The other day I posted the fact that I got a new job and the fact that I was doing a bit more walking from my desk to my supervisors desk, to the end of the hallway into the warehouse and then doing filing that required me to be standing up for a good part of my day. Standing, walking, bending, stretching - it is all a good thing when you are a worker that sits down at a desk for hours on end.
A few days after my posting (which has been a very long time coming) I was thrilled to get a well placed and perfectly timed comment from
Michele - one that I was over the moon about, since I have not blogged in a really really long time it is so wonderful to see and hear from people that I have followed for more than two years. The comment was this -
Michele said...
Congrats on
the new job! That must feel great! See if you can
build a little more exercise into your day, besides the walking back and forth. Nothing like the present with all the other changes to make some other lifestyle changes. Aim for 15 mi of exercise a day and plan your lunch. Those two changes will reap great benefits.
Not only was I happy to get this comment and to hear the Congrats - which by the way the job became official last Friday and since it was a holiday I got paid for my very first day on the job - woo hoo - then at our orientation meeting we got a bottle of wine, then there is the quarterly bonus this coming Friday (a case of wine) - loving the job and am making sure I am sharing the bonus, and not drinking it all by myself (did I mention that I work for a winery - LOL)
Okay - back on track - today I took that comment about the "building" a little more exercise into my day by doing 30 minutes of walking. I now have a 30 minute lunch and I hate sitting in the break room doing nothing but eating, so after finishing up my packed lunch (more on that later) I made my way out to the parking lot. We have a pretty huge area and there are only about 20 cars to about 100 slots, so there was a lot of walking room. Even if I didn't have the best pair of shoes, I was going to make this work. I did about 6 laps around the parking lot in the last 15 minutes of my lunch.
The rest of the afternoon just flew by. It might have been for the sheer fact that I got in some good exercise, I got to breath in the warmth of the Spring day or that I was actually getting some where with all the paperwork that has been thrown onto my desk.
In addition to Michele's comment, I got to know one of the new ladies at my work during my orientation the other day. She also got hired on fulltime and we both are in the same building. She talked about not being able to go out for walks or that we don't have windows in our office and that the fresh air would be nice from time to time - we work in a very large industrial warehouse building - there are windows, but that is for the managers that get their own office (and a door - LOL LOL). In our orientation the other day my co-worker was saying how she misses walking almost everyday, that this new job has been a challenge for her in the fact that at the end of the day she is really tired. Sitting at a desk all day, that can do it to you - make you tired and not feeling any energy after a long 8 hour day. During our company introduction they also stressed the fact that we are allowed 2 breaks during the day, each in increments of 15 minutes. I knew I needed to put Michele's motivating comment, my co-workers request to walk and my 15 minute break into action.
The lunchtime break was great and I was feeling energized, so at 3 pm I asked my co-worker to join me - even if we both didn't have the right shoes on, we did 4 laps around the parking lot, got a chance to get to know each other, talk a little bit about our new jobs and we enjoyed the Spring day - overall a great 15 minutes. And yes, I will bring the right shoes starting tomorrow for more walking at break time.
I am truly blessed to have a new job, blessed to have some special people out in the blogging world that give me the advice and comments I need and truly blessed to be working my way back into the weight loss challenge that I have in front of me.
Oh, and about those lunches - I have totally been a good planner in that aspect. I have even added an afternoon snack and most of the time it is yogurt with a little bit of granola - so yummy. With only 30 minutes for a break who has time to travel to a fast food joint and waste gas and money on something that is high in calories.
Wishing everyone great happiness this week - and you never know - your comment can Lead to Action and good Motivation!!!!!!!!!
MO