Despite being a part of the Your Shape Challenge, I have had about 4 weeks in the last 2 months where I couldn’t exercise. First it was asthma induced by a bad case of viral bronchitis. Now it’s something I dubbed “Blogger’s neck,” a sharp shooting pain every time I turn my head to the right.
I saw my chiropractor, who adjusted me, and ordered me to come in for a massage this weekend. (tough life, I know!) Yet despite icing it, taking pain meds, and getting care it still hurts, so I’m not exercising until it feels better. I tried and ended up feeling so much worse after I did Your Shape for a few minutes.
The pain is so bad that I’m sitting right now with a pack of corn on my neck to ice it, I’d much rather be outside taking a long walk, or gardening, or being able to walk without feeling like turning my head might make my head explode.
The last week has been all about food choices, appropriate since our challenge with Your Shape this week is to track everything we eat. I’m gluten-free, and going dairy free this week (which is tough as a cheese lover). I’m eating more fruit and veggies, and being gluten free means less snacking while we are out. I’ve seen a slight drop in weight, but mainly I feel better.
Even if you are busy, or not able to exercise for physical reasons you can still control your diet which accounts for a larger percentage of weight issues than lack of exercise.
Here are some easy ways to help you lose weight without exercising-whether you are too busy, or like me can’t exercise for the short-term.
Eat smaller portions: Portion sizes at restaurants and one most plates tend to be over the top large. If you are eating at home, cut your portion in half, and if you are eating our ask for a doggie bag as soon as your meal comes. Cut it in half, and you have dinner or lunch for tomorrow as well.
Eat more greens: I know not everyone loves greens, but find ways to incorporate more greens into your diet-your colon will thank you.
Drink water: If you don’t love it try jazzing it up with lemon, lime or a splash of juice. I don’t recommend replacing water with 0 calorie drinks because they are full of preservatives.
Eat WHOLE: Shop the perimeter of your grocery store, and avoid purchasing anything that has an ingredient list or one that has more than 5 ingredients. Stick with things that are whole-as they were grown, produced- without fillers, preservatives and names you can’t pronounce.
Experiment with elimination: Many people suffer from food allergies and intolerances. Some are life threatening, but some may not be noticeable until after you stop eating a particular food. Try an elimination diet-you may react to nothing, or you may have a handful of things you should avoid.
What are some ways you could stand to improve your diet? Have you successfully lost weight through changes in your diet?
This is a guest post from Liz Muirhead, who blogs about health and fitness at Looking Good (for a mom). Liz is a thirty-something working mom of two wonderful kiddos, who got fed up with using her kids to explain her flab and found a way to get the best body of her life!
So you want to get in shape, do you?
Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to go into debt to succeed! I’m Liz, author of a fitness and nutrition blog called Looking Good (for a mom). While I write about eating healthy and staying fit on my own blog, I love reading about personal finance and living frugally. That’s why I’m thrilled to be writing for The Centsible Life to help Kelly’s readers get in shape and healthy on a budget.
In the first post in this series, I’ll be helping you determine what equipment you need to start getting in shape. Rather than spending $20-$100 per month on a gym membership, or $3,000 on gym equipment for your home, there are a few ways to build out an inexpensive home gym.
When investing in items for a home gym, focus on resistance training (weight training). It’s more effective and efficient than traditional cardio for weight loss, so you’ll get more results out of an investment in resistance training materials than you would in spending $800 on a treadmill or elliptical machine. Besides, cardio is cheap! You can run outside, jump rope, or do calisthenics to get a great, high-intensity cardio workout.
Bargain home gym (about $40)- all you need to start bodyweight resistance workouts:
Stability ball — Generally priced from $15-$30, a stability ball is a versatile piece of equipment that open up a wider range of bodyweight exercises.
Chin-up bar – The bargain in this category is the portable Iron Gym at $20, while the Cadillac systems generally affix permanently to a wall and cost around $80-$100.
Mid-range home gym (about $150-200)- start with the above and add:
Weight Bench – You can get just a bench (that inclines, lays flat, and declines) for about $50-$60. There are more expensive configurations, but they’re generally full of gimmicks or for people with an olympic weight set.
Adjustable dumbbells — You can buy an inexpensive adjustable dumbbell set for around $50, but it will take a lot of time to change from one weight to another. If you want a really versatile quick-changing set that’s easy to use, you should expect to spend closer to $400 (the price of the Powerblock dumbbells in our home that go up to 50lbs per hand).
-OR-
Suspension trainer – As an alternative to the weight bench and adjustable dumbbells above, you can take your bodyweight workouts to the next level by investing in a TRX Professional Suspension Training system for $150. The TRX increases the range and intensity of bodyweight exercises you can do, and is a great system that’s earned the respect of many professional trainers.
