be healthy

I haven’t been ice skating in ages. I think the last time I went was…December? Maybe the first week of January. I miss it. Now, of course, the rink I usually go to is closed (they aren’t open year round like the other rink here). I promised me niece I would take her for her birthday, which was a month ago today. I’ve just been too busy to take her. Maybe next weekend.

I got a gym ball last Friday. Not sure if it will do any good. But, it supposedly helps improve balance and posture, both of which would greatly benefit my riding. There are some riders who swear by gym balls. So on Friday when I was at the bookstore and saw a kit that included ball, book, and video, and was on sale, I thought, what the heck, I’ll give it a try. Saturday I did it for thirty minutes. I want to say it was amazing, that I felt amazing after I did it. But I didn’t feel any better afterwards, but I also didn’t feel any worse. I did, however, notice that a few things that were done on the video used my riding muscles, so I guess I’ll keep doing it.

For the first time in years, I can’t wait for Dad and my brother to get the pool ready. I want to get out there and swim, swim, swim.

I’ve lost about ten pounds since January. How I’ve done it I’m not entirely sure. I go to school downtown, and so I walk a lot (I really need to get a pedometer before the end of the semester. I want to know how much I walk while I’m at school.) I’ve also been able to ride most weeks. And then there was Artfest (I love Artfest so much). The classes were fun and the people were great, but the food was nasty and I couldn’t eat much of it. Not to mention running in the airport to try and catch our connecting flights.

So, somehow I’ve lost some weight. A friend of mine told me I look good. I didn’t think it was that noticeable, but i guess it’s noticeable enough. I think I may look like I’ve lost more weight than I actually have because my posture gotten better (and so maybe I’m caring my weight better).

I’m failing, slowly but surely. I haven’t been keeping track of what I eat, and I haven’t exactly been making good decisions with what I eat. Nor have I been physically active. This is changing starting this week.

This week I am starting a food journal, and am now on the second day. Though second day doesn’t sound like much, it is for me. Normally, I would have quit yesterday after lunch.

I’m going to start taking my dog for a walk at least three days a week, more if the weather is nice. This means if it is rainy and/or cold, I still must go for a walk at least three times. My dog needs it and I need it. I walk a lot on days have school, so ideally I should walk my dog on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—the days I don’t have school. However, the more days I walk the better.

Being healthy is not easy around the holidays. I’ve decided that I can have a week to eat whatever I want. I will still be as active as I normally am, if not more active.

This has been my third week without a riding lesson. I can’t stand it. However, I did manage to go ice skating last Friday with a couple friends and again today with my niece. I will probably be going again this Friday.

I need to figure out other ways to be physically active. Gym memberships are too expensive and it’s too cold to go for a walk outside.

I’ve lost about ten pounds, mainly through just being more active. I haven’t made that many adjustments to my diet, though I know I need to.

I haven’t been very persistent with this the past couple weeks. My sister and her kids are moving back to Kentucky, and, until her husband gets here, they’re staying at our house. I suppose helping her with her kids—chasing them around and playing with them—helps keep me active. The kids have also helped by begging to go ice skating. Which we did. They loved it, despite falling a bunch! (And I love my new skates.)

I know being healthy is an ongoing thing, but I’ve made it my personal challenge to become healthy by 27 May 2008. That’s about six months from my last entry, the entry where I clearly stated my goals.

I really can’t try to lose any weight until after the holidays are over, but I can work on my other goals and I can still try to eat healthier.

I’ve realized something very important about this goal. There is so much more to being healthy than just the physical part. And the physical part is the part I have been focusing on here. Furthermore, I haven’t really set any real goals for this goal. What do I want to accomplish? Well, I’ve thought about it. Here it goes.

