Day 31: 31 Days of Exercise

Woo Hoo!

 

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD moving boxes up to the attic to free up space -done

Day 30: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning dancing around in my newly cleared living room. Seeing some of the benefits of cleaning the house and getting exercise! done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD 2 solid hours planting the last of the bulbs. They're all nicely tucked away deep in the ground. It can snow next week and I won't care. But now I'm exhausted. I'm calling it done

Day 29: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning Does 15 minutes jumping around at 12:30 count? I'm going to say 'yes' -done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning- done
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD -fail. A lot of running around doing chores, but no running around doing laps, or even a reasonably aerobic facsimile thereof

Day 28: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• Noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD -Not sure if this is a succeed or a fail. Spent 45 minutes moving around cleaning and organizing. Not really aerobic.

Day 27: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes organizing, throwing things out, lightening the load hopefully -done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning -done. Most like 3 hours, with the occasional break to shred papers.
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD

Day 26: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done. dancing around while sorting socks. I'm not proud. I'll take my exercise any way I can.
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD -done. Almost 9:30 at night, but done.

Day 25: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• PM: 45 minutes walk to church (and back) -done. And to all, a good night.

Day 24: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• Noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD -Fail. Too tired.

Day 23: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD- done!!!

Day 22: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning-done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning, organizing, dancing around -done
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD - done. Sorta. I mean, I moved around for 45 minutes without stopping, but it was pretty low energy. Still, I'm calling it 'done.'

Day 21: 31 Days of Exercise

It's odd, but true. Even though this schedule still has me getting up from my chair and moving around every couple hours for 15 minutes, it feels like I'm getting off easy because I've put all the exercise in one session instead of divvying it up into three.

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning - done. I would NOT have gotten up if I hadn't promised to track it here. This blog helps!
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD - done!

Day 20: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning - done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning - done
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD - done

Day 19: 31 Days of Exercise

This is rather what it looks like outside my front door. Not quite as scenic.
13 days left in the year. I'm trying to go through everything I have, throw out things I don't need and organize all the rest. Hence, the emphasis on cleaning. I have to force myself to get up every few hours. Otherwise, I'll sit at my desk for four or five hours at a time.

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done! Cleaned the driveway of snow and ice. Nicely red in the face now
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning-done!
• PM: 45 minutes exercise DVD walk - done!

Day 18: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning - done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning - done
• PM: 45 minutes walking - done! And, for a bonus, got the last of the Christmas shopping done!

Day 17: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning - done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning - done
• PM: 45 minutes walking Still too much snow/ice (snice?) on the ground for walking at a decent pace. Decided to convert this into 45 minutes of organizing - done

Day 16: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning
• PM: 45 minutes walking

Day 15: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• Noon: 15 minites cleaning 30 minutes shoveling my sidewalk - done
• PM: 15 minutes walking jumping jacks, stair stepping, lunges, some arm weights - done

Day 14: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning - done. A bit late. I HAVE to become more disciplined and get up out of my chair at 9 or 10 instead of sitting for 5 hours
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning -done!
• PM: 45 minutes walking Better than walking, 30 minutes shoveling snow. done!

Day 13: 31 Days of Exercise

I think I need to try shifting things around a bit. Keep the exercise short and peppy in the morning and at noon, then try for a longer stint after work. See how that works.

• AM: 15 minutes cleaning- done
• Noon: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• PM: 45 minutes walking - done. Or at least I moved my body in a lackadaisical manner for that amount of time. Not sure it qualifies as exercise.

Day 12: 31 Days of Exercise

Spent yesterday in bed with an upset stomach. Not a glamorous excuse, but I'm too tired to think up an exotic one like 24-hour leprosy or bubonic plague. Let's try this again.

• AM: 15 minutes stepping, jumping jacks, squats - Done. Slowly. Turns out that after spending a whole day in bed, the body is not inclined to leap about very much.
• Noon:30 minutes exercise DVD done
• PM: 30 minutes walking done!

