So, I check my email today and see that my new found friend, Christy has left a comment on my blog. Her comment tells me that she has a little something on her blog for me. So, I check it out and what I see is that she's left me this award for great attitude/gratitude. I have to say I'm excited because I'm still fairly new to this whole blogging thing, and well, who doesn't like awards? So, thanks Christy! It means a lot that you'd give me an award on my kinda simple blog!

Last week’s weight: 151.2
This week’s weight: 151.0

Ok, this is a surprise. It’s a loss, and that’s cool. I had my thoughts together to talk about how Mother Nature had sabotaged my weekly weigh-in. I’ve been bloated, crampy, and just plain grouchy. I was prepared to tell you how Mother Nature could kiss it for having my body from the waist down screaming bloody murder for the past few days, she says, “oh yeah? Watch this.” So yeah, I got nothing and instead I’m going to ask you to please read below.

To the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans:
I just wanted to inform you all, that on Saturday, I am taking the day off. My friends Jessie and Rachael are coming for a visit. It’s been a few months since we’ve seen each other, so Jessie’s driving 4 hours to my house, Rach is headed over, and we have designated Saturday as ADDD. What is ADDD you ask? Well let me tell ya. ADDD is an All Day Drinking Day. Due to stresses in our lives, we have decided that we need one day to hang out, catch up, and yes, drink…like alcohol…and lots of it. Think of it as a prelude to the Girls’ Cabin Weekend Extravaganza 2009 (see future post or ask me about it if you just can‘t wait). We are going to stick with some healthier than normal options here. We’re drinking lite beer, Crown with Coke Zero, and we’re even going to try our hand at some sugar-free margaritas! And on the menu we have chips and salsa, healthy spinach dip, and grilled chicken nachos. I am fully prepared to accept the consequences of this day. The calories are going to be higher than usual, and the hangover may be a bitch(ok, it will be a bitch). But for one day, I’m just not going to think about it.

I guess my point in writing this to you all is that I’m making myself accountable for my actions and telling you all will help keep me focused. I know I’m blowing this day off. I know we’re getting so close to the end of a challenge, but I NEED this day. It’s not so much about the food and drink as it is spending the day relaxing and blowing off steam with my friends. The food and drink are just a bonus for us. :o) I promise you and myself that I will make up this one day. I’ve planned to work in a few extra work outs and to be militant with my food until the next weigh-in. You all are a wonderful group of people, and I’m very grateful to have found you. So with all that said, the promise of ADDD lies ahead. You’re welcome to join us if you like!

Sincerely,
April

I hate to run. There I said it. If I‘m playing a sport, I‘m cool with running, but I’d rather poke my eye out than go for a run. Still, I love cardio. Other forms of working out like strength training, yoga or pilates are important and necessary in any fitness routine, but cardio is what I’ve heard some call the “icing on the cake” because it’s a big time calorie burner. And while I will go for a run on a rare occasion, I prefer to find other ways to burn calories.

Like I’ve said before, I’m a work out DVD kinda girl. But, I have also have a problem when it comes to most cardio DVDs. I get bored with them. The boredom may derive from different sources, too. It could be because the music sucks or the work out being too short or not challenging enough for me. Sometimes it’s because I’d really like to punch the trainer or the background people (ok, background people annoy me more). I can do these DVDs, but I have to space them out and really mix things up so I don’t throw my water bottle at the TV. So, when I got the chance to try out Turbo Jam’s Cardio Party Mix 1 a few months back, I was a bit excited but expected more of the same. I’d enjoy it at first, then I’d be annoyed.

And I was wrong. This is my favorite of all of my cardio work outs. For 40+ minutes you punch, kick, and dance(man, do I get down in my living room. Kidding. Sort of). The trainer, Chalene Johnson has broken the work out into segments (notice a pattern here?). You start out with a warm-up, then there are 3 segments broken down into 5+ minutes. By then end of these segments, you should have a nice sweat started. Then comes this little thing she calls Turbo. It’s 2 minutes of kicking your tail. By the end of Turbo, my water bottle is my best friend. Oh, but wait-you’re not done. There’s the recovery period, then the finale and finally, the cool down. Before you know it, the 40 minutes is up and you are soaked(well I am anyway). It’s the fastest 40 minutes of my day.

