From A Crawl To A Step...Err, 10K Steps

Weigh In Wednesday! It’s been a while since I’ve done this! Life's been a bit crazy, but I'm still crawling in this weight loss thing. I'm down 22.7 lbs, and back in the gym for the first time in a long time. I’ve got this crazy surge of motivation and feel like I’m focusing more thanks to two different things...

The first is this #grinderglamchallenge on instagram. It’s one of those photo a day challenges that focuses on fitness and health instead of random stuff like coffee cups and flowers. I think having to check into this thing and posting daily reminds me of my goals and motivates me. Also, being able to click on the hashtag and see others working towards a similar goal, and their progress, and adding a like for some motivation is great! 

Today’s post was “in those jeans” and I posted a picture of me in leggings. I’m totally feeling like Regina George…  

The second thing motivating me is a FitBit. I was running errands last Friday night and stopped at my local Dicks Sporting Goods. On my way out I spotted the FitBit display case and it piqued my interest because I knew I had other friends who use it and love it! I read up on it a little, talked to people about it, and was convinced I needed to get one. I purchased the FitBit Flex Sunday night, and so far I’m liking it. It syncs with My Fitness Pal, you can see your friends progress and their steps, as well as obviously seeing my own step count, rate of activity throughout the day, and how I'm sleeping! I'm obsessing over the step count more than I should, last night I found myself pacing for 5 minutes before bed trying to get closer to 10K. I still had about 2K to get there so I called it a night. 

That’s about it for today. Anything you’re using as motivation lately to meet goals? Let me know! Happy Wednesday!

Workout Playlist

What's up weigh-in Wednesday?!!

Still not posting my weight. Props to those of you that do.

By the time you read this...I will be on my 3rd consecutive visit to the gym. Actually, it depends on what part of the world you're on. It sounds like something small and insignificant, but since this semester started in August, finding 3 consecutive days to work out has been impossible. I'd dropped in here and there, but nothing habitual. My load has lightened...sort of. I'm done with observations, and tutoring has dropped to once a week, so I have my nights back. There's still homework and credential packet prep to get done. Ahh! 

Anyways, back to the point. Because I'm visiting the gym more often...I created a new playlist that I can dance to jam to while I put in some miles and crunches. I think I've finally perfected a playlist that keeps me moving for an entire hour. Working out for that long sucks, but the good upbeat music makes the time go by faster. And fret not, I spared you all my Disney artists that pump me up. You're welcome. I figured I'd share my playlist with everyone :] They all link to youtube if you want to give them a quick listen before you buy...or rip, Just kidding. Don't steal music.

Jennifer Lopez-Get Right

Pitbull-Bojangles

Beyonce-Crazy In Love

Birdman-Play Ball

Britney Spears-Radar

Flo Rida-Club Can't Handle Me

Britney Spears-Boom Boom

Pitbull-Don't Stop The Party

Shakira-Waka Waka

Kanye West-Power

Brooke Valentine-Girl Fight

Pitbull-Back In Time

Lil' Jon-Outta Your Mind

DMX-Get It On The Floor

Ke$ha-Die Young

Britney Spears-Do Something

Bruno Mars-Marry You

Drake-Show Me A Good Time

Don Omar-Danza Kuduro

Pitbull-International Love

Pink-Raise Your Glass

So what do you think? Any songs in there you love? Any I'm missing? Let me know! Also, how cute is that pup?!! No idea where the original image is from. I found it on Pinterest and tried to track it down, no luck. So if it's yours and I stole it from you...sorry. Happy hump day folks!

Man Crush Monday: Luke Bryan

This post was brought to you by Tim McGraw's Superstar Summer Night Concert from May that was replaying on tv this last Friday. 

I love country music so much, and I love that all of my country favorites were there!

Tim McGraw. Lady A. Luke Bryan. Dierks Bently. Jason Aldean. Keith Urban. and Pitbull...I guess. Haha.

It was an awesome special and I legit stayed at the gym until it closed Friday night so I can watch a majority of the concert.

So how did this concert inspire this man crush Monday post? A big fat smile would come across my face each time this dude was on camera...

