On my first blog I introduced myself and its purpose.  So now let’s get started.

I gave you Challenge #1 – make a couple of goals for yourself to attain by 1 May 2026, or whatever date suits you.  I realized that was a little vague, so I want to expand on it.  For most of us, our health goal is to lose weight or to be able to accomplish an activity.  The goal I set for myself is to lose 5 lbs. by 1 May.  It doesn’t sound like much but trust me, I have been trying to accomplish this goal all 2025.  You would think it would be easy.  After all, I eat well, exercise for 30-40 minutes 3 or 4 times a week.  And my question is when I don’t lose 5 lbs. but gain 3 lbs. is why.  Well, it may be my cheat – cookies and Crème Brulé.  Those are 2 things I love and don’t put up much of a fight to resist them.  I can eat 1 cookie, and it shows on the scale the next day. So, you see, it isn’t as easy as it sounds.  I will bet that most of you feel the same way I do. So working together, we can be each others inspiration and be accountable to each for the strength to reach our goals. It is always better to have a partner to help motivate and keep you on track. That is the goal for this blog. Educate, motivate, and accomplish habits that will last a lifetime.

After reading “Good Energy”, I found that my healthy eating may not actually be all that healthy. I am slowly changing my eating habits, which is hard to do with a husband that doesn’t always embrace those changes.  I still eat unpackaged veggies, no red meat (a personal choice only), avoid having sweets in the house, and rarely eat fast food. But there are ingredients in our diets that sabotage us.  One of the most obvious is sugar, but there are many others.  So, in future blogs I will be discussing those ingredients. 

When I am weak, I never beat myself up.  That does no good.  I need to love the good and the bad about myself and try to change the bad.  I hope you all feel the same way.

Let’s go back to the challenge.  Is your goal to lose weight?  Start by weighing yourself.  I hate doing that also but do it once a week to get a feel for how you are doing.

Here are some suggestions to make your goal a reality.  Take a 10-minute walk after your main meal 3-4 times a week.  You can walk in your neighborhood, which also has the advantage of meeting your neighbors or reconnecting with them. I know it is really cold right now and not very inviting.  Overcoming obstacles is one of the ways we can reach our goals. There are videos on YouTube for short indoor walks, which overcomes the obstacle of walking after dark or in the cold.  Tone and Tighten is a series of videos for getting in a short walk and my favorite go-to for those indoor walks.  There is a nice variety and a few extra moves are added to increase its effectiveness.  You can do them or not. 

Also, to lose weight we have to start by changing some of our eating habits. I will be writing about that in the upcoming blogs.

If you have a goal of adding more activity to your life, the 10 minute walk is a good start.  Each week you can add time and build up to your goal. Another way to get that 10 minutes in is to play your favorite dance music and have some fun!  I love dancing and listening to my favorite music always gets me moving.

If you have a specific activity in mind, start out by doing that activity 10 minutes, or what seems appropriate, and build up on that. One activity I would like to accomplish is a 3-minute plank. I have worked on this for years. I can never last more than 1 1/2 minutes. In this case, I would start out for the 1 1/2 minutes 3-4 times a week, then move up 15 seconds after two weeks and continue on that pace until I can stay in position for 3 minutes. That is my goal #2.

For changing your eating habits, resist one temptation once a week for the 2 weeks. Easy, peasy.

I want you to post back to me. Tell me the goal you want to reach by 1 May, or your chosen date.   Let me know how many times in the 2 weeks you walked, did you stay to the 10 minutes or did you go longer?  Did you walk outside or inside?  At the end of the 2 weeks was there any change to your energy level or weight?  If you weren’t able to accomplish what you wanted, don’t worry.  Life is full of setbacks and barriers and you’ll do better next time.

We are going to start out slowly and build up.  I was only going to post once a month, but now I think I may post twice a month. 

I hope you are enjoying my blog.  I look forward to your feedback.  We can do this.

In the meantime

A Santé