Well, I’m a little more than three weeks into my fitness challenge and I have to say I’m not too terribly impressed with myself. I’m trying really hard to remain positive, but it gets a little harder everyday. I’m yo-yoing between the same four pounds and it’s frustrating as hell.

With this post I don’t want to dwell on what’s not going my way, I want to let you know how I’ve become a little more active in my everyday life. If you’re an elite athlete you might think this is laughable and stupid, but if you’re a recovering couch potato like me it’s these little things that just might save your life. WOW, that was a little dramatic huh?

Here’s my top five ways I’ve become a little more active in my everyday life.

1) I park as far as I can from my destination and hoof it. This can be a double bonus if you like to keep your car door dent-free.

2) When it’s time to clean the kitchen I dance it out. I turn the TV off and turn Pandora on. A good upbeat station is all I need to help me dance my way around the kitchen and get it spic and span. Of course anyone who might happen by and take a peek in my window would probably think I’m crazy. When the kitchen is clean I dance my way to the next room and through the house.

3) I’ve started doing laundry the long way. Once the load makes it through the dryer, I sit on a balance ball and fold while watching TV. I make little piles and carry two or three piles at a time upstairs. What I used to do in one quick trip with the laundry basket I now do in three or four trips up and down my sixteen steps.

4) I rarely sit down. This one has done wonders for the cleanliness of my house. If I sit down, I’m more likely to stay down, so I just keep wandering around. My wandering usually has me cleaning something. I also wander while I’m on the phone. I must have done about fifty laps around my first floor during a recent phone conversation with my mom. Remember that balance ball I sit on to do laundry? I’ll occasionally sit on it while I’m watching TV and do crunches or just roll around.

5) I take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator (unless I have a stroller). This kind of goes along with the parking as far as I can thing.

Alone, none of these activities really do too much for me, but together they’re helping me burn some extra calories and keep active during my day. The whole theory that a body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion is so very true. As soon as I sit down I lose all motivation to get back up. I’ve tried to look at my daily activities and where I had streamlined them to do the least amount of work possible, I’ve stretched them back out to keep moving.

What do you do to keep moving through the day?

I’ve made it to day 14! I have to say I’m both proud and excited to have spent the past two weeks of my life exercising. Sure, I had my mornings I didn’t want to workout. Sure, there were times that I felt like my shoes were full of rocks. There were days when every muscle in my body ached and begged my to go back to bed, but I pushed through.

I have a problem though…I have absolutely no will power! My inability to control myself is shameful. I try, really I do, but the call of tasty treats is stronger than me.

Yesterday is a perfect example. Logan and I went to Target to pick up some diapers, that’s it, just diapers. As soon as we walked through the door I was assaulted by the delicious smell of popcorn. I couldn’t walk by the snack stand, my feet just wouldn’t let me, so I steered my cart in the direction of that salty goodness. Five minutes later I still hadn’t been helped so I walked away. Crisis averted, or so I thought. Logan and I cruised through the aisles checking out the new toys for Cars 2, and all was well, I didn’t even give the popcorn a second thought. Until…we came to the food section.

Damn it Target, why do you have to have a grocery section?!? That was the end for me, as soon as I saw those aisles full of yummy goodness my tummy started to growl and all I could think about is how hungry I was.

I had been so good at lunch time, I had a low calorie meal and measured out my snacks on a food scale to avoid overdoing it. I knew I was going out for a big steak dinner in a matter of hours, but that didn’t even matter once I saw that the double stuffed Oreo’s were on sale. Ooh, just writing about them now makes my mouth water.

So there I was driving to pick Cameron up from school stuffing my face with double stuffed.

I’m also an emotional eater, always have been, which is not helping my efforts at a healthy lifestyle and weight loss. Add my emotional eating to my inability to control my impulses to eat and my giant sweet tooth and I’m a recipe for disaster.

So here I sit; on one hand, I’m doing well with the exercising. I’m fitting it in to my everyday routine and coming up with new ways to be active each day. On the other hand I’m STILL finding it hard to control what I’m eating and make healthy choices. I’m trying to take it day by day and not beat myself up about it. I’m trying to look at the positive that I am exercising again and I’m not sitting on the couch for most of my waking hours anymore. One day at a time right?

Do you have problems with emotional eating? How do you overcome the urge to strap on a feedbag when you’re upset? All advice is welcome.

Stay tuned for more Fitness Fun. Next time: Ways to add activity to everyday life.