Exercising... Why?

Take this simple test. Sit down on the floor with your legs criss-cross applesauce (or, when I was a kid in less politically correct days, "Indian style").

Now stand. Don't worry about speed and stand with as little help as you can (whether from using your hands, another person, a wall, or furniture).

How'd you do?

I'll tell you how I did... three weeks ago, I had to use one hand to push myself off the floor and it was as graceless as a beached whale. Tonight, I'm happy to say, although I had to rock back and forth once to get momentum, but I got up, hands and help free.

If you can get to standing without using your hands or getting other help, you are statistically likely to live longer than those who couldn't.

Wow.

This simple test reveals everything about your current strength, flexibility, and coordination. In a research group, those who could rise using just one hand or with no help at all were in the top 25% for musculoskeletal fitness. The higher your fitness, the longer you're likely to live.

I read about this test in The Exercise Cure: A Doctor's All-Natural Prescription for Better Health and Longer Life, by Jordan D Metzl, MD.

He points to a recent study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine that showed that physical activity increases longevity. Men gain aproximately 2.6 hours of life per 1 hour of moderate activity; women gain -- get this!!-- 5.6 hours of life for every hour of moderate activity. The numbers increase for vigorous activity.

In it, Metzl argues that low fitness is the single strongest predictor of death, even more powerful than obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking! He also calls exercise "the weight-loss drug millions have been waiting for." He also cites a number of other benefits, including boosting your immune system.

He recommends exercising 7 days a week, arguing that "human bodies are designed for every day use." He postulates that there's really no reason that we can't find 30 minutes to weight train, jog, bike ride, swim, play ultimate frisbee, or take a brisk walk with Fido.

The book then discusses various issues, including addiction, depression, cognition problems, fatigue, sleep apnea, cardiopulmonary problems, and asthma, and exercises and fitness strategies to combat those problems.

Until now I've had this vague idea about getting more fit. Through reading this book and working on this blog (which has forced me to start looking into different aspects of fitness, I've developed specific goals.

The more I read about regular exercise and how it benefits us, the more I'm motivated to get off the couch and start moving. (And to think I used to say that exercise is the root of all evil!)

On the blog's facebook page, I frequently post items I see about quick workouts and ways to incorporate exercise into daily life. Check these out with me, and let me know what works for you!

So although I may have eaten out a few times (and thus, probably over ate) this past weekend, I made sure I exercised at least 30 minutes every day. Might not be perfect progress, but I'll take the small victories when I find them.

I'd love to hear what works for you on your journey to fitness -- please send me an email at daytripgal@gmail.com!

Look for Journey to the Land of Fit on Facebook: facebook.com/JourneytotheLandofFit

Biking on the B&A Trail

The goal of the ride!

The recent warm weather in Maryland enticed me to try out my new bike. Since I hadn't ridden a bike for 20 years (at least -- where did that time fly to?), we decided to start with small goals. A comfortable 2.5 mile ride to -- get this, a coffee shop along the scenic Baltimore & Annapolis (B&A) Trail purported to sell the most delicious breakfast harvest cookies (sounds healthy, doesn't it?), and back.

A venture into my neighborhood right after purchasing the bike revealed that biking up hills was harder than other bikers made it seem. I made it less than a mile away from the house and I was huffing and puffing, out of breath, and frankly a little depressed. So I was nervous last Saturday morning: could I even do a 5 mile ride?


Middle-aged, unfit women everywhere should rejoice! "Granny gear" makes it all possible! And, had I understood how to properly shift the first time I'd taken my bike out, I probably would have been fine. I think the more than 8 hours I've spent since then climbing 18 to 20 flights of stairs a day have probably helped my fitness some. (In fact, my muscle-to-fat ratio has greatly improved!)


