Thank Ketchuplover that song ("I think I'm turning Japanese") is now stuck in my head... again.

Thanks Shell. I'm having fun with both EA Active and learning Japanese.

So I've volunteered to be the Community Leader for my city for the 5k challenge. Now I have the task of figuring out the best place for a race in late Oct/early Nov, because my mother pointed out that weather here isn't necessarily that co-operative during that time frame. I may have to contact the local gyms to see if any of them would let us utilize their indoor track... or maybe one of the schools... hmmm.


Got my workout in today and it was lunge after lunge after lunge. Unfortunately, my knee started to twinging the third to last set of lunges - so my last 2 and a half sets weren't as deep . But I made it through

Working Out

And I'm back again today Got my workout in this morning and loved it! mind you, I've realized I enjoy side lunges, moderately loath reverse lunges, and utterly despise forward lunges. Happily, this mornings workout only had side lunges. I am happy to report that I am seeing leg muscle again. I feel confident that if I stick with it I will be able to meet my Season 8 goal of 2 lbs a week (32 lbs gone by the finale). In my commenting on EA Active I went to their website and found out they are doing a 5K challenge (the run to take place between Oct. 17 & Nov. 15). Now I'll be completing my half marathon on October 11. So I figured I would sign up for this challenge and see if I can manage running it. There's no races in my city during the time period they gave - so, I figured I could convince a friend or two to create one and sent them an inquiry about becoming a community leader. I think it would be fun to meet some other people who have a 5K goal in mind that live in my area. That and I've realized that motivating others tend to in turn motivate me. So yeah. I'm a bit crazy... almost wondering if I can get people who'd want to do a costumed 5K on Halloween morning I think that would make for some fun photos to send into EA Active. Really, at this point I'm just rambling. So if you are reading this, THANK YOU!

Highlight of Day: Mom asking if I'd weighed myself recently because it looks like I've lost. *happy dance* Tis always a great feeling when others notice and comment on my progress. *puts in piggy bank of fuel to help get me through the blah days that are bound to attack on my journey*

Notes of Accomplishment for Today:
* I finished my last bit of program certification at work today. Passed my 118 question SAT math instructor exam with flying colors. Done with all the training videos. Yay!
* According to my flashcard tracker (@ smart.fm) I've got half of the Katakana alphabet memorized and 75% of the Hiragana alphabet memorized. So I feel like I am progressing well (especially since I only started the Katakana 2 days ago) in my self-studies of Japanese. I am speeding up on how quickly I recognize the characters. As soon as I've mastered the Hiragana list I will begin on one of the many Kanji list. I'm so excited!

Today's Accomplishments

Got my workout in this morning and loved it! Mind you, I've realized I enjoy side lunges, moderately loath reverse lunges, and utterly despise forward lunges. Happily, this mornings workout only had side lunges. I am happy to report that I am seeing leg muscle again. I feel confident that if I stick with it I will be able to meet my Season 8 goal of 2 lbs a week (32 lbs gone by the finale of Biggest Loser). I went to the EA Active website and found out they are doing a 5K challenge (the run to take place between Oct. 17 & Nov. 15). Now I'll be completing my half marathon on October 11. So I figured I would sign up for this challenge and see if I can manage running it. There's no races in my city during the time period they gave - so, I figured I could convince a friend or two to create one and sent them an inquiry about becoming a community leader. I think it would be fun to meet some other people who have a 5K goal in mind that live in my area. That and I've realized that motivating others tend to in turn motivate me. So yeah. I'm a bit crazy... almost wondering if I can get people who'd want to do a costumed 5K on Halloween morning. I think that would make for some fun photos to send into EA Active. Really, at this point I'm just rambling. So if you are reading this, THANK YOU!

