90-Day Challenge: Muscle Poppin', Weight Droppin'

Happy September, friends.
How the heck is it SEPTEMBER already? Didn't we just celebrate The New Year?

Today I'm teaming up with my best friend, Amanda, to bring you something new and exciting: a challenge.
A 90-Day Challenge to be specific.

As you all know, I have been working on losing weight and getting healthy for the past few months, and I have decided to take this to the next level. Amanda and I sat down and had a great chat with our friend, Ambrose, about our goals and where we'd like to see ourselves 'physically' in 3 months, 6 months, and a year from now. During our conversation, we decided that the 3 of us wanted to challenge each other and hold ourselves accountable to really try and and lose this weight. It works a lot better if you're doing it with other people, right? Right. Or so they say, I guess we'll see...



As of today, September 1st, I am starting a 90-day challenge.
I would LOVE for you to join me on this adventure and see what you can accomplish in the next three months. These goals don't have to be anything crazy, or they can be as crazy as you'd like - you're the one creating them afterall. Your goal could be to go on more walks, lose 10lbs, run 5k, or even just eat healthier. Whatever your goals are, I want you to spend the next 90 days working towards implementing them into your daily routines.

I feel as though I have hit a 'plateau' of sorts, and I need to break free from this. I currently do a lot of cardio, and I have been doing a lot of running. While this is great, and definitely better than sitting on the couch watching TV - it isn't really what I should be doing to lose weight. My brother, and my roommate have spent a lot of time lecturing me on the importance of strength training, and not solely doing cardio-based activities.

Cue the 90 day challenge.

I am cracking down on this fitness and weight-loss thing, and kicking it into high gear. For the past 3-4 months, I have been eating primarily clean. Typically, I'll eat well Sunday-Friday, and I will 'cheat' on Friday nights, and Saturdays. There are just so many reasons and excuses to cheat on weekends: going out with friends, failing to food prep, and just the pure convenience of not needing to cook. Essentially, I'm pulling the lazy-girl card on the regular (ie. most weekends), and it has to stop. My bank account and my waistline have had enough of my weekend laziness. I'm honestly making this sound 10x worse than it actually has been - my 'cheating' is not THAT bad, and it's not THAT often. However, it's still 'cheating' and I shouldn't be doing that at all.

Here are the changes that I'm making over the next 90 days:

• 100% Clean Eating

This one might be a bit of a struggle, but I am 100% dedicated to no cheating during the next 90 days, and eating only clean foods. Which means that at the end of this 90-Day challenge, Amanda and I will be going out for a huge cheat meal of beer and calamari.


• No Alcohol

This one isn't actually that hard for me. I've successfully done the whole 'no alcohol' thing a few times and it wasn't too bad. The only part that sucks is the whole social aspect of drinking. I'll probably be declining a lot of hangouts with friends - and I'm really just hoping that I still have friends at the end of this challenge. I'm kidding. But seriously - don't bail on me, friends.


• Strength Training Workouts

It's time to get over my fear of working out with weights and it's time for me to start doing strength training exercises. Gaining muscle is the most beneficial fat-burning tool, and I need to stop avoiding it. At the end of this post I'll show a quick glimpse of what my workouts will look like.


• ViSalus

ViSalus is a great tool to help ensure that you get the right nutrients in your meal, it keeps you full, and it tastes delicious too. I've done the ViSalus challenge in the past - and I can vouch for the fact that it WORKS. I stopped using it for about 2 years, but I've decided to give it a shot again. Instead of substituting two meals per day, I'll just be substituing one meal, and eating clean for the other two meals (and snacks). If you're new to the whole weight-loss thing, this is a great way to jumpstart your journey and get you going in the right direction. Plus, it seriously tastes amazing. Win-Win.


• Couch 2 5K

If you've seen my posts on Instagram, then you probably already know that I'm doing the Couch 2 5K program. I've decided to give it a shot since I have a newfound love for running. I've decided to step it up a notch, and pair it with strength training to really shock my system and turn my body into a lean-mean-fat-burning machine. Yeah, I said it.

I am officially down about 75lbs since my heaviest weight, but I'm only half way. I have another 75lbs to go, and I'm determined to kick butt for the next 90 days.

