I’m a Tracker – Are You a Tracker Too?

February 10, 2014

02/09/2014
H2O Challenge: Drink 8 glasses of water per day ( 8)
Exercise Challenge: Do at least 10 minutes of exercise per day (20  minutes)
Step Challenge: Walk 7,000 steps per day (7,376 )
February Challenge: Walk 50k steps (31 miles)this month and I have done (52.40 miles so far) or 52,064  steps so far this month

Good morning!

If you are ever struggling with hitting a goal, I have found out that tracking is the key to breaking through. For the past 112 days, I have tracked my exercise, my water intake and my steps, including miles. I can see that I am gaining moMINTum. In one of the programs that I use, (www.SparkPeople.com) I get little trophies and badges for doing my activities. I received a silver medal for going over 40,000 steps in a week! I started out getting nothing, then I received a couple of bronze medals and now I am going for the gold which is 60,000 steps in a week. I will have to sneak in a couple of 10,000 steps to reach that goal!

Since I got my FitBit, I have tracked not only my steps, I have tracked my sleep too! I can see why I am so tired some days! I can also see some of my friend’s steps on the FitBit site. I can tell you that I feel REALLY good when/if I pass one of them and I am challenged to reach others; although, one of my friends does like 21,000 steps a day.  Hey – you never know! 🙂

The last frontier in my personal life of tracking is going to be my food. I have not done very well at that yet. I track breakfast and then I do not track for the rest of the day. Tracking at work is another thing and I need to bump it up there too!

Do you track, and if yes, what do you track and what tools do you use?  If you do not track, why don’t you?

AffirMINTion: I am a tracker!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?
http://tinyurl.com/WhatchaWaiting4

Life is good!

A Mini Minty MoMINT

My mom says…. tracking will help you achieve your goals…. AND I LIKE IT

 

 

 

 

 

Life is Minty Fresh!

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Fast Food – Detoxing – Cycling

February 5, 2014

02/03/2014
H2O Challenge: Drink 8 glasses of water per day (8)
Exercise Challenge: Do at least 10 minutes of exercise per day (10 minutes)
Step Challenge: Walk 7,000 steps per day (7,357)
February Challenge: Walk 50k steps (31 miles) his month (15.53 miles so far) or 17,873 steps so far this month

02/04/2014
H2O Challenge: Drink 8 glasses of water per day ( 9)
Exercise Challenge: Do at least 10 minutes of exercise per day (16  minutes)
Step Challenge: Walk 7,000 steps per day (7,376 )
February Challenge: Walk 50k steps (31 miles) his month ( 22.66 miles so far) or   steps so far this month

Good morning,

It can be difficult sometimes when I see people losing a lot of weight, fast; it makes me want to get on the bandwagon because it is taking me a long time. I have to keep telling myself that the tortoise always wins the race in the end. It might seem like I am losing the race; however here is what I am learning about some of these fast weight-loss ideas.

Fasting – most of the weight that comes off is water. If you are going to fast, fast from Fast Food 🙂

Detox – Can spell disaster because you devoid your body of valuable nutrients and oh by the way… it is short lived and it is not backed by science

Calorie Cycling – when you eat less than your calorie range one day and above your calorie range another day (trying to trick your body into losing weight). Cycling works best on a bike! 🙂

Best way, is to stick to your calorie range (the hardest part for me) and to eat whole food packed with nutrients 🙂

So instead of trying to catch up with a Fad Diet, I am learning to celebrate my victories – especially non-scale victories. My victory for the past couple of days is my step count (over 7,000 steps) and my water intake (at least 8 glasses a day). I have been steady in both! :::patting myself on the back:::

Instead of worrying about how well others are doing, I am grateful to them for leading the way on this journey into a healthier lifestyle and for being such GREAT encouragers and supporters! Thank you!

AffirMINTion: I believe that slow and steady wins the race.

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?

Life is good!

A Mini Minty MoMINT

My mom says that walking me helps her to be healthy…. AND I LIKE IT!

Life is Minty Fresh!

One Step Back…. Two Steps Forward

January 13, 2014

Good morning!

I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that my step count has gone down since I last wrote – WAY DOWN! The good news is that in the month of January, I have done 55,592 steps – not too shabby and if I get my steps back up there, I could do 100,000 steps by the end of January. By applying the one step back and two steps forward, it is doable!

Do you get frustrated when things do not happen fast enough for you or do you work twice as hard? Do you quit when you make mistakes or do you brush it off and keep going? Today, I am going full steam ahead – are you?

AffirMINTion: If I take a step back, I take two steps forward!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?

Life is good

A Mini Minty MoMINT

My mom says… keep moving forward…. AND I LIKE IT!

You’re not giving up are you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life is Minty Fresh!

6,612 Baby Steps!

