I want to be a LOSER too!!!

I ADORE stalk crave need *LOVE* watching The Biggest Loser!

It's absolutely inspirational!

Although I missed Jillian desperately this season, I still loved and watched every episode.

The finale was definitely not a disappointment!

~*Spoiler Alert*~

John KILLED IT. 

Seriously... he wasn't ever my favorite character {is 'character' the correct term?} character CONTESTANT but you cannot deny the guy lost 220 lbs!!! 220lbs definitely defines an earned win.

Finishing out the three finalists...

Ramon knocked off 154lbs and looks great!  and SO happy... seeing his mom in the audience and having Allison read her letter made me tear up!  That's totally something my mom would do!

And Antone shed 202lbs and definitely found his inner athelete again!  He seemed so excited to be back and active with his family... and his youngest daughter with the lil' curly fro? ADORABLE.

THEN we had your AT HOME WINNER!!!!!

...JENNIFER?!?!

WOW that came out of nowhere! I seriously wouldn't have guessed her in a million years -- she won by what was it... one pound?! <you've gotta be thinking thank goodness I didn't eat that last grape!>  She looks amazing though!  and she was 39!  In 7 months she was able to knock off 145lbs.... that's a young adult!

but... if I had to pick a FAVORITE reveal it may have been Becky!

Seriously... the lady on the right is 50 years old?!  No way.

TBL Contestant I'm most likely to stalk?

SUNNY.

Why? She lives in a suburb right next to me.  I am going to find out which fitness classes she attends and follow her. That's not weird at all, right??

For ALL the stats and pictures head over to SHAPE magazine's full coverage of the Before & Afters from Finale.

{all photos taken from here}

Questions for the Day:

Who was YOUR favorite loser this season??

If you went on TBL, who would you want to train you?

I would pick Jillian in a heart beat!! but since she isn't on the show anymore, I'd pick BOB because him at 6am = hilarious and awesome.  I really enjoyed Dolvett this season though! especially at the beginning when he was yelling at people to 'Let go of MY treadmill!!!'

Workout Wednesdays - Week I

I'm completely ADD when it comes to my workouts.. I can only follow a basic plan outline nothing exact because it makes me feel too trapped and scheduled.  If it says "x" # of runs per week, "x" day do cardio, "x" day do strength training of some sort I can kinda follow that.. but really when I want to run I run, when I want to go to the gym I do, and when it's freezing and rainy outside I turn to my collection of workout DVD's and the lovely internet.

Because of this I feel it may be good to do a weekly recap, at least for myself, of what I actually accomplished or got done!

This happens to be on Wednesdays because 'Workout' starts with a "W" and I'm a sucker for alliteration. Guess that's what happens when your mom is an English major!

This Week in Workouts:

Thursday, December 8th -

Short Workout - Tone It Up Sunset Workout

Friday, December 9th -

Night Time Run in reflective bands LOL

5 miles with one 30 second stop during mile 4

Mi 1 & 2 Avg 8:41

Mi 3 (Hill of Death) 9:40

Overall 5 Mi Avg 9:05 min miles

Finished in 45:10

Cooldown with Insanity AB DVD recommended by the roommate

only 10 min long but OMG slow holding poses make you feel the burn!

Saturday, December 10th -

2 hour bike ride with Mike -- it got FREEZING cold so we picked up the pace on our way back home!!  I'm calling this the Ice ride.

Sunday, December 11th -

REST DAY

Seriously sore from my Friday Run... today was all about the Foam Rolling.

Monday, December 12th -

Quick workout today, worked late... Jillian's Level 2 Yoga DVD!

Tuesday, December 13th -

REST DAY

Wednesday, December 14th -

Going to check out the new gym at my Apartment (they opened a 2nd one!) for some treadmill love and to complete the new Tone It Up workout this week 30 Minutes

 

Reasons to be Fit:

What do you see in yourself? (P.S. Yesterday I Saved A Life)

We're often told that you can see what you want to see in life.

If you wake up in a horrible, foul mood you're probably going to notice bad things all day - whereas even just by trying to put a smile on your face you already begin inviting positive interactions into your day.

I recently saw this posted via FB and thought it was a fun exercise.

Look at the picture, and the first four words that you see describe you in a sense.

What did you see?

  If you saw anything negative, maybe you are a little too critical on yourself... or maybe it's an area you've been meaning to work on.

My Words:

Sentimental

Lovely

Passionate

Elegant

Pretty Darn Girly.

Personally, I would've loved for "Outgoing" or "Charasmatic" to have been on my list, but I didn't notice them until later after staring at that Smiley for a while to see which words I didn't  get.  And... I could've done without sentimental.  I know I am sentimental, for sure -- but I don't necessarily want it to be one of the first four things I see in myself.  I sometimes think that working on not being too sentimental is important.  You can't take everything personally --- which is funny, because I realize I started out this paragraph using the word "Personally".  So yep, I tend to take things personally.

Speaking of Sentimental  I have a story for you...

It's the story of

Geraldo

So yesterday I worked really really late.

I mean, I was at my desk before 8am and at 6:45pm I was still making phonecalls.

The workplace is pretty quiet around that time, and I don't like taking phonecalls at my cube because the walls are short and thin and I don't like talking over people (although really most everyone had already left the office at this point).  So it's habit that I'll take cell phone calls elsewhere which is why I was standing in the back hallway by the emergency exit door.  I'd been on the phone for a while so I was just staring at the base of the door when I noticed a baby lizard. 

