Posts Tagged ‘inspiration’
Workout pictures!!
Posted on: May 28, 2013
I don’t get to post many of these because, well, I’m the one working out! Nick was nice enough to get these for me. I did have a slight injury to my left groin area after working out on Saturday. It was bad enough I had to cut the training short, but it’s doing much better now. At my training I made sure to tell Nick if it was being bothered or not and we adjusted the exercise as necessary.
He’s got me doing all sorts of exercises, but the pictured ones below are just a straight leg dead lift and lunges. The step is there because I can go further than my toes and deeper in my lunges thanks to my flexibility. And thanks to my flexibility and Nick knowing how flexible I am, he makes me get the FULL range of motion when working out. I hear “go deeper” or “further down” almost every time I train with him. (Keep your dirty thoughts to yourself!!)
In any case, here are the pictures as promised!
Wanna know what else is cool?? Or at least I think it is…
See the bulge in the middle of my hamstring? That is apparently the “bicep femoris.” Bicep makes you think of your arm right? Two and two together… That muscle basically reacts like your arm bicep! And you can see mine now!! Yay.
And just for reference:
what a week!
Posted on: May 22, 2013
I had to take a week off! From what? Well, apparently everything! I ate what I wanted. I didn’t track any of it. I cried from the loneliness. I laughed with my kids. I worked my butt off at the gym. I sat on my butt at home. I did whatever I felt like. I didn’t blog any of it. I didn’t crochet. I did whatever the mood told me to do. I stayed up until after midnight numerous nights. When I was tired, I slept. It was just a week off.
Link is gone, again. Playing in the sandbox, so I’m back to missing him horribly. I had a baby maker scare right as he was leaving, but yay, no buns in this oven! (note – we do want more, just not yet… The littlest one is only 14 months old!!) I was literally finding every excuse in the book to justify what it was I was doing, be it for my own improvement, or more likely, when it wasn’t.
But the scare is over. My training has picked up again. Nick wants all my workouts to be super-secret spy stuff so we can shock the world with my massive improvements. LOL Not really, but we are keeping the workouts under wraps for the time being. Just know, he’s quite literally working my booty off and up! Even with this past week being crap as far as my diet was concerned, I am still really excited to take and post my progress pictures. I think I’m supposed to do them again next weekend. Since I don’t like the actual action of taking the pictures, I’m only doing them monthly.
I thought I would show a quick little progress picture. My family took some pictures last July 2012 and we just took some more while Link was here. I’m quite happy with how everyone has improved. 🙂
July 2012
May 2013
New Book
Posted on: May 7, 2013
I very rarely buy books at full price anymore thanks to wonderful stores like Half Price Books and trusty Amazon. Today, on a whim, Link and I decided to head over to Books-A-Million to peruse their overpriced selections. We both have a kindle reader of some sort or another (I have a paperwhite and he has an iPad), but some times it’s just nice to hold a physical book.
My meandering lead me over to the cook books and fitness/health sections (surprise surprise). I found this book.
I figured with everything I’ve been going through, some motivational stories might do me some good. I’m planning to read a few tonight. I’ll give you guys a little review once I’m done 🙂
Um… Time to bare it…
Posted on: May 6, 2013
I have been taking before and after shots since I started working with Nick. Just recently I had a meltdown because I wasn’t seeing/feeling any different. I knew I was getting stronger, but I didn’t feel like I was getting any leaner. I was frustrated and complaining to both Link and Nick about it. Frustrated doesn’t even really come close to how I felt to be honest.
I am all for getting stronger. I have been promoting the benefits of lifting for some time now. I love the benefits I’ve been reaping thanks to lifting. I apparently still need some help to get over my mental road blocks. I still find myself turning to food to help deal with stress. I still see myself as “chubby” and I am very critical of myself.
Here are my original before and afters:
It took Tom pointing out the difference because I honestly could not see them. I see them now and feel crazy for not having seen it before. No, they’re not drastic, but they don’t need to be! It’s progress and that’s what I need to be concerned with!
I showed them to Nick as well. He made a valid point… I need to get out of the shorts! How am I going to see the progress in my legs if I’ve covered them up? I have always had major insecurities with the “thickness” of my legs and booty, which is why I put the shorts on. So, I’ve got new before pictures. In a triangle bikini no less. I took them last night and it was like some weird form of torture. I like being on the seeing side of the camera, not the seen. I cannot thank Link enough for helping me with them. I felt awkward and exposed. Not the best feeling in the world, let me tell you.
But, after looking at them, I can see even without pictures to compare them to, I know I’ve made progress. Of course there are things I don’t like. I’m trying really hard to not focus on those parts. In order to keep with the whole honesty idea of this blog, I’m sharing these pictures with you. And I may or may not be planning to compete in an ACTUAL fitness competition come September which is where the poses are coming from.
oh, and um, don’t mind my crazy, it’s way past my bedtime hair 😉
Worst question to be asked…
Posted on: April 28, 2013
what’s your best quality?
How do you answer this? I always feel vain and/or arrogant answering questions like this.
