Monday, December 23, 2013

Happy Holidays!

Where does the time go? I sat down this morning at my laptop and I thought...maybe I will take a look at my blog and write a post. While I was still debating it, I got a comment from Maren on my last post...that seemed like fate's way of telling me I needed to come back. 

I started to open up and catch up on some of my favorite blogs, and let me tell you...I have missed A LOT. One of my favorite bloggers in the whole world actually got PREGNANT AND HAD A BABY! And I missed the WHOLE THING. 

I know I wrote in the past about starting a new job. It's not so new any more but I still love it just as much as I did when I started, but I just feel like I don't really have a lot of free time. But, for the first time in FOREVER, I am on vacation for the holidays and I don't have to work until January 2nd. This is pretty amazing to me and I'm really excited to at least temporarily jump back in here and say hi (let's be seriously, once 2014 hits I'll probably be insane again). 

This has been a really big year for me! I actually just turned 30 last week! I have a feeling 30 is going to be the best year yet :-) 

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Closing time

Hi, does anyone even still read this?? :-)

I know I disappeared for awhile, and I'm coming back to basically say that I'm officially "disappearing". Though not REALLY disappearing, because I'm still creeping around reading my favorite blogs when I get a chance, but I've finally come to terms with the fact that I just don't have time to dedicate to a blog. So I'm putting my blog on hold indefinitely....but I'll at least leave it like that, perhaps I will get in a groove again where I can devote more time to it.

So, in case you're wondering about me, not much has changed, I haven't regressed horribly in my old ways and hit rock bottom, I've still been running 5ks and trying to make smart eating choices (though not as often as I did previously). Not much on the weight loss front, but I'm okay with that, I've hit a few road bumps and I know I'll get where I want to be sooner or later.

And not a super clear pic, but it's basically the only thing I could find that was relatively recent (this is me about a month ago). Figured I should let you all know that I'm doing ok!


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Marching on and becoming a kokonut

I have written a lot about motivation lately, and I'm happy to say I feel BACK IN THE GAME. 

There are two main contributing factors.

1) DietBet (and if you missed my post on this, go read it and join!!)
2) I joined a new gym.

So, March is off to a damn good start so far! Theme song of this month is definitely going to be One Republic "Marching on". Yup, I'm listening now, and you should too because it's a feel-good, happy, motivating song. 

Now let's talk about my new gym.

I have a home gym with a treadmill and an elliptical. Why on earth would I join a gym? 1000 answers but the main one here is that I found one that really spoke to me and completed the gap in my current routine: strength training. Yeah, my home gym has helped me lose 50 lbs over the past 2 years, but I feel like as I start to narrow in on my goal it's going to be all the more important to kick up the strength training and not just rely on the cardio. Building muscle is key to burning more calories!

I joined a really cool gym. Let's not even call it a gym, because it's not. It's a fitness club with virtualized personal training. It's called The Koko FitClub. 

I can't even begin to describe how much I love the concept because it scores and tracks your workouts and it is a nerd's dream. 


So, I don't have too much to say about it as I literally just went for the first time today, but stayed tuned for more updates from me as I get going...but I'll just say this...it strikes me as something that I could easily get addicted to given the competitive nature (competing with yourself). 

Also, I got nominated for a Liebster Award by http://beautifulchunk.blogspot.com/ and there a few things I'm supposed to do...

Here are the rules:

List 11 random facts about yourself.
Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
Choose 11 new bloggers to pass the award to and link them in your post.
Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
No tag backs!! 

So here we go:

11 Random Facts:

1. Some days I like tomatoes, some days I don't.
2. My self control around cake is virtually non-existent.
3. When I really love a song, I will listen to it on repeat like a crazy person...right now it's Rihanna "stay"
4. I have a strange ability to win radio contests. When I set out to win one, I always do. *With the exception of last time...I stopped trying to win tickets to see Mumford & Sons because my sister won (and took me)...I fully believe had I kept trying, I also would have won. 
5. I love to host parties and entertain...my dream home would include a ballroom. 
6. I turn 30 this year and it could not bother me less...you're only as old as you feel!
7. Every time I hear the number 7, I sing a little jingle in my head from an old game "sevvvven...lucky lucky seven". I'm weird. You know this.
8. I have an identical twin sister who is 4 minutes younger. I know what you're going to say. "How do we even know this is you blogging? How do we know it's not her?" You don't. But doesn't everyone love a blog with a little bit of intrigue? Now every time I post you'll wonder if it's really me....
9. I love trench coats. I have a black one, a tan one, a red one, and a green one. I know you're jealous. 
10. I love driving with my windows down so much that in the dead of the summer I will blast the AC with the windows open, or if it's cooler out I'll put the heat on. Yeah, not so efficient I know. 
11. I'm a professional sleeper. When I want to sleep, I do, and I do so solidly for 8-9 hours. On a nightly basis. I'm not going to lie, it's a glorious talent. 


