Exercise & Appetite & Exercise, again

I've been forced to be off my feet for about a week. I let my shoes get too worn out and pulled something in my left foot/heel. Financially, I can't afford shoes, what with my husband being out of work again, but I can't afford medical care even more. So, I spent about an hour online. I found a pair with no tax and no shipping charges. I figured that was the best deal I'd get and bought them. I learned one lesson--that if I want to exercise without breaks due to injuries, I have to be more aware of the wear in my shoes and replace them before they get that worn out. I'm planning to start building back up to my 3-mile walk next week.

Second lesson--not doing the walking affects my appetite--negatively. I tend to eat more when I don't walk. Which is weird, because you'd think it would be the opposite, since I need more food to fuel the workout. But I think what happens is that I get bored and overeat. When I'm walking regularly, I tend to eat closer to the right amount, rather than too much.

I picked up some exercise videos last summer. One was a set of yoga and Pilates DVDs that has both beginning and advanced sets of both types of workout. The other is the NY City Ballet DVD with both the intermediate and advanced workouts. Even if they say the first one is beginning, it isn't. You have to be in pretty good shape to do it.

But I can't do them in jeans. I need clothes that allow more movement. I'm temping for our church secretary this week while she's on vacation. I'm going to use a bit of that extra money to get some shorts or footless tights or leggings, whatever's cheapest, so I can start doing them soon. I'm noticing that I need to do a wider variety of exercise. I'm going to add beginning yoga and Pilates to my exercise regimen. When I get to the more advanced videos, I'll start the intermediate NY City Ballet workout. I know, I'm way too old for real ballet. But with some modifications, I could do the workout, if I were in better shape in terms of flexibility. So, I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

The next DVD I want is to replace my Richard Simmons Broadway tunes workout that uses resistance bands for strength training. I was really getting stronger when I used that tape, but it's disappeared. I haven't been able to find it since we moved. That's the other missing piece in my exercise program. I notice the difference when I do all three types of exercise versus focusing on only one or two. Each of them is easier, too, when I do all three types of exercise.

That's just my observations on how it works for me. YMMV, as they often, correctly, say.