We ♥ Wii!

So it turns out that I've never been the dieting type. I feel like diets - no matter how big or small they are - just aren't realistic for me. I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm pro-healthy and feeling good and keeping your body in tip-top shape. I really wish I was better at being a health fanatic but the truth is, I'm not. And I think that's the way it will always be.

I go in spurts where all the groceries I buy are things to make salads and eat fruits for snacks. I'll go through a spurt here and there where I want to exercise every day (I'm having one of those spurts right now). But it's really hard for me to keep at it. Maybe because I have a hard time sticking to something long term (not relationships, for any of you single available men that might be reading this), hence the gypsy-ness of my life. But I hope that's not because I'm lazy or lacking some important part of my brain that helps a person stick to something longer than three weeks or a couple months. I'd like to think I'm just realistic, not lazy. But then again, realistic varies quite a bit depending on the person.

Realistic for some people ( some being the operative word here) is eating only organically certified fruits and vegetables, abhorring all things sugar, and going to the gym eight times a week so that they can fit nicely into their size zeros.

But realistic for me is a little different. It's trying not to sit on the couch all day and maybe doing an hour of exercise here and there. It's trying not consume an entire bag of chips or box of oatmeal cream pies in one sitting and stopping at half instead. It's trying not to eat at In N' Out or Chick-fil-A more than four times a month (which is working out nicely since Ukraine has yet to catch on to any American franchise except McDonalds... which if I'm being honest, I have eaten at more since being here than I ever do in the states. Grrr, dang it for being honest!). And it's trying (with some serious exerted effort) to have a balanced lifestyle between the food I consume and the activities I perform. Its exhausting really. I can't even imagine how it must be for those who are on a perma-diet and in perpetual motion with all the exercising they do when life's not happening.

But enough of that. Let me get to the point of this post...

I'd like to thank my brother-in-law for the gift he got for his wife for Christmas. He got Traci a Wii and the Wii Fit program and can I just say that I am LOVING it?! 

Not only have I learned some really fab yoga poses that are stretching and strengthening things that I didn't know I had, but it is motivating me to be more exercise prone. I have faithfully done a body test (weighing in and calculating my BMI) and some sort of exercise (sometimes only 30 minutes of yoga and a few other activities, but still...) every night for the past 13 or so days. And it is motivating me to do more than that even. I know, can you imagine?! But I was on the elyptical a lot last week - I "ran" a total of about 33 miles - on top of my nightly yoga and strength training on the Wii. And tonight starts a brand new week of elyptical and yoga lovin'. Bring it!

There are a lot of Wii critics out there that argue that it doesn't really do much for you, exercise-wise. They say that the yoga isn't realistic and that you need to be in an actual yoga class with all its proper serene-ness for it to have its full effect. And they say that the strength training doesn't really strengthen anything at all. Which may be true for some people. Maybe for those people that can afford to work out at the gym every day or those whose bodies are naturally strong because all they eat are whole grains and carrots.

But let's get real here - there are some of us that are just not good eaters, despite how hard we try,  and have a hard time sacrificing our daily intake of chocolate. There are some of us that haven't been to the gym for ages for various reasons. And there are a lot of people that just don't feel comfortable prancing their spandex-clad bootie into a yoga class for the first time (or even the hundredth time). Like I said before, it's just not realistic for some of us.

So to those critics out there I say mind your own naturally strong, super motivated, whole grain, carroty business. If the Wii can motivate a person like me to get the couch off my butt for a little while and do a little physical exercise, then it's doing a dang good job if you ask me. And if it can help me set goals and stick to something for longer than a week, no matter how small it may be, then it deserves a freakin' award! And if nothing else it can motivate me to eat better, then for crying out loud, it is well worth the purchase (not that I spent any money on the Wii that I'm using, but you get the point).

Besides, they're probably just jealous of those of us that learned yoga and crazy good balance skills on the Wii - we get a personal animated trainer who talks to us and encourages us all along the way. I call mine Bob.

Maybe he can help me do this one day...