Tag Archives: fitness

Changing the challenge

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Today marks my half way mark into my September challenge. If you didn’t already know I Challenged myself to walk every day of September. It’s been a Rocky start. But I’m hanging in there. Some days I counted my grocery shopping or laundry as my walk (lots of walking involved in both) and other days I walked a mile around my neighborhood in the rain…. Actually I did this 3 days in a row. Then I decided I wasn’t going to do that any more. I went on the hunt for a second hand Treadmill. I found a good one it wasn’t to old, it was digital, folded up, and Inclined. The best part only 25.00 I set up a time to pick it up the next day. I woke up and sent the seller a message that morning asking if I was still set for my 11 o’clock pick up. I got the response “It’s Sold sorry” I was devastated. I started looking again. Nothing. Then I came across an Elliptical. Digital display, works, 25$. I went and got it.

So if you haven’t already Guessed I’m changing my challenge from walking everyday to Working on my elliptical. I already got a work out in and it went a little something like This:

I went to the Garage where my Elliptical is currently at. I was ready I had my Alexa for music, I Created a small workout Playlist. I was pumped. I climbed up on my new machine with Full confidence. I started going and my knee hurt every time my foot came back down but I brushed it off as my creaky joints not being use to the motion and kept going after a minute or so my knee was OK. I was going a decent pace and my heart rate was in fat burn and cardio levels. I’m starting to breath deep and heavy. Fast forward a few min. About 5 min in and I’m breathing like I’m having a baby all over again. My heart rate is at Peak, and I’m doing all I can to push through. I reach the 8 minute mark, my heart is pounding out of my chest, The bottoms of my feet ake Like no other, my Legs are burning with the Intensity of a thousand suns and I’m Scream/Grunting my way through the burn as Eye of the tiger Is coaxing Me to just make that 10 min mark…. And I did it. The longest toughest 10 min of this Challenge but I did it. I got off that Elliptical and my legs hurt so bad I could have fell Right over but I felt Amazing. And I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow.

A Running start.

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I’m a big girl, Most of my life I have suffered from Asthma so me and Running is a no. But I want to push myself to achieve my goals. I am challenging myself to walk every day of the month of September. I decided it’s a good place to start in my journey to be healthier. So far I’m doing good. I’m almost a 3rd of the way into the month and I have yet to miss a day. I do tend to get creative. One day we went to the store and Were in such a hurry we Power walked around doing our shopping and I counted my walk for that day. Yesterday I had to do laundry and so I counted carry my laundry baskets as part of my walk because I didn’t use the carts at the laundry matt. Than the same day I had to take a tote full of my daughters clothes to the re sale shop and carried the tote the long way around. Every day I find a way

Today however I wanted to push myself a bit. So I decided I would add some running into my walk in a HIT style. I walked to the end of my block then turned down my side road where the blocks are smaller maybe about half a regular block. Anyway I lightly ran a block than walked than ran then walked then turned around walked the block again than ran, walked, ran. It was hard. My lungs were on fire. I forgot to bring water. And my shins Burned. The first block was OK but as I kept going it got harder. I found myself tired sooner in the block but I still pushed myself and didn’t stop until I got to the end of the block. I feel so Accomplished.

It’s the small victories that get us through challenges like this. The small victories That help us push even farther. The small victories that add up to our bigger goals. I know I can run a block. So now I’m going to try it again Mayne not tomorrow but maybe the day after, Maybe Ill try every other day. And maybe by the end of the month That block will be a Breeze to run. I’ll never know till I try.

Keto

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One of the things that worked for me was Keto. I don’t exactly remember why I stopped doing keto but I know a few things that played a factor in my Quiting. When I did keto the first time around my ex husband and I lived in a hotel and no it wasn’t like the sweet life of Zack and Cody. My ex had a problem keeping a job and a problem spending money instead of paying bill… so we never could stay in one place for to long. We lived in hotels often and the one particular time we didn’t have any way to cook other than a crock pot and a George Foreman grill. This played a large factor in my going keto. I don’t like bread and cooking pasta wasn’t exactly possible so we mostly ate meat and vegetables. Also there was a gym we had access to. Because of the gym I wanted to go on a diet as well, I got researching and stumbled upon Keto. After some reading I realized I was already halfway there so I committed to it. I tried Avacado for the first time and loved it. I learned about coconut oil and how it was a healthy fat. I learned about Carbs and sugars and there impact on Hormone Imbalance. I learned about green tea and so much more. I studied all the time. If I wasn’t working out or studying I was thinking about one of the two. Before I knew it I felt Amazing. I was hooked on keto and I was hooked on working out. It just worked for me.

That feels like forever ago now. I often think of how easy keto was for me it was like a second nature. Now I’m a week into Fasting and I keep thinking what if I went keto as well. What if I Could Succeed at it again. I know it worked before so why not now. Sure I would have to Do some of the research all over again but I’m worth it. So I have made a decision To go keto Again. It may take some getting used to. And done things may be hard to let go of. For example Potatoes. But I’m sure I can do it.

