delays |

All that holiday activity makes me tired!

Well it seems I have the jump on the competition when it comes to holiday travel. I’m flying out to New York City tomorrow for some super secret fabulousness. I’ll tell you all about it as soon as I possibly can. But as I frantically stuff things into a suitcase, I thought I’d give you just a few MORE ideas about how to rack up more steps on your pedometer–HOLIDAY STYLE!

1. The Airport or Train Station: Is a great place to walk. After you’ve spend endless hours snaking through lines, stripping nearly naked for security and dragging a metric ton of luggage on and off the shuttle bus, you may have some anxiety to walk off. And given the delays so typical during this season, you will probably have a lot of time to kill. So why not spend some time getting extra exercise trotting around the terminal? You’ll have plenty of time to sit very still, nay crammed like a sardine when you get on the plane! One thing I’ve started to do to ease this process is to always wear exercise clothes while I’m traveling. If you want to walk down the jetway in 4-inch heels then I say get down with your bad self. But I travel in a nice pair of athletic pants, a sweat wicking top, a sports bra, an athletic jacket and tennis shoes. This way, I’m ready to bust a move whenever the urge strikes. And given all the other ways travel is uncomfortable, I figure I can at least get around wearing comfortable clothes.

2. The Grocery Store: Thanksgiving is the mother of all grocery shopping holidays. Unfortunately, everybody in the known universe seems to go there at the same time. Why not do yourself a favor and stock up on groceries this week? You might not have time to formalize your list, so grab a cart and go up and down all the aisles. (Just be careful not to pick up too many impulse items!) Grocery stores have gotten bigger and bigger. So carefully carting down all the aisles can really add up to quite a distance. Don’t forget to park further from the door for extra steps. And for heaven’s sake, be polite and walk the ten extra steps to return the cart to the rack. I’m talking to you. Yes, you! I can see you trying to cantilever that cart up to the light pole to save yourself 15 extra steps of walking. I can see your cart rolling loose across the parking lot and terrorizing little old ladies and shiny cars and their new paint jobs. Seriously. Return your cart! (Rant ends.)

3. At Home: Okay, let’s be honest. We are all frantically cleaning our houses right now, trying to convince our mother-in-law that their son did not marry a pathetic, housekeeping-challenged, slug. It’s pathetic. Around this time of year, I tend to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat murmuring things like, “Behind the fridge. What if she looks behind the fridge?!” I could tell you to just chill out. But this is an awesome time for getting in extra steps. Put on some cleaning music. (Acid Death Metal works well for this, and has the added bonus of being extremely annoying to any obnoxious neighbors.) Clip on a pedometer, grab a broom and get to it! One technique you can use to get in extra steps is to put things away precisely where they belong on the first trip. Typically, I pile all the stuff that needs to get put away at the bottom of the stairs or perhaps in a large cardboard box that I will ultimately drag into the garage and try to forget. But if you take each thing and put it away, not only will you have the satisfaction of someday being able to find that thing again, you will also get in some extra steps. Plus you get the privilege of standing at the door, looking at your domain, and reciting that line from Poltergeist, “This house is clean!”

So that’s three extra sneaky ways to get some extra exercise in and add to your step count this Thanksgiving. And maybe, just maybe, the walking will relieve enough stress to keep you from being homicidal by Black Friday.

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. Don’t forget to join my mailing list to get all the latest super secret announcements and of course to get FREE STUFF! Just opt in RIGHT HERE!

Baby elephant metaphor day 2. Yup, last night and this morning’s travel kicked my butt. Not gonna lie to you. Started out in Harrisburg, PA at around 6PM EST last night and finally got to my home in my bed at 4:00 AM PST (That’s 7AM EST) this morning. Wanted to get up early but was feeling like that little elephant guy in the picture up there, with my head under the pillows, saying, “I don’t wanna get up and you can’t make me!” That, my dear friends is why you are getting The Fat Chick Sings After Dark Edition.

I was really pleased and proud of the way I got through things last night though. I got through the first leg of my trip okay and landed at Washington Dulles right on time. Our flight for LA boarded on time and we just got settled into our seats when we heard an announcement.

The pilot told us there was an issue on the plane but they thought they could get a deferment. He said that the deferment would probably take about 30 to 60 minutes. I was bummed but determined to just stay calm and make the best of it. Ten minutes later the pilot made another announcement. He said that he was told the deferment, if we could get it at all, would take much longer. So they found another plane we could take to LAX. Unfortunately it was a long way away in another terminal. A lot of people groaned and complained, but again, I resolved to make the best of it.

We hiked the 15 minutes to the other plane, and as we went a lot of people were still angry and complaining. But I KNOW it could have been so much worse. A lot of people in the last 3 or 4 days have faced delays of 10, 12 or even 24 hours. In the past, people have been trapped in their plane on the runway for 2, 3 or even over 4 hours while repairs or mechanical adjustments were made. So I decided to see this as a minor setback and a chance to stretch my legs. After about a 40 minute wait, we all boarded the new plane (in exactly the same seat configuration) and soon got underway. All in all, we arrived about 50 minutes late into LAX. It was pushing 2AM by time I got my bags. But I got back to my husband safe and sound, and all was good with the world.

So many times I have faced situations like this with anger and frustration. So many times in the past I have cursed and muttered and fretted. But this time I made a special effort to be calm and to make the best of it. And you know what? It really did make things better. There were plenty of people around me who were plenty angry. But they didn’t arrive in LA even one minute sooner than I did. In fact, the trip probably seemed a lot longer to those folks who were really mad.

So I took that as my karmic lesson for yesterday. I decided to take a deeeeeeep breath and just roll with it. This is one of my real-life resolutions for this year, and I think it’s a good one. So what do you think? How do you cope with life’s copious pain-in-the-butt moments? I’d love to hear your thoughts and/or stories.

By the way, The Fat Chick’s internal clock is infernally messed up right now. Expect schedule changes from my usual posting times for blogs, videos, The Right Now Show and hours of consciousness. There are will be no meal vouchers or refunds available. Thank you for your patience. That is all.

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. Speaking of travel, the Fit Fatties are aiming for Vegas baby! Help us gather those few hundred miles needed to get us to Sin City by Friday. Click here to learn more!