Who IS this girl, and where have I gone?!

Something strange has happened, dear readers.

I enjoy working out!

What the H???  I've never actually enjoyed it.  It's never been anything that I thought about or looked forward to.  Working out was hard work.  You get sweaty, it's hard to breathe.  It takes time away from the things you want to do.  It's painful.  It's not fun.  It's sore and achy and tired the next day.

But it's awesome.  It's such a high after you're done.  You're shaky and need a gallon of water and can't stop talking (at least, that's my jam!).  There's no real way to describe all the highs of working out.  It's just so spectacular.  I love it.  I really do.  For someone who seriously couldn't do a pushup to save my life, I'm now doing a pile of them (full disclosure - they're knee pushups, but I can do a whole lot more of those than the one or two regulars!) at once.  I can do a grip of jumping jacks and CRUNCHES.  Actually do crunches.  It's craziness.

I was in Ohio for work a couple of weeks ago.  First time traveling for work, first time in a hotel room by myself, big meeting the next morning...so I was feeling all out of sorts and jittery.  Instead of taking a quick dash across the street to get some bad-for-me snack food, what did I do?  Jumping jacks, pushups, lunges, squats, and crunches!  I just couldn't sit still, so I turned on the Kardashians (promptly turning OFF the sound...yikes) and got to it.  I was all tired after the 20 minutes or so that I was working it, and went to bed feeling good.  It was pretty great.

Craziness that I like.  :)

I didn't workout today or yesterday.  I'll be blaming Tuesday's kettle bells class for kicking my ass something fierce.  However, I can't let that take all the blame.  I'm feeling much better today.  I miss it.  I feel kinda itchy or like I'm full of nervous tension without it.  It's a really weird feeling.  Not that I'm doing anything about it, mind you.  ha.

Anyway.  Just a quick report on that.

Adios, y'all!

THEY'RE BAAAAACK!!!!!!!

Two things I adore have made their ways back into my life!!

Numero uno.  KETTLE BELLS!  And man.  It came back with a serious punch to my fat ass.  :

I got to the workout facility when everyone else was warming up.  Our changing room really only has two private spaces to change.  When I got there, it was oddly crowded, so I just went to the bathroom.  As I walked  into the room, I understood why.  I think there were ELEVEN people there today!!!  Eleven!  We NEVER had more than five last session.  It was really great to see so many people in there, sweating ourselves silly.  When I went to grab a bell, I didn't see any 15-pounders.  Bummer - that's all I've ever used.  So, I went with a 20.  Let me tell you.  5lbs makes a HUGE difference.  I was DYING.  I was working my muscles overtime, and it was kinda nuts.  Every move was so much more difficult because of the extra pounds.  By the end, I was just hoping it would hurry up and get over so I could go home and be sore.  :)

The funny thing, though, is that I was stronger.  I was able to hold a plank.  Some of the moves I KNOW I couldn't do last year, I could do tonight.  Like planks.  I've never really been able to do them.  We don't really do them in my yoga class unless we're focusing on abs.  I pulled 'em off for the whole 30 seconds.  It might not seem like a lot to a lot of people, but that's HUGE for me.  I was shaking toward the end of the third plank.  I was also able to do a pile of mountain climbers (HATE).

It was a rough workout, but the 600 cals I blew?  Yeah.  I'll take 'em.  And can't WAIT until next week!

Next up?  SHAPE!!!!!

That's right, kids.  The class that started it all!  I genuinely thought it wasn't coming back after it closed up last time.  Enrollment was low, and I think appreciation of the class was even lower.  Not for me, but for others who didn't take it quite as seriously.  I mean, I had a solo class once!  I was the only person there.  That's nuts.  Anyway.  I'm so excited that it's back.  Lynda is even leading it again.  From what I hear, it sounds like the format is going to be slightly different, and I think I like that.  Don't know if you know it or not, but I'm *kind of* an over-sharer sometimes.  The format of this new version sounds a little like it'll be more open; more time for discussions and things that the participants have learned.

Unfortunately, I'm traveling for work tomorrow, so I have to miss out.  Coworkers A and S are taking the class again though, so I'll have some note-takers.  :)

There you have it - two things I LOVE are back in my life.  SO EXCITED!

Anything new (or returning) for anyone out there??

Kinecting the dots.

Yeah.  I'm that frickin' clever.  :)

I vowed in this little New Year's post that I was going to work out five times per week.  My plan was a Sunday through Thursday attack, leaving me open on Friday and Saturday, in case I wanted to have some fun or have a bit of a loungy day.

Week 1 = bust.
Week 2 = success!
Week 3 can still = success!  But I have to work out Friday and Saturday.  Eek.

