Time For Change: Workouts, Food, And Weight

(photo credit - www.goodwillvalleys.com)

Time for me to have a reality check. Here are the hard facts.

1. I've gained 10 pounds over the last two years. That's the big reality I have to face.
2. I'm snacking on junk food way more than I used to.
3. I've had no consistent workout schedule for a long time. Strength training in particular. It's been about two years since I've done any consistent strength training.

Those are three big facts staring me in the face. I can't pin point when I fell off the wagon as far as fitness goes, but I'd say it was around the time we got our dog Jax. We'll have had him for two years at the end of this November. I got out of my normal routine when we got him, and I've been slacking ever since.

I haven't totally fallen on the wagon. I still do my elliptical and DVDs, just not with any regularity. As far as eating goes, it's my own fault shoving junky food in my face. I'm not one to say there are "bad" foods. I say "everything in moderation". I have to reign in my "junk food" consumption. I take one extra cookie (3 oreos are a serving, I have 4...things like that), I'll get a Frosty from Wendy's, or I'l get a hamburger from fast food places rather than the salads I used to get.

The result of all of this over eating and lack of exercise is of course weight gain. Like I said, 10 pounds in two years. Ugh. It just creeps and creeps. I'm still not overweight according to my BMI, but it is creeping.

According to SparkPeople.com my current weight of 146.8 (yikes) lands me with a BMI of 23.1. My safe BMI range is from 18.5 to 24.9. So it's not in the center when I want it to be. My healthy weight range (I'm 5'7'') is between 117 to 159. When I lost weight from 2007 to 2008 I got down to 127. I stayed there for a year, the scale didn't budge. When I had to take a break from exercise in 2009 roughly (I had plantar fasciitis I believe), the scale moved to 130. Didn't really move from there for several years. I was fine even with the scale being 135 a few years ago. But 145 is entering into my "stop it" zone. Have to nip this in the bud.

I have a few goals. One is to lose 10 pounds (I can't believe I'm going back into weight loss mode...never thought that would happen). Second is to get back to exercising regularly. And third is to tame my eating habits.

The third is probably going to be the hardest. The junk food that goes through this house is nuts. I'm not in charge of grocery shopping, but that doesn't mean I have to eat the junk that is here. Living with my in-law's and our 26 year old niece is tough food-wise. But I can get healthier snacks to eat, and do my best to avoid the unhealthier ones (why do peanut butter M&M's have to taste so good?).

I'm going back to my way of thinking "no food is bad". I don't plan on never eating "bad" food again. I'm going to plan days to eat it. I'll be keeping a close eye on my SparkPeople food tracker and my calorie range on FitBit (SP says I can eat more than FitBit says, and I think that's been part of the problem).

My exercise has been hit and miss. Here's what the last few months have looked like.

Monday 7/20 - .7 mile on elliptical

Tuesday 7/21 - .5 mile on elliptical

Sunday 7/26 - 1 mile on elliptical

Tuesday 7/28 - 1 mile on elliptical

Friday 8/7 - 1 mile of elliptical

Friday 8/14 - 1.4 miles with Jessica Smith

Monday 8/17 - 1 mile on elliptical

Tuesday 8/18 - .7 mile on elliptical

Thursday 8/20 - 4.2 miles with Jessica Smith

Monday 8/24 - 1 mile on elliptical

Tuesday 8/25 - 1 mile on elliptical

Monday 8/31 - 1 mile on elliptical

Tuesday 9/1 - 1.62 miles with Jessica Smith and 1 mile on elliptical

Wednesday 9/2 - 1 mile with Jessica Smith

Thursday 9/3 - 1.5 with Jessica Smith

So 15 days since July 20. Not good.

I have to revamp my exercise page here on my blog. I need to add some things to it. I've joined Jessica Smith's September challenge (I need to write a blog post just on her, she's awesome). This is day 3, and I'm still going strong. The 30 day challenge will get me back into a more regular routine again.

OK, I've put this out there for the world to see. Now it's time to get it done. I have no goal date for my weight loss. The weight will go when it goes. I'm not too worried about it since it's movement that I'm more interested in. Weight loss is just the icing on the cake so to speak.

Let's go! Keep moving!!!

Catch Up Post: Mileage Mondays

First off, let me apologize for being a really bad blogger. I have a habit of posting for a little while, and then dropping off the face of the earth for months. So it is time for some catch up posts. There's a bunch of things that have happened in the last several months that I need to get you all (all 5 or so of you who read) caught up on.

On deck first...Mileage Mondays. Some sad news. The virtual walk site that I've been using since April 2008 is no more. It shut down in the first week of May, and I am sad to see it go. No warning, no email, nothing. I found out from a fellow SparkPeople member (one of the co-leaders of the virtual walk/run team I help lead) posted about it. At the time, I wasn't working out out consistently, so I had no idea it was gone until I saw her post. So what does this mean for my Mileage Monday posts? I'll still be posting on Mondays, but there will be no pictures. I still have a back log of photos that will last me a few weeks (like I said, bad, bad blogger), and then after that, I'll just post how many miles I completed for the week and what I did to get them.

On the plus side, a former co-leader of the SparkPeople virtual walk/run team, Monty (sadly he passed away from lung cancer almost three years ago), made up a post showing the mileage points for each state border on the route. So, I will continue on the walk using those points of reference. Here is an old image of the walk across America route.

