One Hundred Pushup Challenge

Last week I mentioned several goals that I am going to attempt to reach in the next 12 weeks. Well, last night I was laying in bed goofing around on the internet and I realized that if I didn't try to fall asleep fast, I was going to blow past that 6 hour minimum sleep requirement. I think I actually managed to get 6 1/2 hours of sleep. Woohoo!!! I would like to think that someday I'll have the discipline to fall asleep on time and get 8 hours of sleep a night, but when you get up at 4:00 a.m. that's kind of hard to do. Then again, I've been known to have wacky sleep patterns. Next week I could be going to bed at 6:30 and sleeping all the way until 4:00. Oh that would be so lovely.

In my last post, I also mentioned I would think over the weekend about a reasonable amount of weight to lose in the next 12 weeks. When I have been consistently working out & eating right, the most I have ever lost in a week was 6 lbs (although this was a one time thing and out of the norm). The recommended amount of weightloss is 2 lbs/week. However, the bigger/heavier you are, the more you tend to lose per week. I decided that for me, a 2.5 lbs loss per week would make me very happy. At that rate, I would be down 30 lbs by the end of the Herbalife Weightloss Challenge. Not too shabby.

One more additional thing. I have been trying for awhile now to get my husband to do P90X or Body For Life, but he keeps brushing me off. Apparently he thinks the Army's way of working out is so much better (insert tone of sarcasm). I don't give him too much of a hard time considering he is working out everyday. Honestly, I'm just a really competitive person and wanted to rope him into doing one of the programs so we could compete for progress (not quite sure if this is healthy for a marriage, but moving on). Well, thankfully I found another way to compete with him. During a google search one night, I came across the One Hundred Pushup Challenge. Over the course of 6 weeks, you build your endurance and reps of pushups until you can do 100 in a row. Boy does that sound fun. NOT! If there's one thing I love it's a challenge/competition and testing limits. While 100 pushups sounds almost mythical to me at the moment, I sure would love to see if I can do it. And you know what they say, misery loves company. That's why I suckered the hubs into this crazy plan of mine!

Goal Setting

My least favorite day of the year is Dec. 31st. I hate New Year's eve and have been known to be quite grumpy on this night. To me, it is the ultimate reminder of the failed resolutions made the previous New Year's eve. Infact, several years ago I stopped making resoluations. Why make resolutions once a year that you will most likely not keep? Seems like a complete waste of time to me.

I have found that if I want to obtain my goals, I have to set small goals that lead up to the grand finale. Yes, I would LOVE to lose 100 lbs (not lying) but who wants to stare at a huge goal like that? Talk about depressing. If I woke up every morning and thought "Wow, only 96 more lbs to go," I'd probably cry all day. This is why I believe in mini goals. Achieving a goal is such a fantastic feeling. How many of us achieve a goal and say, "Ok. That's it. That was fun, but I'm done?" Well, I don't know about you, but I sure don't. The feeling of mastering a goal just fuels the fire and motivates me to tackle another one!

On Tuesday, I start another Herbalife Weightloss Challenge. With the last challenge I took a "let's see what can happen" attitude. Now that I know I am capable of losing weight if I put my mind to it, I'm going to give this next challenge everything I have. So, in order to do this, I need to set my goals. Here goes.

* Drink the recommended amount of water (1/2 of your body weight in ounces)
* Get atleast 6 hours of sleep a night. This may not sound like a lot, but for me it is.
* Workout 6 days a week.
* Do not eat out (I will make an acception if I have company...which is rare)
* Learn to eat my apples....without peanut butter....sigh
* PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE portion control
* Take my vitamins (gag...i hate vitamins)

Ok, that's enough goals for now. I'm going to give it more thought and see how much weight I think I can realistically lose in the next 12 weeks.

142/97/95

Now, how's that for a title? Those are obviously not my measurements (I don't think even Barbie is that out of proportion). It's definitely not my eyesite. So what could it possibly be? If you guessed the countdown to my important upcoming dates, you guessed right! Yay! 142 days until we leave for the honeymoon, 97 days until Jason is living in Denver, and 95 days until Jason is finished with active duty Army. YAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!! Now, I should probably explain the reasoning (other than being excited) that I chose to blog about these countdowns.

142: Well, this is pretty obvious. That's how many days I have until I have to face the final test and wear a bathingsuit...IN PUBLIC. I don't even own a go-to bathingsuit. I have been limping by on too small boardshorts and tanktops for far too long. The other day I was cleaning my closet (real shocker) and I came across a bathing suit I bought probably 3 years ago hoping to wear someday. It's sad that 3 years later, and I'm no where close to wearing that thing.

97: Who wouldn't be excited to have their husband FINALLY live with them after 9 months of wedded bliss? I am beyond excited and having a very hard time patiently awaiting this day. However, my waistline is not excited. Case in point, I gained 5 lbs back while the hubs was home. I like to look at that 5 lbs as a learning opportunity (ahem, *cough* *cough*...excuse). Atleast now I know what I'm up against and I am going to have to discipline myself to control my portions and not eat more just because my husband can eat enough to feed a small army and barely gain an ounce.

92: Jason will be kissing Ft. Polk goodbye in 92 days. (Insert angels singing the hallelujah chorus). So, why did I add this? I'm a stress eater and while I will be going crazy with excitement when having him here is so close, I'm sure I'll be worrying like crazy:
* How are we going to fit in a tiny apartment
* Am I going to continue eating well and not let his eating habits influence me
* And my favorite.....how am I going to handle living with a guy (for more than two weeks at a time?)

So, there you have it. I have a lot to look forward to in the next couple of months...and ALOT of work to do!

10 Pounds Lost

Normally when I disappear from the blogging world, it typically means that I'm not behaving myself (eating poorly and not exercising). Well, that's not the case right now. I just didn't feel like I had anything too exciting to talk about....until today!

Several days ago, I hit the 10 lb mark. I didn't want to say anything right away because I wanted to make sure that I had really lost 10lbs (i.e. it was a "true" weightloss, not just a fluke with losing water weight that would be back in another day or two). Well, I just stepped off the scale and I'm happy to say that I have officially lost 10 lbs!

