Halfway

I have to admitt, I haven't been so great at 30 straight days of cardio. BUT, thanks to Stacy, I have been working out Monday-Friday since I started this. I've lost a bit as you can see from my updated measurements and Stacy lost an inch off her waist and some off her thighs! Gotta love improvements! I have more energy and am feeling better about my body, although slowly. :-) Almost done with the 30 days but I have to admitt I'm already feeling the change! Best of luck to continued success!

30 days to my "Perfect" Body

Okay that might sound crazy but let me explain. I have set a goal for myself of working out for 30 days straight. My problem whenever I try to do less than 7 days a week is that once I miss a day, I miss 2 weeks. :-) My goal is at least 30 minutes of cardio every day for those 30 days. I also do strength training (with 2-3 days of more intense weight for some muscle building) and skin brushing. (Yes for me, this does include Sundays. We are suppose to do uplifting things that help bring us closer to the spirit that day. For me, exercising is very uplifting. I feel happier and my head is more clear so I can feel those things I need to more. These are my feelings towards it and just an opinion. Everyone has their own.)

If you haven't tried skin brushing, it's wonderful! It can be very relaxing and has some nice benefits. Skin brushing exfoliates your skin, helps detox you body, give you more energy, it can also help firm your skin and reduce cellulite! Yeah, it does work. The thing with it though is that is usually take at least 30 days to start to notice the real benefits of it. If I can get a week in I can tell a difference. My skin gets much smoother. You can do a search for "Dry Skin Brushing" on google and find out many things about it, and ways to do it. Some methods are more complicated than others. I really don't have much time so I do a simple way like this-
"Begin brushing your skin in long sweeping strokes starting from the bottom of your feet upwards, and from the hands towards the shoulders, and on the torso in an upward direction. Always brush towards the heart. Try and brush several times in each area, over-lapping as you go." (found here: http://www.jashbotanicals.com/articles/skin_brushing.html)
If you have stretch marks or cellulite in an area you can brush that area extra. Also a nice thing is a couple drops of Lavender Essential Oil to the brush before you brush...sweet smell and relaxing. If you try it, let me know what you think!

So now, the "perfect" body part. At the end of 30 days I do not expect to have the perfect body. I do not think I will look like a Victoria Secret's Model. My goal for my "perfect" body is feeling healthy, having energy and being happy with the way I look. I want to play with my kids without getting winded. I want to feel good about the way I look and sometimes, it's not our size that makes us feel that way, it the way we take care of ourselves.

Right now I'm on day 4. So far so good.
Good luck to everyone out there trying to get healthier!

Accomplishment!

I have to write this now before the kids wake up and the whining, fighting and complaining begin to ruin my good mood. It took some effort but I am proud of my little accomplishment this morning. I was able to get myself up around 5ish to hit the treadmill. Okay, so the plan was 5am but I hit the alarm and laid in bed for a few minutes trying to give myself a pep-talk to get going. About 15 minutes later I was finally able to get up and get my workout clothes on. Then, I went and laid in bed for 5 minutes. :-) I finally did it though. I got myself up and went down stairs and did a mile of running (I know not much but I felt so winded) and an additional mile+ of some fast-paced inclined walking, followed by alittle cool down. I made it through 30 minutes of cardio! Yay! My goal is to be able to run that whole 30 minutes. One day!

So this is just a small accomplishment, only one day of getting up this early, but we need to celebrate the little victories in life or we'll always be disappointed for falling short of the big ones.

Good Morning!!