Okay, I’m officially 43 years young now. The flowers have wilted and the cake is all gone. (Alright, no one actually got me flowers.)
I figure that now is a good time to get started blogging. I am wanting to get in better shape, exercise a little more and take a little better care of myself. It occurred to me not long ago that I could use our 25-year class reunion as motivation to move in a positive direction. Then it occurred to me that the more people that knew of my goals, the more committed I would be, for fear of looking like a big boob. It made perfect sense that “more people” could very naturally apply to all of you who I will see when we get together this next summer. Finally, I thought that in addition to being curious observers, some of you might like to participate in your own little transformative process too, and might benefit from an ongoing conversation and supportive environment to help you achieve whatever goals you might have. And thus I decided to create the BAHS Fit for 25th Facebook page and blog. Blog is a funny word… But I digress.
This will be a work in progress as I have never blogged before. I promise I will try to do my best to adapt as we go. I have WordPress for Dummies and will probably get the Blogging for Dummies title as well. I will learn how to post articles and documents and pictures and all. For you, the more that everyone comments and participates, the more fun this will be. And it will give us a ton of stuff to talk about next summer. I am going to work on some specific goals and post those soon. For those of you who would like to participate, here are some ideas. Think of something that you would like to work on or change regarding your health, broadly at first. Then get specific. It might be things like:
I want to quit smoking / I want to lose weight / I want to get in shape, start exercising / I want to get my blood pressure under control / I want to eat healthier.
Start thinking about some specifics. These can be as private or public as you choose, but consider the extra motivation, and support, you might receive if you choose to go public and participate all out. Also start thinking about what you might have to gain from achieving your goal. How would it make you feel? What would it do for your health, and your self esteem? What would it mean to your family? How would it affect how other people think about you? And think about where you are now, and how you feel about that. Start thinking, and we’ll start working on these things together.
Let me know any and all ideas that you have that will make this better, more fun, and more useful for you. If anyone has any experience with WordPress or with blogging, don’t hesitate to make suggestions. Looking forward to a little community building with a bunch of ol’ buds (and some I may have not known well at all) from BAHS. Happy Hump Day!
Dane Treat's Blog 
Okay, I’m in! This is the first blog I’ve participated in, so bear with me.
I’ll be 42 in April and I’d like to start exercising and get in shape, hopefully leading to weight loss. While I know it would be a good idea to start eating healthier, I don’t want to sabotage myself before I even get started, so let’s start with the exercising thing first and see where it leads.
I’ve got a very expensive treadmill the in the spare bedroom that seems to be more of a dust collector than exercise equipment. So I would like to commit to using it more in the short term. In the long term, my husband and I are in the midst of making a move from Michigan to Florida (hoping to be down there by Thanksgiving, or early December at the latest). We are looking at homes with in-ground pools specifically so I can have a more appealing exercise option. Plus, unlike a treadmill that just sits there, a pool will require work to maintain. And I’m the kind of person who will say “by golly if I have to clean and maintain this thing, I’m darn well gonna use it!”
So, game on. I’ll share the ups and downs, and hopefully reconnect with all of you through a common goal of getting fit for the BAHS 25th 🙂
Dawn, we’ll learn blogging together. Thanks for jumping in. You relate a couple of very insightful and important ideas when people consider change. We often have an urge to do wholesale changes, bite off more than we can chew, and do indeed sabotage our efforts. But if we instead take baby steps we can stick to, we can build up a list of successes slowly and be more likely to make our new habits stick. While some people may respond better to more drastic changes, many do not, and I applaud you for recognizing how you need to proceed. Second, many times if we pick one area to work on, the results “spill over” into other areas as well. For example, I have not ordered a single “Molten Lava Chocolate Cake” from Chili’s since I started dragging my butt out of bed at 4:30 am to go for a jog. So I have been eating healthier even though that has not been the focus of my efforts.
Great stuff. Thanks for contributing. I look forward to hearing about your successes!
Sound Great! Thanks for being an inspiration to me to get going on being a happy, healthier person. And, get my muscle tone back and loose that college 15 (hee).
oops lose 🙂
Well – I am definitely “IN”! My goal? …. complete a marathon. Yep. 26.2 miles.
