Yikes, its Thursday and I haven't exercised!

Have any of you had this thought? There's been a few weeks where I've had to exercise Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to get my four in - not fun! What I would like to know is what you do to motivate yourself to do your exercises. I went through a funk during weeks 17 and 18 where I just didn't wanna exercise (insert whining voice here!) and for the first time since we started EFC I had a week that I only got 3 days in when I didn't have sickness as an excuse. Even though I had a much better week, I still don't wanna and don't wanna for very long! I need some motivation from my EFC friends! If you have an idea or comment, please leave a comment! I'm sure others would enjoy hearing what works for you.

Here's what makes me exercise: EFC!!!! I know if EFC didn't exist, I wouldn't have kept exercising this regulary for this long. Also, I don't want to owe. Secondly, my body gets stiff and feels more tired if I don't exercise for more than 2 or 3 days. Thirdly, I really do want to drop the rest of the weight I'm carrying. I guess I just need to remind myself of these reasons to exercise!

Thanks!

shan

The Winner for Weeks 13 - 16...

Hi Everyone! I know I said I was going to do the drawing last week, but somehow time got away from me! So Here Is The Winner For Weeks 13 - 16 .... Nancy!

If you owe for this set of weeks, please send Nancy an email for her address.

Here's who owes:

Vic - owes $7
Shan - owes $3.50
Judy - owes $3.50
Cheryl - owes $7
Beth - owes $3.50
Rusty - owes $10.50

It goes to show even if you only have one ticket, you are still a winner with EFC! Congrats Nancy!

Weeks 13-16 Results are in

Here are the tallies for weeks 13 - 16, please check my calculations and make sure I've got it right:

Vic 2 tickets (owes $7)
Shan 3 tickets (owes $3.50)
Kelli 4 tickets
Judy 3 tickets (owes $3.50)
Cheryl 2 tickets (owes $7)
Nancy 1 ticket (owes $10.50)
Beth 3 tickets (owes $3.50)
Michelle 4 tickets
Rusty 1 tickets (owes $10.50)

If everyone agrees with this, I'll do the drawing in the next day or so. Good Job Everyone!

Thanks for getting your tallies updated so quickly!

Shannon

Correction

I had errors in my last update but I have now corrected them. - Michelle

Weeks 13-16 are over!

Hi everyone! Please make sure you've got your Weeks 13, 14, 15 & 16 tallied up properly. I would like to do the drawing by the end of this week (#17).

Thanks!

Weight Loss Tip - Eating Out

During my last Weight Watchers meeting my instructor made a point that made a lot of sense.
She was talking about how often people eat out on average - 5.8 times a week, which is a lot of opportunites to eat unhealthily - and she said that one way to help you make healthy meal choices is to remember that more often or not, the meal at the restaurant is not a special occasion for you. Ok, so if it is YOUR birthday (not you spouse's or kid's) or YOUR anniversary, go ahead a splurge if you feel that you must. Even if you included some holidays, you've got to figure that less than 15 times a year, the meal away from home is not a special occasion for YOU. If you are going out to lunch for a co-worker's birthday, that is not YOUR special occasion-make a healthy choice and don't overeat. If you are just eating out cuz you don't want to cook-that is not a special occasion. Even dinner over at a friend or family member's house isn't necessarily a special occasion. I think you get the picture. Decide what is a special occasion for YOU. This way you aren't using the excuse that just because you are at restaurant its ok to overindulge. Good luck with your next meal away from home!

Next time you eat out, try to go online and look up the menu and nutritional values so you can make great choices. Believe me, it will be an eye opener!

And the winner is....

KELLI! A totally non-biased, but very excited to be the ticket picker, co-worker picked the winning ticket for weeks 9-12. The following people need to contact Kelli to get her mailing address to send her coffee cards.

Cheryl (owes $3.50)
Nancy (owes $10.50)
Beth (owes $7)
Michelle (owes $3.50)
Rusty (owes $14)

Week 16 is almost over already, so be sure your tallies are up to date by next Monday and we'll do the next drawing much sooner this time!

Thanks and Congrats to Kelli!

Add-on to Losing Steam...

I think there are very few people in this world that exercise comes naturally and easy too. I think for most of us natural non-athletes, our brain will always veer toward the path of least resistance. Really - how many times have we opted not to go to for a walk or out to the gym or engage in any type of physical activity because staying home on the couch sounded better after a long day? Because it's easier. Thousands of Americans every day do the exact same thing and opt for non activity on a daily basis because of being busy and tired. I'm there too. It takes hard work to keep up a healthy active lifestyle. And lets face it, it's taken most of us 30 + years to get to where we are today. Nothing will magically change overnight and it takes time. Bad habits are tough to break but they can be broken.

