Friday, February 08, 2008

Six Months!!!

Yes, six months since I last blogged, well, almost six months. Geeminy, what could keep me so busy that I haven't written anything since then? Just living, I guess - but that's a good thing, beats the alternative!

Last time I wrote I had started the diet. Well, I'm still on my eating plan, but I'll say this, it has been sloooooooooow. Very slow. I don't understand it, sometimes it's a little discouraging, but then I stick with it and know that I can't go back, I just can't. One thing I've stepped up is my exercise.

After Christmas I got some exercise videos from the library. I started out with some that were aerobics, mostly dancing. I never did like dance steps since I'm a total klutz. I also got some yoga and pilates and those didn't work. When you're overweight - no obese is what I am, you don't move around on the floor very well and getting up and down is torture. I didn't expect to be able to jump right in and be terrific the first time. But I also need to have some success or chance at success in order to stick with something. Then I got Joyce Meyer's book, "Look Great, Feel Great" and she mentioned some walking DVDs by Leslie Sansone that you can do indoors. Now walking I can do and I really like doing it, so I borrowed several from the library. I found one that I liked better than the others and ordered one of my own.

It's terrific! It's called the "Four Mile Challenge" and you walk four miles, indoors. Of course, you can only walk part of it and that's the beauty of her videos, you pick out how long you want to go and the types of walking steps you want to do. The music is uplifting and there are no fancy dance steps to learn. She talks the whole four miles, but she's encouraging and I can deal with the chatter, because I know it's working. It's an hour workout and you really get the heart pumping, so this is something I can really stick with. I have to because I'm registering to walk a half-marathon in April!

I was looking on-line one day to find where there is a bike trail near our home. Though we live in the country and I'm okay to ride on the country roads, I thought it might be nice to find the bike trail, especially since it gets muddy here when it's wet and I need someplace to walk with my short, four-legged walking companion. Well, H.B. found the bike trail on-line and I found some other information and also learned that someone is planning the half-marathon as a money-maker for the trail. I'm excited, I'm pretty confident that if I keep up the training, April 19 will be a blast and not a torture. So, I've got something to work toward.

As for the weight, even at the snail's pace that it's coming off, at least it's coming off. One thing that is adding some power punch, my insurance plan has this program where you sign up to get information and phone calls from someone who will help you get through a program, stress, quit smoking, etc. I signed up for weight management. The coach that calls me once a week is very nice and she sent me this 300-page book (I love anyone who will send me a book) about weight management. It's a decent book. Right now, I'm learning about nutrition. All through the book, there are interactive quizes, plans and questions to help you focus on your goals and plans to help you make them. There are some very good tools in there and I know it will be helpful.

I was just reading the blog of a woman who weighed nearly 300 pounds and she lost 167 pounds and maintains her 129-lb. weight. Wow! Her name is Lynn Bering and I'm going to go back through her early blogging. She says it is what helped her to lose and keep off the pounds. So, if she can do 167 pounds, I surely should be able to do 60 that way. Anyway, it's inspiring to hear stories like that.

Well, tomorrow will be exciting. We're traveling to see our northern grandchildren, oh yeah, our daughter and son-in-law too! We haven't seen them since Christmas and I miss them. We're celebrating a birthday. My big-boy grandson will be SEVEN next week! I can't believe it! They have a new puppy too, so it will be nice to meet my new grand-dog! Penny should like that too.

So, I will keep up the blog, I really will. Not that anyone actually reads this stuff!