The “Better Bod” Project, part 2

Originally posted on June 23, 2012    

 

We are now 22 days (days actually working out) into the project. Current weight about 124

• I am just two short days from completing 4 weeks-worth of work outs ( 6 days a week, with one rest day). I am just eight days away from completing my first of three goals.  The ultimate goal is completing 3, 30 day mini-goals, 90 days total.
• How am I feeling?
• I am super excited about my progress. I’m definitely not where I want to be YET, but I am working towards it. I feel really good, and I AM seeing changes in my body and my performance. These motivate me more than the scale.
• So, the changes I am feeling in my body…
• Holster – I am a massage therapist, and in-session, I wear a holster to hold my oil bottle. I’ve noticed in the past work-week, that my holster is slipping more and more down my waist, to the point where I had to tighten it tonight! THAT is a little-win.

 Hips – Every day, as I work out, there are moves I have to put my hands on my hips (as part of the move), and it is a PERFECT reminder as to how I am progressing, how my body is changing. My waist feels SO STINKIN’ SKINNY! And I care how much or how little weight I’ve lost, I FEEL THAT!!!Win!

• Improvements in Push-ups – When I do push-ups and planks in workouts, they are solid! I don’t fall, stop or compromise my form. I go until the trainer says stop. That feels good. I can’t wait until I can move on to REAL, military-style push-ups. Win!
• Weights – I recently had to purchase 10lb weights because 8s are starting to feel too easy! Win!

Pitfalls/challenges

• In the evening, after dinner, I get the munchies. Seriously bad munchies! With Jillian’s plan, I am supposed to eat every four hours and I’m supposed to eat my snack after lunch. But I know myself, and so I have to bend/change her rules to eating my “snack” after dinner, otherwise, I’ll slip up big. And the biggest pit-fall: CHCOLATE I am not going to lie, chocolate is becoming a daily necessity. (BTW, if you want the recipe for this this cake, that is Julia Child's golden-goddess almond cake, leave me a comment and I'll post on it! It is NOT low-fat or healthy, but it IS delicious!!!) Chocolate is my little indulgence. Jillian’s meal plan includes breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner, and one of the snacks are banana pops! That is, chocolate covered banana, or a third of one, but it’s a GOOD amount of chocolate. I used to really enjoy celery and almond butter, but since this discovery, NOPE, it’s banana pops all the way!
• Also, I am NOT calorie counting and I think that is affecting any weight-loss that I may be aiming for.
• More than anything I’m just trying to implement daily habits that will become regular, healthy active lifestyle that I will carry with my for the rest of my life. Ultimately yes, I’d like to lose a few superfluous LB’s, but the real goal is seeing if I can be disciplined enough to complete the 90 days, get in better shape, get stronger and if I happen to lose weight or inches, that’s definitely a win!

The “Better Bod” Project Part 1

Originally posted on @ http://followmeg.com June 2, 2012    

I don’t know how many of you have ever tried starting a new diet or workout regimen, only to slip up and then give up due to feeling bad, getting down on yourself, losing willpower or coming up with lame-yet-legitimate-seeming excuses. I know I have.

I never used to workout. At all. Probably the first 25 years of my life I never worked out on any kind of a regular basis, except maybe in gym class in high school. And if you are reading this, thinking “I just can’t get started” or “I’m not that athletic of a person” or “I don’t like working out” or “I just can’t find the motivation” or any other of the nearly endless lame excuses, know that I say that with love, and not with judgment, being a master lame-excuse giver for never working out up until a few years ago. It started out with the famous last words “Oh, I’ll get into the best shape of my life before I get married.” Well that deadline came and went, and though I’ve always been thin, I haven’t been as toned or muscular or healthy as I’d like to be. So, then the new famous last words became “Oh, I’ll do it before I have kids.” Even now reading that I realize how idiotic it is.  That’s like saying, oh, my new-years resolution is to… “get in the best shape of my life”. That’ll be my new year’s resolution this next year. The reason?

Listen and listen well. If you don’t start today, you’ll NEVER start.

That’s my theory anyway. Really. I tend to always say “oh, I’ll start tomorrow” or “I’ll start next Monday” or “I’ll start on the first of this next month”. But ask yourself the question “when are you thinking about starting? Not planning to start, but thinking about starting? Answer: NOW!!! So why not start?

