Thrive in Five Update Day 26 & Walking!

For my Thrive in Five Update today..... I just want to say that I am feeling pretty good!  I am tired - lots of riding in the car lately - but my body and spirit are really happy with my mall walking yesterday.    I have purposefully stretched every time I got a chance... and I have eaten pretty well.

One thing I did that I give myself HIGH MARKS for is snack packing!  My husband LOVES to munch while he drives.... and I was cooped up in the car with lots of Skittles (his fave but not mine, fortunately) and goldfish crackers.  Before we ever set out, I pre-bagged all the snacks in serving size portions.  So I did have snacks... and I did eat the WHOLE bag... BUT the bags were reasonable...GO ME!  I got to have fun with my guy AND stay on track :-)

Part of being healthy is being happy... and that is a tricky road to navigate.  I am learning more and more about what happiness means.... and what is actually NOT happy, but self-destructive.  Anyway, limiting my choices in a situation where I knew I would be weak was a SMART decision and everybody won!

I might just have to pre-bag ALL the snacks that come into the house for my men.  They don't care... and they may actually eat less of them.. I know I eat less this way.

 *****
 In honor of my mall walking yesterday (since I am in the car for 7 hours AGAIN today coming home :-) and the official wearing of the pedometer -  I want to talk about walking.

So here's the thing about walking....

you don't need to change your clothes

you don't need special equipment (except shoes and I bet you HAVE a pair of those)

ALL you need is the gumption to set your foot outside the door!

I know I said ONE mile at the beginning of the year... ONLY one mile...  but I remember... not too many years ago.... when I had NO clue how far that was...  when ONE mile was GINORMOUS.. and I KNEW I couldn't do it.

So forget the mile.  What CAN you do?

Can you walk to your mailbox?

Can you walk down the street to the corner?

Can you walk all around your block (assuming that you have one :-)?

Pick a distance you KNOW you can do.... and make a decision to do it every day for a week.  Just a week.   MOST days.   And pat yourself on the back for doing it.  Those steps are an investment in your health... and just like saving pennies will count in the long run... so will these extra steps.

When your week is finished..... revisit the issue, make a distance decision and repeat.   This is one month later - and while I am working on inserting another mile in my daily life..... my initial mile is the same distance.  No change.

And working on a walking distance goal can help you work to greater fitness and health... really!

I have read in many places that a fit person walks a minimum of 10,000 steps per day.  I don't have any idea where that number came from - BUT it's a worthy goal.  If you are like me, and spend WAY too many hours SITTING... for whatever reason... then getting up and walking is an EASY way to achieve some balance!

When I wore my pedometer for a normal week (what is that?), my numbers were PATHETIC..... WITH my daily mile, I still come up under 5,000 steps on a good day.  Between the computer and my crocheting..... I am SITting by choice.   SO I figure, health is about balance.... and illness comes when your system is OUT of balance.... so my goal is to consistently achieve that 10,000 steps.... but not right away.  I want my food and exercise to be automatic with very little brain involved.... so that I am USED to doing things in a certain way and I can STAY fit this time.

My assessment of my own life is that I need to figure out a way to add THREE miles daily to my step count.... but for now, I will keep working on ONE and sometimes TWO :-)

I challenge you to make the decision to step out your door!

To check your mileage..... here's a few thoughts:

An average mile is 2,000 steps.  (Of course, my legs are longer than average so it's 1700 for me - but it's irrelevant in the big picture)

A fun website is www.mapmyrun.com

It can bring up a map of your neighborhood so you can map out a route for any length you want  (Believe me, if it has MY neighborhood, including the beach shoreline.... it should have YOURS)

*****

In case you are interested..... my last year blog entry was on Accountability
    http://kvanatta.blogspot.com/2011/02/accountability.html