Peak 10- The Beginning

Today I start a new chapter in my goal of health and fitness. It is a program called Peak 10. I have been working out at LA Fitness with an amazing trainer since April 2011. With him I have learned how the equipment works, that I have more power and strength in me than I thought, that I can keep pushing and not give up even when it sucks and how great it feels to work out.

My mom works with a woman who also owns a fitness studio in Chanhassen called Bring It Studios. She mentioned a new fitness program to my mom who then mentioned it to me. Peak 10 is a metabolic circuit training program that targets people who have been going to the gym regularly who want to tone up or lose more weight. I had been waffling between trying cross fit or something intense like that as my next fitness step and this Peak 10 popped up at the perfect time. It is a program created by a woman in California and this is the first time it's being offered in Minnesota (as far as I know).

I did my fitness test on Sunday. It was a half hour where we counted our reps for 10 different exercises. We will see how we improve in 8 weeks based on this initial test. It was not easy. There were a couple of things I was able to do well because of my training- fence hoppers, ankle grabbers, prisoner squats- but they were mostly hard and put me to the test right away. Afterwards I felt great- worn out and sweaty but great. Yesterday and today, my back is killing me. I think this is due to one exercise called side outs that I don't think I did 100% correctly but I think it also used muscles in ways I wasn't totally used to.

My first full class is tonight. The Peak 10 founder created a week one meal plan follow. Erin, my instructor, told us we didn't have to do it but I anted to get the full experience so last night I bought a million vegetables and cooked my meals for today. It took more time than I expected. I hope to figure that out this week so cooking my meals isn't such a hassle because I don't have time in my busy schedule to waste.

Along with this program I have purchased a device called Lark Life which is a wristband that tracks my steps, records meals and monitors how I sleep. It's a cool device. It took me a week to finally figure out how the sleep function worked but I got it right yesterday and it was worth it. Apparently I woke up 13 times last night (whether that's true or I just moved around is a good question). It syncs with my iPhone and lets me know when I haven't been active for a while so I get up and walk around the clinic. Last night at 10:30 I was still up and it chimed at me to remind me it was time for bed. When I'm at work I hook it in a belt loop on my pants because I move my arms around a lot and last week it mistook that for far more steps than I knew I actually took. When I work out I put it back on my wrist. It is fun to know my step count every day and I'm excited to see how this sleep function really works.

I'm excited to start tonight but nervous because I have no idea what we will do (besides so many exercises with practically no rest). The good news is that I am determined to slim down some more, tone up and "win" this for myself.

I plan to blog each week of this 8 week experience. Here is what I've learned so far:
1. Chocolate yogurt is delicious. It may not sound like it would be but I read about it on some website and found it at Whole Foods last night. It's called Stonyfield Farms Chocolate Underground. It is vanilla yogurt with chocolate on the bottom that you mix in. So good. I will be buying more.
2. I had to cook chicken last night and as soon as I put it on the pan I remembered my George Foreman. Duh! I will be digging that out for the rest of the week to cook healthier chicken.
3. Make good choices. I had cocoa krispies for breakfast. It was within my allowed calorie range but it definitely did not fill me up. I plan to keep on track with healthy breakfasts, other meals and snacks that will be good for me and hopefully keep me from grazing or snacking on other crap.
4. Water is my new best friend! I've always loved ice cold water but now I'm extra serious about drinking a ton of it.

That's all for now. Here are a bunch of links if you're interested in anything I mentioned. Also in this post is a picture I took of my starting info after our test. The next Peak 10 class will start in April. Stay on top of it if you're interested because I guess a lot of people in the Twin Cities are taking notice and my class is totally full with more people than they were expecting.

Peak 10 info: http://breakthrufitness.com/programs/peak-10/
Bring It Studios: http://www.bringitstudios.net
Lark wristband: http://lark.com/products/larklife/experience

25 Things to Do Before I Turn 26- The Checklist

1. Finalize my cupcake website and figure out how to get the website I made to post onto the domain I bought... it is harder than I thought it would be.
Live as of 2/25/13 thanks to some genius tech support from Liz: http://www.dearcupcakemn.com/
2. GET A TATTOO.  This is the year, people.
3. Skydive.  I also have to do this before the end of September due to the fact that I bought a Groupon.  :)
Here's a YouTube video of my dive.  YouTube says it may have audio/visual sync issues but its okay because I didn't scream so it shouldn't look/sound too weird.
4. Donate blood (I am afraid but feel compelled to do it...)
5. Take a vacation
6. Sushi and sake dinner party
7. Travel someplace new

Oshkosh, WI for Heidi & Ryan's wedding, September 28, 2013

8. Color Run 5K!

July 14, 2013.  It was awesome.  I want to do it every day.   They're serious about it being the happiest 5K on the planet.

9. Make glitter TOMS
10. Agility training with Jazz (that dog needs a way to expend some energy and put his intelligence to good use)
11. Top Chef food tour in Chicago (I've made a list of restaurants I need to go to of chefs who we've seen on TV)
12. Golf 4 times (I think that's reasonable)
13. Cupcake photo shoot!
14. Build a snowman

I know he's little but look how cute he is!

15. Taste Twin Cities winery tour
16. Go skiing
17. Try a new workout or sport
I had no idea Peak 10 would pop up in my life when I wrote this goal.  I'm so glad it did!  Here is the first of my blog posts about Peak 10.
18. Fly a kite
19. ALASKA (for Ellie's graduation!  I feel like its only fair since she came down here for our high school graduations...)

HERE I AM IN ANCHORAGE!