And trust me, I can come up with a plethora of excuses to answer that one. Just to make you feel better about yours, these are all REAL excuses I came up with that I felt I had to have in-place before I could even start.

• *Oh, well, I need to get organized first, with months of meal plans, shopping lists and workouts.
• *I need to get new workout clothes before I start.
• *I need some good workout equipment.
• *I need a good variety of workout videos, or I’ll get bored.
• *I need a gym membership.
• *I need to join another gym that has free classes. and more equipment. and a pool.
• *I need to have a personal trainer.
• *I need to have a great playlist to listen to while I workout.
• *I need to make a motivation board with points I can earn and rewards I can spend them on to help keep me motivated. (true story) What am I? Five?
• *I need a friend to work out with me and help to keep me motivated.
• *I really need a treadmill at home.

(By the way, these are ALL excuses that I actually came up with.)

• *I need to get my bike tuned up so I can ride and burn more calories while still having fun.*
• *I need to join a co-ed softball team first, so I can get more exercise doing something I want to do.

Whew! Geez! I mean wow, I am a lazy, silly BUM. And that’s not even touching on the classic excuses. Such as…

• I don’t have the energy to workout.
• I’m too tired, I think I’m getting sick and need to go take a nap instead.
• Ooh I’m too sore and tired from yesterdays (the first day’s) workout.
• I have to go to work later today or tomorrow so I don’t want to be too sore and tired to work.

So, the embarrassing and bewildering truth is that every single one of those excuses I listed (except of the one about the bike) has been a true, honest-to-God reason that I’ve put up as a legitimate excuse to not start or continue working out (and the bike thing has been on my mind). The good news is that ultimately NONE of those excuses kept me from working out and changing my eating habits as of now. And no amount of complaining, excuses or slip-ups, mess-ups, give-ups and start-overs have lessened my resolve to get into the best shape of my life. To start NOW! I am proud to say that I am actually 4 days in to a 7-day metabolism jump-start diet change and exercise regimen.

You see, the fact is, I will never “arrive” at being in the best shape of my life; a bikini-wearing bomb-shell, unless I chose to start one day. And then do it the next day. And the next day, and the next until a habit is formed and I have disciplined myself to work hard for it!That’s the bottom line. (I will touch more on this idea in a later blog to come.)

That’s why I’ve started. You have to start a journey before you can get to where you are going. Day after day, one step at a time, one good decision after another, one dedicated, disciplined meal and workout after another. AND, you have to have a good reason to do it and continue doing it.

Here are just a few of my reasons.

• *I have self-confidence issues (don’t we all?) and I think looking and feeling better will help me be more confident.
• *I have Crohn’s disease, so making poor food choices makes me literally sick in the short-term and could shorten my life literally in the long-term. Plus I don’t like taking pills, so I am determined to manage the disease with diet and exercise.
• *I am going to Hawaii in March, and I want to look HOT in my little black bikini.
• *It is item #1 on my 30 before 30 list (listed in a blog to come).
• *I always said I would. It’s a good idea

Somebody call the Waaaammbulance!!! Wow, what a whiner!!

So, before this blog becomes EPIC tonight, I’ll pause there and continue later on. More on this subject another day. All I can say is (four days in) I feel fantastic! More energy and feeling great, inside and out!

My Favorite Latest Goodwill Find

Hello blogging world! Apparently it's been over a year since my last post! Yikes!!! Talk about procrastination!

So, today's topic: As anyone who knows me can tell you I have a passion for frugality, namely shopping & treasure hunting at Goodwill!! Ahhh, the smell of bargains in the morning.. or afternoon, or at night, heck, I will use ANY excuse to stop in the local goodwill and just look around. I never feel compelled to buy, (like going in thinking “I have to spend money, or find something”)> I know that there is a stereotype of women that we shop just because, or that we spend money because we have to, (emotional shopping and the like) so I know there are those of you who think going to Goodwill is like that, as if thrift-store shopping is an excuse to spend money, just because it's cheap. Not so with me. True, I do get a natural high or thrill from finding something for a great price, or finally finding an item that I've been looking for for a long time, but no, I don't go for the reasons most women do.