We started at convenient parking at Earleigh Heights (mile marker 7.0) on the B&A. When we came to the coffee shop at mile marker 5.5 we decided to keep on going a while longer. The day was absolutely gorgeous and it just felt so great to be outside in warm, sunny weather. We continued another mile or two further along the trail, turning around at a maintenance station, and heading back to the coffee shop for what we thought was a well-earned cookie and a skim latte.

So my worries about being able to keep up with my friend were for naught, although I suspect she probably went slower than her norm. The trail for the most part is dead flat -- the inclines are slight at their worst, so a good trail to start biking on.


When we returned to the parking lot I was no where near as tired as I felt I should be, so we decided to continue to enjoy the day by heading back to Downs Memorial Park, also in Anne Arundel County, to bike the perimeter trail -- a good 5-mile addition to our earlier ride.

Plans for tomorrow? Hit the bike trails again, this time a more ambitious 14-mile there and back ride up to Pennsylvania on the NCR Trail.

Both the B&A Trail and the NCR Trail are former railroad rights of way. If you're interested in exploring rails to trails in the mid-Atlantic region, I recommend adding these to your library.

The first is Hiking, Cycling & Canoeing in Maryland, by Bryan MacKay (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008). This family-oriented guide is divided into three parts, each concentrating on hiking and walking, biking, or canoeing (and kayaking). It provides detailed information about the length of and what to expect along the walks or rides, the difficulty, and how to get there.

The second is Rail-Trails Mid-Atlantic The Official Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Guidebook (Wilderness Press, 2007). This guide covers rail trails in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington DC, providing a short description, mileage, end points, directions to access the trails, and a "roughness index." There also are Rail-Trails Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York (2011) and
Rail-Trails Southeast: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Tennessee (2006).

I'd love to hear what works for you on your journey to fitness -- please send me an email at daytripgal@gmail.com!

Look for Journey to the Land of Fit on Facebook: facebook.com/JourneytotheLandofFit

Meditating

Last week's slip up and my waning enthusiasm has caused me to re-assess. And to examine -- what can I do to help myself on this journey?

So I think this journey may start taking an unexpected route: I first envisioned it as purely a journey to physical fitness, but I think that's naive. So here I am, exploring mediation. Oprah, Dr Oz, and myriad others have discussed on their shows the benefits of meditation, even on the beneficial links between mediation, a healthy mind, and weight loss.

What prompted me to start exploring mediation was a one-page article I came across in Prevention magazine. I was caught by the title: "The Easiest Way to a Flat Belly," accompanied by a woman lying on the floor. Hell yeah! If I can lay on the floor and get a flat belly, then I'll start now!!

No, oops. The article was about yoga (yeah, I'm trying that too). But the article asserted that "when you're calm, you produce less of the hormone cortisol, a leading cause of abdominal fat."

Wow.

All the times I've been so stressed at work or at home, and not just stressed, but also stress eating, I've been building adominal fat. :(

Another article from Prevention says that practicing mediation can help me learn how my emotions influence my cravings. Then, the theory goes, once I figure out what's behind my cravings, I'm empowered to change the behavior. (We'll see about that.)

Even the venerable WeightWatchers weighed in on the subject. An article on the WW website notes that in recent years, meditation has gone mainstream (which is probably why I'm even considering it). Meditation is also recommended as a stress-reducing technique by hospitals and doctors across the country, and meditation's myriad benefits include reduced blood pressure, healthier arteries and an enhanced sense of well-being. With all these benefits going for it, the WW website posits, meditation is an ideal tool for relaxation and self-discovery on the way to your weight goal.

As he explained in the WeightWatchers article, what happens on the physical level is what Herbert Benson, MD, the Harvard doctor who initiated meditation studies in the 1970s, calls the "Relaxation Response." He discovered that during meditation, brain waves shift into a state similar to -- and sometimes more relaxed than -- sleep. This level of relaxation lowers the amount of stress hormones that can contribute to pain and illness. (That would be the cortisol that the Prevention article introduced me to.)

