1000 miles!

Today I passed the the 1000 mile mark of walking at my trekdesk!  That is such an accomplishment in my book considering I walked a total of 620 miles in all of 2011...  Not sure I will make it to my goal of 1250 for the year with the change in workload I have at work - but I can sure try!

Miles are low this month...

This month has been a crazy whirlwind of a month... Started off not feeling too well for a week or so... Then ended up working two full time positions at work for a few weeks - REALLY BUSY...

So the low mileage is what it is... Still trying to make good choices/better choices as I can and seem to be maintaining my weight which is a success in itself...

Hope to be more "normal" next month and get at least up to 100 miles again...

We will see...

2012 miles

Last week I hit the 700 mile mark for 2012... You may think, "so what," - well it's a milestone - as I only walked 692 miles at my trekdesk in 2011... So it is a big deal in my mind because I passed last year's amount of miles!  Wahoo!

I thought the cartoon below was really cute, a good reminder about fitting in exercise in our day - I am thankful I discovered  the trekdesk and that it works so well for my life - because fitting in exercise daily outside of work would be a challenge - but it can be done!

~enjoy~

Just passed the 600 mile mark!

Wow-ee on passing the 600 mile mark in miles walked in 2012 today!  Pretty cool to be less than 100 miles away from my total miles walked in 2011!  :)

Yes this is short and sweet - but I have to get off to my Bellyfit class - exercise for my body and soul!  I love these classes... :)

Giving myself a free pass

I fell yesterday in Zumba class - rolled my ankle and fell to the floor... it was embarrassing...

Everyone in class was so sweet though -they stopped the music and doted over me like a bunch of hens taking care of an injured chick...  I had ice a pillow to prop my foot up, a towel to dry my tears and lots of "are you ok's?"

I iced it last night & it was still pretty swollen this morning...  I decided since I am already set up with a Foot and Ankle DR to go get it checked out... I didn't break anything... That's good...  From the x-ray he could tell me that I have injured my foot before - as there is some degenerative arthritis in all the areas of my ankle...  Nothing chronic - but there is some deterioration & some spurring...

Today it is just a Type 2 sprain - and he suggested a brace to wear all the time while it heals & when exercising for the next year or so - it just supports the ankle to help it keep from rolling...

So after walking for 1 mile this morning - before deciding I shouldn't do that any more until I knew for sure I hadn't broken my ankle - I am giving myself a free pass to not get to the 5 miles today...  It feels weird to be sitting a top a stool at my Trekdesk - but it is what it is... I will be back at it tomorrow...

April virtual walk totals...

April I logged just under 140 miles walking at work... When I add that to my previous months of virtual walking this year I end up in Dunnigan, CA...  Sure is fun to track this way - I am over half way to the southern CA border!  :)  Stay tuned for more - been busy, busy so not as much time to update on here...

Passed the 500 mile mark!

As of yesterday's end of workday - I had walked over 500 miles while at work in 2012!  This feels great to me & tells me I am on my way to shattering my amount of miles from 2011... I did 692 in 2011 over 12 months...  I don't think going another 192 miles will be any problem in the next 7.5 months!!!

It feels good that walking at work is a habit for me...  A way of life - I couldn't see working in any other way... A possible job opportunity crossed my mind for a few minutes (don't worry I am not going anywhere) but you know one of the things that went through my mind while thinking about it for a few minutes... I wouldn't be able to Trekdesk while I worked & that is something that I couldn't live without at this point... Mentally or physically... I would go nuts if I had to sit in a chair for the bulk of my day!

I feel blessed to be in a workplace with coworkers that just know that they will talk to me while I am walking, and a boss that has an open mind to my walking while working & having a treadmill in my office - not that it really takes up any more space than a traditional desk and chair would take up...  (that is the beauty of it)

I have been doing pretty good for the last few days - trying really hard to keep up with the no snacking in between my mealtimes... Doing pretty good - had a bit of a lapse last night, but I survived & won't beat myself up about it!

Until I am back to post again
~ Enjoy~

March walking total

In March I logged just shy of 150 miles at my Trekdesk!  That gets me right next to Mt Shasta on my virtual walk towards Baja...  Feels great to be able to keep up with doing this and keep my body feeling better and healthier...

