Weigh In Wednesday

I don't have too much to report to you today for weigh in Wednesday -- unless working out is an entire long holiday weekend of beachin' it, drinking, eating out, going to the movies (World War Z was really good - edge of your seat, unexpected suspense good) and eating salty popcorn -- then yeah, not much to report.

Oh, and we had a redneck party in the mix too. The kind of party where you couldn't figure out if people were dressed up redneck....or if that was just their normal attire.

My 'What the Duck' shirt is F21 circa 2003. And don't worry,
the girl on the far right is not really preggers.

Ok, weigh in Wednesday.... I'll report the mediocre amount of exercise I've done the past week.

Last Wednesday, I did this circuit workout in the gym I found off of Pinterest. Used 50# barbell for the back squats, 40# for upright rows... I didn't have a weighted ball for the 'overhead toss', so I did squats to push press. I don't like Arch Rocks, so I did Supermans instead. Regular burpees for me (no Bosu in the gym). And single leg tuck ups and pogos? Um, no thanks - changed that to Bulgarian one leg squats with the bench, 10# dumbbells in each hand, 10 each leg, and 20 V-up sit ups holding 10# weighted plate.

Then..... a whole week later..... bad Christy.....

I decided after a weekend of unhealthy habits, I needed a tough cardio workout to get back in gear. So today after work I decided to take on this treadmill circuit, but lowered the speeds to more suitable speeds. This girl, me, has some short stubby legs and 8.0 is my max speed on a good day...

I had a whole circuit of ab exercises to do after this, but oh.em.gee I was dying during and after the treadmill workout. Being unhealthy for a few days makes me feel like I haven't worked out in months. I struggled. So only some good stretching after this workout - no abs today.

Bleh. I meet for an hour with my trainer on Friday. I need to get my act together or I will not survive the session!

Why is it so much harder to stay on a consistent workout schedule in the summer? All I want to do is drink a New Belgium Rolle Bolle beer and be lazy.

Hopefully next week I'll have a better 'weigh in' to give you....

Cheers!

Weigh In Wednesday

Two posts in one week.... say it isn't so!?! :)

I think every Wednesday I'm going to 'weigh in' so to speak on what I've been doing workout-wise for the past week -- not only to share my workouts (I love borrowing workouts from other bloggers to incorporate in my routine), but to also hold myself accountable.

One day a week I work out with a trainer at Daniel Island Gym. I love her! I started training with her at ESAC before my wedding, and have stayed with her as she's moved to different gyms. She pushes me past my limits so I always get an awesome workout every time. I also try to log my workouts after I meet with her, so I have an entire notebook full of workouts to pull from when I go to the gym by myself.

She also does circuit classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays - Noon to 12:45pm with optional 15 min abs afterwards. For non-members, it's only $20. They are crossfit-like workouts and will kick your butt. I take them randomly when I can. Here is one of her workouts below... we did abs using the TRX.

When the weather is cooler, I will run some outside -- but I am not a runner. I run the Cooper River Bridge Run every year and usually 'train' (not really) right before the race...but I am not a fan of slow and steady distance running. I get boooored and my head plays tricks on me and I get fatigued or feel pain after only a few miles -- it's all mental, but I can't get past it.

But I love running intervals on the treadmill -- my short little legs can sprint like hell for a good minute or so because in my mind I know I'll get a rest or a slower pace soon. There are so many treadmill interval workouts on Pinterest, so I like to try different ones each time to keep myself challenged. Here are two I recently did last week...

{via}

{via}

I saved up and bought a nice Precor Elliptical after I graduated college - best investment I ever made. I have used it so much in the past eight years. I put on one of my shows on the TV and steadily increase the resistance and incline. Monday I caught up on Mad Men and got in a good 50 minutes. I  need to start wearing my heart rate monitor because I'm not always sure the calorie count on the machine is accurate.

I followed up my Elliptical session with this ab workout from one of my fave fitness blogs, Blonde Ponytail.

