My life is good and what some people dream of. I
live on a boat, my job is challenging, but not too much and pays well, and I’m
married to my soulmate. I should be singing Disney songs and dancing with
bluebirds every day.
But…
I’m human and I want more. It’s true. My lifelong
goal – I don’t say ‘dream’ because Doug says dreams are not real; goals can be
accomplished – is to make enough money writing that I don’t have to go into a
sterile office every day. I don’t need crazy success like J. K. Rowlings or
Stephen King, but enough to write, sail, chase my husband around on the beach,
repeat, would be great. And I’ve been working for over twenty years to make
this happen. Recently, I took a break from my corporate job and focused on
writing, writing, teaching writing, and more writing to make this happen.
Zippo. Nada. Zilch.
No, wait. It wasn’t that NOTHING happened; it’s just
that I spent a lot of money, time and effort and received very little in
return. And I got depressed. Really depressed. Not quite ‘throw myself off a
building’ depressed, but enough so that I cared more about eating and drinking
than I did about accomplishing anything. Or looking halfway decent. So, I ate
and I drank and I played computer games. And gained weight. A LOT of weight.
I want to be clear about this. I’m not talking about
ten extra pounds, eating disorder kind of weight, I’m talking about couch
potato, not exercising, eating bad foods, becoming unhealthy kind of weight. My
husband became concerned, but he didn’t understand why I was so depressed. This
means he dismissed it and focused just on the symptoms, not the root cause.
Bless his heart. He said some accurate, but somewhat cruel things, recommended
all kinds of diets and supplements that I rejected, but still loves me and
doesn’t give me too much of a hard time. I knew turning this around had to be
my decision and happen on my time.
 |
| Compact Elliptical Trainer |
A few weeks ago, I hit rock bottom and realized I
had to do something. I hadn’t written anything in a while, so I started slow
with blogging (ergo, this post!), tweeting and various other social media
outlets that didn’t involve games. And I tackled my health. Since I’m a lover
of gadgets, I went shopping!
Compact Elliptical Trainer: living in a tiny space
means everything you obtain has to be scaled down. I really like this little
trainer. It has a very small footprint and I can hop up and down on it while I
binge watch Columbo on Netflix. I add
in some dumbbells and I get a full body work out without having to leave my boat.
Even work up a sweat sometime.
 |
| Exercise Ball - 65 cm |
Exercise ball (at work instead of a chair): Claims
are that it helps your posture and you burn an extra 350 calories (2 chocolate
chip cookies) a day while using it. It was mentioned that it’s fun to bounce on
it as well. However, no one told me that it would wreak havoc with my motion
sickness. Yes, this lady sailor nearly lost her lunch after an hour on a bouncy
ball…
 |
| FitBit Flex |
FitBit Flex: Simple idea - if you know that you’re
leading a sedentary lifestyle, you’ll do something to alleviate it. I wanted to see it before investing, so I traveled to Bed, Bath & Beyond to see one in the flesh. The first one didn't have it in stock (Flex 2 is coming out end of October - inventory is down), which means the sales clerks tried to sell me a different model, which they also didn't have in stock. At which point, they ignored me and began talking amidst themselves. In a huff, I traveled to ANOTHER BB&B and purchased the item. So far, so
good… I’m walking more and feeling better. However, the slim band on my wrist
is stoking my competitive nature. Every day I want to better the activity from
the day before. At the rate I’m going, one day I’ll take my walk at lunch and
wind up in Bangor.
Tea: Studies have proven over and over that green
tea improves weight loss, particularly if you drink 4-5 cups a day. Also added
rooibos tea, which is supposed to improve digestion and overall health. Not
sure if the actual ingredients are doing anything, but since I now have to go
to the bathroom every ten minutes, it’s definitely upping my exercise quantity.
Which feeds the FitBit. See what’s happening here?
Food: Dietitians everywhere will scream to the high
heavens about this, but I eat one big meal a day. Anything I want. The rest of
the day is grazing on fruit, vegetables and popcorn. Don't tell my husband, but I'm having a weird love affair with an old dude with glasses and a polka dot bow tie.
Results: I feel better and I’ve lost 10 pounds in
two weeks. And I have a cool buzzy blinky thing on my wrist that I was able to
buy 12 brightly colored bands for.
Living the dream – one step at a time…
No comments:
Post a Comment