This year is a brand new year ! To me, that means a brand new blog!! To quote Dr. Suess:

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where you’ll go.
Oh the places you’ll go.

This year I’ve decided yukonjen.com will be my fitness blog. I’ve had a bit of a struggle the past year being fit et en forme…but that is mostly because of the pregnancy. (No. Baby hasn’t arrived yet. I’ll let you know when he does. -1 and counting!!) Here’s a pic from yesterday:

I was quite tired all the time and just had no desire to exercise (until—surprisingly enough–quite recently).

And at this moment, I am 9 months plus one day pregnant. (I know it’s not that scientific–Baby will arrive when he decides to arrive–but honestly, it is time. Viens voir petit.)

So I wait. I sleep. I walk a bit each day and I try to imagine a schedule for myself after he does arrive and I get comfortable in my new role.

This year, I have a few priorities: my new family, my health, the health of my family.  I am sure I have more, but health is what I’ve been thinking about lately.

Just before Christmas, I ordered myself and my friend a subscription to Clean Eating magazine and this book:

As well, totally unsolicited, my sister sent me this book for my Christmas present:

Nutritionally, I think we are off to a good start.

I originally decided to get fit when I was 32. One February, I was invited to go downhill skiing with my friends Carol and Jimmy. Both days, I was completely knackered by lunch. They, however, skied circles around me both in the difficulty of runs and in the duration of the day. I was impressed. I was 32, they were 55.

After that weekend, I resolved that when I was 55, I was going to kick a 32-year-old butt…so I started getting in shape. Carol and Jimmy helped me realize that fitness is not an option. It is a lifestyle.

Other than improving my muscle tone, I have made three fitness goals so far for this year. There is a 20 km race in Lausanne on 30 April 2011. I looked at my calendar. I can target 10 kms at the end of February, 15 kms at the end of March, and 20 kms at the end of April. I have to wait for Baby to come before I can start training for that though. Wish me luck!

Given that I have not been exercising AT ALL during this pregnancy, I’ve also been trying to figure out how to get fit — a bit at a time. I know from before that I can’t set myself goals that I know I won’t achieve–set myself up to fail, so-to-speak.

So, my daily goal at this moment (9 months + 1 day pregnant), is to go for a walk a minimum of 45 minutes and do 10 minutes of light movements–just to get into practice of exercising again. I will gradually increase that time somehow, but I didn’t want to set unattainable goals and fail.

In my light movements, I don’t use weights, just my body weight (which is 79 kilos or 176 lbs at the moment).  I think that is enough. I do push ups on the dining room table top–there is no way I could do real push ups at the moment.  I do arm flies (bend elbows, raise arms to shoulder height, repeat, and hold). I do a few sets of pilés and squats (I like to think that might help the baby drop). I am going to buy myself an exercise elastic or resistance band to start working my upper back and shoulders.

Also, for our Christmas present, we bought an Apple TV box. I can stream fitness podcasts–so I am excited about that. It’s great for getting new ideas and staying motivated. On that note. Here are my stats as of 01 Jan 2011 (it’s a bit extreme because there is still a baby there, but I’ll bet I’ll feel incredible about my progress in a month or so :