Jawbone-UP

I got a new fitness gadget for Mother's Day!  The Jawbone UP and I love it!  So much fun information!  It goes along the free UP app on my iPhone and it syncs with other apps I use like MyFitnessPal and MapMyFitness.  It tracks my food, my sleep and how much I move each day.

This technology stuff is really taking off.  It blows my mind sometimes.  :)

You set goals for yourself.  You set a goal for how much you want to sleep (my goal is 7 hours a night) and how many steps you take during the day (my goal is 10,000 steps).  The bracelet you wear around your wrist holds all of this information and then you can plug it into your iPhone and you get all of this fabulous information.

It is addicting!  They recommend syncing it 2 times a day, but I do it A LOT more just to see where I am at any point during the day.

My Goals for the day

On the home screen, you can see an overview of my goals for sleep, activity and food.  Then it is broken down by goal.














This is an overview of my activity.  You can see the 2 huge spikes are when I worked out before work and again at lunch.  Then after work, I took the dog on a walk and it was logged as the little walking guy on the bar graph shows.

           

Information about my activity levels

 You can see my sleep patterns as well.  You can see when I was in light sleep and deep sleep.  It can even show you when I got out of bed to go to the restroom in the middle of the night (the orange line.)

                                                                    

                                                                                            My sleep patterns (how does it know??)

I highly recommend the Jawbone Up.  It keeps all of your fitness information in one app, which I LOVE!  The bracelet also comes in many color choices.  

As always, let me know if you have any questions!  I am happy to try to help in any way!

Strong is the New Skinny...

I have been thinking about how I used to struggle to be skinny when I was younger.  I don't think I was ever happy with the shape I was in.  I was always one of the tallest girls.  I am 5 feet 11 inches, now.  Growing up, people would say, "She is so tall and has high cheek bones.  She could be a model."  HA!  Comparing myself to the models I saw in my magazines, I would never be able to be like them.  I tried.  When friends would say how much they weighed, I would always just say I didn't know.  I would NEVER be able to be the 120 pounds that they were.  Even at my skinniest, I felt terrible.  I was always hungry.  I was grumpy.  I was tired.  I was UNHEALTHY.

These are all problems that almost every teenage girl goes through.  They look at the magazines and the TV shows and the movies and aspire to be like them.  Uggg, it is the worst.

Now, I work out 5-6 days a week and most of the time it is when the kids are at school.  I wake up and put on my workout clothes every school day.  They know I am going to workout when they leave.  My seven year old daughter asked me the other day why I worked out.  She asked me if I thought I needed to lose weight.  Thinking before I spoke, I told her no.  I worked out to be strong and healthy.  Do I think that response is going to change her outlook on herself when she is older?  No, but I think it is important to teach this to kids at an early age.  So maybe what you say is louder than what the media says.

I am 38 years old.  I am in the best shape of my life.  I am almost never sick.  There is no fad diet.  There is no secret.  It all happens by eating right and exercising.  Who knew that actually works?

I find myself pushing myself everyday to challenge myself.  I can do things now that I never thought I would be able to do a couple of years ago.  I like being strong.

I eat better.  I eat actual food, not food that has been overly processed and full of preservatives....for the most part.  I don't deprive myself.  If I want dessert, I'll have dessert.  It may not be the HUGE dessert that I used to comfort myself with because I wasn't skinny, but I eat a reasonable amount.  :)

I try to instill this same behavior in my kids.  Food is fuel.  Would it be yummy to eat dessert all day?  Totally!  Would it make you sick?  ABSOLUTELY!  Just eat a balanced diet and go run and play!  Unplug from the tv, ipad, computer....Go DO something!

Phew!  Moral of the story....Strong is healthy, confidence boosting, and beautiful.

STRONG IS THE NEW SKINNY!  Spread the word!

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I was just reviewing my site activity and noticed that I had almost 1000 new visitors from Germany in the past 48 hours.  They are landing on Blogger's mirror site www.thelazygirlfitness.blogspot.de

That is a huge increase from my normal daily visitors.  What brought you to my site?  Please leave me a comment and let me know!

Thanks so much for visiting!!

Les Mills Combat

As some of you may know, I am trying a new workout.  I am familiar with the BeachBody programs.  I have dabbled in P90X.  You may have heard of some of their other workout programs like INSANITY, Turbo Jam, 10 Minute Trainer, Les Mills Pump, Les Mills Combat, etc.  These programs are complete workout programs that come with multiple workout
DVDs and a schedule to follow so you know which workout to do on what day.

I am currently on day 10 of Les Mills Combat.  It is a 60 day workout of DVDs that are based on martial arts.  I must say, I am loving it!  I was very worried that I would get bored doing the same type of workout every day.  That being said, I typically workout for about an hour a day and some of the Les Mills Combat workouts are 30 minutes, so I can add some of my other favorite workouts for the rest of the time.  I love not having to think about what workout I am going to complete that day.  There is a schedule that I follow that comes with the program.

Things I LOVE....
-I am, and have always been, a fan of punching and kicking.  This workout is right up my alley.
-I love the motivating trainers.  Each workout is high energy and challenging.
-Each workout has someone doing the workout with modifications as well as someone who does more challenging moves.
-The workouts are different!  One day you are doing a purely martial arts workout, another day a plyometrics workout and then the next a strength workout with weights.
-The only equipment that I need are hand weights.

