Here comes the boom!!!

Famous workout words: If you look CUTE after your workout, then you WEREN'T working out hard enough. - Chalene Johnson


The challenge has begun! Kathy has joined me in a 4 week workout/eat clean challenge, I found the challenge while browsing on the beachbody message board but modified it a little bit to apply to us.

We started on Saturday April 25 and it will last until Saturday May 23. Our rules are that we have to work out 6 days a week, eat clean 6 days a week, and keep each other updated daily on what we are doing. We are allowed one cheat day/meal a week.

For my first day I did ChaLEAN Extreme (I just ended week 2 of the Lean Phase). My workout was the Fat Burn Challenge and then Recharge. I loved the Fat Burn Challenge! Coach Johnson kicked my butt!! The video was a little over 30 minutes and I didn’t realize until I was stretching that I was soaking wet with sweat, it was literally rolling off my face. I took a picture after because I am always proud when I’m drenched. :) That was definitely a good way to kick off this 8 days of straight workouts, Sunday is my first rest day.



Today is day 5. I did Lean 2 and then went over to Kathy’s house and did Cardio Party 3 with her and Jola. It was an intense day!! I’m proud I’ve stuck to all the workouts I wrote on my calendar, and let’s just say I did not go easy on myself whatsoever. But working out isn’t my problem, it’s the eating.

I did already eat my “cheat meal” for this week on Monday because Mat asked me to go to Applebee’s. I told him for the next 3 weeks he can’t ask me to dinner anymore. Other than my one allowed cheat meal I have been doing really well and sending Kathy my updates.
I’ll let you know how we do along this journey.

Give it a shot!

Just give it a shot! Try everything once. Why not? That was what I told myself when I went shooting at the gun range for the first time with Spiro in December. It was fun! I’m not going to lie it was loud, which I shortly got used to. I still think, no matter how many times I go, I’ll jump on the inside when the people around me are shooting. My nerves will never completely go away; I think this is because I know in the back of my mind what guns are capable of doing. Anyway, the first time I went I was the only girl in the range and got a lot of encouragement from the old men around, I was “really good for a girl.” I’ll take the compliment, even if it was just for a girl. ;)

Today I went to the shooting range again with Spiro and this time Jola, this was my second time. My girl Jola has killer aim for the family jewels of our paper bully, so boys you better watch out! I’m proud of myself as well. :) You do feel like a badass when you are firing a gun, I'll tell you that much.

I don’t ever see myself as a girl owning a firearm; it still makes me nervous to see guns, even in the movies. But it’s something I can cross off the “to-do” list of life.

So try everything that comes your way! Whether it's shooting a gun, an exercise DVD, eating broccoli, whatever!! If you don't need up loving it at least you're left with a story to tell. :)

"Try everything once, except folk dancing and incest."
— Sir Thomas Beecham

Happy Anniversary!

HAPPY 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY MAT! <3

It seems like yesterday we were throwing marshmallows at each other across the table in Jill’s backyard or watching endless scary movies on the separate beds in my room. Now years later I count on him for more than he knows. Thanks for being my rock! He is one hell of a guy. I have forced him into watching 5 seasons of One Tree Hill and doing a Turbo Jam workout, and he stuck around! I am one lucky gal. Love you babe. <33

“To the world you may be one person but to one person you may be the world.”

Bye bye bad vices!

Hello! I’m sitting at my house right now waiting for Pamela to come over so we can go for a run because it is beautiful outside! It’s currently 66 degrees, with a high of 73. It was snowing last week people, we need to embrace it! I just ran around my room taking pictures, I wanted to show you what I was working with.

I recently read somewhere that you have to equally BRING IT in the kitchen as you do with your weights, cardio, running, biking, whatever it is that makes you happy. Well this is a NO DUH moment for everyone, I’m sure. But really it’s much easier said than done.

This month in Shape (which I’m a faithful subscriber too!) there “Mantra of the Month” really hit me; I cut it out and put it up on my mirror:

“I won’t trade short-term pleasure for long-term gain.”- Deep down you know what’s best for you. But sometimes when a fudge brownie calls your name or Mr. Afraid of Commitment wants to give it another try, you act on impulse and make a not-so-good-for-you choice. This can leave you with a bulging belly or broken heart. The next time you crave something that could cause you grief, ask yourself, “Is this good for me?” as opposed to, “Does this feel good?” Remember that your happiness in the long run is what’s most important. – Jared Matthew Weiss

Okay I LOVE working out, yes I have my weak moments where I convince myself that I can take a day off, or two, or three! Ah!! But for the most part I am here at least five (normally six) days a week eeking it out. When girls ask me for advice on losing weight I tell them “keep a food journal.” I noticed that when Kathy & I share our food journals with each other (via facebook) I eat much better than when I keep it too myself. However, I’m not going to lie I will tell her when I screw up and eat three brownies & drink a small Iced Capp (such as last Tuesday). Now those definitely were short-term pleasures that did not help my long-term gain. :( Enough with the bullshit! I even have Mat in my life saying, “Now Chalene wouldn’t be happy with that!” Who the heck taught him to talk to me that way? Oh yeah, I did, bad idea.

