All in all, friends, I'd have to say it was a pretty good week, fitness-wise.
If you've just joined this conversation, get an idea what all this Springing Into Fitness stuff is all about by reading last week's post, here. In a nutshell, I'm planning to lose fifty pounds by my fiftieth birthday, and I'm begging your help. 'Cause, like I said,
It's gonna take a village, y'all.
So, first, an update. Results from last week, and new goals for this week. And afterwards, a few new tools for you, and me, for education and motivation.
Week One: Springing Into Fitness
Results!
I began my program gradually, walking 15-30 minutes 6 days. I met my goal.
Gradually worked well for me, and my body, which with some lower back challenges, made some days more taxing than others. I will build upon last week's progress, ratcheting it up a bit to 20-30 minutes per day. It's slow-going, and, yes, some days I want to walk MORE. I resist the urge, instead, strolling casually after the more strenuous session, which satisfies my need for a little more of the great outdoors.
I began my food diary, and quickly fell off. I did not meet my goal.
I knew this would be a challenge for me. I set up the diary, wrote one day's worth of meals, then, nada. After writing most of days away, I had a difficult time writing just ONE MORE WORD. It shouldn't be that hard. I'm going to work on the food diary this week. My goal is to record each day's meals, period. No calorie counts. Nothing but a cursory description. I'll learn my lesson from above, that gradually is the best way to go. Keep you posted!
I had only nibbles of the foods I knew were less than optimal, and I filled my plate with vegetables at each meal. I met my goal.
This wasn't difficult at all. I was inspired by the bounty that spring has given us, and remembered that to keep up with my moving goal, I'd need the proper fuel. I have no intention of giving up the delicious morsels that pass by me, but one bite was satisfactory, after filling myself with high-fiber, nutrient dense fruits and vegetables. And the scales proved it a good plan--
I lost 7 pounds!
And I was pretty darned pleased with those results. I added a little widget to the side bar on the right of the page that tracks my progress. It displays my weight loss from my last birthday. If you have a blog, and would like to use a similar tool, you can find the one I'm using, here. I'm a bit of a Luddite where these things are concerned, and I found this to have a very user-friendly interface. (I said interface. teeheehee. I'm learning.)
This week, I'll begin to formally add more fiber to my diet. I'm aiming for around 1200 calories per day, and about 25 grams of fiber. With those parameters, fruits and vegetables will continue to be the center-points of each meal.
And now, new tools for Week 2--
- Get Moving: Your Target Heart Rate, The Walking Site
- Habits: 18 Tricks to Make New Habits Stick, Lifehacker
- Fuel the Machine: Weight Loss and Diet Plans, Web MD
And stop back by tomorrow, on Tips for Tuesday, where we'll talk about the importance of fiber in the diet, and share a recipe for superfoods-loaded Kale And Grape Salad, which we'll be munching on all week.
Kale. It does a body good. (yep. I stole that.)
What were the high, and maybe the low, points of your week, fitness-speaking?