Day 11: 31 Days of Exercise

Some days, I just don't want to set foot out of the house. Luckily, I can still exercise indoors.

• AM: 15 minutes stairs, jumping jacks, lunges, walking in place, whatever. Get the blood moving.
• Noon: 30 minutes exercise DVD
• PM: 30 minutes aerobic housecleaning

Fail. Decided to spend the day in bed sick.

Day 10: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes stairs, jumping jacks, lunges, walking in place, whatever. Get the blood moving. Sigh. It's almost 1 in the afternoon. I think I'm going to call this one a Fail. I could've sworn it was 11:30 five minutes ago. Maybe my computer's clock is off? Note to self: Exercise First Thing In The Morning!
• Noon: 30 minutes out in the cold... weeding... Done. Sorta. Switched to 30 minutes doing stairs, jumping jacks, walking in place, lunges, dancing about. I'm going to wait for it to get above freezing before I do the weeding. Call me fussy.
• PM: 30 minutes aerobic housecleaning walking -done

Day 9: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes stairs, jumping jacks, lunges, walking in place, whatever. Get the blood moving. -Done! It might be a frozen wonderland outside, but I'm toasty indoors, thanks to the exercise.
• Noon: 30 minutes exercise DVD -done
• PM: 30 minutes aerobic walk/jog/dance housecleaning - Finally done!

Day 8: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes stairs, jumping jacks, lunges, walking in place, whatever. Get the blood moving. -done
• Noon: 30 minutes exercise DVD -done
• PM: 30 minutes aerobic housecleaning -done!

Day 7: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes stairs, jumping jacks, lunges, walking in place, whatever. Get the blood moving. - done
• Noon: 30 minutes exercise DVD - SEMIdone. Managed 15 before got caught up in work again.
• PM: 30 minutes aerobic housecleaning - Fail. By the end of the day, the allergies were too fierce. I feel like a bum, but sometimes the body speaks louder than the conscience.

Day 6: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes stepping, jumping jacks, lunges - done
• Noon: 30 minutes exercise DVD - done. Sorta. Dragging today.
• PM: 30 aerobic housecleaning -done. Well, kinda. Not very aerobic. But I kept moving for 30 minutes. A small victory all the same.

Day 5: 31 Days of Exercise

• AM: 15 minutes stepping, jumping jacks, lunges - done
• Noon: 30 minutes exercise DVD -done
• PM: 30 aerobic housecleaning - more than done. Did 60 minutes walking instead.

Day 4: 31 Days of Exercise

I am getting Christmas cards. Some people are far more organized than I am. But do they exercise every day for a month? Well... probably some of them. But not all. I mean, how much exercise can you get writing a card?

• AM: 15 minutes walking - done
• Noon: 30 minutes walking -Fail. Got caught up running errands until I developed a headache.
• PM: 30 minutes walking - Fail. See above. Tomorrow = Another Day

Day 3: 31 days of exercise

It's the weekend. I don't want to do the same old thing I do all week.

• AM: 15 minutes walking -Done. Barely. I find it much harder to be productive on the weekends. This blog is helping me.
• NOON: 30 minutes walking - done. Everything is being done later than a workday.
• PM: 15 minutes walking - done. Finally.

Day 2: 31 days of exercise

Survived the 1st week back. So far, I've survived!

• AM: 15 minutes Jumping jacks, lunges, squats - done
• NOON: 30 minutes exercise DVD. A different one. Mix it up. -done
• PM: 30 minutes aerobic housecleaning -done

Day 1: 31 days of exercise

I've decided to give myself a present. A fitter body. I am going to spend part of each day, for the next 31 days, exercising.

• AM: 15 minutes Jumping jacks, lunges, squats stretches, stepping, very low impact workout -Done
• NOON: 30 minutes exercise DVD. A different one. Mix it up. -done
• PM: 30 minutes aerobic housecleaning.- done

Adios November

In honor of the last day of November, I am going to light a candle against the darkness. Symbolic stuff like that makes a difference somehow. At least, it does for me. What helps you?