We all will miss our 4 days once in awhile and that's ok. It's when you give up every week and settle for less of yourself is when you really lose this game. Don't get caught up in the downward spiral of missing week after week. This is about our lives and our health. We're all here for each other to succeed.

-Vic

Weeks 9 -12 Results

Here are the tallies for weeks 9 - 12, please be sure I've got it right:
Vic 4 tickets
Shan 4 tickets
Kelli 1 ticket (owes $10.50)
Judy 4 tickets
Cheryl 3 tickets (owes $3.50)
Nancy 1 ticket (owes $10.50)
Beth 2 tickets (owes $7)
Michelle 3 tickets (owes $3.50)
Rusty 0 tickets (owes $14)

I'll do a drawing tomorrow, so make sure I added everything up right. I'm hoping to get the totals tallied sooner for weeks 13 - 16, since we are are already in week 16 make sure you report your tallies ASAP. Good luck ticket holders!!

This Month

Ok, so I totally suck at this game! So sorry for my lack of participation, but I do have a few pointers. If you want to find a reason to walk more... get a puppy! I'd like you to meet Carlton. He is a labrador retriever and golden retriever mix. He is now 15 weeks old. He contributes to my chances of coffee!

Also, the weather is getting nice over here!! So sorry for all those on the east coast:( A very fun, healthy, low cost activity is going hiking. I found some easy dog friendly trails near the Sacramento area by googling "northern california hiking trails". The other doggie in the picture is Lacy. We took them on a hiking trip to Codfish Falls for Lacy's 5th birthday!! She is a heeler mix. They had a doggone good time! hehe!- Michelle

Are we losing steam?

Please make sure all your tallies are up to date...Thanks! It's the start of a new week, so let's commit to making our four for this week!

Weeks 11 & 12 need tallies

Hello Everyone! EFC's third set of 4 weeks are complete and we need just a few people to update their tallies so we can have our results posted and have our new winner selected. Please post any missing tallies ASAP!

Fifty Fifty

I just wanted to let you all know we now have pictures of half our EFC group on the slide show. If you're part of the 50% who isn't on the blog, and you'd like to have your picture up on the blog, send me a full length picture of yourself to my email.

Has it become habit yet?

In response to Vic's last blog about losing momentum, I was wondering how everyone is doing with exercising regularly. Has it become a habit yet? Is it still hard to find the time? Are you having to force yourself? To my amazement, it has become habit for me, and I don't like it if I don't get in some exercise everyday. And I'm please with the results!

At one of my recent Weight Watchers meetings, my instructor said something that stuck. She asked if we ever say "I'll try to....(insert whatever it is here, exercise, track what I eat, etc)" rather than committing to whatever it is and saying "I will do (insert here)". I got to thinking about it and realized that I wanted to commit myself to exercise daily. So that weekend I told myself "Next week I will exercise everyday." I didn't commit myself to something I knew was impossible to do, such as "I will exercise everyday for the rest of my life." I figured I would commit for a week and go from there. And guess what....it worked! I got in some sort of exercise everyday. I re-committed myself for this week, and so far so good!

Don't TRY but DO! Make the committment to yourself and let exercise become a habit that you are proud to have!

Losing The Momentum

As we enter month#3 of 2009, I'm sure many of us are feeling tired as we endure the months of the post-holiday, bad weather, soon to be day-light savings (spring forward, ugh) time of year that seems to wear all of us down a bit. It's too easy now to throw out an excuse here and there for missing a workout. And let me say the Girl Scouts touting their evil cookies are too much temptation for any poor soul to avoid. It's a tough time of year...

This is the time when we need to mix up our workouts / activities a bit so we don't fall into the proverbial rut. I just tried the rowing machine at the gym and absolutely loved it (I think the last time I used a rowing machine was circa 1992, but it still works!), and am incorporating a yoga DVD into my weekly routine. I'd suggest to everyone try a class or activity they've always wanted to do but haven't yet. Spring is just around the corner and gardening is an excellent physical activity. Lets get creative in our quest to stay active (Cheryl, remember Nordic walking?).

