Brenda’s Microblogs

Brenda’s Spot

Fish Lake Vacation, July 2016: Our Fish Lake Vacation this year was a lot of fun. It was a little different then what it was like in the past. We each got to plan a day with healthy meals and made sure we had enough fruits, veggies and grains with each meal. We did not fill out with any junk food. It was all replaced with apples, oranges, melons, carrots, potatoes, and granola. It was a huge improvement. Plus we planned more physical activities each day. I even went on a 10 mile hike with Cameron going the up to the tip of Fish Lake and back to the Tail. I never would have been able to do a 10 mile hike before. I am getting so much stronger and my endurance is better. We also did 60 geocaches in one day. I got 35,654 steps on one day and 89,849 steps and 101 flights of stairs going up the mountain for the week of camping. I was more active than ever before on vacation…. Brenda #MyHeartChallenge

(July 8th)The 5K was a lot of fun this year. My kids were so excited to do their first official 5K. They were worried at first that the distance would be too far to be fun. But everyone in the family finished all 3 laps quickly. They were all so excited that they could do a 5K. We are looking forwarding to making this a family tradition every year and doing a 5K as a family each year. It was fun to see how well everyone was doing and how much families have improved. Thanks for the prizes and the ICE! …. Brenda #MyHeartChallenge

June 28th

We decided as a family not to move this year, but to fix up the place that we are renting to save money to purchase our own house next year. So to help improve our current place we decided to pack up each room as much as we could and rent a carpet cleaner for 24 hours and clean the carpet in each room. We had to rearrange the furniture in each room until all the carpeted rooms were done. Whew! It would have been easier to move! It was a lot of heavy cleaning and lifting to move everything in each room and then move it back so we could do another room. With all of the increasing physical activity I have been doing with the heart challenge, it made this huge cleaning project easier. I would not have been able to do all of our place in 24 hours a year ago, I did not have the endurance last year. Once the carpets were cleaned we started moving the furniture around in each room, utilizing each piece differently where we could, until it was like we moved into a new home. It was fun seeing how we could use each item in a different way. It has been a lot of work. To add to the fun, we also cleaned out our storage shed, it is the size of a one car garage with an attic and our two car (storage unit) garage at the place we are renting. We have went through everything we owned and decided what to keep, store, repair or donate. It is so refreshing to have removed all the extra clutter and mess in our home. This has been a 3 week process so far and we are almost done. We are up to hanging up new or older family photos, changing our artwork and moving the floating shelves to different locations. I am hoping by this weekend everything will be in its new home. I was amazed with how many steps, how much physical active minute and how many calories my FitBit said I did with each long day of cleaning! This was a great way to burn some calories and get some clutter out of my life! I recommend this to everyone to help simplify your life and your home. Declutter everything you can and moving things around so your home seems like a new place. It is a lot of work, but it will be worth it! It has been for me! I also find it is easier for me to spend time exercising and going outside with my family, when my house is less work to clean and keep clean. I have more time for me!… Brenda #MyHeartChallenge

June 11th

Today we took the family to the Riverton Hospital health fair. This was a larger event then I thought it would be. It was a lot of fun for the kids. They had all sorts of tables set up with education for physical fitness activities, eating well, safety and general health & wellness inside and outside of the hospital. It was fun to be able to tour the new clinic area of Riverton hospital. We took the family early so we would be sure to get a bike helmet for each for the kids. It was good to have them fit each of us with the correct size helmet. The kids are excited to each have their own new helmet. Next step is to fix up the bikes so we can all ride together. The health fair was a fun activity for the family. I liked how much the fair included the children with the learning and the excitement. The Police cars, the finger printing and the train ride was a huge hit. The kids love watching the Hawaiian dancers perform several dances. Those dances sure do look like a lot of fun and a lot of work. Thank you for all of the handouts, bags, outdoor activity ideas, education materials, helmets and the spa set that we received! What a wonderful health fair. Brenda #MyHeartChallenge

June 4th

This week I struggled a little bit more with getting enough exercise. We have been very short at work. I have been leaving late and utterly exhausted. It has been more of a struggle to not just go home and fall in bed. We have made it a family routine to go to the park every day after dinner. This is a great time to go play. We have been playing tennis, baseball, basketball, soccer, walking the dogs, and Frisbee. This week at our family meeting the kids announce that they wanted to ride bikes again as a family. We moved to a place 2 years ago and it has not been a very safe place to ride bikes. So the bikes have been in storage. But the kids thought if we were going to the park every day, we could take our bikes. So we started the process of cleaning out the garage so the bikes will be accessible. This weekend we are going to get all of the bikes tuned up. I think we will need 2-4 new tires and one new seat. We of course want to be safe so we checked out our old helmets. Well old is right, they are missing pieces, cracked and some are broken. So we all need new helmets. Lucky I noticed in the IHC today that Riverton Hospital is having a health fair this Saturday and they are giving out new bike Helmets! A new helmet is the last thing we will need to be able to start riding bikes as a family. I am excited. I have not ridden my bike in years and only 1-3 times as a family. I am excited for this new activity with my kids and I am glad that they are having so much fun with the my heart challenge…. Brenda #MyHeartChallenge

