Squeeze Exercise In When You Can

It seems like over the last six months, it’s been harder to complete my exercise routine. I’m not sure what changed, but when I first began this weight loss journey (now fitness journey since I’m at a healthy weight), I was able to complete my entire routine, and was showered and dressed by 9:30 or 10:00 in the morning. Now, it feels like I can’t get started.

I have more morning email to get through (newsletters, forum posts, and the like), and I now get started exercising around 7:30 and 8:00 (am usually out of bed by 6:00). I have a hard time completing my elliptical workout if I don’t eat. I need that food to get me through. My morning coffee won’t cut it unfortunately. So I wait until I eat breakfast before I jump on it.

It takes me about 45 minutes to an hour to do 30 minutes of elliptical work. I need to cut my breaks down to shorter amounts of time, and I am working on it. I feel like I’m under a time crunch, and I don’t know why. I know everything will get done that needs to get done, I just have this expectation of when I want to get it done.

Well, life doesn’t work that way. Life is erratic and inconvenient. Surprise visits from family, bad night’s sleep, or whatever else might make it difficult to stay on a normal schedule, things happen. You need to do things when you can. If you can’t get in your morning workout, then do it in the afternoon. If it comes down to it, do it in the evening. Just get it done.

Take today. It’s Wednesday. I have strength training scheduled along with a mile on the elliptical. Total workout time is probably an hour and a half. Do I prefer to do it all in one chunk? Sure! Will it? Probably not today. I will most likely get my strength training done before breakfast. But my elliptical workout might have to wait. I’m expecting a FedEX delivery sometime today, and they need a signature. So I need to be where I can hear someone knock on the door. If I’m at my desk, I can hear the truck pull up, but it will take me a while to get to the door. So I need to be out in the other room before the guy knocks and runs (why does it feel like they run around the corner as soon as you open the door?). So that also means, any writing work will have to wait.

My point is, my elliptical workout will happen, just not when I want it to. It might be 2 in the afternoon before I do it, and if it’s that late, I’m already preparing for an internal argument with myself. It seems like 2 PM hits and the exercise window has closed. There’s no window. If there is a window, it’s open all the time. I have to suck it up and do it.

I think I’ve convinced myself to exercise no matter what time it is (well, maybe not after 6 PM, hehehe).

I was a good girl yesterday, and got in my mile after the webinar and after I had lunch. And I’m actually writing this post at around 6 PM Tuesday. I’m squeezing writing in when I can too. I have a certain amount of things to accomplish in a day, and I have to squish it in where I can. Little bit here, little bit there, and before you know it, it’s all done.

I did my mile, and I made my goal of doing it in 300 revolution chunks. We’ll see how today goes. Here are my stats for yesterday.

Elliptical:
Distance - 1 mile
Revolutions - 1600
Resistance Level - 1
Endurance - Good. Stopped at 300, 600, 900, 1200, and 1500 revs.
Injury - None
Time - 32:00

Move when you can, just keep moving!

Long Time No Post…Again

Well, I was right when I saw myself having to deal with blisters. I first had a regular blister (after I did a mile on November 24), which popped on it’s own. And then I ended up with a blood blister (a few days later), which I had to pop and drain. I’m thinking the socks that I wear are too thin. Strange since I’ve worn them before and have had no problems. This was before the calluses got soft and came off. Anyway, yesterday I wore a pair of new (old, just not really ever worn) socks, and they seem to be OK. I also had a band-aid over the blister area. All was well. I managed .7 mile and spent 25 minutes on the elliptical yesterday.

I haven’t uploaded any of the pictures from the virtual walk site for a while. I got lazy and kept telling myself “I’ll post it later”. Well, you know what “later” means? You won’t do it. When you say “later”, things just end up piling up and then your list of things you’ll do “later” gets longer and longer, and you procrastinate even more. Then you get overwhelmed, and nothing gets accomplished. Time to buckle down and get it done. I get dangerously close to doing this with writing assignments also. I’ve got 8 articles to write by the end of the week. One I can technically extend by sending it back into the queue and claiming it again (giving me 7 more days). Five I can ask the client for more time (he’s the best client ever and is very flexible), and two I have to do by a certain date or my “rating” goes down. So after I post this, I need to get busy. Time to break out the egg timer and set a specific time to write. Once the timer goes off, I’ll give myself a five or ten minute break and then get back to it.

Here are the last several pictures from the virtual walk site.

Mile 201

Mile 202

Mile 202.6 (I went .7, but it registered as .6)

Looks like it’s nice and sunny on the tour. Don’t know if I’ll do any exercise or not today. We’ll see how much I get done the rest of the morning.

I’ve gone a total of 202.6 miles. I’m 3.24 miles from Whitehall, VA Charlottesville City County.

Hope you all have a great week. Don’t procrastinate! Get it done. But remember to take breaks so you don’t burn out.

Long Time No Post…Again

Well, I was right when I saw myself having to deal with blisters. I first had a regular blister (after I did a mile on November 24), which popped on it’s own. And then I ended up with a blood blister (a few days later), which I had to pop and drain. I’m thinking the socks that I wear are too thin. Strange since I’ve worn them before and have had no problems. This was before the calluses got soft and came off. Anyway, yesterday I wore a pair of new (old, just not really ever worn) socks, and they seem to be OK. I also had a band-aid over the blister area. All was well. I managed .7 mile and spent 25 minutes on the elliptical yesterday.

