Backing Off

Have you overdone it?  Are you just too tired today to walk or do other exercise?  Are you in pain?

If any of those things are you - today or any day - you might need to take off a day or two from your walking program.  It's okay to take a day off.  It's not okay to abandon a program that you and I both know works!

So, what do you do if you're overtired, hurting, or maxed out?  You take off the day, then you back off a bit on your walking program.

Let's say you've worked up to 10 minutes a day of regular walking but today you just can't make yourself do it.  If you really can't do it - you give yourself a day off.  Then tomorrow, you back down to the last level you were successful at - say 9 minutes a day.  Stay at that level for a few days, then ramp up to the 10 minutes a day.

The idea here is to increase and maintain a regular plan of walking and/or other exercise.  The idea is NOT torture!

So, take care of yourself.  If you're hurting too much to talk yourself into that walk, take off a day but don't let yourself give up.  Forge onward, doing the best you can.  Keep checking off those boxes on your calendar since you began walking.  You'll be glad you did!!


Note:  The image above is from this site.



*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Up 8%

According to the Centers For Disease Control, adults were walking more in 2010 than in 2008.  In 2008, 56% of adults claimed to go on a 10 minute walk at least once a week.  By 2010, that percentage was up to 62%.  Wow!  Maybe we're onto something!

I was walking way more than one 10 minute walk each week in 2008.  But, some of my readers were not.  I'm so pleased when I hear from a reader that s/he has been encouraged to get up and walk - encouraged by something they've read on this blog.  The first step remains the most difficult.

According to the same article, federal guidelines recommend that we get at least 150 minutes of brisk walking (or similar aerobic exercise) each week.  If you choose to walk 5 days a week, that means you need to walk 30 minutes each time.  That's in addition to the walking we do around the house (in the normal course of our activities each day), around the office, to and from the car, etc.

Thirty minutes five times a week is a good goal - but may be far too high an expectation for starters.  So, I recommend that you start slowly and work up to that 30 minute stretch.  Start with 1 minute or 5 minutes or whatever number of minutes you can take in relative comfort.  And, you can accomplish some or all of that initially by parking at the farthest spot from your office or the entry to the grocery store.  Walk to your mail box.  Then walk to your neighbor's mail box.  Each week, walk to a mailbox one house farther from you until you can walk for 10 minutes without distress.

Take it slow - but TAKE IT.  You walk the dog - not the dog walks you, right?  The benefits and rewards are abundant.  You'll not only feel better physically - you'll also feel better about yourself!  In this regard, the Feds have it exactly right!  They make us pay too many taxes, may frustrate us with their long lines and paperwork and bureaucracy - but about walking (and exercise), they have it exactly walk.  Take care of yourself cuz no one else is gonna!


*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Oscar or Gold - Which is the Best Award?

Oscar Pistorius didn't win a Gold Medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games.  At least, he didn't win one that had him standing on the stage with his national anthem being played.  He DID win a gold medal in the hearts of most who watched him.  What a guy!

And, I'm betting that at some point, Oscar's story is made into a movie for which someone (probably not him) will be nominated for an Oscar.  How cool would that be?  His is certainly a story that is inspiring, heart-warming, and down right awesome.

I give, as I think he does, a lot of credit for his success to his parents who never treated him as though he was disabled.  Apparently, their parenting style, combined with his own innate talent and drive, created this athlete with the head of a warrior and the heart of a champion.

If Oscar's story does not inspire us, there is no human blood in our veins!  If this young man can learn to play rugby and run Olympic relay races, surely we can use our two fully-functioning feet and walk to gain better health and a better attitude.  Surely we can walk on our healthy legs when he can run on his prostheses!

Did you see someone today who must use a walker to move about?  Do you know someone who relies on a cane for balance?  Do you have a friend, like I do, who suffers from a chronic illness but doesn't let her daily physical pain prevent her from walking 2-3 miles each day after a full day at work?

So, who inspires you?




*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Olympic Walking

The Olympic Hoopla is over.  The runners, divers, fencers, shooters, etc have all returned to their home countries.  London is cleaning up.  All those Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals are hanging proudly above mantles or beds.  But, I'm still walking.  Walking, alas, is not an Olympic sport - at least not the way I do it.

But, New Balance, my walking shoe of choice, still has these fantastic shoes available.  They aren't walking shoes, per se.  But, they'll do.  You can mix and match colors on 15 different areas of the shoes using millions of different color combinations.  Red, White, and True Blue - or some other color combo that means something special to you.

The colors had better be special.  These shoes sell for $114.95!  I'm SOOOOOO tempted.  I could go crazy with all those red, white, and blue sections.  Surely they will one day be collector's items - kinda like all those Pogs I bought for my son.  LOL.  Not much of a market for them!

