see Sam run IS BACK! The Scale of Achievement.

Hey ya'll, me again! - remember see Sam run? Well she's back. And, to be quite honest, she's gone a little insane lately. That crazy biatch ordered Insanity. And if that weren't CRAZY enough, she's ACTUALLY DOING THE WORKOUTS! It makes me wanna barf just thinking about that crazy mess. (How many times can I say crazy in one paragraph... crazy!) But I am impressed. This is more proof of what a badass Sam really is. And I'm excited to keep up with her progress throughout the whole 60 day program.

I asked her to do another guest post, this time on Insanity. And, of course, she said yes! Now I know that I already posted this morning and I'm probably overwhelming you... But this post couldn't wait until tomorrow! And you'll be glad I unleashed it on you now.

_________________________________________________

I’ve come to a stark realization this week. 

I’m not “thin” nor am I “fat.” 

I am fit. 

And while I’ve weighed considerably less, I’ve never been in this good of shape before. I’ve recently started the fitness program Insanity (you know the one with the sweaty, ripped people gasping for breath in the infomercial? Yeah, that one). I’ll start off by saying yes, it is quite insane. I considered myself in mediocre/decent shape before beginning (I mean I run and go to the gym that counts, right?) but it was and is HARD. I’m at the end of the second week as I write this and I feel so much stronger than the previous week. It took me one full week to be able to complete the warm-up without a water break. I know that sounds pathetic, but let me paraphrase a fitness blogger’s review:

“The Insanity workout warm-up is so comprehensive it merits its own review; it consists of THREE continuous rounds of cardio exercises at increasing levels of speed and intensity: a jog in place, jumping jacks, Heisman’s (side-to-side jumps with a high knee), the 1-2-3 (Heisman’s with three quick steps), butt kicks, high knees and mummy kicks. The first round is at a relatively easy pace; here, you shoot for proper form. The second round takes things a little faster, while the third round requires maximum effort. By the end, you’ll be dripping with sweat, your heart rate will be in the cardio range, and all soreness from the previous day will be worked out enough so that you can put forth a solid effort during the workout.”

It’s not your ordinary warm-up, it’s a workout all its own. I was so proud of my achievement, it didn’t matter that the scale had barely moved. 

I feel fit. And I am getting stronger! 

At the beginning of every other week Insanity checks your progress by implementing a “Fit Test.” This is by design and it acts to motivate you with YOUR own progress. Brilliant! I measure my progress, not by the pounds lost, but by how my body is reacting to the program. Each day my endurance progresses and I’m able to achieve more and more. 

What fitness feats have you accomplished that acts as motivation to you?

I hope this brief guest post will help take your eyes off the scale for a bit and focus more on what your body can do! Get moving and conquer the day!

___________________________________________________

Thanks, Sam! 

I LOVE her guest posts. Would you like to guest post on Healthy Little Me? Shoot me an e-mail and let's talk about it. 

healthylittleme@gmail.com

Tomorrow I plan to do a final count of February's goals, a little weigh-in action, and then talk about my soon-to-be 25 year old face. Trust me, you don't want to miss this shit.

NSVs, The Baby Gap, and My Blog List

Ohhhh Thursday.

Just another day in cold Wyoming paradise! I ate my DELICIOUS rolled oats and strawberries and bananas this morning. And I added some Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips. They are 5 calories per chip, and they are pretty BIG chips, so I added a nice healthy 10 (50 cals total) and BOY was it yum! I would put a picture here of what it looked like, but I got too excited and ate it before I couldn't even break out the camera. 

The scale hasn't really been moving much at all lately. And I'm weirdly cool with that (even though I really want to kick some ass in this DietBet thing). I've had some NSV's (Non-Scale Victories) this past week that remind me that my body is changing for the GOOD and its really motivating me to keep working hard.

NSV #1:

I know this sounds so silly, but my first NSV came when I went to see my best friend last week in North Carolina. I walked into her house and she said, "Wow! You're shrinking!" I was smooth about receiving the compliment... "Oh yeah.. thanks.." But what I really wanted to do was jump on her couch and scream You notice this shit?! Hell yeah! Look how great my ass looks! But I didn't. She condones couch jumping. And I didn't want to be all full of myself. 

NSV #2:

This sounds even sillier. I am finally starting to develop a baby thigh gap. 

What's a thigh gap? It's a phenomenon that occurs when you're inner thighs are so toned and/or skinny that they don't smush together when your standing up straight. Now, let me clarify this for a hot minute: I am not trying to get the "anorexic-stick skinny" thigh gap. I want that "sexy runner legs" thigh gap. To be honest, my thighs are probably my biggest motivation for running. It's why I started running. I started looking around and all these hot runner chicks and noticing that none of them had tree trunk thighs like I did. Coincidence? Nope. Every time I check myself out in the mirror, I notice that my legs are getting more and more toned. And a tiny little baby gap is being born between my thighs. 

