Let the Group Therapy Continue!

M and I have added a lot to our morning walks.  First it was the amount of time we walk (from 30 minutes to 1 hour), then it was distance (from 1 mile to 2.5-3 miles), then it was stairs (10 minutes of climbing stairs downtown really makes you feel the burn!) and then this week we added something - or rather someone - new.

Mr. Kawaii decided to join us on our morning walk yesterday morning, and it was great having him along.  For one thing, it was wonderful to have a third voice in the conversation that always happens in tandem with the walk.  It was also great to share with him all of the joys and gripes of the daily routine and get his insight on a few things that M has been mulling over.

It was mostly great having him join us because he's just fun to be around, no matter what the activity.  I hope he continues coming back out with us.  Someone's got to hold my stuff when I get a half mile into the walk and realize I have no pockets!

Walk This Way....

There is nothing that calms one's nerves after a long day at the office like a walk through the neighborhood with a friend.  Something about the combined movement of body, and the ability to vent unencumbered about annoyances big and small brings a sense of relief from the daily grind.

T and I walked about 2.5 miles (she also walked to my house and back home - she knows how to show that sidewalk who's boss).  The weather was nice, although the spring blooms did start to get to our various allergy senses near the end of the loop, and I was glad to retreat back indoors to escape the terror of pollen.  It was a beautiful evening, and I am resolved to have more of these walking excursions to keep my momentum.

I'm also feeling a little high today because I was able to bring my new belt down one more notch.  Score.

Just In Time

I walked across town to do my errands today, a nice 3.5 mile loop around town with a couple of short stops at the bank and post office.  The weather was pretty nice when I first set out, but the longer I walked the grayer the clouds got.  I lucked out - it didn't start raining until I was back in my own driveway!

Now that I'm home it's time for some deep cleaning and a shower... although maybe not in that order because trying to walk quickly enough to outrun the rain has left me a very sweaty mess.  Fitness smells oh-so-good.

Wii Played

Mr. Kawaii and I had an unsuccessful round of house hunting this afternoon, and when we came home we had to decide if we were going to hang our heads in mopey despair or find some other way to blow off some steam. In a moment of brilliant healthy and proactive thought, we decided to turn on the Wii and play some Wii Sports games to shake the blues out of our systems.

A few rounds of tennis, 9 holes of golf and a game of bowling later, we both felt much better about the world in general.  It is amazing how a little jumping, waving and twitching around the living room makes the world seem a little brighter.

Walking the Town

I failed to update the blog yesterday even though I did get quite the workout in. I have decided that to try to save some money on gas (I hear it is going to reach near $5/Gallon this summer) that I would try walking or riding my bike to my errands in town instead of hopping in the car for 3 minutes every time I need to go four blocks to the grocery store.

I tried the experiment out yesterday, walking both to the bank and to my friend's house a couple miles away, and was surprised to find that while I was away from the house for an extra 20 to 30 minutes compared to what I would have been driving, the difference in time wasn't so significant that I can't use it as an excuse to NOT walk to the bank, grocery store, favorite restaurants or friend's and family homes.  By ditching the car I not only got my workout in without really trying, but I also discovered that I don't need those four wheels as often as I think I do.  I didn't even miss out on listening to music during the adventure, plugging a pair of headphones into my cell-phone and listening to music that I downloaded to it long ago.

Even though the left ear-piece on the headphones stopped working on the second leg of my journey, the trip was a success and I discovered that listening to the Hamster Dance in only one ear only makes you go half as crazy by the end of the song.

A Two-Fer

I was feeling on my a-game this morning and so Pooch and I went for a nice mile-long walk around the neighborhood (in the wind and rain) and then I came back inside to do a half hour of yoga (god bless heat and a freshly vacuumed carpet).  Now my clothes are wet from the rain and my abs feel like a pile of jelly so I know I did a good job working out today!

Now that we're back home, Dummy the cat and Pooch are curled up for a nap and I'm feeling a little jealous.  I have no time for such frivolities.  But I am going to take an extra long shower before I dive back into work for the afternoon.

Walking and Contemplation

I haven't been doing a great job of blogging (obviously), but I have been trying to get a little activity in as my back has been healing.  Gettting in a few squats here and there, burning calories cleaning up the house after my time stuck in bed and taking short walks have helped me to feel less like a bump on a log.

During the clean sweep of the house, I managed to find a very old roll of film that has been floating around the house for years, and after many reminders from my mom I was able to finally remember to drop it off to get it developed.  After another week, I finally remembered to pick UP said pictures from Walgreens and Mr. Kawaii and I sat down to go through them last night.