-I want to be stronger mentally. I want to use my mind everyday. A great mind is not something to waste. I am intelligent and should use my intelligence more often. There are things I know I can do, I need to accomplish these things. I will learn to play an instrument. I will read at least one book a week. I will do something that keeps my mind active everyday.
-I want to be more stable emotionally. It is not uncommon for me to go from being elated to depressed in a matter of a few days. I cannot let the small things get me down. I need to be somebody my friends can depend on.
-I want to live better spiritually. My spiritual life isn’t what it once was. When I was younger, I had so much faith and loved God so much. I want to get back that childhood faith.
-I want to be better relationally. I want to be more outgoing, not just with the people I know, but with strangers. I want to love somebody and know what it’s like to be in love. I want to be closer to my friends. I want to spend time with my family and cherish it.
-I want to be healthier physically. I need to lose weight. My goal is to lose 40-50 pounds (which would put me at 140-150). I want to eat healthier. I want to be more physically active.

Dad let me take the car today, so I went ice skating after school. I had planned to skate an hour or two, but it didn’t work out that way. I got there and tried on three different pairs of skates. The first pair was a too big, the second pair was still a little too big, but the third pair was way too small. So I went with the second pair.

I got on the ice and went around a couple times hold on to the side when I pushed off. By the second time around, my feet hurt horribly. I had to stop several times to check/retie the laces (they were way too long on one skate, and not long enough on the other). Somehow the skates cut my heel and hurt the balls of my feet. I can’t wait to get my own, non-rental skates. I really hope the ones I got on eBay are the right size.

I felt like a moron though. There were two people skating when I got there. And of course, they were really good. (When I first got there, there were a few competition skaters, but they were leaving.) I know I will get better over time though.

I planned on going ice skating tomorrow. But the forecast says rain, which means that Dad will take the car tomorrow. I’m trying to convince my mom to take me to the rink. I don’t know if she will. I really want to go this week. I won a pair of skates on eBay and I want to skate in rentals so that I can get used to skating again before I skate in my skates with newly sharpened blades.

I told my mom my plan to go ice skating a lot. I think she thinks it’s a good idea. She was impressed with my skilled eBaying as well—a pair of barely used ice skates for $10. Sweet!

I haven’t been doing this goal and I feel slightly guilty about it. My family’s lifestyle doesn’t help. We eat out a lot. Restaurants serve you too much food, food that isn’t at all healthy. I have to compensate for this when I’m on my own. Only problem is that the cafeteria at school doesn’t offer very good alternatives to the unhealthy carb- and fat-packed lunches that are available everywhere.

More important than what I eat is what I do. I took my dog for a walk on Sunday. We walked a mile. (This, by the way, was killing two birds with one stone, she really needs training.) I’m going to try to make this a habit. Taking her for a walk at least two or three times a week. Currently the only activity habit I have is horseback riding once a week.

I plan to go ice skating sometime this week or next week. This is something I should do a lot. I love doing it and it’s so good for me. It’s just something that could get expensive. Skate rental is $2 and admission is $6. I could buy a season pass (it costs something like $250) and I could buy a pair of skates (which aren’t cheap). I’d have to go at least once a week every week in order for those things to be cheaper than paying $8 every time I go. Not to mention ice skates have to be broken in. But, if I were to buy those things, it would encourage me to skate more. I may do it, especially because there are sessions during the week that I could go to.

I had planned on starting this goal yesterday—and I failed. Breakfast was nonexistent, lunch was Taco Bell. Dinner was a chicken fajita at a local Mexican restraunt, as well as chips and cheese dip. I did, however, manage to avoid all drinking any type of pop. I had water and sweet tea. The sweet tea was not Southern sweet tea though, I can’t stand that. It’s like syrup. It was sweetened with about half a pack of Sweet ‘n Low. Approximate calorie count: 1,997

Today I’ve been much better. I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. I’m not a big coffee drinker, but I sometimes drink hot tea, which I did today. I’m about to go eat lunch. I’m debating on what I’m going to get. Either tuna salad with crackers or a chicken salad sandwich.

I probably shouldn’t be paying as much attention to calories as I am, but they are the easiest to track.