The Shortest Month's Challenge

Here in NC, you'll find yourself wearing flip flops with snow still in the yard (thanks, Rhiannon, for that hilarious post). Fitness in Feb.= Fuh fuh fuh fuh, ffffffft. These all sound like flat tire noises to me. I bet a lot of resolution setters are fffffting now. Will it be 12 degrees and snowing or 62 degrees and sunny?

We're in a new neighborhood with ample outdoor walking/running/biking trails and sidewalks nearby. People, I really have NO excuse. I mean, none. No move, no holidays, no surgical recoveries--nothing. Since I crave a new routine, exercise and healthy foods will help energize me and set me on the right path. I just have to stay away from the path that leads to Cook Out's milkshakes and Bojangle's biscuits...Mmmmmmm I mean nasty! This new neighborhood also has a junior olympic pool, and since I've got small kids, I have a feeling I'll be living at the pool this summer. Um, bathing suit? What? I can't wear my fuzzy jammy pants and Old Navy fleece from 2001? Eeeeeeps!

Starting tomorrow, I'm participating in a 4-week challenge organized by Puanani from Home To Home Fitness. The rules are:

• Post stats on the weekends. Stats needed: shoulders, chest (at nip line), biceps (biggest part of your arms), stomach (at belly button level), butt (across the widest part of your butt), and thighs (where your longest finger tip hits).
• Leave your finished times/amounts for:
  
  • Total burpees in one minute (clarify between regular and modified)
  • Total amount of pushups in one minute (clarify between regular and modified)
  • Length of jumping jacks without a break
  • Length of wall squat (keeping your squat parallel). 
   
• We're encouraged to take pictures from all angles each week.  

LET'S DO THIS! See ya on myfitnesspal at lupehughes!  You should choose something to try out for this short month! What will it be?

This weather!!! Whaaaaat?!

Goats and Grapes

Why, hello! It has been months since I wrote a post for Lucy is Losing It, but since I've definitely lost it (and not the pounds, mind you), I'll tell you what I've been doing. Now, various post ideas have resided in my head, but we all know what happens to intentions, hell, roads, and whatnot. I crafted drafts involving the harvest season, wishbones, and fruitcakes as extended metaphors, but alas. If you are anticipating an obligatory "Let's get motivated with our resolutions!" early January post, you will need to look on Pinterest or elsewhere!

We put our house on the market in October. Deep cleaning a home with two small children while working full time and forgetting to eat three meals a day got me down to 19.6 pounds! Woohoo! Lots of exercise goes into scrubbing, hauling, dumping, lifting, reaching, scraping, and other various gerunds. Since I let my gym membership run out, the "-ings" kept me the sveltest I've been post-children.

Then The Crazy hit this house.

Everyone got sick. Work got nuttier than a port-o-potty at a peanut festival. Some evening showings kept us away from home at dinner. While we did sell our house in five weeks, I had gained back some pounds. I wanted to be sad that I was so close to a 20-lb. weight loss, but I just didn't have the energy to care!

Why is this post called "Goats and Grapes?" I'm writing while enjoying a glass of wine and eating goat cheese with a knife straight out of the 4-oz. package. I am doing so with gleeful relish and no shame.

To all you people out there on the New Year's resolution bandwagon ready to run yourselves to death, eat clean, and really change your life around, that's great! I support you. To all you people out there checking out Fitspiration boards on Pinterest but chastising yourself for not actually doing anything about it, hey, join me on the couch right now. There's a small bit of goat cheese left, so you had better act fast. I do have plans to blog about meal planning with Aldi purchases on a budget and whatnot, but for now, I'll just try to avoid slicing my tongue while I eat goat cheese off this knife. I'm sure I will be back with really sincere motivational posts, but that time is not now.

In a mere two weeks, the Crazy will begin again as we prepare and move our whole household. Perhaps I could at least make the resolution to explore my new neighborhood on foot, but I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself until I settle into the new house!

This is all I have to say about resolutions at this point:

Post your resolutions below, especially if you've already broken them! Tee hee!