Random Thoughts - Health and Fitness

"Today, more than 95% of all chronic disease is caused by food choice, toxic food ingredients, nutritional deficiencies and lack of physical exercise." 

- Mike Adams 

NaturalNews.com

I don't want to be part of this statistic! I know I need to do better making a difference in my life - choosing healthier foods and making a bigger effort to exercise. 

My main focus on exercising or activity this month has been walking. I found this quote and in a conformation biased way I agree with it: 

"Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far." Thomas Jefferson

Notice how Jefferson says to "Habituate yourself." You need to do the work and put in the effort. No one can do it for you.

I know I have been improving. I might not see it on the scale, but 2 hours of walking each day counts. It counts for me. All of my workouts count. My good choices count, especially so when I feel like making bad ones. I know I can make a difference for my health - body and mind. 

Image: Jennifer SweetOnVeg

"I've always believed fitness is an entry point to help you build that happier, healthier life. When your health is strong, you're capable of taking risks. You'll feel more confident to ask for the promotion. You'll have more energy to be a 

better mom. You'll feel more deserving of love." 

Jillian Michaels

Walking Walking Walking

Image: Peter Blanchard 

Increasing my steps each day isn't easy. My legs get tired (wearing shoes in the house and switching between my two pairs tennis/running shoes each day seems to help). I don't like getting sweaty and out of breath (I know that means I'm working hard, but it's not pleasant to deal with every day). 

My new favorite way to add steps is by walking (fast paced, but maybe not quite speed walking) while watching TV (Olympics anyone?). I've tried reading while walking back and forth in the house, but it sometimes makes me dizzy. I know I can't put as much effort or speed into walking when I read either. 

You're supposed to reach 10,000 steps a day for a healthy lifestyle. That's equivalent to 5 miles! I am trying to attain that many every day (I've reached it a couple of times), but it requires dedicating at least 2 hours of walking to reach it. I'm trying to lose weight and get in shape, so I can accept that I have to put in that much work, but for other people that seems like a lot of time dedicated to walking! 

If you have workouts during the week as well could you diminish this number? For example, say you workout for 30 minutes 3 times a week. Do you really need 10,000 steps each day? Especially on the days you're working out? An intense workout burns more calories than walking. 

I'm just not sure what to focus on...getting 10,000 everyday or trying to dedicate more time to workouts, even if they are short. What do you try to aim for in steps each day? Or what kind of exercise schedule would you suggest for a beginner to exercising?

Walking Challenge

One of my goals this month is to try to be up more. Up just means not sitting (duh), but I do want to also get up to the daily recommended number of steps to maintain health and weight (10,000). You can't really know how many steps you are taking without a pedometer, so I bought one. I researched different options and settled on this one. It was relatively inexpensive, but had great reviews. 

I've actually had the pedometer for two months now and it's great. I do find that it records most accurately when worn on the lanyard around your neck. While I've had it for some time, I haven't really stuck to any schedule for improving my daily step totals. So I've developed this walking challenge for February that ties into my health goals. Each day (excluding rest days) I up the steps goal by 500 steps. I know it doesn't seem like very much, but once you hit your typical number of steps upping it each day is a lot of work! The rest days are thrown in there because it's tiresome to be constantly trying to keep track. I would recommend still tracking your steps and maybe just trying to solidify whatever progress you've made. 

Let me know if you use my walking challenge! It would be great to have some step counting buddies : )