I was in Kentucky when the site shut down, and am still currently in Kentucky according to Monty's mileage points post. Since my last Mileage Monday post, I've passed through Sonora, KY in Larue county, Eastview, KY in Hardin county, and Hardin Springs, KY, also in Hardin county. I have 143.5 miles to go until I reach the Illinois border on the walking route.

And now on to the back log of pictures for this week.

Mile 896.4 (elliptical for 1 mile)

Mile 898 (Jessica Smith for 1.5 miles)

Mile 901 (Jessica Smith for 3 miles)

Mile 902.4 (Jessica Smith for 1.4 miles)

Mile 903.4 (elliptical for 1 mile)

Mile 906.6 (Jessica Smith for 3.3 miles)

While it is sad that the virtual walk site is no more, that won't stop me from continuing on. It was a very big motivator to keep going, as the photos along the route were so pretty. Ah well. Life goes on. Find another source of motivation, or make adaptations to an old source, but make sure you keep moving!

Milelage Monday

Been dealing with allergies for the past week, but not sure if it was that or some strange cold. Everyone in the house seemed to have a different version of the same thing. I've had a headache for the past who knows how long (a month?) off and on, and the last week and a half my sinuses have been aching and giving me a hassle. My husband had a bad headache for the better part of last week, and my mother in-law had the same sinus thing and a nasty cough. We all seem to be on the mend though. My sinuses still feel a little strange, but not as bad as they were.

I didn't do much in the way of exercise last week, but by Thursday or Friday, I had enough of feeling blah. The elliptical actually made me feel a bit better. Sweat it out of me, we'll see if that works.As long as my chest is clear, I should be fine to exercise.

I'm all caught up on my back log of virtual walk pictures. Which means I need to get my butt moving so I can get more pictures for next Monday. That's a good motivator right there. Since my last Mileage Monday post, I've passed through Howardstown, KY in Nelson county and I'm currently passing through White City, KY in Larue county. Let's get to the last of my saved pictures!

Mile 877.8 (elliptical for 1 mile)

Mile 878.2 (elliptical for 1/2 mile)

Mile 880.6 (Leslie Sansone for 2.4 miles)

Mile 883.6 (elliptical for 1/2 mile and Leslie Sansone for 2.4 miles)

Mile 886 (Leslie Sansone for 2.4 miles)

Mile 887 (elliptical for 1 mile)

(photo credit - Virtual Walk Site)

I just came upon my 8 year Sparkaversary. I joined SparkPeople.com 8 years ago because I finally was fed up with the yo-yo exercise/diet circle. The website is still extremley popular even with other free weight loss sites and apps out there. I've been tempted to try out other apps (such as MyFitnessPal), but I'm a loyal Sparker. I do use the FitBit site, but FitBit and SparkPeople can be linked together so that's a bonus. I still would recommend SparkPeople to anyone who wanted to lose weight or become more active. It still has one of the best online communities I've come across.

Keep moving!!!

FitBit Force Review

I’ve had my FitBit Force fitness tracker for about two months or so. I originally got the FitBit Flex, and I loved it. However the Force has more display options. Whereas the Flex only displayed five dots to show your progress on your chosen goal (you can choose to display either a step goal, mile goal, calories burned goal, active minutes goal etc.), with the Force you can display all of these goals. Plus stairs climbed and the best of all, a clock! I haven’t worn a watch in years, so I was definitely interested in the Force just for the clock aspect.

You can rearrange the order of the goals too. You can set it up so you can see your steps first, or your mileage first, whatever you want. I’ve got it set for the time first, then my step count, next miles, calories burned, stairs climbed, active minutes, and lastly my alarms. Now I arrange those however I want to just by going to the website or by going to the app. With the Flex all you had was one goal at a time, and dots that lit up. The more you got to your goal, more dots would light up. That was nice for a while, but I think over time, it would have gotten boring. With the Force, it’s much more user friendly.

The Force updates in real time. Say you check your step count and then walk for 20 steps. You check it again right away, those 20 steps are there. Nice way to keep track of miles too. Everything updates as you go. No need to check the app or the website like you would with the Flex.

As I said in my Flex entry, the FitBit syncs with SparkPeople (as well as with other health and fitness apps). My food log is transferred from SparkPeople to FitBit, and my fitness minutes and miles are transferred from FitBit to SparkPeople. I tend to use the calorie range on FitBit because it’s a lower range than what SparkPeople gives me. Both calorie ranges scale up the more activity you get in, but I like to keep my range lower. So far that tactic has worked. I’m now back down to 135 to 137 instead of 140.

One downside to the FitBit Force is that some people are having reactions to the nickel in the charging port. They are developing contact dermatitis, which is a skin rash. FitBit has help page on their site if you are one of these people. Check it out here. Unfortunately, I am one of those people. It didn’t happen right away, but about three weeks of having the tracker, I developed the “Force Rash”. I developed an itchy, red, and scaly patch right where the charging port rests on my wrist.

Good news is, there are ways to deter this rash. Just put a barrier of some sort between the tracker band and your skin. I’ve heard clear nail polish works, as well as mole skin, and even Band Aids. I use black electrical tape. It took a few weeks for the rash to completely go away, but it DID go away.

I’m not parting with my Force. Now, if the rash didn’t go away over time, I may have considered sending it back and getting a FitBit One (that is exactly like the Force I believe only you clip it to wherever you want). Luckily, my rash went away. My husband also has the Force and so far he has no rash. I’m willing to pay 3 bucks for a roll of electrical tape that will last forever. We had a roll laying around the house already, so I gave it a shot. I take the tape off when I charge the tracker, and then put another strip of tape back on when it’s charged. Easy peasy.

