Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Walking and Wellness

When I began thinking of why I hadn't been blogging, two words leapt to the front of my mind...garden and walk....and I figured I'd just do two long posts and catch up. This is the walking one.....and since it's the last day of the month, it turned into a recap of my wellness journey in June (at the end). 

This morning Stacia and Millie went for a walk with me. It was our first time to try a walk with Millie in the neighborhood. She did pretty good. She was a bit unnerved by big dogs barking at her, but she gamely kept on. We're going to have to figure out where we want her to stay when we have her on the leash...but she'll learn as we learn.
Oh my puppy loving heart!

It's pretty apparent when Millie is done. She walked about 3/4 of a mile with us. That's a good start. We walked by the house and dropped Stacia and Millie off - I continued on for a 6 mile walk.
Ah - so sweet

I set a goal to walk 20 miles a week….and so I've been walking through May and June. When I started a mile was a good day, I've done over 6 miles a couple of times recently.

One day in May I was walking when these two ran by....I'm content to walk. LOL 
May 10th - Stacia and Krista

Such a pretty area! 
May 13th 


When I'm tired of walking "the loop," I walk around town....and during Dad's Physical Therapy. 
May 21st


Some mornings are misty....my favorite farm. I am thankful I was up to see this. 


May 26th....

Spectacular walking scenery...
May 28th 
On the 31st this gal showed up in the hood.....

One thing I have loved about walking is being able to really notice things in the area as opposed to zipping by in the car. This day I noted several places out here have old, original buildings they've left on their place. I think it's cool. The old cabin which was on our place burned down before this house was built. 

Still some snow on June 1st. 

I remember clearly the day I tried a new street and the views just kept getting better and better. I can't get enough of these mountains - even on cloudy rainy days. 

Walking with Benny is always an adventure. 

 Baachan! Watch out. Bad guys! 

And then....about mid-June....color started showing up.  Walking allowed me to notice all the changes along the side of the road. I resisted slowing my pace to take pictures for about a week. I finally just slowed down mid-June and grabbed photos. 






This is the day I conquered my, "all or nothing," mindset. This has plagued my wellness journey for decades. You know...."I've already blown it, may as well start over on Monday...."  "I can't run, what's the point of WALKING!"  "I don't have time for a long walk, I'll go tomorrow." 
June 18th 
I didn't have TIME for a 5 mile walk before Bible Study with Stacia....but I DID have time for a 2.5 mile walk.....then we walked another 1+ mile together during study and THEN we walked AGAIN after dinner. I ended up the day with 6 1/2  miles....on a day when I "didn't have time to walk." 

I was feeling good after my mindset change....and then the next several days...it RAINED...and so I walked in the rain. I didn't melt. I decided I will miss walking in the winter and so I'll just do it every chance I get in the summer....rain or shine. 
The mountain disappeared - it was cold and my pace was much quicker.

June 20th - started out raining and got better as I walked. 

I love this spot....

A quick afternoon walk with Stacia on the 22nd of June
Look hair is combed and there is make up. ::snort:: 
THEN MILLIE JOINED US
June 26th  - Oh I LOVE THE SUN! All 21 hours of it!

I never would have guessed walking would become such a part of my morning. I've walked my way through this Covid season.  I watch YouTube messages, I polo with sister friends and my cousin (not sure why I don't call), I process what I've read in the Word, I pray....

A summary of my wellness journey in June....I participate in challenges with @thegotgoalsgirl (Instagram/You Tube)….June's was #FineTuneJune2020....each week had a different focus, but the overall fine tune message sums up my month. 

For a variety of reasons (budget being one) I decided to go with a cheaper app ($3 a month instead of $20) that would track my meals. I took the money I saved and invested it in joining a weekly small group online.  There isn't a local workshop that worked - I'm not driving to Anchorage or paying $60 a month to attend WW Zoom meetings.  I'm putting out about the same amount monthly and now I have the app and weekly meetings that I enjoy.

I was TERRIFIED to leave WW...and then I had the "tool talk" breakthrough late in May. I used both apps for a week or two and noticed something shocking. I was EATING MY WW points....I was NOT going over....and I had stalled for about 6 weeks.  Even when I lost it was about 4/10th of a pound a week.  The new ap can track calories, carbs etc...as well as points...and I SAW I had been averaging 600 -800 calories a day. Wow...adding calories has started me losing again.

I've lost 4 lbs in June.  

I've walked 105 miles.   I don't miss the elliptical. 

I'm 8 lbs from my WW goal....but that's another thing I changed this month. I've chosen to deliberately put more focus on the daily practices/habits I'm gaining than in the "goal."  Those habits are ones I will need to continue...I'm focusing on what I need to do to maintain....and the weight will stop coming off when it does. 

I'm content. 

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