And most important, lets continue to stay with the blog to help support each other through the tougher times. To know that everyone feels your pain can be a wonderful source of support. If you get frustrated, tired or burned out on working out, just blog it here and let all of us provide our input. It's not easy maintaining an active lifestyle by any means, but we have a good group here that can help.

-Vic

Finally there is a winner for weeks 4 - 8!

A totally unbiased co-worker chose the winning "ticket" today from a total of 25 "tickets", and the drawing was witnessed by a fellow EFC memeber. And the winner was....wait for it....drum roll please....Shannon! Please contact her by email for her mailing address. Shannon says that Java City gift cards would be just as good as Starbucks. The following people owe the following amounts.

Kelli - owes $7
Cheryl - owes $3.50
Nancy - owes $14
Loretta - owes $10.50
Beth - owes $3.50
Michelle - owes $7
Rusty - owes $7

Good luck to everyone for next time!

Exercising in the Midst of Craziness

It has been a wild few weeks for me. My plans for exercising have fallen by the wayside as sick kids, work projects, and other commitments have swallowed up my time. Now I practically owe my first child's dowry in coffee cards to the drawing! However, this is a new week, and I am going to attack my exercise time more diligently...I promise!

Nancy

A Recipe that looks good!

Orzo-Chickpea Salad From Weight Watchers light meals POINTS® Value: 5 Servings: 6 Preparation Time: 15 min Cooking Time: 15 min Level of Difficulty: Easy Dried cranberries add just the right touch to this unique salad. Ingredients 8 oz uncooked orzo 1 spray(s) cooking spray 2 small zucchini, chopped 1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste 1/4 cup(s) parsley, leaves, firmly packed, chopped 15 oz canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1/2 cup(s) dried cranberries 1 tsp olive oil, extra-virgin 1/4 cup(s) red wine vinegar 1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste Instructions Cook orzo according to package directions; set aside. Meanwhile, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Sauté zucchini, lightly salting it as it cooks, until slightly crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes; allow to cool. Place zucchini in a large bowl and add remaining ingredients (including orzo); toss to combine. Allow salad to marinate in refrigerator for at least half an hour before serving. It may be served cold or at room temperature.

The Brave Ones!

Four of us were brave and provided a picture of what we look like now to compare in a year. You'll notice the slide show above the Tally Up section of the blog. Next year when we have new pictures ... and hopefully new bodies ... I'll put up another slideshow. If you put your mouse over the slidshow you will have the option to pause the slide show and move through them at your own speed. Or you can click on the slide show and it will take you to the gallery to see the pictures in a larger format.

If you are a Brave One send me a full length shot of yourself. Just remember to keep the clothes the pic was taken of, even if they get too big. That's the point. We'll want to take a new picture in the hopefully too big clothes to show how our bodies have changed.

Trying something new...

I think I figured out how to have an email sent each time there is a new post on the blog. I hope it works. If you don't get notification of a post, let me know. If you get the notifications, but don't want to let me know that too! Its my hope that there might be more blogging going on now!

Thanks!

And the Results are in ... sort of....

Here's what I managed to tally up for weeks 5 - 8. Please let me know if I misadded -

Vicki - 4 tickets
Shannon - 4 tickets
Kelli - 2 tickets (owes $7 to the winner)
Judy - 4 tickets
Cheryl - 3 tickets (owes $3.50 to the winner)
Nancy - 0 tickets (owes $14 to the winner)
Loretta - 1 ticket (owes $10.50 to the winner)
Beth - 3 tickets (owes $3.50 to the winner)
Michelle - 2 tickets (owes $7 to the winner)
Rusty - 2 tickets (owes $7 to the winner)

So if I add this up right there is $52.50 up for grabs ... WOW! I'll wait to do the drawing until Wednesday, Feb 18 for anyone to let me know if there are any corrections to be made. I seriously hope weeks 9 - 12 will have have less on the line!

I know we are in week 10 already and haven't done the drawing yet. I'm having a hard time getting people to tally up. Please keep the blog and challenge alive by posting every prior week's total on every Monday. Remember a "?" equals a zero if we don't get a number for you. If you decide this challenge isn't for you, please let either Vicki or Shannon know, and we'll take you off. We want everyone to enjoy the challenge and exercise! We don't want the challenge to be a burden that you resent.

Weeks 5 - 8 are over already!

I'm hoping to have everyone's tallies updated so I can post results of all our exercising we've done. And of coarse we need to do the drawing to see who gets coffee cards!

