My Book,
"Fitness Rants For The Chronologically Enriched"
Is Really Ready!.
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Greetings!
68 days until school starts.
Thinking about trying to keep the TV turned off all summer makes me exhausted.
My kids have been out for two days,
in dog years.
It's always a bit of, shall we call it,
a transition,
before the Hoff family gets in the summer groove.
This morning we pumped up tires on one bike,
tracked down another that had hibernated all winter in a neighbor's garage
and we all watched in wonder as my older son's knees hit his chin every time he pedaled.
Did he really grow that much over the winter?
or did someone put a midget's bike in our garage?
But one thing is certain,
these kids need their own wheels. Otherwise, it's the shoe leather express.
Or more likely, I will drive them.
Because they HAVE to have SOMETHING TO DO.
When I was a kid,
the one sentence that I remember saying to my mom all summer long was,
"What is there to do?"
I remember being so bored that I don't think I would've required sedation for surgery.
Then Mom would suggest snapping green beans or she'd hand me a dish towel.
Did she really think that turning the crank for hours on a sieve for canning tomatoes was what I had in mind? With tomato juice up to your elbows, sloshing and itching like crazy?
There is a maternal law written somewhere that activity suggestions made by moms
are always the childhood equivalent of suggesting that kids poke sticks in their eyes.
So instead, I'd slink to the back yard to resort to my back up plan for ultra-boredom;
looking for four leaf clovers.
If I was feeling more ambitious,
I'd try to swing so high on the swing set that it's front legs would lift, so desperate was I for excitement that I was willing to flip the entire swing set over on myself.
Then maybe somebody'd pay attention to me.
Even a trip to the emergency room would be better than summer boredom.
Clearly , my preteen habit of needing SOMETHING TO DO is still going strong at 46. Only it's metastasized-
into me wanting EVERYONE TO DO something.
No matter how hard I try to relate to my fifteen year old son sleeping until noon and staying up until midnight as if it's the new circadian rhythm; the most natural cycle in the world to sleep when it's daylight and wake up when it's dark,
I still spend all morning resisting the urge to go in there and get him up SO HE CAN DO SOMETHING.
But
sometime this week I expect to snap back into myself.
I've learned that I need to have a plan.
I'm an emotional eater so when I find myself in a vaguely distressing situation that I can't solve immediately, like the looks of my fingernails after this morning's tire pumping session and the odds of me getting a manicure before Labor Day zilch,
my reflex is to go look in the fridge.
Food soothes me.
But the answer is never in the fridge.
So the trick that I've learned to keep myself out of the kitchen is to talk to myself about it,
(or to write about it here, this helps too)
and to identify the difference between my discomfort in our new summer routine and the feeling of hunger.
So by realizing that I'm anxious from driving back and forth across town six times in two hours or
that no one (but me) will answer the bi-minute phone calls
although it is NEVER for an adult
or
I'm at loose ends because we can't find the X-Box cable that we bought yesterday for X-Box Live and after finding the cable, we still for some unknown reason,
cannot hook up to the internet,
then I can do any of the following:
-I can admit that food may comfort me but ONLY TEMPORARLY. Afterwards, I'll feel worse.
-Find something else to do that also soothes; polish my nails, perhaps, surf the web, go to the gym.
-Tell myself I have NO CHOICE. I know that if I don't refrain from emotional eating, I strengthen my "giving in" muscle and
loosen my ability to control my "snacking" muscle.
The more you give in,
the easier it is to give in next time.
The reverse is also true.
The more you resist unplanned snacking,
the better able you are to say no
next time.
- Tell yourself that you have to decide:
You can either eat when you feel stressed
and gain weight
OR
You can learn to tolerate mood swings and get (or stay) thinner.
Next week, our summer transition should be complete and
I will give you some of my secrets for staying with your workout regime on vacation.
If you don't hear from me, don't call me.
I could possibly be sleeping in.
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Fitness Rants For The Chronologically Enriched
By me
Finally,
I am so happy
and relieved
(not to mention embarrassed that it took so long)
that my book
is finally
hitting the bookshelves.
It is available on BarnesandNoble.com and will soon be on Amazon.com.
I never like to do things the easy way, plus I am a genius at inventing crazy money making ideas (that often just end up being crazy.)
So my idea is this: if you have enjoyed even a few of my newsletters
(FREE OF CHARGE, mind you!
Where I just so happen to pore my aerobically conditioned heart out
each and every week)
and would like to see me stay financially fit enough to continue with my newsletter production,
won't you please contribute to the United Hoff Kids College Fund
and take a look at my book?
After over forty issues of my
Workout World newsletter,
I am looking at a budget that
will need CPR
if it continues as is.
Call it extortion, or better yet, think of it as a subscription.
That being said,
GET IT HERE
or check it out at Booklocker.com
or read more at my website
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Wanting to check up on how Karen Newman is doing?
Check out her blog here
Yours In Fitness,
Penny
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Penny Hoff
Penny Hoff's Workout World |
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