One week left!

Jeni! 

There is only one week left in my 90 day challenge and I am totally nervous.

I have been really staying on track since my change of mindset, I have been feeling the changes and it's great!

I am super nervous about my final weigh in :-( I want it to be good because out team was in first place at the midpoint for weight loss! I didn't contribute much to that and I want to do better in my last weigh in. 

Gah! 

For right now, this is really about it! I'm in the zone, hoping to meet or exceed the goal I have set in my head. I'm so close. 

I hope you had a lovely vacation. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Xoxo

Jenne

Back in the game

Hey Jeni! 

How was your Monday? Mine was pretty good. 

So I have a confession- I've not been fully into trying to be at my best for the past two weeks. The good news is that I think I'm getting out of this little slump. 

Why? Food and weight! 

That's right, I've been pretty crabby about my weigh in from about two weeks ago. It sucked, I felt real bad and I kept eating A LOT even though I haven't been doing all of the work necessary! And it was a terrible cycle. Couple that with my knee issues and we have a ripe environment for negativity and self-hate! 

It's time to get out of that. I can say, "Ugh my body sucks" or "Maybe this is how I'm meant to be" but in reality those are cop outs. The way we treat our bodies directly impacts our results. 

So I started this week with a spin class. I struggled with the class, especially with my knee. I toned it down a notch and fought my way through the class.  In the end, I'm happy with how I did. I watched what I ate as well. Of course I still had a cupcake and a piece of chocolate, but I was sure to think about my hunger level all day. Now I am laying in bed thinking about what a good day I had. This is what I was doing before, but I lost sight with some gluttony! 

In the end, I felt much better! I think I am back on track, including getting my 8 hours of sleep! 

Xoxo

Jenne 

Yoga Time

Hi Jeni, 

How was your first day back at work? I cannot imagine 17 days off, I already have to hit the reset button on Monday because of the weekend! 

We must be on a yoga wavelength, my plan for this evening is vinyasa yoga. Normally I like to start my week with spin class to work off that stress and energy associated with it, but I didn't make it because of work. 

A challenge update: I am feeling good about the challenge. I am in the mindset, minus a few areas (we'll get to that later).  My team is already supporting each their. We exchange emails with our workout plans and try to fit in workouts together. I've already shared our blog with them so if any of Team Vibe Tribe is reading... Go team! 

The weigh in: I am not surprised, but I am surprised with my measurements, I thought they would be less. I am actually very disappointed in those because they make me feel like I'm back at where I started. The weight portion, I was not surprised about at all. I think I have a lot of work to do to get leaner. 

Motivation level: My motivation level is good! Today I feel a little guilty that I am not planning on any cardio, but that's ok. I need to ensure that my body is rested so I do not cause any injuries. I believe that yoga builds strength anyways! My second self guilt trip is due to soda.  I had a great day planned out with food and then during the day I felt the need for kettle chips and a diet Dr. Pepper. Naughty! I traded that out with another meal so from a calorie perspective, it balanced itself out. But that was diet soda that went into my body instead of water. I'm not so upset about the kettle chips because they have limited ingredients and non saturated fat. Whenever I track meals and really watch what I eat, I generally do not eat a lot of fat. I will need to explore the soda thing more. It's a sheer love of carbonation and diet soda taste. Perhaps this year I will get over my soda cravings. Right now I am going to aim for one 16oz. soda a week. This would be a decent goal I think. Then I can slim it down more. 

I find it interesting that when life happens, we often turn away from exercise when trying to cope. I got off the bandwagon when work got busy.  I was too tired, too stressed, etc. Well, exercise and yoga would have probably helped me more with that. I think there is a lot to be said for the power of exercise. I'm sorry to hear about V. 

How was crossfit this evening? I hope you had fun. Any updates on the sugar front? What workout are you looking most forward to this week? 

Keep me posted on your end of yoga mediation and relaxation, I should try that sometime, I am always raring to go at about 10pm.  

Xoxo

Jenne 

A Little Intentional Breathing

Hey Girl,
So tomorrow is my first day back to work in 17 days.  Well, technically I have been working the whole time, sewing and making dresses.  But school starts back up again and I'm afraid I have forgotten how to teach!?!?  I always get a bit anxious after big breaks.  So today I decided to skip the hot yoga in the morning and get things done.  I started to feel the anxiety building up during dinner and knew I better get in touch with some proper breathing and stretching to let it all out.  I turned off all the lights in the house and lit some candles around my mat.  It was superb- I think this might be my new nightly ritual.  Lighting makes a huge difference! I can't find my favorite yoga dvd, which super bums me out.  But I did a yoga search on youtube and ended up really liking the video I chose.  Bonus, this teacher is right in Kingston, so just 25 mins from me!  It had a lot of deep hip work, which is where I hold all of my stress, so it was perfect.  I'm posting the video for you- check it out!

Now, how about you.  How are you feeling about the challenge?  How did you feel about your initial weigh in?  Was it better/worse than you were expecting or right on what you thought?   Do you feel motivated to eat right and workout?  Do you like your teammates?  How many other teams are there?  Is there any sort of competitions between the teams? What types of workouts are you going to be doing mainly?

After work tomorrow E and I are going to Crossfit in the evening.  I am super pumped.  We had been going so regularly and I was feeling so strong and cool and then 3 weeks ago when V got put down I was so sad and depressed that I didn't go at all.  This last week I feel like I am finally getting out of my sadness rut and I can't wait to push myself tomorrow night.

Alright, it's now 11pm- aak, how did that happen.  I better go to bed.  Can't wait to hear from you.

Until tomorrow,
xo
Jeni    

 

Queso

Jeni, Jeni, Jeni,

I've embarked on a few things today that I haven't done before:

1. Had someone else stand at a scale taking my weight while discussing my weight with me.
2. Had my body fat measured with calipers.
3. Took a "Before" picture.

How does this all tie into queso? Well for starters, I love queso. I love chips.  I love salsa and guacamole. Cheese is a beautiful. However, continued cheese, chips and other indulgences aren't good for the body. Couple it with a sedentary lifestyle and it can lead to problems. I've gained weight since my college years.

That's where I was about a year ago. Sedentary with little regard for how I was treating myself. Then I joined a gym. I bought a road bike.  I hunkered down and lost a solid 15-20 pounds. I felt great!

Then life happened. Work. Family. Stress. Travel.  Busy.  I went to yoga less. I went to the gym less. I got tired.  I needed queso. I gained some of my weight back. I knew what I was doing the whole time and the result it had. I was ok with it. Changes happened quickly.

I snapped out of it a bit about a month or so ago. I thought to myself, there are some places I am looking to be with my fitness level that I think I could use some help with. So I joined my gym's 90 day transformation challenge. I listed my goals as follows:

1. Learning to work past life stressors that can inhibit healthy resting and exercising. Use fitness to address that, not queso!
2. Tone my hip and thigh area. I have a hard time with this area.
3. Some weight loss, due to #2.
4. Improve fitness level so I can ride a 100 mile bike ride.

Today was my weigh in! Tomorrow the challenge officially starts. I'm really excited. However, I felt the need to have a "last supper" of sorts with some queso, guacamole, chips and a salad.

I surprised myself though, I felt a bit like a glutton when I eating all of this stuff. I didn't finish everything (ok I ate practically all the queso but had other leftovers). At the end I thought, I am not sure that I really needed this last supper. I can do this. I am excited to do this!

Change happens. It does. And I cannot wait to tell you how tomorrow goes!

Xoxo
Jenne