Me, at my heaviest weigh.
I was on vacation here with the boyfriend and his family. We were in Central America for almost 3 weeks and I literally gained around 5-8 lbs during the trip. I ate everything I could, drank often, and thought that walking from the pool to the bar was all the cardio I needed.

Me, yesterday.
Am I perhaps standing with my legs wide apart to try to make my thigh gap more pronounced?
Maybe.
I'll never tell.

So, uhh, high five to Healthy Little Me. Even though those numbers are at a stand still, some great change is happening in this body and I'm pretty excited about it.

I wanted to put together a list of the blogs that I follow. Because, hell, some of you might want in on the action too. Most, if not all, of these blogs are fitness/weight loss/running associated. And there's nothing I love more than sitting down with a black cup of coffee in the morning and reading through the Blog Roll each morning.

• Runs for Cookies
• Mama Laughlin
• Carly Shrinks!
• Southern Girl Gets Fit
• Skinny Meg
• Operation Skinny Jeans
• Ali on the Run
• Elisha Run Run Run
• It Sux to be Fat
• Honey, I Shrunk the Mom
• DIE(t)ING to be a Skinny Bitch

Enjoy!

And now, let's finish up with a little motivation, shall we?

Now go out into the world and kick some ass today!

What's Happening?

Oh, hey ya'll. I've missed you. But I'm back. And if you're reading this, so are you. 

Reunited and it feels so gooooood!

A lot of things have happened since we last talked. I'll try to cover them all this morning.

My anniversary happened. I got in a good run that afternoon in the chilly sunshine. I went out to Wrightsville Beach and and ran by the water. It was nice. It was chilly. And it was almost bad. 

Have you ever drank coffee before? Like a lot of it? So you know what it does to your stomach? Yeah. That happened to me that morning. But instead of giving myself a little time to "let things take care of themselves"... I decided to go for a quick run... with compression pants on... 

Okay, enough bullshitting. I'll just cut to the chase. 

I got about 2 miles in and had to stop and BRISKLY walk/run/try not to cry to the nearest public bathroom (which was, by the way, about 1 mile away). Ya'll I never thought I would say this as an adult and hope I never do again but hear me loud when I say I almost pooped my compression pants. 

Yeah, that happened. And this is a moment when not having my name on my blog really comes in handy.

For the record, I survived a near-miss. But I will never drink coffee before running again. Especially if I don't have time to, ya know, take care of things.

That evening the boyfriend and I got all dolled up and went to our favorite Thai Vietnamese restaurant. We had some beef summer rolls, a little pad thai, and a lovely glass of red wine. And then we came home and fell asleep on the couch. Soooo romantic. But I loved every minute of it.

Then this happened:

Total, I ran about 18 miles during the 8 days I was home. There were only a couple of days that I didn't run, and I hated them. 

I craved running. It was so weird. Seriously, one night I had to drop the boyfriend off at work right as the sun was going down and I thought I was going to miss my late afternoon run and got pissed about it. But then I ran 3.3 miles and was totally fine. I normally just run because I need the calorie burn and want to be healthy and yadda yadda yadda. But this time, it was like my legs WANTED it. 

I think I'm starting to turn into a semi-legit runner.

And I've been stepping up the distance. I've become super comfortable with the 5K (3.1 mile) distance. But I've decided that if I'm really going to do this whole 10K/possible half marathon thing, I need to start going further. So I decided to rock out 4 miles. And I did it twice. The first day I went 4.39 miles and I felt UNSTOPPABLE. That is, until the next day when I literally almost couldn't walk. But it was a very normal, healthy pain in my legs. I wasn't dealing with a crummy knee or a weird hip (KNOCK ON WOOD!), I just had really sore hamstrings. So I did some major stretching and a little YouTube yoga and bounced back pretty quickly.

This reminds me of something I overheard a lady say in the YMCA locker room last year that I don't think I'll ever forget. She was talking about how she beat cancer and went on to run a marathon and a few triathlons. She said something along the lines of, "The human body is one of the only machines that you can work and work and work and it just gets stronger instead of weaker." My body, even though I'm pushing it harder in my runs is getting STRONGER. 

I am running at 10:30 minute mile. 

And I'm running 4+ miles without stopping. 

Now, just to give you a frame of reference...

__________________________________________________________

My first 5K - I somehow conned my best friend, E, to run a midnight 5K with me. I signed up for the race about two months in advance, but my motivation for the race slowly fell as the event neared. I remember eating lunch with my friend the day of the event trying to find a way to somehow back out and not run. I mean, I had already gotten my t-shirt. But I couldn't back down now. Even if I walked the whole thing, I was going to do it. We had already spent the money to register. I ran the whole first mile, walked the second, and ran most of the last mile. My time was 44ish minutes. And I was STOKED about that number. It was so cold that night and the beer after the race was probably the most DELICIOUS beer I have ever consumed. But we trooped through it and finished what we started. I wish I had pictures of this one, but regrettably, I don't.

