Runner? Nope not I

OH BOY....it's been a hectic few days! After the endless (oh, ok not really) debates  between which gym to join I made my decision and purchased my membership!! I'll accept internet high-fives and pat's on the back.....aww shucks thanks guys! Anywho I ran there during my lunch break on Monday and got a tour saw the class schedule and really liked the staff so it reassured my choice.....that is until I walked into the weight area.....dun dun dunnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!! I felt SOOOOO out of place and by that I mean that I am a small (short) little (fat) girl who is trying to lose weight and transform my body and who are there while on my tour? None other than MEAT HEADS!!!!! Well for those who don't know me personally and just follow I am NO meat head I am almost the exact opposite. That was the only hesitation I had and I was reassured that during "normal" hours you see the whole range of the spectrum of people who are trying to get in a workout as well...phew that is a relief!

Even though I got my membership on Monday I didn't get the chance to go until tonight. I've had some weird sinus congestion/infection/just don't feel good. I still don't feel the best but I made myself go! I got on the treadmill and walked/ran for 1 mile **Note mile's ran tracker on the right side towards the bottom** I accidentally turned the treadmill off after being on it for 10 minutes so I probably did more like 1.5 miles with the entire 30 minutes on there, but oh well!

The one thing that I took away from my cardio workout today was that I AM SO OUT OF SHAPE! Like wow! I have never been a runner I always use to hate it but I want to become a runner. However, I am not sure the correct way to go about it. Are there any good ways to go from not running in years to being able to run? I mean it has to be possible from all the success stories I see/hear they never ran and are now running marathon's and races. And as ambitious and out there it may be I want to work towards that! Maybe not full marathons (not for a year or two) but like a 5k or a 10k or something to push myself to see if I can do it. Well I guess we'll see where my workouts go the next month or so and take it from there.


So over the past few day's I've also been trying different recipes I have been finding on other blogs and putting them to use and also just trying different things. Here are some of my creations: 

Turkey sandwich on wheat bagel thin with spinach...yum!

Fresh made salsa with organic chips...best snack ever!

 

 

Over the past few day's I've also made some fun purchases and received some delayed birthday gifts. As any girl knows you always need new stylish clothes for the gym so I picked up a few new shirts today at Target. It may be cheap but their athletic like (by Champs I think) but I love it! I have a bunch of different items from their line and will continue to build my collection as time goes on. 


For any who don't know I am a die-hard Michigan State Spartan fan! I am a proud alumni of MSU and still support them every year with season tickets. Thankfully we are only about 2 hours from East Lansing so we are able to attend again this year. I always like to get new gear for the new tailgate season and this year was no different. I found a collegiate line at Old Navy and picked up these items for the season:

Great fall shirt as well as potential workout shirt

It is a men's sweatshirt however I do like mine baggier

The final item I received was my Thirty-One items! Yay!!!! I have already put the thermal lunch tote to use. I use it daily for my snacks and lunch when I'm going to work. I love love love it! I have yet to be able to use my apron but it is also tres cute. I am very happy with both of the purchases and think they were the best birthday gift I have got myself in a long time.

Perfect size for all my snacks and lunch!

Well that is all for right now I am going to call it an early night and hope that I can kick whatever is making me feel icky! Sweet dreams everyone!

5-4-3-2-1

So as I sit here at work catching up on the blogs I read working really really hard to meet my goals I came across a fun thing some bloggers are doing right now and I decided to take a TV-Timeout from work and breath and do something for myself. So I am jumping on board the train and completing the 5-4-3-2-1. These ladies are so inspirational! So ready or not, here we go!

5 Words to Describe Myself

It is sometimes tough to talk about yourself in a positive light when you don't always feel that way about yourself. Here are the ones I have come up with, am I missing any?

• Smart
• Outgoing
• Funny
• Caring
• Devoted

4 Favorite Foods

Food and I have always had a love/hate relationship. I love it and it.....well....nope it loves me too :-). Even though the below are some of my favorite ALL-TIME foods, sadly they are ones I know I need to cut out of my life now and that is going to have to be ok!  (Disclaimer - The occasional dough-ball may be consumed when in Caro, MI...the only place I know where they are sold!)

 

• Dough Balls
• Raseberry Ribbon Pie
• Mexican (ok ok so this is a food "group" but still anything and everything Mexican!)
• Cake Batter

3 Things I'm Most Proud of Accomplishing 

Wow, I have to say this is the hardest one thus far. I know I have done a lot in my life to be proud of and that I have accomplished a lot however, I can't seem to find those right now. Looking back on my life it doesn't really seem to be as though there are a TON of exciting accomplishments that I have come by. 

 

• Living abroad in England for 5 months. Most rewarding time of my life!
• Making decisions daily which make my family and friends proud of me.
• Starting the journey I am on to change my life.

2 Favorite Workouts

Working out...something that I need to and am going to be doing more often. It has not ever really been a part of my daily life (despite gym memberships and attempting to go). 

• Zumba (thanks to my girlfriend Natalie for introducing me to it!)
• Golfing - not a true workout however it is a great workout carrying a bag of clubs roughly 5 miles in the summer heat

1 Thing to Expect from my Blog

There are a bunch of things I expect to get out of my blog and to have to pick just one is tough. I know that this blog is going to bring so many different and positive things to my life so here we go....

• A life-long change

This change is going to be accomplished with all of your help. Whether you think or feel so it makes a difference to me and really is helping to push and fuel me! So thank you all!

Hard work and dedication does pay off!

So sorry for the delay in posting it's been a crazy whirlwind couple of days; both good and bad! I'll work on catching you up with all of my trivial happenings here in the Hoosier state. To start with.....I am now an OFFICIAL Hoosier! Let's all show some excitement I really don't care if you show it or not because let's be honest, I'm not all that thrilled either, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After spending 2.5 hours at the BMV (yes it's called the BMV in Indiana) and having to run to my office to print out my paystub's I was finally able to sit and take my test. A test??? UGH!!!! Thankfully, unlike the boy sitting next to me I passed my test! Yes, that means the poor boy next to me failed, I won't lie that scared me a little bit and made me 2nd guess the rest of my questions.

John and I had a free weekend for only the second time since we have been living here so we decided to take a road trip on Saturday. We headed to the casino in New Buffalo, MI and went to lose a bunch of hard earned money win big, which sadly did not happen. After an extended time (45 mins) at the casino and enough money later we ended decided it was not our day to break the casino's out of all their money so we left.

I had vacationed in New Buffalo a few years ago with my extended family and had ate at a fun burger joint called "Redamaks". John wasn't there with us at the time so he wanted to try it out for himself so we ventured over there to have some lunch. I knew there wasn't going to be too many healthy options so I decided to just give in to the temptation and enjoy a cheese burger. For as bad as I know it was for me it was sooooooooooooooooooo yummy and delicious!

As some of you frequent readers may remember me mentioning 3 of my fellow co-workers all decided to up and quite within 24 hours of each other (made for a not-so-fun week at work) but it lead to a group bar night on Friday after work. It was ok I headed out and enjoyed a few drinks and decided it was time to call it an early night and meet up with John for dinner. We decided upon Chili's (not going to go there again anytime soon) and we regretted it the second we started looking at the menu. Now this being the first real time I had been out to a chain restaurant since I have been 100% on my journey and it was interesting. Instead of going for the usual fried food with loaded mashed potatoes or something similar I looked for the healthy options which they had. I settled upon a southwest chicken wrap that was actually really tasty and not that bad for me!

While we are on the topic of foods here are some of the pictures of things from the last few days which I've been consuming:

Sunday Dinner - whole wheat 3 cheese something with spinach salad

Grocery trip on Thursday, healthiest I have ever had!

