do they make church appropriate stretchy pants?

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

One thing I do when I sense distance between me and God is to beg Him for opportunities to serve him. It never fails to draw me into a more intimate awareness of His presence in my life. The last few weeks, I’ve been begging.

Then, at Tuesday’s yoga class, I was asked to join a few ladies to do “Son” salutations to the Lord’s prayer – during the church services on Sunday.

I was not excited about this opportunity.

Seriously, doing downward facing dog in front of the entire church congregation? Not what I had in mind when I asked God for an opportunity to serve him.

But isn’t that frequently the case?

I ask God for an opportunity to serve him, He provides one and my response is, “but. but. but. I don’t want to do THAT!” I don’t always have specific ideas about how I COULD serve him but I DO have ideas about how I DON’T want to serve him and sticking my badonka donk butt up in the air for a downward facing dog in front of the entire church congregation is firmly on that list.

Was firmly on that list.

Today, I asked the yoga instructor, “After you do yoga during a church service, do you find that someone new comes to class after that? Because they were prompted by seeing it?”

“YES!”

oh.

well.

okay, then.

And I’m reminded. God can use ANYthing for his purposes and glory. Even a downward facing dog.

So, I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity to serve God. With a joyful attitude. I’m sure I will have a joyful attitude, I just haven’t quite gotten there completely. Yet. Right now, I have a positive attitude, which is a long way from where I was this morning.

As I drove away from yoga this morning, I realized this opportunity supports something else I’ve been doing for the last few months. I’ve been posting my fitness goals and my daily progress on my blog, facebook and twitter. I’ve received feedback (on and off the internet) that my fitness updates have been encouraging to more people than I realized. I really thought that I would post these updates for my own personal tracking, but the feedback that I’ve received has been a two-way encouragement. People see me fail and try again and they are encouraged to try again. They see me nick away at fitness goals, a little every day and they are encouraged to do the same.

I’ve made a commitment to be a good steward of this body God has blessed me with and to hold myself accountable by sharing that commitment with others. To stand on the stage this Sunday morning and sing with the praise team – and then, moments later, NOT participate in yoga during the Lord’s prayer after, would NOT be in line with that commitment.

Now I just need to go shopping for church appropriate stretchy pants.

so I failed. NOW what?

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

One of my favorite movies scenes is from Elizabethtown. After Orlando Bloom’s character tells Kirsten Dunst’s character about his colossal career mistake, she replies:

“So you failed. Alright you really failed. You failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed, you failed. You failed.”

Harsh, I know. But then she says,

“You think I care about that? I do understand. You wanna be really great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you’re still smiling.”

My translation? “So you failed. NOW what are you going to do?”

I failed. I didn’t meet my March fitness goals:

Goal – Walk an average of 2.3 miles per day, totaling 71.3 miles.
Actual – Walked 69.2 miles, short 2.1 miles.

Goal – BOSU pushups: average 20 per day, total 620. (originally 10 per day. I doubled this goal – big mistake.
Actual – 410, which is 100 over my original goal and 210 UNDER my modified goal.

Goal – 2 Minute Plank: Average one per day, for a total of 31 times, If I missed a day, I was supposed to make it up.
Actual – 23, 8 short of goal.

Goal – 1 Minute Superman: Average 1 per day for a total of 31 for the month, miss it? Supposed to make it up.
Actual –23, again, 8 short of goal.

NOW what? I’m going to set new goals for April and strive to achieve them.

I’ve taken a look at why I failed and I’ve discovered a few things:
– The daily 1 minute superman and the 2 minute plank were reasonable goals. That’s THREE minutes a day.
– Increasing the walking distance was a waste. I need to walk smarter, not longer. And I need a day off.
– I HATED those BOSU push-ups – because I wasn’t successful. I couldn’t do 20 of them in a row. And they never got easier. I found myself skipping the floor work altogether because of those stupid push-ups. Besides, they only worked isolated muscles. I hate doing that – waste of time when I could be working multiple muscle groups.