20. Sister road trip

Chicago to Oshkosh, September 2013

21. Take a cooking class

Saga Hill cooking class, Aug. 22- this is me and our homemade mozzarella!

22. Launch Gib's Bibs with Allison
Check us out on Etsy!
23. Save money instead of spend it
24. Find a new volunteer thing to do
The Learning Exchange in April/May and likely again this fall.
25. Read 10 more books
* Yes Chef by Marcus Samuelsson
* Bridesmaid Lotto by Rachel Astor
* Gamble on Engagement by Rachel Astor
* The Wedding Wager by Rachel Astor
* Instant Mom by Nia Vardalos

To see my lists from years past, check out 24 Things and 23 Things.

#45: My year in pictures

1. January

I love when Liz draws pictures of Jazz.  This was a great birthday present.

2. February

This is just one of many pictures from my trip to Colorado.  I think this is my favorite because it looks as though my grandparents still lived there and Poppa had just left this spot in the office.

3. March

Party time for Phil's birthday before he became a daddy.  Yay for the cactus tower of margarita!

4. April

Sweet baby Gibson Monroe Wolpers, born on Easter.

5. May

I have no idea if this happened in May (I think it did...) but not a lot of other stuff took place this month so here's the picture I choose.  Yay for family!

6. June

In June we got to spend lots of time with Grammy Donna and the Asays!  It was a blast.

7. July

Little Miss Nina's 21st birthday bash.  Crazy!

8. August

Oh and here's that one time Nina and I ate lamb testicles...

9. September

Visiting my wonderful friends in Winona.

10. October

I think this is my favorite picture from any part of the wedding festivities- the 4 of us in a bathroom at the bachelorette party.  So fantastic.

11. November

The second roaring 20s party.  Thank goodness for Phil Wolpers and his desire to make this a tradition.

12. December

And here is family fun day where we stopped to see Allison and Gib. 

#44: Bad boys vs the good guys

Today one of my coworkers got on my case, as he often does, about me liking "bad boys". Another coworker, upon hearing me admit to this, said it was disappointing to learn this truth about me.

Here's what's disappointing.

Of the last 3-4 so-called "good guys" that I've liked, they have ALL ended up with other girls.

My bad boys are always there when I need them. Sure they are the ones who provide me with the most interesting stories about drugs, drinking, partying and sex but they're also the ones who genuinely care about me.

I was thinking today how easy it is for me to tell my bad boys how much I love them but basically impossible for me to admit any sort of crush on those good guys. Why do you suppose that is?

At any rate, the good guys aren't that good and I can't bring the bad boys home to my parents.

It brings me to a quote from a wise old man that I remembered this weekend: "Boys are bad, books are good, so read a book."

Words to live by.

#43: Giving thanks

Here is my list of things I am thankful for this year:
1. My loving family who continue to let me live at home rent free and put up with all of my hobbies. I probably exist in 1/2 of this house while the other 3 of my family members share the other 1/2.
2. Knowing that there are people who understand me and that I can reach out to when I am faced with a moral dilemma.
3. Former professors who still offer guidance and support.
4. People who inspire me to do great things- there is one man at the nursing home where I decorate bulletin boards each month who has inspired me to go skiing and enjoy life while I can I can't wait to honor him this winter.
5. A new friend that I chat with daily.
6. Old friends that I catch up with through the wonders and magic of Facebook.
7. Best friends who will always be there for me.
8. A second job that I love going to because of the fun people who appreciate me and the amazing product that I'm selling and actually love.
9. Being able to spread joy and happiness through things like cupcakes or baby showers or cards in the mail.
10. Knowing that my Poppa is in a safe and loving place now (as opposed to last year at this time when he was so sick) where he is able to watch over us and keep us safe and say good morning with beautiful sunrises.

What are you thankful for this year?

#42: Grad School Day 2

Today is technically my second day of online graduate school through Colorado State Fort Collins.

This is what I've done so far this evening instead of my assigned reading:
* Dyed my hair
* Painted my nails
* Had a snack
* Organized my email
* Pet the dog
* Wrote down all of my future reading assignments so I can be prepared for those
* Watched part of a video about my other online class
* Tweeted
* Explained how to do something on Facebook to my grandma through texts
* Wrote this blog post

Hooray for immediate procrastination!  School is just like riding a bike.

But seriously, I am so happy to be back in classes.  Being annoyed with the fact that I have to do a reading makes me giddy.  I belong in school.

Okay, back to reading.  Happy Tuesday!

#41: Busy busy!

I've been feeling pretty down for the past few months so my list of crafts to do has been piling up- I just haven't felt like doing anything.  Finally I'm feeling back to normal and I got so much done yesterday!

I posted on my Facebook a few days ago that I had 8 tabs open in my browser and I was determined to get some of the recipes/projects completed in the week.  I'm happy to say- mission accomplished.

The screen cap from my browser- 4 recipes and 3 crafty projects.

1. Orange Cornmeal Cake- still on my list of things to bake.  Maybe this week?
2. Hummingbird Cupcakes- made them for my Vera Bradley friends.
3. Chocolate Swirl Biscuits- how delish do those look?  They're next on my list.
4. Baby bibs- done and done!
5. Baby rattle- I changed my mind about this one but I may do something like it.  Instead, I finished a bunch of my VB coffee cozies.
6. Tissue Paper Pom Poms- I'm going to make some for my mom's classroom.  They'll be so cool!
7. Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake- In progress right now!
8. There was also an article in my browser that I wanted to read.  Did that too.

I finally feel accomplished and its all thanks to the loves of my life- crafting and baking.