So, what have I been doing different? I think I might have mentioned several weeks ago that I was giving up soda. I'm not giving it up completely and will allow myself to have one on special occassions. Well, after I gave up soda, I started drinking a lot of juice. Considering how much sugar is in juice, this was just as damaging as drinking soda, so I had to slowly break myself of that habit. Actually, it wasn't that hard. If you don't want to be tempted by something, then don't surround yourself by it. So, I simply stopped buying juice. Well, that left me with a problem; what do I drink? Well, duh. The obvious answer would be water, but there's one little problem. I HATE the tap water at my apartment. It is beyond nasty and you definitely have to choke it down. So, as much as I hate to admit it, I have become a fan of bottled water. And oddly enough, since I started this love affair with bottled water, I have only had maybe one craving for soda and maybe two or three cravings for juice. What a relief!

I continue to truck along with P90X. I actually find some of the workouts fun. Yes, I said FUN! The only one that holds me back is the plyometrics. I have a feeling that I would be having a blast with this workout, but living in a second floor apartment, I always feel extremely guilty for jumping around on the floor at 4:45 in the morning. I can only hope that my neighbors don't sleep out in the living room. Atleast I haven't had any noise complaints yet! Yesterday, I did Kenpo which is a form of karate. Holy smokes. You know those hidden muscles that very rarely seem to come out? Yep, I found a few new ones yesterday. My whole back is screaming and yelling at me. Not to mention, I still haven't recovered from my legs & back workout from Friday, so I'm just sore all over! Oh well, I'll definitely take the soreness. It's a reminder of what I'm working towards.

The Good, The Bad, And The Double Ugly

Well, while I had a fun weekend (The good) , I didn't have a very productive weekend (The Bad). My mom got up here Friday night and I had a wonderful, yet not so healthy meal of prime rib, potatoes and dessert (The Ugly). I managed to behave myself and not completely over indulge...then came Saturday. It started off well enough, but then we discovered a new Chinese buffet for lunch, and then for dinner, I decided to try out a new philly cheesesteak recipe I had found (The Double Ugly). Wow...talk about bad for you food overload all combined with not working out (We did go on a very long walk Friday night though). However, the scale wasn't too mean to me this morning...Only about 1/2 lbs increase.

So, to counteract all the badness from the weekend, I'm adding an extra cardio workout Monday through Wednesday. In P90X, they actually call this Doubles, so I'm really not even straying from the program. Hopefully this will knock me down a pound or two by my weigh-in. One of my goals was to lose every week, even if it was a small amount.

I forgot to mention another goal of mine. I plan on doing two rounds of P90X. And I just realized the coolest thing ever. My round 2 of P90X will end on November 6th; the same exact day we leave for Jamaica! Back to the goal...right now I'm doing wimpy girl push-ups (using my knees). By the end of round 2, I want to be able to crank out 100 REAL PUSH-UPS. I really don't think that it's too far of a stretch. When in shape, I tend to be very strong in the upper-body, which isn't the norm for females. I think it will be a fun, yet hard goal to work towards.

Tired Kayla = Cranky Kayla

Yesterday started off well enough. I made the usual wakeup call to Jason, struggled to get out of bed, and finished workout #3 of P90X (arms & back). The workout went great. Infact, so far, it's been my favorite! Probably because it didn't involve massive amounts of pushups.

Well, for some odd reason, the good day just went away and the bad mood set in. I was tired, cranky, and just wanted to go home and sleep. You get one "free class" for the weightloss challenge (meaning you don't have to pay money into the pot) per weight loss challenge, and I figured last night would have been a good night to use my class. Jason didn't agree. In the middle of my whining and crying tirade he told me, in a very firm voice that, "You're going to class." It was one of those voices where I knew it wasn't up for argument. So, I did what all mature 28 year old women do; whined and cried and said "why can't you just be nice and supportive?" Well, thankfully the 2 year old tantrum didn't last too long and then I realized he was being supportive. He gave me the support I needed to get my butt in gear and get to class.

Ok, now that I told you about my immature tendencies, let me share the good news! I was the winner of the week (lost the most weight)! Woohoo!!!! Since last Wednesday, I had lost a total of 4.6 lbs. The weightloss challenge only has 3 more weeks, so I really need to kick it into high gear and not get sidetracked!

Push-ups = Pain

I have done my fair share of complaining about the military. Mainly just complaining about switched leave dates, or having a weekend pass take way to long (in my opinion) to be approved, or just not being to see my hubby in general. Well, I found another thing to complain about when it comes to the military: MILITARY PUSH-UPS. If I had to choose one word to describe them, it would be sucky, or maybe awful? Painful comes to mind. Difficult, nearly impossible, insane, crazy, out of your mind...ok, that was obviously more than one word, but you get the point. The only thing worse than doing military push-ups over and over is tossing in reps of diamond push-ups...OUCH...but they must be working, because once again, little forgotten muscles are yelling at me again!

Present On My Doorstep

I got home from work today and found a little present on my doorstep. Actually, it's more like torture in a box. I had mentioned that P90 just wasn't challenging enough, so I bit the bullet and bought P90X (the X standing for Extreme)...and wow, not to sound cheesy like those infomercials that I love so much, but that first workout WAS extreme. The total workout lasted 52 minutesworking the back and chest. Do you know what that means? That means I spent the last 52 minutes doing pushups and lifting. Yeah, that's right...52 minutes of doing nothing but working on my upperbody. And this is coming from the girl that's excited to do 15 pushups in a row. Considering I had 52 minutes to fill, that meant I did 15 pushups in a row, over and over again. I've never been so scared in my life to wonder how bad I'm going to hurt tomorrow. I have a feeling the pain might be bad, but that's ok. I was actually excited when I finished this workout. Finishing and knowing that I literally just got my butt kicked felt good. It sure beats finishing a workout and feeling like you really didn't work that hard.

Now I'm going to head on over to the shower. I'll be shocked if I can actually raise my arms high enough to wash my hair. Wish me luck!

Lazy Weekend

Last Thursday I woke up feeling like I hadn't slept in days. Literally all day long I had that drowsy feeling where you feel like there are 100 lb weights on your eye lids. It was brutal. I should have known something was up because the next day I woke up feeling like my entire throat had been scratched raw. Yeah, it was pleasant. A trip to the doctor and a bottle of pills later, I went home and crashed.

Saturday was a bit more pleasant. My sister came up for a weekend of fun, and beings I was feeling better, we went out for a morning of shopping. I ended up finding the deal of the day: A $5 honeymoon dress. YAY!