Recently my sister-in-law turned me on to a song by Maclemore called “Thrift Shop” that says it best (although I won't repeat the expletives). “This is ****ing awesome!!”. The song is a bit crass in spots, but I do appreciate a fellow thrift hunter and the song captures some of the main reasons I like to shop the thrift-stores. Reason #1, as I previously stated, there is an element of fun in hunting the shelves and racks to see just what you can find. Reason #2, there is an equal exhilaration and even pride in buying a whole outfit (including accessories & shoes) for less that $20. Reason #2, shopping elsewhere is a WASTE OF MONEY!! When you can spend less than $20 on a whole outfit at Goodwill, (granted, slightly worn/used) where you would spend at least that much on a single article of clothing brand-new at all other stores, it stands to reason.

 

Side note* I LOVE my dog. My dog Bear is a pure-bred West Highland White Terrier and he is a spunky, fearless, BIG dog in a little dog body. So naturally he is always in the back of my mind when treasure-hunting.

I also love Pinterest. I currently have over 22,000 pins and 100 boards. Amoung them is a board entitled “For the Dogs” where I pin all things related to dogs. Dog beds, toys, home-made treats, breeds (I also love Scotties, Bull dogs and Bull Terriers), cute pictures, and anything else having to do with dogs.

So, why do I mention these things that have seemingly nothing to do with the other? Well during my random searches I saw the cutest Westie bookends that I wanted SUPER bad. I looked them up on Ebay and Amazon, and they were going for between $40 and $80. As much as I wanted to buy them, I have a bedrock internal principle; “Don't spend too much money on something you know you can find cheaper at Goodwill!!” And I LOVE shopping at Goodwill. So basically, I would rather wait to buy something, in order to save money. And I would definitely rather wait to buy something if it means it gives me an excuse to shop at Goodwill... are you catching my drift when I said I LOVE GOODWILL!!!

So, you can imagine my shock, surprise and delight, when I found THESE beauties!!!

 

I've been looking for bookends for six months. Via Pinterest, I've seen ideas to take ugly & outdated thrift-store bookends or inexpensive plastic toys and attach them to blocks of wood and then spray paint them. Fortunaly, I found absolutely ADORABLE Scottie/Westie bookends (one of which I will spray white/Westie, one of which I plan to leave as-is/Scottie). I am THRILLED!!

And my point? Amazon price? $80. Goodwill price? $16!! Savings? $64

THIS is why I love Goodwill shopping!!

BOOM!!

Thrift-store Lyrics by Maclemore

“I'm like yo, that's heck'a tight.
I'm like Yo! that's $50 for a _________ (fill in the blank, whatever)
Limited edition lets to some simple addition
$50 for a ______ that's just some ignorance
I call that getting swindled!“

This is ****ing awesome!!!

Over A Fence

Hello faithful blog followers, (all 1 of you)

So, I was out working in the yard, raking leaves actually, and totally procrastinating.
But before I delve into the topic of today's blog, let me just say what I was trying so, so hard not to do.
We have a beautiful back yard, once a blank slate with nothing but odd geographical elevation, weeds and lots and lots of rocks, is now a flourishing oasis. Complete with water feature, custom built deck, arbors, trellises, hot tub, and bbq grill, all enclosed by a huge fence. So, the job, sand and stain the fence. Jason, my darling husband wants the rear section of fence, (all 135 feet), sanded (since he power washed the crap out of it, and it is now all "fuzzy" and the "fuzz" soaks up stain, which is very expensive) and stained. Well, he completed maybe a fifth of it, and then got bogged down in school-work and studying for work related rank stuff. So, since I have yet to start my job, he figured I have all kinds of time on my hands, so I should do it. I can tell you this, after completing several intensive projects this summer, including laying flagstone, putting in a slab of concrete and running the wiring for a hot tub, and then building a deck section to butt up against the hot tub, and then staining the hand-rail of the large deck AND fixing a large 20ft square corner area of the yard and about another 100ft x 3ft of grass repair, lets just say when autumn got here, I was thrilled, thinking "Oh, finally, no more projects! It's finally cold and wet enough to signal the end of the summer-project season. Now time to relax and do indoor things!" Yeahhhh.... NO!!! I guess not. Every semi-nice day we've had so far this fall has been filled with the nagging expectation of MY (not HIS), my working on the fence. Now let it be understood; I love my husband and I totally support and understand his inability to work on the fence. But, truth be told I DO NOT CARE about the fence getting done this year. I am DONE working on projects and totally did/do not want to work on the fence. So, every rainy day, I have in inward celebration for having a legitimate reason not to work on the fence. I will come up with excuses why not to work on the fence. It's too wet, It's too cold, I have to go hang out with your sister (don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with my sister-in-law, but I am way too happy to have that as an excuse) ect...

