High Five for Friday - Week #9

Four-day work weeks really fly by, don't they? And of course we're all grateful for that! Or at least I can speak for myself and say that I'm grateful for that. Because it was just so quick! And now it's already Friday, and that makes me a happy, happy lady. And in my usual Friday fashion, we're going to do High Five for Friday today, with Lauren Elizabeth.

1. Went to kick boxing last night, and felt great about it actually. Then Angie and I grabbed a super yummy and mostly healthy dinner at Zoe's Kitchen. I also saw two old girlfriends from high school, so we chatted for a few minutes, and made plans to have dinner together one night.

2. Shopping at Francesca's!And then while Angie and I were sitting there, I glanced up at the big sign for that little complex, and saw Francesca's on it! I had no idea we had even gotten one, but apparently it's been there for a few months now. So we walked over and browsed for a while, and Angie got a really cute skirt. And that was our first shopping trip together! #besties ;)

3. Jeff bought me some sunflowers at Trader Joe's last Friday night, and they're still looking gorgeous! So I took a couple of them outside for a little photo shoot. I needed a new picture for a blog button, because I'm sponsoring Living in Yellow this month, so I wanted to use these beauties for that!

4. Four-day work week. Duh.

5. I stumbled into a new hairstyle (for myself, every other girl in the world was already doing this I'm sure), and I'm wearing my cute little side braid to work today. I feel cute and sassy, and my hair isn't all up in my face bothering me. Win-win.

Tonight, Jeff and I are going over to help my parents in their back yard, and get the pool cleaned up and ready for summer time.  And then we'll be going back over again tomorrow, because there's no way we will finish it all in just a few short, after-work hours. Then Sunday we'll be spending some time in our spare bedroom, getting it cleaned up and organized, so that the boys have someplace to stay when they get here next weekend!! Yes, we get them next weekend, and we're both really excited about it. But first, we've got to get their room looking more like a boys' bedroom, rather than a storage room/dump like it's currently being used...

So it will be a busy weekend, full of lots of hard work, but it will be worth it once we can swim in the pool, and enjoy our second bedroom with the boys for the next five weeks! Anyways, it was a good week, and I'm sure we'll have a good weekend. Hope y'all do too!

High Five for Friday - Week #8

If anyone was ever excited to see a Friday roll around, it's on wonderful days like today, because not only is it Friday, but it's the Friday before a 3-day holiday weekend! And who wouldn't be excited about that?! I mean, I get that not everyone gets Monday off, but this State-worker and her husband both do, so that's important :) But before we just fly away and into the sunset of the upcoming weekend, let's do a little High Five for Friday with Lauren Elizabeth first!

1. Angie and I went to kick boxing last night for the first time in a couple weeks. Neither of us wanted to go, and we both pretty much hated it while we were there. It wasn't until like 9pm that we both decided we felt better and were glad we ended up going. High five for endorphins and exercise!

2. On Monday I took Primrose on a short walk around our neighborhood and found a couple of really gorgeous flowers. High five for pretties!

3. I cooked dinner in my crock pot two nights this week, and both turned out stinking delicious. And those "recipes" are always the easiest. Actually, one night I had a pre-seasoned pork roast, so all I had to do was dump that bad boy in there and go on about my business for the next 6ish hours. Easy and yum. High five for 'lazy' cooking and delicious dinners!

4. We had my parents over for dinner on Tuesday night, and it was so much fun. They're air conditioning has been out for the past week, so we invited them over for dinner and a night in the cool air. They enjoyed it, and so did we. High five for family time!

5. My sweet Primrose follows me everywhere y'all. And it's so cute and I love it. I won't be too 'graphic' and share what exactly she's waiting on, but just look at how cute she is :) High five for sweet doggies!

And a sixth one just for fun - I finished book four in the Game of Thrones series the other night. I'm only like one chapter into the fifth and final book so far, but it's good and I can't wait to see how everything wraps up! It's been a really good series, but it's also taking me FOREVER to read, so I'm ready to be done and move on to something else. So high five for finishing this series, in another month or so!

