Aha! It’s Working!

After writing the post on the “9 Reasons To Start A Fitness Plan”, it actually did motivate me to start using some of the equipment in my “kitchen gym”. I have discovered 2 new things.

1) I need to do my exercise as soon as I get up in the morning (well, after 2 cups of coffee and 2 cigs. I don’t advocate the cigs). When I think back on when I was so successful walking every day, that was the routine. I had a walking buddy and I would either try to wake up early enough to get in the coffee, or if I was late I just woke up, got clothes on and we left. Yesterday and this morning that is my routine. Already today I was ready to flake on myself, but with the exercise equipment right there, I have no more excuses. No matter what time I get up (I get up at 0 dark 30, much too dangerous for walking by myself) I can exercise. I also found myself exercising for a fast 10 minutes last nite while baking biscuits for dinner. While I realize not everyone has a huge kitchen (kitchen, dining room combined) if you get imaginative enough, it’s amazing what you might come up with. My stepper and ball fit easily under the dining room table out of sight and out of the way. My abdoer is placed like a chair at the kitchen table. My weights, exercise bands, and bars sit on the window sill around the dining area where they are easily accessible. The only thing I have left is to bring the exercise bike in and I will be ready for circuit training! Obviously, if I’m having a formal dinner I wouldn’t want that stuff sitting all over the window sills, but this way I can gather it all up in just a few minutes and put it out of sight. In the meantime, I have it ready to go any time I am in the kitchen. According to the exercise gurus, exercising 10 to 15 min. at a time, 3 times a day can be just as effective as working out for 30 min. straight. This works well for me right now as I have been pretty sedentary for several months now.

2). The other thing brought to the forefront of my consciousness this morning as I was roaming thru blogs and message boards is the fact that when we drink water, we should be drinking ice water. I’m not sure if I knew this or not. I do remember reading about drinking ice water when you first get up in the morning, but never gave it much thought after that. Every one just harps on how important it is to have the water. If you make it ice water it works even harder for you as it takes extra calories for your body to warm the water to your inside body temperature. While this is a very small change, when you figure you’re drinking 8 to 10 cups a day, it could add up. Anything I can do that’s this relatively easy to squeeze burning even a few more calories out of every day is a “do” for me!