This morning I woke up in conflict. I keep thinking about those stats on kids spending an average of 4.5 hours a day looking at a screen. I consider myself rather active, but still it’s hard, some days, to NOT spend too much time screen watching and part of my conflict is that Biggest Loser accounts for 2 of those hours–which seems like a conflict within itself. Perhaps my friend Bonnie has it right as she does things like hula hoop, or work her arm hoops while watching TV instead of just sitting. Anyway, I did spend my dedicated 2 hours watching the show last night and this morning I wonder if it was worth the time.
The trainers left the ranch this past week to go visit with the 3 junior ambassadors. I realize this was very important as this season is devoted to fighting childhood obesity. I am not sure the activities they did with the kids really resonated with most of our youth. How many kids have the opportunity to get in a row boat with a team and learn to row, like Sunny. It was great to see Bingo play baseball at the home team’s stadium, but again, not something most kids can make happen. And seriously, the cheering segment with Lindsay (and I am NOT down on cheerleaders, having been one (and loved it) myself, but when Dolvett said it was a good workout and then they did all did a little cheer that was NOT at all a workout, I was left shaking my head. And back at the ranch, the contestants were left on their own to figure out how they would be the scale at the end of the week. At least Alison took them out for their challenge, a 5K, which was the highlight of the show. The winning team would split $15,000 dollars and in this case, it was a gift that the white team was down to 2. They won and walked away with a nice prize!
The trainers came back for a last chance workout and the weigh in. Dolvett’s red team did well and I was elated to see that Jackson’s turnaround this week, taking on the role of leader, led to a 12 pound weight loss. I have a soft spot for him and was thrilled to see him start coming into his own. Bob’s blue team needs a lot of help. They need a fire lit under their butts or something. I think Bob is an awesome trainer, but his team is just blah. With just 2 left on the white team, they needed a combined weight loss of over 12 pounds or the one with the lesser weight loss would automatically go home. Danni, who I see in the finals, put a 12 pound loss on the scale, but Pam, who did the dance of joy last week, saw a loss of only 3 pounds and honestly looked quite relieved to be going home. She left with class and a smile on her face and seems to be doing well at home. Now, with just Danni left on Jillian’s team, I suspect some shaking around of the teams next week.
And though I always look forward to watching BL, clearly the highlight of yesterday’s screen time, was watching the Presidential inauguration and the hoopla that surrounded it. I felt so proud to be an American watching him being sworn in on Martin Luther King Day. Seeing the likes of James Taylor and the drop-dead gorgeous Beyonce perform our nation’s anthems brought me to tears (more than once). Thanks, Mitch for remembering to record it for me while I got the balance to my screen watching in, at the gym and on the streets! I also managed to get in my hooping (which I try to do about 4 times a week). I am up to about 8 minutes of waist and hip hooping and several minutes of arm hooping in different positions. I am finding it a very yin way to get in some different muscle work and I like it!
And now, after discarding spam and composing this blog I have used up a good chunk of my screen time, so I am off to get moving. I know one big-red-guy who is always very happy when I step away from the computer in the morning. He knows it’s getting on time to take that morning walk and we both are always just a little happier during and after our daily ritual. I hope that you will take some time to get your “physical” in, too.