DQ Jones

I've got a DQ jones like crazy, so I fixed that right today by eating one. Mmmmmm. Then I noticed that I felt pretty crappy. It wasn't guilt, my body just felt like a tub of goo. It was worth it though. :)

Making An Effort, Live the Example

My 12-year-old child is growing again. They do that a lot. She has been in this fun transition from child to adult body, growing more than 5 inches in two years and gaining weight accordingly. I bought her a pair of jeans about a month ago and they are now tight. She FREAKED out, wailing that she is fat and ugly. Oh, good. She is nowhere near overweight. I had a big talk with her about bodies and shapes and growing and such. Part of this was a discussion of healthy habits and healthy bodies. She is in track and softball, goes out for basketball, and was in cheerleading. That makes her physically active all darn year. She eats like a horse. So, I encouraged the activity, and talked about food choices and that steady equation of calories in and out.

After this discussion, I decided that I should lead by example, so I have been working hard to eat when hungry, and make healthy choices about what I eat. I don't want to pass my struggles and habits on to my girls. I don't want them to fall into the junk food trap and be lured constantly by sweets. I want to teach them balance. It's not about banning foods, it's about making smart choices about amounts and frequency. So, here's to feeling better about me, feeling better by the very nature of healthier habits, and feeling better about passing on good habits to my children.

I Bought Another Book (aka..A Fool and Her Money)

I bought a book/magazine from Women's Health on making this "my year" for fitness. Why do I buy these things? They all say the same thing - eat healthy foods and cut out the junk and the pop. Exercise - do a variety of things five out of seven days per week.

Do I keep hoping one of these books will say, "Just eat ice cream and cookies every day in place of vegetables and you will fit into your skinny jeans by Friday!" They are not going to.

Well, I'm chalking this one up to be a really expensive exercise journal (handily provided in the back of the publication) with workout ideas.

Do the Hustle and the Splits

I borrowed a workout video thing from my Boot Camp sister. It's called, "Hip Hop Hustle" and is basically dancing with Shalene Johnson, creator or TurboKick. I did it last night in my basement and enjoyed it while working up a sweat. I think I'll do it again. I also have been doing crunches and pushups at night, and have been trying to work on doing the splits. Yeah, I know, doing the splits is just dumb. But, I make my 7-year-old practice them for dance, so I am trying out of some weird sense of fairness. Fairness, and an equally weird thought that being able to do the splits would be an amazing parlor trick.

I Promise I'll Run, Later

I am a tub of goo! It's like I decided to let myself go to seed. I've managed to work my way right back into all of my bigger clothing. Right before summer! What kind of knucklehead lets themselves go right before summer?!! Apparently, I need another bout of H1N1.

I have been considering many things. I looked into Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem. Those are expensive! Plus, then I have to cook other foods for my kids and then eat my pre-packaged foodstuffs on my own. I did the Mrs. Iowa program for about a week and I probably should go back to that. It was successful and I wasn't hungry. I cannot do WW - just due to averse conditioned reactions.

The thing I am really avoiding, in case you hadn't noticed, is exercise. My sister has been a dedicated workout fiend, and she has been tearing up classes called "boot camp." This class scares the bejesus out of me. I went to the gym once last month. Once. Once!! Seriously? What am I thinking? I am thinking that I really dislike exercise. I wish I liked it. I wish it was at times that are convenient. I wish it was my outlet. It seems to be the outlet for my siblings. They swear that it is not fun while doing it, but that they are so drawn to the fantastic feeling afterward, they do it anyway.

So, I bought some new running pants and told my sister I would do the ride/run again this year. I promise I'll run, later.

Staring at The Dancing Stars

I have one of those Visa cards that have a "points" program. These things accumulate with no real rhyme or reason. I get announcements on how to get double points, but it's like on a Tuesday if you are wearing red and you visit a certain website and order tofu. I don't know. I do not pay much attention to them, except to glance every now and then at how many points I have. I checked into the kinds of stuff you can get with your points and there is a pretty good range. I could save them up for the rest of my life and go on a fabulous vacation, or with a very few I can get gift cards to restraunts that do not exist in my town. Anyway, I was looking through the "merchandise" section and hey! they had the "Dancing With the Stars: Dance off the Pounds" video! So, I ordered that thing right away, and they shipped it to me.

I tried it last night. I hope I don't sound like a big old bragger if I say that usually I am a pretty good dancer. I have taken ballroom dance lessons and was told by an instructor that I am pretty good! So, this is not just self-appraisal. Anyway, this workout video was HARD! I got through the first section just fine, and it was interesting yet challenging. The music was rotten, but at least the workout was satisfying. The second section was really tough, and they did not give nearly enough instruction on how to do the steps safely (mechanics so you don't hurt your knees) or effectively (how to make your feet do them). I kept up for the most part. The third part lost me. I ended up standing there, staring at Dimitri doing some fancy box step crossing his feet over themselves repeatedly and jumping around. I tried it, but was thinking I would fall down. I did not give up, but I wanted to pull Dimitri right into my living room (cuz he's hot, and because I needed more instruction). Sigh. I'll keep at it and see how it goes.

Thus ends today's product review....

Weekend Ahoy

It's Friday! Yay! Well, sort of yay. It is easier for me to make sensible eating choices when I am at work. Why? Well, because I am WORKING, so I can't really be eating. When I am at home, nobody considers it rude of me to eat in front of them, so I have the potential to go to town with the snack foods. So, I'm just going to work on scheduling enough junk to do so I don't have idle time. I have plenty of reading, cleaning, knitting and kid-watching to do, should be a cinch. Should be...