I'm Going Clubbing!

One of my Dad's favorite authors, Jack London (1876 - 1916), noted:

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Whilst this American adventurer/author was talking about writing, his words of wisdom can be applied to other endeavors. And so I hereby announce to you that I am joining CLUB HASAY, and you can too.

It's Casey's brilliant brainchild, a blogger's diet and fitness club. The name, an acronym for Half As Small As You is a clever wordplay by her husband Jamie on the title of her blog, Half as Good As You.

Here's the first assignment at CLUB HASAY. Please comment here if you plan to join, so I know to keep an eye out for your posts over there.

First Assignment (Anyone starting late in the game can catch up by starting here):

Write and publish a blog post on your site detailing the following information:

1. What motivates you and why do you want to do this challenge? It may be that you’re training to run a 10K or merely just to be able to walk to the mailbox and not break a sweat (don’t worry, I fall on this end of the spectrum).

2. What is your long term goal? Do you want to lose weight or just tone your body. Are you trying to fit into your old prom dress for your upcoming reunion? Do you want to want to “pump yourself up” like Hans and Frans? Spill it.

3. What is your long term weight loss goal? You don’t need to tell us your current weight, just how much you’d like to eventually lose. This can be in weight or inches. Jamie and I have a sewing tape measure that we use for our weekly measurements. We got ours in the sewing section at Wal-Mart, if you look at Target, you won’t find it.

4. What tools are available to you? Treadmill, elliptical, jogging stroller, ThighMaster, Trampoline. Maybe a rabid dog to chase the weight off?

5. How often can you exercise? Be realistic here but try to make as much time as possible. This might include stepping AWAY from the blog for a couple of nights a week. I know, *gasp*. I’m crying on the inside too but it needs to be done. Fatty. Ok, that was mean and it won’t happen again. I promise.

6. What do you plan on doing? Beer curls, switch the remote to the other hand for a few days, start smoking more. Maybe you want to actually exercise and start eating better? I hear that never works but go ahead and try if you want.

7. What has worked for you in the past? Let us in on your secrets, what has worked for you before and how you went about it. We won’t tell.

Alrighty then. Here are my answers.

1. Need to get healthy. Want to encourage Amazing Girl Child to do the same, because she has inherited my chubby bunny genes. Modeling good behavior is important, right? Also, we're doing this monster road trip and I want to be able to walk more than one block in NYC without collapsing. I have a month to pull it together and build a bit o' endurance. This is a much longer lead time than I typically give myself to achieve a goal, which is usually a day or two.

2. I want to build up my cardiovascular system so that I can walk up hills without wheezing like an obscene phone caller run amuck. I want to wear clothes without looking like a walking tent.

3. I want drop 100 pounds. Yes, I really need to. Trust me.

4. An amazingly wonderful fitness center - have I mentioned how much I love my city government and the people of this community, who jointly made it a reality? Also, friends to walk with and beautiful places to walk. Again, thanks to public lands - federal, state, county and city. (Bet you wondered if this would be a politics-free post, eh?)

5. At least three days a week, but will try hard for 5-6. Once we get on the road, some days will be all driving, but others will be exhausting invigorating, filled-with-walking adventures.

6. Walking, using the fitness machines, swimming (great swimming fitness classes!) and eating right. So long, soda pop.

7. South Beach diet worked for me beautifully, but I am a bread lover. And there are pastries in my future. NYC has a few bakeries, I've heard. And so does Charleston. So I may try a modified South Beach - cut out mediocre carbs, load up on veggies and lean meats and fish. But mostly, I will walk my butt off. Here's hoping.

I'm excited about this opportunity to build community with others who are trying to make positive changes in their lives. Especially since Casey and her clubbers all seem like a bunch of fun smartasses. Because while I totally want to reduce my ass, I certainly don't want to dumb it down. Anyone else in on this?