I did it.

Those of you who are reading this, will understand what I mean when I say, "I accomplished Big Idea #4 from yesterday today!"

Like the lady on the blog that is kickin' up her heels? That symbolizes that she's kicking off this adventure, kicking this adipose to the curb, and kicking up her heel when the weight's gone.  And after an online search for free blogger templates, it was pretty much the only free one I could find that I relatively liked.  Now, there were a lot of free weight loss templates on wordpress, but switching from blogger to wordpress intimidated me and would have made me feel like a traitor.  Plus my fitness idol Stacy girl who also happens to be a graphic artist offered to make me a cool logo.

For those of you who have stumbled upon this and don't know, in an attempt to find some personal accountability, this blog's sole purpose is for me to share with friends and family about my triumphs, failures, and in-betweens in this journey to have a fit and healthy lifestyle.  I know there are plenty of  blogs out there that already do this, but this is my journey, not theirs.  :)

I also hope to post weight-loss tips, healthy recipes that can be made with ease (AKA crockpot recipes), and exercise tips.  Where am I going to get tips like this?  From the plethora of magazines that inundate my mailbox each month, and Google.  (duh!)  In my far-fetched, wishing upon a star dreams, I hope my fellow readers and supporters will send me info to share as well.

I did workout for 1 1/2 hours this morning with a 60 minute spin class and 20 minute jog.  My heart rate monitor told me I burned over 1,000 calories this morning.  So what did I do?  I fell off the wagon and celebrated with some Valentine's Day Plain M&Ms.  I also had a donut.  ;)

I DID enjoy an amazing shake this morning.  Don't knock it until you try it!  I usually add a banana to this, as well as some Greek yogurt, but I was out of both this morning.  When you do the ingredients I just mentioned with this smoothie, you must add more oj or a little bit of water to thin it out some.

Smoothie Surprise
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup pure orange juice
1 TBS ground flaxseed
2 cups of fresh spinach (surprise!)
Pile this into your blender and mix for about two minutes.  Enjoy!
Now, my sister in law makes a similar shake, but she adds cucumbers and celery sometimes.  Again, Don't knock it until you try it!

Some great weight loss websites are SparkPeople.com and MyFitnessPal.com.  Both are free, both help you keep with with your calories in & out, both have recipes and workouts.  I just prefer My Fitness Pal, but Spark People as a recipe calculator that will give you nutrition info on your meals prepared in your kitchen!  How neato is that?

 More to come tomorrow!