Days 1 & 2 - A Whole New Mindset

First of all, I apologize for the length of this entry. I have quite a bit of mind vomit I need to get rid of before my more prompt and to-the-point posts start happening... Bear with me.

On Wednesday, April 25th, I woke up to a strange new mindset. It was as if someone had smacked me in the face with motivation and determination. FINALLY! Something has clicked!

Maybe it's my quarter-life crisis. (Mostly kidding) Maybe I'm realizing it's about bloody time I get up and do something with this blobby bag of bones I've been given. Either way, I'm getting up and doing what I want and need to do. It's time to realize and pursue my dreams, and they won't ever come true if I just sit here wishing and hoping. I have to WORK for them even though I'm still not 100% sure what they are. And you know what? THAT'S O.K.  

I had been kind of down since I moved into my own place all alone for the first time. I can't say I don't love it, though. In fact, it's pretty brilliant having my own privacy and personal space, but I do miss having friends or family within an earshot from time to time. Plus, Nick and I barely get to see each other these days since he's back in school, so I've been missing his company also. There are also some other life events that have brought me down over the past couple of months, but we needn't go there here. For this...is my new FITNESS BLOG!

I only mentioned my being down because I feel like I am actually on my way back UP with the new mindset that Wednesday so graciously bestowed upon me. I gathered a useful thought from something Nick said to me a few days ago. "It's OK to be sad, and it's necessary to mourn, but there's no time for moping." Those weren't his exact words, but it's what I got out of it. He's so right. Life has so many awesome things to offer to waste it moping! This feeling of positivity, possibility, and peace is something I have been craving to feel for years. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure where it came from, but while it's here, I am going to take FULL advantage of its presence!

Whilst I was at work still basking in the glow of my Wednesday morning epiphany, I set 2 major first goals for myself: 1. FINISH MY FREAKING WEBSITE. And 2. GET HEALTHY.

It was during tonight's workout that I was inspired to make a fitness blog. No holds barred. I will not be shy about when I mess up, when I skip a work out, when I eat crap, or how much I weigh. How will I make any kind of significant change if I'm lying to everyone including myself? My superwoman boss lady (Beth) has a pretty fantastic blog I like to read about her amazing fitness journey and other tidbits of life, and I can definitely say her blog is part of the reason why I wanted to start this one.

Another big reason is to hold myself accountable for my actions with reader support. If I have people who may be checking in on my progress, I KNOW I will want to keep at it. Know why? Because I cannot pry the student out of me. I will never be able to stop learning. I will never be able to stop wanting to impress "the teacher" (in this case, my readers). I'm hoping someone...anyone...who reads this will nag me when I'm not doing what I need to do healthwise.  Even if I have just one or 2 readers, I'll still feel like I need to do my best for them AND for me. Did that make any sense?

I'm also trying to be as realistic about this whole thing as I can. Life happens. I will not be able to blog every single day. There will be parties, and friendly gatherings where there will be occasional splurges. There will also be bad days when I won't want to do anything, but my true intentions are to steer clear from that as much as possible.

So here goes:

Wednesday, April 25, 2012
FOOD
• 1 Strawberry Pop Tart with a small glass of 2% milk for breakfast
• I drank 48 oz of water
• Snacked on 2 prunes
• 1 sourdough English muffin with 1 tbsp 1/3 less fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese with a large salad of romaine, baby spinach, baby carrots, chopped celery and an Italian Vinaigrette for lunch
• 1 scoop of jasmine rice and 4 large boiled shrimp for dinner

EXERCISE
• I power walked for 45 minutes on the treadmill at 3.6 mph while alternating between inclines of 0 and 15 every 5 minutes
• I did 12 leg curls on one of the machines. I wanted to do more, but I was starting to cramp
• Walked to the mailbox to cool down
• Did 2 sets of 12 reps of upper body workout with free weights

 TODAY! Thursday, April 26, 2012
Here's what went down:
FOOD
• Kroger Brand Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds with 2% Organic Milk was breakfast
• Lunch was a spicy boudain link with a slice of wheat bread with a Coke (LIT had a Food Fest event sponsored by different student organizations) I know, terrible choice and terrible excuse, but hey, I'm still new at this.
• Snack was one baby carrot and 4 celery sticks with light ranch dressing
• I was given a free strawberry cake ball from one of the student organizations. Dang.
• I had half of a peanut granola bar for supper. Honestly, I'm still too full from the boudain and the cake ball to eat a full meal tonight!
• I've had 36 oz of water and counting

I have been needing to buy some new workout shoes for months since I discovered that anything over 5K/3 miles makes my feet blister and BLEED in my old shoes back in October during the Heart Walk. So I went shoe shopping right after work to get me some new sapatos...

I got these bad boys at Academy tonight, and they feel AMAZING. Hah...and it only took me 3 hours to find them! =P And SHOCK! They're NOT purple!? Whaaat!?

Fresh outta da box.

OK, I had throw in purple SOMEWHERE.

I tried them out on the treadmill in the gym at my apartment complex and they were fantastic! I didn't even have to think about my feet, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

Thursday, April 26 Treadmill Stats

EXERCISE

• I walked briskly all over campus to hang flyers on all the bulletin boards; I always make sure to run up the stairs when possible lately as well

• When I shared a personal trainer with Krystal, he had us warm up for 8 minutes on the treadmill, do strength training like mad, and then do 45 minutes of cardio. Since I'm just getting back into the swing of things, I'm warming up, doing 45 minutes of cardio, and 3 sets of 12 reps of different strength training exercises. I'm hoping to up the weights as time progresses. Also, I know, only 2.45 miles in 45 minutes? Hey, I've got tiny legs and I probably jog what most people consider a brisk walk. Either way, the sweat and the work still happened. Just at my own pace. 

And finally, the most revealing, difficult, and almost embarrassing thing for me to post, the weigh-in:

Hey, at least I'm smiling. :)

So here's to keeping this up! If I don't want to keep starting over, I've got to stop quitting! Again, sorry this was so long. Kudos to you if you're still reading. Here's to the beginning of my journey to tinier pants!