Please do not let this “Force Rash” deter you from trying it out. If you do develop it, there are ways to combat it. If you are wary to try out the Force, try one of their other trackers. I’ve heard good things about all of them.

Mileage Monday

Still loving my FitBit Flex! It’s helping me to stay moving. I check my FitBit dashboard periodically throughout the day and watch those steps increase. Great motivator. Plus, I added a few SparkPeople members who also have FitBits to my FitBit friend list, and that’s another good motivator. See how many people I can beat step-wise. Not many. Some are able to get in 20,000 steps a day. How? I have a hard enough time getting 5,000. Right now, my daily goal is 8,000.

Am flying through the virtual walk lately because of my increased activity. Since my last Mileage Monday post, I’ve passed through the cities of Emmalena, KY and Dwarf, KY, both in Knott county. I have about 15.75 miles until I reach Chavies, KY in Perry county. Here a the pictures from the site!

Mile 639.8 (watp for 3.1 miles)                               Mile 640.8 (elliptical for 1 mile)

                

Mile 641.8 (elliptical for 1 mile)                               Mile 642.8 (elliptical for 1 mile)

                

Mile 646.8 (watp for 3.1 miles)                               Mile 648.8 (watp for 2 miles)

                

What’s motivating you to move more? Have a great week!

FitBit Flex: First Impressions

  

(photo credit – Me)

(left from top to bottom and left to right – 2 wrist bands, dongle, FitBit tracker, and USB cable)

(right from left to right – FitBit tracker and my wrist band)

This is not going to be a full review. This is just going to be my first initial impressions. I’ve had my FitBit Flex for a little over two weeks, and so far I love it. The setup on the FitBit website is super easy.

You plug your FitBit device into the USB port and it prompts you to download the desktop dashboard. It asks you to enter your name, age, height, and weight. From there, it syncs your information to the website, and generates basic goals (set up as “tiles”) for you to achieve. Daily step count, daily calorie burn, distance/miles, very active minutes, sleep, badges, and friends. I think those were the original tiles. I also added the weight tile, the calories in versus out tile, and the food plan tile. I’ll go into more detail about the tiles in my full review.

Thoughts on the wrist band. It’s very comfortable. It’s like wearing a watch. It’s very light weight, and the band is adjustable. They send you two wrist bands, a large and a small one. I wear the small band. The FitBit Flex counts steps every time your arm moves, so I had a wild thought the other day. I thought maybe the large wrist band would fit around my ankle. No such luck. So, it’s on my wrist. Some people choose to place the tracker in their sock, or for the ladies,  in their bra. I’ll stick to the wrist.

Charging the FitBit Flex is great. The website FAQ says the Flex should last about five days until it needs to be charged. Mine lasted for eight days, so I am very impressed by that. Charging the device is simple. You plug in the charging cord into a USB port, pop the tracker out of the wrist band, and pop it into the charger. I timed it, and it took about two hours to charge. It’s fully charged when all five lights are lit up. The first four lights popped up in about an hour. That last light took about another hour. Not too bad though. Two hours of charging for eight days usage.

Calorie calculation is interesting. Especially on my elliptical. On SparkPeople. when I enter the calories for a Leslie Sansone video it comes up as light aerobics and is about 230 calories burned. On FtBit, when I look at the time frame that I did the video, it comes up to about 286 calories burned. For my elliptical workout, my machine tells me I burn about 280 calories in 30 minutes. During that time frame on FitBit, it usually comes out to around 180. I believe that’s about right. I’ve always heard that cardio machines overestimate the calories burned. So, I’m trusting FitBit with my calorie burn.

The sleep tracker is awesome. I know I wake up several times during the night, so I was curious as to how this would register. To get the FitBit Flex to go into “sleep tracking” mode, you need to tap it several times until you feel the device vibrate and you see two lights (one on either side) flash. Now you’re in sleep mode. You do the same thing to get it out of sleep mode, just tap it several times until it vibrates.

Each morning I look at the sleep tracker tile on the FitBit website. It tells you how long you were in sleep mode, how many minutes you were restless, and how many times you woke up. I’m not sure how it knows when you actually wake up, probably by how active your arm is. But it is accurate. I tested it a few times. I mentally remembered the times I woke up, and it was there on the tracker in the morning. Wednesday night for example, I was restless for 13 minutes and was awake for three. That’s right. I remember exactly when and why I woke up Wednesday night.

The last thing I’ll talk about is the mobile app and the fact (and I love this) that SparkPeople and FitBit have joined forces. The FitBit mobile app is great. You can check out all of your goals on your smart device. You can also access their food and fitness trackers from the app. Here’s what I love. You can sync your FitBit account with your SparkPeople account. What happens with this, is your active minutes (I’m still not sure which minutes are chosen) from FitBit will sync over your your SparkPeople fitness tracker But, whatever activity you enter on SparkPeople won’t sync over to FitBit. Vice versa with the food trackers. Your SparkPeople food tracker will sync over to FitBit’s, but not the other way around. Fine with me as I have all the food entered on SparkPeople. Plus, if there’s a food that’s not on Spark, I can add it quickly with the bar code reader. My iPod Touch can scan a bar code and the food information will magically appear. FitBit does not have a bar code scanner option.

OK, so these are my first impressions. A little longer than I had intended. but I tend to ramble (at least in writing) when I’ve found something I really enjoy. I’m going to wait another month or so before doing a full review. I may break that review up into parts, we’ll see.

