Número Uno

Jesus.

Ok, so I woke up this morning and started my Slim in 6. Yesterday I did my Shakeology, and did some exercise on my own. 

My first impression of the "Start it Up" DVD. SLOW THE FUCK DOWN! LOL. So everyone is pretty much right about the cheesy music, although Debbie is pretty good. She just moves around, like she's got ADD. I know it's supposed to be aerobic exercise, and I'm an active person. I just felt like it was a little hard to get the moves down and keep up with her pace. I'm sure by the end of this week, I'll have all the moves down and keep up with no trouble. Interestingly enough, you can substitute the resistance bands for dumbells. Which is a nice! 

I chose the Slim in 6 program, because I'm not fit enough to do P90X or Insanity. In some time (six weeks I hope), I'll be able to! My goal for tackling this is to get my workout done before I go to work. I usually do my protein shakes in the morning anyway, so it just makes sense to workout and do the shake right after. Most of the time I go to the gym after work, but it keeps my up at night. The only reason why I don't do the gym before work, is for the simple fact that it's too far to go there and back home before work, and the showers there suck. 

I'm very much the type of person that needs to be worn out during the day, in order to get enough rest at night. If I don't, I lay awake for hours. My Tyler Durdeneque levels have peaked before, I have a bit of an insomnia problem. Either way, this will help I'm sure.

Overall, I think the first DVD is good. It pushes you to keep up, but I wouldn't exactly say it's beginners level. I don't know, maybe I'm out of it--but I don't normally do work out DVDs. I just go to the gym and follow my training program. Anyway, first work out is done! I'm feeling pretty good. I'm off to run some errands today before heading back to work. 

OH! 

So, I did my whole post thing about my food and exercise log yesterday. I'm 100% certain that it's a pain in the fucking ass. I know it helps some people, and making the "excuse" that I don't have enough time is not acceptable to some--but when you work 7 days straight, 12 hour shifts saving people's lives, you don't have fucking time to log what you ate for the day. In fact, you're lucky if you got anything to eat at all. I only work every other week, so I guess the group will just have to be cool with me posting once in a while. It's more of an exercise to keep you accountable. I'm sure it works for a lot of people, and I'm grateful for the online motivation and support. It's important to a lot out there. 

However, I'm not a social media junkie. Facebook is a pain in the ass, I really only post pictures or if I'm out of town and checking into things. I'm not one of those trolls that scrolls through my feed, stalking my friends and what they're doing. I honestly could care less. Sounds harsh, but I consume enough time during my day focusing on what the fuck I'm doing, let alone seeing what someone else is doing. Staying off Facebook keeps me out of trouble, trust me. 

I'm not totally out of the loop though lol. I Twitter and IG. Mostly because it's just fun, and I love taking pictures. I'm a total shutterbug. Oh and I totally took "before" pics today, HORRIFIC. 😳

And with that, I'm hitting the shower and going out for the day! 

Beach Body Challenge, go!

Guess what I got today...!

As promised, I'm trying out the Slim in 6 Beach Body Challenge! Super exciting! I don't go back to work until Wesnesday, so I was lucky to be home to check the mailbox! A bag of Shakeology alone would have ran me around $130, the challenge seemed to be a good idea. It came with a bag of Shakeology and the Slim in 6 DVD set. In total I paid $155. Let's open the box and see! 

The Shakeology bag lasts about a month. You can opt to get individual bags of one flavor or mix and match them. As y'all know, vanilla never works out for me and I'm sad to say strawberry doesn't really either. I'll stick to the chocolate. I'm sure I'll probably get bored with it, just like I do with every other shake I'm on. There are ways to change it up, but at least this brand doesn't have a nasty after taste.

You're supposed to use each DVD everyday for two weeks at a time; three DVDs, six weeks and you're done. It includes some start up guides, diet tips, a measuring tape and the exercise bands to go along with the workouts. 

Of course it recommends to take measurements and before photos. It's easier to see your progress in terms of photos. Your clothes getting loose is nice, but seeing is believing and photos make a huge impact. Here's a quick pic of where to take measurements on the body.

