It Works! Wrap Review

Good Monday morning everyone.

Last night I did my first wrap and while I wasnt sure this morning to be impressed or not, after seeing the pictures, I was won over.

Here is what I did...

This weekend you all know was not a good eating weekend for me. I knew it and I planned to do this detox with the wrap because of it.

So last night I took a good hot shower to open up my pours. I used my loofah and scrubbed hard where the wrap was gonna be.

I also made sure to take pictures and measurements which I will share with you in a minute.

Before applying the wrap, I drank two glasses of water. You have to drink A LOT of water over the 72 hours because it helps flush out the toxins that the wrap releases. Think half of your body weight in ounces. So I made sure to put about three quarts of water in my fridge so I can make sure I drink all that I need in a day.

Then I undid the wrap and put it on. I loved the smell of it. Eucalyptus scent and it made my skin tingle- in a good way. Then I wrapped it with saran wrap to hold it into place. You can leave the wrap on for a minimum of 45 minutes but I wanted to leave mine on over night. You arent supposed to wrap the saran tight. You still want it to breathe so your body absorbs the lotion on the wrap into your body. If you wrap it too tight, your body will sweat and that wont help ya.

After that you do nothing but drink water. Lots of water. LOL. No exercising. No nothing.

So after I drank a bunch of water I went to bed. This morning I got up, undid the wrap, threw it away and rubbed the remaining lotion in. That was it. Seriously.

I came downstairs and took my after pictures and measurements before doing Ripped in 30. I did get Ripped in on Saturday before my Pampered Chef party but not yesterday so I missed doing it.

Ok here are my measurements from yesterday and so far today.
I will take another picture and more measurements tomorrow. Wednesday I will be doing another wrap. I think the most impressive picture is the side view one.

Before Measurements:
Waist at belly button: 40"
2" below belly button: 42"
2" above belly button: 39"

Morning after measurements:
Waist at belly button: 38"
2" below belly button: 41 1/2"
2" above belly button: 37 1/2"

I cant wait to see how this progresses over the next 72 hours.

What do you guys think? Impressed or no?

Only thing I have to change diet wise for this is no alcohol, or caffeine or artificial sweetners. It defeats the purpose if you put toxins back in the body while you are trying to detox. So this helps me stay on track with my clean eating too. Good incentive I think.

Have a great Monday.

Tip of the Day:

Review of Day One of Ripped

Ripped in 30 is awesome. Seriously awesome.

If you didnt read my review on the new page that I created, I have to share.

Jillian is more herself in this video. No more sugar coating. She pushes you hard. Even her "Badass" version she pushes even further. She harps. She talks sternly. She is how she is in the Biggest Loser. I love it!

Also in this video- instead of a 30 second strength move then a 1 minute strength move (then repeat) she does (3) 30 second moves. It makes the video FLY by.

Some of the moves are the same but she mixes it all up. She also promises that you wont see a single move repeated thru any of the 4 weeks. Nice.

It is another quick 20 minute workout and within the just over 20 minute time with warm up and cool down I burned 273 calories! That is more than what I did on level 2 of 30 DS and this is the entry level, beginning week! Wow!!

If you want a great work out that is quick and effective, check out Ripped in 30.

PS...this morning when I woke up, I was sore!! This was the first time I have gotten "sore" from one of her videos. Before they got achy but this is the true sore you look for. When you feel this way you KNOW you got a good workout. And my abs are sore. Never before from her other video did I get sore or even achy abs. My legs are sore, my abs are sore, my back and shoulders are sore. Weight this morning: 176.5
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Yesterday I finally went and bought a mattress for our bedroom. We have been sleeping on an air mattress and while it is comfy, it just isnt the same.

Aarons mom came over to watch the boys while I went.

Then we went to Dexter Pub for dinner. I didnt make the healthiest choices, but I am not sweating it. I had a french dip and some fries.

Then after we got the kids to bed, I headed over to K's house with one of the mini kegs of Oberon Beer. She was moving back in yesterday and I thought we would be spending lots of time unpacking.

Well I think she and I were both surprised yesterday when her contractor said that there must have been a lack of communication. He thought she was just moving her stuff in. Huh?? Her lease is up on her rental. LOL. She had to move home.

