#FitByFirst, Day 3

rock climbing- great way to MOVE

OK, so today is the last day of the free intro part of the #FitByFirst challenge I am participating in. 
Today I was encouraged to MOVE for fun!

I commit to journal this whole journey as a form of accountability to myself. I will write about each day as it happens and then post each night.

I also have a few other goals beyond the #FitByFirst that I'd like to work on over this month.
#1- practice self-control in what I put into my mouth and body like binging on food, nail biting and smoking
#2- Daniel praying, this is what I call it. Scheduled, set aside prayer times. Just me and God. Daily. Multiple times.
#3- memorize scripture

My next 7 days of cleansing will look like this--
- no dairy (i will miss you cheese, yogurt, milk and cream)
- fruit and veggie diet (not a veggie fan, but i can do this, i like veggies, i like veggies)
- water, water, water (i thoroughly enjoy water)
- black coffee (black coffee seems to be very spiritual to me)

****************************************
today's notes...
it was a great day today; however, I didn't pay attention to what went into my mouth, for some reason I can get on autopilot with Aubry -- lunch time away from home gets me
remembering that Grace Already Won

FOOD INTAKE
water, water, black coffee, black coffee, water, water, water...

Darn it! I ate 3 strawberries
Front Porch Pickings delivers my fruits and veggies each week to my house---- and today----
THERE     WERE     STRAWBERRIES.
Out of habit I ate 3 and even craved breakfast sausage in the fridge thinking "nope, no eating" all the while chewing away of the red, juicy sweetness of a strawberry- yikes!

Darn it, I drank a kids size chocolate shake too, not a good day today~ got offered a free one, declined it, then had one made for me, 
said thanks and drank out of courtesy~ errr... 

FITNESS
Did 42 air squats 

The challenge was to have fun moving so I pulled Aubry around the yard and house in the wagon, we made a rock border around our new butterfly garden and planted some milkweed sprouts from a friend.

SPIRITUAL
meditating on what scripture to memorize

So that's today
Tomorrow,
His mercies are new,

xoxo
-m

Fit By the First

Biking and walking with Vaughan and the girls

December has me participating in Carlos Whittaker's "Fit by the First" challenge.

Basically I will commit to doing daily workouts
and eating healthier.

I started Monday with timing a baseline set of exercises,

40 air squats

30 sit-ups

20 push-ups

10 burpees

My time was 3 minutes 48.56 seconds.

Starting today I along with 2 other girls friends will be fasting from all food for 24 hours. I will continue to drink water and a cup of morning black coffee. Following that we are all participating in our own style of a week long cleanse.

If you've never fasted or would like to learn more then I encourage you to this podcast over at Desiring God.

After my fast I will be following the AdvoCare 10 Herbal Cleanse.

I just like their plan and a dairy fast is good for this dairy junkie!

I'd encourage you to join me and my girlfriends in this journey, I promise you'll be pleased.

running with Spud

MOVeMENT 

Today I moved more than I did yesterday.

Today my girlfriends and I clocked 4.4 miles.

Tomorrow... I plan to move again

and

then again. 

The official Fit by the First challenge starts on Thursday and you can join by going here. You can find him @loswhit on twitter, IG or FB.

Happy day, happy way

-m

Phat Momma

I'm almost afraid to post it... 
because...
it makes it more real.


Last week my dear friend,
who is 8 or 9 inches taller than me,
and is an ex-Tommy Hilfiger, Pantene (print/tele), Back Street Boy video model,
recently lost 30 pounds...
and now...
weighs the same as me.
We're the same age.


I currently weigh 2 pounds less than the day I gave birth to Justin.


I've also seen two recent photos of myself that I don't care for.
At all.


So,
I'm doing something about it.


Nuff said,
later,

In Which I Attempt to Write About Working Out

So I've been going to this workout class that incorporates, self-defense, core work, yoga, circuit training all kinds of crazy stuff. I really don't like to exercise at all but I love this class!!

As a matter of fact when I know I have to miss it, it saddens me. Sick- I know. Well, a group three of us from that class have decided to run a 5k on the 4th of July at the local YMCA. The YMCA has started some free training classes for this run and our assignment this week is to run 20 minutes 3 times. We're suppose to run 60 sec, walk 90, run 60, walk 90. My question is can I do this with a donut in my hand?

I don't like to run. Especially on my own. A friend of ours just ran the Boston Marathon and I think he's crazy. I just don't get it, although perhaps if I can run enough to get the runners high I've heard of, maybe that would keep me at it?

Back to the class. It rocks! I do much of the stuff at home at various times in the day and last night while doing some squats I noticed some definition in my thighs! Oh glory! I loved it. Let me say that again: I noticed definition in my thighs! Being a gymnast large thighs have haunted followed me around most of my life. Toning them takes work a bunch of work and while I've noticed slight changes in my arms and stomach since beginning this class my legs have remained in sad shape. Until last night! So, I'm hoping it wasn't just a shadow but in fact the beginning of slimmer, firmer thighs!

Here is what I believe the secret is. Kettlebells. Yes, these I am convinced, are a type of torture, but very much worth it. The things we do with them should be listed on my "Never Do This" list, yet somehow I show up to each class anticipating a kettlebell workout. So if you get a chance to pick one of these up and give it a try I highly suggested you do. They produce results.

So now I'm off to run or jog or whatever it is I'm not wanting suppose to do.

~Michelle

And oh yeah just try to grab my purse or my milk (it's probably more valuable), you're likely to be met by my fist or palm or foot or elbow. The group of women in this class can really kick some but*t!

...and I've started another Daily Practice!

Two days into jogging and I'm enjoying it! And..... I'm actually jogging. I'm not much on exercise, but with the new job and the kids getting older I find my normal, if you can call it that, lifestyle has been more sedimentary. So each morning Fluff and I get up and head out, he hasn't learned the word jog yet he still heads to the van for a ride! He'll get it soon enough.

I weighed myself the other day and it wasn't pretty - I weigh 20 pounds more than when my youngest was 3 months old and 10 pounds less than my max pregnancy weight!

This week I've introduced jogging and a small amount of weightlifting; next week I hope to add squats and sit-ups; then jumping rope and push-ups.

I've also cut sweets out of my diet and since Steve gets grapefruit from one of his customers I've been eating lots of grapefruit - yum. I think with my family history and adding exercise and cutting out sweets, I ate 6 cookies the other day, I should drop some weight pretty quickly; then again the last time I did this I was only 21, and I'm just not 21 anymore??

~Michelle

I'm joining in on a walk across America!
Wanna join me and many other bloggers? Check out Nancy's site for more info and to commit to keep movin' in 2007!

I started walking back on December 5th and there's nothing like starting out your day with a nice walk. The fresh air and movement is a great way to kick start my day and now a great way to walk off some of the Greek food hanging around in the lower regions after the holidays!

Hope to meet up with on our walk. Drop me a note if you're participating, meanwhile I need to finish up the last of the tiramisu!