HYC Update – Weekend Fun = Exercise, Twitter, & Shopping

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!

I had an absolutely fantastic weekend!  After not feeling so great on Friday, I came back strong on Saturday and Sunday and made the most out of both days.

I got in fun and challenging workouts this weekend, and I couldn’t be prouder of myself. (I’ll go into more detail on Friday with my fitness post).  The main thing that I loved about the exercise I did this weekend was that I was able to get out and enjoy the sun.  More rain is due to come in later tonight through Thursday, so I wanted to make the most of it while I could.  It felt great to push myself hard, especially on Saturday.

This weekend I bit the bullet, followed Scale Warfare‘s lead, and created a Twitter account.  For the longest time I really didn’t think my life was interesting enough to have a Twitter, but when SW mentioned that she wanted to use it as a way of posting her food journal quickly, I thought it was brilliant.  And wouldn’t you know that I actually have a lot more “nuggets” to share than I realized?  If you want to “follow” me, my name on Twitter is Bellablogger.  Or, if you prefer, you can just follow my most recent tweets on the sidebar of this blog. If you have a Twitter account, how do you find yourself using it?

The other fun thing I did this weekend was go shopping.  Who doesn’t love retail therapy, right?  I have been buying lots of little things online that are weight loss or fitness related (in some way, shape, or form) and I’ll write future posts about them as I use/experience them.  I also found my way to a HUMONGOUS Walmart Superstore, which is about 35 miles from my house.  I’d never been to this location before (I’ve only been to Walmart twice before in my life – once on Cape Cod and once in my city), but this store was supposed to be fabulous.  And it was – so clean, organized, and absolutely overwhelming in its size.  I spent quite a bit of money, but I got such great deals (ex: a cute dress for $18!!) that it was well worth it.  Even though Walmart isn’t top on my list of places to shop on a normal basis, it’s worth going and spending an afternoon (we were there for over 2 1/2 hours!) now and then.

Which leads me to a shopping decision  that I need your help with.  I bought my Skechers Shape-Ups a long time ago and I absolutely adore them.  The thing is, once summertime hits, I know that I’ll be less likely to wear my Shape-Ups if it’s really warm outside.  Then I got an email from Skechers letting me know that they make their own form of fitness sandals called Tone-Ups, and I knew I had to check them out.  I figure that if I was that happy with the Shape-Ups, I’d love the Tone-Ups too.  Here’s where you come in.  I’m wondering which pair to buy.  I’m going to buy them online, because the selection is much better than any I can find in the stores in my area (and I live in a great area for shopping).  Partially because I’m picky about my shoes because I want them to be stylish. I’ve narrowed it down to two choices, but I want to get your opinions on which ones you think are cuter:

Choice 1 – Ballerina Kicks.  Here are 3 views of them (click on any of the photos to make them larger):

Choice 2 – Funk Frenzy. Again, 3 views (click to make larger):

I’m leaning towards one style more than the other, but I want to get your opinions before I make a final decision.  Thanks in advance for helping me go shoe shopping.  😉

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!!

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Only 2 miles, but a LOT of lessons

Today LC, my nieces, and I participated in a 2-mile “fun run” in Lafayette.  LC found out about the walk, and since I’d never done one with my nieces (7 and 2), I thought it would be fun.  The thing is, my older niece is really active, so I knew keeping an eye on her in the midst of 1000s of runners would be a challenge.

One drawback to this event was that I had to leave my house at 7:15AM to get to my sister’s house in time for us to head up over to Lafayette and be ready for the 9AM start time.  We had a great time on the drive up, and the kids were thrilled every time we saw cows, horses, or goats along the way.  (LC took the scenic route).  We arrived in plenty of time to make a quick pit stop at Starbucks to make sure we had a bit of a caffeine boost before the walk.

