Spending the day on the slopes

I’d rather be a failure at something I enjoy than a success at something I hate. – George Burns

Update:

Yesterday was a tough day for me. I was completely exhausted due to lack of sleep, which resulted in me being a grump all day, and by the time I got a breather so that I could go down and exercise all I wanted to do was sleep.

It really took a lot for me to get off my comfortable couch, leave my sleepiness behind, change into workout clothes and get to the basement. I was going to do another one of the Couch to 5K runs, but my knee’s been bothering me these past few days (I injured my knee a long time ago, and it’s always been a pain in the butt), so I opted for the elliptical which is a lot easier on the knees.

I didn’t quite get to the 30 minute mark, and had to force myself to get to the 300 calorie mark, but I did it. I am a little sad that I was about 8 minutes short of the 30 minute workout goal, but I’m going to cut myself some slack since I actually got off the couch without anyone having to force me off.

On the brighter side WELCOME to Day 6 of the 25 Days of Fitness!!!! 

If you’ve missed out on the first 5 Days of the challenge you can catch up here:

Day 1: 5 Reasons to Exercise

Day 2: Baby Steps to a Healthier Lifestyle – drinking more water

Day 3: The Four Basic Elements of Health

Day 4: Foundational Supplements

Day 5: Performance Supplements

I’m going to keep it nice and short for today, since the Mister and I are heading to Keystone for the last two days of skiing. The resort closes on the 10th (Sunday) and we really wanted to get one more day of riding, since our seasons has been so lame… due to not getting seasons passes.

So today I want to stress the importance of not giving up. For me, this is key. I haven’t seen any results in the month and a half of going to the gym, working out at home, and running. However, I know that I haven’t been putting in a full effort, but it’s still disappointing not seeing any results.

Our best-man of honor (yup we just had our best friend at our wedding, who shared both the role of the best man and the made of honor… if you didn’t pick that up from the title) always says Success is the Best Motivator… Hence you got to keep going, and the second you start seeing results you’ll want to do more.  

My motivator is knowing that I use to look good, and use to fit into my jeans. I’m also motivated by the fact that I feel better after exercising. It feels so good to have the sore muscles that let you know they’ve been working. It feels so good to feel all the gunk leaving your cells as you sweat through a workout. I just love it.

I've also taken to printing out pictures of me and some of my role models, and sticking them on my bathroom mirror, car dashboard, laptop and netbook desktops and so on to keep me motivated.

Q: What is your main motivator when it comes to fitness and health? Do you set goals to reach?

Day 5 of 25 Days of Fitness

 

“You live longer once you realize that any time spent unhappy is wasted” – Ruth E. Renkl

Welcome to Day 5!

We are now officially 1/5 of the way there! How do you all feel?! Have you kept up with exercising daily?! I know I almost skipped out on yesterday, until the Mister pretty much dressed me in my workout clothing and carried me down two flights of stairs and set me right between the elliptical and the treadmill. I must say, my Hub is the best, and the workout made me feel fantastic. I could feel all the grossness of the day leaving my body with the sweat.

Win! Zara –1 Grossness – 0!!!

Today I’m babysitting my beautiful niece, so my workout will be later in the evening when she is handed over to her parents and I have done tutoring. My hair also needs a good washing and some TLC from Kaitlin, my beautiful hairstylist. I’m thinking of turning the red back into an ash or platinum blond… Much easier to maintain and a higher contrast then red and black… What y’all think?!

I don’t want as much blond in it, but what’s the verdict on the contrast. I am debating between going back to a dark chocolate brown or a midnight black as well… Kaitlin will make almost anything happen, hence I just need to decide what I want.

Now that that’s out of the way, I want to talk a little bit more about supplements for health and fitness! The post yesterday (here) covered multivitamins, whey protein and fatty acids which are the foundational supplements. Today, I want to talk about some of the other recommended supplements that I discovered.

This group of supplements is called the Performance Supplements

Thermogenic Fat Burner:

So I had never heard of a fat burner… I was and still am a little hesitant of what this little guy does, but trainers like Jamie Eason highly recommend it. The fat burner supposedly helps maintain high energy levels, enhances focus and helps get you through the workout with plenty of energy.

When shopping for your fat burner, you should watch out for long lists and huge proprietary blends. Ideally, you want to see exactly how much of each ingredient you're getting. Look for quality ingredients like caffeine or other natural stimulants, tea extracts - green tea extract being one of the best, l-carnitine, and herbal extracts like raspberry ketones.

Mitotropin is the recommended brand from Body Building.com, and the company claims that the fat burner does all of the following:

1. Promote Increased Resting Metabolic Rate*
2. Support Increased Presence of Uncoupling Proteins*
3. Encourage Acute Sense of Well-Being*
4. Promote Mental Focus and Clarity*
5. Support Increased Thermogenesis*

For full details on the Mitoropin click here.

Q: Have you every used a fat burner? Would you recommended? What was your experience/results?

Conjugated Linoleic Acid:

This is another one that I hadn’t really heard about, so I took Jamie Eason’s word for it, and think I will experiment with this as well. Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is stated to be your supporting weapon to get lean and maintain muscle mass.

CLA is a naturally occurring fatty acid found mainly in meat and airy products. It will help gain muscle and drop body fat.

 

I tried searching for other CLA brands, and it seems that this is the one that has the most reviews. You can read all about what people have to say here. I will be giving this a try as well, so watch for reviews sometime in the near future.

Q: What are you thoughts? Have you taken CLA before? What was your experience?

We are heading out for some pizza and bookstore exploration time.

See y’all soon!