betsyschow

Snack Smart: Snack with intent

How many times have I meant to grab a handful of chips for a snack, then before I knew it the whole bag was gone? More times than my five year old can count.

Easiest solution? Don’t go for the open ended snack. Figure out exactly how many calories you have budgeted for your snack, set aside the correct number of your chosen yumminess, then have at it. When its gone, its gone.

For me at least, I have a compulsory need to finish the plate, the bag, or whatever container its in. I blame my mother and the whole “Finish your plate, there are starving children in China”. So measure and make the bag smaller.

Pay attention to each bite, otherwise, the you might look down and find the bag empty and have no clue where the food went. Aside from the crumbs on your cheek.

Know thy characters

So I just finished the novel I’ve been cowriting with Caleb Warnock. He invited me on board his project for two reasons.
One: He’s insanely busy being a bestselling author an all.
Two: He was having major trouble with his main character- a female.

As I delved into the meat of his manuscript, the problem became clear. He didn’t know his main character. The voices of every other POV character and side character rang true. But for some reason, Hallie’s voice was stilted and awkward. I believe my exact words were that she sounded like an 80 year old tea maven. So my job was to rewrite her point of view so she could be heard.

It took some work, but I did it by following one of my ten writing commandments: Know thy character.

It’s the same process I use in any story I write. Before I go spinning yarns into chapters, I sit down and have a chat with each character. Even though the little details will likely never make it into the book, I want to know this character’s whole life story. I want to know their first memory. If clowns scare them. If they have any odd or quirky habits. Who beat them up in high school. Or maybe they were the one doing the bullying.

This serves a two-fold purpose. Characters are memorable when they are interesting and have depth and feelings. And secondly, if I know my character, it is easier to correctly portray their thoughts and reactions. The rest of the story often writes itself because I can see what they will do, just like a movie in my head.

So now that I am done with Hallie’s story, I am off to start a new one. My new main character is Bertha Jenkins. She’s adopted, sat on a bully in third grade, her house has a roof the dips down in the middle, and she may or may not have gotten married on elephant-back in India. (she’s still working out the legalities) She enjoys religion hopping and is currently working her way through Taoism.

I’m sure there’s more, and Bertha will have to tell me all about it.

Fitness Tip: HIIT

Before you hit the weights, start with 5 minutes of HIIT. High Intensity Interval Training. It will kick you into that fat burning zone before you do lifting.

Here’s an easy way to do it: Hop on a bike. move the resistance up a few notches. The ride at an slow and easy pace for 45 seconds. Then for the next 15 secs. pedal for all your worth. Repeat this four more times for the 5 min total.

The Long Run: Workout Barbie

Barbie: Every woman’s has had one, nearly every woman wants to look like one.

How many of us actually do? Not a lot.

I’ve been going to my Zumba class work about 6 months now. There’s a lady I have chatted up many times. Let’s call her Workout Barbie. She looks remarkably like the picture above. This Tuesday, I felt particularly frustrated with her super tight buns as I watched mine jiggle in the mirror. After class I went up to her and asked what I had been wondering for the last six months.

“So do you look like this naturally or does it take a whole lot of work and I’m just not working hard enough.”

Luckily she had a sense of humor and didn’t smack me. She actually answered.

“Some of it genetics, my siblings are both pretty small. But I come to the gym for at least 2-3 hours a day and starve like a barbie. It kinda sucks.”

I laughed out loud. I couldn’t believe she was so honest. “But it works. I mean don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re hot. And your butt is amazing.”

“Thank you. I’m glad it looks good. But it still sucks.”

That made me think. Would I rather live a happy fulfilling life and keep an imperfect body. (fit, but still a little jiggly around the edges) Or would I rather have the perfect body (as much as genetics allows and 5% body fat) and never look at a carb again and keep up a routine that makes me miserable?

It feels like I am miserable when I am fat. But trying to meet the Barbie standard makes me miserable too.

Guess I’ll just have to stay fit and healthy and make peace with my flab-ulous imperfections

The LIST

So right now I’m chained to my computer. I can literally feel it chafing against my ankle. It’s either that, or tweaked from running.
The reason I am stuck here is a little thing called a deadline. As in my Work in Progress needs to be submitted to my editor by Tuesday. I started 2 weeks ago. Sound crazy?

