Fitness: Day 1 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

So...here I am back at the beginning. I was pretty active over the course of my trip to Washington. In fact, I think I exercised more and ate better there than I typically do here, believe it or not.

As is typical, vacation always tends to break me out of my regular behavioural patterns but I am back (or at least trying to be!) The next week may still be a little messed up as I finish up final projects for the semester, but bear with me - I'm doing my best.

This is a repeat of the very last routine I did. 

This workout consists of the following:

Start with: 10 seconds rest

1. Squat & Press Up Left Arm – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

2. Squat & Press Up Right Arm – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

3. Pike Jump – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

4. One Leg Bridge Left Leg – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

5. One Leg Bridge Right Leg – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

6. Pike Jump – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

7. Dips & Knee Raises – 30 seconds
(I don't have Zuzana's dip stand, so I used the bar at the gym and did ten hanging leg raises in each round).

10 second rest

8. One Leg Sit & Lift (left leg) – 30 seconds

10 second rest

9. One Leg Sit & Lift (right leg) – 30 seconds

I made it through 3 rounds of this routine, just as before but this time I doubled my leg raises and pushed myself during my pike jumps.

Fitness: Day 14 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

Brief comments this evening... (I find writing blogs after working out to be pretty daunting because my body and brain are all jittery..LOL)

My workout buddy did this workout yesterday and she seems to have enjoyed it so I gave it a go. Working out after eating curry isn't...exactly...a good thing. I put a lot of pepper into it, so it helps get my body temperature up (which I need since I'm perpetually cold). On the other hand, you do tend to smell like garlic... haha

Good thing there was nobody else in the gym. :)

This workout consists of the following:

Start with: 10 seconds rest

1. Squat & Press Up Left Arm – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

2. Squat & Press Up Right Arm – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

3. Pike Jump – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

4. One Leg Bridge Left Leg – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

5. One Leg Bridge Right Leg – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

6. Pike Jump – 30 seconds

10 seconds rest

7. Dips & Knee Raises – 30 seconds
(I don't have Zuzana's dip stand, so I used the bar at the gym and did five hanging leg raises in each round).

10 second rest

8. One Leg Sit & Lift (left leg) – 30 seconds

10 second rest

9. One Leg Sit & Lift (right leg) – 30 seconds

I made it through 3 rounds of this routine. I probably could have (and should have) done four but our building's gym closes at 1am and, quite frankly, those pike jumps are killer if you push yourself.

See you guys tomorrow!

Fitness: Day 13 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

I am really enamoured with Zuzana's Body on Fire routine. This workout exhausts me and makes me sweat - a lot. Plus it's pretty zippy and doesn't seem all that daunting (til I actually do it). But the fact that it's broken into four minute rounds really encourages you to push yourself each time. Four minutes doesn't sound so bad, right?  (The last round is the longest four minutes of your life...) :P

Anyway, this is actually a record of yesterday's routine which I did when I returned from my last class for the semester. After I was done, I took a shower and headed out to get some stuff for next week.  I am off to D.C. for a week for a conference that has me both excited and nervous. Once my presentation is done on Wednesday, I will be excited. Til then... I am a little panicked. In the meantime, I thought I should get some new clothes/shoes and present myself as a "proper" academic. Ah how the student life favours jeans and sweatshirts! ;)

I will be back later today to post today's routine... In the meantime, here's yesterday's workout with my modifications. I mixed stuff around a bit more than usual. :)

Workout details:
Set your interval timer for 6 rounds of 40 second intervals. This equates to 4 minutes and will give you time to get through the reps below once. You must complete this circuit 5 times to achieve your 20 minute routine.  Enjoy!
1. Over and Under (from left to right) 40 seconds
2. Over and Under (from right to left) 40 seconds
3. Happy Dancing Crab 40 seconds
4. Tripple Knee Tucks 40 seconds
5. Pistol and Kozacek 40 seconds
6. Swimming Push Ups 40 seconds
 
