I’m more the work out in the home kind of person.

I borrow dvd’s from the library for power walking when I’m into it.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I wish I’d discovered ferocious exercise in my 30s. Where’s time travel when I need it?

Do the little things help? Maybe. But there’s also evidence that if you exercise only twice a week — say two good long walks — you are, unfortunately, starting at the bottom of the fitness hill each time…there is no cumulative effect. You will maintain your curent fitness level. But if you exercise harder, three times a week, you build muscle, which on your next exercise outing burns more fat, etc, etc. Essentially, you become an increasingly efficient calorie-burning machine.

And, weirdly, once you have the nice machine, you only want to feed it good food in small portions (sort of the way you take better care of the upholstery on a new car). I find it makes the eating part of my life surprisingly easy and guilt-free (for the first time since I was a teenager).

Ferocious exercise has got to be sexy and fun! Have you considered a roller derby team? (I’m so sad that I can’t do it, my knees are too old.) And Baptiste Power Yoga (an accessible type of Vinyasa yoga) looks great…there are studios in various places.
http://www.baronbaptiste.com/pages/affiliate.htm

Unfortunately, the program I’m in (which has a mix of young moms and 40- and 50-somethings, ranging in size from 120 pounds to 250 pounds, at all fitness levels) is unique. It’s run by my Seattle neighbor, fitness guru Susan Powter, who emphasizes modifying all the moves for your current fitness level. Susan is incredibly motivating and undeniably edgy. She’s experimenting with putting her exercise and diet stuff online (free with signup), which I think will work for folks who have already worked out with her. Whether someone could really “jump in” via the online stuff, I’m not sure…
http://www.susanpowtershow.com/

Karen

I struggle with healthy eating, and any kind of exercise so I give you a great deal of credit for taking care of yourself so well.

For years I walked every day, ate small, low-calorie and low-fat meals, and just couldn’t figure out why I slowly gained weight. It was only about a pound or two a year, but after 10 years — YUCK!

Exactly one year ago this week I joined an exercise program a friend recommended, and then I made the discovery that everything the magazines and doctors had told me about getting moderate exercise was misleading. Moderate exercise didn’t get me fit or help me lose weight; it just got me tired. To get fit, I needed to exercise three times a week, to the point of sweating, and I needed to do a variety of workouts (aerobics, resistance, etc.)

Fortunately, I found an extremely aggressive, movitating workout program run by a professional trainer that meets three days a week. I attend it without fail — even if friends are visiting, the weather is bad, I have a cold, I’ve pulled a muscle in my back or twisted my wrist, my mother-in-law wants to have everyone over to dinner that night, etc. etc. etc.

Results? After one year I’ve lost 30 pounds of really hideous fat, gained 15 pounds of muscle (for a net loss of 15 pounds) and went from wearing size 14 jeans to size 8.

You may gather this from my tone, but I’m extremely angry at all the “experts” who dished out the drivel about parking your car at the end of the mall parking lot and walking up and down stairs to get fit. My experience (at age 52) is that it takes hard work, professional coaching, sweat, and not being wimpy about injuries. (There will always be injuries.)

As Sally noted, signed up for a class really made the difference for me. To be blunt: My home life and my professional life are filled with things and people who care about what I’m doing for them, and could care less what I’m doing for me. To exercise, I have to get completely out of the house, into an exercise-focused environment with exercised-focused people.

I can’t begin to tell you how much I wish I’d known about this 20 years ago.

When I think of something away from my computer, I’ll often send myself an email from my cell phone. Same reason: I know I’ll be in front of my computer at some point!

It’s too bad WordPress didn’t give me a warning that I made a mistake with the ads. Had a caught that I would have used blogger in the first place.

I’ve been working on affilate links so far.

I was actually also thinking of setting up a personal WordPress blog and drip posts to be published at certain times during a day. I would then include an RSS feed on my gmail account, which I religiously check every 10 minutes. A roundabout way of doing things, but if it works, hey, why not.

Thanks for the tips. I’m usually pretty decent about time management — not the best, but I still get stuff done. Every once in a while, I try out another method of improving my habits — scheduling, keeping a time sheet, etc. Unfortunately, although I’ve stuck with all of them, they all lose their effectiveness after a while.

My challenge right now is that I’m trying to make time for a huge change in my life (my horse). Although I am starting to fall into a new daily schedule, it’s just not happening as quickly as I would like!

Glad we’re cool. One idea that has helped me balance items is, like Gina recommended, scheduling personal time as well as work time.

