Curve Containage Challenge

I'm curvy. 

That's right, I said it. 

I'm curvy. 

Other people rather say "fat", but whatever...I know I'm not as aerodynamic as I could be. I know I'm not some little pin thin thing. I'm OK with that. In fact, I'm actually happy that I have curves (albeit, they could be smaller) and I actually get compliments on my appearance, even at my current size. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, that's for sure.

As I've been unpacking things for our bedroom, I stumbled upon all my old jeans from ...hmmmm...six years ago. I know I've put on some weight here and there due to moving, stress, depression..ya know, all the fun shit in life. When I held them up, my heart broke a little bits.

My ass has gotten HUGE.

 UGH.

I started making an effort towards changing my eating habits in addition to working out more since I have my  handy dandy membership to Planet Fitness. Plus, now that I'm not working, I don't have any excuse as to WHY I can't make it in to burn some calories off. I don't know what my current weight is, nor is that really my main concern. As long as I start feeling better and my clothes start getting looser, that's all I really care about. Since I started watching my intake, I can tell I've lost something thus far since my jeans are already getting "roomy" around my waist and they don't feel like they're painted on. So, that's a good thing...right?? lol. My extra motivation to get this under control is the fact that the weather here is killing me. Who wants to be all layered when it's 100* outside?! Not I! I've been wearing more and more dresses so it'll relieve some of the heat, but I don't wanna look like I'm rocking a moo-moo. 

Luckily for me, I have a very good support group when it comes to friends and family...even Grimm got in on the encouragement when I told him, "Bubba, Momma's gonna get a little more aerodynamic"....he got all sorts of happy and thumped his tail like crazy. I'll take that as support from him, lol. If anything, he can always use my old jeans as stuffing for a doggy bed. 

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Week 14

"Slow and steady wins the race." - Tortoise

It's officially Week 14 and I'm down another 1.2lbs! I think my metabolism is finally starting to "wake up" and get with the program. In all honesty, I'm surprised (really) that I lost anything since Mother Nature decided to visit and made this week rather hell-ish for me.

I think by upping my cardio like I have been, it's really helping to push things along. My shirts are starting to feel looser and my pants are definitely getting larger. In fact, I gotta dig around and find my size 20 jeans (it's been a while since they've seen the outside world) and see how those fit me. 

Remember how I talked about Kettlebells in my last weigh in? WELL..it feels like it's been a wild goose hunt to find 'em! I've been to several large sports stores around here in addition to calling around the larger BX's in Germany. NO ONE has them! AGH! After much debate, I finally broke down and ordered one off of Amazon.com. YES, shipping was FREE! I definitely made sure that the shipping was free, lol. Sure, it might take a little longer to get here, but it's better than paying $30 in handling fee's! 

After reading a ton of various forums and articles, I ended up getting a "contoured" kettlebell because it'll minimize the bruises I'll get on my forearms. I bruise VERY easily..it's pretty sad, despite all the vitamins I take. Eric will give me foot & leg massages (yes, I'm spoiled!) and you can clearly see where his fingers were when they squeezed my muscles, lol. Half the time, my legs look like they have polka dots on 'em. So, I'd rather not have bruises all up and down my arms from a 15lb weight! 

In addition to the kettlebell, I also ordered two workout DVD's. Of course my "trainers" are going to be Bob & Jillian from The Biggest Loser! 

They're both known for busting your butt, but being motivational at the same time. So, from what I read from the reviews, these look like they'd work pretty well for me..might as well give 'em a shot, right? While I'm waiting for my kettlebell to show up, I can use my dumb bells with the videos in the mean time (yay!) as I'm 100% positive it'll take a month (or longer) for the kettlebell to grace me with it's presence! 

So yup! That's my weigh in for the week! I spoke to Stef and it sounds like she's getting back on track with her Weight Watchers plan. From my understanding, her official weigh in days are now on Saturdays, so I'm sure she'll have a very productive weigh in later on today (California time, of course!).

