fit and fun sized - those under 5'4" - January 2012

:noway: :noway: The weatherman miscalculated and it dropped below freezing last night......so when I went out with the dogs for our walk around the neighborhood, it didn't take me long to figure out that the streets and driveways were dangerously icy :sad: so we came back to the house and went out to the big meadow behind our house where I walk the dogs individually in the morning and walked around there for our whole walk......there are lots of birds and good things to smell so the girls had fun....there was a lot of snow and no place was too icy to walk:bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: while the girls were sniffing I did squats or jogged in place to keep my heart rate up......I didn't get nearly as many steps as I do when we are walking on dry roads but it was a fun and healthy workout for all three of us....today is our Isagenix cleanse day so we'll be taking it easy the rest of the day.......there's a ton of laundry (towels from the dog grooming yesterday and towels from drying wet, icy dogs during the week).:bigsmile: ......in the afternoon we'll watch the football games....as former residents of Northern California we'll be rooting for the 49ers and I went to college in Baltimore for a year so I'll root for the Ravens in the other game.

:bigsmile: Jeannie, when I read "Younger Next Year" one of the recommendations was to join a gym and go there regularly. I am gone from my house too much and don't have the "wiggle room" in my budget to join even a modest priced gym so I have been on the lookout for how to do strength training at home. "Strong Women Stay Young" has a great strength training program designed to do at home, simple to follow and meant for women our age. It requires purchasing some dumbbells and ankle weights but that's a lot cheaper than joining a gym........also none of the exercises has to be done lying down......as you know, that was what always slowed me down with those great "Butt 'n' Gut" exercises.:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

:bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: Cheryl, I am so happy to hear about your wedding dress.:bigsmile: I learned a long time ago that if you relax and take it easy, you will intuitively know what decision to make

:bigsmile: :flowerforyou: fauxfatale, best wishes in finding ways to stay fit and active and motivated in the winter.......someone told me to start by getting out of my chair :bigsmile: :bigsmile: there are lots of good things to do indoors when it's too nasty to go out and many of them can be done to upbeat music or while watching TV:bigsmile:

thanks for posting this thread. I have been an off and on member for the past few months. I love to have some friends and chat up and inspire. Its hard going at it alone. This past year was tough. Moved to a new area, left my job and extended family to move to new place with hubby. Its hard. However I know 2012 will be great. I am just 5'3. Great things come in small packages

:flowerforyou: Somebody asked where I get the motivation do so much exercise…..here’s an example. Today while I was walking the dogs I saw two couples in cars come up the two block dead end street to the clubhouse to play cards. Three days ago I talked to my 80+ year old neighbor who was shoveling her driveway and she told me that she leaves her house at 4:45 AM every day to go to the community pool to swim. I am active today so I can be like my neighbor, not like the people who drive two blocks to spend the afternoon sitting.

:bigsmile: And for further inspiration, I found these two quotes:

“No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch.”

“You will never have the butt you want as long as you are sitting on the one you have.”

:bigsmile: It was icy again this morning so I had to stay close to home and walk in the meadow behind the house and the grassy area across the street. There is still a lot of snow on the ground but the warm afternoons (40 degrees) are melting it. We saw a lot of tree limbs that came down during the wind yesterday but no serious damage in our neighborhood.

:bigsmile: Hubby took the dogs with him when he went to do some errands this afternoon so I did yoga thinking I wouldn’t be disturbed…….but Bernie the cat wanted to bite my fingers while I was doing twists and downward facing dog. Just about the time I thought I’d have to stop and lock him in another room, he moved to the chair and lay there and watched me the rest of the time.

Barbie from NW Washington

January goals:
*keep walking the dogs for an hour or more every morning no matter how cold, wet, or snowy.
* do yoga three days a week
*100 squats a day

:bigsmile: :bigsmile: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :drinker: :drinker: I surprised myself in January by continuing to walk my dogs for two hours every morning and didn’t let rain, snow, ice, wind, or darkness interfere. I did some yoga but not three times a week. I stayed with the 100 squats a day challenge. I kept those goals for February and added the strength training goal to the list…….I’ve wanted to do strength training for years but didn’t really know what to do until I read “Strong Women Stay Young” and got a structured plan that I can follow and stick to. I carry my pedometer all day every day and continue to set goals of how many steps to walk each day.

And one more thing

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I told hubby that I still don’t want chocolates for Valentine’s Day

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I want heavier ankle weights and heavier dumbbells.

Barbie from NW Washington

February goals:
*walk the dogs for an hour or more every morning no matter how cold, wet, windy, or snowy.
* Yoga three days a week
*100 squats a day
*strength training two days a week (three would be better)