[catching up: my weeks in workouts | eleven and twelve]

Well folks, I seem to have fallen behind. There has been a ton going on in my world, and my body doesn't necessarily know how to deal with it all. So here are the images for my week in workouts that I haven't posted.

[week eleven]

[week twelve]

Frankly, I'm exhausted and only posting this to keep myself accountable. 

"i am almost never sure about what i want, but i am always sure about what i don't want."

- anonymous

[my week in workouts | week 10]

I would like to start by saying I'm having a rather discouraged day. I needed two rest days this past week and it's only Tuesday and my body already wants a rest again. Basically my endurance / stamina is nowhere near what I thought it was. Oh well, at least now I know what to work on?

Well. Last week was my first full week of work at my new 9-5 job, with a new workout routine as well. I'm still adjusting to this new lifestyle, but overall I'm so much happier here and my body feels infinitely better. That said, I weighed myself the other day. That's probably why I'm discouraged today, since my weight has NOT BUDGED. I know it's because as I lose weight, the muscle grows and gets heavier but STILL. It's hard to remind myself of that sometimes. Plus I'm at that awkward stage where my legs and arms are bigger and haven't really started leaning out yet.

Looking at last week's workouts was actually extra helpful today, and I'm going to make adjustments to my routine this week. Let's see how that goes!

"success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

- winston churchill

[fitbit check-in]

People measure their weight loss / health / fitness in different ways. Pretty much every study ever says you need to set goals to help keep you on track and successful. I'm not a fan of the scale, because when I first start working out, I gain muscle, which means I gain weight on the scale. I go the first while weighing about the same; the noticeable changes are visible in my size and measurements, not on the scale. So instead of setting numerical weight goals, I've set workout and activity goals for myself. One of those is at least 10,000 steps measured by my FitBit daily.

SO. Here is a check in for the past 10 days (a bit off because of course I started this year and not last Monday). I'm going to re-evaluate at the end of January and probably raise my daily goal, but for right now I'm still getting used to my new lifestyle (new job, new workout routine). Here are the first 10 days of the year!

You'll notice I didn't get my goal on Thursday, January 8th, because I was sick that day and basically got home from work and laid down the rest of the day. That day of rest was much needed though and I definitely felt amazingly better afterwards!

"i never dreamed about success. i worked for it."

- estee lauder

[my week in workouts | week nine]

Good Monday morning friends!!! I'm feeling great this morning. So far I've kept to all my resolutions and just generally feel great this morning - healthy, clean, and ready to tackle this week. Last week was the beginning of the new year, and I started a new thing on Instagram. Basically every day i'm going to post my workout or activity of the day to keep myself accountable.

Notes on the above:

* glute pulls: got this idea from Brittany Perrillee on Instagram, she does them here. 

* leg press set: anytime I say this, it means I did narrow, normal, then wide as far as positioning my legs

* bosu ball squats: squats standing on the ball side of a boss ball

* bosu ball sits: where you go from standing to squatting to sitting on a bosu ball and then stand again. You don't sit for long but focus more on squatting.

* isotrak step machine: this is the kind we have at my gym. 

You'll notice on Thursday I didn't have a formal workout, because it was the first! We spent it at my aunt's house as a family so I didn't need to do a real workout, but we had an intense bike ride, so that was a good start to my year. 

"create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good on the outside."

- anonymous

[resolve]

resolve [noun]: firm determination to do something.    

resolution [noun]: the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc.

I think sometimes we forget what resolutions really are. It seems to me like people just throw ridiculous goals and dreams into a list and give up on them in less than a month. That's not a resolution. A resolution is a person's answer to a problem. Ideally, it's a solution a person has come to after well thought-out self-examination. Last year was an interesting year for me - definitely trying in many ways. Different factors in my life led to several changes, many of which were not good changes. I lost myself, gained close to 20 pounds, and had become some drone-like version of the person I used to be. It took awhile, but I finally had a period of self-examination and realized I needed to get it together. In November, I got the resolve to fix myself and I've been working on that goal since then. So this year, I have resolutions, and by that I mean I have analyzed myself and my situation and found solutions to my problems. Here are my three New Year's Resolutions.

1. Be selfish - I never put myself first and that has led to me missing out on opportunities and letting my goals fall by the wayside. No more. I am now a priority in my life.

2. Read more books - Reading used to be my happy place, but the past couple years I've bought books looking forward to reading them and they've been on a shelf collecting dust. I'm going to find time for that again.

3. Get active - This doesn't mean work out. This means instead of going to eat with friends, go for a walk on the beach or a bike ride at the park. Just add more general activity instead of sedentary activity and eating into my life. 

So good luck to you all, I hope you achieve all your goals and resolutions and have an amazing 2015!!!

"never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. the time will pass anyway."

- earl nightingale