I took Sunday off because it was my birthday.  My 30th birthday.  I needed some time to be depressed.  Oh, and to shake off the cute little hangover that I had gotten at my awesome surprise party the night before (thanks, Mr. P!!).  Sunday's lounging carried over into Monday laziness.  Bummer.  But, I got myself in gear tonight (and my hubby!) and had a nice sweat sesh on the XBox Kinect system.

Lemme tell you about this system.  It's kinda awesome.  I love(d) my Wii, but this little fella is sweet!  I love how it follows me around, and love how I can get a serious burn with that thing!  I had my HR up to the "Extreme" sector - 80-90% of my max.  I hit that burn for a good 10 minutes, and it was glorious.  I was all kinds of wheezy and sweaty.  It. Was. Awesome.  Even Hubbs got into the groove!  We played "Adventures" and some tennis.  (I whopped his ass in tennis, in case you were wondering)  During the dodgeball game that we were playing, there are some down times.  We were jogging pretty swiftly during those times.  Burn, baby, burn!

Anyway.  I pretty much just wanted to pat myself on the back for the 5 days next week, and get myself pumped up for the 10 days in a row that I'm planning on working out in the next...10 days.  Eek.

What up with you, dear readers?

PS - tomorrow is my 1 year anniversary of the blog!!!!  I'm not really sure what I'm going to do, but it's going to be some kind of post of fun.  :)  Stay tuned!

Holy. Shit.

Yeah, I know.  Curse central.  :)

So, my girl Jill (not Michaels) and I have been kind of been collaborating on this weight loss thing.  She's trying to drop the lbs, I'm trying to drop the lbs...it's a natural progression that we would try to drop the lbs together.  We spend a whole lot of time chatting about recipes and myfitnesspal and working our buns off (literally and figuratively).  So, at the end of this past week, we were talking about how you can tell you've lost some weight.  The thing about losing weight by eating well and working out together is that sometimes it's hard to know for sure that you've lost weight.  The scale doesn't always show your success when there's a workout involved.  Thank goodness for the growing muscles, but the frustration of not seeing the numbers go down can be a bit irritating.

You have to learn to trust what the 'ol body is telling you in these kinds of instances.  You have to look at how your posture has improved from all the locust yoga poses you've been doing.  Notice how you don't need lotion/water/butter to get a ring off your finger.  See how an over sized sweater you've always loved just looks frumpy now.  Flex those biceps and show off the triceps that you didn't even know existed.  Feel how your jeans are filling out, instead of bagging on your non-existent ass directly out of the dryer.  The very hot, clothes-shrinking dryer.

One of the most startling things for me has been really seeing the number of notches I've put into my belt.  I haven't worn a belt for as long as I can remember.  The plain truth is that pants were always too tight to warrant a belt.  Never had a need for it.  ...aaaaand, no one except the plus-size stores sold the belts I'd need to be wearing.  Man, that sounds just sad to say it out loud.  Anyway.  After I lost my first maybe 10lbs, I bought myself my first belt.  I wasn't ready to trade in my now-too-large pants for a smaller model.  The most logical thing for me to do was get a belt.  The only belt I found that I liked well enough to spring for was a brown leather number from Old Navy - on clearance and in a size that was too big.  So, I had my in-laws bring over a leather punch that they had, and popped three new holes in the belt.  I figured that two of them would be too small for a while, cut off the end that I wasn't going to use, and called it a day.

Some people save a pair of their gynormous pants so they can shimmy into one leg once they've hit their goal. Some people take a million pictures along the way.  Me?  I've got that belt.  And that shirt that I still can't wear.  I decided when I punched the fourth hole in that belt that I would hold onto it and use it as my guide.  As my giant pants leg to shimmy into.  I have visions of me needing to loop it halfway around myself again someday.  I see it tied instead of looped.  I can't wait.

I've punched four more holes in that belt.

Back to the beginning of the post.  I was telling Jill about the belt, and showed her last night.  I love positive reactions, and she gave me one!  It's pretty nice to be reminded every once and a while that you're doing something good.  Thanks Jill!!

Oh, and in case you were wondering - the number of inches between the original hole I used (for the record, it was the SMALLEST of the original three!!) and the one I'm currently using (the smallest of the remaining!) is five and a half inches.  FIVE AND A HALF INCHES!  How dang crazy is that?!

Anything exciting to share, my five or six readers?  :)  How do you keep track of your losses?

Back in the saddle again!

MAN.

I sort of feel like I'm starting over from the beginning again.  All that time off (to the tune of about 3 weeks!!!) has pushed me back to the point of practically being back to square one.  Imagine, if you will, me banging my dumb head on the keyboard saying, "STUPID!  STUPID!  STUPID!"  Because, man.  That's pretty much what I am.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Oh well.  Live and learn, yeah?  Yeah.

