Exercise Before Bed

Have you ever thought about exercising right before bed? Most people say don't because it will keep you awake all night and then you won't get enough sleep. Well, I found a solution to this.  Every night before bed I do 100 forward crunches, and 50 bicycle crunches (illustrations are below).  I also found my Bally Thigh Toner...it's basically the Suzanne Somers Thigh-master...yes I know your thinking "that doesn't work"....well guess what that thigh toner got my inner thighs burning last night.  So guess what, just because something seem ridiculous doesn't mean that it isn't helpful.  With a combination of cardio during the day then crunches and thigh toning at night I hope to be a lean machine in no time.

Proper way to do crunches, I do 100 of these a night.

 

Bicycle crunches...after doing 100 regular crunches I am only able to do 50 of these, I hope to increase the number as my core gets stronger.

My Bally Thigh Toner :) Yup it's blue and awesome.  There are so many ways to use it too.

Emotions & Exercise

Life has been rather exhausting the last couple of weeks.  A combination of working hard at work, planning for our wedding, and taking care of four dogs and a fiancee....Even when my life feels so crazy I know that I can rely on exercise help me get through it. Instead of eating or drinking alcohol as I usually would do, I now take out my emotions in exercise.  When I'm angry I run on my treadmill until I can't run anymore or do some wii boxing until I feel like my arms are about to fall off.  When I'm sad I enjoy yoga to help me clear my mind.  There are so many difference exercises out there that will help you get over whatever problems you are going through.  Although they may not solve the issue, at least it will help for the meantime.

Just Do It Attitude

Thinking about exercising to help improve your health? Put on your shoes and get out there, not more excuses...just do it! Don't allow your brain to stop you from getting out there and exercising.  Once you let your brain question why you are exercising instead of watching TV, or whatever else you do...it wins...don't let it win.  It's time to take charge of your health with the Just Do It Attitude.

A study shows that people who are active actually ignore their brain's chatter which allows them to not come up with excuses to exercise.  So why are so many people obese?  Because they aren't ignoring the chatter like they should be. So my opinion is to change your attitude to just do it and ignore all of those excuses, and if you can't ignore them find someone who will help motivate you and push you to ignore them.  It's time....so JUST DO IT!!

Dedication and Motivation

It's hard to dedicate time to something that you don't love yet.  For instance I am tired of dieting and trying to lose weight and get fit, I don't feel normal but am trying to look great at my wedding...but it's so hard to dedicate myself on a daily basis to follow the eating healthy rules and exercising.  I just want to be at my weight-loss goal and work on maintaining but I've come to realize that if I don't start dedicating time daily to exercise and eating healthy then I will never reach my goal.  

Because I have family and friends who are in the same boat it's hard to get the support that I need from them.  For some reason I am always supporting everyone else, but who is dedicating their time to support me? Honestly, I don't feel like anyone.  So it's time to start motivating myself and not worry about anyone but me.  It's ME TIME!!

Hiking with dogs

Due to the weather we had to postpone our overnight hike, but that didn't stop us from hiking this weekend.  Yesterday morning we made our way to Mount Si and did the Little Si Trail which wasn't nearly as hard as the Mount Si trail.  Because it was an easier hike we brought our black lab Harley (this was her second hike) and our Maltese Sookie (this was her first hike).  I must say for such a small dog, Sookie did amazing.  She probably could have ran up the trail and back and still not be tired.  It shocked me on how much energy she how and how much she loved it.  She was nice to people who walked by and just wanted to hike to the top.  I now have a new hiking buddy and she weighs 5 pounds :)  Harley did great as well, but she was definitely tired from the hike.  I was very proud of my puppies and look forward to more hikes.

Harley

Sookie

Little Si Trail

Preparing For A Hike

I never realized how much work actually went into planning an overnight hike.  This is my first overnight hike and I thought it would be a lot like camping...boy was I wrong.  When I go camping first off my car is packed full of everything I can possible think of because you never know if you will need it or not.  But when it comes to hiking, you only have enough room for important items as you are carrying that weight on your back.  Although my hiking bag is pretty big, I can't go overboard otherwise I will not be able to make it up the Mountain.  So how can you decide what items are more important than others?  To help me figure out what's more important, I created a list of everything that I would bring camping and then I would start eliminating items.  Like a pillow, sorry pillows are huge and take up too much space...or how about pots and pans...those are heavy and large so we won't be bringing those either.  It seems like I have to downsize everything and I am okay with that.  As long as I have food, water, and a shelter I am ready for anything!