January 8, 2014

01/06/2014
H2O Challenge: Drink 8 glasses of water per day (8)
Exercise Challenge: Do at least 10 minutes of exercise per day (20 minutes)
Step Challenge: Walk 6,000 steps per day (6,200)
January Challenge: Walk 50 miles this month (14.81 miles so far)

01/07/2014
H2O Challenge: Drink 8 glasses of water per day (8)
Exercise Challenge: Do at least 10 minutes of exercise per day (18 minutes)
Step Challenge: Walk 6,000 steps per day (6,612)
January Challenge: Walk 50 miles this month (17.99 miles so far)

Good morning, Mintdom!

I have made over 6,000 steps, three days in a row. I am even impressing myself! Two more days in a row and I will up it to 7,000 steps. My goal is to make 10,000 consistently. Taking baby steps seems to be working for me (sometimes I make my steps really tiny so I get more in LOL). Normally, I am much more aggressive when I start exercising; however, I also end up injuring myself and quit. Also, I am learning to fit my exercise into my lifestyle instead of adapting my lifestyle to my exercise. Every time I add something, I ask myself if I can do this every day for the rest of my life. So far, the answer has been, yes. On the down side, nothing is happening overnight. I’ve been at this for 79 days now. I am just trusting the process right now. Have you ever tried this approach? If not, maybe you should and see what happens.

“The principle is competing against yourself. It is about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.” ~ Steve Young~

AffirMINTion: I am taking baby steps on the path to a healthy lifestyle

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?

Life is good!

A Mini Minty MoMINT

My mom says… she takes baby steps every day… AND I LIKE IT!

Minty is improving on her sleep!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life is Minty Fresh!

Tennis Shoes and Tiaras

January 6,2014

1/3/2014 and 1/4/2014
I did not meet my goals, and especially 1/4

1/5/2014
H2O Challenge: Drink 8 glasses of water per day (8)
Exercise Challenge: Do at least 10 minutes of exercise per day (28 minutes)
Step Challenge: Walk 6,000 steps per day (6,096)
January Challenge: Walk 50 miles this month (11.79 miles so far)

Good morning!

After not meeting any of my goals for two days, I am back and it feels GREAT! Actually Friday, 1/3 was close with some of them. Friday was the night of our office Best Year Ever Party. Lots of glitz and glamour! Since the holidays I have been wearing tennis shoes all the time because I have a tracker on one that counts my steps and my activity. I debated and debated and in the end, I wore my black tennis shoes with the hot pink soles. To off set the shoes, I also wore a tiara. My mom used to tell me that you had to suffer for beauty. While my pride suffers every time I wear tennis shoes; it shoes how serious I am about staying on the right path AND I was probably the most comfortable person in the room! Even though I did not make my step goal that night, I am not giving up!

“The man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” – James Crook

AffirMINTion: I am willing to step out of my comfort zone.

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?

Life is good!

A Mini Minty MoMINT

My mom says…. it is haircut time… AND I LIKE IT!

Life is Minty Fresh!

January Challenges!

January 3, 2014

1/2/2014
H2O Challenge: Drink 8 glasses of water per day (7)
Exercise Challenge: Do at least 10 minutes of exercise per day (23 minutes)
Step Challenge: Walk 6,000 steps per day (6,180)
January Challenge: Walk 50 miles this month (5.6 miles so far)

Good morning Mintdom,

I am so excited to be in a new year; it is even better than a Monday – talking about a clean slate! Now let me see if I can muddy the waters a little. I have set up some challenges for myself in order to stay on the path to a healthy lifestyle. To some of you, these are a piece of cake and no challenge to you at all. To me and to some of you, these are difficult challenges – doable ones, however, doable ones.

 “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” – General George S. Patton

 Are you ready to take on the New Year? Do you want to feel the exhilaration of victory? Try setting up your own challenge. Please feel free to share your ideas here.

AffirMINTion: I already love the year 2014 and I look forward to the sweet taste of victory!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?

Life is good!

 A Mini Mint MoMINT

 My mom says… we can conquer what we put our minds to… AND I LIKE IT!

 Life is Minty Fresh!

Move It!

May 28, 2013

Swimming 1/2 hour

Good morning Mintdom!

Move more, move more, move more and move more. That is what I said to myself while I was in the pool today. I need to repeat that every day. My new goal is to swim! I LIKE swimming. I swam this afternoon and I am sore this evening, which is good news because it means that I did something. I enjoyed and I am sore!

Right now, I can swim freestyle without stopping about three fourths of the pool a couple of times but stopping in between. I want to be out there doing laps. I am not sure how long it will take me, but here is a list of my new goals:

1. Swim the whole way across the pool
2. Swim the whole way across the pool and back without stopping
3. Swim across the pool four times without stopping
4. Swim be on the Ellen DeGeneres show without stopping
5. Swim across the pool sixteen times without stopping
6. Swim across the pool twenty times without stopping

Since I have an indoor pool, I have no excuses for not making my goals. Do you have written goals? Do you have a plan to achieve your goal? If you do not have written goals, then why don’t you? If you have written goals, do you also have a plan?