I also like to find workouts from other bloggers and sites on Pinterest, and rework them to fit the equipment I have at hand - whether at the gym or at home.

Here are a few examples of recent workouts I've done...

A modified crossfit workout.

This workout is a slightly modified version of
a workout from the blog pumpsandiron.com. Added some
abs and altered the workout slightly - this workout was killer.

I also slightly modified a boot camp workout from the blog pgfingers.com - I made all the moves a full circuit and added in 10 minutes of elliptical to the beginning of each circuit.

In addition to these workouts, I'm also trying to add in as much Pilates and Ballet as I can. As a former dancer, I miss my regular ballet classes (used to take at DanceFX, but the location and class times...and cost...didn't work out for me), so I try to do my own barre exercises, Ballet workout DVDs and Pilates classes at home. There are so many free full Pilates workout videos online. I did this Ballet/Pilates fusion workout last week and really enjoyed it - I felt so stretched out afterwards.

View class on YouTube.

Well, this post ended up being a lot longer than I expected... going forward I'll try to report only on the workouts I've done for the week and not be so long winded. :)

I'm exhausted just thinking about all of these workouts -- even Willow is worn out...

Hope everyone is having a good week so far. Cheers!

Weekly Cardio Schedule

  

Saw this in Fitness Magazine. I definitely need to work on getting more cardio into my schedule, and I thought this weekly cardio schedule was interesting. LSD = Long, Slow, Steady; HIIT = High Intensity Interval Training

Do you have a weekly cardio schedule you follow religiously?

Working it Out

Last month my membership to ESAC expired and so did my husband's membership - in order to renew, we would have to commit to an entire year. Since we are in the process of building our own home gym, and my employer is in the process of putting in a super nice (better than ESAC in my opinion) gym right here where I work, we decided it wasn't worth the money to renew our membership.

ESAC never asked why we were not renewing, never let me know my membership was even expiring, and all my husband got was a generic email telling him his membership was expiring.

If asked, here's what I would tell ESAC are areas they need to improve...

• Gyms need some updating - and not just the equipment. The bathrooms are gross, and the only gym I would shower at was Johnnie Dodds. Coleman's shower is gross and has no privacy.
• If I wanted to pay $100+ more a month for 45 min 'Crossfit' classes, in addition to my membership costs, then I'll just quit ESAC and pay that amount for a real Crossfit gym. I'm referencing a program they recently started called GoPerformance. My trainer took me in the GoPerfomance gym a few times to train and I loved it. I wanted to take classes, but...they were over $100 for unlimited monthly classes. No options like 10 class packages, punch cards, etc.
  
  I've noticed this a lot with ESAC and think it could eventually be their downfall - with exception of the Les Mills classes, any extra classes cost extra money. In response, most members aren't willing to shell out more money for extra classes in addition to their memberships, so the classes end up going away - like their attempt at a Barre class. Since GoPerformance is also having trouble filling up classes, I'm wondering how much longer they'll keep it around.
• They need a social media manager of some kind. Their Facebook page is worthless. And I'm not even sure if they are on Twitter. It would be great to have more updates, trainer/instructor interaction, etc. through Facebook. I think it would help them out if they could connect more with their members and build more of a community. Right now, I see ESAC as a faceless greedy company trying to swallow up every gym in Charleston - I'm sure I'm totally wrong, but it would be nice for ESAC to prove otherwise and social media is perfect for that.
• One of the unfortunate things about quitting ESAC is losing the ability to work out with my trainer - she was AWESOME. I always looked forward to working out with her and I even upped my sessions at the end from two times a week to three because I enjoyed it so much. However, if I am not a member of ESAC, I can't work out with her at ESAC or my rate goes way up high... regardless, I had to end my sessions with her. :( However, ESAC could still be making money off of me if they would let me continue to train with her (she's not an independent trainer, but an ESAC trainer) at the same price rate -- they'd still be making money even if they're not making my membership money. But they never asked - or seem to care - that I didn't renew my membership, so good riddance ESAC.

