Shame, embarrassment and addiction

It's been a week since my last post but I haven't given up or stopped my 30 day challenge. In fact I even added a new exercise to my regimen that I am a little ashamed of (have I mentioned it? It's been so long I can't remember).

Here has been my week so far:

Sunday (day 7):
Work, 12,038 steps, 5 minutes of EA Sports Active before work
Monday (day 8):
work, 13,980 steps, 12 minutes of EA Sports Active before work
Tuesday (day 9):
22 minutes of EA Sports Active, 85 minutes of a new shameful, embarrassing addiction (521 calories burned total)
Wednesday (day 10):
work, 13,068 steps, 11 minutes of EA Sports Active before work
Thursday (day 11):
43 minutes with my shameful addiction after discovering more than one way to do it (246 calories burned)
Friday (day 12):
48 minutes (2 parter) EA Sports Active and walking for an 1.25 hours (a slow 3.22 miles)
Saturday (day 13):
24 minutes EA Sports Active, walking for 60 minutes (a slow 2.3 miles)
Sunday/today (day 14):
20 minutes with my shameful embarrassing addiction (so much fun) and walking 2 miles in 45 minutes.

Have you ever done something you swore that you would never do? Something that you see other people doing and you think to yourself "what a douche" when you see them doing it, because you are just too good to lower yourself to that kind of level? I am there and I am ashamed. It's embarrassing. I have to do it when no one is around. Not even my 3 year old son because even he mocks and laughs at. I was embarrassed to walk to the check stand, because I knew the checker would think, "well he isn't doing it" of my husband, "he isn't doing it--he's too young," of my son, and laugh to think I was the one doing it. The dainty young man at the counter in fact "o.m.g. hearts" it. Of course.

I'm just kidding, not about the checker though. Or my son laughing at me. He laughs hysterically with every single step that I take, like it's a joke that never gets old. It's not at all as dramatic as I drew it out to be though. It's sweet and beautiful and I even joined a group on Sparkpeople to support my new love for it. Something I never in a million years thought that I would jump on the bandwagon for.

Dance Dance Revolution.

Some sparky friends mentioned it last week or the week before, and I was curious to find out that it was a good workout. I honestly can't remember if I mentioned it here before, but it's my new addiction. We got it, I played it, and I have the songs stuck in my head 24/7. I want to dance like the characters on the screen, but instead I'm left with hip swinging, hard punching (cause they don't register if they aren't hard for me), hula hooping arrows that flash on my screen in "workout mode", and videos to songs that I love, that I can never watch, because I am too busy paying attention to the arrows because I want to get a good grade (I am a C average student for the first time in my life--I've only gotten 2 B's one on a Coldplay song and the other on a Black Eyed Pea's song--the rest C's and a few D's! doh!).

I just discovered that the songs have a bpm rating, like 138 beats per song, or 155 beats per song (a Kiss song) that makes me feel spazzy like I could be strung out on crack or something. The faster the beats, the faster the arrows scroll through and the better your coordination must be. Great workout. Still embarrassing to do. I am addicted.

I also still really love my EA Sports Active. My muscles are very sore but I feel MUCH stronger and it's been only like a week since I started. Also a great workout. I feel so blessed to have found motivation again, even though it's something unrelated to exercise. EA Sports Active has trophies, like Sparkpeople. Friends, for me it's about the trophies. One of my recent trophies is running 25 laps on the virtual track. I jog around my living room literally doing it. I sweat a lot, but I do it. I'm excited to do it. I hope I never lose this excitement.

Anyway I hope you all are having a wonderful Hallmark holiday! I had today off so I am happy. I work for the next 3 days in a row though, and I guess I'm happy about that too. The work is hard, but at least I have a job to go to.

Have a great night! See you soon!

I can do this. I am a star.

*falls over on the floor*

I can't believe that I almost forgot to blog for today. I have been on the computer on and off, and for some reason had the feeling like I had already posted for the day. lol.

