So, we all know it… the Freshman 15 doesn’t have anything on the post-holiday 20!  One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year is to get fit. 

You know, we had borrowed my mother’s Wii Fit over the summer but had to give it back to her when her students came in August.  Then, we got one for Christmas.  I had gained 12 pounds since I was last on it!!!  Yes, TWELVE POUNDS in 4 months!  That is so stinking CRAZY!  The bad thing is, I KNOW the correct things to do, I have just been majorly slacking in doing them.

What is the point in this?  I need to lose some weight and I have some great plans. LOL!  I hope to give you girls occasional updates on my weight loss goals.  But, on to my 10 ways to get fit.

1. Water – How much water do you drink?  Did you know that you should take your weight and divide it by 2 and that is how many ounces of water you should drink each day in order to lose weight and stay healthy?  Sounds a bit crazy, but I promise you it works!  You can change NOTHING in your daily life but this one thing and see a major difference in your weight!
2. Portion Control – This may seem like a no brainer to some of you, but many people have NO IDEA how much they should eat nor what that amount looks like.  No one has the time nor inclination to measure everything eaten.  Remember the five rules below and you should be fine!  Then, look at the foods you eat and see what a serving is.  Most things figure into full and half cup servings.  I am sure you will be surprised (when you get your plate with the below references) how little a serving actually is!
1. 1 cup is about the size of your fist
2. 1/2 cup is about half of a baseball
3. a medium fruit should be the size your fist
4. 3 oz (of meat) is about the size of a deck of cards
5. 2 tablespoons is about the size of a ping pong ball
3. Feed the Dog – If portion control is much too scary for you, take a bit of advice that I learned from my doctor… ALWAYS leave a bite of each food on your plate.  So, you get a regular plate of food and leave one bite of each item.  That one bite isn’t going to make a difference in the scheme of things, but that is a few less calories that you aren’t eating and TRUST ME, you won’t miss them.
4. Eat Less, More Often – You know one of the worst things you can do is skip meals!  Seriously, did you know it is actually better to eat a candy bar for a meal than to skip it altogether?
1. Yogurt
2. 100 Calorie Packs
3. Fruit
4. Nuts
5. Veggies,  etc make great snacks in addition to your regular 3 meals per day.
5. Improve Your Posture – This is a simple trick I learned from Cheerleading.  Obviously we all know that our Core (back, sides, and abs) are the most important muscles on the body (and the HARDEST to tone).  In Cheerleading, you need SUPERB Core Muscles and you want them toned, not built.  So, this trick will fix those AND improve your posture.  Ready?  Keep your stomach muscles contracted at all times!  Here’s the best way to figure the correct tightness.  Tighten your stomach muscles like you are using the bathroom (#2) then relax them just a little bit.  Spend the entire day keeping your muscles tight like this.  After a couple weeks of doing it, you won’t even think about it anymore.   
6. Let’s Get Physical – Do something each day that you haven’t been doing.  It doesn’t matter what you do or even how long you do it, simply do SOMETHING more than you have.  Here are some ideas of super quick workouts that make a big difference.
1. Scrub your kitchen floor on your hands and knees – 64 calories
2. Do 50 jumping jacks – 46 calories and it takes less than 5 minutes to do 50 jumping jacks… in fact I can do them in less than 2 minutes!  Come on, we all have 2 minutes… plus it works virtually EVERY muscle in your body!
3. Play with your children for 30 minutes… just sitting will burn 80 calories! Jumping around will burn close to 150!
4. For more calorie counts for basic activities, see http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-fitness-calorie-counter
7. DON’T DIET! Change your life!  That’s right, one of the biggest mistakes people make are doing diets.  Sure, if you follow through with them, you lose weight.  Then, you get to that ideal weight and you stop dieting.  What happens?  You gain it all back and start over again.  Add some exercise, control portions, and drink water.  All of those things will help you to lose weight and KEEP it off because they are LIFE CHANGES, not diets.
8. Make small changes – Everyone freaks out a bit by healthy meal plans and the like, if you can make just a few changes, it will make a world of difference.  Here are a few ideas for changes:
1. Eat earlier – Change your last meal to 3 – 4 hours before bed.  This way, your body has time to burn it off before you go to sleep.
2. Switch your mayo and dressings to Fat Free.  Many of them taste the same and have much fewer calories!
3. Change from Vegetable Oil to Olive Oil.  Olive oil is MUCH better for you and takes a smaller amount to cook with.
4. Bake, don’t fry!  Baked chicken tastes WONDERFUL and you are losing a bunch of the fat and calories this way… even if you add BBQ sauce.
9. Do Something Fun – We all know that doing something FUN is much easier than forcing ourselves to do something we don’t enjoy.  What do you like to do?  Take self-defense classes, play the Wii Fit, join a Bowling League, plant a garden, go hiking, go shopping!  All of these are fun and physical… if you do them regularly, you will build muscles and burn fat.  Muscles help improve your metabolism… improved metabolism helps burn more calories!
10. Set Goals and Reward Yourself!  That’s right, REWARD YOURSELF!  Set very small goals and larger ones and go all out with rewards.  Come on moms, we KNOW bribery works wonders for the kids… guess what, it does for us, too!  My first goal is to work out everyday for 1 week (I have done 3 days) when I reach that goal, I am going to reward myself with a new Wii game!  One that makes me get up, of course.

*DISCLAIMER – I wrote this post in the hopes of winning a copy of EA SPORTS Active™ Personal Trainer.  Five copies are being given out thanks to Twitter Moms and EA Sports.  I want it… I want it BADLY! LOL!  Even if I don’t win it, I was planning to bring you girls some weight loss tips, goals, tricks, etc with the New Year, so this just forced me to get busy.