Fitbit

Hubby bought me a Fitbit Flex several days ago.  I had been looking in to them for a while, but held off because of the cost.  I absolutely love my Fitbit.  It was super easy to set up and is very comfortable to wear.  I downloaded the app for my phone and  I find myself checking it regularly to make sure how close I am hitting my daily goal.  

I also have my weight loss goal listed and that constant reminder helps me to make better food choices.  

Resolutions for the New Year

Every year we make resolutions for ourselves that are thrown out the window in just a few shorts weeks or months. Well, this year hubby and I decided to do it slightly different. He gave a resolution to me, I gave one to him, and we made one together as a couple.

His resolution for me: Lose 50 pounds this year.
My resolution for him: Have a more optimistic approach to things.
Our resolution together: Get out of the house and do more; get out of our comfort zone.

2008 was not a great year for us. Even our last meal of the year had a bit of a downside - I got a bonus hair in my steak dinner. We are looking forward to the great things that 2009 will be sending our way.

Happy New Year everyone. Hope your 2009 brings you all the great things you deserve.

Vegetarian Day 2

Day 2 was also very easy. I don't care for typical breakfast meats, so that is an easy meal to figure out what to eat (cereal or oatmeal and I am good). Lunch is also pretty easy and thanks to a Wendy's being really close to my office, there are options if I want to go out - and it is cheap. Dinner is the one that is a challenge. I don't want to make hubby prepare something separate for me (yes, he does all of the cooking during the week). For dinner, I went to the store and purchased a quiche and we had that. He was not satisfied, but he didn't complain. We decided not to go walking because I was very sore. Going from 1 mile to 2 miles without and transition was harder than I thought. It is a good thing we didn't go walking, hubby seems to be getting sick. Hopefully he will feel better in a couple of days. We are thinking it is just allergies, but not really sure.

A New Approach

I decided to try something new. I am going to try to eat vegetarian meals for 1 week and see if I can handle it. I don't eat a lot of meat anyway, so it should not be too hard. Today was the first day and it was not bad at all. I learned that broccoli and peanut butter don't make a good combination, but other than that it was pretty easy. In addition, hubby and I walked 2 miles at the park this afternoon (4 laps around). The first two laps were not too bad, but the third lap and part of the forth lap was a killer. But the important part is that I made it through and plan to go again tomorrow. One way or another, this weight is coming off!

Finally Friday

For some reason the short work weeks seem to be twice as bad as the normal work week. I guess it is because we have to cram all of the same amount of work in less days (ugh). Each week that goes by and we have no information on regionalization, people start doing and saying crazier things. People read in to every email and statement regardless of what is intended. It is at the point where people are just making up their own versions of what is supposed to happen. Keeping everyone focused gets harder and harder. At least we were able to get in one trip to the park this week. We took the girls and had a lot of fun. Hopefully next week we can get in 3 trips to the park to walk.

Surprise from Hubby

Hubby has lost, and kept off, 97 pounds over the last 2 years and I am so proud of him. Unfortunately, I have slowly gained weight. I always used the excuse that my back was hurting too much or that I was too tired. While that was true, I could have pushed myself a little harder. I am really tired of feeling tired all the time and truly do want to unload the extra pounds. A lot of extra pounds actually. Now, that I have no more excuses, I have been trying to be more active and eat better. I have been trying to either go walking or doing crunches with an exercise ball. I feel like I get more of a work out when I go walking, so that is really my favorite (those crunches are killers). When I go walking, I use my MP3 player that hubby bought me a few years ago. It is nothing fancy, but it worked for what I needed. When he met me this week for our normal Wednesday lunch date, he brought me a nice surprise. A new water bottle to take walking with me and inside the water bottle was a new MP3 player that does both audio and video. He knows that I am not good at buying things for myself (I don't even like to go shopping for clothes), so I love it when he brings surprises for me - even when they are not big ones like an MP3 player.

Family Walk

Even though it looked like it was going to rain, the whole family went for a walk. Hubby handled the dogs so I could go at my own pace and get a good walk. Both dogs had their tongues hanging out before we really got going good, but they managed to last for the whole walk. We walked for a total of a mile. I was totally beat, but it felt good later. Even the dogs were worn out - they slept the rest of the evening.

Exercise Ball

I have been doing reasonably well with my walking, although the scales seem to be moving in the wrong direction. Today was supposed to be my day to go walking, but stayed home because hubby wasn't feeling well. On the days that I do not go walking, I work on stretching and strengthening my back muscles by using an exercise ball. Those things give you more of a work out than you realize. Today I tried doing one of the twisting crunches (not sure what it is really called) and that did not feel good on the back at all. That felt like someone was trying to rip my spine out in little pieces. Clearly I was doing it wrong, so I need to stick to the basic crunches for a while.

Tomorrow is back to the walking and I am going to try a new path that I picked out. On this one I can even take Abbie. She would enjoy getting away from her rowdy sister for a little while.

Out of Shape

I am so stinking out of shape it is not funny. On Friday I went for a walk and came back exhausted. I was so sore for a couple of days, but was glad I finally got off of the couch and did something. Today I went for another walk. My plan is to walk on Monday, Wedensday and Friday then take the weekend off. After my walk today, it became obvious just how out of shape I really am. After only 30 minutes I was wiped out. Granted, it was pretty hot outside, close to triple digits, but 30 minutes should not have made me feel like I couldn't move. I came home, took a shower, then just wanted to collapse. Unfortunately, Riley was not going to allow that to happen. I am hoping it gets easier as I go, because this is a killer on my out of shape body.

Exercise

It is time I got off of my behind and do a little exercise. The back is healed, the infection is all gone, and there are no more excuses. I have decided that I am going to begin by going for a 30 minute walk every other day. I have got to build up my strength or we will not be able to get back to geocaching. Not to mention I need to find a way to destress from work.