I'm impressed with how much we've all exercised and realize that for a lot of us (especially for me!) that if we didn't have to post our tallies we wouldn't even bother exercising regularly. After 8 weeks its actually become habit for me! I was sick last week and didn't feel up to exercising for a few days and that bummed me out. Keep up the good work and I wish you all a successful week!

It's working

I just wanted to say that this EFC business is actually MAKING ME EXERCISE CONSISTENTLY, whereas nothing before ever did. Something about having a goal and a consequence. Is anyone else finding this program unusually helpful? I owe you ladies a lot for coming up with this excellent idea. I am a true lazy-a*@, so this is rather remarkable in my opinion.

What a let down

So Friday at work I was talking with Michelle and Shannon, having gone to the gym that morning before work. I told them "yes, I have in 3 workouts this week." And I'm thinking I will easily fit in one on Saturday. Sunday was a hairy day, running around, going to birthday parties, the Super Bowl, etc. So Sunday night I'm looking at my workout schedule and realized I hadn't worked out on either Monday or Tuesday (but was so sure I had). This means I only got in 3 workouts. What a bummer that was! So this week I WILL do better. I have 2 in so far (really).

"Before" pictures

Hello everyone...a few people have either verbally or on the blog said they would be willing to post a "before" picture of themselves. Please email Shannon a full length shot of yourself in clothes that reveal your shape enough that after a year we can post "after" pictures in the same clothes that will show what a difference a year of regular exercise makes!

A Great Recipe for a peace-filled life in 2009

Hopefully some of these will apply to you....and make you have a better day!

1. Take a 10 to 30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It
is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God about
what is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement,
'My purpose is to __________ today. I am thankful for______________'

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that
is manufactured in plants.

5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild
Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues
of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead
invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a
college kid with a maxed out charge card.

9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You are not so important that you have to win every argument.
Agree to disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their
journey is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years,
will this matter?'

17. Forgive everyone for everything.

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. GOD heals everything - but you have to ask Him.

20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends
will stay in touch.

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:
I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings.
You'll be smiling before you know it.

Getting Your 4th Day in!!

For some reason, I have an easier time doing 3 days instead of 4, especially when I am able to do at least 3 days during the work week. This week I did three gym days last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (one spin class, one day on the elliptical trainer and one day on the stationary bike on my own) but had problems making it to the 4th day on my weekend. Lets face it; weekends are when we are supposed to veg out to prepare for the upcoming work week. The last thing we want to do is more work, right? Well, when I saw I wasn't going to make it physically to the gym, I chose a home workout consisting of several sets of push-ups, abdominal crunches and tricep dips (off a chair), then spent 20 minutes on back stretches suggested to me by my doctor. At least you have to do something, right? I chose to work on my core and flexibility for the last day to at least get some activity in. I urge everyone not to avoid core strength and flexibility exercises within your routine. These are things that you can even do when you first get up in the morning just to get things warmed up. I'd love to hear comments on what everyone else incorporates into their workouts! We all need to mix it up from time to time. - Vic

Yoga?

I know some of our members had tried and or does yoga, but I never thought I would be able to do it due to my abnormal clutziness! Yes I'm still clutzy, but I've been doing the Wii Fit Yoga poses, and find I actually enjoy the stretching and balance. I've been amazed at how the poses work the muscles.

I've been doing the Wii Fit this whole month and can see an improvement in my performance of the poses as well as a change in my shape! So if you haven't tried yoga, look up a couple different poses and throw them into the mix of your normal exercise routine. I've only been doing a few poses since my knee is injured, but I am positive that the 10-15 minutes of yoga as part of my workout is making a difference. So much so, that some day I may get enough confidence...and balance...to try a class. Well maybe not, since I am no expert, but my opinion of yoga has certainly changed!

Here's just one website of the millions out there: http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/yogapractice/postures.asp I'm linking this one since it gives animated directions on how to do the poses and has the basics. Enjoy!

Old Posting Brought Back To Life

I have had my share of weight struggles over the years, and, over the years, I've learned how to lose and manage my weight in a healthy way. But I wanted to share something I posted on my own blog, www.thedrummerchic.blogspot.com, which I titled Journey From The Couch . We all had to start this process from somewhere, and this is how I finally hit bottom and decided to change my lifestyle for the better. Hope it can inspire you!

- Vic

And an idea was formed....

