Fall Break and Goals

I spent half of my fall break with my oldest sister, Sarah. It was the funnest trip I've had visiting Colorado. But I guess it's not hard to beat the last time I went there, which is when I broke my arm. =) Jokes aside, we went out for yummy Mexican in downtown Denver my first night and then drove to see all the sights downtown. I know I am an expressive person, but sometimes I even shock myself by how much I throw out "Oooooo!!! AHhhhh!! So pretty!! Oh my gosh that is so cool!!" But I couldn't help it, Denver is a really cool city! Saturday, I shocked myself by getting up at 6:45 to hit the gym with Sarah and her friend. Holy crap. I am very impressed and a little embarassed of myself by how in shape she is. But I definitely felt inspired because as far as body types go, I feel like I identify the most with her, except she's like 10 pounds lighter. =[ But after a butt kicking workout, we hit up some caves to adventure through, got some Chick-Fil-A on the way home, and also stopped at a gourmet popcorn place. YUMMMM. I love popcorn. Nuff said.

Later that night, Sarah and I went to see Harry Potter 6. It was my second time, her first, but our excitement for it was equal. Well, actually I was probably more excited, but that is to be expected. On Sunday, we went to church and while Sarah and Joel did their thing in Primary, I tended to Gemma. By 'tended to' I mean trying relentlessly to make Gemma walk. The thing is, Gemma CAN walk. She is physically able to. She can stand for at least 20 seconds and can walk up and down the church halls holding onto one of your fingers several times without stopping. She just chooses not to walk on her own. As soon as she realizes you aren't holding on to her, she collapses to her knees. I had made it a goal to get her walking by the time I left, but sadly, she had her own agenda. I think this will foreshadow her personality for the rest of her life. Gemma is going to do things when she wants to and how she wants to, we can only watch to see what unfolds.

Monday, we went to the Savory Spice Shop in Littleton, CO. I love spices. I throw them into everything to jazz up my food. Like I drench my fried eggs in smoked paprika. Or I throw buffalo sauce in chicken noodle soup. So it's not suprising that Sarah and I spent an hour in this shop just licking all the spices off our hands. I made out with Romano cheese, Cheddar cheese, dutch cocoa, mexican cocoa, jamaican jerk-extra hot, Red Rocks Hickory, and Vietnamese Cinnamon. I've been throwing these spices in everything, and I can't believe the difference high quality cocoa makes. Last night, I made some peppermint tea, added some Splenda and a teaspoon of Dutch cocoa and a teaspoon of creamer. Holy cow. I thought I was drinking a fatty Starbucks hot chocolate. Nope. 25 calories for a delicious holiday tea? Yes, please.

So that brings me to my next topic (kind of) which are my goals. I purchased an e-book recently called 'Burn Fat, Feed Muscle.' I had seen this e-book numerous times and read a lot of great reviews, but didn't buy it because it was kind of pricey and was an e-book. But I decided to get it because I have become so sick of my physical appearance lately. This book is AWESOME. The most awesome part of it is the goals portion. You get a 350 page book on the program, but then 10 mini books about emotional eating, body fat information, and a lot of goal achievement books. The goals portion is so thorough and has really made an impact on me. I have read material on setting goals before, but this book actually 'yells' at you to do it. For example, it says, "Okay now write down your short and long term goals, and write them in affirmations of what you will achieve. Okay write them down for real. No really, do it. You better not be moving on until you write these down. If you don't write them down, you will fail." And even later in paragraphs the author says, "Now refer to your goal sheet, and if you still haven't written them down you are a failure so they better be done." Needless to say, my fitness goals are typed and plastered on my bathroom mirror.

I won't go into great detail about all the information the book offers, but I have it on my computer so if family wants to read some of it sometime, you are more than welcome to! Okay so here is where accountability comes into play. I have to pick an accountability partner. I picked my best friend Ashley, and every time I miss a workout, I owe her a $1. And if I don't reach my month goal, I owe her $30 or $30 worth of service to her. I haven't missed a workout yet, and will not miss a workout because now I have to be accountable. So I decided to take it a step further and have called on my oldest sister Sarah to check up on me once a week or so, and am now posting my goals on here so I can check back every Monday. Here are my goals:
-Workout at least 5 times a week. I can do double days if I think I will miss a workout, and only sickness would excuse me from this.
-My starting body fat was 28.2% on 10/5. By New Years, I will get under 22%. My ultimate goal is to be 19%.
-I am signing up for a Thanksgiving 10K run with my two sisters, and hopefully my Dad and little brother. I will finish it in under an hour.
-On Thanksgiving, there will be a weigh in. I will be 137 lbs by then. By new years, I will be 133. (hopefully less, but I haven't weighed less then that since 9th grade so I'm going to keep it realistic)

My goals get even more specific than that, but I will refrain from posting all of them. Maybe I will regret doing this since I just posted very personal information, but it seems there is no other way. I have tried to get back to my 'normal' weight for the last year and a half since I gained it in my rough patch of breaking up from a long term relationship, getting rejected from nursing school, and then having a whole bunch of housing issues. But I have made too many excuses and been too easy on myself. Everything in my life right now is perfect. Doing well in school and almost graduated, awesome family, the best group of friends I could ask for, and my dating life is booming (despite being a little chubby right now, yay!) so the only thing I would change right now is my fitness. I have been seeing a guy who co-manages a 24 hour fitness and added me under his account/coupon to get a really cheap deal, so I joined and have already been taking advantage of this. He is in ridiculous shape and he asked me to work out with him today. In his words, "The warm up is 45 minutes alone. I doubt you will be able to move after this. Oh and if there is complaining, you are on your own." So this should be interesting, we'll see if I continue dating him after today. =)

Fitness this week:
Monday: Ran 3 miles in 30 minutes in the morning. An hour on the elliptical at night (burning 800 calories).
Tuesday: Elliptical for 25 minutes. Weight training for 35 minutes.
Wednesday: Hiked 7 miles roundtrip, elevation gain of about 2400 feet over 3.2 miles at a brisk pace thanks to Ashley. (My legs kill!)
Thursday: Ran 4.5 miles in 41 minutes. Legs kill more.
Today: We'll see...