The Dog Who Shares My Walks

No, it's not one of my own dogs.  Usually.

See, Daisy is a puller.  And Daisy is freakishly strong.

Rudy doesn't pull much.  And if he did pull, he's pretty little, so it's not like it's a big deal to keep him under control.  He used to flop around at the end of his leash like a fish, but he got over that.

Anyway, I feel bad that I don't take them when I walk.  And I know there are things you can do to teach dogs how to walk properly.  (EG just had a puppy graduate at the top of her obedience school class, so she assures me, it can be done.)  But when I just want a nice walk, it's too stressful to take a dog who's likely to drag me through a neighbor's yard against my will.

So, I go it alone a lot of times.  And when I do that, there is a neighbor dog who often joins me.  He's a very sweet yellow lab, and when he sees me nearing his house, he runs out to greet me.  We have some petting and ear scratching time, and when he's done with that, he takes off walking, looking behind to make sure I'm following.

We'll walk on that way, and every once in a while he'll stop and ask for more ear scratches, and I'm happy to oblige.  When I turn back towards home, and we get close to his house, he'll trot off back from whence he came.  It's very neighborly.

I hadn't been walking much lately, so I hadn't seen him for a while.  But today when I went out for a stroll, there he came, running out to greet me, tail wagging.  We did our thing for a few steps, but then something happened.

Someone started yelling for him.  I didn't understand the name that was being called, but clearly, he did.  He immediately took off running for home, without so much as a wave of his paw.

I watched him racing toward the chain-link fence surrounding his back yard, and I had a moment of thinking, "Oh, dear.  He's trying so hard to be good and go home, but he's confused as to how to get inside the fence."

Wrong.

I watched this big yellow lab climb a chain link fence.  Just moseyed up to it, and paw over paw, climbed it as easily as you or I would climb a ladder.  Probably more easily.

I'm so glad my dogs don't know how to do that!

Why Did Everything Get so Hard?

I don't know what happened to me, but my whole plan of just relaxing and letting the pounds fall off isn't going great.  Somehow the relaxed philosophy that was working so well for me has turned into stress the F*&# out and watch the pounds pour back on.

Work got a little crazy.  I spent more days on the road than I'd like, and that led to being tired and pissy and eating to make myself feel better.

I did go to yoga this week, but I hadn't been in three weeks.  And it was hard.  Really hard.  And this was the "gentle yoga" class.  Ugh.

The weather is warming up though, so I'm trying to get back into walking to the end of the road and back during the day.  Maybe that will help.

I actually like cold weather and winter, but even I was getting tired of the snow and the freezing temperatures and no sunshine.  I'm hoping that spring arriving will put a "spring" back in my step.

How have you been doing?

Snowing and Sniffling My Way to Fitness

I'm still here.  Me, Janet, of the pink daisy icon.  My fitness efforts have been somewhat sidelined by massive snow storms (yes, stormS, plural) and a nasty sinus infection.  So, when I've felt like making it to yoga or going for a walk, the weather hasn't necessarily been cooperating.

I finally went to the doctor, after my "cold" had been hanging around (unwelcomely) for 2 1/2 weeks, and I found out it was a sinus infection.  I've been on antibiotics for just two days now, and I'm feeling much better already.  It's easy to forget what "well" feels like when one is sick for so long.  Breathing is awesome.

I have gone to yoga twice since I posted last.  I didn't feel great, and it was a struggle, but I went.  I have to constantly remind myself that I never regret going to yoga.  No matter how awful I feel or how badly I want to stay home, I always feel better after yoga.  Usually I feel better during yoga.

I have been sticking diligently to staying OFF a diet and following my new mantra, "Eat what you want when you're hungry.  Feel what you feel when you're not."  I'm mostly doing pretty well.  I've had a couple instances of eating more than I knew I physically needed, then feeling bad (physically) afterward.  But not too many times.

Mostly I'm starting to learn when my body wants an orange and when it wants oatmeal.  Sometimes it wants Girl Scout cookies, and I've let it happen.  But when it's not a "treat" or a "punishment" I only eat one or two.  There have even been some times when I've stood in the kitchen looking here and there for what my body might want, only to ultimately decide, what it wants is water.   Go figure.

What has your body wanted to be fed lately?

Not -So Steller Start

In keeping with our system to end author confusion - the star girl will always be me, Regina.

This week I was successful 6 days in wearing my pedometer. And as I would have suspected, my steps per day are way too low.

I was completely NOT successful at dragging myself away from my desk and into the fitness center - which, to review...is right across the hallway. Boo, hiss - bad girl. I know. There are some free Zumba classes going on this month. And as additional motivation -several of my new co-workers are involved in fitness challenges OR are looking for a buddy to attend aqua aerobics or other classes with them....so it seems that I should have plenty of excuses to get with it.

I also did not transport my workout bag with me. Nor did I designate the play-list that will make me shake my groove thing while I am on the treadmill --or maybe that music will just help to distract me.

I've had a lingering headache with some random waves of nausea this week. Generally these feelings don't motivate me to get up and move about a bunch. But I'm sure this will pass and then I'll have to get serious.

On a good note. I had not weighed in for a long, long time. Regardless of feeling like I had overindulged during the holidays - I found that my weight was surprisingly very close to the same place I last found it--I think this is confirmation that if I continue what I am currently doing - I will not see a decrease in my weight. (duh, I know) But also that I seem to be at a natural plateau.

And while I would LOVE to see a smaller number on the scale (or on my jean size) - I am also satisfied with an absolute limit that I will not exceed.

I will enter my pedometer numbers in some kind of chart form at the end of the week so I can track that progress. Also, I was not so good at the food journal - though I find the threat of recording everything helps me to think twice before devouring a treat. For Android users - I did find FatSecret Calorie Counter - it offers a barcode program where you can use your camera to read the nutritional info on things you eat. The first disadvantaged I noticed is that it is really hard to enter homemade food - which I'd rather eat than pre-packaged food, so I'm still searching for my perfect fit. I may just be a paper girl and that's okay too.

Hope your week was much more productive than mine...

Who's Who, My Pants, and Crazy Dancing

I love that this blog is a collaboration and gives readers a look into the health and fitness journeys of more than one woman.  We each have our own lifestyles, preferences, and struggles, and I hope you can relate to one or more of us as you follow our progress (or lack thereof!).  But it has bothered me for a while that it seems to be confusing keeping straight whom is posting what.  It says at the bottom of each posting "posted by..." but you won't see that until you're done reading a post, if you even notice it at all.

So, I've created the little pink daisy icon at the left, and I'll put that at the start of any post by me, Janet.  Then you'll know who I am.  Or something.  I hope.

Anyway, I was saying the other day how I haven't updated my ticker in a while, partly because I'm refusing to step on the scale and let that number define how I feel about myself for that day.  I know I'm making positive changes, however small.  I will step on it eventually, but for now, no.

Regina suggested I create some new system of measuring progress, like how my pants feel.  Well, this morning I tried on a pair of pants that I had picked up at a garage sale right toward the end of my previous job (late spring, early summer).  They ended up being a little snug on me (you know how garage sale clothes buying goes), but I kept them, because they were cute, and I figured it was something to strive for.  This morning, the pants fit.  Just fine.  Yay!

I'm fighting a little cold, so I haven't been doing much exercise.  Plus, I've found that my new "work at home" job is awesome in a lot of ways, but not so much for squeezing in my lunchtime walks.  Theoretically, I set my own schedule and could do whatever I wanted.  But I find it works best for my life if I work 9-5.  And I'm entitled to a 1/2 hour lunch, paid, so I tend to take that time to ummm...eat lunch.

But, I've realized that sitting at my computer for hours on end is sucky and not good for me, mentally or physically.  And I've come upon my new workout plan.  I'm trying to get up every hour or so and do some sort of little exercise.  Today I danced wildly to one song on the radio (one perk of working alone is that no one can see me act crazy), did a set of lunges, did a few yoga stretches, and walked a short distance down the street when I went out to get the mail.

It's working for me in terms of schedule and mental focus.  I'll keep you posted on how it works in terms of actual fitness results!