The learning that's taken place is that consistency is key.  Don't be ditching out on your workouts.  Maybe ditching out on the perfect eating if you really have to.  BUT DON'T DITCH THE WORKOUTS!!!  Starting from the beginning again is dumb.  And totally counter-productive.

I did the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred again tonight.  Like, really did it.  Hard stuff.  I like the concept of these little workouts.  Three circuits of three minutes of strength training-two minutes of cardio-one minute of abs.  Everything from side lunges with arm movements to jumping jacks to all kinds of crunches.  I like that she's all about not taking breaks while you're kicking your own ass.  I mean, it's a 20-minute workout.  There's really not a whole lot of reason to take big breaks in between the circuits or moves.  BUT, in those 20 minutes, if you really push yourself, you get SUCH benefits.

I'm feeling it already.  I can't wait till tomorrow.  :)

So, for week 1 of 2012, I didn't do such a great job of working out.  I logged my meals, and sometimes it was a great day and sometimes it was a shat day.  I've tried to keep a positive attitude - telling myself that I can do this and I will be more determined.

Just because I wanted to do a better job of posting pictures to keep people entertained, here's one of me on NYE.  Happy new year, friends!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy 2012 all!

In fine tradition, I'm going to make some resolutions!  This year, I'm pretty determined to actually follow through on these.  I mean, I'm going to be 30.  In 14 days.  (*sob*)  It's about time I learned how to follow through on my New Year's Resolutions.  Apparently, the tradition of New Year's Resolutions goes back to ancient Rome.  Like, BC-ancient Rome.  Since I couldn't find any other history to contradict this one, I'll take it.  I wonder how many of the ancient Romans made their Resolutions and subsequently broke them?  Who else is willing to bet that's as long-standing as the tradition to make the Resolutions?  :)

At any rate, I'm going to make some Resolutions for 2012.

1)  I will be a better communicator.  Anyone who is unfortunate enough to be a friend of mine knows that I SUCK at communication.  I don't answer my phone, I don't make calls...essentially, I *kind of* expect everyone else to make the steps, rather than do them myself.  I'm going to get better at not doing that.  Better at not sucking.  ha.  In fact, I've already made a pact with one of the besties to be better at communicating (she sucks too, but nowhere near as much as I do!  ha).  We're going to put in the effort to call one another once every two weeks.  In that same line, I'm going to call my mom more often.  Even if it's just a two-minute check-in phone call, I'm going to call her more often.  I miss her.  Anyone else want to try to talk more?  Huffster, my new computer has a camera - we can Skype!  :)

2)  I will do a better job of appreciating the things I have.  Like most people, I can sometimes have a tendency to think more about what I want than about what I have.  I have a lot.  I have so much more than plenty of other people.  That's something I'd really like to work on.  There's no reason I shouldn't be thankful for what I have.  I'd like to try to kind of carve out a little time every day to think about what I've got, and be thankful or appreciative for it.

3)  I will be a better wife.  Sometimes, I catch myself slipping into Nagtown.  I don't want to be there.  I don't want to be that wife.  I want to be a great wife.  The kind that takes time to show her husband how much she loves him.  I have never subscribed to the "marriage is hard work" mindset.  Despite not believing that, I can believe that it takes hard work to keep yourself a good spouse.  Being married to Mr. P is easy.  He's a dumb boy a lot of the time, but he's so easy to love.  I need to remember that, and make myself easier for HIM to love.

4)  And last but not least.  I'll get my head back in the game.  I've been slacking quite a bit lately - from writing on the blog to tracking my food.  What does that translate into?  Weight gained back.  SO FAR, it's not enough to make me panic, but I know that, if I don't get back on the wagon, it's gonna be trouble.  So this Resolution is to exercise five days a week.  My goal is to do some form of working out Sunday through Thursday, leaving the weekend open for other stuff (like cleaning the house or shopping, both of which still burn calories but aren't a 45-minute workout).  I'm hopeful that the classes offered at work will resume ASAP so that I can take those again.  I miss my yoga!!  :)  On top of the working out, I want to get back on the food tracking train.  In a big way.  I want to be a meal planner, and eat my veggies and stay away from crappy food.  I want to do my weekly grocery shopping mindfully and get only what I need - staying out of those inner aisles that are chockablock full of crap.

This is the year, kids.  I'm determined to make this the year that I take much longer strides with my health and achieve all my goals.  Let's do this.

What are your Resolutions?

EFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

Kettle bells was awesome tonight!

Why the post title then? Because it kicked my butt! :) In a seriously good way though. I'm still tired, 45 minutes later. We did a ton of work with two (15lb!!!) bells tonight. It was a lot of work, but it really felt great.

