This blog isn't only about food, and pastries, and the fact that I happen to be a pastry chef. It's also about flab. My flab. The flab that comes with food and pastries and the fact that I happen to be a pastry chef.
Dammit, I'm not really FAT, I'm flabulous! But I'm heading down the slope to fat......faster and faster.
Let's look at the facts. I'm a 45 year old woman, teetering toward menopause. I work in the food business, I truly do love to eat, and I've always hated to exercise. I'm doomed, right? One would think. But I don't give up so easily.....
especially when my husband drops hints about getting out for a walk once in a while. I know he's REALLY saying this:
"Honey, someday, even the Viagra won't help." Yeah, I know the deal.
I really don't want to be one of those people you see in Costco with the oxygen tank and a scooter chair. I don't want to shop at Lane Bryant! I wanna shop at the Slut-o-Rama where Paris, Lindsay and Britney shop.
In reality, I do overeat just enough to keep me on the flabby side, but not enough to make me a BBW. My slowing metabolism and the fact that exercise is another room in hell for me is my main problem. I'm also embarrassed to exercise in public. I'm aware of the fact that no one really wants to see me sweatin' and flabbin' down the street.
Besides, my body is sort of like a freight train, once the momentum gets me going it takes a long time to stop.
I fear that one day I may mow down a child.
So I'm in the market for a little used exercise equipment. Boy there's a lot out there, and it's pretty cheap too. This isn't really saying much about exercise equipment though, is it? Is it really effective? Are so many people trying to get rid of theirs because it just doesn't work and gets too boring? One wonders. At least I'm smart enough not to buy any of it new, and if I think it was a bad purchase later, I can at least sell mine to the next optimist.
I scored my first piece of equipment for FREE just the other day. It's called a Voit Gravity Rider. Here is a picture of one:
Does anybody know how to get a good workout on this thing? Or are they all up for sale because nobody else could figure it out either?????
Hm, to be honest.... the thing looks useless. The thing you want to avoid, when starting to exercise, is spending a bunch of time doing some activity you don't like or that is useless. The hardest part about getting in shape is the mental part, the motivation. I hired a good trainer once and though it was expensive and I was pretty poor, it was worth every dime, because I learned a ton about how to exercise and she got me motivated. She helped ensure that every minute I spent exercise was a productive one.
You can do a ton of cardio and still not lose weight. Interval training or doing at least some muscle-building exercise will accelerate weight loss far beyond cardio alone. I just read a study that compared women that did 30 mins of cardio 3x per week, with another group of women that did interval exercises (and spent less time than the first group on exercise). The first group actually gained a couple pounds, on average, after a couple months. The second group lost something like 15 lbs after the two months. (The article is in this month's Oprah mag). Anyway.... best of luck!
Posted by: HapaLove | 09/12/2007 at 09:45 AM
[this is good] I have the same ongoing problem. I hate to exercise, it bores me to
death and I hate sweating. I have access to a free gym at my place of
employment but do you think I ever visit it? nooooooo
I also love to eat, especially desserts. I am kind of a wannabe when it comes to pastry chefs!
I don't want to shop at Lane Bryant either, nor do I want diabetes (which a lot of folks in my family have).
What a dilemma!
Posted by: Sandra | 10/02/2007 at 09:53 AM