Starting an Exercise Program (again)

I glowered at the digital bathroom scales this morning as I saw them register 158 pounds after I stepped on them right after taking a shower. (Now some of that could conceivably be water weight absorbed through my skin, but I don't think that accounts for all of the weight gain.) Over the past few months I had gotten down to 151 pounds through watching my diet and taking medicine for my hypothryoidism. Uh uh! Maybe my body's equilibrium has shifted back.

Several months earlier I had managed to start an aerobic routine using the treadmill (while watching the Newshour on PBS) until it broke and suddenly started going 13.4 mph!!!! It took Mark awhile to discover what was wrong, then order the part, then find time to install it. More than enough time for me to get out of the habit of exerise.

So, I dug out the Solutions for Wellness diet and exercise notebook I had ordered for free through Eli Lilly and reread the exercise handouts. Sunday's plan called for 30 minutes of aerobic exercise followed by a brief series of flexibility exercises. I elected to ramble all over our property with our basset hound, Zeke, while listening to a science fiction podcast. (I know the dog was tired out by sniffing out countless rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels) Then I did the 10 minutes of flexibility exercises called for.

Lilly also sent me a pedometer as a reward for completing several surveys. I'm not sure it's actually working correctly. It's has too many bells and whistles (compass, stop watch, step counter, distance counter, etc.) for something made of purple plastic.

People who know me know I'm always reading and trying to learn new things. Exercising my mind is never ever a problem. But exercising my body? Maybe I should also include spiritual exercise here as well. After all, I'm a tripartite human being, composed of mind, body and spirit.

So, I'm going to set my meditation widget for 10 minutes and see what happens. Beginners Mind all over again.

.....

Ok, I'm back. The cat did much better with mindful purring than I did meditating. It seemed like the 10 minutes was taking forever and my over active mind could not be still. I finally got up to see how close I was to the end and saw I still had 2 more minutes to go. The cat settled back down on my lap easily and I got lost in my mind and then the bell rang.

More tomorrow.