Non-Scale Victories Linkup

Hello everyone!

I only have time for a quick NSV post this week!

Last year my company began an very large endeavor into healthy living and created a Wellness initiative for all of the employees.  Basically, if we participate in just a few of the programs, we could be eligible for discounts on our health care.  Of course I signed up!  One of the programs is to participate in a Bioscreening where our blood is drawn and an on site lab company gives us our results in cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose etc.  Yesterday, we had our annual Bioscreenings here at work and my NSV for this week is that ALL of my numbers have dropped dramatically!  In fact, my blood sugar has dropped 8pts since my own doctor tested me in April.  Then, it was at 80 and yesterday it measured 72!  I couldn't be more excited to see these numbers go down.  All of my numbers were in the ideal and desirable categories.  The optimal fasting glucose level is between 70-99; obviously I'm loving where I am at this point!  This level means a lot to me because it was only 10 years ago that I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and I was put on medicine to control it.  That was scary at the time, but not scary enough for me to do anything about it :(  I took the medicine and let it do it's thing and didn't even try to help it along.  My levels at that time was 119...the range for pre-diabetics is 100-125...not only was I in the range, I was almost near the high level of the range.  That scares the shit out of me now...why didn't it then??  I can barely relate to that person anymore...she was weak and I am strong.  She had no confidence and I am gaining more and more every day.  I'm sad for that girl; the one who missed out on so many things because she was physically incapable or mentally afraid.  I am trying to forget that I wasted so many years like that and embrace the fact that I did finally get my shit together in time to enjoy a good part of my life before it's too late!  It was my dream to be healthy and I'm working hard every day to make that dream come true.

My second NSV is that I have gotten in my workouts this week despite being sick and for the past month I have been able to keep up my MORNING runs when in the past, mornings were not my thang.  Although I dread thinking about getting up in the dark, when my alarm goes off, I get up...I don't give myself any time to think about it because if I did, I'd lay there and feel guilty anyway!  No matter how tired I am, I have not missed my planned workouts.

My final NSV is sort of embarrassing for me only because I get  very uncomfortable with compliments and it's something I'm trying very hard to overcome; I should accept them proudly!  Today, a male coworker and I were chatting and I started to walk away and out of the blue he says, "Jenn, you're SHRINKING!  You look fantastic; I hope it's okay that I said that!??"  UM, hell yah it's okay that you said that!!  I was embarrassed and proud at the same time but it really made my day.

The good great news is that all of the hard work I'm putting in is showing up in so many ways in my life.  These are the moments that are absolutely, positively NOT SCALE-RELATED.

Source

Non-Scale Victories!

Hey there, Hi there!!  Celebrating NSV's with two of my favorite fellow bloggers, Katie and Ashlee!

I'm late to the party but I have a quick post to share!

1)  I've really been trying to up my workouts and I'm loving my new routine!  I've combined running and strength training and the past few weeks have been wonderful as far as how I feel; I'm getting quality workouts in.  I have always worked out during my journey, but I would flit from this to that and some weeks, even though I'd get them in, my workouts didn't feel as meaningful.  Not anymore!  You can read about it here.

2)  The past few weeks have been tough for me emotion-wise.  I'm not one to get out and meet people; I used to be such an outgoing person in that sense, but as I've gotten older, I've become choosier and really felt quite fulfilled & happy as far as my friendship circle went.  I didn't feel I needed or even wanted to grow that circle.  Then, a few years ago, we started hanging out with our neighbors at get togethers in our 'hood, and from there we have just become so super close with some of them.  A few months ago, my dear friend Maria and her family found out that they had to move away for her hubby's job.  I was devastated, but happy that he would continue to HAVE a job.  Still I was so very sad for myself that I wouldn't have my Maria to spend time with anymore.  She was my gym/workout buddy on the home front.  We were gym rats together and she was my Zumba buddy.  Her kids knew that if they came over, Hubby would have something fun or a treat for them or would play with them any time we got together. This morning we had to say goodbye to her and her family as she headed to Colorado.  I'm thankful that I was able to spend so much time with her and I know that I will see her again...but my heart is hurting today.