Modifications:

1. The last two days I substituted squats in place of the Pistol/Kozacek. This time I did 40 seconds of V-crunches.
2. I modified the pushups a lot yesterday. During the first round, I did elevated pushups using the aerobic stairs in my gym. For the second round, I did pushups from the knees. During rounds 3-5 I did modified pushups by inverting my hands so I could work the outsides of my arms.
3. I love the triple knee tuck but I find that my wrists have been getting really sore in the past few days. (I suppose it's the dancing crabs, pushups and knee tucks working in tandem). So, during the final round, I omitted the knee tucks and did a squat/bounce instead, along the lines of the Air Chair.)

 
These past two weeks of working out have been absolutely wonderful.  I haven't been eating as well as I should though. I find it really, really challenging to eat 6 times a day...mostly because I have never been a snacker. So while we have been making a lot of good food, I haven't been eating to a schedule.  (Plus, my bf is enamoured with pasta and I've been on pasta overload.) Tonight I'm making curried chicken. It isn't in a recipe book - it's just good home cooking. :) (I'm from the Caribbean and there's a lot of clean eating to be had there!)


Back in a few hours!

Fitness: Day 12 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

Hey everyone:

I decided to repeat my previous workout because I thought it was so much fun.  Once again the same modifications were in place but this time I really focused on improving my form (happy crab especially) and increasing my speed (over/unders).

This is a great workout. It goes by quickly but leaves you sweating and tired. :)

I am a little stressed out now that the semester is wrapping up. I am presenting at a conference in a week and like most grad students I consistently doubt my abilities to perform. Public speaking has never been on my list of "things I enjoy" and the fact that my panel consists of fully tenured profs (the likes of whom I should probably be citing) coupled with the fact that my presentation isn't based on empirical research... pretty much scares the crap out of me.

I will be giving a performance to my teddy bears over the weekend. I hope they're kinder critics than next week. :P

(I am, however, really looking forward to visiting D.C. The idea of checking out Washington really excites me.  And I think I've found the workout for the week!)

Fitness: Day 11 (Bodyrock.tv Body on Fire Workout Routine)

Hey everyone!

My fitness posts have been missing for a few days as I skipped traditional workouts in lieu of several hours of walking/moderate hiking around one of our local parks.  It's probably one of my favourite parks in the city due to its size and the variety of activities contained within. By no means does walking come anywhere close to the degree of challenge posed by Zuzana's Bodyrock workouts but it was good to at least get out in the fresh air and enjoy some (uncommon for April in Canada) bright sunshine.

For some reason (I'm not sure whether it was the hiking or a combo of hiking plus the last of Zuzana's workouts) I've been uncharacteristically sore. Because of this I wasn't really in the mood to do anything strenuous for most of yesterday or today. But as today wore on my body realized it was missing a good sweat, so before I knew it...I was back. I guess if you have to be addicted to something, working out isn't that bad. :)

My blogging buddy Green Eyed Girl blogged about this workout yesterday and I thought I'd give it a go. She wasn't kidding when she said this workout was tough. The easiest part of it are the Over/Unders (and even they aren't easy if you really push yourself).  Suffice it to say I made it through  the twenty minutes but only with some modifications. No idea how Zuzana (the machine!) gets through those pistols!

Workout details:

Set your interval timer for 6 rounds of 40 second intervals. This equates to 4 minutes and will give you time to get through the reps below once. You must complete this circuit 5 times to achieve your 20 minute routine.  Enjoy!

1. Over and Under (from left to right) 40 seconds

2. Over and Under (from right to left) 40 seconds

3. Happy Dancing Crab 40 seconds

4. Tripple Knee Tucks 40 seconds

5. Pistol and Kozacek 40 seconds

6. Swimming Push Ups 40 seconds

Modifications:

Happy Dancing Crab - I only did the crab; no jumps!

Pistol - hahahaha! (I did squats).

