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!

 

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Stress Buster – Do it Now!

12/08/09 – 5,784 Steps
Food Journal – Yes

Good morning Mintdom

Last night at Weight Watchers, the topic was stress.  I did not say it in the meeting, but I will tell you one of my biggest stresses is procrastination.  If I have a task to do, especially one that I do not really want to do, it seems like the easier thing to put it off.  That is such an illusion because in reality, the whole time I am putting something off, it is in the back of my mind, sucking the energy and focus right out of me. It causes me more stress then just doing the task, AND stress lays the perfect groundwork to overeating. I guess I am telling you this because tonight I have a newsletter committee meeting for my community, and I have not completed my assignment.  I have had plenty of time, but I just kept putting it off. The meeting is tonight and now I will have to complete it in a hurry or let everyone know that I have not completed it.  Either option stresses me out.

“Putting off an easy thing makes it hard.  Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible.”
~George Claude Lorimer

“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.”  ~William James

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” ~Pablo Picasso

I am writing these quotes (and yesterday’s quote*) on a 3×5 card and carrying it with me to remind myself to ‘do it now’ and I am doing it now.  LOL!

AffirMINTion: I have a ‘Do It Now’ attitude!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to

Life is good!

“When there is a hill to climb, don’t think that waiting will make it smaller.” –H. Jackson Brown (no relation)

Entertaining with The Mint

12/1/09 – 5,793

Food Journal – No

Good morning Mintdom,

God sure does work in great ways in my life.  Yesterday afternoon, I made up my mind that I was not going to go to Weight Watchers (WW).  I just could not face that darn scale – UG!  I even tried making plans with my Tuesday dinner friend, but he was busy (God: 1). Then, the phone rang.  It was a woman that is in my Weight Watchers group and she was calling because she needed a ride.  Of course, I could not say no (God: 2). so I picked her up and off we went to WW. Now there is this little coupon in the back of the WW book that says that I can have one week without the scale.  I totally intended on using it.  I even brought it up to the scale opened to that page, but when I got up there, I tossed it to the instructor, and said, “Here, just tell me how much I gained.” (God: 3) How is that for positive thinking LOL?  (Even I slip into negativity on occasion).  I got up on the scale and I LOST 1.8 pounds! (God: Home Run!).  I happen to be a Christian, so I give credit to God (I blame Him too sometimes LOL) who worked through my friend Ben who was too busy for dinner.  He worked through my friend Karen who recommended me as a driver, through my new friend Linda, who needed the ride, and for the instructors at Weight Watchers who create a safe and fun environment that enabled me to get on that scale one more time.  For those of you who are not Christians, you do not have to be a Christian to know the power of positive thinking.

“There will always be times when you feel discouraged.  I too, have felt despair many times in my life, but – I do not keep a chair for it; I will not entertain it; and it is not allowed to eat from my plate.” –Claris Pinkola Estes

I need to remember this quote when the negative thoughts come into my mind.  What do you do to keep negative thoughts at bay?  I would love to hear your answers here or on Mintdom www.Mintdom.com. 

AffirMINTion: I ONLY entertain empowering thoughts and emotions at my table!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

Life is good!

Be Active – Get Moving Today!

10/09/09 – 5,383

Food Journal – Yes

10/10/09 – No Data

Food Journal – No

Good Morning, Mintdom,

Yesterday, my pedometer reset itself.  I do not know when it happened, but when I looked at it last night, it said that I had only walked 1,500 steps.  I KNOW that, that was not the case since I did do some intentional walking yesterday, plus a little shopping, which always boosts my steps.  Anyway, that is why there is no data from yesterday. The pedoMINTer that I am wearing these days is the Weight Watchers one; it is my fifth pedometer.  Speaking of pedometers, I just saw this article on www.SparkPeople.com that re-enforces that I am on the right path!

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Add Steps to Subtract Pounds

Pedometers Motivate & Encourage — By Nicole Nichols, Fitness Instructor & Health Educator

Researchers from the University of Tennessee asked overweight women to clip on pedometers to track their steps. They divided these women into two groups. One group was told to aim for 10,000 steps a day (the common recommendation considered to be “active”), while the second group was told simply to walk briskly for 30 minutes, most days of the week (a common—but minimum—fitness recommendation). The study found that the step counters averaged over 10,000 steps daily, while the minute counters averaged between 8,270 to 9,505 steps on the days the DID meet their 30-minute goals, and merely 5,597 steps on the days they didn’t exercise for 30 minutes. The researchers conclude that setting your goals in steps (rather than minutes) may be the best way to increase your overall activity.

