Weddingbee

A Wii Fit!! I immediately grabbed for my checkbook to pay him back, as we had been waiting for his generous Video Game Store Manager hookup for the past few weeks with full intentions to buy it off of him. However, he stopped me before I could grab my pen to tell me, “Congrats! This is your wedding present!” Albeit a tad early, I can’t imagine a better gift to receive than this! He’s given me permission to break the “Don’t Open Until After the Wedding” rule so Mr. Pom and I can get our flabby buns in shape for the wedding.

The formidable Tree Pose.

We raced home and set it up after dinner. I tried out the Yoga Poses (my favorite) - during the Tree Pose it noted that my leg was a little wobbly (uhhh…yeah) and recommended that I focus on lengthening my spine and stretching my arms. It totally helped! I’ve had a personal trainer before, but the Balance Board is intuitive and picks up on allll those weaknesses you try to hide from the casual observer.

I also tried the Strength Exercises, but have yet to try any of the Balance Games or the Aerobics. So far I can see it giving someone a pretty okay workout, especially if you do it daily. Besides that, it’s the combo of working out and playing video games that I love - it makes it a lot easier to motivate myself to get off the couch and get moving!

Have any of you tried the Wii Fit yet?
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Let me take you back through the life of Miss Coconut. Throughout high school, I was a cheerleader (stop laughing) and was pretty active every day. I wasn’t skinny by any means, but I wasn’t really overweight either. Then in undergrad at Michigan, I was living on my own, eating out a lot, and for about four months it was REALLY COLD. Needless to say, I didn’t go to the gym much and I ended up gaining a considerable amount of weight. (*I wish I had pictures to inspire you, but I didn’t like taking pictures back then!)

I took about two years off before going to law school and decided to get a grown up job working at a law firm. There, I met someone who forever changed my life. Her name was Jennifer and she was the most amazing friend I could have ever hoped for. She was older and married with a child so she taught me a lot of about maturity in relationships. But the most important thing she taught me was a love for health and fitness. On our lunch breaks, we would go downstairs to the gym and work out five days a week. She taught me the importance of weight training, cardio and healthy eating!

Then, I went to law school where I gained a little weight because of all the studying, but the gym always stuck with me. Today, I’m an avid spinner, kickboxer and weight trainer. However, I also eat what I want. So, back to my dilemma. I’ve started to up my workouts and really start to pay attention to my eating.

A day in the life of Miss Coconut:

8:15 am - Wake up!
8:35 am - Eat 1/4 cup of Bare Naked Granola with Plain Soy Milk
9:00 - 1:00 pm - Attend Bar Class (Try not to fall asleep)
11:00 am - Eat cottage cheese and fruit (kiwi or apple)
1:00 pm - Eat tuna salad or chicken salad OR Spa Lean Cuisine (depends on time)
**I usually bring some extra tuna/chicken salad with me to eat an hour before my work-outs!
2:00 - 5:30 pm - Study at Coffee Shop
5:45 - 6:45 pm - Kickboxing Class on Tuesdays & Thursdays
6:00 - 7:00 pm - Spinning Class on Mondays & Wednesdays
Dinner - Chicken burgers / Spinach & Chicken / or Brown rice with steamed veggies and chicken. (Point: Eating lots of veggies and chicken, with moderate amounts of healthy carbs!)
Dessert - 1/2 cup Sugar-Free Orange Sorbet

**Also, none of the food I eat has more than 6 grams of sugar per serving. If you’re buying Lean Cuisines (they can help you out in a serious time crunch), I always check the sugar content. If you eliminate sugar from your diet, you will eliminate your cravings!

On Fridays, I go the gym and either run on the treadmill or elliptical and do a little weight training. I’ve also been playing tennis after my kickboxing class on Tuesday and play a little golf on the weekend.

I’ve been on the regimen for about two weeks now and I can already notice a difference! My goal is to lose about 15 pounds before November 1st baby!!!! I’ll keep ya’ll updated

Anyone else on a plan to become a HOT BRIDE?!
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I really wish we caught the part when my little Mii character grasped her back in pain and hobbled around like she was 80 years old. Anyway, after telling me my “Wii Fit Age,” the game lovingly scolded me for my fitness age being 12 years older than I really am - and then they gave me a personal trainer:

Hi, Virtual Personal Trainer!

I decided to try yoga first… it’s easy, right?

Um. no. The goal was to try to keep as steady as you can while keeping your balance inside the yellow circle. If you look at the left bottom corner of the picture, you will see that I have terrible balance. 0 points on the left side! At least I did better on another of the yoga poses…

(I think I might be a little TOO excited about my much better “Warrior Pose” Score)

And I’m also happy to say that I ROCKED one of the “Aerobic” exercises

Miss Toucan = Hula Hoop Champ

But I wasn’t so good at the soccer challenge…

See how I’m leaning exactly how my Mii is on the screen? Yeah, that’s not how it works (otherwise I’m sure I would have rocked this one too… ). You actually have to shift your weight on your feet back and forth. I couldn’t and didn’t get it.