But anyways...her clothing was delivered. So we spent the evening unpacking boxes, going thru clothes, shoes, etc so she could decide what to keep and what to donate. We got her room done. It was a start. It wasnt quite the workout I envisioned with heavy lifting (lol) but we did burn probably 300 or so calories. I did wear my HRM but forgot to turn it on until later in the evening. And we did have a couple beers after I was able to figure out the stupid keg tap.

Today she gets more things delivered with next week being the big stuff. I know she is feeling overwhelmed but I found for us it was easier to stagger the delivery of everything so it didnt feel so claustrophobic in the house and well...overwhelming!

SOOOO I wish her lots of luck today!!! And hopefully the rain will hold off until her things get delivered!
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 Thats right. Tonight is ZUMBA! I love zumba!

Then it is off to the Beer Tent from Dexter Days for girls night. Dont know if we will actually be making it for feta bread or not. Who knows. Maybe we will order take out and bring it over to the tent. Regardless it is sure to be fun.

K isnt sure how long she is going to be able to stay for, but I really want her to come for an hour and eat some dinner and just decompress from her crazy days.
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And finally-
I received my It Works wrap in the mail yesterday for my review. I am SO excited. I cannot wait to try it. Sunday night will be the night and I will be sure to take before and after pictures as well as measurements to post on Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone!!
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Tip of the Day:

New Challenge Today

Morning y'all.

Today starts a new challenge for me. I am continuing with the beast that is Jillian Michaels and will be starting her Ripped in 30.

I also will be using my final picture from 30 DS as my beginning picture for Ripped.

ANNNNDDD...I will also be creating a new page for Ripped like I did for Shred to document my day by day workout. It helps me stay accountable that way.

Today my weigh in was 174.5. That is my final weigh in number for 30 DS. Unfortunately I forgot post my beginning weight so I dont know how much I lost. What really matters though is that I can SEE some results from it.

So Jillian- Bring it on!

I also would LOVE to try her meal plan BUT I cant get the pdf to load onto my computer. Frustrating. If someone has it and can share it with me, please let me know!

Today will be quite interesting. I have to take Xavier to camp, then come home, work out, and go to the grocery store.

My mother in law is coming over today to watch the kids so Aaron and I can go and look at mattresses. We still havent replaced ours after it was totaled from the tornado. I have to say that the air mattress is REALLY comfy but it will be nice to have a regular mattress so when Aaron gets out of bed, I dont fall off of it. LOL.

Tonight instead of going to RPM like I normally do, K is moving back home. SOOOO I told her I would come over and help her unpack the house. There will be a few of us girls there and I will be bringing beer. Dont know that I will have any, but it is a good housewarming gift and helps ease the pain of work. LOL.

And I will probably be a nerd and wear my HRM to see how many calories I burn loading and unpacking. LOL. AND she knows she can use me for lifting the heavy stuff so I should get a pretty good workout.

K- Bring it on! LOL

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Last night S and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Had a good time but I forgot to start my HRM until partway thru. Bummer.

And on a personal note...Finally met a new pediatrician for the kids that is local instead of driving them an hour to their old one. And I set up dentist appts for us with a new dentist that is local too. I finally feel like I am beginning to settle in and it has been a year already! LOL.

Ok everyone...have a fantastic Thursday! Almost to the weekend! Hang on!

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Tip of the Day: (hope you can read it!)

Last Day of 30DS and Results! AND Spilling the Beans

Today is my last day of 30 DS and while I havent done my last day YET, I did take after pictures which I will post in a minute.

I will say that yes I can see some results so that is very promising.

And I will be continuing onto a new challenge which will be Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30. I am hoping to get even better results from that.

Yesterday night I went to the gym and did a 2.8 mile walk on the treadmill then CX. I skipped my Flow class last night because it wasnt actually Flow. Vicki who teaches it must be sick or on vacation or something so it was Yoga instead. I am not a HUGE yoga fan, so instead I walked again on the treadmill, did some ab work and some leg work before doing RPM. By then I was pretty tired but I pushed thru RPM.

In total at the gym last night, not including 30DS and yardwork, I burned 1167 calories. Not too bad!