I'll be starting the Slim in 6 today, and report back on my thoughts in the next blog post. I started networking a bit with this challenge and made a new friend. Her name is Alexis, and she's been with Beach Body for a while now. She's a real person, with real success stories and experience. It's not a secret that I'm super fucking suspicious with some of these people, but she's legit. She's a young woman around my age, and I really felt like she was relateable. Either way, I'm on her facebook group for support in working out, and I have access to the beach body website too.

Honestly, it seems like tracking all this might be a pain in the ass. With two years experience of eating pretty clean and on a steady diet I'm not so much concerned with what I eat. The exercise is what I'm most interested in. I've already conditioned myself mentally and need a kick start back into fitness. I downloaded my fitness pal, to keep track of things. I'm hoping to keep on the reg with logging shit in and posting on the support group page but we'll see how that goes. 

I'm aiming to blog more, and keep you all posted on all my experiences with this. I'll post as I go, and tag my results in them. As for now, I'm off for walk it's too fucking nice out to stay in! Enjoy your day all, make the most of it! 

City of brotherly...what?

I hope that everyone had a great holiday, had time to relax and enjoy the first few weeks of Spring!

This week off, I took a quick trip to Philadelphia with my cousin Whitney. She's looking into grad schools to enter a PhD program, and considering I was off we made a trip! Our main goal was to hit up Temple, Drexel, and UPenn. Whitney has never been to Philly before, so I took this opportunity to spend some time and see some sites! 

Growing up, we toured the country pretty often. I was extremely lucky to have grandparents that loved adventure, as much as I did! Philadelphia is referred a lot of times as a "walking city". Once you figure out the demographics of the area, you'll understand why. Thank God I had a pair of sneakers in my trunk, I needed those bitches! 

I didn't really feel guilty during the trip. We hit up a few places for happy hour, but honestly I felt like we walked way more than in NYC. We definitely got our exercise in! If anyone hasn't been to visit Philly, I highly recommend getting a tour pass. It'll take you to all the sites, and you'll figure out how to navigate the city better! 

One of my favorite parts of Philly is the zoo! It's one of the best ones, and was the fest zoo established in America. It was a little bit brisk out, but that didn't keep us from hitting up ALL the sites in Philly! That me. In three days, we killed it. 

Ok so back to the title of this post...GAH. Philly is known as "the city of brotherly love" however...people in Philly can be BEARS! I mean, it's like that anywhere you go--but FUCK! Their train system is so strange; they charge your fare by what stop you're getting off at. Their subway still uses tokens, which I totally love, but is a bit confusing. I guess NYC has just spoiled me, I can get a MetroCard and swipe that shit and they don't give a shit where you go or how long you stay on the train for. 

When we got down into the subway station, we were trying to figure out what tokens to get. Lucky for us, the man in the booth was so nice to us, it was super refreshing. It totally helped that Whintey is stunningly beautiful, and we both smile a lot. Interesting enough that's how he knew we were from out of town--because we smiled so much. But I guess fucking with the token machine gave us away too? LOL. 

I really do love Philly, I always have. We made trips there a lot when I was growing up and it's really not that far from where I live. It was a good way to lay down some serious ground visiting, and experience what Philly had to offer.

And no, I didn't get a Philly cheesesteak. They've always freaked me out, and I'm just not into eating them. So for all of you who are wondering who's has the best, Pat's or Geno's, I couldn't tell ya! 

A Quest for better protein bars!

QUEST BARS.

Quite possibly the most raved about protein bar I've heard of lately. One of my girlfriends at work had gastric bypass a few years ago, and eats super healthy. She sticks to her regiment and diet very closely and one of the things she absolutely loves are Quest bars. They're supposedly one of the best protein bars you can get on the market.

