Category Archives: Exercise

The Chunky Dunkers Club!!

Good evening!

I wonder where that phrase comes from “Hump Day”???

Anyway, I momentarily got sidetracked!! Today is the day that I get back on track with making healthy life choices!! I know, what a novel concept, but for some reason I have become the QUEEN of excuses!

  • I don’t have time
  • I am too stressed out
  • I deserve this cookie
  • I have had a bad day
  • It’s rainy
  • It’s too cold
  • I don’t wanna
  • I will start over tomorrow
  • I just conditioned my hair – really, I use this one to get out of swimming!!!

All of this procrastination will leave a girl worse off than when she initially started in the first place!!! Which is EXACTLY where I am at!!!

“If your mind believes “I can’t,” you will sabotage your own efforts. You won’t do what is required to realize your goal. But when you believe “I can,” you follow paths of behavior and thought that help ensure that the dream will be fulfilled. The psychology of dream fulfillment includes the mindsets of hope, motivation, commitment, confidence, courage, concentration, excitement and observation.”

~Jerry Lynch and Chungliang Al Huang, Thinking Body, Dancing Mind

SO…

Today officially starts the first day of the

Chunky Dunker’s Club

This is the name that my husband and two youngest sisters came up with for our new get healthy support group!!! Chunky dunkers is what we call plus-sized women who skinny dip – get it??? Well, when they suggested this name I just couldn’t stop laughing, when I realized that this is the PERFECT name for us!!! A group of people who want to have fun getting healthy, and remembering to laugh is where our success is going to lie!!! 🙂

I will post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you can have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! The articles will have hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!! This meeting every Wednesday will be win-win for me and for you, so let’s get started!!!

So, I call to order the first weekly meeting of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!!

Are we all present and accounted for??? I am sure we are!

Tonight, I thought I would share my health coach’s 10 Tips for Speeding Up Your Metabolism with you this evening! I found that there are a lot of things that we know, but may not be doing, and a couple of things that might be new that might be fun for you to incorporate into your day!!

10 Tips For Speeding Up Your Metabolism

Weight management is a balancing act between taking in calories and burning them up. New research suggests that the way your body burns energy may be at least as important as how much you eat. Try these tips for keeping your body’s idle speed high.

1. QUIT STARVING YOURSELF

When you deprive yourself of food, your body reacts protectively against an ancient threat: famine. Your resting metabolic rate — the calories you burn just to keep your body going — drops to a lower level to conserve energy. Your body works harder to preserve the food it gets by storing it as fat. That’s why people who regularly diet have higher percentages of body fat than non-dieters. Instead of counting calories, focus on cutting back on the fat and sugar in your diet.

2. GET EXERCISE

Exercise helps you lose weight in several ways. It raises your resting metabolic rate, thus offsetting the lowering effects of dieting and helping you burn more calories even when at rest. Strength training is especially important here, because it increases the amount of muscle you have. And muscle cells burn more calories than fat cells.

3. EXERCISE LONGER

After 30 minutes of low-intensity exercise — walking, bowling, gardening — your body begins to burn stored fat for energy.

4. EXERCISE LARGE MUSCLE GROUPS

Choose high-energy exercise — such as walking, bicycling, cross country skiing, swimming, step aerobics — that gives your arms and legs a good workout.

5. VARY YOUR WORKOUT

Your body gets efficient at doing the same exercise day after day and you burn fewer calories. Try alternating gym workouts with outside activities. Or change your routine every six weeks. You’ll burn more calories — and you won’t get as bored.

6. EAT A GOOD BREAKFAST

People who skip breakfast burn 5 percent fewer calories than those who eat a healthy morning meal.

7. AVOID ALCOHOL AND SMOKING

Both may inhibit the loss of abdominal fat. That’s why drinkers and smokers tend to be bigger around the waist than abstainers.

8. RESIST PMS CRAVINGS

The evidence is that women’s bodies burn more calories between ovulation and menstruation. That’s why sugary snacks look so good then. Don’t starve yourself, but if you can resist the cravings for high-energy foods, your body will burn fat stores for energy.

9. EAT LESS FAT

Your body is very efficient at turning the fat you eat into body fat. It takes a lot more energy to turn carbohydrates into fat. That’s why cutting back to less than 30 percent of your calories from fat can help you reduce your body fat more than just cutting total calories.

10. EAT THREE MEALS

Studies show that eating only one or two large meals tends to lower your resting metabolic rate. Make sure you eat three small meals and a healthy snack or two.

Come on ladies and gentleman, we can do this!!! Try implementing just one or two of these things this week, and add additional items only after you are comfortable with the changes you have made thus far. In the comments, let me know which changes you are going to implement, and I will do the same thing!!!

