Wanted: New Motivation

I've been on vacay for the past couple of weeks for weddings and graduations so obvi this means I've fallen off the bandwagon gotten sidetracked with my running. I decided to hit the gym tomorrow morning and the best way for me to get some motivation is to add some new songs to my iPod. Some of these are new and some are oldies but goodies. What are the odds I'll wake up tomorrow with a body like Shakira? Or how about Scarlett Johansson a la The Avengers, which was fan-freaking-tastic. Joss Whedon is geneballs.

Beyonce "Countdown"

Carly Rae Jepsen "Call Me Maybe"

Nicki Minaj "Starships"

Shakira "Hips Don't Lie"

Let me know if you have any other recommendations. One of my favorite parts about listening to music while working out is listening to my guilty pleasures on repeat.

 Why is there this smiling blonde girl on the cover when the woman in the workout is Asian?  Anyway, I've only used the cardio part of this dvd, but it's 20 minutes long and I enjoy it.  Some of it is 'kickboxing' and I enjoy pretending to punch the woman in the face.  I love that the girls in the background don't really know what they're doing.  Also the girl doing the lower impact version of the workout seems really pissed at the other girl.  Basically, while I'm punching the Asian woman in the face I think about how that girl is pissed off.

The best thing about 20 minute workouts is that 5 minutes in you can think oh I only have 15 minutes left, let me punch this woman really hard!

(I bought this dvd at Marshalls for $2.99 a while ago. Amazon has it for full price still, boo)

Accountability (And I Just Like Making Lists...)

Sahiti and I must be on the same brain wavelength because I decided to post about my current weight-loss update. Weight loss woes, if you will. So in my 7 1/2 weeks goal list seen here I posted that I plan to lose 10 pounds by December 31. A doable goal when you have 7 1/2 weeks. Throw in a bout of sickness, a vacation to Atlanta and Thanksgiving and you've got a setback of 4 pounds. 4 POUNDS!!! Ahhhhh!!!!! So 4 pounds gained + 5 full weeks before the end of the year... you do the math. After reading one random blog of an acquaintance doing some online research I found My Fitness Pal. I had been using Daily Mile when I was running less than regularly in Vermont but would get frustrated since it didn't really calculate/recognize anything other than mileage and time on workouts. It did show me how many donuts I burned (112.63), the number of times I traveled around the world (0.01), and the number of televisions I powered (712.07). My Fitness Pal is just more specific with a food diary, more workout recognition, progress charts (and who doesn't love a good chart?), etc.

So here's my challenge for the month of December (and the last few days of November):

1. Input meals into my food journal every day. I once lost 20 pounds a couple of years ago, and I had a food diary then. I was also buying my own groceries and cooking for myself at the time, plus I had gone vegetarian for Lent which pushed me to eat more veggies. My food journal looked pretty good then.

2. Actually work out 4x a week. Let's just say my discipline is less than par and we'll leave it at that.

3. Portion control Portion control. Portion control. There's not really much more that can be said with that.

4. Cut out bread. I know you're thinking I'm pretty much bat sh*t insane. I am, too. However, I have recently been eating more not-so-good-for-you bread lately. Plus, I really want to experiment with this and see if I could really do this (and to attempt to reach 5 goal items for the next 5 weeks). What's a blog if not for posting experiments and their potentially ludicrous results later?

5. Stop buying my milestone goal prizes early. Yes, I have already bought several "prizes" while saying to myself, "Oh, this is for that such-and-such milestone. It's here and I really want it so let's buy it." Just stop. I really can't keep doing that, especially if I keep getting sidetracked on my goals. The buying stops tonight. The looking and drooling will inevitably continue. Crap.

Rehabbing

Rehabbing my knee that is. Not running and limping for a month has transformed my body to jelly (and the slightly tighter fit in my jeans confirms that).

I started doing this yesterday.  It's currently $6.85 at Amazon and worth it.  One thing I hate about workout dvds is how everyone in the background are like the size of my leg and can do all the positions like it's super easy.  Not the case here! There are normal people who have normal body shapes and whose legs shake when it's a hard pose just like a normal person.  Emphasis on normal...the music is kind of hilarious because it sounds like it's taken from a Michael Bay movie..but I kind of like it. Lightens the mood.  Also, Bob Harper is kind of hot.  He's super nice, he knows the workout is hard, and he keeps reminding you that it's weight loss yoga and it's good for you. Also, I kept looking at the tv to see if he'd take off his shirt. This is why a workout dvd led by a man trumps the ones led by women. Keep your shirts on ladies, I don't want to see how your abs compares to my flabs.  I did the Level 1 workout (20 minutes) and I broke a sweat and felt the burn.  They also offered lower-impact variations on the poses.  

I have never seen the show but I read that the people in the background are from the show...good job guys