Exercise or else

The funny thing about writing a blog, is that if you write that you will do something, well, then gosh darn it, you better do it. So out of fear of being ridiculed by those folks nice enough to have read my last post...

Yes.

I did it.

I got up early today and exercised. (can I get a "woo hoo" from the crowd?)

Granted, it wasn't a lot. But I did manage to squeeze in 20 minutes of vigorous kick boxing this morning before racing into the shower. (still waitin' on that "woo hoo").

It was one of those workouts-on-demand on cable and to be honest, I wasn't all that thrilled with it because the "instructor" was more than a tad annoying but...Gotta start somewhere, right?

I will try something else tomorrow.

Stay tuned for less of me.

Making slow and steady progress on Weight Watchers

First a thanks to Miz Fit for the little kick in the butt this week for not updating in a while.

It wasn't intentional. I swear.

I'm a little frustrated with the slow pace of Weight Watchers despite knowing that it's better to lose it this way.

Five weeks in and I've lost 5 pounds. (Hurray for me ???)

The funny thing about weight loss programs though is that in order for them to work, you have to work them. Profound, I know.

Some days I'm better at it than others. I find it impossible to stay on program every day and I know that I am my own worst enemy if I fail to write stuff down.

Some slip ups are obvious....like the piece of cheesecake I HAD to have to celebrate my friend's birthday. What kind of friend would I be to go to Cheesecake Factory with him and not have "something"...right? Yea, Yea, I know.

In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny... "what a maroon!"

Other slip ups are not so obvious or maybe just unavoidable. Weekends are just deadly for me lately as I have found myself in social situations where food I shouldn't be eating in ANY quantity has found itself in my gullet. And of course, I'm instantly sorry and kicking myself clear into the next day.

But aside from the obvious and not so obvious stated above, my biggest challenge continues to be...exercise. It's not the how, or even the what (since, like most everyone I know, I have a plethora of bands, balls, weights and dvds to get the job done). Instead it's just the WHEN?

Every day, my alarm clock goes off at 5:30. Every day I have the intention of getting up and doing some form of exercise before I have to start getting myself and two 7 year olds ready to start the day. And more times than not, I find myself hitting the snooze enough times to make those intentions worthless.

So if any of you have any great suggestions of how I can get over this hurdle, please speak up. I KNOW that if I can figure out a way to make exercise a regular and permanent part of my daily routine, that the weight will melt away.

Stay tuned for less of me.

Who Doesn't Love a Good Contest

I know what you are thinking.

Not a peep from Scalemistress in a month and now twice in one day??

Well, I had to pop in and tell you about a great find I stumbled on today.

Amber, over at That Bead Girl's Weight Loss Project, has a great contest going on right now. Prizes include The Biggest Loser workout dvds, Jillian Michael's DVDs or a year long subscription to some great diet and health magazines. If you remember, I am a big fan of the Biggest Loser DVDs. I have the 2nd one and I actually use it. Shocking but true!

Check out the complete rules and enter for a chance to win one of these fabulous prizes. I have entered so of course I hope that I win but I'm willing to share the love.

We can all use a little motivation. (Some more than others).

And who doesn't like to win stuff.

Listen to Your Instincts

Yes, it's true. It's been a solid month since I posted anything here. And I'm a little embarrassed about the reasons.

Basically, I'm a slacker.

And when you are a slacker, it's all about making excuses, isn't it?

The good news is that the scale has remained steady for the past month. But the bad news is that it's at a number I'm not happy with. Big surprise, right?

(As a little side note, I think the only thing that has kept the weight gain from being more than it is...is that I've actually been exercising fairly regularly this month. Do with that information what you will)

After I got done with my little pity party, I did what I always do. I started reading and researching...looking for some new answer to the question of my increasing waistline. And for a few days, I got sucked in by the lure of the glycemic index. With what I know about my own body chemistry it all seemed to make a lot of sense to me. Eat things that keep your blood sugar constant. I was all ready to drink the proverbial sugar free Kool-Aid.

