For some reason, chocolate just seems to call my name repeatedly during the holidays.
It’s as if the last two months of the year were created to serve as fuel for plenty of “I will exercise more this year”-type New Year’s resolutions that likely will never be kept past the first week.
First, there’s Thanksgiving: I’ve always loved to indulge in turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce (the turkey can’t be too dry, though); mashed potatoes; corn; stuffing; and, of course, sweet potato pie and candied yams.
Then, there’s Christmas: Even more dangerous than Thanksgiving, calorie-wise, with its oven-baked ham, macaroni and cheese, collard greens with rice and, of course,x egg nog and some type of fruit-filled pie to go with it.
And for New Year’s, my mom has always cooked our family’s traditional 15-bean soup. I’ll likely take a stab at cooking it this time. In fact, I’m getting hungry just thinking about all of the scrumptious meals embracing me this time of year.
All of this talk — plus years of old-time positive reinforcement from health class — has led my husband and I to get more serious about working out.
I’m not quite sure how that’s working out, though.
Still, we at least have begun to shop around for exercise equipment at area department stores. As we wait to see if a home we recently placed a bid on will end up being ours, we’re already thinking ahead regarding our working-out component.
Right now, we hardly ever use our apartment complex’s workout facility. Our excuse? It’s too far (especially in the cold, for me). And yes, I agree that’s a very lame one. So we figured if we purchased one or two pieces of fitness equipment to put inside our potential new home, we’ll have no excuse not to start a far more consistent workout regimen.
My husband’s really into the treadmill, while I really enjoy using the elliptical trainer. I like how the elliptical makes me feel like I’m jogging without actually jogging and hurting my joints, back or hips. I don’t mind short sprints, but I’ve never been too crazy about long-distance running. (That’s probably because I get winded easily, which is probably because I don’t work out enough — and the cycle continues.) Anyways, I also like the fact that the low-impact elliptical machine additionally works the upper body using the moving handlebars, unlike the treadmill.
In any event, with high blood pressure and diabetes running in our families, my husband and I certainly value the importance of staying fit — in addition to eating responsibly during the holidays. Angie’s List’s fitness equipment and training companies could possibly even offer some good tips on what kind of equipment would good for us to use, or training exercises we can do to stay fit in 2009. And, I guess, the tip end of 2008.
But I certainly won’t mind splurging on some miniature Snickers every now and then.
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