Sunday, however, was a different story. I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a freight train. Pounding head, achy body, slighty chills...it was a party...NOT! I managed to get out of bed and cook pancakes for my sister (I may or may not have sample a pancake or two). After consuming the pancakes, I promptly passed out on my fluffy purple chairs for 1 1/2 hours. I know it was 1 1/2 hours because that is approximately how long Sweet Home Alabama is, which was the chosen movie for the lazy morning. Crashing on the chair was my theme for the day. If it wasn't the chair, it was the couch. If it wasn't the couch, it was the bed. And if it wasn't the bed, it was the shower (trying to get warm and get rid of the chills).

Needless to say, there was not a whole lot of exercising going on. And even though I ate my "I don't feel good feelings" this weekend, there really wasn't any damage this morning on the scale. However, I'm afraid it's one of those scale tricks where one day it's nice to you, but there really was a glitch in the system because the next day you magically gained 2 lbs....Lame... We shall see.

Weightloss Osmosis

Working out was a big struggle today. I hit my alarm several times and didn't get out of bed until about 2 minutes past the "last possible moment" before I would be setting the tone of running late all morning. I popped in the good ol' P90X dvd (today was sculpting) and then set on my couch to tie my shoes. And then I realized how comfortable my extremely uncomfortable couch can be when I am extremely tired. I decided to just lay my head down and test the couch pillow just a bit. I literally slept through the whole 5 minute stretching portion of the workout. Bad Kayla bad! Thankfully I woke up in time to actually get a lifting workout in. However, on my last set of pushups, that fluffy carpet of mine was just so inviting. And as I was lowering myself down, I just couldn't resist testing out the nap potential....ahhhh....If only I could figure out to get in shape and lose weight by osmosis.

Wednesday Happiness

Okay, this has nothing to do with fitness, losing weight, or eating healthy, but it's a funny story and I thought I would share. Tonight I was on the phone with Jason, as I am most nights, and I was once again complaining about how much I missed him. He was being wonderful, reassuring, and reminding me that we only have 5 more months (not much considering we've been apart for 2 years next month) to go until he's out of the Army and free to live with me and drive me crazy. He then proceeds to tell me that I need to be "Strong. Army strong." I immediately started the gagging sounds to give him a hard time and then proceeded to tell him that the word Army is a "four letter word" in my book right now. There was a silent pause and then he said, "Oh yeah? Well, wife is a four letter word to me!" BURN! Thankfully I saw the humor in it and started laughing. I mean, when someone sets themselves up that easy, like I did, you just gotta take advantage of it. So, props to the husband for one upping me and putting me in my place. I promise you, that does not happen very often :)

Weigh-in went well today. I was expecting the impending scale of doom to give me bad news, but the sweet little fellow actually told me I had lost a pound. How nice! If for some reason the scale moves in the wrong direction next week, I might have to give it an forceful kick as I step off, but for today, the scale went kick free.

Okay, it's time to sign off. I promised myself I would get to bed at a decent hour tonight and if I don't get off the computer asap, then all hope will be lost.

New Swimsuit!

It's official. I now know that I have muscles that I never thought I had before. I know this because they hurt and are screaming at me. OW! Everytime I move or stand up from my chair, there is a new muscles yelling, "Hello...Here I am!" Darn muscles. I just want them to look toned, not punishing me. I guess when you ignore them for as long as I have, you have every right to be yelled at. Oh well.

I went ahead and took a huge leap of faith yesterday and bought a new swimsuit...that will not be worn for another 191 days (but who's counting?). I showed the picture to a friend and she said that it looks like a swimsuit that a salsa dancer would wear. That's actually pretty cool because when it comes to dancing, I'm about as white as they come, so maybe putting on the salsa dancing swimsuit will give me some type of rythem? I think not, but it was a wishful tought.

By the way, I took an updated photo of myself, like I promised to. You can see me below. Or maybe it's just a picture of the bathingsuit I bought on a model that I wished I looked like. :)

Motivation, Workout, and Sleep

Jason and I were talking last night and naturally (naturally in the sense that I seriously diverted the conversation) started talking about the honeymoon in Jamaica. I mentioned that I sure hoped I was in better shape when the honeymoon comes around then I am now. What he said really struck me. He replied "Well, it's up to you." He is so right. If in 10 months I am right where I started, the failure is on me. If in 10 months I am a leaner and healthier person, then I get to give myself a big pat on the back. Either way, it's up to me how I approach weightloss.

This morning, I was on my 3rd set of pushups, after I had already done an intense upperbody workout. I went down for my 4th and my arms completely gave out from underneath me. I literally thudded to the floor and grunted. I tried so hard to lift myself backup, but there was no more strength left in my arms. I guess that's a good thing. I don't think you get muscle fatigue like that without doing a serious workout.

I know I'll get lectured for this one, beings sleep is such an important and crucial element to a healthy body and mind, but I have been having SERIOUS problems getting to bed before 10:30 or 11:00. Now, that's not so bad, unless you get up at 4:00 a.m. like I do. I usually catch a second wind around 8 or 8:30 and start working on all the projects I need to accomplish and finish. The next thing I know, it's 10:00 and I need to start winding down, which is very hard for me to do. But, that's where the workouts come into hand. Even though I'm not getting the amount of sleep I need (which I am working on) the workouts and healthy eating are boosting my energy levels. Whoohoo...I'm always game for some natural energy!

Day 1 of P90X

If there is one thing I absolutely hate, it's getting up when the alarm rings the first time. I don't know if it's slight rebellion and me wanting to say the alarm can just shove it, but I get seriously irritated if I have to get out of bed right away. Because of this, I always set my alarm twice: Once at the regular time and once about 15 minutes early. Well, my first alarm sounded at 4:30, so by 4:45 I was out of bed and preparing for day 1 of P90X!

Several years ago, when I ordered P90X, I apparently was too cheap to order the fullout version, and I have a basic, watered down version. I didn't realize that until last night when I was going over today's workout. So, I'm slightly bummed that I don't have the super doped up workout, but I'll make due with what I have. I still think it will be challenging, just not as challenging as it could be.

I got through the workout fairly easy today. I'm thinking I'll only stick around on phase 1 for about a week and move onto harder green pastures.

Trash Talk And A Honeymoon

Have you ever had one of those "What have I gotten myself into moments?" What am I saying? Ofcourse you have. If you haven't, then there's something wrong with you! I've had a few (or maybe a lot) of those moments in my lifetime, including one from today. I was chatting with a co-worker and told her that I was thinking about starting P90x on Monday and she mentioned that another co-worker of ours had just bought the DVDs for P90x. Well, I happened to have grown up with this co-worker and always find pure joy in bugging the crap out of him. Aren't I nice? So, I quickly shot him an IM telling him that I am going to do P90x and I'm going to beat the socks off of him (there is very rarely a conversation between us two that doesn't involve some sort of trash talk). Well, one thing led to another (well, actually I orchestrated the whole thing, but he doesn't need to know that) and we ended up making a bet on who can lose the most weight. Well, ofcourse we all know that's going to be ME. I officially have a honeymoon to plan for, so not only do I really want to take my co-workers money from him (the money that we bet) but I have 197 days to get my buns into shape.