My second 5K - I ran with one of my earlier running partners, T, who really gets credit for lighting the fire under my running feet. She was training for a half marathon and her hard work really inspired me. She did her runs with a 3:1 ratio. She would run for 3 minutes, and then walk for 1 minute. That was an awesome way to develop my running legs, by the way. And if you're just now jumping into the running world, I would suggest some sort of interval like that. I can't find the results for this race online, so I don't know what my actual time was. But I can assume I was probably in the low 40 minute range.

My third 5K - I ran with See Sam Run and our goal was to run the entire race. And we did, slowly but surely. Hell, we even were getting passed by people who were stopping to walk. And when we crossed that finish line, I couldn't feel my hands. But we did it. And it took me 40:17. (That bitch Sam beat me by ONE SECOND!)

A little embarrassingly sweaty finish photo for you!

My fourth 5K - I ran this one with Sam, too. It was a hot, humid June morning and I remember there were some parts of the race route that had NO shade whatsoever. If it weren't for Sam that race, I would have walked the majority of it. But she wouldn't let me stop. We did this one in 39:12 and I remember I missed placing third in my age group by ONE PERSON! And this particular person passed me right before the finish line. Obviously, my age group was way underrepresented that day. But it would have been awesome to place.

One thing you should know about races, they always take your picture at the end.
And you usually look like sweaty crap. Oh well!

My fifth 5K - I can't even lie about this one. It was hot. It was sunny. And I was SUPER hungover. But hey! At least I showed up. I ran as much as I could, walked when I had to, finished the race, and went home and crawled in bed. It was so anti-climatic. It took me 41 minutes. And I was damn proud of that time, given my current condition.

__________________________________________________

Anyways.. Why did I start talking about all of the 5K's I've ever run? Oh, I can't remember..

Yesterday and this morning, this also happened:

These are Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (say THAT five times fast). They are DELICIOUS. And they, in my opinion, are way better than that instant oatmeal shit. I make them on the stove top and then add in some sliced strawberries and a sliced banana with some sliced almonds and Pumpkin Pie spice. Yum!

I wanted to go to the gym yesterday but it was COLD outside and snowing. And I didn't want to crash my car into a snow bank. So I played it safe and did some workout DVDs instead. This definitely happened:

Oh yeah, that's right. I did BOTH of these. And I did ALL THREE levels on each one. 

And now, black coffee and the morning news is happening. Bam! 

What's happening with you?

The Great Playlist Swap

I've been really obsessed with running and cardio music lately. I've found myself googling "Running Playlist" and seeing what pops up. I really need some new tunes, some different stuff, to get me going. So I thought I would ask you to share what you're jamming to right now.

But of course, I'll share my jams with you, too. Here is my current running playlist in its entirety.

Run!

• Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny) - A.R. Rahman & The Pussycat Dolls
• Back in Time - Pitbull
• Scream & Shout - will.i.am and Britney Spears
• Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnificent Zeros
• Give Me Everything - Pitbull
• Midnight City - M83
• Club Can't Handle Me - Flo Rida
• Some Nights - Fun.
• Locked Out of Heaven - Bruno Mars
• Ass Back Home - Gym Class Heroes
• Make Me Proud - Drake
• All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
• Feel So Close (Extended Mix) - Calvin Harris
• Rock That Body - Black Eyed Peas
• Fly - Nicki Minaj & Rihanna
• Don't Stop the Party - Pitbull
• Anything Could Happen - Ellie Goulding
• Suit & Tie - Justin Timberlake feat. Jay Z
• Work Hard, Play Hard - Wiz Khalifa
• Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
• Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Good Feeling - Flo Rida
• The Fighter - Gym Class Heroes
• Let's Go - Calvin Harris feat. Ne-Yo
• Hall of Fame - The Script feat. will.i.am
• Love on The Rocks - Sara Bareilles

Now, what you got?

Babies on a plane and Monday Morning

So, uhh, since when is it literally FREEZING in North Carolina? 

I just got here yesterday and I've been shivering ever since. I really want to go running - but damn it is cold. And to be honest, I'm waiting for later this afternoon with hopes that the temperature will rise above 30 degrees F. 

I know it sounds weird but 30 F in North Carolina is actually colder than 10 F in Wyoming. It's the moisture in the air. So anyways, I'm done bitching about the weather.

I think my flight from Denver yesterday was, hands down, the most annoying flight I have ever been on in my life. Let me set this up for you.

I get seated, I am in the LAST row of the plane. In the aisle. And when I get to my seat, there is no one else in my row. I watch the plane board. Everyone's going to seats in front of me. I'm thinking that I might get lucky. I'm thinking that I might get this row ALL to myself. There is a woman with two small babies in front of me and a young guy in the window beside them. I'm planning to ask him if he wants to sit in my row once the plane doors are closed. I know he'd rather not sit beside babies the whole way. Nothing against babies - but they are usually always are miserable on planes. Especially the ones that leave at 6 o'clock in the morning.