So without ESAC, I've had to step up my self motivation and exercise work ethic and work out more on my own. In addition to running, elliptical at home, tennis and bike rides, I've been trying to keep up my strength training and HIIT with some free options:

Bodyrock.tv - If you haven't heard of it already, get out from under that rock! Almost daily they post 12 minute HIIT workout videos and sometimes include ab bonus workouts. Some workouts require equipment, but you can easily substitute for things at home or substitute for an exercise that works the same muscles but doesn't require the equipment. For example, the sandbag they use is over $100 - but I bought a $15 Old Navy gym bag and filled it with weighted bags of rice. I did break down and buy the 10 lb Ugi ball - and I love it because I use it for other workouts.

Zuzana Light - Zuzana used to work for Bodyrock.tv, but left to start her own site. She has weekly workouts that don't require any equipment. They are always challenging. I usually combine one of her workouts with one of the Bodyrock.tv workouts for a good 20 to 30 min HIIT workout.

Jenn-Fit - Jenn's fitness blog is full of great exercises you can do at home, like this UGI ball workout that I found and loved.

Blonde Ponytail - Another great fitness blog full of exercise routines, running tips and healthy eating tips. She posts her Crossfit workouts to her blog and variations on common exercises like burpees and push ups. I love her workouts because she always posts videos and/or step-by-step photos of each move so you know what to do.

Pinterest - This is a no brainer - there are TONS of workouts all over Pinterest. I've even found links to all of the Insanity workouts online. It's easy to pull up my Pinterest exercise board, pick a few pins, and have a complete workout. Love it.

In addition to these online workouts I've started using workout DVDs again (blast from the past) - however, I've had trouble in the past finding DVDs that gave me a hard enough work out. I definitely have found my match with these two DVDs I recently bought.

I've seen some of you blog about this one before, but I had no idea that Jillan Michaels 30 Day Shred could be so hard. I did her first workout and thought, "This isn't so bad". Then I tried the second one and I had to stop a few times in some of the intervals. I have yet to try the hardest one, #3, but if #2 is any indication, it will kick my butt. Her workouts are short, so they are great for days like Fridays when I just want to squeeze in a quick 20 minute workout. I bought this DVD on Amazon for like $7 - totally worth it. I'm pretty sure you can find the workouts on YouTube, but for only $7 it was nice to have my own copy to watch on my tv.


One of the fitness blogs I follow mentioned a DVD called Cathe's CrossFire. It's a long workout that covers all the bases and since the blogger mentioned it was super challenging, I thought I'd give it a try. I bought the DVD and bands to go with it on Amazon. I just tried this workout last night and oh.my.god. It was hard. I had to stop several times to lie on the ground, panting, before moving on to the next section. I loved it though - I felt challenged and today I'm sore all over in a good way. I did the entire workout plus the bonus abs included on the DVD. It has plyometrics, intervals, weights, cardio...It also has 'premixes' that mix up the different sections of the workout - so if you don't have the full hour, you can choose a 30 minute version. I went on Amazon today and checked out a few of her other DVDs (I've never heard of her until recently) and all of the reviews for each DVD says they are challenging even for advanced fitness folks. I'm thinking of getting some of her strength training DVDs so I can make sure I am still incorporating heavy weights into my workouts. I highly recommend this DVD - I'm already looking forward to trying it again because I want to get better.


I'm also taking advantage of Living Social deals as I find them. I mentioned Perfectly Fit Wellness classes in my last post - and even though the Living Social deal is over, I think they are still letting folks get the three class trials for only $25, so if you're interested, give them a call.

I also snagged a recent Living Social deal for three private Pilates apparatus classes at a local Pilates studio that I've taken classes at before.

So who needs to shell out a ton of money for a gym these days when there are so many affordable ways to workout at home or with special deals?!? :)

Are you incorporating home workouts in your exercise routines? What other resources have you found online? Do you have a favorite go-to workout DVD you use? Please share!!