Happy Friday my friends. Hope you had a good week, but that you have an even better weekend! We have zero plans right now, but we do know we'll be heading down for a day at the beach one day this weekend. And that's all I need to know! Looking forward to some rest and relaxation, and also some productivity around the house... See y'all back here on Tuesday! :)

High Five for Friday - Week #4

You guys, I'm really enjoying being back in the blogging world now. The five-month break I took was absolutely necessary, for a couple of reasons, but now that I'm back, I'm so glad to be here. I came back excited about writing, and about sharing my life, and reading about your lives. And I came back refreshed from all the silly blog-drama that goes on when thousands upon thousands of girls are all trying to achieve some level of popularity at this little hobby of ours. It's just silliness really. But it feels good to have gotten some perspective on that.

And now I just want to get back to documenting my life, and my interests, in whatever way I want to, without the pressure to conform or perform, or get 30 bajillion page views a day. So that's what I plan on doing. I just wanted to get that all out in the open now that I've been back for about a month now. Anyways, let's move on and get to the fun that is High Five for Friday with Lauren, because I really do like these posts :)

1. I went to a new kick boxing class with a friend from work last night, and it was killer! It's "cardio kick boxing" so it's very high energy. Thursday's is apparently arms day, and so we did a lot of pushups and little weight things too. Then at the end, she made us all go outside and run a lap around the center, which was probably less than half a mile, but it was still rough. I forgot to wear my Polar heart rate monitor, but I feel like I must have burned like 11,000 calories... Going back again next Thursday though!

2. One of the photo prompts this week for the April photo challenge on Instagram was "Hobby." So I took a photo of some of my very favorite books, and I just like it :)

3. My self-designed blog is so super cute, right? And the best part, it completely fit into our budget this month, because it cost a whopping ZERO dollars since I figured it all out myself. Still not perfect, since I need to tweak and fix a few things, but I'm still loving it :)

4. Speaking of the budget, we cut up some credit cards this week at our weekly Financial Peace University class, and that felt great! We completely paid off one of them last week, and now it will never have a balance again! (The other one was Macy's and it had only been used once in like, 2011, just to get 20% off my swimsuit purchase...)

5. I made this amazing SkinnyTaste Macaroni Casserole for dinner the other night, and it was so stinking yummy!! My pictures may not look magazine-worthy, but let me tell you, this was so delicious, and so easy! I modified the recipe a bit though, because I was scared of the whole not-cooking-the-pasta-ahead-of-time thing. So then once I put it all together, I just put it in the oven long enough to melt the cheese, so like 10-15 minutes.

And since more than just five things need high fives this week, here are a few more awesome things I just want to share today...
- Did y'all see the round robin giveaway on Instagram this week? Well, I won a $10 Amazon card from it!
- I printed a whole bunch of pictures last weekend for the house, and I also updated all the frames and stuff in my office, and it's making me happier.
- I've been reconnecting with a lot of my old blog friends this week and it's been a lot of fun.

So that's about it for today now. This weekend is sure to be fun, because it's the opening concert weekend at the new Cascades park! I won four tickets, so we invited two of our friends to meet at our house, then all go together, so we're looking forward to that. Tonight is also a big block party for the FSU spring game, which is tomorrow. And who knows what else the next few days might hold?! Looking forward to it of course :) Hope y'all have a had an equally good week, and wishing you an even better weekend!

Paint-Splattered 5K Finisher

YOU GUYS!!! I ran my first 5K last weekend!! I've been training for this for the past nine weeks of the summer, by running "longer" distances three times a week, and just one mile two times a week, meaning I ran at least five days a week. I got up at 6 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday in order to follow Hal Higdon's 5K novice training plan, and ran before work three times a week. It was not always fun, and sometimes I hated it - but obviously I'm so glad I did it, and completed a huge accomplishment for me!!

For my 25th birthday, I created a 30 Before 30 list, and I had included "Complete a 5K." I had every intention of doing that, I just didn't know that it would get done before my next birthday! So now I get to cross that off my list! Oh, and for my summer bucket list, I get to cross off "train for a 5K," now that I completed my training plan and the actual race itself!

I had only run the actual 5K distance about two or maybe three times before the race, but I knew all along that I wanted my goal to be under 40 minutes for the race. My couple of training runs had come in under that time, so I was pretty sure I could do it on race day as well...

