Weigh Lifting

this little chart is leading to a competition in my household.  A competition with myself.  :)

I want muscles. 

Weigh In

About two weeks ago the lovely ladies involved in this challenge with me met at my house for a weigh-in.  I don't really want to stress that the evening was all about the poundage lost.  A few in the group are just in the challenge to improve pace or muscle tone.  I'm in for the weigh loss, a conscious awareness of my diet and toning.  And by awareness of my diet I mean understanding the portions and make-up of what I eat, and allowing the balance to include DESSERT!  Yum...
I had a great time with the girls that night!  We decided to weigh in before the meal this time, and that may have skewed my results a bit.  At our initial weigh-in I think I managed to pack away several slices of pizza, salad, cookies and a few glasses of wine.
I hosted a casual dinner of salad and the Chipotle Turkey Chili posted here.   After dinner I served some macaroons I attempted to bake and assemble.  They looked like crap.  I'm still learning.
Well after the weigh-in, I'm convinced that I'm making the right choice "leaning in" to the workout and food changes.  It hasn't been a constant joy ride, but it's not too painful.  I'm down 6-7 lbs.
 :)

Netflix Instant Workout Videos

I've you've got a Netflix account, you can log in and instantly watch a fairly good selection of workout videos for free!  However, I've not seen many videos rated higher than about 3 stars, but if it gets you up and moving, that's what counts. 
I tried a pilates video earlier this week.  It was okay-slightly challenging with room to improve on my part.  There were three levels of difficulty and I was able to mostly stay on the mid-range movements with some of the expert moves, but I know I've got a lot of core-building to do.

Creat your own video workout

I know it's nothing new, but I'm overall impressed with Fitness Magazine's offering of free workout instruction and video online. 

Here's a refresher on the link if you want a new challenge/switch-up/or target area to work on this weekend!

Hearty Somewhat Healthy Recipes

Just as the weather is turning cool again, I'm craving some winter comfort food.  A nice salad hasn't been cutting it.  Appropriately, I just got an email with a link from Fitness Magazine full of healthier comfort foods.

I'm thinking I must try one called Turkey Sausage Cassoulet. I'm a huge sucker for both sweet potatoes AND butternut squash (okay and the bread crumbs and cheese and...). 

Win a Gym!

I get fitness magazine in the mail and I also signed up to receive emails geared towards losing 10 pounds.  The emails are weekly motivators with recipes and exercises for inspiration.
I also get some fun emails with beauty tips.  While flipping through some pages filled with new spring nail polishes to try, I ended up on this page!

Win a $25,000 home gym?  Yes please!  I know my chances are slim, but how cool?  You can enter once per day per email address.

Moment of weakness

I felt pretty good about my workout efforts this week.  I've done Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred every day since Sunday (okay that's only 4 days) and some weight lifting, but tonight I'm a slacker.  Does walking around the mall count as a workout?  I find that the wriggle into jeans in the dressing room causes great effort on my part.  Ugh.  A warm-weather vacation is calling and I was searching for shorts.  The results were disappointing-searching and finding cute shorts that gaped in the back and fit too tightly on my thighs. 

So what did I do? Called my husband, ordered some Chipotle to go and headed home, straight to my bar to mix a screwdriver.  Hubby didn't settle for that and insisted on making me a Cuba Libre.  I wasn't having it.  So I had nothing.  Well besides my delicious barbacoa burrito bowl.  YUM.  Apparently it's the lowest calorie meat at Chipotle.  I asked burrito artist what it was, and he replied "magic."  It was.

My plan for the rest of the week? I hope to try this butt-kicking workout! And maybe I can squeeze in some power squats in before I hit the hay.