Zion National Park

This was taken on our vaca at Zion National Park. It was three days of hiking up lots of mountains - wonderful! The first pic is a storm that came up on us when we were hiking Angels Landing.

Great Doctor in Anthem, Arizona

Oh, I forgot that I wanted to give my new doctor a plug.
Dr. Randy Horn in Anthem is awesome. He is a very good doctor, easy to talk to and he takes his time with you. If you need a good doc in Anthem Arizona, I give Doctor Horn a big thumbs up!!

I'm baaaccckkk

Oh my gosh, I haven't blogged in sooooo long!! First I was on vacation and then I got a sinus infection last week. I am finally back working out again after taking a two week break. I signed up for SWEAT's "maintenance plan" - it is a pretty good deal. I was amazed last night how hard it was to get back into exercising. After only two weeks, my endurance was very decreased.
My official weight at the end of the 12 weeks was 157.2. I am not sure how many total inches I lost, they are still looking for my beginning measurements (couldn't find the sheet) - but I know for sure that I lost 5 inches in my waist. I haven't been a 30 inch waist for YEARS! Yaaa
On the downside, most of my pants look like clown pants, I only have about 5 pairs that actually fit me now. Will have to save some $$ to get new pants and/or alterations.
Now, on to the flu-- is anyone else concerned or do you think it is being overblown. This is how I figure it -- if it is being a bit overblown, maybe that is for the best right now when we don't know how virulent this flu is going to be. I mean, if they had instituted these kinds of measures at the beginning of the 1918 epidemic, it probably would have saved some lives, right?

 I have been trying to find a pic of myself at my largest.  This comes pretty close.  This was taken in August, 2008 at Petrified Forest in Arizona.  I'll try to get a good "after" pic of myself to post soon.  I'm now about 2 sizes smaller than this.  :)

I trained on Friday night instead of Wednesday night this week and I met some new people.   I was talking to a fellow "SWEATer" named Rick (you have to tell me if I got your name wrong) and he cracked me up and made me feel good at the same time.  We were doing lunges outside from wall to wall and I was, of course, complaining.  Rick told me that he learned from my blog not to wear thongs when doing lunges.  I had forgotten about my lunge+thong post, so it made me laugh.  And, it made me feel good that a few other people (other than my family and close friends) actually read my prattle.  Rick, I have to say that lunges+thong on a male would probably be way more uncomfortable then lunges+thong on a female, wouldn't you agree?!  LOL

The end of my 12 week challenge is approaching, I am done on Thursday, April 16.  I think (if I can find the money) I am going to do SWEAT's maintenance plan.  I can do 2 personal training sessions per week and I can go to any of their group classes.  I think its a good deal.  

I may not blog too much this week.  We are getting ready to go on a trip to Zion National Park.  I'll post pics from our trip next week.  Stay healthy!

only three weeks left, getting scared

I trained with Josh all this week. He is really pushing every one this week because (for most people) the 12 week challenge ended this week. I still have until the week of April 15th since I started late. Last night was a tough one, I nearly fell off the treadmill and I kept having to hold on. Josh told me that if I kept holding on, he would tie my hands behind my back. I am pretty sure that isn't legal, but it was funny when he said it.

I'm already freaking out about my time at SWEAT ending. I'll be done with my 12 week challenge on April 15th and I don't think we can afford to sign up again. I am very sad and really scared that I will go back to my bad ways if I can't go to SWEAT. Going there keeps me accountable and I know I will not work out as hard as I do when I am training with the SWEAT people. ARRRGGHH. I am trying to talk my husband into letting me go on the new maintenance plan that SWEAT has - keep your fingers crossed that we can find the extra money in our budget. It is definitely worth it!!

Josh and Laura, you guys have built a great business that helps lots of people, you should feel proud!

The only thing we have to fear...

It feels like I haven't had much to blog about. Nothin new. Ate bad on the weekend, like usual - and then worried about the weigh in on Monday night. I am well behaved during the week (well, for at least diet and exercise I am) but I am baaaaddd on the weekends. Not as bad as I used to be, but still bad. I bet I would have lost at least 3 more pounds if I ate better on the weekends. Oh well, at least I am in way better shape then I was 8 weeks ago.

I have another gripe, totally off topic. Listening to the news today, there is a new buzzword floating around that caught my attention and immediately started to annoy me - "Toxic Assets." As in, "the government agreed to purchase some of the toxic assets." Give me a frickin break - cant you just say "bad investments." Some histrionic reporter decided to make the term "bad investments" sound much scarier by turning it into "toxic assets." Whoooo, when you say it like that, it makes it sound so much worse, I'm really scared now. I hate it when the news gets apocolypic - they must think it will sell better if they make it sound worse in this current environment. Like FDR said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" - you got that right brother.

Problems with Push-ups

Had Josh again tonight, apparently push-ups were the theme. I only got a "cmon oblinger" a few times, that's an improvement! Told you I would blog about it Josh!

I don't like push-ups. Not so much because they are hard. I mean, they are hard, but not as hard as they used to be. But I still have some "issues" with them.

1st issue --- I do the modified version (the kind most women do) - so I'm on my knees when I do them. The floor at SWEAT is hard and I get a sort of cross between a bruise and a carpet burn on my knees when Josh makes us do like a million push-ups.

2nd issue --- the push up in general is not terribly attractive, it is kind of an unappealing position to be in (maybe some people feel differently about this, but I don't feel very good lookin when I'm doing them).

3rd issue --- I look absolutely ridiculous when I am trying to get up from doing a large amount of push-ups. I just look pitiful, I have to push myself up and try to get my feet under me. I look clumsy and not graceful in the least. Now, most people would not normally describe me as graceful, but me getting up after doing lots of push ups could be described as anti-graceful - the exact opposite of graceful.

4th issue --- guys look way better doing push-ups (well some guys anyway).

Ok now that the bitching is over. On the bright side, I am totally able to do many more push-ups then I could 7 weeks ago!

Oh - for those of you who live close to Anthem - SWEAT's new 12 week challenge starts on April 1st - it is TOTALLY worth the cost if you really want to jump start your path to fitness and weight loss!!! Everyone there is great, that includes Josh (even though I complain about him a lot).