My wonderful fiance, amazing parents, and sweet Granddaddy all came to support me in my first race. And then my awesome aunt and uncle surprised me and showed up too! I had such a fantastic cheering section! They were at the starting line, then they walked up to one of the color stations, and then found a new spot at the finish line, so I saw all of them three times on my run. It was such a great feeling running past them, while they screamed and cheered and clapped, and of course took pictures. It was like my own little fan club and paparazzi! 

What I didn't take into consideration in my training though, was that it was going to much hotter from 9-10 a.m. during the race, as opposed to 6-7 a.m. when I usually ran. And it. was. super. hot. So hot in fact, that at one point, I had pretty much given up on thinking I could finish in under 40 minutes. My goal changed to "Just finish, Halez - just finish." 

The other tricky thing was that I didn't have my phone with me, mapping my distance. I was afraid it might get messed up, so I didn't keep it on me like usual. So I had no idea how far I had gone, since there were no mile-markers on the course. (At least none that I saw...) I did however wear my Polar heart rate monitor and watch though, so I could time myself. So I was burning up, and had no idea how much was left, but I kept on trucking. And when I hit that last color station around 35 or 36 minutes, I kicked it up a notch, and ran the rest of the way, just hoping it wasn't too much further.

Once I realized how close I actually was, I picked up my speed just a little bit more, and as I crossed under the finish banner, I stopped the timer on my watch as fast as I could. And to my astonishment, I then looked down, and saw I had made it in 38:45!!!!

I finished the race with a fair amount of color on me. Not really much at all. But then I went over to the stage for one of the celebratory color parties, and that's when things got crazy. We all counted down, then we each threw a color packet up in the air, and danced and jumped around in a colorful powdered haze for a few minutes. And it was so much freaking fun! When I returned back to where my family was waiting for me, my Mama kinda shrieked and laughed a little, and immediately got the camera back out. Because after this awesomeness below, I came back looking like this.....

Check out the sweat-concentrated areas around my lips. That's just lovely, right?!

Then I had Jeff follow me around for a little bit, being my personal race-day-photographer, snapping all kinds of pictures here and there. What a great future husband I have :) He got an awesome one of me jumping up in the air with the color party happening behind me, but some large woman decided to get all up in my way, so she ruined it. Jeff's going to Photoshop her right on outta there though, and then I'll share that awesomeness with y'all. 

This was something that even just a year ago I wouldn't have thought I would even try, nonetheless actually finish. And hello - not only did I finish, but I actually had fun too! I am honestly just so stinking proud of myself. I've always hated running, but crazy something happened in February, and I just gave it a try one day. Now, just a little over six months later, I ran my first 5K, and I would actually call myself a bit of a runner. What kind of craziness is this?!

This was a great first race for me to do, because it's kind of given me a little bit of a taste to try out more now. I think if I do find other races to run, they'll need to be sometime fun or different or unique - not just a boring, serious race. I've heard rumors that The Color Run will be back in Tally in March, and if that's true, I'm signing up faster than you can imagine. It was a blast, and I would love to do it again!

Much Colorful Love,
Halie

Oh, and P.S. - I also painted my nails kinda cool for The Color Run. I tried out a new tutorial for paint-splatter nails, and it turned out pretty decent. It's not my favorite mani I've ever done, but I didn't hate it. And it started growing on me even more as I wore it. I think I might try it again, but just with only two colors, instead of six. But for this super colorful event, six colors was absolutely necessary.

P.P.S. - I'm linking up with Glitter & Gloss for Mani Monday, and Sami's Shenanigans for Weekend Shenanigans!

Preparing to Run a 5K

Despite how exhausted I'm feeling right now (a 2.5-mile early morning run will do that to ya...), I'm still so freaking excited this morning! Why you ask? Well......I'm excited because I finally broke 180, and I'm now into a new weight decade!

Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, July 31 = 181.6

Today, August 7 = 179.4

Sheesh. It feels like it took close to forever to finally break out of the 180's, but honestly, I don't even care right now because I'm just so happy to have done it. Of course it wasn't near as quickly as I would have liked (considering my goal was 180 by my sister's wedding on May 18th....), but I didn't give up and I finally made it. It really feels quite strange actually, to know that my weight is in the 170's. Anyone know what I mean by that?  I mean, to be well over 200 for so long, and now to say I weigh 170-something -- it's just a bit of a strange feeling! But don't you get me wrong, it's definitely a good kind of strange, if that makes any sense!

Anyways, workouts are going great still, even though I wasn't able to make it to zumba at all last week. I was still able to exercise at least a tiny bit almost every day during the week, and I typically rest both weekend days, although I'm trying to change that...

Wednesday: lunch-time ab class & a quick 1/2-mile run before it started storming like crazy (524 cals)
Friday: 2.27-mile run before work (392 calories)
Monday: 2.5-mile run before work and 40-minute lunch-time walk with my aunt (602 calories)
Tuesday: 1.2-mile run and an hour of zumba (898 calories)
Wednesday: 2.5-mile run before work (352 calories) and I'm going back to the ab class again at lunch

Rocking my mismatched socks. Life's too short to waste time trying to match socks, am I right?!

So here's a running update for y'all now, and a bit of a non-scale victory. I first started this running journey back in mid-February. When I began, I felt like I could barely run one lap on the track without hyperventilating and having to take a quick walk break. I eventually pushed until I could run half a mile without walking, and then got my mile time down from 16:30ish to right at 12 minutes, with some walking still. Well now, I can somewhat easily run right around 1.25 miles without walking at all, and I do it in about 11:30. Hello improvement!

My 5K training is going great, and I really do feel like each week I can feel myself getting stronger and becoming a better runner. This week, I'm at 2.5 miles, three days a week, and it feels pretty good. I'm doing it right around 30 minutes, which I think is pretty good for me. And speaking of 5K training, my friends and I finally all decided on a cute name for our team for The Color Run - the Painted Pixies! So cute right!? And it fits my P-theme perfectly for my blog :) We are exactly one month away from race day, and I am just so stinking excited about it!!

I officially registered, created our team, and paid my fee last night, so there's no turning back now! I'll be running in my very first 5K race in just 31 days. I think my goal will be to finish the whole thing in 40ish minutes, but if it takes longer, I'm not going to beat myself up about it too much, because we'll be having so much fun going through each of the color stations! Here's the map of where we'll be running here in town. It's down on FSU's campus, so it will at least be a fun route through the gorgeous campus!

All-in-all, things are going great on the weight loss front, and on the running front. I'm Preparing to Run a 5K, and I'm feeling really anxious and excited for it. I'm glad the first one I do is going to be the Color Run, because I just think it will be so much fun - especially with awesome girlfriends running with me! Who knew that I would one day be excited about running? I sure never would have guessed that. But I'm honestly so proud of myself for doing it, and sticking to it even when I don't feel like it. Becoming a runner is a weird thing for me, but it's been a good journey so far!

Thanks for all y'all's love and support on this journey with me! It truly does mean so much and make me so happy and give me warm fuzzy feelings inside this little heart of mine :)

Much Love,
Halie

Picking A Team Name & Friday's Letters

Dear Friday: Always nice to see you.

Dear Fiance: I just want you to know how freaking excited I am to marry you! We are just over two months away, and I'm more than ready :) I mean, the wedding-planning-part is fun and all, but I think the actual being-married-part is going to be wayyy more awesome. Can hardly wait!

Dear 5K Training: I'm now officially halfway done, and I'm feeling great. This morning's run was scheduled for 2.25, and the first mile ended up being my fastest one yet, at 10:40. That's such a crazy huge improvement y'all! Remember when I first started running in February, my mile was around 15 minutes? So I've now been able to shave off 5 minutes from when I first began - that's crazy!






Dear Color Run Team: Seriously, we have got to pick ourselves a name so we can get registered for the race! I don't want us to miss the early registration discount, and I certainly don't want it to get full before we sign-up. So let's get a move on here, shall we?!

Dear Angie: The wedding invitations are looking sooo good so far! You really have grasped our ideas and vision so well, and you're doing an awesome job. Every time you text me to say you've emailed updates or another draft, I just about pee my pants trying to check my email fast enough. I can't wait to see how they turn out once you're all done in a few more days! Eeeek!

Dear Shutterfly: You rock. I ordered my book last Wednesday night, around 11 pm, and then got an email on Friday saying it was shipped. Well then I got it already this Wednesday - and it's perfect! I love it so so very much, and it's going to make the perfect guest book for our wedding. (Below is the front cover, which came out so amazing.)

