Back Up Plan – Weekly Weigh In

Love This!

This week’s weigh in at Weight Watchers was not fun.  I knew it was not going to be fun due to the fact that I ate a bunch of Easter candy, salty ham, and it’s that time of the month.

Sure enough-I was up 2.6.  Well damn.

Good thing is, I went and weighed in even though I didn’t want to!

It’s a new week and I am going to have a good one!

This week’s meeting topic was all about having a Plan B for exercise.  The best thing I heard was Jacynta ask, “If your plan for dinner doesn’t happen, do you say, ‘Oh well…I guess I’m not going to eat tonight?’”  No!  We come up with something else to eat.  We have a plan b!

When our exercise plans go awry, do you say, “Oh well…I guess I’m not going to workout today!”  Absolutely!

We need to come up with an alternative plan when our initial plan for exercise doesn’t happen for whatever reason!

Can’t workout outside because it’s raining?  Exercise inside on the treadmill or with a workout dvd.

Can’t go to the gym for some reason?  Get out into the street–Especially if the weather is nice!

Have an injury and can’t run or walk or elliptical or bike?  SWIM!

Be creative and find alternatives to your workouts!

Do you have a plan B for exercise?  Do you make it a priority?  Have a great week!

Photo Credit

“Why am I Here?” – Weekly Weigh InKicking and Screaming – Weekly Weigh InAction PlanExercise Goal – Weekly Weigh InSchedule It – Weekly Weigh In

View the original article here

I Tried Coffee! (Plus Friday Five)

I’m feeling awesome guys.

Like full of awesome. And full of self confidence. I am awesome!

So I tried coffee for the first time this week. I drank a cup of iced black coffee just to see what it was like consuming that much caffeine (I only drink water normally). It was INSANE. I felt so hyper and excited and couldn’t stop moving around for an hour. It was fun and I might keep drinking coffee just for that reason along with some others. I don’t totally love it but I’ve come a long way from my former coffee hating self who refused to drink it ever.

Coffee and awesomeness. That sums up my week pretty well. Now on to the 5 things…

Here’s some wedding goodness if you missed it:

Wedding Recap: Things I Learned

1. Egg sandwich for breakfast.

2. Captain Crunch Berries for a snack. (I bought cereal! I rarely do this because I love and devour it. This was a special treat and I love it!)

1. Kepa’s best friend’s birthday party is tomorrow! FUN! Good food, drinks, and company ahead for us this weekend.

2. I haven’t been in the gym but I’ve still be very active and felt great. I’ve rediscovered my love (or just nurtured it really) of doing things outside like hiking and biking.

3. Found a place to stay while I’m in Memphis, some transportation options, things to do, etc. Basically this week the trip all came together like it was meant to happen. Or at least that’s what the boss tells me since they’ve tried to talk me into moving back to the US since before I even left. ;) Still this week’s plan making eliminating a lot of anxiety and I’m feeling good about it.

1. People don’t wear shoes sometimes. Okay, pretty often. I go to the grocery store and every single time see at least one if not ten people not wearing shoes in the stores. Weirds me out every time I see bare feet in the store while I’m buying groceries.

2.  The sun burns. I get sunburned almost every day if I spend over 20 minutes outside. Even if just stay inside but sit too close to a window I get pink. With sunblock on. My pasty white skin does not do well in a country underneath a holy ozone layer.

3. Easter was a big thing. I’m from the Bible Belt so I get stores and things closing on religious holidays and even on Sundays (I’m looking at you Chick Fil A). But it still surprises me that in New Zealand everything is closed on Easter AND Good Friday, or they have to pay the government extra money. But oh well, at least there were hot cross buns which are quite nice. People go crazy when stores are going to be closed for one day. The day before Good Friday and the day between it and Easter meant PACKED supermarkets. Everyone seemed to have the sudden need to shop even late at night (when we normally go) when it’s normally quite empty. This might be a phenomenon that happens everywhere if stores are closing but I’ve only just noticed it.

4. There is a marmite shortage and people are upset. I don’t really understand the vegemite and marmite love. I think it tastes gross. But apparently the production got shut down because of earthquakes so stores are out and people are upset. The crazier ones are spending hundreds to thousands to get what is available. There was a radio commercial about “getting through” the shortage with support which I’m hoping was a joke.

1. If you were in line at McDonald’s right now what would you order?

2. If you eat fast food, what is your favorite restaurant or item?

3. How big is your current living space? (Rooms/bathrooms or sq ft.)

4. What’s the one thing (not a person or a pet) you would try to save from your house in a natural disaster?

5. Have you ever/do you eat marmite or vegemite? Thoughts on it? Yummy or no?

Have a great weekend! :)

No related posts.

View the original article here

Top 5 Reasons For People Failing To Lose Weight

f8e1879fca41698ba13ef30ce4ea64be

If we observe two people who have started to do similar things for losing their weight at the same time then we might find that one of them is getting success in reducing his weight while the other one is not able to get any benefit from his efforts to lose weight. Here, we should pay attention to the difference between both these individuals. All people who face difficulty in losing their weight wish to know the reasons for which they fail in reducing their weight. Following are top 5 reasons for people failing in weight loss.

