From the Mind of AlphaBetsy

March is always slightly chaotic in my world and this year is no exception. Birthdays, walks, parties, craft projects and belly dance are ruling my life. The first weekend of March we went to the Arnold Fitness Expo here in Columbus. It is a weekend of pure chaos, the fittest people in the world, and enough protein samples to fuel a power lifter. We spotted the guys from Hard Core Pawn, Hulk Hogan and I had an embarassing encounter with MMA fighter Forrest Griffin (I came face to face with him, froze entirely unable to breathe and then started to cry, because apparently I cannot handle celebrity encounters). We got to watch a Strongest Man event, a little gymnastics and some amazing jump rope.                         The 14th was my birthday. Hooray 34! I decided that we should do a 5k for my birthday, so on an incredibly soggy March morning we slogged our way to the Pi D...

I have been fighting a massive battle inside my mind, and I feel the need to get some of this out. This is for me to purge, and is for anyone who may be having the same issues I am. If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time then you would know that I have been working really hard to get into better shape, and to take off weight. I have lost and kept off fifty pounds. I am certainly proud of that. I have also gotten to the point where I can walk a 5k like it is nothing. I can do a full zumba class and come out the other side just a little winded. I have come a really long way. But then I started to read the body positive movement posts and the healthy at every size movement. And I started to feel unnecessarily ashamed of my efforts and my desire to change my body. I started to feel guilty that I can't just love my body, and I have such a drive to lose weight. The guilt made me shame eat which led to me gaining weight, which made me feel worse, and cu...

To keep myself motivated and to share my own progress I am going to start doing Fitness Fridays. I am really trying to make myself get more active and eat better because my health is flagging. I am feeling tired all the time, getting sick at the drop of a hat, and just generally feeling gross, so it is time to make a change. I was doing so well for a while, and I have fallen off the wagon so hard it's ridiculous. I am working on finding a balance between body love and being complacent. I want to love my body as it is, and how it is, but I also know that my weight does cause me issues and health problems. In some ways I have begun to feel guilty for wanting to make these changes. I know, though, that my reason for wanting the change comes completely from within and not from without. I'm sure that society has had some effect on my psyche, but I don't feel that giving up on body image completely will help my self esteem in the long run. I will not push my fitness agenda on a...

I am finally starting to feel like myself again. I had a ridiculous sinus infection for almost two solid weeks, which is just ridiculous. I ended up in urgent care to get antibiotics on January 2. Then it was another day and a half before I felt like it was getting better, but luckily it was in time for the going away party for my little sister on Saturday the 5th. Then we saw her off to basic training and watched her final swear in on Tuesday. I will admit that while all this was going on I was not even pretending to be careful. I was just enjoying the time before my sister left and trying to get healthy again. Late this week though I really buckled down and got on the ball with diet and exercise, making sure to exercise daily and keeping well under my calorie goal. :) So I got off to a rocky start, but I am making up for it now. Altogether I earned 12 broom points For the challenge, my mom and I were walking in a local park together for exercise this week. We had fun walking and ta...

To jump start me back into good behavior, and get myself back on the right track, I decided to sign up again for the pagan fitness challenge. I have done it before fairly successfully, but this time I am going to pull out the stops and make myself push harder. This challenge goes to just after my birthday, which is March 14, so I am considering this a til my b-day goal list. I already had on my list of yearly goals a couple of health/fitness goals . Those are: I will register and run warrior dash again (and do it in under 1 hour) I will start taking belly dance again. I will keep up my healthy diet and exercise program, and get down to a size 10.  I will get to where I can do 25 regular push-ups.  I will start skating and training for Roller Derby again.  I will find a new family Dr. and go get a full physical, and get all my blood levels, etc. checked.  These are great long term goals, but for this challenge I am going to set several smaller and more realis...

The Color Run was on July 21 and it was a total blast. Other than getting a big poof of died corn starch to the right ear. Otherwise it was a messy, colorful joyfest. Here is what it looked like. It was seriously so much fun. :) We got messy and colorful and sweaty and loved every minute.  Beyond that I have joined a gym in the last couple of weeks to get my butt back in gear and lose the last of the weight I want to lose. I have about an inch to go before my dress will fit, and it has to happen. So I am working hard now to get there. I am taking a boot camp class and a weight loss class through the gym. I am sore and I feel amazing.  School is almost done for the quarter, thankfully, and then life will become all wedding all the time, lol. 2 months to go as of Monday!! Ack. 

2012 is starting out not so good for me. It could be worse, and I know that, but still. On Tuesday I got up, worked out, got ready for work, walked out to my car and found that someone had smashed out my driver's side window, pulled out my center console and stolen the heating panel out of my car. WTH!! The heating panel?! I don't get it, but it happened, so I am currently driving a red Dodge Grand Caravan while my Beastie (my cars name is Beastie) is being repaired. I had this horrible fear that they might have to/ want to total my car, which with Seth not having a job would have been really bad, but luckily this is not the case. Yay!! In a good note I bought an awesome offer through Groupon today. It is for a month long bootcamp work out program, where you do a boot camp class 3 days a week for 4 weeks. Plus with the package I bought you can also take 10 fitness classes like kettlebell and yoga. Why I like this one is that they offer classes at 5:15 am, which will actuall...

I know this is late in coming, but it has been one of those wild weeks. Obviously Halloween made things hard, plus there were more parties, going to see a movie, homework, mid terms and more...Whoo. I am exhausted. Last week went pretty well for me. I kept up my exercise every weekday morning. My diet was suffering a bit thanks to Halloween,  but all in all it was a pretty good week. I also stepped up my use of weights this week. I really felt like that helped a lot. Just need to keep it up. My Week 4 Stats Weight 207      an increase, but Chest 44 Waist 38.5       down half an inch Hips 42.25       down 3/4 inch Right Thigh 22.75    down 1/4 inch Right Arm 14           The Week 5 Mini-Challenges There will be three mini-challenges this week, which will appear simple. The reality is that they may be simple but they are not easy. They will take a lot of willpower and some planning ah...

My check in: This week I worked really hard to try to make up for last weekend and all the craziness that involved, so when I weighed myself on Friday morning I had taken off almost all the weight that I put on.  But then I went to another big Halloween party on Saturday and it all went to hell again. The adult trick or treating was a blast though. And I did dance for 2 hours straight, so I feel like I made up for some of the naughty.  I guess we will see on Saturday, which is my weekly weigh in day, how bad I really was.  Me stomping some Barbies at Monsterbash on Satuday... take that ridiculous standards.  This morning I tried a new workout video I bought ( Biggest Loser - Cardio Max) and it kicked my butt. Wow. I am stiff tonight. Bob sucks. Lol.  My Week 3 Stats Weight 204.7 (at official weekly weigh in) Chest 44 Waist 39 Hips 43 And I am adding in... Right Thigh 23 Right Arm 14.5 Part 1: How balanced is your diet? Are you eating heal...