Quickie Tips for Couples-Keep Your Connection Fit
February 12, 2010
QUICKIE TIPS FOR COUPLES
* THE F WORD-
DO YOU USE IT? I MEAN THE WORD “FINE” AS IN “Everything’s FINE, Honey, I don’t mind if you go on that golf weekend in Vegas” Be sure you don’t say everything FINE when it’s not. That doesn’t mean you have to go to the mat over every dish left in the sink, but try to be open about how YOU are feeling.
* Don’t Interrupt-
My husband reminds me not to interrupt by saying nicely to me, “Let me finish” and then I remember to let him finish. My personal friends could learn a thing or two about getting a word in edgewise here.
*Take Five-
The first five minutes when you greet each other should be a whine-free, nag-free zone. These crucial first moments set the tone for the entire evening.
So if you had no plans for Valentine’s Day….Now you do.
Marital Fitness-Reinventing Date Night For Couples
February 12, 2010
If you are married, have you maintained romantic intensity even after years together? Let me tell you, staying at your goal weight is an easier thing to do. I was reminded of this topic in a New York Times newspaper article called Reinventing Date Night For Long Married Couples.
The bottom line is, us old married folk are going about it
all wrong , even if we go out with other couples for pleasant dinners or to the movies most weekends.New research from brain and behavior researchers say quality time together is still not enough to prevent a relationship from getting boring.
The sexperts (I’d like to be a fly on their bedroom wall,if they are the so-called experts!) say we can rekindle the flame that we wistfully remember from our first dates together by reinventing DATE NIGHT, but not just any date night, it has to be an innovative date night.
Put on your thinking caps, girls, because dinner with the Smiths every other weekend does not count. In order to rekindle the fire, it has to be a new and different activity that you both enjoy.They call it brain science. When we try new activities, these experiences stimulate our brain’s reward system, flooding it with dopamine and norepinephrine.
These are the very same brain doo-hickies that are doo-hickied in new romance.
Remember?When you can’t stop wondering what he’s doing right now, what shirt he’s wearing, replaying the entire dialogue from last night’s phone conversation.
(sigh)
Remember those days?
Any way- the article implies that just by doing new things together (and that means at the same time,Men) may reignite the tummy butterflies by actually restimulating the brain’s chemical rushes of early love.And I can’t stop myself from recommending any number of fitness activities.Here are some couple’s fitness suggestions:
Paddle Tennis
Golf
Tennis
Pool -as in Pool Hall, not swimming,which leads to wet hair
thus negative chemical surges about your mate’s hair
and every respectable town has a pool hall or at least a VFW.
Bowling
Trapeze (NYC has a location for beginners, talk about butterflies)
Jumping on the trampoline
Swinging on a swing set
Frisbee
Hide and Seek (!!)
A Game of Tag
Yoga
Hoola Hooping
Batting Cages
Driving Range
Paint Ball
Dance
Get the idea? I dare you to try one new adventure this week.The sexperts say “You don’t have to swing from the chandeliers. Just go to a new part of a town or take a drive in the country.” I say amp it up one more notch. Take a sexy picture of yourself and send it to your mate, and see what happens.
But my main point is that Everyone feels better when they move their body.Find an activity you both can share.Surprise your mate. Maybe you will surprise yourself.
Happy Valentines Day from my Workout World.
Marital Mood Tips For Valentine’s Day
February 12, 2010
MARITAL MOOD TIPS
* My definition of foreplay differs from my husband’s.If he unloads the dishwasher, I am EXCITED.He on the other hand would be revved up if I accidently got tangled up in my pantlegs and stumbled around the bedroom with my drawers at my ankles.Go figure.
My point is that men and women have vastly different needs.Do you know what your mate’s top three needs are?You need to know.Whether you meet them or not is another blogpost.
Why,why, why do we need to know, you women ask? So that we stay connected, of course.It is my humble opinion that unmet needs are the biggest cause of trouble on this earth, whether it is in the Middle East or in your kitchen.Think about it.
So have a little conversation this weekend. Don’t interrupt (That’s also another marital fitness blogpost).
