Day 18: I Wish I Was a Toys R Us Kid

Back in the day, when I was a major tomboy, I played really hard. At recess, I played hard. At PE, I played really hard. Even at church youth group events, I played really freaking hard.

Clearly this is the reason why I could eat a ridiculous amount of food (like a whole pizza) and not become obese (I had a little pudge in elementary school, but never have I ever been "fat.")

These days, I eat ridiculously healthy and monitor everything that goes into my mouth. I workout whenever I actually have the time and energy. And I cannot for the life of me figure out why I can't get back into my size 2 jeans (mind you, I have a small frame).

Last night at dodge ball, it all came together.

It's the first game of the season, and the Sha-BOOMS!!! are together again after a kinda rough football season, and just as rough of a kickball season. But we play for fun and play by the rules, unlike some of the ruthless teams that will do anything to win.

It's the first match of the game, and the first string of players (4 girls, 6 guys) are all dodge ball veterans. Thus, I'm standing on the sidelines w/ the other ladies and gents that aren't playing, and cheering on my team. Holy freaking cow, I have never seen balls fly faster and harder in my life (no sexual puns intended...get your mind out of the gutter). Suddenly, without a half-second to blink or move, a ball comes flying at my face. My face burns, my contact has been knocked out of my left eye and is sitting on my cheek, and I can't believe my nose isn't bleeding.

Blah blah blah, I get the contact back in, make my eyes stop watering, let my vision become adjusted, and then hop into the second match.

For the entire game, my strategy is to block/dodge the balls and hand balls to the guys who are more capable of throwing. Anytime I throw a ball with my weak little arm, I may as well be handing it to someone on the other team. They catch it, I'm out. So I give up on the throwing thing and just play defense.

Cut to...

The second to last match. There are maybe three or four of us left. I'm using a ball to block the balls that are flying my way. Next thing I know, BAM...right in my face AGAIN!!! My contacts are still in, but tears are streaming out of my right eye. So when I can finally see past the tears, I notice my vision isn't so great. But, I push on and eventually throw the ball (which is caught, I'm out...of course).

I go home with a headache, and dizzily crawl into bed before I get too nauseated and throw up. But hey, I slept like a baby!

Somewhere during the mild concussion i suffered, it all made sense. Back in middle school, I never would have gotten hit in the face...because I would have dominated and taken out every bastard on the other team first. I played hard, and I mean hard...like a dude. I wasn't scared to throw a ball, because my balls didn't get caught. And because I was strong, agile, and fast. Now, I'm like a little girl in middle school...a wimp.

So, why can't I lose weight as quickly as I used to? Why can't I lose weight even though I eat vegetables and rice and soy like it's my job? Because I don't play. I don't play, I don't dance, and I don't run like I used to...like I did when my knees didn't suck, and when I had all the time in the world.

I sit. In an office. For about 8 hours a day. And then I run errands, go grocery shopping, go to meetings, and sometimes I find the time/energy to go to the gym.

Real life sucks. I want to be a kid again.

Day 13: I'm So Excited, and I Just Can't Hide It!

Just the other day I realized that all of my blogs have been about food. My goal was to write about my journey to a healthier lifestyle...which of course involves my dietary intake. However, it also includes a slew of other things like EXERCISE!!! (And mental health, sleep, etc.)

So...I'm going to focus this blog on my physical activity in the past week. Which, let me just say...my new Nikes are coming in the mail TOMORROW!!! SOOO excited!

A personal trainer once told me that I should be getting 3 hours of cardio and at least 1.5 hours of strength training in a week (I think it was something like that). I never realized how hard it would be to find that kind of time, because in high school and college I had either the time or the energy to bust ass at the gym. Twice a day.

Instead...this was my week:

Monday: Went to the gym around 9pm and did an hour of eliptical while watching Family Guy (awesome).
Tuesday: Planned to work out after a meeting for the Virginia Production Alliance, but ended up catching up w/ my friend Meredith until about 11:30pm. Only drank two beers, but definitely no energy for a late, late night workout.
Wednesday: Too cold to go to the gym, and roomies were hanging out downstairs. Good excuse to not work out. And I was tired...excuses excuses.
Thursday: Had to make up for a lazy Tuesday and Wednesday, so woke up at 6:30 to do an intense 30-minute Jillian Michaels routine. Then started getting tired Thursday night, but my amazing boyfriend motivated me to get my ass up and workout...so I did another intense 30-minute Jillian Michaels routine and finished with Yoga. And felt fucking AWESOME! (Thanks, babe).
Friday: Two birthday parties to go to...from 5:30pm until 2am.
Saturday: Worked out with my boyfriend...
Sunday: I can't motivate my bf to stop smoking and start running if I'm not going to go to the gym and run with him! Except I can't run until my new shoes get in, so I did 30 minutes (over 4 miles) on the eliptical. And then came home and did 10 minutes of Jillian Michaels, chased the dog around the couch for at least 10 minutes, and worked out my arms/abs for another 10 minutes.

So lets see what that comes out to: a little over 2 hours of cardio and about 1 hour of strength? Holy shit, working out hard core is a bitch when you work a 9-5 and have a life!!!

I have a brand new appreciation for full-time-job-working, raising-a-family women who can't lose weight. Staying in shape is hard, but keep working on it and stay motivated! Chase your kids or your dogs around the house/yard and have lots and lots of (protected) sex!

I leave you with this statement found in a CNN article:

A study of healthy German adults revealed that men and women who had sex more frequently tended to be slimmer than folks who didn't have as much sex. Sex burns 50 to 60 calories per encounter, Whipple says, so sex three times a week for a month would burn about 700 calories -- or the equivalent of jogging about seven miles.
(http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/01/07/sex.health.benefits/index.html)