Walking, walking, walking!

Kiptopeke, summer 2014

So I have been walking almost every day, 3 or 4 miles a day. I have been trying to get my time down so that I can complete the June Fun Run within the allotted time of 1 hour 10 minutes. I am glad to say that I can easily get it done in that time! But now my knee has started swelling... I am not sure if it is because of the walking, or from the knee-bends I have been doing to stretch my feet. I guess we will see how that goes.

I have officially made my race team, and along with it, a GoFundMe page for sponsorship. I would like to be able to cover the entry fees for each teammate, and maybe even some gas money. At the moment I have 12 team members and I can't wait! If anyone is interested, the site is GoFundMe.

This is all a big step for me. (Pun intended? maybe) I feel like a switch has flipped in my head somewhere, from being someone eternally trying to lose weight to being an athlete trying to properly fuel my body. Trying to lose weight is hard, and depressing, and sad. I let it define who I am for far too long. Finding fuel for a workout day is much more uplifting and energizing. I credit Mark Sisson's posts at Mark's Daily Apple about walking and playing for my renewed interest in taking walks. Walking was my top favorite thing to do when I was a kid, where did it go? Where did I lose the desire? No use in looking behind, I am moving forward and finding my love of the out-of-doors again.

My current favorite place for walking? The Wildlife Loop at Assateague Island, it is always beautiful and never boring!

Dealing with Discouragement from Outside Sources

The hardest thing for me in my journey to better fitness, is well-meaning friends and family who have something to say about my eating or my exercise. I truly think that this has set me back more than any other single reason. I start to believe the things they say, whether it be their sudden knowledge on nutrition, or profound insight as to why a workout program won't work for me.

When I was thinking of purchasing Zumba, I was told by a family member, "you won't be sexy like they are". I bought it anyway, and I love it, because it is fun. Which is the point of why I wanted it, because I wanted a workout that would keep me interested, not to look "sexy" like the models in it. I frequently get teased when I am doing my DDP Yoga workouts. Then they tell me that I am going to get hurt, trying to do the poses. I haven't been hurt yet.... this pose is bad for me, that pose is bad for me.... arrrrrghhhhhh they never did yoga in their whole lives!

And don't get me started on the diet wars. Low-fat, low calorie; carbs and sugar don't matter... if that worked, then why would the whole United States of America be getting fatter and fatter? I am frequently told that all that matters is calorie count. And the worst part is that I start to let it into my head, so then I start see-sawing between that and eating more primal.. that is a recipe for disaster if I ever saw one. I KNOW that primal eating is right for me. I feel so much better, and I have more energy than I had even as a teenager. It is so hard to stick to it in the face of so much discouragement!

Even Fit Bit handed me my latest confusion. I didn't intend to track my calories with it but I was curious. So I started logging my meals just to see how they really came out. On the one hand, I found out that most days I come fairly low, between 1300 and 1800 calories. On the other hand, I found myself avoiding things like coconut oil and butter because of the calorie count. Counting calories just really doesn't work out with primal or paleo eating, so why am I still logging my meals? The one good thing that came of that, is realization of the calorie counts of some of the foods I have been eating regularly. Like too much cheese, which isn't primal in the first place. I am going to keep logging my food though, just so I have it as a food diary.

Even with all the struggling and discouragement, I know that I need to stick to my plans with Primal Blueprint, DDP Yoga and continued practice for my upcoming 5k fun run. I walked my 5k practice today, and did it in the time I needed, yay me! I really did not think I could do it in the time limit, without hurting my foot or my knees. Thank you DDP! As long as I stick to my yoga routine, my knees and feet don't hurt. Or if they do start to hurt, a workout fixes it. If I get off track with yoga though, I am in for some serious aches and pains. I don't know, maybe the discouragement makes me stronger as I overcome it? What do you think?

FitBit fun

I have had my FitBit for a few days now, and I am having far too much fun with it. I have even been logging my food, which was not my intention when I bought it. I don't quite understand the thinking behind the calorie counting anyway. I always though that you were supposed to have a set calorie count that you were aiming for, like 2000, and that was it. FitBit gives you more and more calories the more you eat, even though I am on the "hardest" eating plan. What good is it if I do good exercise but then feel justified to go eat 1000 more calories? This is what the eating plan suggests. Somebody help me out here. I am not normally a calorie counter in the first place simply because I find it to be too simplistic.

I love tracking my steps though, and distance, and all the other cool stuff. I am sure I will lose interest in it eventually but for now it is fun.

On a Roll

I hope everybody had a nice Easter. Our Easter was pretty low-key. BUT I got my Fit Bit! I was so excited.. until I realized that their servers were broken and I couldn't even get the thing turned on. Much less actually get it set up. 18 hours later, I figured out that it was working with my tablet, so off I went! I had to go get a workout in, just to see how it all worked. One thing that I find to be limiting about the information it gives, is that it has no option for different eating plans. As a Primal Blueprint follower, I don't find the calorie counts and all the other counts as helpful as it could be. I know, I can figure it out on my own, but it would be nice to get equal time!

Speaking of workouts, I got in a great session of DDPY Fat Burner. According to Fit Bit, that's about 350 calories burned. I am on a roll with it right now. I got in 4 workouts last week, and I'm on track for 4 more this week. Sometimes I can't even get in 2 workouts in a week so I hope this time I get to stay on it without another injury. I seem to be past the back spasms I was having, from shoveling snow in February.