majiksummer

Thank you! Sorry it took me so long to get back, it's finals week. I will start adding the beginner body weight workout in along with my c25k workouts as well.

So.... um, Hi! I am looking for some suggestions on how to prepare for my first Judo class? Background; I'm 28, female, not in good shape, but also not obese or anything. Just normal, hang out on the couch a bit too much shape. And I signed up to take a Judo class next semester at school. I know it's going to be a tough workout anyways but... Is there anything I can work on now to make it hurt less when I start? I'm especially worried about my flexibility, is there particular areas I should focus on stretching? I'm also (re)starting C25K (again) to try to improve my aerobic conditioning. Any suggestions? Class starts at the end of January, so I have a little time to try to get in better shape before it starts. Thanks!

Fishing was meh tonight. It was fun to get out, and my husband and I both caught a couple fish, but the kids got totally skunked and were ready to come home and watch The Hobbit after a few hours. Yes I'm indoctrinating them young lol. This is their last weekend with us for the summer so we got pizza and watched movies. I unashamedly ate more pizza than I probably should have, but it's not something I do every day so I'm good with it. I realized that I didn't update on my goals from last week or make new goals for this week earlier in my very long rambling post. Sooo..... No chocolate snacking- Feeling pretty good about this one. Yes I had a small handful of m&m's but it was in moderation and I refuse to completely get rid of all the yummies. I'm counting this as a win. Riding 3 times this week- Not so good on this one, I made it out twice. It will be easier once kids are back at their mom's. They love to come ride with me, which is great and I love it, however it means it takes way more time for me to get them all saddled up and then I have to supervise them and I spend a lot of my riding time helping the kids instead of working on the stuff I want to work on. And I honestly just wasn't in the mood to play teacher this week. Hiking with hubby and kids- Check! Pretty pleased that I got this one done even though it got pushed till today instead of yesterday. It turned into more of a fishing trip than just a hike but it was physical activity so it's a win in my book. This week's goals, Riding twice this week, I'm taking my kids school shopping on Monday and Tuesday, so won't have those two days to ride, but will be walking a ton! Stretching- I want to start stretching every day, but I'm starting with 3 days a week as my current goal. I hate hate hate stretching, I'm sooo inflexible, it sucks and it hurts. But I want to be able to touch my toes, so stretching it is. I will do this for 10-15 min 3 days this week. Any good beginner stretching routines? Cooking- I start back to school in a couple weeks so I want to cook two big batches of meat this week that I can portion and freeze for easy meals during the school year. I'm thinking chicken for one of the meats, but I haven't decided on the other. Maybe a pork roast? Idk I'll see what I have in the freezer and what's on sale this week and then decide.

Oh and our hike that was planned for Saturday got pushed to this evening. We're going to hike a mile or so into a creek and go fishing tonight!

Thanks all! @Guzzi Yep, top 1-2% in the nation, I'm super super excited about it. I'm a little nervous about the 4 week challenges, I really like flexible weekly goals. It seems like that works better for the unpredictability that seems to be part of my life. I usually know what is coming up for each week and I can make achievable goals based on how crazy my life is going to be that week. I also feel like it gives me a "clean slate" each week to start over and do better. I'd like to try a 4 week challenge, but I think I'm going to wait till the next one starts. I just have to figure out goals that are achievable no matter what is going on. @Myrdinn Thanks for the welcome! I went and read through your challenge thread and intro and it does sound like we share very similar interests and backstories, which is super cool! It's way fun to meet people who are interested in the same stuff as I am! I'm sorry to hear about you and your wife's struggles, that is heartbreaking. I totally understand falling off the wagon and just quitting on stuff when you're going through such a hard thing. I just reacted the opposite way by trying to control everything about my life I could. I guess since I felt I had absolutely no control over my miscarriages, I decided to control everything else I possibly could, in school, health, and my personal life. It hasn't been to the extreme, nothing unhealthy or anything, but it helps me to know that while there is absolutely nothing I can do to change whether or not I could have a baby, I can change how I feel, look, what I do in school, work, how I act, etc. I am in control of those parts of my life and it's empowering to me to know that I am. Everybody handles these things differently this is just how I happened to handle my own challenges. So it hasn't been a full week, but I'd like to start updating on Sunday so instead of waiting an extra few days to post, and possibly getting out of the habit, I decided to post early. So yeah, this last few days has been pretty good. I sent all the kids with my husband to work on Thursday and went and visited my mom and sister for the day(yay for grownup time!), which resulted in snacking on m&m's a bit. BUT I only had a handful and I got my mom to get some baked chicken along with the fried chicken and I made sauteed zucchini to go along with the pasta salad and potato salad my mom made for dinner. I skipped the "bad" salads and ate my super yummy zucchini ( not sarcasm, it's actually really good) and baked chicken so it was still a win on dinner that day. Friday we did stuffed zucchini for dinner (we have a garden and the zucchini are producing like crazy!). Stuffed zucchini is just a zucchini sliced in half the long way with the seeds scooped out and hollowed out slightly. Brown some hamburger with onion, peppers, and whatever other yummy veggies you have then let the hamburger cool slightly. Add a raw egg(or 2) to the hamburger mixture and mix together and fill the zucchini halves then bake till the zucchini is done. Top with a little bit of cheese (so the kids eat it lol) and then nom it. Super easy and super yummy. I think it's pretty healthy too, although I didn't put it in MFP to check. Then Saturday was venison steaks, and broccoli/cauliflower, and..... more zucchini! And stuffed jalapenos which are definitely not that healthy, but are oh so good. They're jalapenos sliced in half and seeded, filled with cream cheese, and wrapped in bacon then baked. Total fat bombs but they have a surprising amount of protein. It's ok though cause it fixed my macros in MFP for the day and I was still under my calorie allowance, so yay me! Also... almost another lb down! I wasn't really expecting much of a change yet, but it's nice to see that number keep going down. I know that eventually it will start changing from lbs lost to inches, so I'm going to get my husband to help me take measurements, although I'm also using the way that my clothes fit as a guide too. I have a couple pairs of jeans that are just a bit to tight to button but are between where I am now and my goal clothes so those are my short term goal clothes for now. I think they'll fit when I hit 175ish or so. Stats: Starting Weight: 200 lbs Last Weeks Weight: 189 lbs Current Weight: 188.2 lbs Goal Weight:155 lbs