Luke Bryan. He is the hottest dude in country music right now, rightfully winning the ACM entertainer of the year award. He is crazy good looking, but totally goofy!

This was my favorite of the night. Besides all of these awesome men signing together...I love how Luke kind of just wanders the stage when he's not singing. Lol.

He comes to town in 2 weeks...I can't wait :]

Someone get me this for the show!

The only thing hotter than a dude in baseball pants...
Luke Bryan in baseball pants <3

Okay, I'm done. 

Happy Monday everyone :]

Don't Call The Office Today

15 weeks into this weight loss thing, and this morning I officially hit -25 lbs!

I have learned that the squat challenge is no joke after day 7. Don’t fall behind!

I don’t think my booty has grown, but I’ve still got 20 days to go...so we’ll see :] I do know however, that my legs are definitely stronger! Last night I cranked out 40 squats before it started to hurt.

I’ve been going to the gym on the regular since July 9^th, and have managed to rock out 21 miles in the last 15 days! I’d say it’s 50/50 on my run/walk ratio so I’m pretty happy about that! Hopefully I’ll be able to kick up the speed soon and add to the distance I run. My goal with these runs is to add 1 more mile of consecutive running than the week before. We’ll see how long that lasts!

I did an arm workout yesterday and the soreness is kind of killing me at work today each time I reach for the phone to answer it. Moral of this story...don't call my work today.

I’ve gotta stay extra focused this week because I’m taking some time off work next week for a concert and some baseball games and I highly doubt I’ll be watching what I eat.

This pin made me LOL. 

Desperate times call for desperate measures!

Becoming A Gym Rat

Okay, so the title might be a little misleading because becoming a gym rat is not the plan...just visiting the gym on the regular.

I signed up for the gym last week but yesterday was the first chance I had to make it there. I did some cardio on the treadmill, walked 1.5 miles on 3.5 speed with an incline, and jogged 1.5 miles at 4.0 speed without an incline. Not gonna lie, it sucked but felt good to actually get my body moving. The pace was fairly slow so I wasn’t crazy exhausted after 3 miles, but my legs were burning a little since I kind of started cold turkey. The plan is to go after work every day, so hopefully this turns into a routine I like!

One of the other reasons they could have been shaky could be because I started the butt challenge on Monday. Let me tell you…it is not easy! I’m on day 3 and struggled through 60 squats, so I can’t imagine making it to 250 squats by the end of this! Ahh!

After taking an 8-ish month break from softball and soccer, I started back up on both this last week.

Softball: A friend texted me last saying they were going to be short on girls and asked if I could play. I agreed, and then found out it was a double header! It was kind of rough going back after such a long break! To be honest, my team isn’t very good…but it’s fun. Unfortunately, I’m super competitive. Our first game was a blow out, lost by like 12 but I played hard. We barely won our second game, but a win is a win :] I played again last night, and even though I played hard, it was another loss. There aren’t many teams in the league so to make sure teams aren’t playing the same team over and over again, they schedule teams in different divisions to play against each other. We’re a C division team and played against an A division team last night. There wasn’t much hope for us, but at least the other team kept it interesting and swung at the ball instead of everyone walking! I’m cool losing when the other team actually shows up to play!

Soccer: A couple of weeks ago a different friend asked if I could play on their indoor woman’s team and was hesitant on playing since soccer actually totally kicks my butt. I played this last Sunday and quickly learned how out of shape I totally am. At one point, I had a small break away near the goal but completely lost it after my stupid legs gave out because they were tired. There were a few really good players on our team and I’m kind of just a sub on this team, so if I do play with them again, hopefully I’ll be able to hang! We ended up winning the game…with no help from me, haha.

 

It's kind of weird to think that I kind of sat around doing nothing and getting no exercise for the better part of 8 months (with the exception of stairs at school!) so I'm looking forward to keeping up all this movement! A healthy diet is where most of my weight loss focus should be, but it should also be paired up with some fitness! Here's to the long  and active road ahead!

  

Beastmode

One of the good things that came from the lame-o blogswap thing I did a couple of months ago was hearing about this weigh in wednesday link-up…

Like the rest of the world, one of my 2013 resolutions is to lose weight.