My new favorite snack, edamame

John made a mean steak for us on Saturday night! We split this 16oz steak, it was perfect for both of us!

These along with my dedication the past week has lead to a.......wait for it.............me loosing...............FIVE POUNDS!!!!!! For not having gone to the gym or done any significant exercise since I started my journey I'm very happy with 5lbs. My plan is to weigh myself every Sunday morning or every other Sunday morning.....any thoughts out there which may be a better idea? I would for sure love the input!

After seeing results after only one week motivates me even more for my journey and I am so looking forward to the next year! I know that this is only the beginning and the purchase of my gym membership along with a personal trainer (hopefully, still debating about that) will lead me to an overall healthier me! Can't wait to share the journey with all who are following!!!

No Sweet's Challenge

I have been following a few different bloggers recently and one of them is 'My Journey to a Healthy Berg'. She too is on a journey (and has been for much longer than I have) and she is challenging herself to a no sweet's challenge. After reading her most recent blog I have decided that I too will join in on the no sweet's challenge.

Now I'm sure most of you are thinking to yourself: No Terran don't do it! What will you ever do, how will you crave you sweet tooth  Go Terran, but in your minds are thinking hmmm...sweet's mean different things to different people to which I wittingly respond DUH sillies! Sweet's to me encompasses a BUNCH of things:

Dr. Pepper, Ritters Frozen Custard and Slurpee's are just a minimal amount of sweet's which I would and could consume on a weekly basis. My goal for the next 30 days (start out small and work my way up....baby steps ya'll) is to cut out all soda, candy, desserts, ice cream, cookies and anything which I feel is not a good idea to put into my body and will hinder my ultimate goal. So follow along as I try my damnedest to cut sweet's out of my life for the next 30 days and hopefully continue on past that!

Earthquakes in Indiana?!?!

So as many of you probably heard there was an earthquake yesterday in the D.C. area in the early afternoon. Well I kid you not I felt it all the way in South Bend, Indiana!!! Here's how the story goes:

• 1:55ish I was sitting at my desk and got either a) dizy and saw things swaying or b) felt an aftershock or just the rumbilings of the earthquake
• 1:58ish I went over to my friend Yuri's cube and said, and I quote "Ok I may be crazy but I think I just felt an earthquake, I promise I saw my cube swaying a little bit" Yuri's response: "Yes you are crazy, or high one or the other"
• 2:10ish a few of my other co-workers were talking about the news that DC just had an earthquake and I proceeded to tell them that "I felt it!"which is when they felt the need to call me crazy and insinuate (pat on the back to myself for using that word) that I had done some illegal activities during my lunch (in case you were wondering of course I did not!)
• 5:30ish Terry, my trainer and fellow co-worker calls me into his cube to show me his Facebook where it is asking any South Benders who felt the quake to report it, and naturally he egged me on to report it. So.....................NO DUMMIE I did not report it. 

Pretty much that is how the story goes of how I felt my first real earthquake in the mid-west :-)I'm sure some of you who are reading this may have felt the quake in your own way!

While I have been hmmming and hawwwying about which gym I want to join, whether or not I want a personal trainer for a few months to show me the correct exercises I should be doing etc. I have been reading other people's journey's to loose weight and get fit and they are so motivating and moving I can only hope to be as successful as some of the people I am following out there. One of the things I have taken away from their blogs is that you can not be afraid to get the number out there, to share before photos etc., it helps to keep yourself motivated and helps others to see what you want to reach so they can help motivate you. So with that being said I've decided to post a "fatty" picture and a "wanna-be" photo.

April 2011 - Size: 16 Weight: FAT Feeling: extremely embarrassed

November 2005 - Size: 10 Weight: 160ish Feeling: sexy and fit

Now some of you may say to your self "Terran, weighing 160 is still overweight" to which I'll respond "Now my friends, the skinniest I ever was back in the day I only weighed 155 and was a size 8 which is where I aspire to be" I was always athletic when I was younger and going away to college and binge drinking and not working out and being lazy, a fat ass, a drunkie really you can pick from any of the following caused me to GULP double my pant size over a 6 year time frame. **Can I just say I am truly embarrassed by that and really wish I had the genes my sister Brett has?? That girl can eat whatever the hell she wants and still is a little skinny mini** I really hope that I can stay dedicated to this because I want to look that sexy again for when I celebrate my quarter-century birthday next August.

