Things that are getting me moving lately:
1) My friend Stephanie (whom I really haven't gotten to spend NEARLY enough time with) is making some major nutritional changes in her life (as well as paying herself to go walking, which is awesome) and blogging about it daily. She's inspiring, and I'm considering a juicer.
2) Another family fitness 'competition' - not about weight-loss so much this time (my sister kicked all of our collective trashes last time), but about how well we accomplish whatever goals we feel we need to meet. It really is easier if you're checking in with other people. Let's get it going!
3) I've been added to a Facebook group for my graduating class from high school. 2012 = 20 YEARS. On the one hand, I have a whole year to dread facing all these people I grew up with, having neither spouse nor children nor career to show off - on the other hand, I have a year to really get into shape so that at least I look good at the reunion (provided I'm not working for the Olympics or developing some theatre in, say, Italy next summer).
4) I'm starting another Master's program in a few weeks, and it's on a campus with a student gym. Plus there's an actual campus, so running should be easy, too. Plus it's in a very small town, so exercise and study just might be all I'll be able to find to do! Plus there's really no better time to make major changes in your life than when you're already making major changes! New school year = major change!
5) *REDACTED*
(It's a surprise. You'll find out shortly - if you don't already know - but trust me, it's motivational.)
Exercise! Drink water! Eat fruits and veggies! Sleep!
Showing posts with label competition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label competition. Show all posts
August 26, 2011
March 14, 2009
The End Arrived (Lighter Than the Start)
In the beginning, there were 11 slightly/somewhat overweight and /or just-needing-to-shape-up family members, and after several slews of emails and financial motivation installed, the family competition was born.I didn't win. (You can stop reading now if you want, but there are some pretty amazing pictures coming up.) Naturally, just as I wanted to focus on eating right and exercising, life got crazy. Plus, I just hated exercising. By mid-December, though, I cut out chocolate and most sugar, and in January I buckled down (much more regularly, anyway) to running and DVD workouts. The weight started coming off slowly, and as added benefits I developed a tolerance for exercise (i.e., I don't hate it anymore) and my back and hip problems got better/finally healed. Anyway, I ended up losing 24 pounds, and have dropped three more since we ended the official competition. (I'm less than 10 pounds away from the actual weight on my driver's license, and less than 20 from my final goal!)
Things got pretty heated, with speculation flying between two states as to who would win (people were very stingy about sharing any potentially motivating information), so I present to you now the photographic evidence of the progress of the top three Losers:
Before and After -
And the winner....
My sister, Kari! Woooooo! *throws confetti*
Pretty fantastic, eh? It's the same shirt in both pictures, and the jeans are several sizes smaller. She literally worked her butt off - running 5 miles a day, 6 days a week, adding a second workout at night, and cutting out sugar and deserts. (I've also heard a rumor that she only ate grapefruit for lunch and dinner... I haven't talked to her about that, but I do have several grapefruits waiting in my fridge now.)
The folks are wanting to start up another "contest", and incorporate the Wii Fit. (Mom says she wants one for her birthday/Mother's Day. Awesome.) This same sister is going to set up a half-marathon for interested family members when we all go visit for her daughter's baptism in June, so I have that to keep working for. Also, there's this dress I really want to fit into for an event I have in mind...
Good job everybody!
February 24, 2009
January 25, 2009
Convinced But Not Yet Converted
In which we shall see: Talk of both (SPOILER!) Exercise and Religion, and multi-tasking with a combined picture post.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As part of my renewed commitment to the family weight-loss competition and a goal to work out twice a day as often as possible, I walked to church this morning. It wasn't bad, just a 15-20 minute stroll each way - a little drizzly, but my red-polka-dotted umbrella coordinated with my red coat and black outfit, so that was OK. (Fashion first!) On the way home it occurred to me that I have become truly convinced about the principle of exercise. I recognize that since I've been making it a priority I have more energy, my back and pinched nerve feel much better, my waist is (probably) slimming down a little... I'm convinced, but not converted. I'm exercising not because exercise itself is a good and beneficial thing, but because I'm motivated by the cash reward from the family competition. I hope to be converted by the time the next five weeks are up (when the contest ends) and I expect that I will be and plan to keep working out - but I'm not there yet.
