Electricians

So today I decided to start back hard core again after my somewhat break.  I've been doing really well at drinking more water, and I'm hoping to eventually get Diet Cokes out completely, but what can I say, I'm a caffeinaholic, so this may take awhile.  When I got home from school today (where I learned how to put in an IV... YIKES)  I decided to change clothes and head to the gym at our apartments.  I got on the eliptical, at least I think I did it was more of a machine that was like half stair master half eliptical.  Anyways I was on that thing for 30 minutes and then I did some arm workouts on the machines.  While I was there a group of electricians were working on the treadmills and I was carrying on conversations with them while I was working out.  They were cheering me on, asking me how much longer I had on it and what not.  Kaleb thought this was creepy but they were like my dad's age and really nice, not creepy at all.  They were also giving me tips on exercising saying that after the first 20 min of exercise is when it really counts because your body goes from aerobic exercise to anaerobic.  I'm not sure how much truth is in this but I plan on looking it up and checking for myself.  So I was on the stairlipitical for 30 minutes, I went 1.5 miles and burned exactly 200 calories.  Not to shabby for my first day back working out after a week break.  Hopefully I'll see results soon!

Joyful Noise - Man in the Mirror - Keke Palmer (HD)

Great Movie! Love this Song! Just thought I'd Share. Thought it was a good song for today's blog!

Starting Over

So my weighin did not show me what I expected.  I think my starting weight was wrong.  I weigh more than what I thought I did.  This is a really sad realization for me and I'm going to have to start working even harder, and now that I really know my starting weight, I can tell you how I do from here.  I'm not going to post my weight, but I will continue to post on what I'm doing and if I lose any.  This weighin shocked me so bad I honestly kinda gave up.  I worked out a few days last week but not my normal everyday workouts.  So, This is me starting over.  I obviously did not meet my 4000 calorie burn goal on YourShape, but I can't let this effect me forever.  I want to change so I'm just going to have to make more changes.  My husband and I will be starting a new diet soon and as soon as I have the details worked out I'll share.  I have to lose weight.  I know I can do this!

Yo Quiero Taco Bell!

Today after church, Kaleb and I had lunch with our good friends Nikki and Evan at Taco Bell!  We talked about church, New Years Resolutions and future possible vacations, one of which is swimming with dolphins all that good stuff!  I really hope I get to swim with a dolphin before the end of 2012 (it's on my bucket list), AND I want to look good doing it! So that brings me back to updating my blog on how I've been doing the past couple of days as far as keeping up with my workouts.  On Friday I burned 226 calories! I was very psyched to see that I beat my 215/ day goal.  Saturday I burned even more! My total came to 247 calories which brings the grand total to 473 calories in the past couple of days! I have 2527 calories left to burn in the next two weeks, the real challenge is going to be keeping this up when school starts *Tomorrow.*  But I'm really thinking that I can do this!

I weigh in tomorrow at the school and I'm sort of nervous.  I know in my mind that I've made 2 major changes in my life; only drinking no calorie sodas, plus I've drank a lot more water than usual, and exercising almost daily.  Surely, this has made some kind of change in my weight.  I've also notice my stomach getting smaller, at least I think it is.  I guess I'll find out tomorrow! As soon as these tacos settle I'm going to begin todays workout, the final workout before my weighin! Until Then!

Anyone remember this guy? I miss his commercials! I guess the talking salsa packets are alright too! 

Challenge

Tonight I only burned 73 calories on Your Fitness, but I got to my new objective of burning a total of 1004 calories since I started the Your Shape program.  This isn't my total calorie burn overall though because I have done Dance Central as well and other things.  But my new challenge to myself is to get to the next objective on Your Shape in 2 weeks.  The next objective total is 4000 calories, so I have 3000 calories to go by January 19, that's an average of 215 calories a day, and my new goal to myself starts tomorrow! So BRING IT ON YOUR SHAPE! 

This pic shows me how nice my arms used to look. :) 

Holes in my Pockets

So yesterday I didn't quite meet my goal.  I burned 220 calories on cardio boxing and was plain worn out.  Today, I took a work out break.  I am sore and honestly don't feel to great.  I think it may be the fact that winter break is coming to a close and school starts Monday.  I finished registration today which includes payment.  I don't get any scholarships or financial aid so it is all out of pocket.  I've worked really hard this past semester to raise all that money and I just gave it all away.  I know it is going toward my education which will land me a nursing job in hopefully a year and a half, but it isn't really fair that some people get their education completely paid for through grants and scholarship and I can't because I already have a bachelor's degree.  I guess that's what I get for changing my mind about what I want to do with my life, but now I'm just ranting.

