http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2999
This morning, the hubs and me were catching up on our various interests when he passed his phone to me. “Here, this is you.”
Did I ever mention my previous blog was called “Hidden Depths”?
Tag: link
We’re Moving!
We found this lovely home within our budget… We had gone back and forth a couple times about actually buying it because there’s quite a bit of work that needs to be done in the house. We had actually rescinded our offer to purchase the home, except the sellers altered the terms of the purchase and we came around. This gives us so much to actually be excited about… I know where we’re going to put our Christmas tree, and how I’d like to arrange the dining room. I can picture what our guest bedroom is going to look like, and I’m pinning up so many ideas for what to do with the unfinished basement.
The real deciding factor was when we got our parents to do a walk-through of the house to get a feel for whether the problems that it has are insurmountable or not. After seeing everything in person–including the pug room, and the spray-painted spare bedroom…
They said that they didn’t see anything that tells them to actually walk away from the house. I think that the males in the family were impressed with the 30′ x 30′ garage, and I think that no one could really pass up the half-acre yard that’s already fenced in for pupper-duppers:
Even though we went back and forth a few times, we’re still trying to keep the same closing-date as before… so here’s hoping that we’ll be able to move the weekend of 9/27. It’s going to be a flurry of packing and cleaning until then, and sadly, I have to revert the kitchen back to the brown/yellow/red mess that it was when we first moved in. There was a term in the contract that said no contact paper, but apparently the office staff didn’t read it any closer than I did. Thankfully, they’ll let me just remove it instead of keeping my security deposit..
MegsFitness on Nerd Fitness – Battle Logs!
I’ve blogged in the past about how much happier and more content I feel when I am following the core strengths of health and wellness – including eating well, sleeping well, exercising, and making time for personal goals. So, it stands to reason that now, more than ever, I need to get back into the patterns of healthy eating, getting enough (and higher quality) rest, exercising, and making time for personal goals.
This blog has become more of a personal journal for me, which will definitely incorporate health and wellness, but it’s always been about more than that. For me, it’s been about recognizing the fact that my journey — whether it’s to weight loss, muscle gain, social changes, or family life — is going to be completely different from someone else’s journey, even if we share many of the same characteristics. To that end, I still have every intention of maintaining this blog and getting back into writing about things that are fun, interesting, or relative to my personal narrative.
My day-to-day fitness narrative is going to be captured at Nerd Fitness. It’s a community of fitness-minded individuals and I really feel like that’s the sort of encouragement I could use at the moment. What that means for the MegsFitness blog is that I’ll be cross-posting my weekly summaries here, so that at least part of this journal can resonate with the “-Fitness” part of the name 😀
I’m ready to get back to good. I’m ready to lose weight, gain muscle, find my confidence, and conquer the world. If you’re interested in joining The Rebellion, my “battle log” is found here: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/52946-amis-last-first-post/
[Begin Crosspost]:
Name: Aminarra, aka “MegsFitness”
Occupation: Corporate Fleet Management Resolution
Previous Fitness Experience: 2 years on SparkPeople, 3 years with Weight Loss Warriors, 3 attempts at Weight Watchers, 1 attempt at Herbalife; 4 years high school strength training, 1 obstacle 5k, 10+ regular 5k Races, greatest weight loss 42lbs.
Current Level of Fitness: Sedentary. It’s been 2 years since I’ve worked out consistently due to a severe back injury after the Warrior Dash.
“End Game” Goal: Working out 4+x/week, Settling at a healthy weight, ideally ~180, but more importantly having functional strength and physical health.
Short-term Goal: Begin working out 1-3x/week, at a beginner level to become re-acclimated to the fitness world. Begin reintegrating Paleo Lifestyle into eating plan
Plan of Action: Use Nerd Fitness to launch new fitness goals; integrate fitness guild with gamer guild for inspiration. Generate weekly goals in the areas of nutrition, exercise, and personal. Update status on goals at least weekly.
Outside of NF:
https://megsfitness.wordpress.com/
http://www.vexxgaming.com/
Facebook Hiatus – Taking a Break From Social Media
I finally did it. I acted on the idea that has been swirling in the back of my mind for more than a month now. I changed my profile picture, my cover photos, and my settings… and I quit facebook. For 30 days. You can probably imagine why I would feel the need to take a break from Facebook. You might even be reading this blog from your phone, from a place where the world is absolutely carrying on around you. Or, you could be in the bathroom. Can’t you be alone with your thoughts for even five minutes?
