New Discovery: La Croix

I love fizzy drinks. Especially the way they tickle your nose. I mean a frosty root beer or diet dr pepper is just the most in my opinion.

But alas I have sworn off sodas off and on for years. I stopped drinking regular soda in high school to get "lose weight." Seriously? I was already skinny! Anyway the switch to diet happened at age 16 (right around when I stopped eating red meat).

Then I nixed any sodas when I was preggo and nursing E. I introduced them back into my diet very moderately afterwards and am now on the no soda bandwagon again with baby #2 cooking away.

The chemicals, aspartame and high fructose corn syrup just have me heading for the hills. Nothing good can come from those ingredients.

Ok, but I still miss a flavor to my drinks and of course the alluring fizz. I drink water like crazy and it gets boring. And there's just too much sugar in juice. So where does that leave me?

This weekend we were in Kansas for my gorgeous niece's christening and my sister-in-law introduced me to La Croix. Have you tried it? It's carbonated water and natural flavor in a soda can. That's it. All natural. No artificial sweeteners. No calories. No sodium. And it actually tastes yummy. It's a subtle flavor, but I get the fizz and it's not so ho-hum.

It comes in oodles of flavors. My favorite is the coconut one! Love, love, love!

The Skinny Mom: Tip #5 - 30 Minutes of Play a Day

There is a campaign going on right now to get kids to play outside more, move more and generally stop the trend of childhood obesity.

I am taking the vow to do this. I vow to play 30 minutes each day with Baby E. Not just sitting and watching him play, but running around, chasing, lifting him up and wrestling.

I wore my heart rate monitor while doing this today and burned 175 calories - just playing! Can't beat that.

Play, play, play away!

The Skinny Mom: Tip #4 - Shake it on the Playground

Sunday is "Funday." All the hustle and bustle of Saturday (running errands, hitting the gym and cleaning) are all done. Sunday is family day.

And today my family is going to the park. Hooray! Baby E has so much fun at the park now that he is mobile. Too much fun!

Anyway, I found that the park or playground can be the BEST place for kids to run off energy, get exercise AND for Mom to burn some extra calories! I just found myself naturally running around and scooping up Baby E, going down slides and playing peek-a-boo. After our playground sessions I am drenched with sweat and breathless. So, I thought it would be fun to share a playground work out with you!

Tag You Are It
Generally jungle gyms have a circular area around them. Try playing "tag" with your little one or just chasing them around the perimeter of the area. When you "catch" your little one, scoop them up and do 5-10 mini jumps with them. Baby E LOVES it when I do little jumps with him in my arms. This is sort of our celebration together.


Repeat this 10 times.

Slide Baby Slide
At the playground that I go to, there are about 6 different sized slides. Since E is still pretty little, I scoop him up, run up the stairs to the slide and hold him in my lap while we slide down. Then repeat. Kids LOVE doing things over and over! If your child is too big to run with and go down the slide, then chase them down the slide.

Repeat this slide routine on all slides 10 times.

Playground Push-ups
My Boot Camp classes know that I L-O-V-E push-ups. I think it is just about the BEST exercise for total upper-body toning. To do these at the playground, find a platform area that is waist high and place your hands shoulder-width apart on top. Keep your feet about four feet away from the platform with elbows straight. Keep body straight and slowly bend your elbows until your chest almost touches the platform. Then push back up to straight and repeat, repeat, repeat.

I like to do a set after each of the above cardio exercises. Tighten your ab muscles for even more toning. For me this is best to do when E is back in his stroller or Daddy is pushing him in a swing (since E is still in the 100% supervision stage).

Do 4 sets of 25.

Slide Lunges
Get in the lunge position at the bottom of a slide. Put your back toe on the top of the slide. And lunge away. Just make sure that no child is going to slide into you! I like to put Baby E on my non-slide mounted leg. He is still little enough to do this and thinks it is amazing fun. And holy moly that extra 25 pounds makes these a major toner! If your child is too big for that, you can always do this while they play nearby.



Do 3 sets of 20 on each leg.

Monkey Bar Toning
If your child can play safely by themselves (or with other kids) try doing the monkey bars. Hello toning for your arms. If this is a major challenge, try spelling the word "BANANA" as you go across. Each new bar is a new letter. Try to at least spell this word three times. Who says Momma can't play silly word games?



Race you to the...
For older kids, try playing a racing game. Even little mobile kiddos will enjoy this, but you don't necessarily get to run as fast and have to maybe hold their hand as you go. Find a destination about 20-50 feet away and race to that spot. You can play "I spy" this way, too. "I spy the green slide." Then you race your child to that spot. So fun!

Baby E - My Personal Trainer
Kids find amazing ways to play! Try just running around after them and doing what they do - climb, slide, jump, crawl and run. Use your child as a "personal trainer." They will likely getting you sweating!



Set a Good Example
I am a huge proponent of teaching children to be active at all ages. When they see Mom and Dad doing active things and leading a healthy lifestyle, they are learning good habits for life. My mission is for Baby E to love exercise so much that he continues this once he is grown up and as he starts a family of his own!

Happy Sunday Funday!