People who do not pay any attention to what they eat often find it very difficult to lose their weight. Even if such people do a lot of exercises, they will take a long time to reduce their weight. People should understand that they need to control their diet for losing weight.

People who think that just by controlling their diet, they would be able to lose their weight; are also wrong. Along with dieting, people need to do various weight loss exercises. It is a fact that people lose their weight fast by combining the benefits of dieting and exercising. Physical activities are very important for burning extra calories present in the body.

People who lack motivation for weight loss often miss their exercises, eat fast foods, think negatively and do various other things which stop them from achieving their weight loss goals. Till the time, an individual has the required level of motivation, he cannot think of losing weight.

People often fail to stick to their pledge of not eating junk food or not drinking alcohol; because they stay with such people who are crazy for fast food and alcohol. It is better to stay with those people who rarely drink alcohol and do not like to eat junk food; if you wish to lose your weight.

People sometimes fail in losing weight not because they do not do the right things but because they set very tough targets for themselves. Suppose, a person sets the target to lose 100 pounds in a week. In this case, he will not be able to achieve his target even if he does all the right things to lose weight. Therefore, it is important to set realistic goals for weight loss.

Image Credit @optimumbodysculpting.com

Related posts:

Top 3 Reasons to Get in ShapePeople should be paid to lose weightDiary products not helping people to lose weight

Brad has written 435 articles .

If you like This post, you can follow Weight Loss Points on Twitter.

Subscribe to Weight Loss POints feed via RSS or EMAIL to receive instant updates.

View the original article here

Give Me A Visa! Thoughts On Visa Applications & BMI

Today I’ve been wrapped up in working on my future visa application for NZ. I don’t plan on applying until August or so but I figured I would work on it a little bit at a time when I had free time. I have to say, it’s so complicated! So many things to gather for proof of our relationship. There will also be a ton of writing involved to explain things so I’m glad I’ve started now!

The most fun part by far is going through photos to “prove” our relationship.

So many happy memories!

We’ve packed a lot of great stuff into the last couple of years. :)

One thing that has stressed me out about the application process beyond just gathering enough proof about our relationship (still a ton of work to do for this!) is the fact that I’m currently over the BMI limit that they generally accept. Since New Zealand has publicly funded healthcare they take into consideration future healthcare costs for all immigrants. From what I’ve read a bmi over 35 will require more tests and sometimes gets a rejection of the application because they believe the person will end up costing the healthcare system over $25,000 in the long run.

This obviously makes sense and for a small country like New Zealand is something they need to keep in check to make things work. Learning this stressed me out because I’m currently still over a BMI of 35! Part of me wants to whine that it isn’t fair to use BMI and just say give me a visa already!  But I’m a grown up and logical and realize that this one is on me and me alone, even if I do think BMI is a bit flawed.

Luckily I’m closer than I was to this goal. I need to get down to 190 or preferably lower to avoid most of the hassles with extra medical tests (or possible rejection) for my future visa application. I’m about 11 pounds away since I seem to have stalled around 201 after finishing LiveFit.  My gym membership actually expired this week and I’m not renewing it until I come back to NZ in July. This means I need to kick it into high gear… without a gym.

So that’s where I stand in the whole living permanently in New Zealand situation. I’ve got to gather up a whole bunch of evidence, write several super long essays of explanation, get friends to write letters about us, save up over a thousand dollars for fees, and lose at least 11+ pounds. Sooner rather than later.  Or by August to be exact.

Oh the things I do for love.

Related posts:

Merry Go Round: Never Give UpNew Zealand Visa Woes

View the original article here

Top 5 Ways To Lose Love Handles

3d641264f7e983a2c9314bc27927e294

When your jeans doesn’t fit you or you are not able to wear your favorite dress because of your excess weight then you simply don’t feel good. It is very important to control obesity. People who wish to stay a healthy life and do not invite various kinds of diseases in their life should start making efforts for losing their weight. Here, we tell you about top 5 ways to lose love handles.

By making your abdominal muscles strong and toned, you can expect to lose your love handles. There are various exercises like abdominal crunches which people can do for making their abs and lower back strong. Click here to know more about love handle exercises.

By decreasing your sodium intake, you can expect to lose your love handles. People should know that having more sodium is not only bad for their heart and blood pressure but it also leads to water retention. Water retention causes weight gain. A lot of weight can be lost from the waist by decreasing the amount of sodium, which people consume.

You might be hearing or reading this for a hundredth time while searching for ways to reduce weight. Water helps people in avoiding water retention and it also keeps the digestive system sound. People should drink as much water as they can every day. It will help them in losing love handles.

People who wish to lose their love handles should decrease the amount of alcohol, which they consume. People can expect to lose their love handles by reducing their alcohol intake. Alcohol contains a lot of empty calories, which leads to weight gain and love handles. Here, we are not suggesting that people should stop drinking alcohol completely but we mean to advise people to drink it in moderation. Always remember that more of anything can be dangerous.

