One Month!

Yesterday marked one month of my new exercise program. So far, things are going well. Over the last month, I missed just one day. And that was an evening that I was feeling so ill I called out of work the next day and slept instead.

The program I am using is My Fitness Coach, which is a mix of step aerobics, strength training, and yoga. When you first set it up, you do a "fitness evaluation" that consists of cadrio, squats, crunches, push ups, a flexibility assessment, and taking your measurements. Every 2 weeks, you go through the same routine again to check your progress. based on these evaluations, the program suggests an overall goal and each day you get to pick a daily goal.

The workouts are varied and I've finally figured out that you can, by picking up the controller, access a tutorial for any move at any time. And I'm seeing some results. My weight has remained the same on evaluation days, though my daily weigh ins show a slight upward trend (not necessarily a bad thing if I am gaining muscle). My measurements bounced down at the 2 week mark and came slightly up for the 4 week evaluation. But what really shows progress is my ability to more nearly complete the allocated exercises.

In my pre-evaluation I did about 30 seconds of jumping jacks before thinking I was going to pass out. The program helpfully informed me that according to my heart rate, this was "low intensity" exercise. Last night I made it through over a minute AND my heart rate had reached "medium intensity" exercise. The total assessment is 2 minutes long, so that's a big step forward. I went from 7 pushups to 13, 20ish crunches to 42, and 25 squats to the full 50.

I can feel my abs firming up and I often find myself randomly moving. Stretches while I brush my teeth, lunges in the lunch room, squats before breakfast. I get more done in the evenings because moving to work out keeps me off the couch and once in motion I can translate that momentum into sewing.

The best part is that at 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, it's sustainable. It's enough motion for me to be getting the benefits of exercise, but not so much that it's overly difficult to fit into my schedule. It doesn't feel burdensome and I'm even finding that I am starting to enjoy the "burn".