Day 29 - Get A Fitness Evaluation

The sports club that we joined offers a free fitness evaluation, so I decided to take advantage of the offer. This is something that I have been wanting to do for awhile now, but the fear of what I would be told prevented me. Today I did not allow fear to rule and went in knowing that I would not be happy with all of the results.

To begin, I was told I need to lose weight. No big surprise. The only surprise was that my weight was not nearly as bad as I had thought. I still wear clothes from misses section, as I have never need to go to the plus sizes which makes me feel better. Regardless, I need to shed a few pounds. A little exercise and a smaller portions should take care of that.

My blood pressure is fine! I am one of those people who will have a spike in blood pressure as soon as the cuff is put on my arm. The fear of having high blood pressure causes mine to rise. Since I was not expecting a blood pressure reading, I didn't have time to get worked up about so it was normal. Therefore, that part of my health is fine!

I had to have a heart monitor on while riding a stationary bike. My reading came back as being in bad shape in this area. But, my legs were not sore and my heart rate stayed normal. The person who did the fitness test thinks that because I usually ride an elliptical my results were not accurate.

I am not flexible. I knew that, I have never been flexible and never will be. But, I fell in the average range for flexibility which truly shocked me!

My bicep strength was also average. Again, big surprise. I expected to be told that I was a weakling who needed to lift more weight. I need to add strength training, but don't we all.

Finally I was told my real age is the same as my chronological age, 39. The woman told me that she had never seen that before. I could be 15 years younger if I implemented some changes, which I plan on doing. But I could also be 15 years older if I was fatter! So, I guess things are not as bad as I had thought.

Day 28 - The Importance of Stretching

My muscles are very tight. I am not at all flexible, making exercise uncomfortable at times. I plan on changing that this year. I started yoga earlier this week, I also started to take a class that is simply stretching. That is all, stretching. I was appalled at how truly inflexible I am.

The class I am taking meets once a week in the evening. It seems very relaxing and beneficial. I know that it really is time for me to make this part of working out a priority, so I plan on doing just that. Simple stretching can lengthen your muscles, therefore making daily activities easier. It increases your range of motion, reduces muscle tension, improves coordination, increases blood circulation and increase energy levels. All of these things are areas of my life in which I need improvement, especially coordination!

Day 27 - Whirlpool

Tonight I took my daughters to the swimming pool at the health club that we recently joined. I swam for a short 20 minutes and then found the whirlpool. Ahhhh! How relaxing.

I need to start finding ways to relax at the end of a long day. Now, I am not claiming to have an overly stressful career kind of day. My husband has days like that, he needs to relax, but I will leave that to him. But, my days are stressful with my kids, keeping the house, working part time and all the other things that motherhood and being a wife can bring. I have been very stressed out this week because of some issues that my son is having. While I said I need to put things into perspective, and I am trying, I always hurt when my kids are hurting. So, I find myself stressed.

I am going to start making a couple nights a week in the hot tub while my kids are swimming a priority. I really like ending my day feeling calmed down and ready for just crawl into bed and fall asleep. This feels like the perfect addition to my life in my quest to improve myself.

Day 26 - Laugh

Last night I finished the book "My Horizontal Life" by Chelsea Handler. Her books are laugh out loud funny! They are inappropriate, offensive and perfect after a long day.

I decided that I need to laugh more. Laughter just makes everything else seem better, doesn't it? I love watching TV and movies that are so funny my side hurts after watching them. I almost feel like I have gotten a high from the laughter. For the rest of the year I am going to try to find one thing each day that will make me laugh enough that I feel whatever the chemical is that laughter creates to make my mood better.

Day 25- Yoga

I started to do Yoga again today. Several years ago I practiced Yoga religiously. I would go to a nearby studio several days a week and participate in this relaxing and good for you exercise. I don't know what happened. One day I didn't go for some reason and then all of a sudden I wasn't going at all and then I cancelled my membership. The rest is history.

When I practiced yoga I was calmer, healthier, my joints did not hurt and neither did my back. I was a happier person. With every passing year I meant to get back into practice, but the year would go by and I was not doing yoga. So today I start a new task in my year to become a healthier me. I am going to start small, maybe once or twice a week at gentle yoga. But, I plan on working my way back up to hot yoga, which I have done. I even participated in a 3 hour hot yoga class once and it felt great. I am starting back at square one, but I believe that with some discipline and drive I will be back to my old self.

Day 24 - Put Things Into Perspective

I have a tendency to over react to the little things in life and to worry about things that don't matter. Rarely do I worry about running to the basement during a tornado warning or taking a fire alarm seriously. Ask my husband, during our first year of marriage the fire alarm went off in our apartment building, because there was an actual fire. I told my husband to come back and wake me up if there was in fact a real fire. But, if my kids get into a bit of minor trouble at school or they miss a band lesson, I FREAK out. I become convinced that this misstep will somehow lead to a bigger problem for them. I know, it is really stupid and tell myself that as I am freaking out about the small things.

Today's job is to start to learn how to put things into perspective. So my kid gets into trouble for being the class clown, will it really affect his adult life? No, it won't. I have a list of things that I over react to, I don't need to go into detail. If I do, everyone will think I am crazy, which I probably am. Aren't we all a little crazy? From now I need to take a step back and analyze the situation before I react. If it warrants an over reaction, say the house is on fire I react accordingly. If the situation involves a minor transgression that in the grand scheme of things will have no effect on anyone, ever, I let it go. Easier said than done. But at least I recognize my flaw and realize that I am willing to work on it.

Day 23 - Play Sudoku

I have a very irrational fear of getting Alzheimer's. I don't know where it comes from or why. I have never had a relative get this devastating disease, I do know people who suffer from it. I also know people whose loved ones suffer from Alzheimer's.

Sometimes I worry that my ongoing forgetfulness is sign that I have it or will get it. My own 12 year old daughter has told me that she thinks I have it. Of course, I think she is kidding. Some may wonder why I have such a fear. Well, the problem for me is that I think I love my kids almost too much. The idea of ending my life not knowing who they are can put me into a panic. I have done a lot of reading and research on how to help prevent this disease from occurring. One of the things they say to do is keep your brain active. That is why I have started to play Sudoku, a lot.

I bought a Sudoku puzzle book at the beginning of the year and have become quite good at it. I actually enjoy doing the puzzles which is a shock since they are number puzzles. But I really like doing it and it keeps me thinking hard. I feel like it is a small step in the quest to keep Alzheimer's away. As the year goes on I will write blogs about foods and exercise I am starting to implement into my life to help as well. Now if I could go just 1 day without calling at least one of my children by the wrong name I would feel better.