Right, and I mean RIGHT, before the plane doors close, in walks this tired and annoyed woman with her 15 month old and 9 year old. And yep you guessed it, she's heading for me. The 15 month old, I'm pretty sure, had an ear infection. And she screamed the entire 3 hours. I mean SCREAMED. And this made the other babies around me (there were about 6 in my two row radius) scream, too. Hell, I even wanted to scream. And let's go ahead and put the cherry on top, shall we? The 9 year old and her mother fought the entire time.

So needless to say, I finally had my first drink of the month. And if the mother would have let me, the 9 year old would have had a drink with me. Because I think that might have been the only way that kid would have shut up and stopped singing Wiggles songs over and over.

Ya'll it was horrible. And my $6 Heineken was warm, which normally would have pissed me off. But warm or not, it tasted like liquid gold.

Anyway - I'm enjoying some black coffee and the Today Show right now and waiting for the boyfriend to get out of class. Today is our 4 year anniversary so we've got a date planned tonight. I wanted to run this morning, but I think I'll have to settle for some BL Cardio Max in the dining room. 

And now, a little motivation for your Monday morning:

Friday and the 30 Day Shred

It's FRIDAY! And everyone's excited about it. But I'm more excited than the average person - because today is my last day of work before I go on days off and I'm going HOME on Sunday to celebrate four wonderful years with Mr. Boyfriend.. You couldn't wipe the smile off of my face today!

While I've been doing an awesome job of clean eating this week - my enthusiasm for the gym is not 100% there. Yesterday there was a lot of snow on the ground and I didn't want to drive into town so I did some at home workouts. I did level 1, 2, and 3 of Cardio Max DVD (I've never done Level 3 before, and it was surprisingly the easiest level!) And then did Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. 

I've tried the 30 Day Shred before. A friend told me about it when I was in college and battling between the healthy-me and the lazy-me. I looked up Level 1 on YouTube and tried it out in the living room of my old apartment. It was tough. I remember I couldn't even make it through the whole 20 minutes. I was out of breath, I was frustrated, and I was pissed that I couldn't keep up. 

Until now, that is. I did the same level yesterday after the Cardio Max workout and was it challenging? Yes. Did I kick Level 1's ass? You know I did. And I felt great afterwards. I even did all the push ups with the girls in the video. Last time I tried this, I could NOT do a push up. At all. It's amazing what a half of a year of exercising can do...

30 Day Shred is awesome, by the way. Jillian Michael's has this little formula that she talks about (non-stop) in the video. Each circuit is 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs. The whole level is 20 minutes long which includes a 2 minute warm up, 3 different 6 minute circuits, and then a 2 minute cool down. It's very manageable and time efficient. 

The only thing I didn't like about 30 Day Shred was the long introduction that you CAN'T skip. After the first time you've seen the video, you know the introduction by heart. And when you're ready to sweat and get some work done, it's annoying to have to listen to her whole schpeal (?) first.

I added some new tunes to my running playlist. I cannot wait to be back in North Carolina and get some runs in! Here's my new stuff:

• Club Can't Handle Me - Flo Rida
• Anything Could Happen - Ellie Goulding
• Let's Go - Calvin Harris feat. Ne-Yo

Happy Friday everyone! 

Make sure to give yourself a high five today, because you are awesome.

A Pre-Valentine's Day Weigh-In

So I didn't go to the gym yesterday. I ran into a friend in town and decided to go eat lunch instead. I felt guilty about it - but sometimes a girl needs to take the day off, ya know?

I was proud of myself at lunch. I ordered a water and a turkey and swiss sandwich on whole wheat bread with sweet potato fries. And I literally was uncomfortably full after eating only half of my meal. I took the rest in a to go box and finished it last night for dinner. Talk about getting more bang for your buck!

(On a side note, my sandwich came with mayonnaise on it which I specifically did NOT want. Mayonnaise by itself grosses me out. I had a boyfriend in high school that would put mayonnaise on his pizza and fries at lunch. Gross. The thought of that makes me want to throw up. Anyway, I'm getting away from myself. I spent about 10 minutes casually carrying on a conversation while scraping every bit of mayo I could off of my bread. It was horrible, ya'll.)

Because work was super busy last night, I decided to wear my Polar to see how many calories I burned in 12 hours. 2700+ was my final count. Holy canoli! But, of course, I'm not going to add that to my February goal - it was just a little experiment...

Today I went to the gym and ran for 2 miles, and it killed me! I was kind of caught of guard. I know running on a treadmill isn't as easy for me as running outside, but I was literally panting. My heart rate got up to 190 bpm at one point! I was going to do 2.5 originally but decided to listen to my ticker and quit while I was ahead of myself. Then, I jumped on the stair mill (my best friend/enemy) and did 12 minutes on that while watching the news.

