One Month Anniversary

So, today is my one month wedding anniversary. And guess I how I have celebrated it so far...yep...you guessed it, by doing the 30 Day Shred this morning! Whoohoo! I sure know how to party.

Well, I finally saw a budge on the scale this morning! It was hardly a move at all, barely even half a pound, but I'll take it! As long as it's going in the "right" direction, I'm going to try and not complain. Now, the real test is to make sure it doesn't go up over the weekend. All too often I do a great job during the week, only to let all my hard work slide because of my weekend bad habits...bad bad bad. No more bad weekends!

Most workout programs have you work out 5 or 6 days a week, with 1 or 2 off days. Not the 30 Day Shred. That Jillian Michaels really can crack the whip. Even if it's only through my TV, she still somehow manages to put the fear in you that if you don't give a 100%, she'll jump through the TV and kick you in the behind. Yes, she's that good. So, back to my original thought; there are no "off" days on the program. It's 30 straight days of pure sweaty funness! I'm heading home this weekend to spend time with the fam, so I won't be working out on Saturday, but I'll pick up where I left off on Sunday evening. And let's just hope the scale goes in my favor!

Happy Hump Day

5:00 AM came waaaaaayyyyyyy to early this morning. My wonderful internal body clock woke me up around 1:20. Needless to say, I was not too pleased with that. Thankfully, I quickly fell back asleep and was out like a light until my alarm clock started buzzing.

I sat, well, rather layed there having an internal debate on whether to roll out of bed or not. In the end, Jillian & her 30 Day Shred won! Each morning it is so hard to get out of bed, but after I complete that workout, I feel so much better and so accomplished!

First thing in the morning, when I finally drag myself out of bed, I weigh myself. I know, I know. There are many out there that say you should only weigh yourself once a week, but knowing I have to weigh myself every gosh darn stinkin morning helps to keep me in track. Like last night when I really wanted to finish off the last two falafels and scoop of hummus, even though I was full....I resisted knowing that a morning weigh in would be happening. I was a little bummed this morning when I stepped on the scale and didn't see a change at all...same stupid number since Sunday...BUT...on the bright side (there has always got to be a bright side) I did do every single one of those pushups and also noticed that I put a little more intensity into each exercise. So, while I haven't seen a change in the scale, I am seeing a change in the improvements of being able to complete each workout with more effort and more intensity! That has to count for something.

Now...for the next order of business...Get my dear husband (who claims to be reading my blogs) to become a follower...Grrrrrrr

Feelin Hot Hot Hot

Yes, when I said I was "feelin hot hot hot," I wasn't dancing around and shakin my groove thang singing along to Buster Poindexter. I was submitting myself to 1 1/2 hours of pure torture known as Hot Yoga. I went with a good friend of mine who warned me that it would be "hot with some humidity." No problem, I thought. I survived working in Washington, D.C. without A/C for 3 weeks in the middle of the summer. I can handle an hour and a half in a heated room. Boy was I in for a rude awakening. After five minutes of doing the easiest warm up I have ever done in my life, I was drowning in my own sweat. It wasn't hot. It wasn't humid. It was SWELTERING in that room. At one point, I literally felt like I knew what it must be like to drown or suffocate. And incase you were wondering, neither was a pleasant feeling!

But, putting aside the negatives of hot yoga, it turned out to be a wonderful experience. Yes, I wanted to countdown every minute until the end (but I wouldn't let myself for the fear of making it go even slower). It wasn't until I left the yoga studio that I realized that something miraculous had happened. It hit me like a ton of bricks that while in the yoga class, I felt no stress or anxiety whatsoever. It was a miracle, trust me. For those that know me, they know that I am a high strung stress/anxiety addict. Worry should be my middle name. I've tried hobbies to distract myself, hitting the gym to reduce stress levels, and nothing has ever worked...until now!

So, now I'm at the point of deciding whether I should pony up and pay a small fortune each month to buy my "yoga sanity." I think I'll think on that one for awhile. For now, I get to enjoy my free week that the studio offers!

As for the elusive bikini goal. I told my husband that I love my morning workouts. Well, that's a lie. I love them once I complete them. The dragging my sleepy butt out of bed isn't so loveable. However, I do love the benefits of having some sort of physical activity after work to help me decompress from the day. Maybe yoga is the answer. It's great for burning calories and toning those not so toned spots and thus can help me obtain my goal! So, we're going for high intensity workouts in the AM and calming workouts in the PM...Whoo hooo...So, bring on the hot yoga! And on that note, I'll leave you with a note from my new hot yoga theme song...