This morning my weight for today was 174.5. Happy with that. Tomorrow will be my final weigh in for 30DS.

So onto the fun- Pictures!!

Sorry for the side shot not being the same direction. And as you can see, I had to take them myself today because Aaron was at work but I wanted to get them done first thing in the morning like my other ones.

What do you think? Can you see some results?

I wouldnt call myself "Shredded" but then again, I didnt follow Jillians meal plan. Thought about it but of course they want you to sign up with a credit card even though you get 30 days free. No thanks.

I still have a saggy stomach and I took some pictures of it but that will be a starting point for my review I am going to do. 

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And what review am I going to do???

I have to share. I cant wait anymore. I am HOPING it comes in the mail today or tomorrow, but actually I am going to wait to use it until Sunday and blog Monday because of the junk food and drink I will be having this weekend. (Think Friday night Feta Bread, Beer Tent, Pampered Chef Party etc).

Ok...Here is what it is....

The product is from It Works. The website is here

And I will be reviewing their wrap pack which is their ultimate body applicators (set of 4!!) and a sample tube of their defining gel.

Remember before the wedding when I was asking about wraps? Well I found this one day while looking on Pinterest and I contacted Angela and asked her if it really works. Since then, we have been conversing back and forth. She added me as a friend on her FB page so I can see some pictures of results people have had. 

Here are a few:

After 1 applicator

I wont be using the Greens but that is another product I am interest in. The thing that got me wanting to try the wraps was that these are supposed to release the toxins that your fat cells store. This is not something that is going to just take off water weight. If that were the case, you would have MORE loose skin. LOL. And results are supposed to last at least 2 months going up to 6 months and beyond with proper diet and exercise which I do already!

Now as much as I would LOVE these results right away, I am realistic that I do have quite a bit of skin to tighten BUT this is TONS less expensive than having a tummy tuck and isnt painful. LOL. And the applicator pack comes with 4 wraps and these pictures are after 1!! So I have 4 times to shrink the belly skin. One wrap works over 72 hours even though you only have to leave it on for 45 minutes so you can use one wrap every 4th day.

And these wraps are HUGE! And the cool thing? You can cut them up and use them on different parts of your body. SO I will probably try them on my thighs to see if I can reduce those bumps.

With these you should only do one area at a time. So you dont want to do your tummy and legs at the same time (for example).

And if things go well, (which Angela assured me that it would), I will be getting a full sized container of defining gel, Greens (which you mix into a drink to get 8+ servings of fruit and veggies in one serving), and Fat Fighter (which will help absorb some of the fat and carbs that  you eat when you go off plan so your body doesnt).

The defining gel itself is referred to as Liquid Gold. It is supposed to diminish the look of cellulite and tone areas of your body. Here is one girls picture who JUST used Defining Gel:

Can you see why I am excited about these products? They could be the answer I have been looking for to tighten and tone my belly skin WITHOUT surgery!

So stay tuned folks. If all goes well, next Monday I will be having a guest blog by Angela and the first 24 hour results of my wrap with measurements and pictures.

Angela did say that it may take many wraps (like 8) to get the results I want. I get that. Everyones body responds differently. I dont eat a ton of crap food so I may not have as many toxins as what some of these other people have. But I am going to stay positive.

And if you are interested in these products too, you can sign up for free as a loyal customer. You get almost a 50% discount and you just have to buy products once a month for 3 months. After that, I think you are under no obligation but Angela could probably explain that further.

Here is the Loyalty Program explained (from their website):
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It Pays to be Loyal!

Special Savings

Save up to 45% on all It Works! products with Loyal Customer pricing.

Automated Monthly Shipments

Your favorite products will be conveniently delivered to your doorstep each month with our flexible auto-shipment service.

Easy Customization

Create the perfect order when you mix and match the productsyou want each month. Change your auto-shipment anytime you’re ready to try something new!

Perks Points with Every Order!

With every order you place, you’ll earn Perks Points equal to 10% of the subtotal of your order before taxes and shipping. For example, if the cost of your order before taxes and shipping is $100.00 USD, you’ll earn 10 Perks Points. You can start using your Perks Points anytime after your fourth consecutive auto-shipment.

Bonus Points for Being Loyal!