Here's the healthier mind part: meditation can also create a foundation for healthier thinking and feeling. "When you meditate, all the junk comes up, all the clutter," says one expert. "The negative body images come up, the desires for certain foods come up, and the emotions that are attached to those desires come up. The more they surface, the more you can put them in your mental recycle bin and start with a clean slate."

I'm not a very meditative kinda gal. So I'm not really sure how to get started. I continued exploring online resources.

“Everyone can meditate,” says Sarah McLean, a meditation teacher in Sedona, Arizona, and author of Soul Centered: Transform Your Life in 8 Weeks With Meditation. “Any activity can become a meditative experience if you’re really present in the moment and engage your senses.”

Any activity, huh? I like to walk. How about walking? 

PsychologyToday blogger Dr Kelly McGonigal suggests a 10-minute walking meditation involving 1 minute of paying attention to each of the following:

1. the feeling of your body walking,
2. the feeling of your breath, 
3. the sensations of air or wind on your skin, 
4. what you can hear, and 
5. what you can see.

McGonigal recommends following this with 5 minutes of open awareness where you allow anything you can observe/sense to rise up into your awareness. Don't go looking for things to hear, see, feel etc. Just let whatever rises up into your awareness to do that and be naturally replaced by something else whenever that happens. During the open awareness portion, if your attention drifts to what you're going to make for dinner or that issue at work you're dealing with, return to one of the points of focus to re-engage your attention.

Finally, McGonigal suggests adapting these instructions however you want. Make your practice your own. You're in charge! For example, do a walking meditation in which you focus on one of the above points of focus for 3 minutes and then do 3 minutes of open awareness.

If walking mediation isn't for you, cheer up. There are many types of meditation. WeightWatchers recommends finding one that resonates with your beliefs (there are even Christian oriented mediation groups), and make sure your instructor (if you're choosing to go that route) has plenty of experience. In the meantime, you can try the following:

1. Sit straight in a comfortable, quiet place.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Relax your muscles.
4. Pay attention to your slow and natural breathing.
5. When distracting thoughts occur — and they will — simply notice them and gently bring your attention back to the breath. You may have to do this often at first.
6. Continue for 10 to 20 minutes.
7. Try to practice once or twice daily. With time, meditation will "bring a sense of relaxation, of coming to peace.

I'm struck by how simple meditation can be. Here’re some additional suggestions I found (on the Internet, of course) on how to meditate with a technique tailored to your personality:

• Light a candle. Sit three feet from a flame at eye level,  
  
  and watch it closely for five to 10 minutes. Continue to bring your attention back to the flame every time you notice your focus starting to drift away. 
• Try savoring each bite. Focus on a small morsel, such as a raisin, strawberry, or nut, and notice its shape, size, color, texture, and scent. Place it on your tongue, enjoying the flavor and keeping it in your mouth for as long as you can, at least 20 seconds. Chew slowly. Turning your focus inward and concentrating on sensations such as taste and smell, eating can feel like a new, exciting experience.
• Find a mantra. Sometimes your mind just needs a place to rest. Repeating calming words can give your mind that opportunity to chill. Find a quiet place and sit with your back straight but not rigid. Set a timer for 10 to 15 minutes, and repeat words that will help settle—rather than stimulate—your mind. Try saying “Let” on an inhale and “go” on an exhale, either out loud or silently to yourself.

A search on U-tube uncovers several guided meditations geared toward weight loss. I'm still evaluating whether this is an approach that'll work for me -- although I'm definitely trying some of the techniques described above.

