Don't Give Up

So I was doing really well. I didn't plan to fall off the wagon. But life happens.

My daughter had eye surgery. We had a death in the family. Job schedules changed. I now have to work out in the evenings and I hate that. I prefer mornings! I lost motivation. It felt like close friends etc were bored with me talking about exercise and becoming healthy. I just fell off.

But I have noticed changes in my body. It took me awhile to gain back what I lost, but gain it back I did... Plus some I believe.

I started getting winded again and simple things I was able to do before started to become harder.

So now back to the same schedule. Whether others support me or not is of no importance anymore. I'm doing this for me and my kids and hopefully to wear some cute clothes before summer is over.

I also started taking a multivitamin and a B-vitamin complex to help with metabolism. And before every meal I drink a glass of grapefruit juice not from concentrate.

Here's to the hard work ahead and the cute figure to come!!!

Learning to LOVE Sweat!

So I haven't given up yet! I sort of shocked myself. I give up on a lot. I want to keep a journal, I give up. I want to learn new hairstyles, I give up. It's sort of my thing. But I am making progress and I can already tell. I'm pumped. I kind of feel like doing the Jersey Shore fist-pump... I know, I'll refrain.

So anyways this is my new home away from home. My safe haven. My mini vacation spot. You ready for this?

Ok so it looks a little more like this... but I love their logo. Yup I'm a little nerdy.

That's better. I love this place. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. I even signed up for a personal trainer. Yea you heard me right. I didn't just test the waters. I jumped head first into this new journey. That's the only way to do it though, right?

So I met with my trainer Curtis. He set up a plan for me along with the three other people who decided to peel open their eyelids and hop out of bed before 6 am. I was happy to find though that he isn't someone who has been this way his whole life. Sure he's a veteran and all that, but he had to train himself to change too. This dude seriously looked like he was in his early to mid thirties and come to find out he was in his fifties.

Look no further people of the world! You don't need a fountain of youth, you just need to get fit!

A few friends of mine have liked my posts on Facebook about the advice Curtis gives. So I figured I would lay it all out there. This is by no means a program I created myself and I own no rights... blah, blah, blah. And all that good stuff. Also this is just the beginning of what he is teaching me. However, he says everyone should come see him and he will help get you in shape!

First we talked about nutrition. Yea.... don't stop reading yet. I know. Here is the gist of it.

• Eat breakfast within one hour of waking up. 
• Weight loss is more psychological. 
• Eat 5 meals a day
• 2-3 or 3-4 hours apart
• This keeps your blood sugar and energy level stable
• The last two should be your smallest meals because your body is winding down for the day. 
• Cut off food 2-3 hours before bed. 
• Drink one gallon of water a day. 
• If you have to eat after the cut off time, eat a salad (oil and vinegar are better). 
• FIBER, FIBER, FIBER! (all veggies and fruit and whole grains)
• BTW eat real wheat bread. Law only requires wheat bread to be called that if it is 1%, yes 1% wheat bread. Most are mainly flour, a little wheat and caramel coloring to make it look wheat. 
• it's not real wheat bread if it has any of these four ingredients listed in the first three to four of the ingredients list
• fortified flour
• enriched flour
• bleached flour
• sugar 
• THANK YOU LYING LAWMAKERS!!!

• GOLDEN RULE TO WEIGHT LOSS*** Prepare your meals in advance. 
• My instant thought... PINTEREST

Next he went on to tell us about the three main things we need in all our meals. Ready and go!

• Protein
• need it to build muscle which helps burn fat
• fish
• eggs
• chicken
• turkey
• pork
• tofu (absolutely not!)
• dairy products
• beans 
• nuts
• protein powder, bars, and drinks
• beef (not the healthiest of all)  
• Complex Carbohydrates
• primary source of energy a fuel
• veggies
• fruits
• whole grains (only true whole grains)

• Healthy Fat
• lubrication of joints, skin, brain, etc. 
• fish
• nuts
• avocado
• ground flax seed
• olive oil
• coconut oil
• peanut oil
• fish oil/flax seed oil pill
• ONLY 1 OR 2 MEALS

***NEED A PROTEIN AND COMPLEX CARB WITH EVERY MEAL!!!

Try www.eatingwell.com

So now that we have that part out of the way, on to the fun part! Yes, it's fun!

WORKOUT SCHEDULE

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

• Start with a 10 minute cardio warm up. (That's like listening to three of your favorite songs back to back. You can do it. Rock it out!)
• Elliptical, treadmill, arc trainer, steps, running, walking, dance, etc. 

