#HeatItUp April Instagram Challenge - You In?

I love Instagram.

Yes I am Captain Obvious right now.  I know. I know.

I love PhotoADay challenges ... I just usually suck at them.

I have tried time and time again to make it through an entire month, but usually get sidetracked part way through. Or after Day 2. Something along those lines. Well in all of the challenges I've tried I have successfully completed 1 full month and am currently 23 days into completing my second month.

Yes if it happens I will be adding it to my resume. Don't you worry.

Well, it looks as if I am going to press my luck at completing back-to-back PhotoADay challenges.

Why?

Because this time I am CO-HOSTING one with my ladies!!

That's right folks. I am teaming up with the bloggers I met in NOLA for a little April Instagram Photo Challenge.

Join Abby, Cecilia, Debi, Holly, Mindy, Sarah and myself...

Are you ready to #HeatItUp?

Thunder Thighs No More...

On November 16 I went to Lululemon to purchase a pair of Wunder Under pants I had promised myself after completing the marathon. Well I tried them on and all I could look at were my thighs and I said out loud to myself: "Hello! Thunder Thighs." I'm sure the people in the other dressing rooms were thoroughly confused by this little outburst.

After posting the picture on Social Media...

... friends far and wide commented and said they had no idea what I was seeing.

How could they not?? I mean look at those thighs jumping out of the pants! I had gone out of my comfort zone and tried on a blue/grey pattern instead of going with the normal slimming black option.

But as the responses came in one after another, friends continuously used the words - lean, strong, muscular and fit - to describe the thighs above.

Interesting.

While sitting in my car in the mall parking lot reading the comments (see don't Tweet, Facebook or Instagram while driving!), I asked myself: "What legs were they looking at?" I really just didn't see it!

So I put the phone away, headed to my first Pure Barre class and let the comments/compliments from Twitter and Instagram resonate. But in my subconscious I was coming to grips with the fact that those Wunder Under Pants I pined for just weren't for me.

---

Over the next 10 days or so, things changed.

Ever so slightly.

With each activity I did, another one of those pesky compliments from my friends/followers jumped back out.

* I took the stairs to one of my Weight Watchers meetings a little bit faster than usual. My mind thought: "Wow, this seems easier than the last time I made this trek. Those Pure Barre classes are really paying off.

Muscles.

* I set a PR in The 18th Annual Framingham Turkey Trot Classic 5k on a course I found rather challenging. Okay, I wasn't ready for any hills and there were some. :P I thought to myself: "Something is changing in my body. Those Spin classes are really working to strengthen my legs. Go cross training."

Thighs.

* With each Pure Barre class, the exercises were getting slightly more doable. But since the exercises were being done in front of a mirror, I could actually catch a glimpse of their transformation. The "burning" in my legs was paying off. The Brain said to me: "Look at those strong legs in the mirror. THOSE belong to you."

Fit.

---

My girl Nazalee on Twitter immediately pulled out the big guns. A campaign that Nike featured about how the phrase Thunder Thighs is actually a compliment.

(Feel free to click on the image above for a better look or check out the ad here)

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So over those two weeks, the little tweets/instagram messages from November 16 were breaking out of my subconscious and starting to break down through the self-negativity!

But the tweet I got that finally made the mental change was short and simple: "I see a pair of strong legs that just dominated a marathon."

Truth ... but I had to change my mindset to see that!

On November 28 I went back to the store and purchased those pants and now wear them proudly!!

Even in public! :)

---

So moral of this little story?

Simple.

We need to be as positive with ourselves as we are with others!!

And of course wipe the phrase "Thunder Thighs" from the vocabulary! ;)

Dear Social Media...

Dear Social Media, I don't know how to say this so I thought I would write you a quick note. I've been trying to gather my feelings for you, but didn't quite know how to really approach you on the subject. So I figured I might as well just put myself out there.

So here goes nothing.

Social Media ... I Love You.

Okay, there I said it!

I 100% with my whole heart love you and all that you offer:

I love OkCupid.com.

I love Wordpress.

I love Twitter.

I love Facebook.

I love Tumblr.

I love Pinterest.

I love Instagram.

I like Google+.

I even have a small place in my heart that still likes MySpace. (not sure why, but it does)

So this isn't getting awkward is it?

Good.

I want to simply Thank You for all you have done for me through all of these avenues.

You want examples? Sure, I have plenty.

**OkCupid.com gave me my wife for who I would be lost without!

**Wordpress.com, you have bestowed on me a tiny piece of the internet here at Weight Off My Shoulders where I can share my inner thoughts with anyone that wants to read them. Even if no one wants to read them, you allow me the chance to bare my soul and release the negative in a new and more therapeutic way!

**Oh Twitter, where do I begin. I thank you for the endless 24/7 support I have found...

-For opening my world to such awesome groups as #runchat (@therunchat), #Fitfluential (@FitFluential), #SweatPink (@fitapproach), #GirlsGoneSporty (@GirlsGoneSporty), #wwchat/#weightwatchers (@WeightWatchers) and #Fitbloggin (@Fitbloggin).

-For helping me share my life, my ups, my downs, my accomplishments and my faults with people who accept me no matter what and are always there to offer advice, a shoulder to cry on or a new perspective for the situation.

-For connecting me to other Weight Watchers members and Leaders all over the state, the country and the world overall. It is great to share recipes, success stories, scale and non-scale victories and struggles with people reaching for the same goal you are.

-For numerous motivating challenges, especially Brad Gansberg's #7daychip and Dr. Sherry Pagoto's #PlankADay, and allowing me to even start my own: #100ozChallenge.

-And finally, for motivating me to get out of my comfort zone by sharing wicked personal stories, for reminding me that I am worthy of what my life is giving me and that I can put myself out there and survive.

**Dear Facebook, you have taken hours of my day away and I thank you for that. Love, Dani ;) But really, Facebook allows me to share my blog to another group of people who I might not be on Twitter. Also, I know now that if I don't post my workout on the blog's Facebook page, it didn't happen ... right?

**While I still don't know how to totally use you Tumblr, you provide me endless laughs with such things as Dog Shaming and Texts From Dog.

**Pinterest - oh Pinterest - you make me want to eat everything in sight, work out 24/7 and snuggle a bunch of adorable animals all at once. No one has done that to be before. ;)

**Instagram - you allow me to know EXACTLY what my friends are eating at any point in the day. Now I know whose house to go to because I can preview what they would cook me ;) Also, you inspire me to try new workouts, but new work out clothes and attempt all different types of planks! Additionally, you have helped ME perfect the art of the self-portrait either using my phone or the bathroom mirror. I will never look at the bathroom mirror the same way again. Oh and thanks for offering so many glorious filters to choose from - I shall never look pale again! :)

**I got nothin', but love for ya MySpace... you still exist right?

So there it is Social Media, you truly reach every aspect of my life like no one else has before so in one word: Thanks!

Love,

Dani

PS What site will you come up with next for me to get addicted to?