Action Sparked
If you’re having a hard time getting into a regular fitness routine, using a pedometer may help motivate you. It’s a simple way to track your progress, and you can easily continue to beat your past records (even if only by 5, 10, or 100 steps). Tracking your steps is another way to gauge your activity level—especially for the average deskbound worker. (People with active jobs, such as servers, may exceed 10,000 steps at work alone, but should still plan structured fitness activities.)

Walking less than 5,000 steps daily is considered sedentary, 5,000 to 9,999 is considered low to somewhat active, and 10,000 steps or more is active.

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Yikes – walking less than 5,000 steps daily is considered sedentary!  Now THAT is a real revelation!  Therefore, from now on, I feel like unless I am sick or injured, I always need to walk at least 5,000 steps per day!  I know my goal is 7,000 for October, and it remains that, but I am now adding a minimum!

With that, I am going to go take a little walk now.  IIf you have not been to www.SparkPeople.com, go now.   love you all and I hope you are having a GREAT weekend!

AffirMINTion:  I am becoming an active person!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

Life is good!

Mintdependable!

10/06/09 – 5,323

Food Journal – Partial

Good morning Mintdom!

I have good news and bad news.  I always start with the bad news first – that way I always end on a good note!  The bad news is that I had another day of missing my step-goal AND I did not finish my food journal.  I can tell you that I do not have to do the food journal to know that I overdid it as far as that goes, yesterday.  I am not starting October out very well, am I?  I probably need a little more then a ‘Spark’ to re-light my fire. I am not beating myself up about it though – I just need to do better today.

Now here is the good news.  I went to Weight Watchers last night and I lost weight this week, AND last week; in fact, this is the third week in a row of losing weight – Whooo hooo!!!

I wonder if it is a coincidence that this is my third week of keeping a food journal.  Maybe that is the ‘Spark’ that I need.  I believe that it is!  Do you see the beauty in writing?  Just writing these few thoughts down this morning has ‘Sparked’ me on to be more diligent.  I hope that if you are not keeping a diary of some kind, that you will thoughtfully consider it.  Keeping a journal is not that time consuming, and the benefits are amazing!

“You don’t have to let yourself be terrorized by other people’s expectations of you.” –Sue Patton Thoele (Author of The Courage to Be Yourself)

You know that I am on a time kick; and working on streamlining my life.  This quote reminded me of something that I learned, years ago.  I need to begin to implement it again.  What I learned, was how to make my yeses mean yes, and my no’s mean no.  In my younger days, (my kids might call it the olden days) I was a stay-at-home mom.  I LOVED it!  I was never bored.  I volunteered at the school, and was on several civic committees.  It is funny how life can repeat itself.  Like now, I got over-committed.  I had to learn how to say no or things started to fall through the cracks and I was going to let people down.  Then I read an article somewhere that gave the perfect way to start saying no.  The article said that when someone asked you to do something, tell him or her that you would check your calendar and get back to him or her.  This gave me time to think about my answer, and check my calendar.  It gave me a little cooling off period.  When I got back in touch with him or her, almost every time, they found someone else to do the job.  Anyway, it is a good trick if you have a difficult time saying no.  I need to follow that trick again!

AffirMINTion: I am dependable – my yeses mean yes, and my no’s mean no!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

Life is good!

What Matters Most!

09/29/09 – 6,348

Food Journal – Yes

11-Knee Exercises – 4

Good morning Mintdom!

I only did four out of the 11 exercises yesterday; however, I DID LQQK at the rest of them.  LOL!  I also went over my 6,000-step goal so as you can see, I was on the move yesterday.  I feel good about the day.  I feel good about my program.  Through Mintdom, Weight Watchers and Spark People, my program is getting deeper.

It is not just about the physical aspect of my program; it is about the emotional and mental part too.  One of the benefits of regular exercise is that I feel better in general.  I have more energy; I am more focused, and less stressed.  In addition, as I go through this journey, I am forming new relationships with people who focus on their health and overall well-being too.

The other day, I asked for ideas for non-food rewards. One of my new friends wrote the following:  “Personal rewards for me are ‘scheduling’ time with girlfriends…be it coffee, lunch…walking or just even to give my permission to sit and chat!”  Then she went on to write what I think is worthy of the quote for the day.

“Relationships are what keep us connected…to what really matters in life!”

