Staying Active!

Today I wasn’t sure what to write about, and then I thought, “why not write about being active?”

My life today is so much different than it was even a year ago.  I am astounded by how much more active I am now.  I have discovered that I love to be active – to move my body and strengthen my spirit through movement.

There are lots of different ways to maintain an active lifestyle, and sometimes it’s the simplest ways that make the most significant difference.  My favorite activity has to be riding my bike.  I love that I can just hop on the beach cruiser and go.  I may not be the fastest cyclist out there, but that isn’t the point.  The point is, I can ride my bike at whatever pace I feel like.  Most often, I start out fairly fast, and then by the middle, I’m pushing myself.  I like to go as fast as possible most of the time, although once in a while, just cruising down a path is what it’s all about. As I am writing this, I have the screen door open, and I’ve seen at least 6 people ride by on their bikes – some because it’s their only form of transportation, some because they’re just out for a fun morning ride. I have to admit, I haven’t gone on a really good bike ride in a long time, so today just might be one of those days.  I’m definitely inspired.

I’ve also come to enjoy hopping on my Wii for a morning Wii Fit check in.  I get aggravated with my apparent lack of balance, but I just tell my competitive side that the more I do it, the better I’ll get.  I recently “unlocked” a new balance game that has my Mii rolling down a river in a bubble.  I seem to be better at that one than some of the others.  The ski jump and slalom are just too frustrating for me – for some reason it doesn’t recognize my movements at all.  This new “bubble ride” is challenging, and I haven’t made it past 487 yards, but I’m determined to do it all the way through!  I am a hula-hooping master, and I really enjoy doing that game.  Although, for some reason, I can only do it well if I rotate my hips from left to right – when I try to do it the other way, I can’t keep the hoops up.  The yoga is great for my ego – I’m a “yoga master” in most of those games, which is cool.  I don’t count the Wii toward Activity Points, because I don’t feel like it’s a “real workout,” but it does get me moving in the morning, and ready to become more active throughout the day.

As soon as I finish writing this post, I’m about to tackle the EA Sports Active. Now that I have the velcro, there’s really no excuse not to give it another go.  I liked what I was able to do before, and I think this is going to quickly become a favorite.  I’d love to know how to count the Activity Points for it.  For those of you doing this game, how do you count them?

I’ll end this post with a website that I discovered when I signed up for the Turkey Trot back in November.  I also used it again when I signed up for the WW Walk It Challenge.  It’s called Active.com, and it’s awesome.  It has nationwide events (Lisa, you’re going to hate this, but it’s available in a ton of international countries, including the UK, Italy, and Australia, but I don’t see a listing for Canada).  I used Active.com to find a 5K to participate in to complete my WW Walk It Challenge (can’t wait for the Golden Gate Bridge 5K on July 19!).

A New Stay-Active Goal: Because I’m at my best when I have a goal to shoot for, I’ve decided that I’m going to participate in a 5K (maybe eventually a 10K) every month or so.  I like the fact that most of the 5Ks go to support some local charity or cause, and I also love the idea of having something to work toward.  My friend Margie does this all the time with different half marathons (she’s a runner), and I love it.  Since Team in Training proved to be a bit much for me, I think that walking at various 5K and 10K events will be the perfect thing for me.  Who knows, maybe I’ll eventually be able to get to the point of running.  I just found the HERS Foundation Keep ABreast 5K on September 26th, and signed up.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this great article about staying active this summer from Active.com.  They have ideas for every type of activity, from water to mountains, and everything in between.

Go out there and make it an ACTIVE day!!!

P.S. – A very special thank you to Lisa for posting about how I’ve inspired her.  I was completely overwhelmed and appreciative beyond words (a rarity for me!).  Lisa, I love you!  Thanks so much for the shout-out, girlie.  As much as you say that I’ve inspired you, you’ve done the same for me, tenfold.  It’s amazing the strong connections we can make in this blogging world without ever having met the person face to face.  (I am still hoping we can someday meet – maybe when we’re both at our goal weights).