10 ways to get your child outside

Stuck in the indoor rut? Please go to my column to see 10 ways to get your child outside.

Weight loss and fitness just for Moms!

By popular demand, I have written an article for my Examiner column about fitness for moms. A few of my writing friends contributed their success stories, and then I interviewed Michael Carroza, a fitness instructor who runs a boot camp for moms who want to lose weight or just get back into shape. Although he doesn't know what it's like to be a mom, he works with them very closely to help them achieve their fitness goals, and I think he has given very realistic and encouraging advice that includes nutritional guidelines. Read the article here!

Fitness Articles at my Online Column

I have been hard at work on some youth running articles for my column. Here is the link for an article on how to start your kids running cross country.

My next article is going to be about weight loss after baby. None of us look like Angelina Jolie, who looks fantastic when she comes out of the hospital! For you real moms out there, if you were successful losing the weight and are willing to be quoted, please email me at ekgeroldmiller@gmail.com and tell me: HOW DID YOU DO IT?

Author's addendum: This article is now completed and will be published shortly.

Falling Off the Stability Ball

Balance is the key to life (Elephant on ball)

Like many other thirty-something moms, I am ever on the quest for firmer abs. My newest addition to my fitness equipment is an apparatus that has become increasingly popular on all the fitness shows. It is called a “stability ball”.

Much to the chagrin of my children, who wondered what this huge (72-inch in circumference) hot pink ball was doing on my bedroom, the ball is not for kicking or throwing. There are videos with very specific techniques in which one balances on the ball to increase the effectiveness of the exercises.

If you have ever seen this ball being used in info-mercials, let me tell you that it is much harder than it looks! The supple athletes on the show seem to effortless balance, doing the exercises with no strain and a smile on their faces. It is quite another scene in my living room.

Kids in school and toddler in bed, I bring my stability ball downstairs and turn on the video. First I’m supposed to sit on the ball and do sit-ups. This is definitely not what I thought it would be like. The ball keeps rolling from side to side. I wonder if I have filled it properly. Will it burst when I am finally able to sit on it? At long last, I am able to perform the sit-up properly and realize: this is really hard work!

Next the instructor is lying sideways, leaning casually against the ball as she does obliques. The ball gets away from me. The dog, stretch out on the couch, opens her eyes and looks at the ball, then me. She thinks I want to play. “Don’t you know I’m too old for this? I just want to nap,” she tells me with her eyes, then closes them again.

The final move defies logic. She is standing on her head, rear-end in the air, with her feet on the ball. “How bad do I really want this?” I ask myself. I feel the pouch of baby fat in my lower abdomen. “Bad enough to try.” I modify the move into something realistic.

The cool-down is delicious. I think about the stability ball and how it is much like the life I have chosen. We have been living on one income for most of our marriage, and my husband is self-employed. Financial instability is how we are used to living – but I count myself lucky. In the good weeks we save, and when a major appliance breaks on a bad week, we have no need to panic.

Others, who have thought themselves to be secure in a good job, suddenly find themselves unemployed and don’t know what to do. Their stability ball has burst underneath them. We have relied on self-discipline to keep our way of life; they have it suddenly forced upon them. No one’s life is completely secure, but we knew it all along. In the long run, I think our way is less stressful.

All of us need Christ to keep us in balance. As the economy falls around us, affecting more of the people we know, depleting the food pantries in our churches, we reach toward each other more, both giving and receiving. We turn to God more often, both in supplication and in thanksgiving. Let us never forget that we never have to go it alone.

“Why do you glory in your strength,
your ebbing strength, rebellious daughter?
You who trust in your treasures, saying,
‘Who can come against me?’”
Jeremiah 49:4

Stair Climbing for Winter Indoor Exercise

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.”
I Corinthians 3:16-17

Warning: While intended to inspire, this essay is not one that will make you feel good by passively reading without subsequent action.

I fell off the exercise wagon this winter. It must have happened sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the effects are now undeniable.

It annoys me when women blame their weight gain on having kids. Sure, a nulliparous twenty-year-old can have a flat stomach without working out. We have to do crunches every day to net the same effect. A young woman might get away with skipping exercise for six months with little noticeable effect. Within a month, an over-thirty-five’s jeans no longer fit.

Age and multiparity surely have their effect on a woman’s metabolism. But with a purposeful attitude toward diet and exercise, the whole family can benefit from Mom’s judicial lifestyle practices. Wise shopping, cooking, and daily family walks can keep the entire family in good health and spirits.

Having had gestational diabetes in my third pregnancy, I took that as an “early warning” that I was at risk for developing diabetes later in life. This has been an added incentive for me to keep myself physically fit.

But when it gets cold outside, the excuses mount, and I am no exception. I may send the kids outside for daily exercise, but I really do not like winter weather. With young ones around, and no off-limits rooms, I do not consider weight equipment to be safe. And try working out to an exercise tape with a toddler – those kicks and arm movements may delight the baby but she is not going to give you a safety zone in which to work.

I have a few cardiovascular movements involving baby that can build muscle and get your heart rate going. One is crunches with baby sitting on your tummy. She loves this! And the extra weight on your stomach enhances the benefits of the movements. Another is holding the baby out in front of you and bringing her up over your shoulder level. This also is fun for her, and great for your upper body. And, throughout the day, simply holding your baby directly in front of you rather than on your hip will help keep that “pouch” in check.

Stair climbing is my favorite fallback. It requires no fancy equipment – just your time and motivation. This winter I had numerous excuses to not do this. Most importantly, the baby wants to follow. And when she is napping, I am afraid to wake her up.

But this week I realized I had to stop my continued denial of my winter weight gain. I realized I was relying on my stretchy jeans beyond week 4 of my cycle. During the months of January and February I did a colon cleanse, drank apple cider vinegar before meals, and ate organic grapefruits. They might have cleanse my system but did nothing for that five pounds of abdominal fat. There was no easy fix here. I really had no choice but to get back into exercising if I was to fit in my bridal dress for my sister’s wedding this summer.

So, yesterday, all excuses were put aside. I put the baby in for her nap, took off my shoes, and started running up and down the stairs. I did this ten times before running out of breath. It was a good start. After doing that, I felt so mentally energized that I sat down and sent off a poem to a magazine, and a book proposal to a publisher.

Today, I was determined to reach the benchmark of twenty, but knew I was not yet ready to do this consecutively. I did five, then continued at a slower pace as I accomplished other tasks. On each trip, I would jog around the floor looking for things that had to go either up or down the stairs. This gave me a little breather between the more demanding climbing. After number 15, I swept the kitchen floor. I ran up the stairs and cleaned my bathroom (16). I ran down, out the door, got the mail, and brought it up (17). I ran down for a glass of water, brought it up the computer and turned it on (18). Two more times and I was done. The housework was done and I was ready to get into writing mode!

The workout can be enhanced by doing warmup calisthenics beforehand, and a cool-down. As you get used to stair climbing, you can add light weights. Simply holding them while climbing boosts the cardiovascular and muscle-building effects of your movement.

If you live in a ranch or your stairs are under construction, you have a good excuse not to try this at home.

Stock Photo Above: Arc de Triomphe by Francis Toussaint