A Different New Year's Eve

I spent my New Year's Eve differently than I usually do this year.  Partly because I've been sick, so hanging out in public just didn't sound fun at all.  We were home, on our sofa, snuggled with pups, playing Mario Kart and watching movies on Netflix.  It was really kind of awesome.  We toasted the new year and were in bed at like 12:05.

But the biggest difference was in what I ate.  Or didn't eat.  And what I resolved, or didn't resolve.

I cannot remember a New Year's Eve when I wasn't stuffing myself with every forbidden food on the planet, because TOMORROW starts the diet!!!!  Every December 31st in memory, I've had that whole "Last Supper mentality" because I knew, after that date, I couldn't eat THAT food anymore.

I'm not thinking that way lately.  I've been reading Women, Food, and God by Geneen Roth, and I just finished reading Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi.  The messages behind both of these books have really started to sink in with me lately.  There is no food that is forbidden.  And making them forbidden is really the problem.

Geneen Roth says, "Eat what you want when you're hungry and feel what you feel when you're not."  If we're eating food when we aren't physically hungry, we're trying to satisfy some other need.  I do that a lot.  And I haven't completely stopped doing it, but I'm trying to feel my feelings and at least be aware of when I'm trying to use food to make me feel better.

Portia de Rossi started down the path toward anorexia and bulimia because of unrealistic diets forced upon her as a child model.  Once she stopped labeling foods as good or bad, and started giving her body what it really wanted at any given time, she reached a normal, healthy weight, easily.  She even stopped going to the gym and started walking her dogs and riding horses instead.  She made a comment in the book something like, "How often do you see fat people walking dogs?  And how often do you see fat people on treadmills?  Which one seems to be a healthier thing to do?"

I'm far from the end of my journey.  And I haven't updated my ticker in a while, mainly because I know I'm making healthier choices for my body, and I don't want that number on that scale to make me feel good or bad about myself.

But I know this much.  I didn't pig out last night.  And I didn't diet this morning.  And I feel really good about that.

Close Only Counts...

Well, I settled into my new office (read as not temporary - really mine - 7 days a week - even if I'm not there) just in time for all the holiday parties and then a week long holiday break.

Aside from the obvious joy that is happening from having my own space with office equipment, real working drawers...and the joy that comes from having a job with no "stated" expiration date...and the joy of having new co-workers that mostly seem to enjoy me and I mostly enjoy...there is an additional benefit.

My new office is directly across the hall from the fitness center. If I am sitting at my computer, I am looking in the direction of it's doors. This could benefit me greatly - in the past (pre-chaos and disorder) I would take my "break" in the fitness center. However, I really hated to be there if anyone else was around. Because I like to the gym with the lights off. And I have a mild intolerance for non-preferred music / bad radio. And I generally don't want to be "nice" when I'm torturing myself on a treadmill.

So now I have a front row seat to the vacancy of the fitness center. And I have a daily reminder that is literally staring me in the face. And if that is not enough- I have my scale at home that has been taunting me lately.

So here is the plan:

1. Try to fit in desk push-ups 2 (hopefully 3) times a week. It will be hard as I have office mateS and no walls dividing us. And I refuse to have witnesses.

2. Take break in fitness center 3-4 times per week.

3. In order to make #2 happen - I must take my workout bag to work - fully stocked with shoes, socks, optional t-shirt, and things to make me not smelly at the end.

4. Also, as general motivation - I will need to create a play list for the occasion - perfectly timed for my 15 minute express workout. Nothing worse than flipping songs / artists in the midst of my focus.

5. I shall recommit my relationship with my pedometer. I will track my progress (it has a 1 week memory) but I'd like to be able to see the progress.

6. Ugh. As much as I HATE, HATE, HATE the food journal - I've got to do something to keep the eating present in my mind. I did sign up for the Sparks People app - I may default to paper, b/c so far, I'm mostly annoyed by it's "preset menu". I'm looking for a tracking application - not so interested in them telling me what to eat. Suggestions welcomed (android apps only).

Have you set your goals? More important do you have a plan to get there?