Last night, due to my lack of cable and caring what was on, I decided to tune into this new reality series on Fox called The Swan. The premis behind the show is to take two "ugly ducklings" and turn them into beautiful "swans" to compete in some beauty pageant at the end of the season. Apparently the most dramatic change will recieve the crown and title as queen swan. This show makes me angry for a number of reasons. First of all, they are taking perfectly normal looking people and tr...

My New Year's Resolution was the same as many. It involved leading a healthier lifestyle and loosing a couple of lbs. This meant switching to frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, no more bad starches, taking vitamins and mixing in 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week. My pre wedding weight was 123 (in november), which is pretty decent for someone who's 5`2 with a medium-large bone structure. About a week and a half after all the wedding festivities I was up to 129...which still i...

Two weeks ago I decided that my Christmas gift to myself would be to quit smoking. I have smoked for about four years and have decided to call it quits for good. I have quit once before, but became a smoker again once I moved in with a heavy smoker. Now it's time to wake up and get healthy. I want to spend as much time as I can with my soon to be husband, and smoking just isn't the answer. It costs too much money and it's terrible for your health. They say it takes 21 days to break ...

Recently there have been a slew of articles posted by many JUers about women's body image and the media and now it's my turn to respond. I am 5`2, 122 lbs, a size eight...and sadly enough by Hollywood's standards, that is considered "plus sized." Why is this, one might ask? Well, women everywhere have trashy mags such as Cosmo and Glamour to thank. They post sickly gaunt women throughout the pages and tell the readers that this is beautiful. It's like number of ribs one sees on these wome...

Greetings once again JU! I think I'm going to give this blogging thing another go, except this time around I'm going to keep more of a "log", but that doesn't mean I still won't post the occasional nonesense article. Let me explain.... In my great year and several months off I've really taken to running, which for me, since being in a terrible car wreck in '02 is quite a feat. Ever since then my left knee always gave me trouble whenever I tried to run. Anways, A little over a year ...

I started taking the pill over five years ago due to painful, heavy periods, caused by a cyst on my right ovary. At first it was wonderful because I had a "normal" period every month with little to no cramping. I thought that it was the miracle drug. Now, I'm not so sure. I think the pill has made my hormones go crazy. When I first started taking it, I did notice VERY irratic mood swings. Even though they have leveled off, it seems like at least one week out of the month, I just loo...

The summer is quickly approaching and I need to kick my workout into high gear if I want to look hot in a bathing suit for Vegas this August. Thanks to Oprah and her new diet plan which is on her site, I'm going to kick up my workout into high gear. I'm going to increase my cardio by two minutes each week and add an extra work our session one time a day. No more ice cream or candy, either. Let's hope I can do it!

Okay guys, my smoking is starting to get out of hand again. I am smoking between 5-8 ciggies a day (which is a helluva improvement from 4 years ago, but it's not enought). I need to stop, but for some reason I cannot. Every time I do, I just pick them up again. I want to try and quit for good. Would anyone be interested in quitting as a JU team?? Who's with me??

Since the end of December I made a point to become a more healthy individual. Those months in between now I've had quite a struggle finding a balance between dieting and working out. Whatever I am doing now is finally working. Last time I got on the scale was about a month ago and it said I weighed 135 and today I got on and it said 125. Finally the muscle I have built up is now burning fat! Here's what I do. Many thanks to strongbear.joeuser.com I do 1/2 hour of step aerobics when...

Over the past couple days I haven't been feeling right and when I woke up this morning, it all made sense. I caught one helluva cold! My head is stuffed, my throat is sore, and gobs of snot are spewing from my nose. Even the glands on the back of my neck are swollen. I decided to be a trooper and go to work, but that was even useless. They sent me home! Now I'm back at the apartment going stir crazy. I should go back to bed, but I feel like I must do something....hence why I wrote the ...

I have been smoke free for 65 days between december 20th and now. I did not count the days which I relapsed on the honeymoon, nor when I relapsed on the day of the superbowl. That's pretty damn good for someone who smoked a half a pack a year ago! I'm going to go the distance this time!!

3.2 miles-33 minutes leg/ab circuit-30 minutes