Today Beth and I were talking about the blog and our weight loss goals for the year. All of a sudden I had the idea that we could all put a January 2009 picture of ourselves on the blog, then put another picture at the end of December 2009 to see how our bodies have changed after 12 months of exercising. I'm thinking a full body picture with form fitting clothes so we can actually see the changes - but not exercise spandex clothes -- I'm not even willing to do that! Nor would I subject anyone to that! Maybe jeans and a T-shirt? Then we would want to make sure we keep the same clothes for the picture in December so we can see the difference in how those clothes fit, hopefully looser!

Who would be willing to do this? It would be great if everyone wanted to, but it wouldn't be mandatory if we decide to do this. I wouldn't want to be the only one! The added benefit of putting our pics up on the blog is so that everyone would get to see everyone else, which would be nice for those who don't personally know all the members of EFC.

YIPPEE!!!

I can't believe I won! I never win anything. Thanks. Now I'm even more motivated.

And the Winner is.............

BETH!!!! Watch the exciting video of the name being drawn. Please see previous post for who owes what. If you owe Beth, please send her an email for her address. She is the big winner of a total of $21 in Starbucks cards! I hope next month's winner wins less, since that will mean more exercising has been done!

Weeks 1-4 results!

From what I calculated this is how many tickets each person will get:
Vicki-1 (owes $10.50 to the winner)
Shannon-4
Kelli-2 (owes $7 to the winner)
Judy-4
Cheryl-1 (owes $3.50 to the winner)
Nancy-1
Beth-1
Michelle-1

Let me know if I miscalculated...the drawing will be sometime this evening. I thought I would attempt to video it and then post the video. We'll see if I can do that!

Welcome Rusty!

Everybody, please welcome Rusty to our group. She comes to us from the Academic Advising Center at Sacramento State and works with Shannon, Beth and Michelle!

1st Week

I finished my week with hitting the gym on Saturday with a 20 min swim and 20 min bike. I get bored easy, so I like doing more activities and less duration, it makes time go by faster!

First 4 Weeks are Complete!

Make sure you've put in your tallies for the past weeks if you aren't already up to date. I'll post our totals for the 4 weeks and how much in Starbucks Cards will be up for grabs!

I did it!

This has really motivated me this week to stick with my exercise routine! Thanks for letting me join. I even went to the gyn this morning at 7am (yes on a Saturday). Have a good weekend! Beth

Article on Fighting Mid-Life Weight Gain

I ran across an interesting article on Web MD - it has some good info.

-Vic

Someone Else's Blog

Somehow I came across someone else's diet blog. Mainly this person is discussing her use of Pure Acai Berry and Colon Cleanse as a method of losing weight. I don't know about these products, but she did have some helpful tips for losing weight. I thought I would share her blog with you all.
http://mariasdietblog.com/?sub=t5_01

This acai berry sure is getting a lot of attention. Has anyone tried it? I wonder if the fresh fruit is available, or if we can only get it in pill form. If anyone has any experience with acai let me know!

At last!

This may say signed by Strikethru, which is Cheryl, FYI.

I figured out how to post to the blog! Doing pretty well with the wimpy 30 minute treadmill workouts, am adding some weightlifting and stretching exercises because I sit on my *&^ all day at work and it kills my arms.

Hope you ladies are out there busting a move at the gym.

Thanks for letting me join!

I'm so excited about being part of this group! I needed something to get me movitated for the new year.

-Beth

Thanks for the invite!

Thanks for letting me join your club! I'm very excited and I have already started. My sister-in-law is letting me borrow her elliptical. I've had it in my garage since Christmas and have been using it more than I thought I would.

This week, I got 45 minutes in on Monday. Tuesday, I wasn't going to work out but I decided to hop on for 30 minutes after the Oprah show!

Michelle*

Each Monday...

Don't forget to sign in using our super duper secret code to update the tally for the prior week. If you don't, a zero will be assumed and you will owe a coffee card for that week. If you don't feel comfortable editing the blog, feel free to email Vicki or Shannon to update the blog for you.

Thanks!

Welcome to EFC Beth and Michelle!!!

Please welcome Beth and Michelle to our challenge. Both work with me at the Career Center and are excited to have this motivation to exercise!

-Shannon

How should we tally up our exercising?

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a successful week last week. Even with my "bum" knee, I managed to get in 4 or 5 workouts. The reason I put in 4 or 5 in the tally is because I have a dilemma...How do we determine our count for the week? Is it per workout or per day. For instance, last Monday I did my Curves workout then a little later I did another 25 minutes on the Wii Fit. Two separate workouts but on the same day.

