Biggest Loser & Working Out

Season 8 is coming to an end today and that makes me a little sad. I love watching these people who don't think they can lose weight or exercise accomplish that goal. It's a real inspiration to me.

I've thought about having a last chance workout on Tuesdays since I weigh in on Wednesday morning. But I'm scared. I'm scared I will hurt myself, wear myself out too much, and that I won't be able to drive myself home after working out that hard.

My normal workouts entail me doing some cardio which I either encourage myself to go for longer than normal or I rationalize that doing some kind of cardio at a moderate pace is better than sitting on the couch or sitting at my desk at work. Some days I sweat and others I don't. I'm not sure if there is a happy medium in there to balance out my workouts on a daily basis. But hopefully I can find something.

Today my Zumba class ended early because an older lady in the class wasn't feeling well and almost passed out. Paramedics showed up to see how she was doing. Personally I was overheated, sweating a lot, and tired by that point of the class. I don't know how other people old than me or more out of shape than me do everything in the class.

I would like to break through the next decade of weight loss numbers to get over this plateau I've been facing here recently. Although losing 1lb, and then gaining .4lbs isn't really a plateau. It's more like I'm doing maintenance too early in the weight loss process. Guess I'll have to wait and see what the scale says in the morning.

Does anyone do a last chance workout during the week? Any tips on how to start amping up my work outs?

I've thought about running again, but I get so bored on the treadmill. It's easier to motivate me by sticking me outdoors, telling me to run/walk 1.5 miles and the only way to get back home or to the start is to run/walk the 1.5 miles back. I might start looking into the Couch to 5k program so I can start training for a 5k this spring.

Has anyone done this program? Does it help? The last 5k I quickly walked the whole way.

Annoying Neighbors

Have you ever lived next to the most annoying people ever? You can't control who your neighbors are, similar to how you can't pick who's in your family.

I started noticing annoying neighbors at a young age. I remember being in 1st or 2nd grade and trying to get away from an annoying neighbor kid. Back then we lived in a house that had a chain link fence just along the back of the yard with a gate that let out to the small ditch that was back there. Across the small ditch, which was maybe 5 feet wide, were more houses. There was a girl whose house also backed up to the ditch and we would occasionally play together.

I remember not wanting to play with her when I was in my own backyard, but she would be at the fence trying to peak through the privacy bushes or the gate. I clearly remember laying flat on our slide to hide from her or I would run to the side of the house and hide behind the a/c unit. I would even run inside to get away from her. Of course I can't remember why I would hide from a girl that was my same age or why I'd get my mom to cover for me and tell her I couldn't play today.

The next instance of an annoying neighbor that I can think of was in college. My freshman year some items of mine mysterious went missing during the first semester. Come to find out, one of the girls that I shared a bathroom with was a clepto. My college campus had suite style rooms where a bathroom was between two rooms and shared by up to 4 people.

My sophomore year was great! I had the best neighbors a girl could ask for. As hallmates and suitemates we would all hang out together. Go to the cafeteria together, party together, watch The Bachelor together. We were a tight bunch. I'm still friends with a bunch of the girls, including Morgan. We've remained good friends over the last 7 years and how she met the man of her dreams inspired me to do the same thing. (Thanks girl!)

The last year and a half of college I was a Resident Advisor and my neighbors were pretty good kids. The two apartments I lived in after graduating college I was very isolated and my neighbors didn't seem to exist. In both cases I didn't get to know anyone in my building. The second complex I moved to because some coworkers lived there and I liked the place too. They were the only people I talked to and hung out with.

Since moving into a house with my boyfriend, we've gotten to know a few of our neighbors. There are a few that annoy us, but luckily they don't live directly next to us.

When I started writing this post, a neighbor two doors down was revving the engine on his car and being annoying as all get out. He has a tendency to test out a couple of different engines in this fashion at all hours of the day. Whether it's 10am or 10pm, he will test out his Lexus, Mustang, or motorcycle by being annoying.

Is it wrong for me to think "I hope he will rev that engine, lose control of the car, and smash it into his house."? It's that annoying. I don't want him to get hurt or for his house to be damaged too badly. Just want the car to the damaged where he can't rev the engine anymore.

Has anyone else had to deal with this type of annoying neighbors? Can anyone believe I've written this long of a post on annoying neighbors? Share your stories/comments with me!

What's on your playlist?

Recently I've been a little unmotivated when it comes to the music I listen to while working out. I'm still working out, but I've been moving away from my workout mix playlist I created.

I like to listen to upbeat music while I do the cardio portion of my workout to keep me going just a little bit longer. But for weights, I can listen to anything. Slow pop songs, country songs, probably even classical although I haven't tired that yet.

I even find music that I listen to while cleaning the house is WAY different than the music I workout to. Isn't it funny how music affects us so much?

So what's on your playlist that gets you moving and grooving? I need some inspiration for some new songs!

