I’ve always been very active… walking a lot every day and constantly on the go.  But somehow or other some pounds crept on since we’ve been living here in Mazatlán.  I think there are a number of reasons  that I’ve gained some weight -  I am really enjoying cooking again – and  there are some wonderful breads here in Maz – and breads are my weakness.  But I have also figured out how to make my famous pizza dough using local ingredients.  Oh, and I have probably been having a bit too much wine.

All of this would be moot if I had been exercising like I know I need to in order to maintain my weight.  Unfortunately, even though I have my fabulous Nordic Track I hadn’t been exercising regularly.

But then I went to a party and later was treated to a picture of myself from the back.  Holy Cow!  I hit the brakes right there.

So I started using the Nordic Track every day and sweating to my iTunes exercise playlist.  I am recording what I eat (again) in a program I purchased to track food, exercise, weight, and all the rest.

Then I started getting bored so I downloaded some exercise videos and have been alternating with some of them.  Yoga (which Paul does, too), Callanetics, Tae-Bo,  and pilates. Both of us know how important it is to be flexible and we are really working at it.

Paul can’t do the Nordic Track and we both thought an exercise bike would help our effort.  So we hit the stores and bought a spinning bike.  I took the little tv that wasn’t being used and we hooked it up to a DVD player and now we can watch the first season of Lost that we have on DVD and when we’re done with that I’m going to download some bicycle rides through Italy to inspire us.

I set up the floor fan so it can blow on us while we work out.  It is a pretty cool setup, if I do say so myself.  When we bought the house we didn’t understand why the former owner made the bathroom so big, but now we see the advantage!

I’ve lost 8 pounds so far and am happy with my progress.  But more important than that  is that I know I can keep this up.  We are also taking a long walk on the malecon without the dogs three times a week, and we both love that.

During the summer here it is much more challenging to exercise outdoors so turning on the floor fan and sweating away just a few steps away from a cool shower will be great.

What do you do to stay in shape and push yourself when you aren’t in the mood?  All comments are welcome, I mean it!