Swimming pushups - I did a round and a half as proper pushups and then went to my knees. I have weak girly wrists. :P

When I got to round three, I went to show my bf this routine. I was explaining the Pistol while doing Over/Unders but by the time I got to the Happy Crab my bf was just laughing and shaking his head. :P

Music for today's workout:
Disturbed - Want

Hope you guys had a great Easter weekend. :)

Fitness: Day 10 (Bodyrock.tv Abs Assassin Workout Routine)

I missed yesterday's workout and by the time this evening (Friday) rolled around, I wasn't feeling all that up to exercise. Today was such a gorgeous day out and I had all the condo windows open while I sat reading one of my texts for school. Couple that lovely breeze with a tall glass of lemonade (that I was unfortunately lacking) and exercise was the last thing on my mind. But I went onto Zuzana's site anyway in the hopes of picking a routine for tomorrow and I was reminded of my promise to myself. Before I knew it, I'd set my interval timer and was off to the races.

I don't know what it is about Bodyrock workouts, but they are more tiring than anything I've ever done at the gym. I think the one thing I like most about them is the amount of change within a single routine - by the time you're bored and tired with one thing, you're on to something new.

The Abs Assassin workout is, in my opinion, moderately intense. I have weak back and stomach muscles so the leg lifts in particular proved challenging. That said, the tiring part of the workout are the intervals and it's up to you to push yourself. I was sweating after my first set of intervals and every time I thought I was tired I told myself to go just a bit longer.

Tomorrow I'm heading off to the park. I may do my entire routine there or just walk the dog trails before heading home to work out. We are very fortunate to live within minutes of one of the largest parks in Canada. Urban greenspace is an incredibly wonderful thing - I don't know why more people don't take advantage of it!

This routine consists of the following*:

1. High Knees with (or without) jump rope – Tabata (4 minutes of 10 second rest interval and 20 second of maximum effort)
2. Leg lift, Star Crunch, and Butt Lift as one rep – 30 reps. 
3. Jumping Jacks with (or without) jump rope – Tabata
4. Side Plank Lift – 25 reps on each side
5. Scissors with (or without) jump rope – Tabata
6. 6. One Leg bridge, One leg lift, and toe touch

I got through everything in about 33 minutes. (Since I was using my timer to time my intervals, I'm not 100% sure how long the routine took.)

Modifications:
2. I did ten reps as described. The remaining twenty consisted of leg lift/star crunch combos (w/ no butt lift).

*Description courtesy of Bodyrock.tv

Fitness: Day 9 (Bodyrock.tv Fierce Body Workout Routine)

At the bf's request, today we completed the very first workout he ever tried to do with me. I am happy to say that unlike the first time, this time around we made it through all 4 rounds of exercises in 14:04. Go us!

I think the bf was feeling a little let down the first time he tried this. It was what finally convinced him that he was more out of shape than he ought to be. Of course, our legs are still smarting from our routine 2 days ago so I give him extra props for being able to complete this - especially those reptiles!

The routine consists of four rounds of the following:
1.Jump Squats With Diagonal Touch Down – 20 reps (alternating sides)
2. Skater – 15 reps on each leg
3. Reptile – 20 reps (alternating legs)
4. One Leg Hop Kick – 20 reps (alternating sides)

First attempt: 3 rounds in 14:35
Second attempt: 4 rounds in 14:04

In case I've never said it... Thank you Zuzana (and Frederick!) for making these videos. You guys are a constant source of motivation so thank you both!

Fitness: Day 8 (Bodyrock.tv Turbo Fat Blaster Workout Routine)

I am dripping with sweat as I write this...so not cool for my keyboard. LOL

Sometimes I find the hardest part about these workouts is choosing which one to do for the day. Some days I need a little more convincing than others, so I often go for "easier" looking workouts. Today I was feeling particularly lazy which required more convincing than usual. As I mentioned before, Tuesdays are one of my longest days in the week and getting up the motivation to workout (especially when I could easily put it off in lieu of homework) often takes effort. I pushed through though!

