Superwoman Saturday: Week 3

I guess it's time to get real. This wasn't a good week for me at all. 

Monday I had team meetings all day, including lunch out. 

Tuesday was another round of team meetings followed by dinner out. 

By Wednesday I was burnt out and overwhelmed with all the work I needed to catch up on. I was supposed to cook dinner that night but it wasn't going to happen. So...we had burgers and fries from a great diner up the road from us. Plus I fell back on my favorite comfort food, dry roasted peanuts and plain M&M's. 

Thursday was better. I finally got my head back on straight. I thought about what happened this week and realized there were several "areas of opportunity" for me to work on. 

The falling down is just as important as the getting up. Because it's the areas we fall down in that we'll be more careful with going forward. 

I now know that when I have a stressful week at work coming up I need to have a plan so I don't fall back on the trap of eating peanuts and M&M's. 

I need a plan for eating out with my team because it's going to happen again and again.

Mostly I need to shake off this week and re-focus on my objectives. I need to remind myself that one of my goals is not to beat myself up when I fall. I'm learning to love myself now while striving to become better. 

In this one thing, I succeeded this week.

I went out Thursday night and bought Jillian's 30 Day Shred and Yoga videos. For the next month they are my workout plan. I've heard over and over again that they are great workouts, plus they're only 20 minutes long (the yoga is 30 minutes) so I have no excuse not to get them done.

I'll let you know next week how it goes....if I can lift my arms.

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If you have something you would like to work on please feel free to link up and grab my button to add to your blog. I can't wait to hear from all the other Superwomen out there!

Settling In

Have you ever moved somewhere and just knew you were home? 

I was born in Provo, UT and when I was 3 months old my family moved to Denver, CO. That's where I lived for the next 30 years of my life. 

My husband was transferred to West Virgina so off we went. 

I loved West Virginia. I made life long friends there. Friends that I consider family and I love. 

But for the four years we lived there, something was missing. We knew we weren't there to stay, so we never felt settled all the way.

We now live in North Carolina. We just moved here three months ago, but as soon as we drove to our new little town, I knew we were home.

I just felt right.

Everyday I find something else I love about living here.

I have found a peace and contentment here that I haven't felt in a long time.

This place just fits.



Superwoman Saturday: Weeks 1 & 2

Two weeks ago I talked about some goals I wanted to set for myself. I also committed to updating everyone every Saturday on my progress. For me, the accountability part is the most important part. I don't have a "Week 1" post because I was in West Virginia.

So, how am I doing with my goals, you ask? Honestly, I've struggled with pretty much all of them. I've had good days and bad days just like I knew I would. But I've also made a lot of positive changes. It's slow going but I'm going to get there.

I've joined a Karate class. When I was 20 I found kickboxing. Kickboxing changed my life. It gave me much needed confidence and helped me lose 30 pounds. I fell in love with it right away. So when I set my goal to work out at least 4 times a week, I naturally thought of kickboxing. Alas, there were no real kickboxing classes to be found in my little town. In my search, I stumbled across the martial arts academy I now attend. I wasn't sure if I would like karate, but I'm finding that I love it as much as kickboxing. The school offers 5 classes a week for adults. Week 1 I made it to 2 classes and Week 2 I made it to 3 classes. I've learned that the most I will probably be able to attend is 3 days a week. Any more than that is too much time away from home. My next step with this goal is to figure out how to supplement the karate classes with more exercise time at home to get to my goal of 4 days a week.

We all take turns cooking dinner. This has been fun for me! On my night I made chicken fajitas and they were sooooo yummy! The best part is I just kind of came up with flavors I thought would be good and went with it. That's not how I usually cook. I'm a recipe cooker. I don't just throw stuff together, so I was really excited when it all came together and tasted good. We also had beef stroganoff, shrimp salad, and beef stew this week. Tonight we were going to grill burgers, but it's raining and cold so we may have to "Plan B" it. Just as soon as I figure out what that is.

My attitude toward myself is surprising to me. (Does that even make sense)? When it comes to weight loss I'm usually all or nothing. If I slip up, then that's it, I'm never going to get it right, so why bother... This time around, I've been OK with taking it slow. I haven't yet worked out 4 days a week, but I've worked out more than I did before I set the goal. And I know I'll get there eventually.

I haven't been weighing myself (mostly because I haven't found the box my scale is in yet). And honestly I've been reluctant to because that's when I start to obsess. But I think I may have to start because I like to see the numbers go down. So far I don't feel any difference in the way my clothes fit and I can't really see a difference in my body. But I feel different. I'm walking a little taller and I'm smiling more. When I look in the mirror I try to find something to compliment myself on instead of looking for things to criticize myself on. I found it really interesting that I know right where to look for all the things I hate about my body, but I have to search things I like. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

I think I'm off to a pretty good start all in all. This is a lifelong journey, I know the changes will be gradual, but they will come.

Do you have something in your life you would like to work on? Please link up and tell me about it. I can't wait to hear from all the Superwomen out there!

New Me Day 1

I recently had a friend tell me he needed to re-evaluate things because he was "blah". We talked about it for a while and I started thinking about my life. My life is really good right now. My family, my job, our ward and stake are incredible, I even love our new town. But there is one thing that I would change. I haven't been taking good care of my body. I don't drink or smoke, but I have been eating out waaaaaaaay more than I should and eating a ton of junk food. I haven't been exercising or doing anything active at all. I know that if I take the time to take better care of myself then I'll be happier and that translates to a happier family.

Because of this I've decided to set a goal: Get Healthy and Stay Healthy. I know this isn't going to be easy. There's going to be a lot of mistakes and backtracking. It's the "stay healthy" part of this goal I'm worried about. This is a lifelong change I want to make. There will be a lot of steps along the way. Here's what I've come up with so far. 

• Exercise at least 4 times a week.
• Focus on Cardio right now because that's the fat burner. Add weights into the routine in a couple of months.
• Learn how to eat healthy.
• I know the basics, eat fruits and veggies, grains that kind of thing, but when it comes to making a whole meal, I freeze. Hence, the step below.
• No more eating out on weekdays. Only eat out once a weekend.
• Be kind to myself. 
• This is the most important step. There are going to be bad days. Days that are busy and there isn't enough time and days where I just feel crappy. That's okay. This is a lifelong journey that I'm starting today. I'm not going to be perfect and that's okay.

This list will grow and evolve as I do on this journey but it's a start. I've decided to document my journey here (which absolutely terrifies me!) every Saturday. This is a really hard post to put out there, mostly because everyone that reads this blog right now knows me and has heard about a million of declarations like this from me over the years. I imagine you reading this and rolling your eyes right now. But I started this blog to put myself out there, as an outlet for me to share my thoughts and my experiences. So that's what I'm doing. Here's to Day 1!

*BEWARE* Scary Day 1 pictures below!!