Archive for the ‘Exercise and Fitness’ Category

Staying Physically Fit

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

staying-physically-fitIn less than a week I’m going on my first ever 12K run. It’s called Bloomsday, and tens of thousands of people run it every year here in Spokane. I told my husband back in January that I was going to lose 17 pounds this year (that I accidentally gained last year just for turning 40; thank you very much). To keep myself accountable, I signed up for this race. You see, if you sign up for ridiculous things like this, you can’t stray too far from your goals for staying physically fit.

So in January I started doing exercise videos. I threw them all in the trash except for the Jillian Michaels one, the one that says “Eliminate Love Handles, Muffin Tops, and Wobbly Arms for Good!” Sure enough, after doing her absolutely impossible workout two or three times a week, I was actually gaining some nice definition in my stomach. I saw muscles I never had before, not even when I was skinny as a rail before I had kids.

By the end of January, I had discovered Zumba. Oh, Zumba was so much fun that I actually looked forward to Wednesdays as my favorite day of the week. We met at a church, 150 women of all shapes and sizes. Even though I’m a total klutz and I fumbled around like an idiot, I eventually learned the moves. Meanwhile my fumbling around caused other women to feel good about themselves, since they weren’t as stupid as the red-headed person who kept twirling the wrong way. A man from the church with a big movie camera wanted to record us doing Zumba to advertise to the church women to come join us. As much as I love being on camera, I did NOT want to do Zumba in front of a camera. Since the camera man was right in the middle of the gym (with two groups of women facing each other), I purposely stood to the side of the camera so that there was no way I would be in it. Whenever we moved our arms around, I pretended to hit the camera man with my fist, much to the delight of the women facing me, who burst out laughing on camera. (He never knew I did this; bless his soul…)

Since the winter was so long, I got sick three times with a cold or flu. My flu even included a fever. I totally ditched my Jillian exercises because it was just too darned hard after all. But I never missed Zumba, even when I was sick. Much to my amazement by the end of February, I asked my husband if the scale was broken, because I had already lost 12 pounds. (If you read my blog article about losing 10 pounds, you know why I thought the scale was broken.) You see, I hadn’t exercised but once a week. All I did was, I ate less. And I drank more water. That’s all. So losing weight has almost nothing to do with exercise. And yet there is something about exercise that helps you to think more clearly, have more energy, and be more toned for your husband. So those things matter. Supposedly you sleep better, too, but sleep has more to do with not having a million things on your mind, like what to say to church people when you see them.

A couple of weeks ago my husband popped down a big bag of Cheetos in front of me. I said, “Honey, I’m trying to lose weight.” I’m not sure what his goal was, but he scored big points with me. After eating a moderate amount of Cheetos, I made the sudden decision to do the Jillian Michaels video again…

Zumba: Dance Your Way to Fitness

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

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I was interested in Zumba when I first heard about it: a cardio-fitness workout with a Latin twist that was more like dancing than exercising. Someone showed me a YouTube video of it, and it looked totally fun. The problem was, I didn’t have a gym membership. Then someone gave me a website where you can look up the Zumba classes near you. You just type in your zip code, and lots of classes come up that are right near your house. Some might even be free, put on by a local church. So for all you homeschool moms out there who are having trouble losing weight and want to try something fun, this is it.

After coming home from my first Zumba class, I said to my husband, “I’ve found my sport. I think I’ll Zumba to my grave!” My husband laughed. I’m hooked.

I have to say that I felt lost that first time. There were 100 women in that local church gym. (It seems to me that church women are fatter than average. This is an upsetting observation to me, since we have the best men in the world, men who love God. Why should they be punished because they’re faithful and true? And as another aside, if we put homeschooling above taking care of our physical bodies, then we love our children more than our husbands. That’s the truth. Our bodies belong to our husbands, so taking care of our bodies is identical to taking care of our husbands.)

So there I was, my first time, messing up my footwork. I didn’t care. There were old grannies in there. About half the people stumbled around, but all of us were laughing and whooping. About half of the music was Latin music, which I’ve always loved, having grown up in a Latin country. But the other half was whatever the instructor liked. One song had the words “I like them chunky,” and we did squats so many times to the beat of the music that my legs burned. I laughed so much at that song, but really, we were doing resistance training. There’s another song that sounds like India. We hop with one foot up and down, and my leg burns so bad, but everyone else is doing it, so I don’t give up.

Last week I went to Zumba two days in a row, and when I did that India song that second day, my legs turned to jelly and I almost fell. Just modify the moves if you can’t do them. Have fun, and sort of move like everybody else is moving.

Here are my tips for starting Zumba:

  1. Find a woman who is wearing Zumba pants. Those are the die-hard fans, and they know what they’re doing. Stand directly behind one of them. This way you have someone to follow that is directly in front of you so you don’t get dizzy. My first time, I looked sideways, and I was dizzy the majority of the time.
  2. Focus only on the footwork. Forget your arms until later, after you’ve got your footwork down.
  3. Do not wear a sweatshirt. It is waaaaay too hot. A t-shirt or tank top is better.
  4. Bring water. I forgot to bring water the first time, and I was so thirsty.
  5. Have fun. Don’t memorize everything if you’re tired. Just go with the flow. By your third or fourth time, it gets way easier, and you can start adding attitude!

After the Zumba class last week, I ordered myself a Zumba skirt. It’s like a scarf with jingles that goes on top of your sweatpants. Someone let me borrow their extra skirt last time, and it was even more fun to feel the jingles swooshing. It reminded me of when I was a little girl, twirling a pleated skirt.

