Wii Fit Fans

I have loved the Wii since we got it. The idea of playing a video game on my feet while moving was novel. The idea of playing for hours and having my body ache and not my thumbs was awesome. But when we got the Wii Fit I found a new love of the game.

I try to work out every day and get bummed when time is at a minimum. Okay I'm not sure that some of the games due much to burn calories but they do make muscles I haven't felt in a while ache. A good ache.

My favorites are broad and not really shown when you go on to the favorites section. When I got the game I was doing what I could to open up more tasks which meant doing the easy ones over and over. I have found that while I can't always do the step ones they are my very favorite. Especially free step. I am able to do as little as 10 minutes and on a really good day 20 or even 30. It is nice to be able to just switch to a TV show on my Tivo while I am doing my steps. It goes so much faster in my head than if I were watching the clock.

I usually hold weights while I workout. Moving my arms with the weights as I go. I'm not even sure adding the weights does much if anything toiimprove my workout but I feel better doing it anyway. My arms hurt a little the first time which leads me to believe it is doing something.

Then I was thinking when and If I were better pain wise I could put the step higher for an even better workout. Who knows how many possibilities there are in changing things up.

If you do something different that works for you let me know.

Looking back

Looking back I see that doing a few little things can make a big difference.

About 25 years ago a couple of guys were walking in our neighborhood passing out these new long lasting light bulbs that at the time they claimed would last 7 to 10 years. Mine lasted about 8. Years later when I started seeing similar bulbs in the stores they were about 5$ a bulb but when I could afford it I changed out the bulbs in my house as the old bulbs burnt out. Now they are cheaper and I have them all over my house saving tons of energy. I see them all over now. It is nice to see other people catching on and catching up. Who would have thought changing a light bulb could save energy and help the environment?

Nearly 23 years ago I was working full time and pregnant with my third child. As a matter of necessity I began doing the prep work for a weeks worth of cooking every Saturday morning. We could not afford to eat out and I had limited time and energy so cooking needed to be quick and easy. I'd check the sales and make a menu. Then I'd make a shopping list for the foods we planned to eat. After we got home I began to do as much prep-work as I could. I'd chop, peel, grate, boil, steam, brown, parboil, mix, blend, and create everything I could in advance. For instance if ground turkey was on sale we'd have three or four meals with ground turkey like tacos, turkey meatloaf and a casserole. If the sale was really great I'd buy and cook enough for even more meals and save it for a future week. The meatloaf casseroles and meat in general can be precooked, seasoned and frozen until the night before you plan to eat it. Just warm it up and serve. The whole process took about an hour or two including shopping.I later learned keeping a full and well used freezer uses less energy than and empty freezer and actively eating this way means you never look at that frozen chunk of freezer burn and wonder what it might have been as you throw all that money away. I never felt bad about not affording to eat out since we saved money. We were able to eat fresh healthy food every night in as little as 10 minutes. Who would have thought trying to save money could mean eating better and reducing energy costs?

A little over 15 years ago I became the single parent of my five awesome kids. We had a power mower that quit on me and I could only afford a push mower. I discovered I liked to be able to go out and mow in the very early hours of the morning and not wake my kids or disturb the neighbors. Soon I discovered I was not having to wait til I could afford a gallon of gas and some oil to be able to mow. On reflection today I think of not only all the fossil fuels I have saved and the pollution my mowing did not emit but the calories I burned by doing it the old fashioned way. I still use a push mower. Who would have thought mowing the lawn could have so many benefits?

If we all did just a little thing here and there to change our lives we could potentially have an impact we never even imagined.

I am choosing to be healhy

Hi everyone! I was reading our blog the last couple of days. I've been a part of this blog from the start but only a watcher and not the contributor I should be. This last nine months or so I have been taking care of my mom who is in bad health. Watching her struggles has been an eye opener for sure. I have begun taking steps to improve her health and mine. She and other members of the family are resistant but we are getting there.

I am choosing to be healthy.

I have taken on a new goal to workout hard (working up a sweat) for 30 minutes a day as many times a week as I can but no less than 4. I have made similar goals before but it was too rigid. Say I'd plan to workout 5 days a week for 30 minutes and found that it was easier to give up when a busy week or bad day made me skip a day here and there. In leaving the number of minutes, times per day and days per week open has left my mind open. In the past a few busy or lazy days would mean the end of my good intentions. I no longer think that a bad day or a busy week is a reason to give up. I know I can pick it back up when I can fit it in. So what if I can only get in a 15 one day I know I can maybe put in an hour or even more. I realized that squeezing in what I can when I can is working for me. For the last month I have been doing very well. I am averaging 3 - 6 days a week and whenever possible I put in extra time or more workouts per day. The goal is not to lose weight although that would be a nice secondary benefit the goal is to keep moving and get healthy. I was injured nearly 12 years ago and have decided to work through the pain in hopes of lessening the pain.

Over the last year I have changed the way I cook and eat. The secondary benefit to this is that I cook and everyone in the house benefits. I cut down on my use of oils and changed to good oils if I need to use oil. I moved to whole grain everything I can (bread, pasta, tortillas). I incorporate more fruits and vegetables every day. My choice of meat is always lean and generally white but has been for years. Snack foods in the last few months have been carrots, fruit, celery, nuts and an occasional piece of dark chocolate. (Nobody is perfect, lol.) I don't say never to anything but any splurge is watched, not criticized and in moderation.

I want to be stronger, have more stamina and maybe drop a few pounds along the way. So why are you choosing to be healthy?

Suggestions???

Okay ladies what can we do to make this blog better and more useful to each other?

I want to really utilize this as a good healthy blog but it's not getting much action.

What can we do to make it better?