Thursday, January 8, 2009

Unexpected Motivation

So my husband and I have been loosing weight together on Weight Watchers since the end of August and as I was telling someone last night our names would be in literature with a * after them. *Results Not Typical. Loosing weight has been a wonderful gift to give myself everyday since we started. I feel like I have reached a point where I can finally see results in myself. People have been telling me that I look different for awhile but I can finally see it for myself when I look in the mirror. We have been mastering eating within our points and exploring how to make the foods we love healthy and delicious. I cook he cleans and we get better every day! For Christmas we "exchanged" pedometers and I think it was just the thing I needed to catapult me to the next level. I find myself keeping close tabs on the numbers of steps I have taken throughout the day. Last weekend we were out and about on Sunday and I got up to over 9300 steps. I was so excited because it had been a busy day but I hadn't built in any specific exercise. At home I have figured out that due to the rectangular layout of our house I can go from one end to the other five or six times and get 300 steps in just a few minutes - during a commercial break no less. The more I find ways to build steps into my day the more I am motivated to look for even more. I have been working in the same building for two and a half years and for the first time it occurred to me that while we only occupy the ground floor there are 5 flights of stairs that I have easy access to when ever I want. So Monday I was having a rough time focusing and decided to go get a little exercise in to help my brain. Up those stairs I trot! I was breathing heavily by the time I got to the top but it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. On the way down I stopped on the parking garage level and did a lap around the small garage. Back at my desk I felt pretty pleased. The next day I popped my lean cuisine into the microwave and rather than standing there for 4 and a half minutes watching it spin around slowly I popped out to the stairs again. This time I went up and did a couple of laps in the parking lot and was back before the microwave finished. How cool is that? Well I think it is cool. Today I saw that it wasn't raining so I grabbed my iPod and scooted out the door. I was so excited to be getting out to walk around the neighborhood (we have recently been snow bound so I think I am still recovering from cabin fever). It was cold and damp but I kept a comfortable brisk pace and due to a misjudgment in my route I covered just over a mile! I was sad to have to go back even though it had begun raining again. I have this energy bursting out of me and it feels incredible. For the past couple of years I have had to deal with minor to moderate SAD in the winter so it is such a relief to be motivated to do anything let alone go charging up and down 5 flights of stairs on a whim. I do think my pedometer is helping because it is a concrete gauge that I am getting up and moving more. The more I move the more I move it is a wondrous feeling that I never thought I would have. I just pray that this is the beginning of something I will get to experience for a long time to come.

1 comment:

  1. Keep up the good work. Getting that incidental workout here and there will make a big difference.

    ReplyDelete