We will meet again next Wednesday evening!! and if you watch my blog daily, I will make sure to post some words of encouragement under my signature line just to keep us going, and to remind you that I am in this with you!! YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!

Until next week GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

Note to Chunky Dunkers:
If you find that your path to healthy living hits a speed bump, reach out to someone who you trust for support and ask for some encouraging words – you don’t have to go it alone!!! 😉

Friday Evening of Inspiration!

Good evening!!

I have had a surprisingly good day today at work! I KNOW – I REALLY DID SAY THAT!!! Work was good! Yes, there were a couple of stressful moments today, but I felt I was really productive, and there MIGHT be a light at the end of this crazy tunnel!! and I may have realized today that the light ISN’T a TRAIN!! LOL! 😉

What a good day!!! My hubby and I just got home, and Jason is in the kitchen cooking my FAVORITE DINNER!!! Shake ‘n Bake pork chops with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli!!! This dinner reminds me of home!!! Comfort food!!! God bless that man of mine!! What a KEEPER!!! 😉

After dinner this evening, I think the plan is that we are going to watch another episode of Bones off of NetFlix, and then we are going to go enjoy a late night walk through the neighborhood!

I thought I would share a couple of pics that have been inspiring me lately!!

If I were to psychoanalyze these, I think I am being drawn towards strong, sexy, powerful women, a luxuriously scrumptious home, a FABULOUS hairstyle, and a rockin’ load of self confidence!! Of course these are all things that I am longing for and in myself!!!

Tell me what kind of things are inspiring you, in the comments above! I am always curious to know what makes other people tick!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

A COLD Happy Friday!!

Good morning!!

We are expecting record cold here in Oregon today, and possibly tomorrow – so I am bundling up to head to work this morning!!!

As I was laying in bed, trying to coax myself out of it’s deliciously warm blankets, I started thinking about recess when I was a little kid!! If recess was a profession, I would have be an expert in my field!!! I remember just being a ball of energy! I loved playing:

  • jump rope
  • hopscotch
  • Chinese jump rope
  • wall ball
  • four square
  • tether ball
  • balance beam
  • crawling tunnels
  • parallel bars
  • monkey bars
  • swings
  • H-O-R-S-E
  • kick ball
  • teeter-totter
  • hula hooping
  • big wheels
  • climbing trees
  • bicycles!!!

Man remembering all these just takes me back!!! Does that make me old?? 😉

At what point in your life do these activities leave your list of fun activities??? I am thinking that if I would have continued all or some of these activities, I would not have had the issue with my weight that I do now, and I would presume that the American culture, as a whole, would benefit from the health benefits that these activities provide!! Ok, so now that I am 35 years old, how weird would it seem to see me doing double dutch, or throwing my hopscotch marker, or playing a rowdy game of wall ball??? Who cares if it looks weird, I think I am going to give it a go! I wonder if the condo association would care if I used chalk to draw out my four square grid on the ground?? Having that would just leave me to go round up a friend or two who would be willing to come out and “play”!!!

As I dream about incorporating some recess activities into my regular day, I would LOVE to hear some of your FAVORITE recess activities as a kid! Do you still do any of them? If not, what made you stop?

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

Getting Out of the Doldrums!

Good evening!

You may not know this, but my life has gotten to be in a little bit of a rut! Doing the same thing every day, day in and day out! Get up, go to work, come home, eat, watch tv, go to bed, get up, go to work…well, I think you can see what I am talking about!

I have just this moment made the decision to look into taking a dance class!! Matter of fact……………………….

TIC-TOC
TIC-TOC
TIC-TOC

I just made a call to one of the local dance studios, and I am making arrangements to get into the beginning belly dancing class that starts at the beginning of March. It is an 11 week class, and it is going to cost me about $9 per class!!! YEAH!!! Now, the hard part will be going – but HONEY, I have got to do something crazy to build my courage muscles and get out there and be brave enough to be me!!!

Wow!! Now, that I have had a chance to think about what I have just done, I am going to have to REALLY get my bravery muscles out!!! I know it will be a BLAST!!! I love the idea of idea of feeling comfortable in my own skin, and learning how to move and undulate with grace and confidence. Plus the idea, that I will be doing something outrageous for just myself is rather exciting!!! Plus to be able to say that I did something scary, is motivating and I know that if I can do this, I can do ANYTHING!!! PLUS – I think that this will be a fun way to get exercise and get in a little better shape!! I can’t wait until classes start!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

You Have Your Vision Board, Now What?

Thank God it is Friday evening!! My stress level is so high, that my eye has started to twitch – NEVER A GOOD SIGN!! LOL! My go-live week, at work,  is technically over, BUT we have sooooo much work to do!!! I am going to have to work a little bit this weekend, but if it gets me even a little bit more caught up – it will be worth it!! I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel – WHOO! HOO!!

