Kill the Lazy Bug

The next part of the Put That Fork Down & Start Moving Around plan was to start moving.  At different times I had used every excuse in the book, like:

I don't have time
I'm too tired to exercise when I get home from work
I don't have time to exercise in the morning before I go to work
I don't want to mess up my hair
I don't want to spend money on a gym membership

Any of these sound famiiar?  When I really thought about it, the real reason was because I was too lazy.  As long as I used any of my trusty excuses, I felt like my lack of exercise was justified.  The Bible has a lot of scriptures about laziness, but the one that I thought summed it up best is Proverbs 13:4  Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.

You can want to get healthy and loose weight all you want, but you will get no results. OR you can work hard and prosper in your body with a healthy life!

At my job, I sit at a desk pretty much the majority of the day, and I would go home after work and aside from cooking and eating, then I would basically sit in my favorite recliner, wiped out from the day.  I was hardly moving around at all.  However,  my ever tightening clothes led me to get moving.  I didn't run out and get a gym membership, I didn't start out trying to run a half marathon, or buy P90X (although I already had  P90X, and hadn't touched it in over two years).

Like I've said earlier, when I had this whole get healthy revelation, I was recovering from surgery, so my ability to exercise was limited; but I didn't want to wait until I had clearance from the doctor before I started full-blown exercise.  So I started where I was, used what I had and did what I could.
At my job there's a small gym, so I would walk on the treadmill twice a day for 15 minutes on my breaks.  I wasn't power walking or anything, just a nice and steady 2.5 to 3.0 pace.  That way I stayed within my medical restrictions, didn't sweat out my hair, and got away from my desk.  Just that 30 minutes of walking each day I would burn up to 90 calories!  I would walk on my lunch our to go and pick up my lunch.  On at least one day of the weekend I would walk around my neighborhood for anywhere from 15-20 minutes.

I was using Myfitnesspal to track my movement and I was pleasantly surprised to discover how many calories I was burning by simply walking.

This alone eliminated most my excuses I had for why I wasn't exercising:  I had the time during my breaks at work, I wasn't sweating out my hair, and I hadn't spent one penny...it doesn't cost a thing to walk!

Once I got clearance from the doctor, I started gettin' my groove on at Zumba.  I don't like exercise, but  I love Zumba; for me it's a great way to trick my body into exercising by telling it we're dancing!  In an hour of Zumba, depending on the energy you put into it, you can burn 300-500 calories!  If you're not familiar with Zumba, it's a dance fitness program created by dancer & choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez.  Zumba has dance and aerobic elements and the routines have moves like hip-hop, samba, salsa, and merengue with the occasional squats and lunges thrown in.  You might think, "How is dancing gonna get me to loose weight?"  I'm here to tell you, Zumba gets your heart rate up, you are moving and shaking things you forgot you had, and you get your sweat on!  There are classes everywhere, just Google what's in your area.  If you're in the Las Vegas area, there are two FANTASTIC instructors whose classes I go to:  Sheila Poole (who happens to be my sister) www.sheilapoole.zumba.com and Blanca Fehlman blanca702.zumba.com.  Click on the link for more information about their classes.

My point is, once I got moving, combined with cutting back the amount of calories I was eating, I felt better and I looked better.  I was getting my stamina up (when I first started Zumba I felt like I was gonna go into cardiac arrest), and I was getting stronger.

I discovered with exercising, I had to find something that I really enjoyed.  I had tried gym memberships, P90X, and other things that I really didn't like, therefore I never did any of it for very long.

I encourage you to find what you like, try new and different ways to get moving, every little bit counts!  Kill that lazy bug, and burn baby burn!

In my last blog I promised some recipes, I just tried this one tonight.  It had been swirling around in my head for some time, it's based on a recipe I had found that used rice.  I substituted quinoa for the rice, threw in lots of veggies and came up with this recipe...I found it to be very tasty.  I hope that you will try it and let me know what you think.

Very Veggie Quinoa Gratin

1/2 Cup uncooked quinoa
1 Cup low sodium chicken broth
1/3 Cup chopped celery
1/2 Cup chopped onion
1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow squash sliced to 1/4 inch thick
2 zucchini, sliced to about 1/4 inch thick

4 roma tomatoes, sliced to about 1/4 inch thick

Table salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup rough chopped of your favorite mushrooms
1 cup spinach & kale salad mix
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

1/2 cup grated Parmesan, divided
Preheat oven to 450°F.
In a sauce pot, melt the butter and sauté the onion, celery & minced garlic over medium low heat.  Cook, stirring constantly for 4-5 minutes until the onions begin to get translucent.
Add  the chicken stock, cover & bring to a boil.
Once it's boiling, add the quinoa, reduce the heat to medium low to low heat, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes until all of the liquid has been absorbed & the quinoa has fluffed up.
While quinoa cooks, coat two large baking sheets each with a tablespoon of  of olive oil. Spread the squash & zucchini on one baking sheet and  the tomato slices on the other baking sheet in as close to a single layer as you can. Sprinkle with salt & black pepper. Roast tomatoes for 10 minutes and zucchini for 15, then remove from oven. Leave oven on.

Combine mushroom, kale & spinach, quinoa, eggs, thyme, half of your grated cheese and a half-tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl. Add a bit of salt & pepper.  Use the remaining olive oil to coat an 8x8 baking dish. Spread the rice mixture in bottom of dish. Arrange a layer of the zucchini & squash, then a layer of the roasted tomatoes. Sprinkle with remaining grated cheese and bake until set and golden brown, about15- 20 minutes. Remove from the over and let set for about 5 minutes.  Serve hot.

A few people have said they've had trouble posting a comment on the blog, I've discovered that you have to have a gmail email account in order to post.  The good thing is that creating a gmail email is free!

Until next time, keep it moving!