Week 5 - What is Activity?

Hello, there! Thanks for reading (now that I know I've got at least one person, other than myself, who looks on this thing ;-D). I'm thinking that I'll stop entitling these with the week # -- while I will DEFINITELY keep posting EVERY single week, I intend to keep at it...so that one day you won't need to see "Week 81" labeled.

Anyhoo, as you may or may not know, I'm an active member at a local community theater group called the Ilion Little Theatre Club. Aside from acting, I'm also the secretary (future hubby is the president), cleaning lady, co-director for our youth acting project, and committee head in charge of searching high and low for grant and fundraising opportunities. Sounds like I'm pretty active there, right? Well, thanks, but not s'much. I had decided that, after our last show (Dave directed "Clue: The Musical!" and I was in it, as well as helping him with putting it on), I was drained as hell and just wanted to claim my life back -- especially in the midst of wedding planning.


So, I VOWED not to be in any more shows until after the wedding. Period. End of story. I even put up a fuss when Dave considered taking a part in the latest, "Lie, Cheat, and Genuflect".

But, as always happens at the theater, something happened -- a part that had posed challenging for the directors to cast came open yet again. It's a small-ish part, but does have lines and adds to the storyline. I received several calls from the director and finally, in the middle of my sinus infection, agreed to take it. They insisted that I'd only have to come to one rehearsal a week (until we come down to the wire...in a few weeks, lol). So, tonight's my first night of rehearsal!

After fitting in my Wii Fit, I was taking a quick shower when I had a bit of an epiphany -- I hadn't packed on the pounds (and unexpectedly, at that) until I stopped being so "active" at the theater. Just by not having to leave the house as frequently, running here and there, I lost control -- a control that I'd pretty much had the rest of my life. 


So, while I still insist that this WILL be the only show I'll be doing before the wedding, I do plan on considering other ways to get out of the house more. Whether it be more ILTC activities (we've got some big projects in the works, hopefully, for the next year+), seeing friends more, making myself go to the library...whatever! I know that this may be my biggest challenge yet, since I've gotten into the routine of "Mmm. Home. Rest. Chill. Yay, fiance's home! Now WE can relax and chill."

This should be interest! Oh, by the way, I haven't gained any weight, but it's been fluctuating within a few poundages...which is frustrating. ;-) I'll let you know if leaving the house helps. Oh, by the way, the next few days may also include a different exercise activity -- shoveling. Always an unexpected workout.

Tip of the Week: Think about what other activities you can take part in rather than simple exercising. Just getting off your butt throughout the week more times than you usually do and GOING to do something. Hey, that, in itself, will give you how many more steps of cardio? ;-)

Week 4 - Time Off

The title of the blog indicates that I'm taking time off from exercising and eating healthily because I'm on a mid-winter break from work. However, while I have time off, I've also been slammed with a pretty bad sinus infection -- of course! Just in time for vacation! It's always the way. ;-)

So, actually, I'm taking a bit of time off from Wii Fit, but trying to eat well. Of course, my body is shouting out for comfort food, but I'm keeping everything in moderation and trying to maintain HEALTH. After all, that's my essential goal. Besides, homemade chicken soup is a MUST, it's like medicine.

While I'd much rather be maintaining the weight I've lost through experimenting with more Wii workouts this vacation, I'm glad that I'll be re-energized (and back to 100%) when heading back to work next week, and can continue my "healthy regiment" at that point. Ultimately, it's just not worth exercising while sick, possibly lengthening the time of the illness.

Tip of the Week: Relax, but don't fall into old habits. Although I'm not moving as much this week, I can still make wise choices with the food I choose.

Week 3: Ouches and Adjustments

We're not nutritionists, we're not personal trainers. We're just normal people who'd like to know how to do the right things with our bodies to get the best use of them. So, we sometimes make mistakes; luckily, our bodies are pretty darn forgiving. Give them a few days to heal, then make some adjustments to what hurt in the first place.

This is what happened last week. I think I overdid my Wii fitness regime and had to take a few days off because of it. The pain was rough and even made work hard to handle. But, like I said, it's back to normal and I've learned a good lesson. I've now analyzed what Wii exercises I should do and the amount of strenuous activity that should be fit into 30+ minutes. I'm now doing Wii Fit activities that will give me a good stretch to warm me up before continuing on to tougher stuff. Today, I felt a lot better doing around 7 minutes of progressively tougher stretches before doing some cardio; tomorrow, I'll try my stretches then strength training. Thanks to the yoga, a cool-down is pretty easy.

