Odd and ends... and fear of falling

I feel like a slacker, but I finally scheduled my intro Fit Test at Fort Sanders Health & Fitness Center (FSHFC) today. It's not until next week, but it least it's finally on the books. I have this bad habit of not doing things if I don't write them down, or create a reminder on my outlook calendar. Yesterday when I left work I put a sticky note right in the middle of my desk reminding me that today I needed to call and schedule my Fit Test. It is now done! 


I'm one of those people who tend to be more productive the more things I have on my plate. If that's the case then next week is sure to be a winner of a  week! 


Tuesday after work I have my walker/runner evaluation with a physical therapist, then later that evening I've got our first team meeting with our trainer and life coach Chris O'Hearn at FSHFC. Wednesday after work I've got my Fit Test at FSHFC. Thursday a festive holiday celebration with current & past team members, and then Friday a team appearance on Live at Five at 4. Then the following Monday I finally have my appointment with the dietitian at Covenant Weight Management Center. Yes, I'm already tired thinking about it all! 


I know many of you saw the link I posted on Facebook to the MTV show that featured an appearance by Chris O'Hearn. If you didn't get a chance to see it, it's now available here. If you've ever struggled with weight loss, it's definitely a must-see.


While working on building exercise as a habit in my life, I've been thinking more and more about if I can do this. If I can actually follow through with what I've started. Honestly, it still scares the hell out of me to think about where I'll be by April. Today I asked myself the question, "why have I never run before?" 


The simple answer - realistically and metaphorically - I've been afraid of falling. I've had so many injuries in my past, and I'm clumsy, so there's the survivalist fear of falling down and going boom. OK, worst case scenario, I end up in the hospital or dead (the previous is more likely). I work in healthcare, my friends will take excellent care of me. Mentally, if I set myself up for failure, I'll fail. If I convince myself that I can succeed, I will. If I "fall" metaphorically along the way, I've got a great support team of friends, family, and my new teammates to help me pick up the pieces, and keep working.


A few more nuggets of inspiration from my favorite time waster, Pinterest.

And my personal favorite, especially with my sesamoiditis...

Thanksgiving: Day Three

Today is day 3 of Thanksgiving festivities, visiting with the last of the family who is in town for the holiday. Three days, three households, a ton of food. I was afraid with the busyness of the week that I might not get in my 5 days of exercise that I'd hoped ... but I surprised myself! My walk this morning makes six days of exercise for this crazy holiday week! 


I'm proud of myself! I made it a priority every day ... even if it was just twenty minutes... to get it done! Since most of this week's exercise has been walking in our neighborhood Belle is certainly enjoying it, too! 
My pedometer has been acting up a bit so I found a cool app for my iphone - it's called iMapMyWALK. It's pretty cool - keeps track of distance, time, and via the gps it'll even map the route you're walking or running. Pretty cool. I also like it because it'll log all of your workouts if you choose, helping you see progress in your time, distance, etc. 


I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. This year I have many things to be thankful for, including this opportunity for a healthy lifestyle. I appreciate everyone's support! 

Making new habits during the holidays

Is everyone else feeling the stress of a short work week, and too much cooking, baking, and other holiday festivities, and not enough hours in the day to get it all done? Don't get me wrong - I love the holidays and a few days off, but sometimes the preparation seems a little more stressful than it should be! 


And then adding in our pre-training for the Biggest Winner team, and there's another commitment I'm trying to juggle with all of the other holiday stuff. My goal during this holiday season, to make it to our official training start in January without completely burning out is one-step-at-a-time. I know it's not realistic to expect myself to develop the perfect activity habits in a matter of weeks. I know myself, and know if I jump into things way to fast, and get burned out, that it's harder for me to get re-motivated. 


So my goal until our full-time training starts in January is at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 days a week. Some days it may be more, some days it may be less. But I've decided to be proud of myself for making this a habit, and not discourage myself that I'm not doing enough.


I've been not doing enough for over 30 years ... so I am laying the foundation of my new set of activity habit.


Since the weather was really crappy last night, and I knew once I finally made it home I wouldn't want to go back out to do much of anything, my husband brought home a different activity game for us to try together, since the Zumba game wasn't quite our speed. 

OK, this one is much more our speed! We started with some basic steps, got our heart rates up, and enjoyed the activity with songs we knew (instead of the Latin techno on the Zumba game)! Although we were competing against each other (I had the high score), my main goal was to keep moving. Even if my moves weren't perfect ... I wasn't sitting on the couch, I was exercising!  I really like this game and think it's one we'll invest in. 


Unfortunately I ended up "on the bench" after about 30 minutes because I was overly eager to start the game, and didn't wait long enough after dinner to dance. Needless to say I was sick as a dog the rest of the night...and felt stupid for overdoing it ... but, hey, you live and you learn! 


Happy Thanksgiving week, folks! 

Finding motivation in odd places!

This morning's dose of motivation is courtesy of Pinterest! For those of you who have never visited the addictive site that is www.Pinterest.com, take it or leave it at your own risk! It's basically a virtual bulletin board where you can "pin" ideas you run across on-line for crafts, recipes, etc. It has a social media angle to it where you can "follow" others boards and pins, and get great ideas, or waste hours of time.


