230 Jumps! I'm on a roll.

In four takes, I did 230 jumps with a jump rope. It was exhausting. I was attempting 200. After the first three takes, I only did 130 (22, 57, 51). I needed to do 70 more. However, I did 100! Exciting. The most I did in one go up to this point was 90. And given my slow start, I certainly didn't think I would do that many. But once I get my adrenaline going, I guess I could do more than I thought. I'm thinking that this is true for most things done when you think you can't do anymore. When things seem slow and impossible but you keep moving forward, things eventually get done.

I noticed another thing my son does a lot: Crawl on all fours. I thought he outgrew it but every morning, when it's time to get out of bed, he crawls to the bathroom. I'm going to have to try it one morning. It must burn something.

The other day, I tried walking like our pet lizard. I don't think I moved a foot. I couldn't get into position let alone move while in that position.

But it was sure hilarious trying and I heard laughing burns calories. There is an exercise/workout called Animal Flow, where the creator, Mike Fitch, incorporates animal movements in strength training and exercise. I would love to try a class. (workouts-gone-primal) This is right up my alley.

200 JUMPS!

Last night, I did 200 jumps with a jump rope. I'm very proud of myself. I've come a long way in a short time, especially starting out only able to do about 30 jumps before being extremely winded. It took me three goes. I did 60, 60 and 80. So with that new personal best, I can set a new goal - to do 200 jumps in two goes or, in other words, stopping only once to catch my breath.

I continued eating one junk-type food per day up until yesterday. I was craving like crazy and ended up eating two s'mores and potato chips. It actually started Saturday in which I had a cinnamon bun from CiCi's Pizza and then had two small ginger snap cookies later that day. So after church Sunday, remembering the bun and cookies, I passed on the cake and ice cream they offered to celebrate our 100th church anniversary. But then I had pizza for a rather late lunch in which I still felt hungry afterwards. And instead of fixing something substantial to eat or having some veges or fruit with the pizza, I ate the junk when I was hungry again. I didn't realize till much later that I was hungry because I hadn't had dinner.

So today, I'm writing so that I will get back on track from the weekend. And I already missed breakfast - ran out of cereal, oatmeal and apples at home (need to go grocery shopping). I realize the urge to over indulge is 10 times greater when I'm hungry so missing breakfast is the worse thing I can do. So, here's to a better rest of the week, starting now.

Jumping Rope

It has been quite a while. Not only did I slack in exercise, I also slacked in eating healthy. I have pigged out on cookies, ice cream, potato chips, pie, s'mores, candy and, most recently soda. I can't say what it was exactly that triggered my emotional binge but I know it was stress-related.

Over the last two years, I've gained 10 pounds. This doesn't sound so bad, but I already weighed 185 pounds. Now, I'm literally looking at 200 saying, "Oh, no!"

After having surgery last March, I didn't fully bounce back the way I wanted and I allowed life to take hold. One stress led to another then another and then another. And the pounds slowly crept up. Sad part is, I didn't care. Everything tasted so good and I always wanted more.

I recently started a creative project in which I create one Afro for a year. I call it Afros365. I've managed to continuously create Afros for 115 days. And I've stuck with it. Something I've always had a difficult time doing. Sticking with an art project and completing it. It has been an amazing journey so far. I have about 8 months left and my motivation to complete this to the end has not fizzled.

So I started thinking maybe I can apply this to other aspects of my life. My health in particular. And I plan to start small mainly because I want to eventually stick with it for life. So for 30 days, I'm jumping rope and limiting myself to one junk/sweet/salty food OR drink per day. I have no set time limit on how long I jump rope or how often. I just jump for as long as I can stand it. And I have no limit on the amount of calories of non-essential food I eat. So far, I've seem to be keeping it around 250 calories.

