PHYSICAL – Whole Heartily

Happy New Year 2025!

Happy New Year Friends! I wish you all the best and sincerely hope all your hopes and dreams for 2025 will come to fruition. These last few years have been rocky, to say the least, but its a time for fresh starts and new beginnings, so let’s make the most of it!

I believe in making resolutions; they give you the focus to complete certain tasks. Resolutions can be made any time of the year, and should be in some cases, but it’s traditional to make them for the fresh start of a new year and it’s all in good fun!

I’ve set 12 resolutions for 2025, check them out!

Complete a logic puzzle book.
Eat less meat.
Fill a sketchbook.
Install new flooring.
Organize and paint the kitchen.
Play and complete 25 video games.
Progress in Duolingo lessons.
Read and complete 25 books.
Re-organize and re-design blog.
Take Zoey to Disneyland.
Watch and complete 25 movies I’ve never seen.
Write down 3 gratitudes a day.

Happy New Year 2024!

Happy New Year Friends! I wish you all the best and sincerely hope all your hopes and dreams for 2024 will come to fruition. These last few years have been rocky, to say the least, but its a time for fresh starts and new beginnings, so let’s make the most of it!

I believe in making resolutions; they give you the focus to complete certain tasks. Resolutions can be made any time of the year, and should be in some cases, but it’s traditional to make them for the fresh start of a new year and it’s all in good fun!

I’ve set 12 resolutions for 2024, check them out!

Become a YouTube Partner.
Delete Facebook.
Learn how to draw in Procreate.
Use Procreate to create at least 12 designs and upload.
Play and complete 12 video games.
Progress in Duolingo lessons.
Read and complete 12 books.
Take Zoey to Universal Studios.
Watch and complete 12 movies I’ve never seen.
Weekly family game nights.
Weekly family movie nights.
Yoga 5 days a week.

Happy New Year 2023!

Happy New Year Friends! I wish you all the best and sincerely hope all your hopes and dreams for 2023 will come to fruition. These last few years have been rocky, to say the least, but its a time for fresh starts and new beginnings, so let’s make the most of it!

I believe in making resolutions; they give you the focus to complete certain tasks. Resolutions can be made any time of the year, and should be in some cases, but it’s traditional to make them for the fresh start of a new year and it’s all in good fun!

I’ve set 12 resolutions for 2023, check them out!

Expand my garden.
Go greener.
Organize the whole house.
Play and complete 12 video games.
Read and complete 12 books.
Re-carpet the living room.
Re-floor the main areas of the house.
Resist gossip.
Send anniversary and birthday cards out on time.
Set aside 1 hour a day to work on my dreams.
Set aside times of the day for intentional screen-time.
Take Zoey to Disneyland.

30 Day Arm Challenge for Beginners

I don’t know about you, but I would like to feel better inside and out. I have been far too inactive for far too long, and it’s time to take my life back!

Now I know (because I’m feeling it) that this can be intimidating for several reasons, but what if we just started small? What if we created a step-by-step stairway, instead of running into a wall and trying to scale it with zero momentum?

We began with a 30 day walking challenge to get our legs moving and to open up our heart and lungs! We followed that with a 30 day squat challenge and a 30 day plank challenge to strengthen our muscles! Now let’s continue strengthening our muscles by starting a 30 day arm challenge that begins with 4 each of the three exercises on the first day, and by end of the 30 days we will able to perform 40 of each exercise!

I recommend breaking the exercises up into sets as the numbers climb higher, please do not try to do them all at once!

Here we go!

30 Day Plank Challenge for Beginners

I don’t know about you, but I would like to feel better inside and out. I have been far too inactive for far too long, and it’s time to take my life back!

We began with a 30 day walking challenge to get our legs moving and to open up our heart and lungs! We followed that with a 30 day squat challenge to strengthen our muscles! Now let’s continue strengthening our muscles by starting a 30 day plank challenge that begins with holding the plank position for just 10 seconds on the first day, and by end of the 30 days we will able to hold it for 2 minutes!

Here we go!

30 Day Squat Challenge for Beginners

I don’t know about you, but I would like to feel better inside and out. I have been far too inactive for far too long, and it’s time to take my life back!

We began with a 30 day walking challenge to get our legs moving and to open up our heart and lungs! Now let’s take the next step and strengthen our muscles! Let’s start a 30 day squat challenge that begins with just 5 squats on the first day, but by the end of the 30 days we will able to do 100 squats in a day!

I recommend breaking the squats up into sets as the numbers climb higher, please do not try to do them all at once!

Here we go!

Be Prepared – First Aid Kit Checklist

Do you have a first aid kit in your home? In your car? I didn’t until just recently, when I realized it’s better to have it around and not need it, than need it and not have it around!