Church today was Stake Conference, and the theme was prepping the whole stake for Youth Conference this summer, with the focus on the Book of Mormon. Our stake has been asked to read the Book of Mormon by June, and several people talked about President Hinckley's challenge a few years back (has it really been that long? Wow). That got me to thinking - how converted am I to the principles of the Gospel? How often am I actively changing because of those principles, and being changed by them? I read the Book of Mormon in 2005 and had a great experience with it - so why has my focus not remained there?
In my missionary set of scriptures I have a note written in the margin of Mosiah 5, which wraps up the teachings and great conference of King Benjamin. It reads: "Being Born Again (i.e., converted) Is a Continual Process." This morning I was glad to be out walking and moving around, and I didn't let the rain deter me - I could be closer to conversion there than I thought. Why is scripture study (let's be honest, scripture "reading") so often just a habit or an obligation, rather than an exciting discovery zone? I've had experiences when I didn't want to put them down, to just keep reading and making notes and feeling my mind and heart open up - how do I make that a regular occurance?
I suppose it's by doing just what the prophets say: Remember the things that you have seen and felt and experienced before, keep going, trust the Lord, and have faith that the conversion with come - as it has before, and as it will again. (Keeping an eye on the final prize doesn't hurt, either.)
Lessons in faith learned in running shoes - who woulda thunk?
* * * * *
My latest work projects (a review): dummies, pillows, curtains, and fringe. And currently, more fringe. (Plus fringe again.)
I made the tablecloth:
The yellow pillows here are the ones I pieced together. The show's director keeps trying to sneak pillows off the set, and the designer keeps sneaking them back on.
One of my three body bags (they all pretty much look like this) with the re-mummified dummy inside. He's gotten pretty beat up during the course of the show - he was falling apart, so I went in and re-assembled him and then gaff-taped him up but GOOD.
Posing with my re-habbed dummy (as with most pretty males, you've GOT TO PROTECT THE FACE):
The dummy for the next show: He'll make a very dramatic entrance, thrown on stage wrapped up in a curtain, with just an arm hanging out. He's got to flop naturalistically, so the limbs are stuffed with bags of beans. I not only make good-looking fake bodies, I make dummies that can act! (Insert own actor joke here.)
This is a major piece in "Carlotta's Bordello", as we're fondly calling it - it's a dressing-table top that fits over a desk that will already be on stage. I upholstered it with a staple gun, five different trims, and approximately 50 yards of fabric (that's what it seemed like, anyway). There are also four or five pillows to match, and a hugely oversized velvet throw that I'm finishing trimming with (wait for it....) fringe.
Seriously, I'm kind of a set-decor rock star. And I have the pin-scratches and staple gun blisters to prove it.
Watch out for falling bodies (no, seriously) -
Cyd
Coming Soon: tagged random (er, 6-of-6) picture post, review of cheesy dance movie and exploration of "The Gallagher Effect", sheep theories, and yet another rant about men (may be included with the sheep theories).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As part of my renewed commitment to the family weight-loss competition and a goal to work out twice a day as often as possible, I walked to church this morning. It wasn't bad, just a 15-20 minute stroll each way - a little drizzly, but my red-polka-dotted umbrella coordinated with my red coat and black outfit, so that was OK. (Fashion first!) On the way home it occurred to me that I have become truly convinced about the principle of exercise. I recognize that since I've been making it a priority I have more energy, my back and pinched nerve feel much better, my waist is (probably) slimming down a little... I'm convinced, but not converted. I'm exercising not because exercise itself is a good and beneficial thing, but because I'm motivated by the cash reward from the family competition. I hope to be converted by the time the next five weeks are up (when the contest ends) and I expect that I will be and plan to keep working out - but I'm not there yet.
