Updated!

I have this thing with brown--I love it. I have brown half chaps and paddock boots, and my dabbling with jumpers means that if I want to show in brown, I'm good to go.

Of course, when one lives in a completely tack-store-deprived area, that means internet shopping, which equates to the ever-dreaded taking of measurements.

GUESS WHAT???

My super huge mondo calves (17.5" upon last measure sometime last year), are a mere 16.5 right now!! Omg! I suspect it's mostly because I have been slacking at running due to an impossibly hectic work schedule, but still. It makes me feel happy inside, especially because I found these pretty things that would actually fit me:

So pretty.

Just because I want something doesn't mean it's going to happen, but it gives me hope. Maybe someday, I will fit into quasi-normal size boots.

161

Thats my number :)

Weight, that is.

I know, I know. A woman is never supposed to reveal her weight. Or age (21). Looks like I am breaking all of society norms.

To me, even though I am happy with it, its just a number. In high school, at my fittest, I weighed 165, and I was THIN. But, I was running track, and my thigh muscles were beastly; and as we all know, muscle weighs more than fat.

I'm still happy though, since all this hard work has paid off! Slowly and steadidly.

I'm still doing about 4-6 days a week at the gym in addition to my 2 jobs and horseback riding. Depending on the day, I do a hard cardio program [I'll explain in a minute] then lightly lift. On days I focus more on lifting [only 1-3 days a week, since I HATE], I only do warm up cardio for 10min.

Cardio wise, I like to spend 30 min on the elliptical regardless. I have an old knee injury which hurts like a bitch if I run for more than 20 minutes, and since I like to do 40+ minutes of cardio, I always start off on the elliptical. Then, I go to the tredmill and vary the workouts. Like yesterday I did sprints; 20 minutes of 2 min sprints and 2 min. wlaking on incline intervals. It was a hella workout. Some days I just run as hard as I can for 10 minutes. Some days I set mileage, like 3 miles, no matter how long it takes.

Weights wise, I split my body into sections. I have upperbody-arms, upperbody-chest/back, core-abs/back then lower body-legs. And I rotate through them. Varying with free weights and machines.

I'd like to thank my "personal fitness guru", the Boyfriend. Without him, I would never go to the gym. Seriously.

I'm trying to decide if my recent weight losss of 2 lbs is due to the workouts, or my lack of food at my house. In case you didn't know, I is pretty po', and I've been putting off buying groceries to feed and house my horse. My pantry is looking pretty bare and my fridge has cleared out. All I have is milk, pickles and condiments. And I've basically been eating cereal for lunch and dinner everyday. Throw a can of soup in there and a can of V8 too. Otherwise, just coffee for me. Real balanced diet aye?

I really need to go grocery shopping.

Month Wrap Up

So today is January 28th, which means that I've been part of the "Transformation Challange" for 15 days, 75 more days to go. Let's just say that my lifestyle has changed....A LOT. I have a personal torturer, er, trainer now. Not a cheap endevor at all, but I am using my "new saddle fund" to pay for it. I think it's the first thing I've done for myself in a long time.

I've lost 7 pounds as of Thursday. Tonight I went to the gym and did my new favoriate machine:

It's like an eliptical and stair stepper had a baby. It's a full body work out and I always feel it. I have started to cover the controls while I work out so I don't focus on how many calories I burned. There is a TV on the machine, so I go and enjoy "real" tv. Tonight I went, and before I knew it the show I was watching was over. I burned 650 calories! Watching TV!

75 more days! (and then some....) If I can lose the weight (52 pounds from my start, 45 from now) I plan on keeping it off!

Tough Mudder Challenge

So as if my hectic schedule with two jobs, working out regularly, a horse and full time classwork (plus graduation things to sort out) my mother convinced me to do the Tough Mudder competition on April 14th. So I guess I get to train for that a bit, since I can't run 10 miles or do pull-ups. Fun new goals right?

What is a TM you say?

Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, half a million inspiring participants, and more than $2 million dollars raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world.



Thats not scary at all.

To date, Tough Mudder participants have raised more than $2 million to support the Wounded Warrior Project. These funds help support thousands of warriors returning from the battlefield by providing combat stress recovery programs, adaptive sports, benefits counseling, education and employment services, and other programs that aid in the healing of the mind, body and spirit of these brave Americans.


