healthy

The Christmas Dress Challenge

Today is the kickoff of Mir’s Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge, fourteen weeks to a new Christmas Dress! I’m playing along, because I would love love love to have a new dress. I haven’t had a new fancy dress in many, many years!

PRIORITY #1 “Do-It” : Get a smaller sized dress.
Okay.  Sort of done.  I’m still shopping for a dress.  Actually, I think the dress is the biggest challenge of all, because *gasp*…I hate shopping. I really do.  Malls make me hyperventilate, and little shops are just too pricey.  This is what is currently catching my eye.  I’d put a picture here, but darn if I can figure out how to break the coding on the Dillard’s website viewer thingie to snag the actual picture of the dress.  As for a smaller size, maybe not, because I hit my goal size this month, a size 10. I will commit to a figure hugging dress, though, very different from the drapey size 18 dresses I started with!  I’ll keep this “Do-It” updated as we go along.

DO-IT: Select a caloric daily limit.  All-righty then.  I’m a Weight Watchers fan, so I’ll stick to my points.  29 daily points 49 weeklies.

DO-IT: Exercise a minimum of 3x a week.  Yeah.  Got this!  I already exercise at least five days a week, so I’ll set a goal of 50 activity points per week.  I’ll get those points with biking, Zumba, Boot Camp, Swimming, Running, whatever.  I’m an equal-opportunity exerciser.

DO-IT: Strive to be consistent with healthy challenge habits.  Consistent I am.  Reliable.  Loyal.  Dang, I could be a labrador retriever!

DO-IT: Hydrate sufficiently. I have to work at this.  Most days I’m right on, but there are still times that I let my attention slip and at bedtime I realize that I’ve only had a few glasses of water.  My goal is 64 ounces a day, minimum.  More if it’s hot.  And yes, it’s still blazing hot here.  Summer is persistent this year.

DO-IT: Choose a book and work on your main obstacle-to-losing issue.
Refuse to Regain by Dr. Berkeley.  I am so very, very close to my goal weight, so I need to start prepping my head for maintenance.

DO-It: One initial post on September 11, 2011.  Well look at the date up there.  It’s September 11!!

DO-IT: One update post a week,  Got it.   As the co-pilot and substitute cheerleader, I plan to post weekly over at the Dress Challenge Website as well, showering you with all the advice I can muster.

DO -IT: Link up to your weekly updates.  Yep, I can handle this one, too.

DO-IT:  Be supportive.  THIS I can do.  I can cheer with the best of them, but don’t expect hurkies or splits.

Challenge Youreself.  Keep the Faith.
EMail Anglea Pea

healthy

New Adventures in Exercise!

Me Crashing Through the Woods
Cherry Ames and Me

If you’re from Texas, or if you’ve been following my blog, you know that this summer has been absolutely brutal – hot dry and more hot. It’s been very difficult to keep on track with exercise. Lots of self-lecturing and threats (No granola for you until you finish your workout, Self!) were needed on many days just to haul my franny off my chair.

Now we’re being blessed with a cold front. We broke our 68 day 100+ temperature streak with an overnight low of 57 and a daytime high of 80 on Monday.  EIGHTY DEGREES my friends! Feels like winter!  Of course, it’s supposed to pop back into the 100’s by next week, but for now? Now, I’m loving life outside.

Battle Scars
Battle Scars – Scrapes and Bruises

To celebrate, I tried something new.  Mountain Biking.  My kids have been biking off-road for a while now, and they’ve been asking me to come along.  I struggle with walking straight and not tripping over my own feet most of the time, so I’ve always put them off.  Besides, someone has to stay behind and hold the water and snacks. Monday, though, I let myself be convinced.  Convinced to the point that I borrowed a mountain bike (Lady Penelope is too grand for dirt trails) and headed out to Cedar Hills State park for a go at the DORBA trails.

Oh. My. Gosh.  It was so HARD!  It HURT!  I LOVED IT!!!!  I have plenty of muscle power for the ups and downs, but I seriously need some practice on turns and some velcro on my butt so I can stay on the bike instead of sliding down embankments on my side. And my knees.  And my shoulders. I was horribly sore the next day (or two) and have lots of scrapes and bruises to brag about…but I can’t wait to go again.

Gratuitous Picture of my Gorgeous Offspring!
Cherry Ames, DirtBike and The Architect

Try something new.  Keep the Faith.
EMail Anglea Pea

healthy

Why I Didn’t Exercise Today…

Phone Shot of Desk Screen
Because It's This Hot Outside

This is a snapshot of my computer screen this afternoon. Yes, that is the real temperature, not the feel like it. Feel like it was about seven degrees hotter than you-know-where.  By the time I left the office at 5:00, the thermometer read 107.  I’ve biked outside for the past five days, and I just didn’t have it in me to do it again today, so I didn’t!!  Today I stayed indoors and rehydrated.  In fact, I opened Netflix and watched part of a movie at lunchtime with my feet propped up on the desk.

I did capture some interesting shots on my ride yesterday.

Crane at Work
What I Saw on My Daily Ride
Workers at Work

This job? Not one I would want. It’s too high off the ground.

I could, however, do this every day.

Pink Helmet!Except today.

EMail Anglea Pea