Complete Physique

In my last two posts, I mentioned a fitness plan that I'll be starting. I'd like to officially introduce, Complete Physique, an in-person and online nutrition and fitness personal training program started by the lovely Ali and her husband Chris. Ali and Chris are smokin' hot and they are hoping to make everyone else smokin' hot, too! Ali is rolling out a few new plans, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to test out a new program that I believe in, and maybe even reach my goals in the process! The program is 12 weeks, and I have started integrating the workout plan into my fitness routine since late last week. I'll be talking more about the workouts and my experience overall as I go through the program.

If you want more information, feel free to check out their website: http://www.facebook.com/completephysique and/or contact Ali at ali.completephysique@gmail.com.

Are you integrating any new plans into your regular routine?

Fitness Fridays: October 21-27

The Week in Review:

Change in weight from start at Friday morning weigh in: +1.6

Fitness:

Friday, October 21: Run 30 minutes

Saturday, October 22: Hatha yoga 1 hour, Elliptical 30 minutes

Sunday, October 23: off

Monday, October 24: Spin 45 minutes

Tuesday, October 25: Run 35 minutes (2.95 miles), Workout 1 from Complete Physique

Wednesday, October 26: Workout 2 from Complete Physique

Thursday, October 27: MEGA Spin class 45 minutes

Thoughts: This week had the most days in the week that I worked out, and I have to say, I feel great this week. I definitely overdid it on eating just about every day, but I will attribute those attacks for chocolate to my lady time! It felt great to get this all in!

I'm not happy about the weight gain (really, who would be?), but I am going to start fresh today with a new week and not look back - try to correct what may have gone wrong. But I'm feeling good, so that's the most important piece right now!

How was your week?

Introducing Fitness Fridays

Recently I have decided to get into a more regular fitness routine. A little backstory before I dive right in:

I started dancing when I was three - tap, jazz and ballet. I traded tutus for cleats when I was 11 and started playing soccer. When I got to high school, I played three sports a year - swimming in the fall, indoor track in the winter, and soccer in the spring. I also kept with tap in the evenings. Even then, I was never totally happy with how I looked, though in retrospect, I must have been in great shape!

I got to college and basically stopped doing any physical activity. However, I moved into a 5th floor walk-up for my junior and senior year, and wound up losing a few pounds and finally felt pretty good! (But man, those were a lot of steep stairs, especially with laundry or groceries!) And THEN I moved to Syracuse to work full time, and though I was a member of the JCC, and played some sports recreationally with friends, for the first time, I found myself in an almost totally sedentary lifestyle - wake up, drive to work, sit at work, drive home, sit on the couch. Combined with a job that I spent a lot of time cooking and eating at, I gained about 25 pounds in the three years that I was there. At my June 2010 wedding, I was actually at my highest weight ever. I didn't love the way I looked in my wedding photos, all of the sudden I couldn't really deny it anymore. Last October, I decided to make a change. I joined Weight Watchers online and began spin classes. Over the next 6 months, I actually lost 15 pounds! I plateaued though, and with a very busy summer job, and a negligence for WW, I gained almost 5 pounds back.

I made the decision this fall that yo-yo-ing is over. I rejoined Weight Watchers online, I bit the bullet and joined New York Sports Club and I have committed to making a real and lasting change. Also, I will be participating in a 12-week program that my friend is piloting - she is a personal trainer and creates online plans with fitness and nutrition and I am happy to try it out. I'll be blogging out that more soon.

So what is Fitness Fridays? Every Friday I will check in with my workouts from the week, and anything related that came up through the week, including any weight changes. Since my last weigh-in on Friday, I have 11 pounds to go to my goal and I've been pretty stuck for a while. I've also taken "before" photos, but I'm not confident enough to share them yet! I hope that you'll share some of your fitness and nutrition tips with my on Fitness Fridays, and hopefully I can give you some ideas about working out for the week as well!

What do you think? Have you had your own up and down experience? What have you done to make a lasting change?

Starting Anew

Hello friends!

My apologies for a long silence. I'm back and I have a lot planned, so I hope you'll stick along for the ride. I'm still working on building up this blog in terms of features, and in the meantime, I have a lot to share with you.

Here's what's going on with me:

I'm head first into the school year - my second and final year of graduate school at Hunter School of Social Work pursuing my Master's in Social Work with a focus on Community Organizing. I'm in class two days a week and in the field three days, working at an organization that I hope to continuing working at when I graduate in June. I will definitely be posting more on these experiences soon! I'm also finishing up a term as a Student Faculty Senator, and serving for the year as the President of the Board of Student Representatives for the School of Social Work. In short, I have a lot going on!

However, I made a few resolutions this year to make this experience different. At the start of last year, I fell into a black hole of no social life and all school work all the time. It was very difficult to find a balance. This year, I have resolved to not fall into that pattern again. I am making seeing friends a priority (when possible), and also incorporating regular exercise into my routine. I recently joined New York Sports Club, and I will be participating in a program for one of my friends soon (more to come on that soon!) so we'll see how that goes!

So that's what is going on with me.

What's going on with you? Tell me, I've missed you!