A week ago I went to a funeral and I had no oomph in me to do a fitness video. Let me tell you, Zumba cheered me up. I actually felt better. And last night when I got home from Zumba, my husband asked me, “Did it exceed your wildest dreams?”

“Yes, actually,” I said, “because I finally know most of the steps, so it was just pure fun!”

How Food Affects Weight Loss

Monday, January 31st, 2011

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Everybody knows that to lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories. Even if you exercise every day, you might not lose weight if you don’t decrease your calories, especially in the area of junk food. I know a couple who have gone to the gym three times a week for years, and they haven’t lost weight. Why? Because they “like their desserts.” That’s what they say.

I’ve just been flabbergasted at the amount of weight I’ve lost so far this year. For me to lose 6 pounds in one month is ridiculous. I used to work out at the gym five days a week one summer, exercising so hard I wanted to puke. And for what? A lousy two pounds per month.

Fast forward to this January. I got sick. I was sick for at least half the month. I ate less food. That was it. I exercised maybe two or three times a week, sometimes zero if I had a fever. Honestly, it was easier to lose weight through eating less food than through tons of tedious exercise.

So now I’m much more careful what I eat. That way I don’t have to exercise every day, because who wants to do that? Not me. And to sustain that for the rest of my life? Nope. Not going to happen. People over 40 have to stop eating as much as they’ve always eaten, even though their stomach is the same size. Otherwise they blimp out. I just don’t want to be a statistic. I want to look good, even into my old age, but without resenting all the work to get there. My plan is to find more active things to do with my family, to exercise at least a couple of times a week, and to train my stomach to demand less food. We’ll see if my plan works.

The Psychology Behind Exercise

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

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A year ago when I lost ten pounds, the only reason I lost the weight was to look good for my husband. If you are losing weight for the sake of another person and not for your own good, you might unwittingly become resentful. Thankfully I nipped it in the bud, but I saw it coming. I’m telling you my story as a warning, so that it doesn’t happen to you.

After a long homeschool day, the last thing we mothers want to do is to go to the gym, especially when it’s dinnertime. But you can’t exercise on a full stomach, and you shouldn’t really exercise later in the evening if you expect to go to sleep. So the only time to fit in going to the gym is immediately after your husband gets home from work.

I had to eat a small snack, and I prepared dinner. My husband came home to a nice dinner that he ate with the children. (I warmed mine up later when I came home from the gym.) As soon as he arrived home, we passed each other like two ships in the night. A quick kiss, and off I went. I already had my running shoes on before he got home.

The seconds ticked by on the treadmill. I would watch the numbers go up, wishing the time would go faster. Sometimes the music was so loud it gave me a headache. Some guy on the treadmill next to me tried to pick up on me. I angrily looked away and ignored him. He kept pestering me, and I almost switched treadmills. I wore the ugliest, frumpiest clothes on purpose, and couldn’t he see I had a wedding ring? It just made me mad.

Tick, tick, tick. Sometimes I would do spurts to run faster until I thought I couldn’t bear another step, and I would make it slower again. Sweat trickled into my eyes. I hate sweating. It makes me feel sticky and disgusting, especially that time of month. I suddenly got upset that I even needed to do this. Why do guys care so much about women’s looks? And I know that my husband loves me no matter what size I am, but there is a difference in his eyes when I look really good. There just is. God made them that way I suppose. But for some reason I was mad. I thought of all the hours being flushed down the toilet, running on this stupid treadmill.

When I got home, my husband had been taking care of the kids. Whenever your husband takes care of the kids, he subconsciously thinks you owe him a favor for giving you a break. Really? Excuse me, but I did not just have a break. If he had watched the kids while I went out to spend time with other women, I would have come home happy and refreshed, and oddly, I wouldn’t care if he thought I owed him, because I would have something to give. I would have felt refreshed and happy. Not depleted, sticky, sweaty, and like I had just forced myself to do something I hated for his sake.

I don’t know if I ever even told my husband any of this. I would come home and go straight to the shower, and ask God to give me energy for my husband, because I had given my all at the gym, and I had nothing left. But “my all” at the gym was for my husband, so he had already gotten it. And now he expected me to be pleased that he had watched the kids. I wanted to cry.

I recognized the sin of resentment, and I threw it out. I reached upward to God, and He gave me strength. After a shower, I actually felt better. Maybe it was the positive effects of exercise. Supernaturally I was able to enjoy my husband during the evening, and he never even knew about my struggle.

However, a year later when I gained back the weight, I just didn’t have the oomph to lose it again. I just didn’t feel like it. I know, that makes me a lousy wife, but I was juggling so many things that I just didn’t want to add something I hated.

Look, girls, I hate exercising just as badly as you do. I want to give up just the same. So if I can do this, so can you. Your husband will be pleased. Your husband chose you from all the other women on the face of the earth, and he works his butt off just to help you stay home so you can homeschool your kids. He is a treasure. He loves you. Go ahead and give him a present of a better you.

And don’t just do it for him, or resentment will rear its ugly head. You have to do it for you. I hate to admit this, but I actually feel better after I’ve exercised. Write a list of all the benefits of exercise, and post it up somewhere so that you can see it.

Think of it this way: if you are carting around a ten-pound sack of flour all day, wouldn’t you be tired? Drop the sack of flour, for you own sake.