I’ve done this work out dozens of times, and I’m not at all bored with it. Chalene say’s “if exercise isn’t fun, you won’t do it”. And isn’t that so true? How many times have you sat and dreaded your work out because it just isn’t fun anymore? Well, this one is a lot of fun. Chalene is upbeat but not annoying, the music is decent, and the background people crack me up. I haven’t once had the desire to hit any of them.

I have no clue what to write about, so I thought I write a bit about me. I know it’s boring, but for now, it’s all I got. ;o)

I am 30 years old. In June, I will be 31. I’m fine with it. No 30-something age could be half as bad as my twenties were.

I grew up with 3 boys but I only have one sibling-a brother. My uncle and his family have always lived near us, so I grew up with my two cousins as well. (In fact on both sides of my family, I am one of only 4 girls. Out of 23 total kids.)

As a result of growing up with 3 boys, I know the ins and outs of most sports. I played basketball for 6+ years, but would have tried out for the football team had I been taller.

I love all things gadgets (another result of growing up with boys), including video games. I have 3 different game systems hooked up and ready to go in my house.

I own my own house. I’ve lived here for 4 and a half years. I’m quite proud that I own my own house, but if the electric company doesn’t quit ripping me off, I may have to sell my own house.

If I had it to do over again, I would have majored in biology and would have become a zoo keeper. I love animals…except when my parrot screams.

My drink of choice is beer. I am an equal opportunity beer drinker, although ambers are my favorite.

Right now, I hope that every person that is in charge of my electric bill has hemorrhoids.

I hope they keep those hemorrhoids until the lower my bill again.

I love kids, but am not sure I want one of my own. If I do have one, I’ve had names picked out since I was a teenager.

I’ve made it my life’s mission to spoil my almost 11 month old nephew rotten. I think I have a good start.

Ok, that’s all I got. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Another Wednesday has arrived and you all know what that means. We’re at Weigh-in Wednesday (#3 if you’re keeping count) of the Sisterhood’s Looking Fine for Valentine’s Challenge. Isn’t that just fun to say? Let‘s, everybody say it together-oh, come on, you know you want to! Better yet, if you haven’t yet, click on over and check the Sisterhood out!

Anyway, I have no clue how this weigh-in is going to go. Not really feeling at my skinniest this morning. And I totally blew it on Saturday. I did so good at dinner with friends. Before dinner, I checked out the restaurant’s menu on The Daily Plate’s website and picked out a few choices. I was prepared! And then, there was a suggestion. “Hey! Wanna go dancing?” With that, my calories were blown. And I felt terrible about it. But then the next day, I thought, what’s done is done. Let’s move on and focus one day at a time. Now, I’m just going to cross my fingers that the dancing I helped some.

Last week’s weight: 151.2
This week’s weight: 151.2

No loss, no gain. Ok, here are my thoughts on it. If there’s one thing that I have learned through all of this it’s that it isn’t reasonable to expect myself to completely give up certain things. If I try to give up those things, then I will most certainly fail at this. There are going to be times when I am going to completely blow it for the day. But I now know that the good days far outweigh the bad days. I have the strength inside me to say, “April, you blew it. Now what are you going to do about it?” I’m going to start over, eat right, work out, and just take it day by day. I have some real challenges the next couple of weeks and I can’t be certain that I won’t blow it all of those times. In fact, I know of a few times that I know I'm going to blow it. But I can promise myself that I will try to be mindful. And that’s just what I’m going to do. That's all any of us can do! :o)

So, this is how my morning went:

First, let me say that it’s a miracle for me to get showered, get dressed and get to work and not run into a wall(ok, sometimes I do). I don't always sleep well so sometimes I admit to being half asleep when I get ready.

