Monday, October 11, 2010

Mamvation Monday

Today marks one week since I decided to create this blog and document my journey to a healthier me, or as my blog title says "One Fit Mama".

If I have to give myself a grade for healthy behavior this week, I would award myself a B+. I was able to exercise for more than 100 minutes this week, and ate great for 5 out of 7 days. However, a weekend trip to Altanta + poor planning on my part added up to two days of poor food choices and limited activity.

However, it is a new week full of new oppurtunities. Here are my goals for this week:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water every day. - I perform better when I am probably hydrated. Exercise is easier, my muscles recover faster, I don't seem to suffer from a mid-afternoon slump.

2. Eat 5 servings of fruit/veg daily.

3. Keep up with the Movement Challenge - My goal for this week is 120 minutes of exercise.

What are you goals for this week?

Friday, October 8, 2010

Running is like mouthwash; if you can feel the burn, it's working

Two years ago my then boyfriend (now hubby) and I had plans to run a 5K together. For several months we trained using the Couch to 5K plan, but a mere month prior to the race, I was sidelined with really bad knee pain. Intial indications were that it was a tear to one of my liagments . However, that diagnosis turned out to be wrong. The injury was the result of overuse and I was able run that the race . But afterwards, my doctor suggested a take a full month off from running, and so I did. One month became two, two became thre....

And as you probably guessed within a few months I had given up running all together. But recently the demands of my job, my new daughter, and general life have had me longing to lace up my sneaks and head off for a run. So I've dusted off my old copy of the Couch to 5K program and have set out to gain the ability to run a 5K.

I am not at Week 5. Yesterday, was the first workout of that week. The plan for the day looked like this:

5 minute warm up walk
5 minute jog
3 minute walk
5 minute jog
3 minute walk
5 minute jog
5 minute cool down walk.

The first two jogging segments posed little difficulty for me. Since I was running indoors, I was able to set the treadmill's pace to a comfortable 5.3 and keep steady. However, the last 5 minute segment was HARD . My legs felt like lead pipes, my lungs were burning, and I developed a sharp pain in my side. I had to cut that segment down to just 3 minutes.

After my run, I wondered what went wrong. Looking back over the day, I realized that I had not properly fueled my body or hydrated very well. So today, I am eating better and getting in my daily water. I hope to repeat yesterday's workout this evening, and have better results.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

I like to Move it, Move it....

After pressing publish on my introductory post, I decided to google "Mama and Healthy Living Blog" -- hoping that I might find other Mama who are blogging their way to better health.

Imagine my delight when Google pulled up the site Mamavation . I spent at least two hours reading thru the various posts. And I nearly squealed with glee (yes, I am easily excited) when I found this challenge.

I work out severeal times a week. But I am not certain that I am reaching 100 minutes of sweat inducing cardio. So I am signing up for this challenge, alebeit a few days late.

I am hopefully that the other particpants in the challenge will hold me accountable and help me move more.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

An Introduction

If you are reading this, then you have either followed me from my other blog or you have stumbled upon me from a tweet, a comment on another blog, or just by random luck. Either way, I am happy to have you.

For those of you who may be new readers, let me introduce myself. I'm Kimberly. A 28 year old newlywed and new mother.  By day, I am the director of compliance at a rural hospital in my hometown. And my night, I am wife, mommy, aerobics instructor, and fledgling healthy living blogger.

Why a Healthy Living Blog?

I have been reading healthy living blogs for nearly two years ago. My first HLB was Kath's blog .  After a few months of lurking on her blog, I started reading the various blogs that she linked to...and I was hooked. I enjoyed reading about the delicous receipes the bloggers created, their struggles with training, and the daily happenings in their lives. Their lives were very similar to mine, they were 20 something women trying to pursue a healthy lifestyle.

Two months ago, my company instituted a wellness program. Each employee underwent a routine physical, extensive blood work, and a body composition analysis. The physical and body composition analysis returned great results – I have a healthy BMI. But the blood work uncovered several problems. First, my cholesterol level was 229. That meant that I was in the borderline high category. Additionally, my triglyceride level was 144. The employee health nurse told me that I should have a triglyceride level of less than 100.

The results were shocking to me. I had always envisioned myself as a healthy person. However, my blood work revealed that there was more that I could accomplish. For two weeks, I wrote down every bite of food that passed my lips. I then took that data to a registered dietician. Her recommendations were simple:

1.Eat more fruits and vegetables – On an average day, I am eating only 1 or 2 fruits and vegetables.
2.Reduce sodium intake – It was advised that I keep sodium to 1500 mg a day. My food journal showed that I was consuming at least twice those levels. Yikes!
3.Reduce fat intake – I should be taking in 50 grams of fat a day….there were days where I took in nearly double that amount.

The RD also suggested that I continue to keep a food journal as a measure of accountability. But I found that simply writing my food intake on a piece of paper was boring and easy for me to skip. Therefore, I decided to create “One Fit Mama” – a place were I can capture (via photos) my meals/snacks and record my workouts.

I also hope that “One Fit Mama” will allow me to foster new friendships with other woman who are on the journey to a healthier version of themselves.

If you’ve made it to this point, thanks for reading! And again, welcome!