Please comment on what everyone feels is fair. My opinion is that we are going for 4 separate DAYS of having exercise activity. What do you think?

-Shannon

Welcome Loretta!!

Our little blog idea is very popular! My friend Loretta joins our group from Sac State PD. Loretta and I used to enjoy our parking structure walks (they have a good incline) for exercise when we were working graveyard shifts together :)

Glad you've joined us!

-Vic

Hi Vicki and Friends! Thanks for including me in this blog/coffee/exercise challenge. My goal for exercise is fairly simple...I just need to get up and move. It is a good stress reliever for me, as I tend to hold in my stress, and it manifests physically in a variety of uncomfortable ways. ;) I will probably do a variety of activities to reach my goal, including walking, a Pilates dvd, and playing Dance Dance Revolution with my kids. I enjoy running, and would like to get back into that, but I have been having trouble with intermittent pain in one of my feet, so I am hoping this lower key plan to exercise will improve my fitness and mental health, without increasing my pain.

When I am not exercising (which is most of the time), I can be found hanging with my four kids and sweet husband. As you might imagine, with four kids, I need all the energy I can get, so hopefully exercising will help! :)

Blessings,
Nancy

Welcome Nancy!!

Please all welcome my cousin Nancy to the mix! She joins us as a mother of 4 from El Dorado Hills. She writes a heartwarming blog about her family at http://ladolcevita6.wordpress.com/

I'm glad you joined us!

- Vic

My bum knee...

I am sad to say that in my desire to do something fun with the kids and still make it a physical activity, I decided to take them ice skating on December 31st. Why is that sad, you may ask? Well because after about 40 minutes of some fine ice skating I took my first fall. Unfortunately it wasn't just on my behind. I fell forward on the inside of my left knee...and heard a "pop". Not good. At first I thought it would be ok, I got off the ice on my own and was able to walk around. However after a short time I discovered I can't twist my leg at all, from my hip down to my ankle. You know the old song,

"Your toe bone connected to your foot bone
Your foot bone connected to your ankle bone
Your ankle bone connected to your leg bone
Your leg bone connected to your knee bone
Your knee bone connected to your thigh bone
Your thigh bone connected to your hip bone...."

I understand that song so much better now that when ever I move one of those connected bones, I get a sharp pain in my knee!

So after my fall, one of my first thoughts was how am I going to keep up on my exercises? Can't go to Curves, can't do most of the Wii Fit exercises, so my options are floor exercises that don't use my legs. So I will focus on my abs and arms until I find out from the doctor what the extent of the damage is. If any of you have any ideas of other exersices that don't include my bum knee, let me know! Thanks!

Shannon

Welcome Cheryl!!!

My sister-in-law Cheryl has joined EFC, starting on January 5th. I wanted to put her up on the board before she changed her mind :)

Check out her blog at: http://www.strikethru.net/. She lives in Washington, has a 2 1/2 year-old ball of energy named Iris and is an excellent writer with a passion for typewriters and all things related to old-school writing.

Glad you're here!

-Vic

What do you do?

Spinning Class?

Walking/Running?

Gym?

Aerobics?
Ball exercises?

Free Weights?

I was just wondering what everyone is doing for their exercise? I've mentioned in earlier posts that I've been going to Curves, doing floor exercises, and now am using Wii Fit. What do you do?

Leave a comment and maybe we will get ideas for new exercises we can try - maybe we won't get bored with what we are doing!

-Shannon

New Year's Anti-Resolution

Let's face it - New Year's resolutions wreak of self-defeating temporary changes involving high expectations we have problems with continuing on a long-term basis. One of the #1 resolutions involve weight loss and implementation of regular exercise routines. You can see the proof at the noticeable enrollment increase at the local gyms and weight loss programs in January. Funny thing, attendance will tend to drop off a bit by February, then by March the gym is a ghost town for the resolutionists. It will pick up a little in May when people realize swimsuit season is looming, but for many the New Years resolution is nothing but a distant memory.

I suggest we don't use the NYR term in this group but work together to motivate each other toward life-long changes in exercise and better eating habits ('diet' is also a word I don't prefer but I'll save that for another blog). In addition to the monthly Starbucks drawings, I propose we all do a quick post of our anti-resolution (short and long-term weight loss and fitness goals for the year) for everyone to see so we can help motivate each other reach it for the next year.