Anyway today was a day off from work, and I put on EA Sports Active again. Day 6. This month is going by pretty quickly (it's only day 6, but before I know it, it will be day 10). I said it yesterday, but I REALLY love this game. I feel like it was totally worth the money. I woke up this morning and was sore, so it did it's job yesterday. I was pretty sore but remembered from last year (365 days of exercise) that when I am sore, it feels better to follow up with exercise, because I end up not feeling so sore--a double negative if you will? lol. It worked.

Today, was a little different than yesterday, which I loved and hated all at the same time. We did a lot of lunges. So many lunges (*falls over on the floor*)! Side lunges with a toe touch, raised knee reverse lunges, alternating forward lunges---so many lunges. We did a lot of running and knee ups and butt kicks (I forget what they call them) also. It was a GREAT workout! We also did some arm, shoulder and core stuff.

The thing that I like about it is that it is like a trainer is with you. I can't cheat! It makes you hold the lunges, curl, or whatever you do the way a trainer would and it wont move on until you do. It tells you if you are running too slow, or not slow enough (on the slow parts, of course). Totally worth the money. This is by far, my new favorite toy. I thought I loved the Wii Fit, and I do, but this is going to get me where I want to be.

Yesterday a few of you Sparkies mentioned Dance Dance Revolution, and how much of a great workout it was as well. I would have never thought it, and have never even done it in an arcade, but my hubby bought it for me, for the Wii. I feel so lucky that my hubby will buy me these things, because he knows I will use them (and lucky that it's in our budget this month). Anything exercise related, he doesn't even question--he just gets it, if it's in our budget :). Anything else (household gadgets) he teases me about and doesn't get them. I guess I feel blessed in this way, because I have proved myself to him, and he takes me seriously with it. How often do we buy things, say we will use them, and never use them? Two years ago, that was me. I am happy to say that I have changed! Yaay! Anyway, I haven't tried it yet, but I will. I am going to throw that in if/when I get bored this month.

Anyway, tomorrow is a workday. I know I will be sore in the morning, so my plan is to wake up early and get some exercise in, just so that I won't be sore at work. That's the worst feeling in the world. Being sore, and being forced to be on your feet, using your legs for 12 hours. I'm pretty certain that I won't be sore. I just hope that I wake up early enough and don't punk out!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for reading :).

PS. I turned the anonymous comments off. The junk ads/comments are becoming a daily thing and it's starting to annoy me. Sorry to those of you that comment anonymously!

I can do this. I am a star.

Wii's Your Shape and EA Sports Active

Today I was proud of myself. I got up early and exercised...for almost an hour. I started off with Your Shape, and the more I play it, the more I don't like it. Maybe I just don't know how to use it properly.

We have different colored couches now (navy instead of tan) so I don't match with them anymore which makes it easier. It also brightened up the room, which doesn't make any sense to me lol. I find a lot with "Your Shape" that I will be doing the exact same thing that she is, and that it even looks the same on the screen, yet it's telling me to follow her. It's frustrating, and frustrated me to the point of turning it off 30 minutes into my scheduled 45 minutes. I got a good workout with it though. I am thinking about returning it, but I don't have the box it came in anymore. Oh well. Maybe when I am thinner and not just a huge glob on the screen, it will be better. There aren't many features on it either--like I want to set a goal, and it won't let me. Anyone know how to do that? I did about 30 minutes--that's the other thing I don't like...I can't see how much I did for the day, only what I programed it for, and when I look at my "stats" it combines all of the minutes/calories/days together, so it gives me a huge number. I want to know what I did today, like Wii Fit tells us on our minute piggy bank. I did about 30 minutes and burned I think 330 calories (based on memory of the 1 time screen screen). I hate not having exact numbers but oh well... (if I wasn't lazy I could just subtract what my numbers for the day before yesterday, but I don't feel like putting the disk back in to see what my totals are lol).

