Ericka: I should be skinny by now (7.2.13)

Yesterday, I made up for missing my evening Tabata class by getting on the elliptical for 20 minutes in my parents' hot garage. It was like a Bikram studio in there! Then Joe wanted to show my mom the "Move Your Body" warm-up so I put the video on and began doing the moves. My mom liked it so much that she joined in. We ended up doing the video 1 1/2 times, because it froze up on his. I wasn't finished working out so I invited Joe to do the Keaira Lashae's "Hip Hop Tabata Workout". We were done after that.

Post Workout

I almost cheated myself out of a workout today. I just did not feel like going to my lunch time Tabata class. I came into work looking for an excuse to miss it, and I took that opportunity when my friends asked me to join them for lunch. Then I started to write in my blog, and I just felt guilty. I told myself "you can just work out this evening," but I knew I would probably find a way to bail on it. Then 11:30 a.m. hit, and I said "screw it, I'm going". It's easy to go to gym or workout when it's convenient and you are in high spirits. It's those blah days where you just want to be a bump on the log and revert to your old ways. I knew if I didn't go today, I would probably skip another day this week and we all know about slippery slopes. I just told myself "You know where you would be right now if you didn't quit last time and the time before that?" If I had stuck to my many diets and proclamations of lifestyle changes, I would have met my fitness goal by now. I don't want to do that again.

So I went to the class, and it was a beast! The instructor must have made us do at least 50 burpees. I hate burpees. I think I hate them more than I hate jogging. The only thing that got me through the class was thinking about my lunch. This morning I grilled some marinated chicken and  added it to a mixed green salad topped with almonds, fat-free feta, onions & a light dressing.

Le salade

So in other news, I've been coming up with the various challenges. Some are really fun, e.g. learn the choreography to your favorite music video, and some are not so fun, e.g. jog 3x a week. I've decided we will pull from 3 bowls every month: 1. Exercise 2. Diet 3. Random. The random bowl challenges will cover everything from finance, to love & relationships, parenting, and paying it forward.  I am nervous and excited at the same time. The only problem is the challenge starts Monday July 8, and I'll be in Chicago, home of the deep dish pizza. Who's bright idea was it to start a 30 day challenge the same week I go on vacation!?! Oh right, me.

So what's going to be my game plan for Chicago? Well I'm sure there will be a gym in the hotel, so I have no excuse for not exercising. And I am going to rent a tandem bike for us to use for 4 hours. I'm still mapping the route. Now the eating will be a different story. Hopefully the diet challenge will be something that can be easily adapted in Chicago. Sunday morning we are going to pick our challenges! If you have any challenge ideas, let me know.


Until tomorrow,


E