But, these shoes would be just for me.  Maybe I would order them with color combinations that would mirror the colors of both the US flag and that of India (my husband's country of origin).  I don't know.  This is gnawing at me.  I might have to suck it up and pay the freight.  Whaddya think?

Note:  New Balance shoes are made in the USA (unlike the dowdy US Olympic team suits).

*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Where To?

When you get in a taxi, the driver may well ask, "Where to?"

So, where are you going?  No, this is not the beginning of a long philosophical rant. I mean, literally, where are you going?

Where do you walk?  Where COULD you walk?  Where would you like to walk?

My friend Kris and I walk together several times a week.  We are fortunate to have several walking venues near us.  She lives about a mile from me - close enough that we can meet at a variety of different parks, a high school with a nice track, a river trail, the mall, and, lately, WalMart.

We much prefer to walk outside - as does my four-legged baby (who is not allowed at the mall).  So, we tend to meet at parks or the track.  We walk for 45-60 minutes.  Those walks are good physically and fantastic spiritually.  We walk off a lot of stress, offer a safe sounding board for each other, speak often of points regarding the 12 Step Program we share, and always feel better afterwards.  Always!

Where COULD we walk?  We have at least 10 sites close to us where we can meet.

Where would we like to walk?  On a nicely padded track, in the shade, rolling hills, great scenery.  Maybe an ocean side trail?  I think that would be my ideal walking venue on a warm, overcast day so I could get by with just my SPF 40 and sunglasses.

Aside - the other evening when we were walking the inside perimeter of our local WalMart, a guy behind the Deli Counter greeted us on our first round.  On our second round, he asked if we were 'mall walking'.  Of course, we responded.  By the third round, he boomed, "Are you mall walking in MY Walmart?"  What a hoot!  I plan to invite him along the next time we see him.  Makes WalMart a much better venue than normal for me - the not-WalMart-fan.




*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Falling

Falling, as in taking a tumble, is a part of walking and a part of aging.  I fell today while walking at the mall.  I fell UP the stairs - at one end of this particular mall there about 4 cobbled stairs with a rail in the middle.  Since I'm short, I don't have far to fall to the ground.  No, really!  But, I was holding the rail, as I always do when I walk up or down stairs (which I do often).  When I have fallen, it has been more typical for me to fall up than down.  Less hazardous too.

Well, tell that to my right pinkie.  It's quite sore.  Got wrenched in the rail as I was going down.  I'm stiff all over from this little spill but my finger is hurting.  I got home about an hour later and iced the finger.  Not a major problem - but it's one of the expected adverse effects of walking.

I was wearing new shoes today, walking with a friend, talking and not paying as close attention as I should have.  I hold my mom's arm when I walk her into stores.  She'll be 90 next month and is very healthy except for her blindness of the past 10 or so years.  I'm really careful with her - I tell her of upcoming ramps, steps, and other obstacles.  Why am I not this careful with myself?  I have a LOOOOONG history of falling, going back to high school when I blacked out and fell down a whole staircase.  No injuries!  Lucky me.

One reason I don't bike is that I'm afraid of falling.  I have not fallen while dancing (and having typed that, I feel sure I will have alerted the off-balance godlets who will soon take care of this bit of negligence on their part).  I pay pretty close attention to what my feet are doing when I dance because I am trying to keep tempo with the music.

So, will this keep me from walking tomorrow?  No!  I'll be out there again, trudging along, and hoping that I'm paying closer attention to where I put my size 10 shoes!



*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Maybe I Can Help

The other night at dance class, I discovered that my teacher formerly taught line dancing at an inner city high school - in the evening for parents.  She gave up on it because people brought toddlers and babies, both distracting and physically in the way.   But, it gave me an idea!  What if  I could go to the high school and teach some line dancing to the students immediately after school or even during school for what might be a Study Hall hour for some students?

Obesity is a national epidemic - and it's even worse among those of lower socioeconomic means who attend schools without regular Physical Education, eat a higher fat, lower protein diet, and have few options for safe neighborhood activities.

I'm not slim - but I am among the slimmest at the line dance classes I attend with mostly African American participants.  I see that (mostly) women line dancers of all ages suffer from moderate to morbid obesity.  They might benefit from learning a fun activity like line dancing - and I could throw in my 'walking in place' ideas too.

What do you think?

I have the name of a contact person at the high school.  I have a flexible work schedule.  I have an Ipod Dock with speakers.  I'm willing and able.  And, I'm getting excited!  Maybe I can be part of the solution to a national problem.  A tiny part - but it's the first step that is the hardest, right?

I'm going to be making a few phone calls over the next few days to see if they'll have me.


*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Do You Ever......