I haven’t uploaded any of the pictures from the virtual walk site for a while. I got lazy and kept telling myself “I’ll post it later”. Well, you know what “later” means? You won’t do it. When you say “later”, things just end up piling up and then your list of things you’ll do “later” gets longer and longer, and you procrastinate even more. Then you get overwhelmed, and nothing gets accomplished. Time to buckle down and get it done. I get dangerously close to doing this with writing assignments also. I’ve got 8 articles to write by the end of the week. One I can technically extend by sending it back into the queue and claiming it again (giving me 7 more days). Five I can ask the client for more time (he’s the best client ever and is very flexible), and two I have to do by a certain date or my “rating” goes down. So after I post this, I need to get busy. Time to break out the egg timer and set a specific time to write. Once the timer goes off, I’ll give myself a five or ten minute break and then get back to it.

Here are the last several pictures from the virtual walk site.

Mile 201



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

Mile 202



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

Mile 202.6 (I went .7, but it registered as .6)



 

Copyright 2006 Lawrence Berkeley Lab

Looks like it’s nice and sunny on the tour. Don’t know if I’ll do any exercise or not today. We’ll see how much I get done the rest of the morning.

I’ve gone a total of 202.6 miles. I’m 3.24 miles from Whitehall, VA Charlottesville City County.

Hope you all have a great week. Don’t procrastinate! Get it done. But remember to take breaks so you don’t burn out.

Workin’ On The Weekend

I took the last two days off from exercise because I wanted to see if the muscle knots in my lower right leg would go away. They have somewhat, but they are still there. I plan on getting onto the elliptical again tomorrow. I also plan on switching back to my Five Fingers shoes. I'm not sure how long I'll go on the elliptical tomorrow morning, but I want to try for at least a half mile. That will probably take me about 20 minutes, which will be enough time to see how my shoes do.

I am enjoying the cooler weather lately. The weather has finally changed from summer to fall out here in the California desert. We are now having highs in the lower to mid eighties, instead of in the nineties or lower hundreds. We also got a ton of rain earlier in the week. I think we ended up getting over an 1½ inch, but I can't be sure.

I did get a lot of writing done today. I wrote five articles plus this blog post. I have two more to write before looking for more. I will do those tomorrow as my eyes are dead.

Hope your weekend is going well. Keep on moving.

Workin’ On The Weekend

I took the last two days off from exercise because I wanted to see if the muscle knots in my lower right leg would go away. They have somewhat, but they are still there. I plan on getting onto the elliptical again tomorrow. I also plan on switching back to my Five Fingers shoes. I'm not sure how long I'll go on the elliptical tomorrow morning, but I want to try for at least a half mile. That will probably take me about 20 minutes, which will be enough time to see how my shoes do.

I am enjoying the cooler weather lately. The weather has finally changed from summer to fall out here in the California desert. We are now having highs in the lower to mid eighties, instead of in the nineties or lower hundreds. We also got a ton of rain earlier in the week. I think we ended up getting over an 1½ inch, but I can't be sure.

I did get a lot of writing done today. I wrote five articles plus this blog post. I have two more to write before looking for more. I will do those tomorrow as my eyes are dead.

Hope your weekend is going well. Keep on moving.

Exercise Progress...And My "Problem"

It has been way too long since my last update here. It seems like that's how I've started the last few entries. Been a long time, but things are still improving and moving in the right direction (well, other than the scale). Exercise? Awesome. Writing? Still going well. Food? Meh. Scale movement? Wrong way.

First off, exercise. I'm making quite a lot of progress with my routines. My strength training is still the same, but it is getting a tiny bit easier. I'm still using the 10 pound weights and doing one set of 15 for each exercise. The lying triceps extensions are getting a bit easier, as long as I remember to do them first, instead of last. I'm not to the point yet where I feel comfortable doing more than one set. It is getting easier though. I don't feel like my arms are going to fall off after I'm done anymore.

I'm still not doing push ups. I nixed those from my routine a while back because they put way too much pressure on my wrists. My left wrist specifically. Right now I don't have any aches and pains in my left wrist anymore, but I don't want to do push up quite yet. I don't know if I'll add them back in at all or not. I hate push ups. They're my least favorite exercise. I'd rather do more chest press exercises with my weights than do push ups. Push ups are evil.

Speaking of aches and pains. I am now pain free as far as my left ankle goes. It was weird. A few weeks ago I was still having twinges here and there. About two or three weeks ago, I actually took a full week off from my elliptical because it hurt so bad. Got back on and it was OK. Had a twinge here and there, but it was mostly fine. Now? I don't feel any discomfort at all. It was there one day, and gone the next. I'm not even using my ice pack or heating pad anymore. No more Icy Hot either. I think what helped it to get better was lots and lots of stretching. Stretching my heel cord and hamstring in particular.






I bought a handy dandy gizmo a few months ago which I give all the credit to. I used to see this thing every time I was on an airplane looking through the Sky Mall magazine. I always thought about getting one. Well, I finally did. And I'm glad. I've always had a hard time stretching my heel cords. But this gizmo makes it a lot easier. Just put your foot on it with your heel against the back support and lean into it. I think a “normal” person can flex their foot to make their heel go down naturally, and I can sort of do it with my right foot. But with my left, I need to bend at the waist to get the stretch I need. My left heel cord is so tight, that foot is hard to move without help.

Seeing as I have no more pain in my left ankle, I'm stepping up my elliptical routine. I'm up to doing one mile three days a week, and a half mile three days a week. On the half mile days, I'm increasing the resistance to level 2. And my one mile days are getting easier and a little bit faster. I have had to make a few changes though.

