weight a go go

I've never been one to blame the holidays for "holiday weight" but this year I totally am. I definitely let myself go a little overboard with baking and drinking wine these past two months. Now it is time to get this shit under control! Thank goodness for the new gym that opened up in Lincoln Square. I just LOVE it! There are no excuses for me not to go after work because it is right off of the train.

I have been doing amazingly at the gym, going 4 to 5 times a week. My new hardcore workout routine consists of - 30 mins running, 15 mins doing arm weights and then an hour on the elliptical (watching an episode of Glee the first 45 mins and listening to my gym tunes the last 15 mins). I stretch, do 15 mins of abs and end by sitting in the sauna for about 10 mins. It has been really hard some days but I always feel amazing after.

The other tool that really helps me is my LoseIt! app on my iPhone. I would be lost without it because I think my main weakness (especially on weekends) is eating and drinking, so logging what I eat (and drink...yikes!) really shows me what bad habits I need to change.  Losing weight sucks the older we get, boys have it so easy! But I'm trying to stay positive!


*this post was inspired by my friend Erin, read her blog post here!

baby elliptical

The weather is starting to get cold and windy in Chicago so it has been stressful trying to fit in a good cardio session outside. We canceled our gym membership to save money so I was really relying on running outside to get the job done. So for a while now I was thinking of getting an elliptical for our place, but with the new move we just won't have the room. I did a little research and found this baby elliptical, the Stamina InMotion, that is super tiny and easy to store!

It had a ton of great reviews on every Web site I researched so I went ahead and purchased it on Amazon. It was around $200 at other stores but I got it on Amazon for $89, deal! It came last night and I put it together in like 30 mins, so easy! It was kind of hard at first to stay balanced but I ended up really liking it. And this morning I notice that my abs hurt and realized this sucker works your core too since you have to balance yourself on it!