Forgot one... ;)

Oooo! I forgot to mention! I forgot to mention the recipe I found for the eating right portion of the challenge! I absolutely LOVE chicken Parmesan! Well, I was browsing Pinterest and found a healthy weight watchers recipe for a chicken Parmesan casserole we are going to try on Friday night :)

BB1 here :)

So I finally got around to having time to be able to post something here on this blog! For starters...I really want to say just how much I appreciate and love my best friend, Brianna! We have literally known each other for 20 years! We have been through all sorts of thing together...happy, unbelievably sad, hilarious, challenging and outright just amazing! We are those type of friends who are ridiculously different yet can be together and click just perfectly! There is nothing that we can't get through together! In all honesty, Brianna is the person who can say anything to me, no matter what it is, and it always works as its intended! I sometimes think she might know me better than I know myself!

Even though the entire state of Tennessee separates us currently...I know that she is always there for me and she knows I'll always be there for her any time, day or night! This blog that she has created has been a great thing! I am so excited to see where this takes us! :)

For this weeks challenge, I am so very excited to see what it brings! I have done the blog pop Pilates challenge from last week twice and I really enjoyed it :) For this weeks exercise challenge, I personally choose to do push ups! I LOATHE PUSH-UPS! My arms are so weak...but I know I can improve my arms! So that is my
Challenge to myself this week! I'll post back later for some of the emotional wellness challenge...Matthew and I plan on talking about that more tomorrow after dinner :)

Anyways, I just wanted to get a quick post up to everyone! Lets do this and see where it takes us! Together, no one can stop us Brianna :) LOVE YOU 💖

Challenge for Jan 26-31 from BB2

Alright, so I believe that there are three main components to fitness: exercise, eating right, and emotional wellness. This week, I'm going to hit all three:

Exercise: Watch this video! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43xADuHRohg&sns=em

My personal challenge is gonna consist of planks. I will let you choose yours, but don't lie to yourself about what is challenging! :)

Eating Right: 

Find a restaurant recipe that is your weakness. Something that tends to derail you every time you go to that restaurant, or is the thing you want when you are trying to be healthy.... then find a way to cook it at home, HEALTH-ified!

For example, there is a recipe on pinterest that is saved in my "food" board that is for healthier sweet & sour chicken! Also, basically everything on skinnytaste.com is amazing and we try recipes from it all the time. James & I have made baked mozzarella sticks, baked cheese fries, baked "fried chicken" (deeeelicious).

Emotional Wellness:  Since I'm so proud of you guys making it to spin class together this week, how about a little couples therapy? Have matthew participate in this one - each of you make a list of some active things that you wanna do together - get creative, and make it healthy. When's the last time you guys visited Ijams nature center? Would you consider making a picnic and hiking to a waterfall in the Smoky Mountains one weekend? Of course, some of these will have to wait for warmer weather, but flex those creative muscles and figure out some you can do in your own apartment. Anyone up for a game of twister? 

Even better - if there is a show that you guys love to watch together, try to make a workout for it. I know you've seen some of those TV program workouts floating around on pinterest.... you could make one yourselves! (Still watch "Bones"? Every time Brennan and Booth kiss, do ten squats, etc.)

The main point of this emotional wellness exercise is not to carry out any specific task this week, but to communicate with your partner about likes and dislikes, and hopefully in the future, try to incorporate emotionally fulfilling activities (spending time with your spouse) with exercise. When burning calories is not the focus, your life benefits in more ways than one. And you can get some free date ideas out of it!

Surprise!

July 2011

So, this is one of my best friends in the entire world - Brittany. She and I have been besties since Kindergarten.

School zoning separated us, and we went to rival middle and high schools, but we managed to stay best friends despite the distance (we knew we had something special!). We reunited in college, and I even helped her boyfriend (now husband) with his proposal scheme. We were right back to being those friends who were there for everything, and I was lucky enough to walk down the aisle as her maid of honor and watch her marry the love of her life!

5th grade day! 2000

Some time in the 90s, ha!

4th grade? Maybe.

(This was when I told her she threw her bouquet right at me.)

However, almost immediately after her wedding, I hopped in my car and headed to MEMPHIS, where I am attending dental school. So now, we are separated basically by the entire state of Tennessee. No problem, though, because we always find ways to talk - especially about our favorite (or least favorite?) subject, weight.

We have both struggled with weight for a long time - and we've both had our successes and our struggles.

I've been 5'7" and fluctuating between 180-200 pounds since puberty (a little over a decade). Living on my own for the first time in fall 2011, I found myself at 204, my highest weight ever. However, through friends, steady tracking on the myfitnesspal app, and finding healthy recipes on the internet (one of my favorite hobbies), I have slowly lowered that number (and gotten back on the wagon every time I was tempted to hop off).  Now that it's January of 2013, I have finally gotten out of the 190s for the last time, hopefully. It's a constant struggle to keep my life in a "two steps forward, one step back" pattern, rather than the reverse. 

And in my conversations with Brittany, it's easy to see she has the same struggles I do. Being a wife, having to consider someone else's food needs and cravings, and running a household on a budget can't be easy (not to mention having a stressful job on the side). I know she does an amazing job just because I know her and how capable she is, but sometimes weight-loss can fall to the wayside when you are just working to build a life.

 So, occasionally we strive to inspire one another and keep on track with feeling healthy and good about ourselves. I followed her blog last year, we are friends on myfitnesspal and have made our diets public so we can keep each other accountable. And last week, after trying a youtube pilates workout, I messaged her with the challenge to complete the same workout in the next seven days. And after, I mentioned giving each other weekly challenges as a way to make sure we stay in touch and stay honest about our efforts. So, Brit, this blog is your surprise! I will make you an author on this blog, and you and I will attempt to post our challenges and whatever else our heart desires! I will do my best to post on fridays with whatever the challenge may be, and the status of the previous challenges. We may make this a public blog or a private one, who knows!