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 :) 

Staying Fit on Vacation

I'm on vacation this week.  I'd like to say that I am somewhere warm, lying in the sun.  Unfortunately, I am at home and staying inside since it is 18 degrees out.  So I'm going to pretend.

I know you are saying, I don't want to work out on my vacation!  Wherever you go, you are there to see the sights and relax, not spend time in the hotel gym, right?  Right!  So I won't tell you to use the hotel gym, unless you really want to.  Then go for it.

I'm talking more about staying active while on vacation (yes, you might need to get out of that lounge chair by the pool!).

My husband and I went to Hawaii on our honeymoon this past summer - it was amazing!  We did relax in the sun, but we also went hiking and learned to surf.

Look at me go!

At the top of Diamond Head crater.

In November, we went down to Atlanta, Georgia where we got in some hikes as well.

Stone Mountain

My husband's favorite place to visit is New Hampshire.  When we go in the summer, we go hiking and kayaking.  In the winter, we ski and ice skate.

Even if you don't like hiking, walk around the town while shopping instead of taking  a car.  You will see more and be up and moving at the same time!

Hi!

Hi everyone!  I'm Sara from Smiling In Second Grade and I'm joining up with some fellow bloggers to share our tips and secrets to being fit!

As Ashley mentioned before, I am no expert either, but I will share what works for me and maybe you will learn something as well!

I'll start with a little background.    In high school, I played a lot of sports and I was always on the move.  I played soccer, basketball and volleyball.  I absolutely loved playing.  I enjoyed being part of a team and never saw it as "working out."  It kept me busy and there was always the thrill of playing in a game.  At home, I lived with a family of 6, so if you didn't eat fast, you didn't eat!  We only had one television which had just three channels and we never had video games in our house.  We were a very active family.

Then college started.  I had so much extra time on my hands that I didn't know what to do with myself. We had cable and internet (and I didn't have to fight any siblings to use either).  And the buffet-style cafeteria?  Man, was that a treat!  Needless to say, I gained the Freshman 15...and then some.  I don't drink so that helped me stay a tad healthier than my peers, but not much.  I was at my heaviest in college.

Now, living in my own house with a full time job, I have learned how to better regulate my diet and get the exercise I need.  I belong to a gym and always feel a lot better about myself after I go.

Now that you know a little more about me, I want to know what are some of your most difficult obstacles that you have faced in an effort to be more healthy?

Cardio, Cardio and MORE CARDIO!

I don't know about y'all but CARDIO is something I DREAD! I have to literally make myself do it. On my cardio days, I seem to have no motivation at ALL! Why is that? It's not that hard, you play music and get on a treadmill...right?

 

For me, I really am starting to just hate it! So I thought, *maybe* it's the routine that I am dreading so much...why not switch it up a bit? So I am giving High Intensity Training  a spin! This should be interesting.  Basically, you are sprinting for short amounts of time. Boy, does it give you a workout! I am also rarely just walking on a treadmill. I am trying to jog longer, and run faster. To read more about this check out Shape Magazine.

 

Another cardio idea I am trying more of is the Jacob's Ladder Excerise Machine! Check it out HERE! I love this machine! The first time I did it, I was totally dying to make it to anything over a minute. Now, I'm up to about 15 minutes! It gives your total body a workout plus burns a TON of calories! If your gym has one, I totally recommend trying it out!

 

What is your cardio routine? I am wanting to try out some other routines out,so please share!!

 

Tell Next Time :)

Welcome!

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for stopping by our new blog! I'm Ashley from The Teacher's Treasure Chest. I started this collaborative blog to have a place where teachers, could discuss fitness. First and foremost, I want to be clear, I am in no way an "Expert". On this blog, we will talk about different exercises and routines that work or do not work for us :) We will also share recipes and tricks to avoiding those ever so bad junk foods! I just really wanted a place where teachers could discuss the struggles, balances and routines of becoming a healthy person. It's not near as easy as some people think! I personally decided in October, after I kept seeing the same blog post from Erica Bohrer. It was about her fitness routine. For some reason, that post kept popping up alllllll over my Pinterest! So, I checked it out. And I am SO glad I did! My husband was deployed, and we just moved to a new state. I thought, what better time to get myself in shape? You can read more about the beginning of my fitness journey HERE.

I plan on having several collaborators  and while that is still in the work, you can rest assure that you will get to hear from a variety of people who are doing a variety of routines and exercise programs. 

One of the things I get the most is "How do you know what kind of exercises to do"....well to be totally honest, when I started, I didn't know. My experience of working out prior to this consisted of going to the gym and walking on the treadmill. And maybe, a little bit of chit chatting with my friends! So this time, I wanted to do something different. That's where the investment of a GOOD trainer comes in. I am very lucky to have found a quality fitness trainer, who knows the information and knows how to work with my "personality" to accomplish the goals. I recommend for anyone who is just starting out, and doesn't have a clear plan, to look for a trainer to get your program going. I've done this fitness thing a time or two, and never have I been this motivated. I thought I "knew" what to do, and I was wrong. What I was doing...wasn't working. So getting a trainer, and getting the right information was a great way for ME to get started. 

Here is my progress in pictures so far:

Thanks so much to my sweet friend Tessa from Tales From A Blog Designer for designing this blog! You rock! 

Thank you for stopping by! We look forward to chatting with you about your fitness journey, and this adventure that we can do together!