Tag Archives: fitness goals

Mar9

365 Days of Fitness Complete … and Then Some

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365DaysofFitnessComplete

This post is a few weeks overdue. I really planned to post it on day 366 … but I just never got it together. I mean, I posted the above pic on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. But, I am aware that a good number of you don’t follow me on those platforms. So, I did mean to do a blog post for those who only follow here. Butttttt … yeah, I just have not been motivated to write more than a caption!! And, I have so many posts that I want to write … but after work, I’m just tired. And on the weekends … still tired?!?!? Blame it on the cold and snowy weather in NJ? I blame it on my self-diagnosed SAD (seasonal affective disorder), although … I’ve been pretty happy. LOL!! Oh well … no more excuses.

So yeah, I finished 365 Days of Fitness with a minimum of 10 minutes of exercise/activity every day on February 17th. The last week was pretty lackluster as I was in Ireland for “holiday” (love that term for vacation) with my mom, sister, and niece.

CliffsofMoher adaremanor

We had  long, cool, rainy, castle and green field filled days and I never managed to get up and workout in the morning. So, I mostly just finagled in 10-20 minute of yoga stretches for hip flexibility each night. Gotta say though, I think that’s what I needed as we spent a minimum of 4 hours driving in the car each day and it was more like 6-8 hours on a couple of occasions. So, I was very stiff and sore and the stretching was welcome!

Anywho, we returned from Ireland the evening of February 16th and so my last two days of 365 Days of Fitness were also quick and sweatless. Add to that, I’ve put a good 10 or *mumble muble* so pounds since the wedding … let’s just say, 10 Minutes a Day is still in full effect. Seventy-five minutes of hot yoga this morning made Day 385.

LESSONS LEARNED

So, what I have I learned over this 365 Days and Then Some? Welp, I can’t say that it was anything earth shattering because I’ve worked out off and on, hard core and moderate over the last 20 years. But, I did learn a few things.

  • 10 Minutes of exercise a day is better than 0 minutes, no matter how little it may seem. And 10 minutes can easily turn into 20-30 minutes with enough time. But, if it doesn’t, it’s okay. Because tomorrow is always another day.
  • I discovered I can do just 10 minutes of exercise a day and not feel guilty that I didn’t do more. See prior bullet!
  • I love green smoothies!! LOL!! During this journey, I started drinking green smoothies after my in-laws (no more *future* in front of that ;)) gave me a NutriBullet for my birthday last year. I used it daily for months … until I broke it by constantly overfilling it (overflowed and burned out the motor, I think). I got another one at my work bridal shower and finally broke it out a couple of weeks ago. So glad to have green smoothies back in my diet!! It just feels good to start most days with my breakfast smoothie (see here).
  • Eating badly is not an excuse to not work-out! This one was HUGE for me!! I use to always fall off of the wagon of exercising when I ate badly a couple of days in a row. I would feel like I had no energy and that I was sapped and bloated. Well, I learned that I can eat Wendy’s, a crapload of food on a cruise, cupcakes, pancakes, burgers, candy, what-have-you, and STILL workout! In fact, I often have MORE energy and get great workouts due to the calorie boost! Given that I often work out in the morning on an empty stomach, working out fully fueled feels a lot easier!! Now, that’s not an excuse to eat junk, it just proves that eating junk is not an excuse ;)!
  • I ♥♥♥ yoga!!!!! I mean … really, truly! Although my body is not as young and nubile as it used to be, although I have aches and pains in my 40s that I never experienced in the past, I still find myself learning how to do new things with my body … things I couldn’t even do when I was “young and nubile!” This is all because of yoga.  So, last Sunday, I started a 30 Day Yoga Challenge by DoYouYoga on YouTube! It’s comprised of 10-20 minute videos that I do daily, usually in addition to some other exercise. I feel like it has already paid dividends as hot yoga was awesome this morning!! I had a great practice and everything was flowing, my breath, my flows, my inversions! Can’t wait to see what I feel like after 23 more days!! 

Okay, time to wrap this up! So, on the anniversary of the day I began 365 Days of Fitness (I was just trying to make it through 28 Days back then!!), I recommitted myself to eating well and staying active. I plan to continue to work out daily by doing at least 10 minutes of activity a day. I don’t have any “end game” in sight. I’m still working on getting my eating habits FULLY back in order (I’ve improved over the last couple of weeks, but I’ve still got work to do to be consistent). However, I know that with just a little focus and discipline, I can get these extra pounds off. It’ll be a lot easier this time as I never fell off the fitness wagon! So, though I’m not where I want to be weight -wise, I will not give up. There is no finish line for being healthy and active. It requires a LIFE change. But, I’m up for it.

