If you are anything like me or any of us other middle aged women — we have a lot on our plates and sometimes exercise or just getting physically moving gets tossed aside.
I usually start my day pulling on workout clothes and get side tracked with making the kids breakfast, starting in on checking emails, working on some presentations, cleaning up the kitchen, throwing in a load of laundry, feeding the dog, someone calls me and ugh — it’s all of a sudden the afternoon! And I haven’t showered and I feel like it’s too late to stop and get a proper workout in before all of my afternoon and evening responsibilities.
To help combat this I started adding in exercise as a calendar item 3 days a week but I know I needed just movement in my daily routine too. Luckily I have a dog so the excuse of walking him is non-negotiable. Taking care of that for 20-30 min. Each morning while listening to the news or a podcast makes me feel better prepared for the day and awake.
Secondly, I started scheduling phone call meetings now as walking meetings. If it’s a work call (where I don’t have to be in front of a computer) or a family or friend chat, I try to schedule those as things I take while on a walk. This means investing in some good headphones and even a great fanny pack or cross body pouch to hold your phone. I’ve found myself gone for miles and I don’t notice as much because I’ve been catching up with a friend.
Another sneaky trick is parking my car farther when running errands and taking the stairs when given a choice instead of the elevator or even walking for errand trips that don’t require a lot of hualing of stuff around. And since there aren’t occasions anymore for dressy heels, I’m pretty much in sneakers every day so this also encourages extra steps.
Lastly I’ve recruited my girlfriends into this cause, trying to bolt on a walk before or after meeting up for lunch or drinks. It’s been nice to catch up with friends while also walking or even making it a bonafide hiking date.
And I’ve made this a game or score I need to beat. There are all kinds of devices that measure your movements and steps. I don’t have an apple watch nor a fitness tracker but my phone measures my walking and I like to occasionally check in on it to see if I need to scoot my butt outside to push my step number a little higher.
Maybe we’ll even be able to at Chapter 2 Club, get a virtual walking group together . . .I’ll have to build that into the tech future plan and we can go for a walk together one day!
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