June 1st

Today Justin and I had our second class with the wonderful Exercise physiologist with the My heart challenge. We have been following her suggested exercises from our first meeting, but we were ready for more. We wanted to meet with her again to learn more about incorporating a different weight lifting routine. I went from using 5 pound dumbbells at home to pulling 85 pounds on a lat pulldown machine at a Gym. I was so impressed with how strong I am and how much weight I can lift. I enjoyed learning more about how to use the weight machines at the Gym. Some of those machines are intimidating. The biggest benefit I had from this class was how to lift weights safely and how to increase the weight for the best workout for me. I now have a better understanding of weight lifting in general, using both dumbbells and weight machines. I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to spend some more time with the exercise physiologist to learn more about proper exercise techniques. Breathe out when using the muscle! I am a lot stronger than I was giving myself credit for. I am finding that I really enjoy weight lifting and all the different exercises that are available. … Brenda #MyHeartChallenge

May 29th

10,000 steps a day. That is the recommendation for change and to become a more active person. 10,000 steps! Wow! I went from having a very active job 12 hours a day to a desk job and I am not even close to 10,000 steps a day. To help with this goal I have a Fitbit that I wear every day that has been very accurate with counting my steps. I started out by keeping my work day the same and playing more with the kids at home and walking the dogs at night. However I was still not close to 10,000 steps. So, I added parking in the last parking lot at work and walking the long way around to the water machine… I had more steps, but I was far away from 10,000 steps a day. I had to be more aggressive to try to reach this goal, so I can continue to get healthier with the My heart challenge. So finally the past 2 weeks I have figured out how to get 10,000 steps a day. Now I walk more in the morning on my way into work. I have my Fitbit vibrate every hour to remind me to get up from my desk and walk around the floor to the main nurse’s station and back. I try to do this every hour when my band vibrates. I take a 15-20 minute walk on my lunch break and go outside and get some fresh air. Then after dinner each night I take the kids to the park and we play, walk, run and chase until I am over my 10,000 steps. After working so hard to increase my steps 10,000 steps feels natural and it feels “off” to walk less!! Woo hooo!! Every step counts!!! Do what you can, one step at a time! If I can do it… so can you! 10,000 steps =5 miles … Brenda #MyHeartChallenge

May 24th

This week we have worked hard to implement as much activity as we can for the kids. We have looked at the Kid’s list of suggested activities to get us out of the house and we have tried several of them. We are having a great time. It has been years since I played basketball, tennis, jump rope, played on a playground or swung on a swing. I no longer watch the kids play at the park. I am playing with them. I will walk around the park or chase the kids instead of sitting. I will work on my wall push-ups and pulls-ups, squats and up downs while playing with the kids. I was very excited to find out that the West Jordan City park has outside exercise equipment for adults. I am having more fun engaging with the kids. I am so glad that I have more energy, and it shows! It also does not hurt that I have lost over 16 pounds!!! I am loving these changes! … Brenda #MyHeartChallenge

May 20th

The other day we accidentally purchased some white bread from the store so we made the kids lunches with the white bread. (Some old habits are hard to break.) After school the kids all complained that the white bread had little to no flavor and they wanted to make sure we did not buy it again. They wanted us to stick with the soft wheat bread that we have been getting. Score another point for the parents! We have been slowly incorporating more real whole grains in our meal plans. I have been so impressed with how much the kids are liking the whole grains with some fresh fruit or as a side dish! We will all be healthier with more whole grains in our diet! Thank you my heart challenge…Brenda #MyHeartChallenge

May 14th

This week for a new exercise, I decided to take the stairs at work… This is no small feat, and I could only do it once this week. (Next week I will try for two times). The trick is, I work on the 14th floor. The stairs at work are longer than a regular flight and to go from the main floor up to the 14th floor it counts as 20 flights of steps!!! 20 flights per my Fitbit. It is a long way up. But I was determined and I made it. I had to stop and catch my breath every few floors. My goal is to go further each time before I have to stop and catch my breath. While catching my breath I would stop on a landing and do wall push-ups as suggested by the “Family heart challenge” Cardiopulmonary Rehab Therapist. It was a great way to catch my breath and work on my strength training at the same time. By the time I got all the way up my legs and my arms were tired from both activities. I had to wait on the landing to catch my breath for a final time and to let my red face turn back to a more normal color before I went to my desk. It was hard, but I feel very successful for making it all the way to the top in one trip! #MyHeartChallenge

May 11th

Find your motivation! This is my Motivation! I am the type of person that does better with a visual motivator to remind me of all the hard work I have done. I love looking at my jars everyday. It is like a “Pat on the Back” every time I walk by. Find what you need to motivate you! If I can do this…. so can you!