Too Busy for Health

I haven't walked since the 9th - I hate being so busy!!!  And I'm so tired!

I still have made up my steps running around the courthouse and being in court, so I'm getting "walking" in - just not the concentrated walking for a straight 35-40 minutes.  Maybe it's enough.  Court again today and tomorrow, and then on the road on Friday for 9 hours ... then moving my daughter all weekend - I guess that will be a LOT of walking and exercise.  Does it count??

I dropped 5 lbs immediately after coming back from the 4th of July - all water weight, I guess.  Now it seems to have stopped dropping.

Still waiting on that thyroid medication to kick in.  I'd be happy if I just didn't feel so darn tired.  I used to be able to spring out of bed in the morning.  I'm a definite morning person, but now I'm so tired, it's hard to drag myself out of bed.

And I don't have time to even think about what to change.  Right now I'm not even dressed and I have to be out the door in 30 minutes to get to court.  I guess I need to go dry my hair!  I even got up early so I could deal with business taxes and such that are due because I know I'll be in court all day and will be brain dead by the time I get home tonight.

Well, one day at a time, I guess.  I'll have 9 hours in the car to look over low fat menus (don't know if I said the doctor wants me on a low fat diet).  Maybe I can brainstorm then on things to do to help me out.

I know the summer has been extra crazy, so maybe once all of these events pass, I'll be able to get back into a nice routine again.

For now, I just need to make it through the day!

Mall Walking

I just couldn't bring myself to get up at 5:30 this morning and go walk in the thick, wet air.  It's so humid and already warm at 6 am which is when I would get to the park.

So, I decided to try mall walking!  I had heard about the Mall of Georgia allowing walkers in early to walk before the stores open, and I thought that would be a good way to beat the humidity and still get in my exercise!

And, you know what?  It was wonderful!!  According to information I have found, each level of the Mall of Georgia is one mile.  It's not clear whether this means walking into each nook or not, so I did. I must say, it was very pleasant!  I walked around twice - which should have been 2 miles, though my fitbit disagrees.  Then again, it disagrees daily on the track when I walk the same distance, so I'm not really sure what to think.  It took me 35 minutes to walk around twice.

And it's inspiring as well!  Looking at all the clothes that are so cute - not to mention Victoria Secret!  That's definitely motivating!

The only problem is that it takes longer to get to the mall than it does to get to the park and every minute of my day is counted so it's not a great choice.  Still - if it gets me walking vs. not walking - it's worth it!

Downside?  No sunrise picture today.

The hours are 8 a.m. on Monday - Saturday and 10 am on Sunday.  During the weekdays, I bet traffic is worse at 8 a.m. - I would be fighting rush hour traffic.  It was an very quick and easy drive today, though (Saturday).

I may try and go again tomorrow, though 10 a.m. is kind of late to get going with my exercise.  I like to do it first thing, but I guess it's more important just to get it in, whenever I can.

I also went and looked at weights yesterday for my new weight bench.  I really need to get some!  My fitbit is also falling apart (it's the HR Charge which has that issue with its band) and I guess I need to get a new one.  Getting healthy sure is expensive!!

At least walking is free!

I gained a ton of weight over the 4th of July holiday at my parents' house.  Good food, though!

I'm not feeling any changes with my thyroid medicine.  I'm up to the 2 pills per day the doctor wanted me on.  I've heard it takes 2 weeks to feel a difference, so hopefully by next Thursday, I'll notice something.  Maybe I won't be so tired - wouldn't that be a great benefit??

Well, I'm burning minutes here, so I'll sign off for now.  I will keep you posted!

Thyroid Issues

Well.  I just got the results back from my blood work and apparently I have an underactive thyroid.  Which could be why I'm having issues trying to lose weight.

The doctor called me in some medicine, which I took for the first time this morning.  I guess we'll see what it does. It would make me feel less crazy if it is causing me to have a more difficult time losing weight.  Because I sure have been trying and not only am I not losing, but I've been gaining.  So we shall see.

Meanwhile, I walked 7 laps this morning!  1.75 miles!  Woohoo!  Feels good!

And here is my morning pic:

Fitbit Issues

I really count on my Fitbit to help me.  It tracks my heart rate, my calories, my steps - all things that help inspire me to do more, move more and be better today than I was yesterday.

But I don't think my step rate is accurate.

