Breast Cancer

Yet another good reason to work out...

Research is beginning to show that calorie reduction and exercise may reduce the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women. Now granted I'm nowhere near menopause, but I might as well get into the habit of living a healthy lifestyle now. Nobody wants breast cancer. And obesity in general makes people a lot more susceptible to all sorts of health complications.

Pleasant Pain

As a way of finding out more information on overall health topics, I checked out the women's health website the other day. It has great information on health, fitness, dieting, all sorts of things relating to the human body, specifically the female body, and how to make it work better for you. As I was browsing through various articles and workouts, I noticed that they have a 20 minute workout series. This seemed perfect for me, since I rarely find much time to workout during the day, and hate to consume my entire evenings with a long workout.

Thankfully I committed myself to the workouts before I realized just how tough they are. Being that they cram an entire workout into 20 minutes (it takes me longer), it seriously kicks your butt. I just finished my first workout of the series, it's an all over toning workout, and it was AWESOME. By far that is the best workout that I've had in a long long time. I'm very sweaty, and very fatigued. Now I'm going to go drink my protein shake and head to the shower.

Why?

Why do we constantly fight the things that we know are good for us? I know for a fact that working out and eating healthy is not only good for me, but I actually feel better when I take care of myself. So why do I always fight it? Granted I can always dish out a bunch of excuses as to why I didn't have a spare 20 minutes to take care of myself....but that's just retarded! I NEED to take that 20 minutes to take care of myself every day. Yes, there may be days where I genuinely can't get around to it, or I'm too exhausted to, but even on those days I should make an effort to eat healthy, and if nothing else do some wall pushups throughout the house once in a while.

November 4

I'm definitely feeling like my abs are getting stronger and stronger. When I first started doing the Ab Jam routine I was having to do the "easy" version of most of the floor exercises. I'm by no means doing the advanced versions yet, but I'm pushing it harder and harder each time and getting closer and closer. It's nice to feel strength in my abs again, especially with how loose and almost nonexistent those muscles felt right after having Noah.

I am a firm believer that every workout session should end in Child's Pose. I love it.

Start it Up

I did the start it up workout from Slim in Six last night, and I have really mixed opinions on this workout program. the workout it self seems to be high quality, I feel myself getting fatigued, and it's a good full body workout. But the fact that she can't keep on beat with her own music drives me NUTS! That and she'll say "8 more" and then start talking about something, and we end up doing 20 or so. But it's a good workout for my body, so I'll keep doing it. Abs again tonight. I'm excited for it actually.

Chapter One

I forgot how much I really enjoy Body for Life for Women. As previously noted it's nice and refreshing to have someone acknowledge that men and women loose weight differently, and have different requirements for their body. So here's what I've learned, like or what has motivated me so far from chapter one.

Women have such a strong tendency to be caregivers that we loose ourselves in it. Literally. It's caring for children and husbands and families and friends that takes over our lives, and we forget about ourselves. Granted taking care of others is great, but if we can't take care of ourselves as well, then we won't be around as long as we could be. "While women are busy making everyone else's life a litle easier, their bodies and minds go to hell." Somewhere there needs to be a "balance between caring for the peopel you love and caring for yourself."

Dr. Peeke acknowledges that women's minds get in the way more often than anything else. We play the Should I or Should I not game and end up ruining our own diets and workout programs. "...brushing your teeth and combing your hair are [never] up for discussion. Of course not. Neither should paying attention to your eating and doing physical activity."

"Self is not a four letter word."
"I will give to myself as I give to others."
"I will just do it."
"I will choose to work for myself, rather than abandon myself."