Challenge - Bikini

  That's right.. you see it ...its a BIKINI  and it is my summer 2012 challenge. I have never in my life worn or owned a bikini!  Nor have I had the physical  physique, to be so bold as to, bare my naked midsection in public. LOL

 I am losing "inches" during my Zumba  workouts, but now its time to kick it up if I plan to wear this LITTLE ditty by  the end of June.  I have 3 months to trim, tone , and sculpt my midsection into some form of  physical amazing-ness that a woman  wearing this type bathing suit should have. 

Mind you, I am still a little skeptical  about this being do able by June, but the Hubs seems to have faith that I can do it, so I'm going to give it  my best shot! I'm giving up all the junk food, diet sodas (artificial sweeteners cause bloating), sweets, salt (also causes bloating). and anything else that  will make me look bad in my new suit.. I am also going to boost my work out regime with short runs before and after Zumba.

 The hubs is doing the Insanity work out and I don't know if I can do that quite yet.. But if I have to get a little Insane too, to look good.. I'm willing to try..LOL

Needless to say the next 3 months will be very interesting .. but at least the swim suit is cute right.. LOL

Zumba

 OK so I tottaly<3 ZUMBA!  I  have been at it for 2 months now and I haven't gotten bored with it yet. I used to do Zumba classes a year ago at my Alma Mater and they were good enough for me to buy the DVDs and I did them pretty consistently for awhile. But after the Hubs and I had our wedding in 2011 I just kinda stopped working out.... Fat and Happy I guess you can say. :)  

But a few months ago the hubs and I had a realization that we just needed to do better. There was no real reason for us to be over weight other than laziness, so we joined a gym and have been keeping it up pretty well.( 2 points for us!)

 What surprises me is that its not the thought of looking good this summer in a bathing suits .. or not having  hang time or booty do (LOL)  that keeps me going...Its ZUMBA!  I have so much fun and I SWEAT and sometimes HURT afterwards.. but its like going out dancing after work! My instructor is AWESOME! She's full of energy and spunk. The ladies (and on occasion gentlemen) in my class are funny and are all different ages and shapes and sizes. So you don't feel intimidated but inspired, and I just LOVE  IT!

 OK,  anybody that knows me well will tell you that I'm pretty excitable and once I'n stuck on something..I'm fully into it.. and this is no different., but it actually is a fun work out and I'm so glad that I'm enjoying it and my waistline is shrinking!( slowly.. but still shrinking LOL) .

 What do you Blurbers and Blurbettes do to stay in shape?

For Shame (Update)

Shame on me!!

 

I have left my loyal (one or two) readers for 2 weeks.. and I know you guys have been DYING to know what been going on with me..... Well the truth is... not much , but I'll give you guys a quick update.
Whistling While I Work:
 This area is usually pretty stagnant. But I did change offices again (for the 4th time) and  its not too bad. I've been in this office before, the bathrooms are clean, the office mates are OK,  its still in the middle of the shop floor, but that's to be excepted at this point in my career. My projects are still about the same.. but I do have quite a bit more of them.. which keeps me busy and keeps the day from dragging on into eternity. So I'm satisfied...... for now that is....

 And just for you viewing pleasure  here's a pic of me all geared up for work.. it gets a little cold on the floor sometimes ;)

 On the Home Front:

 We finally got the basement done*happy dance*. I love having a clutter free clean space! It is very calming for me to come home and not see yet another thing that needs to be done. So I'm pretty excited that the basics are done.. Ceiling, Walls, and Floor.  I plan to do a whole post with before and after pictures soon.

Over the next few weeks the hubs and I will be slowly migrating items to this new found space to make it more lounge friendly.  We already have a small love seat and I am looking for two recliners to sit on either side, with a nice rug, lamps and art work.   And I'm pretty sure the hubs is looking for a nice new sound system to add to our existing entertainment system that will now be relocated to our new den! Which means I also get to decorate the living room.. So expect alot of PICs!

Healthy Beanie:

 Well she hasn't been so healthy. Ok  well I'm healthy...LOL but I haven't been working out like I should. However, with my new office move, I feel like I walk ALOT more!  But still not as much as I should.

 I went to the doctor because I was having a hard time managing my blood sugar readings and the doc gave me a low dose of  insulin to take at bed time. I wasn't exactly thrilled about the insulin but I guess its better to have working organs and taking insulin.. than not taking insulin and be blind, an amputee. and/or on dialysis. Taking the insulin it really hasn't been that  bad I was already taking a daily injection of Victoza , so the night time insulin injection didn't really bother me since it was in a pen just like the Victoza  plus my readings seem to be much better.

Although.. I have noticed in efforts to cut back on carbs and still have tasty snacks I have increased my fat and sodium intake with nuts and meats.. So I have to watch that too because I'm trying to keep my low dose blood pressure medication actually at a low dose. So I think that I will try celery, cucumbers, and tomatoes as snacks.

 Hair is Happenin' :

 You wouldn't believe it... but not much. I been wearing some protective styles  like bun's and Two-Strand Twist. I had to take the twist down  because they were looking rough but I ended up with a super cute twist out....

Anyway.. that's about all that going on with me Whats going on with you blurbettes??!

Feeling the burn!

 I know most people make this huge New Years resolution to work out more and get healthier and I can't say I'm any different. But who doesn't want to be thinner, healthier, or just feel great about themselves over all. So I like millions of others, I joined a gym the first week of the new year. I haven't belonged to a gym or seriously worked out since college. I mean sure, I became a little more active last year to look good in my wedding dress (I lost 20 lbs too!), but I didn't stick with it and gained half of the weight back! So after pricing a couple different  fitness facilities the hubs chose a ghetto  local fitness center close to home. Actually it its a really nice facility just a little out dated and under maintained. (I plan to have a few conversations with management and write a few letters to our new "mayor".) Any how on to the work out...

  I started out with a few light leg and back stretches and began walking at a moderate pace. I got about 5 or 6 laps in and decided to jog a little bit. I got 2 full jogging laps in before my heart started to feel like it might burst in my chest so I cooled down with about 3 more moderately paced walking laps. By then the hubs had a decent sweat going on the basketball court so I decided to  join him in a few simple drills. We did this for about 30 mins before we did our end of workout stretching.  Total time about 1.5 hrs

All in all it was great!  My blood was flowing, my heart was pumping, my chest felt open, my lungs felt stretched, my legs and back felt limber... It was  high school / college all over again! Ok, well maybe not that drastic but I definitely got an endorphin rush and I'm pumped to go back Saturday.  Next time I think I'll do  45 mins on the elliptical machine and the balance of the time with the exercise ball.  Hopefully I can keep my 3-4 day a week schedule up because i know my body would appreciate it!

How do  you  Blurbers keep in shape?