So, last week, I wrote a little bit about all the walking we were doing out in California. And while our free day on Wednesday was certainly the high point, from a step perspective, even the rest of the week included more walking than I’ve been doing in a while. And, as I mentioned last week, I felt pretty good about it. Sadly, I never made it to the gym; I was over-extended as it was, usually only managing about five hours of sleep, so giving up one of them wasn’t in the cards.
Anyway, I bring all this up again because after last week, I made the decision that maybe I could get back into some sort of exercise routine, even with my still unresolved health issues. Sure, all the walking put me in a little more pain than usual, not to mention some feet swelling (though I’m pretty sure that had more to do with all the sitting we had to do than all the walking), but I realized it was nothing that a well-timed Lortab couldn’t take care of. So, I decided maybe I could get started slowly and see what I could do.
Now, sad to say, I woke up sick Monday morning—no doubt largely brought on by a week of living in a state pretty close to sheer exhaustion—but I think yesterday might’ve been the low point. It seems to be sinus crud, and I’m hoping it’ll be gone completely by the weekend. So, no true workouts yet this week, but I have started back to just a couple of really small things that have proven helpful in the past, and it’s all about the movement.
First, simple steps at times when I’d otherwise just be standing: brushing my teeth, drying my hair, making toast for breakfast. During those times, I walk in place, just keep moving. Second, I’ve pulled my stability ball out of its corner and have spent about an hour a day on it. Again, it’s just a little bit of movement at a time that I would normally be completely still. And, lastly, simple tummy contractions multiple times during the day, and maybe a couple of toe touches. Really, all very simple things, just to add a little bit of movement into a day when I’d otherwise be sitting around reading texts or watching TV.
So, that’s my plan, add a bit more activity into my daily routine and work my way back up to true “exercise” and deliberate workouts. It’s looking more and more like I won’t actually take my summer trip to LA, which was supposed to serve as some sort of motivation to take the pounds back off, but I still need to get moving again. Even though I’ve been walking around this week with a tissue stuffed up my nose and popping cold pills right and left, I feel good about the plan and an approach of incremental progress.
Image courtesy of africa at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