Onward and upwards my friends!!

365DaysofFitness

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How goes your health and fitness?
Did you learn anything about yourself through exercise and eating well in 2013? 

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Feb2

28 DoF Final Check-In: Week 4

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Day344jumprope

Yesterday was the day!!! It was the end of our 28 Days/10 Minutes a Day Fitness Challenge!! So, how did you guys do? Was it harder or easier than you thought? If you missed a day, did you get back to it the next? Do you want to do it again? Are you going to set a longer goal? Time to update us with your Week 4: Days 22-28!!

I’m still not going as hard as I have in the past, but I was mostly back to morning workouts this week, if I remember correctly. They were just short ones though … but hey, that’s the point right? Even 10 minutes a day is worth it!! So, this week, I decided I really want to work on improving my hip flexibility for yoga as I felt like I had kind of plateaued in my practice lately. I really want to be able to do the cross-legged full lotus pose. So, that was somewhat my focus this last week.

WEEK 4 RECAP

Day 22 / 342:  Hot Yoga / Vinyasa Flow at Younique Yoga studio in Sparta, NJ (75 min). 

Day 23 / 343: Lauren Brooks Kettlebell Joint Mobility Warm-up and 12 Minute Full Body Blast. But, I switched it up. Since I didn’t have time to do 2 rounds of the short routine, instead of taking the 30 second rest between each  1 minute set, I jumped rope during that “breaks” instead. This kept my heart rate up through the entire 12 minutes.

Day 24 / 344: Jump rope (5 min – whew!), 12 reps x 3 sets of rows with door jam “suspension trainer,” 12 reps x 3 sets of “superman” back extensions, Developing Lotus Flexibility video (10 min), forearm tripod inversion for 30 breaths (total: approx. 20-25 minutes).

via YogaVidyaEnglish

Day 25 / 345: Developing Lotus Flexibility video (10 min).  I did the video in the morning with plans to get some cardio in the evening. Well, I’m sure glad I did that in the a.m., because I was on the road for 4 hours for work and when I got home, passed out on the couch at 8:30 p.m. I woke up, thinking it was 10 or 11 … it was almost 2 a.m.! Needless to say, I hit the sack, counting myself lucky that I had done the video in the morning!!

Day 26 / 346: Developing Lotus Flexibility video (10 min) and Lotus Hips video (20 min). 

via Eckhart Yoga

Day 27 / 347: KeiraLashae Kickboxing video (10 min), jump rope (5 min), and Developing Lotus Flexibility video (10 min).

Day 28 / 348: Angie Miller Kettlebell Bootcamp sets 1-3 plus 32 alternating hand swings and 16 two-hand swings (22 min).

So I’m also going to include a little of Day 349 / 29 (Hot Yoga Vinyasa Flow – 75 min) in this post, because …

Yeah, I know the video is kind of crappy, but I didn’t have any help today!! LOL! But, the point is, those hip opening stretches are already paying dividends!! Today was the first time that I’ve even come close to this one leg arm balance (Koundiyanasana)! Usually, I can’t even get that front foot off of the ground!! So, I’m kind of excited and, after I finish this post, think I’ll be doing some more hip opening stretches. Hey, I’m home alone while many are starting to enjoy Superbowl parties, small and large. So, why not? Think I’ll catch up on last week’s Justified and Community too ;).

Lata Gatas!

(p.s. Don’t forget to check out our FB Events page where many folks update daily! You can find lots of ideas for home, outdoors, YouTube, DVD, app, and gym workouts to mix it up and beat boredom!! If you aren’t on Facebook and/or want more ideas, check out the Fitness Playlist I created on my YouTube channel to share fitness videos that I like!)

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How did you do the last 7 days of the challenge? 

Who is still going to continue and for how long are you planning? 30 days? 100? 365? 

Who wants to try again, because they didn’t make it all the way through?

Who wants to do it for the first time?

If there is enough interest, I’ll keep this going for another 28 days with weekly update posts for accountability and inspiration!! 