I sale my art and crafts to raise money for me to go to school, and today I just saw approximately 40 pieces of art leave my hands and go to the school.  Not to mention I've already bought a book for $140 and have about 300ish more dollars I have to spend for books and random things they require just for this semester.  It is just odd to me that you pay so much to go to school in order to get paid more one day, and that day you do get paid more you don't have to pay for school. (That made a lot more since in my head.)  Anywho, I know that teachers have to get paid too, I mean i am married to one, so I wish they did get paid more, which would probably mean students paying more!  I guess I just feel this way at the beginning of every semester because the schools literally drain your bank account within a week.  Good thing we're stocked up on spaghettio's!  (Which are probably not helping me get into my skinny britches at all.)  Hey! maybe that 20 pound 140 dollar book I'll be carrying around will help!  Did I mention, that I went to the library today to get a book and they didn't have it? And that I waited in line for an hour without a book to read in order give away a lot of my money?

Anyways, I promise I'll work out tomorrow, today was just a bummer.

PS. This is the book I'm checking out. My sister in law recommended it, plus there is a movie coming out about it later this year scratch that, THIS MONTH, and I definitely want to read the book first.  Whenever book based movies come out, I hardly ever read the book after I watch it, so I want to beat this story to the box office!

 

Kaleb's first day of school.

Today was Kaleb's first day back to school, he teaches at a Middle School, so it was my first day alone for awhile.  I got up eventually, did some laundry, made the bed, and fixed me a cherry diet coke. YUMM!  I  was incredibly bored and my 20 pounds of nursing books were glaring at me! "READ ME!!! YOU KNOW YOU NEED TO!" I felt like they were screaming at me! But, I don't start back til next Monday so like always I decided, I'd begin to read ahead tomorrow after I go pay for next semester.  I then watched How I Met Your Mother online until Kaleb got home.  I know, not a very productive day.  But, it got better.  Kaleb was
in the study room writing and prepping for school the next day and I began working out!  After I burned 50 calories on DC2, I cooked dinner.  Tonight, I made tacos, potato wedges and macaroni.  I found this great way to separate and freeze my meat so you don't have to cook all of it at once on pinterest.  Here is a pic:                                                                                                                                                                        

I didn't buy this much meat and I only separated mine in half. 

I did this as soon as I got home from the grocery store, and today when I took it out of the freezer, it was a much better serving size than having to cook the whole thing.  I had one taco and Kaleb had 2.  This is much better compared to our normal 2 to 3 each!  After dinner I worked out some more and burned 179 calories on your shape.  I did a cardio boxing workout on there, so much fun!  That brought today's calorie burning total to a whopping 229 calories.  I was very proud.  Tomorrow, since I have the house pretty tidied up already I'm going to begin working out before Kaleb gets home and I'm setting a total calorie burn for tomorrow to 300.  I can so do this! I will let you know tomorrow evening if my goal is a success!   Goodnight bloggers! PS Weigh in is in only 7 days!

Riley and Kaylee

Today was an amazing start of a new year.  I woke up today with my husband saying "Lisa the babies are coming! The babies are coming!"  I got ready as quick as I could and we  headed up to the hospital, where our friends Heather and Tracy had just had two beautiful twin girls named Kaylee and Riley!  We were so happy for them. They weight 4.8 pounds and 4.6 pounds and I'm pretty sure they have Heather's nose.  I made these outfits for the lil girls! I can't wait to see them in them!  Anywho as far as working out I burned 112 calories on DC2 and I have yet to drink a non diet cola!   We ate at Subway for dinner tonight and I had the chicken, bacon and ranch sub, it was great! You guys should try it!  Happy Birthday Kaylee and Riley!  