So, yes. You did read correctly. I OFFCIALLY put down a deposit and reserved our room for Couples Swept Away in Negril, Jamaica. I am beyond excited considering I was starting to think that our honeymoon was going to turn into the "20 years, 3 kids, and 50 lbs later" we're finally getting around to taking a trip together. Whew. I dodged that bullet.. Funny thing is, as soon as I booked the honeymoon, I felt a twinge of sadness because I can no longer plan for it beings it's done...booked...set in stone (well, not completely). I really think I have a planning problem. Well, that and a serious problem of being terrified of being bored (see previous post about my boredom habits). I guess that means that now I can just start planning for our future house purchase. So, between preparing to buy a house, kicking my buns into shape so I can back that trash talk up, and keeping up with every other crazy detail in my life, I should hopefully be able to avoid the boredom bug.

Boredom & Stress Stink

Boredom is never a good thing for me. When I get bored my imagination has nothing else to do but to stress and worry over things I should not be stressing or worrying about. Another bad boredom side effect? I eat. I have mentioned that I am a stress eater, so boredom turns into stress, stress turns into eating, and eating turns into additional unwanted pounds.

So, where am I going with this? Last night I was talking to Jason and at 4:58 my time, (which would be 5:58 his time) he's falling asleep and can barely stay awake. So, being the nice and undemanding wife that I am (he might suggest otherwise) I kindly suggested that he call it an early night and go to bed. So, at roughly 5:00 p.m. I found myself with nothing to do. I decided to decrompress and watch a little TV and it was oh so fabulous. The distraction lasted long enough to keep me from stressing out and getting bored and doing some bad snacking.

Onto the weigh in last night. I really had no idea what to expect beings I hadn't worked out at all. However, eating right definitely has its perks. Since last Wednesday, I have lost 1.4 lbs. Woohoo!!! So, now I just need to schedule in some workout time into the schedule, work on getting more sleep and drinking more water, and do as much as possible from getting stressed and bored!

Emu Eggs: The Cure For Overeating

I read an interesting article on msnbc.com titled "Why we eat when we're not hungry." There really wasn't anything out of the ordinary and the article was basically full of information that I already knew (yet obviously haven't been following), but it was still a good refresher course.

One point that had quite a bit of time spent on it was the fact that you should not watch TV while you are eating. Well, I beg to differ. In the last week since I came out of the dark ages and decided to get TV, my mindless snacking has come to a screeching halt! I'll be the first to admit that I'm a boredom/stress eater. If I had known TV would cure this bad habit, I would have signed up months ago. hahaha Although, I will admit, I have to stear clear from the Food Network channel after 6:00 p.m. if I want to have any hope of losing weight and getting into shape. Unless I watch another episode of Chopped. That show quickly killed any appetite I might have had for late night snacking. One of the challenges last night was to cook a dessert using an emu egg. DISGUSTING. Seriously? An emu egg? I mean, I consider chicken eggs to be borderline disgusting, so there's no way I could ever stomach an emu egg, much less in a dessert. After a solid minute of gag reflexes, I changed the channel (although I may have found an effective way to not eat lol).

Onto more serious matters. I have my first official weigh in tonight after a week of the weightloss challenge. I really don't know what to expect. I'm not expecting any miraculous disappearing pounds, because I have yet to workout in the last week, but I "feel" lighter, thanks to the shakes, so I guess we'll see tonight.

Before Pics

So, here are the dreaded "before" pics. Obviously I haven't been too good at posting pics. However now that I will be submitted to pure torture every week and have to take pics, you can expect a whole album of them...well, maybe not that many, but they should be posted on a regular basis.

On a brighter note, I lost 2 lbs this week! WOOHOO!!! When I reported the good news to the hubby, he responded with the upbeat encouragement I was seeking, but then said that he also needed to change his diet. This is something I have been thinking for awhile beings the guy can consume 2 whole Red Baron pepperoni & sausage pizzas and a big serving of ice cream in one sitting. Hmm....and I wonder where he got the idea that he needed to change his diet???

I'm Alive

Awhile back, I talked about a weightloss challenge that I had entered. Well, it officially started yesterday! WAHOO!!! I attended the first meeting with several close friends where we were weighed in (sucky), measured (yet again sucky), and introduced to what the next 9 weeks has in store for us (yay!). If there is one thing I love, it's to be challenged and to be in a competitive atmosphere, so this should be fun!

So, now for the bad news. Several weeks ago I was having a blonde technical moment and somehow managed to confuse the heck out of my ipod. I have turned it into a jumbled mess and now I can't download music onto it or create playlists. And my ipod is my lifeline when I'm working out. I'm not exagerating. It's like oxygen. To me, it's more important than oxygen. Sucking in air during a hard workout is hard enough, but my ears always work perfectly. I HAVE to have my ipod when I'm at the gym. Needless to say, I've been at a loss.

To make matters even worse, the remote to my DVD player broke (it's not the batteries, I already checked). Well, that pretty much rules out my workout videos because it's pretty hard to surf through the DVD menu without a working remote.

But there is hope! I finally broke into the new decade and got cable. I'm serious. Not a lie. Yes, me...GOT CABLE! I know, it's pretty pathetic to be so excited, but hey, remember that post where I said I carried on conversations with my cat? Yeah, those have died down a ton in the last 24 hours! And the coolest thing about cable (comcast to be exact) is that I have a bazillion of workout videos and routines right at my finger tips thanks to Comcast OnDemand. How cool is that? It also officially leaves me with no excuse whatsoever to workout in the mornings.

Stress Buster

One morning, several weeks ago, I was getting ready for work. I glanced up at the mirror for a split second and saw an unusually light colored hair on top of my head. Keep in mind, I'm a natural brunette and beings I spend about zero time in the sun, there was no reason for my hair to be "sunkissed" with blonde straglers. All of the sudden, it was like the mirror had some sort of magnetic pull on me. I practically had my face smashed up against it to get a closer look at this "blonde" hair. Sadly, it wasn't blonde. It was gray. I was in denial for several weeks until the inevitable happened again this past Sunday. I found ANOTHER one. What the heck is going on? I'm only 28, neither one of my parents started graying until their mid 30's, so why in the world are these less than brunette (I can't even bring myself to say the G word again) hairs showing up? I think I can sum it up in one word: Stress. I haven't exactly handled the last several months very well and to say my stress levels have increased would be an understatement. Something has to be done unless I want to be fully "less than brunette" by the time my husband is actually living with me!!!

