Get Moving!

OK, so now that I'm eating healthier & starting to see some results (WOOT!), what exactly do I do to get into an exercise routine?  I don't want to get a gym membership, it's too expensive & I'm too insecure at this point to work out in front of other people.  So what do I do?  About 10 years ago, I was 22, married & had a 2 year old & wanted to drop some weight.  I was told that if I walked 30 minutes a day & changed my eating habits that I would see results.  I took the suggestion.  I was doing the whole Slim Fast thing for breakfast & lunch & cooking a healthy meal for dinner & would put my 2 year old in her stroller & push her around my condo complex's parking lot for 30 minutes a night.  And I saw results!  Having had this experience, I know that my body responds well to walking.  It's low impact, easy enough to do, and I can do it pretty much within the comfort zone of my neighborhood.  This is where I started.  The problem, for me, that arose, was that I was coming home at the end of my 30 or 45 minute walks with massive blisters on the bottoms of my feet.  I'm talking big, like covering almost the entire ball of my foot area.  Needless to say, this would interrupt any habit I could get into for walking daily because it was too painful.  I talked with my little brother who told me I needed to be wearing good shoes (you know, ones actually made for walking & running) and non-cotton socks.  Who knew?  So, I took the time & went to a running store (I had NO idea that there was such thing as a running store) and got fitted for a good pair of running shoes & bought myself some non-cotton socks.  What a difference it made!  I was finally able to walk for longer distances & periods of time without being in horrible pain!  Hooray!!  Now, how do I track my mileage & calorie burning, etc?  Well, there's a lovely free app for iPhone (and Droid, too, I believe) called MapMyRide.  It will track running/jogging, walking, bike riding AND has a section where you can upload what you eat & how much, etc, & tally all of your calories for you.  That's what I'm talking about!  As far as counting calories going in, this app is fantastic.  Unfortunately, the counting for the calories burned is pretty inaccurate.  I have, however, found an online calorie calculator that seems to be much more accurate & has many more fields to utilize for the different types of exercising one might be doing.  Here it is:
http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

I also checked out the $9 DVD rack at WalMart & Target to see if there were any workout DVD's available that I could do in the comfort of my own home for the days that I feel like I need more of a workout than just walking.  I got Billy Blane Insane Abs, Jillian Michaels Beginners, and a 28 Day Boot Camp DVD.  At this point in my "abilities", I stick pretty much to the Jillian Michaels DVD because it's all fairly easy moves that I can actually do (the Insane Abs is hard for me because my stomach gets in the way of a lot of the moves they want you to do) and it's all body weight exercises, which means I don't need to have free weights or a workout bench or anything but a chair and my body.  I can't say that I'm doing any of them consistently, because I'm not, but I am doing SOMETHING on a pretty much daily basis.  For me, it's been all about comfort level.  If you like being in the pool, swim some laps.  If you like walking, go for a walk.  If you like being in the gym, go to the gym.  Do something that is going to get your heart rate up & keep it up for about 30 minutes.  If you can go longer, awesome, go longer.  But try to do at least 30.  You'll be amazed after about 2 weeks how much you start to look forward to doing your daily exercise.  I never thought it would be something I would actually admit to, but it's true.  If I skip a day, I regret it.  So I'm going to keep moving.  I got this.  I can do hard things.