Snip Snip?!

So if you've been following my blog you may remember a post from last month where I wrote that I'm embracing my 30's by trying to become more fit. It's been going pretty well. I've started training with my sister twice a week and I've been more proactive about staying active and eating better. But I'm still not awesome at it and I wouldn't say I've formed any great habits, though it IS getting easier (somedays). AND I bought some more cute work out clothes!

Last Saturday Daniel & I read an article in Scientific American "Researchers Explain Why Exercise Works Magic." The gist of the article is that exercise is proven to reduce risk for cancer, lengthen your lifespan, and just make you more awesome in general. I totally believe all of this. It just makes sense that the human body would need exercise. It just. makes. sense.

But I have long hair. And I have a lot of hair. When I work out I get sweaty. When I get sweaty my hair gets frizzy and my body feels gross. So I shower after I work out. But now I'm trying to work out every day which means I'm showering every day, or at least every other day. And then I'm either blow drying my hair (can be very damaging) or putting it up wet (leads to more frizz and just an overall feeling of unkempt-ness.)

So Daniel says "Is it more important that you be healthy or that you have long hair?"

I'm sorry, what?

What did he just say? My brain could not compute the string of verbs and nouns that he just pieced together while ending said string with the upward inflection of a question.

Did he just suggests I cut my hair for my HEALTH? This cannot be.

I'm telling you, I had to check myself as soon as the suggestion left his mouth. I was about to either get defensive or start to cry. Cut my hair so I can work out more? Are you NUTS?! I've always, ALWAYS had long hair. The one time in my life I had short hair was the summer my mom told our hair dresser to lop off my glorious, hip-length pony tail without my knowledge. I was the recipient of a bowl cut that summer and it was not cute. (I will never let my mom live down this story. It was too traumatizing and is now too hilarious to stop telling.)

Never EVER going this short again!

At this point you may be asking yourself "Why am I still reading this? Love ya Kate but I don't care. Though that picture of you IS pretty sad."

I need some help in the form of pictures. I also need the names and numbers of some seriously AMAZING stylists.

IF I were to cut my hair (and that is a huge TEXAS-sized 'if' right there.) I don't even know what I would do. I keep my hair this long because it's what I know. I've always felt like my hair is my best feature. It doesn't gain weight, it doesn't need new clothes, it gets the most compliments. Plus long hair is my glory and my covering! (Or am I taking 1 Corinthians 11:15 out of context? I am definitely not Jewish...) Either way, the mere idea of cutting my hair makes me sad. The idea of cutting my hair for the purpose of exercise makes me... more sad? confused? not quite sure how to quantify this emotion...

My sister suggested this long bob...

Magic Clothes

Some of you may know that my sister is a personal trainer. And she's good. She's tough but she's very good. However it seems my sister (and my brother too) got all of the athletic genes and left none for me. I'm hopelessly non-athletic. I love to play games but I'm not coordinated for sports. I have a hard time grasping all the rules and exceptions to organized sports, much less the hand-eye coordination required to excel. I'm also not competitive so I experience no internal drive to "win at all costs." I also experience no internal drive to "risk personal safety" and "bodily harm" for whatever ball/frisbee/base/object that I am supposed to stop/catch/trap/stop on/etc. And so, I never really learned how to be physically active. Don't get me wrong, my parents did try. They let me play both t-ball and basketball. Sadly. my assumption is that a parent can only handle so much whining from their kid before they give up and let them quit whatever it is they won't stop whining about. (Of course it also didn't help that in my championship basketball game I made a basket for the other team, resulting in intense personal scarring and a strong loathing for basketball that exists even today. But that's a story for another time.) Now flash forward to today. Natural inclinations aside, I need to be more active, plain and simple. I want to have energy to chase Isaiah and his future siblings around the house. I want to model positive self esteem for my future daughters. I want to live a long and healthy life so I can keep Daniel on his toes. I need to make some changes.

"So, that's great Katie. What are ya gonna do about it?" I imagine you might be saying to yourself if we were having this conversation in person. Well, let me tell you. I'm wearing workout clothes today.

Remember earlier when I told you my sister is a personal trainer? Because of her profession she's almost always running around in workout clothes and she's got some CUTE stuff! I think her workout clothes are just as cute as her dress up clothes. My workout clothes consist of baggy t-shirts and spandex shorts. Not cute. But I found a Gap Body top at the thrift store the other day and I really like it! I threw it on this morning knowing I'd be going to Zumba later today. And just by wearing workout clothes I'm making better choices! It's like I've got it in my head that I'm going to be working out later so I don't want to consume more calories than necessary. It's amazing! I feel so... athletic, running around in my cute new top. It's quite uncanny actually. Feeling athletic is so far from normal for me, I feel like I'm becoming this brand new person.

You know how the new health craze lately is to say "I don't want to be thin, I just want to be healthy." Well, that's kind of a load of crap. I want to be healthy. I also want to be thin. But really I want to put on clothes and not have negative thoughts running through my brain. In workout clothes I feel like maybe that might just be possible. So, watch out world, who knows where this could lead? (Hopefully it leads to a whole closet full of thrift store finds in smaller sizes!)