The display screen on my elliptical is acting up a bit. I'm having to change the batteries every other week. Last time I changed them, it didn't seem to help, the screen was still flickering. It's very strange. Might be a loose connection or something. The “poles” that you hang on to as you're moving have a tendency to bang from side to side every now and then. Hard. And if the batteries are almost dead, one good whack can reset it. It's now starting to do that even with fresh batteries. So, I've gotten into the habit of setting a timer as a backup. Plus, I pretty much listen to the same CD every time I'm on it, so I know which song is playing when I normally finish my mile.

I hate to say it, but I think I've got a little bit of an obsessive compulsive problem in terms of mileage. When my screen resets I flip out if I don't know how far I've gone. I can take a guess, but I know it's not exactly right. So, I'm not focusing on mileage anymore, at least not as strictly as I was. I'm going for time. I normally do one mile in 37 to 38 minutes. I'm now going for 40 minutes. Yesterday I did 1.1 mile in 40.5. See? I couldn't stop at 40 because I was SO close to the next .1 mile. I had to continue. Need to work on that little “problem”. I have a little dialogue in my head that goes like this:

Sane Tee: OK, 40 minutes is up. You can stop now.
Insane Tee: I have 40 more revolutions until the next .1 mile. I can make it.
Sane Tee: Just stop and say you did 1.1 mile. It's close enough.
Insane Tee: But it's NOT exact.

And if I go one or two revolutions passed the mark? I always say “Oops”. So, I've got a bit of a problem. I'm dealing with it though. So, focusing on time will make me stop obsessing, especially if my screen resets. I'll be forced to estimate my distance at the point.

This entry is getting a bit long, so I'll stop for now. I'll cover the food and writing topics at another time. I've also got two new types of tea from Teavana I need to review. I've already had one of them, and all I can say is yum!

Stay cool everyone. Today is the first day of summer, so drink plenty of water. So far the temperatures here in the desert haven't been too horrible. We reached 109 a few weeks ago, but it's been just over 100 the rest of the time. High is usually 102 to 105. We had a week where we had a high of 109 to a high of 85. It was crazy.

Keep moving!

Exercise Progress...And My "Problem"

It has been way too long since my last update here. It seems like that's how I've started the last few entries. Been a long time, but things are still improving and moving in the right direction (well, other than the scale). Exercise? Awesome. Writing? Still going well. Food? Meh. Scale movement? Wrong way.

First off, exercise. I'm making quite a lot of progress with my routines. My strength training is still the same, but it is getting a tiny bit easier. I'm still using the 10 pound weights and doing one set of 15 for each exercise. The lying triceps extensions are getting a bit easier, as long as I remember to do them first, instead of last. I'm not to the point yet where I feel comfortable doing more than one set. It is getting easier though. I don't feel like my arms are going to fall off after I'm done anymore.

I'm still not doing push ups. I nixed those from my routine a while back because they put way too much pressure on my wrists. My left wrist specifically. Right now I don't have any aches and pains in my left wrist anymore, but I don't want to do push up quite yet. I don't know if I'll add them back in at all or not. I hate push ups. They're my least favorite exercise. I'd rather do more chest press exercises with my weights than do push ups. Push ups are evil.

Speaking of aches and pains. I am now pain free as far as my left ankle goes. It was weird. A few weeks ago I was still having twinges here and there. About two or three weeks ago, I actually took a full week off from my elliptical because it hurt so bad. Got back on and it was OK. Had a twinge here and there, but it was mostly fine. Now? I don't feel any discomfort at all. It was there one day, and gone the next. I'm not even using my ice pack or heating pad anymore. No more Icy Hot either. I think what helped it to get better was lots and lots of stretching. Stretching my heel cord and hamstring in particular.



http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=keemovtee-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B000GAAXGK&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr


I bought a handy dandy gizmo a few months ago which I give all the credit to. I used to see this thing every time I was on an airplane looking through the Sky Mall magazine. I always thought about getting one. Well, I finally did. And I'm glad. I've always had a hard time stretching my heel cords. But this gizmo makes it a lot easier. Just put your foot on it with your heel against the back support and lean into it. I think a “normal” person can flex their foot to make their heel go down naturally, and I can sort of do it with my right foot. But with my left, I need to bend at the waist to get the stretch I need. My left heel cord is so tight, that foot is hard to move without help.

Seeing as I have no more pain in my left ankle, I'm stepping up my elliptical routine. I'm up to doing one mile three days a week, and a half mile three days a week. On the half mile days, I'm increasing the resistance to level 2. And my one mile days are getting easier and a little bit faster. I have had to make a few changes though.

The display screen on my elliptical is acting up a bit. I'm having to change the batteries every other week. Last time I changed them, it didn't seem to help, the screen was still flickering. It's very strange. Might be a loose connection or something. The “poles” that you hang on to as you're moving have a tendency to bang from side to side every now and then. Hard. And if the batteries are almost dead, one good whack can reset it. It's now starting to do that even with fresh batteries. So, I've gotten into the habit of setting a timer as a backup. Plus, I pretty much listen to the same CD every time I'm on it, so I know which song is playing when I normally finish my mile.

I hate to say it, but I think I've got a little bit of an obsessive compulsive problem in terms of mileage. When my screen resets I flip out if I don't know how far I've gone. I can take a guess, but I know it's not exactly right. So, I'm not focusing on mileage anymore, at least not as strictly as I was. I'm going for time. I normally do one mile in 37 to 38 minutes. I'm now going for 40 minutes. Yesterday I did 1.1 mile in 40.5. See? I couldn't stop at 40 because I was SO close to the next .1 mile. I had to continue. Need to work on that little “problem”. I have a little dialogue in my head that goes like this:

Sane Tee: OK, 40 minutes is up. You can stop now.
Insane Tee: I have 40 more revolutions until the next .1 mile. I can make it.
Sane Tee: Just stop and say you did 1.1 mile. It's close enough.
Insane Tee: But it's NOT exact.

