It's January 7th, we've completed week one of the new year!  Are you staying on track with your resolutions?  I know I have.  If you haven't, take this moment to recommit to yourself and your goals.  If you have derailed, think deep down what is preventing you from moving forward to reach them.  Do you have a good support system around you that want to see you reach your goals?  Are you sabotaging yourself?  When you get sidetracked, do a mental check on yourself and come clean with what is holding you back and deal with those issues immediately.  Perhaps you need to seek the help of a friend that has similar goals or has already reached the goal you seek.  Either way, have someone there that can hold you accountable and motivate you.  A support system is essential when making life changes.

This week has been a busy one.  We rang in the new year doing some winter camping at Lake Carlos State Park.  It was too cold to take Cody out hiking, so we stayed inside with board games and a movie.  The rest of the week consisted of weights and running on the treadmill at the Y, running outside twice and a yoga class on Sunday.  Lots of good activity in.  After being at a plateau FOREVER my weight finally budged this morning by just a couple of ounces, but I will take that.  I haven't been watching the scale too closely.  I've been lifting lots of weights, so I am becoming firmer, not necessarily lighter, which is fine by me!

I ordered my study materials through NETA Fit for my personal training certification.  I am excited for that, it is coming up quickly.  It will be a great step towards my personal and career goals to obtain that certification. 

This week I will be doing a few days of outside running before going home, followed by a couple hours of racquetball with Dominik in Pequot while Ethan takes a class instead of my traditional workout.  Either way, it will be a good dose of exercise.  Wednesday will be my workout with Tanya at the YMCA and then hopefully some kind of class on Saturday.  It should be a great week.

Keep your goals in sight! 

Have a great week ~ Jessica

Wow, I have seriously neglected my blog writing during the month of December.  It appears that my last post was back on the 7th!  It's been a very busy month, finals came and went for college and I finished with three A's and one B, not too shabby for a full time worker and mommy.  Now I have a short break from school until January 21st!  Christmas came and went as well.  Baking, shopping, eating were all primary activities for the month and it's nice to recover from that as well.  I have stayed amazingly consistent with my workouts during this busy month and have not gained any weight, so yeah for me!

As I move closer towards starting the new year, I am mentally starting my list of things I aim to accomplish this year.

• Become a certified personal trainer (registerd for class and exam the weekend of Feb. 15th)
• Become certified in CPR
• Reach my official goal weight by June
• Run at least four half marathons (plans already in the works for three of them)
• Update my blog more often

Of course there are other things as well, but these are the truly measureable ones that I can think of and move forward with immediatly.  Even though I am racking up student loan debt, I feel like I made the right choice with going to school for my bachelors degree.  Each class is interesting now and full of information that I can use to help others and to develop my career.  By having a passion for what I do, I can and will achieve success by helping others.

I've found motivational tools this year thanks to Pinterest, the University of Wisconsin and fellow gym rats at the YMCA.  Here is one that I thought was very accurate!  Cheers to 2013 people!

 

 

Tis' the Season!

December first has come and gone, which to me is the official count down to Christmas.  The realization that I have procastinated all year once again!  How shocking!  This year we are toning it down, the kids have more stuff than many kids have, we have a nice home and a healthy family, what more do we really need?  Of course we will get some small things and get together with extended family, but this Christmas won't be so gift orientated.  This was the first year that I did not go shopping on Black Friday.  The kids have taken it well and we've been talking about expenses that we have so they are realizing why things are tight.  It's time to get back to what's important, spending time with family and showing that they are important in our lives!

Our scary run in the dark!

Working out has been going well.  I can't remember when my last post was, so I will recap the last week.  Saturday Tanya and I went to an Aqua-Blast class, Monday we went to Pilates and Zumba (felt those afterwards), Wednesday I lifted weights and went on the bike, Thursday I went for a run with Ethan (really, really dark out) and I am taking a spin class at the Y tomorrow morning.  Lots of good activity in!  My weight has remained the same, but I am gaining muscle definition and my jeans are fitting differently, so no complaints here!