My Questions from BeautifulChunk:

1. If you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go?
Ireland!!! I went to Dublin last year but I didn't get nearly enough, I want to go explore the entire countryside!
2. If you could buy anything and the price didn't matter, what would you get?
I'd definitely buy my dream home. Still working on the specifics, but see random fact #5 above. 
3. If you called in sick from work on a gorgeous day...what would you do?
I'd sleep, because if I called in sick it means I'm actually sick. I can't help it, I'm a rule follower. 
4. What is your favorite childhood memory?
When my parents took us to Disney World - it was one of the first times I felt really independent, we stayed in the park and there were shuttles to the Magic Kingdom, so my parents would let us go to the park with our older sister and they'd meet up with us later. 
5. What is your favorite joke?
Have you heard about the new corduroy pillows? They're making headlines!! 
6. What is your favorite social media app?
Facebook, though I often get yelled at for missing news on there. 
7. What is your current obsession?
It's probably too early to call it, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be Koko FitClub
8. What is your favorite piece of jewelry?
Pearl earrings
9. If you could recommend one piece of advice to someone, what would it be?
Life is too short to be unhappy - if there's something you don't like about your life than CHANGE IT! It's never too late!
10. What is your favorite color?
Blue
11. What is your dream job?
Picking the music that plays in tv shows and movies. I don't know what that's called, but I would dominate this. I did this for a few drama festivals I participated in in high school and I've actually won awards for my sound design. 

I'm changing the rest of the rules for this award for me, because admittedly I've been pretty bad at blogging lately and the only new blogs that I read these days actually already got hit with this award...so instead I'm turning the tables on you - help me find some new awesome blogs.... if you have a blog, leave me a comment with the link, or if there's a blog that you really love, send that too! Doesn't even have to be new!

Alright, this post ended up being a bit longer than anticipated, thanks for toughing it out til the end if you're still reading :-)

Monday, February 25, 2013

April DietBet Challenge!!

Friends, I've got a super fun challenge planned for April.

But first...as you'll notice from my weight-loss listed in the side bar, I'm having a hard time staying focused. Traveling is making it so much more difficult to establish a routine but I'm really trying hard! It's also making it a lot more challenging to blog as often as I used to, and for that I truly apologize.

Over the past 5 days I was dealing with either a nasty stomach bug or severe food poisoning, and I had a chance to do some reading of my favorite blogs (sorry for no comments, it's very difficult to type when you're not sitting up, and I was just in no shape to sit up)...and I discovered the coolest site from one of my new favorite blogs (lol I think I actually say this just about every time I post) - http://www.thiiirdly.com/

Anyway, it's a site called DietBet, and the premise is so simple and genius all at the same time that I can't even believe it wasn't created sooner. Basically you join a game, each game has a pre-set bet amount and lasts for 28 days. There are strict rules about how you weigh-in (sent privately through the website to a DietBet referee), and at the end of the 28 days if you lose at least 4% of your body weight (but not exceeding 12% because that is deemed unsafe), then you are a WINNER! Everyone who wins then splits the pot, which is made up of all of the bets. Simple!

My April DietBet Challenge!!!

I have just created a new game starting April 1 - I wanted to give a delayed start because I'm actually going to be participating in my first one in March, and I knew I'd want another to follow this one up.

Click here to sign up -> Erin's DietBet

This one has a starting bet of $50, and I know that may seem a bit steep compared to the other games, but here's my rationale - I want everyone to win. The higher the stakes are, the more likely people will be to hold themselves accountable.

The decision is yours and yours alone...

Do you, or do you not, want at least your $50 back when all is said and done?

If you believe in yourself, believe that you can stay motivated for 4 weeks and lose 4% of your body weight, then you will have no problem investing $50 that you know you'll get back. What do you have to lose??? I hope you all join me!!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

A fishy workout

First, sorry for my absence friends. I know a few people have been asking about me, the short of it is that some drama went down in my personal life last month and I let it distract me. Moving on though...