And if I go one or two revolutions passed the mark? I always say “Oops”. So, I've got a bit of a problem. I'm dealing with it though. So, focusing on time will make me stop obsessing, especially if my screen resets. I'll be forced to estimate my distance at the point.

This entry is getting a bit long, so I'll stop for now. I'll cover the food and writing topics at another time. I've also got two new types of tea from Teavana I need to review. I've already had one of them, and all I can say is yum!

Stay cool everyone. Today is the first day of summer, so drink plenty of water. So far the temperatures here in the desert haven't been too horrible. We reached 109 a few weeks ago, but it's been just over 100 the rest of the time. High is usually 102 to 105. We had a week where we had a high of 109 to a high of 85. It was crazy.

Keep moving!

Random Update

It's been a bit longer than I'd like since my last entry here. I still haven't gotten a post schedule down for this blog. I really should set a schedule, but I never seem to be able to stick with it.

My first week back on my elliptical went very well. I only did one tenth of a mile three days last week, but that was my plan. Best to start slow, and build up from there. This week, I'm up to .2 mile. It's actually getting easier, as far as endurance. I really wanted to keep going yesterday, once I hit the .2 mark. I really thought about it. But I decided to stick with the plan and only go the .2. I may go for .3 tomorrow though.

My ankle is playing mind games on me. When I first start, it's really stiff, and I almost convince myself to stop. But it eventually loosens up and feels great. The first couple of days, I kept thinking I felt a twinge here or there. I really do think it was my mind playing tricks on me. It doesn't hurt at all, and I just tell myself to keep going.

Seems as though Wednesdays are my slack off days. I did do my workout, but it took me forever to get it all done. I honestly don't know why. I got into my workout clothes around 8:15, and finished at around 10:30. It should not have taken me that long. I didn't have that many bathroom breaks. I did do the pilates workout, and that adds about five minutes. Then after my workout, I got caught up on Biggest Loser. And that also took forever to finish. I made lunch about halfway through it. The husband got back from work, so I turned it off, and we watched the show Justified (on FX). When I finally finished Loser, it was about 5 PM.

I got absolutely no writing done, but that's OK, I don't have any pending assignments at the moment. I planned on writing a blog here yesterday, but time got away. Also managed to get two loads of laundry done, so that's something.

So, today, I'm getting busy. It's an early work day for my husband (he was actually awake by 4:45 AM and gone by the time I got up at 6 AM). I should have gotten up when he did, but that's too early. Crazy early.

Sorry this post is so boring. I plan on addressing a question from Tina's blog very soon.

Need to start getting my workouts done earlier, the desert heat is coming back soon, and it will be 120 before you know it. Supposed to be 90 today. Time to break out the shorts. Bah.

Have a good one.

Random Update

It's been a bit longer than I'd like since my last entry here. I still haven't gotten a post schedule down for this blog. I really should set a schedule, but I never seem to be able to stick with it.

My first week back on my elliptical went very well. I only did one tenth of a mile three days last week, but that was my plan. Best to start slow, and build up from there. This week, I'm up to .2 mile. It's actually getting easier, as far as endurance. I really wanted to keep going yesterday, once I hit the .2 mark. I really thought about it. But I decided to stick with the plan and only go the .2. I may go for .3 tomorrow though.

My ankle is playing mind games on me. When I first start, it's really stiff, and I almost convince myself to stop. But it eventually loosens up and feels great. The first couple of days, I kept thinking I felt a twinge here or there. I really do think it was my mind playing tricks on me. It doesn't hurt at all, and I just tell myself to keep going.

Seems as though Wednesdays are my slack off days. I did do my workout, but it took me forever to get it all done. I honestly don't know why. I got into my workout clothes around 8:15, and finished at around 10:30. It should not have taken me that long. I didn't have that many bathroom breaks. I did do the pilates workout, and that adds about five minutes. Then after my workout, I got caught up on Biggest Loser. And that also took forever to finish. I made lunch about halfway through it. The husband got back from work, so I turned it off, and we watched the show Justified (on FX). When I finally finished Loser, it was about 5 PM.

I got absolutely no writing done, but that's OK, I don't have any pending assignments at the moment. I planned on writing a blog here yesterday, but time got away. Also managed to get two loads of laundry done, so that's something.

So, today, I'm getting busy. It's an early work day for my husband (he was actually awake by 4:45 AM and gone by the time I got up at 6 AM). I should have gotten up when he did, but that's too early. Crazy early.

Sorry this post is so boring. I plan on addressing a question from Tina's blog very soon.

Need to start getting my workouts done earlier, the desert heat is coming back soon, and it will be 120 before you know it. Supposed to be 90 today. Time to break out the shorts. Bah.

Have a good one.

End Of The Week Update

It's been a productive week all in all. I completed three strength training routines, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I got my assigned articles turned in by Tuesday evening. I got one more quick and easy article written Wednesday night (just a fast “paraphrase this article type. Took me an hour total.). And I did a boat load of blog reading. I've still got a ton of blog posts to read. I subscribed to quite a few writing blogs in the last several days, and am working my way through their old posts. So far, I'm learning quite a bit.

