Tuesday, July 31, 2012

My kids are not responsible for my doughy middle...

I always cringe when I hear folks say that they sacrificed their dreams for their children. I guess it's a parenting choice. Neither way is right or wrong. I have chosen to not attribute any of my shortcomings or failures to my children. I imagine that it must be a great burden for a child to bare. Imagine thinking: My mom never finished college because of me or my mom has extra weight around her midsection which leads to higher rates of heart disease because of me... SCARY STUFF!!!!



When I go to my kids school I am always met with visions of moms who have given up on the idea of fitness. I have some mom friends who attribute their doughy middles to the births of their middle school aged children and proclaim that there is no time for them to work out. I will just go ahead and admit the following fact for all of us: My kids are not responsible for my doughy middle. I know that this is shocking considering they are 14 and 11 years old. In reality, I have a doughy middle because I have not been as committed to my own personal fitness as I should have been. It is my responsibility to hang around for a while to be a parent to my kids. I have control over my physical being and have decided to make an effort to set an example of wellness and fitness for them. When I started running, I included my children. I ran with my son who pushed me to run faster. I included my daughter in races which brought us a little closer together. I am working to teach my children that fitness is a lifestyle. I have decided to take back control of my life and my health. Every day I am more amazed at what my body can do and I look forward to learning all that I am capable of!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Goals: Awesome Abs!!

Setting specific goals can be intimidating but like most situations you have to set them in order to progress. Fitness is no different then anything else in your life, if you become complacent you will not see progress. Fitness goals seem to be unobtainable for some simply because the goals they set are not realistic, you can't run today and see the results tonight! Like most people I have worked very hard to get bikini worthy abs, among other things, and not to toot my own horn but I've done well. Lately I seemed to have hit a plateau so I have decided to revamp my routine, check out my weekly calendar and slenderize your waist with me!


OK Abs!!




Plan of Action
  • Limit ab isolation to once per week: It appears to be "thickening"my waistline.
  • Alternate my morning super sets with a full body dumbbell routine.
  • Omit sit-ups from morning super sets.





Sunday, July 22, 2012

7 days in...

Today is day 7 of the 30 Day Shred!!!! I have actually completed seven days and 12 miles of running. I am feeling stronger and my endurance has increased. I am quite pleased with my ability to stick to the program this time. I must say that my success can probably be attributed to my workout partner who is such an inspiration. Working out with a partner has been a blessing! We have been texting to confirm completion of workouts or to encourage success in future workouts. It is providing me with someone to talk to about my progress and how I am feeling and it holds me accountable. It also saves those around me who are disinterested in my working out from being forced to listen to me drone on and on about my excitement about exercising. My daughter has commented that my abs are starting to look good!!! My new measurements are below:



Waist: 27   Bust: 31 Hips:38   Thigh: 22 1/2
Calves:12 1/2   Bicep:9 1/2
Weight: 134

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Drum Roll Please: Introducing me...AC!!!

Being skinny is easy, trust me I have over twenty nine years of experience. Being fit....well that requires some effort.

Being the "skinny girl" my entire life I have heard it all;"why don't you just eat", "are you anorexic"," you're so lucky","girl I would never want to be as small as you" and so on and so forth. Despite the relentless efforts of others to make me feel inadequate, I grew to be comfortable in my own skin. Even after having my first child I was still, unbeknownst to me, incredibly fit! What changed?

You guessed it baby number two and the  world's most horrific pregnancy, it's in the Guinness Book of World Record's for the World's Most Miserable Pregnancy...well maybe not but you get the point! After I had my second daughter at the age of twenty five I discovered that I no longer had the gift of teenagary (I made it up) on my side,my body had been stripped of a large portion of the muscle tone I had taken for granted and  I couldn't perform simple tasks such as digging a hole in the ground. Yes I'm serious, I couldn't dig a hole in the ground! So I began my journey of complaining about my body and reminiscing on how it used to look and how fast I used to do this and that, pathetic right. So I began a different journey to reclaim my life, my body, my youthfulness and of course my sexy!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Before and...





A newly married friend at work complained to me yesterday that she had gained a few pounds since taking her vows. She and I had a brief chat and decided to do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred together. We both own this DVD and both have started it without finishing. Our goal this time is to actually complete 30 days. I also plan to continue my running on T, W, Th, Sat and Sun. Do you own this video? Are you interested in joining the challenge with us?I have decided to post these tragic before pictures as a personal motivation to attain super sexy on day 30 which also happens to be my birthday!!!!! Those pictures better rock!!!RAB
I am 5'5". I weigh 138 pounds.
Waist: 28     Bust: 31 Hips:39   Thigh: 23
Calves:13   Bicep: 10

Monday, July 2, 2012

My horrible, terrible, no good, very bad run...

Thursday night at about 9:30 I decided to peel myself off of my couch and go for a long exhilarating run. The temperature during the day was hanging out in the 90's and had dropped to a balmy 85. I had eaten a light dinner (1 piece of pizza) and felt like I was ready. I donned my Camelbak, Nike plus gear, and my music. The run started off nice enough. For the first quarter of a mile I felt like a champ. I thought "You go, RAB!" Then lethargy slapped me around. I thought "You go home, RAB!" I couldn't stop though because I would feel extreme shame if I registered a run that was less than one mile. So...I pushed on. I was greatly anticipating that 1 mile to register on my watch. When I hit my street I was at 1.5 miles. I thought "I can at least do 2 miles..." It was at this point that I smelled our friendly neighborhood skunk. I feel pretty confident that my mace will take care of all animals except skunks and I fear them and their stinkiness. I decided to walk (I feel running may startle them) down the middle of the street at a cautious pace. *insert failure buzzer here* Fret not...I made it home un-skunked and greatly defeated. Of course there is always tomorrow...