On a completely different note a WAAAAY more UPLIFTING NOTE: I have been getting a lot of questions that go something like this, “Ok, I have created my vision board, now what???”

So I thought that I would take a some time to answer this question! Take your vision board, a pad of paper (or journal), a pen (or a bunch of different colored pens), and go find a comfortable place to sit and write. This part may take you a little while, but in my opinion it is one of the most important parts of making your images on your vision board come to fruition. Deciding what DIRECTION you want your life to go!!

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
~Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

I know I have posted this before, but just for a refresher, here is my vision board:

Ok, so make sure you have your vision board out where you will be able to see it! Grab your blank piece of paper and write your name write in the smack dab middle of it!! Don’t write it too small – this is a mental representation of your presence in your own life – so make sure are visible!! 😉

Next, while looking at your vision board, decide what are the top 5 or 6 things that will get you to the life that your vision board is describing??? Write those things in small descriptive sentences around your name.

Now is the fun part! On the back of this sheet of paper, you need to figure out what steps you would have to do to get each one of these goals. This may seem kind of tricky, but this is how I make this work for me:

Choose your first goal that you have written: I want to be fit, healthy, & vivacious!
Re-write it like this:  How can I be fit, health, & vivacious?

Then spend the next 10 minutes, 30 minutes, hour, day, week, or however long you want to give yourself just writing down ANYTHING & EVERYTHING that will make this goal a REALITY in your life!

Some of my list items could be:

  1. Exercise every day
  2. Eat more fruits and veggies
  3. See a nutritionist
  4. Get liposuction
  5. Have gastric-bypass
  6. Follow a specific diet plan
  7. Pray for a miracle
  8. Make exercise fun
  9. Take up an outdoor hobby like hiking
  10. Join walking club
  11. Get a physical trainer
  12. etc.
  13. etc.
  14. etc.

You get the idea – write IT ALL DOWN!! Not everything has to be realistic/feasible, but that crazy, zany idea might open your mind up to that ONE IDEA that clinches your mode to success!!!

Do this same thing for EACH of the goals that you have chosen!!! This may take you a while, matter-of-fact, I am sure that it will, but you are laying the FOUNDATION FOR YOUR FUTURE!!! So DON’T skimp on this step!!

WITH EVERYTHING IN ME – I KNOW YOU CAN MAKE THIS LIFE HAPPEN FOR YOU!!!

Let me know, in the comment section how this goes for you!! Even from afar, I am cheering you on!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Blogging On The Commute!

Good morning!

That is right I am blogging on my way to work this morning!! Today is an early work day, but because it is so freakin’ cold here that we have had to de-ice the car twice!!! Don’t ask! 😉

Anyway, we are almost on our way and I am just so grateful to have had the past two days off – I really needed that!! Work is going to be interesting today, since I am not sure what systems are going to be up or down when I get in this morning, HOWEVER I am having lunch with my sissy, Alex, so I AM TOTALLY EXCITED!!!
😉

She leaves in 8 days, I may have to start stalking her for the next 8 days, since I don’t know when I will see her next!!! I love you, Sissy!!

I got a little daring in my work outfit today, I did take a pic but unfortunately was having some technical difficulties so I will have to post it this evening!!!

Oh, I almost forgot tonight is swim night too, which has been sooooo much fun. When my neice Megan spent the night last night, my husband pointed out that she doesn’t say, let’s go exercise, she says let’s go play, so that is the new mantra that we are adopting in our house! PLAY! PLAY! PLAY! 😉

Anyway, I am almost to work, so I will let you go! Hee! Hee! Like I am on the phone with you or something!! (Sorry, my tiredness is showing!)

Have a FABULOUS morning!!! 😉
~Christina

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Auntie Night!!

Yesterday was the day that my niece came over to hang out with Jason and I!! I would LOVE to say that we had fun all day, UNFORTUNATELY since I had to work a large portion of the day, we haven’t had as much fun as we usually do when we get together!!! HOWEVER I did make sure to take some time to get away – we went to the park to play on all of the equipment, had some yummy pizza for dinner, and then went swimming, where we ALWAYS have fun playing!! I AM SOOOOO BEAT RIGHT NOW!!! So, in lieu of more words, I am going to share some of our time at the park with pictures.

Enjoy!!

I think that about sums it up!! 😉

Well, we are off to go eat Uncle Jay-Jay’s FAMOUS pankcakes!!! and then off to more fun!!!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

60 Day Life Makeover, Day 33!

Good morning!

Today is Wednesday, the day that I give you an update on where I am with my 60 day life makeover progress.