I did this when I coached my kids in sports (they no longer play) and for other items.

Franklin Planner has some good suggestions for this. It recommends ranking items A (must be done), B (would be good to be done) and C (will attempt to get to), then 1-xx within those categories. Then carry over from one day to the next. I try to keep such a schedule (not perfect) electronically because there are too many changes. Of course, there are those days I play fireman for my clients and fail to upgrade the calendar.

Thanks for your kind and prompt response. I appreciate your explanation, and I feel better about the whole thing now.

I am actually in the process of raising my rates right now — as in, I am giving my new rates to new clients, and I have raised my rates with a couple of clients where I felt I was getting a raw deal, but I have left some of my older and more reliable clients at the same rates. I agree that raising one’s rates is a useful tool — I took offense because I felt you were making a judgment on my current rates. I guess it hurts my pride to feel I’m being told that, when I myself am always telling writers that they don’t have to work for free or cheap in order to get started.

And finally, I mentioned the balance between personal life and business because I feel I am struggling with it right now. That is why I am too busy — not because I have too much work, but because I am having some difficulties managing my time now that I have some new distractions in my life.

Thanks again for your prompt explanation, and I hope there are no hard feelings that I took it the wrong way!

Katharine for post above. Wanted to respond as quickly as possible, hence the typo.

I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just suggesting that if one (me, too) has too much work, it’s a good signal it’s time to raise rates. I was meant as a friendly suggestion that raising rates could be worth considering.

This is true even if one is nearing capacity. By charging 10 percent more, one tends to increase income and decrease the amount of work.

I was in no way suggesting you couldn’t balance work and personal life. No one can say that because that balance is personal for everyone. What you find as a balance might not be right for me and vice versa.

My balance is different than it once was due to kids being older.

I’m truly sorry this offended you. The comment certainly wasn’t offered in that context.

I don’t think having a hard time balancing work with personal obligations automatically means I don’t charge enough. I am actually quite happy with my rates. All I said was that I was having a hard time finding enough time to stay active AND get my work done. I hardly think that is a problem that is unique to people who don’t charge enough!

As for outsourcing — well, it’s not like I can outsource exercising! And anyway, I have the attitude that if you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.

When you get too busy, it’s a sign you need to raise rates. Also, look to outsource those things you don’t want to do, be it hiring a plumber, a lawn service, or working with an intern on office-related chores.

While I didn’t have a specific time, a few years ago, I was involved with a group of other business people (since disbanded) that had individual personal and business goals each month. My personal was walking 60 miles a month. If we didn’t hit goals, we paid $5 to penalty jar, which was later used for a celebration.

Some recent issues, like trying to sell the house and a kid’s health, have gotten in the way of such exercise recently, but, as Gina says, the only way I or anyone else will do it is to commit to it just like one would to a client.

In 2004 I graduated with my B.A. and immediately got a job as a technical writer. I noticed right away that I was suddenly gaining weight. Part of it was all the free office food (our meals were paid for — long story), but another big part of it was that I was no longer walking across campus and back and forth to the train every day.

Since I’ve been working from home, my weight has fluctuated up and down a lot. Not unhealthy amounts — I bounce back and forth along a ten-pound range — but it’s still annoying, because I have to have clothes that fit both sizes!

A few months ago I started walking every morning with my husband, but I actually gained weight — it meant that I was awake four hours earlier than usual, and as a result I was eating an extra meal.

What has worked more than anything lately is getting my horse into the same town as I am. I visit him every day and spend time brushing him, cleaning his stall, etc. Even though it’s not terribly physical work, it is still apparently better than sitting on my butt at my desk all day without interruption.

Now, if only I could find a way to stay active AND have all the time to work that I need… LOL!

My fitness appointments to myself are as important if not more important to me than my client appointments. If I feel healthy, I work better and have a better attitude than if I don’t.

Be well!

I work out regularly to stay in shape and to stretch out my back.

I stopped “dieting” when I hit 30. I accept that my metabolism has slowed down a bit so I adjust. I still have my cheat days. Junk food in small amounts and everything else in moderation.

Micah>> My mom says the same thing too. She used to work too much when she was young, now she’s suffering from arthritis and joint pains

Health really is important. I took it for granted as a child. With age I’ve learned that ignoring it only causes more problems.

I still lose items, too, even though I lost my first one to a crash 29 years ago, before some who post here were even born. Usually, it’s from my system crashing while I’m in the midst of something rather than crashing after I’ve already completed it.