I got a late start on my exercise routine today. I didn't get it done until after lunch. I was busy setting up memberships with the content sites Xomba.com, HubPages.com, and InfoBarrel.com. I've heard good things for all three from the blog reading I've done. Had myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat toast. GREAT combo. I've been meaning to try this for a while. Toast up some whole wheat bread, spread 2 tablespoons of PB on, slice a banana, put the slices on the toast, mash them together, and yum! Will be doing that again, for sure.

After I ate, I got in my strength training. Did very well. I'm really thinking about getting 10 pound weights soon. Maybe a month or two, who knows. Maybe not until the fall. We'll see. If this writing thing really gets going, I'll be getting them sooner rather than later. Seemed like most of the arm exercises I did today were easy. There are only a few I still struggle with. The front arm raises and lying triceps extensions in particular. Those still take effort.

I was really tempted to get on my elliptical today. I've had no twinges at all this week in my ankle. I did a funky run in place move the other day and felt nothing in my ankle. I leaned against the couch and did a run in place but left my toes on the ground (if that makes sense). So, I will try it out on Monday.

Food wise, this week was BAD. Papa John's, Arby's, McDonald's (had a salad from McDs', but it didn't fill me up so I ended up having two servings of peanut butter M&M's). It wasn't pretty. So, Monday's weigh in should be interesting. Another reason, I'm hoping my ankle is OK Monday. I need to burn all of this crap off.
I do so well during the day. Dinner just kills me though. I can't remember if I've mentioned this here, but we live with my in-laws. And for the most part, my mother-in-law does dinner. This week was a lot of fast food. I should have opted to eat cereal on those nights, or a sandwich, but oh well. Done is done. The rest of the time, it's meals that contain a lot of grease, or oil. Fried chicken, fried potatoes and eggs. Eggs and bacon. Burgers. So yeah, dinner kills me.

So that's my little update for the week. I want to get another post up Saturday or Sunday, or both! I got my delivery from Teavanna.com this afternoon, and am looking forward to trying out the four varieties I got. I'll make sure and give my review this weekend.

For now, have a great weekend, and keep moving!

What are your downfalls when it comes to eating right? Candy? Chocolate? Fast food?

End Of The Week Update

It's been a productive week all in all. I completed three strength training routines, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I got my assigned articles turned in by Tuesday evening. I got one more quick and easy article written Wednesday night (just a fast “paraphrase this article type. Took me an hour total.). And I did a boat load of blog reading. I've still got a ton of blog posts to read. I subscribed to quite a few writing blogs in the last several days, and am working my way through their old posts. So far, I'm learning quite a bit.

I got a late start on my exercise routine today. I didn't get it done until after lunch. I was busy setting up memberships with the content sites Xomba.com, HubPages.com, and InfoBarrel.com. I've heard good things for all three from the blog reading I've done. Had myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat toast. GREAT combo. I've been meaning to try this for a while. Toast up some whole wheat bread, spread 2 tablespoons of PB on, slice a banana, put the slices on the toast, mash them together, and yum! Will be doing that again, for sure.

After I ate, I got in my strength training. Did very well. I'm really thinking about getting 10 pound weights soon. Maybe a month or two, who knows. Maybe not until the fall. We'll see. If this writing thing really gets going, I'll be getting them sooner rather than later. Seemed like most of the arm exercises I did today were easy. There are only a few I still struggle with. The front arm raises and lying triceps extensions in particular. Those still take effort.

I was really tempted to get on my elliptical today. I've had no twinges at all this week in my ankle. I did a funky run in place move the other day and felt nothing in my ankle. I leaned against the couch and did a run in place but left my toes on the ground (if that makes sense). So, I will try it out on Monday.

Food wise, this week was BAD. Papa John's, Arby's, McDonald's (had a salad from McDs', but it didn't fill me up so I ended up having two servings of peanut butter M&M's). It wasn't pretty. So, Monday's weigh in should be interesting. Another reason, I'm hoping my ankle is OK Monday. I need to burn all of this crap off.
I do so well during the day. Dinner just kills me though. I can't remember if I've mentioned this here, but we live with my in-laws. And for the most part, my mother-in-law does dinner. This week was a lot of fast food. I should have opted to eat cereal on those nights, or a sandwich, but oh well. Done is done. The rest of the time, it's meals that contain a lot of grease, or oil. Fried chicken, fried potatoes and eggs. Eggs and bacon. Burgers. So yeah, dinner kills me.

So that's my little update for the week. I want to get another post up Saturday or Sunday, or both! I got my delivery from Teavanna.com this afternoon, and am looking forward to trying out the four varieties I got. I'll make sure and give my review this weekend.

For now, have a great weekend, and keep moving!

What are your downfalls when it comes to eating right? Candy? Chocolate? Fast food?

Caffeinated Tea To The Rescue

Is anyone else having trouble adjusting to the time change? It's been almost a week since we set our clocks forward an hour, and I'm still not adjusted. I normally wake up around 6:30 or 7:00 AM. I would love to get up by 6:00 AM, and am making that my ultimate goal eventually. I always feel like I get a lot more accomplished when I wake up super early.

But, this year, the time change is more annoying than it ever has been. Without the alarm clock, I'm waking up at 7:30 or 8:00. Not late, but later than I'd like. So, we've been setting an alarm clock to help us wake up. The hard part, is getting out of bed. It's so easy to just roll over and go back to sleep. But once I force myself to sit up and actually get out of bed, I'm fine.

I still find myself dragging in the morning, even after my two cups of green tea. So I've been making a mid morning tea that has been somewhat helpful. Guayakí Yerba Maté.




