Cutting the pounds……and likely most of my social life

Okay just kidding about that second part! No Whining!

 

 On Monday I’m starting a 30 day challenge designed by Jillian Michaels. It’s both fitness and a diet plan, and I’m terrified! As someone that has accomplished a tough mudder and done Advocare twice, there is not a whole lot that scares me fitness wise. I’m up for pretty much any challenge.

 

This one is going to be a doozey though!

 

The diet plan isn’t as strict as Advocare, there are more carbs allowed, and only 4 meals per day, as opposed to 5. There’s still no alcohol, no sweets, no refined carbs or sugars. There are no special supplements, or any gross fiber drinks to be tolerated. My main concern is that this is 6 days longer than Advocare! That’s almost a whole extra week! I’m hoping that since it’s not as restrictive I’ll find it easier to see out through the end.

 

The hardest part of this for me is how much of my social life revolves around food and drinks. This will be a good chance for me to save some money, and to find things to do with my friends besides drink beer and eat fried things…..I might have to make some new friends….just kidding, love you guys!

 

The workouts don’t leave any muscle group untouched either. Below is the work out from the first day, which is repeated twice. On this plan you work out 4 days per week, always on back to back days, working the front and the back sides of your body on alternating days.

 

 

 This is day 1. That twice, plus some light cardio after completion. I should just enjoy my ability to move without pain now, because I have a suspicion that I will be losing it as soon as I start this plan.

I am really excited to get started though, especially after this one week set back due to a cold. I could be 25% of the way through by the time I’ll actually be starting! I’m definitely down to those last 15 or so pounds. I think it’s closer to 20, roommate and pretty much everyone else think it’s closer to 10, so I’ll go with 15. I’m hoping to lose those pounds and some serious inches.

I am taking before and after shots, and doing measurements, but the before and after shots are supposed to happen in spandex, so it is very unlikely they will end up here. I did realize it’s been about 6 months since the last full body I shot I posted so below is me when I started, in July of 2012 and then in December of 2012.

 

Work in Progress!

Disclaimer: No guarantee your hair will turn a sexy ginger color with weight loss. Not everyone can be as lucky as me!

 

Fee Fi Fo Fum…..The art of Complaining

I’ve talked before about how I feel strongly that life is what you make of it. You see what you look for and get back what you put out there. Unfortunately, I usually find myself making these statements after a rambling rant to a friend full of complaints.

I think that we(mostly us ladies) often justify complaining as “talking it out”. But are we really talking it out? Are we objectively looking at a problem and discussing the solutions? Or are we just rehashing the problem, and whining? “I should have…”, “Why didn’t he…….”, “Is it so hard to …….”. Rarely is this “talking it out” taking place with the person who could change it. Does hashing it out with girlfriends solve a problem? Or does it just allow us to dwell and justify it as constructive?

I’ve taken control of my life over the past year, I’ve shaped my body into something I can be proud of, put my career on a track with potential, and really made a point to be introspective in general, in order to be the best possible version of myself. So I’m making it my goal for next 30 days, not to complain at all. Not on here, not while out with girlfriends, not at all. I’m hoping that in those 30 days I will get out of that habit, and therefore, when the 30 days is up, I will continue to not complain. To assist myself in this goal I asked the people I find myself complaining to the most to call me out when they hear it.

This 30 day task coincidences nicely with my next fitness challenge!

Jillian Michaels has an amazing book called Making the Cut and it has a 30 day plan to drop the last 15-20lbs and get really toned. It includes a full diet and exercise plan, and I’m so pumped to get started on it. I had planned on starting today, but over the weekend I came down with a lovely head cold, so I’m putting off starting until I’m back in fighting shape.

This work out plan is not for the faint of heart, but I think it’s just the thing I need to get off my plateau and on to the next level. Before even starting the book you have to pass a fitness assessment, to make sure you’re physically up to completing the book. I was able to pass, just barely. The just means I’ll have to be extra positive and motivated to complete these work outs and stick to the plan!

I’ll update later this week with more about the work outs and the details of the diet plan. Since I’m sure this plan will keep me busy, and sore, there will be a lot I could complain about. Instead I’m going to be thankful that I’m finally in shape enough to even tackle this book, and excited for the results I’ll be seeing at the end!

Party like it's 2013!

2013 is here, and I have made no progress on my new year’s resolutions. I’ve had no time for new TV shows or angry birds. The dog doesn’t have any new outfits. I’ve actually moved backwards on resolution #2 and purposefully made new friends. Typical, make all these lofty resolutions and push them aside in less than a week.

I have been keeping busy and doing some really fun stuff. Baby Brother came up after Christmas and I hopefully kept him happy and entertained while he visited. We went ice skating, checked out some local record stores, took him up to the slopes for the first time and spent a night out on the town in Seattle.

He is now officially a snowboard addict and did so great on his first day up.

 

Roommate and I also rang in the New Year in style, and had a ton of fun meeting new people in the last hours of 2012 and the first of 2013.

 

I’ve spent a lot of time this week cooking, I’ve made chicken tortilla soup, chili, and apple cinnamon cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. In the next week I’m planning on making beef enchiladas and chicken noodle soup, as well as a lemon blueberry baked oatmeal.

 

I’ve never made baked oatmeal before, but I came across the recipe and it looked too delicious not to try. I had never really made soup before, but after this week I think I’ll be making a lot more. It’s so simple and cheap and easily adaptable to whatever you have on hand and so delicious.

 

For the chicken tortilla soup, I used a Pioneer Woman recipe that my cousin made on Christmas Eve. Here’s a link to Ree’s recipe on her amazing blog that everyone should read.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/chicken-tortilla-soup/

 This soup is so easy. You basically just bake and then shred some chicken breasts then simmer the chicken and veggies in chicken stock for 45 minutes, adding in various spices, tomato paste, and black beans as you go along.

 I thought the absolute best part of this soup was the toppings. Here is mine with cheese, avocado, sour cream, salsa and corn tortillas.

 

The only change I made to this recipe was to bake the corn tortillas instead of frying them; equally delicious, less fattening. Roommate would tell you to eat the soup with Fritos. At first I didn’t get it then, I thought about it, corn tortillas, corn chips, not that far of a stretch.

This weekend we went out dancing with some super amazing people on Saturday then went and watched the Seahawks game with Twinsie, and her roommate on Sunday. Twinsie, is a really good friend of ours that is pretty much the same person as I am. She’s blonde, also loves giraffes, also understands how scary/evil birds are. She gets me J

 

This next week I’m really excited for my volleyball team’s end of the season tournament, and to go cheer the Seahawks on to another victory next weekend with Roommate, Twinsie and twinsies roommate, and whoever else ends up joining.

 

Go Hawks!