The Best Me I Can Be

So in an experiment to save money and an effort to tone up a couple of areas and lose 3-6 lbs I'm embarking on uncharted territory! I'm only allowing myself to have one meal out a week during the month of May! I'm not really a person that eats out all the time but I'd say of the 21 possible meals in a week I eat out about 6-8 of them.

I've recruited my roomie for the experiment and we've decided that Saturday's lunch shall be our one meal out a week. I'm thinking this may be changed to Sunday though because after we partake in Sunday Funday we usually end up at Carl's Jr shoving our faces with food!



So I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried something like this?! I know a lot of people who cook most of their meals and hardly eat out ( see Dominique) and I find this to be incredibly impressive. I'm going to try and be one of these people and I'm getting my ass back in the gym too. I've taken a little 3 week hiatus and while I haven't gained any weight I'm not as toned as I used to be. I figured Pure Barre every week and the gym 4 days a week will help with that. The goal is to end up looking like this when I finish...


Wish me luck!

So wish me luck and let me know if you've ever tried anything like this!

Pure Barre = The Best Torture You'll Ever Experience

OK, so this Saturday I went to do a Pure Barre class in Dallas since the class was free (they were accepting donations for Children's Hospital) and I wanted to know what it was all about. After signing up and donating my money I was told to take off my shoes, but keep my socks on, and go on into the class. The good thing about this class was that it was mostly first timers. I think there were 2 people in the class that had been there before but the rest of us were new.



After reading a fellow blogger's post about the class I had some idea of what was going to happen but wasn't really prepared. The class was brutal but not brutal in a bad way just a really intense workout. The movements are all so small and controlled but you will definitely feel them. My instructor travels around the country going to classes and prides herself on the fact that the Dallas location crams more workouts into the hour class than any other class she's been to. : / I guess that was something to be excited about but I'm still on the fence about that!



We started with about 10-15 minutes of weights and upper body. It was pretty much the most fast paced part of the class. It was kind of like aerobics on speed with weights thrown in. There was a lot of using our own body as weights and working our arms that way. It was a good thing for me because I don't ever really focus on my arms. After that we did work on the barre for a good 25 minutes and that KILLED ME! She kept telling us that your legs shaking was fine and that we should just work through the pain! Apparently it was our body getting stronger :/ Yeah well mine were out of control on some movements. My ass is still sore today and it's been over 48 hours. We ended the class with ab work which actually wasn't that bad. I thank Pilates and Yoga for that.



What I enjoyed most about the class was that it doesn't feel like you've been in there an hour. At no point was I like is class almost over yet? I mean there were times when I was like can we PLEASE STOP DOING THIS MOVE but that's about it. The only bad thing is that the classes are kind of pricey. However it's one of those things that one could argue is worth the price. I can honestly see how your body can transform after taking this class for a while.



You can get your first month unlimited for 175 or 5 classes for 100. Those two are pretty much the cheapest options. You can do class by class for 20 dollars a class which is what I think I might do. I'm kind of interested in the 5 for 100 as well because I think I could handle 5 classes a month. Anyway, I would highly recommend it for anyone trying to change their body in a short amount of time. They have "baby bounce back" packages and bridal packages that I can really see helping someone. I think if you are really interested in working your body out in an interesting way then this is the class for you. I have SO much more respect for ballerinas now and this class wasn't even 1/10 of what they do for about 8 hours a day EVERY DAY! Crazy! Anyway, if you're in TX they only have Pure Barre in Dallas and Austin but they have locations all over the country so check it out if there's one by you!