Get In Shape, Girl!

As previously mentioned, I have always had a hard time losing weight. As a kid, I tried exercise videos, but they got old quickly. Why watch Richard Simmons sweat to the oldies when you can sweat to your own oldies...or go outside and sweat to whatever music you want, or none at all?

I did classes, too, when my mom was an aerobics instructor. They were ok, especially the kids-oriented ones my mom did, but the end of the aerobics craze killed the cheap ones (and the studio where Mom formerly worked).

I've tried walking routines, too, but I'd rather ramble and go somewhere than try to keep track of your heartbeat and your zone and this-that-and-the other thing.

The only "sports team" the Cape May County Special Services District had at the time was a floor hockey team for boys only, and that only in my last half-there, half-regular-high-school year. (It enraged me that I couldn't play. I didn't care how brutal the guys got. I just wanted to have fun!)

I played field hockey in high school, and I'd love to again...if an adult female field hockey team existed outside college. Not to mention I'd lose the weight during the season, but I'd gain it all back again over the winter and spring, since field hockey was the only sport I played.

Soccer? No thanks. I saw what it did to my sister. Softball? Can't catch or throw worth beans. Basketball? Can't shoot to save my life, and I run like a snail. Cheerleading? Me, in those skimpy outfits? I had a hard enough time with the field hockey uniforms. Besides, I'd never be able to lift the girls or jump high enough. Swim races? I don't swim any faster than I run. Tennis? My serve never makes it over the net, and there's that "slow" thing.

I can do a few sports. I have a nice volleyball serve. I rocked at Ultimate Frisbee. (I can still throw a mean frisbee.) I did manage to figure Field Hockey out enough that I actually got to junior varasity after two years (not that I played much). My family had a badminton net for a couple of years in the late-80s and I got pretty good.

The only thing I did in college was walk and go for occasional leisurly swims with my friend and (for a time) roommate Amanda. Those "leisurely swims" came in handy the long weekend after the bombing of the World Trade Center - there couldn't have been anything more theraputic for both of us than goofing off in a heated, quiet pool. Going for a long walk around campus on 9/11 was a big help to my well-being that day, too.

I did an on-again, off-again walking routine in Wildwood, but I'd usually succomb to boredom. The proximity of the boardwalk in the summer and it's many high-fat food joints did not help. On the other hand, I did often go for long, rambling walks across the Wildwood Islands, especially in warmer months. I took pictures of some of the Doo-Woppers in Wildwood Crest on one such ramble...which turned out to be more useful than I had planned, as many of those hotels were torn down just a few short years later.

I slacked off last year after I moved, partially due to the hoopla during and after my move, partially because of my nasty knee accident in mid-July.

I'm trying to figure out how to lose weight without losing interest. Right now, I'm doing three days a week of yoga and pilates, alternating them each week. (Pilates are this week.) I'm still walking, though I'm trying for further locations. I'm considering dance classes when my knees are up to it, and I may take a yoga course when I feel ready, too.