2 Month Challenge

Over the past few weeks I have noticed that I am incorporating more soda in my diet than I care to actually drink. I realize how bad soda is for a person and the amount of sugar they put in it is ridiculous. It is so crazy that they do not even tell you on the label how much sugar is in it. Not to mention the fact that aspartame is not the best ingredient of the drink because of the negative health affects it has for your body. 

I spent the weekend on Long Island because my cousin got married on Saturday. I was sitting at the kitchen table Sunday morning eating candy from the candy bar she had the day before. Then it struck me, as I was staring at all the different kinds of candy. I need to throw a challenge in for myself to test how well I can stand up and if I can motivate myself enough to stop some bad habits.

Here is my challenge; for the next two months, everyday that I do not drink soda I am going to eat a Hershey kiss. I have enough for the next two months or until the last day in August. I may even challenge myself not to drink soda for a whole year to see if I can do it. Self discipline and motivation will be on my side I think, but it will be for sure an interesting challenge. 

☺Ashley☺

Happy Fitversary!

You read it right, Happy Anniversary to me!! As a side note, this should have been posted on Wednesday, June 19, 2013. I am so excited and happy to have been on this journey for a year already. There are so many things I have learned about my body and mind in the past year that I find myself in awe every time I take a step back and reflect on it all. It started with a number of things coming together and really hitting me all at once. My graduation pictures show a happy person to be graduating college but a skinny girl waiting to come out and show the world all she has and more. It took me a month to wrap my mind around the fact that I was going to start a journey with the possibility of failure but at that point in time failure was certainly not an option. It still is not an option. 

Loseit! has been the easiest app for me to lose weight ever. I thought after failing at Weight Watchers, I would never find something so easy but I did and it is now part of my daily life. I am in no way perfect but even with my cheat days I have lost a lot of the weight.

This past year has seen many milestones that I never thought I would see in my wildest dreams. First 25 lbs, then 50 lbs and finally being under 200 lbs for the first time since I was 12. These are no small accomplishments or feats and they have showed me that I can do whatever I put my mind to as long as I am open and willing to challenge myself. As of this morning I am down a grand total of 65 lbs in one year! I am baffled at how well I have done over the year and continue to do. 

It is not appropriate for me to take all the credit during the journey though. There are countless people on the web and in real life who are constantly cheering me on and encouraging me to continue to get healthier and stronger. 

• Thank you to all those who follow my blog, interacting with you and gaining your support has meant so much to me. That includes Amy, Kari and Julie! You girls are all inspirations to me through your blogs. You all get major kudos. 
• Thank you to all my gym friends who are constantly with me in my journey. To Danae, Sue, Donna, Laura and everyone else. You all push me in ways I never thought possible. To work harder when exercising, to rejoice in the victories and pay no mind to the little hiccups in my journey.
• Thank you to my Marianist family. Each time I go down to the Cape, I see people who have not seen me in a while and comment on how far I have come and how far I continue to go. Andrea, you are certainly my rock down at the Cape, my advisor and one of my biggest supporters. You always lend an ear to me when I need it and are willing to go above and beyond to ensure that I am ready food wise for my stints at the Cape. You are always willing to accommodate me and my needs. So thank you!
• Thank you to my friends who provide me constant support through words and actions. The ones who tell me that food is really bad so that I convince myself not to eat the food. To Regina who has provided me countless recipe books that I took recipes from and am constantly trying. I am set for the next year with recipes, that is for sure. To Suzanne, one of my closest friends who I can text when I need someone to talk to and who can talk me through pretty much anything. You remind me every day of the beauty I possess and I thank you for that. 
• To Stevie, you have been a blessing and continue to enrich my life with all your knowledge and encouragement to do things I never thought I would or could do. Never did I think I would go and try to become a personal trainer. It has inspired me to go back and get my nutrition certification! Lastly, thank you to my two biggest supporters Arlene and Rich. They are both my rock and constantly look out for me. When I need advice I go straight to them because they always have the best non-biased advice. I know they are so proud of me when they share my story and the smiles on their faces. I certainly could not have faced so many of my fears head on without you two. I was also encouraged to try new foods that I never thought I would ever try in my life and actually enjoy. It has been and continues to be a fun journey with you two. So thank you.

