, and i'm looking forward to seeing what week two holds!

a mile a day in 2012

every year, i have the goal of getting healthy and losing weight. this year, i decided that instead of a vague, general goal i would pick something small and easy to measure. so, this year, one of my goals is to do a mile every day. i can get that mile in using any human-powered means i'd like-walking, running, biking, swimming, etc.

i know what you're thinking-a mile is not that much. and you're right. it's really not that much and i'm hoping that as the weeks go by i will increase my miles per day until i'm up to five or six.

however, i needed something simple to get myself started. an easy, attainable goal that i could do to change my life. something to get me moving a bit more each day. it's about being intentional with my life and health and level of activity.

my only rules are that the mile has to be attained using human-powered means (obviously), and that it has to be done all at once (none of that, oh i've gotten a mile in from walking up and down the stairs doing laundry-extra mileage from normal day-to-day activity is just an added bonus).

i've been using mapquest's walking maps to mark out my path in order to make sure it's at least a mile. so far, we have two routes we enjoy. one is a straight shot along one of the main roads here, and another is walking around the block (well, more like three or four blocks) twice.

i still wear my fitbit every day to track all the extra movement and have been trying to pay extra attention to how much i move/don't move during the day so i can get extra exercise in as well.

i've also been taking instagram photos of my feet each walk as another way of keeping track (it will make a pretty cool photobook at the end of the year). i'll try to share them here every so often and update on how it's going. :-)

Here are the first two for the year (so far i'm two for two!!!)

jan 01-1.39 miles total

jan 02-walked after dark 1.06 miles total

healthy me...keep moving forward

keep moving forward is the name of the game. i'm down 13 pounds so far this summer which i am very pleased with. honestly, as long as the number doesn't go up, i'm happy. obviously, i still have a bunch to lose, but 13 pounds is a big deal for me. 

i drank pop while on our little camping adventure, so now i'm getting back into the drink-only-iced-tea-and-water swing of things. which is awesome. i can honestly say that i prefer the non-sweet and super-hydrating drinks. now i just need to make sure i'm getting enough of them in me to keep my hydrated.

i've been keeping baby carrots in the fridge. i hate spending more for the baby ones, when i could buy full carrots and cut them myself, but will i do that? no. so baby carrots are better. i've been grabbing a few every time i feel snackish.

i've also noticed a clear shift in my thinking about food over the course of the summer. i still eat crap sometimes and crave crap sometimes, but overall i've been better at getting some balance. i have been eating more salad (and without ranch-i now prefer basalmic or italian dressings instead) and reminding myself to get my vegetables in each day. it's a tiny difference, and far from optimal, but it's a step in the right direction and that's all that matters right now.

i got tons of exercise in when my brother and p's mom were here and wanted to keep that up. the main thing i've been doing is just dance 2 on the wii. it's fun and gives me a great cardio workout. i aim for 30 min or so every other day. i was doing it every day for 60 min for the first week and that killed my back so i could barely move for three days. i decided to ease back into it and work my way up. i absolutely love that i enjoy it and i make sure i'm working up a sweat each time.

i'm planning to start the couch to 5k plan here in another week or so. september 5 or 6 will be my first day. i'm extremely nervous about it, because i want to succeed so bad and am worried that i'm going to totally be unable to do it. however, i'm very excited and am hoping to sign up for a 5k next spring. i have no great love for running and am not confident that i will ever be a runner, i just want to get healthy and in shape and try new things. if any of you have any tips about getting started or any stories of encouragement, i'd be very glad to hear them. i have a podcast all loaded on the iPod that will tell me when to run and when to walk and what pace i should be keeping.

the other thing i want to start adding in is some strength training. we have hand weights here, and i loved the abs diet workout, so i think i'm going to go that route again. it's just a really simple routine of basic strength exercises. i'll probably wait until i go a few weeks on the couch to 5k before i add it in, just to give my body time to acclimate to the new routine of running consistently. i just don't want to go all out, hurt myself, and then throw in the towel. that would not be beneficial.

my basic thoughts about getting healthy:

• slow and steady wins the race. it's about changing aspects of your life-for life. the small adjustments make it less painful and somewhat easier. as long as you keep making changes and don't just make one (like cutting out pop) and then stop, thinking that's good enough. and don't overdo it at first. it's better to increase the intensity slowly than get hurt and quit.
• swap something in for something out. if you just take something away, you feel that loss big time. you need to replace it with something beneficial if you can to help with that "withdrawl". for instance, i cut out pop and instead drink iced tea. i keep it ready in the fridge and keep my ice tray full so i can pop some in a glass and keep hydrated. i'm planning on cutting out french fries (a big deal since p works at mcdonalds), and instead plan to eat a salad. when i stopped putting ranch on my salad, i tried a bunch of dressings until i found a low-cal option that i enjoyed.
• find something fun. i love just dance. i love that i can do it with p or on my own. i love that it gets me moving when i normally wouldn't move so much. it may take awhile to find something you enjoy doing. cycling. running. walking. hiking. paddling. dancing. swimming. try them all and more. find one that you really enjoy doing. and then do it. one thing i'm going to get going on is kayaking. hopefully, my brother will be out here next year some time and will teach me the basics. i am totally at home on the water and am a super strong paddler. it's like i was born to do it and i believe i can almost (if not) outpaddle my brothers even. it's something that i think is worth investing in in the future (maybe in a couple years or so) because it's active and i love it. find what you love and invest in good gear and do it. it totally helps with the motivation issue.

so, that's where i'm at right now. next week, i'll tell you how i track my steps/movement throughout the day (and night!). and, as always, if you have any advice or tips (especially about running/couch to 5k) let me know!!!

note: all opinions are my own. we love just dance 2 and the wii, but they're not paying me to sell their products. i'm just sharing what works for and helps me out in my journey to lose a whole heck of a lot of weight and get healthy.

a story...about getting healthy

Every year, I say I am getting healthy. Every year, I make a big, multi-faceted plan with all of these daily to-dos.

This year, I threw all of that out the window. I want to be healthy, and it's on my goal list, but I'm finding when it comes to fitness-general is better for me.

I know some people need those little steps and a big, multi-faceted plan. That's great for them. It just doesn't work for me.

This year, I just decided to do little steps. I've been eating more salads. I still have crispy chicken and ranch on it. And you know what? That's good for now, because the main thing right now is that I am eating more vegetables. Ones that are not fried or starchy. The crispy chicken will turn to grilled eventually. The ranch will turn to something light and vinaigrette-y, but for now I'm getting more vegetables in and that's what matters.

I also decided to just start walking. Wawa needs the exercise. I need the exercise. I need the fresh air to clear my brain and make me feel more alive. I may not walk very far or very fast sometimes, but I am moving more. A huge victory in my sedentary little life. It's a simple activity, but one I am so enjoying.

I also got the Biggest Loser Challenge for Wii and I have been doing that quite often. I don't necessarily do it every single day (and I'm starting with a short-ish workout), but I've been doing it at least a few times a week-and I'm not hating it.

One last thing I've been doing is trying to schedule more adventures into our lives. Sunday afternoons (if I can pry Paul away from football) we're taking walks in a park or neighborhood (I actually want to do all of the walks in this book this year-how cool would that be?). Mondays (which is Paul's other day off) is for a day trip-downtown (a lot of walking), to a state park (hiking), to a museum (more walking around) or elsewhere. Adventure is something that I love so very much, and yet do so little of. I need more of it in my life, so onto the schedule it goes and I am pumped about that.

Just little things I'm implementing to start. Simple things to help me stick with it for the long haul. I still want to get strong. I still want to lose all of the extra weight I carry (and it's a lot), and I know that will come with time.

I am not on the Biggest Loser ranch. I am still in my real life and I have to make real and practical lifestyle changes. It's not happening overnight, but it is happening. I already feel better. I feel stronger. I feel like I can actually do it.

Right now, that's my fitness story. I'm way overweight. I drink pop. I eat not-so-healthy things sometimes. However, I am making progress and little things are changing in my life. More importantly, my thoughts are changing.

That is a huge step forward right there. So much inside of me has been changing over the past year and I am going to do this. Just wait and see.

healthy me...Social Workout

 

This week I found this totally awesome site: Social Workout

You can pick different activities to track, or choose from a large selection of challenges, or even combine some challenges to make your own super challenge. I love it!

I decided on a couple of simple challenges to start myself off on this road to living healthy. I intend to intensify the challenges each month until I'm getting the excellent workout and healthy living that I need! :-)

Starting October 1, 2010 I will drink no soda for 28 days and I will also walk 1000 minutes in the same time period. It's just a small start, but something that I know I can acheive. It's very important to me that it start on the easier side. My challenge is called 'It's A Start' and you are more than welcome to join me if you want!!! The more the merrier! Here's to health and living the life you want to live!