–Mary L. (Hospice worker)

I know that most people would say that Mary deals with death everyday so she understands what matters in life.  I say that Mary deals with LIFE everyday so she understands what matters in life and I agree with her – our connections with others is what really adds to our overall well-being and it is what matters in life!

Speaking of important relationships today is my Mom’s birthday. I am blessed to have the BEST mom in the whole world!  My mom (and Nancy, Becky, Jeff, and Jon’s mom too) can be as fierce as a lion (if anyone hurts her kids) and as soft as a lamb (if any of her kids get hurt).  Mom is there for us through our mistakes, and there for us through our triumphs; sometimes our mistakes turn out to be our greatest triumphs. Mom is there when we are sick and when we are well.  Mom is our teacher, our encourager, and our example of grace under extreme pressure.  Mom is beautiful inside and out and a one in a gazillion Mom.  Happy birthday Mom, I hope your day is filled with love and laughter.  I love you, Mom xoxoxoxo

One in a Gazillion

The Mint Challenge

08/19/09 – No Data

Good morning Mintdom!

I got a new pedoMINTer last night so I am back online!  whoo hoo!  I really missed that little tracker.  It has become like an appendage for me.  It is a nice one (Weight Watchers) in that it has a safety clip so if it falls off it does not go in the toilet like a previous one!  LOL! It is interesting, because I almost feel that that the pedoMINTer connects to my brain too. Of course, the past week has been a challenging one for my family, but since I have not worn my pedoMINTer for the past few days, I have thought less about my steps and about moving. Posting ‘No Data’ was getting easier to do too, so I made it extra big to make an impact on my brain.  I think you call that a mind game! hehehe Anyway, I have a new one and I am baaaack!

As many of you know, it has been a challenging week aside from the missing pedoMINTer.  My daughter’s stepson’s Mom died unexpectedly at age 32.  This is such a sad time for her family, and especially her 8-year old son.  I am amazed, but not surprised at how my daughter and son-in-law are dealing with the challenge of getting their children (my daughter also has an 8-year old daughter) through it all.  They have put their children’s welfare first.  They hung framed photos of his mom on the family wall without hesitation.  They are creative also.  For instance – they game them each a pair of ‘magic glasses’ (adult sunglasses) to wear at the funeral for when/if they cried.  Those are just a couple of examples. This sad event has really shined a light on this young couples love for their children, and their parenting skills. They really need to write a parenting book.

I also want to take a minute to say again, how grateful I am to my family and friends, who have reached out from all over the country, and surrounded this little family with love through words and deeds.  I could not have ordered a better group of people. I love you all so much!

“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” –Bernice Johnson Reagan

Do you have a challenge that you want to share?  Please feel free to share a challenge (large or small) here www.Mintdom.com.  What did you discover about yourself during this challenge?  You never know how you will help or inspire someone in the world.

AffirMINTion:  I grow through each challenge that I face.

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

Life is good!

Mintdom – The Fortress

08/11/09 – 6,194

Good morning Mintdom!

I got a little walking in last night – whew!  That felt good, but I do not want to get into the habit of planning to walk at night.  That is VERY dangerous thinking on my part, because there is too much of a risk of something ‘more important’ to take ‘priority’ then doing my intentional walk.  I am going to have to walk this evening though, because I overslept this morning.  I really want to do at least 6,000 steps each day.  I am already thinking that I will have to push my 10,000 steps-a-day goal to September.

I am not ready to toss out the white flag of surrender.  I still have fight in me; although, last night was probably not a great indication of that.  I went to Weight Watchers, and was up about a half of a pound.  I know it is not even a pound, but honestly, it is frustrating to do all this work when it does not show on the scale.  I know, I know – “I am building muscle.”  I hear that. I know my clothes are getting looser on me too.  I also know that I am getting stronger, and moving more then I have since I was in my 20’s and 30’s.  Getting strong and healthy is my main goal, and I DO see that, that is happening. It just seems that I have been doing this for so long, and it is all not happening fast enough.  I gave up in the past; however today I am choosing to listen to Margaret Thatcher.

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it” – Margaret Thatcher

Today, think about the battles you are fighting.  Are they worth the fight?  If they are worth your time and energy, what are your strategies?  Do you have a written plan of action?  I cannot tell you enough about the value in writing, and writing in public is like charging up a hill with your army!  You do not have to write in public, like I do, but I strongly suggest that in order to win whatever war you are in, use your greatest weapons – pen and paper, or your computer, and write!  Come back to Mintdom daily – it can be your fortress!

AffirMINTion:  I keep fighting for my goals!

Make it a GREAT day, IF you choose to.

Life is good!