Bring It!

Howdy! (This is what it says when I log into my WordPress account. It always makes me smile. Even WordPress wants in on some Oklahoma action.)

The Packers won the Super Bowl last night! Yay! I was scared for a bit that the Steelers would come back for the win, but the Packers stayed strong! I'm hoping next year my Cowboys will be in the Super Bowl. (I'm an optimist, what can I say.)

I've been feeling pretty frustrated over the last month. I felt as though I was putting forth tons of time at the gym, but I wasn't seeing any better results (in terms of the scale) than others who have just cut out some foods in their diet and don't spend much (if any) time at the gym. As I was talking about this with my sister last night, I mentioned how I don't just want people to look at me and say I'm skinny; I want people to look at me and say, "Wow. That girl spends some time at the gym!" I have always wanted to be fit with very noticeable muscle definition.

Then, the comment that caused my epiphany: "I want to look like _______."

Once that statement left my mouth, it all made sense. I'm not just going to the gym to lose weight; I am going to the gym to build a strong, lean, very muscular body.

Wow! This changes EVERYTHING! It doesn't matter if others lose weight faster than me, nor does it matter if I spend way more time at the gym than anyone else. My goals are different than most other women's goals. Most women's goals are simply to lose weight and be skinny, and the focus isn't so much on muscle building. While my goals also include losing weight and being skinny, I don't want that to be my only result. I want to be lean and muscular. I want to be very physically fit. I want to be able to fuel my body with the right nutrition to maintain that type of physique. In order to achieve these goals, my workout has to be different. Strength training has to be different. The cardio has to be different. It ALL has to be different!

Good grief! Why did it take me so long to figure out this important piece of the puzzle?! Even though I've thought about this often, it didn't really dawn on me just how different my workouts have to be from other women's workouts to achieve the results I want.

There's no better time to have an epiphany like this than the night before starting my 30 day cooking challenge! Oh snap! This is gonna be big. HUGE!

Today is the first day of the challenge, and I must admit, I'm off to a fantastic start! I had my workout this morning with the trainer. I was told that starting today, I am to do less cardio on days I train with him. It felt pretty awesome only doing 10 minutes of cardio prior to my workout! I still had to stretch (boo!), but it wasn't too terrible. I had an hour of strength training and then 20 minutes of cardio at the end of my workout. I have eaten very well this morning, and my lunchbox for work has some nutritious foods in it.

Unfortunately, I am not going to post the results from day 1 until late tonight or tomorrow morning since I won't be off work until 10:30 p.m. and then I have to hit the grocery store. (It's hard to cook healthy meals and snacks when there's no food in the house.) I will say that the chicken I was cooking on the George Foreman grill earlier sounded like it was chirping at me. Seriously. These 30 days are going to be interesting, for sure!

I am most excited for this challenge to begin! It's time to learn how to provide the appropriate fuel for my body to achieve the results I want!

Bring it!