Welcome back!

It’s been a long time since I brought my walking shoes to work. I started my whole “healthy kick” last summer when my company had a health fair where I learned that my health was very poor: high cholesterol, high BMI and my body fat percentage was high. Being young, I wanted to change that. I started walking on my breaks at work and quit smoking cold-turkey. I lost almost 15 pounds and dropped 2 pants sizes.

I stopped walking on my breaks when work got busy and I felt guilty leaving my desk to walk instead of helping my team with their urgent problems. By the time our busy season was done, I had lost my motivation and gained back most of my weight.

I’m not sure what’s sparked my interest again; maybe it’s the summer weather or the memories of being proud of myself for losing the weight. Or maybe I just want to feel some sort of “ha ha” moment that I’m doing better in almost every aspect of my life than my ex-husband is doing in his. I’m trying not to be bitter or “holier-than-thou,” but as a single parent, it’s hard to feel like I’m doing the right things all the time and that I’m actually moving ahead in life. I’m very independent and I want to be able to prove to myself and to the world that I can take care of myself and my daughter all by myself.

I picked up smoking again, and I’m sure one of these days I’ll quit again. Honestly, I enjoy it. I smoke about 7-8 cigarettes a day, less on the weekends when I’m spending more time with my daughter and my family. But I’m sure that as I walk more and lose more weight, I’ll smoke less and less.

I’m not sure I’m going to post weekly pictures. Maybe monthly? I haven’t decided. Now that I’ve had a major (7 months) setback, I’m a bit embarrassed that I don’t look much different than when I started last September.

So here’s to my health! And yours, too! If there’s anyone else out there struggling to lose weight and/or have a more healthy life, I’d love to hear from you! And, of course, comments and encouragement are always welcome! I’ve got my Champion Stride Fitness Athletic shoes, KT Tape* for my shin splints, and my MapMyRide** app on my iPhone. Let me know if you’ve found something that you have to have when you’re walking/exercising.

Time to go walk!

End-of-day Recap:
Breakfast: 1 large hard-boiled egg.
10 minute walk
Morning snack: Eating Right* Oats & Peanut Butter bar
Lunch: Eating Right Sweet & Sour Chicken
16 minute walk
Afternoon snack: Yoplait Light* Pineapple Upside-Down Cake yogurt.
22 minutes on the Wii Fit
Dinner: whole grain pasta shells with meatballs and Alfredo sauce, green grapes, light soy milk.
Dessert: Happy Corn (puffed corn)

My morning walk just plain stunk. Either I didn’t apply my KT Tape properly, or I’ve got the worst case of shin splints ever. The only way to walk without hurting was to put the ball of my foot down first, then my heel. I cut my walk short due to the pain and the fact that I had to use the ladies room. I’m hoping my next walk (hopefully at lunch) will be easier.

I didn’t get to walk at lunch, but I did walk during my second break. It went a lot better than my first walk, but I was slower than I used to be last fall. And my calves were killing me; not sure if that’s due to being out of shape, having been at Disneyland most of Saturday, getting used to my new shoes, or all of the above. But I did finish my normal route. Feels like victory to me.

I plan on using my Wii Fit for a bit tonight to stretch my muscles. And I hope I remember to weigh myself in the morning so that I can set a 30-day weight-loss goal (nothing crazy, probably 5 pounds to start).
 
-Disclosure-
*I was not provided Champion shoes, KT Tape, Eating Right products or Yoplait yogurt for free. However, if the folks at these companies would like to send me some products, that’d be all right by me.
**I was not provided the MapMyRide app for free – well, ok, I got it for free on the AppStore, but that’s because EVERYONE can get it for free.

Day 5 - September 1, 2009

Did not do Yoga this morning; today is the first day my company will not allow smoking on company premises. Since I usually smoke during my break and lunch, I'm going to walk around the building instead. If I walk both breaks and part of my lunch, I should get at least 30 minutes or more. Last night I smoked what I hope will be my last cigarette. Since I can't smoke at work, I'm going to try going back to my e-cigarette in the car and at night. It'll make it much easier to exercise, and of course, make me healthier.

I still have a little bit of knee tenderness this morning, and my lower back is sore if I don't sit nice and straight. I'm actually looking forward to my walks at work today; I have an app on my iPhone called iMapMyRide that will track how long, fast and far I've walked. I'm hoping to post the results on here. And some extra motivation: my cousin is motivated by my determination, and her motivation motivates me to work out each day! It's awesome how infectious the desire to exercise can be! Now, if only I can keep this motivation going; it's only been 5 days.

On the drive to work, I noticed that the front of my right thigh is a bit sore, more noticeably when I moved my foot from the gas pedal to the brake. My left thigh is also sore. And while I'm enjoying the benefits my skin is getting from drinking all this water, I'm visiting the ladies room a lot more often. Just about every 1 1/2 hours I have to "go." Kind of annoying, and I'm hoping that will go away eventually.

9:00 AM "Kirkland Signature" weight loss shake for breakfast

12:53 PM Remainder of Chipotle leftovers

7:00 PM Garlic Chicken Pasta with carrots, corn and broccoli

In General: 90 oz of water

The problem with ecigarettes is they need power. I think the heat affected the battery on mine today; I only got to use it twice before it died on me. So, at 10:20 PM, I'm using 2mg Nicorette to keep this craving at bay; I'm used to having 2 cigarettes right after I tuck my daughter in bed.

Walked three times at work today. I've been using the iMapMyRide app on my iPhone; seems to work well. Now I just need to create a playlist on my iTunes so I can keep up the right pace. Take a look at the map below to see an example of where I walk.