Here It Goes Again

In almost all of the titles of my other blog (Finding the Comfort Zone) I use lyrics to songs. One of these days I'll go through all of the past entries and credit the songs

I mention this because in this blog, I rarely do unless I KNOW what song I want to do. Today, it's OK Go's "Here It Goes Again." (video here!)

Last night I was spending my last few waking moments looking up the band's videography and was having a great time You Tube'ing the videos. Most of the songs were so upbeat and catchy, I decided today's playlist was going to be just their stuff and I would vary my pace accordingly. I must say, it worked rather well.

Today's workout was only 15 min (plus the walk time to the gym and back, which is basically just a warm up/cool down), but I wanted to do at least a little instead of none at all. My result:

Shake of the day:
-Strawberry Shakeology
-Vanilla Special K To Go
-Frozen strawberries
-Banana
-Spinach cube
- 1/2 c coffee

Just a short entry today to keep me honest, engaged and from thinking of the bug that was crawling on my neck for who knows how long until I flicked it off thinking it was sweat. **shudder**

A mix of something I love and something I hate

I hate. HATE. HATE working out. I really do. I find very little enjoyment. So, I force myself to find some enjoyment in the process by making playlists for my iPod. I've looked over suggestions from Pinterest and I've thrown in some of my personal touches and here's what I've come up with - and please forgive me for not going through the tedious labor of proper capitalization. (Incidentally, these playlists are what I also play while cleaning, another thing I hate.)

Playlist #1: "Get Up and Move" (1hr, 34 min)

Rhythm is going to get you - Gloria Estefan
Bizarre love triangle - New Order
Just can't get enough - Depeche Mode
How will I know - Whitney Houston
Get outta my dreams - Billy Ocean
Sports & wine - Ben Folds Five
Save a horse (ride a cowboy) - Big & Rich
I like it, I love it - Tim McGraw
Into the groove - Madonna
What I like about you - The Romantics
Jump around - House of Pain
Rock your body - Justin Timberlake
Alone - Robin Thicke
Party rock anthem - LMFAO
I gotta feeling - Black Eye Peas
So what - Pink
Dance, dance - Fall Out Boy
All my life - Foo Fighters
Lust for life - Iggy Pop
Man, it's so loud in here - They Might Be Giants
Are you gonna be my girl - Jet
Higher ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Long time - Boston


Playlist #2: "More Get Up and Move" (1hr, 7 min)

Behind these hazel eyes - Kelly Clarkson
Blurred lines - Robin Thicke
Boom boom pow - Black Eyed Peas
Don't stop the music - Rihanna
Don't phunk with my heart - Black Eyed Peas
Good vibrations - Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
Hey mamma  - Black Eyed Peas
Rumour has it - Adele
When i grow up - Pussycat Dolls
Hate to say I told you so - The Hives
Last nite - The Strokes
Walk this way - Aerosmith
Harder, better, faster, stronger - Daft Punk
Jumping, jumping - Destiny's Child
We built this city - Starship
In da club - 50cent
We got the beat - Go-Go's


Playlist #3: "Sweat" (1hr, 4 min)

Addicted to love - Robert Palmer
Holiday - Madonna
Drum trip - Rusted Root
Ecstacy - Rusted Root
Send me on my way - Rusted Root
Good time - Owl City (Carly Rae Jepsen)
Break my stride - Matthew Wilder
The middle - Jimmy Ear World
Weapon of choice - Fatboy Slim
Ray of light - Madonna
All she wants to do is dance - Don Henley
Little rock - Reba McEntire
Under pressure - David Bowie and Queen
Dreams - The Cranberries4
SOS - Rihanna
Word Crimes - "Weird Al" Yankovic


Playlist #4: "Workout" (1hr, 35 min)

Groove is in the heart - Dee-Lite
Emotions - Mariah Carey
Ain't no other man - Christina Aguilera
Gettin' jiggy with it - Will Smith
I want you - Savage Garden
Unbelievable - EMF
Two princes - Spin Doctors
One week - Barenaked Ladies
What is love - Haddaway
Believe - Cher
Eye of the tiger - Survivor
Any way you want it - Journey
Stuck in the middle with you - DaVinci's Notebook
Break on through - The Doors
Edge of seventeen - Stevie Nicks
Carry on my wayward son - Kansas
Wake me up before you go go - Wham
Girls just want to have fun - Cyndi Lauper
Footloose - Kenny Loggins
Walking on sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
Flashdance - Irene Cara
(If you're wondering if I want you to) I want you to - Weezer
Start me up - Rolling Stones
Raise your glass - Pink
Since you been gone - Kelly Clarkson



With Playlist #1, I spent 15 minutes on the elliptical and 18 minutes on the treadmill. My results on the treadmill (I forgot to snap a pic for the elliptical):

Today's shake of choice:

Strawberry Shakeology

Vanilla Kellog To Go

Banana

Frozen raspberries

Spinach

Key Lime yogurt

Onto the rest of my day!

Got to (re)start somewhere

Inspiration. Motivation. Perspiration,

Over 4 years ago I started this blog to lose the baby weight. It's fluxed, but for the most part, weight hasn't done much than sit there. And sit and sit and sit. But, that's mostly because I sat and sat and sat.

