Wednesday Week 2

It's been a long week since I last posted.

Headed out for the awards dinner

Last Wednesday was an eventful day for me. I got off work early to go home and do arm/ab day before heading downtown for an awards dinner. Last year my fiance and I hosted the event, this year he was accepting an award and a couple friends of ours were hosting. I had a successful workout and then we got ready and headed downtown.

I hadn't eaten all day (a bad habit of mine... not eating until dinner) and we went out for drinks before the event. I had two gin and tonics, then a couple beers at the event (along with dinner) and then we went out for more drinks after. I have no idea how many G&Ts I ended up having but, needless to say, I got drunk and blacked out. It was an overall awful experience.

So, I decided to get even more on board with Kayla Itsines and quit drinking indefinitely. It has now been a week since I've had any alcohol and I feel great, there is certainly no need for me to continue drinking when I can have just as much fun when I'm sober.

I was horribly hung over on Thursday so I didn't end up doing my LISS workout, but I picked back up again and did my full body workout on Friday. Both Saturday and Sunday I went out and played tennis. On Saturday I went with a friend of mine from work who is equally as bad as I am which makes it extra fun. On Sunday I went and played with my mom. Also fun, but she's definitely better than I am.

Monday was leg day and it went well, although I had no idea how hard jumping rope could be. I made the awful mistake of waiting until after dinner to do my workout, even though it was a few hours later I ended up vomiting at the end of my workout (never fun).

Berries from our garden

Yesterday it was down-pouring outside when I was going to do my LISS so I decided to put it off until today and do both LISS and arms/abs day today. It's also Wednesday, which means yoga day. It's going to be jam packed full of activities. Yeeseterday I also harvested these gorgeous berries from our yard for desert. I am so happy to have so many fruit trees and bushes in our back yard. We have strawberries, blueberries, red and golden raspberries, blackberries, grapes, figs, cherries, and apples... it's pretty amazing.

Anyway today is Wednesday. That means yoga and arms/abs day, as well as the LISS I put off yesterday. I plan to do my LISS at 11 just before yoga, I feel like yoga will be a good cool down and after workout stretch for me.

Also, this morning I took some progress photos and was surprised that I could actually see a difference from my before photos, no matter how small. I also created an instagram just for my bbg progress. It is amazing how great of a support system there is on instagram. I love seeing other peoples progress, it's such great motivation/inspiration. So while today is going to be a killer of a day, I'm excited for all of it. I can't wait to see my progress next week :)

Tuesday Week 1

Thursday Walk

I said this blog is to hold me accountable and that I would also use this space to document my mistakes. Well I didn't do as much working out over the long weekend as I had planned.

After my post Thursday, I did go for a long walk with my dog and it was great. We have a great trail up over a hill about 2 minutes from our house so I walked up and over the hill and continued walking for about 25 minutes before turning back. I definitely felt it in my legs for the next day or so.

Fishing

Friday I went fishing with a friend of mine and his dog. There was a little bit of off-trail walking involved to get to the lake from the car but this was completely nullified by the 3 beers I drank while we sat and watched the fishing rods. It was a great time though, I hadn't been fishing before this since I was about 10 and went with my dad. We didn't catch anything so we went back and bought some salmon and asparagus for the grill. It was delicious.

Resting After Tennis

Saturday I played tennis with another of my friends. I've been having a blast playing tennis over the last few weeks. My friend played competitively growing up but injured his shoulder so now he only plays occasionally just for fun. We have agreed to play tennis together every Saturday so long as the weather permits. On Friday he got an offer for a job in Arizona, which he's taking. I'm super bummed about this. I mean I'm happy for him he'll have a job out of college, but I feel like he's my little brother and I'm definitely going to miss him... also now I don't have a tennis partner. He's going to be a groomsman in our wedding and his parents still live in Oregon, so I know I'll be seeing him again.


