Thursday, January 10, 2013

Janie is STILL in Madison, Wisconsin

Four and a half years later, Janie is still in Madison.

Here are the top ten reasons I love it:

1) It's a University town which means we have a decent amount of jobs.
2) I can take the bus to work for free.
3) Taking the bus means I hardly ever have to get gasoline!
4) It's a runner's town
[This race was on 1/1/13 at about 7 degrees. I don't know these dudes]


5) Madison is so compact. Even if you do need to drive somewhere, it's close and we have NO traffic. [C'mon you natives and quit complaining! I lived in Boston, people!] 6) People embrace all things outdoors - even in the winter!

[Bet you didn't know I am a HUGE hunter!]









7) There are dog parks everywhere.

And snow shoeing rocks!

8) B-Cycle. Even this scaredy cat has biked to and from work on Trek's bike.
9) All restaurants I frequent source to local farmers = less globalization. Keep the bill here, people. And I am eating real food.
10) There is just SO much to do here and it's all so easy to get to.

So I discovered during our 2012 blizzard that I couldn't run outside.

See our lovely capitol during the blizzard? Yes, I was outside!

What's this little runner girl to do? Our new building has no gym! So I walked over to the gym that was open thanks to the man who slept on a massage table with his dog to ensure they would be open and joined!

And now that it is a new year, I am sure YOU are reading this [all 12 of you], setting your 2013 resolutions.

While I don't recommend going from 0 - 60, I will give you my diet/exercise tips.

Here I am now:

[Photo courtesy of  MEG]
And I decided not to post a fat photo of me from college which I like to block out. And by fat, I was like "average."

But you need to start somewhere. Burgers and french fries with some desserts just aren't going to cut it. So I still wonder all of the time how so many obese people allow themselves to get where they are. And not just obese people, but people with bad genes who are overweight.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how I feel after I run. Don't you feel good after you exercise?

The formula is so easy. Eat right and exercise. If you aren't exercising, choose something - anything to do. Anything that sounds fun. Even if it's a walk outside for 30 minutes every day. Do you get a minimum of five fruits and veggies a day? Add that in. That's a start. Give it a try. It's that simple.

If you aren't exercising/eating fruits and veggies a day, I want to know why. Wouldn't you rather have energy and feel good?




1 comment:

  1. You always blog about wondering why people don’t exercise and eat right and when this particular blog said you are curious about how people with bad genes end up overweight, it prompted me to finally post. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day doing whatever you love, don’t eat burgers and fries and eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables!! Oh, if only it really were that simple! Everyone’s body is very different and it just doesn’t work that way for some people. If you have a slow metabolism or “bad genes” or are on medication or have some medical disorder, running every day and eating right does not mean you will be thin.
    I gradually gained some weight over the winter 4 years ago and when I realized it was happening I did all of the things that worked for me when I was younger and would gain some weight and knew I needed to get back to a healthy weight. I did weight watchers, tracking every single thing I ate and drank and did very difficult work out tapes that combine cardio and weight training. They ranged from 45 minutes to an hour long. I would do these workouts 6 days a week. I had a ton of motivation because it was the year I was getting married. Guess how much weight I lost before my wedding? Not a pound. And over the last 5 years, I’ve gained 60 pounds total. Some of this is because when I would work really hard and not see any results, I’d slack off a bit and in no time, have gained 5 or more pounds. Then it would dawn on me that unless I got back to working my butt off every day, I wouldn’t just not lose weight, I wouldn’t even maintain the hideous weight I was at.
    I’ve tried a ton of different workouts: running, long walks with the dog, various workout tapes including “The Firm” (which worked wonders for me when I was younger), regular elliptical and weight training workouts at the gym and now I have joined classes at the gym. As far as food goes, I’ve done weight watchers (which also worked for me in the past), then tried just keeping my own food journal, and for almost a year now, I’ve used the application “My Fitness Pal.”
    What have I done over the past week? Body Pump on Wednesday at the gym (1 hour), walked the dog for 40 minutes on Thursday, Total Body on Friday at the gym (1 hour), Yoga for an hour on Saturday, another dog walk on Sunday and yesterday, step aerobics for one hour at the gym. According to “My Fitness Pal” the program I’m currently using to monitor my food and exercise, following the plan to lose a pound a week, the step aerobic workout I did burned 700 calories, and I believe it. It was extremely intense. Based on what I ate, I came under 300 calories for what I could have yesterday.
    This is a typical day for me these days as I try to lose weight and figure out why I can’t. I have not lost one pound over the past week…or past month…or past year. I’ve spoken to several doctors, had blood work done and am currently weaning off of a medication that sometimes causes people to gain weight. It may help, it may not. I’m doing everything I can and I am positive I am not alone.
    I’m sure I’m not the only person that reads your blog and has problem maintaining or getting to a healthy weight, despite exercising regularly and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and avoiding fast food. I always wonder if strangers are looking at me and judging me, assuming that since I’m overweight I must be lazy and overeat. My self-esteem has taken a huge hit. Some people have commented that my personality isn’t as strong as it once was.
    To think that an actual friend would look at me and likely assume I don’t the simplest of things-doing some exercise I enjoy for 30 minutes a day and watching what I eat-but rather, am lazy and not conscious of my health and appearance is proof that while I try to think I’m my harshest critic and others aren’t judging me, they probably are.
    I hope you think about my story next time you blog about how simple it is to be thin and wonder why everyone isn’t.
    -Liz (Lawrence) O'Brien

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