Hello Kittens & Dawgs, I can’t believe it’s almost mid-January. This morning’s feature artist is new-to-me. I like asking Google for suggestions and discovered this girl, Dua Lipa. She’s an English singer, songwriter, and model who started her career at the age of 14. The above YouTube playlist consists of two of her best songs, # 1, “New Rules” was a number one single in the UK and #5 “Be The One” hit the UK top 10 singles chart.
Over the weekend I wanted to share 5 goals for this week in my Sunspiration slot but failed due to a shortage on time. Anywho, I decided to share them now.
- Exercise daily. I stopped sometime around Halloween after getting consumed with holiday prep and never returned. WomensHealthMag says, the National Institute of Health recommends to lose weigh you need to do moderate aerobic activity for 30-45 minutes at least three times per week. I will shoot for my normal routine of 60-minutes for 4-5 days this week which is totally doable.
- Food journal. Okay, this stinks but I know I need to do it for at least two weeks. This forces me to focus on my diet causing me to question every bit. Am I hungry? Am I thirst? FYI: Being thirsty sends mixed signals to the brain making you think you’re hungry. Learn how to tell the difference, here. Am I bored?
- Stand often. I do way too much sitting down. There are so many studies showing that’s bad for you. Duh, like I need someone to tell me why? That’s just common sense but what I didn’t realize is that standing burns significant calories. Lifehacker.com says this about standing versus sitting for three hours per day….Standing caused the volunteers to have a higher heart rate (around 10 beats per minute higher), which adds up to burning about 50 calories more per hour versus sitting. Over a year, that adds up to about 30,000 more calories or 8 pounds of fat.
- Lose the junk. This is an ongoing chore 365 days and after nearly 39 years of marriage we have stuff that needs to go. However, after reading this article, I think I will dedicate 5 minutes each day to finding items to toss with the hopes of filling at least one trash bag per week. Sounds like a good plan to de-clutter our home!
- Create. Last year, I discovered by forcing myself to sketch it revealed I had some hidden talent but another thing I found out is by creating it relieved stress and boosted my mood. My goal is to do something creative every day. There are many mental health benefits for everyone to take advantage of if one is willing to unlock his/her ability to test the waters.
Sketch created on iPad Pro using Apple Pencil in Procreate following YouTube illustrator.
Next week, I’ll report how my progress went with working these steps into my day. I’m sure I will struggle to get going but I know I will eventually get back into the groove of doing the things that I’ve allowed to slide.
I’m trying to find that happy balance between the blog world and life after the holidays. I haven’t quite gotten it just yet. This week I made a concerted effort to get back into using the elliptical for an hour every day. That’s one of the goals I set over the weekend and I hope to bump that to two hours after I my building my stamia. I haven’t exercised since…gosh, I can’t remember maybe Halloween. There’s no excuse for dropping the ball on keeping active and I seriously don’t think raising my fork and spoon to my lips qualifies as weightlifting. smack forehead
I love my Zumba videos but haven’t used them in years. Our living room is small and when we got the elliptical it made it even smaller, so I’m hoping when we move this year, I know that’s not guaranteed but if I keep saying it enough then maybe it will happen, we can find a home that will accommodate this need. An unfinished basement is an ideal place for a workout room, don’t you think?
In keeping with getting back my blogging basics, here are this week’s Thursday Two Questions. Feel free to answer these in comments, borrow to create your own T2Q post or come up with your own. This is a great way to initiate conversation while learning new things about one another.
1. Do you exercise more for weight loss or just for general health?
It took me years to figure this out but exercise isn’t the key to weight loss as much as it is my diet. So, now I exercise mostly for my overall health. Using my elliptical is about the only way I get some serious aerobic activity and while it’s important to keep the heart rate up, I think it’s essential to keep your body moving to prevent muscles and joints from growing weak and stiff. That makes a person feel old.
2. What’s the best diet tip you found works for you?
The best thing I found that works for me is realizing how many calories I’m consuming each day. Unless you’re a highly motivated person who always makes the right food choices then this isn’t a problem but if you aren’t like me then keeping a diary ensures I don’t over eat. After a long break away from my normal diet routine, I found keeping a food journal for a couple of weeks is a huge help to reset my diet habits.
Speaking of diet/exercise, you may want to check out the “Dear Diet Diary” funny I shared last Friday. I hope you enjoyed my little Q&A session. Eventually, I hope to include other Thursday hop connections. If you visit my Daily Blog Hop page you’ll find a few listed. Some of which I participated in last year but my timing was off and I couldn’t latch on to them properly. I hope to change that this year. Wish me luck! I invite you to stroll back over tomorrow for some giggles and a whole lot more of Friday Fun Stuff!
X💋X💋, Cathy