TechnoEarthMama

“I signed up for a 1,000 points per day challenge on Just Dance,” I announced at the Weight Watchers meeting today. That’s about 4-5 songs per day, although you don’t actually have to dance every day.

“Does that fit into your lifestyle?” the leader asked.

Happily, I was able to say “Yes!”

If you’re working, raising a family and volunteering in a few different organizations, it’s not easy to fit in trips to the gym, or even walking and running outside (especially during these dark winter days). And of course, the comfy chair is always a temptation at home.

I do, of course, ride my bike to work (usually 5 days a week), which helps. But my weight loss has been stalled for a while, so I needed to bump up my activity levels.

When we received a Wii game console for Christmas, I knew I wanted to get some kind of active game for it. I ended up with Just Dance 3. The program includes Sweat Challenges. There are three options for a seven-day challenge: 500 points daily (equivalent to walking for 30 minutes a day), 1000 points daily (equivalent to running 30 minutes a day), or 3000 points daily (which they SAY is the equivalent of swimming 30 minutes a day). You don’t have to dance every day; just get the full amount by the end of the week.

So the game works well for physical activity. But what about the time and motivation to do it?

Well, I have three kids. They like to dance. They like to dance WITH me! So they make sure I dance.

For instance, tonight I got home around 5:00, and we were planning to go out to dinner (a fundraiser for Outdoor School) as soon as my husband got home. I could very easily have sat down with the computer to check Twitter and Facebook until then, but my daughter was already dancing and she handed me the other Wii remote before I had a chance to sit down. And we did 1300 points, easy-peasy, before dinner.

Oh, and the daughter? She’s doing the 3,000 points per day challenge this week!

FYI, the Just Dance games are also available for Xbox 360/Kinect and PlayStation/Move. And if you don’t have a game system (or if you just want to see what it’s like), you can play the Just Dance videos on YouTube and follow along (you just don’t earn points or compete with anyone).

My current goal is to lose 5 pounds by Valentine’s Day, and to have fun doing it!

Disclosure: Yes, those are Amazon affiliate links up there. If you buy something through those links, I do get a tiny percentage. Thank you!

Need some reading material? These are my recommendations for January 4th, 2012 through January 14th, 2012: Group hopes dormant Ore. volcano will generate energy | kgw.com Portland – Possible source of geothermal energy…or possible source of earthquakes? I guess we'll see! Five packaged foods you never need to buy again | Grist – Here's one [...]

Need some reading material? These are my recommendations for October 16th, 2011 through January 4th, 2012: BikePortland.org » Blog Archive » Exploring Alameda, California by bike – Nice report of some REALLY nice bike facilities in Alameda, including bikeway access to a middle school. Shareable: Policies for a Shareable City #12: Food Sharing – I'm [...]

Sometimes, in all of my spare time, I read and write about books. I’ve been hearing many people in the book world say that we need to support authors by buying new books, because they don’t get a cut of used book sales. Is this really right or fair? As a person concerned about sustainable [...]

I haven’t written about Future Economy for a while, but as I follow the Occupy movement, I do keep thinking about it. I do still believe that our economy needs fundamental changes; that an economy based on growth and consumerism is not sustainable. But what could take the place of our current economy? I saw [...]

Need some reading material? These are my recommendations for September 26th, 2011 through October 12th, 2011: Riding the crimson tide: bicycling when you have your period | Grist – Elly Blue mentions the unmentionable. I find what happy women get right – Instead of trying to balance life, why not try tilting it toward what [...]

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m challenging myself to eat me no more that two times per week for two weeks. Well, the next day, my wonderful husband brought home a pizza for lunch. With meat. And I had some pizza for lunch and then again for breakfast today. So I’ve already blown [...]

Yes, I’ve been busy. As a parent AND school employee, September is madness. And the first week of the month is usually the Week of Meetings Every Night, so the beginning of October is gone, too. But that’s not entirely why I haven’t been posting much. It’s also because some of the things I normally [...]