• AM: 15 minutes Jumping jacks, lunges, squats - I moved around for 15 minutes. Wasn't feeling the joy, but I suppose it had some positive effect.
• NOON: 30 minutes exercise DVD. A different one. Mix it up. - Done.
• PM: 30 minutes yoga - I think I'm going to stop trying to do yoga until I've re-org'd my space a little more. Did 30 minutes aerobic housecleaning, i.e. I picked things up and put them away while dancing to music. Drew the curtains first, thankfully, but I think the cat has been traumatized for life. Bad human.

Watch this space

I'm going to try to set up a pattern. Get the blood moving in the morning, keep it moving at lunch, then try calming myself down in the afternoon.

• AM: 15 minutes Jumping jacks, lunges, squats. - Done. A bit late. I saw a note from an earlier day, mentioning how I kept putting off the morning's exercise until I ran out of morning. That motivated me to back away from the computer and move. Turns out climbing steps is a great way to get the blood moving!
• NOON: 30 minutes exercise DVD. I'm just going to grab one and try following the moves. It's been a while. -Semi-fail. Spent 15 minutes climbing stairs and doing jumping jacks
• PM: 30 minutes yoga - Semi-fail. Did 30 minutes yard work instead

I've had a lot on my mind lately

Trying to remember what this exercise stuff is all about.
This time of year the days get shorter and the darkness gets longer and my natural inclination is to retreat into my cave and hibernate until the light comes back. Recent political events are reinforcing that instinct. Just hide until there is light and warmth and growing things.
In other words, I haven't done any exercising.

• AM: 15 minutes exercise. Jumping jacks, squats, lunges. -Done. Not very vigorously, but done.
• NOON: 30 minutes likewise -Done. Not very vigorously, but done.
• PM: 15 minutes likewise. - Done. Took a brisk walk during the fifteen minutes of non-rain this afternoon.

There. Not deep or profound or all that exciting, but it's going to get me started again.

Hiatus

Life is interfering with exercise. I will be back. Promise.

A little seasoning

I suspect it's the changing of the seasons... the whole getting darker the morning thing... that makes it harder to keep to exercise-or-else mindset. I don't seem to do very well with transitions. Once things get back on track, I'm fine. So then, logically, the thing to do is just pretend that things are on track. Fake it until the seasons and my circadian rhythm catch up.

• AM:15 minutes dancing Fail
• Noon:30 minutes dancing Fail. Life is interfering with my plans.
• PM:60 minutes dancing Done. I accomplished ONE thing today. That's good enough.

Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down. Rainy Days and Fridays cancel each other out

It is a day of meh. Cold, rainy, want to curl up under a comforter and read comfort books. Don't want wave my arms around and scare the cat with my jumping jacks. Gonna do it anyway.

• AM: 15 minutes calisthenics. I'll incorporate some moves from that video, but I don't want to follow it today. Fail. I kept saying "in a few minutes, I'll get up from the desk." If you do that long enough, you run out of morning.
• Noon: 30 minutes dancing. Done! Got the blood going.
• PM: 60 minutes walking. If it's raining too hard, I'll try more dancing. Be flexible, that's the goal. In more ways than one. Well, I spent an hour heaving the elliptical around, and that thing weighs a ton. I'm inclined to count that as exercise. Ellipticals are work no matter how you look at it.

Not motivated. Exercising anyway.

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
- John Keats, To Autumn

I like poetry as much as the next English major, but even so... "For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells" is a lousy line. (Yes, I dare to defy Keats.)

I'm not feeling any mellow fruitfulness in the air; it's cold. I want to stay in bed in the mornings and snuggle into the blankets, not be up and doing with a heart for any fate. That includes exercise.

I have not been doing well with that dratted exercise video. In part because I don't have the right cable to connect the laptop to the TV, in part because it's a bit intimidating that I can't go as fast as the instructor. I'm going to stick to trying that for 15 minutes and doing something else (jogging in place, jumping jacks, dancing) for lunch. Then a brisk walk for the afternoon exercise.

