Week 10 of my journey

I still can’t believe it that 9 weeks have flown by while I have been walking the miles on the elliptical and climbing the stair way to Las Vegas, Mexico, Cuba, Vancouver ???? In three weeks from today I will have completed the first 3 months of my 12 month journey. I will be one third of the way there!

Have noticed any differences? That is a good question….it seems that the journey to improved health is slow and not noticeable but I guess that is the same as moving in the other direction as well. I do know that I can now spend 30 minutes on the stair master and walk up 72 flights of stairs (according to that tracker on the machine). That is something that I could not do when I started the program. I was afraid to even walk by the machine and looked the other way as I went by and now I’m up there. Woooooooooo whoooooooooooooo! I feel that is some kind of achievement in itself.

Is the scale moving…..not sure……seems if it is it must be moving by the gram for sure but one thing that I have noticed is that some of my cloths seem to fit a bit better and that my pant legs are growing longer. Some how the pant legs seem to stretch and are now dragging on the floor instead of waving around my ankles…I am going to have to get taller high heels to wear or put the pants in the in the dryer to try to shrink them so that they will be shorter.

I am finding it increasingly more difficult to get my heart rate up to the correct aerobic level. Is my heart all worked out now and says nope – not moving up no matter what you do? Is it going to give out one day on the elliptical or the stair climber? I do hope that they have one of those little heart zappers at the gym that they use on TV when someone has a heart attack. Maybe they will be able to bring me back to life. Poor little ticker is wondering what the heck is going on with this sudden rush of exercising after living the life of the couch potato. Yup I noticed that they do have the defibrillator so I will be A-ok!

So what does one do when on these machines? Well life is good now at the gym. They have finally come into the age of entertainment and most are equipped with TV’s. Yup you can watch your favorite soap, reality show or just about anything to keep you occupied and before you know it your time is done. It seems to fly by. Of course the most popular machines are the ones with the TV and they are often all occupied so I have purchase a little toy for myself in case I need something to do for 30 minutes. I now am the proud owner of an Nano ipod. Great little toy and is so small it fits anywhere. I can clip it on to my gym wear or slide it into a pocket and plug in my earphones and listen to my favorite music, books, radio or other interesting audio programs.

http://www.apple.com/ca/ipodnano/


This week my heart rate moved up to the next level that I will be at for the balance of the study so I am not sure what I will be achieving after the first three months and if I keep getting better how will I be able to maintain the same level? I guess that is what the trainer will be there to advise me on. Somehow I think that the hard work is about to begin soon. So far it has been easy. I’ve always been told when it’s too good to be true there must be a catch and I am waiting to see what that is. My new heart rate level is 126 – 136. My work out yesterday was recorded at a heart rate of 131 for 30 minutes on the elliptical.

Last week our training on how to walk, run and stretch was foiled by the snow man and snow plough the session hasn’t been rescheduled yet. I am looking forward to this training so that perhaps this is something that will add a bit of variety to my exercise. Right now it seems I am stuck on the elliptical and the stair master. These seem to the be the only pieces of equipment that will raise my heart rate. A far cry from what I was almost three months ago when walking up the stairs in my house could wind me. Not I can fly up them with my feet barely touching the steps. I have “diamonds in the soles of my feet” and wings on my shoes!

Tune in for more news from the queen of the stairs soon!