Happy Tuesday!

Hello....is it me you're looking for?

...yup...I've been super absent from my blog. But I refuse to feel guilty about it. If I'm feeling motivated, inspired, froggy... I'll post...

...otherwise...you may be left wondering if I fell off the face of the earth for a week or two. :)

If you haven't checked out ShopRuche.com yet, please do... check out these two lovely dresses I recently got - and for great prices too!

The PERFECT Clemson dress! {via}

Mini-sailboats. Yes please! {via}

Recently, I got a Living Social deal to try out three classes for only $25 at a new fitness studio right off of Ben Sawyer Blvd. (right before the Sullivan's Island bridge) called Perfectly Fit Wellness.

I tried out my first class on Monday called Beam Fit. You do Pilates-like moves and stretches, but on a beam. It's not a solid beam, but 'squishy' so it forces you to work your muscles harder to balance.

We didn't do a whole lot of different or difficult moves in this class, but there was a lot of focus on positions and form. Also, because the class is really, really small (4 people max, only 2 people including me in my class), you get a lot of one-on-one instruction.

The teacher spent at least 5 minutes with me working on my plank form. Evidently, unbeknownst to me, I put a lot of pressure on my lower back with my plank. So she worked with me to show me how to relax my lower body and use my stomach more when holding my form.

Needless to say, I wasn't doing a lot of movement, but I was sweating my arse off and today my abs are super sore.

Tomorrow I'm trying another one of their classes, TRX. It's a suspended cable strength class. I've always wanted to try one of these classes, but I'm nervous because I've heard they are super hard.

Have you tried TRX? Any advice for my first class?

This weekend I'm throwing my older sister a Sprinkle for her and my future nephew! Yup, a Sprinkle...not a shower. It's the new thing for mommies-to-be having their second or third baby...and typically if the new baby is a different gender from their first. It's an informal get together for her close friends where they can 'sprinkle' her with small gifts like diapers, wipes, onesies and boy-specific baby stuff she doesn't have.

I'll try to do a post on all the details next week - but the theme is MONKEYS. :) We're going to try and make these for the Sprinkle... this might end up being a Pinterest fail...we shall see!

Is it really only Tuesday? Hope everyone is having a great week so far.

Killer Kardio

This has been floating around Pinterest this week and I decided to give it a try. Instead of running, I hopped on my elliptical for the 10 minutes running segments. It was a pretty good workout. I did 20 pushups and 20 tricep dips instead of 10. Burpees and Mountain Climbers always make me so winded.....but who would have thought doing high knees for a minute was so freaking hard? Is it just me? I thought that would be easy...that was the only thing I had to stop several times during the minute. Christy high knees FAIL. Don't tell my trainer!

Weekend races.

The last two weekends, I decided to put my fitness skills to the test and do two different races here in Charleston.

Two weekends ago, two of my girlfriends and I formed team "Blondetorage" and did the Rugged Maniac mud run at Boone Hall. We had never done a mud run before and have been considering doing the Marine one in Columbia - but we decided to test out our 'mud run' skills with a basic 5K one here in Charleston...

Me before the race - washcloth in sports bra as recommended
by my trainer - ended up coming in handy a lot! Great idea!

It was definitely an interesting experience, and I'm so glad I only paid a third of the price through a Group On, but it was a lot of fun in the end. I wore the WRONG pants and spent most of the race pulling my sagging yoga pants up as they threatened to fall off. It was also difficult to run....and run...and run... between obstacles with soaking wet, muddy shoes..... but in the end, we were laughing at ourselves.

The best part was the giant slide into a pool of water at the end of the race.

This past weekend, we all ran the uber-popular Cooper River Bridge Run...which is starting to get entirely too crowded and ended up in an hour delay due to several miscommunications, issues, etc. It was brutal waiting and listening to the VERY annoying announcers...sorry...if you were there, you have to agree with me...they were awful.

