A brief introduction…

I am a mother to three children, wife, Daughter, professor of nutrition and physical activity, and knitter. In years past, I devoted lots of time to competitive sports…now I find myself in the on-going process of learning to balance an active lifestyle with the demands of a desk job, family, and a desire to knit and design all the time.

About me…

Do you love to knit but find the balance of your daily commitments involves a lot of your day sitting?

Do you have multiple commitments…work, family, friends, volunteering, knitting?

Are all of these obligations leading to a feeling of being overwhelmed and/or exhausted with seemingly little time to focus on your health?

If so, we may have much in common.

I’m passionate about knitting, the outdoors, my family, and inspiring others to embrace a healthy lifestyle. In my younger years (aka “prior to having children”), I believed my life was busy…as it turns out, I didn’t fully grasp the meaning of busy until my husband and I were both working full-time jobs, I was pre-tenure, and we had 3 children under the age of 6.

Although my job involved long hours in front of a computer, I was still able to find time to exercise. Oddly though, my life felt like the game “red light, green light”, work-out hard, get very fit during the summer (green light) and have quality time with my children. Come fall semester, my focus would shift to work and much of my physical activity ceased about mid-October (red light)…resume activity over winter break, stop again mid-March and start the cycle over again in early June. This approach led to physical injuries, a negative outlook, and a nagging feeling of having nothing accomplished.

So what was I doing wrong? I hadn’t developed a realistic and sustainable approach to healthy living.

Looking back, my goals were lofty and NOT realistic given my commitments…I was no longer that former athlete that could devote hours to training. Despite an extensive knowledge base as a nutrition scientist, exercise physiologist, dietitian, and behavior change specialist, I was breaking all the rules.

Now, instead of attempting to do more, more, more which ultimately leads to a start/stop lifestyle, I approach my physical activity as something that can be sustained even when I am busy. That doesn’t prevent me from doing more when I have the time (e.g. in the summer) but provides me with the “bottom-line” of what I need to do even when I seem to be short on time. In other words, I can still focus on my health because my goals are realistic. Creating an active lifestyle that is sustainable has become my focus.

While your daily commitments may be different, undoubtedly we may find ourselves saying similar things “I’m too busy”, “I’m too tired”, “I would rather knit”, “I don’t’ have time because I have to make dinner”.  There may be a multitude of other reasons that keep us from being active. Through this blog and a series of knitting patterns focused on healthy living, I hope to inspire you to find a small amount of time each day to focus on YOU and your HEALTH. The choices you make each day can and do influence your overall well-being.

Join me on your quest to create a sustainable healthy life that involves being active every day and, is of course, complete with knitting.

Keep on knitting…knit, purl, knit, purl.

Keep on moving…left foot, right foot.