119 Days! A week in and feeling good!

Just continued success from yesterday!  Each day that I am able to stay on plan, I feel energized for the next day!  Healthy eating - check!  Exercised - 45 minutes of Leslie Sansone Walking dvd - check!

That's all for today! I just wanted to touch base and to also nudge you to consider making a donation to the 39 day Breast Cancer Walk!  Thanks!

220 Days! Feeling great and drinking my juice!

I felt kind of bad yesterday that I didn't work out.  I know that there are some of you that are viewing this blog, and I felt I disappointed you as well as myself.  But the truth is...it was the best thing I could do.  Just taking that one day off, my lower back is feeling better, and I felt more energized today!

I started the day on a good note!  I lost 2.6 lbs.  True it was probably water weight, but better a loss than a gain at this point.  I, also, made sure to eat some oatmeal for breakfast vs. going without breakfast (even if I didn't eat until close to noon).  I always feel that I can do a project like this...getting healthy and in better physical conditioning when I can get both nutrition and exercise to work together.  The only way to move forward is to  do both or you are only walking side-to-side, and not forward.

For exercise, I worked on the Leslie Sansone Walk at home!  One of the many dvds I have in my exercise dvd collection.  It's a good workout with more variable leg movements as well as bringing in your arms.  Usually when you walk, unless you are a speedwalker, there isn't much in the way of exerting yourself.  I mean, after 15 minutes (1-mile), I was sweating like mad!

I end my days with having two different types of drinks.  First, I will have a vegetable juice made right from my juicer!  and then before bed, I have my fruit smoothie!  I found that by doing this routine, I'm not finding myself hungry when I need to be sleeping!

Loving life right now!

221 Days! Bowing my head...took a rest day!

I was going to go out walking today or do some kind of exercise, but the body told me to take a day of rest!  But only one day it screamed at me!

I did keep up with the healthy eating and one of the things I am working on doing is drinking my vegetables...a la juice!  I've been looking for some ideas and a friend showed me this website that seems to have some real tasty juices.  Maybe one may appeal to you???  Feel free to try one!

http://healthybodyguru.com/3-day-juice-plan/

222 days! Thank God it is 222 days away!

This is for all of you young folks:  take care of yourselves!  It is so much harder as you get older.  Going from inactive to active (and I mean just taking a walk!) can be tough the older you are!  So my advice is to stay active and eat healthy!  Yes, when you are young you may be able to get away with eating a bag of potato chips or a box of cookies in one setting, do some exercise, and you may be able to shake it off...not so when you start hitting your 40s and even less when you hit your 50s!

My mom who is a breast cancer survivor has always been active and has eaten healthy, and I swear that is why she was able to beat not only that cancer but two other cancer scares as well (colon and ovarian)!  She is going to be 77 years young, and she is still going strong...biking and walking!  Wanting to follow in her footsteps and at least saving myself from the health scares she has had, I have a long way to go because I was living in denial and thinking that it will only take a little exercise!

Well, am I wrong!  Because I like good, healthy foods, I can do that but any change has to be a combination of both diet (healthy eating, since it should be long term not temporary) and exercise!  Now this is a warning!  If you are older (sorry to say, but I'm putting those of you who are in your late 30s into this category), you need to get active BUT, big BUT, don't push yourself to do one of the super energy exercise programs that are advertised on TV. At least, not until you work yourself up to it!

Pushing yourself too hard, too fast, will get you hurt and then it gets only harder to get started again!  I know what I am talking about!  I've done it! Countless times!  I actually made a mistake in taking that huge walk on my very first day!  4.5 miles may not be a lot to some, but it was too much for me.  Now I am still walking, and I will continue to walk everyday...but 4 days after I did that walk I am still having issues!  I know that at age 50, I don't have that many times where I can start and stop and start again.  So I will keep on walking, but not as fast and not as far!  I know that my strength and energy will build up, but I just wanted to share my experiences so that you can start your healthy journey with less pains along the way...at least in the beginning when motivation is so important!

If you have any suggestions, please share them!  Comment!  I don't bite (unless you start looking like an ice cream cone, then...well, stand away from me!  LOL!)

Thank you!

So I don't like pictures of me!  But I think it is important for me to be honest and real!  This is where I am now, but I am evolving, and I will continue to do monthly picks, to be accountable to me as well as all of you!

223 days! Some days you just have to push yourself!

Even if all you want to do is to hide under your blanket!!!

Well, today was "change your clocks" day!   It almost doesn't matter whether you are turning them forward or turning them back, you find yourself being more of a clock-watcher, and I hate that!  With waking up this morning, where I would normally wake at 8 am, today it was 9 am!  Max, my black cat, had been doing his darndest to get me up!  I actually felt I could have slept another hour...I'm still feeling the effects of Friday's walk!

Knowing I have to push myself, I did do a two-mile walk today around my mom's complex (not exciting but no traffic).  I so wanted to just do one circle around (shy of a mile), especially since originally it was a plan for 3 times around.  I pushed myself for the second, and now I am nursing a blister!  Ouch!  With all the walking I did in Spain (okay, not all that much!), I still only got one blister the whole time.  Here I am only 3 days in and I'm playing surgeon!  Ah well!

I think I will make a trip to the gym tomorrow and do the recumbent bike.  I can at least do some exercise without putting more pressure on the blister and hope it just goes away!

If you are reading this, sorry for being such a downer!  All I can say is that if you are active and eating well, continue!!!   It is so much harder to get back to that point and so easy to just be lazy!  I don't want that anymore for myself...So forgive me as I rant!  I know in my heart that if I just keep trekking, I will succeed!  I know I have a lot of support, and for that I am eternally grateful!

Have you thought of how much you may donate to the Breast Cancer cause?  Remember, you can deduct your contribution from your taxes next year!

224 days to go: Oy! My aching back, legs, etc.! Am I crazy??

So I am feeling muscles and aches I haven't felt in a long while.  Not complaining (well, not really!).  It would definitely be my suggestion that for anyone that is pretty sedentary not to push like I did.  But it is done!  I set the goal to walk to my mom's and I did it!  Today, I did walk, but just locally about 3 miles between two walking sessions.

I'm just going to take this one day at a time!  Each day that I get out is a successful day, no matter how much I hurt!

Not much to say today!  But I feel that just as I am needing to get out to walk everyday, I also need to post.  I realize that the aches and pains in moving an inactive body is very little in comparison to those fighting the fight against breast cancer.  Whether it is them fighting it themselves or having a family member or close friend in the midst of this fight!

Won't you consider donating to the Avon 39 mile fight against breast cancer?

225 days! First full day! 4.47 miles and still living!

Took that first step! and then another and another!  I just never figured I lived that far from my mom!  As I was preparing to leave the house, I probably had a dozen excuses going through my head..."it's gray out, it might rain" (it didn't, and I actually got a sunburn!), "I'm tired, I'll do it tomorrow" (I'm always tired, and tomorrow never comes), and "Is it worth it?".  The answer to that last one is yes.  I may have a long way to go before I actually get to the starting point in NYC in October, but each day will be a day closer and a day that I am getting healthier!

I can't say the walk was all that pleasant as it was walking along 14th Street West in Bradenton which is traffic heavy, but I had my iPhone and got to listen to Wayne Dyer's "Change your Thoughts, Change your Life" audio, which was a pleasure.  Also, I'll be looking for more scenic walking tracks.

But the most important thing is that I did it!  I got off of the couch and took those first steps!  

I did have my mom take my picture! But I'm going to save that picture to show against my picture next month.