So here are my modified fitness goals for April:
1 one minute superman per day, total of 30. (already behind)
1 two minute forearm plank per day, total of 30. (already behind)
Yoga/Strength training: 3 days per week. (this will be a challenge)
Walk an average of 2 miles per day – taking Saturday’s off – for a total of 50 miles – at 6.5 percent incline on the treadmill. (that’s the smarter, not longer part). Any walks in the flat neighborhood with FirstHusband will be bonus miles.

I’m also adding some nutrition goals:
Take my vitamins and supplements every day.
Eat at least one serving of fruit every day. (this may be the most challenging goal of all. not because I don’t like fruit, but because, in general, I often forget to eat much of anything after breakfast)

WHY am I doing this? Because just a few short years ago, I couldn’t. I’ve been given a second chance to take care of this body God has blessed me with and I’m determined to be a good steward of it. Did I mentioned I was DETERMINED?

I’m blogging my daily fitness updates in my exercise log, and posting my daily progress on my Facebook page and my Twitter account, so follow along any way you like:
1. Subscribe to the blog via email or RSS (there are widgets in the sidebar to subscribe)
2. “Like” my Facebook page to see the updates in your news feed or
3. Follow me on Twitter!

I would LOVE it if you would join me in fitness accountability by commenting either here or on the facebook page and letting me know your progress too!

Still lurking around, thinking about the possibility of making small changes in your day to get healthier? I want to encourage you to set a reasonable, sustainable fitness goal for yourself for the month of April and (here’s the key) make yourself accountable to someone! If you do it, let me know how it’s going and I’ll pray for you!

If you currently have an inactive lifestyle, consider exercising 1 minute a day. ONE minute. And (here’s that key again) make yourself accountable to someone who will support and encourage you! (If you exercise for ONE minute per day for a week, tell me and then I’ll tell you why I only challenged you to work out for ONE minute)

fitness accountability: Wednesday 3/9/11

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

I’ve made a commitment to the Lord to strive to be a good steward of this body he’s blessed me with and by the grace of God, I’m stronger today than I was yesterday!

Here’s what I did so far today:
1. An hour of strength training.
2. Walked 4.3 miles (updated)
3. 30 BOSU pushups. (trying to catch up after doubling my goal 3 days into the month)
4. 1 two minute forearm plank.
5. 1 one minute superman.

And here’s how I’m doing on my goals for March:

1. Yoga/Strength Training Days: 3
2. 22 miles walked. Should be at 18.4 by today, but I’m trying to get ahead because I can’t walk Thursday or Friday of this week. I’ll be chaperoning an out of town field trip with a bunch of 4th graders.
3. 160 BOSU pushups. Trying to average 20 per day for a total of 620.
4. 9 two minute forearm planks. Trying to average one a day for a total of 31.
5. 9 one minute supermans. Trying to average one a day for a total of 31.

I’m blogging my daily fitness updates in my exercise log, and posting my daily progress on my Facebook page and my Twitter account, so follow along any way you like:
1. Subscribe to the blog via email or RSS (there are widgets in the sidebar to subscribe)
2. “Like” my Facebook page to see the updates in your news feed or
3. Follow me on Twitter!

I would LOVE it if you would join me in fitness accountability by commenting either here or on the facebook page and letting me know your progress too!

penalties or rewards, pleasure or pain.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

“Everything you and I do, we do either out of our need to avoid pain or our desire to gain pleasure…

Why don’t you do some of the things you know you should do? After all, what is procrastination? It’s when you know you should do something, but you still don’t do it. Why not? The answer is simple: at some level you believe that taking action in this moment would be more painful than just putting it off…

Why is it that people can experience pain yet fail to change? They haven’t experienced enough pain yet…hit a level of pain you weren’t willing to settle for anymore. We’ve all experienced those times in our lives when we’ve said, I’ve had it – never again – this must change now. This is the magical moment when pain becomes our friend. It drives us to take new action and produce new results.”

Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!
by Anthony Robbins

I hope that the negative consequences I just experienced will be motivating enough for me to never repeat the circumstances that led to them.

I skipped working out yesterday. According to my freakish self-commitment to be a good steward of this body God has blessed me with – which I was foolish smart enough to document on the internet – I had to make up what I skipped. Thank GOD I only skipped one day. I had to do double work today. If I had missed two days…

What happened yesterday that prevented me from working out?

nothing.

I have no excuse. I just procrastinated and then I got distracted and then I rationalized that I would just make it up tomorrow.

I should not have listened to me. I really, really hope I remember how difficult it is to do TWO 2 minute forearm planks, TWO 1 minute supermans and FORTY Bosu push-ups.

I’m going out of town with PinkGirl to chaperon a field trip on Thursday and Friday. Excuse me while I have a little talk with myself:

“Julie. There is absolutely NO reason you can’t do your plank, superman and regular push-ups on Thursday and Friday. Do you feel your arms right now? Do you really want to go through this again on Saturday? Do NOT wimp out. You WILL regret it if you do. It’s LESS than FIVE minutes a day, for cryin out loud! Don’t be a whiny butt. Just suck it up and get it DONE.”

That said, here’s where I am with regard to my fitness goals for the month of March:

8 two minute forearm planks (caught up)
8 one minute supermans (caught up)
130 BOSU push-ups (doubled my daily goal after 3 days, need to catch up to 160)
17.7 miles walked. (To meet my average of 2.3 per day, I should be at 18.4. Got some catching up to do – and I should try to get a head start on making up Thursday and Friday because I can’t leave my post as chaperon to get my walking in. I’ll try to remember to wear a pedometer during the day as we do field trip stuff)

How are you doing with YOUR fitness goals? If you’re a beginner, I’m challenging you to exercise for only ONE minute per day this month. In April, I’ll tell you why I’m saying only ONE minute.

I’m blogging my daily fitness updates in my exercise log, and posting my daily progress on my Facebook page and my Twitter account, so follow along any way you like:
1. Subscribe to the blog via email or RSS (there are widgets in the sidebar to subscribe)
2. “Like” my Facebook page to see the updates in your news feed or
3. Follow me on Twitter!

I would LOVE it if you would join me in fitness accountability by commenting and letting me know your progress too!

one minute a day: join me for fitness accountability!

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

Come on, you can do it!

I’m going to post my fitness updates on my facebook PAGE. It’s a page, not a personal profile, so you don’t have to “friend” me and I won’t see your wall posts, you can just comment your progress for accountability and prayer support! If you click “Like” at the top of the page, the posts will appear in your news feed so you’ll be reminded to post your progress.

Why am I doing this? For a two-way street of accountability and encouragement. I want to be a good steward of this body God has given me. I used to be hampered by physical limitations and pain, but slowly, both are becoming less and less of an obstacle in my life.

I posted my March fitness goals yesterday and I haven’t fallen behind yet! (I know it’s only been two days, but with my propensity for distraction and procrastination, it’s very easy for me to fall behind).

After I put my goals out on the internet for maximum accountability, I realized that they might be discouraging for beginners to read about. Let me explain – I’ve been building up to this for years. I started slow!

In the beginning, I could only to a 10 second plank – and I really struggled to do it!

In the beginning, I could only do a few push ups before I lost my form – and they were “girl” push ups, on my knees. (In the long run, it’s more beneficial to do fewer push ups correctly than lots of push ups incorrectly.)

In the beginning, I couldn’t walk more than just a few minutes without getting winded.

But today, years later, I’m doing better because I slowly and consistently incorporated small changes over time and didn’t give up. YOU CAN DO IT!

If you’re lurking around, thinking about the possibility of making small changes in your day to get healthier, I want to encourage you to set a reasonable, sustainable fitness goal for yourself for the month of March and (here’s the key) make yourself accountable to someone!

If you currently have an inactive lifestyle, consider exercising 1 minute a day.

ONE minute. And (here’s the key) make yourself accountable to someone who will support and encourage you!