Best of luck & motivation to anyone else out there who is wanting to live a healthier life :)

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Week 13!

Please excuse my thugnificent band aid on my footsie. Since it's getting warmer over here, it seems like every creepy crawling or flying bomber has decided to come out of the wood works and bite me. I literally have 15 bites all over me and they tend to focus on my joints..wtf! 

Anyway, I'm officially down 20lbs!!! EEEEEEEE!!!!! I SQUEALED when I looked at the scale and it showed this:

Things are startin' to pay off! Lots of walking and watching what I eat is really...really helping! As a "reward" to myself, Eric and I are heading over to a local town called Bree to check out a store called EuroSport. From the various things people have told me about the place, it's like a sport store that's got anything / everything in there you could possibly imagine. I'm looking into getting myself a kettlebell. 

If you don't know what a kettlebell is, here's a picture for reference:

Thanks to Wikipedia, here's an explination of it far better than I could've given you:

The kettlebell is a cast iron weight (resembling a cannonball with a handle) used to perform ballistic exercises that combine cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training. Sizes may range from 4 pounds (1.8 kg) to 175 pounds (79 kg).

Unlike traditional dumbbells, the kettlebell's center of mass is extended beyond the hand, similar to a clubbell. This necessitates ballistic and swinging movements.By their nature, typical kettlebell exercises build strength and endurance, particularly in the lower back, legs, and shoulders, and increase grip strength. The basic movements, such as the swing, snatch, and the clean and jerk, engage the entire body at once,and in a way that mimics real world activities such as shoveling or farm work

Variants of the kettlebell include bags filled with sand or steel shot, water, or which take a variable number of plates.They also have a center of mass extended beyond the hand and allow for swing movements and release moves with added safety and added grip, wrist, arm and core strengthening due to the shifting fill material.

I've had various friends recommend it to me, swear by it and thing it'd be good for me to use since I'm wanting to tone up and get rid of the flub I have on my arms. Eric said it'd be great to help strengthen my back and it'll help my balance and core. So, why not give it a shot?

PS: I just noticed I'm finally getting a flippy floppy tan! Ha! I'll be ready for California in no time!

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Week 12

Maybe it's a good thing that Eric was gone this week? lol. I managed to lose 1.8lbs!

Hopefully my plateau was short lived *fingers crossed* so maybe I'll start making some additional progress. I'm just SHY of being 20lbs lighter and I can definitely tell since my pants are literally getting too lose for my hips! When I was doing some errands yesterday, I was in the midst of checking out at a grocery store in The Netherlands and I forgot something I was supposed to get. So, while the cashier was doing her thing, I jogged over to the aisle I needed to go to and my pants started sagging! A LOT! It felt like they were gonna fall off! I guess it's time to drop down a pant size (score!!!) to see how those feel. 

This weekend is going to be a bit of a challenge for me since I'm going out of town to Germany for the three day weekend. For one, I love German food. Two, we're going to our favorite restaurant, which is "The Big Emmas"..they have huge serving portions. I know Eric is chomping at the bit to eat there, but I still need to behave while enjoying myself. 

Before, I really wanted to have pork Cordon Bleu with their fantastic potato medallions, but now I'll stick with their awesome chicken salad (even that's gonna be too much for me to eat!):

I hope everyone has a fantastic Memorial Day weekend! Tah!

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Exercise Fairy Strikes Again

The weather has been getting nicer and nicer over here in Belgie,  but the bugs seem to be getting bigger and bigger. And, more annoying. I love taking Izzy, Macie or Cole on walks..but the bugs are REALLY annoying me! I feel like I'm constantly being bombed while walking near the fields (which are EVERYWHERE), or the horse flies are strategically attacking me so I'll walk into the road and get smacked by a car. Even Izzy looks annoyed halfway through our route cause they go after her as well!