I told Jody about how I've dropped about 40 since this time last year, and she was so stoked for me. That was great - how supportive she's been during these classes. I told her how it's hard for me to pace myself because I'm competitive with this sort of stuff ("Oh yeah?? You're doing dead lifts that fast??! Well, so am I!"). She reminded me again that I need to keep my own pace while trying to keep up to hers. As long as I keep my heartrate where it needs to be, keep my form correct, and finish the sets, I'm doing well. It really is great to have her on my side. :)

So, while I may be pooped (almost puked twice on the drive home!), I'm happy pooped. In a good way.

Anybody doing anything new and great with your workouts?? Share up!

My butt hurts

The kettle bell class tonight was even more difficult than it was last week.  I don't know what's happening here!  It just keeps getting harder and harder!  WTF is up with that??  This week was all about the cardio.  Everything was fast, fast, fast.  Squat jumping jacks.  Squat pulls.  A million swings.  It was a rough workout.  I tried my hardest, but I just felt today that it was NOT enough.  I had to stop a couple of times and just remember how to breathe.  I pushed as hard as I could, but almost passed out a couple of times.  It took an hour for me to stop coughing after the workout and get my normal breath back.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!!??

I thought stuff was supposed to get better as I kept going.  I'm so frustrated.  I worked out five times last week. Three of those were hard workouts!  HARD.

I don't know.  Maybe I pushed it on Sunday?  Maybe all the crazy walking on Saturday night was what did it?  Either way, I'm frustrated.  I'm annoyed.  I want to be energized and ready to work out.  I feel like I can't do that if it keeps being SO hard for me.

Did I mention that my butt hurts?  Yeah.  I've pulled something on the RIGHT side now.  WTF.  I don't know what's happening with me.  I wonder if it's because I haven't been stretching enough.  Maybe it's because I keep pushing it as hard as I can?  Whatever the reason is, I'm ready for it to be over.  I just want to be able to keep getting my workout on and do it without feeling as though it's my last damn workout ever.

Bah.

Anyway.  Oh, on an aside - I'm going to re-post the instructions about posting comments.  But seriously - just download Google Chrome as your chosen internet-viewing portal.  It's way better than Explorer (just my little opinion...).

Okay, that's weird.

I thought I'd just share real quick that I was leaning against the couch.  IT HURT.  Couch + less flab = hard and pokey!

Not that I'm complaining!!  I'm just sayin'.  It's kinda swell that there's a pokey couch to remind me that the 45 minutes of torture I'm inflecting upon myself is sooooo worth it.  :)  Tonight's kettle bell class was way better than last week's.  Still tough, but really great.  There was planking, side planking, planking while my partner did swings...it was really great.  I liked it a lot.  I'm ridiculously tired right now though.  I'm kinda hoping I can make it to 8:00.  ha.  Seriously though.  It was an amazing workout, and I'm really tired.  It felt good that Jody (Jodi??) only had to correct my form once.  She was giving me some mad props on my swings and that was sweet.  And totally well-deserved, if I can take a sec and pat myself on the back.

Anyway.  I'll try to write a more well-thought-out-post one of these days...

Mother. of. God.

(written Thursday, BTW...I've been taking my time editing)  I'm currently huddled on the floor of my living room.  Huddled because I can't stretch my legs out.  Le sigh.  I guess this is my life, now that I'm a workout queen.  Or goddess.  Whichever you wish to use.

Recap.

Tuesday's Kettle Bell class whopped my ass big time.  It was a 45-minute class.  The first half hour was okay.  Not too horrible.  It was tough, but not painful or difficult.  I think I've blabbed about the Kettlenetics DVD before.  From what I understand, it's a modification of a kettle bell workout.  It's a pretty great workout - hard to complete for this chubby butt.  :)  A lot of the moves I was doing from the video were actually part of the workout we did.  So, a lot of those were easier, which made those first 30 or so okay.  HOWEVER...the last 15 minutes were hell.  They. Were. HELL.  I'm a stubborn woman (it's an Arnold trade, I've learned...).  It took every last bit of my will to complete this workout.
Here's the thing though.  It was TOTALLY worth it.  The woman who lead the class (Jody, I think...?) had the most amazing arms and shoulders I've ever seen.  Honestly.  Amazing.  I've decided that I'm going to get those shoulders.  Continuing this class is gonna make that happen, baby!
Did I mention that I'm still sore?  Sore but worth it.

Wednesday's yoga class was great!  It was nice and stretchy and awesome.  It didn't take all the sore away, but it definitely helped.  The stretching and relaxing was great.  I'm not so bad at it either.  The crazy Jillian Yoga Meltdown DVD seems to have helped prep me for an actual yoga class.  I even picked up a couple of pose names.  I've got the Sun Salutation I down.  It's hard to move from Downward Dog into Cobra without dropping my belly to the mat right away.  By the end of the hour-long class, though, I was able to do a pretty good job of it without much trouble.  Felt pretty nice.  The only thing that gave me trouble was all the time spent in Downward Dog and other moves that were heavy on having the hands on the ground, taking most of the body weight.  My poor little wrists were tired!  And, I learned that I need to quit using lotion so frequently - my hands were slipping the whole time.  I'm going to try it this week without a mat and see if it's okay on my knees and whatnot.  We'll see.

