...and breathe

JESUS, this has been one crazy week. Being the master procrastinator that I am, I ended up delivering all my paperwork for this contest I'm entering at the last minute yesterday, leaving me with no time to eat or exercise. I KNOW, I KNOW, I SUCK. Trust me, I've beaten myself up enough over it, but what's done is done. I finished the essay in record time and even had my grammar-nazi roommate review it before sending it on its happy way to win me a place at the 67° General Assembly of the United Nations in October. Yes, you read right! I want to be one of the two Youth Delegates that get to accompany the Mexican Mission to United Nations at the General Assembly for two whole weeks. Deadline was yesterday, and I basically spent the two and a half weeks before yesterday pondering over the list of reasons I didn't feel like writing anything, let alone a five page essay on poverty. 

So as usual, yesterday morning I panicked and realized I only had a couple of hours to write something somewhat decent and get all my paperwork in order. Damn. Thankfully, my boss is on vacation and things are slooow at the office, so I had enough time to brainstorm and write the thing in one day. And at exactly 11 pm I sent it through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. And so begins the three-week waiting period to find out if I made the cut. Y'all should keep your fingers crossed for me :)

That's me, Tuesday evening.

Anyhoo, let's move on the the more exciting news shall we? On Tuesday I had my very FIRST workout since I began this whole dieting/blogging experience. YAY. It was fun actually, and made me realize just how much I enjoy working out once I'm actually there. Sure, I wheezed and felt like I would die a slow, painful death, but after seeing 350 calories burned on the machine, I forgot all about the pain. I mean come on, 40 minutes of intense cardio and I've shed 350 calories?! WHAT SORCERY IS THIS!!! I'm regretting not having started sooner! 

Yesterday I had to skip the exercise so I could finish that damn essay, but today there's no excuse! I even downloaded the MiCoach app from Adidas to help me, and it is awesome. If you haven't tried it yet, you must go to their website and create an account, YOU MUST. Then you just download the app on your phone and it will guide you through your workouts, sexy trainer voice and all. After typing in your statistics, you can select a plan that works for you, beginning with the objective you have (lose weight, build muscle, etc.) and then moving on to the workout length you think can endure and how many times a week you plan to exercise. For example, I'm going to workout five days a week doing 40 minute cardio, and then three times a week I'll be working on some strength exercises to tone my muscles. That sounds like a lot of work, but once you get the hang of it, it's a breeze. And you can keep track of how many calories you've burned, how many workouts you've done, etc. Click here to go to the MiCoach homepage.

This is my miCoach home page

All the MiCoach workouts are based on different zones, and each zone has a certain pace or heartrate assigned to it. Blue is the lightest pace, and red is the most intense. The trainer's voice guides you through each transition, and the cool part is that you don't do the same thing everyday. In my case, I selected level 6 which means I believe I can resist a 40 minute workout, but I won't be doing 40 minutes every time. Some days I will do 25, others 35, others 46, and so on. That works amazingly for me, because I get bored easily. Also, you can choose which activity you want to do as cardio, the predetermined one is running but in my case, I prefer the elliptical machine. Once you're done, you can type in the statistcs of your workout (usually the machine will give them to you at the end) as far as calories, distance, heart rate, etc. 

So if you, like me, have run out of excuses to exercise, start today! I know just thinking about it makes you want to drop dead, but not only will it help you achieve your weight loss goals faster, it will help you feel better eventually. And seriously, who doesn't want to flaunt a fit booty? I can't wait to try on a two piece and  make all those mouths drop, to be honest. So let's get cracking people!!!