As a starter, I purchased this one, and I will be purchasing another one for my car. If I need anything that isn’t included in this kit I can always purchase it to fill in the blanks, but what does a first aid kit ultimately need and why?

The Red Cross recommends that all first aid kits for a family of four include the following:

P.S. I did not create this infographic. If the creator contacts me I can credit them properly!

Emergency First Aid guide
2 absorbent compress dressings (5 x 9 inches)
25 adhesive bandages (assorted sizes)
1 adhesive cloth tape (10 yards x 1 inch)
5 antibiotic ointment packets (approx. 1 gram each)
5 antiseptic wipe packets
2 packets of aspirin (81 mg each)
1 breathing barrier
1 emergency blanket
1 instant cold compress
2 pair of non-latex gloves
2 hydrocortisone ointment packets (approx. 1 gram each)
1 gauze roll bandage (3 inches wide)
1 roller bandage (4 inches wide)
5 sterile gauze pads (3 x 3 inches)
5 sterile gauze pads (4 x 4 inches)
Oral thermometer (non-mercury/nonglass)
2 triangular bandages
Tweezers

You can increase the numbers of each item if you have a family of larger than 4 or as you see the need. It is also recommended to include any personal items such as medications and emergency phone numbers or other items your health-care provider may suggest.

As I educate myself more on being prepared, I will update or redo this post with any updates!

30 Day Walking Challenge for Beginners

I don’t know about you, but I would like to feel better inside and out. I have been far too inactive for far too long, and it’s time to take my life back!

So first step, let’s get our legs moving and open up our heart and lungs! Let’s start a 30 day walking challenge that begins with 15 minute sessions and by the end of the 30 days we will be walking for 60 minutes without stopping!

Here we go!

Thank you Ring Fit Adventure, I’ll Take it From Here!

In my Ring Fit Adventure Challenge – Reboot post, I posed the question: Can playing a video game really help you and I get fit? More specifically, can Ring Fit Adventure help you and I get fit?

For three months now, I have played 30 to 40 minutes of Ring Fit Adventure a day and my conclusion is: yes, but it takes a lot of time.

Ring Fit Adventure was released Saturday October 18th, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. It comes with a squeezable pilates ring to hold and an elastic leg strap for leg movement. It piqued my interest because the main part of the game is a story where you need to travel across maps and defeat monsters to get to the boss who you also have to fight using different work out moves. The more you experience you get, the more you level up and acquire new workout moves to complete your journey. It is delightfully entertaining, adding plot and challenges or battles to cleverly distract the player from their workout, but if you’re looking to get down to business and workout quickly and efficiently, this is not the experience you’re looking for.

If someone were to play this every day for a long period of time they could make progress, I have lost six pounds since May and the exercises have become easier to perform and sustain, but the amount of time spent playing does not equal the amount of time spent exercising. When I say I played for 30 to 40 minutes a day, that equaled out to about 10 minutes of active workout time (which the game will track for you). The rest of the time is spent going through setup, menus, preparation, and story dialog. Calculating from my experience, you would need to play about 3 hours to reach 60 minutes of active workout time. Unfortunately a lot of people do not have the time for that, including myself.

I want to thank the game for its ingenuity and beauty, and for getting me started. I believe it inspired me to get up and get moving, but now I feel I would be more effective working out on my own.

Have you played Ring Fit Adventure? How is your progress? I would love to know!

Let’s try Intermittent Fasting!

I am now a fledgling intermittent faster. Do you want to try it with me?

If you’re not familiar with intermittent fasting, it is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It doesn’t specify which foods you should eat (although healthier foods yield better results), but rather when you should eat them.

I’ve chosen the 16/8 schedule, which means that I am restricting my eating to an 8 hour timeframe and fasting the remaining 16 hours of the day. This is what is working for me, but there are several other schedules out there if you’re looking for something different.

20/4: Restrict eating to 4 hours of the day and fast the remaining 20.
5/2: Eat regularly for 5 days of the week, on days 6 and 7 only consume about 500 calories per day.
24 hour: Fast for 24 hours straight, once or twice a week.
36 hour: Fast for 36 hours straight once a week.

Why am I doing such a thing you ask? Odd as it may sound, I wanted to conserve food during the pandemic. After breaking my fast, I usually don’t feel hungry again until right before the 8 hours are up. Everything is simpler, there are fewer meals to prepare, cook or clean up after!

In addition to conserving food, I would love to reach my pre-pregnancy weight or lower. As I mentioned above this eating pattern has me eating fewer meals and consuming less calories a day. I’ve also read that intermittent fasting can boost metabolism and that’s encouraging!

There are several other potential benefits, but the best thing I can do is tell you about my personal experience. I will practice intermittent fasting for the next three months at least and report back with my findings. How about you?