Zenhabits.net offers the following tips to get started:

1. Start with the breath. Breathing deep slows the heart rate, relaxes the muscles, focuses the mind and is an ideal way to begin practice.
2. Stretch first. Stretching loosens the muscles and tendons allowing you to sit (or lie) more comfortably. Additionally, stretching starts the process of “going inward” and brings added attention to the body.
3. Notice frustration creep up on you. This is very common for beginners as we think “hey, what am I doing here” or “why can’t I just quiet my mind already.” When this happens, really focus in on your breath and let the frustrated feelings go.
4. Experiment. Although many of us think of effective meditation as a Yogi sitting cross-legged beneath a tree, beginners should be more experimental and try different types of meditation. Try sitting, lying, eyes open, eyes closed, etc.
5. Feel your body parts. A great practice for beginning meditators is to take notice of the body when a meditative state starts to take hold. Once the mind quiets, put all your attention to the feet and then slowly move your way up the body (include your internal organs). This is very healthy and an indicator that you are on the right path.
6. Pick a specific room in your home to meditate. Make sure it is not the same room where you do work, exercise, or sleep. Place candles and other spiritual paraphernalia in the room to help you feel at ease.
7. Read a book (or two) on meditation. Preferably an instructional guide AND one that describes the benefits of deep meditative states. This will get you motivated. John Kabat-Zinn’s Wherever You Go, There You Are is terrific for beginners.
8. Commit for the long haul. Meditation is a life-long practice, and you will benefit most by NOT examining the results of your daily practice. Just do the best you can every day, and then let it go!
9. Generate moments of awareness during the day. Finding your breath and “being present” while not in formal practice is a wonderful way to evolve your meditation habits. 
   
10. Make sure you will not be disturbed. One of the biggest mistakes is not ensuring peaceful practice conditions. If you have it in the back of your mind that the phone might ring, your kids might wake, or your coffee pot might whistle or your beagle will want to go out, then you will not be able to attain a state of deep relaxation.
11. Use a candle. Meditating with eyes closed can be challenging for a beginner. Lighting a candle and using it as your point of focus allows you to strengthen your attention with a visual cue. This can be very powerful.
12. Be Grateful at the end. Once your practice is through, spend 2-3 minutes feeling appreciative of the opportunity to practice and your mind’s ability to focus.

So with all this info I've just learned about meditation in mind, I'm going to start a 30-day meditation project, geared toward weight loss and fitness, to get myself started. As I try this, I'll devote a paragraph or two, or maybe even a whole blog, to the progress I'm making and what I'm noticing as a result.

I'd love to hear what works for you on your journey to fitness -- please send me an email at daytripgal@gmail.com!

Look for Journey to the Land of Fit on Facebook: facebook.com/JourneytotheLandofFit

Struggling

I have lost another pound, for a total of 10 pounds since the weight loss challenge began and my journey to the land of fit started.

I celebrated by eating a donut.

That was perhaps not the best way to celebrate (oh, but it was soooo good). Donuts are my favorite food group...

The initial enthusiasm and motivation is wearing thin a bit -- it's no longer carrying myself, despite the fact I wore a blouse that 10 pounds ago had been too tight. I'm finding myself sitting on the couch more in the evenings, doing less of the exercises while watching the Olympics. I do miss the Olympics -- all those young, fit men and women. Motivation right there on my TV every night, in the snowboard slopestyle, the cross country skiers, the figure skaters...

I'm gonna have to start digging deep to stick with this. It's too early in this for these new ways to become habit. And my old habits are pulling hard on me!

One thing I know -- is that I can't let that donut (which was really, very very good) derail this whole effort.

Did I mention the four donut holes?

So I slipped up twice.

I'm going to have to think about this. I know I shouldn't dwell on these mistakes. So this is the last mention of that donut and those four donut holes, which were really, exquisitely good.

One thing I did correctly was that I went ahead and exercised anyway. So what if I slipped up a bit? My stairclimbing partner and I did even more flights of stairs today. Twenty-two flights, in fact. And we stepped it up a bit -- we did these 22 flights FASTER than we'd climbed the initial 18 flights. That's a victory to celebrate! (We also climbed several sets of three flights, vice the sets of two stairs we were doing the first week of stair climbing.)

And tonight I ate a healthy dinner. Lots of cabbage. Some meat.

