Still shaking my groove thing

I'm happy to report that (Just) Dancing my ass off is still working.

So far, I haven't gotten bored by exercising. I'm sticking with my change-what-you-do-every-time routine and it seems to be keeping me motivated. To keep the momentum going, I splurged on a copy of Just Dance 2, and added a few similar games (like Dance on Broadway and Zumba Fitness) to my wish list. Even more exciting, perhaps, was my discovery of the Exercise TV channel that I can watch "on-demand" through my cable box. With the click of a remote I was dancing along with Billy Blanks Jr. for 20 minutes and bumbling my way through a hip-hop workout with a perky twenty-something. Either way, I was burning calories.

The best thing about the on-demand workout videos is that they're free! A close second, however, is the fact that there are enough videos to keep me entertained for quite some time and the selection changes with relative frequency. It really is much more appealing to turn on the TV, scroll through the options, and decide if I'm more interested in a Latin dancing workout or an arm-toning session, than it is to run to nowhere on a treadmill.

I haven't yet stepped on a scale during this latest attempt at fitness. Right now, I'm more interested in getting in the habit of getting moving than I am in wondering if the scale shows any progress. Given my proclivity for getting discouraged, I've decided that moving is better than not moving, and for now, that's all the motivation I need. I don't need a scale to tell me that I'm doing something good for myself.

Note: If you need some dance-like games and videos to inspire your own routine, try one of my favorites (suggestions in the widget below). The widget also includes a few pieces of exercise equipment that I've found helpful.

(Just) Dance your ass off

Okay, okay. I don't have the best track record with exercise. I get bored. I give up. I abandon my workout for a plate of nachos and a glass of wine.

But this time I've figured it out! (Don't roll your eyes! I can see you rolling your eyes!) The answer? VARIETY.

I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before. As we all know, I figured out that I have to exercise when it doesn't feel like I have to, but apparently that isn't enough. I also have to have some fun while I'm exercising. Moreover, I'm easily bored so I have to change things up frequently. (Damn, I'm picky.)

So I finally found a bunch of things that I like in small doses and I've been rotating them. I feel brilliant. (Seriously, why didn't I think of this sooner?)

I know why I didn't think of this sooner. Because fit people have exercise "plans" and "routines." They get up at 6 a.m. and run for an hour. They take Zumba on Tuesdays and Thursdays after work. They do yoga before breakfast and take walks before dinner. They toil away at the gym five days a week. They track their progress on pedometers, charts, and online forums. So if fit people have plans, shouldn't I have a plan if I want to be fit?

The answer is a resounding "no." It's obvious that I've never been able to stick to a "plan". So it makes sense that my new plan would be no plan.

The only routine in my new plan is that I get my butt in gear doing some cardio every other day. On the off days I try to do some strength training by lifting weights and stretching (or just carrying colossal loads of laundry up and down the stairs).

On my cardio days I boogie in my living room to Wii games like Just Dance and shake my groove thing to exercise DVDs like Bollywood Booty. (No, seriously, I do.) When the weather is nicer, I'll add riding my bike and taking walks around the neighborhood. I'm even trying yoga (though yoga via DVD is hard to do, since you can't look at the screen and bend over at the same time).

The trick, I've learned, is not to do the same thing two sessions in a row. The appeal of even the most enjoyable workouts wears off too quickly when I do the same exercise DVDs over and over, or even walk the same loop around town.

So, maybe this time it will work for me. Maybe not having a plan is the best plan I've ever had when it comes to exercise.

Of course, if anyone knows any cheesy dancing games or workout videos, feel free to send them my way. There's always room for variety in this girl's workout.

A reflection on last year's resolutions, and a few for 2011

At first glance, 2010 didn't feel like a super productive year. When I looked back at my resolutions for the year, however, I wasn't too far off track.

Here's a recap of last year's resolutions:

Write more/become a better writer. I can check this one off my list. While I didn't write for Inner Thoughts & Outbursts every week, I did, in fact, write more than I had in 2009, and became a better writer to boot. Over the course of the year, I discovered that I wanted to focus on other writing projects like my 15-Minute Party Planner blog. Conclusion: Adapting resolutions so that they better suit your overall goals is still a great form of self-improvement!

