ABM has promised that he will be picking up a new treadmill tomorrow before he goes to work. I can't wait! Unlike most people who use their exercise equipment to hang clothes on, I use machines consistently when I have access to them. My earliest experience with an exercise machine was using my mother's stationary bike when I was a teenager. I loved being able to work out and watch TV at the same time! Weight training was the only PE class I passed in high school because I enjoyed using the machines.
Unfortunately, I can't seem to keep a machine in the house. ABM and I wasted money on whatever was the hot exercise tool of the moment -- stair climber, ski machine, some side-to-side sliding thing. None of them worked for us; the stair climber made me feel like I was having a heart attack! By the time we realized that we should have followed our initial instinct and bought a treadmill, we couldn't afford one.
Many years, babies, and pounds later, we held a treadmill in storage for a neighbor. I loved that thing. I was up to an hour a day and down 25 pounds when she finally came and got it. Several months later we bought our own. We still didn't have a lot of money so we bought the cheapest model we could find. All I can say about that is, "Pay attention to the weight requirement on the box." I was WAY over the weight limit and I broke the blasted thing within a few weeks. This time we are buying a good treadmill that has been tested for fat-bottomed girls like me!
Why does the treadmill work for me when other things don't? It is the most effortless exercise to start. I am not a morning person, but morning is the best time for me to exercise. Without a treadmill, it is a struggle to convince myself to get up at 6a and put clothes on to go outside. I have to get my workout clothes ready the night before and make sure that I have batteries and music loaded up on my mp3 player. With a treadmill, I just have to have my sneakers by my bed. On the days when I don't want to get up, I tell myself that I can walk in my pajamas. The stereo is right next to the treadmill so I don't have to use my mp3 player at all.
Having a treadmill in the house also encourages me to work out more. When I walk outside, I tend to cut my walk short because I am worried about hitting my fatigue limit when I am on the other side of the loop and far away from the house. Working out inside means that I can work right up to my limit because I am only two steps from my couch. Also, since the treadmill makes it easier to work out in the morning, I am more likely to sneak in a little exercise in the afternoon on the days that I have time.
I just wrote five paragraphs about treadmills! Can you tell how excited I am to be getting a new one? When I exercise regularly, I eat healthier because I don't want to mess up all the work I've done. It doesn't work the other way around for me. So I know that bringing in the treadmill will get me back on the right track!
Today I didn't feel like exercising. Some days I am so fatigued that I can barely make it upstairs to my bedroom. That wasn't the case today; I was just bored. Playing around on the internet sounded more interesting than jumping up and down. After reading a few e-mails, however, I started to feel guilty. So I got up off my butt and started one of the "All-Star Workouts" routines that I have on my TiVo.
Unfortunately, the workout didn't go so well. I tried to stick with it because it is one that I really like, but my back started hurting after five minutes. I get so frustrated when that happens! Right now, I weigh more than I ever have in my life. The only time I ever got close to this weight was when I was pregnant with my twins and my back hurt the same way then, but the pain went away when I gave birth. This leads me to believe that if I lose this weight, I will get rid of this pain. How am I going to lose the weight if exercise hurts?
This afternoon's exercise was belly dancing for 30 minutes. I used a routine that I recorded from a FitTV show called "All-Star Workouts". This is my fourth time doing this routine and I lasted longer than ever before.
One of my problems when doing a new exercise routine is not allowing myself to mess up. If I can't keep up with the speed of the workout on the first try, then I assume it is too fast for me and I abandon it. I recognized this trait in myself a while ago, but it is still a tough thing for me to overcome. At least once a week I have to remind myself that as long as I am moving, it is OK to do the routine at half-speed while I trying to learn the steps. I'm still burning more calories than I would have been on the couch!
I've got a bag full of Easter candy on my nightstand. My husband ABM is the one who bought it so it is all chocolate, no jellybeans. There is no question about whether I will eat it all; I just hope that I can make myself stretch it out over the week.
I usually give myself a break over the weekend, which means no exercise or dieting. Weekends are all about relaxation for me so I don't want to think about sticking to a routine. With this attitude, however, I'm not doing myself any favors. I think I need to add in a little more exercise on Saturdays to help me reach my long-range goal.
I thought that I wasn't going to get any exercise today because I had to take the kids to a school dance. I ended up on my feet for an hour and a half, dancing to almost every song. Since this was an elementary school dance, the DJ played a lot of "activity" songs that really get you moving. We did the Twist, the Chicken Dance, the Electric Slide, the Cha-Cha Slide, the Macarena, and several others. I definitely felt like I had worked out when we left.
Since this blog will probably be seen by a totally different audience than my regular blog, I figured I should write a brief introduction.
Who am I? I'm a 39-year-old wife and mother of four.
Why am I trying to change my lifestyle? Like most moms, I have to put aside a lot of the things I enjoy to take care of my family. I want to make sure that when I finally get all these kids out of the house, I am still healthy enough to pursue my favorite activities. I'm not athletic, but many of my hobbies require flexibility and stamina.
Why am I writing this blog? We've all been around people who are so excited about their new hobby/boyfriend/life change that they talk about it ad nauseum. Frankly, those people make me want to puncture my own eardrums. Writing about my weight loss journey will hopefully prevent me from boring my friends with all the details. If I start whining too much, you guys are free to surf on to the next blog!
What is my plan? My focus is on making exercise a habit. I know that exercise and healthy eating need to go hand in hand, but I am hoping that regular exercise will make me want to eat better.
