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Weight Loss Exercise

Colder Weather Exercise


The Summer is creeping away here in Calgary. On my ride in this morning the temperature was right at freezing so the nice easy schedule of riding in to work and home will be over sooner than I would hope. Now is the time of year that all of those outdoor activities that keep you in shape so easily are going to come to an end in the northern latitudes.

What will you do about it?

Most people have a bad habit of fluctuation exercise. In the Spring you get sore from exercising outside for the first time since the fall and your body hates you for it, but you endure it and workout through the Summer and in the Fall and Winter get almost no exercise again and have your weight float up a few pounds hoping that you can lose it again next Spring. I will be giving tips all Winter for staying in shape but this is a good chance to look at what you should start thinking about right now.

First prioritize your exercise schedule for the Winter. It may be tougher to work out but of course you can do it if you work out the days and times you will be working out. Most of all be realistic. The best times to workout are early morning before you get caught up with the issues of the day and after work if you have a stable work schedule. If you push dinner out a bit you may be able to either workout right after work before dinner or else get an hour in while watching one of the many great TV shows that eat up our Winter nights.

Next figure out what you want to do this Winter for exercise. A few years ago my family (actually my wife and I, the toddlers had no say in it) bought a good treadmill and exercise bike and then each Fall we go out and replace one of the items and lose a bit on the trade-in but at least have some great new and new to us equipment to keep us interested in the Winter.

Lastly make sure that you have a good mix of exercise. One or two pieces of fitness equipment may not be enough to keep you motivated is make sure you plan on skating, skiing or climbing stairs in an office building to supplement your exercise this Winter. If you can find local fitness events that you can take part in. There are a lot of different leagues in the Winter be they hockey or curling or badminton and volleyball.


One great tip for exercise equipment is to have a running log of your distance. This would be floors for a stair machine or actual miles on a treadmill, bike or elliptical trainer. Using a map it is fun to keep track of the distance that you have covered and you can even try to go city to city with goals in between over the course of the Winter.


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Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

I Spent the Day Making Cake

We made it through our first week of 2011!  I got caught up in being super productive (as usual this time of year) that by Wednesday I was totally burned out. There are only so many things that I can truly get done in a day. That said, I’m pleased with everything that I did manage to get done last week. I kept track of it all:

I took better care of my skin, I flossed daily, I didn’t eat sugar, I tackled the laundry, I finished a few freelance projects, I finished jewelry orders, I cleaned the house, I held the Floyd Creative Collective meeting at my house and set up a blog for that, I wrote articles, and updated my blog.

Things I didn’t do…exercise! I wrote that whole post about exercise excuses right in the midst of one big one: Josh was sick and I was trying to tackle a 100+ to-do list. The week before I was sick and no one was exercising. And this week was no different. And I’m feeling the results of it.

So this week, I’m scheduling exercise. And I’m starting today with a visit with Billy Blanks and continuing tomorrow morning with Julian.

I do think it’s funny that after my sugar video-which by the way- thank you for watching and leaving such encouraging/thoughtful/kind comments- I spent the day making this:

The hardest part about baking and not eating sugar is taste-testing. How would I know the cake wasn’t too dry or the icing was too buttery? I used my other senses. I felt the icing and it’s consistency and smelled the cake. It seemed to work.

This isn’t the best looking cake, but I’m proud of it nonetheless. Mainly because it speaks to my approach to life lately- just dive in. I have never (ever) made an iced cake or worked with fondant, but I knew I didn’t want to just put plastic figurines on the cake. I was up for the challenge. I marched right into Michaels, bought a cake decorating kit and white fondant.

There was a slight hesitation that it would be a total disaster, but I went in with gusto and pretty darn proud of the results. I guess the lesson here, if there is one, is that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. Even if it is daunting, new, uncomfortable and scary- and when I become fearless of the outcome- really good things can happen.

Finding life lessons in cake decorating? That’s what I do! Have you surprised yourself lately? I’d love to hear about it.