New Year’s Resolutions Killed the DVD

Even Jillian Michael's posted this on Facebook - I think it's a new trend!

Well Hello!!!  I’ve been MIA from the blogging world for 3 weeks now, but after a week off for the holidays and jumping into my New Year’s Resolutions, there didn’t seem to be any time for blogging.  (No time left for blogging??  Why that’s crazy talk!)  More importantly – not enough time left for reading other’s blogs!  I’ve missed it terribly. 

Yum!! Doesn't it look delicious? It's no Death by Chocolate, but . . . (Image via Wikipedia)

Of course, like everyone else in the USA, my New Year’s Resolutions include living a healthier lifestyle.  Truly, this is how I try to live most of the time, but during November and December I ate everything that wasn’t nailed down.  Small children were in danger.  I also did not exercise AT ALL!  So now I’m trying to use my common sense and eat more grilled chicken, steamed and grilled vegetables, salads and whole grains.  I feel better when I eat this way too but I swear it takes an effort and a lot of planning.  I just didn’t have that in me the last few months of 2011.  And on the upside cooking this way creates lots of leftovers because Hubby and Tink hardly eat it!

I will miss you Jillian! But my quads - not so much.

I’m also trying to work out 30-45 minutes every day with 1 rest day a week.  One of my favorite DVDs is Jillian Michael’s 30 day Shred, but I popped that DVD in this past Monday and tragedy of all tragedies THE DVD DIED!  Oh woe is me – farewell Jillian.  Getting me back into shape this time proved to be too daunting a task.  I will miss thee.  But thankfully I still have Bob Harper, so I did Biggest Loser Cardio Max.  It has a lot of leg work AND, most importantly, it’s from about 6-7 years ago so Bob is so young and still nice!

How does she look so calm? (image via hundredpushups.com)

Image via Wikipedia "I Love Bob, I Love Bob."

Losing 1 DVD work out is really no big deal.  I have tons of workout DVDs, dumbbells (I mean the hand weights not derogatorily referring to my family), a 10 lb Kettlebell, a treadmill and a stair-stepper.  All I need to do is use all that stuff.  I’m alternating days with weight work and days with cardio only.  Another great thing to do is push ups.  You can find a fantastic push up program at http://www.hundredpushups.com/.  There is a reason they make you do these in the military.  Push ups are hard, they are considered weight work and they are truly a whole body work out.  A combination of push ups, squats and crunches for 30 minutes is a full-fledged weight work out without any “weights”.  So who needs Jillian, right?

I also track calories at http://www.livestrong.com/.  You can set up a free account and log every thing you put into your mouth on there.  This website can calculate how many calories you can eat each day to reach a goal or just to maintain your current weight.  I wasn’t going to count any calories this year.  I made a huge declaration to one of my close friends that I was only going to focus on being healthy and forget writing down every bite I put in my mouth because that was excessive.  But the day, immediately after I made that declaration, Dr. Nancy Schneiderman on the Today Show said that the ONLY way for a woman over 40 to truly maintain her weight was to write down what they ate.  She even said the words, “every bite you put in your mouth.”  Really??  I mean really??  After recovering from a brief bout of depression over that fact, I began re-logging my calories. 

Another resolution was going to be no more cursing, but then Tink brought home a D in Algebra, the whole DVD death thing and working out pretty much ended any hope of keeping that resolution before I even got started.  I’ll save that one for February.

 Anyway – I’m done with trying to hit a certain weight or look a certain way.  I want to be healthy and I want to be able to button and zip my jeans without requiring outside assistance.  That’s enough for me.  Maybe that will leave me with a little bit of time to blog!