Highlight of Day:
Mom asking if I'd weighed myself recently because it looks like I've lost. *happy dance* Tis always a great feeling when others notice and comment on my progress. *puts in piggy bank of fuel to help get me through the blah days that are bound to attack on my journey*

Notes of Accomplishment for Today:
I finished my last bit of program certification at work today. Passed my 118 question SAT math instructor exam with flying colors. Done with all the training videos. Yay!
According to my flashcard tracker (@ smart.fm - great site - if you ever need to memorize anything I highly recommend this site) I've got half of the Katakana alphabet memorized and 75% of the Hiragana alphabet memorized. So I feel like I am progressing well (especially since I only started the Katakana 2 days ago) in my self-studies of Japanese. I am speeding up on how quickly I recognize the characters. As soon as I've mastered the Hiragana list I will begin on one of the many Kanji list. I'm so excited!

Fitness Reboot

Okay, so apparently I'm not very good with the whole daily updating thing (looks like not even monthly). Anyway, the first few weeks of my half-marathon training I did really well. Then I started feeling ill each morning as I tried to get my work out in. Often stopping when it got to the point that my gag reflex was going to win out over my determination to finish. So the second half of August I pretty much avoided my workouts because I didn't want to start my day off feeling sick. So my birthday rolls around (Sept. 6) and my husband gives me EA Active. Now I absolutely love this fitness/personal trainer video game. Unlike Wii Fit, I always end up breaking a sweat part way into my workouts. It feels good even if it leaves me a bit sore. So on my birthday I weighed in and was happy to find out that over the month that I had stopped my diet (stopped before vacation and just haven't resumed) I only fluctuated 2 lbs up. This was fantastic news to me because I often balloon right back up the second I cease my diet. 2 lbs is an amount that I can flux in a day. So encouraged by my birthday weigh-in and eager to try I knew workout game I have plunged myself into the 30 day challenge. I am happy to say that I am already seeing results - I can feel the muscle definition in my arms again, my pants are a little looser, and I am down 5 pounds from last weeks 264 weighing in at 259 this morning. So overall I am feeling great. I am currently 5 pounds away from weighing less than my father again (an odd goal to have perhaps - I've still got a lot of work to do to weigh less than my hubby - less than his weight will be my next mini-goal and one I will celebrate immensely because in all the time I've known him I have always been heavier). With these goals I am hoping they can help make them more of a challenge. I would be so excited if my dad lost 5 lbs to maintain the gap when I lose 5 pounds this week. In fact, today I challenged him to a race to 230 pounds. He accepted and we set the goal date at Christmas (holidays may be a challenge, but that's okay. We can do it.) So it would be awesome if I didn't catch up to him until we hit the Christmas goal because it would mean he's losing right along with me.

Caught the show today and loved it. Don't really have a team favorite yet, but as always I start the season out by rooting for my favorite color (Team Orange). I'm liking the fact that the contestants get to benefit from both trainers this season and I hope that it stays that way all season.

I'm participating in the Season 8 challenge that is going on. So I look forward to losing with the rest of you over the next 16 weeks. We can do this.

Quarter of a Century

Today was a fun day! I turned 25 today. Hopped on the scale for the first time in almost a month and found out that I had only gained 2 lbs. This was fantastic news because the last time I was on the scale was when I was still on my diet (I've been off of it for about a month and one of the thing I worried about was the weight rebounding the second I stopped the diet). So it is very good to know that I can maintain my weight without doing much.

I received EA Active from my husband and I am very excited about this game/workout program. I had tried my Sister-in-Laws copy and ended up breaking a sweat and very sore the next day. I started the programs 30 day challenge today and will continue it. It is nice having a plan for what I need to do to workout because I've been slacking in that category.

I've got my next costume figured out. My friend Nora and I are doing Tautaun & Hoth Rebel costumes (where our legs are the legs of the Tauntauns and fake legs drape off the saddle. We plan on debuting them when we walk the Spokane Half Marathon in October. We have the structure planned out and Friday we will start our sewing. I am very excited!

Tomorrow should be a fun day too (have a bbq/game party planned to celebrate my birthday).