Refreshing Sunday

Sometimes it's easy to forget how amazing exercise is, or how amazing it feels to stretch out your entire body.  Sunday morning I took a yoga class with my BFF....I haven't practiced yoga in a good 6 months.  I don't know why I stopped for so long, because the class was amazing.  After doing two hikes the weekend before I should have thought about doing Yoga sooner.  It seriously made all of my tight muscles feel 100% better.  My body feels so refreshed and amazing today...I am now really looking forward to my hike this weekend!  If it doubt try Yoga Out :) You will be surprised on how it helps your body and your inner sole.

Don't Let Pain Hold You Back

Have you worked out and the next day you became very sore, and then you decided you shouldn't work out because of this pain.  You are wrong for doing this, you body needs to keep moving.  Even if all you do is walk on the treadmill or around the part, it's important to keep those muscles warm.  Now I'm not suggesting you go run around the block or push yourself to extremes, because that would lead to injury.  What I'm suggesting is to take it easy but still allow yourself to workout because once you stop moving you will continue to come up with excuses to not work out.  And honestly how are you going to reach your goal if you keep coming up with excuses.  Today is a new day, make a change, enjoy life, be happy, and work your ass off to be that person you've always wanted to be!

Hiking Makes Me Happy!

This weekend I strapped on my hiking shoes and hiked Tiger Mountain (5 miles) and Mount Si (8 miles).  I must say it was an amazing feeling getting back out there and being in nature.  Saturday morning we hiked Tiger Mountain with our Lab puppy (7 months old) and she did awesome.  This was her first hike and she did great.  We had to take it a little slower on the way back, but we could tell she had a fun time.  We saw some beautiful views and dodged a few mountain bikers, but other than that it was a perfect hike.  I would recommend this hike to anyone who had a dog or who wants to start hiking.  Then on Sunday morning we drove out to Mount Si and had no idea what we were in for.  It was a hard hike, probably the hardest hike I have ever done, but it was so worth it.  When you get to the top of Mount Si it's so beautiful.  We make sure to bring lunch with us, and I would recommend this for anyone doing this hike, and we relaxed on the rocks absorbing the view before going back down.  All in all it was a wonderful weekend full of hiking.  Although I am rather sore today it was so worth it.  I have found my love for hiking again and can't wait to do it again soon...hopefully next weekend! :)

Tiger Mountain Hike

Tiger Mountain Hike

Mount Si Hike - At the top!!

Mount Si Hike - View from the top

Happiness comes when you least expect it...

The last couple of weeks I've stepped up my exercising and watching closely to what I eat.  Honestly, it's made a huge difference on how I feel. I'm not as tired all the time as I was and I feel a lot happier when I am eating healthy and taking care of my body.  I'm not sure if its actually due to the food or exercise, but I know mentally I am starting to feel a lot better about myself.  Over the weekend I played softball for the first time in a few years and although I was really nervous at first, it was so much fun.  I grew up playing sports and it truly is like riding a bike, it all came back to me and it felt awesome...the next day I didn't feel too awesome lol but that didn't stop me from running a fitness trail near the house.  Needless to say I am very sore and stiff today, but that isn't going to stop me from working out after work.  I may only walk on that treadmill, but at least it something.  I've decided no more sitting on my ass complaining that I don't look the way I want to.  It's time for me to motivate myself and others around me.

Support Your Friends

When trying to lose weight or trying to become healthy it's hard to do without a support group.  Trying to change your eating pattern or exercise pattern can be exhausting and hard if you don't have people around you helping you and supporting you.  I challenge everyone to start supporting the people around them as doing it alone usually leads to people falling back into their bad patterns.  It's time to be that helpful friend you have always wanted to be....step up and help someone!