step right up and count

January is about a week old now and so far so good. I gained a little bit at the beginning of the week, however I lost it already and a little more. The walking daily really helps. As I have arthritis it is essential to move for me. With the extend of damage in my hips, knees and ankles there is not much left I can do as far as exercise is concerned. Any activities that require sudden or directional change such as ball games, dancing and skating are out. So I walk.

I upped my step count to 12000 going into the next week, but have a feeling I need to up to 15000 simply because I been hitting those numbers or getting close to them. Also I stopped counting the casual steps around the house or when shopping at a store. Now I count when I go out on a walk or step on the treadmill. It gives me a better grip on the exercise level and the mileage, since I track both. I want to hit the 10 miles a day mark by summer. My hubby says I am in a much better mood when I am walking outside and I know and feel it, too. He has promised to walk with me once in a while, but it hasn't happened yet. He says he slows me down. Doesn't he know its worth it just to have his company. Men are so silly.

The next thing I need to tackle is my evening snacking. I don't snack like crazy, or even every night, but when I do I don't care what it is. Usually when I am tired but not ready to go to bed. Yah, that's another thing that needs to change. Hubby teases me when I get ready to go to bed because it's usually early like 9 p.m. time frame. I end up staying up even though I am done for the day. So that has to stop I need to go to bed, because that's what my body needs and not because of my hubby. We do our own things in the evening anyway, like I read or knit and he is on the computer reading the days news, doing the Facebook thing (which I hate) and then settles in to watch a movie or something TV wise. We don't ignore each other and talk quite a bit. Especially when my hubby finds me deep in a book, he loves to talk to me ( to annoy the crap out of me I am sure). But back on track... I need to get the snacking under control. I want to get to the point where I don't snack at all at night and shut down the kitchen after dinner.

So my challenge this week will include just that. Try to manage 4 days without evening snack and the following week I go for 5 days and so on until it's a habit. Just like we all did with 10 minutes of exercise a day.