MOVE is a word my sister-in-law is thinking about lately. I talked to her a few weeks ago on the phone and she told me that word is on her mind because she has decided to make it her axiom. It is her rallying cry to get her to …well…to Move.
Maybe we all need a little motto to do the things that we really don’t want to do. For her, it is making time for fitness. Whether lifting some free weights or going for a walk, she has decided that she needs to stop the excuses and get moving. So throughout the day she thinks …Move!
It made me wonder, what word could motivate me to do things I really don’t want to do? Could one word challenge me in the same way that the word move challenges my sister-in-law? I thought about it. I am a procrastinator. Whether it is the laundry piling up, the call to the insurance company I need to make, or getting the dogs to the vet, if I can put it off till later, I will! I use the excuse that I am too busy… I can’t possibly get to that now. The truth is that I will be “too busy” for a long time! So I have decided that my one-word motto is NOW. Get the laundry done Now. Call to make an appointment Now. Clean that closet Now. I am beginning to think there might be a little drill sergeant that tiny word!
What is your motto? Can you come up with one word that will challenge you to do something you know you should do, but don’t really want to? Share it with us!
Sometimes we just can’t fit it all in! When I woke up to my seven year-old asking about breakfast at 6:30 a.m., I glanced at my phone. Three text messages. Both of our highschool boys had stayed the night at friends. One message was from my 15 year-old asking if we could get him to to his morning practice. Another message was from our 17 year-old who was just checking in with us to tell us he was on his way to his morning swim practice (seems like we should have coordinated that better). The other message was from our 21 year-old son at the US Naval Academy. He was supposed to do a PST(I think that stands for physical standard test which I think consists of maximum push-ups, maximum pull-ups, maximum sit-ups, a 500 yard swim in camouflage, and a mile and a half run). His message had come in at 3:45 a.m., because he had been sick all night and was wondering if it could be food poisoning. He later sent a message saying he was sure it was the full blown stomach flu. 
My five-year old and I came up with this quick chicken salad recipe by adding whatever veggies I had available to a rotisserie chicken. I usually don’t buy this kind of chicken because, with a big family, it never seems to be enough (except Costco has large ones). However, we made it work! You can use plenty of other kinds of veggies.
9 Kid Fitness was featured on WBT Radio’s “Health Headlines” show on Sunday, March 13, 2011! Listen to the 8-10 minute segment to hear Whitney (that’s me) interviewed by the “Bod Squad” (
My favorite energy bar is the 
Here is a great recipe for Vegetarian Black Burritos … yum!!
I used to really hate strength training! Or more accurately, I hated what I thought was strength training. I could do a cardio workout all day long (not really, just saying) but a weight workout…that was torture! Now, I’ve come to enjoy strength training, and I’ve broadened my understanding of what “strength” means. Part of the problem was that to me, the word strength meant primarily weights. I wasn’t interested in becoming bulky, and lifting weights was burdensome, so it seemed impractical to me. At the end of a run or after a swim workout, I would try to fit in a few upper and lower body weights to “tone” up and to gain some strength, mostly to avoid injury. But one day, I tagged along with one of my kids to a personal trainer (we had given her some sessions and the trainer let me come for free) I was amazed at the intensity of the hour long workout, especially at how my heart rate increased and stayed fairly high throughout. The idea that strength and cardio could be done at the same time was a new concept for me. Still, a personal trainer is expensive and took a lot of time. For me it wasn’t realistic. 
To Exercise or to Sleep….that is the question!! We might as well face it: we can’t do it all. There are no “extra” hours in the day just waiting for us to use for sleep and exercise. I am often faced with the dilemma: sleep or workout? Now in my 40’s, I face this more than I did in my 20’s or 30’s, when it seemed “I could do it all”! I find that the answer has a lot to do with trying to keep balance in my life. We can usually sense when our bodies are sleep deprived. As a mother of nine, and with one child still under the age of two, I can honestly say that I have been sleep deprived for about 20 years! 
I sometimes make the mistake of believing I have to workout for a long time to get any results. However, a lot can come from just a few exercises. If you want to burn to the core, but only have a little bit of time, here are a few killer core exercises that you can do. They only require your body, a Swiss ball (large exercise ball) and a few styrofoam plates! My friend and physical therapist, Alan Tyson, founder of 
Yummy recipe for Whole Wheat (or Protein Plus) Pasta
Follow Us