Jan26

28 DoF Check-In: Week 3

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Day335

Sookie Sookie Now!!! Only one week to go chicas and chicos!!! Time to update us with your 28 Days/10 Minutes a Day Fitness Challenge progress for Week 3: Days 15-21!!

And don’t forget to check out our FB Events page where many folks are updating daily! In a work-out rut? You’ll can find tons of ideas for home, outdoors, YouTube, DVD, app, and gym workouts to mix it up and beat boredom!! If you aren’t on Facebook and/or want more ideas, check out the Fitness Playlist I created on my YouTube channel to share fitness videos that I like!

As for my week, the struggle continues. I’m still not getting up as early as I’d like. A 5:30 am wake-up can be beastly in the winter when it’s still very dark and cold and especially when it seems to be snowing EVERY OTHER day in NJ! Ughhh!! So, I was still fighting the time crunch most of the week and ended up doing late night workouts on Friday and Saturday.

WEEK 3 RECAP

Day 15/335:  Hot Yoga / Vinyasa Flow at Younique Yoga studio in Sparta, NJ (75 min).

Day 16/336: Tamilee Webb’s Abs of Steel (10 min). In my defense, I cleaned house ALL day … well, I mostly dealt unpacking (ummm … see, what had happened was … Okay. I have no excuse. I just fully unpacked from the honeymoon on MLK Day. I know. Sad. But, whatcha gonna do?). So, I sorted, organized, and shred a lot of mail/paperwork and washed, folded, and put away a crap-load of clothes.

Day 17/337: 10 Minute Kickboxing with KieraLashae (don’t get it twisted, you will get your sweat on with these 10 minutes, IF you give it your all).

Day 18/338:  Lauren Brooks Joint Mobility Warm-up and 12 Minute Full Body Blast x2 (29 min).

Day 19/339: FitSugar’s Treadmill Pyramid Intervals to the 22 minute mark, then 6 minutes to cool down (28 min).

Day 20/340: Tamilee Webb’s Abs of Steel (10 Minutes)

Day 21/341: Tamilee Webb’s Abs of Steel (10 Minutes)

Day338

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We’re in the home stretch now!! How did you do Week 3, days 15-21? 

What are your plans for your final week?

Jan19

28 DoF Check-In: Week 2

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Day331

Woot!! Woot!! We’re at the halfway point folks!!! Time to update us with your 28 Days/10 Minutes a Day Fitness Challenge progress for Week 2: Days 8-14!!

And don’t forget to check out our FB Events page!!  The home, outdoors, YouTube, DVD, app, and gym workouts continue to roll in!! I tried a new 10 workout myself last night!! And, if you aren’t on Facebook and/or want more ideas, check out the Fitness Playlist I created on my YouTube channel to share fitness videos that I like!

As for my week, I’m getting back into the groove of morning workouts … but still not getting up as early as I’d like. I went from a 6:30 am rise time to 6 am. So, that was good. But, my goal this week is to get back to 5:30 am. If you remember, I’m also doing a personal 365 Days of the Word challenge with YouVersion’s One Year Bible. So, I do my reading and prayer first (along with my cup of coffee ;)), then workout.

WEEK 2 RECAP

Day 8/328:  Hot Yoga / Vinyasa Flow at Younique Yoga studio in Sparta, NJ (75 min). I hadn’t been to hot yoga in 2 months, so I was bit nervous. But, I didn’t do too badly! I definitely was tighter than I had been, but I’ll work out the kinks soon (I hope ;))!

Day 9/329: Lauren Brooks Joint Mobility Warm-up and 12 Minute Full Body Blast x2 (29 min).

Day 10/330: Run on treadmill – 5 min warm-up; then 5 min at 5 mph and 10 min at 5.5 mph at 1.5% incline; 5 min cool down (25 min total). I would have liked to run longer, but I was short on time. I know it’s better for me to get a shorter workout in the morning than try to wait until after work for a longer one and end up doing NOTHING!

Day 11/331: Angie Miller Kettlebell Bootcamp with 15 and 20 pound bells (45 min). I was using the 15 lb bell for the entire workout, but am progressing and working towards using the 20 lb bell for the whole routine.

Day 12/332: FitSugar’s Treadmill Pyramid Intervals to the 22 minute mark, then 5 minutes to cool down. I was short on time again!!