Normally, the protein bars I'm used to getting have about 12-14g of protein in them, 4-6g of fiber and around 10g of sugar. I do have to admit and tell you all, that I've sort of stopped going to Tali. It's not that I don't like her, because I do. Cody my regular nurse no longer works there, and it's just not the same. I know the staples of the program, and I'd really like to try and do this on my own. It's an enormous expense, considering I have a shitty insurance program with a $500 deductible. Go figure healthcare workers get duped on their own damn insurance. Whatever. Moving on!

I went kind of nuts at GNC grabbing a variety of bars. They're expensive when you buy them by the box, so like any usual shopper do your research! I tried the cookie dough one today.

Verdict: not too bad. It's obvious that these are seriously packed with protein and are minimal on the sugar content. My only bitch about them, is that they're kind of salty. Weirdly enough! One of my friends told me broil them. Yes BROIL them, because they kind of turn into cookies. Strange. I finished the bar, and I think they're pretty okay. We'll see how the rest of them taste! 

FML

Oh hey,

I've been gone for a while, yes I know! So needless to say, the last few months have been insane for me. Between all these weddings and babies, birthdays, work and traveling I'm about ready to pass out! 

My birthday rolled around last week, and 28 feels fantastic let me tell you! I had an awesome birthday with my friends, and now I'm ready to get back in the game. I've taken off a few months, and my weight has suffered in the process. I'm not hopping on the scale until I need to, because I'm totally going to be horrified I know! Ball parking, I probably gained back about 20lbs. Everyone at work says there's no way, but I won't know until I get my ass on the scale.

I decided I needed to make a big change, so I went ahead and ordered a Beach Body Challenge pack. The price of Shakeology alone, is pretty high around $130 for a months supply. However, you can sign up for a challenge pack that includes a month supply of Shakeology and a work out program. I chose the Slim in 6, so we'll see how it goes. 

I won't weigh or measure myself until I get it in the mail, so until then I'm not going to beat myself up about it! I'll keep you all posted on it when it arrives, pics and all. I'm going to catch up on some posts I've been meaning to publish. I'll go into more detail soon! 

Dop the Bomb

ARGH.

I'm so upset.

Distraught, really. I had to reschedule my appointment with Tali for today. Not that the office would have been open. We got hit with a snow storm, no thanks to that rat bastard Punxsutawney Phil. It's his fault. Anyway, when I called to reschedule, Tiffany informed me that Cody left the office and is no longer working for them. 

"This blows" would be an under statement. Cody is a really good friend to me, she's been there from the very start of this journey. I trust her completely, and now that she's gone I'm a little lost. It's not that I don't know what I'm doing on the program, it's the simple fact that she's a security blanket for me. I haven't built up trust with Tali or Tiffany just yet. It'll take some time, but I am really sad that she left.

I did contact her, and she is now working with disabled patients. It's a lot closer to where we live, so getting together shouldn't be an issue for us. I just am sad for totally selfish reasons, but it won't stop me from going to Ageless. 

I've noticed more and more doctors advertising for medically supervised weight loss programs. I think it's really great that they offer it! So many people are in need of support and guidance when it comes to changing their lifestyles, and it's a healthy approach.

Either way, I'm just a little bummed out today. It may have not seemed like a big bomb to drop, but any bomb droppage causes change. Le sigh...

GIRLS

I love the show GIRLS.

Appropriate that next weekend, I'll be spending some much needed time with my besties. It's been a long time since we're had just us five girls all together. 

I've been extremely lucky to have such meaningful relationships with people. Going through life is so much more enjoyable with people that way. 

We've all had our own separate lives, full of ups and downs. I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with my girls out of town. 

Not only do we make a great team together, we encourage and support each other every step of the day. Two of us will be getting married this year, which gives us all a good incentive to get in shape. With the weather being so stagnant lately, I'm hoping this get together will motivate each of us to keep moving forward! 

I opted out of being in both of the weddings, it's just not my thing. I'm more than willing to help with anything I can along the way, but I just really don't like being in people's weddings. None the less, you bet your ass I'll still be looking good among the rest of the crowd. 

I'm still working toward my goal, and with each week I'm feeling better. This upcoming weekend is going to be a big one, for all of my girls. I can't wait!