Top 12 Diet Weight Loss or Fitness Valentines Day Gifts Ideas

Tomorrow is

Valentines Day! Wheeeee!

I just finished shopping for my husband and it was truly delightful – our 14 years of marriage has given us a great sense of comfortableness and enjoyment, not to mention a healthy appreciation of each’s other’s, ahem, sensual potential. I can’t post what I got him yet, as he reads my blog, but suffice it to say, it will look really sexy on him. :)

So! Onto the top 12 Valentine’s Diet and Weight Loss ideas!

12.) An Amazon gift certificate. Now now, don’t look at me that way – Amazon has thousands of great diet/weightloss exercise goodies at super discounts and bargains! If you give this, your recipient can pick and choose to his or her’s hearts content and you know the final present will be just what was wanted.

11.) Sweetleaf No Calorie/No Carb Sweetener. Clocking in at luxurious tastes, this power-packed drop gives intense flavor to coffee, water, oatmeal, yogurt, etc. It comes in chocolate raspberry, apricot, cinnamon, vanilla creme and many more!

10.) Richard Simmons Workouts. Don’t believe me? RS has highly overweight people who are featured in his workout videos like Sweatin’ to the Oldies III, and you’re left thinking, gosh, if they can do it, I can do it too! Highly recommended.

9.) P90x. The ultimate in extreme home fitness, it compels you to work different muscle groups on different days and actually delivers on its promises. I’m currently on Day 45 of it myself! eBay has it at great discounts too.

8.) Spa Gift Cards. Every person wants to relax…and a great spa day or relaxation hour is a perfect way to tell your lover how much you care.

7.) Love Coupons! Why not print out a free love coupon that you can give to your Valentine, redeemable for a night of unforgettable delights, an hour of wondrous massage, or heck, breakfast in bed or one load of laundry done?

6.) Ekornes Stressless Chair. Okay, true, these cost over a grand, so it would certainly make a statement! But I have to tell you, it’s the most comfortable chair on this planet and really takes off the pressure on your lumber spine. I have one currently as my office chair, and it’s pure heaven.

5.) Tiger Balm. This ointment is perfect for rubbing on sore muscles after fatiguing workouts and is cost-conscious to boot!

4.) iPod/MP4. Not only can your Valentine listen to music while working out, he or she can also download free exercise/fitness apps for it to keep track of workouts too! And you don’t have to buy brand-name – the generics work just as well and are centuries cheaper. I wrote a long how-to about this topic here.

3.) Dance Dance Revolution DDR. Omigosh, I cannot begin to rhapsodize about how many calories you’ll burn nor how much fun you’ll have doing this particular game! You stand on a dance mat, listen to music and try to move your feet in the right spot at the right time. You can even battle each other! It’s tops in my household here.

2.) Childhood comforts. What causes your Valentine to think back on a childhood comfort? For me, for example, it’s my LL Bean houserobe that my mom got me, oh, hmmmm….lesseee, 15 years ago. I refuse to give it up and even got my kids ones that are similar. Do you know what translates into ‘comfort/safety/warm fuzzies’? If so, get thee hence to eBay and look for it – chances are, you’ll uncover it and be able to offer one truly unique gift.

And the Number 1 idea for a great diet weight loss or fitness Valentine’s Day gift is:

1.) Let your Valentine See Into Your Heart. Write a poem, or a story, or simply why you utterly adore your Valentine…put some signature scent into the paper, roll it up and tie it with something beautiful, and hand it to him or her on Valentine’s Day. I guarantee…it will make the most incredible impression…..ever. (need a poem idea? Check out this one about which I blogged awhile ago).

Enjoy!

Barbara

ps – and of course, you can always go with:

P90x Review – Back Biceps, Week 7, Day 3 – Total Days – 45

Hi everyone,

Today’s P90x workout was back and biceps. Wow, I really love the pullups/chinups, but gosh, I wish I could do more than 4 unassisted ones!!!!!

Oh well, perhaps my body simply wants to teach me patience. Yes, that must be it. :)

I will admit, however, that the program is going swimmingly. And tomorrow is Darth Yoga again – bliss! :)

And that’s Day 45,

Barbara

ps – some extreme home fitness goodies:

Owlbert Gadget Tech Guru Has Returned!

Morning everyone,

It’s been awhile, I know….but two days ago I was seized with an insane desire to bring Owlbert out of retirement!

Known as the Commander of Clarity, Owlbert’s site will be dedicated to identifying trends before the rest of the world does, thus giving readers the edge over their friends and colleagues.  He’s written several great blog posts already – go check him out, follow him on Twitter and enjoy!

 Owlbert

Enjoy,

Barbara

I LOVE Darth Yoga!

Morning,

I’ll post my P90x update later on today, but for the moment let it suffice to say:

I ADORE Darth Yoga!

What is, Darth Yoga, I hear you ask?

It’s the P90x DVD called YogaX. I fondly started referring to it as Yoga Death because it was suuuuuch a killer workout; then other super moms started calling it Darth Yoga.