And, as I talked about last week, I've been trying to make better eating choices (and I've been losing weight, although it somehow fluctuates a bit here and there). I've had veggie or turkey burgers when others were having bacon double cheeseburgers, larger salads and less carbs, less soda and more fruit. There's a lot more to do, but I feel pretty positive about the changes so far.

Tip of the Week: Healthier food doesn't have to leave you hungry or be bland. Just think about what you're putting into it. It's easy to enjoy cooking so much that you end up throwing in more fat and calories.

Week 2 - Healthy Thinking

Once you decide that you need to get healthier and publicly admit it, it's always in the back of your mind. This can be a great constant reminder or a huge pain-in-the-butt nag, depending on what you allow it to be; and that needs to be addressed, the fact that you DO control it.

A whole new psychology and way of thinking takes over and it can be a struggle at first. This past week was a bit of that. While I did Wii Fit four times (I figure four out of 7 is a pretty good start), I still had to struggle with a quasi-busy schedule. My brother came into town, which happens infrequently, so a lot of activities (including poor eating) took over. I did my best to eat as healthy as possible during the weekend, in particular, but the scale laughs in my face that I'm not as successful as I'd like to be.

But, I'm not down. Setbacks can't discourage anyone trying to lose weight or get healthy because it means quitting. What I'm trying to build here is a new LIFESTYLE. It's like quitting smoking or moving to a new area; lots of change and challenges! And how do we cope with situations like this? By communicating with ourselves in order to build up some confidence and self esteem before jumping in; again, psychology. So, when I have kids offering candy at school, I have to reteach myself how to deal with that situation.

Today's Easy Step: Retraining. I'll be continuing my Wii Fit regime, but need to start being more aware of my eating habits and environment and how to make tasty, healthy choices among them.

First Post - What Am I Doing?

Hello, readers (if there are/will be any of you). My name is Megan and I live in Central New York (alas, not the city, but SCORE, much less expensive). I'm in my late 20's and work as a school library media specialist (what we, in days gone by, called a "school librarian"). Currently, I am in the planning stages of my wedding, which will take place in October, 2010. Whether the grooms understand or not, it occurs to every bride that we need to look our very best on our wedding days -- and that usually includes being your perfect weight.

While I wish I could admit that this aspect of bridezilla behavior has escaped me -- I like to think of myself as a pretty low-key, budget-conscious, slightly offbeat bride -- I have taken a bite at the skinny bait. Well, maybe I've nibbled it. While I admittedly do care about how I look (I'm by no means "overweight" -- I'm at a healthy level, but pudgier than I'd like), my bigger objective is to get healthier, put some energy back into my (and my guy's) life, and start a newlywed life at the healthiest (pounds be damned!) stage of my life thus far.

After a slothful holiday season and a pretty busy autumn before that, my fiance and I have both fallen into "the comfort zone." He recently had a minor surgery which kept him out of work and far from exercise, so he has a pretty great excuse. My excuse? In earnest, I have been pretty busy taking care of his needs.

Excuses, excuses. Sure, life itself is pretty crazy. We are highly active in a local community theater group, where we not only put on shows but also hold various board and committee positions. Our jobs knock the energy out of us most days. We hardly get to see our friends and family. And, oh yeah, have I mentioned we're planning a wedding? (But just wait until kids come!) See? We always have these excuses. Many Americans die years ahead of their times thanks to silly life excuses.

So, as a means of holding myself accountable, I'm starting this blog. It may go through the wedding date, but hopefully it'll go longer. If I catch the ears of some other brides going through similar struggles and feeling similar pressures, I'll be happy to hear from them through comments and emails! But, even if no one reads this, simply writing something down and posting it for all the world to see is the first step in holding myself to healthier habits.

TODAY'S SMALL STEP: Wii Fit is my current means of exercise (unless all the running around counts -- but that's a pretty constant daily occurrence, hardly sweat-breaking) and I definitely prefer it. While gym workouts are great, my area has very few gyms to speak of, and I've cut back on finances. So, today's small step is to work out for 30-40 minutes -- and to continue this every other day (ie at least 3-4 times a week). At least the "trainer" yells at me for now returning sooner!