2012

Happy New Year Everyone!  This is my first blog of 2012.  It is now January 1st, the first short term goal date that I set in the beginning of this blog!  I'm happy to report that I kept one goal and that was not to drink any non diet sodas!  My other goal I kept moreso than I originally thought I would, doing some form of exercise every day.  I only missed a few days around Christmas when we were visiting family.  Today, or yesterday I suppose,  I only burned 50 calories playing Dance Central 2, but I was busy preparing for a get together with mine and Kaleb's friends, Nikki and Evan to celebrate the New Year.  I was very proud of myself when I opted against toasting with a regular coca cola!  Since this was my goal day, I originally thought I was going to gorge myself with sugary calorie filled sodas, but I didn't even want one.  I'll post my new short term goal probably later today when I decide what that is,  but for now I'm hitting the hay! Goodnight people of the blog! Have a wonderful first day of the New Year!

Mystery Date

Today I continued to not drink regular soda! It was really hard when my husband and I went to the gas station and he chose to get a Mountain Dew for his drink,  one of my 2 soda weaknesses! I chose a Diet Coke.  I was so tempted to ask him just for a sip of his! But, I didn't even ask! I was so proud of myself for not giving in!

As far as today's workout, I burned 50 calories on Dance Central, then I took a break and surfed the web for a bit.  I was sooo incredibly bored being in the house all the time. I thought about starting early on my reading for next semester of nursing school, but why?  I really don't want to make myself even more bored. Yes, we will play yahtzee and watch How I Met Your Mother and clean the house over and over again, but it gets tiring being in the house all the time.  I started complaining to Kaleb that we never get out anymore and he starts back to work next week so we need to do something before we don't have time to do anything anymore.

So, Kaleb saved the day.  He told me we were going out and for me to get ready, he wouldn't tell me where we were going. (He really likes surprises.) Well we ended up at The Skate Place in Oxford!  I no longer felt bad for not working out today as much as normal.  We skated for an hour and a half!   We were probably the oldest there besides the people that ran the place, but we had so much fun dodging the munchkins that kept falling down!  Oh I didn't fall down at all! Not even once! I was so proud.  Anyways I had to have burned some calories doing that, I don't know how many but it was definitely a work out.

GLEE - Full Performance of Trouble Tones "Survivor"/"I Will Survive" air...

This is one of my favorite Mash Ups that Glee has done! Just thought I'd Share! (It's a great motivating song to work out to.)  ENJOY.

My big pants are getting baggy!

Woot Woot! That's right, my big pants are getting kinda lose and that is after I washed them! I'm really hoping they didn't just stretch out beyond the point that the dryer could shrink them.  I don't think I'll be able to fit in my skinny jeans just yet because somehow when I gained weight, I blew up! Literally!  I went from my skinny jeans to not one but 2 sizes bigger!

So, if you haven't tried Nutella, you must! I was kind of disheartened when I saw that there were 200 calories in 2 tbsps, and when I pointed out that there was 2000 calories in that lil jar to my hubby he jolted back with "That means I can eat the whole thing of it all day and thats all I can eat!  I'd totally be okay with that"  He would too, I certainly wouldn't put it past him.  It is supposed to be better for you than peanut butter from what I hear, so Ill be eating it with my apple slices from now on instead of peanut butter.  I'm constantly keeping my eye out for a coupon for it online and haven't been able to find one yet, but when I do, I'll post the link! ;)

Today I was very proud of myself, I burned around 180 something calories playing Dance Central 2.  I forgot to look at the final count when I was done,  but it was around that and my abs and arms are sore from yesterdays dance off, so it must be working, Right?  I think that the dance game is really going to target my upper abs and arms and the Your Shape game is going to do more work on my thighs, lower abs and butt.  I'm not an expert and don't know these things for sure, but I'm just making a guess because of what parts are sore the next day.

I found another thing that you should try, Cherry Diet Coke.  I never thought I would say this, but I like this Diet drink better than Dr. Pepper! You can't even tell it is diet soda!  Very delish!  Until tomorrow!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Okay so I have some catching up to do! The 23rd, we traveled to my parents and when we got my 4 of my nieces and nephews were there so we played with them for a bit! And before that we went to my sisters house to have a Christmas with them and played with their 3 lil bits. Yes, that makes 7 nieces and nephews! So besides holding a baby and ripping open some pretty awesome gifts, I didn't get too much of a work out that day.  That night we went to see Starry Nights at Shelby Farms in Memphis.  It was a long wait, but they had a lot of pretty Christmas lights displayed and played great Christmas music.  It really got me in the Christmas spirit.

