Choose You Blog

I admit it — I’ve been a TOTAL slacker this summer. I blame my Europeon vacation which started with an actual trip to London and Paris for two weeks followed by multiple weeks of total slack-i-tude back at home.

To say that the food in London was unnoteworthy is being kind, but Paris (yes, I can confirm the rumor) was just the opposite. We started each day with mouth-watering, fresh-baked croissants, we savored fresh salads and pastas at wonderful cafes throughout the city, enjoyed a happy hour of wine, cheese and bread before dinner every evening and ended each night with a rich dessert of chocolate or ice cream. It was heaven.

Amazingly, I didn’t gain an ounce in Paris. In fact, I may have lost a pound or two. Despite all of the fabulous indulgences, we did so much walking that it didn’t make a major impact on my weight. When we got home, the first thing I noticed was how BIG everything was compared to France. The houses are bigger, the cars are bigger, the refrigerators are WAY bigger here. Which is what I got when I continued with my wine and chocolate habit but without the walking here at home — five pounds bigger. Just in time to get news of this American Cancer Society study about larger waist-lines making you at higher risk of death from major diseases. Great.

So, needless to say, now that school is back in session for my kids (yes, we start this early down here in the South) which gives us all a better sense of discipline and structure than the lazy days of summer, I’m back on the Choose You wagon which includes exercise at least three times a week and a much more moderate diet (Au revior chocolate and wine…at least for a while…).  Hopefully I’ll be saying au revior to those five pounds soon. I’m also back to blogging which I totally slacked on too.

Amy Swygert is Vice President of Communication Strategy and the American Cancer Society’s National Home Office. When she’s not totally slacking, she sometimes blogs at her personal blog Up With Moms.