|| Gym Time ||

Soooooooooo, I finally got my gym membership Monday. Yesterday was the first day, and it was overwhelming at first. There are so many machines and so many possibilities. It seriously feels like I am starting this weight loss journey all over again.  I guess I would consider this the second chapter in the weight loss story. Seems like everything I did before this was to prepare me for harder workouts.

The gym membership came at the right time. I quit my job at the Gap, due to soaring gas prices. I have been feeling pretty useless and restless at home. Also my birthday had just passed and I used my birthday an excuse to eat awful. Lol. It was worth it….. to a point. I normally don’t consume sugary coffee drinks, drink a lot of beer or eat pizza. My body instantly got addicted to the sugar. I find myself craving sugar all day. I haven’t given in since my birthday, which is good.

Yesterday’s first trip to the gym was amazing. I did a little bit of everything to get the hang out how the machines work.  After experimenting with the weight machines I focused roughly over 40 minutes to cardio and an hour on upper body work outs. I am glad that my endurance has gone up. 75 lbs ago I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with any work out and felt embarrassed. I probably wouldn’t have gone back. Lol. But I am grateful that I have worked so hard on my body. Now it’s time to work even harder.

My arms felt like putty yesterday after the work out. Thankfully my arms don’t feel as bad as I anticipated. I feel like I can do a little upper body work outs today. Though I should just do a little so I can let my muscles heal properly. I am going to focus on getting as much cardio in and then work on my legs.

My new short term goal is to lose 20 lbs by the end of May. The new long term goal for the year is to have a total of 40 pounds gone.  This feels like an overall realistic goal. I am only 25 lbs away from meeting my all time goal of losing 100 pounds. 2012

Created a weight loss group on facebook, anyone is welcome to join!

Weight Loss Support Group

|| Workouts ||

I really haven’t posted a blog with workout routine yet. I am shocked that I actually never took the time out to type it out. I honestly feel like I could be here all day typing everything out, so I will post a few of my favorite work outs. The “easy” ones. Normally I tend to alternate upper body and lower body works outs every other day. My upper body work outs just tend to deal with dumbbells and doing curls. Lower body work outs tend to deal with squats and the “mule kicks”.


I always start every work out with pushups and end the work out with a few set of crunches.

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Stretching and “warming up”

Before you engage in any kind of work outs, it’s always good to stretch. Stretching can improve your flexibility and after awhile flexibility will help prevent any injuries from working out. Below is warm up tips and stretching tips..

Stretching:

Neck: Sit or stand with your arms hanging freely on your sides. Turn head side to side, hold for 3 to five seconds for each side. Repeat 3 times.

Shoulder and back of upper arm: Stand or sit and place right hand on left shoulder. With left hand, pull right elbow across chest toward left shoulder and hold 10 to 15 seconds. Repeat on each side 3 times.

Stretches triceps, top of shoulders, waist: Keep knees slightly flexed. Stand or sit with arms overhead. Hold elbow with hand of opposite arm. Pull elbow behind head gently as you slowly lean to side until mild stretch is felt. Hold 10 to 15 sec. Repeat on other side

Warm ups:

My favorite warm ups are :

Jumping jacks


Push ups

Crab walk: works your whole back side with emphasis on your triceps

Start by sitting on the floor with your knees bent in front of you. Place both hands, palms down, on the floor at your side and lift your butt off the ground. Now start “crab walking” forwards or backwards.

I like to warm up by crab walking around the living room. It feels and seems utterly ridiculous but it really feels good to do these before I jump into the work outs below.

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Two of my favorite easy work outs are:

Mule kicks: works your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back.

Get down on your hands and knees with your hands shoulder-width apart, back strait and knees bent at 90 degree angle. Slowly kick your right leg straight back and up as high as possible. Keep your hips fixed squarely in place. Hold this peak position for about five seconds, then bring your leg back down to the starting position. Then do the same with your left leg.

Do 3 normal sets and then on the fourth set hold your leg out on the last kick for as long as you can hold it. I admit, it hurts like freaking hell. It’s damn well worth it.



Squats: works your quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back and hip flexors.

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. With your head up and eyes forward, bend your knees until your butt is a couple of inches above the floor. Lean your upper body slowly forward as you go down, until your shoulders are out over your knees. But be sure that your knees do not protrude past your toes. Then, keeping your heels on the floor, slowly stand using only your legs to lift you.

At first, try practicing these facing a wall with your toes 4 to 6 inches from the wall. This is a great way of correcting technique by ensuring that your knees are not going too far forward. Also if you feel that a full squat is too difficult at first, lower your body only as far as you can, until you develop strength and flexibility needed to lower your body all the way down.

Walking

Yesterday evening was a great evening to walk. This time we didn’t stray too far from home and we even walked out 6 year old Chihuahua, Gizmo. Again we cut off into trails in the woods. It was amazing. You could hear small birds with big songs, hopping from tree to tree in the pine and oak canopies. I brought my camera this time to get fantastic shots, but as I turned the camera to get my first shot, the batteries died. Do’oh! I really need to check these kinds of things before I leave the house. Lol.

I didn’t notice how sore I was from the day before until I started to jog a bit. Everything from my mid torso to my calves was a little tight. I took it easy, because I didn’t want to push my luck and feel like complete and utter shit the next day. I am crazy about the weather in the evenings, low humidity and in the mid to upper 70’s. A welcome break from the insanely high humidity and uppers 90’s. Whew, summer time in the south is murder. This however is my favorite time of year. I love how the seasons change. You can just feel in the air that fall is slowly approaching. The position of the sun triggers nostalgia. It’s just the perfect time to get back on track and take charge of my life again. Right now, I am not really concerned about losing a whole mess of weight; I am more concerned about feeling better and eating right. If anything weight loss is a perk. It just really really feels good to cut out gluten and working on getting sugar out my life again.

I found out yesterday that one of my aunts have colon cancer. This is devastating to me! I just wish I could be back home in Texas right now. I just really hate being so far away and knowing so little. Hopefully my trip back to Texas will come sooner than later.

Spiders, mushrooms, and snakes... oh my

I started my jogging yesterday. The burn feels so good. I am a little sore today, but it was totally worth it. I forget how much I love this. I love the endorphin rush you get after exercising. It makes you feel happy and full of life. This morning I am in a wonderful mood and I slept great last night.

My husband and I went jogging at the Tom Triplet Park here in Pooler Georgia. We didn’t jog the track, instead we jogged the trails off in the woods. I really wish that I had my camera, because you wouldn’t believe the size of the spiders out there. Omg, it was outrageous. Also because of our recent line of storms we had last week, there were ton of crazy looking mushrooms growing. They were beautiful. The woods in Costal Georgia is waaaay different than Southern Texas. But none the less, it’s just as fun. I always felt that it’s always a good idea to mix your outdoor hobbies with your exercise routine.

In this case we mixed my husband’s hobby with exercise today. He is an outdoors kind of man. Anything dealing the with the Georgia woods, he’s as happy as a kid in a candy store. There are so many plants to discover and there are so many animals to see. It’s never a dull moment out there. Luckily there were no snakes out. Not that I have a fear of snakes, I actually love snakes to death. I just don’t want one, who blends in with his surrounding to spring forward and bite me in the ankle. This has happed twice to my husband. But thank god it has never been a poisonous snake. Youch.

Today we plan on doing more exercise. Since I am alittle sore I assume that we are going to a nice brisk walk, but I could be wrong. My husband could push me into running. Lol it’s always a good thing to have an exercise partner you push you… but I know my limitations for now. I have to work my way back up to the level I was last year when I lived in Texas. This reminds me, I need to buy another curling bar.