There are so many more little games and training routines on this little game, and after you complete each one, it logs in the time that you worked out:

This little birdy logged in 30 minutes yesterday. Perhaps it will be easier to motivate myself to play Wii Fit for 30 mins than it was to say go for a 30 minute jog? I realize the 30 minute jog probably is a better workout, but if I can motivate myself to ANY type of exercise everyday, that has to count for something right?

I’m curious because I’m lame and need video games to trick me into working out. How do you motivate yourself to work out and keep in shape?
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We’ve been anticipating its release for months now. Mr. Lovebird said there we about 50 people a head of him at Best Buy lined up before the store opened, and he got one of the last ones. He said “it wasn’t as bad as before.” By “before” he meant the times (yes, more than once) we camped out through the night to get the actual Wii system when it was released in the winter of 2006. What can I say, he’s a techie and I love him for it. Apparently, it’s sold out in most places and you’ll be lucky to get your hands on one since it was just released in North America today.

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With about 6 weeks until the wedding, I’m not sure if I’ll see results, but I’m gonna try to use it everyday! When we first got the Wii, we used it constantly and my arms would be sore from all the bowling and tennis. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Anyone else planning on getting Wii Fit to help them get in shape for the wedding?

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I’ve been on it maybe about 8 times since January - I just get so bored on there. I’ve tried listening to fast-paced music and watching tv, and it helps a little. Any tips on how to make this more fun?

Then I told myself I would give up one of the things I love most in this world….soda.

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Drinking only water lasted about two days. I do only drink diet soda though and only during dinner.

Mr. Lovebird and I try to eat healthy, but I’m sure those weekly (sometimes biweekly) Papa John’s meals don’t help.

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Damn you Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Pizza! Why must you be so delicious with your “Authentic barbeque sauce, topped with grilled all-white chicken, hickory-smoked bacon, fresh-sliced onions and pineapple.” Oh, and I can’t forget the Special Garlic dipping sauce that surely coats our arteries while we scarf down an entire Large pizza in one sitting. We tell ourselves, “At least we are walking the 5 blocks to go pick it up and not getting it delivered!” Who am I kidding, I just don’t want to pay the delivery charge and tip.

Man….I’m getting hungry….

As you can probably tell, I’m failing miserably. Although I do have one consolation. When I went to my second dress fitting, I told Mr. Lovebird’s aunt (who graciously offered to alter my dress for me) that she might want to make the dress a little tighter since I was planning on losing a little weight. She told me, “Don’t lose any weight, cuz then your boobs will get smaller and us Asian women need all the help we can get.” That pretty much did it for me, cuz honey, I need all the help I can get in that area!

But of course it’s not to say I’m not gonna “try”. 

What have you been successful at giving up or doing to get in better shape for the wedding? Or, do you have any healthy diet and exercise secrets you’d like to share?

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I might very well be the most unmotivated exerciser you have ever met. I am really good at coming up with reasons why I can’t go to the gym, and why I should go home once I am there. Recently I’ve decided that the key is to find things I enjoy- or at least don’t hate- doing. I’m just never going to be a runner, but I love the way pilates makes me feel, and I can’t keep up in spinning class, but I can get into the elliptical machine. I’m not planning some total body makeover, but I would like to be the best possible version of me on my wedding day.

So for inspiration, I have: the arms I dream of having- not just so I look hot in my strapless wedding dress, but to help me keep up with Mr. Tiramisu when we go kayaking; an overwater bungalow- to remind me that I want to look great on my honeymoon; fruits and veggies- I get nowhere near my five a day; the bikini I just bought during one of j. crew’s final sales; my running sneakers- cute shoes are always motivating; the pilates move that always kills me; and a sigg reusable water bottle- stay hydrated and be green all at once.

I keep promising myself that when the six five four month-mark rolls around I’ll morph into a low-fat Tiramisu. Do you think it will work this time? What are your sure-fire ways to stay motivated? I need your help!

photo sources: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
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This is a BIG deal. We’ve spent the last 6 weeks trying to track one down, getting up early on Sunday mornings only to be told that we missed our opportunity by 18 minutes. And now, I’ll be able to exercise from the comfort of my own home.

Only trick is, I’ve never actually owned a video game system before (my old school Gameboy is not quite the same), and I’m really bad at video games. I know that Miss Bubblegum, Miss Hummingbird and Mrs. Snow Pea have already blogged about the Wii.

For those of you out there with Wii experience, do you have any tips for me? Anyone want to share their favorite Wii workouts?
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I am one of those body types who has skinny times, and has very chubby times. Right now, I’m borderline getting to my chubby times again. After 26 years of having my weight go up, then go down and back again, you’d think I’d go out of my way to keep it on the low side… and I did …until Mr. Hydrangea and I became serious. Time spent going to the gym became time for going out to dinners or cuddling on the couch. After months and months of this routine, my motivation completely disappeared.

Recently I started tracking my calories on Spark People and it has helped a lot! Everyday I log what I eat and it automatically calculates the calories, and recommends how much I should eat in order to get to my fighting weight. It also has you track your workouts, has motivational articles, recipes and pretty much everything you could look for in a website… and it’s free. I definitely think this has helped me get on the right track, and now I just need to get my butt to the gym as well.

Have any of you all had this happen to you? If so, what have you done to change your routine and make the time to workout? Any suggestions on how to get my butt out of bed at 4:30 in the morning to get in a workout?
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