Ask each other What are your top three needs in your relationship.It might be physical affection, help around the house, to be heard without interruption,to have a half hour of peace and quiet,surprises,daily laughter(Women, don’t be surprised if the S word comes up.Here’s a hint.Men like it)
I hope this has you reevaluating your connection with the person you’ve flossed your teeth next to a thousand times (I hope you floss together.Flossing is so important to cardiovascular health.Yet another fitness blogpost).
If we are committed in our marriage then it deserves some tuning-up, just like with our car maintenance even though it’s driving smoothly. An oil change every 4000 miles(or is it every 6000?This isn’t one of my needs but it sure is for my husband)) keeps the engine revved up.
My Take Your Marriage On A Walk fitness CD program can give you a more structured 8 week Couples
Personal Training(walking ) program if you’d like to tune up your marriage! Ignore this if you are “need-free” .
Otherwise, CHECK IT OUT
Warming Up During A Cold Snap
February 12, 2010
You can drink some hot cocoa. You can wear your thermal underwear, build a fire in the fireplace, do shots of whiskey or turn the thermostat up. All of these strategies will help you take the edge off the cold weather. But the most authentic body warming technique to get yourself and keep yourself warm has always been and always will be EXERCISE.
Put your hands on your cheeks right now. Are your fingers cold? Try 20 push ups and check your cheeks once again, I bet those fingers are warmer.
I’m speaking just from a “warming up your tootsies” angle but there is even more scientific reasoning for exercising, even in the winter.
“If you can’t walk a quarter mile in five minutes, the chance that you’ll be dead in three years is three times higher than if you can’t. It’s a BIG deal.” This is what I remember Oprah’s guru of health, Dr. Oz, saying one day last season. It was such a powerful statement to me that it stuck in the part of my brain that remembers things I want to remember, like the 2 days a month my cleaning lady, Saint Vicky comes or the entire published workout routine of President-to-be Obama or like the date my year end bonus is put through. Important minutae, I call it. Sometimes the snow sticks, sometimes it melts. Same with my brain.
Exercise will keep you alive and alert for longer than if you don’t do it. That should be your intrinisic reason for exercising, but if not, you can do it to just warm yourself up, both motivations get the job done.
When the snow piles up, the way it has around town this past week, the one way to keep your inner thermostat revved up is through exercise.
I know that getting to the gym is a pain in the glutes. Putting on exercise gear, then a few outer layers, then trudging to the car, scraping it down, holding but trying not to touch a steering wheel as cold as ice, then making it to the health club- ain’t for sissies.
But if you can break a sweat on the days it falls into the single digit weather zone, then your body will thank you. Your mind will be clearer and the winter slime, as it’s known around our house, will vanish.
It’s good for your skin too. When the temperature drops, my skin starts feeling like sandpaper. And I’ve never been good with following the directions on the labels of all my moisturizers. I end up putting night cream on in the daytime, eye cream on my cheeks, face cream on my legs, foot cream on my hands and chapstick under my nose. But if I exercise, I notice my skin feels less dry.
This is, of course, if I drink lots of water. The way you know you are drinking enough water at this time of year is if you have to pee within 20 minutes after finishing your workout.
Go have a big glass on me.
Be Offensive!Super Bowl Snack Strategies
February 6, 2010
Sneaky Super Bowl Snack Strategies
Tips for not making dumb food decisions
1. Think About The Consequences of Your Food Choices and Make Mindful Decisions About What You Eat or Don’t Eat.
Most dumb diet decisions happen when we we aren’t actually making decisions at all. When I polled my indoor cyclists about whether they had an action plan for this Sunday, handling the Super Bowl food, they blinked at me and shrugged. We just do stuff or we don’t do stuff. Then (Monday morning) we pretend that if we don’t think about consequences, there are none.I also call this compartmentalization-Think Tiger Woods. Or Bill Clinton.
People who are successful at losing weight recognize that the little decisions they make everyday end up being important, so they make them mindfully. They rehearse in their mind saying “No thanks. Doctor’s orders.I’ve given up thousand calorie junk food. But it DOES look scrumptious, thank you for asking.”