My mother-in-law gave it me a long time ago. I didn't read the instructions properly the first time, and didn't let it steep long enough. So I thought it just tasted bland, and basically tasted like hot water. The instructions say to let it steep for 3 to 10 minutes. That's a very wide range of time, and I think I did it for the minimum the first time around. I've since been letting it steep for 10 minutes, and it's much stronger.

I'm not sure how much caffeine is in it, but it seems to be much more than my normal green tea. It's a maté tea, which is said to have the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Fine by me. I've learned a lot about teas from Tevana.com and plan to make a purchase there in the near future. I've got a few of their teas written down to try out. Some caffeinated, others not. I love tea. It makes the perfect snack if you've got a sweet craving.

So, I'm sipping on my tea, and it's already making me feel more alert. And the other thing about caffeinated tea is it doesn't leave my stomach feeling bad afterward. A while ago, I was contemplating  going back to drinking coffee, but after learning more about the various teas out there, I've made the decision not to go back to coffee. Tea for Tee all the way.

I've been keeping up with my strength training workouts so far this week. Feeling strong and feeling like I'm able to do a bit more. I may add another set of 15 reps to my arm routine. Maybe. If I had 10 pound weights, I might up it to that. But my heaviest weights are 8 pounds, so I'll just add more reps instead. I may eventually look into buying 10 pound weights, but not quite yet. I think 10 pounds will be the max I ever lift, but you never know. There are certain exercises that are getting really easy now with the 8 pound weights. Arm curls and chest flies just to name two.

Still waiting on my ankle to get to 100%. It's getting so close. The only time it hurts at all now is if I put excessive weight on it, like going up stairs. Now and then, I'll go up a step with more effort than normal, and it'll twinge. But not bad at all. I need to keep using ice. I think that has really been the key to getting it to heal up finally. It's been since late December that I've done any cardio.

I mentioned last week that I got offered to write about 20 to 30 articles a month for a person at TextBroker.com. I've not received any assignments yet, but I'm sure I will soon. I've been reading blogs and articles in the meantime about residual income, and am looking into a few content sites to put up my own articles. I already belong to AssociatedContent.com and eHow.com, but I don't have much on them yet. A few blogs I've read said that people can make $1,000 dollars a month in residual income at these sites, particularly eHow.com. How the heck? They must have a ton of articles posted. I have about 10 to 12, and have made about $4.00. Total. Hehehe. I need to get writing.

I seem to get more writing done when I write for someone else, and have an actual deadline. When I just write for me, I tend to put it off. I need to set myself a deadline and get it done. That's the plan today. Work on a few articles for eHow and upload them. I can do those types of articles while I wait for the TextBroker assignments to come in. I'm wondering if I should email the guy and ask him when to expect them. Nah, I'll be patient. They'll come eventually. He wouldn't have asked if he wasn't going to send anything right?

Update: Ask and you shall receive. Well, my instinct to be patient on the writing assignments was a good thing. I just got a boatload of assignments sent to me. I've got 13 articles to write and they're due by next Wednesday. He's very nice and said to let him know if I need more time. Shouldn't be a problem though, but it's nice that he's so flexible.

See what happens when I'm caffeinated? I write a lot. Gets my brain awake, and things just flow. Caffeinated teas are the way to go for me. No bad after effects, and it gives me the boost I need.

Are you a coffee or tea drinker? Have you considered trying the other option? If you drink tea, are you willing to give coffee a shot, and vice versa?

Caffeinated Tea To The Rescue

Is anyone else having trouble adjusting to the time change? It's been almost a week since we set our clocks forward an hour, and I'm still not adjusted. I normally wake up around 6:30 or 7:00 AM. I would love to get up by 6:00 AM, and am making that my ultimate goal eventually. I always feel like I get a lot more accomplished when I wake up super early.

But, this year, the time change is more annoying than it ever has been. Without the alarm clock, I'm waking up at 7:30 or 8:00. Not late, but later than I'd like. So, we've been setting an alarm clock to help us wake up. The hard part, is getting out of bed. It's so easy to just roll over and go back to sleep. But once I force myself to sit up and actually get out of bed, I'm fine.

I still find myself dragging in the morning, even after my two cups of green tea. So I've been making a mid morning tea that has been somewhat helpful. Guayakí Yerba Maté.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=keemovtee-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0001CXRLG&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr


My mother-in-law gave it me a long time ago. I didn't read the instructions properly the first time, and didn't let it steep long enough. So I thought it just tasted bland, and basically tasted like hot water. The instructions say to let it steep for 3 to 10 minutes. That's a very wide range of time, and I think I did it for the minimum the first time around. I've since been letting it steep for 10 minutes, and it's much stronger.

I'm not sure how much caffeine is in it, but it seems to be much more than my normal green tea. It's a maté tea, which is said to have the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Fine by me. I've learned a lot about teas from Tevana.com and plan to make a purchase there in the near future. I've got a few of their teas written down to try out. Some caffeinated, others not. I love tea. It makes the perfect snack if you've got a sweet craving.

So, I'm sipping on my tea, and it's already making me feel more alert. And the other thing about caffeinated tea is it doesn't leave my stomach feeling bad afterward. A while ago, I was contemplating  going back to drinking coffee, but after learning more about the various teas out there, I've made the decision not to go back to coffee. Tea for Tee all the way.

I've been keeping up with my strength training workouts so far this week. Feeling strong and feeling like I'm able to do a bit more. I may add another set of 15 reps to my arm routine. Maybe. If I had 10 pound weights, I might up it to that. But my heaviest weights are 8 pounds, so I'll just add more reps instead. I may eventually look into buying 10 pound weights, but not quite yet. I think 10 pounds will be the max I ever lift, but you never know. There are certain exercises that are getting really easy now with the 8 pound weights. Arm curls and chest flies just to name two.

