by *IchigoKitty

Let me take an aside to speak about how happy I am to getting my gym membership back! I had one in Dec/Jan/Feb and effectively lost 8lb without having to worry too much about what I ate and drank. Plus I found out I LOVED getting out of the house to work out. I was so motivated unlike at home when I work out and see a million other things I needed to do (like clean). I love how hard the Zumba classes are and I also love getting on the elliptical and reading an ebook while just zooming for half an hour. I have so many books I want to read too! 

I do strength training as well, but only in regards to the lower half of my body. I get such a work out carrying the animals around at my job that I don’t need to develop my arm/shoulder strength. I’m easily lifting 30lb+ 10-20 times a day. One more thing to love about work! I’m considering doing some really light strength training for my lower back since it’s very weak and underdeveloped thanks to my lovely osteoarthritis. Let me tell you how much I love having a bad back at only 28 years old… L

I’ve been reading about SELF magazine’s Drop 10 challenge and I’m quite intrigued. It’s basically a workout and eating guide that you can follow for 5 weeks to lose 10+lbs. They have everything all laid out for you including yummy meal plans and step by step exercise videos. The exercises are so simple you can even do them at home. I’ll probably step it up a bit at the gym since my boyfriend is being awesome and buying me a membership tomorrow. 

It looks like daily cardio is a necessity, which it seems to be in most higher functioning weight loss strategies. Especially high intensity interval training. I don’t do so well at high intensity thanks to the fact I was a smoker for so many years, but I’m determined to push myself. I can do anything for 15-60seconds, right? I’m getting so nervous thinking about it. But for every day you do a high intensity workout you’re rewarded with a casual one. So the day after interval training you can choose to walk 2 miles at your own pace. I like those days :) I’ll get me some elliptical training in! 

The workouts also include 2x a week toning sessions. The exercises look super easy and all you need are a mat and some tiny weights. I love it! If I can’t make it to the gym I can always do these at home. 

The meal plan involves eating a lot of things I already eat in my every day diet including lentils, quinoa, salmon, eggs, edamame. This is quite possibly the most appealing diet I’ve seen in a weight loss plan. I am going to replace all the sweet potatoes with lentils since they have all the same healthy carbs and I can’t stand sweet potatoes! I actually see myself modifying parts of this diet that require me to get yogurt at McDonald’s and what not…I prefer not going to fast food establishments at all due to temptation. I also do not care for sweets so a lot of the breakfast might just get substituted with high protein low calorie breakfasts. Also you get 200 calories a day to spend how you like and you can save these up if you know you’ll be drinking wine on the weekend or going out for a bunch of pizza with friends. I like this idea. 

So I’m going to do a cold start on this diet today (since I already blew it by having a barbecue chicken kabob for breakfast) and I’ll officially start everything tomorrow. I’m pretty motivated so now the trick is to keep writing in this blog to make sure I stick with the fucking plan. No excuses anymore Elly! 

poemendings:

Somewhere someone is traveling furiously toward you,
At incredible speed, traveling day and night,
Through blizzards and desert heat, across torrents, through narrow passes.
But will he know where to find you,
Recognize you when he sees you,
Give you the thing he has for you?

Hardly…