Workout Calendar Results!

Well folks I've got one month down using a workout calendar, along with earning some extra cash!!

And I know the picture is probably super hard to make out but that's cause I scribbled all over it!!!!! Every time I worked out I would write down my mileage, time, a check mark, and a $!! If I didn't work out (a.k.a missed a scheduled workout) I put a giant red X and then took off $1 for each one I "missed".

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Overall results were:

• 6 Missed Workouts
• 31 Completed Workouts!
• 17.52 Hours of Excercise!
• 49.06 Miles Ran!
• 29.25 Miles Walked!
•  173 Weight Watcher Activity Points (Week 1 = 49, Week 2 = 47, Week 3 = 51, Week 4 = 26)
• $25 in the Workout Jar!

I achieved my goals for the month of July!!!

I am very proud of all my workouts! I am not happy about skipping out on 6 workouts but this month was all about trial and error. Being how I wanted to really push myself and see how much I could do I feel like July was a success!! 

I loved it the first 4 weeks and then my body hit a wall! I definitely hit the "too much" zone and realized I needed to give myself a few more rest days in August! Plus I figured just because it's not on the calendar doesn't mean I can't still do something if I'm feeling up to it! 

Overall I am so happy with my workouts from July and feel so much more confident starting out August (yes I know it's August 10th but I assure you I'm on track and the calendar is on the fridge)

So here it is folks my August workout schedule!! Looks extremely doable with a few extra days that I can add in some fun excercise if I want to!!

 

 Yup, another wedding picture!!

Here's a close up of my schedule!!

I took the rest of the first week as a rest week. It was a bad week altogether and my head was not in the game, my body was tired and I just needed a break. But I am back at it and haven't missed one workout this week! In case you are wondering....those work outs in yellow are my optional. I discovered that some mornings I don't have the time to do that and it takes me about 20 minutes so now I'm using August to figure out if optional will work for me or not. 

So far this week I'm 0/2 but I'm confident next week I'll get back to them! I can't do it on my run days cause it's actually a lot of leg work and I don't want to completely kill my legs!

But this schedule still gives me my 3 run days and 2 days dedicated to walking Buster. I feel like most Sundays I'll want to take him any ways but I am trying out this schedule to see if those rest days help!! 

And here are my goals for this month! I am super excited about my goals!!

And since that picture is somewhat dark (my apologies) here they are:

• Run 55 miles
• Walk 35 miles
• Run my 5K in 30 minutes or less (yes I achieved this goal last month but this time I have a real race)
• 2 Full Body Workouts Per Week!! (already screwed that one up this week, but I'm going to try and fit one in Saturday AM)

And there you have it folks! So far this has been awesome! I'm motivated every time I walk into our kitchen. I think having this front and center has helped a lot and of course inspired me to want to put more inspirational items on the fridge like quotes!!

DIY Rotating Goal List - Fabulous!

 I am loving all the Pinterest projects I've been completing lately! This one just happened to be one of my very first pins ever! A rotating goal board!! I immediately decided I needed it for my scrapbook room, now months later it's come to life!

Ta Da!

 

You don't really need that many supplies and in fact most of the supplies I started out with reminded me of grade school projects. I got 3 different color posterboard, 2 different pinks to match my room, and a white one just in case, Crayola markers, more cardstock, index cards (the original project calls for post it notes but I didn't have any handy and I had a bunch of leftover index cards from my Sisters bridal shower), scissors (or paper trimmer), and glue. Plus any additional embellishments you might want to add!

The first thing I did was cut out my posterboard to match the size I wanted. You can make it as big or as small as you would like. I decided to go with the pinks and left half an inch spacing around the sides.

Next up I used some leftovers from the wall sign I made for our wedding photo wall (that post will be coming I promise) and  then I grabbed these sparkly pink letters that I've had for years and have been "saving" for the perfect project! I think it's absolutely ridiculous that I "save" certain embellishments for projects in the future that I don't even have figured out yet. Ridiculous but I still do it! :)

After getting the title all situated I started to size down the index cards. I knew I wanted to keep one at its regular size for the month, but then I wanted the actual goal papers to be slightly smaller so I  cut them into 4inch by 4 inch squares.