I think that I am going to start seeing some negative numbers on the scale within the next few weeks. After all the above mentioned hmmmmming and hawwwwying I did finally decided that I am going to join the gym FitStop which is not the gym conveniently located across the street from my apartment. There were a few reasons why I have chosen FitStop over Anytime Fitness.

1. The classes the gym offers seem to fit both my schedule and what I want to do better than Anytime
2. One of my fellow co-workers is a certified personal trainer and has offered to help me out with some discounted sessions of personal training (bonus!!! - for those who haven't looked into it at all trainers seem to want to charge a BUTT load for sessions)
3. Knowing someone where I work out and can hold me accountable and give me a hard time for not seeing me there for a few days/weeks (which I hope is not going to be the case) will help to be a better motivator as well

So overall I am happy with my decision and can not wait till payday (Friday) to go purchase my membership so I can start getting my fat ugly ass to look like a firm cute ass! Make sure you keep checking back for more updates on my journey as well as pictures of different things: food, Brock, and most importantly how my journey is going! 

Fed to the shark's = motivation? Sure!

Since I started my new job in Indiana at a small proprietary college as an admissions recruiter I have felt as though my career needs to be something much better than this. In the past 24 hours 3 count them T-H-R-E-E of my coworkers (out of 10 mind you) have up and quit. Now I am still in the run around the building and pretend like we are learning training phase of the job, however I have a feeling that isn't going to make a difference when it comes down to it. I have a feeling we are going to be thrown into the shark's and be expected to become experts in a matter of days. Come on people! **tonight may be a down-a-bottle of wine and reevaluate my life decisions kind of night** I can't complain too much though because I myself am looking for a new position which is more along the lines of what I was doing in Detroit (I worked in Human Resources) so I can't be THAT mad. I think it actually is giving me more motivation and a desire for a better job that it ties in so well with my goals of this blog and the next 11 1/2 months.

Ahhhh but enough of trivial work bs now onto the boring and mundane things I talk about on here fun things that have been going on!! Since I last posted on Monday I am happy to say that I have done really really really well and I can tell that I am starting to feel better as well. I've mixed it up in terms of what I have been eating and snacking on and I think it has helped me to look forward to the next thing to eat.

3 egg whites and 1 egg + (new fav) a Kashi cherry granola bar

Mixed berry smoothie + Kashi coconut granola bar

The smoothie's have been the hardest meal for me to triumph over, and it's not because I don't like the taste. (Ok ok it's not 100% because I don't like the taste). I had tried a few different ways in terms of ingredients and recipes to concoct the perfect tasteful smoothie. Now the main thing to note is that I DO NOT DRINK MILK OR EAT YOGURT.....with that being said I have found that it is almost impossible to create a good-for-you smoothie without one or the other and that really sucks is going to have to be ok. I have settled on milk, frozen mixed berries and OJ (takes away from the 'dairy' taste).

As far as lunches, dinners and snacks I will admit I was a lazy fart and didn't want to get up and find my phone forgot to take pictures of everything, some of the highlights though are the yummy dishes featured below:

Whole grain muffins, turkey pepperoni and low-fat mozz!

Turkey taco's with whole grain shells...YUMMMM

Proud is an understatement on how I feel about the above meals. English muffin pizza's were my absolute favorite snack when I was in high school. Drive to grandma's and make a quick snack and chat with my two favorite old people, Bill and Mac Cockerill (RIP both of you). And taco's, well, I won't like as I've said before I had (key-word) staples that I would cook and taco's was one of those staples. The reason I am so proud of these two dishes is because they were both TO DIE FOR GOOD, yet such healthier versions of what I use to make.