The 24th Santa came to my parents lil early!  In fact, I went outside and played a game of basketball with the kiddos and when we went inside presents were their! Santa is so awesome and convenient!  BTW, basketball was my workout that day.  It may not sound like much but keeping up with 4 kids 12 and under is definitely a work out!
On the night of the 24th, Kaleb and I said goodbye to my family and hit the road again.  Three hours later, we arrived in Brandon, MS, Kaleb's hometown.  Needless to say after the feast at my parents and the drive to Kaleb's we were pretty tired so we went to bed shortly after our arrival.

On the 25th, we woke up at 730 and SANTA CAME AGAIN!!! Crazy right? lol  Well he was very good to us this year, but he gave us tons of candy and a big think of Coca Cola in glass bottles!  Not a very good combo to get me in my skinny jeans!  I refrained from the cola, but I did have a piece of candy here and there but not too many pieces! I promise! ((Right now I'm eating grapes and strawberries for my snack.. much better choice huh?))

Well, Kaleb's parents kept us busy all day the 25th and the 26th, we came home on the 27th and unpacked our car which was quite full, and we spent the rest of the night organizing our things and putting everything in its place.  I can't say I really worked out a lot while we were gone, but we spent a lot of time with our families and had a great time!


I have not had any sodas besides diet still so I have kept up with that part of my goal, and today, I started working out again.  This time I worked out by playing  Dance Central 2! We got this game for Christmas! It's a lot of fun and a great cardio workout.  I was also very pleasantly surprised when I found out that it counted calories! So tonight I burned 214 calories!
 I'll be back again tomorrow!   Have a great night!

Our Christmas Holiday

Today, 12/22/11, My husband, Kaleb, and I celebrated Christmas!  I know it is a few days early, but we are leaving to go out of town tomorrow to go celebrate the holiday with both sets of our parents.  My parents live an hour away from us and Kaleb's live 3.5 hours away from my parents, so we have a lot of traveling ahead of us!  Kaleb and I made some awesome snacks for our celebration:

We had sparkling grape fruit juice, carrots, grapes, nutella, chicken bites, Amazing potato cubes YOU CAN FIND THE RECIPE HERE and drunk weenies! Even though I snacked more than normal today, I give myself credit for throwing in a healthy plate of fruits and veggie and not breaking my commitment of  not drinking a non diet soda! 

Kaleb did pretty well as far as presents go, this is my favorite: He got me the antique door which I love! I plan on putting it in our future mud room and using as a coat rack! there are 2 tall hooks and 2 short hooks! It would be perfect if we end up having 2 kiddos!  He also made me this sign that says ROGERS! I've been wanting one of these for a long time! He even took the pictures himself! One of the days that I was busy wrapping presents with the Sunday School girls, he went out and took pictures at Ole Miss campus and found all the letters in our name from random things! Such an awesome hubby! It's my favorite because of the obvious effort he put into it!  

My favorite gift that I gave him was this crayon art I made: Kaleb proposed to me while it was raining and I was holding an umbrella!  Unfortunately we weren't able to get a picture of where we were engaged, so I made this to represent that special memory! I learned how to do this craft by watching a video on youtube which you can find HERE,  The only difference is that I used a much bigger canvas, got 2 boxes of 96 count crayons threw out the ugly colors and then lined my rainbow up.  I also painted a silhouette on the canvas before I melted the crayons and an umbrella top that I cut out of wood.  This was cool because it caught the melting crayons and crayons dripped off the bottom of the umbrella! This was a very fun project, I definitely recommend giving it a try! 

Back to why I'm writing this blog! As far as my exercise goes for the day, I burned 129 calories on my kinect with the YOUR SHAPE game. Not as much as days 1 and 2, but I was pretty busy! Since we will be out of town for the next few days I plan on trying new things out in my workout plan! So stay tuned to see what I'll do next!

It's a New Dawn, a New Day a New LIFE and We're FEELING GOOD!!

