It looks like the answer may be "yes."
Something that fell by the wayside once I was getting back into the swing of being a student was ... the healthy joys of exercising. :) I have never had my "sport" or "exercise thing" that I just had to do (I am jealous of people who have those - ya knows, people who "have to" run??), but for periods, I do manage to get into a habit of getting my heart rate up, maybe lifting some small weights, or doing an exercise video of some sort. I did well in Montana when I belonged to a Curves-style place called Pick Up the Pace. I tend to be a pretty static 155 lbs these days, but when I was going there 4-5x a week, I tightened everything up and got down from 163 to 147. It was good for me - and it showed!
Well, once the studies kicked in ... exercise got itself kicked out of my schedule. So did Days of our Lives, fwiw, and I love that silly damn show... I tried propping my book up on our elliptical machine (my aerobic exercise of choice while the girl sleeps) so I could study/burn some calories, but it wasn't meant to be. Trying to read text while moving up and down left my head hurting and my tummy feeling yucky. With so much reading in my classes and an increasingly busy girl, it just... happened. :(
Today I am proud to announce that Tim and I dusted off the elliptical and both got workouts in. (He manages to go for much longer bouts than me, burning upwards of 1000 calories ... jerk.) ;) I am proud of us for "getting back on the horse" so to speak, but it makes me laugh that much of it may have been motivated by guilt. Ahh, my health insurance knows I'm Lutheran and they know how to reach me. We had the option to take this "health survey" that will give us money toward our deductibles and there are other incentives (working with a life coach over the phone and charts where we can track our progress) to earn more. So while these are all nice perks (we're both doing the life coach thing and probably the charts), I must say what got me going was having to write down that I wasn't working out anymore. And that I don't eat enough vegetables. Oh the shame. Oh the GUILT.
"But we'd been doing so good with the elliptical ... and cooking from scratch!" I sniffed to Tim. But that was before my semester was in full swing. Months ago. So when the questions asked, "How many days did you work out in the last 7?" I mean, I keep active with Maggie, but we aren't out going for jogs and doing yoga poses in the woods together. And as tempted as I was to lie to that silly website ... I couldn't... So I had to tell it the truth. And that judgmental jerk of a health assessment affirmed what I already stinkin' know - that I am overweight. I do need to exercise. I need to make better choices.
Maybe today's workout is born out of guilt for having to be honest with a damn computer, but nonetheless, this guilt will prove to be good for me. I hope I can get back into a routine and keep up a little better now that I am a "seasoned student" (whoo! 1 semester down - don't know my GPA yet, but it will either be 2 A's and a B+ ... or possibly 3 A's! I will report back). I am hoping that I can embrace some new healthy habits, lose a couple pounds, and get my energy back where it should be...
So thanks, Lutheran guilt, you're good for something. :)
