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By kilax, December 31, 2009 5:33 am

We all want to know – how much exercise do we really need each week? How little can we get away with?

There was an interesting (although VERY confusing) article on the Well blog covering this topic yesterday.  The article stemmed from a study done in Scotland that concluded you only need 20 minutes of exercise a week to increase your contentment. Okay, but how much do you need to be healthy?

That’s more difficult to define. The article went into a discussion about “MET” minutes, which are “Metabolic Equivalent of Task” minutes. Huh? Apparently  you need 500 of those as week, and they vary based on what you are doing for exercise and how intense it is. For example, running at 6 mph is a 10-MET activity. So if you run for 60 minutes, that is 600 MET minutes. So, you’re done for the week then? Confusing…

Has anyone heard of this MET mumbo-jumbo before? How do you decide how much to exercise a week? Do you have any exercise goals for 2010?

I aim for at least 30 minutes a day, but usually go by how I feel. If I am in the groove, I will keep going! If I feel like crap, I won’t work out at all.

A few other interesting points from the article (repetitive, but interesting):

According to the Physical Activity Guidelines report, “It has been estimated that people who are physically active for approximately seven hours a week have a 40 percent lower risk of dying early than those who are active for less than 30 minutes a week.”

Interestingly, they did not find that exercise beyond a certain point conferred significant additional health benefits. Instead, the “dose response” for exercise, the committee found, is “curvilinear.” In other words, people who are the least active to start with get the most health benefit from starting to exercise. People who already are fit don’t necessarily get a big additional health benefit from adding more workout time to their regimens.

You do not necessarily have to divide your exercise time into daily allotments, either. Existing “scientific evidence does not allow researchers to say, for example, whether the health benefits of 30 minutes on five days a week are any different from the health benefits of 50 minutes on three days a week,” according to the activity guidelines. Do what suits your schedule.

Meme time! Leah, Gelareh and Holly have all tagged me for the “7 Random Things About Me” meme. Thanks, ladies! Click “more” to read on…

And of course, Happy New Years Eve! Enjoy your evening and be safe!

Continue reading 'How little exercise can you get away with? / 7 Random Things About Me meme'»

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By kilax, October 19, 2009 12:52 pm

More and more, it’s become aware to me how many people (myself included) will treat the same situation differently, depending on who is involved. I know, I know, it’s obvious. I guess what I should say is, it has become more aware as to how UNFAIR it is. Why give one person leeway when you won’t to another?

I’ll give you an example (I wish I could give you my really good ones, but it wouldn’t be appropriate). In college, one of my close friends NEVER answered my calls or texts. NEVER! I had to wait for her to call me. If anyone else did that to me (now, then, ever) it would piss me off to no end, and I would just quit trying to communicate with them. But with her, for some reason, I didn’t really care.*

I still notice myself doing this now. If person A does X, I get more upset than if person B does X. And in the future, I may act differently around person A entirely.

I think I do this because I subconsciously evaluate who I think people are in my head, then expect them to act a certain way. Here’s another example – my mother is often late… so I’ve come to expect that as part of her character. Now, if anyone else is late? Boy, I am not happy.

It’s not fair to expect people to act a certain way or do a certain thing, especially if you don’t have the opportunity to talk to them about it. Everyone gets to live life their own way, and dealing with different types of people is part of the fun (right… right?).

Of course, there’s more to it than all this. Sometimes it’s better to expect more of someone (like in a work situation) so they improve. Sometimes the reason you treat someone differently is because there is a history between you or some sort of communication breakdown.

But sometimes, it’s just because you’re being unreasonable.

Do you do this? Has it happened to you? It has certainly happened to me – that is what inspired me to write this. I kind of had an “Aha!” moment today. But I can’t be too upset about it, because I do it myself!

(And just so you know, I’m talking about people I’ve had multiple encounters with here, not people I’ve just met.)

P.S. Does this make ANY sense?

*Actually, there were a lot of things about her that bothered me, but we had the most fun together. I think it is because when something bothered me about her, I just told her (Like her gum smacking, hated it. I made her spit out her gum when she was in my house if she couldn’t close her mouth. Bitchy much?), and she did the same for me.

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By kilax, September 21, 2009 6:43 pm

Not really sure where this is coming from… but it’s been on my mind for awhile.

Have you ever had someone withhold important information from you, and later found out, either because they finally told you, or you heard it somewhere else*? They aren’t lying, but when you find out, your first reaction almost always ends up being “why didn’t you tell me sooner (or when it happened)?” and you’re not really able to process the information as you naturally would, because you feel somewhat betrayed.

I think part of this may be a personality thing, but it just baffles me, because I have the type of personality where I will talk to almost anyone about almost anything. Not much is taboo with me. As long as the person is non-judgmental, I’m an open book. I like to share.

BUT. I learned something new about myself last year – there are people in my life I don’t feel comfortable sharing my full self with, because of their judgment. It only takes so many ill reactions to teach me to be a different version of myself around certain people. And I find myself doing the thing I most despise – not sharing important details and news, because I don’t want to deal with a reaction to it. Or maybe still presenting the details and news, but in a manner different than I would with someone I feel more comfortable around.