2. Set Yourself Up For Success. Create Opportunities To Make the Right Decision
Do this by bringing healthy appetizers to your party. Or not making calorie laden bombs.
Delay technique. Get in the habit of delaying, even if it’s only a minute or two, between an impulse to give in and actually doing something there’s a good chance you’ll regret.
So if a simple “no I said I wouldn’t eat that,” isn’t effective, then tell yourself: “Well, maybe I do deserve it, but not yet. First I’ll set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes. I’ll drink a big glass of water, and then read the front page of the newspaper and then maybe do 2 sun salutations. Then if I still really want it Ill have it. Nine times out of ten, in a fe minutes the urge will have passed.
3. Visualize Consequences.
Another effective trick is the same thing I do if I don’t feel like brushing my teeth. Tempted to skip your workout? Don’t just ask yourself “do I want to go to work out now?” Because of course the answer is “hell no!”
Instead, ask yourself the same thing you ask yourself about skipping brushing your teeth-Will I make up this up later in the week? Will I feel like it more later? How do I feel after I miss a few? Do I really want to lose momentum and feel guilty and like crap? How virtuous will I feel after wards if I just suck it up and work out ?
When considering taking the first chip from a plate of supreme nachos, do you ask whether it’s worth an extra five to ten miles on the treadmill in addition to what you usually have to do? If you indulge, will you feel pleased with your self or will you still want another chip when the first one is gone?
Successful dieters ask themselves questions such as this all the time. They don’t always get the answer right, because imperfection is inevitable and even necessary. The tip is to never stop questioning.
4. Butterfly Effect-Little Decisions Add Up
Suppose you have a very important but challenging goal, like saving money for your 3 kids college education. You may realize, theoretically, that it’s going to take a lot of effort, but do you make all the small decisions you need to in order to get there?
It’s a tough reality to acknowledge that life is about trade-offs. You don’t get to have it all. Pretending this isn’t true can mean not having the funds when your kids head to college.
5.Not to Decide is to Decide
If you often think whimsically, “I’d love to take a Zumba class someday” but instead you sit home wathing re-runs of Seinfeld, then really you are deciding that you’d rather watch tv than learn Zumba.
These sort of decisions don’t feel like decisions, though, partly because if we really put any thought into it, we’d never make them. Would we really squander our precious time on this planet doing things like checking our Facebook status every five minutes or watching two consecutive hours of The Office reruns?
6. Still Making Dumb Decisions? Shrink Yourself!
No, not literally. Mentally. Better yet, if you can afford an actual shrink, go see one.
If you’re making consecutive bad decisions, maybe it’s not just a question of willpower. You may have one conscious agenda- to eat healthier and get in shape. And an entirely different subconscious one- to never feel unloved, or to distract myself from how I’m feeling, or to stay invisible.
Ask yourself if your dieting has a pattern. When do your actions contradict your intentions? Do you always overeat after a visit with your in-laws? Do you overeat when your hubby returns from a business trip? You may have a self- sabotaging loop that plays in your head to encourage these self-defeating behaviors. It’s beneficial to learn how to tune into these conversations. A trained therapist can do this. Once you can hear what you’re telling yourself, you can start questioning some of the ridiculous things you play on the loop in your head.
But you already knew all of this. I’m just sayin’.
What are YOU doing after the Super Bowl???
See you Monday.
Super Bowl-Hooters vs. Peckers
February 6, 2010
Statistics have shown that during any given Super Bowl party, men and women both consume an average of over 1500 calories. This is approximately a day’s worth of calories.
To burn it off, you’d have to run for two hours straight or walk for over three hours, which is about the distance of a half-marathon.
The not-so-surprising difference between men’s and women’s calorie consumption is that the women’s calories are from food (think nachos) and the men’s calories are from beer (even if it’s lite beer).
After consulting with my panel of senior advisors (my neighbor, my two friends and my sister) as to why this might be true, we concluded that it is because us women are bored. Basketball games bore us. I mean football. WhatEVER. And every woman knows that we don’t drink when we are bored. We do that when we are happy. Or stressed. Or feel like dancing. What do we do when we are bored? Altogether now, let’s say it! We eat!
