Let's take a look back at my 2011 goals and where I am today in 30 seconds: signed up for a gym membership in May2011 - got in shape that summer. Fall came and needed to make some decisions. Stoped working out in September. Relocated. 2012 arrived. Started working out in February in our neighbor's garage.

What I love about my lifestyle is that I'm getting to do really cool things, such cool things that I'm not allowed to share with you all of them, except for these two:

Next week I will be going on a week long safari throughout the jungle where I will be visiting many Amerindian communities, my hubbie and I will be camping (not leisure camping more like survival camping with a car) Our list of things include a machete, lights, food supply for a week, a water container that purifies river water into potable water among a wrench, a 6 inch suspension and a snorkel on our 1990 toyota landcruiser.

We have been working out 3 times per week, our workouts have changed drastically. Now we are focused on doing so much core and circuit training. At the end of our workouts I feel like puking. But I never felt stronger. My whole journey has been centered around getting rid of cellulite that now that I look back at how obsessed I was- it makes me kind of chuckle. Life is the whole package, either you are happy with it or you are not. I strive to be excellent it what I do, but now I feel like I'm at peace with that self-image war of 2008.

Everyone is looking good here, so I guess I'll be sure to post you some pics upon my return from our safari, maybe I'll inspire some folks to pursue their safaris.

Cheers,

s 

Well this was my b-day week and I can honestly say I got everything I wished for-

Hubbie got an offer for his dream job (less than 1% of the people that apply get it) and does not have to take a salary cut which is great!

Hubbie also took me to my favorite show at the MET in NYC and we had great food-

Hubbie's job will mean that I'll be moving in maybe 6 months or maybe not we just don't quite know.

Life it's a bit of a rollercoaster, the lows can be quite low and the highs are great- I think working out everyday definitely gets me through the lows. Nothing deep on this blog post , it's just a celebratory post-

One can say that working in staffing can be quite stressful, people failed to show up for interviews or decline offers and fingers are being pointed at you all the time. So it was a welcomed changed when I moved away from a big staffing firm to a smaller one with a better quality of life. My husband and I signed up for a membership with grand ideas of crazy workouts we would try. 

However, I have noticed that when you work out with your significant other there are going to be shortcomings or challenges faced very similar to real life.

1. You may feel that you can't try what you want because he may feel nauseous or not as comfortable so you compromise for a work out that is not as intense.

2. You feel that you are overworking yourself or under working yourself.

3. You may not be getting enough energy post workout or you may be overeating. (Come on ladies lets admit how many of us want to eat the same dish that your much bigger 220lb man, or more).

I think it's important to address these possible scenarios with your significant other and note what your partner's "buttons" (aka triggers that lead to crankiness) are.

Finally, the idea of working out together is to have fun and enjoy your time as a couple, if you do find yourselves incompatible on the gym floor; it's totally ok! just because your are a good couple away from the gym doesn't mean that your are gym partners. The goal is to find the support necessary to achieve your goals (build awesome ripped bodies, maintain well being or develop better communication/ relationship).

Hi BB! 

 Well, I'm back and ready to get back to be in super shape. After being away for a year in the corporate world and maintaining, now I found a job that allows me a bit of time to work out! Bad news is that I commute a lot so it cuts into my workout time.

The time frame that I have is 30 minutes--only 30- I can only work out T/W/TH & F. Plus I have my husband and we work together. So far our workout is a 10-15 cardio warm up and 2-3 exercises  (3 reps each)...I know really lame..

We want ideas and a challenging workout, so I want to challenge and seek advise from the best!

Once I pick a workout I will do it and resume my weekly-status update pics. Our goal is to build muscle--- if you know a link to a work out on the website feel free to guide me (I have been searching to no avail...or get side track by transformations) Any help would be highly appreciated!!!

Well if you are thinking I will stop working out you are wrong but I am concerned now that I'm relocating (again) that I'll need to find a job and unfortunately it will not be a gym...itwill probably  be a regular 8-5pm sit on your but all day kind of job...yeah I know what you are thinking "welcome to the club, now you will truly know what we have to go through to lose weight and stay in shape" and I agree... my job at the gym really made things easier for me to stay in track seeing it everyday inspired me. I believe if I can make it to the gym 3-4 times per week I can pull through. I'm considering joining a primal fitness gym but if they were not so expensive. I'll see what happens in the next month or so. Move. Job. Unpack. Work. ugh..

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I have to love this article in the NYT about two major complaints in the gym, for the last two months: overcrowded-

I don't believe the newbies are that bad this year, if anything they are pretty determined and consistent. If you have a complain about gyms, go and write your two cents. I feel is the people who are the regulars are really the cause of major headaches, just leave the staff out of it, what you have to learn is patience, if parking is two far I will remind you that you are going to be in a treadmill for 45 min, so walking to your car is not that torturous, right?
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/complaint-box-workout-multitasking/?hp

So in the gym where I work there's been a situation unravelling: someone has been stealing pants and Jackets from the locker room. Sure women leave the jackets in a locker without a lock along with their belongings but the thief goes through the things and doesn't steal anything valuable (wallets, watches) just the Jackets and some Pants (7 jackets so far and 2 slacks).  Ladies and guys always use a lock, I mean everyone sometimes develops a fake trust but there's only so much the staff can do for you. The good news is that we have narrowed it down to two suspects (present during all the incidents at the same times)

We hopefully can catch the pant snatcher this week.

