Ch-ch-ch-changes

You know how "they" say to switch things up every now and then to keep it interesting? Could be a workout routine, could be your diet, could be (in my case) your husband. (My current is my fourth.)

(Okay I was kidding about "they" suggesting you switch husbands, but I'm not kidding that my current is my fourth. What can I say? I'm a slow learner. Or impatient. Or ...)

No, here's what's changing: I'm switching to the body-fat scale AND, to make life truly exciting, I'm switching my official weigh-in day to Monday, which is when LoseIt!'s week begins. Having the week begin on Monday and having my weigh-in recorded on Friday has been bugging the teeny-tiny-little OCD part of my brain.

For that matter, Daily Mile begins its week on Monday, as well. It'll be so nice to have everything tracked from the same starting point. (And while we're talking about Daily Mile, do check out the widget in the right-hand sidebar that shows my total miles this year. I'm really loving seeing that number get bigger. It's a nice counterpoint to the scale number.)

I expect a loss tomorrow. If you read my post on Friday, you'll recall there's a three-pound difference between my two sets of bathroom scales, with the body-fat scale showing the lower weight. So I feel like I'm giving myself a pass, in a way, but it's not just a pounds pass, it's an emotional pass, as well.

And who knows which one of them is weighing accurately? If I wanted to get real nitpicky about it, I could weigh myself on both of them and average the results. But I DON'T want to get nitpicky, I just want to follow my plan and lose a pound a week. I'm hoping on those weeks where I don't lose, there might be a slight difference in body fat. And if not? Well, I live in a county where three rivers conflux. There are plenty of bridges to jump from.

I KID! AGAIN!

P.S. Sending good thoughts for strong muscles and endurance and, yes, patience, to my pals in the northeast and Canada. I hope your electricity stayed on and there's maybe a teen-ager nearby who can help you shovel out. So glad the storm has passed, but the aftereffects can be even more damaging. Wishing you well.

A third of the way through Month One

If beginning my health-and-fitness plan the day after Christmas puts me ahead of everyone who started this week, then SO BE IT. Heh.

Making December 26 my Day One of Month One might have been the smartest thing I did last year. I'm feeling very in the groove as I begin the 10th day of the umpteenth diet-and-exercise makeover. Today is a walk-and-yoga day, and I did indeed find a beginner routine for the sun salutation. I haven't tried it yet, so can't personally recommend it. This is one of many on YouTube; if it's not what I need, I'll certainly keep looking.

I haven't mentioned knitting around these parts lately. I'm still working on the endless blue-and-white garter stitch scarf. Pretty soon it'll be spring and I won't need a scarf.

My husband found a piece of paper with an outline of the five-year-old granddaughter's foot, which I thought I'd lost. She and I made the outline so I could make her a pair of slippers that actually fit. So next in the queue is a pair of child-sized Duffers.

(Mine, which I've been wearing since November 21, are already beginning to show some wear. There's a tiny hole developing in the toe of the right one. I'll probably do a quick mend until I have time to make another pair. Or until I make a pair of felted clogs, which last a very long time.)

What else, what else … I backed up my hard drive yesterday, something I hadn't done since July, according to Time Machine. Tsk, tsk. This was in preparation for purging some space-hogging tunes from said hard drive. What's stopping me from ditching all the music (since it's backed up on the external drive) is this: How would I go about loading the iPod again? I'm not done buying music or audiobooks. My laptop (a MacBook Air) only has one USB port, so I'd have to download music from the external back to the computer and then hook the iPod up to load anything new onto it.

I don't dare mention this dilemma to my husband. He would simply tell me to listen to the radio. My solution, as I mentioned a few days ago, is to delete those free-songs-I'll-never-listen-to. That should free up plenty of space. But if any of you have other ideas …

Finally, check out the new widget over in the right sidebar. DailyMile keeps a running mileage total for you, as long as you remember to log your activity. DM doesn't have an Android app, but there's an app called Daily Distance that simply and easily uploads your stats to the website. I use an Android app called Skimble to track my time-and-distance when I walk. (Skimble can track just about any fitness activity you can think of, actually, I just now looked and I can also record elliptical sessions. Yay!)

I just wish downloading and using apps burned calories like walking and yoga do.  (I'm a geek and I know it.) Maybe someone is working on that.