Still waiting on my ankle to get to 100%. It's getting so close. The only time it hurts at all now is if I put excessive weight on it, like going up stairs. Now and then, I'll go up a step with more effort than normal, and it'll twinge. But not bad at all. I need to keep using ice. I think that has really been the key to getting it to heal up finally. It's been since late December that I've done any cardio.

I mentioned last week that I got offered to write about 20 to 30 articles a month for a person at TextBroker.com. I've not received any assignments yet, but I'm sure I will soon. I've been reading blogs and articles in the meantime about residual income, and am looking into a few content sites to put up my own articles. I already belong to AssociatedContent.com and eHow.com, but I don't have much on them yet. A few blogs I've read said that people can make $1,000 dollars a month in residual income at these sites, particularly eHow.com. How the heck? They must have a ton of articles posted. I have about 10 to 12, and have made about $4.00. Total. Hehehe. I need to get writing.

I seem to get more writing done when I write for someone else, and have an actual deadline. When I just write for me, I tend to put it off. I need to set myself a deadline and get it done. That's the plan today. Work on a few articles for eHow and upload them. I can do those types of articles while I wait for the TextBroker assignments to come in. I'm wondering if I should email the guy and ask him when to expect them. Nah, I'll be patient. They'll come eventually. He wouldn't have asked if he wasn't going to send anything right?

Update: Ask and you shall receive. Well, my instinct to be patient on the writing assignments was a good thing. I just got a boatload of assignments sent to me. I've got 13 articles to write and they're due by next Wednesday. He's very nice and said to let him know if I need more time. Shouldn't be a problem though, but it's nice that he's so flexible.

See what happens when I'm caffeinated? I write a lot. Gets my brain awake, and things just flow. Caffeinated teas are the way to go for me. No bad after effects, and it gives me the boost I need.

Are you a coffee or tea drinker? Have you considered trying the other option? If you drink tea, are you willing to give coffee a shot, and vice versa?

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?

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?

Could Be An Interesting Day

Well, today hasn't started out exactly as planned. But let's back up a bit. Yesterday afternoon, I received a delivery of chocolaty goodness. My parents sent us the yearly Godiva box. Yum!

 As you can see, my husband and I have already dug into the box. I love Godiva. So good.

I woke up this morning at 5:30. My husband had to go out to work for a few hours this morning, and I decided to get up early also to get some writing done. Well, it hasn't exactly worked out the way I had hoped. I started my morning off as I usually do with this.

Teavana, I love Teavana. I have two cups of green tea in my special Tea mug my mom sent me a few years ago. Yum, it's a good  way to start the morning. As I was taking the pot out to the kitchen I dropped it, and it spilled tea leaves all over the place. Luckily the pot stayed intact and didn't break. Thank you tea gods. I ended up vacuuming our room and it wasn't even 7 AM yet!

I then decided it was probably going to be a long day and I poured myself some of my husband's left over morning coffee which was still warm. I used to drink coffee all the time, but I added sugar and creamer to it. I haven't had a cup of coffee for two years. I decided to test myself this morning, to see if I could drink it black. And I did! Surprised me. It wasn 't as bitter as it used to be. Very strange. Could this be the beginning of me drinking coffee again? Maybe. Probably not every day, but on early mornings like this, quite possibly.

So, now that I'm all caffeinated, I'm going to get some writing done. I think I have about half an hour before my husband gets back from work, maybe a little more. I can get something written in that amount of time. Must resist reading other blogs. I'm getting behind, but I can catch up later today.

I still need to get breakfast, so maybe I'll do that first. Honey Bunches Of Oats here I come!

Could Be An Interesting Day

Well, today hasn't started out exactly as planned. But let's back up a bit. Yesterday afternoon, I received a delivery of chocolaty goodness. My parents sent us the yearly Godiva box. Yum!

 As you can see, my husband and I have already dug into the box. I love Godiva. So good.

I woke up this morning at 5:30. My husband had to go out to work for a few hours this morning, and I decided to get up early also to get some writing done. Well, it hasn't exactly worked out the way I had hoped. I started my morning off as I usually do with this.

Teavana, I love Teavana. I have two cups of green tea in my special Tea mug my mom sent me a few years ago. Yum, it's a good  way to start the morning. As I was taking the pot out to the kitchen I dropped it, and it spilled tea leaves all over the place. Luckily the pot stayed intact and didn't break. Thank you tea gods. I ended up vacuuming our room and it wasn't even 7 AM yet!

I then decided it was probably going to be a long day and I poured myself some of my husband's left over morning coffee which was still warm. I used to drink coffee all the time, but I added sugar and creamer to it. I haven't had a cup of coffee for two years. I decided to test myself this morning, to see if I could drink it black. And I did! Surprised me. It wasn 't as bitter as it used to be. Very strange. Could this be the beginning of me drinking coffee again? Maybe. Probably not every day, but on early mornings like this, quite possibly.

So, now that I'm all caffeinated, I'm going to get some writing done. I think I have about half an hour before my husband gets back from work, maybe a little more. I can get something written in that amount of time. Must resist reading other blogs. I'm getting behind, but I can catch up later today.

I still need to get breakfast, so maybe I'll do that first. Honey Bunches Of Oats here I come!

First Day Of New Schedule: Success!