My NSV is that even though things have been crazy with getting them ready to go, and trying to get together and spend as much time with them as possible, I was able to keep my eating under control.  We've had get-togethers every single weekend and this past week something going on every single night.  In the past, I would let these types of occasions get the best of me and would just get more and more frustrated with my lack of control.  But not this time...I stayed in control and I am really proud of myself.



Getting our Zumba Glow On!



She Cray....



So there you have it...just two, but they are two HUGE NSVs for me and honestly, my life has been consumed with them for the past month so that's all I got!

Workout Wednesday July 17, 2013

Hello lovelies!  I'm back!  I feel like it's been forever since I posted but it's not for lack of trying...have any of my fellow bloggers been bitten by this stupid Google bug??  Seriously!?  I could not post for like 5 days and it was irritating as hell!  I literally shouted to all of you, "I'm STILL HERE!"

So, work out wise, I have really stepped it up and quite honestly, I can tell you that the changes I've made have seemed to make a huge difference in both my endurance and my strength...AND I think in just a few short weeks, I'M starting to notice the changes myself...



I know, right?!



It's this whole strength-training, shit - guess what?  It works.

For the past three weeks, I've been incorporating 3 strength training sessions into my workout week and I swear that has made such a huge difference.  Plus, I love that it's such a change to my cardio life.  In addition, I'm running 3x a week and, because I just love it so much, I take Zumba on Saturdays.

My Movestrong class continues to be so much fun; I love not knowing what we're going to be doing and get excited when we arrive to find out.  Saturday, this was our layout:

The workout consisted of 1 minute intervals of each:

1) Kneeling hamstring curls - those were harder than they looked.  Basically felt like your hammies were cramping the whole time.

2) Step up/downs with dumb bells on the three boxes

3) Ringed step jumps - I have no idea if this is the real name, but basically you put your foot into the ring, then using the other one, jump up and down off the step platform.

4) Flip the 165# tire back and forth - that's my fave!

5) Thigh crunches

6) Squats holding the 15# ball overhead

We did all of this twice and then,

7) We finished with plié squat intervals with 15 - 30# dumb bells - 2 sets of 10 reps

In between all of these, we did 30 seconds of squats and plié squats.  I'm pretty sure we did over 500 squats.  Then I followed it up with Zumba.  It was a great workout day!

My Crossfit trainer, Vanessa is amazing.  I seriously have a girl crush on her.  #dontjudge  She's hot and fit and funny - all things I aspire to be.  She is training our group for our Blood & Guts run in October and she basically has been putting us through tons of drills to work on our endurance and agility. I absolutely love Tuesday's trainings and I always look forward to what she's going to have us do.  Last night we did jumps, belly crawls, balance beam work, ice skaters and jump squats.  And, she's started throwing in some "penalties" for not being able to perform.  For instance, if we fell off the balance beam, we had to do 5 burpees.  No burpees for me, thank goodness, because they effing suck no matter how hard I try, I cannot do them gracefully. 

I think the thing I really love about these trainings is that I don't have to think about it.  I just show up and they tell me what to do, correctly, and I just go to it.

The rest of my workout week has been spent running; I am really loving my morning run especially since it has been so freaking HOT (we're talking humidity in the 90s even at 5:30 in the morning!) and my time has been improving:

71 degrees and cool...happy face...

This was this morning...pissed me off that I had to cut my run short, but it was SOO hot...like I was running in water, blah...

77 degrees and oppressive...yucky face...

The rest of my week will be bittersweet, our dear friends are moving to Colorado and I'm going to miss them so much!  I cry every time I think about it...she's been my gym rat buddy for my entire journey and things just won't be the same without her.  I promised her that I'd continue on without her here, though and we'll definitely be keeping each other in check!



