6/7/2012
Exercise - Why?
Underway at the office is a fitness challenge and I've joined in. Help me I must be crazy because I can't tell you why I would do such a thing. You and/or your team can participate in minutes of exercise (horrors), number of steps a day or weight loss. I picked steps. I mean how hard can that be to meet your personal goal.
I know all about the 10,000 steps a day - but I'm sure that doesn't apply to me. Why? Well because I'm "older" and I'm sure that number was set up for people who don't have an "itis" in their hips. See how excuse that was to come up with not one but two excuses.
We were all given pedometers at work - simple, small complete with belt clip which works great for the guys who wear pants all the time. I decided that I would be able to get a more "substantial" (i.e. more expensive - but work better) one on my own. At this point if Jeff is reading this, he should probably move down a paragraph or two because I "may" have underestimated how nice ($$) this pedometer really is.
Okay, Jeff you can begin reading again. I set my personal goal at 7,000 steps a day - a bit short (like me) of the national average. And we all know I'm anything but average! On the first day at 8:00 at night, by old butt's dragging and I've only logged in 6,399 steps and that includes the to and from steps I made at work today to get into the donut box! All this extra walking makes a girl hungry you know.
My pedometer resets magically every night at midnight or thereabouts depending on how accurate I was when I set the time initially. Luckily, I'm seldom walking around at midnight so a minute or there doesn't matter to me.
I am having a bit of a bout with insomnia at the moment - although today practically slept in. I didn't get up until 4:30, talk about lazy bones. Steps are steps regardless of when you take them, so I clip my pedometer to my bathrobe and off we go. Sometimes before work I can log in a couple of hundred steps - back and forth to the kitchen for refills of coffee. And perhaps a small bite of something to have with the coffee. Does anybody actually just drink coffee - alone? I try hard not to. I feel bad for the coffee sitting on the table all alone. Think how much happier the coffee would be if it was helping me wash down some kind of goodie (toast, bagel, etc.). And yes, just so you know I love bread - all kinds!
Yesterday when I came home from work my steps were somewhere in the 5,000 range and I have recorded some of my favorite cooking shows to watch that evening. What a dilemma - sit on the couch or move around a bit. First, I went outside to walk (shocker but don't get all excited) down my street, around the corner and back again. That counted for more steps than I thought and the walk back up my street is UPHILL so I think you should be given extra credit for exertion steps - but apparently not.
When I went to bed last night not taking off my pedometer until the first LAST minute, I had logged 7499 steps - over my goal. I felt like celebrating. How did I do this you ask? Jeff was doing his night landings required every so many days (truly I keep forgetting what the number is) and obviously it's not getting dark around here until quite late. I knew I had all evening to watch cheesy tv - but I needed to walk too.
I sat while the show was on and walked when the commercials came on. Do you know how many commercials there are between shows? Lots. Thanks to my Tivo I normally skip through all of them and didn't realize how much time they take up. Well my friends through Masterchef and Hell's Kitchen I managed to get up to my all time high in steps. Course, we just started on Monday - but still.
Let me tell you really what the fitness challenge has done for us at work. We are involved in a friendly rivalry to see who can outstep who. You see people everywhere flipping out their pedometers to show their "competition" how well they're doing.
So exercise why? Because even though I grouse (a lot), I know it's as good for me as it is for everybody else. And, because I want to do my personal best, I am working harder every day to see if I can outstep anybody. If not (which is the case most of the time), I am trying to outstep myself every day. Who knows, maybe someday I'll write and tell you all that I've actually made it to 10,000 steps.
Gotta run - I mean walk away. Time to go back to the kitchen to reheat the coffee - think of the steps that'll mean.
Have a good Friday and don't forget to walk. Update at 4:20 PM, I walked 409 steps BEFORE I even left the house this morning.
P
I know all about the 10,000 steps a day - but I'm sure that doesn't apply to me. Why? Well because I'm "older" and I'm sure that number was set up for people who don't have an "itis" in their hips. See how excuse that was to come up with not one but two excuses.
We were all given pedometers at work - simple, small complete with belt clip which works great for the guys who wear pants all the time. I decided that I would be able to get a more "substantial" (i.e. more expensive - but work better) one on my own. At this point if Jeff is reading this, he should probably move down a paragraph or two because I "may" have underestimated how nice ($$) this pedometer really is.
Okay, Jeff you can begin reading again. I set my personal goal at 7,000 steps a day - a bit short (like me) of the national average. And we all know I'm anything but average! On the first day at 8:00 at night, by old butt's dragging and I've only logged in 6,399 steps and that includes the to and from steps I made at work today to get into the donut box! All this extra walking makes a girl hungry you know.
My pedometer resets magically every night at midnight or thereabouts depending on how accurate I was when I set the time initially. Luckily, I'm seldom walking around at midnight so a minute or there doesn't matter to me.
I am having a bit of a bout with insomnia at the moment - although today practically slept in. I didn't get up until 4:30, talk about lazy bones. Steps are steps regardless of when you take them, so I clip my pedometer to my bathrobe and off we go. Sometimes before work I can log in a couple of hundred steps - back and forth to the kitchen for refills of coffee. And perhaps a small bite of something to have with the coffee. Does anybody actually just drink coffee - alone? I try hard not to. I feel bad for the coffee sitting on the table all alone. Think how much happier the coffee would be if it was helping me wash down some kind of goodie (toast, bagel, etc.). And yes, just so you know I love bread - all kinds!
Yesterday when I came home from work my steps were somewhere in the 5,000 range and I have recorded some of my favorite cooking shows to watch that evening. What a dilemma - sit on the couch or move around a bit. First, I went outside to walk (shocker but don't get all excited) down my street, around the corner and back again. That counted for more steps than I thought and the walk back up my street is UPHILL so I think you should be given extra credit for exertion steps - but apparently not.
When I went to bed last night not taking off my pedometer until the first LAST minute, I had logged 7499 steps - over my goal. I felt like celebrating. How did I do this you ask? Jeff was doing his night landings required every so many days (truly I keep forgetting what the number is) and obviously it's not getting dark around here until quite late. I knew I had all evening to watch cheesy tv - but I needed to walk too.
I sat while the show was on and walked when the commercials came on. Do you know how many commercials there are between shows? Lots. Thanks to my Tivo I normally skip through all of them and didn't realize how much time they take up. Well my friends through Masterchef and Hell's Kitchen I managed to get up to my all time high in steps. Course, we just started on Monday - but still.
Let me tell you really what the fitness challenge has done for us at work. We are involved in a friendly rivalry to see who can outstep who. You see people everywhere flipping out their pedometers to show their "competition" how well they're doing.
So exercise why? Because even though I grouse (a lot), I know it's as good for me as it is for everybody else. And, because I want to do my personal best, I am working harder every day to see if I can outstep anybody. If not (which is the case most of the time), I am trying to outstep myself every day. Who knows, maybe someday I'll write and tell you all that I've actually made it to 10,000 steps.
Gotta run - I mean walk away. Time to go back to the kitchen to reheat the coffee - think of the steps that'll mean.
Have a good Friday and don't forget to walk. Update at 4:20 PM, I walked 409 steps BEFORE I even left the house this morning.
P
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