ONE SHOE!

Today I drove 10 miles to a place called Provo Canyon in central Utah. This place has a bicycling/hiking/walking/running/skateboarding/longboarding trail which is mostly shaded. It was warm outside last night and already warm this morning, so I thought Provo Canyon might be a cooler place to go walking! And also I wanted to get some pictures for you. :D

I walked over an hour and on the way back I had a pebble in my shoe. I still had about 20 minutes walking at a regular pace to get to my car, so I thought I would easily slip off my sock and shoe to remove the pebble. Somehow my sock stuck to a corner of a toenail and as I pulled, it ripped! I realized what was happening quickly, so I stopped before it got too bad. I walked about 100 feet with one shoe on and one shoe off!  I'm sure I looked silly! Then I realized that I would do well to put the shoe back on without the sock. That worked fine and I made it back without any other setbacks.

One thing I noticed today is that even though I crave beautiful surroundings for my walks, it would have been much more time-efficient to just walk the same length of time closer to home. Another thing I realized is that as much as I love the sounds of nature, I wanted some mental stimulation. So, I found this video on YouTube and listened to it along the way. I have met this speaker before and heard him give this talk. It is pretty incredible if you think about the implications of what he is saying! So, that made my walk more interesting and even more pleasant.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and videos I took for you!

PLANKING!

Who has tried this? It is hard!!! It looks easy, but it is not! I have only done DAY 1. I have no idea if I can do this all the way through, but it is worth a try!  Join me! Start today! It only takes 20 seconds to start and you can do it almost anywhere!

Look what I found later! Some people having a planking competition at work! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TlGdwVPgDg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Who am I? Yogurt Over Ice Cream?!

NOT THIS!

Who am I? Have I lost my mind? I am hungry and it's kind of late. I need a little snack before bed. I find a few bites of leftover watermelon, one leftover corn on the cob (no butter), and a greek yogurt (Chobani Coconut) that has 150 calories to eat. I'm satisfied. I did put a couple of raw cashews into the yogurt. So, I'm looking at maybe 300 calories which for a late night snack is crazy good! Especially considering there is chocolate candy and the ingredients to make a chocolate sundae or banana split within reach. And Oreos. Also I have the ingredients to make home-made hot fudge for a hot fudge sundae (see the photo above). Something is kind of weird around here! I'm feeling encouraged since this morning when I got on the scales and I had lost 4 pounds. So, yay for me!

THIS!

Lesson Learned: Skip One Day? OK. Skip Two Days? Um, No.

Hello!

This morning I finally got back out there and walked the one hour. This means that I missed two days and not just one, like I did before. It was like starting all over again and I am tired from my walk today. So, ok. I learned that missing two days makes a big difference!

A couple of years ago when I worked at a university, one our student employees was on the track team. She told me back then that she could not skip more than a day and that if it so happened that she skipped three days - like over the holidays -  for her it was like completely starting at square one when she started back up again. Who knew this would apply to walking?

It was a nice walk, though, and I got some good pictures. A couple of these pics will have a description.

In case you are wondering where I walked today, this is almost two miles from my front door. I walked east toward the mountains on 3300 North (PG)/1100 North (AF) starting at the temple street.

If I could get my carcass out of bed earlier, I could beat the sun because it doesn't peak over the mountains until about 7:30 a.m. nowadays.

In the distance, on the left is an LDS Temple and on the right a regular church building. Mormons use church buildings on Sunday and temples every other day to establish sacred ordinances. There are currently 143 temples in the world. http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-stats 

Not sure what they recently cut, but it smelled SOOO good!

Saw four school buses on my walk!

These two saw me coming from a far distance and they stayed right in that position begging for their photo to be taken!

These are horse tracks made some time ago on a wet day. now there are little tiny plants growing in the tracks!

When I got home, I found this fresh juice that my husband had made and left for me! So thoughtful! It was delicious!!!

What? I Actually Did it Again?!?!?!? ;D

Most of you that know me personally know that I am a one-hit wonder person. I will do something and do it well and then I think, "OK, now I know I can do that thing" and I'm done with it. So, coming from a fairly sedentary lifestyle to walking for an hour two days ago was a pretty big deal. And I was supposed to go yesterday, but I didn't. So, I could have easily blown it off and said to myself, "Yah, oh well. I'll start up again in a couple weeks." BUT NOOOO! I actually went again today! And WOW! It was gorgeous and the walk itself was way easier! I expect the next one to be even easier and someday I'll even run part of the hour!

Do you want to know what motivated me? Yesterday when I was sitting in a movie, just right as it was about over, my right lung started to all-of-a-sudden feel congested. I coughed and coughed until I got a little bit of phlegm. Sorry, that's gross. But it was so weird! I was motivated that I need to keep doing this walking thing so that my body will continue to function well into my old age! Plus, I really don't want dementia like our friend's wife (see last blog post).

So, today it took me 1.5 hours to walk an hour - I stop the clock when I take pictures or rest. Sometimes I rest to catch my breath after going uphill and sometimes I rest because the shade feels so good! That includes travel time to the place I am going to walk. Today it was about a 7 minute drive.

Enjoy the pictures and videos from today. I took the videos sideways today so I hope it looks better!

"Eat less. Move more."

THE ONE HOUR COMMITMENT FOR STAYING SANE, ALIVE, AND HEALTHY

OK! Seriously, I want to see an endocrinologist for my hypothyroidism which has not been monitored as it should have. However, that is not going to happen soon so I have decided that I have to make a more concentrated effort to maintain and reduce my weight. Even though, I know from recent experience that I must have a caloric intake of around 1000 if I want to shed pounds, I have to remember that it is more about getting in shape than getting skinny. Strong is the new skinny. I need to make more muscle, increase endurance and improve cardiology. Even skinny people need to do those things! So, here is the motivating story that works for me. I share it because maybe it will work for you, too.

There is a man that we know who has been walking an hour a day, every day, for years. He is over 70 and still as sharp as a 30 year old. He moves normally and can converse, well, you know, like a regular guy. His wife, on the other hand, has not adopted the one hour a day walk and she has dementia, she falls a lot and she cannot take care of things or enjoy her family like she used to. She is not overweight at all and never has been. So, this is the motivating factor for me to see them at such opposite ends of the spectrum in their old age and the only thing they have done differently in all these years of marriage is that HE WALKS AN HOUR A DAY.

SO. Today was my first day of walking. It took me longer than an hour because I got tired and had to stop, so I stopped the clock while I caught my breath after an uphill stretch. Also, I stopped the clock to take a few pictures. It was a perfect day for walking, a little overcast yet warm enough for a light jacket.  I don't feel any different yet, but I didn't get hit so hard with my afternoon lag which usually hits around 2:30 p.m.

Enjoy the pictures! Now that I've recovered my blog password, I will try to post if I have any more decent photos and videos! I hope they are not sideways! If they are, next time I will turn my phone the right way! haha! :D

Thanks for your support, friends!

#health #healthy #gettingfit #gettinginshape #exercise #walking #strong #strength #gethealthy #fitness