Today I clicked on a category I'd never clicked on: Fitness. I was hoping to some good ideas about preferred cold-weather running headbands, gloves, and other goodies. Instead I found some extra motivation! I'm a sucker for a catch phrase or a good tag line. I like to be inspired by simple statements.  Here's a few this morning that I especially enjoyed!

Feeling inspired? I am! 


Although our Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon Biggest Winner Team challenge is really just in its warm-up stage, I'm excited. I'm excited for the opportunity. I'm excited that I've made this choice for myself to invest in my future. I'm excited for the accountability my teammates will bring to the game. I'm appreciative of the support of my friends, family and co-workers.


I'm proud of me. I'm one of those folks who would usually rather not take all of the credit for something good, but would rather make sure that everyone involved gets part of the praise. But this is me. 100% me. I am the author of this destiny - good or bad. I'm writing my own story.


In June I started my journey working on my diet and eating habits. Now, in November, I am 16.5 pounds lighter than I was when I started. This challenge is the the next opportunity for me to change habits: fitness habits. That's kind of a funny statement when I read it ... changing my fitness habits. I don't have any fitness habits. Correction: I am learning new fitness habits. This past week I have included aerobic exercise into my schedule 5 out of 7 days. For that I am thankful. From that I will build new habits.

Saturday morning training run/walk with the Knoxville Track Club.
I walked. It counts.

To Zumba or not to Zumba...

Our team manager Tonya suggested the other day that it was a good idea to try out different types of exercise including something we could do at home like an exercise video or interactive game. Since our training will run through the coldest part of the winter this will be a great option if making it the gym or working out outside is not a viable option.


Sidenote: For those of you who don't know, my husband works in retail management for the world's largest retailer of video games. So he is a plethora of knowledge when it comes to video games, and is able to "check out" games to test them out. 


This morning I asked him about some good fitness "game" options. He named a couple, including Zumba. I was so excited. I've heard that Zumba is a lot of fun, and know a lot of folks who really enjoy it. I'm completely uncoordinated, but knew that trying this in the privacy of my own home would make me a little more comfortable.


So my amazing husband brought this home tonight for me to try it out:

He is truly a great sport, and even tried it with me! lol Let's just say that we're definitely not in Zumba shape...yet! The good news is, between the "dancing" and the laughing, we definitely burned off some calories and worked up a sweat! Who knows, maybe before too long I'll be brave enough to try a real Zumba class!

Small victories ...

Today's one of those days I'm thankful for small victories. 


After a morning-long meeting my lunch took me to one of my favorite sandwich spots. Said sandwich spot is next door to the absolutely BEST cupcake place in town. They have these delicious pumpkin cupcakes. Nom nom nom. Today's main victory: I ate lunch, and then I got in my car and headed on my way. No cupcakes. Yes, of course, all I can think about right now is the yummy cupcake that's not mine...but, thankfully, those calories are someone else's!


Once I got home from work I was tired, and still had some work to catch up on since I'd been in meetings all day. I just wanted to chill out. But, how can you ignore this?!

Those eyes just scream, "Mom, I'm bored. It stopped raining, let's go for a walk!"


So, we went for our walk! 

20 minutes around the neighborhood until it started raining again ... but small victory! Heart rate up, sweaty, and quality time with Belle! Now there's one tired dog, and one tired me, but it's a good tired.


Thanks, everyone, for all of your encouragement and outpouring of support. Our training program is just getting started, and won't be in "full force" until next month, but I'm excited in the preparation! I made my appointment for my runner/walker evaluation today with Parkwest Therapy Services, and it's not until the first week of December, but that will be here before we know it! And my 1st appointment with the dietitian is scheduled for Dec. 12. Making progress!


Sidenote: Anyone know how to fix the time stamp on my blog? When I'm saving it shows current time, but then once it's published it's always several hours behind? Suggestions welcome! 

The universe has spoken!

My daily horoscope was kind of humorous and appropriate for today! lol Love it! 

The solar system is shifting gears today, Amanda, and it is liable to trigger a great transformation that will last seven months. The change will center on the means you use to fulfill yourself, in terms of both your career and your love life. If you feel somewhat hemmed in by your training or your upbringing, you can expect to seek liberation from these inhibitions in the months to come.

2 miles down ... many to go!

Just a quick update this morning about yesterday's kick-off walk at the Buddy's Race Against Cancer! First of all, what an amazing event hosted by Thompson Cancer Survival Center! So inspiring to see all of the cancer survivors receive their medals, and to see all of the teams walking in support of loved ones! Events like this make me truly proud to live in the community that I live in, and give me hope that people really do care about what's right.