Conversely, men, being the single-taskers that they are, are too into the game to eat while they are watching football. Sometimes they will eat at halftime but only if they are sure no nipples will pop out. As far as why they drink, they don’t really realize that they are drinking. Someone (another man) just keeps putting beers in their hands.
This explains the difference. But we all end up in the same stadium on Monday morning, where we are bloated and filled with remorse at the low level of NCR (nutrient-to-calorie ratio or in other words, junk) food consumed.
Lucky for you ladies, I have a solution. At least for the females. It came to me last year as I watched my hard working, TV Reporter husband broadcast live from the Super Bowl queen of restaurants, Hooters.
It was an entertaining, if not integrity-laden, show, full of lively shots of babes tossing a (Nerf, thank God) football. Things, big things were spilling everywhere. I found I couldn’t look away, that’s how big they-I mean the show, was.
And my husband came home from yet another hard day of work and, being the trooper that he is, smiled the whole rest of the day. When I asked how his show went, his only comment was that the wings were really hot. I bet, at 7:30 in the morning.
Now I have nothing against Hooters restaurants, but if the TV stations truly wanted to increase viewership (and as a side benefit, keep us women from getting bored and hungry) we should start a similar restaurant. Here’s my ingenious idea to keep women out of the nacho dip. We could open a restaurant . Let’s call it Peckers. I read a similar idea somewhere long ago. I wish I remembered where, but it is brilliant. I think it is an idea who’s time has come.
Our mascot would be a cute little woodpecker,
just like Hooters, which has a cute little owl mascot (as I’ve always told my kids; Hooters is for people who enjoy owls).
We could serve foot long hotdogs and hire waiters based upon the size of their “pecks” and it wouldn’t even count as discrimination if we came right out and admitted we hired them based solely on their hot bodies.
If we had a restaurant like this to patronize, us girls could go there and watch Desperate Housewives and Sex In the City on giant flat screen T.V.s.
Peckers could advertise during or better yet, sponsor, the Super Bowl and us chicks would all drop our chips as our boredom instantly vanished.
Until then though, I think the best anti-noshing strategy is for women to keep themselves at arm’s length distance from all finger food. Do Not, I repeat, DO NOT, sit down near the 9-layer dip on the coffee table.
Men, the only helpful tip I can give to you is to not hand each other consecutive beers, especially if you’re interested in auditioning for a job at our new restaurant chain. You’ll need to be in sPECKtacular physical condition to make the first cut.
Beating “Blow It On The Weekends” Syndrome
January 29, 2010
I have a new client who, having just turned 50, gave herself six weeks of personal training for her birthday. She is training with me at 6am two mornings a week and has been very dedicated.
At first glance she is still in relatively good shape, having retained most of her physique and all of her personality from her high school cheerleader days. Her goal is to lose fourteen pounds by March 1st, a very realistic goal. Like many women in her (our) age demographic, she is not very overweight, but with one or two pounds per year creeping up, she was heavy enough to have a strained relationship with her waistband and to feel like a C- bodywise.
After three weeks passed and several thousand additional calories had been burned in our predawn workouts, I was stumped because the scale had only budged one measly pound. I encouraged her to keep a food diary to chart her eating. Last Monday, she handed over her diary and in one glance, my heart sunk. I knew she was suffering from the dreaded chronic disease that is sweeping this country more insidiously than any swine flu. This syndrome alone is responsible for keeping millions of folks (and me occasionally) stuck at a higher than desirable weight. It’s called “Blow It On The Weekend Binge” Syndrome.
Take a peek at her journal from last week:
________________________________
MONDAY:
Started my day at 5:30 a.m. Toughest part was the first five minutes out of bed, but found it was well worth it. Got my day (and week) off on the right foot. Got on the scales and am determined to lose 2 lbs by next Monday! Ate 3 well-planned meals and ended it with a good night’s sleep. This week’s going to be different!!
