Imelda Marcos in the Making???

Monday was a day where I was spot on.  Calorie wise...literally dead on my goal.  Not one calorie over and not one calorie under.  Amazingly perfect!   And I topped it off with a class at zumba after work.....admittedly, like I said in my last post; zumba on Monday night is a habit....otherwise I'd probably have been a lazy bum!

Workout clothes out of my bag and ready to be donned!

Some days are perfect.  We feel sexy.  We feel confident.  We feel like we are on top of the world!   There is no discernible thing that causes us to feel that way.  But it can change.  The very next day we may feel like a frumpy bottom dweller.   The sexy confident days are the days that I feel most capable of success on this weight loss journey.  I feel confident about life and I feel confident about my goals and how to get there.  Those confident days are usually successful weight loss days.

So how can I manipulate these feelings?  I have of recent weeks rekindled my infatuation with shoes.  It started with these shoes.  Yes, they are pink suede shoes.

My all time favorite boots

My husband crossed his arms when I bought them and said "Don't you have enough pairs of shoes in the closet????"   I answered "One can never have enough shoes!"   I also vowed to wear some of those multiple pairs more often.  You see, I love shoes but I typically end up wearing the tried and true comfort (and sometimes ratty looking) shoes.  So I bought my pink suede shoes and wore them. I also pulled out the brown suede shoes.  I pulled out the black boots, the brown boots, and ohhh yes...my all time favorite black boots!   Oh yes, I wore my awesome shoes that I had in the closest.

And then this last week I walked into a store and my eyes saw them. Oh yes, I saw a pair of pink suede boots.  Pink?  Suede??  Really???  I just bought a pair of pink suede shoes two weeks earlier.  I fell in love with the boots and they were on sale!  A really awesome sale!!!  Well, I had to have them!  (My husband just said 'go ahead Imelda"  Oh yes, I bought them!  

not a great picture...but I promise..awesome boots under those pant legs

I'm not quite to Imelda status yet...no where close actually.  Is it a bit of a transfer of my addiction...I take away food and replace it with shoes.....probably not.  ha ha ha.  But you know...if it gives me a bit of sparkle...a bit of confidence....a bit of fun and whimsy into my life.  And if that sparkle, confidence, fun and whimsy in some weird convoluted way helps me maintain control of my food addiction....then bring on the shoes!  Hmmmm...maybe I should hit up a shoe store today!!!!  

Exercise excuses....seven minutes???

My exercise had been sporadic of late. I have grand plans but then they fall apart. The only thing I am consistently doing is Zumba.   Zumba on Monday and Tuesday is a habit!  Habits are a good thing.

I have dreams and goals.  I have a dream of beating my PR at my next 5k....I have a goal of a possible half marathon later this year.  I need to be working out if I want to see these goals and dreams come to fruition.  I struggle.   It's not really even excuses.  It's time. It's learning how to fit it in to my lifestyle and around my husbands whims.  

So when I saw the seven minute workout I was quite interested.  Do I think it's a substitute for a full body cardio, blood pumping workout?  No!   But would it be a quick easy addition to my day?  Yes!  

I headed into this short workout with very minimal upper body strength.  Strength training had been spotty at best.  Yes, I know I need to fix that....thus my decision to try out this mini workout!!!

This morning I prepared myself to get down to business for 7 minutes.  Basically the picture above shows each of the moves you do.   Simply do each move for 30 seconds and voila...7 minutes!    I don't know if it's important to move through the exercises in the exact order.  I can only assume so in order to let certain muscles rest whilst still moving.   

I started.....Jumping jacks!   Easy, no problem.  I was feeling quite cocky with myself at this point, thinking it was going to all be a piece of cake!   30 seconds down and I moved on to the wall sit.  15 seconds in and my legs were burning!!!  Wowzers.  

Next up, push ups.  I hit my first snag.  Have I mentioned that my upper body strength is lame at best?  Yeah, sissy push ups for me.  On wobbly arms I made my thirty seconds.  

Thirty abdominal crunches later...they weren't too bad (thank you Zumba instructor Anita for all of the an work we do).  Step ups.....and here is where I noticed it.  2 minutes of actual exercise and I was starting to get a little heated.  The squats were next, I could feel my muscles quivering a bit.  By the time the tricep dips came around it was official!  I was breathing hard and sweating!    Was totally not expecting that!  Not at all!

I finished up the rest of the twelve moves.  I could feel it.  My muscles were worked.  

I really struggled with the two push-ups.  Yikes!  At least I figured out where my issues are!!!  I do think that his workout would be one that if done consistently would be quickly outgrown.  Then I would simply need to become a 14 minute workout I guess. 

I think that this workout will be something I try to incorporate into my daily life.    Who can't find seven minutes???