Sometimes we all just need a kick in the rear...

I have a serious case of the "blahs".

I know this is normal. Everyone has bad days but I just cannot seem to get rid of it.

I have complained to my sister about just not feeling as toned and small and healthy as I have in the past few months. I even asked a friend at work "Ok, tell me for real - do I look like I have gained weight?" knowing  that I haven't. And also knowing that it is totally normal to fluctuate a few pounds anyways.

 So -- after griping to my sister and some friends I decided to motivate myself with a blog post about loving your body in hopes that maybe someone else suffering from a case of the "blahs" will get a little kick in the rear from this too.



I am a firm believer in the whole "If you don't love yourself first..." idea. And usually it applies to people trying to be in relationships to make themselves happy when they aren't happy with themselves but I think it applies to so much more. Including loving your body. Period. 250 pounds. 120 pounds. Big hips. Big thighs. Big boobs.  No curves. Too many curves. Stick legs. Flabby arms. Muscles.

What the heck ever.

Your body is your body and if you don't love it at its worst, are you really and truly going to love it at its best. You may think you will but believe me, you will ALWAYS find some part that you are not happy with. Loving your body is not so much about saying "Yes, I really love my huge thighs," but about saying "Ok, God gave me some serious thighs here. So let me embrace these babies and put them to work and tone them up and they are gonna do amazing things for me, like squat 185 pounds!" Ok - that is personally what I have to tell myself cause I got some serious leg action going on- but take whatever part of your body you may think needs improvement and insert it here! I am not saying by any means that if you are overweight and want to change that you shouldn't because you have to love your body as is - I just mean love yourself period. Don't count on losing weight to be happy with yourself.



Also, remember where you have come from but don't let the old you hold you back. You HAVE to let go of the old you but you have to remember her. Does that make sense? Someone said to me this past week, "Emily, you don't see yourself like other people see you." And you know what, that is the honest to God truth. Now, I can look at pictures of myself now and be happy with myself and know that I have lost weight. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I am still that girl who was thrown into the obese category on the BMI and Body Fat charts. I catch myself going to grab bigger sizes when I'm in stores and them I remember that I am not that size anymore! I think we all store that old version of ourselves deep in the back of our minds and I think once in awhile she likes to come out and put negative thoughts in our heads.

So, push her back into the back of your mind and tell her to shut the heck up because you love your body and you are making some positive changes and you don't need any Debby Downers!




One of the greatest gifts I have given myself over the past few years is to see how AMAZING our bodies can be if we treat them right. Give them a little love and some good nutrition and some exercise and you will be amazed. A few years ago it would have been tough for me to pick up 50 pounds from the floor. Now, my 1 rep max for a deadlift is 230 pounds! To the non weight lifting readers out there - basically that means I can pick up 230 pounds of dead weight off the ground. Holy moly. So when I get down on myself I remember that feeling of finally picking up that weight.

Man. That is an amazing feeling.

And for those of you who don't lift, then I am sure there is some accomplishment that you have had recently that you have stopped and thought, "Wow, I cannot believe I can do that!". Use those moments to push you forward. And no matter where you are in your journey - be proud of that. Enjoy the journey because it is an amazing journey to do something for yourself.  Love yourself where you are at. If you have been stuck at a certain weight or if you can't do something particular at the gym, who cares. You have gotten this far and you are awesome for that and eventually you are going to lose the rest of that weight, or lift that weight at the gym that you could not get before, or run that mile faster than you ever have. So don't hate on yourself for what you haven't done but love yourself for what you have done.

Someone remind me of this post next time I get a case of the "blahs", okay?

- E

We're back!!!

Um, sooooo.....hi?

We have to apologize for being complete blog losers and abandoning it for so long but we really have no great excuses for our long absence. So we are sorry and we are going to try super duper hard to keep up this time cause we know our lives are exciting and you want to know about them. 

So we have not completely fallen off the fitness bandwagon even if we completely fell off the blog bandwagon. In fact, TODAY, I (Emily) finished my first 10k race!!

(Me @ Start line - it was 6:45 am and cold!!!)

Not sure if I have said this before but even if I have, it bears repeating: I do not like running. 

I'm slow. I average a 12:15-12:30 mile. My legs feel like 10,000 lb weights. I have big, muscular legs and apparently this doesn't work like I think it should. One would think my big muscles would just carry me along. Nope. Those jokers are Heavy! But - I like to challenge myself to so things I am not good at so I try to run. 