So, needless to say, it's time for a serious plan of action! Several weeks ago, Jason and I were discussing the benefits of running. He loves it and is quite good at it. Me on the other hand, I HATE running with a passion. When I played high school sports, running was used as a form of punishment. Well, I'm sure you can see why after several years of playing sports I started to associate running as being a bad thing, which is sad because it can be such a stress reliever. Which is exactly what I need!

I mentioned to Jason that it would be nice to learn how to "like" running. I know it's something he enjoys and it would be nice to have atleast one hobby in common. Because let's face it, I'm never going to become the bow hunting goddess that he would like me to be and he's never going to be able to sit through three hours of non-stop infomercials like I can. I decided that entering a 5k (let's start out SUPER easy) would be a good challenge. It's something to work towards that I could see the end results. So, I quickly googled races in the Denver area for next spring. I figured I would give myself plenty of time. Well, it didn't work out so well. Jason said that I should shoot for running in a race next fall. Darn him.

So, the plan of action is to start incorporating Couch to 5K into my weekly workouts. It's a program that helps you to build up your running tolerance with the idea of having you ready to run a 5K in 9 weeks. Not too shabby is it? The best part about it is you only have to run 3 days a week. WAHOO!!!!!!!! That doesn't mean you can take the rest of the time off. It's probably a good idea to stay active, but just have a less intense workout for the other days.

Out Of My Cave

Several weeks ago, my dad took me out for dinner while he was up in Denver. During the course of the conversation, he basically told me I lived a hermit's life. Now, I know I tend to hang out at my apartment with my cat more than I do with actual human beings, but a hermit? Me? I'm not a social butterfly, but I definitely didn't think I was a hermit. Well, enter in a few sleepless nights, a couple of stressful weeks, and I did what I usually do when I'm really stressed: crawl into my little cave and hide from the world. Hence the reason I have not been blogging lately. But, I can only be anti-social and anti-blogging for so long...especially beings I've officially received a challenge from my dear husband...drum roll.......

So, if you are from the Denver area, you have most likely heard of the Incline in Manitou Springs. Several years ago (and quite a few pounds lighter) my youngest sister and I climbed the Incline. In one word, it was brutal. As I was dramatically telling Jason about how hard and brutal the climb is, I let it slip that it's only a mile. Yes, only a mile. Even Jason said, "It's only a mile?" Ok, so maybe it really is "only a mile," but it's the suckiest mile you'll ever experience in your life!

As you can see from the diagram, the mile is straight up the side of a mountain. And trust me, you definitely hit that 68% grade. And see the lovely photograph? Yeah, that's only at halfway. Well, back to my little incline rant. So, Jason decided that this will be "excellent training" to do once or twice a week. Yeah, right on honey. Knock yourself out. If you want to drive 110 miles round trip every week to submit yourself to elevation torture, you just go ahead and do that! Me, on the other hand, I'll settle for continuing to get myself into shape just I can survive Jason's suicidal pace that he'll attempt to climb this beast in! Even though Jason and I have known eachother for 5 years, he has only seen my competitive streak once (I believe this involved a nerf bullet to the head and getting his butt royally kicked at air hockey, but I'll save that story for another time). However, he hasn't seen my competitive streak out in full force. I am not a graceful loser. I'm even ultra competitive when I play monopoly, just ask a former roommate and my sisters & mother who now refuse to play with me. The point is, after hearing Jason say, "It's only a mile" I am determined to make him suffer during every step of that mile! hahaha I don't care if I have to body check him, sprint up the last incline and nose dive across the last railroad tie, I will beat him to the top...boy do I have my work cut out for me!

I love Saturdays!

Well, it's Saturday morning, one of my favorite times of the week. (Friday evening is my all time fave). In true Saturday morning fashion, I am laying in bed playing on my computer. I was really disappointed in myself last night. I had all these wonderful plans to stay up and watch a few episodes of Smallville (thank you Mom!!!) and then play around on the internet, do a little reading, but no, I was out like a light at 9:30. Anyway, on Foxnews.com, they usually have a slideshow or two everyweek of different celebrities and shows. Everyonce in awhile, one tugs on my interests and I'll check it out. This morning I saw one of Kirstie Alley and her weight struggles. Ofourse, I immediately thought this could turn into a blog subject, so, I opened it up and took a look. It was as I expected, pictures of Kirstie showing her always fluctuating weight with the author's commentary of why she always gained the weight back. Kirstie pointed out that her constant weight problems stem from her love of butter. WHOA...Gaining 85 pounds (which she did) in a short amount of time must mean she REALLY REALLY loves butter. Well, that got me to thinking, what are some of the things I love that have either caused me to gain weight, or maybe not be able to lose the weight?

So, my little challenge for the weekend...I'm going to write down everything "bad" food, diet related, etc. that I find myself tempted by. I guess I should write down everything that I gave into. It will be interesting to see what obstacles I keep throwing in my way.

Work Can Make You A Loser

Ok, that title may be one of the cheesiest things that has ever been spoken by me, and trust me, I can be cheesy! But, it made me laugh and goes along with my blog of the day. So, I can home at a loss of what to do. Normally, to decompress from my day, I spend a little downtime watching an episode of my latest addiction, Smallville (who would have ever thought an extreme anti sci-fi girl like me would like that show). Anyhoo, to my horror, I ran out of episodes before my mom could mail the latest season that she smuggled from my brother's room. So, my decompressing time was spent surfing the internet, which turned out to be pretty produtive for me. I found an article that listed ways you could burn extra calories just doing your normal daily routine.
1. While you are brushing your teeth, balance on one leg. Do this for 30 seconds and switch legs each time you brush a different area of your mouth. Burns 10 calories.

2. While at work, when you go to sit down in your chair, stop, pause, and then stand back up (essentially doing a squat). If you do 15 throughout the day, this can burn 10 calories. Side note...I'm pretty sure I'd be getting some pretty strange looks at work for this one!

3. When you are sitting down in your chair at work, lift one leg at a leg and "draw" the letters of your alphabet while pointing your toe. The first time I heard of this one, I laughed thinking it wouldn't do anything. Trust me, you'll feel it by the time you get to XYZ.

