Sweat & Sparkle

Nervous

A glittery butterfly, just because I love butterflies…and things that sparkle!

I’m actually nervous for my weigh-in tomorrow morning. I’ve worked hard this week: I’ve exercised each day, logged my food too. I’ve resisted sweet snacks, eating out, extra servings of soda, and even my jokester fiance’s offer of ordering pizza one evening as soon as I returned home, sweaty and triumpant, from the gym. (He laughed at the killer look I shot him, then told me he was only kidding. Har har!)

I really hope it all pays off. It will be very discouraging if it doesn’t. After months and months of spinning my wheels, I finally caught some traction and hopefully made some progress this week.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I could have sworn the pants I am wearing today felt looser in the waist when I put them on. I’ve only lost 3 pounds so far, so I doubt that’s really made a significant difference in the way my clothes fit just yet, but either way, it felt good to wonder if they are looser, rather than groan about them being uncomfortably tight!

Found My Groove

I’m almost afraid to say this, for fear of jinxing myself, but I feel like I’ve finally gotten my act together and found motivation again. I’ve logged my food the last few days and have also worked out. Yesterday I even ate some (*gag*) vegetables. Yuck!

Today my fiance had to get up extra-early, and I should have gotten up with him and fit in an early-morning workout before work. Instead, I reset the alarm and went back to luxurious sleep. I’m a little disappointed in myself for that, but I will still work out today after work. I will ease back into morning workouts. Right now, I’m just thrilled that I’m working out at all.

This Saturday is already the weigh-in for my 5-Pound Kickstart in the TKO Challenge. I have 2.4 pounds to lose this week to make my 5-week goal, so I need to stay motivated and keep up my workouts.

I’ve also been cutting back on soda, which has been difficult. I’m a die-hard soda addict, and my poor body has gotten used to a steady, non-stop intake. I may as well inject it straight into my veins. I’ve been ready to commit a felony for a soda, but luckily, so far I’ve resisted the urge 🙂

Total KnockOut Challenge!

I do my best thinking when I am driving, and yesterday was no exception. I was driving to a meeting for work when suddenly, out of the blue, I had the idea for a personal challenge to help motivate me and get me excited about losing weight again.

I have said more than once that it’s overwhelming to think about all the weight I have to lose and how far from my goal I am. Driving along, singing loudly to my music, it popped into my head to make a challenge out of focusing on just 10 pounds at a time.

I instantly thought of setting it up like a boxing match. I’ll divide each 10 pounds into a round. So each round, the goal is to lose 10 pounds in 5 weeks. If I haven’t lost 10 pounds at the end of 5 weeks, there’s no need for drama, teeth-gnashing, or wailing: I will just start the following round at my current weight and set the next 10 pound, 5-week goal. (Hey, a brand new start every 5 weeks!) And just keep going that way, round after round, until I feel like I am looking and feeling healthy and strong and fit, and then declare myself the bad-ass, undefeated champion, ha ha.

I’m going to get it all started with a 3-week kick-start, with the goal of losing 5 pounds during that time. Round one will start with whatever weight I am at when I finish those 3 weeks.

I’ve set up a page on my blog to keep track of my challenge. I’ll use my weigh-in tomorrow morning for my starting weight, so the challenge officially starts tomorrow (ding, ding!)

Let’s get it ON!

It’s Too Hot!

I’ve tried to get here to post an update the last few days, but it’s been so busy, I can barely breathe. But here I am! I weighed in on Saturday to a very small loss: 0.2 pound. I’m surprised it wasn’t a gain, to be honest.

No workouts over the weekend, because I did a lot of yard work. When I know I’ll be spending a few hours in the yard, I don’t really want to start off already worn out from a workout. I don’t count yard work in my exercise ticker, even though most of the time, it’s pretty intense manual labor. The temperature was pushing 100 degrees this past weekend, so it was grueling. I even broke down and chugged a Gatorade instead of my beloved Coke!

Today my fiance invited me to lunch, and I was happy to spend the time with him, but I made some pretty bad food choices. Eating out is a struggle for me and obviously something I need to work on.

The week is far from over! Plenty of time to turn it around and have a good weigh-in on Saturday.

Check-In

I promised to check in today about whether I worked out yesterday evening. Well, I decided that scarfing down a quart of rocky road ice cream while plopped comfortably on the couch, watching hours of TV, was a far better plan for my night.

Just kidding! I did a 40-minute Turbo Fire workout online.

This is the second Chalene Johnson workout I just couldn’t get into. I loved Turbo Jam, but nothing she’s created since then lights my fire. Her cuing seems off, like she tells you what to do, after they have already started doing it. I am not the most coordinated individual on the planet, so I need plenty of warning when the movements are going to change, and what is coming up next.

I used to have her Chalene Extreme workout DVD set, but I sold it and at least got my money back. I laughed when I saw this review and discovered I am not the only person who was not a fan of the workouts, or the questionable workout attire: