Exercise? !#**%@!*

I've never been a big fan of exercise. I am sedentary by nature. My favorite activities are reading, watching TV, writing, scrapbooking. . . . Unfortunately, none of those are aerobic or toning. . . which is what I need right now. Shane and I are fortunate enough to live in a fairly large home (albeit old :~) So a couple of years ago, we remodeled a downstairs room into a home gym. I call it the "Rainbow Gym" (in part because it sounds happy and cheerful, and in part because we literally painted it the colors of the rainbow.) We have a bright blue ceiling, a purple wall, lime green wall, yellow wall, and red wall. It is a bright, happy, cheery room to be in, which does help, I must say. Of course I haven't used it very much -- hit or miss basically. Shane has done somewhat better, but not much.

Now that we are on this New Life Adventure, we are trying to do better, so we reorganized in there yesterday. Currently, we have a treadmill, a universal weights machine, an ab lounger, a mat, a couple of hand-held weights, a couple of "attach-to-the-door-or-wall" stretchy pieces. We have a scale and each of us has a small bulletin board where we are tracking our personal goals and progress. We weigh-in each morning, take measurements twice a month, and record work-outs each day. Since we are in mid-summer, the bulk of my work-outs have been in the pool (ours is a simple above-ground model 20 ft round) -- I use my fun noodles to do crunches and tornadoes in the water, or to support me while I bicycle. Sometimes Shane and I use each others' resistance to add to our work-out, or as an anchor while we do crunches or other toning exercises. Shane (analytic by nature) has measured and marked off the posts of the pool and has calculated that every 15 laps is 100 yards, so by the time we've done 5 rotations of laps, we have walked (or swam) over 1/4 mile. Not too bad, when you consider the resistance of the water.

Several days this week, I have added in a walk after my pool work-out (trying to get rid of that stubborn pound that didn't want to go . . .). Today, it was 1.5 miles in 30 minutes. I am short -- and fat -- so that is not too bad. I was walking @ 3 mph (in case you don't want to do the math -- I know I wouldn't).

Still, no pounds gone (except for that one stubborn one that was clinging for dear life). But, hopefully I am toning and improving -- and I am still holding on to the fact that I've lost 20 lbs in 3 months. AND -- I'm hoping to see the scales go down even more this week.

If you're trying, too, hang in there -- we didn't get here overnight, and we're not going to get out overnight. But if we have faith, and persevere, we will eventually get there.

Check out this quote: "Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did." -N.G. Ain't it the truth???????

And now, today's recipe:

Fruit Smoothie

If you've never tried fruit smoothies or only get them at those expensive smoothie places, do try your own! They're so simple. Just be careful not to go over your fruit servings. Feel free to experiment with your own combinations!

1 frozen banana, peeled and chopped
1 C frozen blueberries
1/2 c cantaloupe
6 oz. pineapple juice
6 ice cubes

Put everything into blender, pulse until consistency you want. Pour into glasses with spoon or straw and enjoy -- just be careful of the "brain freeze" :~)

BTW, depending on your health care provider's recommendations, you might need to avoid cold foods, so this is a treat in moderation for that reason. But wouldn't it be delightful after a long work-out?!?!?