Then I got out my stencils that I loooooovvveeee so much! Seriously I freakin love stencils they are so fun! And made the July sign! Yup that's where the crayola markers come to life!

Then I started to assemble and glue down all the pieces to my puzzle!

Next up was creating my goals! This actually was harder than I thought. I wanted to do goals that I knew I had a realistic shot at achieving and I wanted them to be "fun" and related to creativity.

After that I made an "extras" folder to hang on the back. That's right the original project did not include this but I didn't want the extra index cards floating around where I'm sure they'd end up lost, then I'd buy new index cards and poof they'd magically appear!!

Instead, I avoided that mess, and took a plain white envelope, cut off the top fold and..........

Voila...secured it down with hot glue and placed all my extra index cards inside!

I added a few more embellishments (see the pretty sparkly flowers!!) and finished tacking all the pieces with glue!! Called Chuckles into the scrapbook room and we got the hanging it!! I secured it to the wall using two small nails.

 I must say I LOVE LOVE LOVE this project!! It was so fun, so easy, and a great way for me to stay on top of my monthly goals!! I love having goals, it just keeps me from getting lazy and sitting on my butt every night in front of the TV. Seriously I'd be a total couch potato without my hobbies and I'd hate every minute of it!!

So for the month of July I want to:

1. Complete 4 Pinterest Projects
2. Try 4 New Recipes
3. Do 10 Blog Entries (I believe this is already checked off)
4. Scrap 4 Layouts
5. Make 2 Cards (this is a new goal for me, I'm so not the card maker but I do enjoy creating cards)
6. Complete 1 Sewing Project!

Has anyone else seen this project on Pinterest and actually made it?? I would love to see your creation!

Oh and here's the fabulous source of this fun project. Check it out here.

Pinterest Idea - Workout Jar!

The other day I came across an awesome workout reward jar on Pinterest. This Pin took me here.

So I made this...

I absolutely love the idea of a workout jar!! The way it works is you pay yourself $1 for each workout you do! How motivating is that?? Super motivating for me cause the more I workout the more money that will go towards my new wardrobe once I hit my goal weight!! YAY!!

Luckily I had everything on hand to make this project! Score for not having to run to the craft store!!

You just need a jar, any jar I'm sure, but I used a regular ol' Mason jar! And then grab some cardstock, letter stickers, ribbon, and a hot glue gun.

The first thing I did was create my "Workin' On My Fitness" sign/label. I am sure there are plenty of other sayings you can put on your jar if you want but I really liked the original idea, however if you need an idea Chuckles wants it to be "Working My Ass Off" :) I stuck with the other!!

And TA DA!! I wrapped my black ribbon around the middle of the jar and secured it with hot glue. Then I attached my sign/label on with hot glue.

And since I really wanted to add a little something else that might serve as motivation or a reminder of how far I've come I had this cute embellishment. For some reason that one word, Soar, really seems to be inspirational to me.

And now along with my new workout calendar (will be shared soon, stay tuned...) that I made cause I'm bumping up my workouts for the month of July the workout jar sits right above on the top of the fridge!! It will be a nice daily reminder of how far I've come with my health and fitness...

Now I just need to go get a bunch of $1 cause I already owe myself $7 for this week alone for all the different workouts I've done so far!! I am super excited to start this and to really keep me motivated I added in a slight twist!! I might skip a workout one day but if I'm skipping a workout shouldn't I get punishment? I'm not talking about those days when you are sick and SHOULDN'T be excercising but if I'm skipping a workout to be lazy than I should have to pay up...

For every workout that's on the calendar that I don't do I lose $1!! Isn't that awesome. Losing out on new clothes money is so not worth it...I'd much rather go work out and gain a $1!!

So stoked I saw this idea on Pinterest!! It's brilliant and I am so excited to start raking in the moola!!

Scheduling My Fitness!

