Rockin' Body

So confession time......

I quit Insanity. Yes, yes, I did... I spent more time laying on the floor trying to convince my body that we were, in fact, not dying, than actually doing the exersices. I have this sneaking suspicion that Sean T did not have my body type in mind when this program was created.

Not me.

However, Courtney did find an amazing deal on another "Beach Body" program that Sean T does - Rockin' Body.  It's seven videos total - three muscle toning videos, four dance videos. And let me just tell you.....I am NOT a good dancer. 

Me.

BUT, it's been really fun, and I get to laugh really hard when Sean T tries to make me Twerk. Also, the people in the background provide quite a few giggles - the men don't seem to give a care in the world, and the girls are wearing bikini's trying to be all sensual while they do disco moves. And while it's fun, it's still a pretty darn good workout. We literally drip sweat by the end.

Not water.

I've lost a few pounds, and can tell a difference in my muscle tone, but I'm waiting 'til we are completely finished to announce what it's done for me.

**Also I'm going to make a good faith effort to be better about posting more frequently. I just get so busy sometimes.....

They call it Insanity for a reason...

So sorry for the almost two week long hiatus.... I've been so busy I've barely had time to sit down with my computer, much less think up something to write about.

But anywho... Courtney (the best friend & roommate) and I started Insanity this week. Let's just say we'll see how it goes. Yesterday was Day 2, and I'm just not sure how you're supposed to be able to go 6 days straight to let your muscles recover. Because my legs are ANGRY with me right now. But it's that good hurt, ya know? I very well might just have to adjust the program a little to benefit the way-out-of-shape person that I am. But like I said, we'll see how it goes, and I will definitely post updates.

Quit looking so smug Sean T....

my knees are going as high as they can...

I'm even boring myself here, too...

BUT....this Saturday is Beach Bash - the absolute happiest day of the Spring Semester (second only to the day the semester's over, but I don't get that day anymore....). There will be a million and two crawfish for the eating, great friends, and wonderful memories to make. This being so, I'm staying SUPER on point this week, because I know I'm going to be "on the plus" after this weekend - and it's going to be oh-so-wonderful, that is, until Sunday morning when I have to head back into the real world. I just really need a good break from reality.

Oh 20 year old Casey, that shirt was not flattering, 

and that crawfish did not want to be in your pocket.

On a much, much sadder note - my heart has been heavy this week, not only for the victims at the Boston Marathon, but for a young woman I grew up with, who lost her baby boy this past weekend. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers, along with the runners, spectators and families of victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. Love your family and your neighbor a little bit extra today.

I HATE Clothing Issues

I feel like I just need to vent a little, and since a lot of my friends on Facebook are losing weight, too, I thought I might share my issues and solutions, and see if anyone has any of their own. Sorry this is kinda long and boring today.

So I've lost 48 lbs. That's like... a 5 year old.... And I've got about 22 more to go to be at "happy Casey weight" and 32 to be at "extremely happy Casey weight." You really have no idea how happy it makes me to look at pictures from this time last year and know that I'm 48lbs smaller. But do you know what sucks? Clothes. I hate clothes right now, and I never thought I'd say that. One of my main reasons for doing my darndest to lose weight is so that I can wear the cutest of clothes. Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, H&M, and a few boutiques have all been inspiration for me to keep chugging along. BUT, like I said yesterday, I am poor. Back in about the third week of February, I had just gotten paid, and it was all gone to bills, groceries, gas, etc within the first three days. The reality of the lifestyle I was going to have to live for the next year and a half was really hitting home, and I was really upset. I called my mother, bawling my eyes out, because I have worked since August, depriving myself of all sorts of things, saying no to going out to eat, going running when I wanted to just sleep in a little bit longer, and all for what? So my clothes couldn't fit anymore? I kid you not, 70% of my shirts are too big, while all but two pairs of pants start out fitting in the morning, but by lunch time I'm wishing I had a trusty pair of suspenders. (To even get a new item of clothing in the "Old Navy range" I have to plan for two weeks, mainly because while clothes are necessary, it's more necessary for me to be able to eat fruits and vegetables instead of Ramen Noodles.) So here I am, driving home from work having myself a good cry, and doing what I do best when I can't fix a situation, pouting. So I kinda wallow in self-pity and allow myself to be sad for the rest of the night. The next day at work, during lunch, (I sometimes like to take a little stroll through Pinterest) and I came across some pins of these really cool gals taking in clothes, refashioning stuff from thrift store finds, and just sewing things from scratch. And being the daughter of one of the craftiest women alive, I thought, "Hey, I can do that." So I spent more time than I should admit looking up sewing machines, reading reviews, etc.

