Transformation Challenge: Day 1

Today starts my 40-Day Total Transformation Challenge.  I must tell you, I woke up excited.  No longer can I let myself eat treats without consequences.  I'm in this thing to win it.  (Plus I want to get to my goal...but that comes second when there is a bike and cash prize involved).

I had a very busy and productive day today.  It's been awhile since I've felt motivated to do anything without dragging my feet.  Today was different though. I was excited, motivated, and pumped.  I got a lot of "grown up" things done throughout the day that I've been putting off, plus I made good start to the challenge.

I went grocery shopping bright and early at 8:00am. I was actually surprised (and geeky as it is, excited) to see that Kroger is now open at 6:00am! I don't know why, but this makes me happy. While I was perusing the veggie section, I realized that there is a perk of early shopping.  I could take my time and study all the different kinds of vegetables that I've never bought or cooked. I could compare prices. I didn't feel flustered taking a million of those little plastic bags and twist-ties as I filled up my cart (I wish I didn't have to use those things, but feel I would be judge if I didn't...)   The only downfall was that the bakery was in full swing. So many delicious smells wafted past me in temptation, but I held strong and only glanced back once at the mardi-gras decorated donuts with extra sprinkles....ok that's a total lie I looked back twice!

 After my groceries were all snuggled away in my kitchen, I headed over to Bella Forza Fitness (BFF).  Everyone who is participating in the challenge has a big button that we are supposed to wear to all our workouts.  It let's everyone else know we are participating and creates a little extra awareness and should get people talking about it.  Personally, I think it is so the instructors know who's ass to kick and not cut any slack. I'm ok with that though, I need it. And honestly, no instructor there would ever cut me any slack haha.

Within each week of the challenge there is a mini-challenge.  This week is "most spirited".  So today in Barre Intensity we replaced or moaning and groaning and painful whimpers with cheers and sometimes sarcastic words of excitement when it was push-up time. One lady even brought in stamps of BFF so we all had "tattoos" during class. It's silly, but hey, you need everything you can get!

Post workout I had a very healthy and protein filled lunch.  One would think that will all this accomplishment before noon, I would be done and take a nap. Oh but ye have little faith! Not only did I forgo a nap, but I took care of a few chores and then I went...(wait for it)...RUNNING! That's right, I, Rachel Leigh Libben, went on a run.  And it was honestly a run (well my version of a run), not a walk. I headed out and found a short bike trail which was a little hilly. I pushed myself and made it the entire loop, which I found out later is 2 miles. Holy cow. It's been over a year since I went running so I was pretty pumped with my results.   Gold star for me!

I'm trying to wind down this productive day soon so that I can get to bed early since I have boxing in the am, but somehow my busy day didn't include that homework I was supposed to have done...I suppose we can't have it all.

Fat Tuesday

While I might not be drinking Abita beer and watching the parade down Bourbon street, I am partaking in Fat Tuesday in my own way.  I had a very unhealthy dinner of pizza (first time since November!) a small fry and a shamrock shake.  I should feel soooo guilty about this dinner, but I figured it's ok. It's Fat Tuesday afterall, and anyone who knows me, knows I always celebrate holidays.  Plus, I'm giving up Shamrock Shakes for lent.  I don't have to explain to any of you, how major this is. I live all year for this season of shakes.  This is epic.

I'm indulging tonight because tomorrow starts the beginning of a challenge I signed up for at work/the gym.  It's called the 40-day Transformation Challenge.  So tomorrow it's time to get serious.  No more unhealthy choices. No more glasses of wine after a rough day of class. No more treats.  No more skipping workouts. Hopefully at the end of these 40 days I will be able to report reaching my weight loss goal and show off a brand new bike.  Wish me luck!

Happy V-Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Lovers! While I normally choose to wear black and wish everyone a happy "Singles Awareness Day" in protest to the day of love, this year I decided to be indifferent with a side of cheerfulness.  Being single on February 14th can be sad and lonely. Everyone is throwing their love in your face with postings of flowers received at work, dinner dates, and mushy love notes posted on facebook.  You start to feel as if you are the only one not invited to a party.  It actually reminds me a of comedy piece by Dane Cook. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJEvROTScaY)
But this year was different for me.  It wasn't different because I had a secret admirer or anything crazy like that, it was different because I didn't care.  I recognized the day by wearing a heart necklace and ring, took heart linzer cookies to my class and wished everyone a Happy Valentine's day.  I didn't feel hurt and left out, and I didn't feel euphoric and in love. I just felt like a girl who is ok with herself and being where she is at.  It seems so simple and natural, yet odd because I've never felt like this before. I'm usually all in or all out for V-Day.  But this year, I'm just me. Just here. Just Ok with it all. It's kind of odd...yet kind of nice. I'm lucky to have many wonderful and loving relationships in my life and while they aren't of the romantic sort, they are equally important. I'm truly blessed. So thank you to all the loves of my life and I hope you had a great Valentine's Day.

