blog-surfing bits...

Today I am home from work (YAY!) with a sick child (boo). Since Princess Tippytoes is supposed to be napping right now, I am prohibited from blasting music and attacking the scary rooms in my house in a cleaning frenzy. I suppose that not feeling especially energetic today because I stayed up until 2 am last night/ this morning to finish reading a book might have something to with my lack of motivation too. So, what should I do? Hop online, of course!
I began with my beloved Gmail account. In addition to all of the regular email and forwards that fill my inbox, I subscribe to quite a few e-zines and blogs. Today was the perfect chance to catch up on all (well, some) of the articles that I've been missing lately. Inevitably, those articles have links to other articles or websites and before you know it, the blog-surfing has begun! So, what "share-worthy" things did I find today? Here's a few...

While reading through a post on The Simple Dollar (totally my favorite thing to read online right now!), I heard (read?) yet another reference to "The Fitness Ladder". Since I have been walking regularly, I have been feeling good about finding a way to fit some exercise into my busy day. The problem that I've been having lately is that I'd like to up the ante... increase what I'm doing. I tried adding an extra block or two, but I've found that all I get is sore legs, feet, and/or ankles. That's not a good thing to do in the morning before walking into a classroom full of students with autism... students that require you to be on your feet almost all the time! Time to investigate further... I clicked on a link (or did a search, I'm not really sure) and found this page (gotta love the title... "What, Me Exercise?"). It basically outlines the why and what regarding "The Fitness Ladder". Just reading through the top portions of this page, I felt I'd finally found someone that understood my feelings about exercise! The bits about exercise calling up all the unpleasant memories of high school gym class and how there were sooooo many other ways that I'd rather be spending the precious little bits of my free time... can we say kindred spirit? Scrolling down a bit more reveals a logical arguement for why we should exercise, backed up by one of my favorite programs, MS Excel. Handy, dandy spreadsheets (that I can alter and personalize, no less) to prove his point? Gotta love it! And then we get to nuts and bolts of "The Fitness Ladder" Here's a quote that sums it up pretty well:

Since exercise seems, on the face of it, so distasteful and the time devoted to it stolen, perforce, from other more pleasant activities, I've designed this exercise program around the following goals.
-Minimum time per day.
-Time spent doesn't increase as you progress.
-Easy to start, regardless of the shape you're in.
-No pain.
-Progress at your own pace.
-No equipment needed. Exercise anywhere, in private if you like.

Sounds good to me! I scrolled further to find an outline of the program- a ladder that you ascended the rungs of, to attain physical fitness. Each rung is comprised of a given number of repetitions of 5 exercises that can be completed in about 15 minutes- that's 15 minutes total, not per exercise. At the introductory level (the first 15 rungs), the exercises are: Bends (toe touches), Sit ups, Leg Lifts, Push ups, and Steps (actually running in place alternating with jumping jacks). He recommends staying on each rung for a minimum of 5 days, but beyond that, you just progress at your own pace. The Lifetime Ladder (rungs 15-48) actually contains the same exercises at a bit more challenging level and, of course, more repetitions of each exercise. Only 5 exercises? And I know how to do most of them already? Where do I sign up? I enjoyed reading this page so much that I began to hit the back arrow at the top (or bottom) of this page to see what else he had to say. What I discovered was an e-book (?) called The Hacker's Diet written by John Walker, "an engineer by training, a computer programmer by avocation, and an businessman through lack of alternatives". Because of his unique background, he presents a completely different viewpoint and attack-style than any other dieting/fitness/health-person/guru/author that I've ever read before. He comes at it like a) "somebody who spent most of his life fat," b) an engineer/ computer programmer/ businessman, and c) a regular person that had "decided being fat was a problem to be solved, not a burden to be endured". I haven't read it all yet, but what I've read so far is good enough for me to be posting this here and recommending it.

And, as if that wasn't enough, I also found this little gem through a link at "Blogging Away Fat" brought to you by Tricia, who also does Blogging Away Debt. (These are 2 of the newest additions to my email subscription list. Definitely check-it-out worthy!) Tricia brought the myth-busting to life with a link to One More Bite and this visual (and accompanying info). NOTE: you may not want to click this link while eating or just after eating- it's not bad, but it ain't appetizing either!
"What is it?" ask the squeamish that couldn't bring themselves to click for the visual? It's basically just a replica of 5 lbs. of fat vs. 5 lbs. of muscle- See? Not even the real thing, you big baby! The accompanying info basically just talks about how 5 lbs. is 5 lbs. but that 5 lbs of muscle is leaner than 5 lbs of fat. This article definitely helped me reckon myself with the scale because I've been stuck within the same 5 lb window for a while now and, as much as I write that "it's okay because of this or that," I'm getting a little tired of not seeing progress on the scale. It's especially frustrating when I have been feeling better, healthier, and more energized... when I know that my clothes are fitting better and I've been buttoning up clothing that hasn't been buttoned in years, if ever. So, I thought that this link/ article was "share-worthy" just in case any of you are stuck where I am- on a plateau.
And, since I've written on and on for soooooo long about just these 2 things (and there are a wealth of other links to click on within the links I posted here), I'm going to stop writing so you can go check them out now. Happy blog-surfing!