Anyways... the first four miles went by fast and I was feeling good...until I got off the bridge and made my way down King Street in the brutal sun and no breeze. It.was.brutal.

But I pushed myself and my best friend and I ended up finishing five minutes faster than our time last year. Yippee! I'm not a runner...and not a fan of running....so I was extremely proud of us for pushing through.

The race kind of snuck up on us this year - usually we have fun costumes planned, but this year we did a last minute get up which included cutting up our shirts and refashioning them. I feel like we looked like competitive cheerleaders. Ready? Ok!

Afterwards, as is tradition with our friends, we headed to Red's to enjoy the beautiful weather and totally negate any calories we burned with celebratory beverages.

It's probably good I got in some good workouts the past two weekends, because this week I'm out of town for work...can you guess where I am?

10 minute ab circuit

I recently bought the Gymboss interval timer. It was only $20 and I heard about it from BodyRock.tv.

I got mine in orange of course!

I am obsessed with this website and lurk sometimes to watch the workouts. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to take it on, but it's an interesting 'workouts at home' concept and the people doing the videos are mega-ripped.

Until then, I wanted the interval timer so I could set up my own interval workouts. Yesterday I decided to try it out for the first time.

I'm getting over a cold, so I didn't want to do anything crazy - so I hopped on my elliptical for a good 50 min session (while watching Downton Abbey!) I alternate resistance, incline and I hold 2 lb weights in each hand while on the elliptical for most of the workout. I love the elliptical because it forces me to run properly...i.e. not on my toes.

Afterwards I put the battery in my handy dandy new interval timer and set it to 1 minute intervals with 20 second intervals in between, 10 times. I wrote down on a piece a paper 10 different ab/core exercises.

When I started the timer, I'd do the exercise I'd written down for that minute for the full minute until BEEP... rest and reposition for next exercise in 20 seconds then BEEP...next ab exercise for a full minute and then BEEP...

You get the idea...It was a good mini ab session to do after my cardio. I didn't feel as challenged, so I might shorten the rest time or repeat the whole thing. But considering I can barely breath out of my nose, this was a good starting point. P.S. Why do side planks hurt so bad?? They are my weakness.

Do you workout at home often? What do you do? Do you every make up your own random workouts?

Randomness Round Up

I'm rocking a major cold today - thank you very much ever changing, rainy, pollen infused Charleston weather.

I'm pretty sure my entire work cubicle needs to be disinfected. "Why are you even at work?" you ask.... Good question. I should be home on my couch under a blanket. However, my employer only gives vacation days... not sick days. So, if I want to take a 'sick day', it's actually a vacation day. In other words, we all come to work sick here and share germs... a lovely mental image for you I'm sure.

Anyways...

So with the cold comes medicine that makes it hard to focus on just about anything...so forgive me if this post is so completely random....

I really want to work out today, but my body is saying "No, no, no..." I didn't work out yesterday because I felt blah, and I ate horrible all weekend...so I feel like I have to do something today. I usually take Blast 900 on Tuesdays, but with this cold I wouldn't make it through the first five minutes...so I'm on my own today. I'm thinking I could probably pull off something like this...

Source: pbfingers.com via Christy on Pinterest

But in the back of my mind I am not sure I'm feeling up to it...so I might just do an old faithful and hop on my elliptical and watch a new episode of my newest obsession on my Kindle Fire - Downton Abbey...which until recently I was referring to as Downtown Abbey (who knew?). I'm now a (proud??) Amazon Prime member - so I get free streaming movies, tv shows and book downloads. I'm curious to see how much I use it...but I also get free two day delivery on Amazon purchases, which is pretty cool. It's $79 a year to be a member - we had some credits from our wedding registry, so we decided to put it towards that.

Maybe all of this sneezing is exercise in itself...abs?

{sniff, sniff, sniff} {Ah..choo!}
Excuse me...stupid cold.