Pay attention to the positive. This one can get tough sometimes, but I feel like I did a pretty good job! I faithfully wrote in my Good Thing of the Day book nearly every day, and I've been focusing on the good things in my life. I also drew some inspiration from Erma Bombeck's If I Had My Life to Live Over. The piece reminded me not to wait for "someday", but to use the pretty candles and the fancy office supplies today. I didn't worry about breaking the dishes, I just used them to make dinners fancier.

Get healthier. Alright, maybe this one didn't work out as well as I hoped for. I did set the stage for some good habits -- I bought a bicycle, got a rice cooker (for faster, healthier meals), and tried to walk whenever I could while running errands. Oh well; a less than stellar outcome is inspiration to try again.

Do things for me. This resolution felt connected to focusing on the positive. I found joy in using pretty things for everyday uses and took time to craft, write, and do things I enjoy. Most significantly, I left a stressful job this year. While I left my job because of a cross-state move, it was a bit scary to become unemployed. Instead of panicking, however, I embraced the break from work and concentrated on putting my new house in order, organizing my writing, and spending time with friends and family. I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

Now, when it comes to this year, my general resolution is to keep learning and growing. More specifically, I hope to make small changes that add up to big changes. In 2011, I hope to...

• Get moving! This year I will exercise every day. I know myself. There's no hope in saying I'll go to the gym four days a week for an hour each time, but I can get my butt in gear for a mere 10 minutes every day. Some days I'll spend an hour with a Wii fitness game, and other days I'm sure I'll ride my bike for an hour, but it's good to know that on the days that I feel like I just can't do it, I can spend 10 minutes doing jumping jacks. Something is better than nothing, and I feel more confident making a small goal than developing a big goal that is bound to disappoint me.
  
  
• Spend time doing things I love. I'm on the hunt for a new job, and I have a few promising prospects. If I have to work for a living (and who doesn't?) I hope that it's at a job I love. And when I'm not working, I hope to spend time crafting, reading, and trying to embrace life.
  
  
• Simplify. Think my resolutions sound simple this year? They're intended to be. There's no need to create 10 resolutions you can't live up to when you can create one or two that you know you can accomplish. I hope this simplicity helps me be the best person I can be!
  

Dust yourself off and try again...

Not surprisingly, I fell off the health-kick wagon.

In a nutshell, I went through some seriously stressful things at work and at home and decided that I had bigger things to worry about than getting my butt out of bed early every morning. That, coupled with the fact that this was one of the hottest summers I can remember, didn't do much for my new exercise kick. I'm sorry to say that I schlumped around for much of the summer. I didn't just give up on being healthy over the summer, I gave up a lot of things (like writing for Inner Thoughts & Outbursts... sorry about that), and am just now starting to get in the groove of things again.

Some of the other healthy habits stuck, though. I'm hardly drinking any soda (only at the occasional weekend party) and I only have a glass of wine on the weekends (and not many weekends at that). I've also been able to give up table salt on most everything (except eggs... I love salty eggs). Last weekend I even went on a mini-vacation and spent the weekend riding a hydrobike, swimming laps before breakfast, and biking.

I'm also learning (perhaps confirming is more accurate) that I don't like feeling like I have to do something. Maybe my morning walks felt like torture because they were an obligation. I've been trying to do other things instead, like walk whenever I need to run errands, take the stairs whenever there's an option to do so, and other similar things. I'm trying to make exercise more fun and purposeful than just dragging by butt around town in the morning.

I even bought a bicycle.

Yes, folks, a bicycle. I haven't owned a bicycle since the sixth grade. Up until last summer when I spent the weekend at a mountain resort, I hadn't even ridden a bicycle in years. So, I went out and bought a bike. It's pretty snazzy. I even bought a basket for it. (That's a shot of the bike, at right.)

So far, I'm not a very good cyclist. I'm slow and out of shape, and small boys fly past me on BMX bikes that leave me in the dust. That being said, riding a bike is immensely more fun than aimlessly wandering to nowhere, and even though I feel out of shape while I ride my bike, I feel like I'm getting in shape while I ride it. I haven't been riding on a schedule or anything, but now that the weather is cooler I'm taking the bike out more often and hoping to ride all through the fall.

So, recap: I want to get back on track with my HEALTH plan. It's time to restart the process of being Healthy in my Eating, Actions, Language, Thoughts, and Heart. I'm thinking of this post as the next step toward healthy Language and Thoughts. I've always thought that it's okay to fall off the wagon, so long as you back on it again.