Skip to that weekend, where the boyfriend, Mike, and I were going to North Alabama to visit my parents and grand-parents for my birthday. I'm sure Mike heard, probably 70 times, that I was going to get a sewing machine with my birthday money. We make it to Ardmore, and I tell my mom, who says, "oh well why don't you just let me look at the estate sales and such to see if I can find you one, or you can just take mine." But being impatient (which I'm so, so good at), I told her I was going to look for one while I was out taking Mike to meet and visit with the grand-parents. And that's when what Mike calls "a God thing" happened.

We walk into my Dad's parents' house and, I kid you not, the first words out of my Granddaddy John's mouth (past introductions and its-so-good-to-see-yous) was "Does your mom have a sewing maching?" I answer that she does and ask why. He says, "I need to get this old sewing machine out of your Grandmother's room. She hasn't used it since the 80s and it's just sitting there, and I want it out."

So I now have a sewing machine, with a whole caboodle of thread and notions! AND it smells like my Grandmamona's house when I open the thread box, which just floods me with memories every time. So, I have taken in some shirts (I'm still to nervous to do pants, I'll have to suck it up soon :/ ), made some pajama shorts, Courtney an apron, a skirt and a shirt, and I am slowly but surely getting better. I've learned that patience is key, so.......yeah......I'm working on that. I have a few projects I'm going to do this weekend, so if they turn out I'll try to throw some pics up here early next week.

Anybody have any good ideas for clothing on the cheap? Especially when you're shrinking, and know you're not going to be in that size for too much longer. Let us know!

Losing Weight on a Budget

Pretty Much Describes Me Perfectly

So, I'm in graduate school. And I will go on record and say, Graduate Students are the work-horses of the researching community. We work long days, sometimes even on the weekends, and get paid a teeny-tiny amount of money for what we do. When I say teeny-tiny, I mean teeny-tiny. I kid you not, I take home just barely 2/3 of my paycheck (and I thought Mr. Obama was supposed to be helping the poor man?). Well, how hard is it to lose weight on a budget, you ask? Harder than you think, I answer.

Eating Right

You would immediately think that poorer people would be skinnier, seeing as less money = less food, but look around you, and you will see that that is definitely not the case. I mean, just check out the infographic here. It pretty much hits the nail on the head when asking "why?"  Simple answer? Higher calorie foods are a LOT cheaper than healthier foods. For instance, I can get a loaf of Kroger Wheat bread for $0.88 with my Kroger Plus Card. It is 3 points for two slices, which is not too terribly bad. OR I can get a loaf of Sara Lee's 45 Calories and Delightful for $3.12 and 2 WWPP. So do i save $2 or do I save 1 point? It's a hard decision to make sometimes. A bag of fruit costs anywhere between $5 and $12, do you know what is cheaper than that? A lot of stuff. 

So how do I cope? 

Coupons. Magical little slips of paper that they are. I give myself a grocery budget of $60 for two weeks, so I have to be smart with what I buy. It typically works out where I can get meat for dinners, fresh produce, and stuff to pack in the lunch box for work, all for under $60. I won't say that coupons make everything perfect, but they do tend to make things easier, and I've saved somewhere around $700 since January alone. I'm linking ya to the Krazy Coupon Ladies, because they know everything, and can teach you way better than I can.

Working Out

The Sanderson Center at MSU ruined me! RUINED ME, I tell you! I miss that gym so, so, so much. It has everything, spin classes, yoga, total body classes everyday, free weights, weight machines, cardio machines, and indoor track, EVERYTHING, it has everything. And if you are enrolled as a student, you get it for free. 

Do you know how much a gym membership (that offers classes) for a year contract is? Over $60 a month! That is more than my cell phone bill! They will cut it down to $50 a month if you sign a 2 year contract, but hey, only the Lord knows where I'll be in two years. And let me just tell you, it's going to take some tighter budgeting to get one of those memberships, and I not sure just yet if I'm willing to sign on for a year of that. 

So how do I cope?

I run. It's practically free, once you have a pair of shoes and a couple of ($11 Walmart) running pants. Just get yourself out and go. Also, check out Pintrest. There are a ton of pins of workout videos that are compilations of different training programs (Cross-Fit, Insanity, P90X, etc.). I'm debating currently whether to get a road bike or not (with some expected upcoming babysitting money).......we shall see. But my advice is to just search around on the interwebs. It seems to me like there is a growing trend of people leaving the gym and opting for at home workouts. Hmmm.