So my incredibly baby fine and thin hair has gotten almost to it's max length again. You see, my hair will not grow past my shoulders. "But Christy," you say, "your profile picture shows you with long, beautiful hair.." This is correct. As someone who lives with baby fine, thin hair that doesn't grow, I'm also a big investor in professional hair extensions from time to time -- but that's another post for another day.

So my {real} hair grows just about to my shoulders and then just gets stringy and flat. Usually when this happens, I chop it off and start over...it's a cycle I've had for years. And so now it's time to chop...

I'm super obssessed with Chelsea Staub's hair cut. And so is the rest of Pinterest...but I loves it. I used to have a similar cut a few years ago and I think I want to rock it again. I have to be careful not to go too short (above my chin) because my face is so round, aka chubby cheeks, but my hair always looks thicker and healthier when it's short. And it's so super easy to fix... granted, no more high buns on my head for a while, but that's ok.



Source: officialchelseastaub.com via Christy on Pinterest

Source: officialchelseastaub.com via Teresa on Pinterest

So I have an appointment Friday, and along with these two images, I'm also taking in a picture of fellow blogger Jess from The Kentucky Priss who recently had her hair cut in a simliar style and I love it...I hope she doesn't mind if I copy her, in addition to seriously printing out this picture and giving it to my hairdresser. :)

P.S. If you don't already, follow her blog! She is super sassy and funny - a great read!

Speaking of following blogs, thanks to Pinterest, I've found a few new fashion bloggers to follow - one is Classy Girls Wear Pearls. I love the preppy, New England outfits which remind me of Blair for Gossip Girl.

However, I'm suspicious of this girl - is she real? Is she real in that all of her photos look like staged photo shoots/catalogues. And...she works for Kiel Patrick James. I'm sure she's 'real', but I wonder if she's a model and some marketing team from Kiel Patrick James is ghost blogging as her.

Randomly in her outfits she's wearing Kiel Patrick James...but not excessivlely so. I mean... the photos are amazing and the outfits are great...but it's just a little too cataloguey (word?) and staged to be a real 'look what I wore today' fashion blogger. Thoughts?



Oh look, just me and my impecably dressed bff sitting
oh so pretty on a table while at work.

And speaking of clothes... I gave up buying any clothes for Lent. It's a major sacrafice for me, but a much needed break for my wallet. I went to Target today and had to plan my route so I wouldn't walk by the clothes...and I checked out with a bill under $100. That's got to be a Target trip record for me.

So in place of my shopping, I've been spending a lot of time on Polyvore, creating outfits with pieces I already own... I really should give up the shopping longer than just Lent and just shop my closets...yes, that would be plural... closets... hence my shopping problem.

Black & White stripe w/ Teal by charlestongirlblog

Finally, I leave you with some puppy cuteness. Everyone is posting the brooms standing on end and eggs standing up straight all over Facebook. At first I thought it was some faked thing to get 'breast cancer awareness' or something, but it's really a trick that works that has something to do with the equinox, leap year, planets aligning..blah blah. Google it.

So I posted this photo last night to Facebook...maybe I was just poking fun because I never could get my broom to balance on its own. {names have been hidden to protect the innocent}

Ok...enough from me. I hope you're all having a fabulous Tuesday. Cheers!

physical hunger vs. emotional hunger

A co-worker of mine shared this on Facebook (never mind that we are both on Facebook while at work) and according to this chart, I am mostly (if not always) emotionally hungry!

Weekly Workout Schedule & Eating Healthy Confessions

I feel like if I put this out there I will be forced to stick to it.... :)

Monday: Ballet class at DanceFX

Tuesday: Blast 900 in Mt. P
If you live in Charleston, you MUST try this new workout out - it's 5 min treadmill intervals and 5 min weights/strength training back and forth for an hour... it's the hardest workout I've ever done, but the most bang for your buck. You can burn up to 900 calories in a class...I haven't made it through a class yet without having to stop once or twice... it's so intense, but I love the challenge! Before this class I never ran faster than 6.5 on the treadmill -- now I run up to 9 in the class and I find myself running at 7 or higher on my own in the gym....ok, this might not be that high for some of you fit bloggers, but for me that's super fast! :) The Blast class is different each time, so you won't get bored with it, and your first class is FREE -- so go try it out!! Tell them Christy Season (well now Christy Punch, but...I think I'm registered with my maiden name) sent you... I think I get a free class if you do!