SO, there you have it.  It's now Sunday night, and I'm a day or two out of being crazy sore, and perfectly ready to get it all started again.  I'll be sure to let you know how week two goes!

Synopsis!

Or, maybe it should be Review!
I've made it through most of my fitness magazine, and promised that I would comment on how I like it back in this post.

I know it's a little early to commit to something, but I'm in serious like with this magazine.  One part of it that I really like is this section where they give you ways to shave calories off your meals.  A lot of them are kind of obvious, but I dig the obvious.  The obvious gives you easy-to-follow clues and helps make it a snap to be good and be conscious of your moves.  It helps you make sure that the food you're eating is going help, rather than hinder your bottom (line).

Here are a couple of little hints from the article.

• When ordering eggs, order them dry - it'll save you up to 250 calories.  The article says "Chefs often overpour the oil or butter."  That's ridiculous to me.  Lack of precision in restaurant-cooked meals can be crazy.  Meals that were already risky calorie-wise can be easily pushed into the "yikes" category.  Going dry whenever you can is always a good thing.
• Dipping veggies into your guac instead of chips will save you round abouts 220 calories.  And, YUM.  I love me some chips and guac as much as the next guy, but this is a great plan.  When I get the Unwich, I get the Beach Club with the guac.  Veggies with guac = delish.  I'm in.  ESPECIALLY if it saves me over 200 calories.  Holla!
• I'm quoting this one because it's just nuts.  "Order any of Taco Bell's Fresco tacos or burritos instead of a salad.  Save:  510 to 760 calories." Say whaaaaa?!  Okay, I know that they're talking about the mega-salads one can get somewhere like this place I used to work at that has a hot pepper in its slogan.  But still.  The idea that I can stuff my face with TB and it'll be fewer calories than a salad is nutty.  I like it.
• Here's one that I LOVE.  Having a BK cheeseburger instead of a BK veggie burger will save you 110 calories!!  Interesting that what is supposed to be a healthy choice ends up being more of a gut-buster.  I can't help but wonder why, though.  I wonder if it's because the veg is Whopper size and the cheeseburger is small?  Either way, I'm in.  I don't like most veggie burgers anyway, and definitely don't need something Whopper-sized.
• This one caught my eye just because it's interesting, and I'm willing to try it.  The article suggests boiling rice with a tea bag to add extra flavor to it, rather than putting in olive oil (wait - oil instead of butter??  WTF??  ha.).  It suggests jasmine and green tea.  I'm going to try it the next time I make me some rice!  Oh, it apparently saves at least 100 calories.
• One that I'm DEFINITELY going to try:  using a cup of pureed white beans to thicken a soup rather than cream.  It'll save you more than 500 calories a CUP.  I'm so there.  I dig this idea mostly because it means I can eat more soup, and I love that.  :)
• And finally, it suggests re-portioning your plate.  It says that just making sure that you're eating half a plate of veggies could save you 250 to 300 calories at the meal.  That's something that's just crazy easy to be conscious of!  And, something that I'm not really great at, so it's totally something to strive to achieve.

That ended up being a lot more than I was planning on writing about this one little section of the mag!  I guess it had at least a little impact on me, huh?

Some other articles I liked included one that laid out three different circuits to kick calories to the curb fast.  I wouldn't mind bringing that one to work next week when I meet up with the trainer we have and asking him to show me what "hard" and "moderate" etc *actually* mean.  I think it would be really helpful to show that I'm really doing the work correctly.  Again with the obvious.

There's also a pic of the hair that I'm DESPERATE for.  Beach waves, down to the middle of the back, streaky blonde.  LOVE.  Funny that I'm probably going to put that on the fridge instead of a pic of a hot body.  ha.

So, the conclusion is that I'm happy with the mag.  Really happy.  It's pretty great.  I'd recommend it.

Also, I'm attempting to write back to comments, but I'm having trouble - I don't know why blogger won't let me comment any way but as "anonymous."  So, I'm not ignoring y'all, I'm just not able to post.  I'm working on it though!

Butt still hurts.

BECAUSE I FOUGHT THE JILLIAN, AND WON.  Again.  For the second day in a row.  What uuuuuuup?!!?!  It was harder today.  As predicted.  But it was more worth it in the end, if that makes ANY sense, on any level.  I was dying.  Shaking and sweating.  It was lovely.