Day332

Day 13/333: 60 seconds x2 sets of bicycle exercise for abs, 15 recline leg lifts, and 20 “superman” back extensions in the am (5 min); Tamilee Webb’s Abs of Steel in the pm (10 min)

Day 14/334: Cardio Crush Workout by BeFit on YouTube (10 min)

Feeling good!! I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do when my 365 days are complete. Will I keep going or start taking off days? Hmmmm … I’m feeling like I’ll keep going. But, I’d like to challenge myself in a different way. Maybe run 365 miles in a year … or, what I’ve really been thinking about is doing a different fitness challenge each month for 12 months. Or … maybe a year long daily yoga challenge as it’s amazing to be able to do things with my body that I’ve never been able to do in my life! Hmmmm …

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Okay my peeps!! How did you do Week 2? Give us the rundown of days 8-14!!

What victories did you achieve this week?

Jan12

28 DoF Check-In: Week 1

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Day323-3

It’s that time!!! Time to update us with your 28 Days/10 Minutes a Day Fitness Challenge progress for Week 1: Days 1 -7!!

Now, a lot of you have been updating our FB Events page and that has been absolutely awesome to see the variety of things everyone is doing to get in their 10 minutes!! If you haven’t checked it out, please do!! The variety of home, outdoors, YouTube, DVD, app, and gym workouts is great!! And, if you aren’t on Facebook and/or want more ideas, check out the new Fitness Playlist I created on my YouTube channel to share fitness videos that I like!

Okay, now let’s get to my update! But, before I do, let me preface this by saying that I was oversleeping this week, because what I thought was my 5:30 alarm was my 6 o’ clock alarm!! And then, when I figured it out … I still slept in a couple days. Ummm … yeah, so, I ended up just barely getting in my 10 minutes several days this week. And, when I got them in, I didn’t want to do anything that made me sweat because I didn’t want to have to take a shower late at night and have to take another one the next morning. Because, the plan was always to workout in the morning … ended up being the failed plan most days last week.

Anywho … here’s my quick run down … remember, I’m doing this concurrently with my 365 Days of Fitness, which I haven’t yet completed.

WEEK 1 RECAP

Day 1/321:  10 Min. Fat Burning Kickboxing with KeairaLaShae – I got this one from one of our challenge ladies who posted it on my FB page on Day 1!! It’s not the most polished of videos, but it got the job done! I broke a NICE sweat!!

Day 2/322: 60 secs x 2 sets of bicycle for abs in the morning;  20 min walk on treadmill (5 min warm-up; 5 min @ 3.8 mph w/4% incline; 5 min @ 3.8 mph w/8% incline; 5 min cool down).

Day 3/323: FitSugar Treadmill Pyramid Intervals workout (as pictured above) (30 min). I got this one from my sister who was a varsity runner in high school and just did a half marathon in December! She was impressed with how it improved her performance. I was fine the first half, but once those “rest/recovery” intervals picked up to 5.5 mph, I had to take them down to 4.0 in order to recover from the 7, 8, and 7 mph again sprint intervals!! And, I added 5 minutes of additional cool down to the end! 4.0 mph is a cardio walk pace! It is NOT a cool down!! LOL!! And, anyway, I did the first minute of the program cool down at 5.5 mph and the second at 4.5 mph. You can always increase or decrease the speed to accommodate your fitness level when doing any High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

Day 4/324: Tamilee Webb’s Abs of Steel (10 min)

Day 5/325: The Biggest Loser Cardio Max Level 2 Workout (40 min)

tblcardiomax

Day 6/326: Tamilee Webb’s Abs of Steel (10 min)

Day 7/327: Tamilee Webb’s Abs of Steel (10 min)

And that was my “Week 1!” Started week 2 pretty well with a 75 minute hot yoga class this morning! So, hopefully, that will be the kicks I needed to get back into waking up in time to exercise in the morning, before going to work!! Wish me luck!!

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Okay folks!! How did your Week 1 go? What did you do Days 1-7?

Most importantly, how are you feeling? I hope great :)!!

Jun27

May GOC Update: Cassandra (#26)

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Hair
My hair has grown a lot since the start of the challenge. I haven’t measured, but I tell by how much my twists are hanging now that I am retaining length. I attribute the growth to following the CG method and finger detangling.

I will continue to follow the CG Method, since I have noticed a marked difference since I started in April and I’m glad I purchased the handbook :). I plan on following the CG Method, but will try to incorporate pre-pooing into my regimen. I’ve been slacking lately, but will start back up with doing henna treatment, but roots only. Anyone else notice it’s easier to do Henna treatments during the cooler months? Since my hair is a lot longer now, I’m not looking forward to sitting under the dryer, but it must be done!