Here's mine:

I'd like to lose approximately 15 pounds and ultimately maintain weight between the low to the mid 120's. I'd like to lose body fat and create a more 'cut' image by adding a little muscle tone. I'd like to increase my core strength a bit and work on my flexibility in hopes it will help my ongoing lower back problems. I hope to accomplish all of this by doing a combination of cardio, weight training, core exercise (push ups, etc) and hopefully will have time to attend some yoga classes.

What's yours?

-Vic

"Fitting in Fitness at Christmas"-WW Article

Here's a link to an article for exercise - alternatives to going to the gym. Hopefully this isn't too late to help!

http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=47381&sc=3039#Story

Wii Fit - A great alternative!

The boys got a Wii Fit for Christmas---though I think its truly a present for the whole family! Tonight I set up my profile to see what its all about. It's a marvel! Very fun way to exercise. There are four types of exercises, Yoga, Strength, Aerobic and Balance. I put myself through most of the Strength and Aerobic exercises. The program actually tells you how much time you've exercised for this date. I got in a full 20 minutes, and was sweating and out of breath by the time I was done running. I did things like jog in place, push ups, lunges, leg lifts, Hula Hoops and a Dance Dance Revelution type game. The Strength exercises are your more typical floor exercises. The Aerobic and Balance exercises are games in which your body moves the character. It's actually hard - but very fun! I know I looked super silly doing the Hula Hoop! And had retry the Dance Dance stepping aerobic one, because I am so not coordinated!

When you first start, you put in your stats, like birthdate and height, then the Wii Fit will weigh you and calculate your BMI. You will put in your weight loss/gain goal for whatever time period. You only have so many exercises in each area available when you start out, but as you complete the exercises with success (because sometimes you won't have success!), you get points and new exercises are unlocked. The program keeps track of all the exericising you do. With this new toy, I may even get more than 4 days of exercise in each week!

-Shannon

What a Challenging Week!

Hello fellow EFC members! It is the end of week number 2 and I need to know who made 4 work outs for the week of Dec 15-21st for last week and then after today I'll need your results for week number 2 (Dec 22-28). I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I'm sure you all found it as challenging as I did, both in watching what I ate and in getting 4 day of exercises. I knew it as going to be hard to get in four days with being out of town Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I had a plan to go to Curves Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning before going to Grass Valley, then on Friday.

Not all plans go as planed. Let me tell you why my week was ESPECIALLY challenging:Last week I needed to get my 4th exercise session in on Sunday. I had thought about going out to the garage to where the Total Gym is, but it was super cold in the garage, and actually kind of too crowded to exercise with all the Christmas decoration boxes out. So I decided to ask Justin to put me through the core exercises that he's been doing in drama since school started on Aug 18th. Justin has lost over 25 pounds since then and he is all muscle now. He works out on his own and will set up exercise sessions with fellow cast members on the weekends. I'm very proud of him! So I thought he would be able to put me through the warm up exercises for my 4th day. Here's what he made me do:

• Push-ups: sets of 15, then 10, then 5 - I could only manage girly ones, but they still were hard to do!
• Leg lifts-2 sets of 10 - without the feet touching the ground between reps
• Back to Back squats (Justin and linked arms with our backs touching and did the squats together) - 2 sets of 10
• Front to Front squats (this time we faced each other and locked wrists and did them together) - 2 sets of 10
• Lunges - by this time my legs were shaking and I could only manage 10
• Crunches laying on his bed with my feet on the floor - I think I did 40 or 50
• Some other weird cruch where I layed on the floor, bent my knees, lifted my feet in the air, put my hands in front of my like I'm praying and did the crunches from one knee to the other with out putting my feet or head down. I'm not sure if I did more than 20, by this time I was getting delirious and told him I was done for the night.

I was proud that I was able to do most of the work out and now I have floor exercises I can concentrate on for the days I can't make it to Curves. BTW - as I left the living room Justin told his dad "she won't be able to walk tomorrow', then the little shit snickered! The punk!

MONDAY MORNING - I was out to prove Justin wrong. I got up. Walked almost normally. My thigh muscles were pretty tight and a bit painful, but I was ok. I had to put my goodie bags together and take them to work to distribute and then go to Reva's to take her on some errands. So I went about my business and noticed that my thighs were hurting a bit but was ok. Then when I got to Reva's around noon I went to use the toilet. As I began to assume the position, my legs almost gave out and I almost fell back against the tank. But I was still OK. So OK that I figured I should go to Curves as planned to keep the muscles loose. So I get to Curves that evening, and I was hurting and could only do about half the reps that I normally do and was feeling very old. I took an extremetly hot bath that night!