My arms are still remotely shaky, wrists aching.  Toes angry.  You need them to grip, and after a full day of tall heels, my big toes are sore and mad.  My glutes are screaming.  With joy.  Okay, not with joy so much as the tearing and rebuilding of the muscle tissue.  Semantics.

This whole working out thing is just really great.  I can feel my muscles getting bigger and stronger.  My quads are gynormous.  I kinda want to wear a lot of leggings and/or Spandex to show them off.  Because they look GOOD.  I think this is something that I can get used to, you know?  :)  I'm totally going to have to do more than just the Jillian DVD, though.  Because, seriously.  I'm not going to be able to keep this up much longer!  ha.  Plus, the muscles get tired or used to it, or whatever.  Yadda, yadda.

Point is, feel free to encourage me.

Seriously.  Now would be good.

While I'm still proud here!!!!

Also, in other non-traditional-exercise-related news, it's juuuust about time for the gardening to start up again.  I CAN'T WAIT!  I'm so very excited.  I almost have the entire thing mapped out.  I foresee some serious digging, planting, and harvesting in my future.  WOO!!!!!  (PS - Mom, if you read this, we need to chat about lawn and garden things.  Call me!)

Whoops.  One more.  Stay tuned to a plug (one that isn't paid for or provided by the company, BTW) for a new fave website.  And some stuff about tracking food and things.  Yay, previews!

WOOOOOO!!!!!

Suck it, Jillian.

Just kidding.  I'm stoked.  I FINISHED THE DVD.  Sure, there were a couple of moves that I couldn't complete like J-Money, but I did it.  I did every move, in some way or another.  There are just things that I absolutely cannot do yet - it's time to say type it out loud - I'm out of shape!!  I needed to modify a couple of things like the chaturanga push-ups (just what it sounds like - that move, turned into a push-up) and the side planks (this move, rotated facing one direction then the next, then back to the first, etc).  A lot of it was pretty tough on my poor little wrists.  I'm not sure how they're going to feel in the morning.

But OMG if I'm not feeling amazing now!!!  Everything feels stretched.  Every muscle, my spine, my fingers, and my toes.  I didn't focus on doing the moves perfectly - I instead focused on making sure that I could feel each move in the part of my body that Jillian was saying I should feel.  I focused on making sure my neck was relaxed and I used all the muscles to do each move, instead of cheating and making it easier by not tightening all my muscles.  Core strong the whole time, slow moves, deliberate moves.

Those of you who do work out at least somewhat regularly know what this feels like.  The warm, exhausted, slightly sweaty, satisfied feeling.  They're not kidding when they say that working out releases the feel-good endorphins into the system.  It's just such a HUGE accomplishment.  I'm mad proud of myself.  I'm just so psyched that I made it all the way through the cool-down and everything.  This is how happy I am.

(please excuse the awesome camera phone picture...it was self-shooting.  It's all for you.)

Oh, and remember the last time I made it through 27+ minutes of it?  Yeah.  I was two Sun Salutations away from being done.  DANG.  I could have accomplished this forever ago.  Oh, well, right?  I've accomplished it now.  :)

Anyone out there have an awesome story of accomplishment from the week?  Or the day?

Feel free to pat me on the back.  Virtually or otherwise.  :D

Run Keeper!

Huge fan.

I downloaded the Run Keeper app onto The Droid a bit ago.  I was kinda like "meh" about it.  I had it, but didn't use it.  Then, we started walking the dog more frequently.  Along with the (almost) nightly walks came the Run Keeper.  I love the shit out of that thing.

It's kind of awesome.  Mine uses the phone's GPS to keep track of where I'm going.  It lets me know every ten minutes what my pace is and how far I've gone.  And, in the end, it tells me my overall average and even tells me estimated calories.  (with that though, I do need to say that, any time I do some exercise that doesn't take my own personal stats into account, I'm hesitant to take the number of calories it pops out at me for 100% accuracy)  If that weren't enough, it even lets me save my workouts.  HOLLA.  I'm a fan.

It's been nice for keeping my walking "workouts" in one place, so that I can be sure to record them on my food log later.  It's nice.  I haven't gotten any deper into it yet, so I don't know what else it can do.  For now, I'm digging the fact that I can just keep track of what's happening on our walks.  It's definitely a step in the right direction.

Really?  I dropped that pun for real?  Nice.

Square One

I feel like I'm regressing here.

I thought I was doing really well with the whole working out thing, but lately I feel like it's backwards.  I got through 11 minutes of the Jillian DVD tonight.  11. Minutes.  I'm just a little cranky about it.  How long ago was it that I did most of the thing?!  Yeah.  Not cool.