Thanksgiving

Sorry I've been gone for so long, but I got caught up in the Thanksgiving holiday.

Last week I worked out 3 times before Thanksgiving, and then went to my parents house for Thanksgiving. I did really well for our big lunch. Didn't eat any appetizers and only got one helping of what I wanted. YEA!!

The bad part has been dealing with the leftovers my mom sent home with Ephram and me. My mom and sisters are really picky eaters, so they sent us with everything they didn't like. So we have a bunch of sweet potatoes, all of the turkey that was left, a few pieces of ham (my family prefers ham to turkey), and cranberry sauce. Mom even sent us home with mashed potatoes, green beans, and cornbread stuffing to round out the leftovers.

Ephram and I have been eating on the leftovers, but always in reasonable portion sizes. After my 5th Thanksgiving themed meal, I said enough! Probably should have called it quits before that, but the food is SO good. Guess we'll see how that plays out when I go to my WW meeting in 30 minutes. :-/

The worst thing food wise that could have happened after Thanksgiving did: my mom gave us the leftover Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake!!!!!!!!!

We figured out once we had the cheesecake in our house that only 2 other people besides me ate a slice of it on Thanksgiving day. So we had 9 pieces of cheesecake for us to finish off! I say had because I gave 2 pieces to a coworker as a thank you for bringing me wings from Buffalo Wild Wings while we were working on Saturday. (I know, I should have said no to the wings. But it was a kids portion and SO yummy!)

We have since then finished off the last of the cheesecake. I don't even want to know or guess how many calories are in the cheesecake that I've consumed over the last couple of days. The rest of the Thanksgiving leftovers are his to deal with and I give up eating them.

Overall, my Thanksgiving was great. I got to see my 91 year old Aunt and talk with her about a variety of topics. I also saw my little cousins that have grown up and are almost as tall as me. Plus getting to spend time with my immediate family is always a good thing. I wish I could spend more days with my family than I do, but with work schedules being so different and life activities happening it just doesn't happen as often as I want.

My after Thanksgiving workouts haven't been as consistent as the before T-day ones. I walked a ton at the Autorama car show on Saturday. My thighs were starting to cramp up after a few hours and it felt like I had been doing wall sits all day. Monday- I cleaned the house. Can't believe how dusty it can get in such a short period of time. Tuesday- I went to Zumba and did the elliptical. I'm going back to the gym today and hopefully will spend my last vacation day cleaning up the parts of the house I couldn't get to on Monday.

I promise more posts this week to make up for and catch me up on the things that have been going on and will be coming up in my life.

Box of Books Giveaway

Do you love reading like me? Then head over to My Overstuffed Bookshelf's blog and enter to win a whole box of books!! How crazy is that?!?!

There are some great reviews of books at the blog too, so check that out while you are there. I can't wait to read a few books that are sitting on my overstuffed bookshelves. Now I just need to find the time to read all of them. :)

Progress!!!

Wednesday is my weigh in day at Weight Watchers and I was pleasantly surprised at the meeting. I got on that scale hoping for some downward motion to my weight, and ended up losing 2.8lbs.

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's definitely a step in the right direction, and it makes those 5lbs I want to lose by New Years look achievable.

I've also been to the gym 3 times this week and I'm planning on making a 4th trip when I get done with this post. I haven't been killing myself at the gym, but I have been doing between 12-20 minutes of cardio (stairmaster or treadmill), lifting weights, working my abs, and going to zumba once a week.

I feel good when I leave the gym and that is important! I feel like I can conquer this weight loss and get down to my goal weight with no problems. I've also been watching Biggest Loser like crazy! This week I had a couple of episodes back logged on my dvr so I had a mini-marathon. Talk about inspiration!!

I've wanted to try a workout similar to their last chance workouts, but I'm afraid I won't be able to move the next day or drive my car home from the gym. So for now, I'll stick to my workout routine and hopefully I'll get stronger so I can start running on the treadmill more often.

Dear Herbal Essence,

I need to have a heart to heart about your "Dangerously Straight" Shampoo. You claim that it is for pin straight styles and "love smooth hair? worried about high humidity? let us be straight with you. we'll help keep your look sleek and chic."

I live in a high humidity environment known as Texas, specifically on the coast. I love the way the smell of honeyed pear and silk come together. The shampoo makes my hair feel super soft too.

But it doesn't do anything for pin straight hair styles! What's up with that? As a consumer, I want the product I buy to do what it claims. Maybe I'm gullible and naive, but that's what I want: pin straight hair.

Is my hair too straight for the product to work? Or does it have too much waviness in it? Whatever the reason, I think you need to change the names on your shampoos. Name them after the scent like Suave does and don't make promises your products can't keep.

I will continue to use the bottle of shampoo in my shower and will use the one in storage, but next time I'll go with something else. Thanks!