back at it.

Whoa! Time passes so fast! I'm sorry its been two weeks since I last updated.

So, I've been back in workout mode this week (and most of last week). I decided that one of the best motivators to being in shape and having physical goals to accomplish is the Olympics. Every day when I get to the Y, I plug my headset in and listen to the inspiring stories and watch as people from all over the world compete in so many different sports. As I see them achieve this amazing dream of being an Olympian, I find myself burning quite a few more calories than I normally do. I'm not fostering any false hope of one day being an Olympic athlete, but I might do something else....like run a marathon (following in the footsteps of my younger sister Jenni who just ran her first marathon in Richmond in November). We shall see.

I've developed a fairly good routine at the YMCA. I have been using the Precor AMT 100i Elliptical Trainer which goes above and beyond a regular elliptical machine by allowing you to instantly change your stride and speed as often and freely as you would like. (Click here to read a more detailed description of this machine so you can find it at your local gym). I do this for 35 minutes on varying speeds and resistance levels and have been burning an average of 400 calories during this part of my workout. I follow this with some stretches and core/ab workouts that I learned from P90X. Next I use several nautilus machines to exercise my leg muscles which I am working on strengthening and toning. It takes about an hour overall and I feel great afterwards.

I have to say I haven't been able to eat as healthy as I would like to the past week or so because I am running out of food and all I have left in my pantry is stuff that I bought before my fit lifestyle plan. So, here's to my next paycheck!