I don't have a plan for how this is going to work out at this time, but I am going to try to hold myself accountable for getting some exercise and I thought this would be the best place to do it. The ultimate goal would be to lose 20-25 pounds over the next six months to a year or so. Hopefully I can accomplish this by watching how much I eat (because we all know that I won't be changing what I eat!) and by getting exercise (biking, running, elliptical, sit-ups/pushups, weights). I am going to try to post weekly results here, again with the idea being that I will be forced to be accountable for my actions. So, check back here to track my progress to see if I can actually be successful with my goals!

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

    Today I broke out EA Sport's Active for the Nintendo Wii. I didn't know what to expect because I hadn't used it before, but let me tell you - it was a serious workout! I sweated my way through a 30+ minute workout today.

Monday, July 27th, 2009

    I was feeling pretty sore from yesterday's Active workout. My legs hurt something terrible when trying to climb up and down stairs. Tara and the kids wanted to go for a bike ride after I got home from work today, so that is what we did. Today's bike ride was a little rough on Drew, however. Tyler cut right in front of him just after we got onto the dirt road and he ended up falling down. His hands got a little muddy (it had rained a little bit earlier today) but he was OK otherwise. Later, when we were racing down a hill at full speed, he got a little wobbly and ended up going down hard. Most of the damage was to his face, chest, hands, and lip. He climbed in the bike trailer with Jayden for a while why I tried carrying his bike while I rode before we convinced him to climb back on and ride the rest of the way home. Grand total for us today was 5.0 miles.

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

    Back to EA Sport's Active for the Nintendo Wii today. I sweated my way through another 30+ minute workout today. I want to kill the trainer though - she keeps forcing me to do all these lunges when my legs are already aching! Argh!

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

    Another day of computerized workouts on the Wii. I put in another 30+ minute workout, this time concentrated on my upper body (although I still had to do 60 stinking lunges - doesn't the trainer lady understand how much my legs hurt?). I topped off today's exercise session with hauling a queen sized mattress from the basement to the camper (we want to try it out and see if it is better than the one it came with). All in all, quite a workout.

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

    The Wii trainer lady told me today was a rest day, but I can't lose weight while resting! I opted instead to go for a bike ride while everyone else was out of the house. Today I rode from our house to Lahring Road, then to Fagan Road, and then I took Belford Road out to just across I-75 before returning home. This was a 6.8 mile bike ride, which I completed in 38 minutes. Not great, but not too shabby considering how long it has been since I have done something like that. Now, we have a camping trip scheduled for this weekend so we will have to see how dedicated I am while we are gone.

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

    As expected, I wasn't very active on our vacation. I did a couple of small bike rides with the kids, but nothing too strenuous. I did take Drew and Jayden for a ride in the stroller when we got home. We needed to go to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner, so I offered to ride there while Tara and the older kids unloaded some things from the trailer. This is a 4.8 mile ride, but it certainly feels like a lot more when the trailer is behind you with two kids in it!

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

    I had a test to take yesterday, so I had to take the day off. It was back to the Wii for today's exercise session. I put in another 30 minutes of EA Sports Active. I am still working up quite a sweat doing these exercises, so I am assuming that it is working.

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

    After taking a nap (haven't been sleeping well...), I decided to go for a bike ride today. I went from our house to Lahring Road, taking it all the way across I-75 and on out to Dixie Highway. This was a 7.4 mile ride, and it took me 38 minutes to complete (for an 11.7mph average).

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

    Boy, have I been slacking that long? I guess I have, but I have a good excuse: I have been cramming my homework in during the week so that I can have my weekends free (last weekend it was a short camping trip, this weekend car cruises). I will do better, I promise.

    Tonight I climbed back on my bike, taking a rather long ride around our house. I went as far as Fagan and Grange Hall Roads at one end, took Quick Road across to Fish Lake Road, then along to Mitchell Road before returning home. The end result was 46 minutes on the bike for a grand total of 9 miles ridden. Whew. This works out to around 11.75mph.

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

    Do you remember those stories that we tell our kids about walking to school in the winter? In the snow? Uphill, both ways? That is what my bike ride felt like today. I went down Lahring Road all the way out to Dixie Highway (past Hollygrove, for you Renaissance Festival fans) and back. On my way out I kept thinking that this seemed to be all up hill and that the ride back should be easy. On the way back, I thought the exact same thing, only it wasn't getting easier. I guess that is a trick your mind plays when you are beyond tired... Anyway, my ride today was 7.4 miles, which I completed in 38 minutes for a 11.7mph average.

    By the way, I am finally done with the summer semester of school, so hopefully I can get motivated to keep exercising. This has to be squeezed in around Tyler's football practices, however, which run from 6-8:00pm Monday through Thursday.

Friday, September 11th, 2009

    OK. I have really been slacking in the exercise department lately. I am just having a hard time fitting 30-45 minutes of exercise into my day. I return from work at 3:30pm, Tyler and I leave for football at 5:30pm and don't return until 8:30pm on most nights. At some point we have to eat dinner, and now I have a new semester of school (hopefully my last!) to deal with. I am hoping to get back into the swing of things soon, although I make no promises.