Why I Like My Fitbit

This post has been loooong overdue. Basically, any post I write has been overdue. But, here's the reason. It's small. Clips to my bra. Has helped in me losing about 10 pounds. (Well, 15, if you count some of the weight I put on over the holidays that I considered temporary padding for the winter months.)

It's the Fitbit.

This little Tamagotchi-looking thing is probably the best thing to happen to keeping up motivation since warm weather and bikini-season scare tactics.

Since joining the gym in December, I was getting my workouts in and tracking my calories through MyFitnessPal. But I knew the motivation wouldn't last. Especially since buying a wedding dress in a size I could already fit into -- call me crazy, but I never believed in fearing I'd look like an overstuffed sausage in wedding photos.

So, my friend and gym buddy suggested we get the Fitbit. We could track our steps, compete against each other and whoever else we knew who had one, track our weight loss and hopefully keep up the motivation.

Why I like Myers-Briggs

Last year, as part of my obsession with immersion into all things The Art of Simple (formerly Simple Mom), I listened to Tsh's podcasts on my commute to and from work. One of the topics she talked about was Myers-Briggs personalities.

I took a little psychology in high school, but I had never heard of Myers-Briggs. I decided to take a test to find out what my type was. I assumed the personalities wouldn't be that much different and it was possible this was another pop-psychology personality test. Like those quizzes in magazines in which I would usually find myself answering with all Bs and the answer key would tell me I am smack-dab in the middle of everything. Yawn. Oh, but I was wrong. And learning about Myers-Briggs and my personality type has actually helped me dramatically in finding out more about how I function, as well as how I thrive in certain environments and feel uncomfortable in others.

Simply listening to a wonderful Christmas song (Why I Like "Wonderful Christmastime")

Something happened between last year and this one. I don't know what the sociological shift was, but it made everyone decide they *hate* Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Chirstmastime." Maybe they already hated it, though. But it was this year it seemed those people decided to post about it on social media. At least once a week, a status would pop in my feed about hating the song. Even my beloved Simple Mom posted about it. It was as if my friends realized, "OK, YOLO (or some other Carpe Diem-esque statement), I can now admit that I don't like something one of The Beatles did without looking like an ignorant child saying I hate mommy and daddy's music generation."

To those people, all I can say is, "Come on! That's your least favorite Christmas song? Really? Of everything out there?"

Why I like my smartphone

When I gave birth to L., I had a pre-smartphone. Not like the ones out there today. It made calls, sent texts and photos, but to get on the internet, I had to literally go to the browser and type in my destination, like Facebook or my email. From there, I would have to login or, sometimes if the phone was feeling particularly generous, it would remember me, though it rarely did.

I was comfortable with the phone and the basic touch screen. The keyboard slid out and had actual buttons, which I loved. I uploaded photos of L. to Facebook if I had time but, mostly, used the digital camera to take the majority of photos of her for social media.

Then I got an iPhone. And, I am not exaggerating when I say my life was changed. And even today, there is a feeling of nakedness when I go anywhere without my phone.

First day of hockey season and, since L. couldn't be
there with us, I used my phone to make sure
her New York Rangers pajamas were seen.

Why I Like Little People

The boyfriend's mom saved all of his and his sister's Fisher-Price Little People sets. I guess she realized how much toddlers loved these sets so the ended up with about seven or eight. When she brought out the tub last week, L. went silent. She spent about an hour playing with them. I had never seen her so focused on one activity for so long.

Why I Like Yoga

I'm not a runner. I never could be. I've tried. It's just too ... tiring. I run out of breath after 40 minutes. My legs don't want to move that fast ever. Every single time I had to run a mile for gym or some statewide fitness test, I was with the two or three kids who had injuries and we walked. I didn't care, really. I was just never meant to be a runner.

But, I always struggled with my weight. My senior year in high school, I started becoming interested in more holistic practices. I had taken yoga as a gym course a few times and really liked that it was something I could do without getting winded or unmotivated. It was easy, slow movement. It made me focus. So, I bought a few books on yoga and began practicing it when I could. It never amounted to much, in terms of weight loss, but I liked having the flexibility and focus.

It took a few years before I really did it for weight loss. I'd go back to it here and there, mostly when I needed a pose to stretch a kink in my neck or back. I ended up losing weight in college because of different combinations every few months of the video game Dance Dance Revolution, Slim-Fast shakes, eating too few calories and nothing but salads, and weight loss pills (I still miss Ephedra, honestly). 

My arsenal.

Why I Like Dumbo

Let's be honest for a minute. I'm going to lose my few readers, probably. But I have to finally admit it.

I hate Disney.

I HATE DISNEY.

I don't know if it's leftover jealousy from never having gone to a Disney them park as a kid. Or if it's when I realized "Happily Ever After" leaves too much left to chance and I really questioned how those princess marriages actually worked out, considering the princes usually only just met the women and were married quickly after. Or maybe once I saw how much commercialism went into the damn brand, I boycotted it.

BUT ...