Lent Begins

So, today is Ash Wednesday, which means it's day 1 of my journey of Lent. Each year, my mom gives up sweets in their entirety- no candy, no desserts, no nothin'. I've given up something each year, and most of the time, it works. I remember in high school I gave up gossiping and saying negative thoughts, along with cursing. It was quite challenging when I saw some awful outfits!

I tried giving up sweets last year in their entirety. Ummm... worked for about a week. As Homer Simpson would say, "D'oh!" So, this year, I've decided to try this again. I know I can have self control when God is in the picture. He knows if I'm cheating, so I better not.

Isn't Lent 40 days? Well, for 40 days, I'm cutting the following items from my diet:

-whipped cream
-icing
-cheese
-ice cream
-bread basket/chips basket at restaurants

This will not be easy. No one really understands just how much I adore whipped cream and icing. But, I'm willing to do it because I desperately need to lose a few pounds-- the current pants I'm wearing used to be much looser in graduate school (grrr!).

The No Fucking Money Diet

I guess I'm shit out of tips. And judging from the two cuss words in under 10 words of blogging shows I'm probably not in the best of happy, peppy, unrealistic tips mode.

But, I do think that having no money is really curbing me from doing things like:
- spending money and eating out with my friends instead of going to the gym in which i have a membership i'm not maximizing
- buying food at Subway (with real fucking mayonnaise) instead of eating a can of pineapple my mom got from the food bank
you know. things like that.

So, I'm pretty sure I lost a pound or two but I'm not weighing myself until the end of February. It's not like it fucking matters since I fucking gained 5 pounds anyways. So instead of my original 20 lbs, I need to lose 25. So even if I lose 3 pounds, I'll still be pissed off because I need to lose over 20 pounds still. I'm set up to lose even if I win.

Maybe March will end better.

PS. Fuck my Camry for running into that fucking cement pole. FUCK YOU CAMRY. FUCK YOU AND YOUR 2000 DOLLARS PLASTIC SURGERY I HAD TO GIVE YOUR DAMN BUMPER ASS.

quick workouts

So this is a blatant copy/paste from Yahoo! Health.

But I take group fitness classes at my gym, but I feel like I dont get enough cardio. So the 30 minute bullet point at the front of this article really struck my attention!

I love my long training runs, but most days carving out more than an hour to work out just isn't in the cards. And when my schedule is really crammed, shoehorning a sweat session seems next to impossible.

Luckily, the fantastic fitness team at SELF let me in on a little secret: You can get an hour's worth of fitness and calorie burning in 20 short minutes. Yes, I was skeptical at first, but this fat-blasting routine is as ultraeffective as it is speedy, and the secret lies in high-intensity spurts of energy. Here's how to do it:

• Pick any cardio you like (running, swimming, the elliptical trainer). Warm up for 2 minutes at a moderate pace, then sprint for 30 seconds at the highest intensity you can muster. Slow down and do 90 seconds at a catch-your-breath recovery pace. Repeat eight times. You'll torch more calories in less time, while you burn fat faster. Follow this cardio session with a few of the following fast firmers for a total-body workout in less than 30 minutes.

• Tighten your tummy: Do two sets of 10 to 12 crunches on a stability ball. Research from the University of Auckland, Tamaki Campus, in New Zealand, revealed that using the ball makes crunches 20 percent more effective compared to hitting the floor.

• Firm up legs: Stand on left foot, hands on hips, and bring right knee to hip level in front. Trace a horizontal figure eight in front of you with knee. Then bend left knee and hop to right, landing on right foot. Repeat figure eight with left knee, then hop back to left to complete one rep. Do 10 reps, then hop back and forth 10 times to complete one set.

• Boost your bottom: Stand with feet hip-width apart, hands on waist. Shift weight to left foot and lift heel of right foot so you're resting on toes. Bend left knee and sink hips back, keeping weight off right foot (toes stay on ground). Rise up. Do 12 reps on left leg, then switch legs and repeat.

• Bare amazing arms: Holding a dumbbell in each hand, stand with feet hip-width apart. Raise arms, palms down, out and slightly forward to shoulder height. Slowly lower them behind you so weights almost touch. Do 12 reps.

• Slim all over: Stand with feet hip-width apart. Keeping legs as straight as possible, bend forward and walk hands out until they're under shoulders. Do two push-ups, then walk hands back and stand. Repeat twice, doing four push-ups, then six.

buy this from smoothie king!

Sarah Beth told me about the Almond Mocha smoothie with no turbinado and extra protein.

At 266 calories, it's delicious!

Here is the nutritional information for all of Smoothie King's smoothies without the turbinado.

Looking up the path on the mountain of weight loss.

Was that title a little overkill? Nah.

Yesterday, I made the commitment to just get my rear in gear and go to the gym. I might not go everyday, but I will go more than just casually.

So, last night, I did a weight-lifting/cardio mix class. And then stayed for yoga.

Today, I have my gym clothes chilling out behind me ready to be on my body and sweated on in 3/4 hours.

It seems pretty random of a time to start working out. Valentine's Day isnt near. Bathing suit season is just gone. Mid-October? Sure, why not.

I am not going to weigh myself anytime soon. The last time I got on a scale I was pretty bummed out. I dont want to be doing all this great work in the gym and then have the scale's numbers mock all my hard work!

My eating is still pretty disastrous. But I actually woke up hungry this morning! Unfortunately, I ate quite a horrible breakfast this morning and that feeling of hunger has long since passed.

There's not really a point to all this. I just feel like I'm staring up this long, arduous path of weight loss that I have barely started on. Crick-in-my-neck up. Yayyyyyyy y y y.

took my notes

I went to spin class last night. Took my notes. We did a lot of jumps. And a lot of holding the hips steady and just cycling with our legs and not using the right and left motion to power us through the motion of cycling. And then, I think, the "worst" part was sitting in the seat and doing the 45 second sprint/15 second recoup time (7 times).

But surprisingly, I hardly broke a sweat and didnt really get out of breath. I blame yoga for teaching me to control my breath. Now if I could just learn to control my breath while teaching yoga then things would just be peachy.

Oh, I weighed myself last night again. I swear that scale hasnt BUDGED!
The only thing I know to do is just workout more and watch my diet more. I cant get down on myself because I have been getting down on myself for the past months and that hasnt gotten me any weight loss. I'm more in a put up or shut up mindset right now. I'm not going to get magically skinny by moping and beating myself up. Well, I could get skinny by beating myself up on a treadmill ... but by beating myself up in front of the mirror? Nowai. Its damaging to my self esteem and confidence. Where's an Oprah show? I feel my ovaries percolating.

Hot tip to stay motivated

Lately it has been hard to get the gusto to do more than yoga at the gym.

I think it's because my legs arent shaved.

I know that if I shave my legs, the likelihood of me letting all that hard work go to waste will be slim. I will put on some shorts and go ride that spin bike! Go tread on that treadmill! Go ellipse on that elliptical!

Once my legs are shaved, nothing will stand in the way!

Thank you Gillette!