Medium Loser

I wish NBC would come up with a sister show to the Biggest Loser for people like me who need to lose like ten to twenty pounds.

I would be the first contestant to sign up! No matter how much I exercise or how many different ways I exercise, and even though my diet isn't THAT bad... I feel like I can't lose those pesky 10 pounds.

Surely Jillian would kick my butt and tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Look... I already created a logo for them - so no excuse not to create the show NBC!

Anyone want to go for a run?

Hello, my name is Christy and I am a Foodaholic.

So....yes... like every bride-to-be, I am trying to lose weight. I exercise like crazy and I'm anything but inactive, but I always joke that I do this so I can eat. And I do.

My biggest issue lies in the fact that growing up I had a really high metabolism. So even all through my college years when I ate nothing but crap and drank beer every night of the week, I maybe only gained a few pounds, but maintained my weight. I never had to worry about what I was eating...so I never learned that self control.

And then I hit my mid-20's.... {insert tire screeching noise symbolizing my metabolism}...

I'm usually at a desk eight hours a day. But I'm still active with working out, dance classes, riding my bike, etc. But again... I do this to maintain because of my eating habits.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not eating McDonalds every day - I actually can't even remember the last time I ate McDonalds. I have a reasonable diet... but I have no portion control... instead of having one bowl of cereal, I might have three. I also love going out to eat with my fiance...again, not making crazy bad choices, but we all know what the portions are at restaurants.

I also have no eating schedule...with work and everything else going on, sometimes I don't eat dinner until 10pm. And lunch is never at the same time every day. Good news is, I do eat breakfast every day...so that's good.

But it probably doesn't do me any favors that my favorite food is Italian, I love my white wine, and I have a sweet tooth like no other.

Source: fuckyeahawesomefood.tumblr.com via Christine on Pinterest

I eat healthy MOST of the time...and I eat the bad stuff in moderation. So that with my active lifestyle helps me maintain my weight...

...but...I will be the first to admit that I need to lose 10 pounds and get back to my college weight if not lighter. I'm in great shape...I've got lots of muscle, but I've got that extra pounds I need to shed, and I want to get leaner. And what better motivation to do this than for my wedding, right?

Source: grandmashomeremedies.com via Cristie on Pinterest

And I know that in order to start shedding pounds, I HAVE to start lowering my daily calories and actually being conscious of what's going in my mouth. I actually tracked my calories for a month using MyFitnessPal and I think I lost like three pounds (they're already back), so I know that tracking my calories works. So I need to get my act together and just do it (sorry Nike)!

And yes Christy, this means no more glasses of Chardonnay at night before bedtime. And speaking of bedtime Christy... this means going to bed before midnight! Lack of sleep hinders weight loss.

And yes...I talk to myself.

I know all of the weight loss tricks....eat more fiber, drink more water, get more sleep, cut back on calories, eat lean proteins, dinner should be smallest meal, don't drink sodas...etc., etc., etc. I'm educated... I just don't follow through with these, and I need to.

Source: moneysavingmom.com via Becky on Pinterest

My mom said she's buy me a membership to Weight Watchers for my birthday... my fiance told me once it would be a waist of money because I should be able to count my calories and do it myself without a program...but can I? I know a lot of folks who have lost a lot of weight (and kept it off) using Weight Watchers. Thoughts?? Is it worth the try if it's a gift?

What I really need advice (therapy?) on is how to keep my stress from sabotaging my healthy eating. The biggest issues I have is that stress or bad days are my food trigger... just like an addict is triggered by certain things to want to use, I am triggered by stress and emotions to want to eat!

Source: flickr.com via Kelli on Pinterest

A lot of people have told me, "Don't worry! You'll lose a ton of weight right before the wedding because you'll be so busy and stressed, and you won't eat as much." This is true for some people - my sister looked fantastic on her wedding day..and she told me it was mainly due to a combination of more jogs and lots and lots of stress.

But this scares me...because for me, stress makes me EAT! Like..."I've had a bad day I'm ordering a pizza" type of eating. And if it's a really bad day, that pizza will include a bottle of wine and ranch to dip it in!

My triggers can even be minor...let me give you an example... the other day I was going to get lunch on my lunch break from work. Subway is a hop, skip, jump away and I was going to get my usual turkey sandwich on wheat, lettuce, tomato, light mayo with a water bottle (see? healthy!).

