Health Goals

This is the year where I will

This past year my health has been declining due to my allergies and the stress in my life.

This new year I will take charge of my allergies by using any and all tools that I have against them. That may be by using my Neti pot, my allergy medicine and my asthma medicine a lot more than what I would normally do which really just means that I would follow doctors orders. I know I should always follow doctors orders when it comes to medicine use and by doing so I might not have experienced the decline in my health. As long as I can just get my allergies and asthma under control I might be able to avoid all these upper airway infections I have been having this past year.

Which brings me to the next point of starting running again. In August of 2010 I started to run by using the program of from Couch potato to 5K. By Thanksgiving I had gotten up to 4K and then I got sick. Since then I have only done a few runs and mostly just long hikes, but I know I can still do 3K without a problem.

It is just a matter of mindset

This fall I started the 30 minute workout program by Jillian Michaels and made it to week two when my knees started to give out on me. I want to get started again on it, but modify it a little to save my knees and at least not give up.

I also need to eat better. Smaller servings, more fruit and vegetables, less soda and unhealthy snacks. I still have a few extra pounds I need to loose and although I will try not to focus to much on it, it would still be nice to loose them and get down to pre pregnancy weight again.

My Goals are

• Use my medicine to control my allergy and asthma
• Use my Neti pot to keep infections away
• Start running again and make it to a 5K
• Start doing my 30 minute workout with Jillian Michaels
• Eat better and control my intake more
• And finally start doing Gymnastics again

My inspiration found on pinterest

How to be a better runner.

Energized through Gymnastics

When I was 5 years old my mom decided to let me join our local Gymnastics club. Not that we had that many other choices. Where I grew up we only had a Gymnastics club, Swimming club, Soccer club, Folkdance club and the Ski club.

I first started out doing the usual kids class where there were mostly just playing and getting used to the equipment. When I was 6 I moved up to the competition level and learned the basics of uneven parallel bars, balance beam and floor exercise. I did my first floor exercise show when I was 7. Then when I was 8 my coach moved and the whole program disappeared.

That is when I started doing TeamGym in groups of either just girls and mixed girls and boys groups.

I also did a few years of Rhythmic Gymnastics which I also competed in and later coached myself.

After I turned 16 my whole gymnastic career has been centered around TeamGym and Display Gymnastics. I have competed and won with my groups, I have coached and I have choreographed. For 11 years this was how I stayed in shape and had fun, even through my first pregnancy. I even got to travel the world doing this, going to Gothenburg, Sweden and Lisbon, Portugal for the World Gymnastrada.

At 27 I moved to the states and I have not been able to find an adult group doing this kind of Gymnastics here, but next year I will be moving back to Norway and I hope I will be able to join again.

Here I want to share three videos taking at last years competition in my field. The first one shows First Place in big group, the second one is First Place in small group and the last one is to show how we also incorporate Rhythmic Gymnastics into this field. My hope is to join Finnsnes IL Turn next year as that is where we plan to move.

Getting energized

I have been having a really hard time getting around to exercise though I am trying hard to eat healthy.

I have been having a lot of excuses to why I haven’t exercised, I’m too tired, my pain is too strong, my husbands schedule is conflicting too much with mine and the kids’, I am too busy, the weather is too cold and rainy, there is too much pollen, my asthma and allergies are acting up too much, and I am just too lazy.

I have big plans though, but I am procrastinating.

I will have to start again on my journey to run a 5K.

For now I will just look forward to next week when both my husband and Isabel has the whole week off. We are going to have a big girls day out on town going to an art museum and to a restaurant for cake. We are going on a car trip to some place new. We might go hiking. And my husband might even take both kids out by himself to let me have some alone time at home.

I always thought I was an extrovert, but my friends say I am an outgoing introvert. I think they are right. I long for some time alone now.