In addition to the Perks Points you earn with each order you place, you can also earn bonus Perks Points by simply continuing to place an auto-shipment order each month. After your sixth consecutive auto-shipment, you will receive 50 bonus Perks Points, and after your twelfth consecutive auto-shipment, you’ll receive 150 bonus Perks Points. That’s a $200 shopping spree on us!
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Very cool and something I will definitely think about. It would basically pay for itself within a few months just from the savings.

Whew. Ok. Enough for today. Time for me to get the kid around for camp. Then I come back and do my last day of 30 DS, hose myself off, go meet the new pediatrician, get Landry lunch and nap, pick Xavier up from camp and then tonight is Neighbor walk night with K and possibly S. Busy day!!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!
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 Tip of the Day:

Eat (clean), Drink (water) and Be Merry!

First I want to say thank you to a friend for posting this this morning. I saw it and I knew that I had to share it with you all today.

Yesterday was the first day after my carb and bad eating binge on Sunday. I truly believe sometimes you have to screw with your body to keep it on its toes. If you dont, it becomes used to what you are doing making change all the more hard. This is the first part of the title of this post...Eat Clean, and Drink Water. It helps to flush out the bad that you (well "I") did over the weekend.

That being said, yesterday I completed day 28, then I worked in the yard.

Now- we still have debris in our yard. Not so much chunks of siding and insulation (we have a bit of that that still comes in from the houses under construction from the wind) more like pieces of glass. So you cannot walk barefoot in the yard. Not so hard for me to remember, but it is hard for the kids. So I suited up in my swimsuit and thick chunky waterproof birkis and went outside to work.

I started by trimming the bushes around the house. They were getting a bit unruly. We have let the yard go this year because the grass is getting replaced anyways. Unfortunately it has also translated into the trees, bushes, flowers, weeds, etc.

Then I got a rake out from the garage and started pulling out all the crap from under the deck that was never cleaned out. Shingles, siding, glass, tyvek, you name it. I even found a big piece of metal in the bush I trimmed up. Crazy! Then F&%$!!! My foot started to hurt. Sure enough, somehow I must have gotten a sliver of glass in my shoe even though I wasnt standing in the mulch I was cleaning out but in the grass. My foot was bleeding. Talk about putting a hamper in a chore. I cleaned it up and kept going.

Then last night I went walking with K and S. Nag, Nag, Nag by me though not much arm twisting was involved. LOL.We had a great time and picked up a 5 mo old black lab puppy named Kai to walk as well. She is staying at a different neighbors home in the sub while her owners are on vacation and the "sitter" just cant walk her. Not that Kai misbehaves on a leash, just if she sees a dog, she pulls and the "sitter" is older and is worried about being pulled down. So K and I offered to walk her when we go for walks. At one point, I think I got another sliver of glass in my shoe even though this time I was wearing tennis shoes. What the Heck?? This time it was in my heel. Doesnt feel bad now but the spot where I got hit the first time is still a bit tender.

Now onto the meat of this blog and why I titled it like I did.

Last night after we were done with our walk, K asked if I could help her move stuff from her car back into her house. Hey! More cardio for me and I am all about that. So a few flights of stairs and checking out her house and we were back at my house. We both got out of the car because she was picking up a carpet cleaner from my house that she borrowed from a different neighbor (can you feel the neighborly love in this sub?) and when I turned around, K was gone! What the heck? And I walked around the back of the car and there is K. On all fours on the ground laughing. She fell. I felt bad but she was laughing and I started laughing. Then we were laughing HARD. She was ok. Hurt her hand, and skinned her knee just a tad but OMG we laughed!

After she left she texted me: "Ive fallen, and I cant get up!"   Too funny!

This morning, she posted on FB a pretty cool article that I wanted to share with you. She thought about this last night/this morning after her "incident". It shows that you can get exercise and burn calories in ways that you really didnt think about before.

This comes from Livestrong.com
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How Many Calories Do you Burn when You Laugh

Everything we do throughout the day, including sleep and rest, burns calories. Laughing burns calories by causing your heart rate to rise by 10 to 20 percent. As your heart rate rises, your metabolism increases as well, which means you'll continue to burn calories once you stop laughing.

