Gyming It

Back in March, E and I decided that it was about time I joined back up with the gym. I feel like the gym is one of those things you really have to be ready to commit to and actually want to go to or you never will. I used to go religiously almost 10 years ago and even had a personal trainer I met with twice a week. I was on a strict no carb diet and was at my absolute trimmest, but I only went for about two years until I left for college. Then I had no time for anything lol.

Now, I have both the time and the motivation and I'm hoping to get healthier and possibly trimmer in the long run. I've been going six days a week, Monday through Saturday, and taking a mixture of Body Works, a body sculpting class, and Zumba.

I wish my gym looked like this. It definitely doesn't.

Zumba has turned out to be a great deal more fun than I was expecting. I knew it was popular, but for some reason I wasn't sure if I'd like it. I've now taken it with a handful of different instructors, and a good teacher makes all the difference. My favorite instructor has a more dance oriented style that feels really hip and fun,  I love taking her class twice a week. I take classes with another instructor as well, but I am not as big a fan of her style and music choice. You can dance to pretty much anything with a good beat, but it helps if you like what you're dancing to. It's basically a crapton of cardio and strength training in the form of squats, many many squats.

The Bodyworks class is more of a necessity than the Zumba class. It also involves a great deal of cardio, but adds weight lifting and other things in as well.  Squats, lunges, bicycling, push ups, sit ups, running, steps etc. I always feel like my ass has been kicked after that class, but it is paying off. In the beginning I could manage one girly push up and used the 2.5lb weights with great difficulty. That doesn't sound like a lot, but believe me, when you have to do a set of 300, it Hurts. I can now manage about 50 girly push ups in the middle of the work out, and recently did an entire class with 5lb weights. I thought my arms might fall off, but I was able to get it done :)

This is a tiny fraction of one of my classes, doing one of our songs after class. 

During class, that room is PACKED.

My one hang up for working out is that I haven't stepped on a scale yet and have no intention of doing so any time soon. I really want working out to be something I do regardless of what the scale says, and if I make it about the numbers I feel like I'll get disappointed and lose my motivation. Right now, that motivation is being healthy, having fun, and getting into better shape for having a baby. I don't need numbers on a scale for that :)

New Years 2013

I've been meaning to post something commemorating the New Year, but I've been too busy enjoying it to formulate something coherent. 2013 is looking so exciting, especially for our good friends, who have new babies coming, new apartments, and all sorts of exciting changes. Hopefully 2013 will hold exciting things for E and I as well, a new job would be especially welcome for me.

Thus far, our New Years resolutions are to...

• Get healthy! We're going to eventually try and start up our Insanity program a second time, hopefully with better results for me this time. In the meantime, we need to get back in shape so we can actually do the Insanity work outs.
• Continue not drinking soda, it was my New Years resolution last year and I managed to stick to it! I generally replace it with iced tea or water, which doesn't feel like a chore since I love iced tea.
• Find a job? Maybe? Hopefully? Please?
• Work on our family and relationship. I feel like we really found our rhythm this past year as a married couple and I want to continue building and strengthening (and maybe expanding?) our little family.
• Continue setting strict monthly savings goals to try and build up our nest egg for a family/house/life
• Have an even better year than last year was :)

Right now our new get healthy plan includes two hikes a week at a nearby canyon,  little treadmill sessions on some of the other days, a shake or eggs for breakfast, and something healthy for lunch. I'm not sure if we'll be able to stick to it long term, especially with E working so much, but it's not too ambitious so I feel pretty good about it.

Milou having a great time in a big grassy field halfway through our walk

This week we've had two lovely canyon walks with the pups and one session on the treadmill, since we started a little late. I'm really not a fan of our treadmill since it's old and tends to overheat/die/stop randomly in the middle of work outs, but I'm hoping to keep it up anyway.

Tintin joined us for our second hike and loved it just as much as Milou

I'm really looking forward to what this year has in store for us. I'm crossing my fingers and toes, squeezing my eyes tight and jumping in to 2013, planning and wishing and hoping for good things.

Happy New Year