>Becoming a Healthy Me (again)<

I am hoping that this is the last time I have to start something like this. The last time I make a blog post of my plan to get healthy. The last time I am writing from a place of extreme "unhealthiness". That I stick to the plan for forever and a day. That I lose the weight that I need to lose and build the muscle that I need to build. That I get to a point where I can do what I want to do when I want to do it (as far as hiking and biking and all that jazz).

I am so sick of being the way I am. I can hardly stand to look at myself in the mirror, I'm serious. I don't understand how anyone can look at me, even and especially Paul. I repulse myself and I know that getting healthy is not going to remedy my deep self-conscious issues, but it's a start.

And so, I am reopening this chapter in my life. I am going to get healthy. I am going to be healthy. And I am going to stay healthy. I have to.

THE PLAN

• drink more water
• • the goal is to get up to where I'm drinking 2L/day
  • I'm trying limes out to flavor it, otherwise I'll go back to cucumbers
• eat healthy meals
• • at regular intervals
  • balanced with vegetables (or fruit), grains, protien and healthy fat
• eat healthy snacks
• • two of them
  • balanced with a fruit or vegetable, some protien and some healthy fat
• get good exercise
• •  30 minutes a day
  • walking, hiking, biking, and tennis are the preferred types
• keeping track
• •  I'll use the Wii Fit to track my weight and BMI
  • I'm hoping to track my measurements as well

So, that is my plan. Simple and yet so hard to commit to. I could use tons of prayers and tons of support so if you have any suggestions or encouragement please send them my way! And maybe, in a few weeks, I'll be brave enough to take and share some "before" photos.

Until next week.....here goes! :-)

>Getting Healthy (again) 2010<

Last night I started watching this season of The Biggest Loser on Hulu. And it reconfirmed what I already knew.....I have *got* to get healthy.

I *need* to get healthy.

I *want* to get healthy.

And so, I am going to get healthy. During the commercials I washed out my water bottles, filled them and stowed them in the fridge (I *hate* water, but having it cold helps a bit).

This morning I weighed myself. It wasn't pretty. At all.

Last year I lost 16 pounds. And then I went on this month-long road trip with my parents and I gained it all back. And I've gained a bit more this past year.

And so, here I go again.

The plan:

1. Eat a healthy breakfast. One with some kind of fruit or vegetable. Grapefruit is my fave right now. And I'm planning to have some oatmeal with a little milk with it. Breakfast is one of the keys to losing weight...one I'm terrible at doing.
   
2. Drink water. I have four bottles in the fridge at this time. I have three more waiting to be rotated in. Two liters a day is my initial goal, with the ultimate goal of three liters a day. Here's a cool tool to help you figure out how much water you should be drinking every day: Hydration Calculator. It's a pretty cool little tool.
    
3. Count calories. Last year I used this awesome little website: Calorie Counter. And I'll be using it yet again. I will also use the Biggest Loser Complete Calorie Counter book I picked up a few months ago (but obviously have never used).
   
4. Exercise. In any way, shape or form. My goal is to do two or three 30 minute sessions each day. I think it will be beneficial for me to spread it out. The movement I have on my agenda: basic stregth training (using hand-weights-I am doing the Abs Diet strength training), walking, cycling (with a trainer or without), yoga (I love gentle AM yoga to stretch myself out and relax my body), and Jillian (I picked up 30 Day Shred awhile back and it kicked my butt, but I will conquer it this time). This week I'll be getting my bike tuned up and I'll have them install the awesome computer my brother got me (ironically, he got it for me in celebration of the 16 pounds I lost last spring).
   
5. Eat throughout the day. Healthy snacks (we have a lot of fruit in the house right now) and small healthy meals.
   

If you have an tips or comments or quotes that will encourage...bring it. And if you'd like to join me or are already on your own healthy journey, please let me know. I'd love to encourage you along the way.

A couple of blogs I read that may help inspire you (they certainly inspire me-donna's story was the push I needed last spring):

Bobbi (bobbi + mike) and cathy zielske (bits & pieces) and donna downey (simply me)

Let's Do This!!!! Failure is *not* an option!