Daily Photo: A Rainy Sunday Afternoon Well Spent

I spent this afternoon running a 5k in support of the local school district.  Road races are a really fun way to get the blood pumping.  Go to http://www.Active.com to find a race near you!

Gardening: The Total Body Workout

Today I transformed an old, empty garden at my sons' school into a vegetable/fruit/herb/flower garden.   I did this alone and completed the job in 2 3/4 hours.  I experienced a good workout in the process. Multitasking rocks!

My first step was to pull all of the weeds that had crept in over time.  Weeding is as effective as reverse situps and squats. No joke.

 

Then I removed about six inches of existing soil from the "produce" side of the raised bed and lined it with plastic edging to keep the old soil separate from the new soil.  Doing this was the equivalent of curls, dips, crunches and lunges.

 

I then lined the produce section with weed barrier.  More squats.

 

Next came fresh soil that I raked until smooth and then watered down with a mixture of water and liquid seaweed (an all natural root stimulator). The lighter soil is a mix identical to "Mel's Mix", as described in the book "Square Foot Gardening." It contains the optimal mix of ingredients to produce a prolific and healthy vegetable patch. Only edibles were planted in the light brown soil (basil, carrots, watermelon). The dark brown soil is just fresh flower bed soil, into which we planted wildflower seeds.  More lunges.

 

 I redistributed soil I took from the produce section to the other sections, then tilled and smoothed the other sections to plant sunflowers and wildflowers.  Shoveling is the equivalent of lunges, curls, dips and reverse sit ups.  If you keep up a good pace, it's your cardio, too!

  

All of the kids took turns planting seeds, which they loved doing.  Finally, I labeled all of the plantings so the children know what they're looking at as things grow. 

Cool down. :)

Great workout - I mean garden!

The Tofu Switcheroo (And He Only Gagged Once)

I've been married for almost 9 years to a confirmed carnivore.  When we met, I was an ovo-lacto-vegetarian (i.e., I ate eggs and dairy but no meat/poultry/fish).  Within a year, I was back to meat.

I've never really been comfortable eating meat, fish and poultry.  No way would I buy non-organic versions given all of the growth hormones and antibiotics in them, organic meat and poultry isn't sold everywhere, and organic fish is, well, I don't really know what that is.  But I do my best serving my family nutritious and almost-always organic food.

Last week, I got on the scale and noticed that without realizing it, I'd gained five pounds.  I could blame it on the shipment of girl scout cookies, or on my broken toe making it hard to exercise.  Whatever.  The bottom line was, those pounds had to go.  I mentioned this to my husband and he voiced interest in eating a bit healthier.  So I resolved to exercise more and spruce up our diet a bit - get back to basics.  Less sugar, less butter, less starch, more vegetables, more protein.

We started consuming a lot more baby spinach salads with walnuts or almonds, more stir fry with bok choy and brown rice, more grilled lean meats, more fruit, etc.  We also eliminated dessert, reduced our bread and pasta intake and agreed not to eat after 8pm.  I'm happy to say that it's working!

My husband even let me take some liberties with serving a few vegetarian meals.  Last night, however, I tried to pull a fast one.  I bought a lovely roasted chicken and some firm tofu and hatched a plan.  I was sure he'd resist the tofu if he knew it was in the dinner, so I tried to pull a switcheroo.  I allowed the aroma of the roasted chicken to waft through the house but then diced the tofu and put THAT into the stir fry instead.  My kids were tough customers (which they are even with chicken) but both of them ate it (with the promise of some ZenSoy pudding to follow).

My husband took one look and was not fooled.  But like the man that he is, he ate the whole thing and only gagged once.  When I asked him this morning if he'd be home for dinner, he smiled and told me he would call first and ask me what I was making.

The Shred

Yesterday, I saw an article about how Heidi Klum gets back into shape after having babies. She sounds no-nonsense. Clearly she's very disciplined, exercises and eats well. She also doesn't procrastinate, but gets back into shape immediately rather than dragging it out.

I can't say I was as motivated as Heidi Klum obviously is. Maybe it's because I don't make millions by looking totally fit (wouldn't that be great!). Whatever the reasons for dragging my feet, I finally did reach a point where I wanted my body back. Not just my pre-pregnancy body, but my wedding body. This would not be easy, since I've been married eight years, have had two children, hadn't worked out regularly since my first child was born and am now in my forties.

Now I am almost there and am in the best physical shape since my mid-twenties. I have three people to thank for it: my friend Bill at Daddy Is Tired (who also blogs at Shredheads) who told me about the workout DVD The 30 Day Shred, Jillian Michaels, the killer trainer who designed it, and my husband, who started seriously working out around the same time that I did (thank you for the moral support!).



There are a few reasons why The 30 Day Shred works for me.

1. The workouts are only 20 minutes long. This is about the same length as an episode of Max and Ruby or Danny Phantom. Not that I park my kids in front of the tube so I can get my workout in. No way.
2. They are brutal and work the entire body, including cardio. I actually found running a few miles (without stopping) to be easy after doing the DVD for 30 days. I've even done it pushing 80 pounds of kids in a double stroller.
   
3. Jillian Michaels is not annoying.
4. It makes me feel tough. She accepts no excuses, reminds us that even 400 pound people do these exercises. This made me believe that I could do it, regardless of my two knee surgeries. (The surprising result: I have less pain in my joints now that I'm in shape.)
   
5. I got results within one month. I dropped a dress size, changed the shape of my body and broke through a tough weight plateau (I hadn't been able to get rid of the last 5 pounds to get back to my wedding weight).

If you read her book Master Your Metabolism you will also appreciate her greenness. She just makes such sense. I heartily recommend the book, too.