health

exercise!

/ christinaparisi / Leave a comment

For those who have been following my month of deciding to incorporate exercise into my life, I hope I don’t disappoint you too much. For those who haven’t, please see my former blogs exercise? and exercise. for a recap of my exercise adventure.

Soooo…. I meant well and I didn’t exactly fail at it, but I didn’t fulfill my goal as much I would have liked.

Here’s the truth. I wanted to exercise three times a week but in reality, I pretty much did it once a week.

Here’s what happened. I hate routine. I really do. No excuses but at first I thought I could do it every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday and after the first week of that, I thought to myself, “Christina, you hate routine. Just do it any three days out of the week.” So the second week, I altered the days and then forgot when exactly the new week began and the old one ended and what days I did it and so on…

But I did keep exercising, sort of, if once a week counts? In my world, I’ve decided it does.

Yes, I set a goal but then determined it was wrong for me and so… I changed it. Roll with the punches right? I try not to be too rigid but I also try not to give up. So, I’ve decided this…

I like jogging/power walking and doing body crunches (who knew!) So, I’ve altered my goal to fit my needs and it’s this – exercise at least once a week, try not to eat carbs after ten at night (I love sandwiches and work late so this one is especially hard for me) and walk as much as possible.

Three days a week? It just isn’t me. If I was trying to drastically lose weight or something, I’d be more rigid but the reality is I’ve already lost about three pounds doing just this and that’s enough for now so it’s just about being healthy and that’s something I want to do everyday. In particular, less Diet Coke, I’m down to about one a day on most days, less carbs, more cardio, more walking rather than driving if possible, less sugar and wine and stretching every day.

And you know what, I feel better after this month regardless of routine or not. It took me a bit to find my exercise groove, but I’ve found it and I like it. And it’s here to stay. (But I will write another blog about this six months from now to let you know the latest in my exercise saga…)

exercise?

/ christinaparisi / 4 Comments

Okay, judge all you want, but I will admit I’ve never really exercised.

Well, that is until today. Sure, I’ve done situps in my bedroom and have walked to the beach and even took a yoga class, once, but exercise has never been something that’s interested me. At all.

That is, until now. As many may relate, when one gets older, exercise becomes more and more important, if for nothing else than to circulate the blood. But also, as I’ve noticed, one’s metabolism can start to slow down. Now, I’ll disclose that I have been fortunate to have had a hyper metabolism all my life but lately, I feel that it isn’t at its peak anymore and this has really bothered me. To each his own, right? But I’m also motivated by wanting to be healthier and keep my body in prime shape. So…

I turned to one of my closest friends, who not only knows practically everything there is to know about working out, but she’s beautiful, toned, fit and has a body a supermodel might kill for. And she’s been so good to me. I truly wonder what I’ve done to deserve such an amazing friend… In fact, I tried to cancel today and she wouldn’t let me off so easy… Thank God! She’s been so supportive in trying to help me, since I had told her about my concerns about all this, and I feel so lucky to have someone like her in my life… But on to the exercise part right now.

She worked me out today. Power walking, jogging, lunging, stretching, crunches, weights, cardio, you name it. I had to ask her what a crunch was because I had no idea. And she showed me how to apply this all to a daily routine and how to do it right. She taught me about eating well, how best to exercise, what to wear when doing so, and so on. She even explained what cardio meant to me, since honestly, I would fail a test if that was the essay question.

And you know what…

I feel great. It was tough though. By the end, I was practically begging her to stop but tonight, I feel good. And motivated.

Regardless of whether you want to lose weight, be more healthy, tone up or just plain feel better, exercise is really great. There is a reason doctors always recommend it and I’m finally starting to realize that…

My goal is three times a week. But this is quite a new thing for me. So check back next week when I write a blog about my first seven days of exercise…