Me mind on fire, me soul on fire
Feelin hot hot hot
Party people all around me
Feeling hot hot hot

See people rockin yeah people chantin
Feelin hot hot hot
Keep up the spirit come on lets do it
Feeling hot hot hot

How you feelin'? HOT HOT HOT

The How

I admit, I have a whole library of diet books. And you know what? They all suck! Actually, they don't suck. The advice they give is very good advice. I just hate the idea of constricting myself to one diet, or one workout plan, or one way of doing things. In one word, that's BORING! Besides, I hate hate hate the idea of people looking to others to motivate themself. I believe that if you can't find the motivation within yourself, then you're doomed to failure. And besides, isn't it ironic that while you're reading a book that is telling you to get off your butt, you're sitting on your butt to read it? Yeah, that's my point. I need to stop reading and start doing!

So, I've kind of created my own plan. When trying to figure out how I was going to accomplish looking good in that elusive bikini, I sat down and thought about when I felt the best. The first part was easy; I have felt my best when I was the most physically active in my life...DUH! The second part wasn't as easy....figuring out how to work out this love affair I have with food. During one point in time, I tried the whole eating for your blood type thing, and actually, I felt pretty fantastic. However, I'm A-, which follows a vegetarian diet...kind of. Mostly, you just aren't supposed to have red meat very often, which SUCKS. I did a little research on how to eat what I like to call a "generous vegetarian" diet. Basically, try to eat vegetarian as much as possible, but allow myself to have fish or chicken once or twice a week. What I came up with was eating a more mediterranean based diet. I'll go more in depth on this one in a later blog.

I have actually been following this eating plan for about 2 weeks now (with limited physical activity) and lost 4 lbs and I have felt great! So, I'm curious to see how it works out now that I've committed to work my buns off, literally, every day!

For the physical activity part, right now, I'm just going to make a commitment to do something, anything, everyday! I actually did pick up the 30 Day Shred dvd, by Jillian Michaels, the other day at target (only $10!!!). So, to kick off this new weight loss adventure, I'm going to start off with it! And let me tell you, I completed it this morning and it was hard and I'm pretty sure my muscles are going to hate me tomorrow, but I feel so empowered that I not only got my booty out of bed at 5:00 this morning, but I honestly gave the workout about 90% of my all....Hey, it was 5:00 a.m....give me a few days before I start giving it 100%!

One thing I'm not going to do...I know I'm using this blog as a self accountability, but I am not posting my weight on here...yet...I'm still trying to get the courage of that. I am however going to post photos every four weeks so there is a sense of accountability. If myself and my readers (if I ever get any) see a difference, then I know I am working hard. If we don't see a difference, then I know I need to work harder. So, here's the first official photo, which was taken on my wedding day only 27 days ago!

The Why

Have you ever read a "diet success story" where the dieter said, "One day I just looked in the mirror and thought to myself, how did I get here?" Yeah, that's not me. My "oh my gosh I'm fat" moment didn't happen during one horrendous mirror moment. It happened over more like 10,000 horrendous mirror moments. Everyday I would look into the mirror and hate what I saw, but I never did anything about it. I ignored it. I put the issue on the back shelf. I gave up on countless attempts to get in shape. Worst of all, I made excuses.

I did have my bursts of energy here and there, and at one point, I was pretty successful at losing some weight, but I gained it all back (and then some) in a series of very stressful months. If I were to pintpoint what my problem is, I would say that I'm a stress eater. No, correct that, I'm a stress binge eater. Ok, maybe I'm not that bad, but I do love food. And when I'm stressed, I love food even more! My situation isn't completely hopeless, thankfully. I also enjoy to workout and for that, I am so happy! I always cringe when I here those who want to lose weight by diet alone. Obviously, being overweight, I'm no health finatic genius, but even I know you need to get your booty movin to become fit!

So, what inspired me to make a change in myself? There are a ton of reasons, but the top are: improve my health & quality of life, get my body into baby shape (mom, if you're reading this, don't get excited, I'm just preparing :), improve my self image, and let's face it, I am a girl, and to some extent vain (aren't we all?) and I would really like to fit into that elusive bikini and I want to look HOT!

In roughly 10 months, my new husband and I hope to take a honeymoon to Hawaii. When I first thought of going to Hawaii, it wasn't the beaches & bikinis that made me cringe (I'm deathly afraid of water and wouldn't mind at all avoiding the beaches). What made me cringe, and sad to an extent, was all the hiking I would love to do and enjoy while doing. And let's face it, hiking up hill is hard enough, hiking up hill lugging around a bunch of extra weight is no fun at all! Not to mention, my hubby is 6'6" with legs almost as long as I am tall...well, not quite, but you get the point! So, what am I getting at? I want to be able to get out in nature and enjoy it! And if I'm huffing and puffing, I want it to be because I'm having to run to keep up with his long legs, not because I'm horrendously out of shape!