Caloric Burn

Research conducted by Vanderbilt University Medical Center revealed that laughing for 10 to 15 minutes burns between 10 and 40 calories a day.

Benefits

In addition to burning calories, laughter may also improve your quality of health in a number of ways. A study by Loma Linda University found that laughing raises the levels of immunoglobulins, which ward of disease, by 14 percent. According to research at Johns Hopkins Medical School, humor in the classroom improved test scores, while a study at UCLA discovered that laughing helps with pain tolerance.

Considerations

Laughter can't be used as a weight loss or exercise regimen. You would have to laugh for 12 hours to burn a single pound. Weight management requires a balanced diet and daily exercise routine. Laughing may contribute to your calorie burn, but not significantly enough to cause weight loss.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/308619-how-many-calories-do-you-burn-each-time-you-laugh/#ixzz22rLrv2ci

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Moral of the story....Have a great time, laugh it up. Get with friends, exercise and have fun! Soon you wont even realize you are exercising. The fun you have will become addictive- at least it has become that way with me! I look forward to our walks and I am exercising more in the evenings now then what I did before. Only it doesnt seem like exercise. Just walking and socializing with friends. And between the walking, socializing, stairs and laughing, we burned 475 calories.

The BEST part of the story (If it could GET any better?):

This morning the scale said 176.0. I lost 3.5 lbs since yesterday. So yes. Obviously I was bloated. Those damn carbs. Evil!

So onto Crazy Tuesday.

This morning I am dropping Xavier off at camp and coming home to do day 29 of 30 DS. Then I will be swimsuiting it up to work in the yard while Landry naps.

Tonight is CX, Body Flow and RPM. I am going to try running, but I am not sure how my foot is going to do. I have been trying to land more on the ball of my foot rather than my heel because I dont want stress fractures and of course it is the ball of my foot that hurts. So if running is out tonight, I will stick to speed walking. I will be burning enough calories with the other classes anyways.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Tip of the Day: 
A little slap back to reality and what we put into our bodies

Weekend wrap, failures and motivation

<--- This is exactly what I DIDNT do yesterday. And I didnt exercise either. Bad, bad bad.

Yesterday my mother in law and father in law came over and we went out to lunch to Coney Island. And I had a gyro and spinach pie. Something I usually dont get very often and I splurged.

Then my father in law left to head back north and Aarons grandma and uncle came over to join us and my mother in law for dinner.

For dinner we had grilled chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, parsnips, onions, carrots and brussell sprouts. Yummy! And Andi and the boys made pretzels. And we had italian bread. Lots of carbs. And I didnt say no. And I KNOW what carbs do to me. Then we had some cookies for dessert. But it is ok. Only temporary.

So no surprise with the carb bloat that I was up to 179.5 today. Not kidding. Carbs and I just dont get along and I LOVE them so much! But the weight has already started falling. Hard work this week will get me back down.

But it was still a big FAIL where the clean diet is concerned.

By the time family left and we got the boys to bed it was late and I still had to go and water the plants. It has been SO hot around here that everything is starting to die. And while I dont care about the grass dying because we will be replacing it, I dont want the plants to die.

It took me an hour to water all the plants.

And I am not going to work out at 10 pm. So I missed a day of 30 DS.

Another FAIL. LOL

Some might get discouraged, but when you fail it is all about how you recover from it.

I made up for it today and got my 30 DS in after I dropped Xavier off for his first day of camp for the week.

This afternoon after lunch I want to work in the yard for a while and prune the shrubs.

Tonight will either be a walk with neighbors or a run. It is yet to be decided.

So it is the start of a new week and the start over of the clean diet.

How did you do this weekend? What are your plans for this week?

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I know I have mentioned all of this before, but I think it is something that is important to keep in our thoughts as we go thru our weight loss journey.

What motivates you?

Are you motivated? Or are you disciplined?

Seriously.

Think about it.

I was talking with my friend K this weekend. She and I go for walks around the neighborhood. She asked that I help keep her accountable and motivated to get back into shape and stay active. So I bug her about walking with me. LOL. I love her lots and she asked me to do it. I warned her I could be a nag ahead of time.

