Running during lunch!

My schedule at work has changed so that I am in the office on Mondays & Fridays.

I work about 15 minutes from my gym, so I decided to see if I could make it there, get a good workout in and back in an hour.

I started using my lunch hour as my C25K time and it works out well.
Tonight was my friend's birthday party and I knew there would be delicious cake.
I saw my Zumba teacher's Facebook status that they needed more people to come or the 5:30pm class was cancelled so I decided to go!

And then I enjoyed cake!

One small piece was just enough :)

Mini-vacay!

This past weekend we ventured to Birmingham for a couple days away. The night before we left I read this post, specifically about eating healthy on vacation. It got me to thinking about what we were going to do on our trip. Last time we were in Birmingham, we ate. A LOT. Basically our whole trip revolved around the next meal- because we were on vacation and our hotel didn't serve breakfast we ate every meal out. We visited the Peanut Depot to get peanuts, we went to our favorite barbecue place, as well as the restaurant attached to the hotel lobby. Basically it was a pig-out fest.

Dinner last time in Birmingham

Where we ate ribs & fries

I was determined to make this trip different. We started out with lunch before we left at Chipotle.

 We did eat in the restaurant attached to the hotel lobby again, but we ordered grilled fish & chicken instead of steak. We did get fries & bread but we went easy on both. After dinner we relaxed in the room while our food settled. Then, we got dressed for the hotel gym. I even had to borrow a rubberband for my hair- but I was determined to get a workout in. And that I did, I ran 2 miles in 27 minutes. We even researched breakfast places before bed, choosing a place that had a light menu that included egg beaters/egg whites and turkey sausage :)

Breakfast was a delicious egg beater omelette with mushrooms, goat cheese & turkey sausage with fresh fruit on the side, we got "famous" milkshakes for lunch, then light hibachi for dinner.

While my eating wasn't perfect- I stayed within my calories for the weekend and even got a workout in. 

Balance, I like it.
And you know I love me some dressing room pictures!

And I also can't help but compare:

 

On the left June 2010 and on the right February 2012

Week 30

Start weight: 247

Current weight: 196

Total loss: 51

51 Freakin' pounds!

Gone forever!!!!

This is my half-way point to my goal!
Now I only have 51 more pounds to lose :)

MOTIVATION: Music

One thing that inspires me to work out hard is music.

Lately I'm loving this song we do in Zumba:

Waka, Waka by Shakira

We do Zumba to the spanish version but I downloaded the english version and love the lyrics so much!

I feel like they apply to me directly.

You're a good soldier
Choosing your battles
Pick yourself up
And dust yourself off
And back in the saddle

You're on the frontline
Everyone's watching
You know it's serious
We're getting closer
This isnt over

The pressure is on
You feel it
But you've got it all
Believe it

When you fall get up
Oh oh...
And if you fall get up
Oh oh...

Tsamina mina
Zangalewa
Cuz this is Africa

Tsamina mina eh eh
Waka Waka eh eh

Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa aa
This time for Africa

Listen to your God

This is our motto
Your time to shine
Dont wait in line
Y vamos por Todo

People are raising
Their Expectations
Go on and feed them
This is your moment
No hesitations

Today's your day
I feel it
You paved the way
Believe it

If you get down
Get up Oh oh...
When you get down
Get up eh eh...

My 50lb Reward!

So guess who offically hit 50lbs down this week???

This FIT girl did!

So I did it, I went and got my owl tattoo!

The stencil

The outline

My finished reminder that I have the knowledge it takes to be fit :)

I wasn't expecting to lose the last 1.5lbs I needed to until next week, but I hopped on the scale Saturday morning before Zumba and it read 197!

Even though we had Freschetta Simply Inspired BBQ Chicken Pizza & Skinnytaste's Banana Cream Pie Friday night....my hard work at the gym this week paid off!

Week 29

Start Weight: 247

Current weight: 198

Total loss: 49

ONE pound til 50!!!!

I can hear the tattoo gun calling my name!

Valentine's Day

This was our first "healthy" valentines day. Nothing too far from our norm though.

We are homebodies when it comes to busy holidays-we didn't want to venture out to an over-crowded restaurant on a week night.

We made ribeye steaks the Pioneer Woman way, with GreenLiteBites mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.

For dessert I made Skinnytaste's Banana Cream Pie. Yes, again, we both love it!

We exchanged weenie cards :)

And for the first time ever, gave each other healthy gifts.

He gave me new earbuds for running and I gave him a gift certificate to SkyZone workout classes.

Foods I'm Loving Lately...

Subway Salad

Lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet onion chicken teriyaki & sauce as dressing.

About 220 cals.

Chipotle Shrimp & Avocado Tacos

My local tex-mex restaurant offers fried avocado tacos on the menu, I order them baked. And now I made them at home! Wheat tortillas, fat free refried beans, chipotle sauce, shrimp, avocado and sauteed onions. I had left over shrimp so I threw them on some chopped spinach as a side salad.

Chick-fil-a's Grilled Nuggets & Fruit

When I don't have time/don't feel like making my lunch/don't a salad- this is my fast food lunch.

Week 28

Start weight: 247

Current weight: 198

Total loss: 49

New Challenge!

We have a new challenge at our gym for the month of February!

We were given blank cards for signatures for classes.

Everytime you take a class you get a signature. Back to back classes count!

Everytime you bring a friend to take a class, you get 2 signatures!

The prizes are:

Gold- $500 car, home or body makeover.

A local car place donated oil change passes and maintenance coupons. The home makeover is cleaning and maintenance coupons and the body makeover is training classes at our gym.

Silver- after-hours Zumba party with a DJ and catered food and we you get to invite 30 people.

This would be my favorite!

And Bronze is a bunch of gift certificates for local restaurants. None of which have the reputation of being healthy :(

And if you fulfill all the classes for Gold level you are entered into the other levels for prizes too.

I also got my monthly email from my gym. I only made it 7 times in January.

That is less than last month- not what I was aiming for.

I'm so glad this challenge starts now, it is just the kick in the butt I need!