After turning it off, I decided I wasn't quite satisfied with my workout so I put in Wii's EA Sports Active. I haven't done it yet, and had been looking forward to it. I REALLY enjoy it. It's fun and a GREAT workout. It's a Bob Green thing (the Opera/Best Life guy), so it was nice to see a familiar face in the "video" segment. EA Sports is like Wii Fit in that it's fun, and it keeps my attention (I have toddler brain with exercise games now) and I can adjust the kind of workout I want to have. It only take a few minutes before I am bored with it and want to move on lol. Wii Fit can be iffy with the intensity of your workout--you can make it a game if you want, or a workout-workout, and EA Sports is a workout. I enjoyed that. I had the option for Intense (I think), Medium, or Easy, and I chose a Medium workout today. I did 27 minutes and burned 175 calories.

I did squats, rows (a few kinds), bicep curls, side lunges, running, walking, in line skating and some other things I can't think of atm. It was a good workout, and my legs are sore and my arms are on the verge (it comes with a resistance band!).

It has this cool journal part and gives you daily things to check off on and I like that. It feels like I am getting an overall experience and not just exercise. I am also learning stuff.

Yesterday I went into work. They were short and I can use the overtime. Yaay for overtime!

I walked 15,435 steps.

It's been a good month so far for exercise. I am looking forward to the rest of the month :). I should have done measurements or something. Oh well. At least I have my weight. :)

Have a good one! See you tomorrow!

I can do this. I am a star.

Over Stuffed Sausages... yummm (evil laugh)

So, today is day 3 of my 30 day challenge. You didn't think I forgot did ya? I have been working for the past few days, and am still exhausted (not to mention my feet are killing me!) from moving and now from work also. I thought it would, but it didn't stop me :).

Monday and Tuesday I worked but this is what I have done so far:

((Sunday (Jan 31): 14,924 steps))
Monday (Feb 1, day 1): 11,920 steps
Tuesday (Feb 2, day 2): 15,214 steps
Wednesday (Feb 3, day 3): 45 minutes of Cardio on Your Shape (1012 calories burned!)

For my birthday my hubby bought me some exercise games for the Wii and I broke out the "Your Shape" for the first time today. I have mixed feelings on it.

It does a little like pre-test to see where your exercise level is, and it grades you in letters, like in school. My pre-test thingy scored with an A+. I didn't realize it at the time, and I may be wrong, but this score made the game think that I am really fit and can jump around like a skinny girl. Man, it was hard but I stuck through the entire thing. I think it put me into a fitness level that I am not at yet.

This game was a huge eye opener also. I am HUGE. I think because I exercise regularly again, and have been consecutively for over a year now (I can't believe that I can say that!), that my idea of what I look like is more of how I feel, and my energy, than what I really look like. It was depressing to see me up there on my TV screen. All I could see was my fat blubbery stomach bouncing out of my shirt during the jumping portions--which was like all of it. My legs look like sausages overstuffed with cottage cheese. If that isn't motivation enough to get moving, I don't know what is.

The other thing I didn't like about it is that we don't have enough lighting (even lighting) in our living room (with all the shades up, natural sunlight and all of the lights on), and the pale couch/wall match with my pale skin color lol. Seriously. It says to (in my own words) clash with your background. I blend in. It's kind of funny but frustrating at the same time. I wore different colored pants and shirt, but my arms match our pale couches lol (my in laws are giving us their couches tonight on a totally unrelated/related thought--navy leather. sweet!).

Anyway I thought today was "arm" day, but I found out the hard way that it was cardio day instead. lol. I kept wondering when it was going to get to the strength training part. Thirty-five minutes into it, we did donkey kicks and side kicks and that was about it.

I am not scheduled to come into work tomorrow, but they called and asked me if I would, so if my FiL can watch the Monkey Boy, I will. Yaay for overtime. I hope I am not too sore but I am sure I will manage.

Hope everything is well with everyone.

I keep getting these spam comments so I am thinking about turning off the anonymous comment option, if I can figure it out.

Take care and see you either tomorrow or the day after.

I can do this. I am a star.