No free passes

Today was a strange day. My sister recently learned she has breast cancer, and we went to the surgeon today. I won't dwell on that here--that's her story. But, I will say that's an additional reason I decided it was time to lose weight. What if I were suddenly facing surgery? Would it be considered safe to do so?

We were at the doctor's office for a couple of hours, and afterwards, we decided to go get some dinner together. (And I was good. I stuck with a soup and salad; I was good at lunch, too: a grilled chicken wrap and salad.) It's a lot to process, all that my sister will be facing, and going to work out just wasn't at the top of my list. I knew this didn't give me a free pass to skip today's exercise, though, and I decided to exercise at home.

After I'd been home an hour or so, I decided it was time to get to exercising. I am NOT going to let anything get in my way this time. I did some stretching exercises, with and without the bands I have. I didn't exercise a full hour tonight, but still, I'm happy with what I did. Most Fridays, I don't even consider exercising. I want to get in the habit of getting up early on the days when I have something after work. I also am looking forward to doing some water exercises next week. The pool at the rec center is open from 6-8 p.m., and my plan is to come back to the rec center after eating and do some water exercise.

I think one of the things I have to focus on is not getting bored. By that, I mean I need to find a variety of exercises I can do, and I have to find a nice variety of foods I really enjoy that are quick, easy, and healthy. Please let me know if you have suggestions on either front. If you know of an exercise video you really like, let me know about that, too. Step by step, bit by bit!

I'm really excited about the challenge ahead of me. Believe me, I've come up with every excuse I can think of to not exercise, to "treat" myself--but then it turns out to be treating myself all the time. I'm going to try to find alternate ways to do that, with fingernail polish and nice smelling lotions, and other things that will help me feel attractive and "girly."

Here's to your health!