One thing that a lot of people are learning is that not all body fat is created equal... Being a bit flabby in the arms doesn t have the same long term health problems that belly fat can predict... … View Post »

If you haven ' t heard about the Wii Fit videogame, then let me be the one to lay it out for you... After all these years of sitting blissfully motionless on the couch, this new offering by Nintendo attempts to get us off our butts and on to Nintendos Wii Fit balance board controller... This new controller is laid on the floor, and determines your position by how you move on it... It certainly looks interesting, although I don ' t really see the need to buy a video game system just to work out!... And now Westin Hotels is getting in to the act... They have signed a deal with Nintendo to place this new exercise system in ten hotels initially, and if it ' s successful moving to a nationwide roll out... the Nintendo Wii Travel system will include a hard drive, several games including Big Brain Academy, and an automatic update and networking feature to make it easier for the hotel to manage the entire system... Although it certainly is a great PR move and a headline grabber ( I ' m blogging about it, aren ' t I?... ), I ' m not sure that any video game system, however well designed, takes the place of a more traditional workout when it comes to weight loss... … View Post »

I used to belong to Bally ' s, but they closed the branch in my area and the nearest one is a half hour drive, so you can imagine how often I ' ve been goin... Yeah, I haven ' t;... hell I can ' t AFFORD to go, the gas alone is too expensive!... So when this new club opened up only a couple miles away, my fella and I hopped in the car for a look around... For the three of us ( my fella and I, and a friend ) it ' s going to run us $31 a month... I think the main thing here is I need to get serious about working out regularly, and hopefully this will give me the incentive to do it... … View Post »

I found this article about" obesity discrimination" on Digg, and it gave me food for thought... Advocates for the plus - sized, particularly activists in the" fat acceptance" movement, want obesity to become a category legally protected against discrimination, like religion, race, age and" On the one hand, it ' s hard to be overweight in social situations... Will I be able to fit in the seats at this show, or should I skip it?... And of course, if you get to a certain size, people look at you... Even now that I ' m getting slimmer ( and I still have a long way to go ) I am all to familiar with stares and whispered comments... But - a protected class?... I just don ' t know... Sure, but maybe in the long run it would simply remove one more incentive to lose the weight... It isn ' t easy to lose a large amount of weight - in fact it ' s a Herculean task... But I just have a hard time picturing myself walking with a picket sign or marching on Washington for" obese rights"... … View Post »

Well, I just got back from Hawaii - what, I didn ' t tell you I was going?... At any rate, I got back feeling so much better than I have for weeks... #1 - Early to bed, early to rise... With so many activities jam packed into every day, I never slept past 7am and was in bed and snoring by 11pm... Not something I normally accomplish here at home!... It ' s true that getting enough rest will help overall fitness and well - being, and I don ' t have to be on vacation to schedule my day more effectively... Each day we started out with a trip to the breakfast buffet - fresh fruit, eggs, bread pudding and so forth... I normally NEVER eat breakfast at home and end the day with a big meal, but on vacation the exact opposite was true - I woke up famished, and slowly through the course of the day I ate less until I finished the day with a light dinner of fish and veggies... At home I spent much of every day indoors where the light of the sun never reached... #5 - Hydration is key By dinner time I was not as hungry and made sure to drink water with my meal ( as outlined in one of my earlier posts ) but throughout the day I carried water with me to help stay hydrated in the warm tropical sunshine as I walked... It was never easier to stay hydrated ( and the water there tastes great! ) The fact is that I can do most of these things right here at home - but sometimes it takes a vacation to get focused and really examine your behavior... I ' ve learned a lot and although I haven ' t lost much weight the last two weeks, my waist size is definitely decreasing... I may have to change my blog and remove the" weight" tally to be replaced by a" waist" tally since I feel that ' s a more accurate representation of my overall health and fitness... … View Post »

" Drink 8 glasses of water a day and you ' ll lose weight." I always had a lot of questions about that - first of all, what is a glass?... Only drink water with your meals... No pop, no juice, no milk... Right out of the gate, you ' re getting 3 full glasses a day which is bound to be better than zero... For example, get a pop at a restaurant with free refills, and let ' s crunch the numbers: The average 16 oz... Mindless eating or drinking is always dangerous! ) Suddenly you just took in 600 calories and you haven ' t eaten a thing yet!... … View Post »

With winter still dragging on, I ' m having a hard time ( ok, an EXCRUCIATING time ) getting myself up in the morning... My bedroom is on the west side of the house, and with no sunlight in the morning it ' s just awful trying to drag myself up from the depths of dreamland... I read an article that said you should do 20 minutes of cardio first thing in the morning, before you eat, to jump start your metabolism... Sounds great in theory but I just can ' t seem to get moving - it ' s dark, it ' s cold, and my warm snuggly bed is so nice I ' ve always had a problem getting up in the morning... Yup, I have a clock, and it has a snooze alarm which I hit WAY too frequently... … View Post »

Well, after the Pancakes from a spray can a few weeks back, today we get what is arguably the most disgusting thing I ' ve ever heard of... Not gaining, not losing - don ' t you just HATE the doldrums?... I guarantee it would not look anything like the picture - lettuce?... What ' s the most disgusting" in a can / packet / bottle" food you ' ve run into?... … View Post »

Seriously, I haven ' t seen any. ) exercising indoors during the winter when I can ' t afford expensive equipment is always a challenge... I especially liked the idea of housework being part of my exercise routine... Honestly just running up and downstairs to get the phone - why do people always call the office when I ' m upstairs, and call my home when I ' m downstairs?... Add another level to it by turning on some loud, dance - able music and boogie out while you ' re running that vacuum... Park at the far end of the parking lot and hustle your butt to the door of the store... The cold works as a great incentive to move and you ' re getting in a mini - walk at the same time... If you have one, this is a great time of year to get ready for spring by moving all those heavy boxes ( strength training ), getting the clutter thrown out, and of course running up and down all those stairs ( yay for cardio! )... Just remember to not make it a ten hour marathon - set yourself a goal of 30 minutes or so a day and you ' ll be getting an area cleaned and decluttered while you ' re burning some calories!... Remember, when you get right down to it, exercise isn ' t about a gym membership or a fancy sweat suit or even the latest equipment... … View Post »