Whew! We Went for a 3 Mile Walk Today!

I probably should have done that yesterday, when it actually hit 50 degrees here in mid-Minnesota, but it was quite nice out today with sunshine and a high of 43ish, so I decided to go for a walk. Since Ray is still not working, I asked him if he wanted to tag along...I also wanted him to protect me from any ferocious dogs I might meet along the way...

Anyway, we live out in the boonies now, on a lovely dirt road and I wasn't sure how muddy/slushy (mudshy?) they might be this time of year, so we were a bit cautious. First of all, we had to cross the pond at the end of our driveway, but we made it to the road. We took a left out of the driveway and walked a little less than half a mile (uphill) to the intersection. From there, we looked to see what we could see to our right. Okay, the road goes downhill and then up again...so either way, we'll end up going back uphill if we decide to go down it...but we decide to venture on. We had looked at a county map to plan our route, but were not sure of the terrain or the condition of the roads, but they didn't turn out to be too bad. We only encountered 3 barking dogs...fortunately, none of them came out to eat us or anything.

We ended up making a loop of approximately 3 miles. That's probably farther than I would have gone, if I'd gone on my own...but it felt pretty good to have walked that far...for me. My doctor told me a couple of years ago that I should do that EVERY day if I wanted to lose weight. I'm not sure about EVERY day, but I guess I could try to do it 2 or 3 times a week. Every little bit helps,, right? It's actually a very pretty walk, or at least it will be once Spring officially arrives. We were basically making a circle around a large pond, so we could see the farm from across the pond. I'll have to take my camera with next time, and see what I can find to take pictures of. We saw an eagle soaring in the sky on our way back, and lots of deer tracks...and even some COW tracks on the road. I'm glad we didn't run into some cow (or worse yet, a bull) that had gotten out of the fence!

Monday Morning Musings

• Despite the fact that we lost a dear friend this weekend, I am comforted in the fact that we know he is in the presence of the Lord right now, and I'm pretty sure the first word out of his mouth as he entered the Pearly Gates was WOOOWWW!!! If you are someone who was blessed enough to have had your life touched by Pastor Tom, you will understand.
• Even though my hubby and I did not go on the couples retreat with the 17 other couples from our church, we were able to spend some quality time together yesterday. He had some work to do in a building in downtown Minneapolis, so I decided to tag along and spend the day with him. I did have an ulterior motive to going to work with Ray though, I was able to TOTALLY AVOID the Super Bowl! Yippee!! We had no TV or even a radio playing. I'd heard a lot about this building, and what he was doing there, but I couldn't quite picture it in my mind. I took lots of pictures, I'll do another post with them a little later.
• I was planning on going to weigh in tonight...but now, after getting on my scale this morning...I'm not so sure. If nothing else, I do have a physical scheduled for Wed. morning. If I don't get to WW tonight, I'll update my froggy chart with whatever weight the doctor's scale says I am...but that could be scary too.
• On a positive note, one of my emails this morning was from CATHERINE'S...you know the store for us "Plus Size" women. The subject line said, "We miss you." That gave me a little chuckle. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against CATHERINE'S, it's a great store. It's just that since I've lost some weight, (I'm now in their smallest size), I have a hard time finding very many clothes there that fit me. I'm sorry, but I will not miss them when I am too small to fit into ANY of their clothing! They won't lose me totally though, I can still use my CATHERINE'S card at Fashion Bug, where I just found such a great deal on a winter coat, that I couldn't possibly pass it up.
• I purchased a new exercise DVD over the weekend. It is Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home, "Walk Away Your Hips & Thighs". It has a 2 mile power workout, and also a lower body toning workout on it. The package came complete with "The Fit Cuff", which are velcro ankle cuffs, connected by a big rubber band thingy. It is designed to be used with the toning exercises. I'm thinking I'll walk at my own speed to begin with, and probably start with a mile and work up to 2 miles. If I do that 3 times a week, and alternate with the toning exercises on the other 2 days, that should work. That's my plan anyway. Wish me luck, I'm going to go start right now.
  

My Personal Trainer/Cheerleader

Well, I decided to get on my treadmill today, much to my grandson CJ's delight. I had set his booster seat on top of his dog's kennel, so he decided that was a good perch from which to spectate. He was cheering me on saying, "Go Grandma, Go Grandma! After about 15 minutes he said, "I think you're gettin' skinnier, Grandma!