Driving to yesterday's event I was nervous. Nervous about walking, nervous about getting injured, nervous about being held accountable, and not not living up to the expectations of my teammates, whom I'd just met a day earlier. I know it was just two miles. But, folks, the last time I walked a continuous two miles was probably in the mall at Christmastime, at the rate of a 50-minute mile. lol


Needless to say, most of my fears subsided as soon as I made it to World's Fair Park and my teammates started arriving. This part is going to sound sappy, and oh-so-very-Disney, but I feel like I've known these people forever. Here we are, a group of folks in all walks of our lives, thrown together by one common factor - our desire to get healthier, and build a better us! Yesterday was a day of laughter, sharing our fears and concerns about the walk yesterday and what we're up against in the next several months, and realizing that we're all going to make it. We're still learning each other's names, but I feel like we've got each other's backs!


And, our amazing Coach Missy! She made sure we were all comfortable yesterday, introduced us to people from last year's team, and other folks she's trained along the way, and truly encouraged us! I know she's going to be a huge part of our success!


Yes, I hurt a little this morning -- but it kind of feels good! Thanks to everyone for all of your encouraging words on yesterday's blog, and your encouragement in general. Most of you know how I am, if I want to do something I'm going to do it on my own -- that's just how I am! But this one task I know I'd be ridiculously stupid to try to tackle on my own!


Thanks to all of my awesome teammates for yesterday! It's truly the beginning I needed to build the inspiration inside of me! Lee Ann & Marie, thanks for talking & walking yesterday! I look forward to many more!

The first day of the rest of my life

Yesterday was a great day. It was emotional, it was exciting, and it was just a preview of the opportunity that I have been given to change my life. At 34 years old I've decided that I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired! Yesterday I met my Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon Biggest Winner teammates!


Where I started
Dealing with my weight has been a constant struggle throughout my life. I remember being enrolled in a children's weight loss/lifestyle program at ETCH called the Body Shop before the age of seven. In the past thirty years I've tried every weight loss plan from Weight Watchers to Atkins, and never lost more than ten pounds, and definitely never kept it off.


At a young age I accepted that I was always going to be a "big girl," and that I just needed to embrace who I was, and make the best of it. It was a hope that if I accepted myself for what I was then everyone else would, too.


My family history
I love my parents, but they gave me crappy genes. Currently my mother, father, and I all struggle with Type 2 Diabetes and glucose control. I've also been given the wonderful gifts of a family history of heart disease and stroke. Gifts I'd rather return for something better!


The habits
Growing up the child of a physician and a nurse, and choosing healthcare as my own profession, I've always "known" how to eat healthily. Even when not observed, I've always been aware of proper portion control, and what's good for me, and what's not.


I'm a stress eater. I know I'm a stress eater. I will never deny that I'm a stress eater. My biggest stress relief is french fries. Yes, you read that right, french fries. Not reading a good book or going for a walk, but french fries. Even the worst french fries are better than no french fries at all!


I'm an intelligent woman - college educated, trained in critical thinking, and full of common sense. Yet somehow at 34 years old I still use food as an emotional gauge. I eat when I'm happy, I eat when I'm sad. I eat when I'm celebrating, I eat when I'm comforting or being comforted.


My nemesis: exercise
I hate to exercise. It's hard. It hurts. And in the past I've never seen results good enough to make me want to stick with it. When I was younger I developed a major resentment for exercise because I was forced to do it because I was fat. My siblings didn't have to exercise. They got to sleep late. I had to get up every day before school to walk on the treadmill.


In elementary school I ice skated for several years because it was my sister's "sport" of choice. My sister was built for ice skating - she's thin, athletic and graceful. I, on the other hand, was made more for ice hockey - husky, durable, bulky.


Needless to say, I never built a healthy relationship with exercise. This is no-one's fault, it's just a fact of life. I never had any fun with exercise, so why do it!?


My life today
I've been married to my wonderful husband for over two years, and we have a fur-baby Belle. My husband has always loved me for me, and is an amazing man. He supports me in everything I do, including the crazy journey I'm beginning.


I pride myself on being a dedicated, hard worker. No matter what the cause. I give 200% of myself to my job, and to everyone else. I've realized that for my sanity and health's sake I have to take a step back, and give 200% of myself to ME!


At 34 I have Type 2 Diabetes. I take 3 different medications for my Diabetes. I have high blood pressure (a result of one of the Diabetes medications). I have high Triglycerides (a side effect of high sugars). I am an orthopedic nightmare - a mess of chronic knee injuries, coupled with a recent foot injury.


In the past 4 months I have lost over 15 pounds. This is the most weight I have lost and kept off that I can remember in my lifetime. During a brief moment of euphoria caused by my weight loss I thought, "maybe I should try to exercise!" While most people would maybe consider re-joining a gym, that was a little too simple for my taste. I decided, "maybe I should apply to be on the Biggest Winner team!"


Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon Biggest Winner Team
I know it's not going to be easy. I know there are probably times I'm going to want to quit. But I know that I need a lifestyle change or I will continue jeopardizing my health. I am realistic knowing that I may not come out of this loving exercise, but it's my goal to complete this challenge this loving what exercise has helped me accomplish.

I'm looking forward to getting to know my teammates. And I know if anyone can help get me motivated it's Coach Missy Kane, and our team manager, the lovely Tonya Stoutt-Brown! I appreciate everyone's love and support that has gotten me this far!


Today's adventure: Buddy's Race Against Cancer 2-mile walk ... see you there!