Maude works it out! The 2020 Twenty: Entry Eight.
April 4, 2021
It’s April!
And this week, I got myself some cardio!
Last Sunday I took a nice three-mile walk on a short trail between my house and my curbside pick-up, before grabbing the groceries. The next day I got in a two-mile around my neighborhood and up a couple new blocks too. Today I expanded that to a four-mile walk with some extra blocks and a few laps around the school track. That all adds up to nine miles in just over 150 minutes, which surpasses my weekly goal!
And it was so necessary, because I haven’t been doing such a hot job with calories. But now that’s okay. MyFitnessPal has me on a fairly low daily goal, because I haven’t ranked myself as very active. Just being honest. If I do manage to remain active, I can either change my activity level and eat more–or rather, eat as much as I have been–or I can buy myself extra calories each day I exercise.
But in addition to remaining consistent on cardio, where I still need to improve is strength training. That hasn’t been consistent. And cardio doesn’t work all by itself. It has to be combined with strength training for both to take their full effect. So I need to call back my squats and planks. I used to do strength on the days I didn’t do cardio, though planks are great any day. I actually had noticeably better days when I did just one good plank in the morning. If I can do those with discipline, they will support my cardio, and I know I’ll feel great, because I’ve done it before!
And another update: after yesterday’s weight check, I can confirm that at least five of the six dropped pounds reported last month remain off. As I suspected in Entry Seven, the monthly weight bump was temporary. I did not manage ten pounds in March! But that’s okay. Here I am. Still better than where I was in January, and poised for a much better April than I (we) had last year.
Perhaps, this is where it all comes back together. Work, diet, exercise, discipline. Numbers dropping on the scale. Getting back to where I was. Feeling great. Dropping the medication. Treating myself when I want (New Orleans!). And maintaining the weight. Happy, healthy Maude.
What do you think? I would like to hear from you, but you won’t find the typical Comments section here. If you have given the issue some thought or have an experience to share, please enter it here, or send your response to Maude@mauvereport.com. I would love to hear how the rest of America is doing with this in 2021.