I pull into the parking lot, which is typically full at lunch time. I'm already not looking forward to waiting in line inside. I see a car start to pull out of a spot..so I put my blinker on and wait. The car pulls out. And then...out of no where... some girl in a beat up POS car comes out of nowhere and PULLS INTO THE SPOT. I'm just sitting there with my blinker on, mouth hanging open..."Oh no she didn't!".

I've already had kind of a rotten day, so this was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I put my car into reverse {screeching tire wheel noise again} and think "Forget Subway! Grr!". Don't worry, I 'waved' to the girl who stole my spot before I pulled off. My driving anger issues I will save for another confession post. :)

Anyways...so of course I go to the next convenient place to get lunch... Arby's. It's right next door to Subway. Crap. So much for healthy. I pull up to the drive through and make the healthiest Arby's choice I could...well...not really...but somehow ordering a turkey wrap (which I know in the back of my head ISN'T really that healthy..but ignore) makes me feel better about the fries and Diet Coke. (And I know what you're thinking, "Christy...all of this could have been avoided if you made your lunches and brought them to work!". I know, I know...but who has time to make lunches??)

Sigh.

As you can see...all it takes is a stolen parking spot to trigger me to evil food.

In my mind, this is the greatest challenge I will face as I start my battle to lose some pounds before my big day. I have four months and a little over a week. Is it possible to lose 10 pounds that fast??

I'm also throwing around the idea of once August starts, not drinking any more beer - just low calorie liquors, and only drinking the low cal liquors on special occasions like my birthday, football games, bachelorette, etc. This presents another issue for me: I am not fun when I'm liquor drunk and usually don't know my limits with liquor to keep me from getting liquor drunk... :)

I'm also thinking of rewarding myself for every 2 pounds lost - like...2 pounds=$50 to spend on a new dress or something.

So..................... long post. Guess I'm making up for not posting much last week.

So ladies...share your weight loss secrets, successes, failures.... and how do you keep the stresses of life from ruining your diet?

Source: homemakers.com via clutterbug on Pinterest

It's Monday, Let's Dance.

If the title of this blog post sounds familiar, it's probably because you're an avid reader like I am of Brown Eyed Belle's blog.

I love that she posted that today because Monday's are indeed a day of dance for me.

I have been a ballet dancer for almost 25 years - I'm classically trained and prefer pointe. I've taken jazz and lyrical in the past, but when it comes to a genre like hip hop, I'm the stiff white girl who looks anything but 'gangsta'.

But Monday's are my hip hop days - and has quickly become my favorite and most looked forward to workout in my slew of activities.


Last year when I moved to Charleston, my best girlfriend told me about a hip hop class on Daniel Island for adults. She had always wanted to go but wasn't brave enough to venture alone - so now that I was in town and both of us having dance backgrounds, we wanted to give it a try.

Meet Angel Roberts. She's the type of woman you meet and think "Wow, she's got it together!" Before moving to Daniel Island, she was out in L.A. and worked as the stylist for 'That 70's Show'. When her and her husband had two little girls, they decided they wanted them to grow up in an all American town - and they found Daniel Island.

Once here Angel decided that she would put together a class for women that was a cross between exercise (think Cross Fit) and Hip Hop. She holds four classes - Daniel Island Elementary school gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays...and two classes on Tuesday - one on James Island and the other in West Ashley.

The class is only $10 for your first class of the week - and if you attend two, the second is only $5... what's great is you get way more than what you pay for. For only $10 you get an almost 2 hour long class - the first 15 or so minutes involves warm up exercises, drills across the gym, and fun partner exercises (again, think Cross Fit). Next you move on to the dance portion...she teaches a fun hip hop dance and you do the dance over and over until you've mastered it. She'll split the gym into two groups and you do the dance back and forth until you can barely go any longer. Then the class wraps up with floor exercises - planks, ab work, stretching - followed by a cool down.

There are all levels of ability and all ages in this class... Angel is so fun and upbeat, you don't even realize you're working out (or that you're not a professional hip hop dancer). She keeps you challenged and each week you learn a new dance so you're never bored.

I just realized I sound like I'm a marketer...but I really genuinely love this class and look forward to it every week. You leave the class drenched in sweat and feeling like a million bucks - and even when you wake up incredibly sore the next morning (which you will), you know it was because you got a crazy work out.

