Feelin' Good

     I've been going back and forth on wether or not I'd post these, but I think it's time to share.  I know I mentioned a while back that I was beginning the couch to 5K program and the 30 Day Shred.  I finished the Shred a little over a week ago, and I wanted to share my results.  I didn't really change the way I ate.  I did, however, give up my only vice: sweet tea.  Instead I now drink water all day, except for the occasional coffee.  I was amazed at the results I got after adding 1 hour's worth of exercise to my routine three days a week and 30 minutes a day on the days I wasn't running.  So here we go:

Sorry for the dirty bathroom mirror.

     I'm embarrassed to say that this was me in the middle of June, modeling a bikini a friend of mine convinced me to buy because as she said, "There's always someone at the beach who looks worse."  Not exactly the motivation you want to hear, but it did motivate me in a way.  If my only consolation is looking for someone who is bigger than me, that's a problem, right?  Right!  I bought the bikini in May, and it stayed hidden in my closet until I pulled it out that night.  My husband and I had started Insanity (which I never finished), but something else was started that night too.  My determination to be better, to be healthier.  I wanted to be fit for the first time in my life.

Sorry for the blur.

     This is me from last weekend.  As you can see, I've still got some work to do, but the difference between who I was then and who I am now can't be captured with a picture.  I feel so much better.  I no longer avoid going upstairs, in fact, some days I run up and down them just to wake myself up.  I love running, even though I still get butterflies before setting out every other night.  All-in-all I'm happier, and I am finally proud of my body.  I'm not finished, but I can see how far I've come, and I'm not stopping here!

June 19, 2012

August 4, 2012

     Although Jillian Michaels got on my nerves long before the 30 Day Shred program was over, I can definitely give her props.  It worked for me.  No; I'm not "shredded", but well, you can see the benefits for yourself.  That video took a total of 30 minutes, and Monkey loved doing them with me, so it was easy to fit into our schedule.  

   Like I said, I'm not stopping here.  I'm on Week 4 of the Couch to 5K program, and I'm loving it.  The program is designed to help break you in gradually, and that's made all the difference for me.  Running is a head game for me (I blame the horrible Middle School coaches I had lol). This gradual process eliminates that.  The first night, I kept telling myself, "Keep going, you'll be able to walk in just a few more seconds."  Now I can tell myself, "You ran for 3 minutes straight and weren't sore, so you can handle 5 minutes."  It may not sound like much, but by the end of it I'm hoping to be able to say, "You've run one 5K already; you've got this!"

   I've also started the 7 Day Arm Challenge, so I'll let y'all know how that goes.  Now enough of this, I want to show off one more thing before I go.  I made a dress!  For me this time!!!

   I'm so excited!  I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and bought myself a men's 3XL shirt for $5 so I could try this tutorial out.  It was so much fun, and I love the dress I turned it into.  I wear a size L in dresses, so I used a 3XL Men's shirt.  I could've used a 2XL, but they were too short for my taste.  Once I got it home, I tried it on inside out and, following the tutorial,  marked where my shoulders started with some chalk.

Feelin' like I'm back in high school, wearing a borrowed t-shirt from my football-playin' boyfriend. Lol

    Then I drew a line from that mark to where the original armpit was and cut.  Then I put the sleeve back on my arm to measure where my armpit actually was, leaving a couple of inches for breathing room.

   
     I marked this with chalk and sewed.  Before I cut off the excess, I put the sleeve back on to make sure it wasn't too tight.  When I was sure it fit I cut the excess fabric.  Then I simply sewed the sleeve back on to the shirt/dress.

Now it fits better up top.

But the bottom's still big.

   Now I marked from the new armpit all the way down to the bottom of the dress, and sewed and cut away the extra fabric.  Then I measured the elastic to be about an inch shorter than my sleeve, cut two pieces of it, and sewed a piece to the top of each sleeve (while the sleeve was inside-out of course).  

Ta-Da

  This is where I strayed from the tutorial a bit.  You can sew a piece of elastic all the way around the dress where your waist is, but I found a belt that used to belong with the shirt I repurposed for Monkey, and I used that to cinch my waist instead.  I did go back and put some elastic on the front half of the dress, but that was just so that the belt wouldn't bunch up the dress in a weird way.  Here's the final result:

   Sorry for all the cheesy Facebook-style mirror pictures, but I haven't trained Monkey to use a camera yet. Haha.  I can see it in her future, though.  My camera went missing, and I found it in her toy box a few days later.  O.o

  Well that's all I have for y'all today.  I hope you're enjoying your Sunday!