My friends and I signed up to race in the Rock 'n Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon Series in Savannah, Ga. Mainly I was attracted to the Savannah part of this not the running part. (Probably the same reason I signed up to do my first official 5k at Disney!) Rachel and Laura did the 1/2 marathon and Megan and I do the new 1/2 marathon relay which means I did the first leg (6.2 miles) and then Megan did the second (6.9 miles).

(Laura, Rachel, Megan and I in front of Forsyth Park fountain)

We went to Savannah on Thursday and had a good time hanging out Thursday night and Friday. We went on a carriage ghost tour Thursday and ate at this delicious place in City Market. Friday we walked all over the place and had a huge Mexican dinner. Smart choice for a pre-race meal, probably not! But we got to dress up and have fun girl time so that is what is important.

(Me before our pre-race dinner)

This morning we had to wake up at 5 am to get ready. Start time was 7 am and we had to walk 0.8 miles to get to Bay Street and the start line. I was so nervous, guys!  Let me make it known that I did not spend tons of energy training for this because other things in my fitness life take a front seat (more about my new fitness adventures in another post) but honestly, I was running maybe 3 miles twice a week so I was so nervous that I would not make it longer than that!

(The 4 of us at the start line.)

It was cold - maybe 50 - and we checked our coats and our bags, so we jumped around dancing to the music until finally we were off! The relay runners got to pick which corral to start in so my friends wanted me to start with them. Bad choice. They have a much faster pace so they were in a corral who had a faster pace and for the first mile people flew by me and I am not going to lie, it got to my head a little bit! Once I got around people of a similar pace I felt much better about my run and even got to pass some people which is always good for a runner's ego, right?

The first part of my run was through a neighborhood and the residents were all so sweet and supportive. Even at 7 am people were out in their yards cheering us on. The second half was in downtown Savannah and they were also just as supportive. Tons of spectators yelling and waving and giving high fives and you just get so motivated that you yell and wave and give high fives right back to these perfect strangers! I felt like a celebrity! 

Mile 3 came and went, and I felt good! This was the part that I was worried I was going to want to stop, but I would just walk a little while after getting water and take off running again. Ok, maybe take off running is the wrong term. I would slowly "shuffle off" as Amanda would call it. Shuffling closely resembles running, if you are unsure of what it is. 

Mile 4 I ate some energy chews and felt so good. Was almost a little sad that my run was coming to an end. Almost. Saw some great signs around this point. Wish I had pictures but ain't nobody got time to get their phone out while running. One said "What you are doing is amazing!!" and another said " I am so proud of you, stranger!" So after seeing these signs and realizing, "Holy moly, I am almost done with my first 10k distance run!" I got overwhelmed and so proud and teared up a little. Yes, I cried while running. What?! Anytime I think of where I am now and where I came from, I get emotional. I think it's a good thing, right? I have worked hard and it has paid off!

So, back to the race. Mile 6 comes and goes and I AM DONE! I hand Megan the baton (yes we had to carry one like a real relay!) and she takes off. I get a banana and water and Gatorade and call my mom all sniffly and teary eyed to tell her I finished. 

Official time....1:21. Not amazingly fast but I am proud of it. My first time ever running that far! I still keep thinking "I cannot believe I ran for over an hour straight!" 

I headed to Forsyth Park which is where the marathoners, 1/2 marathoners, and those who ran the 2nd part of the relay were to finish and basked in the sun am listened to music while waiting on the other girls.

(Rachel and I in Forsyth Park waiting on Megan and Laura)

I am so proud of us all. This was Laura's first 1/2 marathon and she did awesome! And Rachel finished with her best 1/2 time and Megan finished despite recent injuries and still had an awesome race time, in my opinion. 

(Megan and I post race...we had 15 min to shower and pack and check out. And we had just finished running!)

After the race, I ate my body weight in carbs. And it was good. 

So, I'm looking forward to more races as tired as my little leggies are right now. It's not the running that I enjoy. The whole race I am thinking about how my legs hurt and I am tired and them when I finish I have this overwhelming sense of accomplishment. The finish is when I look back and realize I wasn't as miserable as I thought and I am proud for pushing through. 

I would totally recommend the Savannah run to anyone who can get to it in the coming years. First of all the city itself is beautiful. Secondly, the people in the city made this race for me. I seriously felt so supported by random people as I ran. The cheering really gets you through. 

So, that's my recap. It may be totally not interesting but I was so excited about it that I had to share. Amanda and I are running the Turkey Trot 5k in Orlando on Thanksgiving morning so we will recap that as well! And look for some more blog posts soon catching y'all up on our lives! Thanks for reading!

Seriously, though. I ran 6.2 freaking miles today!!!