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My Fitness Adventure in 52 Habits (Week 3)

By Anita Mathias

I started this because I had to do something about creeping weight gain—17 pounds since I moved to Oxford eight years ago!!

Obviously, if I do not do something, it could reach the point that I could no longer go on long walks easily, or explore easily on our travels. Or worse, have less strength for long hours of reading and writing!

* * *

In addition, exercise helps creativity. I am now writing fairly intensely—doing 800 words a day on my memoir, and getting those words polished enough to share them on my blog. And also, writing and publishing a 500-800 blog post.

So much intense reading, thinking and writing has the potential to affect perspective, clarity of thought, mood (and perhaps even mental health!) unless one’s life is balanced. And mine is. I live in a family of four. I get together with friends twice a week—with the women’s group I co-lead once a week, and I schedule a one on one coffee, or a couples’ dinner once a week.

But I also need the dissipation of writing tension, and the fresh air, endorphins and runner’s high of exercise in between writing sessions so that my day really feels like two days, and I can come fresh to my second writing session.

And so exercise is a godsend. I am increasing my daily steps, week by week, and have, this week, reached 6600 steps a day, as measured my Omron pedometer. However, the optimal number of steps to be truly physically fit is 10,000. 34 days to go since I am aiming to increase my steps by 100 a day.

I am planning to lose weight and to get fit by adding in a new dietary habit weekly, and increasing my exercise weekly, until I am exercising for 90 minutes a day. Why 90? Well, my sister-in-law, Dr. Kaaren Mathias told me that numerous studies showed measurable health gains with increased exercise up to 90 minutes  a day. After that, the health gains taper off. So, once I reach 90 minutes, if it’s necessary for continued weight loss, I will weave physical activity into my day in the form of gardening or housework.

I read, “if we make the time to exercise, it makes us so much more productive and leads to such improved creativity, cognitive function, and mood that the time we need for doing it will open up and then some–making us so much happier and better at the art of creation, to boot.”

* * *

And diet? Well, I would like to transition to a diet that is largely plant-based, and hope to do it slowly over ten weeks by adding a new habit a week.

Now obviously, the weight loss is not going to be as dramatic as if I went on Atkins and South Beach. On the other hand, the changes I am introducing are so slow that, with luck, I hope to be able to make them permanent habits.

I  lost a pound. In the past, I would have thrown up my hands in despair…but I know I am stronger, fitter, healthier, with a better immune system—and so I am going to keep rowing, while adding in a couple of different metrics: waist measurements, and body fat percentages as measured by my Tanita electronic scale.

 

 

 

 

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Comments

  1. Sherrey Meyer says

    October 14, 2012 at 8:42 pm

    Anita, kudos to you for taking care of yourself and encouraging the rest of us to do the same. Just reading your words I am inspired as I’m now in week 2 of my new “campaign.” I gained a little over 20 pounds between last April and now due to spinal problems, spinal fusion surgery in December, and now recovery most of which has kept exercise at a dull roar. But I’m working my way up on the exercise part and attempting to eat healthy, slowly changing eating habits, and hoping for a weekly weight loss between 1 and 2 lbs. Good luck to us both!

    • Anita Mathias says

      October 14, 2012 at 9:06 pm

      Blessings to you, Sherrey. I am only aiming for .5 a week weight loss, 250 calories a day, between exercise and adding fruit and veggies. God bless both of us, and thank you for reading!!

  2. Bonnie Brown says

    October 14, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    Thank you so much for sharing, Anita. I think I’ll go exercise! 🙂

    • Anita Mathias says

      October 14, 2012 at 5:45 pm

      Thanks much for reading, Bonnie. Just come in from my exercise!! 🙂

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My Books

Wandering Between Two Worlds: Essays on Faith and Art

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Francesco, Artist of Florence: The Man Who Gave Too Much

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The Story of Dirk Willems

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anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
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#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
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And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
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