Lesson #1 –  I usually only wear my Skechers when I’m on a leisurely walk, or on casual Fridays at school, or when I’m just running around doing errands on the weekend.  Never to do an endurance walk.  Why oh why did I think it would be a good idea?  “It’s only two miles,” I told myself as I got dressed this morning.  Ya, right.  We started off fine, although we had to rush a bit to catch up to the beginning of the race because we got a bit sidetracked with the kids.  As we were walking, my calves started cramping up almost immediately.  We slowed down a bit, but we were quickly at the back of the pack, which as you know, makes me nervous.  I was really thankful when LC offered to switch shoes with me.  She’s used to wearing her MBMTs, so wearing my Skechers was nothing for her.

Lesson #2 – I panic at the beginning of any walk like this.  I worry that we’re at the back of the pack, I worry that we’re not keeping pace, or I worry that I look too slow out there.  LC said it’s my competitive spirit.  I’m not sure what it is, but I do seem to get really anxious and “type-A” whenever we begin a walk.  I get overly concerned about minor cramps and pains and sometimes feel like I can’t complete it.  I am so glad that LC has been there with me, because she reminds me that I CAN do it, and every single time, she’s right, I can. I really want to work on being less stressed at the start of each walk, because I’m sure I stress my sister out, and I’m also not helping my own self-confidence.  As Jimmy pointed out before, I really need to start believing in myself more when it comes to being active and physical.

After I got over myself, I really started to enjoy the walk.  I’d never been to Lafayette before, but it has an adorable little downtown area.  Plus, some of the trees are finally changing colors, and it was a perfect, beautiful autumn morning.  LC and I spent most of our time keeping track of my oldest niece, who we allowed to “run up to that next sign post, and then run right back to us,” so she could get some of her energy out.  LC and I both said that if either of us were in better shape, we’d love to actually run this race with T (my oldest niece) because she could definitely finish it.

Lesson #3 – No matter how busy I think my life is, being single is SO much easier than having two little kids.  I don’t know how my sister does it.  Both of my nieces are so active, and don’t listen to everything we ask of them the first time, so it did make a walk like this a bit challenging.  I think they had fun, but I also think that we’d all have enjoyed this a bit more if both of them were a bit older.

All in all, I definitely felt like I had walked 10 miles rather than 2, and I think that was partly due to the kids, but also due to the mongo hill we had to climb on the way back to the car.  It was a fun way to spend the morning, and I am glad for the time we got to spend together, as well as the lessons I learned.

Stats: 2 miles in 1 hour (not bad with the two kiddies).  Over 450 calories burned (from Starbucks stop (when I put on the BB) ’till we got back to the car).  Not bad at all.

I hope you enjoy the photos.  There is an absolutely adorable one of the four of us towards the end of the album.

From Lafayette Fun Run

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Skechers Shape-Ups Review

I’ve had my Skechers Shape-Ups for about a week, and I wanted to wear them in a variety of settings before I wrote a review of them.

I’ve worn them:

• walking around the store, just doing everyday errands.
• on a power walk around the neighborhood.
• at the gym, on the treadmill.
• at the gym, on the elliptical machine.

Wearing them to walk around doing errands, I really didn’t notice much of a difference in my calf or shin muscles.  They do feel like your heel is sinking in the sand, which is a strange feeling at first, but something that I found easy to get used to.  I love the way the shoes look on me, and I like that they have a bit of a heel on them (because of the “technology”), so they make me a bit taller (always a plus!). Also, these shoes are incredibly comfortable to wear.  It’s like they have extra cushioning or something.  I could see myself wearing these to school on a Friday (when I usually dress more casually), because they would be great to wear while standing up all day in my classroom.

Wearing them power walking, I definitely noticed a bit more effort used in my calf muscles.  In fact, I found that I had to walk a bit slower so that I wasn’t in  too much pain.  I finished my walk feeling as if I had walked much farther and for much longer than I actually did, which I take as a good thing.  Because I’m putting forth more effort when wearing them, I’m getting a better workout.  At least, I hope so.

Wearing them Friday night at the gym to walk on the treadmill was basically the same as power walking with them outside.  Much more effort needed to walk, but in a good way.  I was getting a good workout.

