My first thought as I woke up this morning: You mean it's only Thursday? I've only worked out three days this week? It feels like I should be waking up to a Friday or a Saturday with as much as I feel like I've been working out this week. But I am starting day four of my fitness plan, and the soreness has actually eased some, so I'm ready for my next workout.
Speaking of plans, one of the biggest saboteurs of a goal is neglecting to have a plan. I've noticed that when I wake up in the morning with the elusive "I'll do some sort of exercise as some point today," I usually end up spending my day's free time in my PJs with a fluffy throw and a good book (or more accurately, a Grey's Anatomy marathon on Hulu). I will even pile on the sinfulness by baking something sweet from scratch.
But if I start my morning by deciding which exercise I will do and when, I'm much more likely to actually follow through. So right after I feed my son lunch, I will do 30 minutes of pilates and 10 minutes of punching bag drills.
My punching bag has been the salvation of my workouts. No kidding. I highly recommend one, and you can check mine out here. It doesn't take up much room, and all you need are some training gloves (mine are pink, like these!), but even if you only work on it for five minutes, you will still get a good workout. I do at least 100 each of jabs, backhands (great for triceps!), hooks, cross-jabs (great for abs!), side kicks (works your obliques and hip flexors, among other things), roundhouse kicks (great all-around core exercise), and then some double-jabs, which whittles down my waist. I've lost an inch around my midsection already this week!
My new power food? SALSA! I am a Texas gal, so the spicier my salsa comes, the better. I've been putting it on eggs, eating it with blue corn chips, adding it to guacamole or pasta or chicken fajitas. Salsa can help boost your metabolism and serves up a healthy dose of vitamin C, A, and K, along with some healthy minerals and antioxidants. Read about its health benefits here and here. And any food that makes me temporarily forget my love affair with chocolate is a winner!
You know what is almost just as good as eating sweet treats? Smelling them! No kidding. My husband and I went to Bass Pro Shop after church on Sunday, and as soon as we walked in we were enchanted by the sweet aroma of cinnamon. It hit us both like love potion number 9. Our shopping trip for gun holsters got derailed by a new mission: find the source of the delicious smell! We were pretty disappointed when we found out it was those candied pecans and not actual cinnamon rolls. Later on, at the mall, we stood in line for 15 minutes at Cindy's Cinnamon Rolls to satisfy our new craving. And you know how those cinnamon rolls are the size of frisbees? Well, we didn't even split one; we each devoured our own like Ethiopian orphans who hadn't eaten in weeks. I actually found some icing stuck to my sweater on the car ride home and shamelessly licked it off. (Ok, now I'm a little ashamed.) After we came down off our sugar high (we were actually high, laughing hysterically over the passenger's elbow in the car next to us), we both regretted our binge and were lethargic for the rest of the day. Never again!
This story isn't exactly supporting my theory, but my baking healthy oatmeal muffins yesterday and smelling them for hours afterwards did help distract from the fact that what I really wanted was to pack up my infant in the car and make a quick run to the store for some candy. Research shows that scents can help curb cravings because they trick your body into thinking you've already eaten the food. (Read some about it here.) Of course, you have to listen to your brain instead of become a mindless robot on the undying search for cinnamon rolls. I have a caramel-scented candle that often does the trick.
I'm feeling pretty confident today, so I'm going to go ahead and count this one a success.
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