End of Month Report: March

Another month down! Time to check in and see how well I did hitting my goals for the month of March.  I started out March in the hole as far as weight loss progress and, while I made up some ground during the month, in the end it just wasn't enough to get caught up. I'm going to bust my ass next month to try and make up for lost time.

Weight Goal: 227 lbs
-Start: 236lbs
-End: 233 lbs

As I said earlier, I did not meet my weight loss goal for this month BUT I did regain some ground and still lost 3 lbs! Not too bad, just not the 9 lbs I wanted to lose. I upped my exercise but unfortunately let my diet slide a bit too far.


Excercise Goal: 3x per week, 2 group classes per month
Week 1: 2 workouts, 1 hike
Week 2: 3 workout
Week 3: 3 workouts
Week 4: 1 workout, 1 hike, 1 walk
Week 5: 1 workout :-(
Group workouts: 1, BodyPump on 3/12

I did really good at staying active and getting to the gym this month. I did not meet my monthly goal for group exercise classes this month but I will try again next month!

Outdoor Activity Goals: Hike/Walk outside twice per month, try one new trail or greenway each month.
Hikes/Walks: 3 (Frozen Head State Park, and Norris Dam State Park x2)
New Trails: 1 @ Frozen Head SP, Judge's Branch Trail, 2 @ Norris Dam SP, Songbird Loop and Tall Timbers Trail

This month I exceeded my goals for outdoor activities and tried out 3 amazing new trails! Woot!

Rewards Acheived:
None this month. Unfortunately, my diet was a bit too lax this month. I got my exercise on track only to backslide with my eating habits. 

Next month is a new opportunity to kick ass on my monthly/yearly goals! I'm comin' for you April!

Norris Dam State Park: A photo essay

This past weekend, I spent some time with my family enjoying the great outdoors at Norris Dam State Park. This was my first time at the park so I wasn't sure what to expect BUT the weekend was just perfect. Without further ado, here are some photos of the weekend.

Before and After

On the left, photo taken May 2015. On the right, photo taken today. 37lbs lost as of today!!

Hells yeah! I'm kicking ass.

New Trail of the Month: March Edition

Today a friend and I went on a short hike in a local State Park. The venue was Frozen Head State Park in lovely (and tiny) Wartburg, TN. Its only about an hour outside of Knoxville, TN and not a bad drive at all. 

Since we had never been to the park before, we did our research and chose to start out on an "easy" trail. We parked at the Old Mac trailhead and headed for the Judge Branch trail. We didn't hike the whole loop but we went 2.5 miles total.

We got some great photos of our hike and some not so great selfies. Ha!

I'm in the purple.

There were a couple of these bridges along the trail.

Ooohhh! Scenic!

My favorite photo of the day!

There was that one point we thought we saw signs of bear activity! Eeeep!

We had a great time and it only took us about an hour. Lovely area but not as "easy" as we thought. Good trail for working up a sweat!

End of Month Report: February

It's time people! Time to check in and see how well I did hitting my goals for the month of February.  February started out slow for me but I'm trying to finish strong and get back on track so that I can hit the ground running in March.


Weight Goal: 233 lbs
-Start: 238 lbs
-End: 236 lbs

Alas, I did not meet my weight loss goal for this month. Considering that I started this month poorly, this isn't surprising. BUT I have tried to get my shit in gear the past week and a half so that the month isn't a total waste. I still lost 2 lbs! Not too bad, just not the 6 lbs I wanted to lose.


Excercise Goal: 3x per week, 2 group classes per month
Week 1: 0 workouts, 1 hike
Week 2: 0 workouts :-(
Week 3: 0 workouts :-(
Week 4: 3 workouts, 1 walk
Group workouts: 2!!!!

So, the first three months of the year I basically didn't work out at all. Thus, my weight loss tanked and I didn't hit my goal. I tried to pull it together toward the end of the month and managed to squeeze in 3 workouts, and two group exercise classes at my gym. I did meet my monthly goal for group exercise classes!!! Woot!

Outdoor Activity Goals: Hike/Walk outside twice per month, try one new trail or greenway each month.
Hikes/Walks: 2 (UT Arboretum and Victor Ashe Park)
New Trails: 1 @ UT Arboretum, Cemetery Ridge Trail.

Met my goals for outdoor activities this month! Woot!

Rewards Acheived:
None this month. (I came oh so close to my next reward level but didn't quite make it.)

Still one more day to go in the month but unless something drastic changes, this is my report for February. Not too shabby considering the terrible way the month started out.

Next month is a new opportunity to kick ass on my monthly/yearly goals! I'm comin' for you March!

The Bro'Laska Effect

I'm OBSESSED with Bro'laska. I really can't explain it. You just have to watch.


OMG. Looooooove!

You're killin' me, Smalls!

This has been a tough week. I'm not sure where my motivation went but I think I left it back in January. I'm going to have to really kick my ass to get back in gear and get back on track for weight loss.

I managed to avoid the worst of the Valentine's Day sweets but, then again, sweets are never my problem. I've got to clean my diet back up. I've been letting too many carbs slip back into my daily diet. I need to be better than my vices.

I have two weeks left in February to totally kick ass. I CAN DO IT!!