Day 4: Hunchback of Notre What?!

Today is day four and I can happily say I am not as sore as I thought I was going to be. Which is good and bad. Soreness means I'm working hard, but soreness also makes me look something along the lines of this guy... 

For those of you who don't know, this is Igor from A Nightmare Before Christmas. Only one of my favorite movies of ALL time

It's weird. Working out is all I can think about right now. At work, I secretly do calf raises and shoulder circles. I'm weird, I know.

But hey, this is the right mindset I should have. I would rather be excited and looking forward to putting in an hour in the gym than running in the other direction.

Give it time. I'm sure there will be days that I am complaining at the thought of getting out of my warm, comfy bed, and going to the gym.

It's only a matter of time. :)

Since my workout is done earlier in the day, I am going to have some blackberries for a snack, then clean the house, wrap Christmas presents, and do a variety of other odd jobs. 

Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season! Can you believe Christmas is so soon? Speaking of that... my 22nd birthday is in 18 days! Yeeeeeee! :) 

Now to leave you with some motivation:

An effective advertisement...

Sorry for the language, but I think Nike said it better than I could.

Except replace a** with "buns," "rump," "bottom," "backside," "butt," "hot crossed buns..."

Whatever works for you. Hahahaha... :)

Day 2 and 3: Crippled but loving it

Today is day three of my weight loss journey. I didn't blog about this before because I wasn't certain, but David is working out with me too! He wasn't sure when he wanted to get started but he agreed that now is as good of time as any! :) It is SO nice to have someone to work out with. I love being able to high five and cheer him on, and it's great to feel encouragement from him, especially when I'm sweaty and gasping for air. If you are planning on starting your own work out journey, I highly encourage you to find someone to work out with. The encouragement and accountability is amazing.

Anyway. 

Yesterday was our first day working out together in too long. We both plugged in our iPods and went marching along on the treadmills. I read something on Pinterest (I'm totally obsessed with that site) and I actually found it to hold some truth (although I don't know if it really is or not).

On Saturday I did 7.9 miles on the stationary bike and 2.1 miles on the treadmill for a total of 10 miles. Well, in the 7.9 miles I did I burned 3 less calories than I did walking briskly on the treadmill for 2.1 miles. That means I could pedal my life away on the bike, or walk on the treadmill and burn about the same.

I may be tweaking my work out routine to accomodate this new find.

My goals right now are to do legs and abs every other day and on the days in between do arms and abs.

Let's face it. My abs need the most attention so they get double the exercise.

Today David and I went again, which was great. He jumped on the treadmill and walked a couple miles while I did 8 miles on the bike and KILLER abs. I'm serious when I say I probably won't be able to stand up straight tomorrow, but hey, I'm getting toned and healthy and that's what matters.

Even if I look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame...

:)

Day 1: The beginning of my weight loss journey.

You ready for me to get real on you? I'm going to do something I've never really done before: allow myself to be vulnerable to you all. So here it is. Jenny Green: plain and simple.


I have always been an athlete. I started gymnastics when I was in kindergarden. I remember going to some elementary school gym and trying to learn how to do a somersault on the balance beam, which to this day I still can't do a somersault. I always think I am going to snap my neck off or something so I kind of just flop to the side inside of rolling completely over. Pitiful I know, but it's the truth.


One day my mom approached my twin sister and I and said we should try soccer, but if we didn't like it, we could come back to gymnastics. I think this memory sticks out in my mind because it was the first promise I think my mom made me.


Mom's always know what they're talking about, FYI. 


I started playing soccer and never looked back.


I played YMCA indoor soccer until third grade, until I started playing volleyball. I'm not sure why I switched but my love for volleyball lasted through my freshman year of college.

So did my love for basketball and my love for running track.


I was a three sport athlete for six years (which really means a year round athlete for six years). I won various awards for MVP and Most Inspirational and was voted captain for different seasons.


Sports were my life, and probably my first non-human love.


Playing sports through high school, and then getting involved with intramural at George Fox University meant I spent about 15 years of my life involved in athletics and working out.


So when I stopped due to knee injuries, my body changed, fast.


It's something I've struggled with, especially because I am an identical twin. I know that's silly, but unlike non-twins, I always have someone to compare myself to. I know we are different people and everything, but for some reason I always thought I had to look exactly like Ali, because we are twins.


