Archive for March, 2010
The Easter Candy Challenge
I just have to brag up my day. I’m having a perfectly healthy food day and I’m just thrilled with myself. My sister-in-law came to town last weekend (hence not many posts happening), and we did a lot of eating out. I tried to make some wise choices, but I also made some unhealthy choices and was feeling a bloated belly and a deflated self-esteem.
One day of great eating can really bring it back!
HUGE (non-fat) salad, some nuts, no sugar oatmeal, sweet potato mush, apple, banana, tons of water and I’m on top of the world.
SO…
I have a challenge.
If your house is like my house, it’s already begun an Easter candy invasion. Chocolate bunnies are multiplying, eggs of all colors and flavors are abundant (the ones in the pic are my personal fav), chocolate, jelly beans, ahk, they’re everywhere!
My personal challenge to myself (and you can join with me if you’d like) is to not eat another piece of Easter candy until the actual day of Easter.
What do you say Mamas? Anybody in?
This will do wonders to kick start my will power all over again and I’ll still get to enjoy the actual Easter Feast, but only on the day of Easter and not all week.
Bring On the Intervals!
I’m crap for running. People who strap on the shoes and go for miles without a break amaze me. If you’ve ever seen Back to the Future III, this is the mindset that I take:
“Run for fun? What the he*% kind of fun is that?”
But there is no denying that running is great exercise and with Spring approaching, getting out to get fit is more and more tempting.
Which is why I propose the concept of Interval Training. A while back my friend the Trainer Mama wrote a great article on the benefits of interval exercising. Go HERE to read all that she had to say, but the gist is that by combining short intervals of easy, medium, and hard exertion your workout does more for you.
Just going medium-ish for 30-60 minutes a day is the typical mom routine, which is great for burning calories, but it stops the moment your workout stops. Intervals train your body to burn calories and be more efficient even after your workout ends.
Hooray! Burn more calories when I cook, clean, watch American Idol – yes, me likey!
So here’s the idea for interval running that I learned long long ago in middle school PE. It’s called In’s and Out’s. We’d assign a different type of run to the 4 different sides of the track – power walk the curves, run the straightaways, sprint here, jog there, whatever works for your fitness level.
This is a great way to work out in neighborhoods, since they are made for alternating distances. This week I ran, jogged, walked in sections all over my neighborhood and because of the intervals I was able to keep going! Plus it made such a difference for my muscles who have been getting bored on my exercise bike.
In’s and Out’s, even if you’re crap for running like me, they are worth a try.
Here’s the link for that awesome article one more time: http://trainermomma.blogspot.com/2009/09/kaboom-we-need-those-intervals.html