Today's gym visit was super low key. And I was cool with it. I still ended up burning 461 calories so the little bit of time I did spend paid off.

But today is Wednesday. And I know ya'll have been on the edge of your seats all week waiting for my weekly weigh in. I can't torture you anymore.

(Allison Sweeney voice) My current weight is:

123.6 lbs

I'm definitely digging that number. It looks like I've definitely broke through that 128-130 lb plateau and it's super motivating to me!

I'm so close to being in the 120 lb range. I haven't been in that range since before I met the boyfriend almost four years ago. 

What have I done different? I've started being religious about tracking calories... even my naughty Luna Bar binges.

My rule this week has been simple: if you are going to put it in your mouth - you have to log it on your MyFitnessPal app. Even if I go over calories, I still have to log everything. It definitely makes me think twice about being impulsive.

_______________________________________

And here's a update on my February goals:

10,000+ Calories Burned:
216 - 02/01
459 - 02/04
1086 - 02/05
303 - 02/06
627 - 02/08
623 - 02/09
543 - 02/10
557 - 02/11
461 - 02/13

Total burned: 4975 calories. I am HALFWAY there.

Only 10 alcoholic drinks this month (limit of 2 beers):
ZILCH so far.

_______________________________________

Did anyone catch the Biggest Loser this week? I am Team Dani 100%. And I've actually started to like Gina. And of course, I'm pulling for Jackson.

But that girl Alex has a major attitude problem and she's really starting to piss me off. How many people were denied the chance of a lifetime to change their lives on that show so that she could have their spot and ROLL HER EYES AT BOB HARPER?! Uh oh, now you've got me started. I hope she starts being more likeable or I'm going to pull against her for the rest of the season.

Well, I'd love to stay and chat but my Tar Heels are playing Duke tonight and it's kind of a big deal. Happy Hump Day! And, more importantly...

Happy Love Day tomorrow!

Monday, Monday, MONDAY!

I am in a kickass mood today. I'm feeling great. 

I went to town to meet one of my favorite co-workers for breakfast and gossip. I had some delicious blueberry pancakes (I only hate half of the HUGE portion) and black coffee. She is heading to Washington for a few days to see her fiance so it was awesome getting to catch up with her before she left.

Then, I decided I had better go to the gym. I mean, I was already in town. But because I didn't want to puke up my $10 blueberry pancakes, I took it easier than usual. Which means, no running!

So I did 12 minutes on the stairmill, fast walked on the treadmill at a high incline for 20 minutes, rowed for 5 minutes, and then finished up with another 10 on the stairmill.

And I listened to the Justin Timberlake radio station on Pandora. Another winner.

Speaking of JT - did anyone check him out on the Grammy's last night? Let's just say I'm thoroughly enjoying his comeback. While we didn't think it possible, he is bringing sexy back again.

With JT on my side today, I managed to burn away 557 calories in about an hour and a half.

I had a really dumb moment today. I weighed myself after working out and was disappointed that my weigh hadn't moved, EVEN A FRACTION, since my initial DB weigh-in. I mean, I've been working super hard all week - tracking AND burning calories. Can't I at least get a decimal down? Annnnd then I realized that my initial weigh-in didn't include my shoes. So I took my shoes off and instantly lost 1.2 lbs. Huzzah!

I have a lot of pictures I've been trying to post to the most recent articles but I have crappy internet right now and none of them will upload. As soon as I am able, I'll update my posts with some pictures so stay tuned for that.

And here's some more exciting news - I GOT A FOLLOWER FINALLY! Sometimes I feel like I am pouring love and time into a blog that is read by no one, but this one follower reminds me that I have an audience somewhere out there. Don't you want to follow me too? You know you enjoy our time together!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you are in as kickass mood as I am today.

On the weigh!

My weigh-in photo for DietBet got accepted today. Hallelujah. But it was kind of frustrating (oddly enough) because I actually lost 2 lbs between the rejected weigh-in picture yesterday and the accepted one today. I never thought I would be disappointed to see 125.6 lbs on the scale - but all I can think about is how much harder it will be now for me to lose 4%.

My current weight is (in my Allison Sweeney voice):

125.6 lbs

Not bad, huh?

Annnd I promised a weigh-in picture. For the record - I was tired! Introducing Healthy Little Me!

And here's the progress on my February goals:

10,000 calories burned:
216 - 02/01
459 - 02/04
521 + 565 = 1086 (I got conned into doing Boot Camp by Skinny-Inner-Me later that night) - 02/05
303 - 02/08 (thanks for the help, dark chocolate truffles!)627 - 02/08

Total calories burned: 2691
Total calories left: 7309

And my alcoholic drink goal of 10 or less this month (no more than 2 beers):
0 so far!