I've been walking the track every day.  I am now up to 6 laps (yay me!).  But the same 6 laps that I walked on Monday counted 2800 steps while today only counted 2200 steps.  I walked the exact same track, in the same spot, for the same amount of laps.  How could that be off by 600 steps??  And when I count my steps in my head, it takes over 700 steps per lap - which times 6 laps should be 4200 steps!  Clearly something is wrong, and since my data is what keeps me going, I've got to figure out what to do.

I did just read that you have to adjust your walking stride (duh - I should have realized that, but I thought it was a smart tracker that somehow just "knew" what I was walking).  So I will figure out my stride and reset and see if that makes a difference.  But that still doesn't explain how I can be off by 600 steps walking the exact same route from one day to the next.  It's not like I do astronaut jumps or anything ...

So, I'm a bit frustrated.  I can't decide if I need to go ahead and buy either the surge or the blaze.  Both are super ugly, so I don't know.  But, the Fitbit community is the best and the data, charts and graphs are super inspiring, so I don't really want to leave Fitbit.  Meanwhile the Charge HR (which is what I have now) is falling apart.  It's got some kind of defect in the band - this is the second one I've had (they did replace the first one with no hassle, so that was nice), but given the accuracy issues and the band that is falling apart, I don't really want to do the Charge HR again.

On the bright side of things, I'm still managing to walk and I'm keeping up the increased distance - I almost thought I could make it one more lap today, but didn't want to push it given that my hip joints have been sore.  Still, I'm proud of myself.

I'm also still doing the bowflex for strength training, so I'm also proud of that.  I got a new weight bench for Christmas, but have no weights for it yet, and I'm going to start looking at what that will cost (my hubby says it will cost more than the bench did, so I may have to wait for Christmas this year to get the weights).

All I can do now is wait and see if my work will eventually pay off.  And try and pat myself on the back for what I'm doing in the meantime.  Oh, and try not to get discouraged when the weight doesn't come off quickly.

I still have issues with eating - especially now that I'm exercising.  I seem to be starving all the time.  If I remember from the last time I lost weight, when I upped my protein, that helped, so I'll try and do that.  I just love food!!  And when I'm starved, it's so hard to choose right.  I'll keep trying, though!

Beginning Week 2

Week 2 begins!

Got up early for my walk.  I increased my reps around the track so that I managed 6 today!  Last week was all 4-5 laps and today I made it 6!  My legs do feel like rubber, but I'm pretty happy I made it!

I walked 5 out of 7 days last week.  I couldn't do Friday morning due to a doctor appointment requiring fasting, and I overslept on Saturday, but I made it Sunday.

Now I just have to modify my eating!  I have stopped drinking which is good - no more empty calories!  I plan to drink for the 4th of July week in Virginia, but I'm going to try and hold off on the glasses of wine I like to have at night.  They are bad for 2 reasons - 1) I lose my self control and tend to eat everything and 2) empty calories.

At any rate, all I can do at this point is take it one day at a time.

And enjoy the morning view (today's sunrise):

Perks of an Early Morning Walk

So, I got up even earlier today so that I could be at work earlier.

As a reward, I got this:

It's still super warm, even this early, but watching the sun rise is a nice perk to making myself get out there and move!

This pic was at the end of my walk so I got to watch it rise through the trees on every lap.  Very pretty!

Starting Over.

This year has just been ridiculous.  I've had so much to do - one fire to put out after the next.  This week is the first week I've had to breathe and I'm latching onto it with all my might.

I got pretty sick back in April and May - couldn't shake it - and THEN, allergies kicked in.

But I'm better and things have calmed down for this brief moment.  I started walking again on Monday as well as lifting on the bowflex.  I have a new weight bench that I got for Christmas but no weights to use on it yet ... one thing at a time, I guess.

The only thing I have to sacrifice to give myself time is sleep, so I've started trying to get out to the park/track by 6 am.  At that time, it's light enough that I'm not afraid of getting attacked and I'm able to get my walking done and get back to my desk for work before 8:00 a.m.  Still, I am used to being at my desk and working before 7 a.m. so I still feel like I'm losing time.

My muscles are all sore in that good way that tells me I'm doing something.  Hopefully I can keep this up.  Nothing looms for the next few weeks to stop me, so cross your fingers.

I'm well over 200 lbs again.  I am going to try and take measurements today and break out all my tools to keep myself on track.  I've got to put myself a little higher on my priority list or I'm going to keel over.  I do have blood work to be done on Friday, which will tell me about sugar levels, B-12 levels, cholesterol levels, etc.  Not really looking forward to those results.

Writing here helps keep me on track, so I'm going to make an effort to report in my progress.