Fitness Games?

I read this article on a finance blog the other day and thought it had some good basic advice for starting an exercise plan.

http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2008/06/05/the-parallels-between-fitness-and-finance/

I found his point about making it a game very interesting. Does anyone make a game out of their fitness or diet routines? In Jazzercise they have games all the time, the one right now is get 30 points in June and July and get a free water bottle. You get a point for going to class of course, and then there will be bonus points sometimes and you get 5 points for inviting a guest that signs up to join etc.

I have never been able to create my own game for fitness that works for a prolonged period of time. I usually can go about 4 to 5 weeks before something interrupts me. Starting this blog was supposed to create kind of a competition and support structure for Mel and I with our goals lined out but it only works if there is reward of some sort. Other than staying in contact with my friends the only reward I have ever sought is the goal of being in shape. Once I did give myself a weight loss target and bought an iPod when I reached it.

Jazzercise

The last time I was truly in good shape was in the spring of 2005 when I was doing Jazzercise about 3 times a week. I signed up for Jazzercise for June to get in better shape for the summer vacation season and to lose my "winter weight".

Yesterday was my first class this week and I had a great time! I was surprised to see so many familiar faces after 2 years away! The instructor is the same of course and there was a group of about 10 women who I recognized from before. Its amazing to see how many people are that dedicated to one thing to keep themselves in shape year round!

If anyone wants to attend a class with me I have a guest pass and am going tonight at 4:15 and Saturday morning at 8 am.

consitency(eating better + exercise + dedication)===great results

It's been a week since I made changes to my workout (even though I last posted on Friday) and I have lost 3 lbs...2 that I gained on the trip and 1 for fun :-D

There's no magic to the formula...consistently eating healthy with regular exercising and a dab of dedication goes a long way :-D

~Jossie

Kicking it up a notch

I recently got back from my 1 week road trip with my husband. We stayed at 6 different hotels and I managed to exercise 5 out of 6 days during our trip. I made sure every hotel we stayed at had some sort of exercise room. The one in Mackinac Island didn't but we hiked 3.5 miles and biked around the 8.5 mile island...I'd say we got some exercise that day. The one day I skipped was the day after our friends wedding because ... well the night before was a little rough :-) I ate better than most people do during vacations, at least better than my husband did (but I usually do anyway so that's not saying much :-). I got home and still gained 2 pounds, not bad but still disappointing.

I'm going to kick it up a notch (like Emeril would say) and increase my cardio workouts. I'm now running 5 days a week (was doing 2-3 days per week) in addition to my 30 minute daily walking and my strength training. It has been working out really great with this awesome weather we haven't seen in a loooong time. I feel refreshed and strong...that's what its all about :-D

~Jossie

No more excuses!

Okay, no more excuses I have to start working out. I just purchased a double stroller so I don't have any more reason why I cant go outside. I just did 1/2 mile yesterday but now I got shin splits. I HAVE to be down to 150 by Aug. 12th any more weight after that would be great. My current weight 164.

5 out of 6!

I created some goals for myself to help in being healthy. Yesterday I hit 5 out of 6 of them!

Bring/eat a healthy lunch
Include Fruit/Veggies with every meal
Exercise every other day
Cut down on carbs from grains 1 meal
Eat a light dinner
Don't eat 3 hours before bed

I didn't have a healthy lunch, but I did limit myself to only 2 pieces of deep dish pizza at Pizza Hut.

I put these 6 goals on a "To Do" list on my google homepage. As I go through the day, or at the end of the day I can check which ones I accomplished and get a qantified # to evaluate how I am doing in the healthy department that day.

Its not something I heard about anywhere, but it reminds me of when I was going to a "thin and healthy" counselor. They would have me rate how I thought I was doing this week in terms of sticking to the diet and how I felt. I am a more realistic hard numbers woman, so this method will be good for me!

Healthy Environment

Some of you may find this a bit off topic for our blog, but I think it fits well. Being Healthy is not just about being fit but about having healthy things around you and being nice to our environment.

I already started doing "more" lately to help the environment. Getting more strict with the thermostat, starting to recycle thin cardboards and office paper and a few other things. This article here takes it so much further than I have gone... and it might give you some ideas as well. In the comments section there are even some humorous ones like "use your toothbrush to clean the toilet, a little bleach and you are sanitized and as good as new".

More than anything I just wanted to document this link so I can refer back to it later.
http://www.cleverdude.com/content/50-ways-to-save-money-by-not-wasting/

What do you think? One thing we do that I didn't see mentioned there is not throwing away plastic silverware. If it can live through the dishwasher (and most of it does) we wash it and re-use. This was more important when we were bringing lunch each day.