Today is day 4. So in the past 3 days: The most I've jumped was about 150 jumps for about 10 minutes. I know that isn't much for that amount of time (I took several breaks to catch my breath), but I'm looking to improve. The longest I jumped non-stop was 90 jumps. I usually jump the most in the first go at it then the number decreases each jump thereafter. As for "dessert," I had a slice of coconut pie and a serving of Lindy's Strawberry flavored Italian Ice. Not bad in that department. I didn't have any junk on Tuesday. I have craved it of course, but then I eat an apple instead. Twenty-six more days to go.

Why jump rope? My son was learning how to do it to earn points for one of his Cub Scout activities. I, of course, was trying to teach him so I started jumping with him. But I hadn't jumped rope in ages. And I soon realized how physically exerting it is. I did less than 30 jumps that first time and my heart felt like bursting out of my chest. So here's the perfect exercise, that costs nothing because we already have ropes, that gets my heart rate up and I can do it whenever. And best part, it's fun!

Back At It - Again!

What does a pack of Oreo Lemon Creme Cookies, a Snickers bar, two bottles of orange and cream soda, a bag of Utz BBQ chips and Utz Sour Cream and Onion chips have in common? They all went into my stomach last week - more than 2700 calories of non nutritious junk!

Luckily, I worked most of it off last week as well but I can't do that again. Between moving tons of boxes of books more than twice (tidyanddeclutter) and doing tons of chores in preparation for a dinner party (sweeping, dusting, disinfecting - we had a mouse, vacuuming, etc.), I certainly burned off most of those extra calories, if not all.

However, the kid thing that I did - which was more fun than I thought it would be - was joining my son for a session of Just Dance Kids. I worked up my heart rate pretty quickly and I definitely enjoyed having some fun with him. We will be doing this again and again.

Swimming - Always a Winner!

Need I say more?!

Getting Back To It - Two Years Later...

Soccer Practice

I decided, instead of watching my son play soccer this season, that I would practice with him. I've never played soccer and had no idea what to do. So I do what most Americans do...I let YouTube teach me.

The first time I played with my son, I realized how out of shape I was. I thought I was doing good. I'd had surgery March 2014 and was out of commission for a while - almost 6 months. It took quite some time just to begin an exercise program again. But playing soccer with my son showed me how much further I had to go. I was sore for about a week after that first time. However, I continued to practice with him once a week.

Soccer season is over now, but we intend to keep our "sessions" going (being a soccer mom is tough), and not only do I spend some quality mommy-son time with him, I burn calories to boot!

It's Been A While

I have neglected this blog (and with it my work outs). But I'm back and ready for action! I started this blog to keep me motivated to stay active. I may not have the vitality of youth, but I believe that in the process of faking it, I will burn calories and keep a healthy and active lifestyle. So, join me in the fun. My son is now 7 years old now. To make it more fun for the two or so readers of my blog, I will get us photographed doing whatever it is his brilliant mind comes up with. But for the time being, here are some photos from this year (2013) of fun active activities.

At a recent trip to Barbados, dancing in a parade for 4 hours was no small feet.

We walked for miles before ending up here in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Yoga on the beach. After all the back problems I had (and still have), yoga is a great alternative to heavy impact cardio.

I hadn't done a cartwheel in years! I still got it (but I had to take a few pain killers the next day).

Swimming is always a great exercise. I don't always get to do it - that's why I went on vacation.
And to boot, the turtles went swimming with me. LOL.

We volunteered at a homeless shelter. That's me and my son on the far right side.

Who doesn't love bowling? One of my son's favorite sports that always gives me a workout
and puts my wrist in a world of hurt. Three games max.

Walking is a very good low impact exercise. Here we walked almost the entire St. Louis Zoo.
And it was HOT. But it was worth it.

At summer camp in Missouri. He did a bit of everything. Can you tell I keep him active? Hope he maintains it when he's an adult. Because it's hard to pick back up years later (but not impossible).

I may not have worked off as many calories as he did playing soccer, but I certainly burned a few cheering him on.
GO TEAM!