So I decided instead of posting a blog every day and boring the crap out of you all with "I walked around the building."...."I ran stairs"....blah blah blah. I'd do more of a weekly check in.
Today is Day 16 of 28.
I've entered into my Outlook calendar 3 times to get up from my desk and go take a walk around the building (not including the walking I do on my lunch break). So far it's working great. It not only gives my eyes a break from the computer screen but it gets me up and moving and keeping warm (my office building has no real heat and I've been chilly lately).
It's nice to have a "fall-back exercise" as it were. My goal for this 28-day challenge was to develop a new healthy habit. Adding in three walks to my schedule (including a pop-up window telling me to get out and go) every work-day helps me accomplish that. Doesn't mean though I'm not trying to do other activities outside of these walks.
Thursday we went to the pool and swam for a while.
Saturday we went to Multnomah Falls and hiked (I didn't make it to the top but mostly because I didn't want to make the family wait below for me for too long).
It's interesting some of the things I'm observing/noticing over the past few weeks (most of which I'm sure is in my head).
First I feel more emotional than I normally am. I know that exercising is supposed to release endorphins and therefore put you in a better mood...but that's not really what I've been experiencing. I've been out on a walk and had a burst of anger come from deep in my core. This weekend I had to go home and lay in bed to cry after a ridiculous comment from my brow-wax lady. No euphoria. No smile across my face. Just anger and tears. (WTF?)
The other thing I feel is that I've not been losing weight but gaining it. Now I know this is only Day 16 and I can't expect a miracle. I'd expect more to see no change...not an increase. Like I said this could just be in my head. But pants that don't fit, shirts that feel tighter than before, looking at pictures taken of me and seeing a larger and larger double chin.
It's frustrating.
I'm sticking to it though.
Hi Missy M, some thoughts on your post:
ReplyDelete1. You can't know if it has been effective if you're not choosing to track it! Muscle weighs more than fat, and often people look a tad worse when they have just begun because their subdermal fat is released, but the change will occur. Don't let it derail you!
2. Endorphines really hit you when you've established a serious, hardcore exercise routine. People talk about them a lot because they are helpful, and they do make you feel good, once you're getting in to decent shape. The problem is that you have to move in to "good shape" territory to really benefit from the endorphines, so those of us who are thicker have a ways to go before we feel the benefits. That's why fattening up is so insidious - it's a positive feedback cycle. Luckily, we lose weight a lot faster at the beginning, relative to skinnier people.
Good luck!