It’s actually someone else’s book that was finished, but needed a whole lot of work. But his life is crazy and he needed some help to meet the deadline set by his publisher- which coincidentally is my publisher. So he asked me to co-author it with him. It needed some voicing fixes, plot fixes, and brand spanking new ending. I am currently in the middle of said ending.

But while I am plotting of how to get Cynhtia (my character) out of the mess I stuck her in, in the back of my mind is the LIST.

There seems to be so much to do and not enough time to do it. I need to meet my deadline, but I worry that the mountain of laundry might tip over and smother my 2 1/2 yr old. I’ve got three blogs to keep up with. Mormon Mommy Writers and Finished being Fat both have Saturday updates due. The kids are crying to go the park. Oh, and my marathon training says Saturday is a 14 mile day.

And that’s the shortened list. The longer list includes all the things I need to do before the years up. I’m going back to college. My father in law is getting remarried. All the edits and marketing work for the two books coming out in early 2013. The June marathon and 3 other half marathons I signed up for.

By this point in my worrying, I’m having chest pains. The underside of my blanket is starting to look really good.

The point of this post is to remind myself that I can only worry about one thing, one mile, one race, and one chapter at a time. Anything else is counter productive. I need to make a plan, then trust that plan will work as I follow through. I’ll let you know when I manage to stop sweating the details.

Exercise for the Soul: Top 5

This is an exercise I really need for myself today. You can join along if you’d like.

List 5 things that you love about yourself. I’m going to be big and brave and post mine. I dare DARE you all to post yours in the comments section. Shout it out

1. Fuuny (or some people say snarky. either way)
2. Loyal
3. Open hearted
4. Kind (most of the time, unless there’s traffic)
5. great at problem solving

Aww. I just gave my self a big ol hug. Seriously though, it sounds cheesy, but I really do feel a bit better. A lot of time, we don’t hear enough good things about ourselves. Now it’s your turn…

Potpourri: Water Weight

Here’s a factoid with something funny my friend said. The human body is made up of between 60-75% water. More when you are a newborn, and decreasing gradually as you age. That’s probably why you get all wrinkly as you get older.

I was explaining this to my friend and she demanded to know, “So if we both have roughly 65% of our bodies as water, how come my water weighs so much more than yours?”

Dress For Success: Lose 10 pounds in 30 seconds.. or at least look like it

This tip is an oldie, but a goodie. And one you’ve heard a ton from your mom and grammy.

Stand up straight! Go stand in front of a mirror. Now stop cringing, you look fine. Now experiment with different postures from the side view and front view.

When you round your back, you lose an average of 3 inches in height, but gain a nice big tummy roll. Happens to the best of us. I am notorious for this. I have a very rounded back, and horrible posture from years of being heavy in front. Even know my husband regularly reminds me to straighten up.

Another thing to try is whether you prefer your look with hips tucked in or butt out. Look in the mirror and try it. If you have a J.Lo booty you want to flaunt then go for it. Notice the way it may also puff your chest and ribs out, depending on your shape. For me, when my hips are tucked underneath, I seem to have a longer, leaner look.

Experiment and see what suits your frame the best.

Snack Smart: Swap out the sour cream

Above is the Nutritional data for a cup of sour cream

Now for the data on a cup of greek no fat yogurt

Way better for you. A great sour of protein, and without all the horrible fat. Next time you have a baked potato, try swapping your dollop of sour cream for a greek yogurt instead. I really like it and swear by it now.

Fitness Tip: Take the long way home

So you already know it’s going to be a busy Monday huh? No time for the gym? Well instead of feeling guilty, bring the workout to you. Do things throughout your day the hard way. Here’s a few suggestions:

-Don’t take the elevator, take the stairs
-Park your car in the farthest spot so you have to walk farther
-Do a few squats while you are doing dishes
-While doing housework, put on your jams and boogie
-Don’t leave your shopping cart in front of your car. Return it all the way back inside the store to walk the most

Move Move Move. If you are busy anyway, making sure you keep moving all day (hey that rhymes!)