Roxy's Back to School Body

Do you remember Bridget Jones' Diary? Bridget Jones is a fictional columnist, created by British writer Helen Fielding for her column in The Independent in 1995, which chronicled Bridget Jones's life as a thirtysomething single woman living in London, surrounded by a surrogate "urban family" of friends as she tries to make sense of life and love in the 1990s. Fielding's column lampooned the obsession of women with women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan and wider societal trends in Britain at the time. Helen Fielding published the novelisation of the column in 1996. Its 1999 sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, wasn't nearly as good as the original. Both novels were adapted for the big screen, Bridget Jones' Diary in 2001 and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 2004, both starring Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones, and Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver and Colin Firth Mark Darcy, the men in her life. I started having children in 2001 and haven't seen either movie, even on DVD, so I can't tell you how they stack up against the novels. After Fielding had ceased to work for The Daily Telegraph in late 1998, The Independent started up the Bridget Jones' Diary feature again on August 4, 2005.

I read the book when it first came out in hardcover, back in 1996, and Bridget Jones is the inspiration for today's post. A sample entry in Bridget Jones' Diary might read: "126 lbs, alcohol units 9, cigarettes 28 (but will soon give up for Lent so might as well smoke self into disgusted smoking frenzy), calories 3826." While I promise not to overdo the updates on calories and alcohol units consumed, I thought it might help me keep up my fitness plan if I posted a little bit about it here on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives blog. Weighing in at 160 pounds (I'm 5'7") on Day One (Friday, September 5th, 2008), I'd like to lose 25 pounds and get back to my "fighting weight" of 135, which I haven't really seen since Rex started cooking for me in 1996. Since bikini season is over, I'm not in any rush...my goal is to lose 1 pound per week for the next 25 weeks, maybe taking a week or two off around the holiday since it is impossible to eat one of Rex's Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners and lose weight that week!

Maybe a traditional fitness plan doesn't start on Pop-Tart Friday, but yesterday after the family breakfast (London: chocolate chip; Maddie: chocolate chip cookie dough; Roxy: blueberry frosted with sprinkles), I got the girls on the school bus and headed down to our gorgeous basement gym and resumed my on-again-off-again relationship with the elliptical trainer. I've gotten a bit out of shape over the summer, believe it or not, so I was only able to exercise in short intervals. I did a total of 25 minutes on the elliptical trainer (a blend of the easy levels one and three) as follows: 6 minutes, rest, 6.5 minutes, rest, 6.5 minutes, rest, 6 minutes, rest. "Travelled" 3.5 miles. Burned 350 calories.

Today, I ate a more nutritious breakfast of Total Honey Clusters and repeated my routine on the elliptical, lengthening the first two segments but running out of energy on the last two: a total of 25 minutes on the elliptical trainer (a blend of the easy levels one and three) as follows: 7.5 minutes, rest, 7.5 minutes, rest, 5 minutes, rest, 5 minutes, rest. "Travelled" 3.5 miles. Burned 350 calories.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not going to bore you with constant updates on my weight and exercise program, but at some point I'll post photos of my home gym, and you might find Bridget-esque notes in the margins from time to time...wish me luck!

Thanks for reading.
Roxy

P.S. -- Can you believe I couldn't find a sponsor for this post?