Outside motivation

So for the last 5 weeks, I have been exercising at least 5 hours a week. I started because my company offered the incentive that if we did the YMCA March madness challenge for at least 3 weeks we would get one PTO day. Well, that was incentive enough for me. In addition, if we were able to make it to the final 4 teams out of 28, we would get our company medical contribution paid for two pay periods. Well, I am happy to say that I made it to the final four. I love some competition and my teammates do too. In the process of exercising, I have been exposed to many different classes at the YMCA. I have done Yoga, Body Step, X-Factor, Spinning, & FIT. I will have to say that most of the classes were quite enjoyable. I wasn't much of a Body Stepper though. It's like dance steps and I have two left feet when it comes to dance.

The good news is that a byproduct of the exercising has caused me to lose around 11 LBS! I certainly didn't set out to lose that much weight but I guess I have accumulated some extra weight over the past few years. I hope that I can continue the motivation to keep exercising even when the competition is over. Because the best benefit is that I feel so much better now then when I started over a month ago. Staying healthy is a lifestyle change that can be hard to keep up. So I hope along with me you can find some motivation to do whatever you can to feel better and stay healthy.

I am the Queen of the World!!!

So my fitness goal for the year is to run a 5k with my dad when he gets back from Iraq (I’ve been promising him this for years and have never done it). I haven’t fully mapped out my plan of action, but I feel like I have a good start. I’ve been running/walking a loop in my neighborhood that is about a mile. I get up at 6am, stretch, run it, and stretch again… simple, but it’s a start. Well, let me tell you that first week (which was last week, yes I am late getting this goal going) was hard! I am out of shape in a bad way! But, today I ran the whole thing and I felt awesome. The wind was blowing in my face, the temperature was perfect, and birds were chirping as if to cheer me on. I even circled the court afterwards and pumped up my speed. YES! So, I’m feeling pretty good today. Any other success stories out there???

Happy New Years!

It is time to start the new year out right! So have you set any New Year's goals to help you to get healthy?

There is a great article about setting goals here. Some of the highlights are:

#1. Determine a long term goal.

#2. WRITE IT DOWN - studies show that you will be more likely to stick to your goal if you write it down

#3. Create a timeline for the goal, with short term goals along the way to help you achieve it.

#4. Be realistic in your goals. Make sure they are achievable.

#5. Be specific. Very specific. The more specific the better.

#6. Determine a reward for achieving your goal and little rewards for all the short term ones along the way.

#7. Be forgiving of yourself. Have a contingency plan in case something gets in the way of your goal.

So I'm going to help you out with the second step of the goal setting process. Write down your goal in the comments and let us know what you are planning for this year as your health goal. Happy goal setting!