I started reading Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, I haven’t finished it yet, I didn’t know it was a completely vegan book so that caused me to slow down a little bit, but for the most part the ladies speak the truth:

“Okay. Use your head. You need to get healthy if you want to get skinny. Healthy = skinny. Unhealthy = fat. The first thing you need to do is give up your gross vices. Don’t act surprised! You cannot keep eating the same shit and expect to get skinny” (11).

Wow, simple as that. Bye bye gross vices!

Today I got sucked into Kim Kardashian’s blog when I saw a Yahoo! News story reporting that Kim wants a six pack by summer. But I saw that she posed “Muscle & Fitness Hers” and on her blog she said, “Why is it that the top part gets ripped first and the lower part is sooo hard to tone up!? I am determined to have a six pack by summer!” Ain’t that the truth honey! I hear you Kim. She seems honest about it so I hope she does it.

Okay enough random rambling, Pamela needs to hurry up and save me from myself over here.

Hope you have a great day!! :)

Results

Like I promised I would give an update on the fasting. I’m sorry to report, I didn’t make it. :( I was doing great when I was at home (for two of the “meals”) but once I came home from work I was light headed and needed to eat.
In the Start Guide, which comes with the formula, they talk about what could happen if you exercise well drinking this stuff, “Take things slowly and relax. Keep in mind that you won’t have a lot of fuel and stand a very good chance of “bonking” (a term that describes what happens when you run out of blood sugar while exercising).” I think that working in the restaurant on a crazy Friday night during Lent would out-do some people’s exercise regimes!
I decided not to give up though and plan to retry when school gets out, which is in a couple weeks!
I got some really good questions about the formula from Shelly so I figured I would answer them here too-

How does it taste? It tastes okay, not as delicious as a chocolate shake but not as bad as a protein shake.

Do you mix it with milk or water? Water. Three times a day (replace breakfast, lunch and dinner) you mix one scoop with 8 oz of water. Between the shakes you can drink water also.

Does it make you poop a lot? I thought it would have a lot more considering it said that it was a cleansing & detoxification product. But again I only used it to replace two meals, so I’ll be able to answer that better next time. I did notice I peed more though, but that’s from all the liquids.

Does it make you weak or does that come from not eating? Personally, I think just because I went to work on an empty stomach that I felt weak. Otherwise I feel like I would have been able to do it with no problem if I just “relaxed” at home.


Also my order from Patagonia came in! I was so excited when I saw the UPS box on my front porch!! I got two pairs of yoga pants, one zip up fleece for Mat and I, and a skirt/dress. All the clothes are form fitting and all of their clothes are made from recycled products, thumbs up! :)

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The Scoop

Hey everyone! I’m here to let you know what’s new right now.

I bought the 2 day fast formula in chocolate from beach body a couple weeks ago and decided today would be a good day to start. You are supposed to do it when you aren’t working out and just staying at home, yeah right, that would be never! So today and tomorrow I’m just going to drink the formula and go to work, no work outs. :( So far I’ve drank one this morning, I’ve got two more times to go. I also have some orange juice ready just in case I start feeling lightheaded. I’ll let you know how this works out tomorrow.

I just recently got to borrow Hip Hop Abs, which I was excited about. I did the first two workouts, AB Sculpt and Fat Burning Cardio, with Kathy on Monday. Shaun T. is a very entertaining guy but other than that the workout was not nearly as great as Turbo Jam. I did the moves full out, Tilt, Tuck & Tightening my abs as I moved, and was really anticipating the next day AB Burn feeling, but it was not there. The moves were not challenging, so anyone could do this program. They are more “dance-y” and in my mind geared towards younger people, but if you’re older and want to give it a shot go for it. My heart rate did increase and I did sweat but not like the drenched, out of breath feeling that Turbo Jam provides. So in my opinion, if you want to purchase a beachbody product that will work your entire body at the same time you are having a blast, TURBO JAM all the way!