Rant On

Here is a quick rant I feel the need to have.

I am watching TV, an updating my blog, and I see the same commercial 4 times over the span of an hour. Which commercial you ask? Sensa.

Sensa is a product you sprinkle on your food and it helps you lose weight. WTF. I can't stand these commercials and these products. While it would be amazing to sprinkle some magic powder on your cheeseburger and lose weight, it doesn't work like that! Being healthy isn't about pumping your body full of synthetic products so it looks good on the outside. What do you think it looks like on the inside?

If you want to be at an appropriate weight and be HEALTHY you have to put the work in and trust me its harder than sprinkling some magic powder on your food. But in the long run you will be a better person for it. You will be healthier both inside and outside, with better habits and a sense of control of your life that you earned. You will grow.

Don't fall for the quick fix. We aren't entitled to anything we don't earn for ourselves, and there is no magic product that will make it all better. Instant gratification is just that, its is fleeting in a instant. Put the work in and get the results you earned! Besides, do we really have any idea of what we are putting into our bodies with these fake, man made products? Be smart people!!

Rant Over.
Emma

Thursday Morning Moment of Truth

Happy Friday!!
   So sorry I didn't get this out yesterday! I was super busy at work and then last night ended up hanging out with my friend Samantha for like 3 hours walking! I earned 19 activity points yesterday from running with my friend Shelby then walking 5 miles with Samantha! Go me!

Here's this week's weigh-in:

-0.2 lbs

Starting Weight: 162 lbs

Current Weight: 151.2 lbs

Total Weight Lost: 10.8 lbs

Not the best weigh-in ever, but a loss is a loss so I'll take it!

I feel like I was really complacent last week with WW. I didn't track AT ALL. The only working out I did was the 10k I ran Saturday morning, so only losing 0.2 lbs is not shocking. This week I have decided to be diligent with tracking and exercise. It's way to early for me to get comfortable, I still have 21.2 lbs to go till my goal! This is my pattern though, and I feel like in this process it is so important for anyone to find their patterns and break them! In the past I will lose 10 lbs (now) and then feel really good about myself and get comfortable, and before I know it I have gained it all back. I will slack on food choices cause ya know that one cheeseburger isn't going to kill my progress, but that mentality everyday will. 

Yesterday we went to eat and I really really wanted some french fries. Instead of giving in I broke down why i thought I wanted them. 1) I was starving! 2) They sound good 3) Broccoli sounded less than appetizing. The I started thinking about how I would feel afterwards 1) guilty 2) bloated 3) upset stomach

I decided the French fries weren't worth it at the restaurant and if I still wanted some when I got home I could make some baked fries in a more controlled setting where I would know the ingredients!

Come to find out as soon as I got done eating I was so glad i didn't get them cause the broccoli was really good and I felt great after lunch!

I think it is definitely fine to give in sometimes, but control where you do it! If you have to have something make it at home and control what goes into it! And if you do splurge (and you should in moderation!) don't over do it!

So we will see how next week goes. I am so ready to hit the 140s!!

Love,

 Emma

This Love

I hope everyone is having a FANTASTIC weekend!

Yesterday I took an 8 hour Turbo Kick instructor training class. That's right I said 8 HOURS. It was hosted by some friends/ sorority sisters of mine at our leisure services center, and the girl who came to "present" (teach) the material to us was from North Carolina. She works for Powder Blue productions Chalene Johnson's company!! For those who don't know Turbo Kick or Chalene Johnson I LOVE her. She is amazing and TurboFire is one of my favorite at home workouts! Check out the TurboKick website here TURBO

So, I went to this training because I am interested in becoming a Turbo Instructor myself! I love the workouts and the idea of bringing a great fitness program to others. To say the training wasn't stressful would be an understatement. I am not used to doing this level of exercise for this long, and I had a few moments where I thought I was going to cry (at one point I noticed the bottom of my foot had 1. got a blister and then 2. broke that blister and was bleeding). It was INTENSE. Here was the basic schedule of how the day went.

9-10 Intro, short discussion
10-1: Master's class workout program and Technique workshop (we just did in-depth turbo for 3 hours)
1-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:30 Discussion & Class
2:30-5 Technique, small group teaching, workouts!

So as you can see we had 2.5 hours of the day when we weren't working out!! I am SO SORE today, I woke up and could barely move, BUT it kinda feels amazing. I am also now Turbo Kick Instructor Certified! So overall, the day was hard, but I am so glad I did it and I am so excited to move forward as an instructor.