Annnd given my initial weigh-in today, I will now have to end the month at 121 lbs (121.6 really but 121.0 will be safe) to make sure I win that bet!

It's still not too late to to join! by the way. The pot is $4200 and still growing!

I'm going to buy a new pair of Saucony Ride 4's with my winnings... my old ones are getting, well, old.

_______________________________________________________

Last night I could NOT sleep. I tossed and turned for two hours before I finally knocked out. I was so frustrated. I tried reading, I tried deep breaths, I tried thinking about complicated math... nothing.

So when my alarm went off this morning for "Gym Time!" I growled at it and went back to sleep. I felt pretty bad about skipping the gym today (I did stop by for my weigh-in pictures but didn't have time to work out before heading into work) especially since I skipped yesterday. So I vowed to do some DVD's tonight to make up for it.

I completed Level 1 and Level 2 of Biggest Loser Cardio Max. I thought my lungs were going to fall out. Level 1 with Bob is bad enough, but just wait until Level 2 with Jillian. It's like she doesn't let you rest for even a split second. But the people in the video were making it happen, so I stuck with it until the bitter end.

Then I did Level 1 and Level 2 of Biggest Loser Boot Camp. Needless to say, by the end of all of this - I was sweating and wheezing and relieved that no one was around me to witness my sweaty exhaustion.

Total, I burned 627 calories. But no truffle reward for me. Since this DietBet officially starts tomorrow and my initial weigh-in is sealed, I've got to keep a strict watch on calorie intake! Those truffles will have to wait until March 8th. (Okay, maybe I'll have one or two on Valentines Day...)

This post is about spaghetti.

So, I messed up my initial weigh-in for DietBet. I forgot that "Airport Security Attire" meant don't wear shoes. And they sent me an e-mail today saying I have to send in another picture... which I have to do tomorrow while I'm at the gym in town. Whoops.

It's still not too late to join in! by the way... (The pot is $3225 right now... just saying.)

Today I decided to take the day off from the gym and let my mind and body rest a little. I did, however, stop by the gym to take my faulty weigh-in photos. 

I also stopped by the grocery store and stocked up on some healthy stuff to help me kick this DietBet's ass. I got some plain non-fat greek yogurt, pears, more kiwis, protein drinks, salsa, and a spaghetti squash.

First off, I just realized last night that spaghetti squash is a type of squash that naturally looks and feels like spaghetti. I've seen so many recipes featuring spaghetti squash lately and I've always thought wow someone went out of their WAY to turn squash into spaghetti. Like I thought there was some machine that people had in their kitchen that turned zucchini into noodles or something. 

I once was lost, but now I'm found.

Have you never heard of a spaghetti squash, either? It's okay. You're not alone.

This is what it looks like:

Spaghetti squash is a winter squash that is usually available all year round. It's large and hard on the outside and yellow (or white or orange) in color. You can find it in the produce section at your grocery store.

Cooking it is super easy. You can do it in the microwave, in the oven, in a crock pot, and many other ways. I decided to roast mine in the oven tonight and here's how I did it.

• I preheated the oven to 375 degrees.
• I cut the spaghetti squash in half (long ways) and picked the seeds out of the middle (kind of like pulling seeds out of a pumpkin.
• After the seeds were out, I took a rubber sauce brush (is that what you call it?) and rubbed olive oil on both halves - trying to cover every bit of the inside.
• Then I sprinkled a little salt and pepper on it and waited for the oven to get ready.
• I roasted it at 375 for 50 minutes (but checked it at 40 minutes). I put a little more olive oil on the places that looked dry when I checked it.
• When it was done, I pulled it out and let it rest for 10 minutes. It was HOT.
• Now comes the fun part: I took a fork and scraped the insides of it lengthwise and the squash comes out in little noodles. 

This container is larger than it looks in this picture! I was eating spaghetti squash meals for an entire week!

My squash weighed about 6 lbs. It was literally the size of your average newborn baby. And I'll have spaghetti squash for more than a few days now. But I'm excited to try it in different dishes and figure out some fun recipes.

And news flash: It's good for you!

1 Cup of spaghetti squash has:

• 42 calories
• 10 g of carbs
• 0.40 g of fat (only 0.1 of which is saturated fat)
• 1 g of protein
• 2 g of dietary fiber
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin B6
• Niacin
• Vitamin B5
• Potassium
• Manganese
• Calcium
• Iron
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• And only 28 mg of sodium!

Tonight I had some left over chicken and vegetables in tomato sauce with mine. I just heated up the chicken, threw it on top of the spaghetti squash, and sprinkled a little bit of Parmesan cheese on it. It was delish!

The next time I'm home, I'm going to try to trick the boyfriend into eating it. He's kind of skeptical of uber healthy things - but he loves spaghetti!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my final, acceptable DietBet weigh-in pictures.