The Color Me Rad 5k

So, if you're my Facebook friend (which I can't imagine anyone who reads this isn't), I'm sure you've seen the pictures from the "race" this past Saturday. My dear new friend (and Ph.D. student from the lab) Christina and I decided a little over a month ago to run the Color Me Rad 5K supporting the Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital here in Jackson. (This is the place where they cured an infant of HIV, folks!) As this was my 2nd 5k, and Christina's first, we decided to just do the Couch to 5K to prepare ourselves. And let me tell you guys, waking up at 6:30 AM, working 'til 5ish then having to have the energy to go run is difficult. But we did it, and Saturday came quickly. We drug my wonderful boyfriend, Mike, along (so he could take pictures, of course...), parked forever away, then put on our "tail-feathers" and sunglasses and got ready to go!

As we walked up, colored corn starch was flying everywhere, and excitement was in the air. Also, people. People everywhere. So, we eventually push our way to the start line and we're off!

We ran and ran, color flying everywhere, through some really pretty neighborhoods, and finally crossed through the hot pink finish line. It was a spectacularly fantastic experience!

Then, photographer Mike, took a million and one pictures.

So I'll close out for the evening by saying, that if you're looking for an incredibly fun race (as in, most of the people were walking) to participate in, look no further than the Color Me Rad 5K! 3.1 miles is definitely doable, and I promise, if I can run a 5K, absolutely anyone can. So get out there and run - the hardest steps are the ones out the door. And for one of my favorite running quotes, "No matter how fast you're going, you're always lapping the people on the couch."

Now, I've gotta get back to cleaning my room.....*sigh*

Let me tell you a story....

It's a glorious tale, involving whales and sushi and engineering.......

Once upon a time, there was a girl, losing weight like a champ. Then one day, she turned 21.....

Then, with the help of some "friends," she pretty much quit caring about fitting back into that little green dress. She started working at a local restaurant, where CocaCola was free and fried rice was abundant. Then, before she knew it, she was in her senior year of college! It was an incredible year, full of "Ambulatory Infusion Pumps" for Senior Design, late nights with fraternity brothers (Yeah Theta Tau!), constant stress and no time. As senior year passed, she didn't care too much. School work, waitressing, and good times were more important than eating right and working out. Then.....

She graduated, and on that day, a big, black whale stood on the front grass in front of the ABE building.....

Since she had decided to attend graduate school at Mississippi State in Biomedical Engineering (while doing research down in Jackson), she decided to stay in the glorious Starkvegas over the summer and make some more money waitressing.

On a hot, hot day in July, she realized that she was consuming probably 2000 calories alone from fresh, cold Coca-Colas, and that was the last one she had.

A few weeks later, she moved in with two amazing friends, and they all decided to go all in together to get into shape. The weight came off, a 5k was ran, and before she knew it, it was time to move to Jackson.

Down 46 pounds, weighting a few pounds less than she did at the end of her freshman year in college, she finally has the gall to pick up the blog again.

So here we go, on this glorious journey together two years later, to keep going this time, to not give up, to know it's for real this time, to fit into the little green dress!

Couch to 5k

Soooooo...........

I am sure everyone has thought that I have completely gone off the dieting deep end and quit but NAY I tell you! I have been so super busy these last few weeks, I have barely found time to get on my computer, let alone blog. But it's Spring Break (woohoo!!) so I will do my very best to start blogging regularly again. I promise!

But any who. Am I the only person who sees someone (who is in totally great shape) running down the road and thought "Oh how I hate you"? No? I didn't think I was the only one! Well my soul patch, Lana, and I decided to do the Couch to 5k running plan. And my first one was today. And my legs absolutely feel like Jello. So, we're really excited to be *hopefully* be running a 5k by summer time, and I'll make sure to blog about this journey.

Also, my weigh-in for last week showed I (finally!) lost my next 10lbs (for a total of -33lbs)! So, we all know what that means.... new nail polish! Yay!! I brought it home with me so that Mom could give me a mani, and it is definitely one of my favorite colors. I will post a picture as soon as I can redo it, because I did a great job of chipping Mother's beautiful work while in New Orleans.

And one more thing. The more weight I lose, the harder it is to come off. I know that this is typical for everyone, but it really is frustrating. So, I decided that now instead of a new nail polish every 10lbs, I will reward myself with a new nail polish every 5lbs. Frankly, a month to lose 10lbs and get a new nail polish is a long time, even though it is healthy. So I'm hoping that setting these smaller goals will help keep myself motivated!