Let me just tell you too, Turbo Kick is typically not blood inducing! It's a no-contact high energy exercise routine that will leave you feeling fantastic and burn calories FAST. It is also usually only done for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, so the training is exceptionally intense, the workout is the best kind of intense to get you FIT.

Lovely friends and our GREAT instructor! This was at the end of the day as well, that's why I look like death.

So after I limped home from training, (I earned 30 WW activity points in 1 day) I jumped crawled into the shower and stood there for about 45 minutes. David came home to inform me he had made reservations for dinner for us at 7 at this super fancy restaurant in town called Mauricio's! I have always wanted to go here, how sweet is he? So I slowly got ready and we headed out to dinner. 

I didn't get to take any pictures at dinner (too fancy!), but it was fantastic. I used up most of those activity points and ate a seafood pasta in white wine sauce. SO GOOD. We also split tiramisu for desert, and I had 2 glasses of Riesling. What a great night we had! Oh and did I mention it's our 5 year anniversary?? I am so thankful to have such a great person in my life, I can't believe it's been 5 years!

So overall, my weekend so far has been pretty great, soreness aside. I am excited my best friend is coming in town tonight and tomorrow is Margarita Monday!! Since it is the first day of Spring Break, a few friends and myself who are still in town are getting together to hang out at the lake, drink margaritas, and have some fun! I'll be sure to take some pictures. 

Also, I am on day 4 of Weight Watchers and so far I really like the online system and the new points plus program much better than when I did it 2 years ago! We will see how the weigh in goes this Thursday :) I am kinda nervous!

Have a great Sunday!

Emma 

Mango Tree- Day 1

Well hey there...

Ready for this blog to take a new direction (or just be updated more than 3 times a year)? Well here we go!

So things have changed drastically, here's a quick run down and then we will get on to more pressing matters...
moved (again)
changed Grad schools (same program) and got a GA thats pays 100%
quit my job
live with the boyfriend

OK so since I'm a full time student now I have been studying A LOT, and in my time I have had more time to contemplate my direction of study. Mental Health Counseling with a component of Art and let's throw in another with Nutrition. I am really really interested in the mental aspect of nutrition and physical health and the influence that creative expression and what we put INTO our bodies has on our mental health. So I have been reading and researching, and the other day I had an epiphany.

I was reading about mindfullness, self-determintaion theory, and mindfullness based intervention strategies for overweight client populations... and BAM there it was. How am I supposed to work with the same population that I fall into? Trying to help them change their behavior without changing mine? Not practicing what I preach? Ignoring all of the things I know? yep... ouch that one hurt.

So here I am, passionate about health, but yet still not quite there myself. After some thought and reflection I think it comes down to this. In order to help others, I must first help myself.

Does this mean be skinny? NO. I don't want to be skinny!! I am curvy and I wanna keep it that way, but moving into a healthy weight range, sticking to the healthy eating habits that make me feel better, and putting quality into my body, that's what this is all about along with exercise and healthy life habits. As much as it will end up being a life lesson, it is also a social experiment using myself as a guinea pig.

So what exactly will I be doing? Today starts DAY 1 of a 3 day shakeology cleanse. This is going to be beneficial for many reasons
1) I drank WAY to much beer and ate WAY to much fast food over the weekend
2) I have depleted my nutrition and water intake (see #1)
3) I need a jump start to vamp up some energy and get the crap out

So for the next 2 days I will be doing the following

Trust me, it's as hard as it looks. I am weirdly starving and energized at the same time. Also I pee a lot. 

Then after my 3 day cleanse, I start Weight Watchers on Thursday! I am pretty excited about this for lots of reasons, but mostly because even though I am overweight, I do eat much healthier than I used to, I just really need some structure and accountability. Nothing is good for you in mass quantity even fruit, and definitely not cake. I looked a bunch of different options and decided this would be best for me. 

I will also be starting weigh-ins on Thursday as a part of the program, and for the sake of self-disclosure I will be posting my weight each week for you to see. I hope this will serve multiple functions including keeping me accountable and readers intrigued and coming back for more!

So here we go, day 1 of my social/ self/ nutrition/ mental health experiment. I'll be posting pretty much everything I go through as well, for the mental health aspect of this. So keep reading if your interested, and if not I have some much more interesting websites listed at the top of the screen ;)  

Till tomorrow,

  Emma