4. While pumping gas, do calf raises for as long as it takes to fill up your car. Hey, you may look goofy to the person pumping gas next to you, but atleast you don't have to see them everyday like you do your co-workers! This can burn 10 calories.

5. This isn't necessarily a calorie burner, but a calorier saver. If you absolutely must eat from a fastfood place, and you choose McDonald's, order a Happy Meal. This can save you up to 390 compared to if you had ordered a Quarter Pounder with cheese...Ick...

6. Make your TV watching healther. Alternate doing pushups and situps during commercials. Yes, this can be a pain, literally, but it sure beats sitting on your bum all night wasting away watching television!

So there you have it. I'm curious to see what other ways I can find to add toning exercises into your daily routine. Any ideas?

A Day of Miracles

Ok, so maybe my title is a bit dramatic, but I have been known to dramatize things a time or two. This day was full a mini miracles. The first being that I was able to snap out of a really bad mood and enjoy my dad. Today was my day where I workout after work, so I was able to sleep in for an hour. Hooray! Actually, not really. Because I'm used to waking up around 4:45, I did so this morning, but I promptly fell back into a deep sleep. In the next hour, I dreamed that I was in Jamaica with Jason. I always have extremely detailed dreams, so I felt like I was litterally there in Jamaica with him. Needless to say, when my alarm clock started buzzing and very rudely disrupted my dream, I was none to pleased. I was so annoyed that I'm still surprised I was able to snap out of the bad mood. That was miracle number one.

Miracle number two was I went a WHOLE day without craving a soda, which is pretty amazing for me. I know I have said before that soda is my vice. I love it dearly. You might actually say I'm addicted to it, which is good enough reason right there to kick the soda habit. Normally, I have to fight myself all day and talk myself out of stopping to get a soda on my way home. Today, I realized, I had none of those internal battles. Even now, while writing about it and having my thoughts consumed of a soda, I'm not craving one...Amazing!!!

Miracle number 3...After my evening workout, I went over to my good friend Andi's home to be "evaluated" for the weightloss challenge I am entering. My weight secret is finally out, but she's the only one that knows...that's not the miracle though. While there, she made me a protein shake, which also substitutes as a meal replacement. My first thought was I felt guilty beacuse I still wanted to have dinner when I got home, but knew I shouldn't after drinking the shake. Well, the next thing I knew, I was full. And I mean FULL. No hunger pains, no tempation to eat when I got home, no food cravings...nothing! So, there you have miracle number 3. I know I've mentioned my love affair with food before. To me, eating isn't just a way to nourish myself, it's also a way to comfort myself when I'm bored, lonely, anxious, etc. I always joke around that it's "eating my feelings," but in reality, that's exactly what I do. And tonight was the first night that even though habit said I should eat dinner, the mind said no because I already had and was full.

Now, maybe the scale will give me a surprise in the morning and give me miracle number four!

My Magazine Obsession

When I first got engaged and knew I had a wedding to save for, one of the first things I had to do was take a hard look at my budget and see how I could cut some expenses. At first, I thought this was impossible. Money was already tight, so how in the world would I be able to save more? I ended up finding several ways. One of which was curbing my magazine obsession. I LOVE magazines. Actually, I just love to read, but as I have gotten older, and busier, I very rarely find myself with enough time, or the attention span, to sit down and read a book; hence the reason I love magazines so much. You can sit down and read for a few minutes, put the magazine down for a day or two, and pick up where you left off without having to refresh your memory. It's great! So, in my quest to cut some expenses, I had to drastically cut back the number of magazines I bought a month. I think overall, I saved myself on average $30 per month (pathetic that I spent that much on magazines, I know).

One magazine that I refused to give up was Self magazine. It's an easy read full of fitness advice, yummy recipes, and attainable workout plans. It's not for the ultra marathon runner, or the bionic-triathaloncrazyperson, but for the regular joe schmoe. So, this leads me to today when I got my latest issue in the mail. I haven't read through all of it yet, but what I have read has been pretty intruging, and helpful. This month, the fabulous writers & editors included the "Weightloss Shopping List!" YIPEE!!! I am a black & white kind of girl. I usually don't see gray. In otherwords, I like clear cut answers that don't leave room for error. So a shopping list right infront of me that will help keep me on track? I think that's fantastic! Obviously, not every "good & healthy" food is listed below. The list is pretty long, so I'll only include a portion of the items from each section. Read on and enjoy...and learn!

Produce

Apples

Asparagus

Baby spinach

Bell pepper

Banana

Garlic powder

Condiments & Spices

Black pepper

Cinnamon

Grounce ginger

Olive oil

Garic Powder

Bakery

Whole-wheat bread

Wada crackers

Whole-wheat English Muffins

Whole-wheat tortillas

Whole-wheat pita

Frozen Foods

Frozen cherries

Frozen Waffles

Meat/Fish/Dairy/Eggs/Poultry

Boneless skinless chicken breasts

Sliced aamonds

Hummes

Skim milk

Part-skim mozerella

All natural peanut butter

Salmon

Quinua

First Big Achievement

When you are trying to lose weight or get in shape, I think it's very important to set goals that don't involve the scale. The scale fluctuates so much, that sometimes it can be downright depressing, or deceiving. Yes, if you are trying to lose weight, in general you need to see that number on the scale go dowwwwwwwnnnnn, but you can't set yourself up for failure by only judging your success by the scale.

Many say that you should take measurements, so you can track your progress. I agree. However, I detest small and minute tedius details and having to spend half an hour every week taking measures to see if a I made a milimeter of progress? No thanks. I can guarantee that wouldn't work for me. So, I had to find other ways to track progress. I'm still trying to figure this one out. Sure the whole "are your clothes fitting you better" thing works great, but that tends to take a little longer to see.

So....while I haven't found a good way to track weightloss other than the scale and taking your measurements, I did however see progress yesterday!!! Yipee!!! First of all, I did manage to lose those yucky pounds I gained during my slacker week (and did lose an additional pound that I didn't gain), but what I was most excited about was the ever so slight microscopic hint of toning in my shoulders. You know that scene in Titanic where Jack and his friend are standing at the front of the boat (sorry, I am not up to speed on correct boat lingo) and his friend says he can see the Statue of Liberty and then in his very cute accent says, "It's very small ofcourse." That's kind of how I felt about the definition in my shoulders. It's very small and barely noticable, BUT I SAW IT! I don't think other people would notice it just yet, but then again, they don't stand infront of a mirror everyday critiquing my body like I do. :) I was just so incredibly excited to see the beginning of results from working out. I guess tomorrow when I'm doing more squats combined with military presses, I can't curse too much because I know they are starting to work!