These are random numbers that I'm throwing out but this is my random understanding of the people I sign up to work out for the last 9 months:

5 out of 10 will only use the gym once a week

2 out of 10 will use the gym 5 times per week
2 out of 10 will use the gym once a month

1 out of 10 will use the gym once (they usually pay in full for the whole year)
The majority use the gym once per week, depending on the gym...to get your return on investment you must go at least 3 to 4 times per week, depending on your membership.

You guys remember that reality show that Victoria's secret produced in order to find the next angel? This past weekend while I was working we had one of the eliminated contestants stop by for a workout, (last summer we had brent michaels (sp?) from poison stop by) All I'm going to say is that girl looked really skinny, yet fluffy? I'm curious to all the bb guys and girls out there, we all can agree that skinny is out but do you guys prefer lean or a little fluffly? I feel that the catalogues the girls are fluffy yet sexy, but when you see them on the show they are ultra lean and maybe not so sexy to the majority?

so if you had to pick one which one would it be for  a woman ideal body-

a. Ultra lean and ripped

b. Curvy and muscular

c. Skinny and lean

d. curvy  (be truly honest on this one guys and girls)

So my mother brought her endermologie equipment one weekend to "vacuum" my cellulite away- basically for any of you guys that don't know what endermologie is, the machine looks very similar to a breathing mask attached to a sucking tube with rollers inside it. So the aesthetician will "massage", activate your lymph nodes and release all the toxins captured in fat cells relieving the cellulite appearance...well I guess that's my simple explanation.

I did this one when I had a fat ass (it was 30%bf) and the first time it hurt...a lot, the second session was not so much pain, it felt quite nice at the end.  So for the sake of my research and the stupidity of it all we proceeded to do it with a (22% bf) and you know what??? it hurt!!!!!!!! like @#$#@% I was @#$#@$ cursing!!! it was like getting my already little muscles ripped from under my skin....why do we do this to ourselves women??? I rather be sore from working out ANY day.  If you are considering doing endormologie or any kind of lyposuction take a look on google images: what do you see? a flabby ass that has a lot of celullite, and the after: another still flabby ass with less cellulite appearance...but let me tell you a secret- that fat that you think is magically gone??? has not gone anywhere--its' still underneath, it will come out in a day or so..so stop wasting your money and donate that to a good cause: the I will eat healthier and get myself to the gym cause.

When I started this journey (almost a year ago) I had a lot of people saying that I did not need to improve my body a lot more than what I had already.  My husband was trying to be cute and maybe they were all correct, its tricky when your are not obese...complacency has been my worst trait. But deep inside I envisioned a better, stronger and happier me. No one can judge you better than yourself, today I feel a lot happier with my body, facing my fears every time I take a progress picture had taught me a lot about committing to myself.  It's worth every sweat drop.

As far as the cellulite goes?  well I'm counting the days when it will disappear, I'll continue to do my two hard leg days per week. Get a butt that will make any girl get up from her behind and start molding it. Because that's what happened to me, I was just browsing through and I saw a woman in this website that was not the prettiest or sexiest, just a woman that had the same starting body, who showed me that it could be done.

s

Just wanted to share that, I'm pretty excited about it! My goal is to reach 20

cuz we all know where that extra 2% is hiding---

I stole most of the recipe from cooks.com but I modified a little:

1 egg ( I used egg white)
1 1/4 c. milk ( I used fat free lactaid)
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. sugar ( I used brown sugar splenda)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. oats (can be thick cut, regular, quick)
1 scoop of protein shake (key flavor Champion Pure Whey Tropical Sunrise)

Beat egg, add milk and a small drip of olive oil if you must have oil. Sift all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt; add along with whole wheat flour and oats to liquid. Mix just until mixed. Very good with a mashed ripe banana and chopped pecans or walnuts. Should make around 6 medium pancakes, enough for my hubbie and I.

I find making mickey mouse shapes of pancakes will get any kid to eat anything- my dad would get me to eat that way when I was a kid.

Cheers,
s

Yes that's what I created this morning for breakfast, crazy how delicious they were- highly recommend if you are looking for something that stays with you longer than 3 hours-

It's funny, since I started working in the gym I haven't not measured anything= there are always people by the scale and I just don't pay as much attention to the numbers reason why I have not updated my stats in a while.

I was sitting and talking to one of the trainers in our gym , we agreed that is important to have some goal and always keep that in mind, my original goal was to erase cellulite, that I guess was my fire that drove me to work out. But I need something new because I'm realizing that is becoming a reality, slowly I need to shift my focus to something else.

what should be that next step?