Okay, *f.a.t. sisters, it’s October and you know what that means, the holidays are right around the corner. Life gets crazy with the kids, holiday parties and our jobs. Fitness routines fall by the wayside and before you know it, it’s January and you’re ten pounds heavier.

Let’s prevent that from happening. Set a goal to run a race a couple months out, that you have to train for during November and December when all that pumpkin pie and egg nog is filling your fridge. It will force you to stay on track through the crazy holiday season, and probably help you deal with the stress a whole lot better too!

Every year there is a local half marathon in January that I sign up for so that I have a reason to keep up my fitness routine. It may sound stupid to add something else to your plate during a very busy time of year, but it actually gives you a break from the hustle and bustle, and it even keeps you from spending too much money! I know that sounds odd, but when you exhibit control in one area of your life, it helps you in the other areas as well.

Since January is the time for making resolutions and setting new goals for the year anyway, why not decide to give yourself the amazing experience of completing a 10K or half marathon? Everyone should attempt one at some point in their lives!!!

You can start by walking your first. Check out the step by step 12 week training program at halhigdon. Hal makes it easy to follow the day-by-day training schedules for novice, intermediate and advanced runners. So, pick a local race or walk, sign up for it and give yourself the gift of health during the holiday season. Take a look at the races near you, at Runner’s World.

 With the advent of electricity, Americans get on average, three hours less sleep per night than our ancestors did before the light bulb. Now it seems that all of the latest electronic media and gadgets are an even bigger distraction, causing widespread sleep deprivation that has a great percentage of the population hooked on caffeine and energy drinks to get them through the day.

I have always been a person who becomes a poorly functioning zombie after just one night of poor quality sleep or not enough hours of sleep. My body needs a full 7 to 8 hours, and if I get 6 I won’t be thinking clearly halfway through the next day; less than 6, my body literally starts breaking down until I take a nap. I will start to get a headache and often even a scratchy throat until I take a nap and get that extra hour my body needs. So, I am always amazed by people who can consistently pull “all nighters” because of a partying lifestyle, heavy studying, crazy work hours or motherhood. 

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Many years ago I got injured running and I was looking for a good alternative that would provide similar cardio results. I am not graceful or coordinated so aerobic and step classes scared me. Mainly for the injuries I could have caused other people by tripping over them or missing a step. Spinning seemed like a great option.

Spinning is the closest thing I have found to running in terms of the quality of the workout I get. You sweat your ass off, give most of your major muscles a good workout in a short amount of time, and raise your heart rate. As you know, I am a busy mom, so I am all about the best bang for your buck in the shortest amount of time when it comes to working out!

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Hey moms, I know these are penny pinching times and you may find yourself at Wal-Mart for all those weekly must haves, but pass on the Wal-Mart water and go for a different brand for now. I found an article on Yahoo News which discusses tests that were done on many bottled water brands. Two brands were not good. One of which was Wal-Mart bottled water. It had high levels of contaminants. These contaminants were things like: bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium. Yum. Just what I want in my water! Staying up on our water consumption is great, but the last thing we want is to be doing more harm to ourselves than good! And we certainly don’t want our kids consuming all of those chemicals! Wal-Mart disputes the study, but while the jury is still out, read the full article and perhaps buy a different brand in the meantime!

Every mom knows that a million little tasks stand between us and quality time with our children.  Munchkin   is a company that makes my job as a mom easier.  I have been a fan of their products, for awhile, using their SnackCatcher everyday for my kids’ snacks on the go. But now it’s not just their products that are getting my attention. Their Project Pink campaign has also made me take notice of some great efforts happening to aid the fight against breast cancer.

Project Pink is putting a spotlight on breast cancer prevention so that moms don’t let their own health take a backseat to their duties as mothers. When you think about it, our number one duty should be staying healthy for our kids, or none of the other things we do for them will matter!

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Okay, f.a.t. sisters I have a couple new gadgets to tell you about that will aid you in your running and other workouts. And since I’m not quite as gadget-phobic as Suzy, I volunteered to do the research on these babies!

The Garmin 405 Forerunner is now on my Christmas list. A running friend of mine just got one so I was able to check it out a bit. With this watch, you can track your speed, pace, mileage, calories burned, and distance, and it weighs about as much as a handful of nickels. No more. No less.

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I know that you either have to be a football fan or from Arizona, Iowa, or St. Louis to know who this guy is, but since I am from Arizona and do know who he is, I thought I’d share the wealth of such knowledge with every woman who, either isn’t football fan enough, or married enough (husbands know who he is), to know the name that goes with this face. (Your dude might even have a man crush on him).

He’s such a Fit After Thirty Hotty that I had to make Kurt Warner our f.a.t.ty man of the week - especially after Sunday’s Cardinals win over the Cowboys. (Nail biting game, by the way!) I was lucky enough to be in AZ to see the game; and something about the experience of sharing the drool towel with my sister as we ogled him while he sweat his way to victory, reminded me that I’d be doing a disservice to women who don’t watch football, if I didn’t make you all aware of his existence.

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Good Morning Charlie!

Who among us did not pretend we were Kelly Garrett when we were little girls playing Charlie’s Angels with our friends? Jill and Kris Munroe (Fawcett and Ladd) were too blonde for me to pretend to be them and Sabrina Duncan was too tall and skinny for me to imagine I ever could be, and plus, she wore that lame half moon necklace all the time. What was up with that necklace? 

But Jaclyn Smith’s character had her own unique brand of sassy, glamour, beauty and brains combined. Who else but her could make little girls everywhere grow up with aspirations of sitting around the desk of a nerdy guy with a weird voice while taking orders from a faceless voice over a speaker? She even made running in high heels while carrying a gun look like a fascinating and desirable thing to do. Although, my fascination with that didn’t stick into adulthood, because I’m afraid of guns and truly despise the pain and discomfort of walking fast in high heels, let alone running in them!

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One of the reasons Michelle and I started this site was to inspire women to be the best versions of themselves that they can be. We wanted to help combat the negative stigma attached to the word “fat” by redefining it, while also reducing women’s stereotypes about aging. We think it is inspiring to read about other women’s health and fitness success stories.

There are so many women who have found a way to either successfully overcome health and weight issues, or who have managed to maintain a lifelong fitness regimen allowing them to ward off health and weight issues. We are going to start showcasing “real women” with “real” lives who we think are great role models for all women! Sometimes all it takes is one positive story to give a hopeless person the extra boost of motivation that she needs! These stories are from ”Real Women” Fit After Thirty Hottys submitted by readers. Our first story was submitted by Anh Fergis from Scottsdale, Arizona

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I have a bone to pick with the tabloids. Actually, a bag of bones. A bunch of scrawny, meatless bones. An entire newsstand full of brittle bones.

A few months ago, it seemed I couldn’t go to the grocery store without being bombarded at the check out stand with ten stories of “overweight” celebrity women. If it wasn’t a body bashing story about a female celebrity who had let herself go, then it was a story questioning whether a celebrity was pregnant because of a barely visible belly bump. When that got old it was an analysis of which stars had cellulite. 

Now it seems that all the exposure of “fat” stories had the predictable effect on young Hollywood women, because lately, the tabloids seem to have replaced the overweight stories, with tales of the dwindling sizes of the stars. It would seem that some actresses may have finally cracked under the pressure of the scrutiny and dieted themselves into paper dolls. Can’t you all just hear the editor now: “Cool; now we have something new to criticize them for! Let’s label them all with eating disorders; that’ll sell a lot of magazines!”

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