I know I mentioned a few posts ago about a new workout calendar I created so I figured I should share! My goal for July was to own my fitness and get the dogs out for more walks. My biggest motivator was the dogs. Don't get me wrong I definitely wanted to up my running miles but most important was me getting butt in gear and taking the dogs out more, specifically Buster. Roxy usually wants to be carried about halfway through a 2 mile walk :)

I knew that I wanted to start taking Buster on the days I don't run! Problem is that sometimes my schedule changes due to stuff we have going on during the weekends! I figured the only way I'd stick to a new (more intense) workout schedule was to make it a pretty calendar and post it on the fridge...as well as pay myself for every work out :) Who doesn't love making some extra money while doing something good for yourself!!

I actually had a calendar kit from years ago that I never made so I stole parts of it to create my 12x12 calendar. I knew I'd want something pretty with a list of goals for the month as well as space for an actual calendar! I also knew I wanted to feature a picture each month just to add a little something to the fridge!!

 The Boss

So far this calendar is keeping me SUPER motivated!! The first week I hit every single activity goal! The only one I "altered" was that I went for a run Thursday the 5th after work instead of getting up early Friday the 6th. I needed my run after the way the week was going.


So here's what this new calendar has helped me complete my first week of my new ass kicking workout schedule:

1. $9 for 9 workouts! I completed all 9 of my workout activities. Cha-Ching!
2. Earned 49 Weight Watcher Activity Points!! 49 is INSANE!! And I only counted activity points for my walks with the dogs and my runs....The full body/circuit workouts I did I wasn't sure how to count so I left those off...
3. Walked 11.04 miles
4. Ran 10.22 miles
5. Did a total of 5-1/2 hours of excercise

I am pretty darn proud of staying with my schedule but I'll admit, if I didn't have this calendar as a daily reminder I probably would've slacked on at least one walk.
But I'm determined to not put one big fat red X on the calendar all month. I only want $ bills ya'll!!

I am loving all my new challenges!! I've even got August's calendar completed too!! I'm gonna kill it the rest of this year with my exercise...who's with me??

Now onto the next week!! Let's get it started!!

It's a Beautiful Day for a Hike!

At my work we are extremely lucky to get a day off for our birthday! Since mine landed on Memorial Day this year I got 2 days off for my birthday! I decided to take the Friday before off and instead of my usual "Sit on Butt at Home" routine I asked my best friend Alycia if she wanted to go on a hike? Of course she said YES! Her and her hubs had recently gone on a hike and it 100% made me want to do one too!!

After checking the weather constantly throughout the week, it said rain from 10 AM to 10 PM on Friday we decided to bump up our time a little bit and I met her at her house at 9:30 AM. We got to Helen Putnam Park (in my hometown) and got to hiking!!

Funny story about our hats! That night the A's played the Yankees in Oakland!! Yes the A's lost but it was not unexpected LOL!!

This is a map of the park! I remember as a kid we went as a family and I HATED every single minute of it! Unless it was soccer or volleyball I HATED physical activity! My parents will definitely back me up when I say I was such a brat when we went! But this time around I was super excited to get going!!

First we had to climb up this big steepish hill! I'm not going to lie to you I was huffing and puffing the whole way up! However once we got to the top (the picture below is about halfway up) it was so beautiful and HOT! So much for rain! We lucked out and it was a bright sunny gorgeous day!

Since we've decided not to move out of California any time soon I've really been trying to embrace and LOVE where we live! This hike definitely reminded me to appreciate the beautiful area we live in!

You can see town from this place but let me tell you, it doesn't feel like you are in town!

My Paps and I are kind of into taking photos of old barns and on the last leg of our hike we came across this beauty! I just had to take a picture and I love how it turned out!

After about an hour and half of hiking (we did the longest route we possibly could) we stopped and ate our healthy lunch down at their picnic area! Well everything but the trail mix was healthy! :)

I was so amazed that I was so happy and so in love with doing this hike! I mean I seriously was a snotty little brat who complained the whole time when I came out with my family, which also happens to be the last time I'd been out here. But I truly enjoyed every single minute, yes even the big hill climb, of our hike!

It was such a beautiful day with a great friend! And bonus - 9I wasn't even sore the next day WOO HOO! In fact my Paps and I went out the next morning to take photos and we went for a walk at another local park :) I'll post those pictures soon for your viewing pleasure!!

Any one else discover a physical activity they HATED as a child that they now enjoy as an adult?