One of the local TV stations did a story on Angel and the class last week and I wanted to embed it in this post... but my stupid work Web filter will not let me get to it. I was actually interviewed for the story... right after class...when my hair was a mess and my makeup had sweated down to my chin. Niiice. Lol. I'll try to update this later and embed it.

Update: Here's the news report with me being interviewed!


For now though, I'll embed my favorite dance we've done so far... 'Carry Out' which is also one of my fave songs. I'm in this video for only a few seconds - you'll maybe see me in the second group of dancers when the camera pans to the left.. about the 1:37 mark I appear on the left. I'm in black pants with white stripes on the sides, grey shirt, hair in ponytail, about the second person from the left, in between the two in the front. Don't laugh. :)


Another dance we did I really liked... "I Need Somebody to Love".


So I'm ready for class tonight - even though it's going to be sweltering with the incredibly high temperatures here in Charleston today (heat index of 117..no joke). But with so much going on with work and unpacking my condo, etc., I'm looking forward to some dancing and working off the stress (and the pizza I ate Saturday night).

If you're in Charleston...you should definitely try out one of the classes! It's so fun! My best friend and I have inspired several of our other friends to start taking the class because they hear us talk about it so much.

You can see more on their Facebook page. She videos the dances each week so you can watch them after class.

I showed my boyfriend some of the videos and besides telling me I shouldn't be so stiff (gee thanks), he said that he thought the dances were 'hot', lol. And then said that my friend and I should start doing those dances in the bars and clubs... he was serious. Um... no.

But.. how cool would it be if we organized a flash mob of one of these dances somewhere in Charleston where it was crowded?? I just posted the idea on the Facebook page! :)

So...what's your favorite work out? What work out do you do that you love or that you always look forward to??

Happy Monday!

I got over it...

...the Cooper River Bridge that is. I ran the annual Cooper River Bridge Run on Saturday in Charleston - it's a very popular 6.2 mile race from Mt. Pleasant, over the bridge and into downtown Charleston. There's 40,000 runners...it's crazy!

My best friend and I decided last Fall that we were going to actually run the whole thing this year. We have walked it in the past, but we wanted to finally be runners. After running the bridge about once or twice a week since we set this lofty goal, we were ready Saturday and we did it! We only walked for half of the incline up the bridge {which is about the same speed we could run it} and about a block downtown.

Our time was about 1 hour and 16 minutes -- which to any serious runner probably doesn't sound that great, but we were so proud of ourselves because we aren't runners and we ran the race! :) The winner {always a Kenyan} ran it in 28 minutes...can you even imagine?!?!

So some people dress in costumes for the run, and my best friend and I always dress up for theme parties and races...so of course we dressed up for this one. We decided to be the white swan and the black swan in honor of the movie Black Swan. I was the Black Swan -- I even superglued black feathers and rhinestones on the sides of my sunglasses. :) We got lots of compliments on our costumes while we ran and that was encouraging to keep us motivated to run.

We had on feather boas around our waist during the race,
and you can barely see my feathered cuffs on my wrists.

So..I'm a ballet dancer...trying to be a runner...and because of that, I run on my toes. And yes, it looks silly. But a few of my runner friends have said that it's actually better to run on your toes because it's less stress on your knees and joints. I even got fitted for running shoes that are made for 'toe runners'.

Well, I have high arches from ballet and I run pretty high on my toes, so I guess it's really noticeable... I didn't realize how much until Saturday...during the race like six different people pointed out while running next to me: "Look! That girl runs on her toes!"

Granted I guess that the fact I was dressed as a ballet dancer, tutu and all, probably made it more of a "Wow that girl is dressed like a ballet dancer AND she runs on her toes" for most people...lol...so I'll give them that.

However, there was this one group of girls, probably in their mid-20's, high ponytails, short shorts, etc....running behind us at one point and one of the girls really loudly said {in high pitched valley girl voice}, "Oh my god! Look at that girl's feet...that is so weird..she's running on her toes! Look at that! That is so weird!!" I turned around, running backwards mind you, and pointed to my ears and said right to this girl, "Um...honey, I don't have earphones on, I can hear everything you're saying." She just kind of looked at me stunned, then her and her posse picked up their pace and passed us and kept going. Lol...some people never cease to amaze me.

After the race we headed to Red's Ice House to reward ourselves for being healthy by drinking beer and eating delicious, greasy seafood! Yum!

So how was your weekend?? Do you look 'special' when you run? :)