Best Weight Loss Blog Nominee – Fitterati Blog Awards

I have been nominated in Fitness Magazine’s Fitterati Blogger Awards for Best Weight Loss Blog!

I feel so honored and humbled and I would love nothing more than to WIN!

You all know how competitive I am! I am so far behind and I-NEED-YOUR-HELP! I don’t ask much of you.  All I have ever asked of you was to read what I write and occasionally comment.  That’s It… Until Now.

I need you to take 3 minutes out of your busy life (I promise that is how long it will take!) to vote for It Sux To Be Fat as “Best Weight Loss Blog” in Fitness Magazine’s Fitterati Blog Awards. Most of the blogs have already been up there for a few weeks getting votes.  I have just now been put on the list so I am very far behind.

Voting is only open until April 9, 2012 so please, please, please, IF you love me, will you please vote for me?

I’m done begging!  Now, click on the badge (picture) below and go vote. After you do, leave me a comment telling me that you did. Love you forever!

Set a Weight Loss Goal for Summer [Video]Weight Loss is Like Marriage

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Head In The Clouds

Sometimes new ideas excite me so much I get WAY AHEAD of myself. I get super duper excited about things to the point where other people laugh about how ridiculous I am.

Sometimes it gets to the point where I forget what I should be doing IN THE MOMENT.
Which is why today I went to the gym to workout and left halfway through when I realized I had forgotten to do something very important earlier. Oops.
I still managed a decent amount of exercise though:

I’ll take 312 calories burned over zero!
Today (and yesterday and this week in general) I’ve been a bit distracted and excited and wound up by my new big ideas. It happens every so often. I probably shouldn’t get so wrapped up in new things that I forget the other – often important – stuff I still need to do. Priorities still matter!
This post is more just a note to myself to slow down and back away from the new ideas than it is anything else. Writing it down like this makes me remember to chill and get the rest of my life organized.
So that’s where I’ll be if you need me. Cleaning rooms and paying bills and doing the boring stuff so nothing else gets forgotten when I go back to daydreaming.
Related posts:The Fat Voice – It’s All In Your Head
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Weekend in Philly

This weekend, I flew to Philadelphia for the ASCD National conference. I went with a group of 10 ladies from work.

We had a blast.

When we got there Friday night, traffic was a nightmare due to some rally. It literally took us half an hour to go 8 miles from the airport to the hotel.

Rainy Downtown Philadelphia!

After arriving we decided to eat dinner close to the hotel so we ate at a quaint little place called The Rose Tattoo Cafe.

Dinner was a bit pricey but it was super good. We all shared the appetizer and then I had salmon for dinner. It was really delicious and healthy! It was one of the ladies birthdays so they brought out Philly cheesecake for us to share. It was heaven on a plate and the two bites I had were just enough to get that sweet ending to the meal.

Saturday and Sunday were both early days getting up at 5:30. Breakfast was a full buffet so I filled up on an omelet with a big thing of fresh fruit and coffee of course.

The whole day on Saturday was spent at the conference where I heard some great speakers on integrating technology into the curriculum. I walked away with lots of great ideas.

Lunch was at this amazing market in downtown Philadelphia, Reading Terminal Market.

What a cool market this is!

I wish I had one of these markets where I live.  The fresh fish and produce there looked amazing!

Fresh Fish!

The place was packed too!

I had to have a cheese steak since I was in Philly, with whiz of course. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all that great. I guess maybe my expectations were too high. Or I just didn’t get a really good one. Either way, the amount of grease probably put a damper on the taste.

The afternoon was filled with more sessions including two Google Chromebook presentations.

I love Google Chromebook because my husband and I have one at home and we use Google docs and a shared Google Calendar. Even with all my prior knowledge of Google Docs and how Google Chrome works, it was a very interesting presentation.

I ended up with a raffle ticket to come back later and possibly win one of three new Chrome laptops. I headed to my next session not thinking much about it. While I was in my next session, I had a very strong urge that I needed to go back to the laptop drawing. In a very calm voice, I heard God tell me to go back to the drawing because I was going to win.

The funny thing is, I never doubted it. I even told the other ladies I was with, after the session, that I couldn’t go back to the hotel just yet because I had to go win a new laptop. On the other end I heard, “Yeah, right. Ok!” My faith never wavered and I headed back to the Google Chrome presentation about 20 minutes before the drawing.

Another presentation was going on so I sat through it and ended up with a second ticket. My chances of winning had just increased. The good thing was you had to be present to win and there were only about 50 people standing there. The other thing I didn’t know was that they were giving away three!

I said a quick prayer right before the drawing, “God, you know I really want that laptop. Please have me win it!” Again, I felt a complete peace that I was going to win.

Not only did I win it, I was called first!!!! He didn’t even make me wait to be called last! I serve an awesome God!

Winning the laptop was the highlight of my trip! Of course, I gained so much knowledge and I am so pumped to teach these kids even more than they already know!

Yep...I won this!

I came back exhausted but thrilled! It was a great trip and I got to know my co-workers even better and on a more personal level.

People say I am lucky that I won the laptop but I say that God rewards us who trust in Him and have Faith!

Have you ever asked God for something, no matter how big or small and He not only gave it to you but exceeded your expectations?

Birthday WeekendReady for the Weekend

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Go. Start. NOW.