For my workout schedule, I will be following the 'Body for Life' workout guide, and pairing it with the Couch 2 5k program. This is what my schedule will look like:

WEEK ONE

Monday - Upper Body Strength Training (chest, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps).
Tuesday - Couch 2 5k.
Wednesday - Lower Body Strength Training (quads, hamstrings, calves, abs).
Thursday - Couch 2 5k.
Friday - Upper Body Strength Training (chest, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps).
Saturday - Couch 2 5k.
Sunday - die REST.

WEEK TWO

Monday - Lower Body Strength Training (quads, hamstrings, calves, abs).
Tuesday - Couch 2 5k.
Wednesday - Upper Body Strength Training (chest, shoulders, back, triceps, biceps).
Thursday - Couch 2 5k.
Friday - Lower Body Strength Training (quads, hamstrings, calves, abs).
Saturday - Couch 2 5k.
Sunday - REST.

These are what my two different weeks will look like, and I will just be alternating them back and forth for the entire 90 days.

Amanda and I would love to have everyone get involved in this 90-Day Challenge. Please join us. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or if you just want support - please don't hesitate to comment, tweet, or e-mail us to talk to us. We are both here to help motivate, support, and help in any way that we can.

I'll leave you with an inspirational quote from Amanda...

"Lets get these muscles poppin' and this weight droppin'."

Do you even run, bro?

I run.

That's weird for me to say.

After a lifetime of 'not running' and laughing if people asked me to run, I can finally say that I run. I still don't run around people, because I just can't bring myself to do that, but I run. On Sunday I started the program 'Couch 2 5k'. I've done the first two days so far, and I'm loving it. I don't know how long I will love it, but if I start to hate it...
I'll just ignore that part. Or something.
'Cause, you know, Ignorance is bliss, guys.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few running stories from last week.

This is spot on.
This is exactly how I feel and how I look - which is why I don't run in public.

Last Friday, I left my house a little late for work. As I'm getting to the crosswalk to head to my bus stop, I notice the bus coming down the road. The only way I'm going to catch the bus is if I run the 2-3 blocks to the stop and beat the bus. In the past (and I can't believe I'm going to admit this) I wouldn't even bother running, if the bus was that close - I'd let it pass me and I'd catch the next one. #fatgirlprobz

I really didn't want to be late, or have to wait 10 minutes for the next bus... so I ran. The issue is that there were two (pretty good looking) guys walking a little boy down the sidewalk in front of me. I started sprinting for the bus stop, and they must have heard me because they turn around and step out of the way when they see me barreling towards them. I yell at them 'Excuse me! Sorry! Trying to catch the bus!' (in the most out of breath voice). They let me pass through, and I make it to the stop with literally 2 seconds to spare. As the bus stops and the doors open, I hear the two guys clapping and cheering for me - because I made it. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? They were being kind, I'm sure. But I kind of wanted to die. I just smiled, and ran onto the bus as fast as I could.

Also last week (can you tell it was a great week for running?), I discovered that I really shouldn't do shots of espresso anymore. I went through a phase (for a week) of having a shot every day as a little 'pick me up' despite the fact that I despise coffee. It worked wonders, and I'd feel amazing almost immediately. That was, until I discovered that my stomach didn't like the espresso so much. I was feeling a little 'off' every day, and my stomach hurt - but I just assumed I was eating something bad, not that I was feeling sick from the espresso. This realization didn't come until I took a shot of espresso after work one day so that I'd feel amazing for my afternoon run. However, I felt the complete opposite. I felt like complete crap, and almost like I was going to shit myself. Fantastic, eh? I discussed this with Juliette, because we have no boundaries, and she told me it was from the espresso. I didn't want to forfeit my run because I was feeling 'under the weather', so I went ahead and ran anyway. Bad life decision right there.

Note to self: When you feel like this, DON'T GO RUNNING.

About half-way through my run, it hit me. I legitimately thought I was going to shit my pants right there on the spot. As I'm slowing to a halt, I trip and stumble and barely compose myself. At this point, I'm hunched over - in the middle of an alley - feeling like I'm going to have an accident right there on the spot, and I decide that I need to help home. I start to slowly jog home - again, bad call... it just made it worse. I slowed myself to a nice steady walk home, and made it home without an unfortunate accident. Thank goodness this is only a story about the time I 'almost' shit myself while running. Sorry for the mental image.

After that story, I'm pretty sure I belong in the box of shame.

I'll continue to run, every day if I can, and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. Lets just hope that I'm shit free, and audience free for the unforeseeable future.

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