New Day and I’m Feeling Good!

I love new days and glad I get one every twenty-four hours. I know that may sound funny, but it’s true. Yesterday I did the best I could and still wish I could have done more and better. But it is what it is. Today I have the opportunity to do what I feel needs to be done and will work my best intentions – it’s all I can do.

This morning I read a article in Yoga Journal, Nurture the New You, that reminded me to accept who I am and the choices I make with compassion. This is the way to invoke the positive changes I want to see in my life. I resolve to tell the “parent voice”  that I hear in my head to “Be Still” when it starts harping at me.  I will take a few minutes at the beginning of the day to state my intentions for the day. At the end of the day I will review my efforts and congratulate myself on what I did well. I won’t condemn myself for those things that didn’t get done – I have tomorrow.

I was glad that I had read this article before I did my weigh in as my weight stayed the same as last week. I was able to look back at my calendar and see that I did get to the gym 4 times; and I have 5 workouts scheduled this week. I am still working on eating every 3 hours, which has proven harder than it sounds when one has a full schedule.

Have a great day and be kind to yourself.

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Happy New Year

Yippee, the big day is here! I hope you all enjoyed a festive holiday season and a fun-filled new years eve. I had a good time with my husband during the day at home. In the evening we went to visit with a friend after a sitting and ceremony at the Zen Center of Denver.

I realize I am getting older and that’s okay, but I was reminded how much time has gone by when I saw Dick Clark at Times Square last night. Yesterday I was so happy to find two women from my past on Facebook. I had babysat for their children when I was in high school and those kids are in their forties now—OMGoodness, isn’t that something.

I have received several messages from people who had a tough 2010 and are really looking forward to 2011 being a better year for them. I feel blessed that my year was filled with goodness and learning experiences and I am ready to continue to learn and grow.

May your 2011 be filled with joy, blessings and learning experiences.

You can find me on Facebook.

Weigh Day

I can’t say that I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to weigh in this morning, but I didn’t put it off either. Considering it was the holidays I think I did ok with a one pound weight gain. I don’t feel great about it, but I am not going to beat myself up either. I put on my sweats and took Max out for good one hour plus walk before going to the fitness center for a 1 hour water aerobics class.

I’ve done well with eating every three hours today and know that I can achieve my goal.

I spoke with my sister Viveca today and she continues to inspire me. She is a few years older than I am and is a certified personal trainer. She is going to take me with her to the gym while I am in Florida in two weeks, for two weeks—so I think it will behoove me to get in as many work out classes as I can before I get there. I am planning on getting a two week jump on my marathon training while I am in Florida.

My friend Brenda commented that she was working on the same ten pound weight loss for the past 5 years. She knows herself enough to know that sticking with a plan can be challenging—I can relate. I find having support along the way toward any endeavor helps to keep me motivated to keep going in the right direction. I appreciate your support and encouragement. Will you join me in this endeavor to improve your wellness level now?

I hope you all have a wonderful new beginning right now (why wait until the new year?) But have a great 2011 just the same!

Post Christmas Post

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday (whatever you celebrate)!

My husband was home for a wonderful long weekend and we had a great time. We ate like it was a holiday, so I must say I am glad that the weekend is over.

Just to fill in the gap since I didn’t get a post done last Wednesday after my first weigh-in. I am happy to report that week one of my 28 day experiment with the 3-Hour diet went well. Much better than the second week since my husband has been home since then and my brain went on vacation.

Anyway, the first week I did eat just about every 3-hours while I was awake. I wrote it down and logged it into Fitday.com and stayed around my 1500 calories a day goal. I was very sore after the Willpower and Grace class and limped around the following weekend. Also, I felt like a nasty cold was trying to get me down. I started having that watery feeling behind my eyes. I took immediate action and dosed myself with NingXia Red with additional Thieves blend and orange essential oils. I waited about six hours and dosed myself again. I was happy on Sunday when I got up right as rain, without any cold symptoms.

On Monday I hit a boot camp class and then did a yoga class. These two classes renewed my physical feelings of pain, I skipped class on Tuesday and got a much needed massage. I went to the Sheridan club on 81st on Wednesday and enjoyed the hot tub after the treadmill. I was too early for the water aerobics class and tired myself out before it started. Thursday I repeated Willpower and Grace (thank you Sarah – great class), but wasn’t as sore as the previous week.