For today's challenge I opted to tackle Zuzana's take on Tania's "Turbo Fat Blaster". It takes a lot to make me sweat as I'm pretty cold most of the time, so when I say this workout made me sweat I'm not kidding around. :)



This workout consists of the following:
1. Plie Jump Squats – 30 reps
2. Tapping Push Ups – 26 reps
3. Deep Walking Lunges – 30 reps
4. V-ups – 25 reps
5. Get Ups and High Knees – 30 reps
6. Leg Lifts – 25 reps
7. Mountain Climbers – 60 reps
8. Tricep Dips – 25 reps
9. Skaters Jump Lunges – 30 reps
10. Knee Assisted One Arm Push Ups – 26 reps

I got through the entire routine in 19:51 (though I lost a bit of time when I had to look up one or two exercises).

While performing this routine I made the following modifications:
2. Tapping Push Ups (8 regular pushups, the remainder on my knees)
5. Get Ups and High Knees (these were exhausting! so I split them and did 15 at part 5 and 15 after I had completed everything else.
6. Leg Lifts (8 regular, the remainder with knees bent)
8. Tricep Dips (I did 20)

I am hoping tomorrow will be a "sore" day. I love the way a good workout makes me ache. :)

---

My bf has finally started doing some of these routines with me. He's convinced he needs time to work up to Zuzana's program so he doesn't do them every day. I have to admit though that a better workout partner has been my blogging buddy, Green Eyed Girl. She's a very pleasant motivator and doesn't wuss out like my bf. :) (I'm kidding bf...I'm proud of you too!)

Fitness: Day 7 (Bodyrock.tv Bootylicious Workout Routine)

I've just finished this routine and I'm pretty tired so my write up today will be short and sweet. (I was tired before I worked out so it's little surprise to find I'm tired now.) While this workout isn't cardio intense it does work your legs something fierce.

Today's workout consists of the following:*

3 rounds of the following routine.
1. Dive Bomber Push Ups 5 reps

2. Pull Ups 5 slow reps

3. Interval training: 6 rounds of two 20 second intervals (4 minutes total). 

• first 20 second interval – Squats 
• second 20 second interval – Air Chair

You will be going back and forth between these two exercises until the 4 minutes are up. 20 seconds of Squats followed directly by 20 seconds of Air Chair exercise. 

---

I have really, really weak arms so Pull Ups weren't happening. I considered substituting this exercise for a series of pushups but decided to do leg lifts (reverse crunches?) off the bar instead. (For reference I hauled my butt down to the gym in my condo and tried out the new equipment. I hate working out in public places for fear of looking like a clown but my bf is in the process of convincing me that I don't need to buy equipment when there's perfectly good equipment downstairs.)

I really enjoyed this workout. It was very challenging but I got a lot out of it. I was a little surprised (and admittedly somewhat sad) that I wasn't ridiculously sore when I woke up this morning. Normally two days after a workout I'm in pain and I figured after the weekend's 600 rep madness I'd be aching all over. But there was nothing. (Well, next to nothing.) And then I realized... I crave that bit of pain these days. :P I am pretty sure that I'll be feeling this tomorrow. And Wednesday. And Thursday. :P

Some personal notes:

• work on form for Dive Bomber pushups
• stabilize lower body better during leg lifts/reverse crunches

*description taken from the Bodyrock.tv website.

Fitness: Day 6 (Bodyrock.tv 600 Rep Sexier Body Workout Routine)

Somebody on the Bodyrock website left the following comment in response to this workout...

  "this workout should be called “zuzana wants me dead”...

And I have to say... I agree!

The 600 rep workout is absolute madness, especially when I consider the fact that I have been really, really lazy for months. When all was said and done, I managed to get through it in 39 min and 35 seconds, but with the following caveats in place:

1. My parents came over somewhere in the midst of Jump Lunges, so I actually split the workout down the middle of the jumps.
   
