JayBird

I think part of the trick is falling into a pattern and mindset that works. It's difficult at first because you are breaking out of old habits and introducing new routines into your life. Eventually the scale does tip in the other direction and suddenly it all works. I'm still on the way there myself, but it's definitely something to look forward to.

For grace I suggest you start with something like hatha yoga. It's a relaxing, gentle form of yoga that does a lot for grace, balance, and flexibility. Two of those are goals and the other will help you achieve the first two! An added bonus is that the class will likely be mostly girls so you won't have to worry about being the only girl in the room.

My greatest enemy in terms of healthy eating isn't cravings, fast food, lack of time or energy... it's the lack of money! I work at an out of school care and the stereotypes are all true. We get paid next to nothing considering the amount we put it. Nevermind that, I'm also a student which means that all of my money is going into the bank right now to pay my tuition at the end of the month and after that I have to reduce my hours to less than half of what I am working now. It gets worse in January when I have to quit all together so that I can do my practicum in the winter semester - I'm in a B.Ed. degree so I'll be student teaching. It's no secret that it is far more expensive to buy healthy foods than to buy the processed stuff, unless you get creative. I'm just not entirely sure how to do that. Any ideas guys?

Wow, that is an amazing job! Just remember that the more you lose, the harder it gets. Don't give up if the rate of weight loss starts to slow down a little ways down the road. You'll still be getting there! We're cheering you on!

WOOT! Got off to a great start today! Today's workout: 10 minutes of jump rope 3 sets of 15 wall push ups 10 lunges for each leg 10 squats 10 sets of the plank, downward dog, yoga pushup*, gentle cobra sequence 20 minutes of yoga stretches to finish off *A yoga push up is where you lower yourself in a pushup to about three inches off the ground and hold it there for about fifteen seconds! O_e I only drank one coffee today! I didn't even drink any tea, I just stuck with water today! No walking to work today because it's the last day of the long weekend but I did walk to and from the mall (20 minutes in either direction) to buy the August supplies for the summer program at the out of school care I run. I carried all five full bags home instead of taking the bus. It was HEAVY! I'm proud of myself. Good start~!

Thanks Steve! The one thing I am really concerned about is the risk of injury I have from the bizzare nature of my flexibility. I am hyper extended in my ankles and also in rotator cuff in my hip. I can twist myself into weird shapes in yoga but I can't stretch as far as that flexibility would lead people (including my yoga instructor in the initial class) to believe. It leads me land unevenly on my feet when I walk and run -- I tend to land on the sides of my feet if I'm not consciously thinking about it. I've actually fallen over sideways on a few occasions as a result. Even when that doesn't happen, I'm not exactly absorbing the impact properly when I walk. It's genetic, I got it from my Mom who ended up with knee injuries when she took up running. I'm wondering if there are exercises that I can do which can help me either strengthen my ankles or at least obtain a slightly more natural gait and better balance. I'm thinking bare foot running might help? I know the yoga is definitely helping, but I want to do what I can to minimize the risk of injury. Injury is probably what I'm more worried about than anything. I have a reputation among my friends for having a dex of about seven. Yeah, sad.

My work is very fun and quite an active work out! For starters, for seven and a half hours a day I am almost constantly moving! Let me tell you, pushing seven year olds on the swings for twenty minutes straight is a good arm work out! I also play soccer, lacrosse, and basketball with them right now. With the girls the skipping games can go on forever. The best way to supervise the playground is to run and climb on it with the kids. This is just the most active parts of the afternoon. There is also squatting next to kids to affix stubborn kNex pieces, carrying tired kindergarteners (that can involve sixty pounds on each side if you're carrying two), piggy back rides, swimming field trips, hauling laundry, dance parties in the sound corner, etc. I'm practically getting paid to exercise. How can I complain about the workout when it involves dancing across a giant sheet of paper with paint on my bare feet?

