Just Call Me A Model

Several days ago, I went home after work and the first thing I said to my husband was, "Honey, I need you to take a picture of me." Some may find it odd that this was the first thing I said to him, but my husband? He looked at me like I had grown another head. The reason? I hate and I mean HATE having my picture taken. I have been known to go to great lengths to avoid the camera (99% of those efforts have failed). So the fact that I not only volunteered, but cheerfully asked to have my picture taken really through the poor guy for a loop.

About a year ago, I came across a video on youtube. I know, a video on youtube? Who knew? Anyhoo, it was actually quite spectacular. A guy had taken a picture of himself every single day for about 20 years (give or take a few years) and then somehow got the pictures to play in rapid succession, almost like a movie...with pictures. It was insanely cool to see, in the course of about a minute, the guy age 20 years. Talk about trippy.

Last month I did something that most people dare to never even think of. I turned the radio off during my morning/evening commutes. Most of the music/D.J's on the radio are crap anyway, so I take this time to think and reflect. So, the other day, I started thinking about the youtube video I referenced previously. And then BOOM...an idea popped into my head. Now, I'll be honest with you, I get many brilliant ideas (atleast I think they're brilliant). It's just the follow through I have issues with, but this idea was too brilliant to get filed into the "I'll complete that when I have more time" file. This is where my wanna-be photographer husband comes in hand.

I bravely asked him to take a picture of me everyday...EVERYDAY. Did I mention I hate having my picture taken? I figured this would be a way cool tool to track my progress. The scale may not move for a week, I may feel fatter another week, but pictures? They don't lie. Not to mention can you imagine how cool it will be to see my weightloss over 1 1/2 years squished into about 1 minute of pictures zooming across the screen? Well, I think it will be cool!

Running & Chocolate

Running and chocolate? Hmm...Somebody please tell me how those two things belong in the same sentence. The first, I believe is a form of torture or punishment. You can blame my dislike for running on my high school coaches. Hey, want to make a kid hate something that is good for then? Oh you do? Okay, then make then run everytime they do something wrong. I'm sure it was effective at the time, but years later I STILL associate running with punishment.

Now onto the chocolate. Uh, yes please! Sign me up. I love chocolate, well dark chocolate that is. You can keep the nasty milk & white chocolate to yourself. Yuck. Anyway, onto the explanation. How do running and chocolate go together. Well, yesterday, one of my co-workers brought to my attention this nify little race called Hot Chocolate 15/5K. Wanting to get a team together for this race, he was asking everyone (everyone being all 4 of us in the office) if they would want to run it. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH. Oh that got a laugh out of me. I can't even fathom running a 5k in almost two months. Thinking about a 15k is just right up there with running 100 miles through the desert with no water. Then I saw a little glimmer of hope. You can walk the 5k. WOOHOO! I had these big plans on getting my husband to run in the race and have my sister that is living with us walk with me.

Then I noticed one small technicality. Apparently the good people of Ghirardelli (the sponsors of the race) are more into planning than I am. This race isn't until December of 2012. This proposes a big problem. Because in my excitement of entering the race, I had already told my husband about it. So when I told him it wasn't until 2012, he responded, "Perfect! Now you can have time to get in shape and run the 15K with me." Oh yes...just perfect and dandy (high sarcasm alert here).

Actually, I think it's a good goal to work towards. I have a loooonnnngggg ways to go to get my booty in shape. In the past, I have put unrealistic goals upon myself, which resulted in setting myself up for failure. This time I'm taking the smart route: Knowing that losing all the weight I have sitting on my short body is going to take a significant amount of time. However, by next December, I should be WAY closer to my goal and also in significantly better shape. I completely believe that I can do a 15k...with a year to prepare.

So, onto the chocolate. As I mentioned Ghirardelli is sponsoring the race. The post race party consists of a fondue party hosted by them. How...cool...is that??? Like I said earlier, yes please! Not to mention, you get this nifty little jacket. That's enough to convince me!

Socks!

This is going to be a simple post, yet I am sure it will be the most useful one you will ever read. Don't forget your socks when going to the gym...EVER! Because if you do, you will find yourself sporting a massive pair of matching blisters. It's not fun and I do not recommend it. So please, do yourself a favor and don't be an idiot like me and forget your sucks. Nuf said!

Look Who's Back

I'm baaaaaacccckkkkk! For whatever reason, when I said that to myself, I imagined Randy Quaid off of Independence Day saying it. Sad, but true. That guy really is a loonytoone, but anyways. I'm already getting off subject.

I wish I could say I hit my goal and that's why I fell off the face of the earth disappeared, but the truth is, I suck. Okay, maybe that's a little harsh, but let's just say for the sake of time, that I crawled into a little dark hole called "life got hard, so I gave up on myself and ate my way deeper into the hole." Okay, nuf said. Onto the good stuff!

I had a realization the other day that I'm not getting any younger. My 30th birthday is less than 4 months away and if weight is hard to lose now, it's ONLY going to get harder. So, to kick off this fun, I'll start off with a list of why I want to lose weight/get healthy.

1. I'm vain....okay, not completely, but once upon a time I liked to get all dolled up and cute. Now? Let's just say that I'm VERY thankful my husband likes a casual girl with hair in a ponytail and in jeans and a t-shirt. That may be sweet, but I don't feel pretty. And I want to feel pretty dang it!

2. My kid sister just had a baby and at her highest weight at 9 months, well, let's just say I'd kill to be at the weight.

3. I really really really do not want to be overweight and having kids....which means, right now, I really really really don't want kids. And I'd like that to change. Let's face it, an overweight mama is not a healthy mama and that's no bueno.

4. The hubs and I plan on taking a trip in about 2 years, which coincides with about the time we decide to add chaos, I mean children to our lives. And for ONCE IN MY DANG LIFE, I'd like to be the girl on the beach that others envy. Geeze I sound really vain today.

5. Several years ago, my kid sister and I tried to kill ourselves by climbing the Incline in Manitou Springs. That may sound dramatic, but I swear it was death by hiking, yet somehow we lived. How, I'll never know. Anyhoo, I told the hubs about the Incline and now he wants to try it....together...HECK NO. Not...gonna...go...there....atleast until I can beat his sorry butt to the top. Because frankly, I think he think he's a bad a$$ that is going to spring to the top. And I would really really really like to beat him to the top and say boo ya!

6. I have had the same pair of jeans in my closet for I kid you not, almost 7 years. Heck, they've already gone in and out of style probably twice. I would kind of like to wear them.

7. Next summer, my side of the family is taking a vacation to Galveston, TX. While I have no desire to swim in the chocolate milk they call an ocean, I would like to lay out. Not to mention, us kids (I mean adults who act like kids) want to go to a water park for a day. And I would LOVE to go, but there is no way in Hades I'm going to grace my family's presence with me in a bathing suit. No way, nuh uh, not gonna happen! Strangers yes, family, no. End of discussion.

8. And the last reason (yes, I know..most lists have 10 items, but 8 is my favorite number. So deal with it). I just want to be healthy. I don't want to go through my 30's feeling like I'm in my 40's. My 20's flew by and I'm terrified of how fast my 30's will go. I would like to say that when I turn 39 that I can say I did good and I feel great!

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!