Things that makes me happy

So far I have written about how I have scheduled my days getting to bed early and getting up even earlier and how this makes me feel more energized. I have written about my ups and downs when it comes to exercising and eating healthy. Today I want to focus on things that makes me happy.

Doing things that makes me happy gives me energy. My favorite things to do is reading, baking, cleaning, crafting, being all alone at home, sitting at the coffee shop people watching by myself, being with family, being with friends, being out by the ocean, hiking in the mountains and surrounding myself with meaningful things.

Yesterday I wasn’t feeling good and all I wanted was to be by myself all day, since my husband was home that was almost attainable. I had a huge list of things I needed to do both of around the house and craft wise. I decided that what I really wanted to do was read. So I read all day yesterday and finished the book I started this morning. Today I feel refreshed and inspired.

I have days where I feel anxious and restless, on those days I just have to work to feel better. I bake, craft, clean or I go out to meet friends. Other days I am tired and cranky, having pain and allergy issues, those days I read, craft, go to the ocean, or just hang out with friends. Doing these things gives me positive energy that makes me happy and brings balance to my life.

What makes you happy to do that also gives you energy?

Really, no way

It can’t be Thursday again? I can’t believe it. Where did the time fly? So much has happened again this week, and none of it could really be called exercise.

Let’s focus on the exercise part of getting an energized life. The positive is that Friday I jogged 1 mile; Monday, Wednesday and today I walked 2 miles carrying 22.2 lbs on my back (Sofie sits in an Ergo on my back when we walk Isabel to school); Tuesday I rode my bike to church and home again with Sofie on the back. The weekend however was not good, but I will try to do better this upcoming weekend.

But there are many other parts to taking care of myself and getting more energized. Diet is very important. For me a diet consisting of too much fat, salt and big lunches makes my sluggish and irritable. I have been making sure I am getting more fruit and veggies. I make sure I eat at least 3 meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner with two snacks in between. I do know I need to change it more, it is just that I can not stand diets. My plan is to change little things slowly and let it become a lifestyle / life choice instead of a diet. When I do my grocery shopping on Monday there will be the ingredients to salads in my cart. I rarely eat salads, but I will start making them now and keep a bowl in my fridge making it an easy choice. I will also hard boil eggs for breakfast to keep me full longer and help me stay away from the mindless snacking that I might do some days when I am on the computer.

An other important aspect of becoming more energized has been scheduling my life. I find that being scheduled helps me achieve my goals for the house, my crafts, the HOA, my kids and myself. I also have small to do lists in these different categories that I try to finish off for each week. Some lists are easier than others to finish. I am not so stuck to my schedule or my to do lists that I can’t let life interrupt. This morning my husband needed to talk with me so I left my blog till later. Sofie had a four hour tummy ache and I took care of her instead of exercising or crafting. Though I did get a lot of crafts done during her nap. My house getting cleaned today can wait till tomorrow.

So my goal for this next week is keep on with my walking and biking, and buy the ingredients for some healthy salads.

What is your goal?

Ugh

Remember how I said last week that I was going to make time to do at least 30 minutes of Wii every day for my workout?

I failed. I have not touched the Wii since last Wednesday and I feel so bad. It is at this point where it would be so easy to just give up. But I will persevere. I can start anew today and put it on my to do list again.

On a brighter note, I did ride my bike on Tuesday. Since Sofie, my toddler, was sick this weekend I left her at home with dad who had his one day off. Then I rode my bike to church for Bible study and then back home again. I think this was my 5th ride there and back and I have actually cut the amount of time I spend getting there in half. The first time going there I used 30 minutes and I was exhausted. This time I used 15 minutes and yes I was exhausted. The same happened on the way home. Instead of 40 minutes home, I did it in 20 minutes.

I have asked my husband for a speedometer for my bike. One that tells you how far you’ve gone and what time it is. Just like this one from Amazon.

