Tag: goals

Wednesday fitness update

I think I might be better about writing if I have a specific thing for each day of the week to think about writing. Not that I’ll always have to write about that thing on that day instead of another day or maybe just write about something else entirely, but it’s a starting point, right?

Anyway, for right now, Wednesday is going to be fitness updates.

I’ve been very mindful for the past week about making sure to get 30 minutes of exercise daily. It doesn’t have to be much, just a walk down the street and back, something to make sure I’m moving more than I have been all the rest of the day and try to improve my current fitness levels.

This has been the most I’ve exercised consistently in a long time. And I can tell the difference in just the few days I’ve been doing this. My knee isn’t hurting as much, I’m able to walk faster and get further during those 30 minutes than I did last week. I’m feeling good!

It’s been a challenge some days when I just really don’t want to go back outside again or do anything other than sit on my butt and read. Especially with the longer work days, my evening has gotten shorter and giving up what is essentially an hour for this goal is something I have to really set my mind to doing. (It’s 30 minutes of exercise, bracketed by a couple minutes to change, and then stretching and showering afterward.)

But I’m giving an hour now in order to be able to do things later that I really want to be able to do, like hiking in the mountains and donating blood, which I can’t do right now because my blood pressure is too high, and, you know, live longer and be happier!!

So, today I walked down the street from our apartment complex toward the next housing division down the street. When I started doing this last week, I just barely made it to the entrance to that housing area. And today, I made it 3 lamp posts past that, nearly halfway to the next housing division! And my knee wasn’t nearly as swollen and I wasn’t nearly as painful the whole way there and back. Progress!

2020 goal: Get more fit

I currently weigh upwards of 260 pounds. What’s amusing to me about that is when I stepped on the scale for the first time this year, the number that I got was the same number that I got at the beginning of last year. So, for not working on this last year, I did darn good at maintaining this weight.

It’s not great. But it’s something. Gonna take what I can get.

So, it being January and all, a lot of people are thinking about trying to lose weight and get more healthy and all those wonderful / awful things. And I’m no exception. I really thought that I’d be able to get my weight down before this point. I was doing so good about it back in … 2016.

I was quite proud of what I had accomplished that year. And then I hurt my knee and I had surgery and I got depressed and … I stopped trying.

But you know, I’m really tired of being painful. My back was a lot less achy when I was more fit. And I liked the items in my closet a lot more. And I was able to do fun things that I really enjoyed doing. Yeah, weighing less would be nice, but it’s the other stuff that I really miss more than anything.

Like walking? I miss walking without it hurting.

Justin told me about this thing called “don’t break the chain” for accomplishing goals. The idea is that you have a calendar and every day that you accomplish your goal for that day, you put a big X across the day. Then the next day, accomplish your goal again, and put in another X. And you get a chain of X’s. And the idea is to keep that chain going as long as possible.

So I got a calendar and Justin put it up behind the bathroom door where I put all my clothes for the day, so I can see it every morning. And my current goal (it’s going to sound so small) is to walk for 30 minutes. And if I can’t walk for some reason, do something else for exercise for 30 minutes. Just 30 minutes of light exercise every day. And just that right there is so much more than I’ve done in the last several months. And that 30 minutes of light exercise is a lot harder than it should be for someone of my age, but after I get home, I have to sit and ice my knee because I cannot bend it due to the swelling.

But, you know, everybody has to come from somewhere and this is where I’m at right now. It’s not a start or a starting-over or a “fresh start!” or anything like that. It’s just where my journey is at the moment.