New month, new chart

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Let's get jumping into January - what are your goals for the month?

Jumping into January

For me - I need to keep at the 30 Day Shred. I can't take my belly dancing classes this month, so I need to keep active when I can and do stuff at home. Here's to another great month!

Jillian Michaels just kicked my ass


Merriam-Webster defines the verb shred as:

1archaic : to cut off
2
: to cut or tear into shreds <shredded the documents>
3
:
demolish

I just finished Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred for the very first time and I feel like Jillian just cut off parts of my body, tore the rest into shreds and generally demolished me.

I bought this dvd before I left for Kirkland Lake so that I could start doing it when I returned. Today I took a two hour walk and decided to try the workout. I'm not going to lie - it was hard. I was sweating. I was cursing Jillian. And I really wanted to turn off the dvd player and just walk away. Jillian's 3-2-1 system keeps your body moving and it means that you're not doing one type of activity for a long period of time. The formula is based on 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio and 1 minute of abs, 3 times. You get a warm up at the beginning and a cool down at the end, but you're really moving for those 18 minutes in the middle.

There are 3 different workouts on the dvd and the idea is that you will do the first for 10 days then move to the next level. Once you've done level 2 for 10 days you move to level three and then you've done 30 days of shredding.

Out of the workout dvds that I own, I think this one is the most challenging by far. But I also think it has the potential for me to see the biggest results. I'm going to continue to shred and I'll let you know how it goes when I move up to the next level! Thanks to the girls on the 20's board for recommending this dvd so highly! I'm happy that I bought it, even though I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning.

PS - I gave myself an extra special sticker on my Get Moving into 2009 calendar. I now have 16 stickers - how are you doing??

2008 - Year in Review

Friday, December 26, 2008


I'm sitting here and I can hardly believe that it's December 26, 2008. I feel like it was just 2007 and that this year has slipped by.

I hope that everyone had an amazing holiday and a wonderful Christmas with their family and friends. I've been surrounded by wonderful treats up here in the North with my fiance's family, but I've been tracking and I know that we're going home Sunday and I plan to get things back to normal. How is everyone doing on their exercise in December? I was doing great until I got up here. We've gone for a few walks, but a lot of time has been spent napping or watching The Wire or The Tudors. (I was also reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter, but my book was missing 30+ pages right in the middle!) I'm still happy with the number of stickers that I put on my chart and I plan to do the 30 Day Shred at least once before January 1st.

2008 has been a pretty good year, despite it passing by very quickly. This year I started leading meetings for other Weight Watchers. members. I started a brand new meeting in January 2008 and was able to grow it to over 20 people. It was so wonderful to get to know the members and help them achieve their goals. I have been at my new location since June and I absolutely adore it!!! I'm so happy to talk about WW each week, inspire my members and teach everyone about Momentum in the last few weeks. I hope you are all enjoying the new program and I look forward to helping you reach your goals in 2009.

This year I maintained my weight each month and felt good about being on maintenance. I'm also happy that I tried some new physical activities (softball and bellydancing) and quit my gym membership!! (Very liberating)

In the last few weeks I've been very thankful for Weight Watchers and all that it has taught me about eating well and taking care of myself. In November I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, and it has really opened my eyes. I'm thankful for the good habits that I've already made courtesy of WW and I'm confident that through what I've learned and proper medical attention that I'm going to be able to keep my disease in check.

I can't say that I have any resolutions for 2009 at this point... I want to continue to maintain my weight and health... I want to continue to eat more organic produce and cook as much as I can... I want to continue with belly dancing classes and maybe try another sport this summer or play some more softball. In 2009 I want to stick with the great balance of things that I have in my life right now -- amazing fiance, family and friends, great jobs, opportunity to be on stage (Silk Stockings is coming up!) and a lot of happiness. I really can't complain and I hope that I am lucky enough to continue with all of it in the New Year.

If you haven't already, take some time to think about 2008 and what you've already accomplished. Learn from everything this year and try to think of some things that you would like to have happen in 2009.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers. I can't believe this blog has reached more than 4000 views. Thank you for reading and I look forward to writing more and hearing all of your stories in 2009.

Lots of Love,

Ashley

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

How is everyone adapting to this chilly weather we've been having? I hope everyone is keeping warm. 

It sure is busy this time of year and I hope that my meetings members got some strategies over the last few weeks for dealing with the people, food, social events, activity and time management. I hope that everyone's activity chart is filling up with stickers! I'm happy to say that I've got more than 5 on mine so far and this weekend I hope to add to it with some walking, hot yoga and belly dancing!

Sometime this weekend I'm going to post some ideas for WW-friendly holiday baking. I love preparing baked goods for loved ones around this time of year, and I especially love encorporating WW-friendly recipes into the mix. I've accumulated a good selection of holiday recipes in the last couple years and I've made a list of what I want to make. Hopefully the recipes will give you some ideas if you would like to get baking sometime in the next couple weeks. 

I'm happy to report that I finished my Christmas shopping before December even started and I even have a few gifts wrapped at this point!! I need to do my Christmas cards... I think that might be another project for the weekend. 

Tomorrow night is my work's holiday party and we're going to a Brazillian steakhouse! I've never been but I'm sure that it's going to be an interesting time. The food consists of a buffet with tonnes of cold salads, bread and seafood. Then once seated, your server brings you a selection of more than 10 different types of meats and sides. You have a card at your place setting that has two sides - green when you are still eating and ready for more and red when you're done or want to take a rest from the food. Wish me luck. I have a feeling that my card will be red for much of the evening and I plan to earn some AP's dancing alongside the Carnivale style dancers and drummers!!

I'm really excited for my meetings this weekend to share the 2009 Weight Watchers program with my members. I look forward to seeing all of you there and letting you know about the great changes to the program. 

Have an amazing week!!

PS - I know I haven't updated my soup post. I was nearly finished uploading/editing it one day and then my computer died and I was not happy. I promise I will get to it, but I hope that a lot of the recipes there will keep your soup pot full over the winter season! I made the stuffed green pepper soup two weeks ago and it was a big hit at our house!

It's official

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

I'm a total geek. This link proves it.

But in all honesty, it made my day
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