Back From The Depths…

The depths from where? I don’t know. I just know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted something here. Doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. Busy like a beaver I tell ya. From vacations, to workouts, to housework, and all the other randomness, I’ve been on the go.

Since my last post in March, I’ve gone on one vacation (need to write a recap of that), I’ve been to one movie in the theater (a rarity these days), and have done so much housework, my mind is about to explode. This house is tough to keep up with. Especially with wind storms that blow sand in every time the door is opened.

Just a quick note right now, but I will be back to posting here regularly (somewhat regularly anyway). I’m still exercising, and things are going well with that. I just had my 5 year anniversary with the virtual walk site, plus my 6 year anniversary with SparkPeople was back in March.

So, a lot to get caught up on. I also need to discuss what is going on with my walking and fear of falling. I mentioned that in a previous post, and left you all hanging. Oops.

Where to start, that’s the question. I’ll surprise you. Hehehe. Keep moving!

March Vacation: Walking

The third and final part of this vacation recap is a little late, and here's why. When thinking about writing an entry on my walking performance, all I could do was focus on the negative. My walking on this trip was far from good. It wasn't where I'd hoped it would be. Blah, blah, blah. Now I could focus on the negative, I could whine and complain, but I'm not going to do that. I whined and complained a lot growing up about various things, and I've gotten out of that habit (thank goodness). Now, I turn things around and look on the positive side.

While my walking on this trip was less than desirable, I got to where I wanted to go. No falls, and maybe just a few stumbles. It isn't how you get to your destination that matters, it's the fact that you get there. I can blame the knee twinge from walking in the snow for my tentative steps. I could blame a blister for not walking as fast as I'd like. I could blame bad confidence or self consciousness for poor walking form (I was pulling a lot to the side), but the point is, I was walking. Despite my issues, I kept going. I kept moving.

Sure, my legs were tired from walking up and down hills, but what's the important thing? I walked up and down hills. Steep hills at that. Yes, I tweaked my knee in the snow. But I did not fall. I didn't fall once the entire trip. That's a nice accomplishment for me, especially on icy ground. I read a few blogs this morning that clicked with me. One was from the main SparkPeople daily blog site. The blog can be found here. Basically, Stephanie practices yoga six mornings a week. Rain, shine, good moods, or bad, she does her practices. She may have a practice that's tough, and she's physically worn out one day, but she gets up the next day and she does it again. Why? Because she's committed herself to that particular path. She may not have a perfect practice every time, but she keeps going.

The other blog I read was from a SparkPeople member. I'm not going to link to it, because I didn't ask him for permission. John said, 1: You deserve to be successful. Don't listen to negative talk, be it from other people, or negative talk from yourself. Don't listen to it. 2: You are worth the effort you put into yourself. Any little effort you put into yourself is worth it. You're committed to improving yourself and that does take effort. And 3: You are who you hang around with. Whether it be a website such as SparkPeople, or any other self improvement site, the people there will help you. But you have to actively be a part of the community to receive that help and support. You can't expect to sit back and wait for people to come to you to cheer you on. You need to share your experiences and cheer other people on to get that support.

These two blogs really helped me to keep a positive attitude. It doesn't happen often, but I sometimes think about stopping my workouts, slowing down, or this, that or the other thing. I always get back on the horse so to speak on my own, but it's blogs like these than help me along the way.

I could stop exercising. But where would that lead me? Unable to walk. Depressed, moody, and back to being overweight. That's not what I want. I want to keep going and fight the good fight. It's not always easy, and it's not always going to be sunshine and roses, but those “perfect” days do happen, and I want to be around when they do.

As I said before, I do my best not to complain. I gave up on the complaining long ago, and when I don't like something, I figure out a way to change it. Complaining and whining are unproductive. Think of ways to change what you don't like. Think of ways to do something that you think you “can't”. It may be hard, but anything is possible.

Get up and keep moving!

Change In My Workout Routine

I updated my workout page a little bit. My workout is still basically the same, I just changed my workout days around. Instead of doing strength training three days a week, I now do it twice a week. Tuesdays and Fridays are my strength training days now. I plan on doing more sets starting Friday. I do one set of 15 reps using my 10 pound weights. I've been saying for a long time now that I've wanted to do two sets of 15. Friday's the day. Enough of me saying I'll do it next week. By doing strength training twice a week now instead of three days, it might be a bit easier to do more than one set. More time in between so my muscles can relax and recover.

Cardio days are Tuesdays through Sundays. Mondays are my days off. I tend to get a lot of housework done on Mondays and tend to skip my workouts. It's not always easy to work out on Saturdays and Sundays, but I'm working on it.

I still get on my elliptical each day, but I've added something new to my cardio routine. Back in November, I bought myself a DVD. These DVDs were recommended by several of my SparkPeople friends, but I always hesitated to get them. Leslie Sansone is an awesome lady.

“Leslie Sansone is a nationally recognized fitness expert, and creator of the Walk at Home program. Her philosophy is simple. She believes that our bodies were made to move and we can walk our way to health and wellness.” Quoted from http://www.walkathome.com/

When I first heard about her from people at Spark, I hesitated because I wasn't sure if I could do all of the moves. I also thought, “Oh, it's just marching in place”. I had done that before while watching TV almost five years ago when I first started losing weight. But it's more than just marching in place. You march to the beat of music. She adds moves into the walks to make it interesting. Back in October or November, I found a few of her videos on the On Demand channel, and decided to check them out.