A friend of mine posted in her great blog talking about the same thing. (Feel free to give her posts a read here and here.) It was the combination of these two posts that got my gears moving.
Not only do we think more of the negative aspects of ourselves, but also, when we do finally acknowledge the good about ourselves, we keep it to ourselves in an attempt to seem humble. Ugh! It’s all a little frustrating if you ask me.
This YouTube video is beautifully done:
So to deal with this the best way I can, here I go:
My personal description: 5’4″, 155 pounds. I consider myself overweight still. I think my ears are too big so I always like to keep them covered up. I think my breasts are too small in proportion to my hips. I think legs are always going to big, whether it be through muscle or fat. I hate the toes on my right foot because my middle toe is the same length as my second toe. I am paranoid that people stare at my skin because I have eczema and KP and halo nevi moles all over my body. I can’t help but stare and wonder how my hands got to looking so old. While I don’t “regret” the stretch marks from my pregnancies, I hate how it has made my stomach look. Most of this is all minor stuff that no one really notices or cares about.
Now onto the things that I’m proud of: I love my hair. I love my freckles. I like having high cheek bones and defined eyes. I like that my eyes are an amber brown. I like my neck. I like having small palms and long fingers. I like that I have an athlete’s body hiding underneath my years of bad dietary decisions. I love that once I get past the initial shock of a new activity, I tend to pick it up quickly.
Why was it so much easier to write the top list?
Just goes to prove that become a “better” you need to work on the inside just as much as the out.
Find your inspiration
Posted on: April 16, 2013
What inspires you? What makes you wake up in the morning? What puts a smile on your face before you go to bed? What calms you when you’re angry, lifts you when you’re sad?
The events at the Boston Marathon are another memorable event in our nation’s history. These men and women strive so hard to qualify for one of, if not THE most prestigious marathon in our nation. How are they repaid? Two explosives detonated at the finish line. This 100 year old tradition has been ruined and now, how many people will forego this particular even out of fear?
I will be running my first ever marathon in November. I want my health to be at it’s peak of performance. I need to pull inspiration from somewhere in order to find the focus needed in order to complete a task of this magnitude. Running 26.2 miles is nothing to scoff at. My inspiration, from here on out, for every run I go on, will be those runner in today’s marathon. They are owed it. Running is their sport and fear is quickly trying to take over. I won’t let fear stop me.
I haven’t officially signed the paperwork to do the marathon, but immediately upon pressing “publish” I will be heading over to the site and “signing” my name on the dotted line. I will run a marathon, and I will not let this event stop me. I will pull strength from watching the news and keeping tabs on some of the runners that had to endure today’s terror acts.
My thoughts go to all the runners, volunteers, and onlookers at today’s event.
Finding Inspiration
Posted on: March 5, 2013
This is one of the posts that I have been wanting to write since I started this. We all have our sources of inspiration, regardless of the meaning behind the journey. And of course, all of our adventures into creating better selves will be exponentially different from one another. That’s the joy of all this.
I wanted everyone to know where I find inspiration. Where I turn to when things just aren’t going as planned. First, my five-year old. My constant source of unconditional love. Sappy, right? LOL Here’s the thing though, for as much as I love her, she has no problem at all telling me I’m squishy, or that my belly is wiggly “like jello,” or that, as she says, I’ve got a big ol’ booty. Yup, gotta love that 5-year-old honesty. Some times it bugs me. I mean, no one likes their faults pointed out. She’s also pointed out to other family members things about their appearances, and we’re working with her and her manners as far as that is concerned. Other times, I appreciate that she makes me face my flaws. She will also tell me when I look nice. She even notices when clothes are fitting me looser (and occasionally tighter). I love her for her honesty. I don’t worry about creating this image of perfection in her head because although she understands that I’m overweight, she also understands that the reason I want to lose the “squishiness” is not to look like the women in the magazines, but so that I can have more energy and be a better, healthier mom for her and her sister.
I also get tons of inspiration from all the members of my Weight Watchers meetings. It’s great hearing their success stories, and celebrating with them when they hit milestones, or even better, hit goal!
The last place I look for inspiration is from my dear friend Erin, although I doubt she knows it. Erin and I aren’t super close, but she is such an amazing person I make sure I keep contact with her. We were both army spouses at the same time and it wasn’t until after our husbands deployed together a second time that we really became friends. It was during this time that I really learned who she was. An absolutely amazing person. To me, she is the picture of perfection. Her fiancé is an incredibly lucky man (and I’m sure he knows it). She makes living a healthy, balanced life a priority for her and her family. I know I can always ask her questions. Not just about losing weight, but about life in general, from financial to personal, and she’s always got great advice to give me. She has overcome so much in the little time she’s been here (she’s in her mid-twenties) that the world better watch out. She’s a power house of energy and love! I hope everyone gets the privilege of befriending her!
Changing a person’s life is ridiculously taxing to a person’s entire being. I find inspiration in people that have no idea that they are inspiring me to continue on my path. I appreciate and love them all.
If not for the skinny jeans... 