WWJMD??

What would Jillian Michaels do?
Its no big secret that I'm a big fan of Jillian Michaels. I have the books, the videos, the shirt, read the website, follow her on twitter and face book, I watch her on Biggest Loser, I have her kettle bells but one of my favorite things she does is her podcast. (out since Feb) Ok so here's my super geek out moment here, I love the Jillian Michaels Show podcast, its great! Every week she puts out a new podcast on a different topic ranging anywhere from hormones to micro nutrients and I just love it! In an hours worth of podcast you get so much information that its hard not to walk away a little bit smarter, it just kind of happens. What I really like is that through her podcast she is teaching us about health and nutrition in an entertaining yet truthful way. There's no BS with Jillian, she tells it to you straightforward. The information she shares is interesting because its usually about stuff you don't really think about, for example the different types of hormones your body produces and their affects on your weight, different types of fats and what they do to your body, and she really gets in and talks about this stuff in a way that is easy to understand. She doesn't just regurgitate facts she gives you examples and stories, big bonus if you are somebody that can easily zone out and fall asleep when you hear somebody rattling off numbers. So if you are in need of something to listen to during your commute to work I would suggest the Jillian Michaels Show podcast which is free on itunes, and worth the time spent listening.

Where do you do find motivation?

Where do you find motivation? I need some help finding mine because I seem to have lost it. I feel like I am a very motivated person, but lately it seems like I have been struggling trying to find any ounce of drive to workout beyond playing in the three volleyball leagues I play in each week. Im not sure what it is, or how it started but this little rut Im in has lasted for about a month and its starting to irritate me. So this is my question to the blogging world, what do you do when you need motivation and where do you find your inner drive to work out? My eating habits have been pretty good lately, but my workout habits have been MIA. I even went out and bought the new Jillian Michaels video: Ripped in 30, and nope nada. Im excited to do it, and I cant wait to see how much better it is than the shred....and its only a 20 minute video but nope, still cant find the motivation to do even a 20 minute video and Im usually a no nonsense just get it done type of girl.

Eff you scale!! I dont need you and your negative attitude!

Sooo Wednesdays are weigh in days for me, today's weigh in was more of a slap in the face from my belly bloat (I blame Flo for this, what a bitch) saying sorry sucker no loss for you today. Who weighs in on a Wednesday, I mean for real whats up with that? Its the most boring day of the week right? I dont like weighing in on Mondays because everybody does that and everybody always says "Oh Ill start Monday." (pet peeve of mine, Ill save that for another day) What I dont get is that Mondays arent fun anyways so why tack on a shitty task like stripping down and stepping on a scale on that already shittastic day? Fridays dont work for me because I like to enjoy my Fridays and weighing in wont let me enjoy my super fab weekend that I have planned...so that left Wednesday because lets be honest, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the loners of the week, and weekends well lets be honest here thats just not gonna happen. The best thing about Wednesdays is that after a shitty weekend of drinking two bottle of champagne, half a sixer of bud light lime and two pizzas later, you can still manage to recover Monday and Tuesday in order to tilt the scale in your favor, even if it is only for .5lbs.
Today Im on day 6 in a row of working out, woohoo go me! I should probably take a break but Ill save that for Saturday when Im out of town and not feeling like doing a damned thing. Today I played volleyball so it was like a workout but it didnt really seem like work, not like last night when my shoulders were SCREAMING at Jillian to make it stop, p.s. my shoulders look goooood today, I like you today Jillian but last night we were NOT on good terms. I like mixing it up, every day is different for me when it comes to working out. If its not different then the day before then chances are Im not going to do it. I kind of sorta like running, not sure why although Im almost 90% sure that I like running because I really like wearing my running tights (only because they make my legs look buff) and I LOVE the new nano and nike plus thing that turns me into a super beast when it comes to running. Lets talk about this superbeast thing a little...Im not a runner, I dont claim to be, I never have been and I probably never will be. Im just a poser who does it because it makes her jeans fit better and she likes making new music playlists to sweat to. When I use this Nike plus thing with my nano it turns me into a super beast because you get instant feedback from the talking lady on your ipod. You touch the button while youre running and then magically she tells you how far youve gone, how long youve been running for and what your pace is. Fantastic!! Negative..Because if you are a competitive asshole like myself you think "oh man, Im going to run farther than I did yesterday or Im going to run faster than I did yesterday" but the REAL kicker is as soon as you plug your ipod in to your computer its there....for all to see...your time, distance, pace, calories burned EVERYTHING, and then you cant hide. Nikeplus.com shows everyone everything and then you start to feel a little inadequate because Joe over in New York ran 11 miles at a 8min mile pace, well fuck you Joe! I run 10.14 min miles and the most I ever do on a day is 4 so screw you and the shoes you run around NY in! Dick. But in all seriousness this whole nikeplus thing is great, it helps me make goals, and it gives you training plans and helps keep you on track which is something I am thankful for. I like that I am competitive with myself but I really do have a hard time telling myself no, Im just not very good at it, so I just end up pushing myself a little more and more each day. (we will save the "no" topic for another day as well) I guess its not a bad thing though, sometimes a little self perpetuated ass kicking can be good for you, at least thats what I keep telling myself, and that its not really my OCD kicking in. I hope everyone is still ticking away at those New Years resolutions, me personally Im not a fan of the damned things. Im a weekly goal kind of person, I make them every week and each week they are different. This week my mini goals were to do something active each day, eat breakfast daily and take an allergy pill before bed each night. So far so good!

