Sunday, May 18, 2008

Keepin' It Honest ~ Weekly Health Report

Well, I planned to walk one mile 5x last week. I did it four times. It wasn't what I'd planned, but I was pleased. It was a whole three more times than I had done the previous week! And, I think the pain in my legs must have been from inactivity because by the end of the week, I was feeling better and experiencing less pain. Hurray for that!

The goal for the first week was to do one mile in less than 24 minutes 5 times. The plan suggests that if you can do the mile in that time frame and you feel good, you can move to 1.5 miles and do it faster - or just do the mile faster, I can't remember which.

But they also give the option of stayin the course for at least another week until it's easy. I think I need that extra week (or two.) For one thing, I'm afraid to push myself too much just yet because it's hard enough just to get out that if I make it too difficult I might give up. Plus, while my legs are doing better, I'm definitely not ready to pick up the pace. I have been walking the mile in about 18 minutes each time, but I think I'll stick with just one mile for another week.

As for eating, I did *better* but there's still room for improvement. Again, I think the key for me here is not to change too much too fast. This week I concentrated in eating less, not necessarily better. I still ate what I wanted, but I definitely ate a little less and the main thing I noticed was that I didn't do any snacking late at night - a definite plus. Again, I will continue with this plan for another week, continuing to concentrate on eating just until I'm satisfied and no more and only eating when I'm actually hungry.

I bought a few items of clothing this week to fit my bigger body. Just enough to let me feel relatively comfortable rather than feeling horrible about myself all the time. I need to keep my sights on the long range goal - a healthy and fit me - and not allow myself to get side tracked by my feelings of inadequacy now.

Is there anyone else out there trying to make any self improvements? How are you doing?