Walking helps improve our memory!

I read this week that walking just 6 miles a week helps improve memory and preserve brain size, according to the journal Neurology. Now who wouldn't want to have a sharper memory capacity! And at my age, anything that preserves and/or improves my brain power is a fabulous thing.  It's the end of week 4 (and month 1) of the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge, and I walked 10 miles this week for a grand total of 27 miles.   Hmm, I wonder,  if you walk more than 6 miles a week, does your brain's memory improvement grow expotentially?!? 

So, to my fellow 100 Mile Fitness Challenge members, keep walking! 

100 Mile Fitness Challenge-Week 3

Between the extreme heat and the consistent migraine headache I had this week, I'm happy to report that I managed to get 6 miles in this week. In addition, I did three days of strength training. For me, strength training is key to improving my overall health and fitness. Strength training helps retain and improve muscle mass. Gaining muscle mass helps my body become more efficient and effective at burning calories, which helps me lose needed pounds. Strength training helps my bones, body and mind stay strong.

I'm still learning the My Fitness Pal site (see yesterday's post). It's a great way to track my workouts and calories and maintain a food diary.

Tomorrow, I'm signed up to walk a charity 5K with a couple good friends. That will be a great start to next week's total.

How did you do this week?

Discovered a good free fitness website

A personal trainer at the gym told me about this site today. So I thought I would check it out and give it a go. If it's a way to keep track of my fitness progress without being too time consuming, I think I will like the site.

I have a primary goal of losing about 25-30 pounds as quickly and safely as I can. I need to drop this weight to help bring my blood pressure under control. I've been hovering in the Pre-hypertension to Stage 1 Hypertension range since I gained 15 pounds recently. So I'm on a mission to drop the weight.

The site is My Fitness Pal.  You can track your exercise, your calories, your nutrition, your meals, and your progress.  It's hard to believe it's free.  They even set up a blog for each user that is available to you to use.   They also have a mobile app that works with I-Phone and Droid. 

Let me know if you try it. 

Genesis & Exodus-B90

In this first week of reading, I raced through all of Genesis and Exodus.  Reading through the Bible in 90 days does feel like a race, a long distance cross-country race.  You can't stop and smell the roses along the way because you have to keep the finish line (the whole Bible in 90 days) in sight.  So why read through it so quickly?  Is there any benefit?  I think there is!  Reading the Bible like a regular book helps me see God's big picture of salvation, redemption and his love.  It's like standing back and looking at a masterpiece of art and seeing the grand sweep of the artist's painting.   The closer you walk to the painting the more detail you see but you no longer are able to see the entire painting. Verse-by-verse study of the Bible is like examining the painting with my nose really close to the picture.  I see the paintbrush strokes and the individual pieces of color that make up the entire painting.  I can learn how to paint for myself by looking at the painting up closer.  Scripture study/reading is similar.  I love to camp out in a book or a chapter of Scripture, examining the detail and learning what God wants me to learn from the passage.  Combining both methods of Scripture reading (a big-picture walk-through the Bible, like the 90 day read, with my normal verse-by verse and chapter-by-chapter camping out of the Bible)  allows me to see God in the big picture of life, as well as his day-to-day love for me. 

100 Mile Fitness Challenge-Week #2

Well, I'm off to a slow start.  Between all the family visiting in the last two weeks and the major storm that knocked power out all over the area for 3-5 days,  I was only able to post 6 miles this week, all walking.  I was hoping to swim this week and discovered on Monday morning that my local pool was closed for the week for cleaning.  Shortly thereafter, the biggest storm in 10 years hit the entire region, knocking out power to 800,000 customers, including my fitness center where I like to treadmill.   No power there for 3 days.  Yikes,  that meant I had to actually walk outside in the heat with all the lovely misquitos who love to feast on me.  Do I sound whiny enough in my excuse-making here?!?  

I know the value of consistent exercise.  In my journey toward better health and fitness in the last two years,  I was able to bring my blood pressure down to an acceptable measurement because I was able to lose 30 pounds.  Those 30 pounds only came off because of consistent exercise (cardio and strength training) and careful intake of food.  Sixteen of those 30 pounds has inched back on me in 2011 and my blood pressure has inched upward, too, which is scary.

So I'm celebrating those 6 miles walked this week, as well as the 1 hour collective strength training I did this week, knowing every step taken, every weight lifted, and every exercise performed moves me closer to my goal of normal blood pressure and a healthy, safe weight.

So, how did you do this week?  

Read through the Bible in 90 days!

I must be a glutton for punishment.  I tried reading through the Bible in 90 days beginning in January and got behind almost immediately.  What I DID read in January was amazing, exciting, and difficult.  It is a very fast pace.  So here I am again beginning another try at reading through the Bible in 90 days.  I'm a great starter but a lousy finisher.  One thing I have going for me this time around is that I have a mentor this time who can encourage me, cajole me and give me a swift kick to keep pressing on with the reading.
 
If you're interested in joining me and about 1000 other women, go to Mom's Toolbox and sign up; and then let me know.  We can encourage each other.   I like Mom's Toolbox SOAP idea for this read-through. SOAP is an acrostic that stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. Here is how Amy at Mom's Toolbox describes it:


"S: Scripture-Write the ONE scripture that I feel God is using to speak to me in today’s reading
O: Observation-What might He be telling me with that scripture?
A: Application-How can I apply it to my life?
P: Prayer-What is my prayer to ask God in helping me to make that application?"


Here's my plan: Fortunately, I own a 90-day Bible. I have a journal that I will use to record my daily SOAP, along with a couple highlighters that I can use to highlight verses that are meaningful to me or are verses that I would like to understand better at a later date. They will be easy to find later if I highlight them as I read. Plus I will check in with my mentor group on Mom's Toolbox every Monday night.


I have a Droid Phone and also added the Bible in 90 days on my phone through YouVersion.com's Reading Plan. So, if I get behind, I can always whip out my phone and catch up with the reading...can't highlight or journal (at least I don't know how to do that on my phone), but I can keep saturating myself with the Scriptures. YAY!


Let the reading begin! And to my mentor group, I look forward to experiencing this grand adventure together as we spend time with God in His Word every day for the next 90 days!

100 Mile Fitness Challenge Week 1 Check-in

Hate to start using excuses at the beginning of my 100 mile fitness challenge, but my first week was definitely a rough start.  Between the 4th of July holiday and all the family visiting,  I didn't get much "me" time to get walking.  I only posted 5 miles.  But I am not too bummed.  I kept active "chasing" a 19 month old grand-nephew and spending another day this week walking all over a renaissance fair with some other family members, all activity not included in my count for the week.  So here's to week 2 and to achieving a higher number of miles than 5 miles for the coming week.  If you are reading this and want to join me in the challenge, you can sign up over at 100 Mile Fitness Challenge