• Then the circuit total body work out area. It's sort of like curves. You start on a aerobic step. You can step up and down any way you like. V-step, kicks, whatever you like. You do that for about a minute. Then you have about a 30 second break to get to a machine and work on that for another minute. I'm not sure what exercises you could do other than the machines. But this is what I do. The rest are just the machines I use that the weight that I set them on. There are no set amount of reps, just go for a minute. Then step again. 
• Chest Press
• 25 lbs
• works your chest
• Wide Grip Lat Pull down/Close Grip Lat Pull down
• Its the same machine. If you chose the wide grip pull down, you will be working your biceps and shoulders. It you chose to close grip, you will be working your triceps (you know that area of your arm that is determined to keep waving at people after you stop) and your shoulders.
• 40 lbs 
• works your back mainly
• Row
• 25 lbs
• works your back
•  Overhead Press
• 25 lbs
• works shoulders
• Arm Curl
• 25 lbs
• works biceps
• Arm Extension
• 15 lbs
• works biceps
• Leg Press
• 40 lbs
• Leg Extension
• 30 lbs
• Leg Curl
• 40 lbs
• Ab Bench
• 40 lbs

After this I end with 30 minutes of cardio. Any of the examples I mentioned earlier. I also have some bands that I use at night from Jillian Michaels. I haven't quite figured all that out yet, so I can't help you there.

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday

• One hour of cardio. 
• Ab work out
• Plank
• 30 seconds

•  Side Plank
• 30 seconds

• Abdominal Isometric Hold
• 30 seconds

•  It doesn't have to be this high and extreme. 

• Bird Dogs
• 30 seconds each side

• Hip Bridge
• 12 reps

• Reverse Crunch
• 12 reps
• Yes, your booty will make you scoot down the mat!

• Russian Twist
• 20 reps

 Then at night I do a lower body and abs pilates routine.


I told you I jumped in head first. Oh and if you work your abs/core, you have to do it every other night. Your abs have to have a day in between to rest.

After I work out the real fun begins. I use the Total Body Enhancement bed which has red light therapy. The stand up booth looks a little like this...

 You get in and hold the bars above your head. You have to wear the same eye wear as you would tanning though. Dr. Oz, who I love has talked about this therapy a lot. Here is a link if you want to hear more about it, though it's not a Dr. Oz link.

***Disclaimer: Ignore the person snorting in the background.... www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwipMPMLJgw

So it takes awhile to see results, but if anything it is extremely relaxing!

So that's about it. I haven't weighed in the past two weeks, but I will this week and I hope to have some good results!

Fed Up....

So someone said something to me recently that hurt a lot. I can't blame them totally for what they said, because I have thought the same thing of myself for a long time. But what I can be mad about it how it came out. I'm not fat... but I'm not skinny. That was basically the comment made. Well sorry that I have not lived up to others expectations. Actually screw that! Sorry for not living up to my own!

I have always thought I was a big girl. Growing up and dancing for nine years, I was always one of the biggest girls. In high school I was never as small as the popular girls. My Dad really did a number on me. He always told me I had the perfect shape. If I just lost a little bit of weight, I would be perfect. Whatever he was trying to do didn't work. It gave me the worst possible self image a girl could have. I always heard him talk about how beautiful my sister was and how she could get any guy she wanted. I never heard those things about me. "Just lose a little and you would be perfect." Well let's take a look at my size back then, shall we? Of course I was a teenager and I gained and lost, gained and lost. But my senior year, I looked like this...

Breakfast before Senior Speeches

In Senior Seminar with Hannah

 At Renaissance Fun Park - Senior Trip

 Before Prom

Me and my date

I look back now and think, "DAMN! I looked good!" Bu then I thought I was huge. Like marshmallow man (or whatever he was) from Ghostbusters big! What was I thinking???

I think it is important to pause here and think how we talk to our daughters. What do we show them is valuable? Their looks? Their personality? Do we talk bad about ourselves in front of them? Do we make it seem that their physical traits are the most important thing about them? What do we put emphasis on and what do they think when we do this?

I honestly think had I been told I was beautiful or perfect the way I was everyday, my self image would have drastically been different.

Anyways, I have changed a lot. When I last started this blog, I had just had a baby. My c-section kept me from working out as soon as I had planned. Breastfeeding which was supposed to help.... was nipped in the butt by the lovely nurses at my hospital who decided to give my son a bottle before I was allowed to feed him. That successfully make my chunky monkey impatient. Impatient to the point he didn't want to wait for me.

I went back to school full time. My boyfriend lost his job and we moved all in a short amount of time. I was stressed to the max, which tacked on more weight. Anyways, I don't know that I have a picture of me at my biggest, because I hating taking them, so I never did. But I have some recent ones from yesterday. 

Drumroll please......

Ok O.K.... I know. I'm bigger. But you try getting over that almost 10 pound little monster shacking up in your body for 9 months. (Though he was worth every minute of it) It's harder than it looks. I could have done it sooner. But I didn't. I'm doing it now.

Oh and BY THE WAY! This is me 7 pounds lighter than 3 weeks ago. At my job we have been competing with other teams in The Biggest Loser. I lost 3 pounds the first week when I cut out cokes. Two the next and Two the following. This past week I maintained, but I think that is darn good during the holidays. I went from... OMG... I am about to say it... 203 to 196. *shew* That wasn't so hard. I'm not a number you know. 

I have been eating healthier, cut out cokes and.... I JOINED A GYM! I was tired of never having the time to go. So I MADE time. I work at 8:30 every moring. So I get up at 5:30, go to the gym, work out, relax with some red light therapy, and tan. Then I shower, get ready and head to work. 