In a way, this is good. I like breaking up the exercise into different types. Well, no, that's a lie. I like exercise that I don't have to think about, hence my love affair with the elliptical. But it's better for the body if I break up the exercise into different types, so it doesn't get too used to one type of workout.

• AM: That dratted online video for 15 minutes. Done! I got to the point where she starts doing pushups while sticking one leg up in the air behind her. The woman's good.
• Noon: 30 minutes jumping jacks, jogging in place, dancing. Keep it moving, that's all. Done!
• PM: 60 minutes walking. Maybe I'll start to appreciate autumn if I'm out in it more. 30 minutes. I dallied at work. Must Try Harder!

Can I just do Friday over again?

Okay. I will try this video again. I feel intimidated that I can't keep up to her pace, but I don't know the moves yet. It is encouraging to see this very fit woman out of breath, but that's also intimidating. So long as I get the time in, that counts.

• AM:15 minutes video Done
• Noon:32 minutes video Fail
• PM:60 minutes raking those leaves, since the dang trees seemed to have shed a whole new lot of leaves onto the lawn. Fail. My lawn has disappeared beneath leaves.

Winging it

Okay. No elliptical, not much room to flail my arms around, but still the need to exercise. I am going to try this video. I like the way everything she does is restricted to the area around the mat on the floor.

• AM:15 minutes video Done! I didn't do everything quite as peppily as the instructor, but this does provide a workout.
• Noon:32 minutes video Fail. Put it off, due to work, which is dumb but I did it.
• PM:60 minutes raking those leaves, since the dang trees seemed to have shed a whole new lot of leaves onto the lawn. Semi-fail. Took a long walk instead. The leaves are still there, waiting for me. Lurking.

You had ONE job...

I seem to have broken the elliptical. The wheel is making groaning noises and the pedals are very hard to move.
I am far from gruntled. It had one job...
Now I'm going to have to concentrate on clearing the exercise space so I can work out with some exercise DVDs while I wait for the elliptical to be repaired. As soon as I find where I put the warranty information. I'm sure it is around... somewhere...

• AM: 15 minutes of running in place, jumping jacks, anything to get the blood moving. Done. I haven't done jumping jacks since middle school, but they still do work on the body. Who knew.
• Noon: 30 minutes yardwork. If I do it vigorously enough, surely all that bending over and hauling branches around will count for something. Done!
• PM:60 minutes raking the leaves. Thankfully, my kind trees have all decided to start shedding this week, so it really could take me an hour to get all this done. Done

I need a snooze button for Mondays

Ugh. I'm not here right now. At least, my mind isn't. It's still in bed, with a pillow covering its ears and a hand reaching out to slap that snooze button into oblivion. In other words, Ms. Cheerful is not in the office. Sadly, the need to exercise does not have a snooze button. I'm going to compromise by just doing a basic routine.

• AM:15 minutes elliptical Done! Got my heart rate, which considering how unmotivated I was when I started, is surprising. But I'll take it.
• Noon:30 minutes elliptical Done. Eventually. If you consider 'noon' to be 3 pm.
• PM:60 minutes elliptical Done. Late, but done.

I do love Fridays

Even on a three-day week. I did put in a solid hour going through stuff yesterday. Still more stuff to go through. I think I should be able to clear enough space by the end of today so that I'll have some room to do different exercises besides ellipticalling.

• AM:15 minutes ellipticalDone!
• Noon:30 minutes ellipticalDone. Granted, I was rather flexible in my definition of 'noon' -- does 3 pm count? I'm calling it done
• PM:60 minutes STIHTGTDone. Actually starting to see progress!

Monday, and only three days left in the week

This is what a Monday should be. Tomorrow's hump day, and then I've made it to Friday! On the down side, taking a 5-day weekend has left me mentally unprepared to face my inbox. They expect me to work? How unfair is that!
Okay, whining done for now. Pretty much. I'm going to concentrate on getting more of the STIHTGT today, with exercise breaks to keep my energy up.