While this month didn't show much weight loss (no gain is a good thing!), I can directly attribute that to not following a weight loss eating regime for the whole month... I have chosen to add some sweets here and there and I have survived... I lost an inch off my waist and one off my hips as well & I sure can tell in my clothing... I have an ever-growing pile of clothes that are just too loose to wear anymore & I have been enjoying bargain hunting for new smaller things to wear.

I love finding new things to wear & I love people making comments on seeing how much better I am looking :) It is still surreal to see in the mirror & really an adjustment to make as I shop for clothes as well... No more 2 or 3x clothing - some XLs and even some plain old Larges are fitting!  :)  Love it...

Going to see if I can crack down again this month with some more exercise to see a few more pounds come off and get some toning going on... I have a friend's wedding to attend in June - nothing like a good goal point to look forward to right?

One day at a time making healthier choices to last a lifetime!

An article in the Daily Journal of Commerce...

March 19, 2012 At treadmill desk, woman logs 1,038 miles and loses 40 pounds By JOURNAL STAFF Photo courtesy of TrekDesk [enlarge] This $479 desk is designed to fit any treadmill. Cindy Mayhak of Vancouver says she has walked 1,038 miles — in her office — and lost 40 pounds since getting a treadmill desk. A company called TrekDesk, which makes the treadmill desk Mayhak uses, said she won the free desk through its Movement Revolution contest. The desks cost $479 and are designed to fit any treadmill to create a height-adjustable workstation. Mayhak said she either walks or stands most of the day, and does not have a traditional desk. She works as a job cost accountant with Paul Davis Restoration in Vancouver. The company repairs property damaged by fire and water. During a phone interview while she was on her treadmill, Mayhak said, “We're designed to walk and move. Right now I'm walking and putting stuff in a spread sheet and talking to you.” She said walking at work forces her to concentrate more and that makes her more productive. Mayhak decided to get a treadmill desk because she found it so difficult to get exercise with a 90-minute daily commute and three children to care for. She keeps a steady pace of two miles per hour. Her goal is to walk five miles a day but she often walks between five and eight miles. On busy days she is at her desk longer and has logged as many as 10 miles. Mayhak said she wears business clothes and tennis shoes at work. She only gets off the treadmill to get supplies, take a restroom break or to eat lunch. She doesn't like to eat and walk. She supplied her own treadmill, which she bought for $100 at a Goodwill store. Her husband added an extra fan to keep the motor cool. Maykak said her boss was skeptical at first that she could do it but now he's a believer and said he might even replace the treadmill for her if this one breaks. TrekDesk said more than a dozen people have won free treadmill desks through its Facebook contest. Steve Bordley, CEO of TrekDesk Treadmill Desks, said the company wants to educate Americans about the health and productivity benefits of movement, regardless of their age or body type. For information about the contest go to www.facebook.com/trekdesk. Copyright ©2012 Seattle Daily Journal and djc.com. Comments? Questions? Contact us.

Virtual walking progress...

134 miles walked in February at my Trekdesk

271 total miles walked so far in 2012 - the dotted line shows how close I am to the border with CA

These maps show how far I have gotten in 2012 on my virtual walk... Amazing how much I am learning while mapping these out...  Oregon is a pretty long state!  I can't even imagine how long California will be!!!

And when we look at things relative to one another - the scale went down 5 lbs in the month of February as well!  That makes a total of 35 lbs lost since January of 2011.  Slow and steady...

Nice article about my TrekDesk walking...

http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/technology/fit-and-focused-accounting-professionals-discover-trekdesk

I love how well written this article is... :)

Learned something new...

So today I posted my daily walking miles on www.dailymile.com - where I always post them... I have a few online friends that also walk while they work, and we follow each other's progress on walking. Today I made a comment about bumping up my speed for walking & how I hoped to see an increase in calorie burn...  Joan on there pointed out to me that it is not the case that I will burn more calories - that walking at a slower speed will burn more calories...  I immediately took off my bodymedia armband to look at my burn data for the day - setting out to try to disprove her.  But you know what?  She was right...  I was showing 24-30 calories less per hour of active walking when I was walking at 2.2 MPH vs the 2.0 that I was walking before...  I was amazed!