This weekend is filled with Holiday parties.  Tonight is mine for work and tomorrow we have Kurt's work party.  My challenge will be drinks and food.  My head is in a good place though and I have my activity planned for the weekend, so I should be able to stay on track. 

My accomplishment this week is being able to do a yoga pose that I haven't been able to do, which I posted a picture of!  It's the small things like this that make me keep going!

Finally, my feet are off the ground!!!
 

Have a great weekend!

~Jessica

How do you know where you are going, if you don't know where you've been?

I often think about this quote when I think about my weight loss efforts, completion of college courses, advancement in my career, basically life in general.  How do we get to where we want to be in life if we do not have goals?  Goals are so important in everything we do.  It helps us form structure, add discipline to our lives and feel accomplishment.

I've had a great week.  Even though it was a holiday week with extra time off, I made it my priority to remain active and to not go into a food coma.  I made it to the YMCA more often than I normally do.  I made it  Zumba on Monday, went for a run on Tuesday, worked out with Tanya for weight lifting on Wednesday, Thursday went to a 5-6:30 a.m. water aerobics class with Tanya, Friday went to the YMCA as a family and played basketball and did exercise ball routine, Saturday went for a run and Sunday lifted weights at the YMCA with Ethan.  Everyday I squeezed in some kind of workout and I feel great!  I just wish I could keep that routine everyweek!

Evening run just before the sun sets for the day, rosy cheeks

So now basketball starts up for Dominik and we add getting to practices and games into the mix.  We will be working on that as we go, but should be able to keep a healthy routine as well.  Tanya and I have penciled in workouts together for Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I will try to add in some runs on the off days.  The weekend will depend on what time Dominik's games are at.

Snow tires are officially on!
 

I hope anyone reading this post has a great week.  Think about your overall goals in life and if you are living your life in a way that helps you achieve those goals.  If you be honest with yourself, you will probably think of ways taht you can improve upon yourself to reach the happiness you've been craving so bad, I know that's the case with me!

~Jessica

I am back!

I had a busy week in the McAllen and Laredo Texas areas during the week.  I visited with coworkers that I do not normally get to see and verified inventory at a couple of the warehouses for my work.  Going out of town for work causes mixed feelings for me.  The first feeling I have is sadness from missing my family.  My children are growing so fast, especially my youngest.  When I miss five days, I can miss something new that he has learned.  He did learn something while I was away and now he can sing the E-I-E-I-O part of Old McDonald had a farm.  It's so cute how he is just absorbing everything in right now.  My husband told me that Cody was always looking for me and often said "mom" sadly.  Those are the things that make me sad.  On the other hand it is somewhat of a break from domestic life for me.  For a few days, I have no laundry to do, I have no dishes to do, I have no homework with the kiddos to do, I get to sleep all night and eat out for dinner.  All those fun ideas are fun for the first couple of days, then enough is enough!  I decided to make the best of this last trip.  I watched what I ate, especially when eating out.  I chose to eat salads, black bean burgers instead of beef, checked calories before ordering.  I also made sure that I used the gym at my hotel after we were finished for the day.  The equipment at the hotel is so much nicer than I have at home or at the YMCA.  The treadmill, elliptical and bike all have their own TV screens, yeah! 

I returned home on Friday afternoon.  I picked up my kids from school and daycare and quickly took to my domestic ways.  On the way home from school with Dominik, I asked him if they did any laundry, he said "No, but wow, you should see the pile, it's taller than I am!"  Sadly, this was an accurate description!  Oh well, at least my services are needed and I am missed!  Today is Saturday and I finally got my mom to come with me and Tanya to Zumba!  She did great and said that she liked it.  Incorporating some different exercises into your routine is critical.  Our bodies can easily get comfortable with what we are doing, so we need to shake it up!  I signed up for a 5 a.m. aqua blast class at the YMCA on Thanksgiving morning and talked Tanya into going with me.  This will help with my calorie burn for the day and hopefully prevent me from eating too much at the Thanksgiving feast! 

I read an article today describing different exercise slang and thought it was pretty funny, so I copied part of it below for your reading entertainment.  Have a great week! 

