Getting Rid of My Writer’s Muffin Top Thumbnail

In order to write well you have to experience life—the pains, the joys, the triumphs and periodic bursts of energy about being alive all provide great fodder for your writing. Passions, curiosities, and satisfying both will give you numerous and infinite article ideas. Traveling whether near your home or in other countries and observing people at coffee shops, in shopping malls, or on the streets will ignite questions that lead you down paths you never thought existed.

Gathering material for your best writing takes a lot of activity. However, for all of the activity involved in the upfront process, the actual process of writing takes an enormous amount of time spent sitting on your bum. Since most of us (me included) write as a hobby or as a second job, this means that we sit for an egregious amount of the day.

Take my schedule for example: commuting half an hour each way to work on Monday through Thursday, working 4 10-hour days each week in a cubicle, reading emails, running a website, soliciting advertisers, watching television, sleeping, etc. Quite frankly, I’ll bet that I only spend 2 hours daily in a standing position. You can see where this is going.

Even though I can still fit into the shirts from my high school days, I’ve begun to notice a physical manifestation of my writing lifestyle. In between my size 4 pants and my tops there is something that I can only describe by the slightly lewd yet illustrative phrase ‘muffin top’…and we’re not talking about the kind with chocolate chips.

I’m sure you can tell by now that I am not squeamish in the least when it comes to my weight. In my college years my metabolism slowed down its rabbit pace and I expanded to a healthier size 2 from a size zero. In my post college years (and even today) I am a womanly size 4. Yet the writer’s muffin top has got to go.

Managing this belly fat comes down to two very important factors: Getting exercise and maintaining a healthy diet. It does not cost anything to eat healthier, as it simply involves making the effort to manage your calories. The exercise portion of this plan will take more effort, but it is surely not an impossible task. Cardiovascular exercise is perhaps the easiest way to start, as 20-40 minutes of walking per day can help speed up your metabolism. As you become healthier, include some strength training in your routine. You don’t have to join an expensive gym to get this exercise, as there are plenty of free methods available.

Frugal by nature, I have devised a plan that focuses on increasing movement in my life without paying for it. Here’s how I will accomplish this:

  • Free Pool — Our neighborhood has a pool that is open between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The cost is free, though the maintenance is partially paid through our annual association fee. Fortunately for us, we are one block away from the park and the pool!
  • Trial Gym Membership Rotations — We are fortunate to live in a city, making this strategy quite easy. There are several competing gym companies such as 24 hour fitness, Bally’s Total Fitness, and the JCC. I plan on taking advantage of the free one and two-week trial offers to work out at these gyms on a rotational period. This will also be very helpful in getting through the hot and humid Houston summer when I will be less enthusiastic about exercising outside.
  • Walking to the Bayou — There is a bayou about four blocks from our home. I periodically walk there and back, which I estimate to be about two miles. I plan to incorporate more of these walks over the summer.
  • Free Hot Yoga — I have fallen in love with Hot Yoga. Not sure how I will weather it over the hot and humid Houston summer, but I am going to give it a try. There is a yoga studio here (YogaOne Studio) that offers free hot yoga and flow yoga classes at 8:00 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Being a bright and chipper morning person, this time works out perfectly for me. There is also free yoga offered outside at the park downtown that I may check out.
  • Ride my Bike — My bike was stolen several years ago in my college town. I never took the time or money to replace it, though I missed riding a bike greatly. Fortunately when I moved to Houston, a coworker had a bike that he was giving away for free! It was a brand new one he had purchased for his teenage son several years ago not knowing that his son had entered the driving craze phase and would never make use of it. The bike now hangs in my garage and I can’t wait to give it a good purpose.

The results from all of this great, free exercise should be two-fold: I can crack down on my muffin top before it gets any worse, and greater flow of blood and oxygen throughout my body and brain will most likely lead to even more ideas to write about.

How about you: any other muffin tops out there? Do you find that exercise and movement helps with your writing?