Cutting Calories or Moving your butt?

Well it looks like a toss up when it comes to which is easier or harder: cutting calories or moving your buns. Personally I have a harder time with the calories. I do love to eat. My family loves to eat. I mean we enjoy food and everything about it: cooking, the smells, textures, tastes and most of all the great fellowship that happens around a well spread table. So, . . .I find it much easier to eat and work it off later.

Neither is easy, though, to be sure. You should see me sucking wind as I climb these hills. I actually wouldn't choose one over the other in your overall plan to stay healthy though. Making sure you cut calories and that the ones that make the cut are the good kind is just as important and increasing your heart rate and sculpting your temple.

There is research that shows if you were to just choose one, cutting calories would ultimately make you lose weight faster. But here's what I found. Exercise is healthier in the long run. If you just cut calories and lose weight, you are still left with saggy remnants of a bigger you. Your metabolism will slow down and your energy stores will be depleted. I think being thin without the ability to run, lift, or enjoy the active part of your life is missing the point entirely.

If you do, however, incorporate daily exercise into your routine and marry it to a healthy diet you will have more energy, feel better, look better and live longer (of course there are things beyond the far reaches of exercise and diet that dictate this last one, but they help anyway).

So I posed the question to not only see what you all would say, but to also deal with each others' weaknesses.

If you answered that cutting calories is harder, tell us on the facebook page what you do to motivate yourself for a great workout. If you answered that moving your buns was harder, help those of us who have a hard time saying no to our cravings.

Thanks for continuing this journey with me and remember to participate.

What would you do for a Klondike bar . . .

Or a double portion of chocolate fudge brownies slathered in Reese's cup ice cream in my case?

It being "that" time of the month for me, I stood gazing at the bowl of goodies and thought, "Is it worth it?" I suddenly heard a loud shout coming from deep inside me with a resounding "yeah baby." After my indulgence, I went outside and mowed the lawn. Since I was already sweaty and stinky I decided to get in some hill work.

Well, 10 hills later (jog down and sprint up) as I jogged home panting and dripping, I thought, "I'd do it all over again!"

That's the key . . . don't worry about eating those "good" things every once in a while. Just be willing to make the full commitment to it and have no regrets!