   
2. Burpees (half burpees, full burpees, any kind of burpees are hard!)  I did forty half burpees with calf raises initially and another ten by themselves. At the end of my workout I completed the remaining ten with the appropriate calf raises.
   
   
3. After burpees my arms were so damn sore "normal" pushups were not happening. I did all of my pushups on one knee and I am in no way ashamed to admit it.
   
   
4. I haven't done crunches in a long, long time, so I modified them and kept my knees bent at ninety degrees. My abs are telling me that they were still effective.
   
   
5. One Leg Tricep Dip made me cry. 
   
   
6. Chest Lifts I began performing with my hands behind my head and eventually modified so they looked somewhat like a breast stroke.

That was about it.

If you want to follow along with this, go right ahead...but don't say I didn't warn you!

This workout consists of the following:

1. Half Burpees With Calve Raises – 60 reps

2. One Leg Push Up – 60 reps (switching legs)

3. Jump Lunges (all the way down and touch the ground slightly with your back knee) – 60 reps

4. One Leg Dead Lift – 30 reps on each leg

5. Crunches With Leg Extensions – 60 reps

6. Prisoner Squats and Front Kick – 60 reps (switching legs)

7. One Leg Tricep Dip – 60 reps (switching legs)

8. One Leg Jump Knee Up – 30 reps on each leg

9. Chest Lift – 60 reps

10. Over The Chair Kick – 30 reps on each leg

Fitness: Day 5 (Bodyrock.tv Extreme 15 Minute Routine)

Wednesdays are my weekends. Or at least they should be. I am usually so exhausted between Tuesday and Thursday I don't know my own name.  Unfortunately this usually results in me skipping a workout.

I was determined only to skip one though, so I returned to a quick (but intense) 15 minute challenge. 

I repeated the Extreme 15 Minute Routine I've done twice before.  Once again, this consists of the following:

15 reps of the snowboarder

15 v-crunches

 

1 round consists of both exercises.

 

1st attempt: 11 rounds in 15 min

2nd attempt: 8 rounds in 10 minutes

3rd attempt: 11 rounds in 15 minutes

:)  Tonight I'm going for the 600 rep killer.

Fitness: Day 4 (Bodyrock.tv 15 Minute Challenge Routine)

As I've mentioned elsewhere, earlier, yesterday (whatever)...I am not typically one to stick to anything. It doesn't matter what it is, I will get bored of it.  The harder it is, the more likely I am not to go through with it.  Working out is on the top of my list of things to be easily bored by so making it to "Day 4" (arguably it's a little better than that) is a small feat. But let's face it, I shouldn't be patting myself on the back.

Anyway, Tuesdays to Thursdays are typically the most difficult days for me to workout since I'm deeply embedded in school or teaching or some combo of the two during the middle of the week. The upside to this is that it leaves my weekends free for great workouts and planning food for the week. The downside is that my weekly exhaustion catches up with me and I usually pass out from 5pm Thursday until sometime on Saturday evening.  Even as I write this I want to pass out.

In an effort to stay motivated I opted to try the 15 Minute Challenge Routine, one of the "shorter" routines at Bodyrock that my friend Green Eyed Girl tried yesterday. This was the first time I'd tried this routine and I was a little slow with it. I had to throw a blanket under my tailbone because, like every crunch I've ever tried, the Core Exercises hurt a bit. Oh well.

The routine consists of the following:

Core Exercises (Reverse Crunch) 10 reps

Low Jumping Jacks (back and forth) 10 reps

You are to do as many of these reps as you can in a period of 15 minutes.  On my first attempt I made it through 23 reps (or 12 of the core exercises and 11 of the low jumping jacks). Low jumping jacks are killers!

