exercise once a week

Okay, with Pugar (the baby’s nickname)- I have absolutely NOOOOOO time to exercise. Okay, I have a little time, but right now my weight loss has been pretty steady- six pounds in two weeks…. If I start to plateau, I’ll really think hard about attaining this one…

I’m working on trying to get three sets of ten in a day. Boy, it’s much more work than you think! I’ve tried to resist the urge to read my baby books on the toilet (sorry, I know, TMI) because I know that contributes to the formation of hemorrhoids and lax pelvic floor muscles. For some reason, at work conditions come in clusters- I’ve seen more that a handful of fallen bladders and hemorroids in this past week for inspiration to keep this up!

How much exercise do women need to maintain heart health? Until now, guidelines for exercise were only supported by studies done on men — not on women. This has all changed, however, with a groundbreaking study published in the August 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. This new study, which used female subjects, has established the first set of exercise recommendations exclusively for women.

Researchers followed more than 10,000 women, some with heart disease symptoms and some without, for more than a decade. Using routine treadmill stress tests, they devised a formula to calculate how much exercise women should be able to do for their age. The findings? Women who do not reach at least 85 percent of their age-recommended fitness capacity have over twice the risk of death from cardiac disease.

How can you find your age-recommended fitness capacity level? Scientists involved in the study constructed a simple clinical chart using metabolic equivalents or METs. You may recognize METs from the machines at the gym — they measure the amount of oxygen you use in one minute, and are a good indication of how hard your heart is working. As you work harder, your MET level increases, bringing you closer to your predicted exercise capacity. A 60-year-old woman requires seven METs to meet her full capacity, while a woman of 30 will require more.

While more research needs to be done to adequately represent a racially diverse population, this study is a strong first step toward lowering cardiac mortality in women. To get a start on helping your heart, Dr. Agatston recommends aiming for at least 20 minutes of moderate-intensity activity most days of the week.

...Since Sunday, I’ve been out each morning at 7:30am for a thirty minute walk… I feel great when I come home! What makes it work is that there’s no pressure attached to it- you know, I’m “just walking the dog”...My plan is to get up a little earlier each week so that by the time I start working again (Oct 17), I’ll be up and walking at 5:30am…

8/21: this marks the first day- walked 30 min around the track this AM!

i’m failing…this has not yet been done… i have no excuses, no explanation, and no reason why i cannot achieve this… c’mon, self- get it together!

I’m working up to the three times a week thing…