Ya Gotta Walk!

Sooooo, after my trip out to the park the other day, and my wicked sneeze attack, I realized that there is something in that park that I am violently allergic to, so I won't be repeating that any time soon. I did, however, still want to get some outside exercise, so I remembered my Nordic Walking Sticks (they had been patiently waiting for me hanging up by the back door). I also remembered the fact that my own neighborhood can be a real challenge and some great fun to walk. Fairfax has lots of long sidewalks, pretty steep hills, nice flat bits, and the best part, it's right outside of my door.

So, once again, I cranked up the tunes, and Bill and I took to the sidewalks. Well, lemmie tell ya, after about 40 minutes, I had really worked up a sweat, the endorphins had kicked in major, and best of all, I BURNED OVER 700 CALORIES!!!!! Woo hoo, y'all.

I have a goal of making that trek every other day for the rest of the week, we'll see how it goes.


Here's a little playlist to help mootiv8 you:

1. Stereo Love - Edward Maya & Alicia
2. I Feel Like - Kaskade
3. Five Fathoms - Everything but the Girl
4. Blame It (New Devices Remix) - Jamie Foxx
5. Hard (Jump Smokers Remix) - Rihanna
6. Closer - Ne-Yo
7. 3AM Eternal - The KLF
8. I Remember - Kaskade & Deadmou5

It's a great mix with great tempos to keep you moving up (and down) those hills!


Enjoy
djfleesh

Ya Gotta Get Outside!

Today is the first day of my late Summer vacation, and Bill and I took a ride over to a local park, and took to the track. Now, mind you, I usually walk/jog on my treadmill for about 2-1/2 miles, watching some movie with the subtitles on, but this was way "funner!" Once I cranked up the tunes, I was jogging more than usual, even with a few running sprints in there.

I kept playing little games like "keep running until you reach that tree way up the path," or "you have to keep jogging until Fergie starts singing in Boom Boom Pow." Bill even had a bit of fun, power walking and running past me every now and then.

I think that one of the main reasons I enjoyed this so much is my new sneakers! I finally got a new pair of kicks, and they are real running shoes! It's really amazing how when you actually wind up with something that works. For once at the end of the workout I didn't feel like I needed to soak my feet in Gramma Eunice's foot bath, and then put them up for an hour.

The only downside to getting outside, is ALLERGIES. Once we got back in the car to head back home, I started sneezing my head off (I won't talk about how I only have 2 more Puffs Plus with Lotion tissues left in my box), and rubbing my eyes out. That said, the runner's high I got was well worth all of the schnurfing and Naseblasen. Well, no matter, tomorrow I'll be sure to take my allergy meds before I head out.

In closing, thanks to Lobada for all of your tales of walking out in the fields in Germany, and enjoying the outdoors, clearing your head, and burning calories; I finally get what you were talking about!

Now. . . Get Out!
djfleesh

Sewing and Fitness

What do these two things really have in common? For me, sewing affords me a measure of mental fitness. It allows me to do something with my brain and to decompress. Another reason why sewing is good for my mental health is that it allows me to put my unique body shape into proper perspective.

Visiting the PX, I bought a shirt for Tega in a size Small. When I stepped back and got a good look at it, it was really equivalent to a German Medium. The sizes run very small here. Why is this relevant? I may go out shopping with a positive attitude here at the mall and come home close to tears because of not finding anything to fit me.

Sewing my size just makes me feel better about the way I'm made. I fit things to my dimensions and thus making me proud of my accomplishment. I can pass this craft down to Tega as well. She already seems to have the natural knack for it. As I create (mostly with the aid of Simplicity), I can hear Tim Gunn in the distance encouraging me to "Make it Work", and I think it does. What do you think?

Ya Gotta Drink Your Water!

Hydration! Hydration! Hydration! (and repeat). . . Well, it's been a hot summer, and last night I woke up out of a dead sleep and my throat felt like cottony sand paper, and when I swallowed, it felt like tacks going down. Why, you ask? Well, I have not been drinking my H2O as diligently as in earlier weeks.

Sooooo, I hopped online and found some interesting facts about this wonderful libation:

1) Did'ja know that not drinking enough water can affect your liver? Yeah, the liver wants to be busy doing its job metabolizing fat, right? Well, when you don't drink enough water, the liver has to help the kidneys do their thing, so it stops breaking down the fat, just to help out! Maybe that's why I just can't seem to get that scale moving back down!

2) Water is a wonderful beauty treatment! Forget that Botox garbage, "86" that micro peel, and for heaven's sake stop spending so much money on department store promises. Drink more agua, and you'll be flushing out all kinds of icky-ness, toxins, cans, bottles, rocks, stray marbles, etc. As we get older, our skin wants to sag, and keeping hydrated will plump things up without unnatural injections.


3) Drinking water also helps with muscle tone. If you are not drinking enough water, you can work out all you want, but may not be seeing a difference. Why? Your muscles work better when they are hydrated! Read: you'll get much more bang out of your workout if you drink up!


4) And finally, experts lean toward drinking cold water, indicating that the chill aids in fat burning. Personally, I like it cool, just out of the cooler at work (and since they keep it so hot in there, my water bottle sweats up a storm almost as much as I do!)

So that's my little contribution for this go-round. Let's shoot for the requisite 8 glasses a day, and remember to stop drinking about 3 hours before bed (otherwise it'll be a looooooong night!)

-djfleesh