I thought it fitting to recap the past year in pictures. So followed are two sets of pictures that speak more to my year than anything else I could say or do. Thank you to everyone who has followed and continues to follow this blog. Here is to another great year with new challenges and hopefully to hitting goal this coming year!

☺Ashley☺

Front view from June 2012 until June 2013

Side view from June 2012 until June 2013

Summer Exercise Routine

I decided that I should share my exercise routine especially with summer upon us and I do not work. I am excited because I have added some new classes which are mostly Les Mills programs into the mix and am trying a new class over the weekend.

Monday:

• Body Pump: 1 hour workout that uses weights to tone the different muscle groups of the body. You can set your bar to what you are comfortable lifting. I love the thrill and personal feeling of accomplishment when the workout is done. (Average calorie burn: 300)
• Cx Worx: 30 minute workout that focuses on tightening and toning the core by using weights, resistance bands and your own body weight. A great challenge for the core and pushes you to places you have never pushed your body before. (Average calorie burn: 100-200)

Tuesday:

• Cx Worx: 30 minutes (see above)
• Zumba: 1 hour workout that incorporates different styles of songs into a continuous flowing workout. I love the fact that this workout can be repetitive of steps and therefore the songs are easy to pick up on. The instructor is very engaging and the people within the class become like family. (Average calorie burn: 500)

Wednesday:

• Body Pump- 1 hour (see above)
• Zumba- 1 hour (see above)

Thursday:

• Cx Worx- 30 minutes (see above)

Friday: OFF
Saturday:

• Body Pump- 1 hour (see above)
• Body Combat- 1 hour workout and I will let you know how it goes. It looks like an intense workout from what I have seen.

Sunday:

• RPM- 45 minutes of spinning that includes different intervals throughout each song. This includes up hill climbing and racing each other while going at your own speed with your own resistance. It is a great workout to increase endurance and improve the heart and lungs. (Average calorie burn: 500)

These are certainly my favorites from the gym and I try to interchange them as much as the schedule allows. I hopefully will be adding Body Combat to my list of favorites but only after Saturday will I be sure. Also, just a note that my workout regime only increases as I continue to lose weight because I know that it will be harder to lose weight if I continue the same workout regime.

The summer is a perfect opportunity to change up your workout routine. What are you going to try that is new?

☺Ashley☺

BMI

So you walk into the doctor's office and the first thing they do is get you on the scale. You think to yourself holy crap, I should not have eaten that donut this morning or maybe I should have worn clothes that were not so heavy. The scale is not going to be in my favor and then I am going to have the reign of fear put in me by my doctor. Those are some perfectly logical thought processes that everyone goes through when stepping on the dreaded scale. Then the doctor stands there and moves the bars over until he finds the correct reading of first the hundreds and then tens when the balance beam stops leaning to one side. Hop off and then you are on the way to sitting and listening to the lecture ensue.



One of the first things the doctor looks at is where your weight and height measures on the Body Mass Index chart. Then from there, he/she tells you what category you have been thrown into based on those two things that are used across the world regardless of your body-type, muscle mass, or body composition. So in essence, it is a useless chart that doctors use to try and make you feel like crap and it works nine times out of ten. 

I think it is important for a person to note that there are actually six different levels to a BMI chart as opposed to the four that are normally shown.

• Underweight: 16.5-18.5
• Normal: 18.5-25
• Overweight: 25-30
• Obese Class 1: 30-35
• Obese Class 2: 35-40
• Obese Class 3: < 40

Of course you want to try and stay in the normal range but these days, staying in the normal range is very tough and often not doable because that is how a person can begin to look anorexic or sickly. My friend is about the same height as I am and looks like she is of normal weight but because she is 2 lbs heavier than she should be she is classified as Overweight. Imagine going in to the doctors office and hearing that you are in that category because of two measly pounds!

I am sharing all of this with you because with my being under 200 lbs now, I have decided to focus on the number on the scale and the BMI chart. Not because I think it is the best way of measuring what I should be at but because it is another way to track where I have been and where I am in my journey at that particular moment in time. It also helps to remind myself that my journey is not over and although I may look good and people tell me I do not need to lose any more weight, in reality I do because I need to get down to where I feel comfortable and a weight that is medically acceptable. 