Church today was Stake Conference, and the theme was prepping the whole stake for Youth Conference this summer, with the focus on the Book of Mormon. Our stake has been asked to read the Book of Mormon by June, and several people talked about President Hinckley's challenge a few years back (has it really been that long? Wow). That got me to thinking - how converted am I to the principles of the Gospel? How often am I actively changing because of those principles, and being changed by them? I read the Book of Mormon in 2005 and had a great experience with it - so why has my focus not remained there?
In my missionary set of scriptures I have a note written in the margin of Mosiah 5, which wraps up the teachings and great conference of King Benjamin. It reads: "Being Born Again (i.e., converted) Is a Continual Process." This morning I was glad to be out walking and moving around, and I didn't let the rain deter me - I could be closer to conversion there than I thought. Why is scripture study (let's be honest, scripture "reading") so often just a habit or an obligation, rather than an exciting discovery zone? I've had experiences when I didn't want to put them down, to just keep reading and making notes and feeling my mind and heart open up - how do I make that a regular occurance?
I suppose it's by doing just what the prophets say: Remember the things that you have seen and felt and experienced before, keep going, trust the Lord, and have faith that the conversion with come - as it has before, and as it will again. (Keeping an eye on the final prize doesn't hurt, either.)
Lessons in faith learned in running shoes - who woulda thunk?
* * * * *
My latest work projects (a review): dummies, pillows, curtains, and fringe. And currently, more fringe. (Plus fringe again.)
I made the tablecloth:
The yellow pillows here are the ones I pieced together. The show's director keeps trying to sneak pillows off the set, and the designer keeps sneaking them back on.
One of my three body bags (they all pretty much look like this) with the re-mummified dummy inside. He's gotten pretty beat up during the course of the show - he was falling apart, so I went in and re-assembled him and then gaff-taped him up but GOOD.
Posing with my re-habbed dummy (as with most pretty males, you've GOT TO PROTECT THE FACE):
The dummy for the next show: He'll make a very dramatic entrance, thrown on stage wrapped up in a curtain, with just an arm hanging out. He's got to flop naturalistically, so the limbs are stuffed with bags of beans. I not only make good-looking fake bodies, I make dummies that can act! (Insert own actor joke here.)
This is a major piece in "Carlotta's Bordello", as we're fondly calling it - it's a dressing-table top that fits over a desk that will already be on stage. I upholstered it with a staple gun, five different trims, and approximately 50 yards of fabric (that's what it seemed like, anyway). There are also four or five pillows to match, and a hugely oversized velvet throw that I'm finishing trimming with (wait for it....) fringe.
Seriously, I'm kind of a set-decor rock star. And I have the pin-scratches and staple gun blisters to prove it.
Watch out for falling bodies (no, seriously) -
Cyd
Coming Soon: tagged random (er, 6-of-6) picture post, review of cheesy dance movie and exploration of "The Gallagher Effect", sheep theories, and yet another rant about men (may be included with the sheep theories).
November 04, 2008
I've De-voted Myself...
... to a weight-loss competition among family members! Woot!
(SO SORRY. But do you know how hard it is to find punny titles on days of national significance, for posts that don't actually include anything THAT momentous? I mean, yeah, I VOTED. Civic duty, *RAY*! Also, I've committed $100 to be put into a family pot - not really an actual "pot", but hey, maybe - that will be handed over to whichever "registered" family member loses the highest percentage of weight in the next four months. I weighed myself today, and let's just say that while I was surprised and appalled at 
the total, it does give me the motivation and opportunity to WIN should I hit my goal weight!)
That's right. VOTE for ME, to be the BIGGEST Family LOSER!
Huh. That doesn't quite sound right.
(SO SORRY. But do you know how hard it is to find punny titles on days of national significance, for posts that don't actually include anything THAT momentous? I mean, yeah, I VOTED. Civic duty, *RAY*! Also, I've committed $100 to be put into a family pot - not really an actual "pot", but hey, maybe - that will be handed over to whichever "registered" family member loses the highest percentage of weight in the next four months. I weighed myself today, and let's just say that while I was surprised and appalled at 
the total, it does give me the motivation and opportunity to WIN should I hit my goal weight!)That's right. VOTE for ME, to be the BIGGEST Family LOSER!
Huh. That doesn't quite sound right.
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