I'm recommitting to this effort -- I don't want to plateau here. I don't want to give up at 207. I do want to be healthy and fit. I want to ride my bike down the C&O Canal towpath and laugh about it.

I think to help keep myself on the straight and narrow, I'm going to start keeping a food log. And while I'm at it, I'm going to keep an exercise log as well. There are phone apps for this, and after I finish writing this entry, I'm going to start figuring out which one works best for me. Or I may go old-fashioned, and just find a little pocket notebook.

And tomorrow morning I've got a full day planned: riding my new bike in the morning and then bringing the beagles for a long walk in the afternoon. In between and following, healthy meal choices.

One meal at a time!

I'd love to hear what works for you on your journey to fitness -- please send me an email at daytripgal@gmail.com!

Look for Journey to the Land of Fit on Facebook: facebook.com/JourneytotheLandofFit

Choosing a Bike

One of the reasons why I started this fitness journey is so that I can eventually bike the entire length of the C&O Canal, all 184 miles of it, in a four-day journey.

But other than riding bikes at various resorts, I've not been on a bicycle, and not seriously ridden, for more than 20 years. My old road bike had been given away years ago. If I wanted to do this, I was going to start over.

I asked a friend who bikes a lot, but bikes in the kinds of places I want to -- paved or gravel paths, mostly flat -- for advice. Mountain biking reeks of hills and dales and for now, that's too daunting to consider. Road bikes seem to imply an interest in going on a century rides. And sharing the roads with angry and aggressive drivers who have the law of tonage on their side frankly scares me. Nope, it's bike paths and rails-to-trails for me. She recommended a hybrid. I started doing some research, first about hybrids. Then I began considering a comfort bike, given my age, fitness level, and some chronic problems (lower back pain and a pinched nerve).

A little research uncovered three bikes to consider within my price range (less than $500 for the bike itself, and no more than $650 with accessories, such as a rack, a bag, bell, helmet, etc.):

The Trek Pure Lowstep

I'd already named the bike: I was going to call it the Mint Julep.

The Trek Verv I

The Electra Townie

I couldn't find a local bike shop that carried the Trek Pure Lowstep. That was a shame, because of course, that's the one I had decided I really wanted. It seems like a cross between the Verve hybrid and the Electra Townie. The reviews I'd read about it were all positive.

So I was back to considering two bikes: I figured I'd make up my mind when I test rode them. Although several bike shops offered these two bikes, on a warm day last week that foreshadowed the arrival of spring, I headed for the one where the employees didn't dismiss my desire to try the Townie out of hand: Mt. Airy Bikes.

I felt cramped on the Verve -- there didn't seem to be enough room between the seat and the handle bars. That was a first impression. The second impression was that the seat hurt, but they said that's easily changed.

Then I tried the Townie. And suddenly, I felt like a little girl again, riding in the street in front of my house. I liked that I could stand flat-footed while still seated -- that would be good for my photography (especially for my other blog). I also like the position of the handle bars, and the crank-forward design for pedaling. I decided to take it on a longer test ride, and the bike shop suggested a 1.5 mile loop. I headed off and encountered my first walk of shame! Just out of sight of the bike shop, I started walking the bike up the hill. At the top I got back on and continued the test ride, and began falling in love.

I'd forgotten how much fun it is to ride a bike! And even the late winter scenery looked really nice, since for once I wasn't seeing it from inside a car.

Another customer at the bike shop commented as I rode back in that my smile couldn't be bigger. Bike sold!

The rest of the story is: of course, I took the bike out for a quick spin the next morning. My home sits at the top of a big hill. I zoomed down that (I felt a little out of control -- I'm hoping that comfort with speed will develop). Then I hit the flat part and began pedaling. I shifted to a lower speed. Then I hit a slight incline -- one I barely notice when walking or driving. It was 40 degrees out at 7 a.m. that Sunday morning. My thighs started aching. I started wheezing in the cold air (note to self: please bring your inhaler next time!!). Barely a mile away from the house and I suddenly realize how hard (and fun) this was going to be.