Lately it's been harder to motivate myself to workout, but today, I was oh, so happy to do so, rather than working on the darned fence. Did you catch that??? I would rather work my butt off exercising and cleaning the house than do the fence. I mean I really do not want to do it!!! So, without getting into it too much more, I did in-fact work on the fence today. I both sanded and stained a 30-plank section of fence, (with a procrastinating break in the middle for raking and hand-picking up the leaves and drinking hot apple cider).

The reason: I love my husband.
Now, I don't want to paint a picture of myself as a "sainted wife" or anything but the truth is, no matter how much I really didn't want to do it and hated the thought of it, and came up with so many excuses why not to, the end result will always be the same. I do things I really don't want to because I love my husband more.

I started the blog out talking about raking leaves, and as I did so (and working on the ****ing fence) I listened to music on my iphone. One of my favorite artists is John Mayer, and one of his songs came on. It's called "home life" and I stopped at one point to listen to the lyrics.

I can tell you this much
I will marry just once
And if it doesn't work out
Give her half of my stuff
It's fine with me
We said eternity
And I will go to my grave
With the life that I gave
Not just some melody line
On a radio wave
It dissipates
And soon evaporates
But home life doesn't change

That is my point-of-view too! The point is, you say "I do", for better or for worse, forsaking all others, and that means yourself. Sigh. I have thought many times of making this point to my husband when he doesn't want to do something that I do, but God turned the finger back at me, and said "What about you, Megan?? Would you forsake yourself and what YOU want for this man I have given you??" Point taken God, point taken.

Even today's devotions pointed to that truth. God wants us to have sincere, obedient hearts. He doesn't care about how things look on the outside, he cares about our attitudes and actions.
Matthew 16:24-27
        Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up
their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s 
glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. "

I do not mean to say that doing something small like this, honoring my husband I mean, is in any way fulfilling that command in even a small approximation of what God intends for us. But at the very least, in laying down our lives for Christ, we should lovingly serve those we love. Food for thought :))

Goodbye Sun, Hello Sunshine

So, thankfully it started raining today, so I took advantage and sat down and watched a movie, one of my favorites actually. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. If you've never seen it, do. It's not perfectly clean, but it breaks away from the traditional love-stories and is a feast for the eyes and the mind. 

It's a story about two random people; Joel Barrish and Clementine Crizenski. It's Valentines day and Joel wakes up with horrible, hangover-type symptoms, pages from his journal missing, new pajamas he doesn't remember putting on, let alone owning and a huge gash/dent on his car that is both horrible and inexplicable. As he is heading to work, he randomly decides to ditch work and go to the freezing, snowy beaches of Montauk, NY. Ducking out of the snow, he sits down to coffee in a little diner across from a strange but attractive woman with wild blue hair and a bright orange sweater. I won't ruin it for you, you'll just have to watch it for yourself. But, the ending sums up what I truly believe about being in a committed relationship, especially when they get hard.

             Here it is: Despite faults, flaws, things that drive you crazy about the person you love, at the end of the day you CHOSE. Would you rather live with the imperfections, the annoying habits, the heartache and heartbreak they sometimes give you, or be alone? Would you rather deal or do without them?

             In the end you CHOSE to love them, and ignore the toilet seat being left up for the millionth time. You CHOSE to love them. Love is accepting the good and bad, the beautiful and the ugly, soaking in each and every memory and loving the person despite the fact that they're not perfect.

                        Change your heart. It will astound you :)

Just a little "Hi"

Hey there faithful blog followers. I just wanted to jot a quick note of apology for not posting in about a week now I think it's been. Whew! Life can get busy and I can get distracted. I have been working on writing down some thoughts, but as is typical from the Lord, He sometimes has a lot to say. My heart has been overwrought with good things from Him, and I feel it is important to take time to let those things soak into my soul and heart and take them in before writing them down. That, and it's hard to break it down into smaller "blog-size" topical blogs :) Never fear, posting to come soon. Thanks.

Happily Ever After?

