Last night, my husband texted he would be late coming home from work AND that his mom was making dinner for everyone. That meant - - - STEALTH TIME! I gained an hour where previously there was none.
You know, it takes 23 minutes for us to get out the door. Shoes (oh the shoes!), water, sweaters, stroller, scooter, and bike - - wow. But every time I get discouraged about that (it's just NOT EFFICIENT!) I have to exhale, LOUDLY, and start to breathe normally again.
It IS worth it.
Stealth exercise lesson number one: every minute counts.
Last night my kids and I exercised for 18 minutes and 42 seconds. This is the net total, not including stops and starts, because my watch is cool like that - autopausing when I have to retie a child's shoelace, or when we have stopped all together at the curb to look both ways. Brilliant, this Garmin device. More importantly, we all got some fresh air, relearned some survival tips, and for some moments were alone with our sense of freedom.
Unfortunately, there are some habits that are better-established than this one. This is what I seek to overturn, flip-flop if you will. Since I've become a mom of aware children, I've found it somehow acceptable to sneak ice cream when the girls aren't watching. I usually don't think of it as a bad thing. A treat is just that - a treat. In fact I used to grab some and share.
But when it turns into a habit...
I suppose I knew it had become a habit, which is why I had to hide it. I did not want to give my kids ice cream more than once a day (actually, my viewpoint on that is much more Puritan than I am letting on: not more than once a week! But I really don't want to turn you off too fast, so I keep that initially to myself). So because I didn't want to feed it to them, I didn't want to show that I was eating it.
But the real point is, this mom should not feed herself something regularly that might interfere with her energy.
Boom!
What increases energy? Stealth exercise, not stealth eating.
What if, instead of sneaking a treat when no one is looking, I could do some push ups when no one is looking?
The flipped mindset working. Yesterday, on my way into my bedroom, I did about 10 seconds of holds from my pull-up bar, three times (3x10s). And if my baby boy was watching, I actually tried to pull up. For some reason, that action puts him in stitches!
And when I lost some motivation making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (really?), I decided to do some wall sits. Because ANYTHING is better than wall sits! I did two sets of 20 seconds (2x20s). And I couldn't WAIT to get back to those sticky knives. "Lunch, coming RIGHT up!!! Yay!!!" I even threw in some CUT UP apples for the girls. They loved that. To dip in yet more sticky peanut butter...
I'm also going stealth on my own body. Fooling it gradually so it doesn't know what's happening (I've never been a big fan of shock). So, from 2.5 spoons of sugar in each cup of coffee to 2, and now down to 1.5 today! Yippee!
I just want to make my very wise, very slender grandmother proud: she always told me, "My mom always said, 'Learn to take your coffee without cream and sugar. So that you can have more.'" She could just have well have said, "So that you have more, without a muffin consequence." Haha! YES, Maw Maw! I strive for that, indeed.
I cut out milk/cream last year. I also, in effect, only went "out" for coffee a couple of times (to avoid purchasing a sugared coffee drink, my favorite, irresistible one being the mocha). Now I am cutting down the number of cups, so that in effect the number of spoons of sugar goes down... while also cutting down the number of spoons of sugar per cup. And I have gotten to the point where if I feel I need another cup, I make decaf (pumpkin spice, from Phoenix Community Coffee, PLUG, to support a pal who's adopting two kids from India. Very cool! http://thehartfamily.greatcoffeegreatcause.com/ ).
Like I said, I am not one for shock. The suggestion of detoxing, or cleansing, blah blah, freaks the heck out of me. I have read many different articles from my personal trainer organization (American Council on Exercise) and you can truly find studies representing both sides of the argument. The downside I can't get over is the danger of many essential nutrients being washed away. So instead, I enjoy my method.
Stealth.
You know, it takes 23 minutes for us to get out the door. Shoes (oh the shoes!), water, sweaters, stroller, scooter, and bike - - wow. But every time I get discouraged about that (it's just NOT EFFICIENT!) I have to exhale, LOUDLY, and start to breathe normally again.
It IS worth it.
Stealth exercise lesson number one: every minute counts.
Last night my kids and I exercised for 18 minutes and 42 seconds. This is the net total, not including stops and starts, because my watch is cool like that - autopausing when I have to retie a child's shoelace, or when we have stopped all together at the curb to look both ways. Brilliant, this Garmin device. More importantly, we all got some fresh air, relearned some survival tips, and for some moments were alone with our sense of freedom.
Unfortunately, there are some habits that are better-established than this one. This is what I seek to overturn, flip-flop if you will. Since I've become a mom of aware children, I've found it somehow acceptable to sneak ice cream when the girls aren't watching. I usually don't think of it as a bad thing. A treat is just that - a treat. In fact I used to grab some and share.
But when it turns into a habit...
I suppose I knew it had become a habit, which is why I had to hide it. I did not want to give my kids ice cream more than once a day (actually, my viewpoint on that is much more Puritan than I am letting on: not more than once a week! But I really don't want to turn you off too fast, so I keep that initially to myself). So because I didn't want to feed it to them, I didn't want to show that I was eating it.
But the real point is, this mom should not feed herself something regularly that might interfere with her energy.
Boom!
What increases energy? Stealth exercise, not stealth eating.
What if, instead of sneaking a treat when no one is looking, I could do some push ups when no one is looking?
The flipped mindset working. Yesterday, on my way into my bedroom, I did about 10 seconds of holds from my pull-up bar, three times (3x10s). And if my baby boy was watching, I actually tried to pull up. For some reason, that action puts him in stitches!
And when I lost some motivation making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (really?), I decided to do some wall sits. Because ANYTHING is better than wall sits! I did two sets of 20 seconds (2x20s). And I couldn't WAIT to get back to those sticky knives. "Lunch, coming RIGHT up!!! Yay!!!" I even threw in some CUT UP apples for the girls. They loved that. To dip in yet more sticky peanut butter...
I'm also going stealth on my own body. Fooling it gradually so it doesn't know what's happening (I've never been a big fan of shock). So, from 2.5 spoons of sugar in each cup of coffee to 2, and now down to 1.5 today! Yippee!
I just want to make my very wise, very slender grandmother proud: she always told me, "My mom always said, 'Learn to take your coffee without cream and sugar. So that you can have more.'" She could just have well have said, "So that you have more, without a muffin consequence." Haha! YES, Maw Maw! I strive for that, indeed.
I cut out milk/cream last year. I also, in effect, only went "out" for coffee a couple of times (to avoid purchasing a sugared coffee drink, my favorite, irresistible one being the mocha). Now I am cutting down the number of cups, so that in effect the number of spoons of sugar goes down... while also cutting down the number of spoons of sugar per cup. And I have gotten to the point where if I feel I need another cup, I make decaf (pumpkin spice, from Phoenix Community Coffee, PLUG, to support a pal who's adopting two kids from India. Very cool! http://thehartfamily.greatcoffeegreatcause.com/ ).
Like I said, I am not one for shock. The suggestion of detoxing, or cleansing, blah blah, freaks the heck out of me. I have read many different articles from my personal trainer organization (American Council on Exercise) and you can truly find studies representing both sides of the argument. The downside I can't get over is the danger of many essential nutrients being washed away. So instead, I enjoy my method.
Stealth.
No comments:
Post a Comment