The good news is, I'm already planning some bike-riding adventures, for both blogs!

I'd love to hear what works for you on your journey to fitness -- please send me an email at daytripgal@gmail.com!

Look for Journey to the Land of Fit on Facebook: facebook.com/JourneytotheLandofFit

Reviewing "Diet Foods"

I've begun food shopping differently since I've started this journey, so today I'm trying something a little different: I'm going to "review" some frozen meals I've bought lately and some snacks I found at Target.

I'm always on the look out for snacks that can replace the snacks I'm really addicted to -- you know, the high fat, high calorie, highly sweetened yummy yums that have made me look the way I do today. Since starting the journey, I've primarily snacked on nuts (handy in those 100-calorie packs and Greek yogurt, well as "fresh" veggies (baby carrots, snap peas) and fruit (bananas, pears, pineapple fruit cups), and the occasional Hersey's kiss. I'm always looking for ways to insert a vegetable into my routine, so when I saw freeze-dried vegetables at Target the other day, I grabbed one of each: green peas, sweet corn, and salted edamame.

The bags all proclaim, vaguely, that it counts as either 1 or 1.5 vegetable servings  -- I guess referring to the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables (I guess -- there's no way to know for sure). The benefit of eating fresh fruits and vegetables are the nutrients. I'm not a nutritionist, and my internet research only yielded the vague statement that "Fresh fruits and vegetables contain a vast array of essential vitamins and minerals, and portions of these nutrients are not lost in the freeze-drying process." Therefore, I really don't know whether the benefits of these freeze dried veggie snacks are worth the calories, and whether these are more or less empty calories (not sure if the fiber and protein offset that). I guess that's determined by whether eating a serving of these might substitute for a more useless snack, such as cookies or candy (although really, there is no substitute for chocolate).

I tried all three. Let's start with the freeze-dried green peas. First of all, you have to love peas to even want to try these (I do). The taste is pretty similar to what a serving of peas from a frozen package would taste like. There's no sodium in these, and they are just slightly sweet -- maybe even sweet enough to satisfy a craving for something sweet.

1 serving

For an almost 3/4 cup serving, there's just 110 calories, 7 g fiber (so a nice way to add some fiber to your diet) and 7 g protein, and by eating these you've supposedly eaten a 1.5 vegetable/serving. There's zero sodium, zero saturated fat, and zero trans fat.

1 serving, in a snack-sized bag

The texture takes some getting used to at first -- the peas are very light and flakey almost, and then crunch quite satisfyingly. Overall, I enjoyed eating the freeze-dried peas, and I'll probably be adding these as an option, maybe as a mid-afternoon snack or as a supplement to lunch. (I should probably clarify that I pretty much eat all I want of fruits and vegetables, but that approach may not work with the freeze-dried version.)

On to the sweet corn. The freeze-dried sweet corn was delicious! Not as good as eating fresh corn on the cob, of course, but then, there's also not the butter or salt that I'd add to the corn on the cob either. The freeze-dried corn is definitely sweeter than the freeze-dried peas, so might go a long way to taking the edge off of a sweet craving. But be forewarned: this won't satisfy a hungering for popcorn.

The freeze-dried corn is 120 calories for a 3/4 cup serving, and can count as 1 vegetable serving. There's zero sodium, zero trans fat, and almost zero (0.5 g) saturated fat. The corn provides only 3 g fiber -- not as much as either the edamame or peas, and just 4 g protein. For the calories, the peas are a better choice. However, this would be an interesting and colorful addition to a healthy salad.

1 serving freeze-dried sweet corn

The texture of the corn was okay -- soft enough to easily eat, but still crunchy. There isn't anything hard about this corn -- easy to crush between your fingers. I almost felt like I needed to get a fork or spoon -- it felt odd to eat these with my fingers.