Dear Twins: I'm excited for y'all's birthday party tomorrow morning! I just really super hope it doesn't rain and ruin the whole thing, since we're planning on having it outdoors at the park! So weather? I'm gonna need you to cooperate with us again this weekend, mmmkay? Thanks.

Dear Blog Friends & Real-Life Friends: Thank you all so so much for so many kind words of encouragement on Tuesday during my little pity-party/whiny day. Seriously, it wasn't even that big of a deal, but you guys were all so sweet and it made me feel so much better! I'm back to feeling more like myself again now, and things are feeling great :)

Looking forward to another fun, summer weekend with family and friends, and Jeff and the twins! (I honestly love it when I kinda rhyme on accident.) And hopefully we can get some more wedding planning and/or wedding shopping done, so I can cross some more things off my list! Happy Friday y'all, and happy weekend!

Much Love,
Halie

Push Harder, I Must

Welp, I had some issues with my alarm again this morning - the issue being that I turned them off in a semi-sleep state, and then proceeded to go back to sleep for far too long. Thus resulting in missing another regularly scheduled day of running before work. Sooo, I'll attempt to do today's run tonight after work, and hopefully I don't pass out from the heat. But let's get to the reason we're all here today - it's weigh-in Wednesday!

Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, July 24 = 181.4

Today, July 31 = 181.6

I think we're just gonna act like this week is a 'maintain' week, because I mean the 'gain' is only 2 ounces, and that's really nothing at all. So this week is basically the same as last week. Womp, womp. I'd rather it be the same than a couple of pounds gained though, so I'm not complaining. I am however a little upset, because I really wanted to officially hit 180 by the end of July, and that didn't quite happen.

Why did I want to hit 180 by the end of the month, you ask? This time last year was when I first set my first goal weight of 180, when I made my 25 Before 25 list last July. At the time, I was doing OK with losing weight and was probably around 197 or so. But then I stopped caring for a few months, and by December I had hit 217. So I was determined to make that 180 mark by this July, to round out the year. And I came so stinking close! But I still missed it by just around a pound and a half. Dumb. 

That also means I didn't meet my goal to lose four more pounds this month. I should have made it to 179 in order to meet that goal, but still, I was just a couple pounds off from that. (My original goal was set at the beginning of June, to lose four pounds a month, for the next four months, in order to reach my wedding day goal of 170.) I lost four in June, and just two in July. I'm ready to keep going though, and get back on track and lose four more in August. 

Even though I've missed my morning runs both Monday and today, I'm still officially training for my 5K. I ran yesterday morning to make up for Monday, and I'll run tonight to make up for this morning. Then Friday morning I'll get back to my regular running schedule. I've also started doing stuff before bed every night, to work out my arms, shoulders and back. I have little 5-pound hand weights, and I go through a circuit of about five different moves to target those areas, then I do some push-ups as well. (Oh, and some squats are mixed in there in combination with some arm stuff.) 

Google made all my silly selfies into a GIF! Awesome.

I think starting tomorrow, I'm going to attempt two full weeks of being as carb-free as possible. This is always such a huge challenge for me, considering how much I like things such as bread, pasta, potatoes and just carbs in general. But I think it'll be a great way to kick-start the month of August, and get my eating habits back on track a bit more. I've gotten pretty lax with it lately, so I really need to reign it in a bit, in order to make the most out of all the exercise I'm putting in, rather than wasting it by eating so unhealthy. 

So here's to a new month, new goals, and another four pounds off this body. In order to do that, I must push myself harder. I just need to find a new way to motivate myself a little more, in order to light a new fire of determination and focus. What are some of y'all's little tips and tricks for staying motivated? Do you make yourself some sort of reminder? Do you spend hours looking at 'fitspiration' quotes? Do you have certain music that gets you in the mood to workout? Please tell me! I love hearing new suggestions and ideas, and I could really use some right now. So help me keep myself on track with some fresh motivation!

Much Love,

Halie

Plan for Success

No beating around the bush today, because I'm kinda in a hurry here before work starts. Plus y'all know what Wednesday's are all about around this part of the internets...

Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, July 17 = 182.2

Today, July 24 = 181.4

And that puts me at a loss of .8 for the past week. Small, but still gladly welcomed. Total, that means I'm still sitting around a 45-pound loss total, and hello? That's obviously nothing to be upset about. Now some more exciting news for the week, I found a 4th girl to run The Color Run with myself, Jenni and Lacey, so we can make a 4-person team! (And get a bit of a discount on registration fees!) My blog-friend turned real-life-friend Angie agreed this weekend to join us, so now we just get to come up with a fun team name, then make something cute we can all wear to the race! I'm so pumped to have these awesome girls run my first 5K with me! Training for the 5K is still going good, and as of this morning, I just completed week 3, day 2. I ran 2.14 miles in 25:11 minutes, or there about... 

It seems I'll forever be obsessed with the Fast & Furious franchise. But this song is pretty awesome y'all!

I say that because I seem to be having serious issues with the GPS in my phone, because my running apps can't seem to get it quite right. I've historically always used RunKeeper for biking, running and hiking (and I've always loved it!), but then it's been messing up every run for the last four times in a row. So I downloaded MapMyRun and NikeRunning to test out. This morning I used MapMyRun, and things were still a bit off - not as bad as with RunKeeper, but the map still needed to be edited from the computer once I was done. So I guess next I'll try NikeRunning and see how it does, and hopefully it will be more accurate that the first two. What apps do y'all use to track your runs? Are there better ones out there? Or is it just issues with my Verizone iPhone 4 and it's GPS signals...?

Anyways, my workouts are going good, and since I've started running in the morning, I'm now consistently working out five days a week. And I'm feeling great!

Thursday: 1/2-mile run, and an hour of zumba (700 calories)

Friday: 1.66-mile run (281 calories)

Monday: 1.84-mile run before work, and 40-minutes walking the stairs at lunch with my aunt (634 calories)

Tuesday: .39-mile test run (of MapMyRun) and an hour of zumba (641 calories)

Wednesday: 2.14-mile run (318 calories)

And that's about all I've got to share with y'all today! I'm still doing my ViSalus shakes for breakfast and lunch, and lately my snacks have been a small red apple around 10 am, and a reduced-fat string cheese around 3:30 pm. I know I've been eating too many carbs though for dinner time, so I'm going to start focusing on that again more closely for a while. And then I might want to try something a bit extreme again, food-wise, for a little while, in order to kick my weight loss up a notch as we get closer and closer to wedding day! Maybe I should go carb-free again? Or do something similar to the Daniel Fast where I basically ate vegan? I don't know - I'll have to plan and think about all that for a bit before I rush into any decisions.

My plan is still to reach 170 by the wedding, which means I have about 11 pounds to lose in 73 days. Seems like quite a challenge, but I'm still up for it. I just need to make myself a more concrete Plan for Success, and I know I can succeed.

For now though, I'll just keep doing what I can, and keep on trucking. I'm slowly, oh-so-slowly, starting to reach my goals, and I'm honestly so proud of myself. So #SorryImNotSorry for posting my updates and workouts on Instagram all the time...I've come a long way, and honestly I just want to brag on myself sometimes. And plus, I know that it can help motivate others as well, and I love hearing from other girls that I've helped inspire them! Such a huge inspiration for me actually to hear that, so please feel free to share that with me anytime ;)

Happy Hump Day!

Much Love,

Halie

Peanut Butter Cup Shake: Weigh-In Day

Good morning friends and bloggers! Again, I'm immediately drawn back to remembering that silly commercial with the camel who's so dang excited it's hump day - and I guess I'm pretty excited myself actually! We've gotten two days down so far this week, and by lunch time today, we'll be on the downhill slide towards the weekend. And who doesn't love the weekend?! And since it's hump day, that means let's talk about my lady lumps... that was too weird, wasn't it...?

Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, July 10 = 184.2

Today, July 17 = 182.2

Hooray! I'm very happy to report that I was not only able to shed all my weight gain from last week (the result of too much food and fun over a long holiday weekend...), but I am just slightly below where I was from two weeks ago, at 182.8. I was able to lose all my holiday weight, plus a tiny bit more, and now I'm honestly feeling really good about myself :)

I've been killin' my workouts the past couple of weeks, and I think I can actually feel my endurance increasing as I run more and more. As of this morning, I've now completed week 2, day 2 of my 5K training plan.(Although I didn't run quite enough this morning because I slept in too late, so I cut my run a bit short.) Last week, I worked out five days in a row, Monday-Friday. That's probably the first time I've ever done that. And most of those days, I burned an insane amount of calories because I was playing games with kids all night while leading games and rec for VBS with Jeff's church. So let's start with where we left off last week...

