The Challenge: Week 2

Well, ok then... it's that day again. By the time I realized I was supposed to weigh myself, it was 3:00 in the afternoon, and we all know that's way too late in the day to weigh yourself, because, you know, you're fully dressed, you've eaten, and you might even have to pee or something... all of which adds at least 10 pounds to your real weight. So I have not weighed myself. Maybe I'll give it a go tomorrow. Maybe.

On the bright side, she's getting in the exercise groove again, and she likes it! I just feel better when I work out, and when you have no where to go but up (or maybe down is more appropriate here), you make progress quickly. This is a good thing. And I'm also becoming much more conscious of all the vegetables I'm not eating every day... I love diets: they're a constant guilt trip. And speaking of, here are some tips from one of my favorite all-time fitness authors, Covert Bailey. If you are at all interested in the physiology behind exercise, you gotta get his book Smart Exercise. But even if you could care less about physiology, enjoy the following common-sense tips:

Covert Bailey’s Fit or Fat
TOP 25 FITNESS TIPS
1. Exercise. If exercise were a pill, it would be the most widely prescribed medicine in the world.
2. Eat a balanced diet, lower in fat, lower in sugar and higher in fiber.
3. Diets don’t work. Exercise is the bottom line behavior for weight management.
4. Throw away your scales. Measuring your body fat is a better indicator of health than your weight.
5. When trying to lose fat, aim for a maximum of 2 pounds a week.
6. If spot reducing worked, people who chew gum would have skinny faces.
7. Crash dieting, over exercising and fasting will slow down your metabolism.
8. People don’t stop exercising because they grow old, they grow old because they stop exercising.
9. It’s easy to lose weight. The challenge is to keep it off. Exercise works.
10. Don’t worry so much about your heart rate when you exercise. Use common sense and pace yourself so you can talk.
11. When you exercise, remind yourself, “I’m building fat-burning enzymes.”
12. If you get out of breath when you exercise, you’re going too fast.
13. One of the best ways to reduce stress is to exercise.
14. The older you are, the more important it is that you exercise. Exercise makes bones denser. Exercise helps maintain mobility.
15. Labels don’t lie, but liars write labels.
16. Statistics are like bikinis. They only reveal half the truth.
17. Upper-body weight training will help women maintain lean body mass.
18. More muscle equals less workout time.
19. Don’t say, “I don’t eat red meat.” Say, “I don’t eat greasy meats.”
20. There’s no such thing as cellulite. The word was dreamed up by people with products to market to describe skin with texture that shows underlying fat on some women more than others.
21. The best aerobic exercise is the one you’ll do every day.
22. The best time to exercise is when you will do it.
23. If you don’t seem to be getting more fit, you may be exercising too hard.
24. If you exercise more than 45 minutes 5 days a week, you aren’t doing it for fitness sake.
25. Beware of medically monitored diet programs. If you need a doctor, there must be something wrong.