This posting goes out especially to the young, unmarried ladies out there, who may be disillusioned (like I was) prior to marriage. Those of you who are married may find yourself laughing or nodding along with me. And please, if you have any undiscovered tips or questions, leave a comment :))

Ok, so, the title. All of us ladies (and even a few guys) know what I'm talking about here. We grow up watching Disney-like movies where each and every Princess or female heroine has their humble beginnings; Snow White, Jasmine, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty ), Belle, Ariel, Mulan, Pocahontas, Maid Marian, Lady (as in Lady & the Tramp), Giselle, and Rapunzel, Tiana (Princess & the Frog), Megara (Hercules), Jane (Tarzan), Penelope, Anastasia, and of course, Cinderella. Each have to face some adversity, whether that means an abusive family or a fierce dragon, and then their man comes to rescue them and sweep them off their feet. They get married and then live "happily ever after". In no subsequent moves that I've ever seen do they show what happens after the wedding, when real, married life sets in.

So, we young, Christian women, have our parents and then the relationships we see in the movies as role models for what our future marriages will look like. I was fortunate enough not to have any marital issues, divorce or even open arguments modeled for me, so as a young bride, I though going into marriage was going to be pure, fairy-tale bliss; with my prince charming carrying my off into the sunset and living happily, thereafter. What I didn't account for was that my husband is a person, and not a fictional character, and also a MAN and not some chick-flick guy who hangs on my every breath and word and can't live one second without me. I've dated guys like that, and it's actually really annoying!

My man is an absolute STUD, who has a very demanding and dangerous job that he loves and besides that he is relatively independent in relationships, compared to me, who would have lived with my parents until I was 40, had I not gotten married. I am actually more like that annoying guy who hangs on his woman's every word and action. Or at least I was at first. I was all about my man, and didn't really work at creating my own life outside of him. Now, sure, most newlywed women proabably do this to some degree, and to some degree, it's ok, because your husband comes home to you every night. But in my case, my husband works 9-13 hour days, leaves town frequently for work-related training (sometimes as much as 2/4 weeks per month) and then deploys for 6months at a time. I remember the moment I had to decide whether to continue to let my life be tied to my husband and what he was doing or take the aggressive steps necessary to make my life full during the first deployment; making friends, getting a job, getting involved in activities and hobbies with other people. Sadly, I didn't make the necessary steps to "stay busy" during the first deployment, and so I missed out on the richness and fullness of life without my husband for that first six-month deployment, and was very lonely. Of the three deployments, the first was the hardest, for that reason. I think I was disillusioned that "being one flesh" meant we were going to do everything together, and unlike most traditional relationships, ours was destined to be anything but, due to the demands of his job.

My expectations and reality were not matching up. I was freaking out all the time because we weren't "OK", meaning the life I thought I was supposed to be having (the happily-ever-after), wasn't happening. I was focusing so much on him, that my relationship with HIM, was suffering, so much so that my relationship with God was practically non-existent. It was strange to realize that my husband was becoming almost an idol-like figure in my life, taking my focus away from where it should have been. I was so dependent on my hubby that it was messing with my priorities. That's why I am 100% convinced that God chose Jason for me, because He knew that his job would take the competition for my heart away from him, and put it back on God, out of pure need. Life during deployments and TDY's get pretty lonely. And also, I've prayed for girl-friends for years and it seemed that God was not listening. I wondered "why is it so hard to send a great woman or two along to help support and encourage me through the hard, lonely times?" But God knew better. He knew that my focus needed to be shifted back to where it belongs.

So, realizations: my husband is supposed to be my best friend, yes (which he is). He is NOT, however going to meet my every need, see to my every whim, and do everything I want him to, or be the bosom friend that I so desperately wanted. That's what girlfriends are for.

So, what I've learned since being married.

• God should be my primary focus, and where I should go to for the source of my happiness, and not my husband, as he cannot meet all my needs. He isn't supposed to.
• I need to let my husband be the man that he is; not expecting him to spill his guts to me every hour, let alone every day.
• I need to tell him my needs, and not expect him to read my mind. It may not be as romantic (to us girls it feels like a laundry list or something), but then it's not as if you haven't told him if he says he didn't know.
• Be willing to forgive, laugh, and let him be who he is, loving every minute of it!
• I need be OK, if things aren't picture-perfect, if there's a little tension, disagreement or slightly heated discussion. That a big one for me.
• Get some girl-friends who will do the girly things (that a man won't), and have good heart to heart talks.
• A lasting relationship doesn't mean you'll always be seriously in love, it means you'll always be seriously committed!