________________________________
TUESDAY:
Met with Penny and started Day Two with a bang. My weekend bloat is finally gone and feeling strong. Although she is quite shrill at 5:59am and I find that coffee helps me make it through the morning. But I’m still sticking with my food plan and resisted cookies the kids brought home from the bake sale. Yay, Me!
_______________________________
WEDNESDAY:
Took a long walk with the dog to start my day right. Very busy with driving carpools but I was smart and brought some healthy snacks in the car so I wouldn’t shovel food into my mouth from the pans on the stove when I got home. Good for me for having a plan.
_______________________________
THURSDAY:
Ok, 5:30 came very early this morning, but since I already paid for it, I couldn’t cancel my training session. And so glad I didn’t because I am really feeling stronger! Ran out of healthy snacks at home so I made sure to stop at the grocery store on the way home so I don’t blow it by eating the left over chocolates that I forgot to throw out.
_________________________________
FRIDAY:
Whew. It’s finally Friday and I am Woman Hear Me Roar! I really have some momentum going into the weekend. But. I am feeling like I need a little reward for such a dedicated week of working out and eating right. Penny said to lay off the liquor if I want to see the scale drop but, hey, I won’t see her until next Tuesday. One goblet of Pinot Grigio can’t hurt. Plus I deserve it. It’s Friday, right? Then the kids ordered pizza on one condition, that they wouldn’t let me have more than one slice, but of course, I am the boss so I accidentally finished off 2 more pieces in front of them and 1 more in the kitchen and about 4 crust bones that I found in the box. Then, since I’d already ruined the day’s calorie control, I finished off the Oreo Cookie ice cream in the freezer.
________________________________
SATURDAY:
No weigh in today because #1 I feel bloated from all that pizza and #2 that would remind me of my goals that I was supposed to but didn’t stick to. Plus my head hurt from either the wine or the carbs so I skipped my workout. Not to mention the gym is a zoo on the weekends. So to avoid the hassle, I just hung out on the couch until dinner. Then since I’d lost all my motivation, and since we were at a great restaurant, I had 2 more (ok, it was 3) glasses of Pinot and although Penny had recommended ordering first at a restaurant so that I wouldn’t be tempted to order what everyone else was having, I didn’t want to be rude. And after actually hearing what everyone else was ordering, I couldn’t resist. But Man, were those Stuffed Shells delish. Then since I can’t drink coffee late at night, I had to be polite and order the cheescake, so my girlfriend wouldn’t think I thought she was being a pig by ordering dessert for herself. Oh well, so I blew it today- it’s Saturday for Criminy Sakes. Can’t a girl have a little fun once in awhile?
________________________________
SUNDAY:
I don’t know which felt bigger this morning- my head or my belly. Ouch, that food certainly didn’t taste good enough to justify the gross feeling I woke up with. I sat morosely in church and vowed to start again tomorrow. And since I’d already blown it I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch (much to their silent, delighted shock) and ordered up a Big Mac and a chocolate shake (small) to help my hangover. Oh yeah and it was cheaper to order the Super-Saver meal instead of just the burger and shake so I had fries too-to save money. What a mind screw! I promised myself that I’d skip dinner to make up. Went home and took another nap although I’d had 9 hours last night. Woke up in a fog and since the kids wanted Chinese food for dinner and I was too whipped to cook, I said “Sure, why not!” since it seemed healthier than McDonald’s, really. Sesame Chicken doesn’t actually have 900 calories and a day’s worth of heart-clogging fat. Does it?
Does this sound like anything that happens in your life?If weekends are why you are not losing weight try these tips.
Think of them as your
Weekend Beat the Binge Survival Guide
1.Exercise. Do something active each day. The earlier the better.
2.Plan ALL your meals ahead. It’s a pain, but weekends are too loosey goosey and if you want to weigh less (or at least not weigh more) on Monday, you need to know what food is on your menu for the day. Nuff said.
2a. Tell a someone in the house what your food plan is. Just to have a bit of accountability.
3. Don’t engage in all-or-nothing thinking. If you eat something off your plan, get right back on your regimen at the next meal.
