Slim Down Saturdays... Come Join Us!

Hi everyone this is Jennifer from Teaching with Grace!

I am so excited! This is the year that I am going to get back on track with my weight. How many of us say this? I know it's possible because 2 years ago I lost it all... and then life/stress/commuting got in the way. I'm going to get back in the swing of things and hit it hard this year to lose the weight (again).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thirdgradetidbits.blogspot.com/2014/12/slim-down-saturdays-are-coming-back.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLl4hTY_7j0DcLbQ8VywExooeEwNJldY-JX3tcOluoTSkegCsFWhHUazpjG1ehGknFzrp1_AHLffp5Lu_49CSBHqpuMRDVBtOyN0dttS_MwunUsUSz35PyJB7rN5ZG_SsUpaCN75M7onw/s1600/slimdownbutton.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
To help hold myself accountable, I am going to join in with Gina at <a href="http://thirdgradetidbits.blogspot.com/2014/12/slim-down-saturdays-are-coming-back.html" target="_blank">Teaching with a Touch of Pixie Dust</a>&nbsp;for her Slim Down Saturdays. Here's my first weeksish....<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTV_WyTuU7fakepubKGNh5yRXXZ9xC5HXajXnkI98lfK1reLjRE4gcb4TSDPhzooHGCfW76GeV9LvaPXGkgWqrv0okod4sDMFritACaykI_OTKMq8SgyILWrHfGjNVXTlj8wReI1WoQDY/s1600/saturday+slim+down.001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTV_WyTuU7fakepubKGNh5yRXXZ9xC5HXajXnkI98lfK1reLjRE4gcb4TSDPhzooHGCfW76GeV9LvaPXGkgWqrv0okod4sDMFritACaykI_OTKMq8SgyILWrHfGjNVXTlj8wReI1WoQDY/s1600/saturday+slim+down.001.jpg" height="320" width="241" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Do you have the same goal? Head over to get accountability too!</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center>
<img alt="post signature" class="left" src="http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n162/courtneyjuno/Untitled-1_zpse286c7c0.png" /></center>

A Step or Two in the Right Direction....

While everyone seems to be steering their lives towards healthier ways.... I've been eating loads of chocolate. Anyone else with me?

I thought about doing the 3 weeks and no cheats deal...and then I ate more chocolate.... maybe not the best idea right before Halloween!

After talking it over with my husband, he surprised me with an awesome treat yesterday:

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0095PZHZE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0095PZHZE&linkCode=as2&tag=teacwithgrac-20&linkId=N2MPFJXXQ6VFBG3Y"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0095PZHZE&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=teacwithgrac-20" ></a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=teacwithgrac-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0095PZHZE" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0095PZHZE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0095PZHZE&linkCode=as2&tag=teacwithgrac-20&linkId=N2MPFJXXQ6VFBG3Y">Fitbit Zip Wireless Activity Tracker, Charcoal</a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=teacwithgrac-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0095PZHZE" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

It's a perfect size! Plus it's more affordable (for me at least) than the bracelet...even though I might upgrade at some point. It's definitely motivating to have it on and see how close (or far) I am from 10,000 for the day!

Definitely a step in the right direction!

Healthy Cooking and Living!

Hello there!  This is Nicole from Teaching With Style!

I live in beautiful Hawaii and my family spends most of our down time at the beach.  The kiddos LOVE to swim and surf the waves.  Hubby loves to paddle board and kayak, and we both recently got scuba certified.

You would think that by all this outdoor activity that we would be in great shape.  Well, we are not.  Between work and beach-going, I just get too tired to cook dinner and we end up with macaroni and hotdogs or hamburgers from the local diner.  It's bad.  I decided that this summer, I would challenge myself to make a change in the way my family eats!

I recently re-joined Weight Watchers.  I did it a couple years ago when my daughter was one.  It's a great motivation for me and I love the recipes.  I also bought some at-home work-out videos and Shakeology supplements from BeachBody.  This is the same company that does P90X, Insanity, and Brazilian Butt Lift.  I opted to go for Turbo Fire, because I like upbeat, dancey types of workouts.

