2.6 min readBy Published On: May 28th, 2011Categories: Blog0 Comments on Summer Body by Heather Foley

Holy crap! Is it really Memorial Day weekend already?

What the hell happened to spring?  Doesn’t Mother Nature know that I count on a slow gradual inching to the warm weather of summer to make me realize I need to wear shorts soon but my thighs look like big ol’ hamhocks?  (To all the English majors out there, I’m quite sure I murdered proper grammar with that last sentence but cut me some slack, ok?)  Mother Nature can’t just hit me with 80-degree temps and expect me to be ready.

Avoiding the scale

So generally I’m pretty good about diet and exercise but I have to admit, I’ve been seriously slacking lately.  And I have to be really careful, if I loosen up on the reigns too much I start to look like the love child of J-Lo and Jason Varitek (if you don’t get that reference it means, it means I get a big fat ass, and also you should probably expand your horizons beyond dungeons and dragons.)  For me, the first sign I’m spiraling is avoiding the scale, like if I can’t see the number creep up I’m not really gaining any weight.  My clothes are only tight because they shrank in the wash….all of them.  So to keep on track, I need to weigh myself every morning, yuck.

I know everyone is different, but my nutrition and exercise choices are always better when I have someone to report to.  Just like a bratty little kid, I need someone to hold me accountable. Try it, tell a friend you’re looking to shape up and ask them to keep their eye on you.  Don’t feel comfortable asking a friend?  Ask me, [email protected].  I have zero training but I’ll tell you to stop eating cannolis if that’s what you want.  And speaking of cannolis, for me nutrition is a much bigger piece of the puzzle than working out.  I know that even if I kick ass in the gym I’ll have an ass like a bag of wet clothes if I don’t keep my diet in check and boring as it sounds, that means basically making everything I eat myself. 

Boys in the weight room

I cook the vast majority on Sundays and Wednesday night – not very sexy but it gets the job done.  Now as far as exercise goes, I try to do 6 days a week, the keyword being “try.”  I don’t always make 6 days a week (especially the last 2 weeks, yikes they’ve been bad), but I try.  And I try to do cardio and strength training each day and if I only have time for one or the other I always pick strength training, and its not just because there are boys in the weight room.

So that’s what I’m doing for the next 4 weeks until the next holiday weekend.  I mean that’s when summer for real anyway, right?  And we can totally lose a couple pounds and inches by then!  We’ll see!