So, yesterday, I somehow ended up on SELF.com. Most likely on some Google train of thought - I honestly can’t remember how it started. Once I was there, I noticed they have a SELF Challenge. I hadn’t heard of it before, but apparently this is the 13th year they’ve done it. It’s a three-month exercise and eating plan designed to help encourage people to get active and stay healthy. There are online tools - meal and exercise logs - and Daily Newsletters you can sign up to receive with tips and tricks, and even community groups and discussion boards where you can share success stories or get more tips and tricks and lend advice. I decided, what the hell, why not?! So I signed up. It’s not like I’d have to change much of what I’m already doing. I eat great and exercise at least 3 times a week. So, when I first signed up I thought I’ll probably just keep doing what I’m already doing, but maybe keeping track of it will hold me accountable. And I also noticed there are a few giveaways for participating such as athletic gear or a trip to Antigua (yes please!). And then after I started to look around SELF.com I noticed there are SO many workout ideas, and I’m definitely going to have to try them.
See, I recently finished a 1-month boot camp that was hosted at a local athletic club. It consisted of hour long workouts a couple times a week where we’d run back and forth across a gym with lunges and jumping jacks and wall sits and obstacle courses and the whole works. It kicked my butt pretty hard, but it always felt really great afterwards.
They host this boot camp every month, and theoretically I could just sign up and start all over again. But I have a membership at another gym that I’m already paying for - so I decided that I’d try and take the habits I got from boot camp and carry them over to my personal workouts and just go to my gym for a while. At least, if this ends up not working out, I can always go back next month and sign up for their boot camp again.
Now, my main thing with workouts is they can get boring if they get too repetitive. And I haven’t been a consistently active person for very long, so I’m always looking for new workout ideas (pretty much everything is “new” to me, but still). But boot camp was great because the stuff we did gave me new things to carry over into my personal work outs. But by the end of the month, I could see myself already exhausting them and I started to worry that maybe I shouldn’t try to do this on my own - that I should just suck it up and fork over the $90 for boot camp again. But then I found out that SELF.com has a plethora of articles and videos for people just like me! So, with a new found motivation, I started sifting through their ideas and suggestions.
I’ve been on my diet now for a little less than 9 months. So it’s hard to stay motivated and it’s definitely easy to fall into a slump where it feels like I’ll never be able to lose any more weight. I’ve lost 60 lbs altogether, but I’d like to go for at least another 10-15 more. I’m very happy with how I’m looking (I’ve gone from a size 20 to a size but I’d just like to tone and lose a few more pounds. I’ve been basing most of my weight-loss goal on the Body Mass Index, and figure if I can get to a 21.7 BMI then I will be perfectly average. The “healthy-range” of the BMI scale is between 18.5-24.9. Which means 21.7 would be right in the middle. To get to that BMI, I would need to lose 15 lbs. Granted, I’m in the healthy-range right now, but it would feel so much better to be in the middle of it, instead of on the side closest to being overweight. And, that’s why I need to stay focused and motivated!
So, today I set out with the goal to try out a few things I learned from some of the Fitness videos and articles on SELF.com. I decided to start my workout with Sizzle Calories. You warm up with a walk, then a few minutes in sprint for 30 seconds, then take it back to a jog for a couple minutes, then sprint again for 30 seconds. Rinse and repeat. It proved to be a very long 18 minutes for me. But man I could really feel it.
Side note: I am not a runner by any means. I usually do my cardio workouts on the elliptical because it’s so much easier for me.
After I finished that, I took some hand weights and did 3 reps of 12 of the Reverse Squat, Prime Climb, Take a Bow, and Flye Crunch - as detailed in the Great 1-month slim-down. Even after the month long conditioning from the aforementioned boot camp, this workout - the Sizzle Calories, paired with the Great 1-month slim down - had me sweating like it was the first time I’d worked out in months. It felt great!
I finished the workout with the Balance Crunch, as described in the Flat Belly Bonus Video, and some simple rowing squats. According to my log, I burned something close to 300 calories. I’m thinking that tomorrow I’ll try the rest of the exercises detailed in the Great 1-Month Slim-Down and the Flat Belly Bonus Video. I thought breaking them up might help with muscle confusion and also help me keep from getting bored.
So, here’s to staying motivated and getting (more) fit, especially with bikini season encroaching!
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