ONE minute. (I’ll tell you why only one minute later – probably in April)

If you do it, let me know how it’s going and I’ll pray for you!

fitness goals: March 2011

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

I’ve decided on my fitness goals for March:

1. Yoga/Strength Training: 3 hours per week.
2. Walking: 15% increase from February’s goal, average 2.3 miles per day, 71.3 miles total for the month.
3. BOSU pushups: average 10 per day, total 310.
4. 2 Minute Plank: 31 times – if I miss a day, I make it up.
5. 1 Minute Superman: 31 times – miss it, make it up.

Now that I’ve put this out here, there’s no turning back. I’ll be updating my Exercise Log and there’s a widget in the sidebar that shows my current summary.

Today, I walked 3 miles with my husband in approximately 48 minutes, did 10 BOSU PushUps in less than a minute and spent 2 minutes in a forearm plank. I’ve got to go do a 1 minute superman now.

Microactions have a cumulative effect – try some of your own and let me know how you’re doing!

57 miles in 28 days.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

February 28th. Finally!

I reached my goal of walking an average of 2 miles a day for the month of February. I actually managed to walk one whole mile over my goal for a total of 57 miles!

But you know what that means.

My freakish self-competitive streak is compelling me to set a higher goal for March.

I won’t lie, getting the 57 miles in was NOT easy. I fell behind early on and spent most of the month trying to catch up. I was finally on track again by the 27th.

Better late than never.

Even so, I’m feeling kinda chicken when it comes to setting a higher daily average for March. FirstHusband and I were walking a 3.1 mile route he tracked but it sent us walking past a sewer treatment plant. yuck. Yesterday, we tracked a new 3 mile route that keeps us closer to home and away from any stinky landmarks. So when we walk together, we’ll walk 3 miles that day. But. We don’t walk together EVERY day, so setting a 3 mile per day average is too much of a jump for me. I don’t like to set myself up for failure.

So I still don’t know what my walking goal is for March. (and yes, I know tomorrow is March 1st.)

I have decided to add push-ups. I think I’m going to shoot for an average 5 a day for a total of 155 push-ups during the month of March. 5 seems so reasonable. 155? not so much.

microactions, microactions, microactions.

“the man is the head, but the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head any way she wants.”

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

I love this scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Isn’t is cute how men think they’re in charge?

Now ladies, wield this power responsibly. Don’t take advantage.

Need a few more chuckles today? Check out Friday Funnies hosted by Homesteaders Heart!

If you’ve got time to hang out for a few minutes, check out what else makes me laugh: Pragmatic Compendium’s “laugh!” category.

my tracking device still works.

Posted on by Julie Stiles Mills

FirstHusband called me from work today: “Honey, I REALLY need you to engage your vaginal tracking device.” (Rosanne Barr used to say the uterus was a tracking device, but since I no longer have one of those…)

Me: “I don’t know where your stripper boots are. Or your keys.”

FirstHusband: “I’m desperate. I’ve looked EVERYwhere I can think of. They’re not at work, they have to be at home. It’s been a week. I need you to find them. Please?”

Me: “When did you wear the boots last? It was before I made fun of them on the internet.”

FirstHusband: “Sunday. I remember I was going to dump them behind the chair, but I knew it would annoy you.” (are you jealous ladies?) I just don’t know where I would have put them.

Me, thinking out loud: “They’re giant, they’re not easy to miss.”

I walk straight to the laundry room, open the coat closet and ask: “How much do you love me?”

FirstHusband: “YOU FOUND THEM? WHERE?!?!”

Still looking for the keys. But I do remember he didn’t answer the “How much do you love me?” question.

Note to FirstHusband: Here honey, I found THIS for your future reference. Aren’t you lucky I’m so good at finding things?

Need a few more chuckles today? Check out Friday Funnies hosted by Homesteaders Heart!

If you’ve got time to hang out for a few minutes, check out what else makes me laugh: Pragmatic Compendium’s “laugh!” category.