Active Weekends make for Attractive Weekdays

After my last post, Sedentary Lifestyle, I decided to do something about my lack of activity. So the weekend was filled with just that.

Friday night while my husband was half asleep I talked him into going for a run/jog with me in the morning... of course he wasn't aware he acquiesced to this until the morning of. He was none too happy about the idea of running right out of bed - but the bribe of Tim Hortons prevailed!

I wanted to do the Couch 2 5K run, but was annoyed by timing it, wanting to listen to my music, and running. I have an app on my phone that vibrates every time I have to switch it up, however I had it in my hoody pocket so I would barely feel it. I found out later that there are podcasts with music and timing built in. I have downloaded them and will try again on the weekend (yes I know I should run multiple times each week, but our lifestyles - right now- do not make that easy, so once a week will get me started).

Also finding podcasts brought me to a whole list of new discussions, podcasts, and Itunes University studies that I have downloaded and waiting for a moment to listen to.

Saturday afternoon my two young teen nieces came by, so the rest of the day involved crafts and Just Dance 3. We played about 2 hours of it, and I like to think I kept up pretty well with the young veterans of the game that my nieces are. I even beat them a few times! By Google's calculations one hour of Just Dance 3 burns about 370 calories, about the same as running. So I figure in all of Saturday I burned about 851 calories!

We then played board games until the wee hours of the morning, which honestly was just perfect!

Sunday I woke up sore, ate badly because mom made her amazing buttermilk pancakes, then hot dogs for lunch - so yeah, I wasn't exactly Ms. Healthy Eating. I didn't plan on doing any real exercise, despite promising the girls laser tag the night before, because of said soreness. Well after nearly 3 hours of RISK, in which I dominated for the first time, we switched it up, again, to Just Dance 3. Another 2.5 hours of that for me (and wow! 3 hours for the girls!) and I was beat! But again, that's approximately 925 calories for the day!

I'm already seeing a difference in my body, it may be slight, or just the way I'm feeling changing my posture, but I'm starting to get where I want to be!

The next few days are going to be really hard as mom is going in for surgery to remove what is left (after chemo and radiation) of her tumor. We are hoping and praying, and ask that anyone with religious affiliations pray to their respective gods or deities, that she comes out fine and can be "hooked back up" the way she was intended to run!

Sedentary Lifestyle

I have something to admit, I've been struggling.

The shakes are fine and easy, but I find myself wanting junk food more and more - and yet, I let myself have it every once in a while. But my big struggle is with exercise.

I've talked about this a couple times, and must keep talking about it until I truly hold myself accountable, until i find that thing that makes it click for me.

Let's face facts, I need to exercise. I sit for (on average) 7 out of the 7.5 hours at my day job, when I come home, what do I do? I sit and watch TV, or play video games. Then I sleep for 8 hours. In total I'm up and moving, what, maybe a total of 3 hours throughout the day. THAT IS RIDICULOUS! (also probably not exact math).

The fact is that I'm not supposed to be sitting that long. (as a person, not an employee, as an employee I have to), historically women have been up doing stuff, birthing children, raising said children, plowing fields, or doing whatever else they can - but not leading the kind of life I am now.

And sitting for the majority of your day isn't healthy either! Check out some of the bad things that are linked to it at Women's Magazine.

Now obviously I can't quit my job and start a life as a flagger or construction worker... well I could but that isn't what I want in my career, nor is what I spent the money to become. (nothing against female flaggers or constructions workers, you go girls!) So I need to get up and do something for the remaining 4 hours of day. Yeah, that sounds hard.

Here are somethings that I have planned in my life to get me up and moving:

1. Evening run after work (yeah I keep talking about it, I honestly mean to do the CouchTo5K [C25K]) 
2. Painting/Art - when I paint I tend to stand or am rolling around on an exercise ball. The point is that while I'm doing something I love, I'm still moving.
3. Exercise programs or classes - there are plenty that are offered at my local community centres. There's a bit of a wait as the winter classes are finishing and spring classes have yet to start, but getting registered and preparing to have that part of a weekly routine is good for me.
4. Kinect - I have some video games that must be played standing up, hell Andrew even has a hunting one that involves running in place and ducking while holding a Kinect Gun, not to mention the Just Dance 3 - which works up a damn good sweat!
5. Fun dates. We try and do this every week, whether it be just us or a group of friends. It's laser tag, bowling, (maybe paintball...we'll see), and adventure amusements that are offered locally.

So what do you do to get yourself moving after work?