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint Exupery (author of The Little Prince)

AffirMINTion: I choose to move more for my health

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?

Life is good!

PS Goal #4 is not an error – I just wanted to see if you actually read this stuff; although, I do want to be on her show one day! LOL

A Mini Minty MoMINT

My mom says…  Move more every day for your health… AND I LIKE IT!

Life is Minty Fresh!

 

xoxo

 

 

Let’s Move It!

10,000 Steps!

5/06/2013 – No Data
5/07/2013 – 5,884 Steps
5/08/2013 – 7,282 Steps
5/09/2013 – 6,091 Steps
5/10/2013 – 8,172 Steps
5/11/2013 – 4,184 Steps
5/12/2013 – 10, 012 Steps
5/13/2013 – 12, 200 Steps
5/14/2013 – 21,141 Steps (golf tournament)
5/15/2013 – 5,687 Steps
5/16/2013 – 7,008 Steps
5/17/2013 – 5,883 Steps
5/18/2013 – 4,866 Steps
5/19/2013 – 11,143 Steps

Good morning Mintdom

Do I ever love my pedometer! I have only had a few days that are below 5,000 steps and I believe I have never had over 10,000 steps in 2 weeks since I started counting.  I need to double that in the next 2 weeks.  I am actually excited about it. If you do not have a pedometer, I suggest that you get one – it really makes a difference!

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” – Albert Einstein

 The Surgeon General recommends that we walk 10,000 steps a day for our health. Does that seem like a difficult goal to reach? What are you doing for your health today?

AffirMINTion:  I enjoy setting and achieving my goals.

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?

Life is good

A Mini Minty MoMINT 

My Mom says… Albert Einstein must have been a very happy person… AND I LIKE IT!

Life is Minty Fresh!

 

 

 

Wow! A New Biological Discovery

May 6, 2013

5/4/13 – 5,423 Steps

5/5/13 – 6,511 Steps

Good morning, Mintdom

First, I cannot believe that it is not only the year, 2013, but also it is MAY 2013! Life is flying by – phew! Now that I have that out of the way, I believe I discovered a new biological discovery. I think my feet and my brain are connected.  The way I made the connection is that ever since I got my new pedoMINTer, I am much more aware of my moveMINTs for the day, but somehow looking down at the pedoMINTer and seeing how many steps, I am up to really kicks my brain into gear. I have to wait until the end of the day to check to see if I have met my goal with the Active Link. Both are GREAT in their own way; however, if I have not gotten my steps up to over 5,000 before I get home from work, I know that I have work to do.

I wore the pedoMINTer for two days and both days were up over 5,000. My goal is to have at least 10,000 steps a day consistently BEFORE the end of the summer. That is a doable goal. Who knows, maybe someone will do a study on the link between one’s brain and one’s feet and I can take credit for the discovery. LOL

Have you discovered something new about yourself lately? Do you have any new health goals for the summer? All I can say is that we need to hurry with our goals because time is flying by!

AffirMINTion: I move more each day! 

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to

What are you waiting for?

Life is good!

PS – Happy birthday to my good friend Jane (trubel to her BEST  and YOUNGER friends) LOL! trubel, I hope you have an awesome day, filled with the love and laughter of your family, my loveliest twin and your friends. :::: hugs::::

 

 

 

 

 

Aren’t you glad I didn’t call you an old bat? lol

A Mini Minty MoMINT

 My mom says… in order to be healthy you have to keep moving… AND I LIKE IT!

 

xoxo

 

Hurry and get those steps in!

 

Happy New Year from The Mint!

01/01/2013

Happy New Year, Mintdom!

Jeepers, it just seems like summer was over and the pool just closed and now the Holidays are over and it is 2013! My, my, my, life sure goes by quickly. I do not know about you, but I had a GREAT year with a new church, new and old family member, including Minty, awesome friends, a gratifying job and a wonderful home to live in.

Like Mondays, I love January 1 of any year. It is the Superbowl of Mondays! It is a chance for a fresh start, not just for the week, but for the whole year – heck for our whole lives. Although, I guess that making a new year’s resolution is not necessarily the ‘in thing’ to do these days; however, I like to make one along with the rest of my goals and this year I am adding a ‘word for the year’.

The Mint’s 2013 Word: Devotion (Profound dedication; consecration, earnest attachment to a cause, person, etc)

The 2013 Mint Resolution: Each day for the year 2013, I resolve to devote my time, energy and resources to my health – my spiritual, emotional and physical health

Minty Goals: Written with deadlines will hang by my desk at work and taped to my planner cover. I will share them during the year.

“New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.” – Charles Lamb

AffirMINTion: I am devoted to writing Mintdom each week.

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

What are you waiting for?

Life is Good!

A Mini Minty MoMINT

My mom says that she is devoted to me… and I like it!

What are you devoted to in life?

Life is Minty Fresh!