30 Fitness Inspired Halloween Costume Ideas [Plus: Some 99-year-old Fitspiration!]

30 Halloween Costumes Inspired by Fitness Icons: If you still need some last-minute Halloween costume ideas, guaranteed you will find one on my list you like! (Or at least like to laugh at.) Chuck Norris is my personal fave but The Replacement Ref is pretty awesome too!

Health and Fitness

10 Fit Grannies Who Rock Share Their Secrets to a Long and Happy Life: Anne Nedley (above) is 99 years old. Or 99 years young, rather. The grandmother of 7 and great grandmother of 17 recently brushed off a 60-year-old man who hit on her saying, “You could never keep up with me!” Her secret to almost a century (she’ll be 100 in February!) of good health – no walkers or wheelchairs for this lady! – is “dancing and a good Singapore Sling!” At her 99th birthday party she did the electric slide with her great-grandkids and enjoyed her favorite mixed drink with her now-old-enough-to-drink grandchildren. In one of the most fun and inspiring pieces I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing, I got to interview 10 incredibly fit and amazing grannies to get their best healthy living tip. (She’s also Gym Buddy Megan’s grandma so clearly awesomeness is genetic!)

10 Most Counter-Intuitive Health Tips: It all started when I asked for ideas on how to reduce the bloat from eating (I kid you not) two entire jars of spicy pickled okra in two days. The most common response? Drink more water. I was confused – as I often am – because I was already so hydrated I squished when I walked so why on earth would I want to add MORE water? But it turns out you all were right. There’s a good science-y reason for it and everything! It made me wonder what other health advice feels like the exact opposite of what you should be doing. And I found 10! Such a nice, round number.

10 Creative Ways to Celebrate a Fitness Milestone: (Apparently 10 is my lucky number for list posts these days?) Ryan Lochte celebrated his Olympic medals with a little metal of his own – his infamous gold USA teeth grill. But how do us lesser mortals celebrate finishing a first marathon, losing 100 pounds, or winning a powerlifting competition? The answers are very creative, heartwarming, inspiring and entertaining.

10 Ways to Use Instagram to Get Fit: (Seriously, what is up with me and #10?!) You already know the awesomeness that is Instagram (like Twitter but for pictures!) when it comes to vacation pics and cat shots but did you know there is a whole host of fitness inspiration on there too?

The Health Benefits of Religious Fasting: BlogHer chose to highlight my post about how and why I fast as part of my LDS (“Mormon”) faith to inspire discussion about the different forms of fasting and what the costs and benefits are. Personally I love it when something I’d be doing anyway for my spirituality turns out to be awesome for my physicality too!

Politics

Ever wondered what would happen if I wrote politics instead of parenting and health/fitness? Me neither. But despite my reticence to jump into the genre that is most likely to get me death threats (true story: I’ve received three death threats since I started writing publicly and the first one was from an article I wrote about how someone photoshopped Sarah Palin’s head onto someone else’s bikini-clad body) Redbook assigned me to cover the presidential debates. The kicker? They wanted me to do it in a light-hearted, mom-centric and apolitical way. Yes, I was supposed to cover a political debate without talking politics. I gave it my best! I kind of vacillate between vapid and entertaining… which probably sums up half my blogging career anyhow.

A Mom’s Eye View of the First Presidential Debate (a.k.a. the one that made Big Bird the hottest costume this season)

“The Most Rancorous Debate Ever… On Facebook” (a.k.a. the “zomgggg binders full of womens!!!!” second debate)

“I went to a foreign policy debate and a domestic dispute broke out” (a.k.a. the one where we learned both candidates can pronounce “nuclear” correctly)