I tried three of them, and enjoyed them a lot. I tried the moves, and was able to do them. The only move I have problems with is the “tap out” move. It's sort of like a “side step” only you don't bring the other foot to meet the foot that stepped out (if that makes sense). I am able to do the knee lifts, and the kicks.

Then one day, I couldn't find the videos on the TV anymore. So I decided to buy one. I decided on the 5 Mile Fat Burning Walk. You can customize the workout by doing one mile at a time, or all five miles at once. I tend to use her DVD as a warm up before I get on the elliptical. Warms up my legs so they're not tight when I get on. I have done all five miles at once...once. It's tough to do them all at once. It's about 65 minutes of walking in place. I take a break after every mile.

I like the fact that at the end of every mile there's a “boost” for two minutes. During these two minutes you boost the walk into a gentle jog. She does kicks and knee lifts during the boost, but I just continue to jog in place. She hops during the kicks and lifts, and...I don't hop. If I get tired during the boost (usually around mile 3) I go back to walking.

I feel like her DVDs are good for anyone, no matter what their activity level is. It's helped my balance I think somewhat. It's helps me have better posture on the elliptical I think.

So, yes, I've become a big fan of Leslie Sansone. I don't know if I'll get any more of her DVDs. Maybe one more, but I hear they're basically all pretty much the same. The conversations and commentary during the video can get a bit old, but that's OK. She's a bit perky, but not in an obnoxious way. And if you think you won't sweat with the DVDs, think again. I sweat just as much doing her DVD as I do on the elliptical.

So that's what I'm doing as far as my workouts go. I plan on working on endurance on the elliptical. I try to get one mile in when I get on, that's my goal. But if I do more than one mile of Leslie Sansone, I get tired pretty quick and do ½ mile. I still take a break after every tenth of a mile. But I'm extending that to 200 revolutions. A tenth of a mile is 160 revolutions, so I'm upping that to 200. I'm doing pretty well. I can go about .6 mile and then go back to doing 160 revolutions.

Tomorrow is Thursday, and my plan is to do 2 miles of Leslie and then try for one mile on the elliptical. I did 2 miles of the DVD today and only made it a half mile on the elliptical. Here's a link to a little intro to the 5 Mile Fat Burning Walk

5 Mile Fat Burning Walk

Have a good one.

Falling Sensation Explanation

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned a falling sensation that I talked about in my SparkPeople blog that I posted on Wednesday. I feel that needs a bit of an explanation on this blog. The falling sensation is my attempt at explaining what these series of bad balance days are like. My balance is awful regardless of what day it is, but maybe two or three time a year I experience a week or so of really bad balance.

The best way I can describe it is if you’ve ever had a dream where you fall. You have that sensation of falling and then you wake up startled. I have that same feeling sometimes when I’m awake. Not all the time, just sometimes. I searched for it online, and I found a few articles about it (I can’t find them now of course) and it’s not too rare I don’t think, but it’s not too common either. There’s not much to be done about it though from what I remember. You just have to go through it until is passes.

Today’s exercising sort of helped, but that feeling is still there at times. Not as much, but it’s not gone yet. I just need to push through it, and it will eventually go away. It always does. It’s just annoying when it happens. Doesn’t help the old confidence either. In the past, once it does go away, I still hesitate on certain things, because I’m expecting it to happen.

That’s the best I can do to explain things. Maybe it’s vertigo or labyrinthitis (a friend of mine who also has cerebral palsy has labyrinthitis). That could be exactly it. Because no matter what, every time I go to the dentist and they lean the chair back, I feel like I’m going to fall out! I‘ve had that feeling since I was a kid.

Makes ya think.

My Escape From Real Life

In a previous blog, I mentioned that it felt odd sometimes for me to say “I have cerebral palsy”. I have a few escapes from that “reality”. I read…a lot. I watch TV shows, and I play computer games. I use these outlets to forget about my “issues”. But I realize there’s one more thing I use an escape from my disability. My elliptical. I didn’t realize this until Sunday. I had a really rough time on the elliptical Sunday.

I didn’t realize how much I used my elliptical as a sort of escape until it was almost taken away from me. I first voiced that thought as I updated my mileage on the SparkPeople virtual walk/run team. I didn’t even think about it until I wrote the following board post: “Thanks for the congrats guys. I appreciate it, especially on those rough days. Today was MUCH better. My balance was a lot more stable today. I only did a mile, but I want to take it slow. I'm just really glad my balance was better today on the elliptical. I was going to get depressed otherwise. My elliptical is kind of like my escape from my disability. I really don't want that taken away from me.”

I stopped right after I wrote that and thought for a while. Yep, that’s really how I feel about the elliptical. It’s a piece of workout equipment I am able to use totally on my own (other than a stationary bike, but I’m sitting down on those so it doesn’t really count). I can get on and off with no help, and I can go for as long as I want and feel perfectly fine. Sunday when I was having the major issues on the elliptical, it got to me. I don’t know why I had such a rough time with my balance that day. It could be the wild winds we’ve been having off and on for months that’s causing it.

The wind seems to be the most likely culprit. Since January, we’ve had strong winds off and on. Not every day, not even every week, but more often than usual. When the winds are high (and I mean gust of 50 mph or more), it stirs up all the dust and pollen and other crap in the air, and it cause my sinuses to go haywire, and I get more headaches during wind storms. My husband says that he feels off balance also when the winds are high. He also gets sinus problems and headaches at those times.

So, I’m blaming the wind partially for my latest bought of balance problems. I don’t want any of my “escapes” to be taken away from me, but my elliptical is probably the number one thing I don’t want to lose.