Wednesday: 1.52-mile run early in the morning before work (262 calories) 

Thursday: 1-mile run, 1 hour of zumba & lots of VBS games (1224 calories)

Friday: 1.53-mile run in the morning, & 1.16-mile run after work, & lots of VBS games (1018 calories)

Monday: 1.94-mile run in the morning, & 40-minute lunchtime walk with my aunt (665 calories)

Tuesday: .5-mile run & 1 hour of zumba (837 calories)

Wednesday: 1.05-mile run (204 calories)

See? I've bee killin' the workouts this past week! Hallelujer. And I've been eating pretty healthy too. Doing my ViSalus shakes for breakfast and lunch, eating apples and reduced-fat cheese sticks for my snacks, and making healthy choices for dinner. Go me! I'm pumped with my progress these past few weeks, and I feel like I'm in a very good place to keep up the hard work. Before I end this though today, I want to share my measurements again, because it's been quite a while since I've done that.

Peanut-Butter-Cup ViSalus shake. Soooo yummy, and only like 255 calories!

January                             April 24                       July 17

Shoulders - 43.5                 Shoulders - 39.5            Shoulders - 39

Chest (Boobs) - 45           Chest (Boobs) - 42.5     Chest (Boobs) - 42

Upper Arm - 16.5          Upper Arm - 15          Upper Arm - 14

Hips - 52                         Hips - 46.5                    Hips - 45

Upper Waist/Ribs - 40       Upper Waist/Ribs - 36      Upper Waist/Ribs - 35.5

Upper Thigh - 28               Upper Thigh - 24.5          Upper Thigh - 24.25

Neck - 15                          Neck - 14                     Neck - 14

Calf - 17.5                     Calf - 17.5                     Calf - 17.5

Around Chin/Head - 25      Around Chin/Head - 22.5     Around Chin/Head - 22.5

So, I don't have time right now to do all the math and see how many inches I've lost, but you can obviously tell that there are some huge differences in some of those areas! Like hello?! Hips, 7 inches! Ribs, 5 inches! Thighs, almost 4 inches! I mean I know I'm not yet where I'm supposed to be, or where I want to be - but I'm CERTAINLY making huge progress, even if it's taking me forever to get there. I'm just focusing on One Pound at a Time!

Much love to y'all,
Halie

Packed It On During the Holiday Weekend

Ladies, you know what really stinks? Having to learn a lesson the hard way - multiple times. I've learned this particular one many times in this weight loss journey, but for some stupid reason, it's the one I struggle the most with. FOOD MATTERS. I've preached before about not eating back all the calories you exercise away, and not eating the stuff that you know is super bad for you - and yet, I just keep doing it myself, all too often. Let's see the damage from this past holiday weekend....

Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, July 3 = 182.8

Today, July 10 = 184.2

So today, I have the 'fun' of reporting a gain of 1.5 pounds. It seems that unfortunately, I Packed It On During the Holiday Weekend. Oh, and I took my measurements last night, and I actually have gained back another inch as well. Gross. I knew this was coming though - I weighed myself on Sunday morning, and it wasn't pretty. In fact, it was a bit higher than today even. So for the past three days I've been much more careful than I was from last Wednesday - Sunday, and luckily, I've been able to see the scale go down a bit even in just the last couple of days. The goal for now is to be back down to 182 by next Wednesday, so I'll be pushing myself pretty hard to get there...

However, even though the scale went up, I've been doing pretty good this week with exercising, because I officially started my 5K training this week! On Monday morning, I got up super early and ran 1.5 miles before work. And let me tell you, it really wasn't bad! The weather was pretty nice, and it felt good to get that done first thing in the morning. And as a great bonus, I got to see a beautiful sunrise while I ran too.

 I'm using Hal Higdon's novice 5K plan, so I'll be gradually working my way to more and more miles each week. Then hopefully I'll be ready to run my first 5K in September, and be able to complete The Color Run!! I'm super excited about it, and I think it'll be tons of fun, especially since two of my closest girl friends and bridesmaids will be running it with me! Hooray!

