Miss America Hopeful - A Former Heavyweight

I just read about Miss South Carolina who in the past few years has lost 110 lbs and is now on the road to a possible Miss America crown.  Inspirational?  Hell yes.  I also love that she lost her weight over a period of 3 years by simply eating well and exercising.  We aren't all 'The Biggest Loser' nor should we be.  With simple lifestyle changes and hard work and a forgiving attitude, you too could be the next Miss America!

Comprehensive Fitness Tracking + Social Interaction

It seems fitness tracker RunKeeper is upping it's game.  Not only can you track your run via an app for your smart phone, but now you can implement other tracking devices and pull together your daily movements, heart rates, sleeping habits and more.  And what's even better is you can compare yourselves to your friends and other users.  I'm personally liking the FitBit which is about the size of your standard money clip.  It senses motion via a 3-D motion sensor and tracks your movements day and night...though I'm not sure how comfortable it would be to sleep with it clipped on, but I'd have to try it.  Granted, this is even MORE money we would have to spend, but it might be nice to have something tracking that for me...since I'm not the best at writing this down for myself.  It will definitely be great for anyone that loves graphs!

National Running Day

So it looks like today is National Running Day.  Even though I went Spinning this morning I think I'll go for a short jog/walk this evening!  In honor of today, here are 10 Ways To Celebrate!

Exercising Outdoors vs Indoors

Here is an article about how there are studies being down that seem to point to the idea that exercising in the outdoors is better for you than hitting the gym.  They say that it not only revitalizes you more, but it helps your brain decompress more than being indoors or in an urban setting.  Head to the poll and let me know where YOU like to work out.  I know that I would prefer to workout outside, but obviously weather can be factor and also the fact that I'd prefer to workout before the sun comes up and I'm not completely comfortable walking around in the dark alone!

Yet Another Weight Loss Journey Show

Who here has seen the ads for ABC's new show Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition?  I'm pretty much a sucker for watching any weight loss show (though some are much better than others) so I will definitely be watching the first episode of this.  I enjoy the concept of each episode being a journey of 1 year with each participant.  I also like that this takes place during their normal lives (as normal as having a trainer move in with you is) so that we can see people losing weight while still having jobs and families.  Who else is going to watch this?

Are You Ready For This Jelly?

I looks like Beyonce is now involved with Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move' campaign.  The singer recorded a video of her dancing w/ junior high school students to a remake of one of her songs.  Apparently the song will be distributed to students around the country in an effort to make exercise more fun.  I'm not sure how well this will actually work, but celebrity endorsements can surprise you.  Either way it's a fun idea and I'm always up for a good dance!

Too Much Sitting, Not Enough Movement

I don't know if any of you have heard about the articles going around about how even if you exercise regularly, if you have a job where you sit all day, it might not be enough.  This has sparked talk of standing desk and the like.  This article not only explains the health issues of sitting all day, but also offers advice on how to insert a little more movement into your day.  Apparently just standing up a few times a day will help a great deal.  I'm particularly fond of the animation of the man disco dancing at his desk.  Because that wouldn't garner any odd looks...

I personally like to keep things moving a bit by listening to music on my iPod and tapping my feet around. What do some of you do to keep moving throughout the day?

Overcoming Nature with Nurture

My future children aren't even a twinkle in my eye yet, but my fiance and I already have aspects of their life planned out.  We know between the two of us they are going to be prone to weight problems, and that terrifies us.  We don't want our children to go through everything that we have.  We were talking the other day about getting them involved in sports and other healthy activities at a young age.  We also talked about implementing what we call Family Exercise Time, but what they would simply know as some fun activity that we all do together.  What are some fun and creative ways to pull this off?

I fear one of my biggest hurdles in keeping my children healthy is going to be to get them to eat vegetables.  Sadly, my fiance does not eat them.  AT ALL.  He refuses to.  How am I going to get my kids to eat them when they don't see their father doing it.  My mother did buy me a cookbook on how to hide vegetables from children and I'm hoping that it will work on him too.

I just already feel like the odds are stacked against my children.  But I pledge to do my best by them!  Does anyone else think about this sort of thing too?

Mississippi Offers Its Workers A Weight Loss Challenge

I just saw this article about Mississippi's Paul Lacoste Sports Fit 4 Change Challenge.  Over 200 lawmakers, state workers and community members participated in an intensive 11 week program consisting of 5 am workouts 4 days a week.  At the end of the 11 week session, all the participants run a 5K together in the capitol.  This program is funded by sponsors so it's free to participate!  I think this is a fantastic idea.  It seems that next year they are going to start a version for school teachers and also try to share the plan with neighboring states.  I really hope this kind of idea spreads around the country.  I know yet another issue for people trying to lose weight is the cost of a gym or trainer.  Not to mention it is a lot more fun and motivating to do it with a group of people that you enjoy.  Would you partake if this was offered to you?