January: month in review

Exercise to stimulate, not to annihilate. The world wasn't formed in a day, and neither were we. Set small goals and build upon them.
-Lee Haney

Okay, the first month of 2017 is done.
My house is cleaner. My life feels more organized. I have lost 10 pounds. Walking is becoming a habit. Progress.

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• p.m.: Walking and strengthening exercises -done!

More exercise, less stress

In my judgment, physical fitness is basic to all forms of excellence and to a strong, confident nation.
-Robert Kennedy

Physical fitness is a great way to respond to stressful situations, such as watching the news.

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done. Feel like I'm getting back into the rhythm. Hopefully not a delusion.
• noon: 15 minutes organizing-fail. Maybe it was a delusion. I let work suck me into its evil vortex and worked through lunch.
• p.m.: exercise DVD -done. Well, sorta. I did 20 minutes of exercise, then I took a break to do dull tedious chores. Then 20 minutes of exercise an hour later. I'm calling that good enough.

Re-set Sunday

True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united.
-Wilhelm von Humboldt

Hmmn. Wrote a post and it disappeared. So I'm trying this again. I didn't stop my walking program last week, but I did take a day off and I didn't exercise with as much verve. The heck with verve. I still moved. On to week 5 of the walking program.

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -Fail. Had to work on the weekend.
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -Fail. Ditto.
• p.m.: Walking and strengthening exercises -Semi-done. Got the walking in. Then back to work.

Hibernation only works for bears

Or so I keep telling myself. I'm feeling a bit like a grizzly at the moment. It's still too dark in the morning, I got lured outdoors yesterday by nice weather, only to end up soaked through by a stealthy rainstorm. I don't wanna do nothing but curl up in the warm bed that's calling me right now. So I'm going to fake being motivated.

• am: 1 hour Walking
• noon: 15 minutes Cleaning
• pm: 15 minutes organizing

Fail. Really not feeling well. I'm going to take a couple days off. Not sure why I'm feeling so tired, but it's A Sign. One good thing about tracking my exercise like this is that I can look back and point out to my conscience that yes, I have been exercising. I'm not a slacker if I take a day off. Or even two.

Slothful Saturday

Beep
Hello. This is Merry. I can't come to the blog right now. Please leave a message after the beep and I will feel guilty enough to come exercise tomorrow.beep
Tired. It's cold and dark and it's been winter for every and ... wah.
Okay. Whine over. But I'm going to take this feeling as a sign that maybe I should take it easy today.

• am: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -fail. Got distracted. It's harder to stay focused on the weekends. Need to work on this.
• pm: 30 minutes stretching, maybe a bit of yoga Ended up taking a walk. It's a luxurious feeling to be able to walk without slipping on ice. -done

Friday! I made it!

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
-Confucius

I am going to focus today on things that are within my control. I am not going to stress about anything that is outside of my control. Word of the day: focus.

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done.
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• p.m.: Walking and strengthening exercises -done/li>

Thursday... okay, I can make it one more day

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. Mark Twain

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done. Slowly, the chaos is started to fall into place.
• p.m.: exercise DVD

Wonderful Wednesday (wishful thinking on steroids)

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. Tony Robbins

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing-done
• p.m.: Back to my walking program! Yay!!! -done. I'm soggy, but it's done. Sadly, I don't see any improvement yet. Hopefully that was due to my having to pick my way around the occasional patch of snow or ice. But done.

Tuesday, Tuesday

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.
-Og Mandino

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done. shoveled snow from in front of the garbage cans so that hopefully the nice garbagemen will come by and pick it up.
• noon: 15 minutes organizing shoveling snow so the mailman can still come to visit even if it does ice over -done
• p.m.: Walking and strengthening exercises -done

Monday. Bright-eyed? Bushy tailed? Yeah. Whatever.

In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.
-Nikos Kazantzakis

I seem to have let my motivation behind me somewhere. I'll have to fake enthusiasm until it can catch up.

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -fail. I kept saying "just five more minutes..." Argh! I /know/ what happens when I do that but still it happens.
• p.m.: Exercise DVD Tried walking around the neighborhood. Think I'll bring my ice skates next time.done

The choice: exercise or put my head under the pillow. It's a tough call.

Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.
-Bradley Whitford

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning - done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• p.m.: Walking dancing and strengthening exercises. Still too much snow on the roads (and sidewalks, and crosswalks, and the track) to walk at any pace beyond a careful shuffle. Hopefully this will change soon. The walking schedule calls for me to do a timed 1k this week. But all the same, exercise was performed, so --done

Friday the 13th, a black cat... what could possibly go wrong?

People who believe they have the power to exercise some measure of control over their lives are healthier, more effective and more successful than those who lack faith in their ability to effect changes in their lives. Albert Bandura

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• p.m.: 45 minutes Exercise DVD -done!

Commit to your dreams

Life will only change when you become more committed to your dreams than you are to your comfort zone.

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• p.m.: Walking and strengthening exercises -done

Just say Snow

Eventually it's going to stop snowing. Really. I'm just sure of it.

• am: 15 minutes cleaning Shoveling the six inches of snow that fell last night on my sidewalk - done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing Shoveling the several more inches of snow that fell this morning - done
• pm: 45 minutes wild Baccanalian partying exercise DVD shoveling snow, trying to knock snow off branches that could bring down power lines, more shoveling snow. And then a break for making snowballs and throwing them for the neighbor's dog to chase. That was fun. -done

Trying Tuesday

“Virtue—even attempted virtue—brings light; indulgence brings fog.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• p.m.: Walking & strengthening exercises -done

Exercise? I just DID that yesterday!

Life is so unfair. You eat right, exercise vigorously, think positive thoughts -- and then you have to get up the next day and do the same thing all over again.
Wah.

• am: 15 minutes cleaning, pouting and whining included. -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing, whining optional. -done
• pm: 45 minutes either attacking blackberries (weather permitting) or exercise DVD. -done!

Going outside? Mayyyyybe not

It's icy out there today. More incentive to stay inside and be a sloth. I'm already in winter hibernation mode. As soon as it gets dark, I get sleepy. Last night, I procrastinated and ended up missing my pm exercise. I laid down "for a minute" and was out like a light. So today I'm trying the schedule in reverse, putting the exercise first.

• am: 45 minutes walking, strengthening exercises -done
• noon: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• pm: 15 minutes organizing-done

Up & Moving: Week 1 Review

 It's a quiet day. Sitting here watching the snowflakes fall and feeling very glad I don't have anywhere to go. Baked some bread, made some soup. Really feel inclined to curl up under a fleecy blanket and read a book. But I've researched the calorie-burning values generated by turning a page, and it's not all that good. And swiping a kindle is even worse.
So exercise goes on.
Completed my first week of Up '& Moving, a program that uses scheduled walking and strengthening exercises to get myself in better shape. Don't really notice any difference, but that's good in a way. If I were sore, I'd be much less motivated to keep going. I have to say, if I hadn't signed up for this program, I would not have gone out walking at all last week. Freezing outside. And on my last walk, I discovered a little neighborhood library: a wooden box where people can leave or pick up books to read. I had no idea such a thing was in the area, and I've lived here for almost ten years.
One tip I picked up from the program was the app Runkeeper. If you have a smartphone, you can use this app to track how far you've walked. Much preferable to going to the local track, where I'm always afraid I'll be run over by one of the high school track teams.

• am: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• pm: 15 minutes strength training, 30 minutes exercising -fail. Fell asleep.

Finally Friday

I'm tired of winter. I want it to be spring already!

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done. At this rate, I won't have anything left to do for spring cleaning!
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done
• p.m.: Exercise DVD

12th day of Christmas: 12 drummers drumming

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done!
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -done!
• p.m.: Walking -done. Slower than usual, but still counts.

11th day of Christmas: 11 pipers piping

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing-done
• p.m.: 45 minutes exercise DVD-done

10th day of Christmas: 10 Lords a Leaping. As they do.

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes organizing -fail. Got caught up in back-to-back meetings. Need to try taking a break earlier just in case.
• p.m.: Walking -done! I'm half icicle from the cold wind, but it's done.

9th Day of Christmas: 9 ladies dancing

In honor of the 9th day of Christmas, I'll make the exercise DVD a dancing video :)

• a.m.: 15 minutes cleaning -done
• noon: 15 minutes strength-training exercises -done
• p.m.: 45 minutes dancing, not necessarily like a lady -Done

Welcome 2017! Up & Moving

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." -C.S. Lewis

2016 in review: I returned to publishing my exercise goals and marking them off. It worked to get me back into the habit of getting up from my desk at least twice during my work day as well as exercising for 45 minutes in the evenings.

Now I want to aim for some more structured goals. With that in mind, I signed up for a program Up '& Moving. It sounded like an exercise-on-your-own-schedule type of workout program, but with the goal of improving my walking pace. I've signed up for six weeks of walking and strength training programs, with each week increasing the pace and hopefully improving my stamina.

I didn't want to leap into a Couch to 5k type of exercise program right away because I am convinced I would injure myself. But I wanted to have some kind of long-term goal to aim. I'm still going to keep my schedule of Doing Something every three times a day, but I'm going to include this program as part of my afternoon workout.

Week 1, day 1 20 minutes walking and exercises designed to loosen up the muscles so I can walk with better form. (Not sure what that means. Have I been doing it wrong all these years?) Then a timed 1 km walk so I can have a baseline measurement. done