Eating the good shit

I enjoy feeding myself, in fact i enjoy feeding myself a lot. I never used to think about what i was eating when i was younger, hell a trip to the hostess outlet wasnt a treat it was a bi-monthly occurance. I used to keep at least two boxes of hostess snack cakes in the trunk of my car at all times...just in case. Now i cant stand to eat that crap. Do you remember tiger tails? I used to loooove those, so much raspberry and coconutty goodness surrounding a twinkie, oh yes hostess you hit a home run with those. But things have changed, i like to think that my tastebuds have grown up. Ive seriously cut down on the amount of sugar that i put in my body but it wasnt really a concious effort, it just kind of happened. I blame this mysterious phenom on my new found grown up taste buds. The same taste buds that i have started to pay more attention to. by slowing down and really tasting what i eat i have learned to really enjoy food. Artificial flavors no longer rock my world, sorry hostess. I have really been making a concious effort to buy good food, organic, preservative free, no artificial crap and honestly, things taste better. I didnt think there would be a difference in organic versus non organic but now if you were to give me a sample i could tell you which was which in a heartbeat. Organic has flavor! Good flavor at that, you can really tell the biggest difference when it comes to fruit. My new favorite fruit to eat used to be something i didnt like, blueberries. I have never been a big fan of them until I tried organic blueberries, now i cant get enough of the little scrumptious morsels. Strawberries and apples are another of my favorites. Have you ever stopped to really savor a strawberry? I didnt until i started buying the organic ones and oh boy, they are fantastic! Nothing artificial about them. A fresh strawberry that has not been chemically treated has so much flavor you actually want to slow down and enjoy it. Which is how i have come to believe that my tastebuds have grown up. Artificial flavors are not delicious like a fresh flavor is, they are big fat let downs. After making a concious effort to taste, not just eat, but really taste my food i feel like ive learned a lot about how food makes me feel. I really dont like the artificial tastes, i prefer the fresh ones any day. Now im not suggesting you go out and buy only organic, lets be honest...its expensive, but there are some foods that you may want to consider making the switch on. I live by one rule of thumb when im shopping for produce, if you eat the skin then buy organic. I would like to challenge you to really slow down the next time you are eating and really think about the food you are putting into your body. How does it taste, do you really like it or are you only eating it because youve always liked it and think you still do. I cant go back to eating tiger tails, i wish i could because they used to make my tastebuds so happy, now they just annoy them with their artificial fake flavors. Food prude? Probably, but its helped me cut out a lot of unnessesary, unflavored foods from my diet. I like my new tastebuds, they are on my side as i learn how food makes me feel. All this talk about organic produce has given me an uncontrallable urge to go hug a tree, now if youll excuse me.

Holidays and New Years

hey everyone! Hope your holidays have been great! This year has gone by super fast and now we are getting ready to celebrate the New Years..crazy! I think you can all agree with me that eating and exercising around the holidays can be tough. I was definitely was challenged this season. I didnt do too bad but I went off track a little. I am still working out hard in the gym and eating right. It was a few weeks before Thanksgiving when things at work went into stress overload and I was working on high priority cases...which I still am. It was hard to always get in the gym beause at the end of the day I wanted to sleep or do nothing..which I wasnt doing much of..and I was doing excellent in the gym..killing it! :) Now I am into the Christmas holiday and I realized how little I paid attention to my health the last couple of months. Work took priority and nothing else. I tried to squeeze in workouts and eat right, but in the end I took the back burner. My weight didnt increase or get out of control...it just didnt go anywhere. All I have to show right now is the constant lack of sleep/tired look. I dont have what you call a relaxing job...I am on the go from the moment I walk in the door until I walk out...sometimes not taking my full lunch..and most times working OT. I also have been put through the wringer with buying a house...no joke! I plan on working on changing things so that this doesnt keep happening..and I know its all about the mental outlook on things and how one deals with stress, etc. Sometimes the mental outlook is not enough. Here's to change for the New Year...cause this gal needs it! Good thing about tomorrow is that it's a brand new day...clean slate :) Im looking forward to the New Year! I'm not sure what my resolutions are, I have quite a few on my mind. What are your New Year's resolutions?

Checking in

Hello girls! I wasn't sure if you wanted me on this blog anymore since I'm never on here :) It's hard to get on here when I dont have internet, but I will try to get to this blog more often than I have. Looks like you both are doing very well ---congrats on all the improvements!

As of right now I have lost a total of 40+ lbs. and dropped a few pant sizes. I have been eating very well and excercising. I had a recent health issue with my gallbladder and it made me even more focused on eating right. Gallbladder is doing fine right now on this healthier eating plan. Still a long ways to go, but progress has been made.

Good luck to everyone and I will check in soon.

Day 3... Week 3

Well, I felt defeated last night when I ran.  It was hard.  How hard can running for three minutes REALLY be? Hard enough that I yelled at my husband during it.  Hard enough that at the slightest incline I thought I may die.  Hard enough to where I feel like a total wimp.

Oh well.  Life will go on.  I'm going to try to move on to week 4 but if its too difficult I may step back into week 3 again.  I'm trying to succeed!  At least I'm doing something still, right!?  Nevermind that my counterparts are well into week six!!!