I was going to do this really cool bike ride in the first week of september. I was going to do 54 miles around Mt. Adams here in washington. But I realized that while I am getting in better shape and losing weight, it would not be good for me to do this just yet. I would probably hurt myself doing it. I am super bummed because it's a gorgeous ride and I remember feeling really good after I did it. But I don't want to risk hurting myself. I'm nowhere near the shape I was in 2 years ago when I did the ride.
  I'll just have to set another goal and keep going to the gym and working on my goal. So far in the 2 weeks I've been working out I have lost 5 pounds. It's been really hard because I have an obstacle to overcome that makes me gain weight like crazy. I get the depo provera birth control shots. I've only had it done twice. But one of the side effects is weight gain. When I first got it in April of this year, I weighed 140 pounds almost exactly. I was still 5 pounds over the reccomended healthy weight for my age and height, but it wasn't bad. Then I gained 25 pounds. I was 165.3 pounds in July. Now I weigh 154. With the sudden weight gain I became lethargic, I got stretch marks on my upper legs, and for some reason I broke out with acne all over my face. I wasn't eating poorly either. I eat healthy everyday.
  My workouts are so random. I've gotten back into the habit of writing my workouts down and making goals of what I want to accomplish at the gym. My workout today will be legs/bum. Here's what I have planned:
  circuit @ Planet Fitness (only the leg machines and step boxes. Do 3X)
 Squats w/bar 2 sets of 10
 Treadmill walk 30 minutes

Pretty simple today. I did the full 30 minute circuit yesterday so I won't do the full thing again today. Tomorrow I'm going to do a big crazy workout because my husband and I are going out of town from friday to sunday so I won't have the gym or much exercise time while we're away.
I highly reccomend gluten and dairy free diet to those who want to lose weight and be healthy. You're basically limited then to fresh food rather than packaged and/or processed foods. You'll eat a lot of vegetables and fruits and I reccomend eating meat sparingly. I feel great and it helps me feel good enough to work out a lot and I always have a lot of energy.
There's also a couple challenges I'm going to try in september. One being the "30 day guns, buns & abs" challenge. Here's the image of what that will look like:

 

Sounds like a good challenge.

One more thing I really reccomend very highly: drinking lots of water everyday. Your face will brighten up and the bags under your eyes will start to go away. I guarantee your acne will get better the more water you drink everyday. And you will have more energy. I've also found that I eat less when I drink more water. 

Well, I have to go finish laundry, but I'll talk about my workout later tonight. I think I'll take a "before" picture too and keep that until a couple weeks from now when I can compare and see results. 

Thanks to my followers and loyal readers. I hope you are sharing my blog and reccomending it to others. I appreciate all the views and support I've been getting lately. It's awesome! :)

Why frustration gets you nowhere.

  In life there are lots of trials and frustrations we go through. And as human beings, we often tend to take out our frustration on people around us. A lot of times we take it out on the people who deserve it the least.
  I like to read talks on lds.org and the ensign often on how to strengthen my marriage and how to support my spouse. Our marriage is still only 2 months in and I want to make sure that there's no room for contention. I work hard to make sure I'm being honest and fair and communicating with my husband, and I work hard to listen to him and come up with solutions and talk things through before it turns into an arguement or disagreement. So far, the strategies I've used and he's used have worked wonders. In the time even before we got married we have had very few arguements. We have never raised our voices or shouted at each other (we both agreed before we got married that this would not happen no matter what). And we've worked hard to humble ourselves and see the other person's point of view.
  Sometimes though, depression gets in the way. Not anything to do with my husband. Just my depression. I've had to go through a lot of things in my life. Some things very traumatic and a couple very scarring things. I wasn't very good at communication (in fact it's still something I'm working on every day. Every minute.) and I bottled things up inside. I've gotten into an awful habit of working hard everyday to do something nice for my sweetheart, and then I get mad if he doesn't award me a frigging gold star. No really. Sometimes I get depressed because I create unrealistic expectations in my mind. I pump myself up and get so excited to see his face light up and get all kinds of hugs and kisses, and well... other things... just because I brought home dinner. You see why this doesn't really work?
  So that's my dilemma lately. Depression is a hard thing to conquer. Especially in a marriage. My husband doesn't ever do anything wrong when I bring home dinner or whatever. In fact he says "Oh thank you, this looks good." Or "Thanks, this is awesome." and eats it all happily. But in the alternative reality that takes over when I have depressive moments, I don't feel like he appreciates it because it wasn't how I pictured it in my mind.
  It's not about being recognized for something good you did for the person. If you want to do something for your spouse, you really shouldn't hold such high expectations in regards to how they react to your service. It will only cause you frustration which will probably most likely be taken out on them later. And that's counter productive, now isn't it?
  Anyway, I'm kind of ranting and just trying to get my feelings out there. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with going on the internet and researching how to make things work in a marriage. It's better to go out and search for a solution and humble yourself instead of keeping it all inside and trying to do it all yourself. Here are a couple websites I've found that I think have really sound advice. I haven't needed a few of them, I just think they're good informants. But a couple I have read and implemented.
http://www.todayschristianwoman.com/articles/2003/september/husband-struggle-depression.html?start=3
https://www.lds.org/manual/building-an-eternal-marriage-teacher-manual/respecting-your-spouse?lang=eng
http://alumni.iupui.edu/medicine/documents/Understanding%20and%20Supporting%20Your%20Medical%20Student.pdf  ** This one really helps me, my husband is a chinese medicine student and spends 80% or more of his days at school or studying. It can be really hard sometimes.

Well, that's all I really have. I like that my husband and I are so good at solving things together. Makes things a lot easier. Even on our rough days. Love him with all my heart. I'm so lucky.

Healthy!

  Yesterday my husband and I gave talks in church, and it was kind of awesome. We were struggling with what to say in our talks and finally I got mine done saturday night and he got his done sunday morning. But what was really cool was that we didn't read each other what we were going to say. But our talks complimented each other perfectly. His wouldn't have made much sense without mine and vice versa. It's so cool to be married to someone who is truly your best friend, because even though there are disagreements and sometimes fights, since you know each other so well you tend to compliment each other well.
  I just wanted to talk about something really cool. So last wednesday night I got a gym membership to planet fitness. I love this place by the way! And Thursday morning I went there weighing 158 pounds, did 12 miles on the bike and averaged about 5:16 per mile. Friday morning I did 6 miles and Saturday I also did 6 miles. Then today (Monday) I did 7 miles on the bike and averaged 4:28 per mile. Burned 174 calories and weighed in after breakfast at 154 pounds!!! **Note: I weigh myself at the same time everyday so I can get a more accurate measurement of weight.
  I just feel so good too. It used to be that when I would do the bike, my heart would race and would be at almost 180. Now the highest it gets is 150. I don't breathe as hard anymore when I bike, and I feel good. My mood improves all the time. I seriously reccomend gluten and dairy free foods with emphasis on fruits and veggies and eat meat sparingly. We eat tuna about twice a month and chicken once a week. It feels so good to eat so healthy.
  Anyway just wanted to share that and we'll see how this all shakes out after another 5 days of hard work and good eating. :)