So, here's to those victories that you gain off of the scale!

Making Some Changes

Tonight is one of those nights where I am so sleepy I can barely get my fingers to type, so I have a feeling this may be a farely short post. I decided to make some changes to the workout routine. As much as I love the 30 Day Shred, I don't feel like I'm getting enough of a cardio workout. It's great for toning muscles, but having toned muscles doesn't do you a lot of good if you're not burning fat. So, I decided to mix things up. Three days a week I will be doing the Shred in the morning and then three days a week I will be working out on the treadmill, elliptical machine, or the stationary bike for 30 minutes. After working out to Jillian's voice the last several weeks, it was nice to step on the elliptical machine today and completely zone out. I had forgotten how relaxing that could be. Well, I wish spending half an hour on the elliptical was physically relaxing...atleast it was mentally relaxing! I realized today that I'll be having to take a 4 week photo next week and I am not looking forward to that at all. Last week's pitty party really set me back. However, remember that I have to take that picture pushed me to workout harder today. I have a feeling I won't be seeing a change in this photo, but I'm determined to see a change in the next!

Stupid Pizza

All evening long I've had this nagging feeling I was forgetting something. I did a quick mental check of all the things I was supposed to do today and didn't come across anything I had forgotten. Finally it hit me...I hadn't blogged yet. Normally I am pretty excited to blog, but tonight I've been so tired, the last thing I wanted to do was look at a computer screen and think! Hmmm....maybe that's because I was feeling a little guilty and didn't want to have to confess my crime. I wasn't feeling very motivated to go home and cook today, so I went to my favorite fallback plan, Garbanzo. I love Garbanzo because it's a fastfood place I can get food from and not feel guilty. Well, I got home and after eating about half my meal, I realized I just wasn't into it. My usual Mediteranean loving taste buds were craving something a little bit more. Well, considering I haven't done any serious grocery shopping in awhile, I knew I wouldn't find much in the fridge. I should have been smart and stopped right there, but oh no, I went on a search for something better. And what did I find? Leftover pizza that my parents bought while they were here this past weekend. Yes, I was bad. I not only ate one pieces, but two. Oh the crime. What was I thinking? Not only do I feel horribly stuffed, but the guilt is feeling not so good right now. BLAH!

Normally I would say, "atleast I worked out today," but right now I'm thinking "wow...all that hard work this morning to be downed by a crappy night of splurging." But the best thing you can do when you fall off track is to jump back on. Thankfully there will be no more pizza to tempt me tomorrow. Whew. On a plus side, I decided to give up soda for the forseeable future. This is going to be HARD. I always joke around that soda is my one vice. I absolutely love soda. I've been trying to have it only on the weekends, but even then, I probably consume a week's amount of soda, so I decided to nix it all together. The last time I gave up soda, I lost 20 lbs. Hmmm....maybe there's something to that! lol Ofcourse, while I'm giving up soda, I might have to break myself of my horrible orange juice habit while I'm at it. That stuff is just as sugary, but it's so yummy.

Eat This Not That

You might have heard of the book "Eat This Not That" by David Zinczenko. In one of my many magazines that I devour each week, there is a short section of Eat This Not That. It's amazing how much of a difference small changes in your diet can make. Even more amazing is how some of the "healthier" choices are actually detrimental to your diet.

Last week, I came across an article called "10 Worst Sandwhices In America" written by the same author as Eat This Not That. Ofcourse, as usual, curiosity won and I decided to take a look and let me tell you I was shocked at some of the sandwhiches. Here's a short rundown of what I found out:

1. Subway Meatball Marinara Footlong

• 1,160 calories
• 46 g fat
• 3,060 mg sodium

2. Blimpie Special Vegetarian Footlong

• 1,184 calories
• 60 g fat
• 2,198 mg sodium

3. Quizno's Large Tuna Melt

• 1,760 calories
• 25 g saturated fat
• 2,120 mg sodium

This was just a short list compared to what was listed in the article. I think the biggest shocker was the vegetarian sandwhich from Blimpie. The damage in this sandwhich comes from the high doses of oils and dressings that are put onto the sandwhich to make it tasty, but I still couldn't believe the numbers! It really puts a new perspective on paying attention to what you eat.

I'm Baaaaacccckkkk

So, what did I gain, besides a few pounds, during the week I was missing? Well, I found out that I actually have readers following the blog! Several people asked me over the course of the week where in the heck I was and why wasn't I blogging. EXCITING!



I admit, I was a huge slacker this past week. There is no good explanation except for a lame excuse. And we all know what I think of excuses. So rather than go into details about why I was missing, let's just talk about how I'm going to get back on track.



Last week I was doing a little retail therapy. It wasn't a huge therapy session, due to the numerous "gotta save for this and gotta save for that" items. I was only treating myself to a $10 splurge. Those who know me know that I always have to get the best bang for the buck. I HATE the feeling of wasting money and some might say that I'm a little obsessed with finding the best deal out there. So, I was wondering through the rows of Target wondering what I was going to spend my $10 on. I found myself looking through the fitness section (curses) and found one of those cool metal water bottles that seem to be the latest rage, but that was $19.99 and above my retail therapy splurge level. So, I looked around some more and low and behold, guess what I found? The workout DVD section (double curses). Naturally, I zone in on one of Jillian Michaels DVDs (beings she and I are like BFFs now, well atleast through the DVD player at 5:00 a.m.). So, I picked up a copy of her Fat Blasting and Metabolism Boosting DVD and took it home and promptly put it on my shelf to collect dust....until this morning.



Honestly, the workout wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty challenging. The one thing that I was bummed about was that it didn't include pushups...at all. And dang it, I was starting to get pretty proud of myself for the increasing reps I've been able to do.



It feels good to be back on track! I spent a better portion of Saturday researching and comparing honeymoon sites. Beings the clock is ticking and I probably only have 10 months max until Operation Honeymoon, I can't waste a day...and note to self...no more feel sorry for yourself weeks. Uggg..the meeting with Mr. Scale this morning was not nice!



Oh, one quick thing before I sign off. After I finished the workout this morning, I was going through the bonus section of the dvd. In this section, there was an advertisement for http://www.exercisetv.tv/, so I decided to check it out (it said there would be free downloads). So, I go to the site and the first thing I see is a workout by the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. LOL Oh my...not sure if I'll try that one, but I sure got a giggle out of it!