• AM: 15 minutes elliptical - done
• Noon: 30 minutes elliptical sorta done, 30 minutes STIHTGT mighty fail
• PM: 15 minutes elliptical,overdone 1 hour STIHTGT over fail

I'm sensing a pattern here. I can see making time for exercise, especially when work is irksome or stressful, but cleaning? Naaaah. Yet I need to do both. On the exercise side, I did put in a 45 minute walk this evening as well.

Progress Report & Goals for September

Oddly enough, my subconscious seems to have decided that since I'm taking a couple days off, that meant I didn't have to schedule in exercise. Sorry, no. Doesn't work like that.

Looking back on this re-boot of my exercise program, I can see progress. Mostly because I started from a state of complete slug, but I'm still calling in a win. When I first went back to the elliptical, I felt it, actually felt the level of effort in my muscles. Now, I can go for an hour again. The muscles aren't sore the next day, but my legs feel as if they got a workout.

I want to start becoming systematic about the goals I need to achieve. Set up a way to push myself. The problem is, there isn't really room to go back to the dance videos I used to follow. I've got room in the exercise room for the elliptical and a whole bunch of Stuff That I Have To Go Through. All right then. That'll be part of this month's challenge. If it's between me and my exercise goals, I'll have to tackle it.

This is going to be a challenge.

• AM: 15 minutes elliptical - done
• Noon: One whole friggin' hour tackling the STIHTGT.- done
• PM: 15 minutes elliptical

Rainy Days and Wednesdays

Singing in the Rain, non-Hollywood style

It's raining! It's lovely and cool. I moved back from my outdoor office (the patio where I work when it's too hot indoors) to my regular office inside. It feels like fall.
In other words, it's great weather for exercise!

• AM: 30 minutes elliptical - done!
• Noon: 30 minutes elliptical - done!
• PM: 60 minutes elliptical - done. barely

Exercise? Didn't I just do that last week?

I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again. -Joan Rivers Phyllis Diller

• AM: 15 minutes yardwork. It's not too hot, for once. done
• Noon: 30 minutes yardwork. And the yard is a mess. done
• PM: 1 hour elliptical. done!

One of the great things about an exercise blog

I really don't feel like exercising today. It's 10 in the morning and it's already starting to feel hot. HOWEVER Since if I don't exercise today, I'd have to post that, I decided to find some kind of exercise I can get in today that qualifies.

• AM: 15 minutes on the elliptical. - done!
• Noon: 15 minutes yardwork. More, if there's a breeze. - done
• PM: I am going to go to the nice air conditioned library and climb stairs.- Fail

Have you seen my motivation anywhere? I could've sworn it was right here...

Tired. No energy. Just want to go back to sleep. So I post my day's exercise schedule here in the hope that it will motivate me to move.

• AM: 15 minutes on the elliptical- done
• Noon: 30 minutes yardwork - switched this for a 30 minute walk instead. Needed to run errands. Combining drudgery with exercise. Win!
• PM: 45 minutes on the elliptical. I want to ramp up the duration, push myself a little. Hopefully, I'll be awake by then. - done!

Running away from home was a good idea

Sometimes, running away from home is the mature, adult thing to do. I spent the night in a hotel overlooking the beach. It was blessedly cool, with touches of fog, and I fell asleep listening to the sound of the surf.
Of course, when I came home it was 85 degrees in my house at 9 pm, but I still felt better.

Exercise du jour:
• AM: 30 minutes elliptical - done. Well, 20 minutes. Need to squeeze in another 10 minutes at noon.
• Noon: 30 minutes elliptical - done. Got in 40 minutes, she said smugly.
• PM: 15 minutes elliptical - done

Walk

Exercise du jour: Walking. Just walking. One hour. That is my goal.Done! I imitated the bird in the picture and went to the beach, which was blessedly cool. Perfect walking weather.

There's more than one way to be flexible

We're looking at a mini heat wave. Well, not be the standards of anyone who's been sweltering east of the Rockies, but for the Pacific Northwest it's going to be way too hot. So I'm changing the exercise schedule to reflect the life of the AC-deprived.

