Mary Hardin

May 9,

I have decided I am not a “blogger” but I enjoy reading other people’s postings.  I have really enjoyed this challenge.  I feel like I have made some personal changes not only for myself, but for my family.  My children are reading food labels more, they are being more physically active, and don’t complain when we eat “healthy”.  I try and buy lowfat food items for my husband and myself and just the “normal” things for my kids.  They don’t really need to lose weight- everything in moderation.  Probably for me eating less cheese and drinking lowfat milk have helped in my weight reduction.  I am also sticking to my “dessert free” life style at least until the 100 days is over.  I think my sweet tooth will have grown smaller.  My daughter and I started a water aerobic class together at BYU.  For me a variety of activities is more my lifestyle although I enjoy using my treadmill when I have put off exercising until late at night.  Two more weeks to go- it’s hard to believe the time has gone by so fast.  I know I have developed healthy habits which have led to big improvements in my heart health as well as weight loss .

Several of us were given the chance to participate in a beginning yoga class yesterday.  The Daily Herald was there taking short video clips of us in our graceful positions.  I was basically looking forward to an hour of relaxation before doing my Saturday yard work.  I was sweating by the end of the workout and I can tell today my muscles were stretched a bit.  I had to look around to see how to do things because I was not familiar with the yoga “vocabulary” but there was enough repetition that I was able to catch one.  The instuctor was very helpful in talking us through everything  and I didn’t feel too out of place.  There were ladies there that could really bend!  One thing that I had to concentrate on was my breathing.  We were told to breath out of our nose and you can hear this loud breathing from everyone in the room.  We were told it should sound like ocean waves and it did!  I was concentrating on my positioning so I had to keep remembering to breath properly.  All in all  the yoga class was a good experience and a class that I would consider taking in the future.

It was a wonderful week for me having my daughter visit as well as two grandchildren.  However, when the routine gets changed it is hard to “maintain” fitness goals.  My exercise last week included several walks pushing a stroller.  Also, my daughter and her husband have taken up the hobby of gourmet cooking and she tried some recipes on us.  Tasty, but definitely not low calorie!  I am sticking with my goal of not eating desserts.  I have not missed the sugar as much as I thought, and know that it is a healthy change I needed to make.  Have a great week ladies!

My goal last week was to drink more water.  I put 8 small magnets on the side of my metal stove  top where I could see them.  For each cup of water I drank I moved one magnet over to the “done” pile.  This was an easy way for me to remember how much I had drunk (is that the right word) in a day.  It is getting easier to exercise and I bought a ball 2 days ago so I could do my graceful ball situps and pushup in private!

It was fun to see the videos of us who are involved in this heart healthy challenge.  I noticed my back view was not very flattering!  Hope to change that.    When the winning contestant from last years contest said she had not eaten any desserts ( or sweets, I can’t remember how she said it) I thought ,I can do that.  By cutting out sweets I can lost weight.  I love desserts and eat way too much sugar.  Most desserts also have lots and lots of fat in them.  so… I am trying to go 100 days without eating desserts that aren’t heart healthy.   It is interesting the temptations from well meaning friends/children/events.  The first day of the challenge I had just come back from my walk and my kind neighbor had brought over a plate of lucious chocolate chip cookies.  I will be strong and withstand temptation!!!