Sunday I didn't do much of anything. My fiance needed to go to a study session over on the other side of town so I gave him a ride and brought the dog with the intention of taking a walk around Mt Tabor. I ended up going over to my sister's house and helping her make strawberry preserves from fresh strawberries she'd gotten that morning at the farmers' market. We then went to New Seasons and picked out 4 beautiful rib eye steaks and some veggies for dinner.

When Monday rolled around I remembered my promise to myself that I was going to take a long walk every day leading up to starting the BBG. I almost successfully talked myself into postponing for a week. But I knew if I did that now, I was basically just giving up on the whole thing. I had made this commitment to myself and definitely making this blog helped me feel like I had to do it because I'd written it down here saying I was going to start Monday. Well needless to say, I did it. It was miserable! But I was so proud of myself for making it through. By the end of the workout my legs were literally shaking and I realized I'm in even worse physical condition than I thought I was.

Today my legs are super sore. But it's in a good way. That feeling of I know I just worked out and it's working, I love that burn. This evening I'll go for my 30-40 minute power walk and I'm sure it'll kill my legs, but at least it'll be nice outside. Tomorrow I have an awards dinner to go to so I'm getting off work early. I plan to go home workout, shower, and change beforehand, so I'll still be able to get in my training, and, of course, tomorrow is Wednesday Yoga!

Beginning

"Exercise Regimens"

Past

Last spring my fiance (then boyfriend) and I started running. It was great... just kidding, it totally sucked and I hated every minute of it. What I liked was the fact that I always felt good afterwards, I love feeling like I've accomplished something, I could track my progress through time and distance, and it was something we did together. He's in grad school right now, so as soon as fall came around, the running stopped. (Note: I used the couch-to-5k program to get started and ran two 5ks last year)

Starlight Run 5k (Spring 2014)

Color Run 5k (Summer 2014)

I'm a big fan of exercising with other people. It helps keep me motivated and if I feel like I'll let other people down if I don't do something, I'm much more likely to participate. When I was in school (I graduated last year) I really enjoyed taking part in the free yoga and Pilates classes at school.

Working on the yoga moves I learned in class (Spring 2013)

I like getting exercise unintentionally. What do I mean by this? When I was in school I lived downtown. Campus was about 2-2.5 miles from where I lived so I was walking 4-5 miles a day just to get where I was going. This was probably my favorite "exercise regimen" I've had to date. 

Present

I'm not doing a lot of anything at the moment. I have a weekly yoga class on Wednesdays, but it's pretty low key. I did start taking occasional walks on my lunch breaks at work. I've also played tennis 3 times in last 2 weeks. I like tennis because it goes very well with my "ticking yourself into getting exercise" theory. Tennis is fun, you don't really realize you're exercising, it's just a byproduct of having a good time. I'm not any good at tennis, but as long as you find someone else who isn't interested in playing seriously, it's a lot  fun anyway.

Playing tennis with my mom (spring 2015)

Future

Starting now it's time to have a real regimen. As I stated before I'm going to start the Kayla Itsines' BBG. Because this is a weekly schedule, and I'm a little bit crazy, I'm going to start next Monday. But saying you're starting something in the future is never a good idea, so what am I going to do between now (Thursday) and then? 

Firstly, I've created this blog to keep me on track. I'm also going to take an hour walk with my dog Grover every day between now and then, because walking is awesome. My fiance and I are planning to do a short day hike on Monday since it's a three day weekend (Woohoo!). I'm also trying to set up at least one "game" of tennis this weekend. That all should keep me pretty occupied until I actually start. 

In the meantime, I'm also prepping my surrounding and prepping mentally for this. 

1. I bought a mirror today so I can track my progress with pictures (I was unsuccessful at trying to hang it up myself so I'll have to ask my fiance when he gets home tonight for some help)

2. I've started gathering inspirational pictures that I'm going to hang up on my wall as a reminder. 

3. I made myself a reminder and put it on my fridge.

My schedule and mantra

4.  I bought some work out equipment I'll be needing come Monday.

5. I took before photos. This is absolutely the hardest thing for me to post here as I'm very ashamed of how my body looks right now. But it's an important part of the process. (and yes, I'm standing on the toilet to get these pictures)

Getting Started

What is this blog?

