Intro

Hi. So I watched Julie & Julia recently. Pretty ok movie, but I guess it inspired me to blog about fitness and nutrition. I've thought about blogging before. I participated in a mommy group for about a year when my son was ~1 (he's 2 now so this wasn't so long ago) and some of those moms blogged. Mostly they blogged about their cute little children, which was cool, just not for me. The problem I have with having to keep up with a family blog is that when life is exciting you don't feel like sitting at a computer to type. And when life isn't so much so, then the computer is where I end up, with my husband right behind me doing the same thing, but on sports and political boards he posts to. So, basically, when I'm bored and have time to blog, I usually don't have much to say about life other than "no complaints here"!

So... anyhow, I think I've figured out what I can blog about when I'm bored. I've always been big on fitness but I never really got to be too competitive. I was good at swimming but my HS didn't have a swim team until my junior year. My parents made me quit because they were convinced I'd stay sick the entire season and rack up a bunch of Dr.'s bills and miss school. I did play tennis but I never got that good. I never had the opportunity to do the camps or sports teams outside of school. But, my parents took me on family bike rides often as a kid (although they forbid rollerblades) and took us to the beach and community center pools.

Once I got to college and lived on my own (and had access to a sweet gym) I really upped the anti. I stuck with swimming, running and resistance training. I did some flag football, co-ed softball and round robins tennis (where I met one of my best friends!). Of course, now my college offers both intramural tennis AND swimming AFTER I've long graduated. Big fan of intramural sports, by the way. Then, went to move to FL without a job. Since I couldn't get a job in my field right away I decided to get my AFAA cert. for personal training to pass the time. This is where I found out the greatness of 5Ks. But the rest of my short PT career wasn't so exciting. I mainly had older clients (hello FL retirees) who had Dr. notes urging them to find a fitness program. The problem is they hated being there and actually working for anything. To top it off (and many gyms do this) the owner really pushed the protein shakes, which works well for the owner as he was a body builder and performed in competitions. Not so great for the old people barely braking a sweat... after protein shake they left with more calories then they burned and, with most people's daily meat diet, ample protein (there is an upper limit).

Needless to say, I didn't last very long there and, luckily, what rescued me was a job in my field. But now I had many more resources and education to help sift through all the countless information and misinformation in the diet and exercise category. I've been collecting good articles online that, I feel, are informative to the average person, just in case I ever find the urge to go back into fitness. So, this blog with help me keep to that in a more organized fashion (I hope).

And finally...
The disclaimer. I did not major in health, fitness, or nutrition (or anything similar) in college. I do not claim to be an expert in health, fitness or nutrition and I think those experts can be very helpful and informative. However, while many ladies have no problem spending to go to the spa or get their hair and nails done and many men will spend their free time figuring out a fantasy football team or a new game for PS3, they'd gripe at a PT's or nutritionist's bill and time. I understand this and realize many of these same people turn to the internet, TV and friends for similar advice. Unfortunately, this leads to all the "if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't true" information so I hope I can help some. If you question something I've said, please e-mail me with a reference showing explaining my statement to be misinformation. Thanks!