Well, this year I decided not on a New Years resolution, but a slow and painful reshaping of my mindscape. My goal will always be to put my family first. Not myself, but my family. But the more I realized that this will only happen from the inside out, I decided that there were a couple of fundamentals I needed to tweak.

I am a fairly confident person, but somewhere over the years I had it in my mind that I was comfortable in not putting myself out there. Over the past year, I've made strides to change this. There were some opportunities that would have had Susan-of-8-years ago say, "that's a headache I don't want, so 'no'." But now, I've decided for a lot of the things I have the initial thought of turning down, I'll stop and think and then make myself say yes.

Take the fashion show I just did last night. A few months ago when we first heard of this in its planning stages, I knew they wanted models, but I was going to volunteer my time as stage manager so that I didn't have to be in front of people. All 150lbs of me. (I miss the 125lb Susan, but that was in another lifetime.) So, when I spoke to the lady in charge, I found myself saying I'd be a model. And it felt alright.

I'm not going to lie - I'm looking at the pictures this morning and I'm cringing. In the realm of comparing fruit to body-type, I'm a combination of pear and apple. Or a slightly triangular watermelon.

Now, for those who are not used to my tone, I don't go to humor to be coddled. It's to amuse me while I reflect. I don't need the automatic "don't say that" or even advice. I just talk this way to get through my thoughts =)

So, why am I saying 'yes' to the things I wouldn't usually even consider? Because no matter what body type, I have to be ok. I have to act ok. I have to show my daughter that beautiful is confidence, kindness and the ability to make others feel at home. Even make myself feel at home in this body.

But, I can't just be ok with always having it in the back of my mind that I *should*:
-work out
-eat right
-treat myself better

I have to do. There is no try. (Thanks, Yoda)

I've made playlists, I've Pinterest'd, I've walked to the gym and stepped for 25 minutes. And I'll make myself go to the gym again tomorrow.

I used to not being able to move smoothly because of my arthritis. Well, that's manageable now. I used to just be depressed and a bit of a shut in. That's being managed, too.

I'll be adding the various smoothie/protein drink recipes here of what I'm drinking while typing this. Why? So that I can remember what I made and to see if I like it ;p

4/15 :
-white-cran-strawberry
-1/3 frozen raspberries
-1/3 blackberries
-3 cubes frozen pineapple juice.


Now I sign off with the song that's playing on my playlist and pray I do another good job of keeping at it tomorrow.

"....everyday I'm shufflin'"

Trying to start a new ritual

I made a new purchase on Amazon the other day. I bought this bike and it arrived yesterday. I read the reviews and checked out other sites to make sure this was a good buy, of course, and I found it funny that one of the Amazon reviews mentioned the complexity of assembling the bike. I thought, 'eh, can't be that bad' and then I saw this:

Ok, so that is a little crazy.

But, it looks worse than the actual action of putting it together and I was able to get it done and test it to make sure I wasn't going to fall onto ouchy metal while I'm trying to get a good sweat going.

Finished product.

So, tonight I gave it a whirl. But first, I was distracted by Violet who had a very congested nose and was crying because she was having trouble breathing, and as I was waiting out another 5 minutes before going to get her, I received a phone call from my sister who was a little bit stranded with a dead car battery. Since Vi was already awake, I grabbed her, went to the parking lot and helped the Roses out.

By the time I came back, used the nasal bulb on Violet and rocked her to calmness, I sat back on the bike and flipped on Jeopardy. I figured I would get warmed up during the segment before the first commercial break, and keep it to the next highest setting for the rest of the show.

It worked out pretty good, though I would LOVE to know if the calorie burning counter was at all accurate. If it was, hot diggity, I'm really happy with the purchase. But I have a feeling that it may be a bit more generous than accurate.

Pin it down!!

Oh, and btw, I'm trying to be 'productive' in my newest time-suck. Pinterest, which is a super-mindless-fun-activity to do while watching tv (since I don't have a husband to talk to during shows), is giving me ideas much like what I used to rip out of magazines for workout ideas. Starting next week, I'll be implementing some of these routines, however I will have to YouTube several exercises, like trying to find out what a "Russian Twist" is.

My "Workout" Pinterest board

My hatred of exercising < My hatred of looking chunky in pictures

I have done 4 days of workouts. The first day was before Violet got out of her crib in the morning and again during her morning nap. The second through fourth day was only in the time before getting her in the morning. (Though, today is the fourth day and I want to try to get another workout in during her afternoon nap.)

And, man, the Ab Fat Burner workout I did yesterday morning was weird. I couldn't get ANY of the moves right and kept flubbing. And today, the tops of my thighs hurt enough to make it difficult to walk up and down stairs while carrying Violet and my abs are not in pain at all. I think I did something wrong there....

Inspiration and encouraging words

Here's me spot-blogging once again. July was a super crazy month that allowed me to spend 12 days with Scott (more on that on the other blog just as soon as I sit down and write it!!), which also meant a whole month at my Mom's place, where the word 'no' has zero meaning.

I've weighed myself this morning at 137.8 pounds. I've been pretty much at that standstill for a month and a half and I need to get off this plateau. My goal is to lose another 10 pounds and I would LOVE to do this for Tara's wedding (and directly following that, my trip to Greenland). That means I have all of August and all of September.

Can I do this? I hope so!! Not quite like the "Bob the Builder" song, but that's why I need your words of encouragement!!