Weekly Spark

The bottom line this week is the loss of one full pound.  I'm good with that.  I did toy with the idea of stepping up the exercise and trying to cut the calories a little more, but decided to just keep doing what I'm doing.  The weight loss is slow, but it's steady, and right now the routines are manageable.  I lost a pound, even though Walker requested lasagna for Valentines Day and we ate it for leftovers twice more last week.  And he gave me chocolate.  And I did not make time to do my Zumba at all.  I did get some walking in, four out of five nights during my dinner break at work.  I kept my calories within the recommended range at Spark People.  I drank water.  When I went to work without remembering to pack a lunch, I dug into the stash of oatmeal and Medifast bars I keep in my desk instead of running to one of the half dozen fast food places in a three block radius of my office.  I did okay this week, and I'm not going to mess with success.

On Saturday I went down into the laundry room, where every pair of Capri pants in my possession was hanging on a clothing rack in order of size.  Real size, determined by a tape measure, regardless of what the tags said.  I tried them on, starting with the biggest.  The first two pair are definitely too big.  The third pair fit, a little loose.  The next three pair are a perfect fit.  The next three went on but were tight, and the last two?  Well, I won't be wearing them any time soon.  Even so, I should be able to cobble together a vacation wardrobe with what I already own, whether I stay the same size or keep shrinking.  I'm looking forward to getting to the small end of the rack, to getting rid of the too-big clothes, and to finally having some spare closet space.  Good goals, all.

This week my focus is on making sure the exercise gets done.  I enjoy it, it helps me, and honestly?  Even when we're crazy busy I'm sure there are thirty minutes a day I can spare, somewhere.  My job is to find that time and utilize it.  Spark People recommends exercising four days a week.  I'm going to do five this week, just to prove I can.

Motivation in my Pocket

Back in late March, I decided to upgrade my pedometer. The old one I had tracked steps, converted them to miles, and had a clock. It had a cover over the face, to minimize the chance of resetting it accidentally. The problem was the cover was loose, and if it didn't snap shut all the way it didn't record my steps. So I did a little research and decided on a new Omron pedometer. It does everything my old pedometer does, but it also has a seven day memory and automatic reset. I can input my weight and it calculates the number of calories burned each day. I ordered it online, waited anxiously for it to arrive, and.....nothing. It came, I looked at it, and it sat on my desk. For months. Until last weekend.

I came across it while I was cleaning and decided to jump into a new walking program. I probably picked the hottest week of the year, but I felt like if I didn't get started NOW, who knows when I would? The new pedometer was really easy to set up - I didn't even need the directions - and it clips into my pocket. Off I went.

Automatic reset is a great feature but it's going to take some getting used to. The daily stats save to the memory each day at midnight. With my schedule, midnight would probably equate to 6pm for "regular" people. When I got to work last night I was only at about 4500 steps, with a daily goal of 10,000. I knew the only way I would hit my target was to walk - quickly - as far as I could on my dinner break.

At 10pm last night the heat index here was still nearly 90*. The humidity was over 80%. I walked anyway. In the 30 minutes I take for dinner, I was able to hit my goal of 10,000 steps. Unfortunately for my coworkers, I was pretty much a puddle of sweat by the time I got back to the office. Clearly, my routine will take some tweaking. I think I'm going to start walking after work. It will be weird to start my day with a couple thousand steps, but maybe that will motivate me to plan ahead.

In the end, though, I'm pretty excited to have this new goal to focus on. Fall is right around the corner and the colors here are spectacular. I look forward to spending some quality time getting fit on the hiking trails around the area with my new pedometer tracking my every step. And I plan to bring my camera, so I can share the sights with you.