Hi, guys!
With 3 weeks to go until our uber-active sea-kayaking vacation, my husband and I are in a desperate race to get in shape. More specifically, we want to trade in our round jiggly shapes for something a wee bit more toned and svelte.
After devouring half a bag of marshmallows with complimentary graham crackers and chocolate during this past weekend’s camping trip, I could not have been more delighted to hear that my husband was on board for a new gut-and-butt-busting routine. We were drawing the line in the sand and together it was time to trade in comfort and our ever expanding waistlines for a new commitment to health and a smaller booty.
While Dr. Phil would advise we take on a “no-fail environment”, removing all offending substances from crackers to ketchup in support of our weight-loss effort, we decided to live on the edge, going for more of a “temptation and decadence around every corner environment.” When we arrived home from camping I handed Jeff the marshmallows and remaining Hershey bar from the weekend’s fire-side revelry and unceremoniously request that he toss them in the trash. To this he replied, “Let’s keep them in the freezer until our next camping trip. But the catch is we can’t touch them until then. Anyone who eats the s’mores fixings between now and then pays a $100 fine!” We shook on it and then added limits on wine consumption and made a commitment to forgo desert until our next s’mores –gasbord 2 weeks hence!
We started well. Monday we were up at 6 am for our run. Jeff rocked it, going 4 miles while I wogged (walk-jogged) 3, just happy to be awake to greet the gorgeous morning outside. A sensible dinner of couscous and spicy- kale (It really was better than it sounds) and we were off to the races!
Tuesday morning we were up again at 6 am, and began with our normal warm-up chat on the way to the trail, when I innocently asked my sweet husband how he ate the day before.
“Ok” he responded with a little shrug.
I look over, interested, “Ok?” I asked, with one eyebrow cocked. “What was just ‘ok’ about it?”
A sheepish look came over his face as he revealed the reason for the “ok”.
“I had a Clark Bar after lunch.” He grinned.
“Ohhhhhhh! I hope it was good.” I grinned with zeal. “Please do not pass go. Please deposit $100 into the savings account at your earliest convenience.”
He put up an honest fight, protesting that his chocolate transgression was not the s’mores stuff in the freezer, nor was it “dessert” because everyone knows that “dessert” only comes after dinner J . However, after a lighthearted conversation we both agreed that it made no sense for freezer and dinner sweets to be taboo while having a carte blanche on anything store-bought consumed before 5 pm. And so he acquiesced, the savings account received an unexpected deposit and we both got one step closer to taking ourselves and our commitment to health seriously.
Doing What it Takes
)
Coach Joelle