Even though I’ve played sports and exercised my entire life, I’ve pretty much always been overweight…I love fatty food way too much.

A few years ago I did really well with watching what I ate and drank for about 6 months and lost 45 lbs, looked awesome for a wedding I was in…and then gained it all back within 5 months. Blah.

  

I started to refocus on April 15, 2013 and 12 weeks later I’ve hit the -20 lbs mark! Also, I fit into my size 11 shorts again :] but it’s probably wise to wait a little longer to wear them out in public.

Unfortunately, “refocus” isn’t too accurate because I still give into temptation a lot (ball park food, fair food, fast food while moving, etc.) but when I do cheat…my portion sizes are smaller, and wash everything down with water instead of soda or booze. One of the other motivators is a group I’m part of on FB, Team Forklift Sexy Time. It’s a group of like 10 people working on their weight loss goals. 2 people crushed their goals and are maintaining and the rest of us are still working towards our goals. It was super active at the start, but these days a lot of people don’t check in much. I still post my weekly updates in there to keep me accountable.  

The -20 lb mark and fitting into my shorts motivated me to join the gym around the corner from my house and plan on attending regularly so I can kick this weight loss thing into high gear.

Besides working out in the gym, I’m really hoping to get out to a field and do some of the Nike Training Club workouts with their free app

 

 

 and some pinned to my beastmode board on Pinterest.

 

 

Now that things have slowed down for me, I have time to get my body moving. Hopefully pairing that with me watching what I eat will kick up my results!

Potpourri

A post about everything and nothing, all at the same time...

1) The crack house is about 80% done! We added flooring and tile, and the windows are being worked on as we speak. A lot of our belongings have been moved over. We spent our first night there Saturday. All that is left is painting the bathroom cabinets, replacing outlets, adding curtains, screw on cabinet and drawer handles, and organizing our stuff. I'm hoping to get my TV working by tonight because I'm an episode behind on Ellen! There's still things on my to-do list like replacing bedroom and closet doors, changing the bathroom counter and shower tile, adding tile to the kitchen counter, and totally revamping the back yard...but those will all happen with time. All the work we've been doing was to make the place livable  so now that it is, we're good to go!   

2) Remember that Padres game I didn't go to last week? Welp, turns out that was one of the more exciting games the Pads will have all season...besides the fight with the Dodgers. 17 innings, 5 hours later, a Padres win! Not sure if that makes me feel better or worse about it though. Whomp. Oh well.

3) Team USA soccer was happening this weekend. US v. Germany men's game resulted in a 3-4 win in the United States favor, and the US v. Canada women left us with a 3-0 win for the US! 

Girl crush Alex Morgan got 2 in the net!

Sydney Leroux "shush-ing" the crowd after her goal.

These two Sydney Leroux images are kind of a big deal because she’s been getting a lot of crap for playing with the US. She is Canadian born to an American father and Canadian mother. She holds dual citizenship between the US and Canadia but has chosen to play with the US national team over Canada’s these last few years/forever. She scored the last goal of the game this weekend and walked around the field a little before grabbing the badge of her jersey, kissed it, and then “shushed” the crowd. According to her twitter, she was called racial slurs, taunted, and family was being talked about. Not cool Canada soccer fans. P.S. none of these pictures of mine, and were stolen from here and here.

4) I am friends with some pretty beastly folks. 12 fb/instagram buds did the San Diego Rock & Roll (half and full) marathon this weekend and kicked it in the face! 1 even qualified for the Boston marathon! Props to all of you because I can't even begin to imagine racing! The last one I did...which was a 5K, kicked my butt! BUT It's on the "things to do before you die" list so I might entertain the idea for next year! We'll see...stay tuned :] P.S. That list has been updated, 2 things have been crossed off...can you guess which ones?

5) Last but most definitely not least, Tim McGraw is this weekend with Love & Theft and Brantley Gilbert! County concert season is officially starting and I bought my tickets a while ago! I saw Tim like 3 or 4 years ago with Kayyy and then last summer up in Anaheim!He puts on such a great show, and I'm super excited to see the other 2! Hopefully Faith Hill makes a guest appearance!