Wednesday: 30 min. training session w/ my ESAC trainer; 20-30 min cardio session
The personal training experience has been painful on my wallet, but the best investment I've made in the past couple of months. I started with a trainer to lose weight/firm up before my wedding and I love how it's made me stronger and changed my body. It's worth the cost to me. I know I can do most of the stuff on my own, but each session is different and she pushes/challenges me when I know I wouldn't otherwise. I'm so clueless when it comes to weight training too and knowing how heavy to lift, etc., so it's nice not having to figure all of that out. She is petite with ballet background, so she knows just how to work me out..she's awesome. I can't believe how much of an intense workout you can have in just 30 minutes. If you are active and love to exercise, but find yourself in a rut, consider a personal trainer - trial sessions are typically free. I actually have some free passes to do a trial 30 min workout and consultation with my trainer - and you don't have to be a member of ESAC. Message me if you're interested!

After training, I'm going to try out this interval treadmill exercise I found on Pinterest. I love intervals on the treadmill -- I hate running the same speed for a long time, I get bored, tired, blah... so changing it up every few minutes keeps me going and makes the workout go much faster (I'm not a fan of running... it's a necessary evil.)

Source: ittybitsofbalance.com via Christy on Pinterest

Thursday: Self imposed workout at gym or at home - probably some sort of cardio/stretching

Friday: 30 min. training session w/ my ESAC trainer; 20-30 min cardio session

Saturday: Day of rest/finally trying out my Just Dance 3 game on the Kinect

Sunday: Blast 900 or Contemporary Ballet at DanceFX (game time decision, will see how I feel)

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Eating Healthy (sort of)
Before my wedding, I realized that after having weighed the same amount for the past 3 years even after being a very active person, the only way I would lose weight is by changing my diet. So I actively changed my diet and made a conscious effort to eat healthier.

I tried tracking my calories with My Fitness Pal -- and it helped at first. But once I got on an eating regimen, I didn't need it as much. And really with my busy schedule (especially before the wedding) it was more of a nuisance to log on and log food.

I met with a nutritionist for a few sessions - she was super helpful.  She analyzed my eating habits and gave me a wealth of info. We also did a 'shopping lesson' at Whole Foods where we shopped for groceries and she taught me how to read labels, what to buy, etc. This was not as expensive as I expected, and I really learned a lot from her -- there is soooo much information on the internet about what to eat, etc. But I really appreciated having someone teach me nutrition targeted towards my body type, my schedule, my lifestyle, foods I like/don't like, etc.

My biggest change was adding more green/veges to my diet. I wasn't eating horrible, but I wasn't getting enough of the good foods to help my exercising do its job. So I made small changes...