1. Whole grain, such an easy way to make a move to start eating healthier
2. Turkey pepperoni tastes shockingly like regular pepperoni (even Brock couldn't tell the difference)
3. Making smaller meals and not having "left-overs" really allows your body the time to realize that it no longer wants to be a fat-ass is full and you don't need to keep stuffing your face.

Other than the world falling apart at work and me being overly happy about my recent eating habits the Hoosier state is super exciting and riveting just like Detroit was with the exception that it's just the three of us down here and we haven't made too many friends yet....ah well!

Here's a (what I think is super cute) parting photo till next time:

Brock snuggling with his own legs this morning :-)

Sunday Funday

Today was what I like to think of as the so called perfect day, or so my perfect day. I started out by waking up without an alarm and not waking up until 10:45, yazowza's! That does not happen much in my life anymore just to give you an idea my mornings usually pan out as followed: 6:45 John's alarm going off, 6:50 my alarm starts going off (aka no 9-minute snooze when we have an alarm going off every 5 minutes). As soon as the alarms start going off I have a cute, adorable little puppy gnawing at my hand ready to be let outside even though I am not currently ready to get out of bed. So needless to say I was very much appreciated to not wake up until 10:45!

Brock, my little man!

Following some lack-of-nothing time on the couch we finally decided to head out and be productive citizens for the day. I was able to rope John into seeing the new romance One Day and I was rather pleased with it, and have to say that I had a trooper of a boyfriend who sat through the 2 hour movie with me! I do have to say that I was very proud of myself for the first time in a LONG time I did not load up on the popcorn, candies, chicken or slushi's. I planned ahead and packed one of my Planter's Heart Healthy mixed nut combination (delicious!) I did give in though and got a small Mr. Pib (Dr. Pepper wanna be, but close enough). Giving up soda is the next big hurdle that I am working on cutting out and slowly but surely I am working my way to zero soda.

Following the movie we made a few pit-stops before heading home for the evening. Feeling pretty happy with how the day had been shaping up I was happy to go home and sit down and read for a little bit prior to cooking dinner. Tonight's menu consisted of our friends version of Chicken Parmesan.

 

I am happy to say that it was very delicious, I was not able to finish it all (just fine with me :-) ). I was also able to hammer out a great zucchini bread with a recipe from John's mother and it was nice baking something other than cake, cupcakes, brownies or anything of those other things. I was able to freeze one of the loaf's (recipe created 2) for later on. 

Yummy bread mixture!!

What was left at the end of the weekend

 All in all it was a great weekend where I was happy and able to make decisions that are and will be better for me down the road, and it wasn't even that hard :-). I am looking forward to what this coming week has to bring and the different road my life will be heading down. Tomorrow is Monday and I don't have to be to work until 10 so it has to be a great day! Hope you all have a great week and work hard towards the weekend!

Channeling my inner Mrs

Ever since we have moved to Indiana I have found myself to have become a shockingly happy "housewife" now for those of you out there reading this and know my current relationship status I am no "wife". Although I have been dating my wonderful boyfriend for almost 6 years he is not yet my husband, soon enough. But for the time being I have found myself content with the cleaning, laundry and new favorite, baking! Since my birthday was just Tuesday I decided to treat myself to a personal birthday gift. I have heard great things about the company Thirty One and decided to purchase a new apron for the time that I will be spending in the kitchen over the next year (and many to come) on my journey. To give it some spunk the personalization will be in lime green, fun!

No flower on mine and Terran Leigh in lime green!

Now onto the meat of my journey....

If you know me or John you'll know that both of us can be lazy and fully admit that. When it comes to dinner's and cooking after working a long day both of us would rather go out and pick something up rather then take the time to make something which would tend to be much healthier for us. With that being said I'm happy that for the most part over the past 3 days I have been making the decisions to eat healthier foods for the majority of my meals.