Stay tuned everyone. I have a very important PSA post coming sometime tomorrow (Friday), so be on the look out.

Three Years of “Walking”

First of all, let me just say, my down and sour mood from my previous post is gone. For the most part. I’m still dealing with random balance hiccups, but I’m back on the fighting warpath.

Now for the good news of the day. Today marks my third “anniversary” of being on the virtual walk website. Three years of walking (well technically walking as I use my elliptical). It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long at all. That also means I’ve had my elliptical for three years. I don’t think I used my treadmill at all for the walking site.

I’ve come a good long way from when I first got my elliptical. I remember when I first got it. I was in shape already, I had met my goal weight by that time, but I could only go for about 5 minutes, maybe 10, the first time I was on it. Now I’m up to doing a full hour from time to time with a few breaks.

I did one mile today to mark my three years of being on the site. I wanted to go for 50 minutes today, but due to my sluggish week last week, I could only muster 35 minutes, with one break. Here are my stats from the site today.

I’ve gone a total of 264.6 miles.

I have 7.56 miles until I get to Lexington, VA.

I’m in the county of Rockbridge.

I am really glad I found this web site. It’s been a real motivation at times to keep going. I like to see the mileage rack up over time. I like to see what picture will pop up after I enter in my mileage for the day.

And I am really glad that SparkPeople created a team for the website. I joined the virtual walk site about 6 or 9 months before SparkPeople created a team for it. I was so happy when they did. The members of that team are awesome. Everyone is very encouraging, and we all take the walk at our own pace. There’s one gentleman (ahem…Monty) who is on his second lap of the walk. He’s walked across the country once in about a year and a half, or two years. Pretty impressive. He passed me by on his second lap a while ago.

It will take me at least a few decades to get across the country, but as long as the site is up, I’ll be walking it. Here are the last few pictures from my walk.

Mile 263.6



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

Mile 264.6



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

Slowly making my way to Lexington. Keep moving everyone!

Trucking Along

I’ve been pretty consistent the last week with my elliptical (and strength training). I didn’t take as many days off as I have been. I did take Tuesday off because I was a little sore. I added five minutes to my elliptical workout on Sunday, and I needed the break. It’s funny how just five minutes can make you sore and tired. I am estimating my distance, and I’m no longer trying to beat my one mile time. The display screen just won’t cooperate. The springs in the battery compartment are smushed. That’s OK though, the important thing is, I’m moving. I’ve been tracking my fitness consistently on SparkPeople for the last four yeas (four years in the beginning of March actually), so I know about how far I go depending on how long I‘m on. I’m doing about 1.1 miles (a little more I think, but but not quite 1.2) in 40 minutes. I burn about 370 calories in that amount of time, so that’s not too shabby. Eventually, and this is still a long ways off, I’d like to do a full hour on the elliptical. I’m slowly getting there. I’ll do 40 minutes for a few weeks and see if I want to try for 45.

I’ve had no issues for a while either. Such as blisters, ankle problems, foot problems, or anything. I do occasionally get muscle knots in my lower legs, but they’re not bothering me too much. Since my last post, I’ve gone about 9 miles. I just passed through Rockfish Gap, VA, and am now on my way to Vesvius, VA in Nelson County. Here are my current stats from the virtual walk site:

222 miles since 4/28/08
31.97 miles to Vesvius, VA, Nelson County

About 32 miles until the next town. That will take me a while. At least a month. I actually like to watch the distance shrink as I’m heading to the next town. And of course, I love the pictures along the route. Speaking of pictures, here are the nine photos for the last nine miles.

213.6

214.6

215.6

216.6

217.6

218.6

219.8

220.8

222

I didn’t see too much activity in Rockfish Gap, but I pretty much blew through it. Yesterday (the 220.8 picture) I had about .16 miles to go until I hit town. Then today, I went a little over a mile, so I think I’m past in now. Or just about past it. Looked like I went by a motel.

I’ll keep moving along and see where I end up next. Thirty two miles until the next town. I just hope there’s a little activity before that. Cars, people, buildings, something. We’ll see. Keep on moving!

Trucking Along

I’ve been pretty consistent the last week with my elliptical (and strength training). I didn’t take as many days off as I have been. I did take Tuesday off because I was a little sore. I added five minutes to my elliptical workout on Sunday, and I needed the break. It’s funny how just five minutes can make you sore and tired. I am estimating my distance, and I’m no longer trying to beat my one mile time. The display screen just won’t cooperate. The springs in the battery compartment are smushed. That’s OK though, the important thing is, I’m moving. I’ve been tracking my fitness consistently on SparkPeople for the last four yeas (four years in the beginning of March actually), so I know about how far I go depending on how long I‘m on. I’m doing about 1.1 miles (a little more I think, but but not quite 1.2) in 40 minutes. I burn about 370 calories in that amount of time, so that’s not too shabby. Eventually, and this is still a long ways off, I’d like to do a full hour on the elliptical. I’m slowly getting there. I’ll do 40 minutes for a few weeks and see if I want to try for 45.

I’ve had no issues for a while either. Such as blisters, ankle problems, foot problems, or anything. I do occasionally get muscle knots in my lower legs, but they’re not bothering me too much. Since my last post, I’ve gone about 9 miles. I just passed through Rockfish Gap, VA, and am now on my way to Vesvius, VA in Nelson County. Here are my current stats from the virtual walk site:

222 miles since 4/28/08
31.97 miles to Vesvius, VA, Nelson County

About 32 miles until the next town. That will take me a while. At least a month. I actually like to watch the distance shrink as I’m heading to the next town. And of course, I love the pictures along the route. Speaking of pictures, here are the nine photos for the last nine miles.