• Morning: 1 hour ellipticalling crack o' dawn. Managed 45 minutes.
• Noon: 30 minutes yardwork (in the shade), 15 minutes elliptical. Done
• Going to the library or Starbucks or some other place blessed with ACOh, baby, Done!

Achievable goals, I haz them. I hopes.

Stretch or Kvetch

I've been doing pretty good with the steady exercising on the elliptical. (Well, apart from Friday, which, as I've already explained, never happened.) But I have been falling down in an epic fail when it comes to stretching. My subconscious apparently thinks it's not Real exercise and that I shouldn't have to do it.
It's going to be very hot this week, so I'm going to change up my schedule:

• Morning: 15 minutes elliptical done
• Noon: 30 minutes yardwork done
• Afternoon: 30 minutes yard work and 15 minutes stretching. And maybe kvetching as well. done

For now, I'll skip the evening exercise and concentrate on doing things before it gets too hot.

The illusionary Friday

Look, yesterday never happened, all right? You imagined it. In reality, we skipped straight from Thursday to Saturday. Otherwise, there would have been a blog post about how much exercise I got in on Friday, even though it was way too hot to do anything but sit in the shade and keep hydrated.
Monday, however, will occur. Sorry 'bout that.

I can do anything for fifteen minutes

Well, except hold my breath. Or stand on my head. Or listen to the NBC commentary on the Olympic Games. Or... Well, all right, there are several things I can't do for fifteen minutes. But exercise is not one of them. I'm going to try breaking up some of the exercise sessions into smaller portions today, just to see how it feels.

Exercise du jour:
Morning: 15 minutes elliptical. Done!
Noon: 15 minutes elliptical, 15 minutes yard work. Done done
Afternoon:60 minutes elliptical. That'll be my endurance portion of the day.Done! Almost gave up, but I thought "just a few minutes more" and after several "few minutes" I made it.
Evening: 15 minutes stretching.

Let's try this again

If you set goals for yourself, and you're like a lot of other people, you probably realize it's not that your goals are physically impossible that's keeping you from achieving them; it's that you lack the self-discipline to stick to them. It's physically possible to lose weight. It's physically possible to exercise more. - Daniel Goldstein

New week, blank slate. I'm going to start off with the assumption that I am going to either find or take the time out of my work day to exercise.

Exercise du jour:
Morning: 15 minutes elliptical -- done. finally. Kept putting it off, then I thought, "If I miss this, I'll have to write 'fail' on the blog. So I did it. Accountability FTW!
Noon: 30 minutes yard work -- done
Afternoon: 60 minutes elliptical -- done!
Evening: 15 minutes stretching -- argh! No good reason. I got distracted and forgot. I promise to stretch instead Tuesday.

O! What a beautiful morning!

It's been a week of craziness, starting with a low of work stress and ending with a high of personal stress (but happy). I'm going to try to settle back into a routine, rather than snatching moments to exercise in between bouts of stress.

Exercise du jour:
Morning: 15 minutes elliptical - done!
Noon: 30 minutes yard work - done!
Afternoon: 60 minutes elliptical - done!
Evening: 15 minutes stretching - fail. Ate something that made me sick, so skipped exercising and went to bed. Scheduling this for Saturday instead.

Just get the morning exercise in, let the rest of the day take care of itself

As Messymimi says, do exercise first thing in the morning. This week, I'm going to try and take a break in the middle of the morning Every Day. I have a tendency to sit all morning, from six in the morning until noon. Bad Merry.

Exercise du jour:
9:30ish -- get up, elliptical for 15 minutes - done! That screenshot above is the text for the mid-morning alarm that I put on my phone. It's quite helpful. -- done
Noonish -- elliptical 30 minutes - fail. I need to take a break at lunch!
4ish -- elliptical 60 minutesdone!