Almost the weekend!

Well, this may be my shortest post yet! I had all of these wonderful intentions of writing something creative and helpful...and then life got in the way. I decided to make ceviche tonight, which is something I've never made before. You have to let it marinade over night (the acidity in the lime juice cooks the fish), so I'm curious to see how that turns out tomorrow. If it's a success, I'll post the recipe for you. If it's a failure, please feel free to send flowers to the hospital I'm recovering in. I have a feeling that making ceviche is something that should be left to the professionals!

Beings this post is so short, I'll make sure to come up with something dazzling to say over the weekend. Who am I kidding? I'll be so bored that I'll probably be excited to be posting all weekend.

On a very positive note, I weighed in this morning and was down a pound, so the overall total is down 5.5 pounds. Yipee!!!!!!

Morning Workout Bombed, Evening Workout Success!

Well, today was the first day that I didn't work out in the morning, but don't worry. Not all was lost! I got to bed a little later than I usually do, but not terribly late. Even with a 5 a.m. workout, getting to bed at 11:30 isn't unreasonable for me (I've been so blessed by the non-sleeping gene...please note the sarcasm!) Anyway, I actually managed to get myself out of bed when the alarm went off. So, I figured with the hardest part of the workout out of the way (getting the motivation to get out of bed) that it would be easy sailing. Not so much! I was barely awake through the warmup and by the time we got to pushups I was even more tired. By the third pushup, I realized I was not mentally there and was not putting near enough effort into things. So, what did I do? I went back to bed. Yes, sadly I went back to bed, which was a mistake. If I didn't have the energy to do a high intensity workout, I should have atleast done some pilates or yoga....something....anything but going back to bed because that set the tone for my entire day. I was so sleepy and couldn't wake up.

As my energy levels kept decreasing as the day wore on (not that I really had an energy level to begin with) I kept having to tell myself that I absolutely had to workout after work. Having an "off" day is not an option for me right now. I made the commitment to myself to workout, or atleast be active, everyday and I certainly didn't want to break that commitment on day 8...or is it day 9? Thankfully after telling myself and my co-workers a billion times that I intended to workout, I did it! So, mission accomplished. The day was not a complete failure in terms of "the shred." After I finished the shred, I even tested out my new Biggest Loser's weightloss yoga dvd. So far, I'm liking that as well.

So, funny story for the day. Last night I had a dream that I looked into the mirror and my arms were so toned. I just stared into the mirror in disbelief that the fit, skinny, and toned person looking back at me was indeed me. Ofcourse when I really woke up this morning and realized that it was just a dream, I was disappointed. Don't you just hate when you wake up from a really good dream? I'm a little irritated that I can't even escape the obsession of getting in shape. If it's now showing up in my dreams, we have a problem. hahaha

I decided today that I needed to set mini goals for myself. I decided to break them up into 10 lb goal increments. Ofcourse, whenever you accomplish a goal, you should be rewarded right? So, now I need to think of rewards. Ofcourse, once I have lost a significant amount of weight, new clothes will be one of the rewards, but I need something to look forward to until I reach my my weight and fitness level. So.....any ideas on what I can use for rewards?

Day 2 of Level 2 (Day 7 overall)

Well, after day 2 of Level 2 of "the shred," I'm realizing I had certain muscles in my shoulders that have been hiding out all my life. There was a time (once upon a time, long, long ago) when I was in shape and I had very toned shoulders, but even then I don't think I had any clue about some of these muscles. Holy cow, boy do I feel them now. It's like they are saying 28 years worth of hellos after hiding out for so long. Ouchers!

So, the dilema of the day...realizing that I was not physically strong enough to do the walk out-plank pushups. This morning (after doing a set of military press lifts) my arms were pure wiggly jello. After the third attempt and doing the walkout pushup and fearing that I was going to fall and dislocate something, I decided that I would spend another week or two doing pushups during that particular segment of the workout.

Now that I have gone through the boring workout recap, are you ready for some good news??? In less than 2 months, I get to see the hubby!!! Yay!!!!!!!! Now that plans are in the works, I'm so excited I can barely concentrate. Ofcourse, considering that the le rendevouz is still 2 months away, I need to find something to distract myself so I don't make the months go by slower than a snail.

Another Day, Another Workout

Mondays are always the hardest, especially when you were a slacker and didn't work out at all on the weekend. Yes, I was lame. Even though I knew I wouldn't be doing "the shred", as my husband calls it, while I was visiting my family, I had hoped to atleast get out and go for a walk, or atleast do some yoga when I got back home last night. But, Saturday went by way to fast and last night the hubby and I figured out that we can be on the webcam and play yahoo checkers at the same time! For those of you girls that complain because your significant other doesn't come up with creative dates, be thankful....you could be living thousands of miles away from your new husband and having to resort to playing checkers through the webcam! lol Actually, it was cute and fun and someday we'll be able to laugh about it, but right now, I really would prefer to play checkers in person....even though he royally can kick my butt (fyi, he's the only person that can!)

Anyway, back to the morning workout. I woke up this morning with zero motivation. Actually my motivation was probably hanging around at a -1...and that's dangerous stuff! You do not want to start out the week on a bad note! So, what did I do about this motivation? I stayed in bed and slept another hour! JUST KIDDING! I'm not that much of a slacker! Actually, I decided that due to my serious lack of motivation I should up the intensity and start doing Level 2 of the shred...5 whole days early! The moves were definitely more complicated and awkward to do, but the challenge was welcomed. Jillian incorporates a lot of plank work into Level 2, so I have a feeling that if anything, I will be seeing a difference in my upper body! Oh, and the killer of them all, the grand daddy of the "I want to punch you in the face Jillian for making me do this" move is the walkout pushups! Now, even when I'm out of shape, I've always had a lot more upper body strength than the typical female (just ask my sister...I laid her out with one hand once in a playful moment). However, I felt like such a wimp this morning. Those things are brutal! Just doing one made me feel like I had done 100 pushups. Ok, it's not that bad, but they are quite a challenge! I recently figured out how to add videos to the blog (yay me!) so maybe tonight I'll search around youtube and post an example of the walking pushups!

On a closing note, I read a quote this morning that I thought was excellent. I'm an avid quote collector, so don't be surprised if I start posting them like crazy! Marie Curie, who was a French chemist and physicist, as well as a two-time Nobel prize winner said, "Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance."

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!