How Do You Stay Active?

One of the downfalls of doing genealogy is that you sit at your desk quite a bit. For someone like me who has a underactive thyroid that doesn’t help the weight situation. I’ve struggled with my weight all my life.

On July 7th I’m having my photo taken for a magazine article in; Womanition. I was in the magazine last year but I swore that if I was ever in it again that I wouldn’t have to look at that pudgy face. So I’m back working hard with my trainer. Poor Joel, he has his work cut out for him. I’ve worked with Joel for over a year and he has to deal with my poor eating choices while on the road and my lack of consistency with exercise. Travelling can be a real challenge as you end up eating in restaurants and sometimes it’s tough to maintain that willpower.

So I’m trying a few things; I’m working on keeping my diet low in starches. I say I’m on a low-carb diet but Joel always corrects me and tells me I’m staying away from starch. It’s a good thing because I tend to binge on starch. The other thing I’m doing is trying to get more walking in besides what I do at the gym. I decided one thing that I missed was my Fitbit. Did you know that they don’t do well when you wash them in the washing machine? I’ve washed my twice; the first time was fine but the second time it didn’t fare out so well. That one I had clipped on my clothing and I alway forgot to take it off before putting my clothes in the hamper.

This time I bought myself a watch version because typically I remember to take it off my watch when I wash.  It’s called a Blaze and so far I’m loving it. I love the color and it does even more than it’s predecessor (the one that clipped on my clothes). You can sync it with your phone so it will tell you who’s calling and even give you your text messages.

Then as for activity; it will tell you how many steps you have taken, your heart rate, miles walked, calories burned, floors climbed. Even how many steps I’ve climbed in the last hour and it encourages me if I haven’t walked enough steps in an hour. You can also track, running, biking, weight training, elliptical and many other activities. There is also something called Fitstar which is a yearly personal training program with guided coaching (watch out Joel). With the Blaze, there is even a guided meditation type program where you can set the timer for 2  or 5 minutes.

The other thing that’s helping me is something Joel thought of. Often on the road, you stay at places that don’t have a gym so Joel has designed two programs to help combat that. Each of the plans consists of four exercises that you do three sets of. The first plan is called the mobility workout to stay limber after riding in the car for hours. This routine can be done daily. The second plan is called the circuit workout and is for exercising 2-3 times per week.

Mobility Program

1. Cat-Cow x 10
2.  Prone position A’s x 5 (3-5 second hold each rep, laying face down with arms out at an angle lifting chest slightly off ground)
3. Glute bridges x 10
4. Plank up and down x 5 per side

Circuit Program

1. Side lunges x 10
2. Medicine Ball up and over shoulder x 10
3. Seated Medicine Ball Rotation x 10
4. Modified Burpee x 10 (modified by using a chair to rest hands on. You don’t have to get down to the ground)

(Most of these exercises you can google and you will get an idea of what I mean. Be sure to connect with a professional to see if these exercises are right for you.)

So eating properly and the Fitbit to track my steps coupled with the program Joel created for me will help me keep fit on the road and at home.  Genealogy and scrapbooking aren’t cardio activities so you must have a plan to combat that.