Wearing them on the elliptical machine was very surprising.  It took me SO much more effort to work out on that machine wearing these.  I especially felt it when I moved backwards!  I could feel my thigh muscles really working, and I was quite sore Saturday morning, which was great.

So, I would highly recommend them.  I don’t plan on wearing them next week at the Golden Gate Bridge 5K, because I want to have a decent pace, and since I walk a bit slower with them, I’d rather not throw them into the mix for that type of activity.  But overall, it was money well spent.  Plus, they’re really cute; at least I think so.

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HYC Update – Bella’s Boot Camp

This last week has been wonderful – I had a great birthday and I’ve been working out like a madwoman.

I’ve decided that all of this working out is going to be called Bella’s Boot Camp.  My own little version of the Biggest Loser.  I’m hoping to see some big (smaller?) results by the time school starts back up in late August.

Each day has been filled with fitness & activity – Wii Fit to start things off and then biking, walking, swimming, EA Sports Active, and an Aqua class thrown in for good measure.  Last night I went to my first Aqua class in what felt like months, and it was great!  The regular teacher was there and she is amazing!  I really felt like I was working my muscles.  Later, it was all I could do to come home, eat dinner, and keep my eyes open to see The Bachelorette.

Oh, and my Skechers Shape-Ups arrived yesterday.  I love them!  I love the way they look – the black and white looks really nice – and they feel great.  I used them to walk around just a bit yesterday to test them out and they do sort of feel like your heel is sinking in sand.  So far I don’t notice my legs feeling sore, although almost every muscle in my body feels sore right now with all of this activity, so I can’t say for sure if the shoes are causing it or everything else.  LOL.

I know that I’m not going to be able to keep up this pace when school starts back up, but I’m hoping that I will be able to do at least one major activity each day/evening.  I think I mentioned before that I’m also planning on buying some personal training sessions, to really keep me up on my game.  The sessions are expensive – about $50/hour, but I used to feel so great when I was doing them once a week.  I figure that I can save up and buy 10 sessions to start and that will take me through the end of October.  (August – October).

All of this working out has kept me really positive about life, as well.  I am truly enjoying my time off, and I have to say, I haven’t been bored once.  If I do feel a bit of boredom creeping up, I get up and do something physical, and I’m not only proud of myself afterwards, but I feel better.  Endorphins and all of that.

One of my major goals for this week is to take some time to go through all of my magazines and cookbooks and find some new recipes to cook.  That’s one thing I’ve been a bit lax about this summer.  I’ve been “cooking” at home almost every night, but I have mostly been throwing things together, and not really planning and preparing meals.  This week I want to find some new recipes and really get back to cooking.

Looking forward to weigh-in on Thursday.  Until then, I’ll be moving and grooving!

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Skechers Shape-Ups

I just bought a pair of Skechers Shape-Ups from Amazon.com.

Have you seen the ads for these shoes?  I’ve seen them in a few magazines, including WW and Women’s Health.  I thought they looked interesting, especially because I was sure they were a lot cheaper than MBTs.  I bought them on a whim today, but I’m actually really excited about getting them.

They’re supposed to “promote weight loss; tone back, ab, calf, and buttocks muscles; and improve posture.”  The technology used in these shoes is very similar to that of MBTs, only I think these are sooooooo much cuter than MBTs. These black and white Skechers remind me of Vann’s, which I love.

The reviews that I read about these shoes all say they’re really comfortable and that they did all the things they promise to do. Can’t beat that.  My sister has a pair of MBTs that cost twice as much, and she loves them.  I’m hoping that these shoes will serve me just as well.

I bought the exact pair you see above, which oddly enough, wasn’t available on the Skechers.com website, but was available on Amazon.com.  Strange, right?

Here’s a video, in case you want to find out more. The video is great at showing how the shoes look on someone.  I think they look really great, much better than the picture above makes them out to be.

I should receive them early next week, right before my birthday (I’ll consider them another birthday present to myself), and I’ll definitely let you know how I like them.

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