get fit(ter) before my big 50.

I have continued to work on this goal. A friend introduced me to sparkpeople.com and I have been using that website since the end of August to help me establish new, better habits. They recommend taking baby steps to gradually work your way to improved health and so far it has been working. I have added cardio and strength training. I have FINALLY started doing my Yoga Booty Ballet on a regular basis and it is really a lot of fun.

I also recently finished reading the book The Fat Fallacy and have been incorporating that eating plan into my life and I feel much more energetic. So far, so good!

I have been concentrating a lot on this goal lately, from going to the doctor to changing my lifestyle. A friend put me onto the site sparkpeople.com, which a very useful site for people trying to develop a healthy lifestyle. So far, I have:

—lost seven pounds
—lost 2 1/2 inches
== begun walking a lot more
—started doing strength and cardio work-outs
—gotten a lot healthier in my eating habits

Well, I finally gave up on getting discouraged and found a doctor who can help me get my body chemistry in balance. The thyroid is such a basic thing, but so few doctors seem to understand it. If I can get this in balance, it will probably help me accomplish this goal since the thyroid regulates metabolism. So this is one more baby step out of the way.

I refuse to give up on this. So I didn’t make it before going to London this summer. I have until next April.

A friend of mine recently challenged me about my upcoming 50th birthday and this is one of the things I decided I want to change before then. I also am going to dig out a manuscript I started awhile back and FINISH the darned thing!

So now I need to find a doctor to get my thyroid fixed, I guess.

I didn’t really succeed at this. However, I did succeed at:

—Getting my house in better shape
—Getting my wardrobe in better shape
—Getting my garden in better shape
—Getting finished a lot of projects that have been sitting around.
—Finding a trainer who can help me get in shape not just for London, but for life.

So, even though I didn’t meet my deadline, I haven’t given up on the goal. Only it is now:

GET FIT!

I hate to tell you what I weigh so I won’t. Not only am I lazy, but I lack the moral courage of so many of my fellow 43Thingers. Not giving any numbers, let’s just say do the words “Pillsbury Doughgirl”, “white”, and “fluffy” mean anything to you? I have wanted to be fit year after year. Frankly, I HATE vacation photos, but apparently not as much as I LOVE chocolate. (Sigh!) But aside from the anticipatory dread when I contemplate this summer’s vacation photos, we are going to do a lot of walking in London and I shudder to think about that, also. I know I can’t make it totally to where I want to be by July, but I can make progress, right?

So toward that end, I have been reforming my eating habits (although I did have a major sugar relapse last week during the Valentine’s Day sweet orgy we had here at the office!) and I have also ordered something (yes, I can be a sucker for infomercials) called (I blush to admit this) “Yoga Booty Ballet”. I mean, just the name alone is enough to make me feel virtuous and silly all at the same time, but it looks like loads of fun and I am really not one to get out and run in circles on a track (too boring) or play tennis (no hand-to-eye coordination) or go to a gym (allergic to spandex and exercising next to super-fit people) or anything like that. But give me music and some fun dance movements and I’m pretty much hooked. So I am hoping that my Yoga Booty Ballet will be as much fun as it looks like on the infomercial because frankly, at the moment, I feel more like “Yogi-Bear-Sized Booty and Belly” and that is certainly no picnic!