He has promised me that he is going to get me one :)

I was considering going on a bike ride today, but I ended up not having time again. Still I will do my usual 2 mile walk with the dog and the kids, dropping Isabel off at school on the halfway point. I would walk farther, but Sofie will only go so far before she is done.

I hope your exercise routine is going well and that you don’t get discouraged. And if you have any tips on how to throw in some extra exercise here and there, please share.

Wii to the rescue

Last Thursday I tried to schedule more exercise into my day. Did I succeed. Not so much.

It is hard to pack a lot into a day when you have toddlers who need a nap in the middle of the day, when the weather doesn’t permit for an enjoyable trip out on the bike, when the arthritis acts up and husbands has to work more overtime.

I were still able to ride my bike on Tuesday and even though my doctor said my weight is on a standstill I can feel changes. My rain pants fit. I don’t care about the weight then.

Wednesday I pulled out my Wii Fit Plus and I did 30 minutes of yoga. But first I did the Body Assessment. It was 44  days since my last one and it told me I have lost 9 lbs. Isn’t that neat.

I will now make time for my Wii for 30 minutes every day.

What changes have you made to your life lately to get more active? Please tell.

How I Make Time For Myself

As a stay at home mom it is easy to get caught up in the kids and housework and play dates and school and homework and laundry and … you get the point.

It happened to me and I lost myself for a while. When I finally found myself I was a mother of two, sleep deprived, 25 lbs overweight, totally out of shape, no energy to do anything, stressed, full of creative anxiety without an outlet because I didn’t find time to craft, I felt spiritually lost.

I made a list of things I needed to change in my life. The biggest thing was to find time for myself to do things for me and not just for everyone else.

Finding the time was not easy. I would get up in the morning and get my kids out of bed, get the oldest to school and then take care of the baby, the house and everyone around me till the kids were in bed and I crashed on the sofa. I had to do something different.

I started to get up at 5 AM. It is not easy, but most days I do it and that goes even on weekends. Sometimes I can sleep in till 6, but no longer than 7. How can I do this you ask, well I go to bed usually at 9 PM and no later than 10:30.

This gives me 2 hours before the kids get up in the morning and 2 hours at night after the kids are in bed.

In the morning I work on my bible study, my MOPS newsletter or my blog. Sunday mornings I read the Sunday paper and go through the coupons and work on my grocery list. Sometimes I can even find time enough to work on some crafts.

In the evening I do a five minute clean up in each room, I’ve got three rooms to do. Then I work on my blog or I craft. Both things I can do while hanging out with my hubby while he plays video games.

With this I have been able to find time for my creative outlets and for spiritual fillings. I am feeling calmer, and more fulfilled. And I am a better mom for it now.

What are your tricks to find time for yourself?

A little of track

September 9th I launched my little project of “On the road to a energized life” where I asked everyone to join me in getting physically active to gain energy on a day to day basis.

And that was it. It went of track on the blog and I didn’t even touch my blog until last week again.

So how did I do otherwise?

I started running. First I bought my first pair of proper running shoes. I spent as much money as I could on a pair of fancy shoes at a specialty store, thinking that it would get me motivated by making me feel bad for wasting money if I didn’t use them for running.

Let me tell you, it really worked.

I actually got a few friends to join me. We started out being 4 and it went pretty well. We used a running program called from Sedentary to 5 K and it was at least not killing us easy, at least in the beginning.

As the amount of time spent running got higher, one after the other couldn’t keep it up.

Now we are two and we are totally off the charts. No we have not reached our goal of 5 K, we just decided we needed some more time building up our stamina to get there. I actually did 2 K today.

Our goal now is to be able to do a 5 K by Christmas. And as long as we are able to do 3 runs a week we are happy.

In September I felt myself being full of High Negative Energy and Low Negative Energy. Self assessing myself again I find that I am still full of Low Negative Energy, but I am also full of High Positive Energy. This to me is a good sign.

The High Positive Energy I know for sure comes from running. I actually feel like running now and get jittery if I miss my running one day.

