Work it Wednesday

I’d be lying if I said that I love working out.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind exercising from time to time but there are so many other things that I’d rather be doing like eating and not gaining weight 🙂 . I’m not one of the lucky few who don’t have to worry about what they eat or if they exercise so in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle and not look like a marshmallow in my wedding dress next year, I have no choice to get my fitness on. Like.every.single.day!!

Two years ago I decided that I didn’t want be fat anymore. There were so many things in my life at the time that i had no control over but realized weight loss was the one thing were it wouldn’t ever happen if I didn’t make it happen. And so I did. I lost about 35-40lbs in about a 8 month time period and I was pretty proud of myself. I was down to one of the lowest weights that I had been since I was a teenager and I felt good about myself.

And then life changed.

I started dating the boyfriend (now fiance) and we would dine-out a lot. Then I also got on birth control, the same kind that I had been using for years and started gaining weight. I never suffered weight gain as a side effect but once I realized that was the reason I was gaining weight even though I was still working out I was stuck. The Depo shoot last for 3 months, plus it takes about 3 months from the hormones to completely leave your body so no matter what kind of exercising I would do, my weight continued to rise.

So I decided to just be fat & happy. Which was fine during the winter and then spring time came around and I hated the way that I looked. I hadn’t already cancelled my gym membership since I hadn’t been in months so I had limited options for working out. Including no motivation.

In March of this year, Mister & I decided to buy P90X and do it together. we did great for the first few weeks then when rest week came around we never quite got back on track. Being that I started working from home around that time I would go for walks in the afternoon around the neighborhood, but that wasn’t doing much. In May I signed up for a 4 week boot-camp with my cousin and that went well, until it was over. I fell off the wagon yet again.

Then the boyfriend proposes on July 3rd and now I have more motivation than I can handle. I’m super pumped to workout everyday and have even done some two-a-days. I prefer cardio workouts and enjoyed taking spin, kick boxing and aerobic step classes at the gym but I need to stay on budget with wedding cost, so a gym membership is out.

For the past week, I’ve been getting up early and walking/jogging/running. despite my dislike for running, I don’t mind walking but it just gets so boring sometimes. I walk around my neighborhood listening to music on my iPhone and see the same old thing everyday. But it’s working though, so I can’t complain. To add to my walking I’ve started working out in the pool here in my housing community and I LOVE IT!! I’m so mad at myself for not starting sooner, and just like my morning jogs, it’s working!!

To hear myself say that 2 years ago I was 50lbs lighter than I am today and that I weigh more now that I EVER have, just blows my mind. But still, that wasn’t much of a motivator to keep me off my lazy butt off the couch. But things have changed; now that I have a wedding dress to fit it, I’m so determined it’s not even funny. I say that I want to lose at least 30lbs, but I honestly don’t even know how much I weigh today. I have a love/hate relationship with the scale and haven’t been on one in at least 6 months.

**Note to Self** – Weight myself before the end of the week.

Here’s a summary of my morning walkouts as well as some tunes that I jam to when I’m workin’ it.

Rihanna – You Da One

Justin Timberlake – Senorita

Carrie Underwood – Cowboy Casanova

Gloria Estefan – Wepa

Frank Ocean – Thinkin’ Bout You

Matisyahu – King Without a Crown

Justin Bieber – Boyfriend

Anuhea – Here I go Again

Ellie Goulding – Lights

Pink – Raise Your Glass

Fort Minor – Remember The Name

T.I. – Bring Em Out

If there’s a certain song that gets you pumped when your working out, let a sista know. Sharing is caring!!

I want to give a shout out to my personal trainer (Shayla, moi) and my future husband for the motivation to finally get my butt off the couch & and the ring. Oh, and the proposal too!! (haha, j/k)