• I started eating MORE for breakfast. I was eating a breakfast bar and a small fiber one yogurt every morning for breakfast which come to find out is a big no no (sugars galore!). Now I make a killer smoothie (1 cup frozen mixed berries, half a banana, 1 to 1.5 cup Unsweetened Silk Almond Milk, half a scoop of Organic Whey Vanilla Protein Powder, and a handful of spinach - blend until smooth...you can substitute protein power with plain greek yogurt). If I have time I'll have an Ezekial english muffin with egg white, spinach and a tablespoon of oragnic salsa (so good and very filling!).
• Snacks -- I never snacked at work before, but you're supposed to keep eating to keep your metabolism up of course...so I started bringing fruit to snack on mid morning (grapefruit kicks up your metabolism) OR a Publix mozzarella string cheese stick. For afternoon, broccoli or celery dipped in a Sabra hummus single OR salted, shelled pistachios. If you get the shelled, you eat less because you spend time opening them. Another snack my nutritionist approved of was cheerios - the basic, unsweetened, plain kind. It was sometimes easy for me to put a cup of cheerios in a ziplock bag heading out the door to work than preparing something else.
• For lunch I try to eat grilled chicken sandwiches on Arnold's whole grain w/ flax sandwich thins with spinach, tomatoes and pickles (and no cheese)... or... having a big green salad with broccoli and fat free vinaigrette dressing....or vegetable soup with a vegetable side of some sort. 
• Dinners were (and still are) my biggest challenge... but I made an effort to eat more chicken/fish and vegetables (like asparagus, yum!). I like finding healthy recipes on Pinterest and giving them a try... but I don't always have a lot of time at night to cook, so dinners weren't always that healthy...



Recipe I tried that was delicious!

Source: fitmindandbody.tumblr.com via Christy on Pinterest

I've lost about four pounds since I started all of this back in September -- this isn't a big number to most people, but to me it's BIG. I've weighed the same for three years, so to actually lose weight is a great feeling. But really, I've got lots of muscle, so the big results for me was losing inches. What was supposed to be my last dress fitting before my wedding turned into scheduling another appointment because they had to take my dress in at the top.

Plus it's encouraging because I haven't been super strict about my diet... I still enjoy going out to dinner now and then (Italian!) or  having a glass of wine (or three) when I want. If I was super strict and stuck to a consistent uber healthy diet, I think I'd see more pounds drop...but I don't think I'd stick with it as well if I did that drastic of a change in my eating habits.

I want to keep at it now that the wedding is over, and some of my diet changes have stayed because it's now just routine. But there have been several new challenges since the wedding that are threatening my new healthiness...

• The Holidays -- it was so nice to just not think about what to eat/what not to eat and just INDULGE over the holidays...I definitely noticed a difference after taking about a two week break from eating well and exercising after the wedding and through Christmas.
• Budget -- Spending a lot of money on healthy foods, trainer, etc. made sense for wedding preparation, but now with a new house and new bills, it's hard to justify a lot of this stuff. I'm reevaluating and trying to figure out what I love most vs. what is having the greatest impacts vs. costs, etc.
• New house - having put off unpacking and house projects until after the wedding, we are in full swing now...and sometimes when you've been stuck in the laundry room painting all day, your husband's "Should I just pick up Canes chicken finger meals on the way home from Lowes for dinner?" is hard to turn down...
• And speaking of husband, I'm living with a human garbage disposal - now that I am not the only one who's eating dinner at my house, I'm having to shop and cook for two. Bradley can eat and eat and eat and never gain a pound. We cook dinners and eat healthy, but we eat too much...he eats such large portions of everything, so I'm trying to learn how to still eat small portions while he's eating everything in sight.
• And in addition to his and I's portion distortions, we both have a major sweet tooth -- which can be controlled when we aren't together...but now under the same roof... it's bad. "Let's just make some cookies tonight..." or "Wanna go get ice cream?" happens a lot more frequently than before. 
• And lately I have two major snack weaknesses.... Pretzel Chips and Welch's Fruit Snacks...which somehow made their way into our cart (guilty!) during our last Costco trip... and as you know, Costco = large portions. Why are fruit snacks so deceptively 'healthy' when in fact they are horrible for you....but oh so good! :(

So, my healthy eating has fallen to the wayside some post wedding, but some changes have 'stuck' and I think it's made (and still is?) a difference. I just need to be aware of my current potential challenges and try to overcome them... especially since bathing suit season is right around the corner.

Any suggestions on how to overcome portion distortion as a newlywed? 

Are fruit snacks really that awful for you? On second thought...don't answer that one. :)

How do you stay motivated to eating healthy? Any easy, healthy recipes you've found on Pinterest you'd like to share??