GVR

So at work there is a competition between offices called Active for Life (also available on the ACS website for non-employees to participate, http://www.activeforlife.com/) which promotes good health through a healthy diet and exercise.

THIS WHOLE DIET-AND-EXERCISE THING IS A STRUGGLE FOR ME! Whew, I am glad that's out.

So I joined my co-workers last week to get moving. My personal goal is exercising 5 days a week, for 30 minutes a day. 150 minutes doesn't seem like much, does it. They give credit for other activities too, like gardening and housework, and cleaning out the storeroom at work and moving big muscle groups, and I do those things already so the goal seems more do-able than committing to 30 minutes straight on the treadmill everyday.

The website tracks the team's exercise for 10 weeks, because they know that exercise is a habit put in place by repetition. One thing might lead to another, and someday I might jump the hurdle of wanting to walk 30 minutes on the treadmill 7 times a week but admittedly that is not where I am. (I wouldn't hold my breath.)

But even if I never achieve that kind of breakthrough, it is never a waste of time to be reminded to (a) drink several 24 oz water bottles each day, (b) lean up the meal portions and food choices (more veggies and less starch), and (c) keep the old bod moving.

My exercise minutes accumulate with everyone else's toward the daily and weekly goals. Last Saturday I made friends with the gal at the Y who opens up at 6am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She is expecting to see me there and I heard myself promise to go.  Yikes: What is up with me? 

After the last humiliating attempt at losing 10 that took 9 weeks to do and stayed off for - oh, maybe a month - I'm going to keep this one lower key.  But I have lost a few. (Now don't go saying mean things like it's water weight loss: that's like telling a new father that his smiling newborn just has gas.)

Ya, ya, I know. My old walking buddy and I aren't neighbors anymore, and I don't have a dog with big brown eyes dragging me out of bed, and my husband's work schedule is vastly different than mine now so we can't go to the Y together except weekends. But maybe it's just as well to try being self reliant for a change. It's my responsibility after all to achieve better health and energy and get myself on track. Just Do It, right? Right. I'm bringing my tennies to work to-day!