The plan is to cut out 90% of my carbs. I want to be able to give myself some wiggle room so I can have some things… For instance the salad I bought for brunch today It had croutons and I didn’t want to pick them out So I just ate them. I typically make my salad at hone so this will rarely happen bit it does happen. I have a good strat on healthy foods thanks to my let-have-a-better-fast shopping trip that u can read about in my Intermittent Fasting post. And who doesn’t love a good avacado. I really think I can do this.The next challenge however is Cardio and that is a tough one. But that’s a topic for next time. Ttyl.

Intermittent Fasting

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In the weight loss and diet world Intermittent Fasting in my opinion is one of the Easiest thing you can Do. If your not familiar with Intermittent Fasting it’s fairly simple. You fallow a set Time of eating and not eating. For example 8/16 is the most popular. You would eat for 8 hours and fast for 16 hours. It sounds difficult but if you thing about each night when you sleep you easily make it through around 8 hours without a thought because you are asleep and that makes things easier.

Today Im officially a week into Fasting. I wish I would have taken some notes from the beginning but I didn’t so I’ll do my best to remember each day. My eating window is 1-8. I eat my lunch or breakfast (what I call it Depends on. What I ate) around one. Dinner is around 7-730. I resume my fast at 8.

Monday: I decided Sunday night I was going to do this. After Sundays dinner I didn’t eat. Monday morning I was hungry I kept my mind busy by cleaning my kitchen. When it was finally time to eat I ate like bear. I ate Pizza rolls and chicken nuggets for breakfast and lunch and I had a few Ice cream sandwiches. I was not proud of myself. But I stopped eating for the day at 8pm

Tuesday: I struggled with my hunger all morning and once again ate crap in my eating window. 1-8

Wendsday: I woke up and told myself the day would be better. So I did a work out and then got on YouTube and looked up Fasting. I learned that what you eat when you are coming off a fast is a big deal If you eat junk like I had been eating it defeats the purpose of the Fast. I took a deep breath and told myself it’s time to Fix my habits with food. I did better that day. I ate breakfast and didn’t eat anything until my dinner. No junk. I felt better that day.

Thursday: I woke up feeling better than I had all week. I went shopping and got some Healthier things to eat and snack on. I ate only healthy stuff in my eating window and I even cooked My man a healthy dinner.

Friday: I fasted for 19 hours I got so busy I forgot to brake my fast. I wasn’t hungry and I felt Amazing. Had a healthy eating day.

Saturday and Sunday: I continued my fast and ate health.

So as you can see after a few days of struggling I began to to better. And now after 7 days It’s second nature to me. I wont weight myself to see if it has helped with the weight loss aspect of everything but A few weeks down the road I will. My plan Is to keep at the Fasting as a new way of life. It comes so easy to me so why not?

Welcome to the jungle!!

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Gardening has always been something close to my heart. I remember helping a elderly woman my first boyfriends mom knew harvest rhubarb and possibly other things, I remember Picking asparagus for my grate grandmother in her back yard near the well. But most of all I remember working in my grandmas garden during the summer when my sister and I would spend days with her. I remember harvesting potatoes and other produce and the basket we put them in, I remember pulling weeds all day in the sun and climbing the apple tree in the back yard. Theses memories Are what gave me a love for Gardening. Its like when I am in my garden I have a sense of peace as if my grandma is there.

This year my Fiancé and I planted a garden… 2 of them actually. They started so small and now are full grown Beasts! My favorite part of the day is when I Grab my Basket and go check to see what the Garden has in store for me for the day. Every day I come in with fresh Green beans and different varieties of tomatoes and some days I have green peppers, hot peppers, and cucumbers. I also have Basil, rosemary, mint and sage. Strawberrys, spinach, Cabbage, broccoli, squash, sweet potatoes , and watermelons growing and hopefully will be ready before the season ends.

Being able to use produce harvested from my own garden makes it all that much better. There’s allot of pride that comes with knowing you put work into your food and that you Cared for and nurtured it from a seed its truly amazing. Every day I am eating something from my garden and I love it.

May 29th
August 28th

In memory of Cathie Jo Zok 3/26/55 – 8/29/2008

Goals.

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So I should probably start this out by Listing some Goals. I feel as if Goals are important no matter what your trying to do. Goals are of the foundations of Life. I believe Everyone has Goals even if they don’t know it. Here is a list of my goals.

  1. Lose weight (about 100 pounds or so)
  2. Develop a better relationship with food.
  3. Cut out Junk food
  4. Have more energy and endurance
  5. Build muscle
  6. Grow most of the food My family eats.

Sounds simple enough right. Basically they all fall in line with each other. I would love to hear some of your goals. Feel free to leave me a comment. But for now I have lots more to do. So Ta Ta for now.

The Journey Begins

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Welcome to my website/blog. I decided to start this blog so I can talk about my journey to be healthier and hopefully lose weight along the way. I find it helps me stay focused and on track to Wright out my Success and Struggles. I’m not even sure anyone is out there to listen but here I am. So if you happen to stumble across this page pull up a chair (assuming your not already sitting) and enjoy whatever I may have to offer at the time!