When I was done I decided to work my arms so I completed the following:

3x10 reps Single Knee Pushups (each side)  for 60 reps

4x10 reps Modified pushups for 40 reps* 

With the modified pushups I assumed a "table" pose in yoga, but turned my hands inward so my fingertips pointed toward each other. 

Food today was kind of questionable. I had coffee for breakfast (I have found I have no desire for breakfast which is bad, bad bad!), yogurt for a snack,  and lunch (and dinner, yesterday's leftovers) consisted of veggies, potatoes and Tosca Reno's Clean Eating Chicken Nuggets (which we did as baked chicken breasts).

All this so I can be ready for prom!  :P

(It is SO awesome that one of the "related" posts for this entry is "Should've stayed in bed"..) haha

Fitness: Day 3 (Bodyrock.tv Booty Moving Workout) Followup

Okay I did my Booty Moving workout tonight since I spent part of the weekend hiking around and getting some stuff done for school.  (I tell ya...school really gets in the way of life!)

Anyway, I was able to get through all of the exercises for this routine in about half an hour. I'm not sure of the precise time as I used my interval timer for its intended purpose (i.e. to time the intervals for the Side Lunges).

This workout was intense. It started off okay and I remember thinking.. "These burpees aren't so bad!"  Well, two observations about that: 1) I was wrong. Burpees are. THAT. bad.  2) I need to work on my form.  In this workout Zuzana doesn't stress time so much as she stresses proper form. Incorrect form while doing burpees can be particularly dangerous (especially for those with weaker back or core muscles) and can result in an ineffective workout. I got my bf to take a look at what I was doing and guide my back (and my butt) into the correct position.  (This is probably the closest he will come to doing Zuzana's workouts ever again.) haha

The jump lunges are, I have to say, the second hardest part of this workout (next to a proper burpee). They make my legs burn. Again, proper form is an absolute necessity here; you have to be careful not to overextend your knees.  Ninety degree angles all the way!  I actually slowed down during this set to make sure I didn't hurt myself.

Modifications
I don't have a kettlebell so for the Dead Lifts and Windmills I used a full 2.95L bottle of Gain detergent. :P It's probably just as well. I suspect I can't lift an 8kg kettlebell over my head with one arm.

If you'd like to follow along, here's that workout again.  See you tomorrow!

Fitness: Day 3 (Bodyrock.tv Booty Moving Workout)

Technically this should be Day 6, but it isn't. And why isn't it? Because life is exhausting.

I did workout for four days this week, but one day was just a series of modified push-ups (many modified push-ups that made my arms more sore than they've ever been) and one day started before I bothered recording my efforts.  No matter.


My blogging friend, Green Eyed Girl over at http://bodyrockchallenge.blogspot.com/ and I have decided to start keeping complimentary blog entries because (we hope) simultaneous entries will keep us motivated. Since she has just started back on her challenge after a busy few weeks, I'm here to do the same.

Tonight's workout is Zuzanna's Booty Moving workout which consists of the following:
1. Burpees – 20 reps
2. One Leg Dead Lift – 5 reps on each leg ( I am using 8kg kettlebell)
3. Jump Lunges 20 reps
4. Windmill 5 reps on each side

Take a short break and move directly to the second part of this workout – high intensity interval cardio
5. Side Jump lunge – 10 seconds rest and 20 seconds of maximum effort. Set your timer for 8 rounds. This cardio segment will take you only 4 minutes so push really hard to make it intensive. 





I'll be back in a while to let you know how I did!

Fitness: Day 2 (Bodyrock.tv Extreme 15 Minute Routine)

I've got a bit of a migraine today... A hellish commute, a day of teaching and (unfortunately) not much food, combined with whatever the heck is wrong with my head = me feeling pretty terrible.

I didn't want to skip a workout on account of that though. I woke up feeling SO sore today after a few days of workouts. But it was such a delicious sore...I relished it and realized I want to feel that way every morning!

 

It's so easy to make excuses when you don't want something badly enough.... but I refuse to do that any more. That said, I went easy on myself. Next time, not so much!