After doing a small "start" trip to the grocery store on Wednesday I was ready to go for the last two days of the week and I succeeded! Thursday and Friday both started out the same way with scrambled eggs and watermelon and snacks throughout the day of celery with peanut butter and a mixed nut combination for protein.

Ants-on-a-log minus the ants, my favorite!

Scrambled Eggs and Watermelon

I find myself to be lucky as far as lunches go because even though where I work (and live) there is every and any fast food or sit down restaurant except PF Changs, Mongolian BBQ, Slows BBQ, Boston Market your heart could desire there is also an EXCELLENT grocery store. Martin's has become my staple go-to for lunches the past week. They have a great fresh fruit bar with a multitude of selections from watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple to strawberry's, raspberry's and blueberry's. Besides the excellent fruit they have a salad bar creation station with, again, great healthy options to top a salad with. A few varieties of lettuce from romaine to spinach and a nice variety for add-on's. Overall Martin's is going to be my savior when it comes to staying dedicated to the new me, at least for the first few weeks until it becomes routine.

Dinners these past few days have been, and will continue to be where I struggle the most. Friday night I was happy find out that healthy options can be found at a sit-down restaurant. Neither of us were in the mood for cooking so we ventured over to Australia Outback Steakhouse and had a great steak dinner with grilled asparagus as my side, YUM!!!!!! However, after a fun putt-putt round tonight (in which I dominated) we decided to head to Hacienda for some late night Mexicana. I know that it was not the best choice however I wanted to treat myself if you will before hitting the ground running this week.

Hopefully in the next few days I will have decided on which gym (Fit Stop or Anytime Fitness) is going to be the best choice for me and I can really get my journey underway. There are a few things that I want in my new gym and both of these have those items: 24 hours, classes, semi-decent price, personal trainers. The only dilemma is one is literally across the street and the other is about a 5-10 minute drive away from the house and work.....yet they have better classes that suit me more. Hmmmmm.......decisions decisions, until then I'll be working on Zumba-ing my tush off!

Tomorrow will consist of more purchases to help me on my journey and continuing to channel my inner Mrs with some baking and cooking and preparing fruit and other items for the upcoming week. I'll make sure to take pictures of all the deliciousness which will be coming from my kitchen. **On a side note I have found that taking pictures of what I am eating truly helps me realize where I need to get my act together and were I succeeding in helping to attain my goal. So pictures will become a regular part of my blog**

364 Days to Go...

Today marks a fresh start in my life thus far. This summer was meant for a lot of things: bonfires, double dates with friends, house-hunting in the Metro Detroit area and all of that has changed, and for the better. At the end of May we discovered we were going to be leaving our beloved Metro Detroit where we were only a 1 hour 10 minute drive from Spartan Stadium and our favorite tailgating lot and a 1 hour 45 minute drive from the "Best Bar in Town" located in the metropolis of Caro, MI. We discovered that we were leaving Spartan territory to invade Irish country; South Bend, Indiana.

Will all of that being said I've decided that since I am starting a new life in Indiana I want to create a new me. I want to change how I eat and also the way I look. My goal in my new life is to get my body back in shape to a point where I am proud of myself. Over the next year, or 364 days until my 25th birthday I have a goal to lose 50 lbs.

Looking back at pictures of myself from HS and even early college days I realize that somewhere along the lines I let myself go, unintentionally, but gone none the less. Below is a goal of where I would like to be when this journey is complete. I felt the best about myself during my Senior year of high school and know I was in the best shape of my life back then.

I know that these results will not be accomplished without hard work and dedication and that is exactly what I have in mind for the next year. From changing my eating habits and my work-out habits to just my overall outlook and way in which I live my life. I have realized over the past few years that life is way to short to waste it so I plan on living each of my days to the fullest. The hard-work starts tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited and ready for the adventure that is ahead of me over the next year! So come and join me on my adventures: Ready, Set, Glow!