I don't have a lot of support with this. It makes it so much easier if you do. Many people at work have given up on the biggest loser. I don't have a gym buddy yet. But I am trying to stay positive and motivated. I already have noticed some changes. I can make it up the stairs without getting winded. I have more energy, etc. All the motivation I need is for my health and my little ones. I CAN DO THIS! I AM DOING THIS!

For me and my health. For my kids. SCREW NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS. This is a NEW LIFE RESOLUTION! 

Feel free to leave comments if you like. Motivation never hurts. ;-D

This year will be different. 2013 IS my year

I started.

I stopped.

I'm starting again.

I won't give up.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Sooo...

I haven't blogged in awhile. I just got so bogged down with school it was unreal. But I will be back to the schedule starting this coming week. I have summer classes so I will be working out after class at the UofL gym before I come home. Plus I have a friend that is going to do the Weight Watchers thing and have meetings on their own. Hopefully I will be able to do that.

As for the coke situation which is my MAIN problem, I have been drinking Coke Zeros and hopefully I can go from that to water. I lost so much weight before when I just stopped drinking cokes. I just cant handle the extra weight anymore. Liam is a year old in a couple of days and he now sleeps all night so I have the time to workout. I just need to get started on it and hopefully it will give me more energy to continue.

Here goes nothing!

Day 2: The misery begins

Well for one thing I was actually surprised that people read this and that so many people supported me. It really helps and Thanks!

Yesterday I ate a salad with tuna packed in water. Yummy... I know.... :( Still coming up with ideas on what else I can make quickly for myself. This morning for breakfast I had 2 hard boiled eggs and 2 pieces of toast. I ate a chicken breast sandwich on a honey whole wheat sandwich thin with leafy lettuce. For snacks I had carrot sticks and some peanuts. For dinner my family wanted the taco shells I make but I only had 2 of them. We make taco meat as normal and then put in in jumbo pasta shells. We place those on a layer of salsa in a baking dish and then sprinkle cheese over it. Then we serve it in a bed of lettuce and topped with tomatoes. I use hamburger meat that is 80/20 to try to be healthier and I would love to be able to find whole grain jumbo noodle shells.

I did get a little disappointed today. I went to the gym and was going to start my membership. However, they failed to mention to me that I would need a bank account to have the money drafted out. I brought cash. I was so upset. I came ready to go and pumped about working out and taking my abs class. Talk about a let down. That kind of bummed me out until I picked up the kids. The night has been non stop since then.

We went to Brooks program at school and then as soon as we got home I cooked dinner, ate dinner while standing and feeding Liam, cleaned up after dinner, swept, vacuumed, took out the trash, fed my little man a night time bottle and then I put him in his crib as I popped in a pilates DVD. Surprisingly he let me work out as he played in his crib and watched.

I was a little discouraged at first. But I did surprise myself. I didn't do too bad at all. I have taken so long to get back to pilates because of my C-section. My sister had her pop open after she had one... well yea that was like a couple days later and some kid ran into her stomach but still.... that memory sticks with you! I have just been soooo afraid that it would hurt so bad. But it didn't. It was hard though and half way through the 30 minute workout my muscles were quivering. But I made it through! I think that is something to be proud of. My arms are also sooo sore. The fat burn workout I did yesterday on Your Shape to target my arms and chest really did a number.

Today at Brooks school I noticed a lot of mothers with newborn babies.... they made me sick for the most part. I wanted to curl up and hide in my hoodie. Sucking it in wasn't going to make anything and easier :P. No but seriously, it sucked. They were all so little. I just was not blessed with such good genes. I just know that I have to work hard for that and maybe I will... NO I will reach my goal and appreciate it. I am not saying that all those women don't work for it, just I have known many girls that have babies and look tiny a couple of days later. I think my major problem was just dealing with having a new baby. Being the only one to get up with the baby and going to school took a number. When I wasn't busy I wanted to sleep. Not having much activity caused me to gain baby weight back... and by that I do mean baby... I gained back everything I lost. But it wont be here for long.

Night everyone!

So after I finished my first blog I began my work out routines. I set up my Wii Fit Plus account. Needless to say my Mii is now fat... I have named her Myrtle and I will defeat her. LOL. I did a step routine and then I did the advance step aerobics routine. It only lasted about 10 minutes in length. I also did the hoola hoop session... man we must have been fit when we were kids!

After all that, which wasnt much, I set up my Your Shape account on the Wii. I did the fitness assessment and a routine was customized for me. I worked out for 15 minutes in todays session, but that was not including the 10 minute fitness assessment. For now I am going to keep the workout plan that it has made for me. It gradually is going to make the sessions longer. I really think I may be able to handle this. The only thing I didnt like was that it is hard to get everything to work right for the camera to record all the movements you make. There were many times that I was doing the exercise when it said that I was not... ugh.

For the rest of the day I have only had 1 coke. I had lunch that was a chicken breast sandwich on honey whole wheat sandwich thins with very little mayo and leafy lettuces. Then carrot sticks for a snack. I have no clue what to eat for dinner yet though.

Here's to hoping I can continue this!