She sent me to this online calculator - http://walking.about.com/library/cal/uccalc1.htm  which shows that walking 2.0 vs 2.5 burns more calories - and she also explained a little bit of why it burns less calories at the faster speed - because of the built up momentum when you are walking faster - so it takes less kinetic energy to move your body at the faster speed.

Now this only seemed to pan out when I used the calculator for comparing walking my normal walking distance of 5 miles at 2.0 vs 2.5 vs 3.0 - when I used the 5 miles and put in 4.0 MPH the calorie burn went up. But I don't plan to walk much faster at my Trekdesk and still be able to manage to do my work.

So I will be taking my speed back to 2.0 and playing with the incline (as much as my foot can tolerate) to get a bit more of a burn (or to keep my body guessing...)

Bumping up speed...

Yesterday on a whim I pushed the speed up button 2 times to make my speed that I am walking go from 2.0 MPH to 2.2 MPH... Yes that may seem slow for being on a treadmill - but I am at a TrekDesk and working at the same time!  Most people are comfortable with 1-1.8 MPH and I have always done 2.0 MPH and felt good about it...  Yesterday & all of today, I have bumped up the speed to 2.2 and I feel good - I feel like I am pushing myself a bit more, while still managing to do my work at the same time... It takes a bit of getting used to, but it is working...  :)  Hopefully I will see a difference in my caloric burn for the day as well...

Something else that happened yesterday... I got BUSY at work with lots of stuff outside of my office... I didn't complete my 5 mile goal for the day at work (for the first time this year) - but I was sure to finish it out at home last night! While my absolute goal for myself for this year is to do 5 miles at my Trekdesk per workday, there may be days like yesterday that it just doesn't work out...  I was bummed about it, but when facing the choice of staying at work longer just to complete my miles AT WORK, and going home to finish them out, I chose finishing them out at home...  :)  So before dinner I fired up the computer in front of my treadmill at home (with the makeshift desk at it) and I surfed the internet, and got in the remaining 1.57 miles that I needed to meet my 5 mile goal...

Virtual walk progress...

My total miles walking at my TrekDesk in January = 137!

Where do you ask did I end up when I started out virtually walking the first of this year?  I ended up just south of Eugene, OR...  When I lay out a course like this on a map, I really can see progress - like I am virtually getting somewhere!  It is fun...

Oh yeah - not that the number on the scale is a measure of everything - but the number went down by 6 lbs this month as well!

Nope...

The kitty in this picture just made me giggle...  NOPE, I don't want to walk...  I'm not going anywhere - you can't make me...  

I have had days like that, that I find myself sitting on my stool at my Trekdesk rather than up walking...  Then my body hurts from sitting and the stool, and I remember my goal for myself to walk at least 5 miles each work day, and eventually I get moving... I do it because I know I NEED to do it. I need to do it for better health. I need to do it so that I feel good that I am sticking to my goal of getting the miles in each work day. I need to do it to burn calories and fat that will help my body decrease in size. I need to do it because it keeps me active physically, which seems to engage my brain as well at work & I get more stuff done...

Walking to keep warm...

There are so many benefits to TrekDesk-ing at work...  How else could I keep warm on this wonderful morning that our heat isn't working in our office?  It hasn't worked since Friday, so the temp inside the office has dropped to 55 degrees... Brrr...  Oh, how I wished I had known that this morning when dressing, I would have added another layer to my outfit!

There was a HVAC company out looking at the system on Friday, but apparently they ran off for a part and then never came back :(...

So hear I am walking to keep warm while we wait for our industrial heater to try to heat up the place a bit more and figure out where the repair guy is...  A round about way to get me walking RIGHT AWAY on a Monday morning!  :)

A Trek towards Mexico

So if I walk at least 5 miles each work day this year - I will log 1250 miles... and 1250 miles from my zip code of 98661 will land me just inside of Mexico - and if I really a lot more miles on average, then I might even end up clear down in Cabo San Lucas!  We will see... I plan to update my progress on a map between here and there once a month... Should be fun to see how far I progress each month...

Hope you will check back and see what progress I have made towards healthier living and a TrekDesk virtual trek to Mexico...

My TrekDesk must haves

My day at work TrekDesking is not possible without a few Must Haves...

