New Year!

Happy New Year!!!  I still have one more week of winter break left (don’t hate me! We always get three weeks and I don’t know why, but I am not asking for fear they’ll take it away) and I couldn’t be happier.  OBVIOUSLY.  In fact, tomorrow I’m heading to North Carolina to visit Christina of Mrs. Winter’s Bliss for a few days.  We have been real-life friends for eighteen years.  🙂  We were teammates a million years ago and have stayed in touch ever since, even though she moved to Redondo Beach a few years after we started teaching together, and even when she moved across the country a few years after that!  She and her husband were out here visiting her family for the holidays so we had them over for a super yummy dinner just a couple of weeks ago.  Seriously.  Steve outdid himself.  SO  YUMMY.  And the company was even better.

But this will be my first time visiting her in North Carolina and I cannot wait!

So today I want to tell you about a New Year’s resolution that I ACTUALLY KEPT UP FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR!

Maybe it will inspire you?  Maybe it will make you roll your eyes?  Maybe you don’t care?

I don’t know . . .

But you guys!

It’s been a WHOLE YEAR since last January (2018) when I started an ACTUAL STICK-TO-IT exercise program.

I KNOW.

Who am I?

I’ve always tried to be somewhat active and I’ve pretty much exercised most of my adult life (hello Buns of Steel and Tae Bo with Billy Blanks), but once I was diagnosed with my heart condition, I kind of didn’t know what to do.  My cardiologist has limited a lot of my activity which, sometimes, I use as an excuse to do absolutely nothing and, other times, I use as a you can’t tell me what to do, I’m going to start running!  

That last one never works out and I always get in a tad bit of trouble.

SO.

In the end, I struggled with weight gain, feeling like my clothes weren’t fitting, looking at myself in pictures and feeling chubby, and I said NO MORE.

And I started walking on the treadmill CONSISTENTLY in January of 2018.  Sometimes, I walk twice a day, but usually I only do that once or twice a week, and sometimes not at all.  I walk at 3.6 miles an hour, which is fast for my short legs, but not a jog.  And I use the incline (either up or down) to get my heart rate into a good fat burning zone and adjust it accordingly.  My i-Watch helps me monitor my heart rate.

I only watch TV (my reality TV shows and This Is Us and whatever else) if I’m walking on the treadmill.  It’s very rare for me to come home and watch anything after school unless I hop on the treadmill to do it.  Which means I’ve been using my evenings to do school stuff, TpT, read, watch a show that Steve wants to watch, etc.  I get up between 4:45am and 5:00am and just walk and walk and walk and watch my shows.  I’m usually on the treadmill for about an hour, sometimes an hour and a half.  It all depends on my schedule.  If I have a staff meeting or an IEP or whatever, I know I won’t walk as long.  I can walk a lot longer on Saturdays, and I almost always take Sunday off.

I’ve kept this up ALL YEAR LONG.  I haven’t quit!

And I completely cut out soda.  Even diet soda.  I drink water.

WATER!

Sometimes, I CRAVE IT.  Like I said, who am I?

I don’t know.

I still walk even if I’m in Texas (I use Kerry’s treadmill), on vacation (I use the gym treadmills or walk outside), or if Kerry is in town and we are at my parent’s house (we go walking outside).

My iWatch really helps keep me on track, and I’m constantly making sure I’ve hit my goals each day.

I sat down and totaled up all my workout miles and the grand total for the year is 1620 miles!

WHAT THE WHAT?!  I can’t even believe it.  This is only “work out” miles.  It doesn’t count all of the steps and miles I rack up while teaching.  I tend to get in three miles (sometimes more!) just walking around my classroom and school all day, but I’m not counting those.

I also lost 12 pounds (sometimes, it’s only 10, I tend to fluctuate) and I’m feeling so much better in my clothes.  I am actually comfortable in jeans now.  Meaning, I can wear them LONGER without wanting to die.  Although you know I’m still coming home and putting pjs on even if it’s 4pm.

But what makes me the happiest is that I’ve been CONSISTENT with the walking and kept up with it.

By the way, our treadmill is SUPER OLD, and it was free because someone was getting rid of it, and they said we could have it if we picked it up.

Steve is DYING for me to get a new one because this one is super old and makes SO MUCH NOISE.  Most of the time, he sleeps right through it (it’s in a room down the hall) but on occasion, it does wake him up.  But I’m not on board with spending that kind of money when this one is perfectly fine.

The other thing that has totally helped is that Steve went to Best Buy and got me a situation which includes wireless earbuds.  They connect to the TV somehow (bluetooth, I’m sure??) and all of the sound is in my earbuds.  Which means 1)  Steve doesn’t hear the TV and 2) I don’t miss any dialogue (or rather, catfights from the Housewives) over the noise of the treadmill.  GAME CHANGER.

And, as a last point, I want to make it clear that I HATE getting up early in the morning.  I HATE it.  I almost always have an argument with myself telling myself I can just walk after school so go back to sleep already.  But honestly, I’d rather get it over with.  So I get up.  And knowing I have all of my shows to watch also gets me out of bed.  Because I’m pathetic.  And Vanderpump Rules motivates me.

🙂

Anyway, there you go.

I have been walking CONSISTENTLY for a YEAR!  A WHOLE YEAR!

WHO AM I?

Seriously?

Who am I?