Some good clean exercise...

We have a friend who is an older man.  He has a rental house that was damaged when our city had a big flood a few years back.  He has been working away at the repairs, and is almost ready for final inspection.

We went over to the house with him and helped clean the basement.  It has rock and brick walls with peeling paint, and it was filthy!  We dry-brushed it first, and I think I will be coughing for days.  Thank goodness it is fairly small, and our friend went and got dust masks at my first cough.

After brushing it all down, we scrubbed it with the brushes and then pressure-sprayed it to rinse it.  Fortunately for our poor aching bodies, but  not so fortunately for our friend, the drain wasn't working properly so we stopped partway through.

My husband stepped right in the huge puddle around the drain, splashing both of us.  I wanted to grab the hose and start a water-fight, but it wouldn't have drained, and our friend was wearing a white shirt. I have no idea why.  I think he always wears one.

I can't tell you how good a hot shower felt after all that fun!  We get to go back in two weeks and finish the job.  I'll be sure to do the walks with strength training for the upper body in the meantime--and watch for an opportunity to get a good shot at with my husband with the hose!

Not so Tops today but I'll keep going back anyway for the support

I regained the 7 sticks of butter.  A little is water retention but not all.  I can be glad I stopped there and didn't gain any more than what I lost last week.  This weight loss is tricky.

The people at TOPS are so friendly!  I sit and knit and visit for a while; then the meeting starts and we all have to report in.  There was a lot of gaining this week.  I wonder if the weather has anything to do with it.

My husband and I are sharing a car at the moment, so he dropped  me off and headed off to a doctor appointment.  He wasn't back by the time I was done so I called and started walking to meet him.  I walked for 21 minutes, probably just about a mile. It's fun to walk along, actually looking at the houses and yards as I walk by.  Today was the perfect day for it; warm fall day with just a little breeze to keep me cool.

Memo to self:  next week wear shoes, not flip-flops if there's any chance of walking.

As a consequence to myself for the gain, I get to use a food chart this week and actually record what I eat.  I hate doing that, but it is a good habit to get into.  A couple of the gals said they go through their food charts and circle, in red, all the problem areas.  That sounds like a good idea.

Disclaimer:
the pictures are not from today's walk.  They are just random fall pictures from here and there, which I took over the last two years.

I would walk five hundred miles, and I would walk five hundred more, if I could just get past the first mile.

Today was the day!  I managed to walk my first two miler!  And you know what? It was easy!  Of course it helped that I deliberately picked the one dvd I knew to be the absolutely easiest of all the ones I own.  I figured that if I started with a success, I would be more likely to do another two miles one of these days.

In Search of the Perfect Workout....Perfectionism takes its toll on the walk.

One thing Leslie Sansone stresses in her videos is that you don't have to do it perfectly. If you're moving, that's good enough.

The first couple of weeks, especially, I was just kind of going through the motions, definitely not "perfectly."  I reminded myself that was okay, and I don't have to be such a perfectionist.  I'm in my own living room, and nobody's watching but Anthony, and that's okay because he's not doing it perfectly either, and he loves me anyway, and he is never critical...so I let go of all that perfectionism.  I'm doing just fine; I'm working out in the best way for my body right now as a beginner, so good for me!  I can do this.

Then I turn to my husband and I ask him,  "Did you remember to pull in your abs before you started kicking?" 

Obesity is cramping my style.

Not only do clothes not flatter me, but I get literal cramps when I exercise. That's what being out of shape does to a person, and I know there's only one way to get past it.

Still working out with Leslie, but I sure have to take it slower than I did when I was younger/skinnier.  When I do too many knee lifts in a row, my hip cramps.  I spent a whole night barely sleeping because of shin splints. (I stretch more after a workout now.)

I intend to keep persisting--cramps and all--until I can do a whole mile with no pain.  This may take longer than originally anticipated, but I've got plenty of time.

The Roaring Twenties

I had a less than happy surprise a couple of weeks ago, when I noticed my size 18 jeans are getting snug.


We had a "give and take" swap at our church not long after that, and I picked up a brand-new pair of nice black jeans. 

I put them on after I washed them, and they fit snugly, beautifully, comfortably, and I wore them almost happily. So what's the rub? They are a 20! A 20! I have never before crossed that divide and I am not happy about it. 


The good news is that I lost 1.75 pounds this week. That's 7--count them--7 sticks of butter! It's a fun way to look at it.

 

 Any way you stack it, that's a nice loss of fat. 

It's a good start!

I missed, I missed, I missed like this....

No excuses! I missed a few days but I am back on it now.

Last weekend we drove to Missouri to do some sightseeing. It was beautiful, late summer weather.

We got in too late to swim, so we got up the next morning and went for a swim before we went touring. I had made sure we had a hotel with a pool, so it seemed like we ought to use it. I do find it relaxes me and helps me limber up. Followed by the hot tub, I was ready for the day.