The picture to the right is one that I have on the backside of my bedroom door. When I wake up in the morning, and go to open the door, I see this every day and have a constant reminder of where I have been and where I am going. This part of my journey is all logic and that is where the BMI scale comes in. For me, it is logic. I started my journey last year at a BMI of 41.6 and sitting in the Obese Class 3. As of yesterday morning, my BMI was 31.5 and I now sit comfortably in the Obese Class 1. If you are not a math person, that means I have dropped 10.1 BMI points within the last year and two categories. I think that is pretty impressive for anyone. 

So the next time I make a trip to the doctor and I am being read the riot act for being in the obese category for BMI, I will just nod and smile. I know where I have been and where I am headed. This girl has a lot of work to do that the scale could not tell the doctor even if it wanted to. It could not tell the tale of a girl who started out at a BMI of a 41.6 or of having such determination and focus that said doctor is only meeting me in the middle of my journey, no where close to being finished. But it is okay, because one day very soon I will no longer be one of those obese statistics that everyone cringes over. I will be overweight and then "normal" and proud of the hard work and the long journey it took me to get there.

☺Ashley☺

Fever

I started feeling really bad on Wednesday. My head was bothering my and my sinuses felt like they were going to burst! So I decided to call out from subbing and stay home to sleep which certainly helped. Over the past two days, my head has gotten better but the rest of my body has not caught up with me improving. I went to work this morning and made it through 1 hour and decided I needed to go home because there was no way I could make it. I totally ended up sleeping the day away. I really needed it but the fever has not broken yet so I am hoping that with a fan, Motrin and a cold package of green beans on my head, the fever will go away.

I decided to Google ways to break a fever since I have not had one in years or have not paid attention to it when I do have a fever. I am so not a fan of going to doctors especially after some experiences I had as a children and being misdiagnosed without blood tests. So here are some simple ways to break a fever at home that I have been using and things I did not know about.

1. Have a thermometer that actually works. I needed my mom to go out and buy me a real one that works.
2. Drink plenty of water. They say a good rule of thumb is 13 cups for adult men and at least 9 cups for adult women.
3. Starve a fever- Something new I learned is if you eat food rich in zinc and iron, you are only helping to feed the fever. Go with bland foods such as jello, chicken noodle soup and ice pops.
4. Eat fresh pineapple- It has natural anti-inflammatory properties that aides in digestion and can curb a fever.
5. Drink tea- The four best are catnip (similar to a sleep aide), echinacea tincture (anti fungal properties), lettuce (from the fridge, one piece in hot water for 15 minutes ) or raisin tea (1 c raisins to 7 c. water; drink 1/2 c. at a time). 
6. Use cold packs for the forehead. Generally it is 10-20 minutes on and then leave off for at least 30 minutes. I grab whatever is in the freezer that can mold to my head when putting it on.

Try to make the best of your fever and get plenty of rest! I have been sleeping my life away the past few days but it is all worth it if the fever goes away.

☺Ashley☺

June Goals

The months seem to be cruising right along these days. It is already June and I have no idea where May went off to. So many great things happened in May, I did not hit all my goals but that is okay because the way the month went, I would not have had it any other way. I think the biggest thing I took away from last month is that it is not as important to lose huge amounts of weight as it is about the experimenting and trying of new foods/exercises to change up the routines. So if I do not drop 5 lbs this month, who cares? I have lost a combined total of 61 lbs in the last year and that is a huge success for me. The weight loss will slow down eventually and I am more than okay with that. 

Inspired by many of the blogs I follow, I have decided to start posting monthly goals at the beginning of the month starting with.... you guessed it June!

1. Come up with at least 3 Non Scale Victories for the month.
2. Try 1 new exercise class.
3. Enjoy my vacation in Cape May and bike ride while down there.
4. Make 3 new dinner recipes and at least 1 new desert/candy recipe.
5. Exercise at least 4 times a week.
6. Track daily and stay under budget except on weigh in days (Saturdays).

It is never too late to come up with goals for the month. What are your goals for the month of June?

☺Ashley☺