Like everyone, I want to avoid holiday-related weight gain. Like everyone, I also want to enjoy the White Tiger's Grandma's egg nog, a river of gravy, and plenty of liquid cheer. I want it all. I want to eat my stuffing, but not have to stuff myself into my party attire.
To that end, I am employing various holiday-theme strategies. The main concept is balance. I plan on up-ing the exercise-output to compensate for the additional delicious-ness holiday-food input.
To wit. This weekend we celebrated one of the demographic's high holy days: Franksgiving. A festival of Jessica's cooking, spreadsheets, wine, pie, and money all at Frank's gorgeous Sherman Hill apartment. Jessica does the cooking, and before we ate, I insisted she give us a little tour.
How does a gal compensate for a spread as magnificent as that? First, I attempted to limit my intake at family-Thanksgiving. Onion pie is good, but I was happy to skip it along with seconds. I did manage to eat one and a half pieces of pie, though, and partake in several bottles of wine (and some authentic Templeton Rye) with the Thelen side of the family.
I also forced the White Tiger and Lexi to attend a Thanksgiving-morn spin class at the YMCA.
We usually attend Tomoko's class because a) she is adorable and yells out various Thanksgiving food items you are burning off while pedaling you into the ground. b) Dina's nickname is "the destroyer." She's got arms like a San Quintin inmate and she throws in a fancy little trick called a spin-up with makes your quads quake like a bowl of cranberry sauce. But, we had to get to Anita (a whale of a town) in time for a noon dinner. Dina's class was nearly full and in no time sweat was pouring off the grimacing faces of newbies and old salts alike.
Another holiday-theme strategy I am employing this season is participating in the "Holiday Weighs" program at the YMCA. Before Thanksgiving, you weigh in and if you manage to not gain any weight over the holidays, you get a prize (knowing the Y it will be shoe laces) and you are put into a drawing for a gift certificate to Fitness Sports. Mama needs a new pair of shoes! No, literally, I do need a new pair of running shoes.
Both the White Tiger and Lexi have volunteered to participate with me, along with a few friends who are participating unofficially. The White Tiger even plans to lose 2-pounds before the end of the year.
Lexi and I established a fitness-through-the holidays goal for our working out routines as well. We set a goal of 5-work outs a week, and one of them needs to be outside. Usually, when we set little mini-challenges for ourselves, we have a prize in mind for the end, but neither one of us could think of anything. Which may be why I am having such a hard time keeping up with this mini-challenge. If you've got suggestions for prizes, put them in the comments.
Another mini-challenge that I've been falling behind in is the 100 Push-Up Challenge. The Mayor mentioned the challenge while the White Tiger and I were visiting Boulder, and we firmed up our commitment when we were hanging out at the Sprocket Shower (where, I am not going to lie, I ate two cupcakes).
While I did the fitness test (15!), I have yet to actually start the program. I think about it. I say I am going to do the push-ups, but then I blame that fact that I haven't printed out the chart or whatever. I was also discouraged when the Mayor described my girl-push ups as kind of wussy. I attempted a few manly push-ups after Dina's class only to collapse in a grumbling, angry heap.
Then, I received this press release. (The only politics I follow are mayoral).
Press Release -- From the Office of the Mayor -- Boulder, CO -- November 25, 2010
The Mayor recently made some comments to Norman R. Rice regarding "girl push-ups" while attending the baby shower of his wife in Des Moines, Iowa. From his recollection, the comments degraded the girl style push-up and asserted that they didn't count as real push-ups.
After embarking on the beginning stages of the 100 push-up challenge, the Mayor has been better informed about the difficulty of ANY push-up -- regardless of style (girly vs. regular). He would, therefore, like to rescind his previous comments and apologize profusely for any judgment that might have been associated with these comments.
The mayor truly understands that this incident was not very "mayor-like" and would like all his constituents to know that he will make sure to censor his bullshit so that it is less judgmental in the future. He will pay back his debt to Norman R. Rice by buying her one ice cold Coors light on the first day of RAGBRAI.
My discouragement was quenched, not only by the prospect of free beer, but also by the fact that someone else was finding this mini-challenge, challenging.
I'll take heart in the fact that the average American gains seven pounds during the holidays. It's hard to balance wellness with merriment. In previous years, I would have let myself fall face first into a pool of sugar cookies and egg nog, but this year, I am at least acknowledging the set backs that kind of skinny dip may have on my ass(ets). Armed with a plethora of mini-holiday themed challenges, I hope I won't look anymore like Santa when I finally get to New Years Eve.