In order to lose love handles, people should do dumbbell side bends. This is an easy exercise. People need to hold one dumbbell in each hand and then they need to bend sideways letting the dumbbell move towards floor. People need to bend on both right and left sides one after another. Here, people should not carry very heavy dumbbells in the beginning. Start doing this exercise with very light dumbbells. This is a very effective exercise for losing love handles.

Related posts:

Top Tips for Losing Unwanted Love HandlesHow to lose love handles tipsHow to Lose Love HandlesWhat are love handlesSome Basic Tips for Losing Love Handles

Brad has written 435 articles .

If you like This post, you can follow Weight Loss Points on Twitter.

Subscribe to Weight Loss POints feed via RSS or EMAIL to receive instant updates.

View the original article here

Trips and Temporary Exercise Options

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it yet, but I’m going back to America for two months at the end of the month.  USA Trip 2012 is happening after all, just not how I was hoping!

It wasn’t planned at all but I’m going back for work reasons  (I still work for a memphis web design company) and will be staying in Memphis for two months. I’m both excited and bummed out for a variety of reasons but overall I think the trip will be great. At the very least I’ll get to take care of that changing my last name business!

However since I’m only going to be in Memphis for two months I’m not sure what I want to do regarding exercise. I don’t think I want to join a gym as I’m feeling very anti-gym right now soit wouldn’t be worth the expense. Here are the options I’m considering:

Biking and or walking to work. I’m going to be living 3 ish miles from my work and borrowing a bike from my boss. If I can find a safe route into downtown I’d love to bike to work. Or walk but that would take longer. ;)Workout DVDs. I have several including some that I actually really enjoy and know can kick my butt.YouTube Videos. Similar to DVDs these videos can get me working out on my own at home. Plus there are tons to choose from now.Gym visits. I could pay a couple dollars and just visit a local gym as a guest.Class visits. There are random fitness classes like Zumba held all over in community centers and churches. I could jump into one of these a couple times.Bootcamp class. This one is the most expensive option by far but I’m considering doing a twice weekly bootcamp class by the river. It’s close enough to my work to be possible and would help me really keep up my fitness level while not committing to too much.

What would you do in this situation?

Most likely I’ll probably use some or all of these and mix and match them. Two months isn’t too long but I don’t want to go into sedentary mode and lose my awesome fitness I built up with LiveFit. I like my muscles and still want to keep them while losing more weight.

I like these ideas because it will be something different. I seem to get bored of focusing on one fitness activity after a couple months so the change will be nice. So will being in the US again, though I’ll miss my husband and puppy. Maybe some of you can come for a visit and cheer me up? ;)

Related posts:

Exercise Slow Down + My Workout OptionsTrips, trips, tripsForgotten Healthy OptionsLoving Exercise AgainWeekly Recap: Doubts, Exercise and Stretching

View the original article here

Yurbuds Ironman Inspire Sport Earphones – Review

Love these headphones!

An important part of my workouts, especially outside, involve music.  There is something about a good song to make you go faster and longer.  My problem with listening to music is those crappy earbuds that come with iPhones and iPods.

The first problem I had with them is the comfort level.  They truly hurt my ears.  At first I thought maybe my ears were too small because the headphones always seemed too big.  Then, I realized that LOTS of people had that problem.  The second problem I had is when I got sweaty, they would fall out of my ears really easily!  They truly made listening to music while working out impossible!

I needed earbuds that worked if I was going to continue to listen to music while I was working out!  I seeked the help of people on Facebook.  I got several suggestions of some that people liked and I went with the majority of people which was Yurbuds.

For Christmas, I asked for a pair of Yurbuds to try out and my brother purchased the white Yurbuds Ironman Inspire for me from Best Buy.

I couldn’t wait to try them out and see if they truly stay put and do not hurt my ears.  The first chance I got, I tried them out and guess what?!?

I LOVED them!  They stayed put the ENTIRE workout (some workouts being two hours for my half-marathon training) and they were very comfortable!

What makes these different from the earbuds that come with your iPod or iPhone?  They have a rubber tip that literally locks into your ear canal making them almost impossible to “fall out.”  They call it, “Twist Lock Technology.”  They are also sweatproof and water resistant so no more “slipping out” due to sweat!

These truly are awesome and I am so glad that I decided to try these out!  I think next I will purchase ask for the Yurbud Inspire Pro headphones because they come with a microphone so I can answer the phone while running or walking.  I can also talk to Siri when I am running my next half-marathon and she can give my husband updates on where I am without even texting!  These also come with a control right on the headphone cord to control the music you are listening to!  These are super cool and my birthday is coming up in June (hint hint family!).

If you are tired of earphones that don’t stay in while you are working out or they are horribly uncomfortable, check out the Yurbuds.  You will love that they never fall out!

What are your favorite type of earphones to wear while exercising?  Have you ever tried the Yurbuds?

Photo Credit

View the original article here