My edges seemed to have stopped growing/filling in, so I will resume applying castor oil to my edges only and use the CG Method for rest of my hair. If anyone has any tips for a CG Friendly hair growth aid, I would appreciate the assistance! I’ve started to do some protective styling, but mostly I will continue to do wash and gos during the summer and I don’t want to manipulate my hair too much.

Health & Fitness
As far as the diet, I lost 8 pounds in May! Yea! I think I was over-thinking too much last month, but as soon as I stopped weighing myself constantly and focused on the diet and exercise, the weight came off. Health-wise, I will be maintaining my current exercise routine and diet.

♦

Find Cassandra’s other GOC-The Sequel posts here:

Initial Submission
April Update

Jun26

May GOC Update: Etoile (#15)

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by Etoile of The Curvealicious Chronicles

Hair
Loving that it is summer and I am back to my summer WnG routine using the Tightly Curly Method! I went to see my hair affair aka the Curl Whisperer aka Ms. Tameeka of Jaded Tresses last month for a cut and color. She did a modest trim and my longest length now reaches BSL! I have retained about 5″+ of length in 10 months!

My Summer Hair Care Regimen and HG Products are:

Weekly:

  • Pre-Poo overnight with olive oil or jojoba oil.
  • Spritz my hair with water and saturate hair with deep conditioner. I am currently using Blended Beauty Herbal Reconditioner. Then steam my hair for 20 minutes.
  • 1x weekly, shampoo hair with Blended Beauty Soy Cream Shampoo. 1 or 2x weekly (depending on my work out schedule), co-wash with Aussie Moist or HEHH.
  • Wet my hair under the shower stream and finger detangle with either HEHH or Aussie Moist.
  • Apply Blended Beauty Curl Styling Butter using the ‘Rake’ method that Tameeka taught me. I then let my curls air dry until 90% dry, then bend over at the waist massing the roots to give me volume and shake my head from side to side.

Note: The Blended Beauty Curl Styling Butter is my new ‘ish OMYGAWWWW, it smells delish, leaves my curls touchably soft and gives me hold for days and days! At night, I pineapple and sleep on a satin pillowcase. In the morning, I allow the mist from the shower to dampen my hair, apply a dab of the Curl Styling Butter to the length, scrunch my curls and that’s it! I love that I can use one product to condition and hold. The curl styling butter gives me shine AND moisture. New HG! The key ingredients: Aloe and chamomile water, shea butter, rice bran oil.

Health & Fitness
Ummmm we WON’T even go there. I am pretty sure that Oreo Cookies are not on the diet plan …

I just got back on my work-out grind last week with boot camp and Belly Dance class … we will leave it at that!

♦

Missed Etoile’s original GOC-The Sequel post or just want a refresher? Then, check out her first post here!


May23

April GOC Update: Akia (#42)

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Hair
Hello Fellow GOCers! April was great for me! This challenge has really allowed me to stick to my hair and fitness goals. I did really well with the mini-twists, keeping them up for actually 4 weeks! My only downfall was that I didn’t wash my hair for another 2 weeks. I wore a twist out for a couple of days and then wore a puff for a couple of days. Big mistake! From all of the product, oils and no wash, my hair became really crunchy and dry. We all know what comes with crunchiness and dryness … shedding hair and knots. I am sitting here with conditioner in my hair as we speak! So, unfortunately, I did not do a Henna treatment, protein treatment or hibiscus tea rinse … but, I digress. So, for May, I have to do better with washing my hair right away after I take out the twists instead of prolonging it.

Health & Fitness
As far as my health and fitness goals, I have been a beast! I have found my love … Pilates!! I have been attending Pilates classes, Pumped (a class where you work with a weight bar; focuses on toning) and kick boxing at least 4 times a week. I am kind of addicted to Pilates, due to the fact that I am seeing results already, and I try to attend every time that I can.

I am also still faithfully taking my vitamins, drinking at least 4-5 glasses of water everyday and still eating healthy. I eat a lot of salmon and spinach. I created a recipe that includes steamed garlic and herb crusted salmon with sautéed portebella mushrooms and red onion on top of raw spinach with a raspberry vinaigrette … it is to die for! So … for the most part, no complaints here.

♦

 Check out Akia’s initial GOC submission here.