TUESDAY MORNING: Justin was wrong. I could walk on Monday. Tuesday not so much! I felt extreme agony in my thighs whenever I went to sit down, especially on the toilet. Never noticed how low the seat was before this week! Going down the two stairs into the garage was agony. I was hurting and calling myself a total idiot! So Tuesday I pretty much did nothing but get some things done for Christmas. No exercise was performed on this day.

WEDNESDAY: Christmas Eve - My legs were a little better, but I really didn't do anything but get everything together to go up to GV. My legs were still sore, but on the mend. But by this time my pecs and abs were feeling the pain too!

THURSDAY:Merry Christams - no exercise, feeling much better, Yay!

FRIDAY: We went to the Bay Area, but I still managed to get in some exercise. After we got home I did a modified version of the floor exercises that I'd done with Justin. I even used Jordan's dumbells and did some arm curls and other exercises. I tried to do just 5 back to back squats, but Justin went so low on the second one my hips locked up and I thought my thigh bones were going to literally pop out of the joint. So I just used the back of a chair to do 10 squats. I also did crunches and push ups. When I went to do the leg lifts I learned just which ab muscles are being worked! I made a couple false starts in which I could only do 2 at a time. But I perservered and was able to do 10 with out putting my feet down. When I later tried to do another set, I did something bad and now have a pulled left abdominal muscle. Everytime I sneeze, and I never sneeze less than 5 times in a row anymore, I have sharp pain in my left ab. I swear, it sucks to be this out of shape! So on Friday I got my second day of exercises in.

SATURDAY: Curves was open again, so I actually did the work out and was actually able to do almost all the normal number of reps that usually do, but I was definitely tired and sore afterwards! Third day of exercises complete!

SUNDAY: Curves is closed on Sundays, which is what started my whole ordeal...so tonight I plan on doing my version of Justin's floor exercises again. The left ab still hurts, so I may have to skip the leg lifts, but I'll do something else. Or I might use the Wii Fit the kids got for Christmas. I'll report back on if the Wii Fit is a good exercise tool, I hear that it is.Good luck to you all!

-Shannon

Welcome To EFC

We are now embarking upon the new blog for the Exercise For Coffee group, or EFC. Let's face it - it's not fun to exercise regularly throughout the week. We are all busy with work, family and life in general. It's hard to get motivation to get to the gym or take a walk or do anything that causes the heart rate to rise above 50! I believe our body wants to naturally go the easy route instead of doing what's hard. It takes hard work, dedication and commitment to not only lose weight but to keep it off. Not everyone jumps at the chance to hit the gym during a busy work week. How easy is it to always vie for the low or non-fat versions of our favorite foods, especially around the holidays?

Ok, enough with how hard it is. Let's stop whinning and do it! On the flip side, exercise can be self satisfying and invigorating (when done regularly). It can give you a sense of accomplishment when you complete a workout instead of skipping it. It's hard enough to lose weight between having to balance the eating and exercise. But I've found if you are doing well with your exercise, your body will want to eat better and after awhile won't be so hard.

Throughout my weightloss journey, I've lost over 60 pounds. What I've learned is you cannot be successful with weight when you simply diet; it must be a lifestyle change or you will ultimately be back at square one (and I visited square one more times than I can count). And it is hard for sure - look at Oprah, who is showing her vulnerabilities along with the rest of us with her recent weight gain. Weightloss is tough and we can use all the support we can get.

So EFC was created to motivate our exercise habits. Participants are welcomed to blog and comment on this site at anytime. This is how it works:

If anyone doesn't make four workouts in a week,that person(s) owes one coffee card ($3.50) up to the monthly"kitty". For each week any of us makes all four work-outs will get a "ticket". After four weeks, if there is any coffee cards in the kitty, we will have a drawing. So if you work out 4 days a week for 4 weeks you would have 4 chances to win ALL the coffee cards. If you make it only 3 weeks, you would have 3 chances to win and so on. There may or may not be any coffee cards in the "Kitty" to be won, but it sure would be a great"prize" if there were multiple coffee cards. This way we can have as many members in our "Exercise For Coffee" club or"EFC". Shannon will write our names on tickets, then we report in to eachother on the blog. An impartial person will pick the winning ticket. Who ever owed coffeecards can then send them to the winner each month.

Bring it on!

- Vic