Taking Exercise To The Next Level

During the final season of Oprah she had her personal trainer, Bob Greene, on the show to talk about his new book, 20 Years Younger (I just caught this episode during the summer reruns). This show completely inspired me to focus on different areas of my life to live longer, look younger, and get healthier. I am not the type of person to try fad diets and that is why I think this one caught my attention. It is not a fad. It focuses on four areas that everyone should be working on - nutrition, exercise, sleep, and skin care.

I have always exercised sporadically, but on the show Bob talked about doing 200 minutes of cardio per week (about 3 1/2 hours) and working up to 300 minutes, along with strength training. Since watching the episode a couple of weeks ago I have been trying to do something active everyday and have had no problem getting 200 minutes of cardio in. I have been taking step, Spinning, and weight lifting classes at the gym,  my Mom and I have been walking 3-4 miles on the parkway (with Ella in her Jeep stroller), and on the rainy days I even dusted off the old treadmill and walked a couple of miles. I also have incentives like after I take 10 or more Spinning classes I am going to treat myself to special Spinning shoes.

I also got a backpack for Ella so we can do active things as a family, like hiking. I love hiking and we have planned a couple of really fun hikes in the next couple of months. And I have the Love Your Body 10K/6K coming up in October. (If you are wondering, I am not doing the Iron Girl Triathlon this fall - we are waiting until next spring to do it.)

Bob also suggested not to weigh for a whole month and I think that has helped so much. I have been focusing on how I feel and how my clothes fit and not the number on the scale which seems to derail progress at times because the number isn't moving in the direction I want or as fast as I want to.

I am just so motivated and have so much more energy since I have changed just a few minor things. I will post about the other three changes I have made coming up.