So yesterday was the first day of my new "work" schedule, and it worked out very well. I spent from 8 AM to 11 AM yesterday morning writing. I wrote one ghost writing article, a blog entry and I got my workout page up and running. I took a 30 minutes for lunch and then realized I didn't have to work again until 5 in the evening. Since my husband wasn't back from work yet, I decided to get more writing done. I did a quick vacuum job and took care of the cat box first.

From about 12 PM to 2 PM I spent some time editing articles for eHow and submitting them to the site. I then picked up another ghost writing article and got that turned in as well (a little later in the afternoon). It turned out to be a good thing that I got more writing in. My husband decided to take last night off from his World of Warcraft duties, hehe. He played a little bit of a different game, but quit early so we could get caught up on some shows.

We watched the last episode (series canceled and I'm not sad) of American Choppers. Then we watched the two hour premier of Survivor: Heroes vs Villains. Great first episode! My favorites from the Heroes side are Colby, James, and Stephanie (one tough girl there). My pick on the Villains side is Russell and Rob. Next week's show looks interesting.

This morning I woke up bright and early, around 6 AM, got caught up on e-mail and had my usual green tea. By 8 AM I was in my workout gear and getting busy. Did my usual strength training routine. I didn't do the Pilates video, I did my normal ab routine, and it felt great. I like switching off between the two options. And I did three sets of "manly" push ups. I haven't done push ups in several weeks, and I was surprised I could still manage three sets of 15. Felt great. My routine lasted about 55 minutes. I had Bon Jovi's The Circle album playing, and that lasts about 50 minutes.



I did five minutes after that, finishing my leg routine, so it worked out well. I normally don't play music during my strength training, but I may just start. Made it go by a lot faster.

Now I'm all showered and changed and I had a banana for a snack. I have a little time before lunch, so I'll post this and get started with my ghost writing article. The rest of my day is consisting of writing for most of the afternoon. Whatever I can get done. Start more articles for eHow, pick up more ghost writing assignments, you name it. We'll see how it goes.

Do you have any plans this weekend? Big plans for Valentine's Day?

First Day Of New Schedule: Success!

So yesterday was the first day of my new "work" schedule, and it worked out very well. I spent from 8 AM to 11 AM yesterday morning writing. I wrote one ghost writing article, a blog entry and I got my workout page up and running. I took a 30 minutes for lunch and then realized I didn't have to work again until 5 in the evening. Since my husband wasn't back from work yet, I decided to get more writing done. I did a quick vacuum job and took care of the cat box first.

From about 12 PM to 2 PM I spent some time editing articles for eHow and submitting them to the site. I then picked up another ghost writing article and got that turned in as well (a little later in the afternoon). It turned out to be a good thing that I got more writing in. My husband decided to take last night off from his World of Warcraft duties, hehe. He played a little bit of a different game, but quit early so we could get caught up on some shows.

We watched the last episode (series canceled and I'm not sad) of American Choppers. Then we watched the two hour premier of Survivor: Heroes vs Villains. Great first episode! My favorites from the Heroes side are Colby, James, and Stephanie (one tough girl there). My pick on the Villains side is Russell and Rob. Next week's show looks interesting.

This morning I woke up bright and early, around 6 AM, got caught up on e-mail and had my usual green tea. By 8 AM I was in my workout gear and getting busy. Did my usual strength training routine. I didn't do the Pilates video, I did my normal ab routine, and it felt great. I like switching off between the two options. And I did three sets of "manly" push ups. I haven't done push ups in several weeks, and I was surprised I could still manage three sets of 15. Felt great. My routine lasted about 55 minutes. I had Bon Jovi's The Circle album playing, and that lasts about 50 minutes.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=keemovtee-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B002N2XYBU&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

I did five minutes after that, finishing my leg routine, so it worked out well. I normally don't play music during my strength training, but I may just start. Made it go by a lot faster.

Now I'm all showered and changed and I had a banana for a snack. I have a little time before lunch, so I'll post this and get started with my ghost writing article. The rest of my day is consisting of writing for most of the afternoon. Whatever I can get done. Start more articles for eHow, pick up more ghost writing assignments, you name it. We'll see how it goes.

Do you have any plans this weekend? Big plans for Valentine's Day?

Set Up A New "Work" Schedule For Myself

The other day I had the idea of setting up some sort of "work" schedule. I tend to procrastinate when it comes to getting any writing done. I read e-mail and blogs, play on FaceBook and Twitter, and I never get any actual writing done.

I've finally set up a schedule and it seems to be working so far. The hours of "work" are sort of random depending on the day. I plan to exercise Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and don't plan to write until 10 AM. Then Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday I plan to write in the evenings for a few hours while my husband has a scheduled event in World of Warcraft. I plan on taking Saturdays off entirely, but I may write here or there anyway.

This is all just a tentative schedule. If it works, great, if I make tweaks here and there, fine. Just as long as I get some sort of writing done most days of the week. I'll be happy with that. So far today, I've gotten an article for a ghost writing site done, and I finally got my workout page set up here on Blogger.

I've got an hour before I eat lunch, and I plan of editing some articles for eHow, and I'll upload those to that site probably later this evening. So yeah, the schedule will work pretty well I think. As long as I resist the temptation to read blogs. That's my biggest time sink at the moment. I love reading other people's blogs, and seeing what they're up to.

Tomorrow is Friday, and I intend to get back into my exercise routine. I plan on doing my normal workout routine tomorrow. I'll see how close I come to my scheduled 10 AM writing date. I have a feeling I'll be early, which is fine. Once I get back on my elliptical, that 10 AM deadline will be harder to make. But make it I will.

Do you all have a set schedule you keep for getting things done? How flexible are you with it? Do you have any time sinks like FaceBook or blog reading that get in the way?