Slammin' By Summer.

Holla back, bloggies! Where ya crazies been all my life? Or really, where have I been for the past month?

Working my fucking ass off, quite literally.

Remember we talked about that whole going to the gym thing, New Year's resolutions, blah blah? Yeah. I wasn't really thinking it was going to work this time, because I go through those phases of going all the time, and then mehhh... I have other things to do. No. This time? This time is different. Other than my 3-week hiatus from having the flu, I have been at the gym 4-5 days a week, EVERY. WEEK. What is happening to my life.

I will tell you what happened. My friends, god love them, decided a few months ago they would start tracking. "Tracking. Pfft. I don't do that." I scoffed. Weekly weigh-ins. "Pfft. I don't even own a scale. That number? Means nothing to me." Yeah. About that. You know when everyone starts doing something and it seems kinda silly and you don't really want to be involved, and then one day, it just hits you that it's a good idea and you should probably do it? Because now it's your idea? (No? Am I the only one this happens to? It's not a good idea unless it's my idea.) Well. That happened. And #SlamminBySummer was born. (That's our hashtag on Instagram - @helenthefabulous if you want to follow me there!)

So I decided I'd give it a shot, not really expecting this time to be any different, because I eat pretty healthy for the most part and I'm... "moderately" active. And?

I. Love. It.

So much so that I've been going to the friggin gym at 5:10am, 3 days a week. That's AM, people.

 I'm tracking calories using MyFitnessPal (Helenthefabulous if you use MFP!) which is a really great little app - they literally have close to every food, ever, and you can "friend" your friends and it helps keep you accountable. Thankfully, most of my girls right now are on a fitness kick, so we are all using each other as competition  motivation. "Oh, those bitches are working out twice today? Psh, then I'M working out twice today!"

I have also found this great little "fit community" on Instagram - I've got some new friends that I've "met" via Mama Laughlin's IG feed, and they all blog and are seriously motivating, plus it's cool to see what works for other people, and what kind of fun toys they buy to go along with their workout gear.

Speaking of, I bought my first heart rate monitor last week. (I also bought a scale.) (And protein powder.) (Who. Am I.) I originally went with the Fitbit Zip, which was adorable, but after doing some research (yeah, after I bought it, genius) I realized it was mostly just guessing how many calories I was burning because it doesn't come with a chest strap. A lot of the girls I follow use a Polar HRM, so I went with the FT4 model - I really just want the calorie count, and I'm not enough of a runner that I need a GPS/distance counter. 

I was a little iffy about wearing the chest strap, but once it's on you don't even notice it. And that's really the only way you're going to get an accurate calorie count - the Stairmaster is always anywhere from 30-50 calories under what the Polar says. The instructions say you're supposed to wet the rubber part of the band before you put it on - um. I'm not sure why, and actually remembering to do that has been a bitch, but it seems to work fine without doing that. However. If you are a sweaty beast like me ("I have sweaty! I'm not teasing!") you will need to wash this band every few times you use it. I rinse it after every gym sesh, but it needs to be legit WASHED probably every three. Because gross.

Next on my wishlist is new sneakers but I'm not in dire need yet, but I'm going to go get legit fitted, because in the off-chance I do decide to go running (which DOES happen, sometimes) I'd prefer my knee to not be all fucky when I'm done. I love my baller Pumas but they are NOT running shoes.

So, I mentioned in my last post about before-bikini pictures? I am going to bite the bullet and put a picture of me in a bikini, on the INTERWEBZ. Technically, two pictures.

There is a noticeable, but not huge, difference in these two - first was in January, just for shits, and the second one was about 2-3 weeks ago - I had barely started tracking though, so I'm about 5 pounds down from that. And I think closer to 9 or 10 since I started working out this year, but since I didn't own a scale until recently, I'm not really sure. But let me tell you, I feel fan-fucking-tastic lately. "Working out will make you feel so much better, about everything!" I used to roll my eyes. No sir, it is true.

Also true.

 

 

So if you want to start feeling better, get thee ass to a gym. Or a greenway. Or whatever. And find some friends to do it with you, because those wenches WILL hold you accountable - even if they don't come right out and say it. My friends and I are KILLING it for the month of April, as far as workouts go. 

Also, I know I did a whole post here on this - but another way to make yourself feel better? Go get your damn boobs fitted. This has nothing to do with my working out, but I have never been more in love with my boobs than I have been the past few months. BECAUSE MY DANG BRA FITS. You are welcome.

This week's manicure:

Essie's Bachelorette Bash, Ulta's Snow White