4. Stay motivated. Do this by giving yourself a non-food treat, like a manicure or a massage or a matinee.
5. If at all possible, have sex! After all it IS the weekend.
6. Lay off the liquor. Only if you want to lose weight, sleep well at night and/or feel good in the morning. Otherwise, have some.
7.Order first in a restaurant. If any one thinks you are rude for jumping in, maybe they’re not good enough friends to be spending your weekends with.
8.Weigh yourself on both weekend mornings. Just so you are not in denial or delay-the-truth mode.
When was the last time you woke up on Monday feeling terrific and energized? If it’s been a while, promise me you’ll give my Survival Guide a try. If you can start to manage your weekend eating, your Monday mornings will be something you might actually look forward to. Did I mention, you may also lose a pound or two.
FROM RECYCLING TO DECYCLING
January 22, 2010
I invented a new word to describe myself; I’m a DECYCLER. What’s a decycler and how can you too decycle? Well, this is when you USED to reuse everything. Until you heard the new scoop on plastics. Decycling is something you now must do.
Formerly I was a recycling convert. But now that I’ve spent the last several years re-using AND re-washing (in the—gulp— dishwasher) every plastic container that crossed my hands, the FDA this past week has come out with some alarming connections between plastics and evils like cancer, obesity, diabetes and asthma. And if the FDA says it’s bad…it’s r-e-a-llly bad.
You can read more about it here, and in last week’s New York Times article although the bottom line is to throw out all recyclables with the number 7 on the bottom, to never heat or freeze any plastics (especially baby bottles! argh-too late for me and especially in the dishwasher-ah, come ON now!) and to pitch any cracked plastic as well as never eat canned food again (maybe not such a bad idea in itself).
I mean it, People. You really should decycle, but only if you’ve noticed how many more cancers and obesity are prevalent in today’s world compared to when we were kids. Go to your kitchen right now and decycle, by pitching all the supposedly recyclables BACK into the re/decycle bin.
Me? I bagged up any and all plasticware in my kitchen (”Good-bye! Good-bye, Beloved Tupperware!”) then I went out and spent $20 on some Pyrex glass containers at the local Stop & Shop. Another good option is old fashioned Mason jars. Remember them? Any one do any canning way back when? Or wax paper. Do you remember wax paper? I hated wax paper- it was what the poor kids packed in their school lunch. Talk about coming full circle!
And since last week was Throw-Back week on FaceBook for posting old pictures of yourself 
and if you still don’t believe that I’m an Appalachian girl, here’s my rant from last year about being a new (and now passe) recycler….”Hi, My name is Penny and I’m a Recovering Recycler”..
Anyway here it is, along with my throw back picture. I’m the one on the left:
April 2009
I was raised by parents who were both scared (and scarred) by the Great Depression. My father was the only son of an Ohio farmer who died when he was 17, leaving my dad as the man of the house and man of the farm. My mother was the youngest of a family of eight kids and her father died when she was a baby, leaving my Grandma a widow, to raise and feed, if you can imagine, eight children from the age of 18 years to 18 months, (without Costco!) and amidst the Depression. Both of my parents grew up poor although I never heard them describe it that way. My parents’ childhood activities, to my teenage kids, sound prehistoric. I might as well mention dinosaurs when I talk about how my Dad baled hay, milked cows and tended the hen house and how he spent the 3 hours before and after school, not playing soccer or X-Box, but doing farm chores. As I read that back to myself, it sounds prehistoric to me! My dad really did walk 3 miles to school, as annoying as that was to hear all throughout my own childhood. My mother still talks of homeless people she called hobos, who’d come to their backdoor with their hat in hand and ask for something to eat. Grandma Wilson would leave a sandwich or whatever she could skim from the already limited kitchen supplies for them to eat on the back porch swing. The JC Penney catalog was “recycled”- in the outhouse- in ways I’m sure Mr. Penney never intended and I still remember Grandma eating the core of the apple (!) and preferring the heel of the bread loaf, although I now suspect that she’d eaten the heel, the wing, the burnt piece, for so many decades that it was a reflexive choice. My mother was way ahead of her time when it came to not wasting ANYthing. She was the world’s best recycler before the word “recycle” had ever been invented. Along with my four siblings, I remember that Mom could never throw out an aluminum pie tin (the cupboards avalanched them if you opened a door too fast). She rinsed out baggies for re-use and even folded up gently used tinfoil if it appeared to have some life left. Leftovers were progressively re-served at each meal and stored in smaller and smaller containers even if there were only two bites left. To this day in a restaurant, Mom will ask the waiter for a doggie bag and often has to point to the small bites of left-over food to prove to the waiter there’s actually something on the plate worth taking home; “Here! Wrap up this one bite, here!” Cake batter bowls were barely worth licking after my mother scraped it bare.
