GET A BETTER MOOD FAST

According to an article in the Parade of August 23, 2009, you can "Get A Better Mood Fast" with less than a half hour of moderate exercise. A study (funded by YOU) at the University of Vermont showed that everyone in the exercise group demonstrated a 'significant positive effects on mood' for up to 12 hours AFTER a 20 minute session of moderate exercise, working at 60% of their aerobic capacity.

WOW! They need to pay ME for that information. I could have given them proof positive for lots fewer $$. Yes, I know it's anecdotal - but it's still true. One of the reasons - perhaps the most important of reasons - that I walk daily is to keep me in a positive frame of mind.

When things are going poorly one day, when something annoying, disconcerting, or depressing has happened, I can put on my walking shoes and WALK IT OFF. Can you?

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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

A SHAMELESS PLUG...

Herein is a shameless plug for my daughter's latest endeavor. However, we can make it about walking. Really! She walked many miles every day while working for the charity that got her interested in this. The other two young people involved in this are top notch - Sean is in his first year of law school at CUNY and Emily is a senior at Mizzou and is involved in various charity projects like CASA and participates in a grant writing internship. These three will be a force to reckon with. While their project is very ambitious, these three can pull it off.

So, check it out! http://www.urbanvolunteer.blogspot.com/

If you know a young person who wants to do some community service or a youngster who might need some help with his/her self esteem and self sufficiency, point them to this blog and let them read and add their thoughts.

I appreciate the support of anyone who would like to link to Kami's blog.


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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

HOW TO JOIN THE STEPTEMBER CHALLENGE

The America On The Move website does not make it clear how to register to join our group, St. Louis Strollers. To join us, please go to:
https://register.americaonthemove.org/

click on the 'join' site
click on your description - lie if you want
then, you can enter our group's ID which is : RST156002

Then, email me with your minutes or steps (if you have a pedometer) and I'll post that on the website.

It appears that the website has had a redesign since I wrote my first article about it a couple days ago. No more prizes. But, I think it'll be fun to participate in anyway.

I'll not post an update on their website every day, so you don't need to email me EVERY day with your info - but do keep posting me on a regular basis. I'll try to post everyone's stats on Sunday evenings if not at other times during the week.

From my friend Sally who has used a pedometer for years, the cheap ones are just as good as the expensive ones. So, if you want to get one, don't break the bank. Throw it away when it stops working. A new one at Walgreen's doesn't cost any more than the cost of the replacement battery.

So, gear up for our August 24, 2009 start date. Join us!

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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

KEEPING TRACK

I think I've written before about some ways of tracking one's progress. Sadly, most of the sites online are keyed to weight loss more than exercise even if they include an exercise tracker. But, I've found a few I like.

http://fitday.com/ is a free site with a premium option (that costs of course). Depending on what you want to track, this site might be perfect for you. I do not like that they advertise weight loss surgery, but I'm able to ignore that and click on the 'Activities' tab to track my activities. I also find their 'Lifestyle' categories baffling. I do sit a lot at work, but I'm also up and down a lot, walking from my desk to the front of the office, about 50 yards, many times a day AND I'm a dedicated walker. They should have more categories. But, it still has an attractive activity tracker, so it might suit the needs of others.

Here's a neat site I just signed up for. I'm taking the Steptember Challenge starting August 24. Wanna join me? If so, join at this site, and continue through a couple pages til you get to the bottom of the complete registration page where they ask if you want to participate in the Steptember Challenge. Here's how to become a St. Louis Stroller (whether you live in these parts or not!). I'm the Group Admin, so I'll keep track of all our activities. You can use a pedometer to register steps or time which will be converted by the website.

You've successfully set up the group: st louis strollers

Your group Registration Code: RST156002

To invite others to participate in your America On the Move group, ask them to:

1. Go to https://register.americaonthemove.org
2. When asked "What would you like to do," select "Join a group"
3. Use Group Registration Code: RST156002
4. Answer all other registration questions

I believe you'll have to email me your steps or time from August 24 through October 16 (42 days) and I'll track them on the site. Prizes are to be awarded on the site. Couldn't hurt to win some cash or a great prize for just walking, could it? EMAIL ME AT JDWLN320@GMAIL.COM
with WALK CHALLENGE in the subject line. No need to email every day. Maybe once a week and I'll post everyone's standings once or twice a week.

Please let me know, also, if you find other sites that are good at tracking activities, especially those that will convert other kinds of activities, like dancing, swimming, biking, into units compatible with steps. I'm sure they're out there.