Winging it Monday

I'm typing up this schedule on Sunday at about 11:40 pm. I've been wrestling with day job issues for the better (or worse, in some opinions) part of the afternoon and evening. I've got to be up and at work in another six hours. I am putting up an exercise schedule in the hopes that I will be able to achieve something exercise-wise. It could happen.
Yes, it is also possible that pigs will fly. They could be winging their way toward you e'en as I type. To quote Douglas Adams, "In an infinite universe... anything is possible."
exercise du jour:
The very light version
Morning: 15 minutes on the elliptical -Fail
Noon: 15 minutes ellipticalling also -Fail
Evening: 15 minutes ellipticalling - Done. 30 minutes ellipticalling to make up for the day. I am so short on sleep I kept closing my eyes while I exercised. But I still am counting this as done
Honestly, that's about all I can handle today. It's still movement. I will call it a win if I can achieve all this.

An ambitious schedule for a hot day

People who sat for more than eight hours and were active for less than five minutes had a 59% increased risk of death compared with a reference group of people who sat for less than four hours and were active for more than 60 minutes.

Yes, you've heard of studies about the dangers of sitting. It's still good to reinforce the lesson. I need the reinforcement, anyway. It's going to be hot today. I'm going to try to schedule exercise early in the day, when I can face the thought of working out. Later on, I'll be working up a sweat just by sitting.

Morning: 60 minutes elliptical - done! I didn't think I'd be able to fit that in, but I got lucky.
Noon: 30 minutes yard work - done. Well, more like 20 minutes but it's too hot. I took a break. That counts as done.
Afternoon: 30 minutes stretching and yogadone I did it! It meant working a 13 hour day, but I got exercise in today.

Crazy times, sane priorities

Quote du jour: Either you run the day or the day runs you. - Jim Rohn

It's going to be difficult to hold to any schedule today. Just sat down to work and already five different people have tried to schedule me to work on projects.
I'm going to pause for a moment. Take a deep breath, let it out, stretch.
Okay then. The schedule.

Morning: 15 minutes elliptical - done
Noon: 30 minutes elliptical- done
3:30 p.m.: 30 minutes yard work - done
6:30 15 minutes elliptical - done

I'm going to TRY. If I even get some of this done, I'll celebrate

Update: I'm celebrating! There was pressure to work more than a ten hour day, but I acquired a sudden case of temporary deafness.

Bicycle Face: proof that exercise is bad for you (because a doctor said so)

Apparently, in Victorian times, there was a disease known as Bicycle Face

Once the bicycling craze took possession of bicyclists, many wheelmen and wheelwomen supposedly began suffering from a disease known as “bicycle face.” Doctors soon gave warnings that women, girls, and middle-aged men should avoid excessive cycling.

Well then. I guess I'll have to stick to the elliptical for a while. Just to be safe.
Exercise du jour:
a.m.30 minutes ellipticalling done!
noon30 minutes yard workdone
p.m.60 minutes ellipticallingdone!

Done!

I'm going to sit out on my patio and feel virtuous now.
And maybe a bit smug.
Gargoyle, presumably of the non-cycling variety, by SaraJB (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

I'm allergic to small talk... literally

"In a startling discovery that raises fundamental questions about human behavior, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the immune system directly affects – and even controls – creatures’ social behavior, such as their desire to interact with others." https://news.virginia.edu/content/shocking-new-role-found-immune-system-controlling-social-interactions So if I'm not chatty, it's not my fault? I'll just blame my immune system.

10 a.m. -- Get up from my desk. 15 minutes ellipticalling
12 noon -- Get up from my desk. 30 minutes cleaning the house.30 minutes ellipticalling.
3:30 p.m. -- Get up from my desk. 30 minutes yard work.
4 p.m. -- 60 minutes ellipticalling.
7 p.m. -- 15 minutes ellipticalling.
I'm still having trouble with taking breaks, and walking away at the end of the work day. Working on it. This was a day of mostly Fail. I did clean the house for 30 minutes, and I managed 45 minutes on the elliptical. But I spent the rest of the day trying to get work done. I know it's dumb, but when I'm tired I still try to push on through instead of taking a break or a nap or something. As if sitting in a chair like an ineffectual martyr ever solved anything.
Luckily, I'm told tomorrow is another day.