This blog is written for me. I'm going to write it as though I have an audience, but it's sole purpose is to help me stay motivated. I've struggled with my body image since I was a teenager. I've gone through phases where I've been overweight and underweight. I've binged, I've purged, I've starved myself. This March I got engaged to an amazing, supportive man and we are getting married next August. I want to look amazing at my wedding (that's a given) but I don't want to revert back to old habits to make this happen. I want to be fit not thin. I want a body that I can continue to love and feel confident in. Someday I want kids and I'd like to be able to bounce back after pregnancy, the only way to do that is to be active before, during and after pregnancy. Right now I need to work on the before part.

Not only do I want to be able to bounce back after pregnancy, but I want to set a good example for my future children. I want to teach them to be healthy; to love their bodies and treat them right. I don't want to teach them to be overly critical of themselves and constantly picking apart every little flaw of their physical appearance. To teach them the concept that loving themselves on the inside is more important than the exterior. But I can't do any of that for my hypothetical children without doing it for myself first.

Today I decided to try Kayla Itsines' BBG. This blog will help me to document my journey. The things I do right as well as the things I do wrong. It is to help hold me accountable and keep me on track. If you stumble upon my blog, feel free to read it, just remember I'm not an expert, I'm not trying to give anyone advice. I'm writing this blog for me, to be my own inspiration.

Some more about my history:

I started gymnastics when I was 2. I was in great shape with rock hard abs until I was 14 when I got injured and quit. I really used the injury as an excuse to quit, because I had recently discovered what it was like to have an active social life and didn't want to spend my time getting berated by coaches when I could be out with my friends. Okay, I loved some of my coaches, but still, gymnastics is pretty rigorous.

When I was a gymnast I had no concept of how much I could eat because I had such a high metabolism that I could eat just about anything in any amount without gaining a pound. When I quit, this quickly changed but it was hard for me to control my eating when I'd never had to before.

I'm 4'11" which means I should weigh between 95 and 125 lbs to be in the healthy BMI range. I've been as high as 138 and as low as 92 at various times in my adult life. When I was down to 92 lbs (about 2.5 years ago) I was a frequenter of pro-ana sites, I used diet pills, I ate between 200-600 calories a day, and I walked several miles every day.

My 25th Birthday

Just before my 25th birthday (when I was at my lowest weight) my mom took me shopping. I had requested this as my birthday present because none of my old clothes were fitting me anymore. The thing I wanted the most was a dress to wear out to dinner on my birthday.I thought it would be fun to go shopping for clothes as a skinny girl, when I'd been at my heaviest shopping was always a nightmare. It turned out, shopping when you're this skinny sucks just as much, if not more so. NOTHING FIT!  I mean nothing. I went to so many stores, trying on XXS, even trying on kids clothes. I had complete meltdown to my poor mother in the fitting rooms. Everything was loose and baggy and the kids clothes just fit all wrong because they were made for kids, not tiny adults. Finally I found a skin tight XXS dress at bebe that fit, but it was still a pretty traumatic experience and I decided I didn't want to be quite so thin.



I promised myself I'd never get back over 115 lbs, but also that I wouldn't go back below 100 lbs. I've been pretty consistently over 115lbs for about the last 8 months now. Weighing in this morning at 117.2 lbs. It's also not only an issue that I'm over my max target range, but I'm also very much so out shape. We all know muscle weighs more than fat and I had more muscle the last time I weighed 115ish lbs, so I look a lot fatter now than I did then.

Anyway, I'm getting married in a little over a year, and I want to look spectacular by then. I'd love to be 105-110 lbs by then, but more importantly, I'd love to be fit. We'll see where this goes. If in a year I still look the way I do now, I will of course result to crash dieting before the wedding, but I'm going to work my hardest so that I don't have to result to that.