There are a lot of cartoons in this post… because exercising is funny to me.

#15 on my list is to lose 15 pounds (the matching numbers are a coincidence… honestly).  I think going a year without buying shoes is going to be a little easier.

It’s not that I don’t like being active and fit.  I used to be in great shape (I guess that’s what happens when your job requires you to be in a bathing suit).  Working on a farm, tossing hay bales, carrying 50lb bags of grain and wrestling sheep can keep a girl busy (now you know where the “carhartts” comes from).  Wait, I think I might need to clarify – my job on a farm did not require me to wear a bathing suit… different jobs, different clothing needs but now I’m imagining a bikini worn with muck boots… kind of hot!

 

I”ll be honest, lots of people say you gain weight after you get married… you let yourself go.  I promised myself that I would never just “not care” but guess what?  They were right.  Now I don’t know if it was the fact that my husband has now promised to stay with me for the rest of my life, in good times and bad (I’m assuming the weight gain can be lumped into this category) OR if the average age someone gets married is generally the same time they start packing on some metabolism-changing pudge.  I’m assuming mine’s a little bit of both.

 

I wish my husband had vowed to do this for me.

The unfortunate thing is that my husband and I have been together for SO long (almost 12 years – holy crap!) that he definitely remembers what the good times looked like.  I can’t even pretend.  He knows.  But I’m not losing weight for him, or anyone else for that matter!  I’m losing some extra weight for me.  And the clothes in my closet so they stop feeling neglected because they don’t fit me anymore.  See?  Positive steps for everyone!  The problem is, I like food and I don’t really like to exercise.  Damn.

 

I don’t even have a recliner.  I’m screwed.

 

I should rephrase – I don’t HATE exercising.  I hate deciding to do it.  I like my sleep so morning workouts are tough.  I’d rather hit my snooze button six times than use that hour to actually burn some calories.  Once I’m actually working out, I do enjoy it!  But I work a lot of hours and by the time I get home I want to sit on the couch and write blog posts veg out (and why do they call it “veg”?  wouldn’t that imply something healthy?).

 

I don’t have time for this.

 

I need some motivation – I see these amazing people on The Biggest Loser who are running a friggin marathon at the end of the season and I can’t even find the motivation to Google the Couch to 5k program (that’s a lie – I’ve looked it up and I’m terrified).  Clearly the fact that both losing weight AND starting a running program are on my list SHOULD work hand in hand… let’s hope.

 

 

I’ve tried WW… I get annoyed at the counting and writing things down to the point where I just don’t eat things because I don’t want to figure out the points (the irony is not lost on me that this could actually be a GOOD thing).  My sister-in-law is a dietitian and takes me grocery shopping and teaches me about all the bad things I want to avoid including hydrogenated oils… I’m a bad student.  I get it:  EAT LESS.  EXERCISE MORE.  This is going to be my mantra.  I know that walking into a Sports Nutrition store (I can only imagine how disappointed the people following a Google Alert to this blog would be if I put in the store’s name) and spending a bagillion dollars on supplements ain’t gonna make me skinny.  I’ve tried.

Yeah, why is that?

 

This item on my list clearly needs to start happening now.  They say healthy weight loss is a pound a week… I currently have 48 weeks until my birthday.  I’m hoping to run that 5k in October and considering this winter is probably going to last FOR-EVER, I really need to come up with a game plan.  I need to get past my “working out is painful” idea and get.moving.

 

This isn’t going to be about a diet because I like food too much.  It’s more about bringing activity back into my life… but I get bored easy so I need to mix it up.  I have a Zumba video that I enjoy (read: look like an ass while doing it) and have been racking up some serious “Sweat Points” on my Wii Just Dance game.  I do have free access to a gym but that would require me to work out with the 110 pound college students and I’m just not sure I’m ready for THAT yet.  Walking is something I’d like to start doing on my lunch break but the sheets of ice threaten to take me out of the 5k game for several more months with one quick slip of a power-walk step.

So my question is, what activities keep YOU moving?  What do you enjoy doing and don’t get bored with?  Specific videos/games/shows?  Sound off in the comments and let me know what I should do for fun/exercise! I’m planning on purchasing the new Wii Michael Jackson game because holy crap is it fun!  And I dominate Thriller.  And it kicked my butt and I sweat.  A lot.  Seems like a win win to me!  Because really?  This is not about giving up my favorite foods.  No matter how many fruits and veggies I eat, my butt would still be jiggly without a little (a lot of) exercise built in.

I’m SURE it shakes... let’s fix that.

 

Now… off to find that remote.

 

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson