My Favorite (Healthy) Things

Oprah's not the only one who can have favorite things, yo.  And even though I will go to my grave arguing that "My Favorite Things" is not a Christmas song, I will jump on the bandwagon and use it as a catchy phrase.  I know, I'm part of the problem.

Anyway, if you're shopping for healthy-minded folks (including yourself) this holiday season, here are some of my must-haves for a healthy 2011. 

1. A good kitchen scale. Being healthy means being accountable to yourself for what goes in your body.  I weigh pretty much every stinkin thing that I eat because my metabolism is just that stubborn and I am just that much of a pain in the butt. Without my digital kitchen scale I would be a take-no-prisoners manic nutcase and that is no lie.  I like mine (see pic) because it folds up and fits in my purse. Yes I take it places with me.  This is wellness without pity, people. Not wellness when you feel like it. 

2. Good fitness shoes.  After years of buying running shoes because they were cute in the store, because I had a coupon, or because they were orange, I finally went and got fitted for shoes like a grown-up.  I went to Capital City Runners where they have this pad you stand on that shows on a screen how you pronate, where your weight is balanced in your feet, etc. and a treadmill hooked up to a video camera so they can evaluate your running stride. I don't know if all of the technical mumbo-jumbo actually resulted in a scientific reason to get different shoes, but I do really love the shoes I bought as a result and have been injury and fatigue-free since, even though they are not orange.  Good shoes cannot be beat! 

3. GoWearFit. You know how much I love my little enabler.  I love it even more since I bought the display piece that shows my calorie burn in real time.  The GoWearFit is more than just a neat-o fitness gadget, it's data gold.  In the six months that I've worn mine, it has earned its $200 price tag time and time again - not only do I get an intense satisfaction from seeing the data attached to my workouts, it provides a calm peace of mind in that I have taken out 99% of the guess-work related to maintaining and improving my fitness.  I only estimate 99% so I don't piss off God.  He has been known to smite me when I get too cheeky.

4. YOU: On a Diet by Dr. Oz and that other guy. There have been like three versions of this book printed since I first read it eons ago, but the fundamentals don't change - eat clean, eat clean every day, and eat clean.  Seriously, eating clean, unprocessed, healthy foods (note: not all clean food is healthy, just eat the healthy ones) is the #1 most important all-time best thing you can do for your health.  This book explains in layman's terms, and with corny jokes and illustrations, how and why.  Buy it for yourself, buy it for a friend, buy it for your office.  And then actually read it, and then actually do it.

Okay, that's enough. We don't want to get greedy! I hope you have a fabulously healthy day!

See you soon!

Turkey Trot Success!

Well let me tell you, there's nothing quite so thrilling as peeing in the woods to make a Turkey Trot memorable.  Thanks, gents, for making your arrival known to me before we became much better acquainted!


I set a goal going into the 15k Trot of 1:33, and by my watch I finished at 1:33:16. Not bad considering I spent about a minute and a half de-tangling myself from a sticker bush and finding a nice big oak tree to pee behind around mile three! I don't know what this thing is with having to go during races, but I am so over it. Not cool, bladder. It was funny the first time but we're not doing that again.  Please make a note of it.  


Thank you.


Anyway, Thanksgiving was a low-key affair for me. As you know, I am not a big fan of the eating holidays; they're just mine fields for overdoing it in the name of sentimentality.  So I kept all of my Turkey Tips in mind and made it a really healthy day: a nice long run and lots of clean eats including a big Thanksgiving salad full of spinach, turkey, unsweetened dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts. I planned on making my healthy pumpkin pie, but decided to skip it.  My husband doesn't really care for pie, I could live without it, and I didn't want a whole pie sitting around, so I considered it a sign from the Turkey Gods that I just was not meant to gain a pound this Thanksgiving. Thank you, Turkey Gods!  I was rewarded with a nice calorie deficit this morning according to my GoWear Fit. A deficit of 29 calories, but hey I am so counting that as a victory.  Take THAT Thanksgiving!


And now Christmas is rushing towards us like a steam engine.  That means it's time to kick things into high gear!  Over the next month, I'll be here with tips, workouts, recipes, and more to help make your holiday a healthy one.  Starting off - my Black Friday workout at Boot Camps to Go.  


I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!  Now wake up!  Naptime is over! 


The holidays are here!

Plyometric Monday!

I asked for this. 

I specifically remember saying to Capt. Awesome, "I want to do more plyometrics. Let's make Mondays plyometric days."

So I can't act like this is anyone's fault but my own.

But I have good reasons!

1. I need to sleep more.  The 5.5 hours/night average that my GoWearFit tells me I am getting is not healthy, and I need to get more.  So, that means sleeping later and not starting cardio at 4:00 am.  So that means maximizing the time I am at the gym.  So that means plyometrics.

2. I'm bored. I've been doing the maintenance-friendly cardio and weights routine for a while now and its time to shake it up.  I want to be *fit* not just un-fat.  There's a difference!

3. If I ever want to successfully do box jumps at the Ultimate Fitness Challenge, which I do, I need to learn how to jump.  Hours on the elliptical ain't gonna cut it.

So, that's how I found myself holding medicine balls while leaping, bounding, and hopping over benches and cones this morning.  I gotta say, it was the best workout I've had in a while.  Lots of fun, heart-pumping, and when I uploaded my GWF afterwards, it burned the same number of calories had I gotten up at 4:00 and done 45 minutes of mindless cardio.  So I scored an extra hour of sleep, too.  Yay!

Give plyometrics a try this week to build strength, speed, and balance, and just to do something different!  Here's some sample exercises to get you started.  Have fun, be safe, and get ready for Wednesdays.

That's when we start boxing.

Good day! :)

Your Elliptical is Lying to You

Hey, pssst! Come here.  I gotta tell you something.  You know that little screen on your elliptical machine, the one that tells you how many calories you burned?  It's a lie.  It's all a lie! 

I've always known that those little calories-burned estimators on treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, etc. were inaccurate.  Even if you type in your weight and your age and whatnot, it's just an estimate based on a lot of assumptions.  But still, it feels really good to see  "YOU BURNED 450 CALORIES!" on the little screen at the end of a sweaty workout, doesn't it?  Yeah, I like it too. 

It's kind of like getting a sympathy compliment on a really bad haircut.  You know it's not true, but it still feels nice to hear it.

That's why I was kinda bummed out to learn when I plugged in my handy little GoWearFit after a workout that I was only burning half of what I estimated.  I knew I wasn't exactly a furnace, but it was a numbing reality check to see that for the time I put in, the burn was less than thrilling.

So - what I've learned about myself from my GoWearFit this week:  it really does take an hour of hard cardio a day to burn enough calories to maintain my weight.  Sorry folks.

I guess an hour a day keeps the pounds away!  So....what are you doing still reading this?  Get moving! :)

Good day!