I haven’t had a class since Thursday, but I did get in several walks and walked at the club yesterday before I enjoyed the water works. I even did a bit of pool work. I will be going to boot camp again today and yoga. Also a couple of walks with Max (the small, but energetic dog I am caring for).

And by the way, last week I lost 1.6 pounds. I am hoping that they didn’t find their way back over the long holiday weekend. I’ll keep you posted. And I signed up and paid my money for the Nashville Country Music Half Marathon.

Willpower and Grace

Image via Wikipedia

This morning I did an exercise class at the Denver Highlands 24 Hour Fitness with Sarah. It was a wonderful and challenging experience for me; and I am planning on returning next week and do it again. I am continuing a stretching.

Today I am feeling well and connected to my life; and though I have a lot to do, I am not feeling stressed. My piano practice was great this morning. I plan on keeping it my 1st priority when I get out of bed in the morning (after I’ve spent some time back in bed with my coffee, journal, Sudoku book, and books or magazines, that is).

Okay, so here is some big news! On February 1, I am going to start training for the Rock and Roll Half-Marathon held in Nashville, TN, on April 30, 2011 and the Denver Marathon, which is on October 9th. This means I have six weeks to lose 12 of my 22 extra pounds and build some much needed muscle and endurance.

I am going to run both races for the Denver Fisher House, which is a comfort home for veteran and active duty military personnel and their families. Fisher House provides temporary housing for families who come to Denver to receive medical treatment.

In January I will be asking all my friends, family, and military veterans (like me) to make a donation to the Denver Fisher House. I hope you will give whatever you can.

New Day and a New Way

Today I am starting two new practices for my health and well being.  First of all I am going to blend my two previous techniques to get things accomplished off my “To Do List” and not feel stressed about what I do or don’t get done.

I will continue to track what I do after I get it done (no time line based pre-planning). I will write a list of my top priorities on a sticky note and keep it near my tracked accomplishments. I will do one thing after another until it is time for me to be somewhere else, i.e the gym for a scheduled class. This way I keep in mind what I want to accomplish, but I won’t feel like it has to be done within a certain time frame.

Last Wednesday I started a “diet” and exercise program. I tried to track everything I ate and all the exercise I did with the help of Fitday.com. I didn’t get every day tracked perfectly and that’s okay. It was a start. When I got on the scale this morning my weight was exactly where it was a week ago. However, I did have an extra treat here and there throughout the week. It’s all good, as it was a good lesson and reminder how important consistency in good habits is for my well being. No guilt – just learning.

The second thing I am going to do for myself is commit to a 28-day wellness program, loosely based on Jorge Cruise’s 3 Hour Diet*. (I can repeat the 28-day program until my goal is achieved or commit to another plan for 28-days). I will maintain a eating time line, which keeps me on track to eat every three hours. This is 3 meal, 2 snacks and one treat a-day program, for a total of

Cover via Amazon

about 1500 calories. Jorge states in his book, The 3 Hour Diet, that one will lose 2 pounds a week on this plan without having to exercise, however he does state that exercising and adding muscle will help burn the calories faster and allow one to eat more once the excess weight has been shed.

My weight loss goal is 22 pounds, which should take me 11 weeks if I stay on schedule. I will post my progress weekly and look forward to your encouragement. Last year I took a picture of myself at the same weight I am today and unfortunately nothing changed. This is the time for me to improve my well being that will occur just by dropping 13% of my weight.

It’s about lunch time so I will eat and then go out for a walk in sunny Denver, CO. It is a gorgeous and 51 degrees outside.

* I will not earn any money if you buy this book, but it will help my sister’s Amazon account.

Getting things done without a schedule?

Last month I did a 3 week experiment that about drove me crazy. I scheduled almost every minute of every day and though I did get quite a bit done, there were things I didn’t do. More importantly I became aware of the negativity I created because I felt like I was always behind and could never catch up.

I took a 2 week vacation away from the house and enjoyed myself completely. Tuesday morning I decided to not do what was already on my schedule and do what needed to be done so I would feel ready to go on and not start out feeling behind.

