Some of My Favorite Things

There are so many products, foods, exercise equipment, etc out there it's enough to really make a difficult task (losing weight) that much harder! So here is a list of some of my favorite things in this category.

Favorite Exercises
I seriously <3 my Wii Fit: I sweat and with the WiiFit Plus I never get bored. I have many different (and fun) exercises and activities at my disposal. I also have a few other "games" (if that's what you can call them) for it like Jillian Michael's Fitness Ultimatum 2009 (which I love) and My Fitness Coach (which I just like)
(**Note: I am not a spokesperson for Nintendo Game Systems or any company that makes games for that system)

I also like Fitness and Shape Magazines. While I don't necessarily care for the exercise pages too much since they feature already skinny models doing the exercises, I do LOVE the recommendations for equipment and recipes.

Favorite Foods
This is a very sensitive subject for me since A.) I LOVE food and 2.) I HATE diet food!!!! However there are several commercial "diet" foods that I always try to keep on hand. Fiber One Caramel Delight cereal is one of my favorite breakfast foods. I also love Jimmy Dean D-lights Turkey Sausage muffin sandwiches. I've tried generic brands of the same thing but they really don't measure up.

For snacks, I LOVE fiber bars of any flavor. The Target equivalent of the Fiber One bars are super delicious!

Fruit, fruit, fruit! I have a strange allergy to some fruits. Whenever I eat fresh fruits I have a reaction that equates to hives but inside my mouth, ears and throat. While not life-threatening it IS quite annoying. So I avoid fresh fruits at all cost. PLEASE do NOT avoid fresh fruits! I would advise you to eat fresh fruits and I prefer locally grown produce over imported! I usually only eat strawberries in June because I can readily get them a few blocks from my house. And since it's one of the few fruits that are grown locally that I'm not allergic to I eat them by the bushel! Last summer my step-daughter and I polished off a whole quart in ten minutes standing at the counter. They weren't even washed because they were so fresh. Picked that morning. We brushed off the dirt and ate them. That's the best way to have fruit!

So to avoid having an annoying allergic reaction while still getting in my fruits I usually eat canned fruit packed in juice or cooked fruit like apple and other fruit sauces. I try to have at least three fruit servings a day...on a good day...

Other Products
Some of the most important fitness equipment we use/need isn't even all that visible in most cases. C'mon ladies, we all know what that is...the sports bra. Yes, the good ol' over the shoulder boulder holder. We've all been there. Running on a treadmill or down the street and by the time you got home you had two black eyes. Either that or you had to move them out of the way to tie your gym shoes! My favorite sports bra EVER is from Target (yes, I shop there regularly; no, I don't work for them either). It's the C9 by Champion Seamless sports bra racerback style. It gives my DD's enough support for low impact exercise but it it's very comfortable with it's thin straps. For more high impact exercises (which I avoid at all costs) I recommend the Icon by Marika Magical Uplifting sports bra, also available at Target. It has wider straps and padded cups.

Some people would say that you have to spend a lot of money to get quality equipment. I'm not so certain. Did you know that a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds? So one of those 20 ounce water bottles filled with water weighs roughly 1.3 pounds. Cheap weights and something that most of us have on hand already. However, if you want "real" hand weights there are a variety of styles and materials available including one that claims to be ergonomically designed for a woman. Like we hold 2 pound dumbells different than a man...whatever. By the way, they DO cost more than the non-gender specific ones.

Well, that's my list for now. I'll keep posting when I think of more. Have a great day!