213.6



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

214.6



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

215.6



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

216.6



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

217.6



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

218.6



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

219.8



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

220.8



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

222



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

I didn’t see too much activity in Rockfish Gap, but I pretty much blew through it. Yesterday (the 220.8 picture) I had about .16 miles to go until I hit town. Then today, I went a little over a mile, so I think I’m past in now. Or just about past it. Looked like I went by a motel.

I’ll keep moving along and see where I end up next. Thirty two miles until the next town. I just hope there’s a little activity before that. Cars, people, buildings, something. We’ll see. Keep on moving!

Follow My Virtual Walk Progress

Long time no see! It's been since early August since my last post here. I have a plan though, and I will be updating this blog a lot more often now than I usually do. I figure if I can write an update of my mileage on the virtual walk thread on SparkPeople.com, I can update it here also. I plan on updating this blog with how many miles I go on my elliptical each day, and how long it takes. That's basically what I do on the virtual walk thread.

Right now my minimum goal on the elliptical is to go for one mile six days a week. I won't say I will do it everyday, I'm leaving one day open for a rest today. And I won't specify a day as my rest day, I'll just take a rest day when I feel like it. Right now, I'm going about 45 minutes on the elliptical five or six days a week.

I plan on improving the time it takes me to do one mile. For the last four or five days I've been recording the time it takes me to do one mile. My fastest time was actually yesterday in a time of 33 minutes and 20 seconds. My fastest time before that was 33:45.

Today my plan was to do 45 minutes. It was one of those days where I could not stop looking at the display screen to see how far I had gone. So as soon as I hit the one mile mark, I said to myself "OK, you're done". I was a bit tired from yesterday, and I wanted it to be over with.

I like seeing progress on the elliptical. When I first got mine, my average speed was about 45 revolutions per minute. Now my average speed is about 52 revolutions per minute. I remember 52 RPM being the top speed I was able do, and I could only hold that pace for 15 to 30 seconds. Now it feels a lot slower to go less than 52. Yesterday, I had a top speed of 60 RPM. It didn't stay there for very long, but I saw it. My steady high speed now is about 56 to 58.

Today I did one mile in about 34:12 which is about my average time. According to the virtual walk website, I've walked 185 miles since I started.

My elliptical stats for today are:
Distance: 1 mile
Revolutions: 1760
Resistance level: 1
Endurance: OK
Time: 33:12
1 mile time: 33:12

Virtual walk website stats:
Total miles since April 28, 2008: 185 miles
3.04 miles to go until Charlottesville, Virginia, Albermarle County

This is the picture from the website at the point where I am currently. Since I started, the road has been one lane each direction. This is the first two lane road that I've seen. I wonder what it will look like when I hit the city of Charlottesville. I'll find out in about three days at the most.

Stay tuned for more updates on my mileage and pictures from the website.

Follow My Virtual Walk Progress

Long time no see! It's been since early August since my last post here. I have a plan though, and I will be updating this blog a lot more often now than I usually do. I figure if I can write an update of my mileage on the virtual walk thread on SparkPeople.com, I can update it here also. I plan on updating this blog with how many miles I go on my elliptical each day, and how long it takes. That's basically what I do on the virtual walk thread.

Right now my minimum goal on the elliptical is to go for one mile six days a week. I won't say I will do it everyday, I'm leaving one day open for a rest today. And I won't specify a day as my rest day, I'll just take a rest day when I feel like it. Right now, I'm going about 45 minutes on the elliptical five or six days a week.

I plan on improving the time it takes me to do one mile. For the last four or five days I've been recording the time it takes me to do one mile. My fastest time was actually yesterday in a time of 33 minutes and 20 seconds. My fastest time before that was 33:45.

Today my plan was to do 45 minutes. It was one of those days where I could not stop looking at the display screen to see how far I had gone. So as soon as I hit the one mile mark, I said to myself "OK, you're done". I was a bit tired from yesterday, and I wanted it to be over with.

I like seeing progress on the elliptical. When I first got mine, my average speed was about 45 revolutions per minute. Now my average speed is about 52 revolutions per minute. I remember 52 RPM being the top speed I was able do, and I could only hold that pace for 15 to 30 seconds. Now it feels a lot slower to go less than 52. Yesterday, I had a top speed of 60 RPM. It didn't stay there for very long, but I saw it. My steady high speed now is about 56 to 58.

Today I did one mile in about 34:12 which is about my average time. According to the virtual walk website, I've walked 185 miles since I started.

My elliptical stats for today are:
Distance: 1 mile
Revolutions: 1760
Resistance level: 1
Endurance: OK
Time: 33:12
1 mile time: 33:12

Virtual walk website stats:
Total miles since April 28, 2008: 185 miles
3.04 miles to go until Charlottesville, Virginia, Albermarle County

This is the picture from the website at the point where I am currently. Since I started, the road has been one lane each direction. This is the first two lane road that I've seen. I wonder what it will look like when I hit the city of Charlottesville. I'll find out in about three days at the most.

Stay tuned for more updates on my mileage and pictures from the website.

My Walk Across The Country

Today marks the end of my second year walking across the United States. Virtually, that is. A couple of years ago, I was looking into some sort of virtual walk. I could never figure out how to start my own, other than getting a certain distance from one place to another, like from where I live to where my parents live (cross country). That seemed pretty boring. I stumbled upon this site, and knew I had found what I was looking for. It tracks your progress cross country. You start out in Yorktown, VA and end up (eventually) in Florence, OR.