The freeze-dried salted edamame was interesting. I like edamame in small quantities, so perhaps a whole serving of the stuff is a bit much for me, personally.

The edamame, like the corn, is 120 calories for a 1/2 cup serving -- less bulk, but more satisfying, because that 1/2 cup serving also includes 12 g protein, although a disappointing 4 g fiber. Also like the corn, it only promises to count as 1 serving of vegetable. The downside to this one is that it also contains a whopping 220 mg sodium, which doesn't seem like much, but in a time where we're being advised to reduce sodium in our diets, finding a source for another healthy serving of it isn't going to help out. The freeze-dried edamame also contains 1 g saturated fat, but 0 g trans fat.

Like the corn, I think I might add it to salads, to add interest and texture. (I build salads haphazardly, throwing in left-over veggies, hard-boiled eggs if I have those on hand, canned beans, nuts or seeds (including chia seeds), and often mixing in fruit like blueberries or strawberries, if I have those available.)

So give these a try, if they tempt you after reading this, and let me know what you think!

I'd love to hear what works for you on your journey to fitness -- please send me an email at daytripgal@gmail.com!

Look for Journey to the Land of Fit on Facebook: facebook.com/JourneytotheLandofFit

Setting Goals

To be honest, I didn't have very specific goals when I started the weight loss challenge at the end of January, and this blog a week or so later. I vaguely wanted my clothes to fit better and not wince whenever I looked in the mirror. And hey, if I can somehow "get more energy" that would be great, too.

Then I started the blog and took a hard look at myself in the photo I included on the first blog entry. Yikes!

But still I couldn't quantify any goals, until all of a sudden, last Friday morning after weighing in and losing 2 pounds, despite some slip ups on the diet side, I knew what I wanted. I think, looking back, that why I realized at that time what my real goals are was because I was feeling good about myself and this whole effort -- I knew I could do it!

It gelled during a conversation with a friend who's also participating in the weight loss challenge at work.

She was feeling a bit discouraged because she hasn't lost very much yet, and we got to discussing via texting how well we'd done that week, which led to what goals we had. I thought a minute, then texted: First I want to get down to 190 by June, then 160 by December.

She responded: I'm aiming to drop 10 lbs by June.

But pounds and ounces are almost meaningless to me. What does being that weight DO for me? I wasn't satisfied with the goals I'd just set. I thought some more, and then texted: But I'm really aiming to be able to walk up 12 flights of stairs in one go, go on a 6-mile strenuous hike easily; and lift 55 lbs without struggling. Those are my real goals.

What she said next summed it all up, and as I then told her, wrote this blog for me. She said: I'm really beginning to see that the key is writing it down and sharing our goals, because it really holds us accountable. I'm back on track.

So do that. Figure out what it is you really want out of this effort. Better fitting clothes? More energy? The ability to walk all day without pooping out? To run that 5k race next September? Whatever -- just set your goal. Write it down in a notebook somewhere, as a promise to yourself (I'm writing it here in this blog). In fact, I'd love to hear what your goal is!

I know it's not so simple as that. We have to back up our goals with action. If I want to walk up 12 flights of stairs in one go, then I start at 2 flights per set (last week) and build up to it (this week I'm able to do two sets of 3 flights, followed by sets of 2 flights). But at least it helps if you know where you want to be. Then it's just a matter of figuring out how to get there. Hard work in the future, to be sure. But the pathway there makes sense, now you know where you're going.

Based on my goals, I know the basics of my plan: I need to start some weight training (hey, I can start with those resistance bands). Cardio's important, for stamina and endurance. And that stair climbing I started last week? That'll have to continue.

We'll see how this goal setting works.

(I apologize in advance to my sister, who had asked me, when starting this blog, to please not be perky and too optimistic. She wants me to keep this real. I'm trying!)

I'd love to hear what your goals are -- please send me an email at daytripgal@gmail.com!

Look for Journey to the Land of Fit on Facebook: facebook.com/JourneytotheLandofFit