Ali didn't do anything wrong and I love her SO much, it was just a mindset that I had for a while.


I am coming to terms with the fact that I am exactly who I am supposed to be though. I am exactly how God designed me. I am His masterpiece. I am beautiful. I am strong. I am passionate. Caring. Loving. Selfless. I am Jennifer Green. I am ME.


That being said, I know I can be better with my weight. I don't want my knee injury to hold me back and cause me to have health problems or issues down the road. Fast forwarding my life, I don't want to be 100 pounds heavier, wishing I took advantage of the time I had to work out before I got to that point.


So today I changed that.


I weighed in this morning and saw a horrifying number staring back at me on the scale. Horrifying, yet motivating.


I spent about an hour or so in the gym today. I did 7.9 miles on the stationary bike and walked 2.1 miles on the treadmill. I know with my knees I can't run so these are really great alternatives. I did a mixture of abs and arms in there and now I am feeling great. I can tell I'll be sore, but it's worth it.

Anyone else in this boat?

I read somewhere that, "The thing about reaching your weight loss goal is that it's 100% possible. It's completely in your control. The only thing from stopping you from getting there is you. So get out of the way."


This is really true in my case. My knees have been a sort of scape goat. But that ends today. My horrifying weight ends today.


Today I begin a weight loss journey that will change my life forever.

Hold on your hats ladies and gentlemen. This is going to be a wild ride.

Spontaneity

My Dad always told my sisters and I we weren't allowed to marry someone that won't dance with us in the kitchen. I often thank the Lord for bringing someone in my life who will literally dance with my anywhere.


David and I have always been romantics. I think one of my favorite things about him is that he is always trying to surprise me, make me smile, make me melt, and amazingly enough I am always trying to do the same with him too! :)


You know people say there's a honeymoon stage where everything is happy and perfect and there are rainbows and unicorns and stuff. Well, David and I have been together for almost three years (dating/engaged/married) and that feeling has not worn off.


Not to say we are the perfect couple, because we have disagreements just like any other couple. David said once, "In the morning it's point A and at the end of the day, it's point B. No matter what happens in between A and B, I will always love you more than when the day started." And that's how we try to live our lives. We can argue or disagree, but at the end of the day we both know we will love each other more than we did when we woke up.


*Happy sigh*


He's a keeper. ;)


I think spontaneity is a really key ingredient to a fun and happy marriage, at least for David and I. :) Like I said, we are always trying to surprise one another by showing up at each others' work, leaving notes for one another, surprising each other with gifts, and so on.


A couple days ago, David and I celebrated our 1.5 year anniversary! When he got home from work, he walked in with these:

Aren't they beautiful?!


We also decided to treat ourselves and stay one night at the Embassy Suites by the airport. We found that taking a weekend off together every other month or so is a great way for us to reconnect and recharge away from work and home.


We stayed at the airport Embassy Suites on our wedding night so it was fun to celebrate our 1.5 years there too! We got an awesome room with a view of the incoming planes. I love planes and seriously stood in front of the window for like a half an hour just watching the planes come in. It was so fun!

The hotel has a managers reception in their lobby where they serve free drinks and snacks for two hours. We went down and checked that out before heading, via the free shuttle, to Cascade Station. Although it was FREEZING out, we walked around and browsed some of the stores and had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. BWW is David's weakness. He loves that place! It was so fun though and we were able to take the shuttle back later when we were ready. It was so nice not to have to worry about parking or driving anywhere. We took our time and had a great time! :)

On a completely unrelated note. I discovered the amazingness that is Pinterest. I'm afraid I'm already developing a sort of obsession with the site. I love all the DIY stuff and some of the recipes look so delicious! So yesterday, I decided to copy an idea I saw off there...


I had the day off and decided to make David a meal using our Crock-Pot.


I really should use that thing more. What an easy way to cook! I ended up making maple whisky glazed beef brisket. It was really good, although it was a little spicy. David loved it though and requested I make it again soon! That must mean it was a success.


Before we ate though, David opened the door when he got home from work to see this!

How fun is this?! We had so much fun ducking and hiding behind the barriers I set up in the house. I was initially hiding under the kitchen table and ransacked him unexpectedly. If you ever want a fun way to surprise your guy, or even to just get exercise, here's a good way to do so. :)

Anyway, I hope all is well. Talk soon! :)