On a Quest to Become Less Lazy...

This journey…it’s all about progress. I talked recently about laziness (or what I like to call my active sedentary lifestyle) here and plans I had to start getting in more movement throughout the day and not sitting so freaking much. I also mentioned I ordered a fitbit flex. Which finally came in last Friday. Yay! But more on that in a minute.

Last week I decided I wanted to start walking again during my lunch breaks. I also wanted to add in evening walks with the doggies. And I also wanted to start back up at Crossfit…that’s a whole heck of a lot of stuff to start in one week on top of the normal continuation of my half marathon training and meal planning and cooking all my meals.

Needless to say last week did not go as planned. I, of course, knew it wouldn’t. I know me; I can’t start like 50 new things at once. I have to ease new habits in slowly…one at a time. So last week I started off with the lunch time walks. A couple walks outside (in the hot Florida heat) and a few inside the library on campus. And I learned quickly that the library is an awesome place to walk. Four floors, air conditioned, quiet, and a quick 5 minute walk from the building I work in. Plus, it smells like books which is quite possibly my favorite smell on earth.

This week I started to incorporate night time walks into my routine. My goal for the evening walks is four a week; Monday, Tuesday, Thursday plus one weekend day to get out and walk around the neighborhood with the dogs, weather permitting. Tuesday night during my walk it started to rain so I brought the girls back inside and grabbed my umbrella and kept walking. So far this week is going well. I am doing a good job of checking off my daily goals; even if my goals are as simple as walk one loop around the building I work in (this takes me maybe 3 minutes) twice a day.

This Saturday I will go back to Crossfit; a decision that was hard for me to make. I tried Crossfit last year and it just wasn’t my cup of tea. BUT Paul has been going to this Crossfit box here and loving it. I need something to help get me in ‘fighting shape’ for the Spartan race and for the trail half marathon and I know CF will do the trick. So, I am going to give it another try. The box where Paul goes does a one week free trial (is that not awesome?)  as well as a substantial military discount (applicable even for me) so if I like it I may keep it up for a month or two. We’ll see how Saturday goes. I will definitely keep you posted.

The arrival of the fitbit has really helped me be more aware of lack of movement. I love that it has the ability to program alarms (I have the flex which is a bracelet and the alarm vibrates) which act as a reminder  to get up and take a walk. I take four short walks, just a few minutes each- not sure my boss would appreciate me leaving for very long, throughout the work day. Add those short walks with the  lunch time walks and occasional evening walks and any time I spend running and my step count is getting pretty good. Monday was my first day wearing the fitbit and I logged over 15,000 steps. Then Tuesday (since I ran a few miles) my step count hit over 23K. Yesterday I did 18 miles on the spin bike (which doesn’t do anything for the step count) and only did a lunchtime walk and was still able to hit the default target of 10,000 steps. Today looks promising, since I ran this morning, that I may pass 20K again; I am already at 16K and I still have a walk planned for tonight.

It’s nice having a new tool to get me focused on an area I know I need help with. The fitbit tracker also links with My Fitness Pal (my username is dacialee33, if you want to add me) so I have started logging my meals/snacks there. Tracking my food intake regularly is something I got away from a long time ago but I think it can be a good tool if I can use it correctly. For me it’s all about finding balance- tracking for informative purposes only. Just like the scale.

Honestly, I have so many things I want to talk about right now; body image, acceptance, nutrition, diet bets, fat-shaming, health at every size, but right now I am not ready to open that can of worms. Today, I just want to focus on the positive changes I am making and talk about what I am doing to try to create new healthy habits. Last week I barely moved. I was the definition of couch potato. This week I am back in the swing of things. This makes me happy.  So for today, I choose to focus on that happiness. I am not pretending that everything in my life is perfect; I simply just want to bring the good stuff to the forefront…where it belongs.

How is your week going? What are you doing that is bringing you happiness?