That Time I Tried to Not be Fat

Let's talk about being fat, and how I'm attempting to avoid it.

I have to admit, I've been seriously slacking in the diet and exercise department since California. But I'm happy to report that I have gotten back on the horse. I'm in a really good groove right now with working out and eating healthy.

Let's get one thing straight, I HATE exercising. It takes me more mental perseverance than it takes Fergie to not pee her pants. I think about it for a couple of days. Then I might put on a pair of tennis shoes and a sports bra and take a nap in them, just to feel them out. On a few occasions, I may have driven to the gym and ended up in the grocery store instead.

But lately? Lately I have actually been semi-looking forward to working out. I have kind of gotten into a groove with my lifting routine and my cardio. I get SO FREAKING BORED when I'm doing cardio, even though I have an ipod loaded with podcasts, and each piece of cardio equipment has its own tv screen. I can attribute my new devotion to fitness to the fact that they recently added channels to the gym cable and . . .

I can watch Real Housewives and Keeping Up with the Kardashians while I work out. Whatever works.

I find that eating healthy and working out all seem to fall into place once you have one of them down. So since I have been working on my fitness, I have been having less cravings for junk and have been more motivated to fuel my body with healthy foods, particularly vegetables. Once you start turning down junk food, it becomes addicting, like some sort of game. Last night, while out at dinner with my friends, I turned down dessert. Do you know how hard that is for me? I felt so bad ass afterward.

I have found that blogging has been a huge motivation for me when it comes to getting healthy. Of course I am held accountable by my own blog, but more so, I like reading other people's blogs about their attempts to get healthy.  I'm more likely to be motivated by a real person making an attempt to be healthy than someone like Jillian Michaels. Jillian, you are a demon robot sent to Earth to make me feel ashamed and weak. You have no relevance in my life.

So I'm asking you, do you have any kick ass fitness, health or eating blogs that you read that help you stay motivated?  I would definitely like to add a few to my reader. Thanks!

(photos from Flickr: timtak, www.chicagofabulousblog.com, jesse757)

The Childhood Obesity Epidemic

Remember how a few days ago, spinning was the love of my life? Well, now it is responsible for my broken body parts. Seriously, I’m falling apart over here.

It all started when I was laying in bed, the night after a particularly grueling session of spinning. Wilbur was laying in between F and I, snoring and being all kinds of cute. I kind of twisted around and tried to lift him so he would be on the other side of me, for optimal spooning (the dog, not the husband), when I heard something pop. Okay, so he is a 20 lb beagle and not a 200 lb german shepherd, but still awkward to lift when you are twisted into a backwards spooning position. That’s when the neck and upper back pain started.

According to my doctor, www.google.com, I pulled a lat muscle. Just ice it, rest it and no vigorous neck straining exercises. Fast-forward a week later and I re-pulled the stupid thing while trying to flat-iron the back of my hair. Add in another spinning class and my knee keeps giving out and I have pain radiating from my hip all the way down my ass and leg. Why do I have the body of a 90 year old woman? I’m about to call up Betty White for some osteo-biflex cocktails.

The good news is, I lost about five pounds since I started the spinning. The bad news is that I’m sure thats going to skyrocket back up once I take this break and let my geriatric body heal. But I have to come clean. I am ALL about clean eating, healthy cooking, etc. I read all the magazines, check out the fresh organic produce at the hippy grocery stores, etc. The problem is that I don’t actually . . . do it. If a 25 yr old could be the face of childhood obesity, I would be it. Check out yesterday’s menu:

Breakfast – Vanilla cupcake

Lunch – Wendy’s single combo meal

Dinner – Fish sticks and a cupcake

REALLY?? WTF? Now let me clarify, this isn’t a typical day for me. Its just that I’m totally inconsistent about this whole healthy eating thing. I’ll be eating great for a few days and freak out if I spy so much as a crouton in my salad. The next day I will polish off a fast food value meal without even looking back. And now I can’t exercise, GREAT.

Mandatory Introductions

I hate introductions, so here is what this bloggity blog will entail:

Arts and Crafts

I have been an arts and crafts junky since I first discovered pipe cleaners. I’m one of those people who looks at something in a store and thinks, “Twenty dollars for a throw pillow?! I could make this!” I’ll share my crafty successes and failures as well as some how-to tips.

Home Improvement/Design

My husband and I bought our first house about eight months ago and it’s still so exciting. I’d love to tell you that it’s a cute little cottage and that we have eco-friendly bamboo floors as well as rustic details left from the generations of people who have lived in it. But alas, it’s a two story townhouse in a planned community with a bunch of young families and yuppies. What makes it even sadder is that it is built on the top of a giant hill in a historic town that was ravaged by floods and never quite revived. So all the townspeople look up at us in disgust. They fought the development for years. But I don’t care. I have lived four different apartments in the last five years, so I was ready for walls that I could paint. My DIY attitude makes me believe that I can tackle any home improvement project. Sometimes they work.

Random

It’s inevitable that some of my daily life will creep into this blog. I’ll try to keep the “Dear Diary” entries to a minimum, but this is mainly for me to keep track of my life.

My Career

Not sure how much I’m going to delve into this topic. It would probably be boring to most readers. I quit my job as an accountant about a year and a half ago and have been trying to make it as a freelance writer. I don’t feel like I’m anywhere near there, but I have big dreams. And I’m making some progress. So I’ll probably use this space to gloat when I get new gigs or new articles published. That shit doesn’t fly on Facebook, but this place is all about ME.

Fitness

I’m trying to get in shape and just become generally stronger. Why should you care? Because looking at my progress will probably make you feel better about yourself. I was always the girl picked last in gym class. No, really. It always came down to me and the morbidly obese kid that smelled like hot dogs. And they always picked the fat kid first because he could at least come in handy defensively. I was the skinny, quiet shy kid until college, when I miraculously became the outgoing, newly formed beer gut kid. I blame most of this transgression on my boyfriend (now husband) and PBR Light. I hate working out and I hate the gym, so you should be able to get a few laughs out of my pathetic attempts.