Bring it on 2011!

I kind of like how I brought in 2011 .. with rest! I hit the sheets about 10:00 and woke up 12 hours later!! I don't get in a tizzy for New Year, and while celebrating is fun, I would have wanted to have some adult beverages which equals calories, which equals no willpower for late night snacking! So I'm happy with the choice to stay in with the hubby and get some rest. I think it's a good sign for things to come.

I'm also kind of glad I started my "New Year's Resolution" a few weeks ago. Monday will be 4 weeks doing Turbo Fire and I haven't missed a day! I think starting resolutions on New Years is very daunting. But it's as good of a time as any to get on the right foot of whatever bad habits or changes one might want to turn around. I heard on the radio something like resolutions only last about a week. A week! Yikes! Here's to you and your resolutions lasting more than a week, month, year, etc. Or at least may they have a lasting effect on you!

I think it might be fitting to talk about inspirations today. What inspires you to start something, to push forward, not give up? What do you aspire to be??

I don't know how many things could be more motivating than The Biggest Loser. I LOVE that show. I love to know their stories and their struggles and I love to see them transform into these smaller, happier versions of themselves. It's so inspiring. If these people can work hard and see results, why can't ANYONE? The thing that gets me going the most is knowing how far I've come.

I started out doing Celebrity Fit Club Bootcamp DVD, in which I'm pretty sure I did some damage to my knees from stomping too hard. I got Turbo Jam because it looked like fun, more dancey than the military style of Harvey Walden. The first few times I did it I was so frustrated. It was painful on my knee, and I couldn't get the choreography down as fast as they were doing it. I gave up a couple times. But I never stopped completely. I know those routines like the back of my hand now.
And doing Turbo Fire .. it's no joke. The me back then could never do Turbo Fire, physically and mentally. It's intense. But I DO IT! SIX days a week! and that's a bigger deal than I realize sometimes. And since TurboFire is six days a week, I've been working out on the weekends, something I never did before! Which is silly because when I think about it, it's the most time I have all week. I even worked out Christmas Eve and Day, days I would never have worked out on before since it's a holiday and you need to treat yourself (my usually excuses on holidays) .. well .. I pretty much had no rules on eating so I did over indulge, but I stuck to my workout, which is something. I will even end up being on track to my weight loss goals (so far..) even with the 3 day free for all on food!

Yep, I think 2011 has some great things in store for me .. I'm changing my life, and it seems to be sticking.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours!

A-Ha!

Thursday was an A-Ha day .. I'm talkin' 'bout all day, moments that hit you like "Oh my gosh, YES"!
I went to a seminar for work entitled "Assertive Communication for Women." Having never been to a seminar my expectations were pretty low. The speaker handed us our packets and leafing through I immediately dismissed the order sheet thinking "yeah right, I'm not going to buy any of these overpriced books."
I was blown away. I just caught myself nodding in agreement numerous times. And I realized so much. The biggest thing I took away was realizing I've been viewing people all wrong. I just have to recognize the different personalities in people and adjust my behavior in the way I react to them. As well as remembering not to take things so personally! I'm not explaining this at all to be an A-Ha moment for you. I wish I could, I can't. But to reinforce how good it was, I ended up buying $100 worth of books and audio CD's. Can't wait to read/listen to them. Will let you know how they work out! Overall the day was a great day for the self. So it'll be nice to come back and check out this post and look over those notes on a day that I just want to throw in the towel and eat one of everything at my favorite Mexican restaurant ;)
That same day, I went to this awesome Louisiana style restaurant and ordered a somewhat healthy meal. I'm learning that I can still eat out I just have to pick the right things .. and EAT IN MODERATION. I have a tough time with moderation. We had a Christmas gathering today at one of my Grandmother's .. compared to how I usually eat at those things I did good .. but still ate way too much. Ah. Forgive myself and move on!
So I have, I had a great workout and I'm ready for another Monday! Or at least as ready as one can be for a Monday.

And the Holiday tempting begins!

Welp. It happened. Today was the first day of inclement weather, freezing rain, but thankfully the roads stayed in good shape. And the holiday treats at the office just keep coming! Yesterday sugar cookies with sprinkles. Then Gingersnaps from Trader Joes. Then today .. the chocolate covered potato chips. When I first heard about them I thought ew. But oh they're amazing. I had one. And tracked it in my calories. But I only had that one. Big up  to me on that one (and for tracking the 1.5 sugar cookies I had yesterday, and not going over either day)! I like to take excitement/pride in the little things. I'm hoping they'll add up.