A body in motion tends to stay in... better shape

Quotes du jour: A body in motion tends to stay in motion. - Newton
A body in chair tends to stay there. - Me

When I first set up my new elliptical, I was surprised to find that I could feel the arm muscles getting a work out using the moveable arms. It was actually an effort to pedal for a few minutes. Not a huge effort, true, but the mere fact that it was an effort at all shocked me. This was not a lot to ask of my body. I hadn't realized quite how out of shape I'd gotten. I was also surprised, a day or so later, when I tried the elliptical again. This time, it was much less of an effort.
A few days after that, I ellipticalled for 30 minutes while watching a TV show. Didn't feel anything at all.
It is amazing how quickly a body can adapt to being in motion or being in chair.

Exercise du jour:

10 a.m. -- Get up from my desk. 15 minutes ellipticalling. Done
12 noon -- Get up from my desk. 30 minutes cleaning the house.Fail 30 minutes ellipticalling.done
3:30 p.m. -- Get up from my desk. 30 minutes yard work.Fail. My poor yard
4 p.m. -- 60 minutes ellipticalling.done
7 p.m. -- 15 minutes ellipticalling.done

Easy day

 Quote du jour: “We do not stop exercising because we grow old – we grow old because we stop exercising.” ~ Dr. Kenneth Cooper

Spent a total of 2 hours on the elliptical yesterday. I'm easing into this return to exercising, so I wasn't using high resistance. I got my heart rate up, even so. Have I mentioned that I love my elliptical? I even find using the moveable arms gives my arm muscles a bit of a workout.

Wow. I am surprised how tired I am today. I did not push myself yesterday as far as using resistance on the elliptical, and my muscles are not sore, but I have no energy today. Zero. Zip. Zilch. (Why are there so many 'Z' words for low energy?) So whatever I did, it must have pushed my body even though I did not feel like I was stressing out the system. I'm going to consider that progress.

Exercise du jour: Today, I want to go easy on the elliptical. A mere 15 minute stint. done

Joachim Martin Falbe [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Working from home = more work time, less home time

Quote du jour: Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.- Carl Sandburg

One thing I'm working to overcome is my tendency to sit down in front of my computer and stay there for hours. Working in an office, it's easier to control this. A co-worker wants you to go to the break room for a coffee, you go out to lunch with people, you need to physically get up and go to a meeting. Something. But working from home, my point of connection to the outside world is the computer screen and there I stay. So today, here's the schedule.

10 a.m. -- Get up from my desk. 15 minutes ellipticalling.-- done
12 noon -- Get up from my desk. 30 minutes cleaning the house. done30 minutes ellipticalling.done
3:30 p.m. -- Get up from my desk. 30 minutes yard work.fail. Last Minute Meeting, very important (yeah. so why was everything shelved until tomorrow if it was so important, hmmn?)
4 p.m. -- 60 minutes ellipticalling.done -- got to use up a lot of frustration
7 p.m. -- 15 minutes ellipticalling.done. Finally.
That's a hard schedule for me. Not the hour on the elliptical, the taking-a-break part.

Work is bad for blogging

Quote du jour: Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. - Steve Jobs

Sheesh, all it took was a job with a hellishly long commute and poof my exercise blogging went out the window. Update:

1. No, I'm not dead. Not yet, at least.
2. Working a job that involves a 3-hour commute and getting up at 4:30 in the morning is bad for your blogging schedule.
3. Jumping from that job to one that involves travel up to half a month is even worse.
4. Exercising or eating right when working 15 hour days is not always easy possible.
5. For the moment, I'm not working as hard so I'm going to go back to tracking exercise.

I bought a new elliptical. Broke the old cheap one, and fixing it would've cost more than it was worth, so I bought a fancy one with a fancy maintenance agreement. I've found that this is one type of exercise that I can and will do consistently. Go with what works, yes? Exercise du jour: 1 hour, ellipticalling -- done!