I have to say, this looks like a ton of fun.

Fire. Electric shocks. 12 foot walls. MUD.


Basically AWESOME sauce.

I have a lot to do training wise since the courses are 10-12 miles long and I'm not a strong swimmer and I dont regularly run in mud. They say you shouldnt have to actually run more than 5 miles, so I will work up to that in the coming months.

As of now, I can run for 30 minutes without stopping, but thats a 12 minute mile pace, or 5.2 mph. In essence, slower than grandmas molasses.

I also cannot do a single pullup and we have to rope climb and do the massive monkey bars like house thing you see above.

Lets get cracka-lackin'

Ok, Ok, Ok

SOOO.....I started this blog because I was dead set against losing weight. Then life got stressful and I continued to do everything in my power to NOT work out, and chocolate became my best friend again. :( I THINK that's the last time I blogged. NOT winning. :)

FAIL.

I decided during Christmas that enough is enough. That I need to seriously take a look at what I eat and that I need to start working out. I complain about how I can't stay on my horse, but honestly I'm 60 (60!!) pounds overweight!! No wonder I suck at it!

SO I joined a gym.

Have I gone yet? No, BUT with good reason! This Friday I go in for photos (gulp) measurements (GULP) and to weigh in (G-U-L-P!) because I entered into their transformation challenge. It was $50.00 to enter, but I am oh so motivated! The grand prize is $6,000. $6,000!! I could pay for board for a year with that. I could put that into a new horse. OH the money. And yes, while I know other people are starting this in better shape, I know that I have a lot to lose (literally) and I am OH so motivated by competition.

So, Thursday night I go to my first session with my personal trainer. I'm nervous/excited.

See Checkmark! Posting pictures of your super skinny belly motivate me as well. (BTW, I will NOT be posting pictures of myself UNLESS I drop the weight. You've all seen a whale before. Now imagine that with a pony tail.)

Oh Herro!

Long time no blog fellow peoples!

It seems everyone has been lacklusterly blogging in the dreary winter months. Come on guys, I'm bored here!

On thing I haven't been doing is slacking at the gym. I downloaded a few handy apps to help me track what I've been eating and to record my runs and workouts. Honestly, they are really helping motivate me & I'm finally seeing results!!

I downloaded "Lose It", "Runtracker" and "Evernote". The lose it records my calorie intake and losses through excercise and activity. Its not foolproof, but it is a good indicator of what is most likely happening during the day. Runtracker is awesome! It uses GPS to track your runs and speeds. Its super cool to see the GPS map of where you ran. I use Evernote to record my workouts to the T. I say how much cardio/distance, etc as well as record my weighlifting for the day.

Lately, I've been going about 4-5 days a week (25-40 minutes of cardio + weighlifting) and riding twice a week. Also I clean houses for about 15 hours a week and let me tell you..vacuuming for 3 straight hours is TIRING. In addition, I clean 19 stalls 3 days a week. Basically, I've been working my ass off!


oh heyyyyy there!!

I've lost all 30lbs I gained last year and I'm finally at my goal weight of 160. Crazy to think at 5'7 I weighed 190 lbs...GAH!! How in the world did I ever get like that? Now, I notice if I gain like 2lbs...over Christmas I gained 3lbs and working that off was no fun.

My biggest breakthrough was a few days ago when I did 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and then hopped on the treadmill, intending to only run for a mile, when instead I felt so good, I just KEPT RUNNING! I ran for 20 minutes striaght!!!! Which I haven't been able to do since I was in 7th grade in XC. Even in HS I couldn't do that. WINNING.

I intend to keep myself at 160, since I feel that is healthy for me. I was 165 at my fittest (in track in HS) so even if I gain 5lbs, it would most likely be in muscle since I lift at least 3 days a week. Mostly though, I want to keep the belly fat off. 1) because my boy toy is SUPER rippped and I feel fat next to him, ha 2) I missed my abs! 3) Spring break is right around the corner!

I turn 21 on Saturday/Sunday (midnight drinking, ha) and I know I will have a hangover, so lets just hope I can hop right back into working out and run off all those alcohol calories, because I know I will not be counting them that night!

Progress Picture

Here is me in stretchy pants in March of this year.












And last week.




Definitely making progress.