The Low Negative Energy is probably because I have had a lot going on these last few months. I am slowly finding ways to work on these issues and I will talk more about it at another time.

For now I will just celebrate that I am back at blogging and I ran 2 K today.

On the road to a energized life - Getting started

I am going to warn you right now... I have fallen in love with a book.

Based on principles from the Human Performance Institute the authors of this book wants to show everyone that managing energy, not time, is vital to sustained high performance.

What is important is to integrate physical activity to your daily routine, tweaking eating habits, and apply key tactics that the authors teach you throughout the book.

There is absolutely no talk about being on a diet. A no no word for me as I always start cheating on my diets after only a few hours. And as it speak about physical activity, it is not about loosing weight, but about using it as a means to more energy to heighten your performance both in your work life and your personal life.

There is according to them four different types of energy levels.

The "Low Negative Energy" where you feel exhaustion, burned out, sadness, hopelessness, moodiness, irritability, and impatience, usually comes from stress and overwhelming challenges that comes in your way.

The "Low Positive Energy" which is a strategic disengagement where you seek rest and recovery, it is a critical need for sufficient time to renew yourself and enabling your embracing the next challenge that comes your way. It is about feeling carefree, peaceful, relieved, mellow, relaxed and unfocused.

The "High Negative Energy" is positive when there is a physical emergency and your goal is to survive, but long term this is counterproductive as the emotions it carries with it in terms of frustration, anger, anxiety, tenseness, and fear might interfere with how you think and react to things.

The "High Positive Energy" is full of feelings of hopefulness, passion, focus, challenge, connection, alertness, enthusiasm, and optimism that makes you embrace challenges, respond in high quality ways, and always with full engagement and in full performance.

I can definitely say that I am mostly full of High Negative Energy and Low Negative Energy. I need to change this because I can tell that my family is having a hard time with it too.

Are you in for this? Think back to your past few weeks... Have you taken time for some intentional Low positive energy? Are you in constant combat mode of High negative energy?

Please join me in the quest for more energy in our life. If you would like to join I would appreciate it if you would sport my little button too. Please let me know if it doesn't work though. I don't know if it works yet as it is the first time I have ever made one. Any tips are gratefully appreciated.

On the road to a energized life

This summer have been very draining on me. At one point I actually went to the doctor to have her check whether or not I was getting sick. She pointed out the obvious:

1. I had one very sick little girl who needed me 24/7.
2. I was not taking any time to myself.
3. I was not exercising.
4. I was not eating very well.
5. I barely slept.

I had drained the last drop of energy out of my body and my doctors prescription was to take time to myself to re-energize again.

"How do I do that?" I asked. She told me to go into myself and think back to what would energize me before, even as long ago as when I was a teen.

It took me a while and when I did discover the answer I did a lot of research too as my body and lifestyle has changed drasticly the past ten years. I didn't want to do something that potentially could make me feel even worse.

My answer was exercise. As a teenager I did gymnastic at least 4 hours a week, I played European handball 3 hours a week and I would run or do cross country skiing at least 4 hours a week. Still with 11 hours of training a week, I never fell behind on my school assignments. Then in college I coached both gymnastics and soccer, while working and going to school. Still training up to 10 hours a week I had a active social life and kept up with school.

Now I hardly exercise, I am tired all the time and just can't keep up with hardly anything. I realize I really need to start exercising, but I have to do it carefully. I am not the same person I was 10 years ago in college. I am 35 lbs heavier, I have had two kids and I have had accidents that have given me cronic pain in my back, shoulders, neck and feet. These are all things that might all go away, well except for my kids, I'd rather keep them.

So I invite you with me on this journey. Not a journey to loose weight essentially, but to gain energy. Energy for my family and my friends and myself.

Share this with your friends and together we will make a difference in our own lifes and inevitably in our families lives.

Linking up to 30 days: Pity party.