I am literally becoming an exercise machine…… today I power-walked for 70 minutes although it was HOT outside and I had no water with me (which sucked, actually). Then I did 15 minutes on the elliptical just to give my gluteus maximus muscles an extra workout.

Today’s calories are going to fall at about 1255. It’s already 7:30pm and I don’t plan to eat anything else!

I really need to either find my old measuring tape or get a new one!

Tags: exercise, workouts

Later on today, I will be posting a never-before-seen photo of me from several years ago when I had my ideal figure…

So, my extensive exercise regimen has continued. Saturday, I did a 65-minute brisk walk that included more uphill terrain than usual. Yesterday, I went for a 80-minute brisk walk with a guy I just started seeing. When I invited him to go with me yesterday, I figured that the brisk walk would tire him out, but it turns out that he is in better shape then me!

Today I am going to mix it up a bit with: 40 minutes brisk/power walking; 20 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes of resistance arm exercises. The guy and I are planning to do a bike ride along the river sometime soon - I found out yesterday that we can rent bicycles for free and ride them along the river. Which is awesome!

My eating hasn’t been as good as I’d like it to be, though. Since I’ve been going out on dates with this new guy, we’ve been going out to a lot of restaurants and stuff, and you KNOW how hard it is to eat healthy when you get served gigantic portions of delicious decadent food. But I haven’t done too badly, and as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m noticing new changes in my body nearly every day. Let’s not get into what I’m seeing on the scale though… it ain’t good.

Tags: exercise

It’s Friday morning, about 6:15am and I feel fabulous!

Today’s plan is my hour-long brisk walk (probably around 7:30am) and lighter-than-usual eating. I got on the scale this morning and have gained back a couple of the 10 pounds I lost. I know it’s not fat gain, but possibly has to do with all the exercise I’m getting. Yesterday I did 60 minutes power walking and 20 minutes on the elliptical. So I’m not worried about it, although I really want the scale to start moving again. I now have 12 pounds to go to reach my next mini-goal.

I look and feel great these days, though, and my body is so much harder (muscle-wise) than it was even just a month ago.

Anyway, happy Friday to all of you out there! And make sure to hit “refresh” on your browser if things are displaying incorrectly on this site. I also added some new stuff in the left sidebar - a search form and some of my most important posts that any new person visiting this site should read (if they want to know my history).

Tags: exercise, update

I did my usual hour-long power walk today… it was a very brisk 49 degrees out and sunny. I love exercising in cooler temperatures because the cold makes me want to move faster.

On Monday - when it was really overcast - I took some photos of my walk. To summarize, I start on the East side of the river, cross the river, walk 1 mile on the West side of the river, cross back over, then walk the mile back home. Here is a picture of part of the first bridge I walk across, about .75 miles across:

Here is the other bridge going back to the East side:

After crossing this bridge, here is a picture of the last mile I need to walk to get home:

(I live in that circular building).

Altogether my regular walk is about 3.5 miles, give or take. (I’m thinking closer to 4 miles if anything).

Not bad!

Here’s a picture of the woodsy path I found last weekend:

So onto my new plan….. it’s nothing too new, but involves a LOT of exercise. I now exercise 60-90 minutes about 5 days a week. Right now it’s power-walking and elliptical, but I plan to add bike-riding into the mix as soon. Once I get used to my power-walk and it starts getting too easy, I’ll add 1.5 pound ankle or wrist weights for an additional muscle boost. In the past when I’ve done this, I see new results literally within a week - it’s very effective, although some say it’s bad on the back.

All of the additional exercise DOES make me hungrier, and it usually kicks in the day after.

Tags: diet plan, exercise, photos

Just a quick update… I took a 73-minute power walk already this morning. I found yet another awesome jogging/biking/walking path. This one goes through a woodsy type area. I will explore it further the next time I go out - I couldn’t go too far into it today because it goes in the opposite direction that I was heading at the time, plus I was already about 50 minutes into my walk.

I am so grateful to live a 5-minute walk from 20+ miles of paths! There were a lot of people out today… I saw a little bit of everything - jogging, power walking, regular walking, biking, roller-blading. I saw super-fit people and one morbidly obese woman and regular people and older people (like over 60). Most people said “good morning”.

I’ve decided that I want to turn my body into a finely-muscled fitness machine. And I am willing to do the hard work that it will take. That is my goal and I will accomplish it! Tomorrow if the weather is nice, I will do a 90-minute power walk and possibly some stair-climbing.

The next thing I need to do is buy a bike and start riding again. I lost so many inches doing that a couple summers ago… When I do get a bike, I will start slowly and work my way up to 2-hour rides.

Well that’s it for now… time to make myself some veggies and fish, which will be my lunch. I’m not very hungry though. That’s the good thing about endorphins - they fill you with lots of good feelings and make you not hungry.

Tags: exercise, fitness, goals, Updates

Well, my weight has kind of gotten stuck between the 7 and 8 pound loss mark. I guess it was to be expected… I’m also having a maddening lower tummy bloating issue, which is weird considering I’m eating plenty of fiber and drinking 3/4 of a gallon of water per day! Oh well. Patience and perseverance is the key here I suppose…

I’m keeping up on the exercise front and my body feels like it is getting fitter by the day.

Not much else to report… I’m going on my hour-long walk shortly. Unfortunately the tendons on the outer side of my ankles have started up their awful throbbing pain when I walk. They do that from time to time and have been doing that every time I have started a new walking regime for the past 8 years. It’s extremely painful and I don’t know what causes it, but usually it goes away after a while. For now, Advil helps! (If anyone knows what it could be, let me know. It’s a very bad burning pain on the outer side of both ankles and usually starts within 5-10 minutes of the walk).

For those of you who asked about my book collection, yes, 80% of it is chick lit. The rest are memoirs, non-fiction, general fiction and miscellaneous. It’s a collection I started 6 or 7 years ago and it has grown considerably over the past few years because of my (prior) chick lit reviewer status. Anyway, I can’t wait for the bookcases to be delivered tomorrow… Despite both bookcases being very large, I still have a feeling they won’t be enough. We shall see… I’ve been doing other odd little projects around my apartment and am pleased at how it is coming out. Photos to come!

Tags: bloating, exercise