I don't know about anyone else, but I find that listening to my iPod gives me that extra boost when I am exercising to push myself just a little bit further. For example, when I'm running and it's wearing me out I can convince myself to keep going if I just go until the end of whatever song I'm listening to. It doesn't matter if it's Knights of Cydonia by Muse and I'm only two minutes into the seven and a half minute song I will keep going until that final beat. It's quite the encourager and meeting that tiny goal still gives me a feeling of accomplishment that I wouldn't have had otherwise. My list is kind of random and eclectic but hopefully have something for everyone. Besides, every awesome movie or videogame has a kicka** soundtrack right? So post your favourites as suggestions to the other rebels so that anyone looking to update their own soundtrack will have new additions. I'll update the master list and put it here. *****MASTER LIST***** POP Barenaked Ladies - It's All Been Done Before Christina Aguilera Counting Crows - Accidentally In Love Kelly Clarkson - Since You Been Gone Kelly Clarkson - Walk Away Kim Wilde - Kids in America Lady Gaga - Paparazzi Lady Gaga - Telephone Mika - Grace Kelly Mika - Love Today Pink - God is a DJ Pink - So What Pink - Trouble Rihanna - Pon De Replay Rihanna - Shut Up and Drive Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin CLASSIC ROCK The Beatles - Revolution The Cure - Friday I'm In Love Loverboy - Working For the Weekend Journey - Don't Stop Believin Queen - I Want To Break Free Queen - Somebody to Love Queen - We Will Rock You Van Halen - Dreams ALTERNATIVE/PUNK ROCK The All American Rejects - Move Along The Caesars - Jerk It Out Cake - The Distance Foals - Cassius Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand - This Boy Franz Ferdinand - What You Waiting For? (This cover is infinitely better than the original by Gwen Stefani IMHO) Green Day - She's a Rebel Finger 11 - Paralyzer Muse - Knights of Cydonia Muse - Supermassive Black Hole Offspring - You're Gonna Go Far, Kid The Salads - Get Loose Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disko The Wallflowers - The Difference The Wombats - Let's Dance to Joy Division FOLK ROCK Great Big Sea - Everything Shines Great Big Sea - Oh Yeah Great Big Sea - Run Run Away Great Big Sea - Wandering Ways HIPHOP/R&B Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feelin Black Eyed Peas - Pump It Timbaland - Way I Are METAL Manowar - Call to Arms Manowar - Warriors of the World Nightwish - Wishmaster COUNTRY Paul Brandt - Leavin Paul Brandt - Didn't Even See the Dust SOUNDTRACK Dr Horrible Sing Along Blog - Bad Horse Chorus FFX - Brass de Chocobo (it's the jazz version of the chocobo theme!) Mulan - I'll Make a Man Out of You Rent - La Vie Boheme JROCK/JPOP Arashi - Kitto Daijobou Ayabie - Yubasaki Koda Kumi - Taboo Rent - Out Tonight CHINESE POP Fahrenheit - Young MISC Raffi - Banana Phone Caramell - Caramell Dansen

Alrighty then, here we go! My goals for this month are: 1: Not miss a single yoga class and do a second yoga session at home at least once per week. Side goal here: Do the make up classes for the two I missed last month! 2: When I need a caffeinated pick-me-up, reach for green tea instead of coffee or cola. I want to do this consistently: one cola per week and only one coffee per day. (Cutting down from a typical 3 coffee+2 cola day) 3. Walk to and from work, except in thunderstorms. I am not sure if I am ready to post pics yet, we will see how I do this month. If I am feeling more confident by the end of things I just might post then.

Aah, a fellow psych student. I personally am focused in educational psychology, as I am a special needs minor in a bachelor of education. Do your university fees include a membership to the school gym like mine does? If so then I definitely suggest you take advantage of it!

Yeah, you read that right. More than one of the articles mentions "the Princess," that is the person or personal goal that you are striving for. After reading this metaphor and playing with it in my mind for a bit I came to the conclusion that, in fact, I am my own Princess. The reasons for this are quite simple: I've decided to stop focusing on what other people think of me and want from me. I'm going to put myself first, at least some of the time, and actually take care of myself for once! I'm from a divorced family and of all six of my siblings (biological or otherwise) I am the only one who seems like they are really going anywhere. I'm starting my final year of my bachelor's degree in education and I've got a GPA that's earned me several scholarships. All in all, we're 2 for 6 in terms of graduating high school and the other one only managed to get into hairdressing school. Being the one my parents placed all of their hopes on, I started doing things like skipping breakfast as I rushed out the door to class and dropping bike riding in favour of studying. As it stands now I'm 160lb at 5'2". I was able to continue in that fashion for the first couple of years of my degree but things really caught up to me last year. I'm talking handing-things-in-three-weeks-late caught up to me. In addition to the weight gain, I also developed Generalized Anxiety, panic attacks, and my ADHD apparently got bad enough to finally get a formal diagnosis. That was the kick in the pants I needed to finally look at what I was doing to myself and the effect it was having on me, my school work, my work life and even my relationship with my boyfriend. I realized how run down I was emotionally, mentally, physically, even spiritually. I felt like I needed to rest, but like the brainiac I am I started doing my research on how I could get control again. I took stock in how I conduct my life including my eating habits and how much exercise I get. Needless to say, I failed to impress myself. I ended up on a long and winding road that eventually lead me here. My goals relatively simple, they can be more or less summed up as taking care of myself. I want to get back into the shape I used to be in. I've started taking a Yoga Vibe class, which is a little more fast paced than the standard Hatha Yoga; much better for a figgety soul like myself. I've also started roller bladding, jogging, and jumping rope. I'm making healthier decisions with my eating and I eventually want to phase out most of my sugary, creamy coffees in favour of fruit/green tea blends. I'm going to phase out as much processed foods as possible. In the end I want to lose about forty pounds. Wish me luck, and don't forget to be awesome!

Hey Becks, I'm Jay. I've recently joined the army too, actually I'd joined the army before I even knew it existed. Now I just have a frame of mind that works for me. :3 Part of the reason I started trying to get healthy was to enjoy a lot of my old outdoor activities too. I just started roller blading again a couple of weeks ago. I have never fallen on my butt so many times in public in years. Traffic actually slows down to watch as they pass by. LOL Ack, I'm on a tangent again! Anyways, your goals are admirable! Good luck on reaching them, I'll be rooting for you!