P.S. I hope you got chocolates because that certainly make the day even better.

The "FAT JEANS" Dilema

I've been debating about this for awhile and I just can't decide, "how long do you keep your clothes after you've lost weight"?.  I've dropped a couple pants sizes and now have a closet full of clothes that I don't like to wear anymore.  They just don't look very good on me because they don't fit right.  Part of me wants to say s"ee-ya!" and give those puppies away. I want to clean out my closet and give them to someone who might enjoy hand me downs as much as I do.  I want to actually have a little more room in my closet. And let's me honest, I want to have an excuse to buy more clothes to fill the closet back up with smaller sizes.

But....the other part of me is afraid.  What if I gain the weight back soon? I won't have the money to go out and buy a bigger wardrobe again and frankly that shopping trip would just be depressing.  So I could keep the clothes "just in case".  I'm just afraid that this is some sort of feng shui no-no that is keeping bad joo joo in my closet.  Maybe by keeping these bigger clothes I'm giving myself a safety net where it will be ok if I do gain the weight back. I'm also kicking myself for getting rid of clothes that were too small on me when I moved back to AZ. Why didn't I keep those?! hmmm...although maybe it was getting rid of them and not having a constant reminder that I wasn't small enough in my closet that allowed me to take a healthier approach to reaching a desired size. Well, nowI'm even more confused...

Thoughts? How long should one maintain a current size before getting rid of bigger clothes?

And if the consensus is to get rid get rid of the clothes and you would like to adopt them, please send me your name, address, and size. If I see something you might enjoy I'll pass it along!

BMV DAY

It's 8:00pm on a Friday night and I'm in my sweat pants on my couch. Sadly this is all too typical. I'm not 100% complaining though, sure I'd like to say I'm more social and have a fabulous life, but the truth is I'm over the party days and frankly enjoy my sweat pants while enjoying a movie and a glass of wine.  However, before I get to my little Friday night ritual, I need to be productive to make up for my wasted day.

The day started off well,  I got up and headed to work before 7, got to chat with some of my favorite gym members and wrote an article for our online blog.  After my shift, I bravely headed to the BMV to start jumping through the red tape hoops.  I finally have all the paperwork to become an Ohio Resident. I lucked out and the line wasn't too long (I did drive to the outskirts of the city though). I got a pretty nice lady and she helped me obtain my new Ohio license I.D., get my car inspected and wrote a check. Then it was over to the Title Office to get my Title transferred to Ohio where the guy kept insisting on chatting about Phoenix. I learned that he loves loves loves Phoenix and goes there every year to play golf. He just couldn't understand why I was moving back to Ohio and he almost seemed disappointed in me. I appreciate the friendly chatter at first and then I started to get annoyed. I already had to deal with the "you're crazy for moving back here" look from the BMV lady.  After he was finally finished with his AZ day dreaming, he handed me my paperwork and I wrote another check.  I went back to the BMV to get my plates and of course had to write another check. Why is our government so far behind? When will debit cards make it to their realm? I mean pretty much only some small Chinese food dives are the only remaining cash or check only establishments. Anyways, I did it. I jumped through all the ridiculous hoops to become a resident of my original state.  I must say though, it was sad to turn in my AZ license. Couldn't I just keep it for a scrapbook or something? To make things really set in that I no longer have official ties to the Valley of the Sun, it started snowing on my drive home...Roxie we aren't in Phoenix anymore.  I decided to let Roxie keep her pretty AZ desert sunset plates on one more day. I just couldn't bring myself to putting on her new plates with a farm scene sunset today, especially because it was snowing.

Jumping through all those hoops must have been more exhausting than I thought because I was really dragging after I got home. I don't know what's going on with me anymore but I've been so exhausted lattely. So I figured since I don't have to go to school or anything, I could allow myself a short little nap. When I told myself this there must have been a mix up in communication. Apparently my body misunderstood my mind and read "short little nap" as "3-hour nap ohhhh yeahhhh!". I woke up after 4:00 and missed my workout class at the gym. Ooops.  So now after my sluggish afternoon I'm attempting to cross a few things off my to do list to make myself feel better. I have a feeling I'm not going to get much further than the load of laundry I just put in. Oh well, such is the exciting life of a 27 year old grad student.

