Now that the holidays are over (that means Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year), life is going back to normal, well as normal as they can be for me. I was finally able to crochet a scarf for myself, I made 6 of them to give out as gifts, that's not counting the all the false starts and starting over. I was able to use up some of my stash, something that PB doesn't understand or appreciate, especially when I bring more yarn home LOL. That's OK though, we will not fall out over yarn :-)
Warning to my male readers, female stuff ahead, continue at your own risk ;)
At my age (46) I have started noticing some changes in my body, I have been looking forward to the big M, I do not like "that time of the month", it's always been a less than pleasant experience, over the last year or so my cycles have been changing slightly, enough to make me wonder if the change was just around the corner, now I have no doubts, in the last 3-4 months, my cycle has been coming around more frequently, I also know that along with this comes other changes, slower metabolism, less energy and such. I need to change how I live in order to remain healthy and get even healthier. My biggest obstacle is I love to eat, period. All kinds of food, some healthy, some not so healthy, I don't eat a lot during the day, I tend to eat one big meal and have a few snacks afterward.
I know that I either need to change how much I eat, or I need to be more active, since I am not as likely to radically change my eating habits, I'll have to change the amount of exercise I get each day. I used to work at Curves (a gym for women), I have a pretty good idea of what I am capable of, I found a picture of myself just before I quit working there, I wouldn't say I was skinny, but I looked a LOT better than I do now, I need to get back to that weight, shape and condition.
I am fairly physical living the way I do, that's the only reason I'm only 40-50 pounds over my ideal weight instead of 100 (or more) pounds too heavy, I've maintained my weight pretty well, but with the changes I know are coming with the big M, I have to step up my game and get in more purposeful exercise. I have started walking, I know that's one of the best exercises I can do, it's safe, low impact and honestly, it's quite fun, I have the perfect place to do it, right outside my front door, I have over 70 miles of dirt roads with some of the prettiest scenery there is IMHO.
Yesterday I was waiting for my friend to come pick me up so we could go into town, I walked/hiked down to the driveway, she hadn't arrived yet, so I started walking to meet her. I walked about .75 mile when she drove up, it was a good walk, not too fast, not too slow, the road is rough so I have to watch where I put my feet, and at least half of the walk was up hill, I also got in some stretches.
Today, after church, I went to my friend's house (the same one) and asked her if she wanted to walk, she did, we walked a little over a mile, the first half was at a fairly brisk pace, the second half was less brisk, we did some stretches halfway through, mainly our legs and some upper body too. I felt pretty good afterward, much better than I did yesterday after my walk. It's amazing how quickly our bodies adapt.
One of the things I learned from Curves is there are 3 main parts to physical fitness, strength, cardio and flexibility, I'm not counting nutrition here even though it's important too. I have noticed that in the 4 years I've been living off grid, I have lost a great deal of my flexibility, my strength and cardio have suffered too, but not as much. I have seen what being sedentary can do to a person and it's not good, the longer you are sedentary, the less likely it is that you will actually do anything about it, so bottom line, I HAVE to move, I HAVE to get healthy, especially if I want to stay out here in my old age, assuming I don't have some sort of catastrophic illness or injury, I see no reason why I would have to move back into town just because of age.
I have been using Google Earth to map out the roads near my house, I have decided where I'm going to walk and how far the distances are, it's not 100% accurate because it's measuring flat, lateral paths, where I live there is nothing flat, you are either going up or you are going down, so I'm actually going to be going a little farther than the map says I'll be going, which is a good thing. I also need to get a walking stick, not so much to help me walk, but as protection from the occasional critter I may encounter. Honestly I'm more worried about someone's dog more than I am the wild critters, though I still have to be alert to whatever I may run into.
Well, that's all for now, for the record, this has nothing to do with New Year's resolutions, I don't "do" those, what I do is set goals, both short and long term goals. Here is one of the mantras I created for my ladies at Curves:
A goal is a wish or dream with a date attached.
Where do you want to be tomorrow? Next week, next month, next year, next decade...?
If your goal is nothing, that is exactly what you will achieve.
I'll be working out some goals, for now my long term goal is to be healthy.
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Wretha,
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