stay in shape

to always keep in the best shape possible by doing as much as I can, fitting it into my schedule however possible. Especially now that I’ve stuck with waking up early enough to get this into my morning routine so it’s sure to be done. I’ve also been cooking and eating healthier for the past few years. I feel better inside and out, and would feel bad about giving this up. Unless I run into some life change that would make this an obstacle, I feel I won’t need to reopen this goal.

Well, life’s demands don’t always allow for perfect consistency, but I’ve stuck to doing as much as I can. I’ve gone back and forth between working out in the evenings and mornings, and finally think I’m sticking with the mornings. This means it gets done regardless of something coming up in the evening. I started getting up very early to take care other things too, and I’ve found that working out first thing gives me an energy boost to do the other things. So, four to five days a week before I leave for work I work out from 30 to 45 minutes. My goal is to do it five days a week, but a couple times I was very exhausted and slept in instead. I also incorporate exercise in my daily activities as much as possible. I still have a long walk during my commute and do step climbing as much as I can as well. On the weekends I have a mound of other things to do and haven’t been working out then, but am not ruling it out. I think it’s important to rest and my 4-5 days a week of some exercise is all right with me for now. If I could work out more I would, but with all my responsibilities I think I’m doing as much as I can and with any goal I think something is better than nothing.

It’s too hot to walk to the train in the morning, so I haven’t been doing that either. I still take the stairs. Most of the time it’s too hot to do much cardio exercise, but I have hung on to mainly stretching and some toning exercises so I don’t lose it all together.

So I used the pedometer this morning, and the total amount of walking I do on my commute in is 1.45 miles!

I got the entry-level “Walking Fit Kit” by Gaiam which includes a basic pedometer and a CD. I’m not sure what the CD is going to tell me about walking, but I’ll give it a whirl just to see what it says. I really got this because I wanted the pedometer. This pedometer was the cheapest one ($10), and there were two others with more features and higher level instruction, but I think this pedometer has all the features I need, which are: a step counter, distance traveled, calorie counter, large digital display, and a clock. I’m just curious about how far I’ve been walking. I’ve started walking about 14 blocks to the train in the morning instead of taking the shuttle bus (actually allows me to leave 10 minutes later due to scheduling, and gives me a little extra exercise). Also, now that the weather is nicer I might start running around the track sometimes. I think it’s a quarter-mile per lap, but I was never certain. Anyway, this should be interesting. Right now I’m testing it out at the office. I’ll see how much I walking back and forth to my boss’s office I do!

Last weekend I worked out both Saturday and Sunday, moving up to a more agressive workout than before (meaning more like I used to work out before getting off track). I also worked out EVERY morning before work this week for 1/2 hr. I feel like a lightweight working out for only 1/2 hour, but right now that’s all I can do in the morning. It does help that I climb a total of approximately 205 steps on my commute to work every morning, so that’s a little more of a work out than my 1/2 hr.

Staying in shape has always been very important to me, but it’s become much harder since my life has become much busier. With the holidays everything became even busier and I became so exhausted that I haven’t worked out for about 2 weeks. Now that the holiday season is over, it’s time to get back on track, keep rolling out of bed to work out in the morning since that’s the best time and no one is around to interfere with this goal.