Doing this makes you feel secretive and protective of your personal information. You become defensive of everything you think, say or do. You feel uncomfortable and on edge. Yuck.

So. Could I be any more vague? Basically, I feel really upset when someone feels like they can’t tell me something important, and I often think it is just because they are an inconsiderate person. But here I am, doing it on purpose. I’ve tried to make these instances two separate things in my head, to justify what I am doing, but I can’t. It’s the same thing. It happens so infrequently that I rarely think about it, but it’s still there.

So yeah. I have nothing to say (And I didn’t even get into wanting to share information but having to withhold it because it’s not yours to share. Ugh.).

In this instance, I am talking about your personal life, but I know it happens at work too.

Comments Off on Why it’s quiet here

By kilax, August 6, 2009 12:35 pm

I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed with work/life lately that I haven’t been talking about it. I don’t feel like it helps, and I don’t feel like talking. Instead I’ve just been shutting down.

I keep hoping that the next new week will be the one that allows me to relax and recharge, but it never is.

You would think that now, with my bad shin keeping me from running, I would feel relaxed, but I just feel frustrated. I am in so much pain when I walk, especially when I go up and down stairs, that I just want to give up.

So, I am sharing this just to explain where I am right now – in a pretty frustrated state of mind. So I’ve been keeping it quiet. Don’t worry about me… just don’t expect to hear much from me… winky winky smiley face.

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By kilax, July 14, 2009 6:55 pm

I just realized I am completely unexcited about something I should be very excited about right now.

In fact, I don’t think I would be too upset if the event were canceled.

That makes me feel really sad.

What’s wrong with me?!

Please let this just be a phase.

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By kilax, June 26, 2009 8:02 am

If your life was made into a movie, what genre would the movie be (drama, action, romance, comedy, adventure, crime/gangster, horror, musical, science fiction, war, western, historical, family-friendly, etc.)?

I like to think that mine would be made into a comedy. Not because I am very funny, but because I find humor in a lot of the situations I am in.

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By kilax, May 10, 2009 8:20 am

This Mother’s Day, while thinking about my mother, I am especially focusing on one of the defining characteristics of a mother – she is someone who always puts others (her family) first.

Does this define your mom? It defines my mom to a T. Even though we are all grown now, she is still running around, helping everyone out, before she does what she wants to do. She thinks about everyone else’s well-being before her own. It’s amazing that our mothers (and fathers!) are so selfless. I’ll have to call my mother today and thank her for that.

Seeing her act this way has taught me to be considerate of other people’s thoughts, feelings and agenda. People need to feel special, and they feel special when you give them attention and show interest in their interests. Our parents are probably the people who are most able to make us feel special, because we almost always feel like they are focused on us (except for when the grandchildren are around). I mean, who else will drive 250 miles to watch you run your first half marathon, take home your broken down car and look the other way when you eat enough food all weekend for everyone who ran the race?

Bye bye Kimbot II!!!

I am lucky to have such great parents!

Okay, I lied, there are actual TWO things I am focusing on this Mother’s Day. The other thing is what a goober my mother is, how much she likes to have fun, and how she makes me feel like it is okay to be silly and enjoy life! Life is much more fun if you are able to laugh at something each day (hence the tagline – the most wasted of all days is one without laughter).

My mom and I do this hilarious (we think) thing when we sign our emails to one another. I am not sure who started it. Probably her (see –  I learned to be goofy from her!). It started off with simple closings like “hugs and kisses, mom” but then that turned into (see some examples below):

Continue reading 'It’s all about the closing / Happy Mother’s Day!'»

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By kilax, April 3, 2009 6:59 am

If you could “fast forward” through something in life, would you? What would it be?

Have you seen that Adam Sandler movie, Click*? Adam Sandler buys this universal remote and finds out he can use it to fast forward through all of the un-pleasantries in his life. He uses it joyfully, to skip the hard work required for his promotion, but discovers an awful side effect – he misses out on what is going on with his family during that time. He becomes distant and removed and ends up losing them.

I used to want to fast forward through all the time and hard work it takes to lose weight and just get to the “after” picture. I felt like I was stuck in “before” land.

But then I realized two things – that once I got down to my “goal size”** I would have to work hard to maintain it anyway. and that arriving at that “goal size” didn’t guarantee my happiness.

So I got over that. But I still fantasize about “fast forwarding” through things. That’s me, always looking to the future, struggling to live in the moment.

I have scheduled pay increases that would be great to fast forward to – not because I am struggling, but because I am greedy. It would be great to fast forward to the summer and some frickin’ warm weather. It would be great to even fast forward to our half marathon day, because I am so excited about it!

But I think I would rather live through the struggles… even though I continue to fantasize about skipping forward.

*One of the few Adam Sandler movies I can actually stand to watch.
**Not even sure what that is anymore, or how it could possibly exist.