Perks and peeves of walking

Yesterday I took a break from walking due to joint pain and total fatigue from lack of sleep. I did, however, go outside and pull weeds for an hour. I have a large planter box in my back yard that had a ton of grass in it. Getting the grass out was tough....I practically had sod growing in there it was so dense. Needless to say, it was a great activity for me and it allowed me to take Ashton outside to play.

Today I wanted to talk about some of the perks of walking for me and some of the "peeves" or things that bother me on my walks.
Perk: Sunshine. How I love the sunshine as long as it is not too hot outside.
Peeve: Dog poop on lawns. I make it a point to take plastic bags in case Mandy does her business on someone's lawn. I pick it up and put it in the nearest garbage can.

Perk: Improved mood. I feel so good while I'm outside and so feel so accomplished that I have been dedicated to doing something good for myself.
Peeve: Lack of sleep. I get home so late from work and am often not in bed until 2am then wake up around 7-7:30 am. 5 hours is just not enough sleep for me.

Perk: Spending time with Ashton. Ashton loves to go for walks and I don't have to send him to daycare while I exercise. It sets a good example for him so he learns to love exercise and activity.
Peeve: Back and joint pain. My osteoarthritis really gets to me sometimes and makes it difficult to push myself to get out.

Mostly, walking is great. I wore my shape-ups today while I walked and noticed a difference in my back pain and joint pain. I really think they add more shock absorption when I walk. The New Balance shoes were good, but I did notice a difference today. I guess I will keep wearing them.

On my walk I see some cute and funny things. There are a few dogs who can jump high enough that you think they are going to come over the fence. I tried to get a picture of one of the cute dogs I see. This one must be standing on something to be able to put his/her paws on top of the fence and look over. I tried to get a picture but the little rascal got down before I could snap a picture. I will try to post a picture of him another time.
I also see some beautiful things on my walk.

Today I enjoyed looking at a field of wild flowers near my house. They were bright yellow and had a strong scemt which made me sneeze, but none the less, I enjoyed how bright and beautiful they were in the sunlight.
It's important to take time to enjoy the little things in life and celebrate every triumph. If you're a fluffy girl like me or not, it is O.K. to acknowledge the annoyances of getting fit but it will not make things easier. For every annoyance, make sure to focus on the positive in the situation or think about the positives to come for all of your hard work.

Starting up

I started this fitness blog to keep track of my personal fitness, weight, and overall health. As a big "fluffy" girl, fitness and eating right has always been a struggle. I used to love to do step aerobics when I was younger but that was long before I developed osteoarthritis in both my knees. I have always loved to swim and did water aerobics for about 12 years until I gave birth to my son...... it has been difficult to get to water aerobics by 9 am when I work until midnight the night before. So, I decided to just put my boy in the stroller and go walking in the morning. The pain in my knees limited how many times a week I could go, but ever since I decided to get cortisone injections in both knees, pain has not been an issue and I have been able to go 4 to 5 times a week.
As someone who has struggled with weight my whole life, I recently have been studying some of my thin friends to see what they do to maintain weight, health, and fitness. I had a conversation with a good friend at work the other day. She is in her late 50s and is in amazing shape and is absolutely gorgeous. She allows herself to have treats but eats healthfully and exercises EVERY DAY. I decided that I too needed to exercise every day like she does, allow myself one fulfilling treat per day, and to try to eat a healthy diet. For the next month I am focusing on exercising every day and will then work on perfecting the other elements of fitness and weight loss.
I decided the one thing I could do every day is walk and I could take my son along with me in the stroller. I first started walking with a traditional four wheeled stroller. It worked alright but then decided I needed to get a jogging stroller. I really didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a new jogging stroller since Ashton is 19 months and may grow out of it before long. So, I went on to KSL.com and found a great, barely used, jogging stroller which I only paid $80 for. It has made all the difference in the world in my walk. I can go faster and it goes over bumps much easier. The great thing is it has a canopy to shade Ashton and cup holders for both Ashton and me. Cup holders are a necessary accessory in a stroller!
Most of the time I wear my Shape-up shoes to walk in. Mostly I think they are great: I think they give me more shock absorption for my sore back and knees. However, I think they are hard on my ankles and I worry about rolling my ankles because of how high the sole of the shoe is. Today I wore my old New Balance walking shoes. They felt great but provided no shock absorption for my back. Guess I need to try to find a different shoe that helps with more shock absorption.
Ashton, my dog, and I start at my house and walk 2.5 miles around the neighborhood. I finally know for sure that is how far I am walking. A friend of mine recommended a web site to me where you can map and track how far you walk, it's called mapmywalk.com. Such a great site. It me figure out which roads to take in my neighborhood to get the distance I wanted. It takes me 60 minutes to walk 2.5 miles (I'm not very fast due to arthritis) so another goal of mine is to increase my speed. I felt very accomplished today though since I didn't stop once during my hardest uphill climb. I had to keep pushing myself by repeating telling myself I could do it over and over. I totally did it and feel great about it.
This fluffy girl is ready to get fit, lose weight, and stay that way. I don't want Ashton to struggle with weight the way I always have, that is why it is so important that I focus on this. His life, and my life, are both at stake.