Do  you ever look around you and wonder how/why other people have things so much better or so much worse than you do?  I used to do that all the time.  I wondered why my family couldn't afford the three tuitions we were paying AND build a new house.  I wondered why other people had such nicely manicured lawns while I could never seem to pull that off.  I wondered why some of my friend suffered such terrible health issues.  The good, the bad, and the really ugly.

This required an attitude adjustment.  The new house and the manicured lawn were attainable.  I just had to save or work or manage better than I had.  The health of my children - well much of that is not within my control.  Certainly my friends who suffered from poor health had not brought disease upon themselves on purpose.

So, what does this have to do with walking?  Much of what we do in life falls within the realm of 'judging my insides by someone else's outside'.  Make sense?

I was looking at those new McMansions and manicured lawns and fancy cars and expensive vacations and designer wardrobes and - and - and.........There was absolutely nothing wrong with my life except my attitude!  Further, I had no idea - absolutely NONE - what was going on in those houses - those McMansions with all the trimmings of wealth.

But, I KNEW what was going on inside my home (not just my house).  I knew that I was blessed with a fantastic husband and three healthy children, my own good health, and all the money to provide us what we needed in life and much of what we wanted.  I knew that I was LUCKY!  I knew that what I truly valued was within my reach - that I had most of it and could attain the rest by my own grit.

I was overweight and undermotivated.  I was Hungry (almost all the time), Angry (much of the time), Lonely (occasionally), and Tired (most of the time). HALT is an acronym for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.  It is a mental visual for not making decisions when you are HALT.  So HALT and give yourself time to improve.

For me, that improvement meant losing weight, getting to feeling better, getting more sleep, and lifting my mood.  Walking - the miraculous activity for which our bodies are so cleverly designed - was the 'cure' for me.  Hard scientific data continue to support the hypothesis that activity as simple as walking can fend off all sorts of physical and emotional ailments.

No, walking didn't get me a fancier house, a better wardrobe, more money, or a trip to Hawaii.  LOL.  It did get me a couple really tangible things.  First, after walking for less than a year, I could fit into the rides with my daughter at Six Flags (OMG, I hate that place!), I could purchase clothing at almost any store (not just the plus size places), I felt better, I looked better, and I liked my life better.  All For Free!!

Now, I live in a smaller house (my choice), wear expensive walking shoes and generally inexpensive clothing, sleep better, feel better, and like my life better.  My insides are now much healthier - and I don't much care what anyone else's outside looks like.  Mine is just fine!

Having learned all this myself, I try to carry that message into the universe.  I try to encourage those who are willing (and a few who aren't) to do the best with what they were given in life - two legs and amazing minds.  Two legs to walk and amazing minds to drag us from sloth and inertia toward health and well being.  Come walk with me!


*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Guarantee

Have you read the Guarantee at the bottom of this post?  It's still in force - and always will be!  We all 'relapse' on occasion - fall back into bad habits.  Does it ever do us any good?  Never has done me any good.

If I don't walk or do some sort of sustained physical activity in a day (dancing counts for me), I find that I do not sleep as well as I should.  I also have difficulty maintaining an even temperament.  Makes me wonder 'who' I was all those months and years ago before I became a walker.

Well, for the past almost 35 years I've done some sort of physical activity.  Played racquetball for about 20 years - then started walking, and a few years ago added in dancing.  But, racquetball, while it certainly improved my mood because I just loved playing it so much, did not seem to have the overall beneficial effect on me that walking has.

Back to that Guarantee.  I have no control over your life - and very little over my own.  I try to do 100% of my 1 %.  If you don't know what that means, email me and I'll explain it the way it has been explained to me.  I DO have control over how I spend some of the hours of my day and how I take care of myself.  That's what the guarantee is about.  Take care of yourself and you get all the benefits.  Don't - and you don't.  Easy?  No.  But, it is simple.



*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.

Olympians

Have you been watching the Summer Olympics?  I can watch only a bit, then I get restless.  I'm such a mom!  It hurts me to see those kids lose!  Of course, when there is a winner - there must be a loser.  Bad thing is that a silver or bronze medal will often bring the term 'loser' from the announcer.  No!  The loser is the person who doesn't TRY!

All those years of practice.  All that money spent on lesson, travel, clothing......  All those early mornings.  The moms and dads should receive medals!

So, are you a loser or an Olympian?  If you're walking - you're an Olympian.  If you're hanging out on the sofa every day - well, you won't be winning a medal!  If you're just beginning a walking program and enjoy watching the Olympic games - get up and walk in place in front of the TV for a few minutes every hour.  That is the way to move from loser mode to Olympian!



*************************** 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. You can trust the information you find here. It's from a dedicated walker. Trust me and your life will get better! I promise.