Yesterday I was having a conversation with Barbara de Jong, a friend of mine who is also an Edward Jones financial advisor, and took notes of our conversation. She turned me on to some investments needed for my portfolio. After our conversation it occurred to me that it would be a good idea to keep a written log of things that I do rather than scheduling what I “need” to get done. These notes will act as a reminder of decisions I made, i.e getting some great high interest Build America Bonds, as well as a reminder of how much I REALLY do get done in a day. No use to feel like I am a slacker just because I forget all that I got done.

I am also thinking I may continue this practice as it may bring awareness to what I am doing since I am writing it down and maybe will therefore be more productive without feeling like I am on that hamster wheel.

I am grateful for this day and what I have learned.

Barbara can be contacted at 303 733-0286.

OM Goodness

I can’t believe how much I can put into my schedule. This was a wonderful exercise and valuable learning experience. For one thing, I remembered that I usually over schedule my life and that really isn’t much fun. Oh, it was fun the first day because I nearly got everything done that I had scheduled. However, it took me from 6am until past 10pm.

I even made the fun things feel like work, i.e. practicing my piano and doing my French homework. And my volunteering started feeling like a JOB.

For the past couple of days I managed to get the important things done and let some of the other stuff slide and that feels better. I will be on vacation for the last two weeks in November and the first week in December, so I decided that my new December schedule will be scaled way back and only use morning, afternoon and evening designations instead of hour by bloody hour.

Here is what I have so far, but I’m still working on it.

AM – enjoy a Sudoku with my morning coffee in bed; read for awhile, practice piano, French homework, write letters, go to the gym or take a walk around the lake.

Afternoon: paint, or visit with friends, go to the museum; volunteer work; play scrabble on FB, give a massage or two (this is pick and choose – not all of them).

Evening: Give a massage and/or read and/or watch a movie and/or just relax!

Right now I am off for a massage and I know I am going to love that!

Schedule it in and get it done.

Well, I must say I am having fun and I feel good about it. Monday I came up with a list of things I could do to get myself going in the right direction to improved my wellness level.

Before I could get to any of the items on the list, I jumped into a long overdue project and spent all day working on it before I had to stop for my French and piano lessons. It was something I procrastinated about for way too long. But now it’s done and I feel good about that!

Yesterday was a fully planned day already and I didn’t have time to write a list and get the items posted in my schedule. But I did paint a picture before going to my oil painting class (yeah – my homework was done on time) – And I felt good about that!

Today I actually spent an hour and got the list written and all the items put in my schedule. One of the requirements was that I didn’t over-fill the schedule and I see that day one had too much scheduled and I couldn’t get everything completed. I had fun, did a lot, and didn’t stress at all about any of it so I feel good about that too. I will push the 3 or 4 very little items to tomorrow’s list and go from there.

I’ve had a full day today and I feel good! How about you?

Let’s Talk Wellness

Wellness, now that is a loaded word. What does it mean to you and how do you address wellness for yourself?

I define wellness in holistic terms which includes physical, mental and spiritual aspects of health. There are many things we can do to achieve and maintain an optimal wellness level, though some times it seems difficult. Wellness, like health, is more than just not being sick.

Perhaps we think we know all the things that are good for us and just can’t seem to do them all so we think what’s the use. Or we just don’t know where to start. The thing to remember is we don’t have to do everything that we think will bring us to enjoy wellness from the start – we can add more healthy actions as we go along.

Why don’t we start here and now by asking ourselves just one question? How do I feel right now about my level of general wellness and what can I do today to start a positive change?

Hmm, okay – I’ll start with my physical health.

Generally I feel good. I would “feel” better if I lost a few pounds and I know that tummy fat can lead to some negative health consequences. My feet, including my heels, are a bit achy when I get out of bed in the morning. When I try to do too many things I get stressed if I can’t fit everything in; stress is a killer and effects my physical and mental health.

What can I do today that will assist me in enjoying a increased level of wellness?

• Take a walk around the lake (great for all areas of wellness).
• Drink my NingXia Red with added therapeutic grade essential oils.
• Journal what I eat today (proven to aid in weight loss).
• Make a list of what I want to get done in the next 3 weeks and schedule them in my daytimer reasonably so I am not overbooked, which is sure to stress me out.

What are you going to do? It can be easier for each of us, if we do it together.