Things I could do without...
It is difficult to believe that I am training to be a warrior when the trainers are singing the workout track during the workout.  :)  Evanescence and Fall Out Boy are not on my kick butt playlist....

I am already dabbling in the thought of doing Les Mills Pump next.  Who knew I would enjoy working out this much....certainly not this girl!

I absolutely recommend Les Mills Combat.  It is definitely an awesome workout!  It is a great self confidence booster and who doesn't want to feel like a bad ass?  :)

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.  Also, feel free to follow Missy-Fit on Facebook.  She is a Beachbody Coach and she helped me decide on which program would work best for me.  She is very motivating and knowledgeable.

So, if you are looking to change things up or just get bathing suit ready for the summer, this might be a great option for you!

What is your Excuse?

No Time
Tired
Sore
Dirty Workout Clothes
Blisters
It is Too Hot
It is Too Cold
Don't Like Sweating
Too Many Bags To Carry
I'll Just Eat Less Today
Hard Day At Work
Need a Break
Great Day at Work
Need a Reward
Just One Day Off

I've used most of these before.  You need to MAKE time for yourself just like you do for everyone else.  Do laps around the soccer field during your child's soccer practice.  Set your alarm 30 minutes early and get in a work out first thing in the morning.  Schedule a workout in your calendar just like you would any other appointment and stick with it.  Workout with a friend.  You wouldn't want to skip that workout and let them down.  JUST GET MOVING!  You will feel so much better when you do!

Note to self...

Yes, you have a few pounds to lose again from the winter, but you are NOT the girl on the left.  Stop thinking you are!  You are back on track to eating right.  You have lost 80 pounds.  So what if you have to lose the same 6 again.  Only 6 more pounds to go to get back to where you were.  You can do it!  Shake it off and keep swimming (I love Finding Nemo).  Why is it so hard sometimes to be your own cheerleader?  Ugg.  Negativity stinks!

Time to get serious again....

It is winter and we have all been inside hibernating, waiting for it to get warm so we can enjoy some fresh air and stretch our legs again.  I must admit that I have some work to do before it gets warm again.  I have gained about 8 pounds over the winter and I am not ashamed to admit it.  I still work out about 45 minutes to an hour a day, but I have been eating way more comfort food than I should.  Anyone who is facebook friends with me can confirm the amount of baking that has been going on at my house.

For the first time in my life, I am fine with the extra weight.  It is winter.  It is going to happen.  I told myself that I would never deprive myself of the things that I love and since I can't go outside and walk the dog, go to the pool, or play outside with the kids, I am going to bake.  I have loved the heck out of it.  I finally feel in control of it all.  I had lost about 80 pounds....losing 8 again shouldn't be too bad.  I just need to stop eating the junk.  I enjoyed the Halloween candy, Thanksgiving meals, Christmas goodies and Valentine's sweethearts....spring is just around the corner, time to get back to work.

Anyone who has a fitness goal, whether it is to lose weight or maintain, don't get discouraged if you have a setback.  Just pick yourself back up and try again.  Never give up on yourself!  You can do it!  Just believe that you can!  

So, join me in my Spring time shape up!  Make better choices on what you eat.  Yes, there will be cravings.  Yes, you will eat ice cream/cookies/cake etc, but if you eat 80% of your daily allotted calories of good quality food, you will reap the benefits.  You can still treat yourself.  Just don't go crazy.  Measure your teats.  Serving sizes are important.  Just remember that the first bite of that cake tastes exactly the same as the 8th (I repeat this in my head all the time).  So I need to savor that first bite and know when to say when.   

This is my plan.  Does anyone else have a goal they are working towards?

Are You Really THAT Busy?

This was my NUMBER ONE EXCUSE for not working out.  I had 2 small children and a full time job.  Make the time.  Schedule it every day in your calendar.  You are worth it!

It obviously doesn't have to be running.  As we all know, I HATE running.  Just do SOMETHING!  Try a DVD, a Spin class, Zumba, walk the dog!  Just MOVE!

My New Toy!

I decided that I wasn't happy with the uncertainty of these apps that tell me how many calories I have been burning when I work out.  I mean, how do they know?  I could totally be going through the motions one day and working my butt off the next day and I still give myself the same credit for the workout when I log it into myfitnesspal.   Just like with my kitchen food scale, I needed to know what a serving size was.  So with my workout, I needed to know how many calories I was REALLY burning with each workout.

My new Heart Rate Monitor is quite a motivator!  I got a fairly basic Polar FT4.  I added in my height, weight and age and it does the rest!  There are many different styles and ones with a TON of bells and whistles on them.  You could pay hundreds!  Mine, I just wanted to know how many calories I was burning.  I feel no need to upload my workout info into my computer and map everything out.  I don't want to be that analytical.  Maybe some day, but I am happy with this one right now.

Every time I am in my target heart rate zone it quietly beeps to let me know I am where I am doing the best work.  It is pretty motivating to work hard in each workout just to hear that little beep.  I thought the chest strap was going to be a little distracting, but it really isn't.  I hardly notice it at all as I am sweating profusely.  :)

My only wish is that I had gotten one sooner.  I really love it!

MOTIVATION

In the craziness of this time of year, it is important to stay on track.  It is perfectly fine to go crazy and have diet cheat days....just not an entire diet cheat season.  Keep your eye on the prize and remember why you decided to be healthy in the first place.

MOTIVATION!