Kind of talking to myself here but feel free to chime in.

Today - waiting for dh to leave and dd to pick up her dog (any time now?). Hopefully that will be before the kids get home from school! Otherwise I'll be waiting til they get picked up. That's ok, tho', because I have the rest of the night and I will shoo them off if dh's gone.

So, where to begin?! Walking is a given but just HOW to walk is iffy. I have *itchy* issues and have to get past that but I don't want to baby myself either, too much. I need to get my heart rate up somewhat, right? Not just mosey along. I can stop when the itching begins and the next time I'll be able to go longer before it begins. It only takes a few times before the itching stops completely but if I push myself more each time it may show up a bit longer. No problem. I know to stop and try again later. I think I'll walk slow for 2 minutes and then increase the speed to 3 for a minute, then just below a jog for 30 seconds and back down to 3 for a minute and see how that goes. If I increase to below a jog and start itching, I can slow down to a 2/2.5 for a couple of minutes to see if it will go away before quitting.

Besides walking, what? I don't want to kill myself the first day. (But that's not usually my problem!) Maybe I'll play around with the different videos and websites, see what's doable at this point. I don't think I'll be kick-boxing this week or doing Calla Aerobics. But I can certainly do the beginner Callanetics, pilates, balance, stretches, and posture exercises. There are some beginner weight/strength-training exercise videos on the net that look good. I'll probably do some of that today because I know the toning exercises make me feel good fast. Also, because I'll probably be sore tomorrow and I want to be sore sooner rather than later so I can build up sooner, right?! Yes, I think I'll make the rest of my day (once I'm alone) about exercising. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with a "plan" for the rest of the week and MAYBE even a plan for dealing with exercising when there's company here. Oh! I have a "step" I can use! And a weighted ball. Uh huh - oh, and one of those big exercise balls! I have all the stuff I need to get in a good workout. I predict I won't be moving well wednesday. I'll pencil in "hot epsom salt bath" for wednesday! LOL

Whelp! I got thru 10 minutes of walking like that. I was sweating and heart rate up but I hadn't started itching. I don't know exactly why I quit except it was more work than I'm used to doing?

Then I did this strength training video:
https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=b ... mp=yhs-001
It was perfect for me. I used 8# weights and had to stop once to get rid of an ad that covered what he was doing. I was slower getting up and down and starting the next exercise after getting up or down but I think I got them all in. The hardest ones were getting up on my tippy toes - I kept losing my balance. Only this year have I started worrying about my balance.

I think jogging is bad for the knees. I know a few runners my age that have knee, foot and ankle problems. My goal is to keep my knees healthy. I like the Pilates, stretching, and weight-strength stuff.

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"...with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

I agree about the jogging. At least for me.