Week 19 - Healthier Me Challenge

byVeronicasLuv

3.4K followers

Updated 7 years ago

Greetings To All,

For the rest of this year, I'll be writing weekly posts, of my Healthier Me Challenge!
In each of the posts, I'll be sharing a variety of things: my weekly goals; new recipes; excerpts from books I'm reading; and a few mental obstacles that I'm fighting, to name a few. My hope, is that as I share my journey, I will encourage, inspire and motivate others to reach their Best Self!!!

Weekly Goals:

Instead of focusing on words like "can't", "don't" and "bad", I decided to make some changes. So, each week, I'll adopt a healthier habit, and eliminate an unhealthy habit. It can be anything! The only rule is to adopt AND eliminate!

Week #19:

Healthy Habit to Adopt: cardio workouts 3x a week (this does not include walking)
Unhealthy Habit to Eliminate: unhealthy snacks

Update:

I FEEL GREAT!!!

I know...just a few days ago, I was feeling yucky! But that's life...some days you're up, some days you're down...Gotta keep it real and moving forward!

So this morning, without giving myself too much time to think it through (talk myself out of it), I was out the door by 7:30 am. Generally when I go for my morning walk, I like to pray, focusing on things that I'm grateful for; I even give thanks for my big feet and flabby legs!

This morning, I decided to head on over to the track. To run??? What are you crazy!!! No, no no... I'll leave that for Michael (Ultimateless). I wanted to start with interval walking, I'm not sure if that's the proper term, but I'm sticking with it.

With interval walking, you switch between moderate walking and speed walking, which is just short of a slow jog. I would walk at a moderate pace for 1/4 length of the track, then speed walk for 1/4 length, then back to my moderate pace for 1/2, etc; I did that for 1 1/2 rounds. The benefit of interval walking is that it's supposed to speed up your metabolism, more than just going for a moderate walk for an hour. The best explanation I've read is to think of starting your car and the amount of energy needed for your engine to start.

Here's the track that's on the outskirts of Forest Park, which is about 10 minutes from my place. I love that it's surrounded by trees.

Walking towards the basketball courts, I have to walk down Freedom Drive. Hmm...perhaps the Universe was sending me a sign...freedom from negative thoughts...freedom from apathy...freedom from laziness...or maybe its just Freedom Drive with absolutely no deeper meaning whatsoever...

With the exception of birds fluttering about and a few chipmunks scurrying for cover, the courts were vacant. I really didn't have a plan, I just figured it was time for me to actually use the basketball that I had bought back in January. So, I began to dribble - walking not running of course - then I decided I wanted to try my hand at the 3-point mark and see how many baskets I can get into the hoop. I missed the first 4 shots, got the 5th one; missed the next 3 shoots, got the last 2. So I was 3 for 10.

I was feeling pretty good about myself considering I hadn't played basketball in years.
By "played" I mean gym class back in junior high school, not on a team. Basketball wasn't really my thing until I started watching Michael Jordan, then it really became my thing! But as far as playing sports, I was more into what us Americans call soccer, horseback riding, badminton and swimming...always swimming!

Here I am palming a basketball, not an easy feat considering I was holding my camera phone in the other hand. No challenge is too great for a WA post!

I appreciate everyone who stops by to read about my journey. Thank you. Whether or not you find symbolism along the way, may your week be filled with boosts of energy, and as always...

Strive to Thrive,
Veronica