About a year ago or so I purchased a new treadmill. The X11i trainer. Jillian Michael’s machine. i have to admit. It’s pretty amazing. Unless of course you don’t like Jillian or want to hear her scream at you to “motivate” you to go further and faster than you thought you could on your own. No joke. Voice included.
I’ve recently been cleared to return to using the treadmill post-surgery. And I tell you what…It’s been a real blessing. I’m not trying to push too hard, too fast. I’m really going for duration more than intensity these days. Just trying to work up to 60 minutes of moderate to intense activity a day. Today I managed 40 at 3.0 mph which roughly equates to a 20 minute mile. A moderate walking pacce for me right now. Enough to get my heart rate up, but not too much. It’s the thing I struggle with the most. Heart rate intensity. As out of shape as I am, the one thing that is still present..my ridiculous lung capacity and heart shape. My body still thinks it’s that of an athlete. Ha! At my hardest push, my heart rate was around 125. Which is fine for me, but I would expect it to be much higher after literally years of inactivity. Small blessings.
It’s nice to sit here at the start of my day having logged just over 4,000 steps already. I’m literally becoming obsessed with the 10,000 steps goal. It feels great to have goals at all.
Yesterday was a pretty good eating day overall. Protein shake for breakfast, Tokyo Joes no carb bowl with Salmon for lunch and chicken/basil meatballs with braised vegitables for dinner. I had a clementine and cucumbers for a snack. Really, a picture perfect day for me and they don’t come along that often.
I had to have a heart-t0-heart with myself the other day about my night eating. That crap has to stop. It will be the hardest of habits to break. Nighttime when I am bored more often than not. And that usually means mindless eating. Last night I wrestled with myself a little bit, but made good choices in the kitchen after-hours.
Going to bed early and rising to exercise is feeling helpful as well. Before I was staying up to stay up. Which is silly. And then I’d rise and be exhausted for the day, which meant I was REALLY tired by evening, which led to mindless eating. It’s a wicked cycle and one that I’m sure has attributed to extra calories over the years.
I’ve also been working on slowing my roll while eating and not drinking during my meals. That one is going to be a really tough habit to break. I’ve washed my food down my entire life. Post-surgery, that’s not going to work. Something new to work on this coming month.
I have my next weight loss class on April 7th. Hopefully I will have lost a little by then. Just to know that I can. Nothing big — 2 pounds is all the doctor expects so we’ll see where we end up,. I did measure myself the other day. First time since January 1st. Surprising myself — I have lost 1/2″ to 1″ almost everywhere. I’ll take that!
Shrinking Shay 