• Water bottle - I drink over 100 ounces of water a day & must have my water bottle at arms reach 99% of my day!
• Fan - While using my TrekDesk at work, I walk about 2MPH that doesn't make me all sweaty like an hour of Zumba class would, but my temperature does get elevated, in which I counteract with a fan - it is on a shelf at upper body level & I turn it on and aim it at myself to keep myself cooled down a bit.
• Music - I have an I pod that has a bunch of music on it that I either put headphones on to listen to (when I am not on phone duty) or play out through the speaker dock when it is just myself and my assistant in the office (and she loves to listen to the music too...)  The music allows me to drown out other conversations that can be going on in the office that I don't want to get distracted by.
• Walking Shoes - having had larger than average feet, I am accustomed to not wearing heals or fancy stuff like that, but I can always be found wearing a good pair of walking shoes - I use Brooks Addictions - as they are designed for people that over-pronate (their feet roll inward while walking) and provide some of the best support I can find. I track my miles on my shoes so I am able to make a decision on when it is time to rotate into another pair of shoes as well. Did you know that a pair of shoes can still look good on the outside, but be worn out on the inside?  It's important to keep track of for the health of our feet!
• Layered Clothing - For the same reason as I list the fan above, I list layered clothing, so that I have the option to wear a jacket the first part of my day, but then shed it when I get warmed up, and be cool enough that I am not roasting...

There you have a list of my must haves for walking at my TrekDesk - I am sure there are more things that I would miss if they were suddenly gone, but that is the basics...

Walking to where?

So my goal for this year is to walk at my TrekDesk at least 5 miles per workday, I will walk my 100th mile this year today - so it seems I am on track so far for the year. I have talked before about it bugging me when a coworker mused about me not really walking any where, and I vowed to just reply that I am walking to better health...

Don't get me wrong, I really am walking to better health. I feel better physically, mentally and all around when I walk each day at work. But lately I was thinking it might be neat to keep track of where I am towards the goal for the year...  If I walk 5 miles per workday 50 weeks of the year (accounting for days off here and there) I will log at least 1250 miles for the year. I started to try to look up a location 1250 miles from 98661 - but didn't find anyplace exciting to walk to that is that far away...  Something tropical or at least with beaches would be neat, so I am going to continue thinking and looking for a place to virtually walk to.

Comment with any ideas that you may have :)

I miss my TrekDesk

We have had a bunch of snow - more than I have seen since the winter of 2008 (when we ended up with 36" of snow)...  I pride myself in always figuring out how to get to work no matter what the weather brings...  Today put that to a halt - at least about getting into the office to work...  I have been working from home which has been working pretty well... 

I started out at a computer that was connected to a printer, as I needed to get some stuff printed out, but after an hour of sitting in front of the computer to work - I was in pain - there were two choices left, stop work and just putter around in the house, or move to my "makeshift treadmill desk" in our exercise room... I chose the latter (remember my post about CHOICES yesterday??)  This is MUCH better than sitting in front of the computer, but I still miss my TrekDesk... for many reasons...

My makeshift treadmill desk - better than sitting, but nothing like my TrekDesk

See how small my work surface is? (this in comparison to the TrekDesk that is so much larger!)

Why I miss my TrekDesk...

• The TrekDesk has adjustable height - which allowed me to make it be just the right height for me ergonomically to be able to type and use the mouse without fatigue.  (My fingers keep falling to sleep at this desk because I am not adjusted "just right")
• The TrekDesk has an alcove for me to stand in, so that the work surface surrounds me - allowing for lots of stuff to be on my work surface & an arm's reach when I need it. 
• The TrekDesk work surface is 72" x 32" - allowing for me to have all I need on my desktop, not having to do a balancing act and have to stop the treadmill to get what I drop on the floor.
• The TrekDesk accessory cups that hold my pens and pencils are missed as well - right now I could use a highlighter, but will need to get off my treadmill to go get one from elsewhere, as there is no storage place on my makeshift desk to keep a highlighter...
• Soon enough (hopefully tomorrow) I will be back at work using my favorite desk --> my TrekDesk, until then I leave off with a few views out the window of where I am working today...

View out the window at the snow

Another look out at the snow...