Rethinking Things/A New View.

     I am in desperate need of stepping back and rethinking how I am doing things with my fitness.  I have fallen of the deepest of ends, and I need to fix that big time!  Trying to do the ab challenge (Which I completely failed at if you haven't noticed) made me realize something: I don't like doing the same thing over and over again.  It bored me to dead, and I lose interest in it really quickly.  Because of this, I have not been doing may exercises, excluding derby, and it has resulted in me gaining weight again.  I HATE IT!  So one change is that I am no longer going to be doing any more of those workouts that make me do the same exercises everyday.
     I am very lucky that I still have Roller Derby and love it to my core.  It has definitely kept me from gaining the weight back quickly.  We always do something different, and to me that keeps it exciting and fun.  I am definitely progressing as the time goes by.  We had our minimum skills assessments this week, and I still have a couple of things to work on, but all in all I am ten times better than I was when I went through the assessments for the first time.  Luckily we will be going over what I need to do at next practice, and maybe I'll pass those things next week, and I'll get to participate in my first bout in a month!  I love this sport and the team I'm apart of, and I think that is what's keeping me coming back!  I wish I would have joined when I first got my car!
     Outside of practices, I do need to start working out again.  I'm not going to get better if I don't put my 100% in everyday.  I just need to add some spontaneity to my workouts to keep me interested.  I think I might go through and watch a bunch of workout videos, and write down all of the ones I want to do.  I will then number them, and use a number generator to choose which one I want to do.  I'll see how that works.  I also want to start running and dancing again.  I need to build up my endurance (more so that doing my laps will be easier), and those are the two things that I have enjoyed doing endurance wise.  It's still too cold for me to run outside, but I have access to the rec center, and I have plenty of dance videos that I want to learn.  It helps that I have a boyfriend who likes to do things and be active.  We have been wanting to play tennis for the longest times, but snow and other weather elements have kept us from doing that.   He also likes to be outside.  He likes to fish, hike, and just enjoy nature, and I love that!
     As far as my food consumption goes, I have not been doing so hot.  And yes I refuse to call it a diet.  Diet makes me think of failure, and failure sucks!  I have been eating fast food more often than not, and I haven't really been making my meals like I should.  That's one habit I need break fast.  In fact I decided to give up fast food for lent.  I did really good last year giving up friend foods for lent, so I'm hoping for the same success.  I also have been eating bigger portions, and boredom/emotional eating have also been a habit I've taken back up.  I have done that since high school.  Soda is also something I need to cut back on hardcore.  When you work at a movie theater with a soda fountain that's always tempting you, It's very hard to not give in.  Though I have re-found my love for water in the past couple of days, so that might help.
     I've also decided that in order for me to make my fitness not feel like a chore is to not have scheduled blog posts.  It's the reason why I didn't completely stick with the weekly vlogs I did last year.  It started feeling like a burden, and it also started getting boring.  I want to have fun with this, so I am going to post when I feel inspired, or when I find a workout or recipe that I absolutely love and want to share.  I feel like it will be more real, and maybe make it more fun.
     Until next time, I hope you all have a great day!

Best wishes and DFTBA
~Alicia~

 
   

Ab Challenge Update #1

I should be on day 7 of the Ab challenge, but alas I just finished day 5.

Oops.

I was slack on both Saturday and Sunday.  I did do physical activity, so it's not like I was completely lazy.  Saturday, My boyfriend, Josh, two of my team mates, and myself went skating and I was skating for 3 hours.  Sunday, Josh, His sister, her dog, and myself went hiking for a couple of hours because it was beautiful.

I could have done Day 3 things on Saturday because all I did before going skating was going through things in my room.  That was a misjudgment of my time, and really just a forgetting about the challenge all together.

Sunday I was hanging out with Josh and his sister all day, and I have a bit of a problem working out at somebody else's house.  I'm not a big fan of somebody watching me work out unless they are working out as well.  It's just something that hinders me in that aspect, and it is something I am going to have to work on.  I think it just has something to do with my self confidence.

Already with this challenge it has helped me with my planks.  During our warm ups at practice, we do planks, and I always have problems with doing planks or at least holding the position for the 3 separate 30 second sessions we do.  I was thinking it was because of the floor and my elbow pads not wanting to stop slipping, or because I could never find the right placement for my arms.  I have figured out that the way we go up is just not good for my back.  Instead of raising into it, I have to step into it.  It doesn't hurt my back that way, I have my arms in the right placement, and I feel more stable in general doing it that way.

The leg raises also helped with our 6 inches that we do as well.  I was able to hold one of the 30 second sessions we do.  I still need work on it, but it does help a whole lot.

I have decided to do the Bicycle Kicks and Russian Twists every other day.  It is rather difficult doing all of them every day, so it is best I do it not so often.

This isn't the only work-outs I am doing.  I am also making sure I do cardio (Especially because of practice), and to do leg and arm workouts every so often.  

I will have my first weigh in this Friday with pictures and everything.  :)

Best Wishes and DFTBA!
~Alicia~

The Brazen Fit 24 Day Ab Challenge

So a couple of girl at work have started doing this 24 day ab challenge, and I thought I'd look at it and possibly give it a try.  If you are not familiar with it, here is the picture of the program.

It looks easy enough, but I do have a problem with the fact that the three exercises moves that they have only really focus on the middle ab muscles and there's nothing that work the obliques or the hip flexors.  For me personally, I need a total ab workout.  So I'm tweaking the workout a bit.  I'm going to do the three moves they have provided, but I'm going to add two moves to it.

The first move I'm adding are bicycle crunches.  We do these sometimes at practice, and I feel almost every muscle in my core working.  It's also one of my favorite types of crunches to do simply because it hurts so good.  

The second move is called Russian Twist.  These are very good for the obliques, and they hurt like crazy.  I'm going to start the challenge with my feet on the floor, and as the days go by work on doing them without my feet on the ground.  

Since both of these workouts go from side to side, one repetition is when you complete each side once.

  

I'm am starting today, and will be doing an update on how I'm doing every week.  If you want to join me in this challenge let me know!  I'm totally down to be an accountability partner!!!  

Best Wishes, and DFTBA

~Alicia~ 

Transition from Vlog to blog...An Introduction.

Hello!  My name is Alicia Gravely.  I'm a youtuber who for the majority of 2013 I posted my weight loss results in the form of a video blog (Except for the months of October, Novemeber, and December I got lazy and didn't post.)  When I did this, I found that it was easier for me to stay on track and commit to actually losing the weight that has been weighing me down.  When I was doing the video I went from 256.4 pounds to 212.4 pounds.  When I got lazy and didn't do any videos I stayed around 212, and I definitely lost track and gained about 10 pounds in the holiday season.  I feel like I need the documentation to keep myself on track, but the videos were getting very repetitive and I didn't know what to talk about without having long videos.   That's where this blog comes into play!!!

Welcome to my fitness and weight loss blog!  I will be posting my Friday weigh in results, any fitness challenges I decide to do, cool healthy snack and food recipes, and anything Derby fitness related.  I will be posting what I wish I could have talked about on the videos without having to worry about how to say it quick and understandable.  I will include videos of various workouts I do, pictures of my weigh in every Friday, and announce which fitness challenges I do so you all can join me.

This isn't a New Years Resolution, this is just me working on being healthier and active.  I already have Roller Derby, but I need to do more outside of practices and it might help me in the long run with practices anyway.

I hope you all will join me, and if you have any fitness challenges you want to do, and you need a accountability partner, I am totally down!  :)

Best wishes, and DFTBA!
~Alicia~