PS. I cracked and ordered some new Jillian Michael's DVDs on Amazon last night. I can't wait to try them out and tell you what I think. I'm sure they're going to kick my ass - but I'm Team Jill all the way so I'm sure I'll like it! I got: 30 Day Shred, Ripped in 30, and Six Pack in Six Weeks. I've done the first level of 30 Day Shred before. And I still have nightmares about it... (joking?)

Here's to February! I'm pulling out all the stops this month!

Keeping it real.

I'm a real human being. And sometimes, my life isn't as excitingly happy as it seems. 

Not that today was bad. 

Today was just, real. Raw. Human.

I was in a funk all day that I just couldn't shake.

Last night, since I had the time, I decided to bang out level one and two of Biggest Loser Boot Camp. I loved it.

When I got done, I decided to treat myself by eating one of my chocolate peppermint stick Luna bars. Yum!

And then I decided, hell - that was so good... how 'bout another one?

And after that one, I just walked back to the kitchen, opened the drawer, and looked at the three remaining. They stared back at me, taunting me. 

"Come on," they said. "You burned some MAJOR calories doing boot camp. Have us!"

And so I did. But I left one survivor. 

Four. I ate four Luna bars. 180 calories each. 780 calories.

And how many had I burned doing Biggest Loser bootcamp? About 500.

It really didn't effect me until I totaled up those calories and when I did, I was disappointed in myself.

You just entered into a DietBet. The pot is now $2025. You convinced your friend to join you. You have major plans this month. What are you doing?

I got over it by the end of the night. And decided that from here on out, no more buying multiple chocolate peppermint stick Luna bars. They are mean.

Flash forward to today.

Normally, I wake up EXCITED to go to the gym. This is MY time. I spend the 15 minute drive drinking my protein drink planning on what I'm going to do with shear anticipation.

"Okay. Today I'll do 12 minutes--no 13 minutes on the stair master. And then I'll run for 15. And don't forget to do those butt lift things in that new magazine!" 

But today was different. For the first time in a long time, I tried to talk myself out of going to the gym the whole way there. I even stopped at a store to kill some time in between. I looked at the most random products. I convinced myself I needed them and then talked myself out of them. I left with toilet paper, strawberry gum, and a bag of dark chocolate Lindt truffles.

I decided to bribe myself into going to the gym.

"Look," I told myself. "If you just knock out some time on the stair mill and 10 minutes of running and burn at least 300 calories, you can have one truffle when you get out."

It worked. I walked in that gym, got straight to the point, and when my Polar FT7 said "300 calories", I stretched, washed my face, put on my fleece, and got the hell out.

And, for the record, I only ate one truffle. 

And also, for the record, I've locked the rest of them in my glove compartment. But I've thought about going out there to get one all night. But I'm not going to. Because I have plans this month.

It's like the healthy-inner-me called in sick today. I haven't been in this kind of a funk in a long time. And I didn't like it one bit.

But tomorrow's a new day. And I'm going to wake up, get dressed, get my ass in that gym and earn my truffle. Whether I'm happy about it or not.

Put your money where your mouth is! My first DietBet.

So one of my favorite bloggers, ItSuxToBeFat, has introduced me to a new challenge in the weight loss world. It's called DietBet. She did one last month and won! I wanted to jump in then, but I let my fear of failing stop me. But this month is a new month. And I feel like I've been hitting a plateau recently with my weight loss. And let me tell you one thing nothing motivates Healthy Little Me like losing and/or winning money.

Here's how it works.

You join in on a bet by signing up and paying $25. With this money, you are betting everyone else involved (right now there are 31 people!) that you can lose 4% of your weight in a month. In this one's case, the bet runs from February 9th until March 8th. Forty-eight hours before the bet starts, you submit two photos to the judges with your initial weight. Once the bet is over, you submit final weigh-in photos to the judges again with your final weight. Once the judges have verified all information submitted, winners are announced and those who have lost 4% or more of their body weight split the pot!

How big is this pot? It was $275 last night when I joined. And now it's $725! (Correction: by the time I finished writing this post - it has grown to $775!)

I am so excited about this! I think that keeping in mind my potential for losing or winning money will definitely give me that extra push I'm in need of lately - not only in the gym but also in the kitchen!

So, with 4%+ weight loss, my goal is to end the month of February (or at least March 8th) with a weight of 122 lbs! And I am SO going to do this.

Want to join in and win some moolah for your new skinny self?

Join in now!

Today I did 10 minutes on the stair mill, ran at 6.0 mph pace for 15 minutes (I'm starting to resemble a legitimate runner in the gym!) and finished up with some jump rope, jump squats, and a good long stretch. I burned 521 calories today and the skinny-inner-me is trying to talk myself into doing some Biggest Loser Boot Camp later today.

Official February goals:
Burn 10,000+ calories
End the month with a final weight of 122 lbs and WIN THAT DIETBET!
Consume no more than 10 alcoholic drinks (limit of 2 beers)

This is MY MONTH! (But, of course, I'll share it with you!) And I am going to SEIZE every moment no matter what obstacles I may face.