This Christmas is the first in awhile I'll be away from my dad and his side of the family. So I made him Cherry Mash Bars. He just loves 'em! Hopefully I can last the day without eating one before I send them on their merry way to my poppa. They are BOOKOO calories.


Also, I discovered I do not enjoy the stretch 40 of my Turbofire program. I definitely only did 10 minutes. So yoga-y I didn't know what to do with myself!

Today I wrote down ambitious weight loss goals for myself. As Chalene Johnson (created of turbojam/fire/etc) clouds my facebook with her status updates about to do lists, she also has some good posts about practical things. Write down your goals, look at them. A lot. When I was in school I wrote down all the due dates of papers, tests, etc. I would constantly check my calender checking those dates out. Why not do the same with my weight goals? Two pounds a week may be a little unrealistic, but I did it this week .. why COULDN'T I do it every week? The past week hasn't been terrible. I've never been incredibly hungry, never deprived myself of something I really wanted. I even went out to eat at Lonestar for lunch on Monday. I tasted the dip appetizer the ladies I was with got, and a tiny piece of the cheesecake the birthday girl received. I had a great tasting 6 oz steak and some yummy mashed potatoes. It's totally doable, and if I can see it screaming at me every time I look at my calender it should be that much easier. Here's to ambition!!

Now let me introduce myself..

I'm a newlywed, living with my wonderful husband on a farm in the midwest. I drive an hour to work each day (which during the winter months you will no doubt witness me complaining about).

Monday I started Chalene Johnson's TurboFire (again) and haven't missed a day (I'm taking pride in the little things)! Tuesday one of the dvd's didn't work and I just ran on the elliptical while watching Full House for 20 minutes, so I've even done more than necessary!

Monday I weighed in at 158.4. Ouch, that hurt to type. My heaviest was 161. This summer, before my wedding my lowest weight was 151. Basically the week and subsequent 2 months after my wedding I took a break off of working out and tracking my eating habits. And here I am. One Fifty Eight. No need to dwell. I am confident that the number has gone down this week, and I can't wait to weigh in tomorrow.

I use Sparkpeople.com to count calories and as mentioned in my first blog that's where I read a post that inspired me to start this blog. I need to use that more often. It's amazing the power of finding relate-able people can have on you. I think that's a lot of what hurts me. Don't get me wrong, I do love living on the farm with the hubbers and our dogs. But living an hour away from my job, the city, it's hard to find and keep friends. I MISS my friends. I have some really great ones. The trouble is they are thousands of miles away in upstate New York where I grew up. And all the communicating we can do just isn't the same as being able to hang out with one another. BUT if I'm going to change my life in a positive way, I need to be thinking positively as well, which means being happy to have these amazing people in my life, regardless of geopraphy. These wonderful people whom I rarely see but can stay so close with.


Let me introduce you now to Turbofire. It's comparable to P90X or INSANITY only more dance-y. I find that this is the only way I will stick to a workout. I can't lie to you, I don't enjoy working out. But I do love to dance. So mixing high intensity interval training and cardio with dance makes it bareable and even sometimes, believe it or not, enjoyable! So before I start on another tangent I should end here, and go kick it up with TurboFire. Today is a 20 min core workout with 40 minutes stretching. I'm pretty sure the stretching will be difficult to get through, since it's much like yoga and I would not consider yoga my cup of tea. But here goes nothing!

 I've done Turbojam, Hip Hop Abs, Jillian Michael's, Biggest Loser and Celebrity Fit Club bootcamp workouts (along with some others that didn't stick .. Carmen Electra's Striptease workout and Dirty Dancing's dance workout). What's your favorite workout regimen??

And so it begins..

I decided to start blogging today after surfing the internet for inspiration. I was throwing myself a pity party and trying to find some reasons to do otherwise. Then, I read a fellow Sparkperson's blog on eating purposefully. And I'm not sure why this threw a wrench in the pity party but it did. It turned my mood around.
You should know I struggle with my weight, which doesn't make me much different than many other people. The issue I struggle with the most is the way I look, or the way I see myself looking. So I've been on a journey for a couple years to become a healthier me. A me who loves who I am inside and out. I haven't had any great strides (although if I'm truly honest with myself I have made great strides) but I'm working on it. And my hope is that blogging becomes a tool to keep me on track, and hopefully inspiring others to do the same, or at the very least entertaining you. Hopefully I can be the wrench in your pity party.
The focus of my blog will be a chronicling of the ups and downs of my  relationship with food and my weight. But I'm told that my relationship with food and weight is affected by my relationship to the world around me so no doubt this blog will follow that as well. Follow me living my life. Living Cassie :)