Maybe I'm making excuses, but I actually worked it.  I genuinely tried all of the moves.  I tried them as hard as I could.  And it sucked.  Sucked hard.  For most of the moves, I couldn't complete them just as Jillian and Co. could.  Not even the "easy moves" chick.  Kind of embarrassing, if we can all be honest with each other.  And, this blog is honest, if nothing else.  (that's where I would put my "wry face" emoticon, if it existed)  It just sucked.

After I was done with my 11 minutes of humiliation, I thought to myself, "Self?  Let's just get our sad ass on the elliptical.  Perhaps that will make us feel better."  Self laughed in my face and said, "No.  Not happening."  I got on that baby, and couldn't go for more than a couple of minutes.  Defeated, I slunked to the living room and got my Stargate Universe on.

I don't know what the deal is, I really don't.  I'm just massively fatigued.  My little muscles just can't seem to burn the fuel properly to keep themselves going.  I'm going to ride it out for another week or two, and kind of go from there.  I'm bummed about the thought of maybe needing some medical intervention for whatever this is, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes.

Wow.  Weak post.  :)  Theme = boo hoo.  ha.

Sorry about that, man.

Good Lord, is it just me????

I can't seem to get myself back into the habit of working out.  I was really good at it for a few weeks in there, but then I just sort of...stopped.  Now, it's hard to get back into it.

Tonight, I took Cosmo the WonderDog (who, by the way, has lost about .8 pounds in the last 5 weeks!  That's kinda huge for a dog - we're proud of him!) for a walk.  It was roughly a mile or so.  Forgot to turn my Runkeeper on.  Whoops.  Anyway.  We went for a walk tonight, and I was feeling pretty awesome, so I decided to keep the momentum going.  I thought "hey.  Let's try that new balance ball workout we got."

Ummmmmmm.  Yeah.  I suck at the balance ball.  Hard.

I don't appear to have the skills at this point in my life to balance on the ball while pulling around on a giant rubberband.  I mean, I run into walls when I walk.  In tennies.  Sober.  I guess that *kind of* explains why it's a little diffiult to balance on a ball that's supposed to hold my weight (but, frankly, I find that difficult to trust- based on the fact that it's a rubber ball and I'm a big lady...) while I do exercise moves.

As I sit here typing this, though, I notice that my legs are feeling fatigue-y.  Hmmm.  It's definitely the 'ol inner thigh area.  My legs feel like a set of stems that have done more than just walk the dog.  And my shoulders are sore in a good way too.  Arms are nice and solid.  I like it.  So maybe, despite my total inability to actually balance on the ball, I've done some work.  I DOUBLE like that.

Here's to getting back into the groove and keeping it going.

It's the little things.

I did 27 minutes and three seconds of the Yoga Meltdown today.  And, having gone through 27 minutes and three seconds of this workout, I have come to some conclusions.

1. Jillian Michaels is trying to kill me.  I'm not sure what I did to her (other than being a chub, natch), but I'm really, really sorry Jillian.  I hope you can forgive me.
2. I am SERIOUSLY out of shape.  You know how you think "Meh.  I've just gotten, you know, less flexible.  I could totally still lift a small car and run a mile in 8 minutes."  NO.  No, you can't.  And Jillian, Bashira, and Maddie are here to show you that.  You're out of shape.  You cannot do those things anymore, much less perform a chataranga push-up.
3. On the same line, I have no balance.  My coworkers know this - especially the poor one who has to sit next to me, and listen as I nimbly bang into the cube walls just about every time I come out of my cube.  This is different.  This is absolutely no balance.  I have no concept of how to not fall over when I'm doing Warrior 3.  Fail Warrior 3.
4. My head sweats.  My head.  I have learned that I can tell just how much of a workout I'm getting by how much my head sweats.  Today, the sweat started at the nape of my neck and got all the way to the crown of my head.  Conversely, my fivehead (in my family, they're not foreheads - they're fiveheads because they're HUGE) is not sweaty.  Go figure.
5. I like my stretchy yoga pants.  I feel like Jack Black in Nacho Libre:  "Chancho.  When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room.  It's for fun."  I *get* leggings and yoga pants in public now.  I heart my yoga pants.  NOTE:  I will not be wearing them in public.  Maybe when I go for walks with the dog (I SWEAR he just perked up when I typed "walk" - he's a "Walk" ninja!!), but no grocery shopping in these babies.  I ain't no Edina Mama (sorry if you are...)
6. There's something deep in my soul that wants to stop doing the "beginner" version of this DVD and start doing the "advanced" version.  There's a fantasy in my head where Jillian Michaels comes to my house and screams at me "I'M GONNA MAKE YOU ROCK THIS WORKOUT!!!!!"  In my fantasy, I calmly lay down my yoga mat, and Downward Dog her ass off.  Naturally, I'm already in my stretchy pants, sweat band on.  I want to beat her.  In my fantasy?  I do.  I know I can be a competitive person.  I just didn't realize that I could be THIS competitive.  I kinda like it.
7. There is still a LOT of that workout left, past 27 minutes and three seconds.  A lot.
8. I want the body of any one of the women in this video.  I really do.  I *realize* that it's never gonna happen (God did NOT Grace me with any kind of genetic pre-disposition to have any kind of a butt.  Dang.), but I want it.  Strong arms, great arses, amazing abs...someday, I could have my own version of these bodies.  That's my overall goal.