So my plan: eat healthy and work out every day.  I'm not going to do my videos everyday, but switch it up with a hike once a week, swimming in the ocean or pool once a week, a local yoga class once a week, then Turbo Fire the other days.

I have a recipe Pinterest board where I will be pinning my weekly recipes.  I can pull up the recipe on my iPad as I'm cooking, making it a lot easier than printing them out and having to organize all the paper.  We are almost through with week 1, and it's going really well so far!

Do you have dinner ruts like me?  Join me in turning that around this summer!

I'm a work in Progress!!

Hi All!
I am Latoya from Flying into First Grade and I wanted to do my first post for the collaborative fitness blog.  This was such a good idea and I am happy to participate.

So here's my story but remember I am still a work in progress....

I was small all of my life while growing up.  I would say I started gaining weight when I went to college.  We had Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, and Burger King all on campus.  I think I gained the freshman 30 lol.  I remember wearing a size 10 for a while and then a 12 and then a 14 and then a 16.  One day I got on the scale and it read 203 and I wondered when did this happen.  It totally happened from not working out and eating everything in sight.  I was really unhappy about this and knew I had to do something to change it.

I was always active growing up.  I took dancing lessons and was on the dance team in high school.  So it was fairly easy for me to start jogging and do zumba.  I even signed up for 5k's with friends from time to time.  I have lost about 20 pounds since that day I got on the scale.  Look at the picture below to see my weight loss journey so far.  I still have a ways to go but I am determined!

Another thing that has helped me is working out with my coworkers everyday after school and doing Insanity.  The consistency has really helped me get into a routine.  I do a cycling class on Thursdays and I have started doing a bootcamp along with keeping my membership at the ymca.

Since I cant do all of these things I have narrowed down my weekly plans.


I wanted to share my workout plans for the week.

Sunday -REST
Monday -BOOTCAMP
TUESDAY -ZUMBA
Wednesday - BOOTCAMP
THursday -Cycling
Friday - BOOTCAMP
SATURDAY- Cycling

I am still struggling with my eating habits but I am getting better.

Here is one new food item I have fell in love with. Enjoy! It is only 100 calories!  I paid 2.00 at Kroger for this 3 pack.  I also tried Vanilla Bean.  If you love ice cream, you should check it out!


And last here is a motivation pic for you!!!



Have a great week!

Motivation

On of the things I struggle with the most is motivation. In order for me to be completely motivated  I have to dive into something hhhhhhhhead first! I have to consume myself with it! I become slightly *obsessed* and tend to get way too involved. I figured this would last like a month with my fitness journey or so and then I would decide it was too hard and quit. But I am happy to report it's been FIVE Months since I began my road  to getting healthy. Besides reading magazines, and books, I have found that it is also so much easier to have someone to either work out with or talk about working out. My family has a big event coming up in June. My cousin is getting married, and several of our family members have started their own fitness journey. As a family, we talk about healthy foods and new exercises we are trying. This helps us stay motivated, and accountable. We all use the My Fitness Pal App and comment regularly on each others activity. Such a big help! 

When I first started working out, my hubby was deployed. Once he came home, it took him a little bit to get off that couch and to start coming with me to the gym! Once he started coming, he started seeing results fast. At first, I thought this stinks, I've been working twice as long as he has and double the amount of time he spends in the gym..but, then I realized, I've made great progress and have nothing to be upset over. 

My point of all of this nonsense rambling is that even though some days I REALLY do not want to go to the gym, most of the time I do. Whenever I have those I really do not want to go to the gym days..I just tell myself, you will not get the results you want, by sitting on the couch! So I make myself go anyways..and 98% of the time, once I get in there and get my music flowing, I am ready to go!

Music is SUCH an important part of my routine! I have to have good music or I get bored! My top 5 favorite work out songs right now~

Background from http://www.theschoolsupplyaddict.com/

Frame from http://www.talesfromoutsidetheclassroom.com/

Font: http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/

I know..I know.. weird combination! But those are the first five songs on my playlist! What about you? Do you like to work out to music? If so, what songs? I always need new music to my playlist! 

Have a great rest of your weekend, and remember, get up off the couch and do something active :)