Hurricane WHHAATTTT!?
Hello friends! We want to start this blog post off by saying how grateful to God we are that everyone is safe and that our area avoided a near direct hit and destruction for the most part. This was Lauren's first hurricane (what a doozie), but I (Nicole) have lived in Florida most of my life, and it was quite the experience. We are currently writing this blog on location at Panera because Lauren has no power and I don't have WIFI. It's been a while though and a WHOLE LOT has happened since we talked to you last. School has started for us, goals have been reached and new ones have been set, and exciting new things are happening in the world of these two fit girls.
School started a little over a month ago and as always, it has been a whirlwind. Planning, decorating, getting prepared to mold little minds, and survive. As hard as it is to get back into the swing of things at the beginning of the year, we were really looking forward to school starting because we desperately needed normalcy when it came to food prep and a solid work out schedule. In years past the first week before the kids get there is torture on our bodies because of being so lazy over the summer, but we have to admit, this year was A LOT easier. We weren't nearly as sore moving things around, we jumped up onto chairs and tables like a boss, and ran around like crazy without hesitation. If you know a teacher, thank them, it takes a lot to set up a classroom these days.
In the midst of school starting, Lauren and I both finally hit our major goal of being under 200lbs! It's something neither of us have seen in a long time, and it felt really good to see a number in the 100s! I have also been working through some issues with my knee. I started having trouble with it a couple of months back when I would run, and it became kind of chronic so Mark the Trainer suggested I go get it checked out. Luckily, it doesn't seem to be an injury, but more a wearing of my knee cap, which I can handle. It has been a challenge to stay positive when everyone around you is doing things you know you're not capable of at the time, but it has also been a very humbling experience. I'm back to running some, but am encouraged that as we continue to get fit and eat right, things will get easier. Right after we accomplished our weight goal, Mark the trainer sat us down and told us we were getting a new diet (we get a new one about every 6 weeks). He sat us down and told us that until Labor Day (about 10 days) we would have no diet, or what we dubbed the NON DIET. We geeked out for about 5 seconds and 
then got really scared. Why weren't we on a diet? What could we eat? What if we gained all of our weight back in a week? How could we possibly survive? We questioned his sanity, but he explained that we had been eating strict for so long that we needed to take a mini-break from it, try some different foods, and see how our bodies reacted to them now. Well guys, we have to say, we took his non-diet a little to literal and absolutely ate how we did before we started to get healthy and fit. NEVER AGAIN!!! Once your body gets use to eating healthy and exercising, there are just some things that you eat that will never react to your body the same. We were both sick to our stomaches. Mark the Trainer had us write down some of the things we learned from our week on our non-diet, here are just a couple examples of what we learned:- We have no self control.
- Eating poorly effects your sleep.
- "I'll have one" turns into the whole box.
- What you eat makes your workouts suffer.
- Carbs are the DEVIL, especially in large amounts.
- Night time is the WORST because no one is there to watch you make bad choices and stop you.
- Eggs are your friends, biscuits and gravy are not.
- Carbs make you real lazy.
- Your concentration suffers, with spouts of hysteria.
- We don't know how we ever ate like this.
- No one will stop you from eating, not our friends or family, only you.
- Alcohol is the DEVIL when you haven't had it in forever
- You spend WAY too much money on bad food and eating out.
- We hate and mostly love Mark the Trainer for this experience!
Dying during our workouts
Our non-diet from hell came at a good time because Labor Day was here and Lauren headed up to Boston to see Kenny Chesney (aka Kenny Chestnut). See pictures above! So yes, we got to eat things like pizza, pie, cookies, ice-cream and so much more but what we realized is that we missed having limitations. We don't think we will always have a "diet" per say, but we will always want to eat and live a healthier lifestyle. We have been to the "dark side" and back and we don't like it.
Although our workouts suffered during this non-diet period, our gym family helped us get through it. Nausea, cramping, and exhaustion were all present during these work outs but we still forced ourselves to make them happen. All I have to say is, find your people, and it will make working out so much more enjoyable and fun! We probably have a little too much fun sometimes but we always work hard while doing it.
We talk about our gym family a lot on here because they have truly become like a second family to us. Always pushing us, making us laugh, and making us better people. We have to brag on our newest member, Debbie. She joined our crazy group a couple months back and has been shoved into many situations that might typically be out of her comfort zone, but has accomplished so much and we are so proud of her!!! Our last workout before Irma was an old-fashioned, tire-flipping party and she crushed it, trying new things that she probably never would have thought she would want to do or could do. We were in her shoes just a short time ago and to see someone go through the same process we have is so encouraging. It doesn't matter where you start, but that you just do it with an open mind like Debbie! We took a time lapse video of our workout for your entertainment. Look quick because it goes by fast! If you have the ability to slow this video down, you'll probably laugh. Maybe you'll see Lauren do her first cartwheel or Nicole attempt her first handstand!
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| Hurricane shenanigans |
people breathed in a sigh of relief until she started to turn again. Eventually, she was projected to to come up the entire state! Many chose to evacuate. For some, that was the best decision for them and their families, while for some like mine and Lauren's family, we decided to stay. Lauren stayed at a family friends house because her house is surrounded by trees and we stayed at my mother-in-laws house because we had no boards on our windows. Lauren was freaking out a bit because it was her first hurricane and a scary one at that. Even though I was calm, saying goodbye to your home and not knowing if it will be there when you get back is scary. My family was staying in a house with a pretty sturdy screened in front porch, so I got to experience most of the storm from there which was awesome. Irma weakened a lot before she got to us and Sarasota in particular was spared a lot of the damage that we thought was coming. It's something special to see your community come together to help each other when things get rough but we are really proud of being from Venice and being able to see this happen throughout the week. Lauren still is without power, but luckily her parents are from good ol' Texas, so of course they have a monster grill where they are able to grill, boil water, and clean dishes! If you ever want to know what it's like to stay in a house without electricity in Florida though, just go sit in a sauna for 5 minutes, spot on. Praying power gets restored everywhere soon.
Our county called school off for the whole week though because many of our schools were used for shelters and a lot of parents, students, and teachers are still making their way back into Florida after evacuating. We took the time to have a girls day with one of our young friends and got to act like a kid for the day again. We built sand castles! We buried ourselves in sand! We went to a trampoline park, where we realized our bodies are way older than our minds (paying for it today) and got to play board games! FYI...getting out of a foam pit as an adult is wayyy harder than you think. Also, it made me realize I'm a little more claustrophobic than I thought.
**DRUM ROLL PLEASE**
Mark the Trainer sat us down after our last workout before Irma and told us that we were officially invited to participate in this years SWAT CHALLENGE! If you remember back to our past blog where we showed your our goals, this was very high on the list. If you haven't heard us talk about the SWAT challenge before, it includes tactical events that involve endurance and strategic thinking. Some of the events might include hostage rescue, a military-style obstacle course, and other unknown events. This was originally a goal for next year, as we were just going to spectate this year, but we are beyond grateful to be included this year. This challenge for us is such an honor and can't wait to compete with such great teammates.
Until Next Time....
Irmagerd,
TWO FIT GIRLS
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