One thing she told me after we walked on Thurs this past week was that she really didnt want to walk that night. But I nagged her enough and she felt guilty because she wasnt feeling well when we were supposed to walk another day that week. BUT by the time we were done, she was feeling so much better. Exercise really does invigorate you. Can turn a bad day into a good one. And we had a good time. We were able to talk and vent and we got a good calorie burn. Just over 400 calories by the time we were done unloading some stuff she had in her car into the basement of her house too.

Here is the thing though...

I can be a motivating FACTOR. I can nag and bug and be an accountability partner, but I cant FORCE you to do it. I cant WANT it for you. Well I can WANT it for you, but that wont make someone succeed. LOL. Luckily the gals I walk with want it. It is just a matter of being an accountability partner for them. Right now with the construction in their houses still continuing, I am that voice that reminds them to take time out for themselves. To decompress. Unwind. Not stress.

I had someone else ask me how to get motivated. I really didnt have an answer for that. It could be wanting to fit into something, an upcoming wedding, a certain weight. BUT it is the discipline and habit that keep you going. If you dont want it, you wont succeed. You may start out doing it, but soon interest may wain and it stops. I think that is why when I dieted in the past the weight came back on. I wasnt dieting for me. I was dieting because I was told I HAD to. 

One of the things a couple of the neighborhood gals and I have decided is that this winter when it is too bad to walk outside, we will rotate gym nights at each others houses. Each of us have different equipment and it will help keep the body guessing. Good motivation. And I think it will happen. As long as the discipline takes over.
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This weekend should be lots of fun.

Friday night is Feta Bread Friday though this week we will be visiting the Beer Tent because it is Dexter Days. I am prepared for plenty of bloat. LOL

Saturday is my Pampered Chef party. Need anything please let me know! LOL And I have lots of healthy food planned for the party. So if I happen to overindulge, it wont be devastating
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And Aarons mom has offered to take the kids for the night so Aaron and I can have date night. How nice! We will probably go see Batman. We have both been wanting to see it.

Then Sunday we are going to Canton to a place called FlyZone (I think). It is completely filled with trampolines. I mean the floors, the walls..everything. My mother in law heard you can burn 800 calories an hour at this place. I will be wearing my HRM just for the curiosity factor. LOL. And it is my chance to burn off all the bad stuff from Friday night.

Have a great week everyone!

Tip of the Day: 

Self Image, Self Confidence, Stereotypes and Music

<--- This is perfect for today's blog and it can refer to so many different things in my life. This is all what working out and getting fit has done for me- and more.

I am not sure how this whole blog post is going to write itself but here it goes.

Last night I was at the gym and I was running on the treadmill (as I always do) and I was listening to my iPod.

It was funny. As the different songs came on I started thinking about if someone got ahold of my iPod and saw what types of music I had on it- how would they perceive me? What would I look like?
How would I act?

Here are some of the songs that come up (in shuffle mode) as I go thru my iPod:

Stranglehold- Ted Nugent

Runnin' Down a Dream- Tom Petty

No Rain- Blind Melon

DOA- Foo Fighters

Sir Psycho Sexy- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Power- Kanye West

Bad Girlfriend- Theory of a Deadman

Mad Professor- Insane Clown Posse

The Hand that Feeds- Nine Inch Nails

Hot for Teacher- Van Halen

Land of Confusion- Disturbed

Dragula- Rob Zombie

Date Rape- Sublime

Been Caught Stealing- Jane's Addiction

Make Me Bad- Korn

We Made You- Eminem

Three Little Pigs- Green Jelly

She Hates Me- Puddle of Mud

The Beautiful People- Marilyn Manson

Sleep Now in the Fire- Rage Against the Machine

Aqualung- Jethro Tull

Superstar- Cypress Hill

Telephone- Lady Gaga

I am sure whoever might find my iPod would never have guessed that the person who listens to all this music (used to) look like this:

There is a lot of angry music on my iPod- great for working out to, but also kind of how I felt on the inside.

ANGRY

Dont get me wrong...I am a very nice person. It doesnt mean that I dont have a mean streak or have an alter ego. LOL. Or that I wasnt angry at myself deep down inside for how bad I let things get. 

