just to catch up

Sorry folks that I haven't been posting lately. It's been a crazy last two weeks, with not much sticking to working out, starting with my trip to Heather's house. So yes, I do blame her. But, the good news, the happy news, the wonderful news is that I have lost 6 pounds in the month of January!!! So go freaking me!!!! You have no idea how happy that makes me. That's 2 pounds less that I hoped for, but 6 pounds more than had I not done anything, right? So onward and upward, my friends. Onward and .... upward.

a new week

So school starts today-I'm pretty excited! I've had an entire month off, which has been nice, but I'm ready to get back to work-it gets pretty boring around here when I've got nothing to do other than entertain Layla and try to keep the house clean. This also starts the fourth week of working out for me, which means I'm going to kick it up a notch again. I'm kicking it up to two work outs a day starting today. Ideally, I'd be working out in the morning before Layla gets up, but really, let's face it, I don't get out of bed til she does. So that means that I'm going to work out during her nap time, and then again in the evening. I'm going to do the 30 day shred during her nap, since it's just a quick 20 minute workout, and in the evenings I'm going to continue with the boost metabolism blast fat work out. I'll do this for 3 weeks, and then increase the day time workout to my third dvd, no more trouble spots. I'm excited. I'm also going to post pictures from last month and today later this afternoon, so we can see if anything has changed at all. I hope it has. Okay, well, I'll let you know how the two a days are going in a few days.

yessss

So I've been doing Jillian's Blast Fat and Boost your metabolism work out for a week-it's 50 minutes of death. Up until yesterday, I wasn't able to even finish it. It's 7 circuits of 61/2 minutes each, and if makes me want to die. Yesterday I pushed through and finished the whole thing. And at the end, Jillian said something very profound, at least to me. She said that working out for her isn't just about the ripped body and healthy lifestyle, it's also about knowing what's inside, knowing what she's capable of. It's so easy to say 'oh, this is just too hard, I can't do it' and quit. I don't think I've ever said that about anything intellectual-other than science, of course. I love pushing my brain to its limits. I guess working out does the same thing; it's not just about what I'm physically capable of, it's about what I'm mentally able to push myself to do. And it feels good to know I can push a little farther than I thought I could each time. And, my thighs are starting to look really freaking good!

sorry for the delay

Just so you all know, I have been working out-I kept it up over the holidays-just didn't keep up the blogging about it. I have switched from the 30 day shred to her burn fat and boost metabolism workout, because it's 45 minutes instead of 20, so it's more of a work out, and trust me, it really is. She's way into plyometrics, which is jumping exercises-way intense. Anyway, that's all I'm going to say about working out today-today's blog is something else. I am starting my second semester of graduate school in a week, and Zane is working on his last two quarters of grad school starting this year, so we're pretty busy with life and school. We both have done quite well so far in our programs, and I'm going to tell you why I think we've done well. Zane has been going to graduate school online full time in addition to his full time job for the last year and a half or so, and has maintained a 4.0 the whole time. Some people may thing that online classes are easier than traditional classes, and I'll tell you why that is a misconception. An online class takes at least twice as much dedication: in a traditional classroom, you listen to lectures, and discuss verbally issues, and in an online class, you read the lecture notes, and write your discussion postings-it takes twice as long to read versus listen, and to write versus speak. So just getting the actual class lecture out of the way for a 2 hour course may take 2-3 hours of work at home. And then factor in homework and papers and readings, and you've got 12-15 hours a week for each online class that you need to dedicate in order to be successful. Here's the secret to being successful: time management. Zane and I each have a day planner, and at the beginning of the semester, as soon as we get our syllabi, we sit down and write each due date for large projects, small projects, and weekly assignments into our planners, so looking at each week, you can see exactly what needs to be done. Next, comes the weekly schedule. Here's a little trick I learned in college: when your schedule looks crazy, you break it down into 15 minute time slots for each day-for example, a busy day for me may look like this:
7:15-7:30-wake up/get Layla dressed
7:30-8:00-breakfast/check emails
8:00-8:15-make bed
on through the busy day crap
6:15-7:15-read chapter 6
7:15-8:15-research for paper
8:15-9:15-respond to questions for chapter 6
9:15-10:15-research for paper
end day

When you manage time wisely, the course load isn't as overwhelming, and it doesn't get away from you. That means you're in control, and I think that's 90% of the work. So to all of you in school, I say that as soon as you get all of your syllabi, put everything in a day planner, outline each day's work at the beginning of each week, and stick to it.