~Jessica

Gym Rat: A guy who spends every spare moment in the gym. See also: Gym head, meat head, gymbot or my personal favorite, Gym Me Buff It
Gym Kryptonite: Easy-on-the-eyes female that distracts men from getting anything done in the gym. See also; gym rat, gym monkey,
Gym Widow: Someone who’s significant other has gone on a health kick and spends all of their time at the gym.
Yogatude: Holier-than-thou attitude seen in serious yoga students who are more flexible and vaguely spiritual than everyone else. Includes a disdain for meat, leather, and inexpensive sweat pants or yoga mats.
Cardio Bunny: Females who perform at least an hour on the treadmill, elliptical, bike, stairclimber or rower (or any combination thereof) and then call it a day.
Pies: 45lbs. plates. See also: “big wheels”or “papa bears”
Jacked: Well-defined or muscular. See also: Yoked, Swole, Ripped, Chiseled, shredded, cut, gunny.
Toned: A word that should never be used unless you are talking about blood vessels. Still, it is often used by lay public and misinformed trainers worldwide to denote muscular definition. (okay, there’s some personal opinion on that one!)
Vitamin S: Anabolic steroids. See also: Juice, gym candy.

Lazy blogger, but not lazy person:)

Wow, it's been awhile since I've done a post!  I've been busy, work has been busy, life has been busy, I have been busy!  After Cheyenne and I completed our race a couple of week's ago, I've backed off the running a bit.  Instead I've been focusing on Zumba classes, weight lifting and core work.  I am working on losing inches and pounds that go with those inches are just a bonus!  I reached what is considered "normal" weight, but I would like to see more muscle definition and go down at least two more pant sizes.

I just signed up for classes for school this fall with the University of Wisconsin.  I am excited to get more of the classes geared specifically towards wellness coaching now!  It gets me pumped to get this career going!

This week I am in Texas, specifically near the Mexico border.  Yesterday I spent all day in Mexico at the facility for my current employer.  The weather is much warmer than Minnesota and I LOVE seeing the palm trees.  They just naturally have a calming effect!  I was productive this morning and got up and used the athletic center.  I ran two miles and biked six miles, lifted weights and did ab work.  I felt refreshed, recharged and ready to go! 

Have a great day everyone!  Go out there, do something active and make the choice to work towards a healthier and happier you!

Jessica

New personal record! 

Time	2:06:47

It's official, I've ran my fastest half marathon ever, yeah!!!  My sister was a great motivator, she is so speedy!  The Monster Dash in St Paul was a blast.  We left my home at 5 a.m. on Saturday and made a quick stop at Wal-Mart on our way to pick up supplies to make handcuffs.  Our timing was going perfectly and according to our GPS we would be there at about 7:30 a.m. which would have been perfect.  We were within ten miles of our exit for the run when the traffic came to a screeching halt.  We literally crawled along in traffic for an hour!!!  As we approached the off ramp, people were getting out of their cars and running towards the St. Paul Cathedral.  Our GPS was telling us to turn right towards the ramps for parking, but we decided to take the unoccupied left lane to a Sears parking lot and run for it.  We were about 10 minutes late, made a quick stop at the portapotties and ran for the start.  Overall we were about 15-20 minutes late on the start, but thanks to the timing chip and the crowd of 10,000+ runners, we were not at the very end!  We saw so many great costumes, even Obama and Romney ran together!  My favorite were the two people that ran as aerobics instructors with the thong leotards, too funny!  Cheyenne and I were the two cutest prisoners and got lots of compliments on our sparkly tutu's!  We were both quite concerned about the weather, but the coolness actually worked out perfectly.  We were able to leave behind our hats and gloves in the car and didn't have to bring with our zip up sweatshirts at all.  However, as soon as we crossed the finish line the chills set in very quickly!  At the last mile Cheyenne ran ahead, but didn't see me cross the finish line about a minute behind her. so we got lost in the shuffle of people everywhere and it took us 40 minutes to find each other.  We must have been circling each other because when we finally found each other we talked about different people we had seen and we had watched the same person throw up when they crossed the finish line.  That's okay though, it gave us something to remember.  I am so thankful that my sister went on this endeavor with me and is looking forward to doing another one in the future!