Day 21, 22 and 23

 Who knew that walking for almost 3 hours would leave you sore the next day? It was so worth it, though. I met up with friends and we walked and talked for about an hour and half. We got caught up on all kinds of things and it was really nice to spend time with them. The other hour and a half was from walking to the park and walking home from the park. It was quite a workout. And then, to top it off, I did a double long walk with my favorite walking buddy. Whew! So many miles! And to be honest, I'm actually not as sore as I thought I would be. 

This morning I started on my strength workout. The main difference is that I added in a warm up and a cool down. Who knew those two would make such a positive difference. It is a total of 20 minutes and it felt like I was working out every muscle group. I'm still keeping the reps to 10 and only 1-2 sets because I don't feel strong enough to up the number of reps or sets yet. Again, I want to play it a bit safe to begin with so that I don't pull any muscles or anything. It's early days still, so that should be ok.

I actually ate really well yesterday and didn't feel hungry like I usually would when I try to cut back on excessive calorie intake. I had lots of fruits and veggies and some protein and plenty of water. Oh, and I've started drinking a Boost drink for breakfast. It has a lot of vitamins and minerals and extra protein so it's pretty filling and I like the taste of the chocolate flavored one. For lunch I have avocado, hummus, cheese and pretzel crisps. I want to try to include some fruit as well. And then dinner usually consists of salad, meat (usually chicken), and some sort of roll or something. Oh, and a large glass of milk. Is there room for improvement? Yes, of course, but I feel like it's a decent start.

Day 18, 19 and 20

Oops! I forgot to blog yesterday so I'm doing it today. I found some new strength and stretching exercises to add to my routine. They are the single leg balance, the step and reach across and the glute bridge. I also found a good warmup and cool down to add as well. I'm really happy with how my walking and strength exercises are going. Unfortunately, my eating is not on track.

So, I hate to do it but I think I'm going to have to start counting calories. I've been trying to manage my portion sizes but I'm not seeing any change in my weight, which tells me that I need to be more intentional. That's why I'm going to start counting calories. Once I get myself to be more aware of what I'm eating, how much I should be eating and how much certain not so healthy choices have, I'm hoping that will get me on the right track. 

Another thing I'm going to do with the counting calories is lower my daily intake. 2000 calories a day is the average, so I'm thinking I'll drop mine to 1800 and see how that goes. I'm not looking for a quick fix, instead I want to make life changes so I can keep this up forever. And for now, the calorie cut is because I know that I need to take in fewer calories than I use up in order to lose the unwanted weight. I wonder if setting specific goals would help. Hmm? Maybe.

Day 15, 16 and 17

 I had a win this week with my eating choices. I had to go to the store for some veggies and I completely ignored the pastry section. Yay me! I also resisted the temptation of Ben & Jerry's ice cream (my absolute favorite treat). So I'm happy about that. I've also increased the amount of veggies I eat at dinner. I'm trying to add more veggies and fruit to lunch and breakfast, so hopefully I can increase those over the next several weeks. It's times like this when I wish I was a chef or at least knew a chef who was willing to make all my meals for me. That would be awesome!

My walking is going great especially because my favorite walking buddy is super fun to chat with. My strength exercises are good. I will need to increase the intensity of the wall plank. It still isn't very challenging. I know it would be a lot more difficult if I did plank on the floor, however, due to my eye situation, I don't want to put extra pressure and/or strain on it, so I have to stick with the wall version of plank for now. Also, I learned of this new way of doing squats and either I was doing them wrong before or these are tougher than they initially sounded. So it's like a regular squat except you have a chair behind you and as you squat down, you tap the chair with your butt and then stand up again. I know, it sounds funny, but it seems harder to do than a regular squat. Maybe I just wasn't squatting completely correctly before, I guess. Anyway, I definitely feel the burn with this version. Give it a try and see what you think

The other strength exercises I do are bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, knee lifts, leg kickbacks with resistance band and hand grips. I'll probably need to add more at some point, but these seem to be pretty good for now. I should add some stretches in, too, to improve my flexibility. I'll have to look those up. I suppose yoga would be a good option for this. I bet they have some classes nearby that I could check out. I'll most likely check that stuff out in another few weeks or so, once I'm starting to feel comfortable with my current activities.