Me & My Maria - March 2013 - Prison Bus Limo...cuz, that's how we rolllll...


Don't forget to check out this week's healthy recipe at A Healthy Makeover.  Make your own blackened seasoning - so much better tasting than any mixes you'll get in the store and no weird fillers!

http://ahealthymakeover.blogspot.com/2013/07/blackened-seasoning.html

Workout Wednesday

 

Hey Heyyy!  It's time for Workout Wednesday with Skinny Meg!

 

The past week seems like such a blur and I know exactly what I can attribute it to:  morning workouts.  Now, if you don't know me, let me tell you a little bit about myself...I'm not a set-my-alarm-and-workout kind of girl.  I love my workouts but I will do them in the afternoon and that's been fine for 20 months into my journey...thankyouverymuch.

 

But something clicked last week; I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to lace up and run.  And I fell in love.  After my workout, I just felt amazing.  I began to think about the potential possibilities of the things I could do after work since I had already gotten my run in...This morning workout shizz?  I'm digging it.  I know, I know, I'm SOOO late to the party, but better late than never, right?

 

So, back to my blurry week...

 

Friday

I ran 2.7 miles (38:50)

 

Saturday

I finally made it back to Zumba after 2 months!!  It's my first love and is probably responsible for 1/2 of my weight loss - I've missed it but I've been trying to get in as many runs as I can so it felt great to be back!  I followed it up with a sesh on the treadmill for 2 miles of sprints/jogging intervals.

 

Monday - (this one was earlllllllyyyy...4:50am!!  Um, in case you were wondering, even in the Summertime, 4:50am is dark!) 

I ran 3.51 miles (51:18)...and sweat my mother-lovin arse off!!  It was 72° and HUMID...look, proof:

 

 

Pretty sweat bib...

 

...and THEN, I went to the gym after work for a MoveStrong session.  This week we worked on a lot of arms and core.  This is also when I hurt myself getting off the parallel bars...hubby said, "Everyone knows the routine's not over until you nail the dismount."  Yah, all my dismount consisted of was a buckled elbow, subsequent jamming of my shoulder and thumb, and finally, a punch to my own head.  #graceful

 

 

My whiny Instagram Selfie...

 

Tuesday - A few of my friends and I hired a certified Crossfit trainer to work us and get ready for our Blood & Guts run in the Fall.  PS:  This would not have been my first choice for an obstacle run...I'm more of a Flowers & Butterflies kind of girl.  Anywhooo, I couldn't wait to get started and I was even more excited after I met her.  She's wonderful!  She was knowledgeable and made sure we were always using proper form and most importantly, she was positively encouraging...no Jillian Micheals here, you get me?  Flowers & Butterflies...flowers & butterflies.  Our work out consisted of a 7/10 mile run, then back to do 40 overhead weighted walking lunges, 20 bear crawls (hated to love these), 20 jump squats, then 10 push ups...and in between each we ran 200m...then we did it all over again and ended with another 7/10 mile run and stretching.  I cannot wait to go back next week!

 

Wednesday (Today!) - I ran 3.02 miles (43:48).  This morning was PAINFUL...it might not have been if I had gone to bed at a decent time.  But I didn't...I went to bed at midnight and woke up and 3:30am in pain from my jammed thumb and shoulder and couldn't get back to sleep until 4:30.  I literally rolled out of bed at 5:30 and threw my clothes on and did it.  It was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do this morning so that's why I did it.  Although I feel exhausted...I am so super proud of myself for not ignoring the alarm and getting my ass out the door.  I'm winning, y'all.

 

 

Hilly + 4 hours of sleep but I was out there!

Don't forget to check out this week's recipe at A Healthy Makeover!  If you're looking for a dish to bring to tomorrow's 4th of July BBQ, this is the one!!  Corn & Black Bean Salad - Always a hit!!  Happy and safe 4th to you!!