I live in Massachusetts, and this past weekend we got hit with a major snowstorm, Blizzard Nemo (yeah, they name our winter storms now just like hurricanes). Us New Englanders are used to snow but this one was definitely one for the record books. My town ended up being in the storm's "sweet spot", so when all was said and done we had over 2 feet dumped on us and snow drifts closer to 3+ feet. The Governor actually declared a driving ban on Friday at 4pm ordering everyone off the roads (or potentially face a year in prison and a $500 fine)...this was actually the first time in my lifetime anything like that has happened. Last time they had a driving ban was after the blizzard of '78. They finally lifted it yesterday at 4pm, but the roads still were less than perfect.

Yesterday was all about digging out. You think a Bob Harper kettlebell workout is hard? Try shoveling two feet of snow with nowhere to put it except on top of other piles of snow. Lots of lifting. The piles of snow in my neighborhood are just unreal. When I went to unbury my car, I actually couldn't even figure out where the front of it began, because the snow came up and over the front. Luckily for me, I parked under some trees so I was actually sheltered from a lot of it.




Anyway, today I am CRAZY sore from yesterday's Nemo workout. Definitely going to take today as a rest day before I get back into things tomorrow. Looks like I'll be doing a 5k next month, happy that I've got something I can focus on....still haven't gotten that sub-40 5k in yet and I'm thinking this next one could be it :-)


Sunday, January 20, 2013

No weigh-in this week

So typically I do my weigh-ins on Sundays but I didn't do one this morning and I've made the decision to skip it this week.

I've been out of town, I was in Charlotte Tues-Thurs, got home from Charlotte LATE Thursday night, got about 6 hours of sleep before I had to get up and get ready to hit the road. Spent 8 hours driving to Pennsylvania on Friday for a friend's wedding yesterday, and then another 6 hours in the car on the way home today.

Food choices were less than optimal for most of the weekend, because let's face it, sometimes when you're traveling the options are pretty limited and convenience has a tendency to win out. So sadly we had sonic on Friday and then McD's today...but at least today about 2 fries in I decided to just throw them out, I don't really like them enough to eat them.

Anyway, last night at the wedding I had a few drinks, so between that and all of the unusually salty foods I've been eating all weekend I feel crazy bloated. I've been drinking a lot of water, but I think I'll need to drink a lot more to get back to normal. So, since my typical weigh-in is Sunday AM and I wasn't even home for it, and because I'm pretty sure my weight is going to be thrown off anyway from this weekend, I've decided to just avoid the scale for another week.

You all know how it is, it's a mind game more than anything else. And when I boil it down, I ate well for the most part last week and I got in some great workouts...but I just have a feeling the number would be more representative of my salt than anything else so I'm just taking a week off as to not get discouraged.

May next Sunday bring great things!!!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Weighty sunday

Today weight is on my mind.

I used to have an old blog that was private (well, I shouldn't say private, but no one I KNEW knew about it). Somehow, sharing personal details such as my weight didn't seem daunting in a crowd of strangers. If anything it seemed more comforting, as I knew these strangers were all going through something similar to me.

Opening up my blog to my friends and family I find I don't talk about weight a lot. I'm still slightly embarrassed by it and not quite ready to actually OWN the number. So I'm not going to post my weight here...yet....but I'm making it a goal to get to a place this year where I can post it (and I don't even mean physically...this is entirely mental).

But that doesn't mean we can't talk numbers at all...in fact, I'm going to try to be more forthcoming with my successes and failures on the scale. I haven't done regular weigh-ins in a long time and I decided that this year I really needed to get back into it.

So Sundays are now my weigh-in day! I chose this day for two reasons-

1) I travel a lot during the week and I wanted to make sure I picked a day I could be consistent with
2) Weighing in on a Sunday forces me to make good decisions all weekend long too

I did my first weigh-in on Sunday December 30th. I didn't like what I saw, but I started working out regularly and eating better with the hopes to change it. For those that have followed me for awhile, I was up about 10lbs from when I had mono last year. Not really surprising, given that my activity level was significantly lower during that time, and I allowed myself to eat more "comfort" type foods when I was stuck home sick.

1 week later, Sunday January 6th, the scale found me .6 lbs HEAVIER. I was surprised and disappointed, but I wasn't discourage. I've been doing this long enough to know that sometimes the scale is not a good measure of success. So I just kept doing what I was doing, and was anxious to see what the scale brought me this morning.

But today....today is a good day. The scale finally decided to play nice. And a whole lot nicer than I was even expecting! Today I am down 5.6 lbs from last Sunday. I'm sure this is really results that span the last two weeks, but I will take it!!!