Fit Mommy Friday

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encouraging each other to care well for the bodies God has given us

My personal goal is to regain strength after a debilitating illness so that I can live a healthy, active life with my family.

Whatever your fitness goal, please feel free to join Fit Mommy any time.

Last week I learned two important facts, and this week I’ve been trying to implement them:

1. If you work your muscles very hard, you get stronger when you take days off from exercising.
2. People tend to overestimate what can be done in the short term, and underestimate what can be done in the long term, a little bit each day.

Off and on for 20 years I’ve used Callanetics, an effective, strenuous callisthenics program that is easy on the joints.  I’m getting back into it now, with a simple goal:  do 10% of the repetitions of its short maintenance program.  Not all on one day either, but a few every day.  Yes, I’m aiming low, but see #2 above.  And when I finish the list, I’ll start over again.  (I use the old Callanetics book, but there are apparently DVD’s out now too.)

How is it working?  I ache all over, but it’s a healthy muscle ache, not the exhausted and weak feeling that comes from having overdone it.  That means it’s working for me, and I’m so excited!

Record my fitness accomplishments each day… Yes.

Do 7 repetitions of my eye exercises 5 days a week and relax my eyes whenever I think of it …3x instead of 5.

Go for a daily walk and average 7500 steps a day … I walked along the road, in the river, and on the treadmill, but listened to my body and did not try very hard to get 7500 steps a day.  My pedometer was having a bad week, so these numbers are approximations:  8500, 5400, 7000, 7500, 6300, 8200, averaging to 7150.

Have good posture and do core strengthening exercises while walking… Walking on the treadmill is especially good for this.

Work on the Callanetics maintenance program… I’m relearning the moves, very slowly.

Be usefully active for 1 to 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, without overdoing it … I hung up laundry, weeded, swam, harvested, and puttered around the house.

Avoid sugar five days a week … No. We had friends over, and I indulged:  coke, double chocolate chip cookies, elderberry crumble, grape jelly, lemon meringue pie.  As a result my fingers ache, and I felt sad and conflicted.  Living almost sugar-free is worth it, and an occasional bad week makes that very obvious.

Eat lots of vegetables, including fresh ones, and yoghurt … Yes to the veggies.  Our fresh coleslaw with homegrown cabbage, tomatoes, and onions is so delicious!  But we had no yoghurt.

Prepare and eat one fermented or soaked food a week… We enjoy buckwheat groats for breakfast, the untoasted kind, and they are great soaked overnight.

Relax daily…Yes.

Cut something out of my schedule…Lately it’s been so busy that the normal routine now seems relaxing!  That reminds me of that old children’s story….

Have fun with the kids, including active fun…We swam, had company, read aloud a lot, threw a few baskets, and attended a high-energy picnic for my husband’s work.

How about you? Did you exercise, eat well, and relax happily this week?

Please link up your health and fitness post in the comments below. You can use your own format, your own goals, and post on whatever day works for you. Just don’t forget to link back here from your post.

Note: Fit Mommy Friday is the Health and Fitness Check-In column of The Christian Home Carnival.