Before we even had orders to come here, Eric and I invested in a nice elliptical that I LOVED to use! Since it runs off of 110v, we decided to leave it in California with my Dad since we weren't wanting to have it shipped all the way over here and run off of a transformer. At least when I go back later this year to visit, I'll be re-united with it for a short while and get to use it. 

About a month ago, a gal here posted that she had an elliptical she was wanting to get rid of FOR FREEEEEEEE! By posting it on the community board that our base uses, people instantly pounced on it (as did I), although I was a few minutes too late. Sad, was I. Well, I guess the gal who ended up wanting it (1st come, 1st serve) wasn't able to find a way to get it to her house, so, she deferred it to whoever else wanted it after her, which was me! Yippy! I was informed about it last night, so Eric and I went over there today to pick it up! Go figure cause I was looking around last night at other bases "yard sale" sites to see if anyone was selling any ellipticals for a reasonable price. Free is ALWAYS appreciated!

It's actually REALLY sturdy and fits perfectly in the living room. Once my office is completely overhauled and cleared out, I'll probably move it in there...but I kinda like it in the living room since we have two ceiling fans in there & it's gonna start really warming up here soon. 

The digital readout on it is perfect, especially since it has pulse sensors and even a heart rate monitor you can clip to yourself. Distance is tracked in kilometers, but that's not a problem since I can just convert it over to miles for my tracking. 

You can adjust the stride resistance with a knob that's in the middle of the stand. When I first hopped on and started peddling, it felt like I was running in mud that was up to my knees! I finally noticed the resistance knob and dialed it down (quite a bit) and I was able to do a decent stride..yay!

Best part of all? Aside from it being free, that is. It's battery operated!! YAY! You're probably thinking, "Ok, it's battery operated. What's so special about that?". Well, electricity in Belgium is ridiculously expensive and if we could run one less thing off of power, it'd be fabulous in the long run. Luckily, this doesn't require to be plugged in to operate! 

I'm a very very grateful and very happy camper! Looks like the Exercise Fairy was watchin' out for me!

Don't worry, I'll go outside from time to time to get my daily dose of Vitamin D, but now I won't have to get my daily exercise with a fly swatter.

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Week 4 is done-so!

Weighed in this morning and I'm down just two ounces shy of two pounds :) To be honest, I'm rather surprised I lost anything since Mother Nature has been wreaking havoc on me all week (sorry if that's TMI). Between my knee being rather screwed up from attempting to run, and seriously painful cramps, I haven't wanted to really do jack shit. If you're a woman reading this, I'm sure you can sympathize, lol. 

Eric and I made our way over to the gym this morning to get some cardio and weights in since I really need to start focusing on toning up. As much as I want to just lose weight and all that mess, I know I need to do weights, otherwise, I'll look like a Sharpe' by the time I hit my goal weight. SEEEXY! 

Here's what I managed to do:

Elliptical: 30 minutes on "Cardio" setting; 2.11 miles and burned 395 calories

Pull Over machine: 3 sets of 10 with 45lbs

Arm Extension machine: 3 sets of 10 with 30lbs

Arm Curl machine: 3 sets of 10 with 30lbs

It doesn't seem like much, but my arms are already killin' me and I know I'll pay dearly for it tomorrow, lol. Oh well, I gotta get in the habit of working on my upper body, mid section especially, and my legs. Eric actually threatened to make me work with the tractor tire that's just outside of the gym (it weighs like 100+ pounds)...nooooo thanks...LOL

I don't think I'll be posting a Week 4 video...eh...maybe tomorrow. I'm feeling lazy and it's gorgeous outside right now...so I rather be out there soaking up some Vitamin D. Who knows when we'll get some sun again, lol. 

On that note, PEACE!

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Run, Forrest! RUN!

Whew! 

 Just got back from the gym (don't worry, I showered) and I'm feeling really good! We didn't end up making it to the gym yesterday since we waited all day for our landlords brother to grace us with his presence since he needed to work on our furnace. Annnnnd he never showed up, so I'm assuming he forgot about the appointment he told us (not asked) we had to have with him....ahem...