I just spent the last 15 minutes trying to find a decent pic of "Bashira" from the video, BTW.  She's ah.may.zing.  Strong, confident in her moves, and not afraid to get sweaty.  I *might* just have a lady crush.  ha.

Oh, PS - despite falling off the wagon repeatedly, I've somehow managed to lose a couple of lbs in the last couple of weeks.  Take that Metabolic Syndrome.  WOO!

UGH.

So, we had a holiday day today (yay!).  Hubs and I decided to go bowling.  We played for two hours, and had some lunch in between.  It was kind of nice.  Especially when I kicked Mr. P's butt.

Speaking of butts.  Mine is SORE.  I don't know how I manage to always pull my glutes when I bowl.  Usually, it's only the left one because of my crappy bowling stance, but today it was both.  TMI?  Meh.

When we got home, I had a little project I was taking care of (finishing scanning my Nana's old photos), so I spent an hour or so doing that, then I decided to try out the Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown video for a little extra workout (you know, since I had the world's greatest bacon cheeseburger for lunch today...whoops).

As coworker A's little man says:  Ah. Mah. Gah.

I got through 7 minutes and 6 seconds of the video before I had to just stop.  I just couldn't do anymore.  Now, I have to take just a sec and make myself not look like such a lame-o weakling.  Like I said before (yesterday?), I'm not feeling 100% lately.  Plus, 2 hours of bowling made me tired.  But really, most of it is that it's a seriously rockin' workout.  I've decided that, instead of being unbelievably frustrated by the fact that I can't get through the thing, I'm just going to keep doing it until I can get all the way through it.

This could take a while.  ha...

Burnin' it up!

Ever the fan of fun new things, I went and bought Jillian Michaels' "Yoga Meltdown" DVD the other day on the recommendation of coworker S.  I've been dying to try this baby on for size, but I just haven't been able to do it yet.  Big reason is that I'm illin'.  I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm not feeling well at all lately.  I blame it on all the people I know who have kids - they're all little germ factories.  :)  JOKING.  Kidding aside, once I have a chance to try this thing out, I'm givin' a full synopsis of its awesomeness.
I watched some of the other day, just to see what it looked like, and I'm awestruck.  Jillian Michaels is an ANIMAL.  She's intense and scary.  I would really like to see her live in action, but only if I wasn't the one she's yellin' at.  ha.  So far, I like that they have two different versions of the workout.  The one lady is doing it at a much more "beginner" level, and the other lady is sweating her ASS off doing it at the higher level.  I can't wait until I move from blondie to the sweat monster.  Excited.

SO, once I kick whatever it is that I've come up with, I'll be kickin' it on the yoga mat.  Woot.

Check it.

Bowling = exercise, baby.

Seriously.  The Peavs and I did a little VDay bowling this evening, and we got a nice little workout.  Is that lame?  Maybe.  But honestly, I'll take an hour of butt-pulling goodness over sitting on my duffer at a restaurant filling my face with fatty fat.

I burned roughly 165 calories just bowling.  Oh, and I WHOOPED Peavs.  Whooped.

See, that's the thing about hobbies and stuff - you can get a pretty neat workout with some of them.  I think I could turn bowling into a weekly fun time.  I mean, go for an hour or so (dinner not included, because Lord knows that pretzel looked AWESOME) on a Tuesday might do a million things - from blowing some calories to making some new friends, to becoming a "local" for real.

If you didn't notice it, I'm trying to find new ways to work out that don't necessarily feel like a "real" workout.  I mean, I know that walking and using the elliptical or the balance ball or whatever is a workout.  The real trick is to find things that are enjoyable but aren't "working out."  Maybe it's just 29 (EEK) years of being an anti-working-out kind of girl talking, but the idea of being an elliptical person for the rest of my life is really boring.  I don't even like committing to the same thing for lunch every day.  I imagine myself getting awfully bored and jumping ship with working out if it's the same thing EVERY day.  That's where other activities come into play.  Like bowling.  I also want to get walking with my neighbors and our dogs.  I know that's a normal kind of exercise, but walking with the neighbors and their dogs is totally different - it's not just the same walk every day.  Something new to talk about all the time.

For now, I'm going to figure out how to quit pulling my left glute when I bowl.  I gotta work on my technique.