This morning, I'm getting ready and hear the rain begin. Dangit, now I have to let the dogs in. So, to the back door I go. Kelci (the shepherd) nearly knocks me down as she's barreling through the door. Bayleigh (the spaniel) is jumping around like crazy. She's just thankful to be in the house. I head to the back of the house to finish getting ready. I'm alone in the bathroom. This means, Kelci is in her hiding place. Behind the bed. She knows that she's going to be in the house and crated. Yep. I'm going to be late for work. I finish getting ready, head to the front of the house to water and feed the birds.

Ok, now I must explain something here. For whatever reason, Cagney's (the parrot) first poop of the day is projectile. I kid you not, that bird can poop a good foot beyond her cage. I have a towel in front of her cage just to catch this first poop. So this morning, I'm walking back from changing her water, and I see she's hunkered down ready to launch. I stop in my tracks. I want to keep my distance here. READY! AIM! FIRE! As usual, the poop hits the towel, I get the towel up, give her the clean water, and go to my other bird. Now I notice that she keeps chuckling to herself. What's so funny? She chuckles again. Whatever, I need to go. I put Bayleigh in her crate, drag Kelci out from her hiding spot and to hers, and I'm on my way. I may not be late afterall. This isn’t too bad. Then, I notice something as I'm getting out of my car at work. I have a trail of bird poop from my knee to my foot on my left leg. I was a good two feet away from that cage! Jeez. Now I realize (or I suspect anyway) what Cagney was chuckling at. Happy Tuesday, Mama. Love, Cagney.

Around 9 months ago, I quit going to the gym. I loved the gym, but the one at work is now trying to accommodate something like 800 members with 7 cardio machines. So, I would head to the gym after work and have to wait almost an hour to get on a machine. Now, if you’re like me, you have your work out time scheduled. If it doesn’t get done within that scheduled time then it doesn’t get done, so waiting that long was messing with my routine and leaving me VERY frustrated.

That’s when I started adding more and more workout DVDS to my routine. I’ve tried a lot, and if I haven’t tried it, then it’s on my list to try. If you know me at all, you know that Jillian Michaels is one of my fitness heroes. I’ve heard her talk about interval training before and that if you wanted to burn the most amount of calories in the least amount of time, this is the way to go. So, imagine my delight this morning when my very own copy of her 30 Day Shred came into my possession. I couldn’t wait to get home to try it out.

The program offers 3 levels. Level 1 being the easiest, and level 3 being the hardest. If you’re just starting out, or if you’re really trying to follow the program, then I suggest starting at level 1. Since I’m only looking for a new work out to mix up my routine, and consider myself pretty fit, I decided to try level 3 first. Each level is very similar, though. One level is 20 minutes long and broken into 3 segments(she calls them circuits). You do 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio work, and 1 minute of ab work in each segment. I’ve done most of these exercises on other DVDs. So, they weren’t new to me, but I still found them challenging. Plus, I like how quick the pace is. You’re so busy jumping from exercise to exercise, you don’t really have time to think about how much you really hate that exercise. Ok, well you may still think about how much you hate that exercise, but soon the 20 minutes are up and you have a serious sweat going. There were a couple of things I didn‘t care for though. Being familiar with the P90X and Turbo Jam work outs, I’ve grown very accustomed to seeing how much time is left in your work out moving across the screen. That’s a nice feature that this work out lacks. Also, it was only 20 minutes. I admit it, I’m a little crazy. Unless I get 45 minutes to an hour of work out in, it’s hard for me to feel like I accomplished something. But it looks like reading online, that it does burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. (I'd like to test that with a heart rate monitor.) And Jillian has said that she designed this program for people on the go.

So, I’ll probably use this work out on days that life happens and I may not get a longer work out in. Because let’s face it, life happens. There are days when you just don’t have the time to get a super long work out in. Or you just don’t feel like working out. But seriously, this is JUST 20 minutes. That’s all. I mean, you can do anything for 20 minutes. Seriously, can’t you fit 20 minutes into your day to do something that is going to make you feel great in the long run? Sure you can! :o)