My 60-day goals are:

  1. Lose 20 pounds.
  2. Find a church home.
  3. Clean, organize, purge my house from top to bottom, so everything in it has a home.
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture to slowly but surely get my business off the ground.
  5. Put $1000 extra away to help build my wealth.

Well, where do I begin?? Looking at this list, as if it were the first time I have ever seen it, and I realize that not only have I NOT made any more progress on these goals, some of them I have either stopped trying or have gone backwards in my progress!! BUMMER!!! I think I want these things, but I can’t seem to get my behaviors and choices to back me up on these things!!!

If I had to choose only ONE THING off of this list to accomplish, it would be #1. Lose20 pounds. You know how most people’s weight might fluctuate up or down by maybe 5  pounds?? Well, my normal to fluctuate by is 20 POUNDS!!! UGH!!! I literally take off and put on the same 20 pounds over, and over, and over, AND OVER again!!! So, here I am, back at the starting line, at my top weight – AGAIN! So, this is my reality. I am going to carry a 3×5 card with me today, so that whenever I do ANYTHING that supports my goal of moving towards health and fitness, I am going to write it down as a BEHAVIOR OF SUCCESS!!! I figure if I accumulate enough mini Behaviors of Success, then wouldn’t that also bring about the goal that I have been dreaming of??? I sure hope so!!

As for all of the other goals on this list, I realize that I may have to re-prioritize and decide what is really important to me, and what I am willing to work for to get. Everything has a price, am I willing to pay the price to accomplish everything on my list?? I don’t yet know, but I will! One way or the other HAPPINESS is the ULTIMATE goal, but I am learning that happiness is a choice, and not necessarily something you get – YOU CREATE IT YOURSELF!!! 😉

I am off to another long day of work, but remembering to practice my exercise of EXTREME SELF-CARE! I am optimistic that it will be a GREAT day!!

As for all of you…

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

A Saturday of Randomness!

Good morning!

I am up dressed and ready to head out the door this morning! I have a date with one of my BFF’s to go have coffee and catch up, which is always so much fun!!

I went to bed extra early last night, with the intention of just taking a short “nap” while Jason was out with the nephews at a basketball game. Well, my nap turned into just going to bed for the evening, so I woke up this morning FEELING GREAT!!! I am totally refreshed and rested and ready to take on the world!!! 😉

One of the things I have been thinking about is my efforts to lose weight/get fit!! I think I need to get myself some more motivation for why I want to do that so I stop punking out and making it LITERALLY THE LAST PRIORITY ON MY LIST!!! No wonder I am exactly where I am – it is because I keep doing THE EXACT SAME THINGS!!!

I want to:

  • Fit into an airplane seat with lots of wiggle room
  • Walk all over Paris without getting winded or super-sore
  • Ride a bike for hours at a time
  • To run
  • To be able to be flexible and have stamina and energy to play with the kiddos for hours
  • To be able to hike at Silver Creek Falls without feeling like I am going to die there because I can’t make it up the steep hills to get back to my car! 😉
  • To shop in a normal-sized store, or at least be in a size where I have TONS of CUTE options for fashion!!
  • To be able to wear sexy heels again!
  • To feel super-confident
  • To dance!!! Ok, so I do do this anyways, but it would be nice to do it without the stares – oh wait, that just my dancing not what I look like! HAHAHA! Nevermind!!! LOL! 😉

Anyway, I don’t want to be late, so I am heading out the door!!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 🙂

My Vision Board

Good evening!

Tonight I had the opportunity to spend some more time with my sister, Alex! We spent the evening finishing up our design boards. Last Thursday, I promised you that as soon as I was done with it, I would take a picture of my design board and share it with you.

So, here it is…

Ok, so I am not sure how well you can see this, but I can explain the gist of what I am dreaming of for 2011.

If I had to narrow this vision board down to one word, it would be PEOPLE. More specifically friends and family. I want a small tight-knit-group of girlfriends  that I can let down my guard with and just be myself while going out making memories, and having a blast doing things that girlfriends do!!! I would love to have a baby, or at least get the ball rolling in that direction. I would love to travel with my sweetie to Europe. I want to have my own business dealing in beautiful home furnishings, to take a ton of photographs to share, and I want to go hiking, camping, and get out and be all around more athletic. I know, I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I have never had an outdoorsy bone in body, UNTIL NOW that is!!! Oh, yeah – how could I almost forget – I want my little farm, with it’s gardens and walking trails, and memories – you know, I WANT TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! 😉 Ok, no – too much responsibility, but I am sure you get the idea!! LOL!! 😉

I want to do everything and anything that feeds my soul.
I want to be the me that I was put on this earth to be,
in the time that I have been gifted.
Now is the perfect time!! 😉

Do any of you have vision boards that you would be willing to share?? I would love to see some!! Let me know in the comments above! 🙂

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