Fit Mommy Friday: Focus

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

by being active, eating wisely, and relaxing adequately

It’s good to focus on one thing at a time, because that helps you meet your goals.  My walking goal is in good shape, and I’m inching up to 10,000 steps a day, a longtime goal.

But it isn’t good to ignore other goals completely.

Yesterday I turned a skipping rope for a dynamic little crew.  It was fun, until after a very short while I realized I was completely exhausted.  Chest-pain exhausted.  (Don’t worry, there’s no heart attack on the way.  This pain comes with my muscle condition whenever I try anything aerobic.  And it didn’t help that turning a skipping rope uses chest muscles, too.)  So I rested, distracted myself, rested, started getting on with my everyday chores again…and made an appointment with the physiotherapist.

I need to strengthen my arms and shoulders so that I will be strong enough to do ‘strenuous’ things like turning skipping ropes, holding babies, playing badminton, and scrubbing (or painting) the house.  In the summer, basic work and play takes care of it; in the winter, I need formal exercise.   I know from the past that I cannot successfully strengthen my very weak muscles without professional guidance–and I’m so grateful that my husband’s work insurance covers physiotherapy.

So from next week on, I’ll be focussing on three aspects of fitness:  the walking, the eye exercises, and upper body strength.  Hopefully I’ll be able to manage the triple focus on fitness somehow, along without neglecting the rest of my life.  I’ll need to develop habits to get the exercise done semi-automatically.

Here’s how my goals went this week:

Record my fitness accomplishments each day… Yes.

Go for a daily walk and average 10,000 steps a day …  We went for nature walks most days and often walked over a soft, hard-to-walk-in field.  Walking there is certainly good exercise!  Here are my daily steps:  9700, 9600, 8800, 8400, 8800, 5100, for an average of 8400.  Or, if I skip yesterday, which was bad physically, the average was 9100.

Be usefully active for 1 to 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, without overdoing it, or do formal exercises … I was mildly active most days, but really need to start formal exercises.  We’ll see what the physiotherapist recommends next week.

Do 10 repetitions of my eye exercises 5 days a week and relax my eyes whenever I think of it …I only did them 4 times this week.  As I wrote above, it’s hard to focus on more than one fitness goal at a time.

Avoid sugar five days a week … No.

Eat lots of vegetables, including fresh ones, and yoghurt as well as one fermented or soaked food a week … Yes to the veggies and the yoghurt but no soaked or fermented food.

Relax daily…Yes–a daily nap in bed. Going to bed early is no longer one of my favorite things, so I must be over ‘The Cold’.

Have fun with the kids, including active fun… We took nature walks, and they were adventurous. We ‘liberated’ ice floes in the river, explored new sections of the woods in the rain, shuddered at the various parts of the dogs’ prize raccoon, and crawled hands and knees through the underbrush on a raccoon path.  We also read books, ate good food, studied, played crokinole, and gathered around the fire.

Please link up your health and fitness post in the comments below. Enjoy visiting and encouraging other fit mommies in this often-unhealthy holiday season.  Please 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 and is also linked to Encourage One Another Wednesday.