Hope your Friday is much more exciting!

The Annoying Gym Girl

I would like to apologize to everyone who reads my blog, reads my facebook statuses, talks to me on the phone, or has a dinner conversation with me.  I'm sorry if I tend to talk about working out, eating healthy, or fitness topics in general.  It's annoying, I know, I really get it, but it happens to slip out of my mouth all the time.  Maybe that's because in order to see results you have to be dedicated and in order to be dedicated you have to constantly make decisions to stay on track throughout the day.  I tend to think about my workout schedule a lot.  I then decide what I will be eating throughout the day based on my workouts.  Then I wonder if what I'm doing is effective so I research. Oh, and I work at a gym. Soooo as you can see, I've become a fitness nerd. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a fitness junkie because I do take days off every once in awhile (ahem, the entire past weekend...) and I could never give up ice cream.

I find that I need to apologize because a) I used to deplore people like the new me.  If you are ok with where you are at, you don't need constant reminders of how other people are working out and eating right (and better than you). You are forced to compare yourself to them, and then if you are like me you silently judge and hate yourself and then to make up for it you hate them for making you feel like you hate yourself.  And then there is reason b) I'm now surrounded by "newbie" fitness peeps.  Now don't get me wrong, I want everyone to experience the success and happy feelings of endorphins and smaller waistlines. Although I might get a tad jealous when people can drop weight quickly and I've been struggling, this is not the root of my frustration.  My frustration comes from these people that have suddenly decided they are going to work out and eat right and they KNOW everything.  I really really hope I did not come across this way. I did a lot of research and tried to be knowledgeable, but I never meant to come across as a self appointed expert. I just find it frustrating when someone who has been working out for a week tries to tell me what classes I should be taking because it's important to cross train. ( I take 5-6 different exercise classes a week, I got it.)  Or when someone else makes an un requested announcement to a group of us that it's really important to make sure you strength train and not just do cardio if you want to lose weight. Funny how I remember explaining that to a certain someone a week earlier.

Ok, enough mean venting. It's great that everyone is stepping up their health routines and I applaud them. I also need to remember that I've probably annoyed the hell out of everyone around me for the past 8 months, so for that I truly apologize.

P.S. If you currently do not workout or watch what you eat and are at a safe health level and are happy with who/where you are, GOOD FOR YOU! Although I want everyone to be healthy, I really respect people that have strong self-esteem and are comfortable in their own skin.

I put the Pro in Procrastinator

On this beautiful Sunday afternoon, instead of going for a run (which I really really should....) or prepping delicious fatty eats for the Super Bowl game, I'm on my couch staring at my textbook and blank note cards as they dare me to touch them.  I however, do not like dares and am holding strong.  I have a horrendous midterm in a few days and it will be tediousInstead I've managed to start a new pinterest board, organize my schedule for the week (color coded by category) sort laundry (only to find that the washer is in use), ate way too much, stalked everyone I know on facebook, and now thanks to a lovely suggestion from a fellow procrastinator, Megan, updating my blog.

So I might as well take this time to talk about my recent performance. No better way to procrastinate! I recently posted about a little performance I was in and how I was so excited (I was Pop! in the Cell Block Tango dance number).  Well the performance has come and gone, but my euphoric high has not.  The performance could not have gone better and those 7 minutes on "stage" flew by way too fast.  It was nothing fancy, but it was so much fun! I was instantly in a good mood for the next few days. I didn't mess up like I thought I would and I think I made the correct hair and makeup choices (nailed it!).  I was int he first group to perform so afterwards I got to enjoy a glass of wine to calm me down and enjoy the rest of the performances.  It was such a great atmosphere between all the performers as we stood together peaking into the packed studio window.  Watching the advanced girls was inspiring and has pushed me to work harder so that one day (after a bazillion painful hours in the studio) I might get half as good as them. Dad and Patty even made the 3 hour trip down to see the showcase, which was completely unnecessary, but greatly appreciated. I honestly have the best family. They are very supportive (and open minded) for whatever crazy performance I get myself in.  Plus, the bonus was that after all my hard work, I got to chow down on a burger and fries on Dad's tab ;)

Well now after reliving this experience I got all fired up and just want to go sign up for more dance classes and workouts....When is my mind going to care about that midterm? Shouldn't that kick in anytime now?