January 16th, folks! Now – as you are reading this, one might think – Wow! A Marathon! She must be in some great shape. Not true… not true at all! Sure, I’ve built up my endurance and will be running/walking a half marathon (13.1 miles) this Sunday, but I have got a ways to go to get where I want to be. For sure.
What’s funny, is that I have never been a ‘runner’. When I played softball, I used to FEAR that when I was on 1st base that the person up to bat would hit a home run and then pass me up around the bases. I got REAL good at stealing 2nd.
So – on that note… I’ll touch base later… I’m wasting time when I need to be out and running/walking! 🙂
And for any other runner’s out there, Kim has a great little tech-y gadget by Garmin (I believe) that records your runs and maps them all out, giving you all kinds of vitals like speed and heart rate. Very cool.
And to think I ran 5 miles last week and almost dislocated my shoulder trying to pat myself on the back. Way to go Kim!
Just adding on to Dane’s reply above…. Yep! It’s WAY cool! I got mine on Amazon for $145, I think, but it does SO much! It tells you things that you didn’t even know you wanted to know.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/53160833
I think this link should get you to my 14 mile walk/run last Saturday. We did a alternating Run 1 minute/Walk 2 minutes throughout the entire mileage. You can see how my heart rate went up and down depending on the walking/running. There is a spot where my heart rate stayed low for a while. One of the girls had to make a potty stop, so we just walked until she was able to catch back up with us.
One other thing that is fun – if you look at the ‘detail’ screen – you can use the ‘player’ to trace your path. This thing is amazing. It’s called a Garmin Forerunner 305. I think there is a picture of it at the bottom of the screen if you follow the link. A lot of people are getting the Nike+, but a friend of mine discovered that the farther she went – the less accurate it became. She finally broke down and got herself the Garmin. (And yes – Garmin like the GPS. It tracks you by satellite.)
I’ll be doing the Houston Half Marathon tomorrow – 10/24. HoustonHalf.com
Wish me luck! Yikes! 🙂
Sorry I didn’t get to your post in time to wish you good luck. Hope it was fun and rewarding, and pleasant running weather.
A few months back probably 9 now the doctor told me I was diabetic…I think I was in denial, because I do not have high blood pressure and did not have any symptoms, other than the classic weight issue. I also decided to apply for biggest loser this summer. I did not make it, but in the course of seeing myself on the video the realization set in that I was going to have to take care of myself no matter what. I have a twelve year old daughter that needs her mom and two girls in college, I want to be around for a while. So I started watching my portions and doing ZUMBA (latin dance for those who have not heard of it). I am down 40 pounds so far. Another 10 and I won’t qualify for the biggest loser anymore! Yeah! I need to drink more water I find that the hardest thing for me to do. Any suggestions?
Margaret, I saw a ZUMBA class going on at my 24-hour Fitness the other day. That looks like a blast! I don’t know if it’s going to be a regular class there or not, but if so, I would like to grab my wife (she’s Hispanic and loves to Salsa and Merengue) and make it to some. As for drinking water, here are some tips. All may not apply but hopefully a few will be something new you can try:
1. Get you a big refill cup, 32 or 44 ounces, that you can carry with you with the goal of filling and emptying it at least twice.
2. There is an iPhone app that actually lets you log and track your water intake. There may be apps for other cell phone platforms as well. If not, then log the old fashioned way, writing down everything you drink (and eat if you can) for a week or two, with a goal of getting the amount of water you desire each day.
3. Set a little jingle or alarm on your cell phone to buzz you once or twice an hour, at which time you have to drink.
4. If the above, “sipping all day” suggestions don’t seem like they will work, then start off your morning with a big glass of water (start off ahead), and then 2-3 times a day repeat. Few minutes of a tummy ache, but has the added benefit of turning off hunger temporarily with the expanded stomach.
5. Increase fruit and veggie intake, they are high in water content, and obviously have multiple other health benefits.
6. If you know of someone who might share a similar goal, get an accountability partner, analogous to a work-out buddy
7. Start each meal with a glass of 8-12 ounces of water, before you eat anything (similar to #4).
8. Substitute water for other liquids you usually drink. If that happens to be regular soda, you will lose that extra 10 pounds quickly, although I suspect you have already made that change.
9. Flavor a large pitcher of cold water that you keep in the fridge with squeezed oranges, lemons, limes or tangerines. Makes water more palatable.
Hope something works for you! Thanks for posting Margaret.