welcome to love, milk & honey.

Meet Cindy!

Tell me a little bit about you: hobbies, lifestyle, job, personality, etc.–I am a work from home mom and own my own wedding/portrait photography business.  My 5 year old daughter goes to preschool 3 days a week.   I would like to think I am pretty outgoing and love meeting new people.  Sometimes it’s hard being at home and maintaining a healthy schedule.  It’s easy to skip lunch then grab fast food on my way to a meeting.  If fact, I do that quite often, but I try to make good choices when I do that.  I’m still a work in progress. ;)

Why do you work out? I began working out for two reasons.  One, I was just really unhappy with how far I had let my weight climb and I was really uncomfortable in my body.  Two, my dad got very sick a couple of years ago and we almost lost him.  He was very close to going into a diabetic coma.  He has almost fully recovered, but it was very scary.  With the long history of diabetes in my family it’s not a matter of IF I’m going to develop it but WHEN so I decided I had better get to work putting off that inevitable day.

What time of day do you workout? It varies.  I usually go in the afternoon and get home in time to make dinner.  It really depends on what time the class I want to take begins.
How many days a week? I TRY to go 5 days a week.  Recently it has been more like 4 days a week.  I always plan to go Monday-Friday and take the weekends off.  I don’t freak out if I can’t make it one day.  I just work that much harder the next time I get to the gym. I wear a bodybugg (www.bodybugg.com) and it has really made a difference in being aware in how much activity I am getting. If I am in danger of not meeting my calorie burn for the day then I usually work a little harder or stay at the gym longer.
What areas do you target when you work out? I have a lot of weight to lose and an impossibly slow metabolism (I have hypothyroidism) so I usually focus on cardio.  I do take a great weight lifting class twice a week and that has made a big change in the way my body looks even when the scale hasn’t budged.

What are your workout goals? My goals have changed a bit since I started.  I used to want to be thin, but now I just want to be fit and healthy.  I would like to be able to run a 1/2 marathon with my college roommate someday.

Run us through your favorite workout sequence/what does a typical workout look like for you? (if it is different things on different days then run us through the week) I workout at 24 hour Fitness and have found that the group classes work best for me.  They keep me motivated and since they start at a specific time then I can’t keep putting it off ’til later in the day.  Mondays, I take a Cardio Mix class that is a little bit step and a little bit bootcamp.  It’s a tough one. I hate it, but it burns a TON of calories so I go. Sometimes, I stay for a weight lifting class right after.  On Tuesday, I take my favorite class.  It’s called Step ‘N Sculpt.  It’s a mix of Step Aerobics, weight lifting with hand weights and millions of lunges.  The teacher is really good and makes it a little more challenging or different each week.  Wednesday is my other favorite class, Turbo Kick.  It’s an hour of Kickboxing that’s a little like a dance class.  It is really fun and burns more calories that anything else I’ve ever tried!  I’m usually sore the next morning.  On Thursday, I usually plan to go to Turbo Kick again, but recently I have been skipping it because I’m worn out so sometimes I take the night off.  Then EARLY Friday morning I’m right back up there for a 30 Min. Turbo Kick class followed by 24Lift which is a weight lifting class using hand and free weights.  The teacher is awesome and does a really good job of teaching you how to lift weights the correct way. Depending on how the week went I will also go to an Advanced Step Aerobics class on Saturday morning. If there is a day that I need to do something during the time I would regularly take a class then I try to get in the gym anyway and usually spend 45 mins. to an hour on the elliptical.  It’s not as effective, but it’s something.
What songs help keep you fired up during your workout? Anything that I know the words to.  Upbeat, happy music.

What helps you push through the idontwanna’s? Knowing that if I quit today and stop going then ALL the work I put in over the last year will have been a total waste of time.
What advice can you give to others about exercising? If you can find something that you enjoy doing then you can stick with it.  Try new things.  For me it was discovering the variety of group exercise classes.  I hate the treadmill and get bored so quickly.  I would literally count the seconds until I could be done.  With the group classes I actually look forward to them…..well, most days I do anyway. ;)

Give us your most embarrassing gym moment! That’s easy!  The first time I went to a step aerobics class last summer.  I had taken step a lot when I was in college and I thought I could just get right back in there and it would still be easy.  WRONG!  I started my step off too high and ended up turning my ankle and falling flat on my back.  The teacher came over to see if I was o.k. and I told her “Yes, just embarrassed” and her microphone picked it up and my announcement went over the loud speakers so the whole class turned around to see me on the floor.  Humiliated.

Thank You Cindy!  Have real workout tips you want to share?  Send them our way!  info{at}lovemilkandhoney{dot}com