Weekly Recap

Wow - it's been a busy week

First - I met my intentional movement goals and then some!  I did strength training 3x and I walked 3x. Yesterday's walk was great - fast, and challenging and it left me feeling energized.  Today's walk was slower and longer and I felt great after it too.

AND THEN.... after yesterday's walk, I helped hubby wrestle a 70 gallon aquarium down our garage steps (think steep) and then out to the road.  To be honest, that was a scary thing.  I was afraid I'd lose my balance and fall and end up under the aquarium.  It was so very heavy.  But it sprang a leak and D hasn't kept anything in it for the past 3 years or so.  And he has no interest in keeping aquaria again. So - off to the street it went.  The stand is next.

AND THEN.... after today's walk, I planted a flat of portulaca.  I'm slowly beginning to enjoy gardening.  As long as I keep it small scale, I think I'll be fine.

I could have made better food choices, but I'm feeling OK with what I ate.  No guilt, no "I should haves" etc.  And that is definitely a new thing for me.

I've had a few moments to reflect and I'm growing happy with my path.  I like that.

Kind Acceptance

I read a good number of blogs for inspiration and Karen Anderson's is at the top of my list. She's so real.  Her post yesterday Choose Your Easy is incredibly thought provoking and I left a long rambling comment that I'll summarize here:

War is Not the Answer.  For me, Kind Acceptance is the Answer.

Strength Training

If you've peeked at my intentional movement page, you'll see I added strength training to the mix last week.  It's going to take a while before I'm back where I was - but I've chosen my program (Jari Love's Get Ripped series).  I know it works for me and I really like how calm she is.

Enjoying my walks

One of the reasons I stopped exercising was because I was doing too much for me - all but making myself ill.  I'm absolutely loving walking in the mornings - I push myself some, but not too much and the hills do the rest!

This is what 40 lbs looks like

I'm not beating myself up here - just showing that I have gained weight and am kindly and gently working to return to a happy healthy weight.

Here I am March of  2008 - celebrating 2 years of maintaining my weight loss:

And here I am today - just about 40 lbs heavier:

Isn't that amazing?  

Focusing on this moment

One of our cats is dying.  He's our Noaa - a wonderful old yellow tabby tom that D's had for just about 15 years now.  When I met D, I fell in love with Noaa and vice versa.  He's been my boyfriend for the past 8 years.

It could be very easy for me to descend into the depths of sorrow as I watch Noaa die.  I'm not fighting the sorrow, but I am trying to focus on now.  The dear boy has it in him to bring me joy until his last breath and I don't want to miss it.

See how wonderful he is?

My prayer for Noaa, D and myself is that we know peace and can keep our hearts open enough for joy as well as sorrow.

Weekly Recap

It has felt like a tough, but good week.

I met my intentional fitness goals, but not so much my food goals. Perhaps I was too ambitious to do a salad a day when I know I get bored with eating the same salad over and over?  I'll eat as many salads as I can - but not to the point where I have backlash.

I've discovered some interesting blogs lately and am feeling inspired to do some simplification in my life.  The first area will be my closets.  I have 3 closets crammed full of clothing most of which no longer fits.  I'm purging all the trendy items that I feel I won't wear even if I get back down to that size.

And I'm beginning to plan a sort of uniform.  Skirts and sweaters for work (mainly knee length A-line) and cardigans.  And skirts (again with the knee-length A-line) and T's or button down's for weekends.  I've got work on it.

But for now, purging my closets of the clothes that cause me to scream at myself is my first step.

One of those blogs - Be More With Less has some great ideas on simplifying aspects of life.  One little baby step at a time.

And when I do that, I can take time to appreciate the little joys on my walks - like ripening blackberries:

A shout out of gratitude

Recently,  a reader left a comment on a very old post Punishing Myself With Food and we corresponded back and for a bit  - investigating the feasibility of our forging a support relationship for each other.  To be honest - I sucked at it.  I'm awful at leaving comments on other people's blogs - I read the blog, I appreciate the blog and don't comment. And I'm worse at email correspondence.  I apologized to the reader.

But her reaching out to me triggered a desire to start being more active in supporting myself.  This blog is one of ways I've supported myself in the past  - it provides a writing outlet and a place for feedback should it be offered (it is welcome!)

So, this post is simply a thank you to the reader who reached out to me.  Thank you for reawakening in me the desire to write more about my journeys and to realize the value of this blog.

Weekly Recap

I should probably do my recap on Sundays - but I think tomorrow is going to be a bit busy.

I'm thrilled - it's the first time in 2 years I've actually met my intentional movement goal.  I walked 5x this week.

And I ate my planned food.  And best of all -I'm feeling really good.

Here's next week's goal for intentional movement:

Goal for 6/4 - 6/10 - General goal - intentionally move in the mornings for at least 30 minutes 4-5x


Plan
Monday - Jari Love Strength Training
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Walk
Thursday - Jari Love Strength Training
Friday - walk
Saturday - walk


And for food - I'll be planning and prepping my food for the week - concentrating on different types of salads for my lunches.  I'm thinking quinoa and barley as additions.

June 1st Salad

From Sunflower Cafe - Spring Salad

It was totally delicious.

Walked thru it

Great music is really one of my best motivators.  My walk started this morning with a catch in my left hip.  It hurt.  I told myself, I'd walk it out.  And then I concentrated on the music - first song was Soft Cell's Tainted Love and the next song was Morris Day and The Time's The Bird.  I got myself immersed in the music and completely forgot about the pain.

I'm now done with my walk, and showered - and there's no pain in my hip.  Instead, I feel incredibly energized.  This is great.