Valorie Walks

Pretty much finished The Power of Habit -- so great! Well worth the read. The habit I'd like to crack is my lack of walking in the evening, except when I'm at my dad's. After conversing with him until his bedtime, I take him up to the nursing station, find his aide, and wait with him until s/he wheels him off to put him in bed. At that point, I set off walking around Regency, which is a large hollow rectangle. Around and around, four to six times, until they open his door, and I go in and kiss him goodnight. That's a good habit, and not difficult at all. Yet at home, on the off-nights, I don't seem to be able to walk as far or as fast, or sometimes not at all. Obviously I'm missing the cue , which at Regency is Daddy being wheeled off. At home though, why can't "dinner is over - turn on the TV and walk " become a good cue? Habits are made up of three parts: the cue, the routine, and the reward. One can often change the routine if the cue and r...

Weight-lifting was just what I needed! Worked the first six days, and rested today. Back to it tomorrow. After the first whole set (first two days) I found cans of soup etc. to stand in for some of the weights. My dumbbells won't arrive for another week. :( But by then I should be completely in the swing of the routine, and they'll just be the next step up. I hope by then to be able to do each day's workout in about a half-hour. I'm sure now it takes more like 45 minutes still, since I have to keep checking the photos and instructions. Getting the form right is important to getting good results, and I feel better about it every day of work. Even today I can feel some almost soreness , and that feels good! Tonight I started reading The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business , by Charles Duhigg . Another great read, and I hope to use what I learn to make this exercise into a habit, a life-long habit. Perhaps next week I can step up my average numb...

Wow, I've been neglecting this blog, and even record-keeping. It isn't fun to keep track of step-count, but I have been continuing to walk as much as I can. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to push to 10k steps on average. In fact, my average is maybe 4k, and it isn't going up. (But that is about 3500 more steps than I used to have. And I've lost about 7 pounds.) Perhaps it's because I'm spending more time cleaning house -- not sure. In any case, I'm not willing to back off on 'the great cleanup' no matter what, so until I'm done -- sometime this summer or fall, probably -- tough. I love making progress on the cleanup, so that comes first. (Once the house is clean, it will be easier to keep up. Also, vacuuming is good exercise. And banishing dust makes us healthier, and feel better.) On the other hand, as my dad continues to decline, it's important to continue to make progress physically as well as getting the house de-cluttered. So...