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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

Time gets away from me. I realized today I hadn't blogged here since early in August. But, not to fear. I HAVE been walking. Also doing yard work and working at my supposedly part time job that has recently expanded to just about full time with the absence of the lead secretary. Now, I'm hastily trying to prepare my house for the arrival of my mother in law and sister in law. MIL will be here for several months. SIL will be here for about a week.

I enjoy the company of both of them, especially that of my MIL. She's a very upbeat person, congenitally happy like my husband. Oh, to have been born that way! She is also a walker. At age 86, she walks about a mile each morning - while I'm still sleeping. She walks slowly because of a knee problem, but she's persistent.

In December, 2004 when there was that huge earthquake and tsunami that hit south India, my MIL was out walking near the beach and didn't feel a thing! I, on the other hand, had been sound asleep nearby and was rattled to wake by my metal bedframe dancing across the room! Had no idea what was happening until we turned the news on that afternoon! I happened to be visiting India just in time for those events. We were all safe with no property damage, no people damage, and very little inconvenience.

At any rate, if you've ever been in my house, you'll be very aware of the fact that I'm NOT an organized person, NOT a good housekeeper, and really don't give a darn. But, I do NEED to have room in my house for the extra bodies, so I must unearth the beds that I feel sure are still in my son's room (since his return to the nest).

That said, I still walked this morning before I began the day's housecleaning adventures. Adventure because one never knows what one will find under each stack of books, yarn, clothes, etc. Always an adventure.

But, my walk this morning and yesterday morning jumpstarted me. I had been feeling blah and forced myself to walk - and that gave me so much energy that I've gotten far more work done than I had planned. Doesn't hurt to be ahead of schedule does it. Might go for another walk this evening........

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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

IN JUST TEN MINUTES??

Did you know that you can "reduce your risk of major disease and improve your quality of life" in just 10 minutes a day of moderate exercise? Do you need to hear more? This is from a brief column in the Parade Magazine of August 9, 2009.

Just 10 minutes a day? Can that be possible? Yep! If you've been around here long, you've read my pleas for just 15-20 minutes a day - but starting with just 1 or 2 minutes a day if you've never done any sort of physical activity (since your hopscotch days, anyway) and/or you're just 'out of shape'. Start small but think big! Work a little bit a day til you've gotten to the 10 minute mark.

If you started of at 1 minute a day and worked your way up to 10 minutes a day, you KNOW you can get to 20 minutes a day. That's just 140 minutes a week or a tiny bit more than 2 hours. A week! Invested in nothing or no one but yourself! Definitely doable.

The science behind the 10 minutes a day is from research done by Dr. Tim church in Baton Rouge, LA. He states, "For sedentary individuals, the immediate health benefits are huge. We saw a change in waist size in just 70 minutes of moderate excercise such a s walking.....Short bouts of exercise can also affect how your body metabolizes blood sugar for up to 72 hours (Italics are mine.)......Walking a few minutes a day ...... will reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, anxiety, depression, diabetes, and many other conditions."

No excuses. Get moving. Heat and humidity are no reason for slacking off. Go to the mall, the grocery store or the hardware store. Did you know that you can take your dog into Home Depot? Both of you can get in your walk.


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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.

WALKING WONDERLAND

We have had such marvelous weather here for walking lately that I'm really afraid to say that aloud! Today was another sunny but breezy day with low humidity.

I walked along the Mockingbird Park/Cardinal Park/Fishpot Creek trail again today. I actually did some exploring too. Walked farther west through a subdivision and wound up at Clarkson Road! Had me a bit disoriented - but I just retraced my steps.

The park trail is so cool and shady, it's just a joy to walk. As I walked along Fishpot Creek, I was thinking of Kimothy who had posted here about walking in the Fishpot creek bed for miles. I remember doing that sort of thing in the small town in Arkansas where my grandparents lived. The creeks were clean and cool. We'd find 'deep' swimming holes, 'rapids', and 'lazy rivers'. We also would 'fish' for crawdads (crayfish for you Northerners!). They're fun to catch with a chicken leg tied to a string. You can catch a bunch that way. Too small for eating, but fun to catch and release.

Today, I even ventured off the trail to get a closer look at some of the deeper pools in the creek. Most of the creek bed is dry, but there are still pools that look to be several feet deep. Lots of run-off from all the houses nearby but surprisingly free of trash. Still, I won't be dunking myself in any of the streams or creeks in this heavily populated area.

Tomorrow, I'll probably be back on the track with my friend Laurie after work. But, today was just me and nature......




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Remember my 100% GUARANTEE. Should you decide to stop walking and resume your old habits, I personally guarantee that you'll get back 100% of your former life - your pain, your lifestyle, your attitude.