Waste was a sin in my parent’s book and this was a permanent part of their psyche as unchangeable as their skin color.
Throughout my 20’s and 30’s, I made a point of what I now recognize as “uncycling”, simply because I’d had enough of my parents’ conservative lifestyle. What for them was a survival mode now appeared to my generation as cheapskate. I never took so much as a sweet-n-low packet from a restaurant (unlike Mom, God bless her) not to mention that doggie bags embarrassed me too much to ask for one.
No tinfoil, bag or baggie survived more than one use in my kitchen and I was proud of it. My not needing to scrimp and save felt better to me and seemed a symbol of my financial stability. The world offered me more, often more than I needed and I greedily (or so it seems now) took it, used it, pitched it.
Fast forward ten years. Our eyes have been opened- Thank you Mr. Gore-and we now know that there are not only Earth-friendly reasons to re-use and use less, but also the recent economic climate has given us more down-to-Earth reasons to spend less and save more. Recycling, either with or without a Depression, is vital. And isn’t it a testament to our (my) human capacity to mentally adapt that we (I) can change our (my) perspective 360 degrees on the subject of recycling. That someone like me can change my thinking in ways I’d never imagined possible- to think like my MOM! -That’s radical! It is encouraging for all humankind.
I chuckle to myself to think that my 20 year old self would be mortified that I now have a corner beside my dryer (same spot as Mom)that is stuffed with more plastic bags than I can use in a decade. I rinse out the bottom of the Tide detergent bottle to get one more load. I scold my kids to take shorter showers. I ask for doggie bags. And I eat the heel. I channel my mother on a regular basis as I refold, re-use and refill. I have to say this: Mom, you were right, even if you weren’t doing it to save the planet. I guess that’s what we call wisdom.
Ac-COUNTADOLLARBILL-ity-Lose lbs. Instead of $$
January 15, 2010
There are these nifty little pieces of paper that all of us carry around and trade back and forth, allowing us to get what we want without much effort or thought. And exciting new fitness research has shown that using these little pieces of paper can help us all, but especially men and especially cheapskates, to lose weight faster than any other weight-loss method known to humankind.
These pieces of paper are called money and Pamela Weiler Grayson gave me my fitness laugh for the day about a year ago by writing an article for the New York Times about what she calls Fat Betting. I love this idea.
She quotes several recently published studies saying that when money is on the line, people who’ve never before had weight-loss success are able to drop the ellbees.
Now I used to call this accountability but I’ve coined a new term. I think a better name for it would be
ac-COUNT-A-DOLLAR-BILL-ity. This idea gives a deeper meaning to the term putting your money where your mouth is or as Ms. Grayson calls it, “Putting your money where your fat is” and I like it. A lot.
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that the idea of losing (or gaining) money is a big carrot stick for dieters nor am I surprised that another important component of their success is regular weekly feedback, which I assume means getting on the scales every Monday morning.With witnesses.
There’s nothing more motivational than making a bet with some smirking, nudgey co-worker and having to take turns stepping on the scales with them once a week when losing your year-end bonus to them is at stake.
The idea of competing to lose weight can motivate women but it is especially effective for men. Ms. Grayson attributes this to the snips and snails and puppy dog tails that boys are made of. Men are really just the grown-up version of those boys on the playground yelling, “Ha!Ha! Betcha can’t catch me!”, seeing who can run faster or climb higher.