Although the items listed above are fairly affordable, you can occasionally score items for an even better price if you watch Craigslist or his a local second-hand store. One of the best times to find items is just before summer, as people who purchased items at the new year come to terms with the idea that their purchases are just glorified dust and/or clothing collectors.
Want a bodyweight workout you can use with your $40 bargain home gym? Subscribe to get email updates from Looking Good (for a mom)’s RSS feed and Liz will send you one!
I’ve been fortunate to be a part of the Your Shape Challenge. Along with 9 other women I am using the game to get fit over the next 3 months. You can follow along at the Your Shape Challenge blog, or on twitter with the hashtag #yourshape.
I enjoy the workouts since they are so varied. I can choose to focus on different areas of my body, and every day I get a different workout. I get bored easily so this is a great way for me to stay entertained while I exercise.
Now you have the chance to win a copy of Your Shape to give it a try for yourself! One lucky winner will be chosen! If you don’t win this week, please keep checking my fellow participants’ blogs, there will be more opportunities to win!
Here’s a video of Jenny explaining how the Your Shape game works:
To enter:
Leave a comment telling me what your fitness goals are for this year. Whether it’s eating better, maintaining your routine, or taking the first step.
Rules:
Winner will be chosen by random.org on 02/6/10. One comment per person will count. Comments will close at 2pm EST 2/6/10.
Good luck!
Kelly
Disclosure: I was given the game, and receive prizes and swag for participating in the challenge from Collective Bias.
On days when I didn’t have time I did time to work out, I did “household exercises” like taking the stairs 2 at a time, doing squats when I have to switch laundry from the washer to the dryer, etc. Since it’s so cold I often do jumping jacks to get my heart pumping, and warm myself up. But that wasn’t enough.
I was thrilled to be chosen along with 9 other bloggers to take part in the Your Shape Challenge. I think it will be a great opportunity to support each other as we get fit, and a wonderful way to stay motivated.
What’s Your Shape? Your Shape is a Wii fitness program produced by Ubisoft that uses a camera along with the game to make sure you are exercising properly. There’s nothing like seeing yourself on TV to make you want to lose weight!
First Impressions
I played around with the game last week, and found I had to play around with the lighting in our living room. Since our TV faces a doorway the camera had trouble reading me. I fixed it by changing the lighting, and wearing brighter clothes.
Today was my first official day exercising with Your Shape. Though I had a 30 minute workout it felt like a lot less time, and the animated Jenny really pushed me. I really like the music, it’s very fast and kept me pumped.
Using it for the 1st time I was surprised there wasn’t more talk about form during the exercise. I had trouble particularly when my head was supposed to be down for exercises, but Jenny said to follow along with her with no verbal instruction for what to do. If there had been a verbal cue then following along would have been easier. I think it will get easier once I know all the exercises.
Your Shape Challengers
These are my fellow Your Shape challengers, please stop by their sites to show them some love.
Before
Today I weighed in at 152.5 lbs. (Already down 7.5 lbs. from 160 at the end of December, WOOT!)
I may seem thin to most people, in fact the Wii Fit tells me I have a 22% BMI which is average, but I don’t feel good.
I’ve always been extremely thin, but that changed around the time I got pregnant with my 4th child. My 4th pregnancy was really tough (not with complications, just physically hard), and after I had my son I had a lot of issues with joint pain. I ended up hanging onto about 20 lbs. of extra weight. After a few months of intensive chiropractic care I felt much better, but still had trouble finding time to exercise. My little guy is so sweet, but he was a complete and utter Momma’s boy. No one else could hold him or comfort him, not even my super experienced husband. He was a terrible sleeper, too, taking a long time to fall asleep and waking up SCREAMING every time he woke up (somewhere between 5-10 times a night).
Now the little dude is finally a (mostly) good sleeper, and I am working on seeking balance in my life, so I’m reintroducing healthy eating and an exercise routine. It feels good to be getting back to eating well, and being fit-something I thought I would always make time for when I was younger and passionate about health and fitness.
Without further ado, here’s my before shots. You can see my problem areas are my stomach, and my rear. Please be nice, I’m kind of nervous about posting photos of myself.
Disclosure: The challenge is sponsored by Collective Bias, Ubisoft, and Walmart. I received the game and will also receive additional incentives throughout the challenge. For more information please read my Disclaimer page.
photo credit: globevisions
to give it a try for yourself! One lucky winner will be chosen! If you don’t win this week, please keep checking my fellow participants’ blogs, there will be more opportunities to win!
.