At lunch time on Monday, I also walked for about 40 minutes with my aunt, and burned another 320 calories. Then last night I ran a mile, went to zumba, then played tag with kids while leading games at VBS, and burned a whopping total of 1,411 calories total!!

I got up again this morning and ran the 1.5 miles for today, and I am going to see if I can squeeze in just one more mile right before VBS tonight too. I'm trying to just do as much as possible, so I can keep improving my stamina, pace and endurance. Oh, and of course I want to get rid of this jiggle I got goin' on too. #OperationNoMoreJiggle is definitely still taking place and I'm more fired up about it now after a bit of a holiday binge as well. So come join me on this journey too! 

You can follow along with me and all my updates through Instagram, MyFitnessPal, and RunKeeper.

I'm trying to eat as healthy as possible for the next week so that I can lose this extra pound and a half I packed on during all the July 4th festivities. And I'm also trying to work out 5-6 days this week as well. So far I'm 3 for 3, with plans to go to zumba tomorrow, and run before work again on Friday. So as if I can make myself get up and do something on Saturday, that will be day six! So here's to healthy eating and six workouts in a week. I won't let this little gain get the best of me, but instead I'll use it to push myself harder again. Let's do this!

Progress - One Pound at a Time

It's been pretty rainy, sticky and gross here in Florida for the past few days, and I for one am done with it. Especially since tomorrow is the 4th of July, and anything but bright, beautiful sunshine is just unacceptable for holiday festivities. So I'm going to need the rain clouds to empty themselves quickly and then move on outta here, so tomorrow can be spent soaking up the sun, and sporting as much red, white and blue as possible - not including my blue and white umbrella...

But for today, let's have a little chat about my weight loss progress, mmmkay?

Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, June 26 = 184.2

Today, July 3 = 182.8

And with today's weigh-in, that's another 1.4 pound loss. Y'all remember how I'm trying to lose four pounds, for four months, in order to reach 170 by the wedding? Well with today's weigh-in, that means I successfully lost four pounds in June for month one! And that also means I'm well on my way to losing four more in July, and reaching my goal of 179 by July 31st. Totally gonna make it - I can feel it.

Really, I've been kinda lazy for the past week, and hardly exercised at all. So that just goes to show how much my eating habits can definitely have a huge impact on this whole losing weight extravaganza. I mean, I actually only worked out once in the past week, so it's not like I burned a ton of calories in order to lose that weight. Last Wednesday after work I ran two miles, and burned 450 calories. But that's it y'all, that's the only time I've exercised in a week.

I know I used this already last week, but it's all I've got since I only exercised once, OK?!

A big difference though this weekend however, was that I didn't go buck wild and eat whatever the heck I wanted to. Sure, I definitely had some "unhealthy" things, but for the most part, I stuck to my ViSalus shakes for breakfast and lunch, and just made a few healthier decisions at dinner time. And I think that's also a pretty great example of how well the shakes are working for me! One workout a week, lots of Vi-Shakes, and healthy foods - and I managed a 1.4 loss. Sounds great to me!

I'm still working on #OperationNoMoreJiggle, and next week I plan to get back into my routine again like normal. I'll be back to zumba and running, and some random bike rides and stuff thrown in there as well. Oh, and I'm also officially going to start training for my very first 5K, which is coming up in September. I'll be using Hal Higdon's novice plan for beginners, and my plan is to get up and run in the morning before getting ready for work. So we'll see how that goes... 

And I'd still love for you to use this fun hashtag with me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. I want us to encourage and motivate each other, and of course just show off each and every workout we complete cuz y'all know that's what I do. Anyways, hashtag any workouts or healthy food, or anything you please that might motivate us to work on getting rid of that jiggle we all hate!

So what are y'all doing to improve your health and fitness? Are you also on this crazy weight loss journey as well? I always love finding new friends that are also working on stuff like this, in order to motivate and inspire us both! So come find me on MyFitnessPal, RunKeeper and Instagram to keep up with all this, and we can be friends :)

Overall, and despite of my laziness this past week, things are still going great on this weight loss journey. It's still never easy (and sometimes it feels like it's never ending), but I know it's not only necessary, but it's also worth it. In the end, I'll be so much more healthy, and that's what's really important anyways! So I'm still pushing forward and making progress, one pound at a time.