Wow! You can't ask for much more motivation than that. Of course he was talking to me the entire time, while I was trying to listen to a CD, but that's okay. After my half hour was done, he seemed a bit disappointed that I wasn't "skinny" yet, but then I explained to him that Grandma had to walk on the treadmill every day for a long time, and THEN she would be skinny. He looked at me and said, "I think you're a LITTLE bit skinnier, Grandma." What a sweetheart. I think I'll keep him around for a while.

Can You Find The Treadmill in This Picture?

Well, I straightened out my laundry room/home gym/dog kennel so that I could get to my treadmill and dusted it off, (literally). It's working, sort of. The only problem is, it seems to have a mind of its own sometimes. It speeds up and slows down when it wants to. I don't understand why, but I'm going to try to use it anyway. It's the only thing I've got right here and now.

Oh look, there it is!

(I know, I still have a few boxes of junk that need to find a home sitting next to it)

What I usually like to do is listen to an audio book while I'm walking on it. That makes the time go faster. And since it's in the laundry room, I might just as well throw a load of clothes in washer and/or dryer before I hop on it. Pray that my treadmill will hold out, and that I will too.




By the way, I did not go and weigh in at Weight Watchers tonight. I really couldn't have even if I'd wanted to. As I said, my van's out of commission, and Jessica's car doesn't start either sometimes when it's -10. She woulda had to give me a ride, because this grandma doesn't know how to drive a stick. Ray wasn't home from work yet either, so I was kinda stranded. Those are all great excuses, right?

I'll (Re)-Start My Diet and Exercise Plan On Monday

I've done it again. I've put back ON a few pounds. But now that the holidays are officially over, and since tomorrow is the first MONDAY of the year, I'm going to get serious about this whole weight loss thing again. I've got to find me some kind of exercise to do though.

The new weight loss book that I'm reading says that the first week I have to establish an exercise routine. I need to exercise for 30 minutes a day, 5 days (in a row), per week. NO EXCUSES! They recommend:

1. Basketball (where would I play basketball?)
2. Bike Riding (it's -10 degrees outside, and the ground is covered with snow)
3. Cross -country skiing machine (I don't have one)
4. Dancing (yeah, right)
5. Elliptical machine ( my mother has one of these, but lives over an hour away)
6. Jogging/running (see bike riding note)
7. Kick boxing (don't make me laugh)
8. Racquetball (I can't afford it and don't know where there is a racquetball court around here)
9. Spinning class (Apparently, this is a class in riding a stationary bike. see above note for excuse)
10. Stair climber ( I don't have one, but I guess I could climb actual stairs)
11. Stair stepper ( see above note)
12. Stationary bike/recumbent bike (I don't own one of these either)
13. Step arobics (I May be able to find a dvd for this, and something to use for a step?)
14. Swimming (If I only had an indoor pool, the bathtub isn't big enough)
15. Tennis (almost as funny as me dancing or kick boxing, also, there's that below zero thing)
16. Walking -My treadmill is in need of repair and I can't afford to get it fixed. It's below zero outside, and the roads are covered with ice. I don't feel like walking out there, brrrrrrrr.)

I can't afford to join a gym, and right now my van is also in dire need of repair, so I couldn't drive to one anyway. That's only because it is finally paid for, they always die right after you get them paid for, right? I guess I could run up and down my multi-colored stairs, but they're so steep that it hurts my hips every time I walk up them, so I can't see myself enjoying that either.

You may think I'm just making up excuses here...but I'm not. I'm truly wracking my brain trying to think of something I can do. I THINK I may have some exercise dvd's that I got from McDonald's, back when they used to give them out with an adult "Happy Meal". I'll have to go and check that out. Let me know if you have any wonderful exercises dvd's that I could possibly borrow, or some ideas on what I can do. No Lisa, I refuse to try your "Flirty Girl" exercises, or anything else that might require the use of a pole!

Week 6 Weigh In ~ Going Down...

Whew! I had a 2 lb loss this week! I know I was down a few more pounds somewhere around Thursday or Friday, but with the weekend I just had...I was happy for any loss at all. I got another 5 lb star sticker for my WW bookmark, so that was encouraging. My total weight loss so far is: 16.2 lbs! And no...I never did get on that treadmill, (that is sitting about 6 ft away from me staring at me at the moment), but I did buy myself some new tennis shoes...maybe, just maybe tomorrow will be the day.

I met a gal at the meeting tonight, who has lost just over 50 lbs in 4 mos! Wow~ if I could do that, I could have 50 lbs off by age 50! But I know to do that...I'm going to have to exercise.