Because of this recent DietBet thing, I've decided to move this weeks weigh in to Thursday so I don't have to weigh in twice. I'll let you see the pictures I send the judges, too... depending on if I'm having a good hair day or not.

How are you going to seize the month of February?

On new jams, Luna Bars, and my 6.0 mph dreadmill pace

I finally got some new jams to add to my running and cardio playlists. The winners are:

• Scream and Shout (will.i.am & Britney, bitch.)
• Don't stop the party (Pit Bull)
• Good Feeling (Flo Rida)
• Home (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros)
• Hall of Fame (The Script feat. will.i.am)
• Midnight City (M83)

Isn't is weird how some new tunes can really get you going? I swear I put Scream and Shout on my running playlist four times so I could have more probability of hearing it on shuffle.

Today I got back in the gym! Woohoo!

And kiwis were 4/$1.00 at the grocery store yesterday. Double woohoo!

And speaking of the grocery store, they finally got a new shipment of the chocolate peppermint stick Luna Bars annnnd I bought the whole case. Those things are de.lish.ous. (I know I spelled delicious wrong, just go with it.)

Today I did 10 minutes on the stair mill. When I started, I was all optimistic and like "You can totally do 20 minutes on this thing!" And then I told the healthy-inner-me to shut up and stop being so pushy. And I'm glad I did - 'cause that thing KILLED me. But I'm going to work up to at least 15 minutes by next week.

Then I jumped on the dreadmill and ran out 1.25 miles at a 6.0 mph pace. I usually do 4.8, maaaaybe 5.0 mph pace. I felt unstoppable. And then I felt super crampy. So I slowed down to a fast walk, cranked up the incline, and finished out another 15 minutes to keep burning those calories.

And then I tried the new Jenny McCarthy workout from this month's Shape magazine. There is a special place in hell for the person who came up with "squat jacks". But Beyonce didn't get that booty sitting on the couch and neither will I. And so it is - I, Healthy Little Me, did one whole tortuous minute of those bad boys.

All in all, I burned 459 calories today in about an hour. I'm staring that February goal in the face!  

Sunday Funday - A Recap on January Goals

Well heeyy there, ya'll....

I know I say this often - but I am back in Wyoming. I had to book a last minute flight yesterday and got here laaaaate last night (or early this morning).

This time, my trip back to North Carolina didn't feel as fattening as it has in the past. I feel like I am finally getting a better grip on making smart choices when I'm home and in my comfort zone.

I ran some (after PR'ing my 5K time, I cut my daily runs down to a little more than a mile) and did the Biggest Loser Boot Camp DVD often. Yes, I drank red wine. Hell, I even had a beer or three. But I made healthy choices, drank a lot of water, and tried to cut down on the alcohol whenever social situations did not present themselves (which really sucked, but the "skinny me" is kind of bossy lately).

Tomorrow I head back to my home away from home - the gym! I got the new SHAPE magazine today and a BUNCH of produce to eat this week so I'm super optimistic about getting back into my routine.

Because I was home this week, I neglected the Wednesday weigh-in. But I didn't forget you, readers. The weigh-in will be back this week!

But, more importantly, the month of January is over. Which brings me to the final tally of my goals:

25 Miles of Running:
1.80 - 01/02
2.25 - 01/03
4.26 - 01/06
2.15 - 01/07
1.77 - 01/08
3.10 - 01/09
4.05 - 01/10
2.32 - 01/17
1.44 - 01/18
1.18 - 01/19
2.00 - 01/20
3.11 - 01/28
1.18 - 01/29
1.30 - 01/30
Final Mileage: 31.91 miles

100 Miles of Biking
6.31 - 01/02
10.6 - 01/03
3.0 - 01/13
11.24 - 01/17
12.76 - 01/18
12.95 - 01/19
8.14 - 01/20
11.24 - 01/22
13.04 - 01/23
15.76 - 01/24 (Thanks, Spice Girls!)
8.94 - 01/25
Final Mileage: 113.98 miles

*High fives self*

And now onto my February goals. This month I plan to be in pretty remote places with no gym as I head off to train for my recent promotion. With that being said, I want to make this goal about calorie burn (and I'll use my Polar FT7 to help). My game plan this month is to kick some major ass in the gym when I can and to cart around my laptop and cardio workout DVD's around when I'm not near a gym and still get shit done.

This month, I would like to burn 10,000 calories.

Now that that's set, tell me about you! Are there any goals for the month you want to reach? The month is young, people!

Happy Sunday. Here's to me winning $25 on a Superbowl pool tonight, yippee!
(I didn't tell you that I paid $30 to get on that pool, did I?)

Now that the Beyonce concert is over (oops! I meant the Superbowl), we can all focus on what's important: The Biggest Loser.