The 4 Things I'm Going To Do To Lose 15 Pounds In 2015
That's a little bold, right? A little presumptuous? Welllllll, you're right. The thing is, if I SAY it, or if I TYPE it, maybe it will be more likely to come true.
I WILL lose it, friends. I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will.
If you have followed this blog that I have been pretty much grossly neglecting lately, you may know that I was on a fitness journey with Sean Millhouse of Fitness 101 last year. I wrote lots of posts about fitness and weight loss and recipes and great stuff like that. You can find them here. I still get lots and lots of hits on the post Funny Stuff Women Say To Their Personal Trainers. They eat it up over on Pinterest. The video of a personal trainer imitating women is hee-hee-hilarious.
The thing is...I've been slacking. I've lost the good stuff I've done and packed on some pounds. I have indulged in the queso and the peppermint ice cream. Something has got to stop or I will get stuck in my doorway soon.
So, what am I going to do?
I wish I could tell you that I was going to get up at 5:30 a.m. and go to the gym. As gyms go, Fitness 101 pretty much rocks. Sean and everyone there is funny, motivating, encouraging and just nice. There is not a thing wrong with the place. There are lots and lots of things right with the place. My hope is that I really make some progress 'round here and get myself back there. Unless I get up really early, though, I just don't see how I am going to get that worked in right now.
One thing that really motivates me to get back there is their ellipticals. I started doing some research on Amazon and Craigslist. I got on some at Academy. I realized that pretty much all I could dish out right now for an elliptical would get me two pieces of wood teeter-tottering on top of tin cans. I want the kind of elliptical I get on at the gym in my house, but that requires a wad of cash that we are not willing to put toward exercise equipment right now.
So, I had to come up with another plan.
I came up with FOUR things to get this thing done. I can't hit 40 in April looking like the marshmallow guy in Ghostbusters. The marshmallow guy with a long brown wig.
THING ONE: Hire this guy.
That would be my 6-year-old son, so hiring him is pretty easy. I already pay him in food, shelter, toys and new batting gloves. He is my motivator. "Mom, are you going to stop exercising now? It says to do it 4 or 5 times and you've done it only 3." He exercises with me. He asks me to wait until his favorite show is over before I exercise so he can do it with me. He keeps me company as I defy gravity and kick my legs out and stuff. If you are looking to do my 4 things this year, too, and need a personal motivotrainer, well, he's not for hire. He's a first grader with books to read every night for school and he is still trying to get his addition facts memorized. I think a friend, a co-worker, a spouse or even people on-line, like on the Kelley's Break Room Facebook page even, can help motivate you. If they are struggling on how to help you, though, you just let me know. Maybe they can be pen pals with my son.
THING TWO: Follow this exercise routine at home.
I remember this girl once told me that she has an exercise routine that she does every day at home. She said she even does some of the exercises while she is blow drying her hair or whatever. That has stayed on my mind. The only thing I do while blow drying my hair is accidentally whack myself in the head with the blow dryer. Since I'm not great at getting myself into the gym, I have got to come up with something I can do at home. I have participated in Tae Bo (remember that?) and exercise videos by Denise Austin and Cindy Crawford. I don't want to even do that anymore. If I have to walk over to find a video or something on TV, I probably won't do it. I'm terrible. I'm The World's Greatest Excuse Maker. (I need that on a mug.) Not too long ago, I saw a "At-Home CrossFit" routine on Pinterest. I took a picture of it with my phone and it collected dust in my photo app. I finally brushed it off the other day and wrote it down on a piece of paper. My 6-year-old personal trainer above saw it and asked if he could add some things that he does in his P.E. class to my list. So, now I've got kicks, hops, jogging and arm circles on my list, too, finished off, of course by a good "strach".
It might not look like much on paper, but it's a lot when you are lunging it and squatting it all over the place. I need to up it to 5 times per session rather than 4. My goal is to do these every morning. This, of course, won't happen every single day but I am going to try to make it happen on most. If time allows, I am also going to ride my bike after I am done. It's getting colder now, though, so my timing wasn't so great on making that decision. I also want to incorporate weights into that routine. If I can commit to doing these exercises for 4 weeks straight at least 3-4 times a week, I think I will be motivated to change it up or make it more challenging. Right now, it's plenty challenging all by itself.
THING THREE: Keep my FitBit charged at least, for goodness sakes.
Not too long ago, I impulsively got myself a FitBit. I did it before work. I was so anxious to see how many steps I took during the day. I walk quite a bit at the school where I work, so I logged in 10,000 steps easily on most days. Since we are off on Christmas vacation, it's been getting kind of bored. It's not really bored because of lack of steps, but rather, um...well, as you probably gathered, it's not charged. If I could keep the thing charged, I know that I would refer to it often. I'll admit, though, when I bought it, I was mainly looking at the FitBit to see what I was already doing instead of what I still needed to do to meet my 10,000 steps goal. So, that needs to change. Having the FitBit on also identifies you as a person that is aware of exercise and the importance of it. I think it is slowly reminding me that, hello, exercise already. Another thing that I am reminded of when I look at my FitBit is my husband saying to me the day I bought it, "That is not going to do you a FitBit of good." I am going to prove him so wrong.
THING FOUR: Track my nutrition.
There are a bunch of apps out there, I'm sure, but I am using My Fitness Pal. This is not a sponsored post in any way, so I am not getting anything for mentioning any name or product in this post. I just like My Fitness Pal. I think it is easy to use and has just about everything that I eat in it. One of my favorite features is when it pops up with "If you ate like this every day, you would weigh 1,216,216 pounds in 5 weeks". Tracking what you eat and drink is a pain in the neck and a half, but I know this is also key for me. We went out for an early 2015 celebration last night. I had a Cosmopolitan or two. When I tracked my drinks, HOLY MOLY GUACAMOLE, I drank a lot of calories. That mess needs to stop. And pronto, before I look preggo. (I absolutely despise the word "preggo", but it just went with "pronto" so well. Please overlook it, at least this once?)
So, those are my four things: a) have a person that can motivate you nearby, b) exercise frequently during the week with my at-home aerobics routine, c) use the dingdang FitBit and d) track my calories on the app. I can do that, right? I can do it and, if you wanted, you can do it!
I just must lose 15 pounds this winter/spring. I just must. I can't be having this mess.
Would you add anything to my list??