"Whhhaaattt in the world is a baby lizard doing in this building?" I thought to myself.

It must have gotten let inside when we had the emergency fire drill earlier.  Darn it all silly lizard - you're NEVER going to get back out this door!  It's zip tied shut and won't be opened for another 6 months when we have another drill.....

So that got me to thinking about what I should do.

I couldn't just leave the baby lizard there to starve to death and die.  How depressing!

But I also knew I am not so good with squirmy wiggly things and the chance of me successfully evacuating the lizard from the building was slim to say the least.

So I called MIKE.

He thought I was kidding at first...

"Baby, there's a BABY LIZARD and he's stuck and he CANNOT get out without your help!"

Mike - "Brittany.. where are you?  Are you still at work?"

Me - "YES.  But that's not the point... the lizard needs to be taken safely outside and not through this door..."

Mike - "Alright... I'll come around and get him...... where are you?"

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know... he must really love me.

Mike came around and captured the lizard and only lost him once in the hallway before successfully evacuating the lizard outside.

{Losing him in the hallway was a bit funny... no one was quite sure what we were chasing down the hall, the lizard was camoflaged quite nicely with the popcorn looking carpets here}

And HERE is a picture I got of Geraldo once we had successfully saved his life!

{Sorry it's blurry, little guy wouldn't hold still!!!}

And this is the outfit I wore during the daring rescue...

Please ignore my wallet... I snapped this picture right after I scooped up some lunch from the cafeteria!

Anyways... work is long I have a million  new projects to work on...

but I still want to know ---

Questions for the Day:

What four words did you see in the picture?

Have you ever done something as silly as trying to rescue a tiny animal?



If I live to be 100...

I hope I'm still as awesome as this guy:

Click the link, read the story.... he ran a marathon at age 100.

Talk about inspiration!

This got me to thinking about sources of inspiration -- personally my favorites are success stories.  I'm a sucker for Happy Endings!  And one of the best places to see success stories is on The Biggest Loser - which I will definitely be watching tonight.

These people work so hard to lose weight with determination, exercise, and by eating healthy and inspire many Americans watching to do so as well.  But where do the contestants find their inspiration?

Of course a lot of times it comes from family members and people near and dear to their hearts - but I also think it comes from the trainers who seem to delve in and pull the strength out of them.

I miss Jillian this season, so in memory of her I've grabbed a couple of inspiring Jillian quotes!

 

"Transformation is not five minutes from now; it's a present activity. In this moment you can make a different choice, and it's these small choices and successes that build up over time to help cultivate a healthy self-image and self esteem."

Small choices like choosing to go to Jason's Deli and have a *delicious* salad for lunch??

"Nobody is perfect, so get over the fear of being or doing everything perfectly. Besides, perfect is boring. Today, instead of picking yourself apart in the mirror or with friends over drinks, start seeing your "imperfections" as unique traits that give you character and dimension—because that's exactly what they are”

{source}

"Don't blame anyone or anything for your situation or problems. When you do that, you are saying that you are powerless over your own life—which is utter crap. An empowering step to reclaiming your life is taking responsibility."

{source}

"Unless you puke, faint, or die, keep going!"

{source}

"Visualize what you want out of life and think big. Don’t feel undeserving. We're all deserving of living our dreams—some of us realize it and some don't. You’re not doing anyone any favors by living small. Embrace these truths and step up. The world is waiting."

{source}

"Failure is all a matter of perspective. Think of all the people you admire. I guarantee you they all failed at one time or another. The key is to recognize setbacks for what they really are—entry points for learning, not validation that you aren’t good enough. After a disappointment analyze your actions, get feedback from friends, and take inventory of what you could do better next time. This type of self-reflection and improvement will ultimately make success inevitable."

{source}

{Jillian Michael's Quotes}

Speaking of *success*  I just got good news at work today!!

So thinks have been really super busy and hectic -- but at least I know my hard work is being appreciated!  I got a promotion! 

This was really exciting news so I'll definitely have a glass of champagne tonight while watching The Biggest Loser (and yes.. that's still how I plan on spending my night lol!)

Only thing is... with more power... comes more responsibility.  Or something like that... pretty sure my To-Do list just got even longer! 

Coffee shall be consumed tomorrow morning.

One more really awesome thing that happened at work... my friend Brenna made Monster Finger Cookies and told me since I was in meetings all day that if I left a napkin on my desk she'd drop some off for me...

Freakin' Cool.

Questions for the Day:

What's your favorite inspirational quote?

Do you also love success stories?

Where do you find *Inspiration*?

I was lunch-time reading one of my *favorite* blogs today (Peanut Butter Fingers) and she mentioned wearing these athletic socks that say "No Nonsense" across the toes...
 

{We mean business!!!}

::P.S. I'm pretty sure I scooped these up from a Wal-Mart, Wal-Greens or the like!!!::

I giggled to myself because I also have these 'No Nonsense' socks - mine are black, like the picture above.  And as Julie blogged - sometimes a simple phrase can really put you in the mood!  Her workout today was "No Nonsense" (As I believe most of her workouts are -- and if you're looking for some inspiration, she posts about them here).

This got me thinking - what other items do I have that can set the same type of inspiration in my mind? 

{Just Click to Keep Reading!}