That’s the critique I gave myself, because I am on my phone, specifically on Facebook, CONSTANTLY. Quite literally (not figuratively), I check my phone first thing in the morning before I get out of bed. I’m not afraid to say that I bring my phone into the bathroom with me. Everyone does it. I check Facebook on the computer before I leave for work. I check it again as I’m in my car, before I even pull out of the stall. I check it after I park at work, just looking for something new that I might have missed. I check it during the work day–it’s almost constantly in the background. I check it in my car before I drive home from work, again in the parking spot at home, and then I migrate to my computer–and Jeff is on his–then we stare at our electronic devices in bed, then we kiss and fall asleep.
And why? There is figuratively nothing worth looking at on my social media feed. Good vs. evil, what state you should live in, what your vernacular says about you–and Buzzfeed! Gods, Buzzfeed. What a time suck.
What am I missing? Well, I don’t know–because it’s been this way for about a year or so. I’m missing spending QUALITY time with my husband, I know that for sure. I’m missing out on rich interactions with my friends because we’ve ‘interacted’ enough via facebook already that day. The depth of my relationships is getting shallower and shallower.
Aside from relationships, I’m also losing out on productivity at work. Do you think I can focus very well with Facebook taunting me in the backround? 3 new notifications! I must click them before I finish writing this e-mail. Oops, I hear footsteps, better alt+tab.
I’m missing out on nature. I try not to, but inevitably I’ll scroll through facebook while I’m out for a walk. Someone honked at me while I was out for a walk the other day and I assumed it was some jerk from the high school judging me again. Turns out, it was my neighbor. If I hadn’t had my nose buried in my phone, I could’ve waved at her in a friendly manner instead of throwing my hands out in exasperation and shouting “What?!” And for what? Another Grammarly update saying that people on the internet will still correct you if you make a typo.
So, I’m calling it quits–for 30 days. I want to WILL regain some of the depth to my most important relationships. I want to WILL be present in my day to day interactions. I want to WILL be more focused and productive at work.
I think that the hardest part of this challenge is that I am going to New York City in a few weeks. There will be brand new experiences–sights, sounds, friends, and photos that I’m sure I’ll be tempted to immediately upload onto social media. And selfies! Oh my goodness, the selfies. The thing is, though, before social media, I actually cherished my photos. I looked back on them, I printed them out, I scrap-booked them, and if you were a special friend, I’d print a copy for you too. Maybe I’d even put it in a really cute frame.
Just imagine how much more vibrant my memories will be if I can actually live and experience them rather than ‘capturing them for posterity Facebook.’
I imagine that I’ll just be more cognizant of my choices, take fewer photos, live more of my life than I put on the internet.
Have you ever taken a hiatus from social media? What did you take away from it?
P.S. I still plan to blog during this time, so don’t expect radio silence after I *just* got back ::wink::
Day 1. Again. How many Day 1’s does one person get?
Day 1. Again. How many Day 1’s does one person get?
As many as a person needs. (I have 10 results that come up when I search for the key phrase “day 1” in my blog…)
I had another Day 1 today. This time, I was sized up (literally–I gained 10 lbs since my back injury, and had gained 15 lbs due to a situational depression prior to that.. eep!) and figured out. I met with Jody from the fitness center and asked her to be my trainer. I talked to her about my back injury and what I’ve been through…
- Wipe out at Warrior Dash
- Spontaneous back injury – I linked that entry because I remember writing my weight in the snow.
- Physical Therapy
- Chiropractic Care
I let her know that we (Jeff and I) are at a point where we’re willing to try anything really. The cool thing is that in addition to being a personal trainer, she actually has experience with physical therapy and rehabilitation. She was really nice about figuring out whether I care more about form or function at this point. I had let her know about a friend’s wedding coming up in October and how the dresses she admires are more like sausage casings at this point. More important, though, is my functional ability to move and be myself. I can wear an A-line dress if it comes down to it.
With functionality in mind, my day 1 is going to start on Friday with some resistance band exercises to figure out where my muscle imbalances are. We’re going to go through a rehabilitation program for my back/core, I’m going to keep up with chiropractic care, and we’ll see how it goes. Jody said that we’ll be able to transition from the therapy to actual fitness workouts once my strength is rebuilt.
After about 3 weeks, she wants to see a food journal. Guess the photo tracker is making a resurgence 😉
Day 1 Weigh In:
InBody230 – Weight: 240, Lean Body Mass 118, (body fat 122), BMI 50. (ugh!)
(Previously) Weight: 220, Lean Body Mass 117, (body fat 103), BMI 43.
Party Rock – on a rock – in game
This weekend was 100% enjoyable. a majority of it was spent gaming, hanging out with the family (Jeff, and our two fur-balls, Taz and Toby). A LOT of it was spent studying because I had two exams to post for.
Breakfast this morning was Quaker Real Medleys with blueberry and banana, with a side of research. See, I’m still dealing with chronic back pain. Turns out, I’m doing it wrong. When my back hurts, I feel like I can’t exercise because of the pain. It’s like, I can’t twist or bend, so why try?