Day 12, 13 and 14

 So I bought some more of the resistance bands, the ones with the handles. The ones that kind of look like jump ropes. I've really enjoyed using these for my strength exercises for my arms. It feels like a better workout than dumb bells. I can really feel the muscles working as I do each movement. With the dumb bells, sometimes I'd have pains in my shoulders and it didn't feel like it worked the muscle groups as well as I had hoped. So I'm much happier with the resistance bands. Maybe once I get to a certain level of fitness, I'll need to switch to dumb bells, but for now, these bands are working great for me. 

I'm walking a lot more and enjoying it. I've seen people out running and instead of feeling bad that I'm not doing that, I'm feeling optimistic that I'll be doing that soon. I definitely feel more positive about my athletic future instead of pitying myself for not doing more. I can't wait to get out and run again. I forgot how much I love running. 

Eating is going ok. I keep craving unhealthy options and it's been a struggle to ignore those cravings. I'm not very creative coming up with alternative, healthy choices so I need to search out some ideas online. I'm sure others have come up with better options to a lot of the usual snacks, desserts and other treats, now I just need to go find them. :) 

Day 9, 10 and 11

 This week is going well so far, although my legs were a bit sore after yesterday. I was practicing for an interview and it helps if I pace. I wasn't paying attention to the time and ended up pacing and practicing for about an hour and a half straight. Oops! A goodnight's sleep took care of it though. Today I'll make sure to keep a closer eye on the time. The interview went really well, by the way. :)

The strength exercises are going well. I think next week I should be able to increase them to 3 sets. Then I'll keep it at that for a few weeks like that. I might increase the intensity of the resistance band for my leg stretches, though. It feels too easy even at 2 sets of 10 reps. But that'll probably be the only one I increase the intensity on for a few more weeks. I want to make sure I don't over do it or pull or strain anything. 

I can definitely keep increasing the amount I'm walking. The walks I do with my favorite walking buddy are a pretty good pace, however, I think for my solo walks I'll try to walk fast enough that I can't hold a conversation easily. Besides, I'd probably look a little wacky talking to myself. 

Day 6, 7 and 8

 Oh rats! I didn't even make a week before I fell behind with my journal. Sorry to anyone who might be reading this! Anyway, my computer was out of commission for most of the weekend, so that's my excuse for the delay in posting. However, good news! I still did my workouts and got in a lot of extra walking. I've also done better with making good food choices although I did make some chocolate chip cookies yesterday and they are not lasting long. I'm not the only one eating them, though. :) 

Let's see, I'm not having any soreness or strain from increasing my exercise, so I'm very happy about that. I'll stick to just doing 2 sets of 10 reps for the strength exercise for this entire week before I decide whether or not to increase it. I'm not as worried about the walking. I think adding to my walks should be fine, it's when I start running that I think I'll run into more problems. I also should probably consider getting a decent pair of running sneakers, but that can wait for now. I want to get up to 4-5 miles of walking a day before I start including some running. The sneakers I have now are good for walking and light running so I have time. 

The weather is cooler this week, so I definitely should take advantage of that for outdoor exercise. I just wish I lived near the ocean. I love the salty air and looking out into the never ending blue where the ocean and sky meld into one. Ah, well. Maybe one day.

Day 5

 Today has been a pretty good workout day. I got in my exercises and a walk this morning and soon I'll get in my second walk with my favorite walking buddy. I've been more conscientious about my eating as well for the past several days. I'm not counting calories or fat or anything. For now, I'm just being aware of my food choices and trying to keep them at a reasonable portion size. One thing I don't have to work at is my water intake. I've been good about that for a while now, so Yay! 

I'm not experiencing much soreness from the increase in exercise, so I think next week I'll up the amounts. I'll add another 1-2 miles to my walking and right now I only do 10 reps for each exercise, so I'll add another set of 10 reps. And I'll see how that goes. Now you might be thinking, "Shouldn't you be running if you want to compete in a running race?" Yes, I should, however, I want to be smart and lose some weight first as well as build some muscle and strength before I start. The hope is to avoid injuries, stress or strain on my muscles, joints, etc.  

I know that right now the games seem like they are far off and I can take my time building up to more intense workouts, however, I am also very aware of how quickly time can move when you aren't looking. So I'll be sure to keep that lurking in the back of my mind. :)