Walking

In order to succeed in the mission of becoming Healthy-J I am starting a good habit.  Walking on a regular basis is my first step to a healthy lifestyle.  Nature is beautiful and I want to be able to walk through and enjoy it daily.  I started this habit and have yet to make it an actual habit.  Friday, January 27th, I walked 3.7 miles with a friend.  We walked her kids to school and then continued walking around our neighborhood.  We had a good time walking and talking.  It made me feel good to be outside so early in the morning and moving around.  I had a busy weekend that weekend and did not walk any.  Tuesday, January 31st, I walked with my husband for 2.2 miles before he left for work that afternoon.  I learned that I do not want to walk with him.  It is easy for me to walk by myself or to walk with a female.  I feel to challenged to walk with him at this point.  He walks fast and I always am struggling to keep up instead of just enjoying the activity.  This habit is supposed to be positive and something that I look forward to each day.  If this becomes something that I dread I will not do well and eventually give up.  Wednesday, February 1st and Thursday, February 2nd, I walked by myself.  I put on my ipod and hit the road.  I walked for 2.2 miles both days.  I like the solitude of this individual activity.  Please note that I have mentioned the amount that I have walked only as exercise.  Daily I walk many, many more miles than what I have mentioned.  I am going to be concentrating on the amount that I walk for exercise.  This past weekend I didn't walk any either.  I am getting back on the wagon tomorrow morning and plan to make up for not walking yesterday by doubling up on my amount.  I will probably walk double on Wednesday as well.  Tonight I am hitting the Total Gym at my parent's house to work on some other areas instead of totally concentrating on cardio.

My mother works at a school and they have a team that is participating in Walk Across Tennessee.  My mother started out on a team but I ended up taking her spot on the team.  The local fitness facilities in our area have offered free weeks of facility use to the individuals that are participating in this program.  This is wonderful for me because I would like to sample a few gyms before I make a commitment.  This made me think, it seems logical that if someone might want to try out a gym that they could probably get a week or two of free membership to help them make a decision.  I will be getting a total of a free month when I combine all of the sample memberships.  This will help me to make good on my commitment, too.

Eventually I hope to be able to swim on a regular basis as a part of my fitness routine.  This would mean that I would have to drive a fair distance to add this to my regimen if I did this before summer.  Maybe this will be an element that I can make room for during the summer months when a lap pool is more accessible for me.  Plus, if I work on my cardio and resistance training now, I will look better in a swimsuit later on in the summer.  Right now, I just think that a swimsuit might be a little depressing.  I am a natural swimmer.  I started swimming when I was five.  Years have passed since the last time that I was a competitive swimmer, but I know that swimming is one of the best exercises to help you get fit.

Well, I have to get on the ball and hit the Total Gym before I hit the road and head home for the night.  I will be doing a great deal of walking this week and I wish everyone luck with their fitness goals for this new year.  It is my hope that from seeing my short falls from the past couple of weeks that it encourages others to keep on working toward goals even though they may fall behind from time to time.  Health and happiness to all.