Can't Every Day be Valentines Day? Picking the Right Partner for Lifelong Love

by someecards

By Crabby McSlacker

Note: Altra Shoe Giveaway Winner announced by the End of Today, stay tuned!

So Valentines Day is over, and we're done with all the flowers and candy and cards and jewelry and candle-lit dinners in snooty overpriced restaurants.

Do you ignore it or did you celebrate? If you played along, did you find a way to make it meaningful and fun or did it leave you feeling a little let down or lonely?

Even if you had a lovely Valentines day (we did!), doesn't it seem a little weird that we set aside a single day to show love and appreciation... right during the middle Gum Disease Awareness Month? (And I'm not making that up! I just got an urgent PR email about it).

This was originally going to be a handful of post V-day relationship tips for keeping the love going 365 days a year, for decade after decade. But when I went to write 'em up? I realized that the most crucial relationship-saving tip in the world is: to pick the right partner in the first place.  And by the time I climbed off my soap box about that, the post was already too long to get to any other tips.

Running Towards Weight Loss

Photo Credit: Gareth 1953 

Guest Post By Megan White

Running (or not) seems to be a theme this week! And don't forget we're giving away some Altra Zero-Drop shoes (and it's not too late to enter).

While some of us suffer from injuries that make running a Bad Idea and a source of angst, jealousy, and whining, for most people, running is a Good Idea!  But... even if you are physically able to run, how the heck do you motivate yourself to do it?

This guest post is by our Paleo Pal Megan White, who has a new book out called The Ten Running Commandments and who has already shared a post with us on Losing Weight on a Paleo Diet. She is an enthusiastic runner, and has some tips to share!-- Crabby


The words we tell ourselves can make or break us.

These words can be positive. They can take you from your bed in the early morning to the dark streets, allowing you to burn off a couple hundred calories before the day ahead (and fitting you up with hours of endorphins to get you through the early-morning blues).

Alternately, these words can be negative. They can keep you strapped to your couch, a bag of potato chips in your hand, and thoughts of Netflix humming in your head. We’ve all been there. (Sadly, just three days of this attitude can get me up-to-date on full seasons of House of Cards.)

Altra Shoe Giveaway! And Torin and Intuition 3 "Zero Drop" Walking Shoe Review

By Crabby McSlacker

So I scored some Altra Torin and Intuition 3 shoes to review, yay! (And, in the interests of full disclosure, got to keep them).  And, better yet: one lucky Cranky Fitness reader can win a pair of Altra's of their choice. Cool, no?

But those of you who are already hip to Altra's are probably going: WTF, Crabby?  The Torin's and Intuitions are running shoes, not walking shoes, you misinformed nincompoop!

Too Big for Horseback Riding?

Guest Post by Jan Bono

Horseback riding?  Way too scary for the cowardly Crabby McSlacker, so today we have another great guest post by Jan Bono. You may remember her fascinating first person account of  the whole Skin Removal process is like.  We're hoping to see more guest posts from her in the future, fingers crossed!  

For more about Jan, check out her book Back from Obesity, or scroll on down over at the  Cranky Fitness Info Page, which mysteriously depublished itself for a while but seems to have returned. --Crabby

Heigh-ho Silver, away!

I was always looking for fun and creative ways to get more exercise as I took years to work my weight down from 396 to 144. High on my list of “someday I’m gonna be able to do this again” was horseback riding.

As a teen, I’d ridden horses with my country cousins, so I was well aware how much core muscle strength it took just to stay upright. I figured I’d probably be brave enough, and fit enough, to mount up again once I got under 200 pounds.

The Universe, however, had other ideas. The Universe thought it would be funny as hell to see me astride a powerful equine long before I deemed myself “ready.”

Healthy-ish Travel: Destination, Scottsdale!

By Crabby McSlacker

Yep, Cranky Fitness went out on the road yet again, and there are crappy camera phone photos to prove it!

Besides a very brief account of my wanderings in Scottsdale Arizona, this is also an informal and somewhat ungrateful review of a luxury health resort: the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort and Spa .

But before I get into any of that, on a totally unrelated note, check out the Fit Bottomed Girls post on "Morning Routines of Fit Women."

Why?  Well, the FBG's have kindly mistaken me for a Fit Woman! And so the extremely mundane details of my morning routine are included along with more legitimate and ambitious fit gals who are far more interesting.

Anyway.

So yeah, I recently accompanied my go-getter corporate spouse to a business function she was attending at the Marriott Camelback Resort.  And along with my clothing and swimsuit and tablet for the Fire HD 6 Review, I packed my persnickety neurotic personality and my tendency towards weirdo antics and took the whole Cranky show on the road.

So how did it go?