ANYWAY! 

Woke up, got some breakfast in us then made our way over to the gym. While I was going to do my hamster bit on the treadmill, Eric was going to do some circuit training after a small cardio warm-up for himself. We stretched out and I hopped onto the treadmill..then Eric comes over and starts messing with the controls for my initial set up. In my mind, I was just going to do a manual setting for my walk/run for thirty minutes and go from there...Eric on the other hand, set up my session for the "Hills" setting, on level 6, lol. It really wasn't all that bad till I was actually running when the Cto5K program told me to..then it felt like murder!

After all was said and done, I managed to walk/jog/run a mile and a half within thirty minutes!! That's really not too bad considering I am NOT into jogging / running. At all! In all honesty, the Couch to 5K program works pretty well; it gives you a 5 minute warm up, then has you run for a minute, then slows you down to a walk for a minute and a half...so on and so forth. 

If you happened to watch my rambling video blog from yesterday, I tried to show you the screen from the Couch to 5K program, but here's a nice screen shot of it for ya...VERY user friendly! 

So yea, all in all, the run went well :) I know I'll be hurting tomorrow, but hopefully it won't be too bad. Plus since the weather is getting a little better, I should be able to start practicing outside more in addition to riding Scoots to the gym.

Now...time to go relax!! 

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Bye Bye Squishy McSquish Squish

Today.. I officially started my resolution. Ya know, the one that involves me becoming more "aerodynamic". Eric used that term for me a while back.."aerodynamic" when I lost alot of weight before, hahahaa. It's not like he's calling me a fatass or anything (he's NEVER said anything negative about my body!); it's more along the lines of: my hips were smaller as well as my waist. My butt defintely wasnt as "grand" and my arms didn't have self installed "floaties". I was definetely more "aerodynamic" this time last year, lmao.

I have a strategic plan..and hopefully it'll work out in my favor (lol).. I weighed in this morning, but didn't look at the scale. Here's what I'm doing: Eric looks at the scale, writes down my current weight and keeps the amount from me. I've realized that everytime I look at my weight on the scale, I get REALLY depressed and it screws me up (mentally) when it comes to working out. It's almost borderline destructive. I weighed in today, then I'll weigh in again on Friday...then every Friday after that is my official weigh in date. I did it today since I need an actual "starting" number, ya know? Once a month, I'll see what my weight is..so Feb 5th will be when I can see my numbers *eek*. Every 4th of the month, I'll take updated pictures so I can track my physical appearance and changes (hopefully they'll become more noticeable as time ticks by) and I'll put together a "collage" of 6 months worth of pictures. Not bad, right?

I logged back into my Sparkpeople.com account, updated my Spark profile.. that alone was a little challenging considering I havent' used it in some time (it still had me listed at Vandenberg, oops!).  I highly reccommend that site for anyone who wants free nutritional guidance, as well as motivation / support when it comes to staying on track and meeting your goals ( in terms of weight loss or toning up).

Here's my exercise routine I did this morning:

Elliptical - 1mile, 12:45 min, burned 137cal
Abdominal machine - 25 x 5 , 40lb
Hip abductor (in) - 25x4, 40 lbs
Hip abductor (out) - 25x4, 40lbs
Pull over - 25x3, 45 lbs
Chest press - machine is down
Lat zug - 25x3, 21kg
Elliptical - .75 miles, 9:14 min. , burned 100 cal

By the time I was off of work, I was pretty tired (it was a rather stressful day) so I managed to do a lil bit more cardio and headed on home.  My time on the treadmill was 24:52 for 1.25 miles and I ended up burning 125 calories...honestly, not bad! The gym was pretty packed tonight, so, I'm glad I atleast have the morning to the gym *mostly* to myself :)

On that note, I'm off to bed. I'm EXAUSTED!

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