Day 7

Today was a busy day, with a lot of time this afternoon spent in the car. Not good for the waistline. The weather also turned cold and a little chilly, which is usually the kiss of death for me as far as exercise. But I'm happy to report that I stuck to my guns. I dragged myself to the gym tonight, worked out on the elliptical for 45 minutes and then did about 10 minutes of core exercises. And I also walked the dog for 10 minutes this afternoon. I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight!

Days 4, 5 and 6

No, I didn't fall off the physical challenge wagon, although I have been mysteriously absent from the blog this weekend. It's just been a very busy last few days!

Anyway, Day 4, Friday, just flat out sucked. I was busy trying to finish up a few deadlines, had a performance at my daughter's school to attend, carpool duties, and my son was with me all day. Besides finally venturing out to take the dog for a 15-minute walk around 5:30 p.m., the extent of my physical activity that day was typing on the computer. I don't quite think that counts. And boy, you could tell I had a sedentary day! I was grouchy, crabby and depressed. And I craved carbs.

Saturday, Day 5, I went to the gym with my family and had a much-needed 60-minute workout. The kids had fun at Childwatch, and the husband and I lifted weights. All before 11 a.m. I felt great the rest of the day.

Today, Day 6, consisted of a different sort of workout. We have an extremely busy week planned around here, including me working as a substitute at my son's preschool three days this week, so I wanted to make sure the house was in good working order before tomorrow. I spent a good two hours scrubbing toilets, sweeping, mopping and dusting. I'll count that as today's calories burned.

So to recap, I met my goal of getting at least 45 minutes of physical activity a day, five days a week. I'm betting it will be a little tougher to accomplish this week, but we'll see how it goes!

Day 3

Today has been a much better day than yesterday, mostly because it didn't include a milkshake! Instead, I consumed 40 ounces of water instead.

Our lucky dog got two 10-minute walks through the neighborhood today, and I dare say the extra exercise is wearing him out. That's a good thing!

This evening I did 30 minutes of strength training and core, for a total of 50 minutes worth of exercise for day three. I will be spending the evening in front of the computer working on an article that is due tomorrow, but I think things will flow a lot smoother now that I have my exercise goal out of the way. I've been sleeping really soundly the past few days, too.

Hopefully tomorrow if the weather allows, I'll go on a bike ride around the neighborhood with my son. I got a new bike back in August for my birthday and love taking it for a spin whenever I get the chance.

Day 2

I met my goal of exercising today. I actually took my dog for a walk this morning (working from home has its perks!) and the kids and I took him again this afternoon. They rode their bikes and scooters. Sonic is the rescue dog we adopted a few months after we lost our old friend and Chihuahua extraordinaire, Odie. We're not quite sure what he is exactly (my daughter calls him a Chiweenie) but he definitely has some Chihuahua and maybe Daschund in him. There's a reason he has the name Sonic. We're guessing he's about 4 years old and he has the energy to match. I swear, sometimes I think if he had a bigger mouth he would bring me the leash himself!
Full disclosure here. There are no secrets in "The Healthier Writer Challenge." I took the kids to McDonald's today for an impromptu ice cream trip, fully planning on getting an iced latte for myself. One small chocolate milkshake later, I'm still feeling the guilt. Why did I do that? Plus, milkshakes are always a little rough on my stomach, so while it tastes good at the time, what's the point?
I tried to make up for it by having a healthy dinner of vegetarian lentil soup and a baked potato with Smart Balance. Then I hit the stairclimber at the gym for 45 minutes and did some core exercises after that. Besides the milkshake, I did manage to eat pretty well today, so I'm proud of myself for that. No sense in beating myself up for it. Tomorrow's a new day!
I guess in all I worked out about 1 hour and 20 minutes today. I have two articles to work on tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how I manage to squeeze a workout in there, but I'm determined.

The Big Idea: A Healthier Writer

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

During a discussion with my husband this past weekend, something dawned on me. Every spring, typically in March or April, I attempt some Herculean feat. For example, one year I decided I was going to get off my duff, hire a personal trainer, and lose 15 pounds, which I did. Another year I completed a half-marathon. Ouch! Last year I produced more than 60,000 pages of blood, sweat and tears (some might call it my first novel) during the month of March. Apparently my husband tries to mentally prepare himself for whatever big idea I have every year, and I am just now realizing that I've been doing this since before we got married 10 years ago. He was shocked that I hadn't come to this conclusion sooner.
Having put that out there, I am now feeling self-imposed pressure to come up with a good project again this year.
I know I must suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, because boy, do I get sad and slovenly during the winter months. And it's not like we live in Antarctica or anything. I just hate the shorter days and cold weather, and pretty much all I want to do is sit around in my velour pants, drink coffee, and sometimes attempt to pound away on my keyboard.
Today is March 1, and I'm feeling motivated. I definitely have about 10 pounds of winter weight I need to get rid of. And I have a strapless, form-fitting bridemaid's dress to squeeze into at the beginning of June so there's no time like the present. I decided that this month, I am going to attempt a blog challenge. Writers are notoriously known for being unhealthy, due to the pressure of deadlines, sitting in front of keyboards, and often reaching for one too many cups of coffee and muffins. I write a lot of fitness, health and nutrition articles which makes my situation all the more ironic.
So this month, I will be documenting my attempt to lose at least five pounds. I am challenging myself to exercise for at least 45 minutes a day, five days a week.
Anyone want to join me? I will be posting my results here each day that I exercise to hold myself accountable. I already took a break this morning and went on a 10-minute walk with my dog. Let's go!

Edited to add that I also did 40 minutes of core/strength training last night. Check!

Greetings from my little island . . .

No, I'm not on a deserted beach somewhere. I wish. Just trapped here at my desk, knowing there are 10,000 things I should be working on, but unable to do any of them. As I posted on Facebook earlier this morning, it's days like these that make me wish I had co-workers around. I do miss getting up each morning, putting on a nice outfit and makeup, and settling in at my desk with regular chit-chat breaks in between meetings and deadlines. Oh, and did I mention I also miss the steady paycheck?
Don't get me wrong. I am grateful for being able to work from home. But trying to drum up enough business in between my children's school and extracurricular activities is difficult, and I tend to lose enthusiasm and energy for my writing projects by the time the sun sets. I've had a hard time juggling everything lately and staying focused on what I need to do most -- prospecting!
Anyway, it's been a busy past few months. I've had a pretty steady roster of work that is now all turned in, and I realized my manuscript needed to be expanded, so it's been put on the backburner. I need to pick it back up again, but revisions are so hard for me. I'd rather just start on a new story I've got in my head, but I realize I'll never publish anything that way, so onward and upward.
On a fun note, I got to meet one of my musical heroes, Greg Laswell, when he opened for Sara Bareilles in Charlotte last month. I actually scored two free tickets to see him, in exchange for passing out his free music download cards at the show. It was a blast, and I got a new story idea from the experience. So many ideas, so little time! He's a great guy, and if you haven't checked out his music yet, please do so! I guess I should get back to work now!

Stop the Spam!

I haven't updated in quite a while, and I have to confess it's because I'm getting extremely frustrated without the amount of spammers trying to infiltrate the comments on this blog. I finally had to set up a moderation on the comments section, and every single day I've had to refuse spam, particularly on the Greg Laswell post. I update this blog to keep friends, family and acquaintances on my current work projects, and dealing with all the spam is making me lose interest in doing so. Please, whoever you are, leave my blog alone or I will be forced to shut it down, and I really don't want to have to do that.
Enough said.