workout

21 Days & Counting

There’s something humbling about owning a scale.

Let me disclaim this by saying that I’m not a huge numbers person when it comes to my weight. I will go months without knowing or caring what I weigh and just go off how my clothes fit, the look/feel of my skin and generally how I feel. However, these past few months I have been feeling awful (as you all know) so I did what not a lot of people recommend doing.

I bought a scale. 35143562_10157436684946729_1767007901295050752_n

A shiny, black, super modern scale.

And what did that sexy scale scream back at me when I graced it with my freshly pedicured feet?

220 lbs.

I almost screamed as I quickly jumped off.

How did I let this happen?

Now, naturally, I freaked out and got all down on myself and threw a few things. But after a tantrum on my part, I sat down and just began to think. Yes, I have been eating like absolute crap. I’ve been sleeping horribly, my skin is breaking out, my energy is nonsense, I haven’t been able to focus at work and I’ve overall just felt “blah.”

(Yes, I realize this is a familiar conversation).

So, to skip all the blah blah blah for you, I’ve started 21 Day Fix. It’s a 21-Day workout program through BeachBody and is 21 days straight of 30 minute workouts with double days during the final week. I just finished the first day and while it was hard, it wasn’t downright want-to-kill-myself awful.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you MUST have compassion for yourself. Compassion, grace, kindness and positivity toward yourself. Not to sound crazy, but you are sometimes your own best friend and you would never speak to your best friend the way you speak to yourself sometimes, am I right?

So, I have two goals over the next 21 days. Well, I have like a 100 but here are the major ones:

Drink a gallon of water every day (128 oz/5 water bottles)
Follow the 21 Day Fix workout plan

Now, I didn’t exactly say follow the 21-Day Fix eating plan. I’m going to try my darndest too! But I can tell you right now that already I have been cutting out bread and it’s been awesome. We are taking the KETO approach if anything.

I can also tell you that upon completion of this 21-Day Fix program, I plan to go straight into 21-Day Fix Extreme, then A Little Obsessed and then either T25 or 80-Day Obsession. I did T25 in the past and while the workouts caused me to throw up a few times, I can definitely tell you that there were some SERIOUS results happening and quickly.

So I would love if you follow along on this journey.

To all those brides out there (Like me!!!!!), I know we are (mostly) thinking about looking AND FEELING amazing on our wedding day. So if you’re #sweatingforthewedding like me, I’d love to hear from you 🙂

Have courage and be kind!

xoxo

So far, so good.

Hey chickies!

So, we are officially two days into the PiYo workout from Beachbody and it’s good stuff. I have a decent background with yoga in that I’ve always been in love with the practice and flexibility and strength are so much more important to me than a getting a good run in (AKA fuck running).

Yesterday was the fundamentals, so that basically consisted of me standing around and attempting to perfect my alignment without a mirror.

Seriously, side note to any yoga studios out there:

HAVE MIRRORS! It will help your students with their alignment and they will fix themselves before you can get to them!

Me legit being a little sad about the lack of muscle definition I have. But here’s a BEFORE shot to look back on that isn’t all prettied up with filters!

Anyway.

So there was that 40-min shindig of information and I’ll admit, I got a little worried about some of the moves simply because my strength has been a no lately. But… I literally JUST finished my first official workout, Define: Lower Body and I feel great. It’s an INCREDIBLY short workout but I saw so much room for improvement so didn’t necessarily feel ripped off or that I didn’t get something decent in. I do, however, feel like a little bit of cardio would be helpful with this burst of energy I currently feel.

And that’s just the thing, isn’t it?

We KNOW how good we feel after doing a workout. We know that our minds will be clearer, we will have more energy and we will feel just overall better about life. YET, we avoid working out and instead binge watch episodes of Gossip Girl in attempts to avoid dealing with our own personal lives. (anyone?)

So, my short little motivation to you is this: If you haven’t gotten in a workout today, even 20-30 min, stop what you’re doing and go do it. Do it before you stress over what to make for dinner, what the traffic commute will be or whether or not you are up to par on your adulting skills. This is me being someone to kick you in the butt as I desperately need someone to do this for me half the time.

We only have a day at a time, whether we like it or not. So, might as well start with the now, right?

All my loves!

Follow my journey on Instagram too! @circus.vagabond

But here’s my goals, so PiYo maybe?

I have no idea what I weigh right now.

Honestly, I don’t think I really care.

All I know is that I’m not fitting into clothes. Everything is tight, I’m consistently uncomfortable in anything and I simply lose most motivation to do much except sit around on my computer all day.

The crazy thing is, I know how good I feel when I eat well. I know how energized I get when I work out. I know I’ll sleep better, perform better, think better, feel better if I eat well and work out.

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Me working out on a regular basis. Look how happy!

Yet, I don’t.

I was on the phone with my mom last night and her and I have both struggled with weight basically our entire lives. While I was overly involved in sports as a kid, I was never the fastest or strongest. I wasn’t bad, just not the best. But I loved sports so much. Hated running, so I went for the water sports, but still.

Anyway, she said to me that when she has been most successful with weight loss it was because she had set very small goals for herself. For that week, and that week alone, she was going to do A and B. Then, the next week, she could keep those goals and add on, or change the goals completely. More often than not, she would keep the goals and maybe add one or simply go another week pursuing the same. These goals ranged from drinking 2 liters of water a day, exercising for 30 min per day, having sugar only once and not twice, etc.

I’m jealous of people who can do a full 180 and completely devote themselves to an eating and exercise plan right out the gate. I wish I could but I honestly get burnt out way too fast and I end up resenting all things, including myself and loved ones around me because I’m ashamed I couldn’t keep up.

I’ve always been someone who isn’t great about completely following through. I love to talk about things I’m going to do, and I’ll fall in love with an idea for a few weeks and then it fizzles out. Already, in the past six months, I’ve bought everything for face painting, hot yoga, a new meal plan, makeup, and a cat. The cat is doing great and I’m very on top of that 😉 Face painting is in a box in a closet while my yoga mat sits rolled up at the end of my bed.

Ok, so now it’s out in my living room so I can do a Beachbody PiYo workout with it…

Speaking of which, that’s what I want to start today. It’s Wednesday, so it’s not like MONDAY but I plan to follow the plan perhaps with Wednesdays being my Mondays. I love Pilates and Yoga, and Chalene Johnson is pretty badass so figured I would give it a go. I’m combining it, possible with T25 and the eating plan from Trim Healthy Mama. It’s a lot to take on, combined with drinking at least 100oz of water a day (128oz is the goal).

But maybe I can stick this one out. Maybe.

CIRCUS VAGABOND