Thank you for the welcome and the encouragement! I made it through finals week, ended up with straight A's again, and got a 96% on my chem final which was a major victory for me since it's a nationwide test and I scored in the top 1-2%!! Super stoked about that! I also managed to lose a lb since last week, which was great since I was super busy studying and only made it out to ride twice and that was all the physical activity I managed to get in. Also, chocolate cravings like crazy didn't help much(pms)! I didn't give in as much as I wanted to, but still had a small bowl of ice cream with hot fudge and Oreo's on top two or three times and just snacked on Oreo's more than I probably should have. I don't normally keep any junk food like that in the house, but i wanted it so bad I went to the store at 11 o'clock at night to get it. Sigh. So much for will power. So... Goals for this week. No more chocolate snacking! There's not any chocolate left in the house and I'm not buying anymore, so that will make it easier. Also I'm out of school for a couple weeks so I'm really going to have to work to make sure I'm staying active, it's really tempting to just curl up with Netflix and veg. So I'm going to ride at least 3 times this week and I'm going to go explore a new hiking trail with the kids and my husband on Saturday. That gives me a couple days to find someplace new to go explore. Stats: Starting Weight: 200 lbs Last Weeks Weight: 190 lbs Current Weight: 189 lbs Goal Weight:155 lbs

Hi! I'm majiksummer, I'm 28 years old (as of last week!) and I'm trying to get in shape and lose some weight. I used to be in really good shape in my early 20's but after having been stuck on bed rest for the last two summers due to several pregnancies that ended in miscarriages and the resulting complications and hormonal issues (basically I was just really sick and stuck in bed for the majority of 2 years) I'm struggling to get the weight back off. This is the first summer I've been able to actually do the things I love again but my lack of physical fitness keeps getting in the way. I barrel race, and the hit my riding has taken from only being able to ride sporadically and the muscle I've lost, well it's been awful. I also love to camp, hike, fish, hunt, basically anything outdoorsy and not being in shape is really hurting my ability to do these things. I'm starting my second year of college and planning on getting my PhD in soil science/ biology so I'm super busy with school. I'm also married to an amazing guy and have 3 great stepkids who spend the summers with my husband and me. I love to read, especially fantasy. I looooove Tolkien as well as most dystopian fiction. When I was in high school and jr. high I would disappear into books constantly, but I decided I want to be the one out living life not just experiencing it from the pages of a book so up until getting sick I had made it a goal to get out and live life. I miss that, I miss me, and I want it back. So my goals and stats: Height 5'10 Highest weight 200lbs (a month and a half ago) Current weight 190lbs (this morning) Goal weight 145-155 lbs Current jean size 11 or 31 Goal jean size 6/8 I'm not positive where exactly I want my weight at, I've been as low as 137 (size 4ish) and I looked and felt great, but I was working on a ranch at the time, I cleaned around 45 stalls everyday, hauled hay, rode horses, did a super physical job for 9 hours a day and ate everything in sight and was still loosing weight. For example I would eat like a whole pizza for dinner and have a huge dessert and maybe a second dessert too. And I was 19 at the time. I just don't feel like that is a realistic goal for where I am in life right now. I just don't really want to have to work that hard again just to look like that. I just want to get back in my size 6/8s and feel stronger and be able to stick with my horse better when I'm barrel racing. Plus I figure I can fine tune the exact size I want to be when I get a little closer. What I've been doing so far I've been eating better, less junk food, more salads, veggies, and meat. I've also been trying to just be more active. I'm riding horses ~3 times a week plus school keeps me on my feet and moving in between classes. I swear my classes are on opposite sides of campus this fall so I'm going to be hustling back and forth across campus several times a day. I feel like my weight has been kind of stuck right now, probably because I'm headed into finals this week so I haven't been moving as much (I took 10 credits of summer classes, eeek!) I'm hoping to get it going back down again once I get through this week. My next big goal weight is 185 and I'm hoping to be there around the end of August when classes start back up. My college also offers several free morning workout classes that fit perfectly in my schedule this fall so I will be going to those 2-3 times a week once they start up. I'm hoping that they can help me get in good enough shape to try a judo class during the spring semester, I'd like to try krav maga but they don't offer krav maga. I think it sounds like fun, plus it's something I've never tried and it seems to have great self defense applications. So yeah... that's about all Any advice or tips would be great! I'm planning on posting weekly with updates and to help keep myself accountable and motiivated. Thanks!

