So, I have been gone for a while, and so has Brandi. What can I say? Real Life hit both of us and for a while there was just no time to even think about working out. Bad excuse, I know. But it’s true – or at least that is what I’ve been telling myself.
My mother came to visit from Germany, and that always means lots of cooking and baking. I’m not sure if she is trying to teach me every recipe she knows or if it is more of a bonding thing between mother and daughter. Either way, it doesn’t help. And although German food is not as fattening as most American food (at least in my experience), if you eat too much of it, you will still gain weight. And my mom is a great cook!
To top that off my husband came home from Afghanistan for 6 week to train for a different position. So not only did we cook out a lot while we has actually at home, but for the 4 weeks of his training, we stayed in a hotel in Mississippi and ate out pretty much every day.
After that came Thanksgiving and now it’s almost time for Christmas which means baking cookies and indulging in other goodies at christmas parties and gettogethers.
You see the pattern here, don’t you? Delicious food everywhere and no way to escape it. Well, if I had more discipline I probably could but who wants that when there are big sweaters to hide under, right? Wrong!
Oh and to add to my no-time-to-work-out-phase, I participated in the NaNoWriMo 2010, an event for writers during the month of November during which you are supposed to write a 50,000 word novel. I finished it but let me just say, it took up so much of my time that working out was the last thing on my mind.
And now I regret that I slacked so much. Before my husband came home I had managed to lose almost 10 lbs and started to look more toned again. Now, I’m not just back to square one but I have an additional 5 lbs that need to be worked off. And since my own image in the mirror is not enough to taunt me – that muffin top is really awful and something I never really had before - but my husband, who also gained weight while eating out with me all the time, already lost about 15 lbs again and of course expects me to get the same results.
Well, I’m not a guy. I don’t lose weight the way he does and I don’t work out the way he does. While he thinks a workout needs to be hard and wear you out and is something that you should not enjoy, I only agree on the first two parts. But if I don’t have fun working out I lose interest, especially if I don’t see results fast enough.
So here I go again starting out with a new workout routine, the Brazil Butt Lift on hold for right now, until my knee can handle it again. For now, and also because I’m hoping that it will help me get rid of that muffin top as soon as possible, I’m going with the BenderBall workout.
These workouts are not very long and I should be able to make time for them every day. I recently had to order a new ball because my dog got a hold of the old one, but that also gave me a chance to order some more workouts for it. Today I chose the “Selective Core Training”, which targets the upper abs, lower abs and finally the obliques. And even though the workout doesn’t take long, I definitely get the little earthquake in my abs, letting me know that I’m really working those muscles.
On top of that I have also started taking the dog for walks again, even in the cold. It’s not really workout length yet but by now the dog and I are both looking forward to our walks and we, or I should say I am working on lengthening those walks and picking up the speed a bit. As soon as the knee allows it I will start running with the dog again.
Now I’m actually looking forward to the sore feeling that will set in by tonight and hopefully my workout buddy, Brandi, will be able to join me again soon. And you should, too. If you are in the same boat as me, gaining weight over the holidays and your life seems to busy to find time to workout, don’t wait until the new year to decide that you need to get back in shape again. Do it now. Think about your diet and possible changes you can make or start walking around the block at least once a day. You won’t regret it.