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Hanlie left this comment on my post about swimming yesterday:

I am very keen to start swimming. For years I’ve been trotting out every excuse in the book not to do it – my technique sucks, I’m not fit enough, I can’t breathe, the pool is too busy at the times I’m free, etc. But since I can no longer really walk, swimming is the only alternative. I got some books on swimming from the library, watched a lot of coaching clips on Youtube and I am ready! Now I must just find a good time slot in the evening.

My reply to her:

I have all those excuses too but I still go. Seriously my technique is shit. Ask Kepa. I swim super slow too – he can smoke me in 25 meters. My only benefit is I’m buoyant and can go long distances (thanks to practice because starting I could only do one length). There will always be excuses even when you improve. You just have to start. Go swim Hanlie!

One thing I know: there will always be excuses.

Sometimes they will be reasonable, sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they will be worth allowing, sometimes they won’t. Most of the time they won’t. It’s easy to want to be perfect before starting something but that rarely happens.

You have to start at the bottom and you can’t let starting at the bottom be an excuse. You have to just go out there and try it and suck at it so you can move on and get better. The beginning is rarely pretty but it is necessary to get to where you want to go.

I recognize this in myself a lot.

I wanted to do a triathlon so I went to the pool to start swimming. I sucked and could only go one length of the pool before tiring out. But I stuck with it.I wanted to snowboard so I went to a mountain and tried it out. I fell so hard so many times I cried myself to sleep the first night and ached the next day. But I stuck with it.

My beginnings are rarely pretty. I’m not naturally talented at many athletic endeavors. I could use that as an excuse. Or my weight could be an excuse. Or any number of things could be an excuse to avoid that first painful and/or embarrassing attempt. But excuses don’t make you better. They don’t let you improve so you can swim for 30 minutes or snowboard for hours or do anything else you really want to do. Giving into excuses and fear gets you nowhere!

You can’t get anywhere if you don’t start.

You can’t get better if you don’t try.

So Hanlie, go swim. Let me know how it goes. And the rest of you? Go try something you’ve been putting off and making excuses for that you think you might enjoy. (I think potential enjoyment is key… some things you might try and realize you hate and they aren’t worth doing which is okay too.) You might not be great at first but I’m 100% sure you’ll get better if you avoid the excuses and stick with it.

There is no better time than now to start. :)

Related posts:

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& Swim LiveFit Week 11

Today I went swimming!

It's been a long time since I've been swimming. I originally wanted to do a triathlon on my birthday but saved when I realized that the cost of a triathlon not exactly fit with my other accounts (just learned the amount of tax I have to pay in NZ, and it's scary!). Because I didn't train for a triathlon to the pool doesn't seem attractive.

Kepa is going swimming at school as part of his course and he's been swimming a bit on his own too. He suggested that I today together with him after work so I did! I'm glad too because I forgot what I missed! Thirty minutes of swimming was a great workout and it was even fun too.

I got a bit off with my workouts this week because I missed a day and went snowboarding. That is why it took me a few extra days remaining until the end of the week. But I still did it! ;)

I've enjoyed this workout so much. Circuit training is really nice, even if it's a bummer for such small weights sometimes lifting.

Day 71

Circuit: I have 3 rounds

Barbell Squat leg deadlifts – 30 – 30 – 30 repsLeg Press repsStraight repsBarbell repsCalf press machine lunge – 30 – 30 reps

Day 72

Circuit: 3 rounds

Barbell deadlift-20 repsBent about repsWide-grip barbell row-20 lat pulldown-20 repsBack 20 repsSeated cable rows-extensions-20-20-20 reps repsAir bicycle repsCrunches

30 minutes cardio-half half bike, treadmill

Day 73

Circuit: 3 rounds

Barbell Bench Press – 20 repsIncline dumbbell Press – 20 repsDumbbell Flyes – 20 repsDips (chest version) – 20 repsStanding 20 raisesSeated 20 repsPushups – calf raises – calf raises – 20 reps

45 minutes cardio-30 bicycle, 15 elliptical

Day 74

Circuit: 3 rounds

Barbell curl-Bicep Tricep Press-20 repsLying 20 repsDumbbell 20 repsStanding Dumbbell Triceps extension alternative Curl-repsBench-20-20 repsCrunches 20 repsSit Ups-Dips – 20 reps

30 minutes Cardio bike

Day 75

Circuit: 3 rounds

Dumbbell Shoulder Press – 20 repsSeated Bent-Over dumbbell Rear Delt raise – 20 repsFront 20 repsCalf 20 repsSide increase increase lateral Raises – – – 20 reps

Calves were so painful I have only one calf exercise. ;)

30 minutes cardio bike

Day 76

1 hour cardio 30 swim, 30 bicycle

Day 77

Rest!

Much enjoyed this week! I'm excited to repeat next week and might actually go through it again once or twice. You know, just for fun.

My favorite was leg day. I only managed 3 rounds instead of 4, but it was good. I also enjoyed the day back. My least favorite was probably shoulders because I felt like I did the worst and was really only using light weights!

My only problem with this is the fact that my gym workouts really has spread, so it is a bit difficult to complete without walking across the gym stuff or circuits

Well I'm off to watch how to Train Your Dragon. Fun! :)

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