“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
-Zig Ziglar
Physical fitness is a part of keeping everything in sync. Unfortunately, I have not kept this in the forefront. Over the years, I was a track athlete, joined a couple of running clubs, and did Zumba and Yoga classes. I even tried the Crossfit, Insanity, and T25. You could say I’m a jack-of-all-trades type of fitness person. I like being active (exercise is fun for me!). My problem is I don’t always have the time to fit in exercise.
Now I realize I have the same 24 hours as everyone else, I just haven’t made exercise lately. After a few months of having my son, I jumped back into an exercise routine with Mr. Shaun T and T25.
I woke up early, went downstairs to do my 25-minute workout, showered and changed and started my work day. So what happened? Life happened! LOL! I didn’t take having a newborn, my breastfeeding schedule, and lack of sleep into the equation. Now some would consider those excuses, but it was the reality of my situation. After completing that routine for a month, I slowly let the exercise go.
At the time, I didn’t feel too bad about not exercising because I was still breastfeeding. A big perk for breastfeeding is the extra calorie burn (Yes!). Now I no longer have that extra calorie burn (boo!), so I need to get my physical fitness up to speed.
The problem is I’ve gotten used to my current schedule. I’m a night owl, and I tend to stay up late winding down from the day, meal prepping, folding clothes, etc. The mornings are my time to sleep in (as much as you can with a toddler). So the thought of waking up early does not motivate me (enter in more excuses).
What can I do to enter back into physical fitness? My answer – walking! Walking can be great exercise if you get your heart rate up. I figured this would be a great way to ease my way into more physical activities. Plus, there are other health benefits to walking. Check this article.
I noticed my husband was using his Fitbit, so I borrowed it. I’ve heard you should get in 10,000 a day. But, is that where you should begin? Not necessarily. Check this article.
So, my first day, I did my normal thing. At the end of the day, I only had 1,500 steps. Not even close to 10,000! So I set a small goal. The next day I challenged myself to 2,000 steps. I made that goal. The next day, I made and hit the goal of 3,000 steps! Four days into counting my steps, I was up to 6,000 steps in a day!
So where did I walk? I parked the car further away in the company parking lot. I made several trips up and down the stairs at home. I got up from my desk to walk around the office. When I got home in the evenings, I would notice I still needed more steps. Since we had some rainy weather this past week, I walked in place while watching TV. Now some people may not consider walking in place a workout, but I definitely got my heart rate up. Using my arms really got things going, and I had some general soreness afterwards.
I never did hit the 10,000 steps goal, but it’s only been less than a week. Sometimes you have to celebrate the smaller milestones. I was no longer getting in 1,500 steps but I was up to 6,000 steps. This equates to 3 miles! Not too bad for starting out.
I usually weigh myself on Sunday mornings, and today was no different. To my surprise, I was down 1.9 pounds compared to last week! Oh happy day! The only thing I changed was increasing the number of steps I took in a day. I’ve been on a walking high all day. One small change like increasing the number of steps has led to some weight loss.
Now I do plan to continue to work my way up to 10,000 steps in a day. And, I still plan to incorporate other things (i.e. dance classes, T25, yoga, etc.) into my fitness routine too. I just needed to get started. Sometimes you don’t have start at the top. You can work your way up.
In honor of this victory, I think I will celebrate with a cookie from Whole Foods. Don’t judge me! Baby steps y’all!
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