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The Wonderful “Realness” of Motherhood

May 6, 2011 by 1 Comment

Rabbit“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit. “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are real you don’t mind being hurt.”-The Velveteen Rabbit

I think one of the hardest parts about being a mother is that we are real… and so are our children. Parenting is a continual act of living in reality…even if we would much rather just live in a world where our children didn’t get hurt, didn’t make mistakes, didn’t have to suffer. I remember when my first four or five children were little. My oldest was no more than 10. Sometimes it felt like I was the mother duck and they were my little ducklings; if I looked behind me, they were all following…my little brood. I’m sure I thought this was real, and it was. But it was also only temporary. As my first few children embarked on the teen years, the “real” was not so easy. When I looked behind me I didn’t always have the same view. What I saw was the older ones venturing off in different directions and I couldn’t as easily herd them back. I started to lose that control that I must have believed I would always have. It hurt a little, and my fur got a little tattered. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Family Life, My Favorite 9 Kid Fitness Posts, Spirituality, Women's Health Tagged With: ,

Here’s to New Beginnings and to No More Deadbeats

January 17, 2016 by 2 Comments

lazy imagesDeadbeat blogger.  That’s me.  I heard that phrase while listening to an interview on Platform University.   I haven’t blogged in months. I have no lack of excuses. In fact excuses are all I have.  Yet I know that the deadbeat blogger in me is a reflection (or reaction more accurately) to a phase of life I find myself in (wait, I think that’s another excuse).  I am in transition.  I have four kids out of the house, one about to graduate, and four more at home.  I am in the middle of it all.

As a homeschool mom, I have been at it for twenty years.  I’m still committed but I’m tired.  I need a second wind.  As a fitness enthusiast, I find myself strangely in transition as well.  In the past I have run marathons, I have maintained a daily workout regimen, I have tried and enjoyed various types of exercise (running, cycling, P90x, barre, rowing). Now I find myself in a more solitary place when it comes to fitness.  I’m still doing lots of different things, but due to schedules and friend’s injuries or my own, I often workout alone.  I don’t mind.  It’s not a bad thing. But I have to rely on my own motivation… which let’s just say is not as healthy as it used to be.  One day of no exercise can easily lead to another and before I know it I’m hardly working out at all.  Okay, it’s really not that bad. But there is no doubt I need a good kick in the pants. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Motivation

If You Want Lean Muscle Mass, It’s More About What you Eat and Less About What You Do

January 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Most athletes want to be lean regardless of the sport in which they participate.  In fact, most of us, whether we are super athletic or weekend warriors, want lean muscle mass. So what is the most effective way to become leaner?  The secret is nutrition.  In other words, it’s what we eat…not what we do.  I have written many times about the Rule of 70. I believe weight loss/weight maintenance is 30% what we do (exercise), and 70% what we eat.  I think Alan Tyson would agree as he recently wrote about what we can do to create lean bodies with less training, and why it is a good thing. The following are the foods Tyson recommends for creating and maintaining lean muscle mass while also maintaining fitness.  By eating a combination of the following foods, not only will you likely see increased muscle mass and a leaner body, your workouts will take on a whole new level. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition, Strength Tagged With: , , , ,

Hot Sweaty Mamas!

August 15, 2011 by 2 Comments

Having just finished the book, Hot Sweaty Mamas: Five Secrets to Life as a Fit Mom by Kara Thom and Laurie Kocanda, I am struck by something. As a twin, I have had the fortune in life to have another person who thinks just like I do. This sounds like a trite statement, but it is a profound thing. My twin sister doesn’t even have to say anything, I just know how she feels and what she means when she says something, and she feels the same way about me. I believe it is a gift; a “twin thing”, and I really didn’t think I would ever experience it outside of this “twin language”. This book has proved me wrong. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Family Life, Motivation, My Favorite 9 Kid Fitness Posts, Women's Health Tagged With: ,

Go Ahead…Eat that Snickers Bar!

November 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

candyWhat is one of the best things about running a marathon on October 30?  It’s followed up by October 31st …Halloween …the very next day!  It’s Wednesday and I am still reveling in my no running, lounge-happy, soreness-fading, post-marathon “days off”.  And it couldn’t be better timed with all the Halloween chocolate hanging around.  I am a self-admitted sugar-head who finds my kids’ Halloween candy no matter how hard they try to hide it from me.  Right now I am enjoying my new favorite, the Almond Snickers…so good.  I am not concerning myself with the calories or sugar at the moment, but I do have to wonder…how much of a workout should someone do to recover from eating three- four (okay..five to six..but that’s the small size) Snickers bars?