Well, I was reading some peer reviewed articles on www.spine-health.com and one of them said that for Chronic Intractable Benign Pain (CIBP) one of the best things you can do is to exercise.
A typical response to experiencing back pain is to take it easy – either staying in bed or at least stopping any activity that is at all strenuous. While this approach is understandable and may even be recommended in the short term, when done for more than a day or two it can actually undermine healing. Instead, active forms of back exercises are almost always necessary to rehabilitate the spine and help alleviate back pain.
Guess who’s going to the gym after work?
No, sir, I don’t like it!
In an effort to improve my “professional image” at work, I decided to dress in business attire and clean up my desk. Both of these pursuits have led to the demise of my standing station. I figured I could just walk on my breaks, but it’s only two days in, and it sucks. Although I was more productive today, that’s just because I was busy and had deadlines. My back and hips ache. Of course, that could be from wearing high heels all of a sudden…
No, sir, I don’t like it!!
The standing station is coming back today! Even if I walk on all of my breaks, it doesn’t make up for sitting for 8+ hours per day, especially since ice gotten so used to not sitting down so much.
Weekend update
Posted a blog that was supposed to just be a which hit, but it was longer than I thought. Check it out…
Unboxing: Dan Bergh Videography
Psst… Guys! I have something very special to share with you…
That’s right!! It’s an unboxing from Dan Bergh Videography! Jeff and I did not do a rush order on our wedding video after all… So we had to wait a grueling six weeks for the videos to show up. Man oh man, though.. it was worth the wait.
Dan was in touch with us via e-mail to keep us posted on the progress of the video–which was such a good thing since we were right in the midst of a move when he was supposed to be mailing it to us. We got a flat mailer just a couple weeks ago and when I opened it up there was magic inside.. Oh, and:
– Business cards (smart move, but I think I lost them already.. oops :-x)
– A jump drive with all the footage
– 3 DVDs with the city in the background and our rings in the foreground
– 2 DVDs with a portrait of Jeff and I imprinted on the disc
– 1 DVD in a very fine case, personalized 100% inside and out:
On each disc is a fantastically edited highlight reel of our wedding day as well as the raw footage covering the entire ceremony…. Wow. 6 Discs total means that we can definitely share our favorite moments with friends and family far and wide, even if they don’t have internet access. It’s just completely heart-warming. We are so thrilled with the work that Dan did. He was great to be around and work with on our wedding day. His camaraderie with our photographer just lightened every mood and made it feel like we were just hanging out with friends instead of being filmed all day.
Without further adieu…. Our wedding video:
Confessions…
Cassie at Back To Her Roots posted a Confessions… entry the other day and I always like those. There are a few of us in the blogosphere who post Confessions… entries and I rather like the idea, so here are my confessions:
1: 230
I am re-starting my weight loss journey at 230. I’ve re-gained 15 pounds. I keep placing the blame on my tailspin, but enough of that — the blame rests solely on my shoulders for being to complacent and lazy about my choices. I read a blog entry this morning about
why intentions don’t matter and basically it boils down to the fact that intentions are not actions. I need to put my intentions into action and make better choices if I’m ever going to see One-derland. #epiphany?
2: Snow Removal Policy
When I clear off my car in the winter, I HAVE to get every bit of snow off of the top, too. I see people driving around here with a foot of snow on the roof of their car and think they’re batshit crazy. The confession part of this? I didn’t own a shovel of my own before Monday night. Guess apartment living (and getting dug out by my parents last year) spoiled me…
3: Radio aimed at an older cohort
I listen to talk radio… the trashy kind. I would love to don my hand-knit cowl and higher-than-thou attitude and claim to listen to NPR, but nope! I listen to the Dave Ryan in the Morning Show in the morning and I listen to Lori & Julia or Jason & Alexis from MyTalk107.1 (GOSSIP! AND CELEBRITY “NEWS”) on the way home. What can I say? Music on the radio just hasn’t been appealing to me lately. I can tell that MyTalk isn’t aimed at my generation, though, based on the sheer number of advertisements for divorce attorneys and bladder control solutions.. Jeeze haha.
4: Bad Breakfasts
When I don’t pack a breakfast in the morning, I usually go for one of these guys… Sausage, “NC Egg” = egg whites, and chesse sandwich…. And when I see it spelled like that, I remind myself that it is not CHEESE but processed cheese product. Thus the extra “S,” and try to remind myself to have a better breakfast next time. (I also pronounce it like Dane Cook.. “uhm. Cheesse, some pickles… bun seeds.” google Dane Cook BK Lounge skit if you don’t get it–it’s kinda hilarious.)
MegsFitness 