My Whim is Law

It turns out I’m not crazy after all. At least according to my doctor, that is.

After weeks of not feeling right post-accident (including the need to ratchet the #whimstomps down to a kinder, gentler #whimstroll) and days of popping 2 Aleve each & every morning so I could try and not hobble through the day, I made an appointment with my GP.

Told her, in essence “hey, I could be all wet ’cause I have this whole short leg syndrome thing going on and all – but is there any chance the accident might be part of why I’m having a hard time moving lately?” And she cleared time out of her schedule to get me in today ASAP just to try and relieve my mind a bit.

Honestly, I’d have been okay with hearing the ‘toughen up a bit’ mantra. Or ‘get the better lift your chiro told you to get already’. But I didn’t hear either one of those. Continue reading →

In the wake of the rock ‘em sock ‘em themed week that was last week for me, I’ve slowed way down to re-evaluate where I’m at, and/or re-determine what I want to do next.

Since the hip is still bothering me & I’ve not been able to get the needed shoe insert yet? The #whimstomps have moved into a kinder, gentler #whimstroll phase.

I still walked across the river to get to the Open Source Bridge conference this past week (hate driving & paying for parking in downtown PDX, so walking and/or mass transit was the default), for example – I just can’t go cold turkey after actively looking for ways of walking/moving more, it seems.

Also on hold? That whole ‘getting stronger’ bit. Haven’t seen the inside of a gym since June 11th. Don’t think I’ll go back until Sunday at the earliest – and only if it fits into the schedule.

Do I worry that I’ll slip away from it? Nope, not at all. Feel free to kick my ass if I’ve not been to the gym again (or, alternately, talking about doing early AM squats on Twitter at home) by mid-July, though – pretty please? Thankyouverymuch.
Continue reading →

Yep, it’s time for the final installment of Betsy’s 6-week NerdFitness challenge report.

Yep, I’ve been walking. Biking (stationary in the gym, but it counts). Lifting increasingly heavier things. Doing the bendy-bendy yoga stuff every single day now.

What have I not been doing? Getting sucked into the toxic. Using rain, thunderstorms or kid emergencies derail me from my goals. Or jumping on a scale obsessively (which only messes with your mind if you do it every day – right?)

What did all of this work get me? Well, eliminating the toxic has led to more instances of #whimgrins, for example. Doing daily yoga & regular #whimstomps keeps my stress level way way way down – especially when dealing with recalcitrant teenagers.

And ok, OK – I got some decent stats/metrics to throw around here. I said I’d…

• …walk and/or bike for 100 miles. I actually walked and/or biked 130 miles (93 of those by walking, woo!)
• …do weekly flexibility workouts (yoga, dancing, etc.) By the end of the 6 weeks? I’m doing daily yoga sessions, for starters.
• …do 3X weekly strength workouts, upping the weights (when used) by at least 5 lbs. Did that, across the board.
• …eliminate the toxic. Yep, doing that/did that too.

Oh, yeah. While I said I wouldn’t jump on the scale during the entire 6 weeks, I did hop on today to see if all of this made a difference to the bottom line. And it did: I’ve lost 7 lbs, 2 inches from my hips & an inch and a half from my waist.

So yes, I’ll be signing up for the next round of the NerdFitness 6-week challenge – which starts next Monday, in fact! (Why? Because I don’t want to settle into ‘Good Enough’ complacency, as NF founder Steve describes.) Let’s see what big hairy audacious goals I can put out for myself this time around…!

Updated to include mid-day 3 mile #whimstomp, hooray!

So…I’m thisclose to finishing my 6 week NerdFitness challenge this time around. This challenge ends on Monday 6/11 when I report in & jump back on the scale for the first time in ages (6 weeks, to be exact). And how am I doing on those goals, again?

• Revised goal of walking 90 miles, biking 50 miles? Thisclose on the walking goal, at 85 88 miles (only 5 2 miles left to go before Sunday evening!) Biking goal? Only at 33 – but since I’d originally hoped for 100 miles total & have already blown that out of the water, I’m okay with that.
• Strength training 3x a week? Yep, doing that consistently. Yep, have moved up to heavier weights as I said I would. And I have muscles! And intermittent sighting of hipbones! Plus I get to wear my Notorious B.I.G. shirt in the weight room – shamelessly stolen from my son’s discard pile, smuggled out of the house since I’ve been told I can’t wear that – & skeeve out all the young guys who think like my son does as a bonus! (You’re not HIP ENOUGH, old lady! To which I reply in my head: PFFFT to that…)
• Other flexibility once a week? Try at least 10 minutes of yoga daily. Plus dancing. Plus, um, other stuff when he’s/I’m it’s available. (Yep, #whimgrin continues to percolate along…)
• Staying away from the toxic? Yep. (As long as you don’t count my teenage daughter – in an unbearably amazingly toxic phase right now herself – as part of that goal. CPS might frown on that, you know…)

As I move into the home stretch (with bonus #SheTeen overnight field trip tonight, hooray!), I’m anticipating an ‘ALL DONE!’ report here on Monday AM. Plus bonus pounds lost, I’d guess.

But I wouldn’t mind a little encouragement along the way – especially since I’m unlikely to get it from either one of my snarky children. Especially when my son discovers that even though he expressly forbid it (hah! who bought the damned thing originally?) I’m wearing his old shirt at the gym ANYWAY.

Because I’m both a thrifty mom and hip enough (not to mention a badass), don’t you know…