Hi! I'm majiksummer, I'm 28 years old (as of last week!) and I'm trying to get in shape and lose some weight. I used to be in really good shape in my early 20's but after having been stuck on bed rest for the last two summers due to several pregnancies that ended in miscarriages and the resulting complications and hormonal issues (basically I was just really sick and stuck in bed for the majority of 2 years) I'm struggling to get the weight back off. This is the first summer I've been able to actually do the things I love again but my lack of physical fitness keeps getting in the way. I barrel race, and the hit my riding has taken from only being able to ride sporadically and the muscle I've lost, well it's been awful. I also love to camp, hike, fish, hunt, basically anything outdoorsy and not being in shape is really hurting my ability to do these things. I'm starting my second year of college and planning on getting my PhD in soil science/ biology so I'm super busy with school. I'm also married to an amazing guy and have 3 great stepkids who spend the summers with my husband and me. I love to read, especially fantasy. I looooove Tolkien as well as most dystopian fiction. When I was in high school and jr. high I would disappear into books constantly, but I decided I want to be the one out living life not just experiencing it from the pages of a book so up until getting sick I had made it a goal to get out and live life. I miss that, I miss me, and I want it back. So my goals and stats: Height 5'10 Highest weight 200lbs (a month and a half ago) Current weight 190lbs (this morning) Goal weight 145-155 lbs Current jean size 11 or 31 Goal jean size 6/8 I'm not positive where exactly I want my weight at, I've been as low as 137 (size 4ish) and I looked and felt great, but I was working on a ranch at the time, I cleaned around 45 stalls everyday, hauled hay, rode horses, did a super physical job for 9 hours a day and ate everything in sight and was still loosing weight. For example I would eat like a whole pizza for dinner and have a huge dessert and maybe a second dessert too. And I was 19 at the time. I just don't feel like that is a realistic goal for where I am in life right now. I just don't really want to have to work that hard again just to look like that. I just want to get back in my size 6/8s and feel stronger and be able to stick with my horse better when I'm barrel racing. Plus I figure I can fine tune the exact size I want to be when I get a little closer. What I've been doing so far I've been eating better, less junk food, more salads, veggies, and meat. I've also been trying to just be more active. I'm riding horses ~3 times a week plus school keeps me on my feet and moving in between classes. I swear my classes are on opposite sides of campus this fall so I'm going to be hustling back and forth across campus several times a day. I feel like my weight has been kind of stuck right now, probably because I'm headed into finals this week so I haven't been moving as much (I took 10 credits of summer classes, eeek!) I'm hoping to get it going back down again once I get through this week. My next big goal weight is 185 and I'm hoping to be there around the end of August when classes start back up. My college also offers several free morning workout classes that fit perfectly in my schedule this fall so I will be going to those 2-3 times a week once they start up. I'm hoping that they can help me get in good enough shape to try a judo class during the spring semester, I'd like to try krav maga but they don't offer krav maga. I think it sounds like fun, plus it's something I've never tried and it seems to have great self defense applications. So yeah... that's about all Any advice or tips would be great! I'm planning on posting weekly with updates and to help keep myself accountable and motiivated. Thanks!