Stand Up Straight!

 “Good posture and an attitude let you get away with anything.”  - Lorna Landvik, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons

It has been five weeks since I started logging my weight "loss" on my blog.  The only problem is...there isn't any actual loss.  This wednesday, I was exactly the same weight as I was 5 weeks ago.  There was some fluctuation, but I'm back where I started.

I guess it's time to start the next effort in changing my life.  I am walking 3 times a week and bringing healthy lunches to work.  Obviously, I need more.  But what to do?

I've decided to start working on my posture.  The only time I ever had good posture was when I was sitting on the back of a horse.  Except I haven't ridden a horse since my car accident.

My mother was constantly trying to get me to pay attention to posure.  "Sit up straight!"  "Don't slouch!"  Stubborn teenager/tomboy that I was, I had to do the opposite.  The more she commented on my posture, the worse it got.  (Wait!  Could I possibly be admitting my Mom might have been right about something?  Shhhh!  Don't tell her I said that!  Never happened.)

Source

I've decided on posture because it goes toward several things I'm trying to accomplish.  I'm trying to be more feminine and what is more feminine that "proper" posture of the book on head variety? 

Posture is a huge factor in my neck pain levels.  Bad posture agrivates my condition.  The more you round your shoulders, the shorter those muscles become, so over time, it becomes even harder to stand up straight.

And weight loss.  To improve posture, one has to imrpove the muscles in the back and core.  To improve muscles, one must exercise.  Weight loss by default.

I searched many web sites and found Spark People had a simple, yet comprehensive article about improving your posture with exercises and other tips.  Although I have to suggest one I didn't see mentioned.  Pull your keyboard closer. 

Every site mentions sitting at a desk all day as a major factor in bad posture, chair postion, hight in relation to desk, but none seemed to mention keyboard postion.  I tend to keep my keyboard prety far from the edge of the desk, which makes it nesessary for me to reach forward, thus rounding my shoulders.   I'm making an effort to pull the keyboard back toward me, making it easier to work on sitting up straight in my desk chair.

These exercises will be the new tier in my exercise regime and maybe I'll begin to see some results.