I would guess about 30 minutes of high intensity exercise should do the trick. And if you are going to raid your kids candy stash…I do recommend the Snickers bar for its protein content.  Searching to find out whether the Snickers is actually as healthy as I hope it may be, I found the following excerpt from Men’s Health magazine. So I’m taking their word for it, and indulging.  How about you?  What’s your favorite Halloween candy? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition, Running Tagged With:

Love Those Lentils!

October 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

As I near the end of my marathon training I am mindful of healthy eating, and on the lookout for yummy, good-for-you meals that are high in carbohydrates. The weather is beginning to cool and for me that’s always a good excuse to make soup. Convincing my family that soup (and bread) is a complete meal is another story.

But my family does like my curried lentil soup. When we used to live in Bloomington, Indiana when my husband was in law school, I used to stop by this great health food store where they would make a soup of the day. Their lentil soup was incredible – I sooo wish I had asked for a recipe! Because they made soup everyday, they had a base of veggies to work from, and I think that might be what made it so good. Whatever their secret, it worked! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: ,

Our Day is Full Of Exercise Opportunities…Nine Easy Ways to Fit Fitness into a Busy Day

December 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment

time6a00d8341c03bb53ef01348404979b970cI used to believe that if I didn’t have time for at least an hour of fitness, or if I didn’t work up a serious sweat…it wasn’t a real workout.  That was my 30 year-old self.  My 46 year-old self has a totally different idea of fitness.  Basically it can be summed up in the words, “Whatever works”.

There are plenty of days that I wake up and from my too-tired-to-get-up early-and-run vantage point, the day could appear hopeless in terms of fitting in a workout.  But I have learned to see things in another way…I now look at it in terms of the opportunities for fast fitness.  It’s a challenge, and I think it’s fun to see just how much of a workout I can get by the end of these kinds of days.  Don’t believe me?  Let me show you nine ways to fit fitness into an otherwise busy day… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Family Life, Motivation Tagged With: , ,

9 Cross Training Activites for Runners

December 13, 2011 by 1 Comment

SparkPeople is a great source for all things fitness and nutrition related. I came across this article about cross training the other day (the 9 in the title caught my attention at first) and realized that I was using the same cross training in my exercise regime as they were suggesting. Swimming was on the top of the list (unfortunately my shoulder is preventing me from doing it these days), and so was biking. Other activities included elliptical training (not my favorite…), cross country skiing (not easily done without snow), and indoor rowing. For more information on SparkPeople follow the link! What are your favorite cross training routines?

9 Cross Training Activites for Runners
The only way to become a better runner is to run, but the more running replaces other exercises in your fitness program, the more likely you are to become injured, suffer from burnout, or develop muscular imbalances. So what’s a runner to do (besides run, of course)? Cross train. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: , ,

“The Once and Future Way to Run”

November 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Could it really be this simple? In a New York Times Magazine article from a few days ago entitled, “The once and future way to run”, Christopher McDougall explains how to do an exercise from the 1800’s, called the “100-Up”, that he promises will improve your running form and make you less prone to injury. A video also shows McDougall demonstrating the exercise himself and talking about the proper form. Watch it (The Lost Secret of Running) but beware…what seems like a fairly easy exercise, is not easy at all after repeating it about 40 times! Although I could only do it (before losing my form) about 55 times, I will keep trying to do a few more each time! Try it, and let me know what you think.

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: , ,

She Lost Almost 20 Pounds…And Kept it Off

January 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Diana Sibley 1I wrote recently about long term weight loss, and Diana Sibley is an example of someone who has accomplished just that.  She lost almost 20 pounds over one year ago and has kept the weight off.  One of the amazing things  was that she was actually only trying to lose five!   I talked to Diana about her weight loss, how she did it, and why she is confident she will keep the weight off.  Her experience is probably not unlike many others’ experience…it came down to a decision, a commitment, and common sense.
Filed Under: Nutrition, Women's Health Tagged With: , , ,
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