This exercise consists of two moves:

15 reps of the snowboarder

15 v-crunches

The aim of this workout is to do as many sets of these two exercises as you can during a 15 minute period. Today I completed eight reps in ten minutes - no breaks.   The first time I tried this I went  the full 15 minutes and completed 11 rounds, with slight modifications on the 8th and 11th rounds. Next time I try this I know I can beat my reps!

As my friend Green Eyed Girl keeps reminding me... 21 days to break a habit (of eating badly, of not exercising...of whatever.)

Happy crunching!

Fitness: Day 1 (Bodyrock.tv Fierce Body Routine)

I started keeping track of this on my computer then realized that I'd probably be more likely to record it if I did it via the blog...so here I go.

The fact of the matter is, this isn't the "first" day, but I figured I'd start recording everything today. Today was the first day my bf gave Bodyrock a go, too... Suffice it to say, we're more exhausted after 15 min of this than an hour at the gym.

Yay!

The routine consists of four rounds of the following:

1.Jump Squats With Diagonal Touch Down – 20 reps (alternating sides)

2. Skater – 15 reps on each leg

3. Reptile – 20 reps (alternating legs)

4. One Leg Hop Kick – 20 reps (alternating sides)

We got through three rounds in 14:35.

The first time I did this I got through two rounds in about twenty. :P

Here's to the soul-bettering effects of exercise!

Motivation: Fitness

A couple of months back (actually, over Christmas break) when I was feeling decidedly down on myself and my lack of energy, not to mention my body image, my brother introduced me to Zuzana of Bodyrock.tv  As he's an avid fan of working out and is always looking for a new challenge, he found her videos on YouTube and thought I might like to give them a try.

Now I should mention a couple of things up front.  

1. I have never stuck to a workout plan in my life. Not. Ever.
   
   I get bored with working out very easily and exercise has never been routine for me. In the past, I've played on sports teams (I played a lot of field hockey), and I have been lucky enough to have a decent metabolism that allowed me to be pretty lazy. I'm not rake thin (at least not in my estimation) but it hasn't been a struggle most of the time.
    
2. I don't typically eat a lot of junk food and I do not tend to snack.
   
   However, in the past year or so I have developed some really, really crappy eating habits . While I realize that most of the blame in this arena rests squarely on my own shoulders, it comes in part from living with my bf. What can I say? I'm cheap...and I know I can cook better food than I can buy at McDonalds. Having said that, I can be really, really lazy and the bf facilitates this with his own laziness and willingness to pay for crap food.  (Bad bad bad!)

But enough about that. 

The fact is, now that I'm twenty-seven (almost twenty-eight), my metabolism simply isn't what it used to be. Couple this with the fact that I now spend more time than ever in front of my computer (or at a desk elsewhere), I've come to the point where I just don't feel like myself. This isn't a "poor me, I'm getting fat" post. I find when relatively thin people make such comments they're plain insulting.  This is, however, public acknowledgment of the fact that I'm not comfortable in my own skin and this has to change.

Where now?

Rather than make sweeping affirmations of plans to pursue a rigorous workout six days a week  coupled with a strict diet regimen (because let's face it, nothing is more daunting than forced commitment), I'm going to promise myself a minimum of three days of exercise. I've realized in the past few months that I've bought a lot of "things" that make me happy; cosmetics, electronic gadgets etc. These are normal items that I typically deplore because they're shallow and indulge society's base consumerist tendencies. In reflecting upon my pursuit of these things I realized that the one thing I really wanted above all else - comfort in my own skin - I couldn't buy.  Truly good things in life are never easy.

Promises:

I have eight pounds to lose. Why eight? It seems so arbitrary. I could be happy with five.  Eight pounds will put me back at the same weight I was when I ended university (and high school) . It doesn't matter - this isn't about weight anyway. It's about motivation and self-discipline and keeping promises to myself. Promises that money can't buy and nobody else can give me.