11.01.2009

School Workouts & Eating Clean.

Several of my colleagues (myself included) have expressed their dissatisfaction with their current states of being. We feel sluggish. We feel tired. We feel lumpy. Many of us have realized that due to the demands of our job, getting to the gym has become an enormous challenge. Solution: bring the gym to school. Last week was our first day of exercise and on Thursday, eight of us joined up in the gymnasium for 30 minutes of an indoor soccer match; guys vs. gals. The guys won when it came to the score, 6 to 4, but we all won when it came to calories burned. I'll tell you what, running around for 30 minutes was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. I haven't run that hard in a long, long while, let alone kick a soccer ball. It was ton of fun and we all left red-faced and dripping with some well-earned sweat.

We've decided that on Tuesdays (this Tuesday will be our first) we'll do some sort of workout video. Thanks to the technology we have at our school, with a laptop, projector and some speakers we can set up our own cardio class in the gym. Thursdays will be our pickup game day; we plan to play soccer, basketball, perhaps some volleyball and maybe even a little dodgeball. The convenience of working out has made a 180 with the use of our school's gymnasium. The eating is a little more difficult.

I read somewhere that abs were made in the kitchen and not the gym...

A friend from college with whom I've kept tabs on through the wonders of blogging, has inspired me to explore the world of eating clean. She's taking it a million steps further with regular workouts and maintaining a very strict eating schedule. I'm not prepared at the moment to do that, but I am going to do my best and work with the schedule I have. I picked up Tosca Reno's clean eating cookbook. So far I've tried the orzo primavera, the quinoa tabouli and I baked the banana apple bread. They were all yummy. The orzo recipe called for whole wheat orzo which I couldn't find, so I did the best I could and found a healthy elbow pasta. Wasn't whole wheat but it was fortified with more fiber, calcium and Omega-3.

One of my colleagues is going to organize a "Losers" club. I think we might pay into the pot each month and whoever loses the highest percentage of weight will win the cash for that month.

And so it goes.

2 comments:

ohchicken said...

she's definitely inspired me as well...even though i haven't made any changes yet. at least i'm thinking about them, right?

btw, i've FINALLY added you to my blogroll. sorry it's taken me so long!

ilene. said...

No problem! I love following all the happenings of your fambly. You're a wonderful writer; I so look forward to your posts. :)