The photos ended up being from waaay back during the first Christmas Mr. Kawaii and I spent together (4 years ago).  It was fun to look back to the beginning of our relationship together, but inevitably the thing that I paid the most attention to was how thin I was 4 years ago.  I've gained a solid 50 pounds from that Christmas, and at first I got a little down on myself for my "failure" but on my walk this morning I re-thought my stance.

Back when those photos were taken, Mr. Kawaii and I had only been together a few months.  Just a year before, I had gone through a terrible divorce.  I spent months walking between 3 and 6 miles a day in addition to going to the gym and doing an hour of yoga every morning... I worked out constantly because I was miserable and quite honestly couldn't afford to do anything else.  I was in great shape, but I was unhappy.  I had no friends, no money, was at risk of losing my apartment and was very unsure of whether or not I'd get another paycheck.  Life sucked, and although I fit into some really cute size 8 jeans back then, there is no way I'd want to go back.

I reminded myself again that I haven't gained any more weight in 12 months - which is a huge improvement to where I was, gaining 15 to 20 pounds a year.  All I have to do is keep focusing on finding time in my schedule to get exercise in and continue eating appropriate portions and I'll be able to watch that waistline start to shrink.  I can do it!

ReBooting the 21 Day Yoga Challenge

As it often happens, the day after I initially started the 21 day Denise Austin Fat Blasting Yoga challenge I came down with a terrible chest/head cold that kept me in bed for almost a full week.  Even though I've been up and about for a couple of days now, anything too strenuous was sending me into coughing fits and so I avoided exercise like the plague.

It wasn't until this morning that I felt confident in giving yoga another shot and re-starting the challenge to follow a 1 hour yoga routine 3 times a week for 3 weeks.  I blew my nose, grabbed a glass of water and very tentatively started the workout.  I made it through most of the hour, only having to take a couple of breaks to de-congest after hanging out in a downward-facing-dog position for a little bit too long, and surprisingly feel better now than I did when I woke up.  The tightness in my chest and back is still there from all the congestion and a week of coughing, but it is lessened and I feel much less stiff in my shoulders and neck as well.

I am hopeful that the gentle exercise will help to jump-start my ability to breathe fully again, and hopefully wipe out the remains of my cold before I head out to play paintball in the rain on Saturday.  The idea of shooting wet elves and reindeer with my paintball marker during a drizzle will sound much more appealing if I'm not having to blow my nose on soggy tissue paper the entire afternoon.

Sweating Out the Turkey

After a few of days of nothing but turkey, yams and apple pie, I figured it was probably time to get back into the workout groove.  Luckily, when I woke up this morning I was full of energy and ready to go, so I ran with the feeling and popped Denise Austin's Fat Blasting Yoga in and pushed play before I had a chance to talk myself out of it.

Even though it's been a while since I last practiced any yoga poses, my body fell right back into it as if it hadn't taken a break at all.  I couldn't believe that I had enough energy and strength to complete the first segment, let alone all three, but here I sit an hour later with every muscle stretched and pose completed (except for the one where you sit cross-legged and push your body off the floor with your hands - that is just crazy talk).

When I first purchased this particular workout DVD years ago, it came with a 21 day challenge.  "In 21 days, you'll see great results," Denise promises at the beginning of the program.  So, what the heck.  I haven't done a fitness challenge in a while so I think I'll give it a go.  I've got nothing to lose but inches 'round the middle!

The Price Is Right!

This morning marked day 1 of my free 7-day pass at Anytime Fitness (Pick yours up by clicking here) and through it, I discovered the magic of TV during a workout.  Anytime Fitness has attached mini-TVs to their treadmills, stationary bikes and elliptical trainers, and some of these TVs only work while you're moving on the machine.  Although there are always big screen TV's on at most gyms, I've never paid much attention to them.  But today as I sat down at the stationary bike I thought I'd plug in my headphones and give the television experience a whirl.

What started out as a 10 minute bike warm-up soon turned into a 30 minute ride through the entirety of a "fat burner" workout as I got sucked into The Price is Right.  I just couldn't stop - I had to know who was going to walk away a winner!  The addition of TV to the ride made sitting on the stationary bike bearable far beyond what I normally would do which was a good and bad thing.

The good: I find myself thinking I could hang onto the elliptical for hours and hours, burning calories all the way, if a marathon of Desperate Housewives or Swords was on.  The bad: I found myself 30 minutes into the hour I had scheduled for the gym today with only a leg workout to show for it.  That only left me 30 more minutes to do abs, shoulders, biceps, back, chest, etc.

Maybe someday when I'm rich and famous I'll build an entire gym around my home entertainment system.  Then my family and I will try to escape the Pirates of the Caribbean whilst rowing away on a stationary row machine, run from the Walking Dead on the treadmill and race down the highway with the Flintstones on our stationary bikes.  Hmmm.... I wonder if there's a good way to convince Mr. Kawaii that this is a good idea.