She describes some friendly office wagers where 10 co-workers throw in $100 each with the biggest loser being the biggest winner who takes the $1000 jackpot and how losing weight is obviously the ultimate goal but that winning the bet is the reason they were able to put the cookie down.
There are actually some freebie websites (stickK.com, Fatbet.net and makemoneylosingweight.com) that provide the forum for people to make their wagers.
All aboard Cheapskates! Hop on the Weight-Loss Express! If moths fly out of your wallet every time you open it, this could be the way to your ideal weight. The cheaper the skate you are, the better I “bet” this idea works! The websites take your credit card info right up front, you pick a referee to monitor your weigh-ins and they charge you weekly for unmet goals that you’ve set for yourself. Genius!
I also chuckled at the brilliance of what Ms. Grayson called anti-charities. Bettors can designate someone they loathe to get the winnings if they fail to lose the promised weight. These have the highest success rate (85 percent) probably with Dubya’s presidential library the most popular anti-charity and Madoff’s defense fund a close second.
If that weren’t clever enough, then there’s the playing dirty. Imagine your adversary doing push-ups outside your office door or leaving your favorite homemade cookie on your desk. Call it the Meal-Mindscrew.
So this is what we’ve come to, America! Our greedy human nature is the ticket to finally losing the weight we’ve never before been able to lose. But hey, if you are motivated by the idea of losing-or gaining money, then go for it!
The current financial crisis raises the stakes even more and in my opinion this makes Fat Betting even more of a lure. If the mortgage is on the line, then suddenly those cookies will taste like dirt.
Readers’ Random Fitness FAQ’s
January 8, 2010
Ask Penny’s Workout World
Since this is the first blog post of 2010 (and of the decade!) I’ve decided to answer some of the most-interesting/most-asked Qs!
So here they are, in no particular order…
1. Dr Oz recently reported on a study suggesting that there is no genetic basis for the G-spot and that environmental or psychological factors may contribute to whether a woman believes that she has a G-spot. As a fitness expert and a woman, what are your thoughts?
I could have told Dr. Oz 20 years ago. There’s no G-Spot.
2. Do you get paid anything for sending out your weekly emails?
Noooo. I absolutely do not accept money (or favors, or free snacks…) in exchange for editorial coverage. So anything you see in my emails — whether it’s a link or editorial content — is PWW-approved. 100%.
3. Do you work out like all the time for hours and hours at a stretch?
Kind of. If you consider 45 minutes of cardio and and an hour of yoga 5 days a week “all the time”. It does help that I get paid to do it and don’t have the option of agonizing whether I want to or not. My peeps are waiting. Thank God. Although I always take two days off (although on one of them I write this newsletter so you have an idea of what I consider a pasttime) and I’ve been known to take a quick nap before the kids get home from school if I am tired.
4. How do you do all those yoga poses with two artificial hips?
I am lucky to be both flexible and fairly strong. At one point, six years ago I could do some very advanced poses but I do believe that some of the crazy poses (like my feet behind the head) contributed to the breakdown of the cartilage in my hips which were already too shallow (dysplasia). Many ballerinas in today’s ballet world have experienced the same type of deterioration in their hips (as well as Prince, Jane Fonda and Bebe Neuwirth). What made them good ballerinas/dancers also contributed to later hip problems. We are lucky to have a wonderful way to fix the problem. That’s why I NOW always go at the speed of my body and never go beyond what feels like my bodily limit. Plus in the photos it usually took me about 20 minutes to get into the final pose!
5. Do you really believe all the hype about how the foam roller alleviates muscle aches, eliminates tightness and can even get rid of cellulite?
Not only do I believe it, I live it! I roll on my roller almost every day and feel noticeably better every time. I think this kind of muscular release will enable me to keep living my active life long into my 90’s. But it won’t “get rid of” cellulite. It WILL reduce the appearance of cellulite though, which will make you look better. It’s a nice bonus to feeling better.
Good for you- You’re HERE! The first few workouts are miserable. Don’t listen to your head, which remembers how fit you used to be. Just DO IT. Even when you don’t FEEL like working out, go get your sneakers on, get your ipod and GO. Everyone must start somewhere.
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