Going strong! I have only drank diet coke today.  Eventually I want to kick the carbonation all together, but I'm going to have to do that in lil steps.  From now til January 1st only diet drinks for me, but once the first rolls around I'm hoping I can say I'm ready to go to no carbonation.  Today was tough, but I'm glad I stuck with it.  I was craving a Dr. Pepper really bad, but I beat the urge by telling myself I have to blog the truth and I don't want my future readers to know I caved in that easily.  So, by me telling myself that blogging would hold me accountable, I was right.  I had zero regular sodas today.

As far as my work out goes, I burned 182 calories on my "Your Shape" game, and let me just say Sarah Maxwell's NIVEA Work Your Body personal fitness program rocks! I felt the burn bad! I did a total of 72 lunges, and about 40ish squats and knee lifts galore! I think the kinect is going to be really effective with helping me workout daily! 

Also my friend Nikki came over today and I was showing her the different games I had on Kinect. (BTW her husband Evan has the blog heavyevan.wordpress.com - check it out.  His blog is about his adventure of becoming healthier by eating healthier! He's been successful in his journey so far from what I can tell)  One game we have that came with our kinect is "Kinect Adventures" Well Nikki and I played on that for about 10 minutes or so. It's a lot of fun and it takes pictures of what you look like when you are playing.  I never thought that working out could be enjoyed so much, I hardly noticed that I was actually working out during the game, which is VERY Awesome.  You can buy the Kinect Adventures game at Amazon by following this link: http://www.amazon.com/Kinect-Adventures-Xbox-360/dp/B004HHIB8U

Well it's time for me to get back to work! I have lots of crafts to finish before we go to our parent's for Christmas!

Kaleb, the hubby wanted me to add that he has burned 186 calories today! GOOOO Kaleb! Looks like we might be getting into our skinny britches soon if we keep this up! We plan on "weighing in" and sharing our progress on January 9th, so keep posted! 

It's not easy, we are both oober sore, but it's that good sore, the sore that let's you know you are making a change and that your efforts are working, and that ladies and gents, feels sooo good: I had this song in my head today:

Today's Progress Report!

So, I got to open one of my Christmas presents early and I got the game "Your Shape, Fitness Evolved 2010." for the Kinect and it Kicks Butt! My favorite part is that it counts your calorie loss.  So, my progress today is:

# of non-diet drinks: ZERO.
# of calories burned: 224!!

It's only day one, but so far, I'm kickin it!



Check out this game and more Ubisoft games at www.ubi.com

SKINNY ME vs. a bit bigger me!

This is me (on the right) in 2007 at 135 Pounds!  One of my favorite dresses!

This is me now at 180.  Can you tell the difference? I Can!

I will post progress pictures throughout my journey. 

My Skinny Britches

You know those jeans that are in your closet, that you used to fit in, but the dryer shrank them?  Well this is the story, my story, of those jeans and how I'm getting back into them.  It all starts today, December 20, 2011.  A lil close to Christmas to be starting this adventure, huh?  Some told me to wait til New Year so it could be my New Year's resolution, but the problem with New Year's resolutions is that they usually never happen, at least mine don't.

A few months ago, we learned how to do physical assessments in my nursing class, and in that class you have to properly be able to read a scale, like the kind that are in doctors' offices in order to pass.  I did NOT, I repeat, DID NOT want to step on that scale when it came time for my partner to check off on that skill.  I hadn't weighed myself since I was skinny! And knowing that I had gained at least 20 pounds, I did not want to know the truth.  But, I had no other choice, so up on the scale I went and when I saw that number I went into shock, 180.  That's right, one hundred and eighty pounds, only 20 pounds away from 200.  How did I let myself go this badly?

It took awhile for this fact to sink in and for me to accept what has happened to my body.  The once 135 pound girl from sophomore year of college has put on a hefty 45 pounds in 4 years.  I now plan on doing something about it.  I am determined to get into those skinny britches in the back of my closet and drop off my fat jeans at the Goodwill!  I know I can do this and I am hoping that keeping track of my efforts through this blog will hold me accountable to keep doing what I can to get in those jeans.

So... My Short term goal is to not drink any non diet sodas (because Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew are by far my greatest weakness) from now til January 1st, and to exercise daily.   My Long term goal is to lose 45 pounds (my hubby says him too! He currently weighs 222) in one year.  So, on 12/20/2012 I aim to be 135 pounds, hopefully.  It seems like a lot of work but I WANT IT.  SOOOO... My challenge to myself BEGINS NOW!