December Health Goal

I have made a new health goal this month.  My goal is to do at least one mile of exercise every day.  That could be one mile of running, one mile of walking, or a combo of the two.  I know it doesn't sound like much, but I want to start running again and it works better for me if I start slow.

Before we moved to England I weighed the most I have ever weighed in my life.  I gained 30 pounds this past year since the start of January.  I was working full time and taking 5 masters classes to finish my masters.  It was extremely stressful and I struggled to sleep well due to anxiety.  Since I was so busy, Simon and I ate out a lot.  I think the combination of stress, lack of sleep, little exercise, and poor food choices led to the rapid weight gain.  Since I am not working, one of my main goals while I am here is to become healthier.  I don’t believe in fad diets or dropping weight really quickly because for me it is not sustainable.  Since being here I have lost 17 pounds.  I work out and I have cut down on my portion sizes dramatically.  I still eat foods that I like and I still eat sweets (I love sweets).  The key for me has been to just cut down on how much I eat.  I usually lose 1 pound a week.  Although this may seem really slow, I know that I will be able to keep it off once it is lost.

I will keep track of my December health goal on here so I can be held accountable.  On Sunday Simon and I went for a 1.5 mile walk.  Monday I walked over 4 miles.  Today Simon and I ran a mile before he went to school.  We did it in 10 minutes and 15 seconds.  The last mile I ran before we left took me almost 13 minutes to do!  It is amazing what losing a little weight can do for running.  My goal this week is to run a mile Wednesday through Saturday and then go for a walk on Sunday.  I will let you know how it goes!  Hopefully I can cut down my mile time as we go through the month as well.

Here’s to being healthy!!!!