With all the walking I’ve been doing on campus, I decided I needed to get a new pair of shoes that were more comfortable and better for walking. I went to a few stores before I found my dream pair of shoes.
I had seen a few commercials for Skechers Shape-Ups so when I noticed them in Dillard’s, they weren’t too surprising. But, I walked right by them because there weren’t any styles that caught my eye. However, in Famous Footwear, a style of the Shape-Ups did catch my fancy so I decided to try them on.
Once I put these babies on, they were as good as mine. They’re the most comfortable shoe I’ve ever worn, hands down, no competition, that’s that. They look like they may be heavy, but they’re not. The soles are made of foam (see diagram below) so they’re as light as a feather and I feel like I’m walking on a mattress specially designed for my feet.
The Shape-Ups claim to do many great things: improve posture, improve blood circulation, tighten abdominal muscles, strengthen the back, firm buttocks muscles, reduce cellulite and tone thighs, and firm calf muscles. In fact, the tag line for the shoe is “Get in shape without setting foot in a gym.”
Before I put them on, I was wondering if a shoe could really do all the things Skechers claimed this shoe could do. Once I put them on, I immediately noticed a difference in my posture. It actually hurt to slouch, which has always been the opposite for me. I bought them for the sole (no pun intended, ha) reason that they were the most comfortable shoe I’ve ever worn and the added bonus of them improving my posture, and the best is yet to come.
Yesterday was the first day I had a chance to wear and walk in them all day. It took me a few minutes to get used to the way they force you to walk, but I’m golden now. By the time I walked from the parking lot to my class, my calves were burning. (This isn’t just a small jaunt. It takes me about 10 minutes to get to class from the parking lot I use.) They literally and figuratively kicked my butt. However, even though my calves were on fire, my feet weren’t. Not once did my feet start aching while I was walking, which is a big deal for me. This morning, my legs are sore, but my feet feel refreshed and ready for a new day of walking.
Now, whether these shoes will do everything they claim to do remains to be seen. But, for now, I’m sold and I highly recommend them to everyone.
PS–There are even styles for men.
Today was the day I decided to go looking for a swimsuit. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to going swimsuit shopping because I’m already self-conscious enough about certain areas of my body and swimsuits just seem to enhance those areas. But, I know this is for a good cause–becoming healthy and fit–and frankly, I love to swim. My niece Megan and I went to four different stores looking for swimsuits. Because autumn fashions are here, the pickings were slim in some stores, which I was expecting. However, there’s a store completely dedicated to swimwear around here and I figured I’d be able to find something there at least. Fat chance! This store only caters to smaller women, so there was nothing that met my needs. I even called three different stores asking them if they carried plus-size swimsuits. They all said no. It was so frustrating!
Random Ramblings
I’m back on track. For the past two weeks, I’ve been eating healthy and watching my calories. I already feel so much better and I’m down another 3 pounds! I don’t know why I have such huge cravings for bad food because it just makes me feel sick after I eat them (e.g. french fries, other fried foods). I do still fight sugar cravings almost daily. But, as long as I eat sugar in moderation, then I still feel okay.
I still haven’t got back into exercising regularly. I need to because I feel better when I do and I sleep a lot better, which has a been a problem the past few weeks. Since I haven’t put a lot of effort into exercising, I’m not sure how my Skecher Shape-ups are doing. I have noticed that my walks seem more productive when I wear them. By productive, I mean I can feel more of a burn when I walk. I’ll try to be better at exercising in the name of research.
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I feel like I’m in a catch-22 situation every day when I go to school. I really enjoy walking to class because it gives me some exercise, some alone and relaxation time, I get a chance to be outdoors for a bit, and I can listen to music or an audiobook while I walk. But, I also like to have Corey drop me off because that means we get to spend a few extra minutes together.
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I finally have all my midterm scores back and I’m very pleased. As I’ve already stated, I got a 95% on my Doctrine and Covenants midterm and 90% on my Japanese written midterm. I found out that I got an 89% on my Japanese oral midterm, and after the curve was applied to both of my Japanese scores, my written score went up to 122% and my oral score went up to 108%. The score I was dreading the most was my English midterm, but I was pleasantly surprised with an A-. However, ironically, I did worse on the written essay questions than I thought I did and I did better on expressing the main idea of the essays we had read in class.
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I still miss reading for pleasure. I haven’t had much time lately to even crack open Elantris so I’m still only a third of the way through. (I don’t think I’m going to hit my 35-book goal this year.) It’s killing me not to know what’s going on in Elantris! But, I’m being responsible and doing my homework instead.
Luckily, I have had some non-thinking type projects to do at work lately so I’ve been listening to audiobooks. I finished Twilight a few weeks ago, New Moon a couple of weeks ago, and I’m listening to Eclipse right now. I’ve decided that I really enjoy listening to audiobooks because I can still satisfy my cravings to “read” my favorite books without them pushing books I haven’t read and want to read farther down my to read list. Also, the readers do such a good job at reading with emotion and animation that they bring the characters and story to life. Audiobooks are so much better than movies made from books because you still have all the elements that make you love the book.
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I joined and added Google Friend Connect to my blog. Join us or die … er … join if you want to know when I’ve made a post. It’s near the bottom of my sidebar, under my shelves.
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I’ve decided that I’m going to reply to comments via commenting rather than sending an e-mail to each individual person. My friend Brodi replies to every comment made on her blog and I really like the way she does it. It works out well. Although, she is much funnier than I am. Anyway, when you post a comment, don’t forget to click the “Subscribe to this post’s comments” link so you’re notified when I (or even someone else) replies. (Click here for instructions if you need them.) I’ll also post a reminder on my next few posts so you don’t forget until it becomes a habit.