Every time you complete your walking, biking, or running for the day, you enter in your distance (up to the .1. It won't calculate .25 mile), and it gives you a snap shot of where you are on the route. It also gives you an updated tracking line. When you start, the line is red, and as you progress, it turns black. It gives you a picture of where you are (the snapshot) and also gives you a map of where you are in the general area, where you are in the state you're currently in, and a map of the whole country.

I've been doing this now for two years, and I've walked (on the elliptical) a total of 135.8 miles. I'm about 2.3 miles from Mineral, VA, and it's going to take me a very long time to reach OR. But that's OK. It's a great motivational tool to keep me going. I always look forward to entering my distance each time, and seeing where I am. I'm on a two lane road right now, with lots of green trees, and the snap shot for today has a few cars on the road.

 I thought it was a pretty cool site when I found it. And another cool thing is SparkPeople created a team almost a year ago and all of the members use that site. Most of the members have passed me by already, but that's OK. It's not a race. One of the team leaders just made it to the state of Kentucky. Pretty cool.

So, if you walk, run, or bike, check out this site, and start tracking your progress across the country. It's going to keep you motivated to keep moving.

My Walk Across The Country

Today marks the end of my second year walking across the United States. Virtually, that is. A couple of years ago, I was looking into some sort of virtual walk. I could never figure out how to start my own, other than getting a certain distance from one place to another, like from where I live to where my parents live (cross country). That seemed pretty boring. I stumbled upon this site, and knew I had found what I was looking for. It tracks your progress cross country. You start out in Yorktown, VA and end up (eventually) in Florence, OR.

Every time you complete your walking, biking, or running for the day, you enter in your distance (up to the .1. It won't calculate .25 mile), and it gives you a snap shot of where you are on the route. It also gives you an updated tracking line. When you start, the line is red, and as you progress, it turns black. It gives you a picture of where you are (the snapshot) and also gives you a map of where you are in the general area, where you are in the state you're currently in, and a map of the whole country.

I've been doing this now for two years, and I've walked (on the elliptical) a total of 135.8 miles. I'm about 2.3 miles from Mineral, VA, and it's going to take me a very long time to reach OR. But that's OK. It's a great motivational tool to keep me going. I always look forward to entering my distance each time, and seeing where I am. I'm on a two lane road right now, with lots of green trees, and the snap shot for today has a few cars on the road.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

I thought it was a pretty cool site when I found it. And another cool thing is SparkPeople created a team almost a year ago and all of the members use that site. Most of the members have passed me by already, but that's OK. It's not a race. One of the team leaders just made it to the state of Kentucky. Pretty cool.

So, if you walk, run, or bike, check out this site, and start tracking your progress across the country. It's going to keep you motivated to keep moving.

Long Time Again...Update

It has been way too long since I've posted an entry here... again. There are few things I have updates on, my workouts, writing, and my ankle.

I've been doing OK with my working out. I've keeping up with strength training this past week. Last week I took off entirely, and it ended up being a good thing. Sometimes the body needs a break to get energy back to be able to keep going. It also gave my ankle a chance to improve. I believe I have tendinitis in my ankle, but that's strictly undiagnosed. Taking last week off was a help, because on Monday I did not feel any aches as I did my routine. Normally I would feel an ache in my ankle as I did "manly pushups", but on Monday I didn't feel anything.

Because I took last week off, I decided to test my ankle on the elliptical. I didn't have a really high hopes that I'd be able to do much of my elliptical workout, but I wanted to see how it was doing. I went for about 30 seconds and decided that it wasn't where I wanted it to be yet. But it is getting better. I'd say about 90% of the time I have no aches and pains in my left ankle. The other 10% I feel an ache, and that only if I step oddly. I used to be able to find an area on my ankle where I could push on an exact spot, and it would feel like a bruise. I can't find that spot anymore, no matter how hard I try. I'd say I have another two weeks and I should be OK. But I will take it one day at a time and not get my hopes up. I know eventually I'll be able to get back on my elliptical.

Now for the writing update. Back at the end of January I received, a few Direct Orders from a client at Textbroker.com. I believe I received four topics to write on and, I got those in on time. Last Tuesday the same person sent me 10 more Direct Orders and again I got them in on time. And again it wasn't too difficult in terms of the subject matter. Then yesterday I received two more articles to write from the same person. This time he sent me a note saying that if I was up for it, he would send me 20 to 30 articles each month. After I did a happy dance for about a minute or two, I sent back and note saying that I'd be up for the challenge. So I've got two articles to write today, and we'll go from there. I was hoping that eventually I'd receive an offer like this, and it's happened. I'm happy that the topics are all health related. I feel like I'm knowledgeable about health topics as I've been learning more and more about health and fitness in the last three years.

Speaking of health, I celebrated my third year on SparkPeople.com on Monday the 8^th. It was actually back in February 2007 that I decided to get my butt in gear and get healthy. I didn't find SparkPeople until the beginning of March. The last three years have really flown by, and I think that's because I have more energy, and I am able to do more than I used to. I don't even want to think about where I would be now if I didn't find SparkPeople.com. That's kind of scary to think about actually.

So that's where I am today. Thought I would update everyone that reads this blog, since it's been so long. I'll do my best to post an entry more often. I know I've said that before, that's why I say I'll do my best, LOL.

The rest of my day is going to consist of working out, writing, laundry, and other housework. Do you all have plans for the weekend?