BUT:

I also have a lot of fun 80's music on my iPod. Young MC, Eurythmics, Prince, Michael Jackson, The Escape Club, Salt-N-Pepa

And quirky, pop, artsy music: Coldplay, Beck, Weird Al, LMFAO, Jill Sobule, Norman Greenbaum

Classic Music: Johnny Cash, Dire Straits, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Rolling Stones

And music that doesnt really have a category like Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass and ELO

It really shouldnt surprise anyone from looking at the music that I might like art, tattoos, piercings, if I were to fit into the stereotype of some of those groups- and I guess I do a little bit now.

I just never had the guts- BEFORE.

I never felt like my outsides matched my insides and that I could stand up to how people might stereotype me if I had them. My Self Confidence was very, very low. I may have SEEMED like I was confident, but I was anything but. And if I were to get something like a tattoo, what could I possibly get and be happy with when I wasnt happy with myself?

Not saying that music gives way to stereotype. I know plenty of people who break that mold. Heck. My mom likes Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers and some great Alternative bands but she is fairly conservative when it comes to her clothes and her looks.

But since my body has been undergoing change and I have been getting fit, I notice that my self confidence is increasing. My self image has been changing. My "likes" have been changing. I feel comfortable doing some of the things that I liked before. Acting on the things I always wanted. That I admired from afar.

For example:

I used to HATE the color pink. I mean I loathed the color pink.

Now, I buy more things in shades of pink then any other color. I feel girly. I feel like I can ROCK pink.

And it is a good feeling.

Also as the weight started coming off, the height of the heels on my shoes started going up. LOL.

Part of that is because I was lighter and could stand up on them easier.

But again, I started to feel girly. Started to like how my legs looked. How my muscles are defined (OMG- I HAVE leg muscles?!?)

My family makes fun of my "stripper" shoes. LOL. And yes. I have gotten some of them at Lovers Lane. LOL. But dont judge. Dont stereotype. I am just having fun. And I have a new passion for funky fun scary high shoes. LOL. And for once I feel that I can wear them and pull off the look. To not look like it is a forced look. Like I am trying too hard. To walk in them and have people do a double take at me because DAMN I look HOT and not DAMN she should NOT be wearing those!

I love shopping now. I can go into any store and know that I can buy anything off of the rack.

I LOATHED shopping before. I loved shopping at Lane Bryant but I hated trying on SO MANY things to find one thing that just looked ok. Also I was very limited on stores I could shop in. Shopping with friends who were "normal" sized just was not fun. I couldnt really pull them into a plus sized store and spend a lot of time there could I? And lets face it, Sears, Pennys, etc have had frumpy grandma style plus sized clothes.

Now- For once in my life I LOVE who I am becoming.

And I hope my family doesnt judge me. 

That they think that I have changed. 

I havent. This is the me I have always wanted to be.

That I have fallen and hit my head- hard. 

Well ok- maybe I hit my head one night, but I dont think that has anything to do with this. And I was drunk at the time...LOL

That they stereotype me. 

Oh she is BAD. Disrespectful. 

That they think- that girl has gone off her rocker.

Because if that is the case, I would rather be the girl who has gone off her rocker and is HAPPY with how she looks than be the stereotypical child my family thinks I am and be unhappy.

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Yesterday I rocked my workouts.

I did 30 DS, then I went to the gym and ran 5k, and did zumba. I burned 1115 calories at the gym. 

I did good after the concert (or so I thought). I had 2 pieces of feta bread and I had a grilled chicken sandwich and some onion shoestrings. And a couple mojitos.

And no surprise but I gained 1.5 lbs. I am blaming it on Mercury and the alcohol. LOL. I dont have too many more days to be blaming Mercury. LOL

Back up to 175.5. Ugh.

Today I went with K to pick granite out for her house so I didnt get to work out to Jillian Michaels first thing this morning. Instead I did it this afternoon. Which I think was a good thing because K and I went to an italian bakery and I had a calzone stuffed with cheese and spinach for breakfast this morning. LOL.

Then I went for a walk around the block with Aaron and the boys a couple times.

Tonight K is coming for a speed walk with me. Should be fun. And it is humid enough to get a good sweat on. We will see if my scale is kind to me tomorrow. I doubt it. Damn Mercury.

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