But as I started studying the food lists and the glycemic index itself, I had a REALLY hard time wrapping my brain around the concept of being able to eat foods that I have not eaten in nearly a year (bread? pasta? bananas?).

I tried REALLY hard to talk myself into it. I went so far as to make a grocery list of things that would now have a home in my refrigerator.

And in the meantime, I kept looking for web sites and blog entries that would convince me that this was the right weight loss plan for me. There's an awful lot of promotion for a low GI way of eating but I wasn't finding the proof I needed. If you look hard enough, you can find anyone who will say anything. It's a matter of, who do you trust? Then I found this article on Regina Wilshire's blog and I came to my senses. So while I think that there might be some value to the glycemic index for people suffering from diabetes, I don't think its going to be any great shakes for me as a weight loss plan.

Now, what was I going to do???

Enter the voice of reason (aka my husband).

Last night as I rambled on about my findings and struggling with the part of me looking for answers and the part of me feeling more than a twinge of doubt about a new plan... he says,

"Why aren't you just doing what you know has worked before?"

DUH.

Good point.

How many times have we talked ourselves into something that our instincts knew was just plain wrong? It's like those driving directions you print out that has that one turn on them that seems to head you in the wrong direction. You KNOW it doesn't seem right but you follow it anyway because it says it...plain as day...right there on the page...that you should go THAT way. Only to find out down the road that you should have followed your instincts and stayed on the path you were on.

Well, I've obviously lost my way a bit the past few months. And while the damage is not horrible ...not irreparable... it does need to be addressed immediately.

A controlled carb plan works for me. Why did I consider straying? It wasn't that the plan wasn't working. It was that I wasn't working the plan.

AH.

Profound, huh?

This little exercise was the good kick in the pants that I needed. Today it was back to Induction for me. By the end of the week, I will have my confidence back!

Stay tuned for less of me.

A Workout for the Exercise Challenged

I hate to exercise. And I resent that losing weight and keeping it off just about REQUIRES me to do some form of exercise.

I have a Fitness Flyer which I've tried to be diligent about getting on for 20 minutes a day. But given the chance, I will find just about any excuse to not exercise.

And I've tried taking exercise videos out of the library with the sincere hope that I'll find one that I really like where the cheeky host doesn't grate on my nerves in the first five minutes. Not an easy task. All those skinny, perky former cheerleaders who never struggled a day in their lives to maintain a single digit size....and the class participants with the same MO is enough to make me want to strangle each and everyone of them. UGH.

Last month, Claire, over at Burning the Scale, posted a blog entry about a promotion that Wrigley was doing in conjunction with the Biggest Loser. The Gumisgood.com web site wanted to know how gum had helped you in your weight loss efforts. Well, this was right up my alley since chewing gum has been one of the constants in my efforts. Keeps me from the vending machine.

So I signed up, told them my little story and in response, they sent me a gift of a water bottle, a pedometer, 5 packs of gum and a Biggest Loser workout DVD. Pretty cool, huh?

But remember...I hate to exercise.

But it was free. So first I took it out of the plastic...then it sat on my nightstand for 3 or 4 days.

Well, today I finally decided to give it a try. And I was REALLY pleasantly surprised.

Instead of the usual one-size-fits-all workout that is usually on things like this, there are 9 different segments to choose from. The opening menu allows you to chose which segments you want so your workout, not only doesn't have to be the same every day but you don't have to spend your time forwarding between segments in the middle of a workout.

The segments are:
Warm Up (5 min)
Low Intensity Cardio (15 min)
Boot Camp (15 min)
Functional Flexibility (10 min)
Cool Down (5 min)

You can also choose a High Intensity Cardio (10 min) or Power Sculpt (10 min)..one for Men...one for Women.

For my first time out, I chose the Warm up, Boot Camp and the Cool Down. (After I had done 15 minutes on the Flyer).

Best part of the whole thing? Bob Harper (the trainer) didn't annoy me. And the participants on the video were former Biggest Loser contestants. NO skinny perky cheerleader types. Real people. Real sizes. Very refreshing.

I'll try it again tomorrow with a different mix. And perhaps I'm on to something. We'll see.

Stay tuned for less of me.