You see, if you’re not big into yoga yet, you’ll find the P90x YogaX to be, well, brutal. Excruciatingly so, I might add. It has you hold positions you probably never saw since you were 5 years old, stretch muscles that you never even knew you possessed, and generally causes extreme fatigue if you’re not used to it. Back when I first started P90x, I utterly despised this workout.

But! As the days and weeks went by (I’m on week 7 now), my body started to actually enjoy the benefits this particular workout gave, most specifically in the stretching and flexibility aspect. After all, sitting for 76 hours a day in front of your computer is guaranteed to get the softest muscle stiff and achy…and being able to stretch everything out and relax is true goodness for your body.

Thus, after my morning workout and programming, I boldly slipped in the DVD and pressed PLAY. 1.5 hours later I was done, and my body purred, thank you! It’s about time! :)

And now of course, it’s back to work. :)

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – some great P90x goodies include:

P90x Fitness Review – Plyo, Week 7, Day 2 – Total Days – 44

Afternoon,

Plyo treated me really well earlier in the day… (that’s the good news) but the not-as-exciting news is that my body was toast afterwards (I did major workouts the day before and wow, was I sore).

So! I bravely treated myself to Darth Yoga afterwards, and that was just what the doctor ordered – it helped me stretch and loosen my body very well indeed.

As always, the best part of Plyo was the kick-over-the-chair goodies; my daily 800 karate kicks workout have really helped me get those far more smooth.

And that’s Day 44,

Barbara

ps – some nifty Tony Horton Goodies:

Great low-carb resources and forums online

Morning!

So! You’re looking around for great diets and the like…and you decide you want to try out low-carb (ie, low carbohydrate). How should you start?

Great question! First, start from the beginning at:

Next, there are bunches and bunches of very friendly sites online, including:

and lots of places for low carb recipes, including:

And finally, what about low-carb blogs? You can get some great insights at:

Check out the resources above – they’ll really give you some great insights about starting a low carb diet.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – some low carb goodies include:

“How does she manage to do that with her kids?”

Morning,

Today as I dropped off my kid at the gym’s child watch, I heard something that made my heart smile.

My kid had forgotten to bring in his toy car in with him, and realized that after we entered the child watch place. Now, it was about a bazillion degrees below zero outside, so when said kid asked me to go back and retrieve the car, I say, alas, no, it’s too cold, but you can have it when we leave the gym.

The instant response was, no no no, I want it now! I listened for 13 seconds, and then simply held out my hand and said,

“One.“

That’s a cue that Mommy has started counting, and life will be most unpleasant if she reaches “3.” My kid looked at me, sighed, and went off to play.

But the cool thing was, the teacher who was watching said to her colleague, how on earth does she DO that? Every single time he listens when his parents say

“One.“

It’s called

Setting Expectations!

My children know what’s expected, and they also know what constitutes good behavior. 2 minutes after this, my kid was happily playing with everyone else, his anger forgotten.

Raise your children with boundaries, and they will respond!

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – want some good child-rearing guides? Consider:

Old software downloads, Hampster Dance, Classic Cows…oh my!

Morning,

Who among us doesn’t remember the joys of configuring Windows for Workgroups 3.11? Or perhaps Microsoft Windows 95? Want to take a trip down memory lane?

But don’t let the joy stop there – there’s also

And of course, class Internet humor:

Ah, memories…. :)

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Too bad the top ones can’t be played with:

How to get Billy Blank’s Taebo for free

Morning,

Have you heard of

Billy Blank’s Taebo? Billy Blanks developed this workout program that combines kick-boxing, karate moves and cardio all in one package. It’s quite a workout, and can really help you with your balance/karate speed as well.

But did you know, you don’t have to pay retail? Consider:

From where did I get these Taebo DVDs? Why, eBay of course! Remember, not everyone sticks to exercise plans…and sometimes, after they buy products or DVDs or machines/etc., they decide, this isn’t for me….and put them up for sale at a discount.

You can also go to YouTube and search for clips from his DVDs too. Just look at these:

Taebo Basic

Taebo Cardio Warmup

Where else can you go to get taebo for free? Check out your local Freecycle – I got my first set of Taebo tapes from someone who was happy to give them away for free. Just browse to your state and area…and post a request! Who knows, perhaps someone will give you a set too.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – other nifty Taebo goodies are:

P90x Fitness Review – Chest Shoulders Triceps, Week 7, Day 1 – Total Days – 43

Morning!

I brought it with P90x early this morning and as always, it was a super workout. I really like the pushups/pullups and especially the triceps exercises – for some reason, I just love building up my deltoids/triceps. :)

Later on in the morning, the husband and I went to the gym for our time together. I was able to do 30 minutes cardio, 30 minutes free weights, and some time in the Cybex room; all in all, it was a great way to start the day!

I’m back now and full of energy. That’s one thing I like about P90x and workouts in general – you might feel like they’re too difficult to commit to, but once they’re done, wow – it’s a great accomplishment.

And that’s Day 43,

Barbara

ps – some nifty P90x goodies are: