Detox Day 3...whoops

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Morning everyone!

So yesterday was day 3 of my "detox".

Yeah. Not so much.

I was doing great. Smoothie for breakfast.

Lunch was with my sorority sister. I already knew I would have some feta bread.

I did order a salad and I removed most of the chicken and crumbled blue cheese.

I did use some blue cheese dressing but very sparingly and ate some of the chicken for protein because of my workout that evening.

I drank water with lunch. Score one for me.

I think I had 3 small pieces of feta bread. So not horrible.

Then that evening before heading to the gym, I had one more small piece of bread to get me thru.

After the gym is when it sort of fell apart.

Not sort of.

Did.

I got home and had cucumbers with guacamole and a small bag of lays chips. Think the snack size kind.

And I may or may not of had two glasses of rootbeer with whipped cream vodka. Thats right. I said it. It fricken tastes just like a root beer float. I HIGHLY recommend it.

And then I may have had a bowl of rocky road ice cream. Damn it.

But I definitely worked at the gym to make up the calorie intake. And sometimes it is good to confuse the body.

Here was my gym session.
I walked a half mile slowly. Think 3.0-4.0.

Then the stepper became free. And last  time Eric showed me how to walk two steps without hanging on. And by  walking two steps I mean skipping every other step.

So I set it to manual and did 15 minutes on that beast. Alternating between single steps and skipping every other. I was quite drenched.

Then Eric and I worked my legs again.

Started with standing squats using the machine. We started at 90 lbs... then proceeded up from there. I think we did 5 sets to "warm my legs" and my last set was 10 reps at 300 lbs. Yeah. I couldnt stand up with so much weight on my shoulders so Eric had to help me stand to get into position. But after that initial help, it was all me.

Afterwards he grabbed some kettlebells and we headed out side. He made me do walking lunges holding the bells. When I was far enough down, he would have me stop and run suicides.

If you dont know what a suicide is, let me try to explain.

We were under a covered walkway with columns spaced out.

I would sprint to the nearest column then back to my start...run to the second column then back to the start then sprint to the third column then back to the start. Yeah baby.

Then we lunged again.

Then more suicides.

Lunges.

suicides.

Then he took pity on me and we did lunges back to the door and I was done with that.

I was DRIPPING in sweat.

Then we went inside.

He had me do crunches using the machine where you are sitting up and crunch forward and down.

Then it was plank time.

On the forearms. For 1 minute at a time. Talk about sweat!

We did that circuit a total of 3 times as well. Eric had to wipe down the equipment because I was sweating so much. The floor was wet from my forearms and sweat that dripped off of my forehead. LOL.

That was my workout. Serious buttkick.

And even with me eating bad, when I stepped on the scale today it read 165.0.

I was REALLY happy with that.

Today I am back on the wagon.

I will be having some eggs today because tonight is upper body and then RPM.

So here is my detox plan for day 4.

Smoothie for breakfast
Lunch- egg white omelet with lots of veggies, vegan cheese and sausage
Dinner- protein shake from the gym between training and RPM
After workout- a couple hard boiled eggs, my protein casein shake with peanut butter

That is my goal for today. To be back on track.

How are things going for you? Anyone detoxing?

And I want to let you know that I have been saying prayers for the people in OK. It is devastating what happened and it has been VERY hard for me to watch the footage. It was a much bigger tornado then what we had here and lives were lost. But seeing the images still brings me back to ours. And I am trying to deal with it. Dexter has banded together and we are getting supplies out to send to OK. From one town that was hit to another. Also the news vans showed up going door to door here after it happened. Wanting to get our reactions and dredge everything up. Will it ever end?

I will actually be glad that we are moving so I dont have to worry about that anymore.

BUT I am thinking about writing a book about our experiences. Things we learned or we wished we knew. Our stories from different perspectives. What we were doing before it hit. The days after...thru reconstruction and even at the one year anniversary.

I just feel like we are such a tight knit community now post tornado that I would love to share the things we learned. Would it be a best seller? Probably not. Would it sell any books at all? Who knows. Not sure if someone would be interested in even reading it. But it might be therapeutic for some of us.

Just another thing to think about and add to my plate at a later time.

Ok peeps. I am off to get the kids up to start the day. You all have a great one!

Tip of the Day:

Detox Day 2

Good Wednesday morning everyone!

Let me recap my "detox" yesterday.

Breakfast was a smoothie- strawberry, banana, avocado, spinach.

Lunch was a salad. Lettuce, cucumber, egg, tomato, red onion. No dressing.

Now I will admit that I had a bite or two of Landrys grilled cheese sandwich he didnt want. First bite was to show him it was yummy and the next was because it was yummy! LOL.

I did have a sip or two of lemonade too.

When we got home, I had an apple with peanut butter for a snack. By this point, I was feeling a bit lightheaded. Probably from lack of fat and protein in my diet.

This lead to my choice at dinner.

I did the sauteed veggies like I originally said, but I added in some left over ground pork sausage that had been sitting in fridge. This gave me my fat and protein though not the healthiest. BUT it was what I had sitting around.

For a snack later, I had some guacamole and cucumbers and maybe some fritos...

And before bed I had my casein shake with some peanut butter.

Not horrible I think.

My stomach is feeling SO much better since I have been eating this way too- meaning the fruits and veggies.

Today I got up and weighed in at 166.5. So a half pound loss from yesterday. I will definitely take it with taking a true rest day and doing no exercise.

And also today, I am going out for lunch with one of my sorority sisters. Remember Feta Bread? Yum!

I plan on having some with a salad.

Tonight I workout with Eric. I need to keep my momentum going so I am hoping to run before hand too. I will probably die with running. I havent done it in forever. BUT it will be good for the calorie burn.

Oh and the insurance? The insurance guy quoted us MORE for the Blue Cross plan than what we are paying now BUT it is better coverage. BUT then Aaron called Blue Cross directly, and we can get the same plan that the guy quoted us for LESS then we pay now but the dental/vision is a bit more than quoted. Added together though, it is less than what we currently are paying for just medical and dental.

So we know we are going to switch to Blue Cross. BUT with switching, you have a 6 month wait on preexisting conditions. Which means that we need to push the boys surgery...maybe.

This means that today I need to call the hospital to find out what our end of the hospital bill will be to see if we can afford to keep the surgery on their existing date with our existing insurance, or if we should wait the 6 months and have their surgery over Christmas break when we switch insurance. UGH!!

With Landry it isnt such a big deal. He isnt in school yet. With Xavier, it is tougher. I really want to get his done over the summer so he has time to recoup before school starts back up. Plus if insurance coverage with the new plan doesnt start until July 1st, that means that 6 months is PAST Christmas break. And do I keep the poor kid out of school for two weeks? I cant do that!

Decisions, decisions. What would you do? Honestly?

Tip of the Day:

Day 1 of Detox Recap

Day one of my "detox" was a success.

For breakfast I had a smoothie. Banana, papaya, strawberries, avocado and spinach.

Lunch was sauteed veggies (no oil or butter)- onions, mushrooms, orange peppers, red peppers, cherry tomatoes and red pepper flakes.

Snack was an apple with peanut butter (I wanted some protein before Zumba)

Dinner after working with Eric was a protein shake. Strawberries, banana, apple juice and vanilla protein powder

Then before bed I had my Casein protein shake made with a bit of peanut butter.

That was it. No snacking, no cheating.

I am very proud of myself.

Working out with Eric last night was legs. Single leg leg presses, calf raises and then single leg dead lifts. Second circuit was the stair climber (no hanging on and skipping every other step), squats with an arm raise using a weight and then crunches. OUCH! He had me using 45 lb weight plates for the squat/arm raise exercise.

Today I am a smidge sore but not bad.

And I weighed myself today. 167.0. Yup. Gained some weight. Thats ok though. I think it is only about 6 lbs. I will get it back off. When I really started working hard, my weight got back up to 161 and I was super fit.

And Eric told me that we only have 12 training sessions left. Shit. And I cant afford to renew with him right now because of the kids surgeries. Insurance sucks. Once they have the surgery then I can get a hold of what the damage is going to be for our bills. Dont worry though. I will still be lifting. Just sucks because he keeps me accountable. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

I am also applying for a front desk position for the gym. I am hoping that working there will give us a bit of extra money. We shall see.

Today is a "rest" day for me but it will depend on the weather.
I would like to get in a run tonight but severe thunderstorms are possible.

I still plan on keeping with my detox. Breakfast will be another smoothie.
For lunch, Aaron and I are meeting an insurance guy to see if we can get a better plan for less out per month. So we will be going to Potbelly. I will be having the farmhouse salad with no bacon, blue cheese or chicken. I will be keeping the eggs, onion and tomato on it though. No dressing.

Dinner will be sauteed veggies.

Before bed will be my casein shake with a bit of peanut butter.

So that is it for us today. Wish us luck with the insurance guy.

Tip of the Day:

Detox Day 1 AND It Works Wrap Update

Yup. One bad meal wont make you fat.

But for me, I have been on a downward spiral for the past few weeks.

Today I am taking the bull by the horns and starting a veggie/fruit detox.

Today will be day one.

The only thing I will allow myself is my protein powder (and coffee) because I am still going to be doing my workouts.

And today I am going to pack up the alcohol. I just cant stay away from it. I am not getting drunk by any means BUT I have been having a drink or two every night. Not what I want to be doing.

My midsection has gotten bigger so I am starting a drastic measure- a fruit/veggie fast. (Think what I was doing pretornado). All fruits and veggies. Can be raw, sauteed with water, pureed for smoothies, etc. I just havent been feeling well stomach wise. I think this will help me get back on track. My goal is to do it until Saturday with the exception of lunch on Wednesday with my sorority sister. I will most probably have a salad, BUT we are going to Aubrees (she has never been) and I will HAVE to order some feta bread. LOL.

The weekend was good. I had one person for Zumba on Saturday. Next weekend she will not be there so I am going to cancel class on Saturday. No point in me driving out there to just waste the gas and cancel the class.

But I have a very busy week ahead.

Monday- packing, starting to wrap stuff with bubble wrap, teach Zumba, leg workout
Tuesday- packing, putting out the donation stuff (I have a LOT)
Wednesday- pick up boxes from my aunt, lunch with a sorority sister, drive past the house to take better front pictures, workout with Eric
Thursday- pack, speech evaluation for Landry, RPM and work out with Eric
Friday- pack (kids dont have school), Zumba
Saturday- Leave for Saginaw, teach a Zumba class that afternoon or Sunday morning
Sunday- Zumba again maybe?

Anyways that is my week. I will still try to get on here to update.

Moving on...

I had someone ask me for an update with the wraps. I really have to apologize. I tried to email you back but because it was anonymous, it must not have gone thru. And then I tried to reply to the question on my phone and that didnt work either.

Ok. Here is what I think about the wraps.

1. I did not use them consistantly enough (as in every three days) to know how good these worked. I think I used two of them then hung on to the others and used those just one at a time.

2. I loved how they felt on. Think a menthol feeling. But I didnt like having to wrap my midsection with saran wrap. I kept my wraps on all night and the saran tended to slide up and leave a mess.

3. I did notice tightening (from the pictures) BUT I really dont know if that was just water loss that caused the skin to tighten.

4. Not sure how they lasted over time because I started to work with a trainer and was already doing SO much with exercise already.

All in all, I cant give these a thumbs up or down. Honestly I am not sure how well they work because I did not use the whole pack consistantly. I think that there is nothing better than good old hard work to lose weight. Would I buy them again? I would. I would love to do another experiment once I get down to where I want to be just to see how well they work. Would I become a loyal customer? Probably not. As an every once in a while customer it seems fine.

Instead of becoming a loyal customer, I decided to go the personal trainer route. I see the most bang for my buck and it is my whole body getting in shape and not just one area.

You arent going to find a magic wrap that is instantly gonna make you a size 6 when you are a size 18. That is gonna take hard work and moxy. Yes you will have ups and downs. Look at me- cycling out of a down time...but I am not giving up. Life is like that. It is a life choice and you are in it for the long haul.

Good luck. Let me know how it goes!

Tip of the Day:

Teese!!!

Doesnt this look good? I dont know much better than an ooey gooey pizza with stretchy cheese. BUT cheese is full of fat and really isnt that great for you.

Enter a new product I found at VegFest. Teese.(check out the link!!)

This is a vegan, 100% dairy free, gluten free, soy free alternative to your regular cheese. I bought the mozzarella cheese because it melts and stretches just like real cheese!!! I used it for the first time the other night when I made homemade pizzas and I was not disappointed. I am a HUGE convert!

They also have different "cheeses" depending on what you are looking to cook. Mozzarella, Cheddar Vegan (for things like grilled cheese sandwiches), creamy cheddar vegan (think mac n cheese), and nacho cheese. Oh yes. Nachos. YUM!

Now I am not a vegan. I just couldnt give up my eggs and cheese...buuttt...now I am one step closer. With Teese I feel like I could about 95% of the time just use these products and be perfectly happy and not feel deprived.

When we were at the show, they handed out nacho samples using the cheese. Awesome. Really tasted JUST LIKE nacho cheese!

AND while not clean, they dont have a ton of crazy products in it. Here is what is in the mozzarella:

(ALL VEGAN, NON-GMO): filtered water, tapioca starch, coconut oil and/or sunflower oil, tapioca maltodextrin, pea protein, salt, carrageenan, vegan natural flavors, lactic acid (vegan), natural white color added. GLUTEN FREE

And the nutritional information?:

Teese Mozarella Style Vegan Cheese Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 28g Servings Per Container 10
Amount Per Serving
Calories 50	Calories from Fat 10
	% Daily Value *
Total Fat 1.5g	2%
Saturated Fat 0g	2%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5g
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 125mg	5%
Total Carbohydrate 10g	3%
Dietery Fiber 2g	10%
Sugars 0g
Protein <1g
Vitamin A	0%
Vitamin C	0%
Calcium	0%
Iron	0%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Way, way, way better nutritionally then regular cheese...dont you think??

Yesterday I made an egg white omelet using it. Yes, yes, yes. Egg whites are NOT vegan. So sue me.

Anyways.

My omelet had Teese, mushrooms, onions, vegan sausage, and vegan bacon. This sausage I found at Busch's is phenomenal as well. 

After it was cooked, I cut up part of it and put it on a dry toasted english muffin. Yummy and filling.

Yup I am sold. And I just had to share it with you. Especially those of you looking for a healthier option for the yummy things of life.

Now please know that I am not being compensated for this review. And it was not sent to me for free. I paid for it myself and am providing you an honest review.

Also now that I have you wanting to try this product, you may be wondering where you can find it.  Whole Foods (at least in Michigan) is a supplier for it. You can see where you can get it in your area by visiting the link that I posted at the top of this post.

NOW onto my workout yesterday.

To give you an idea of how I feel today about my workout yesterday, today I feel like I have been hit by a Mack Truck.

First circuit: close underhand grip pull downs, rows then going into wide handed grip overhand pulldowns

Second circuit: rows, bentover rows, forearm pull downs

Third Circuit: bicep curls from hell. 10 bottom half, 10 top half, 10 full circuit (that is one round)

Now on my rows, I was getting up to 80 lbs. Pull downs was 100 lbs, and my bicep curls on the last circuit were 40 lbs. My arms felt like rubber after that.

Then was RPM. I felt like I was going to die. I started coughing and couldnt take a full breath. I stuck it out but just kept my tension a little lighter than normal.

Afterwards Eric came to see how I was doing and I told him that I couldnt breathe. It felt like asthma. Like you cant take a full breath. He told me to put my hands on top of my head to expand my lungs and stand there. He said I looked really pale. I guess I did too much too soon huh?

Finally after a bit of sitting I finally caught my breath and was able to head out. Guess my lungs werent quite ready for that.

But either way, I like the sore feeling.

That is the news for now. Have a great Friday everyone! And a great weekend if I dont make it back on here!

Tip of the Day:

On A Roll

Morning again y'all!

Yesterday was leg day. Woot!

Circuit 1: Squats using a bar, then lunges then planks.

Circuit 2: deadlifts, standing leg press, mason twists with weight

Circuit 3: Crunches. 34, 33, 33 to equal 100. OUCH!!

It was awesome. I took it easy on the running before hand because 1. I havent run in a while and 2. I am still getting over a respiratory thing and am coughing a lot.

I told Eric what I did and he said that is all the cardio I needed. Whew.

I did better with my eating yesterday however I did have some vegetarian lasagna for lunch that was left over from the weekend (it wasnt clean but it was sort of healthy) and a piece of apple pie with my casein shake after the gym last night. Oops.

But today I am going to throw out the cake that has been sitting on my counter. I dont want the temptation.

Then tonight I am gonna do upper body with Eric followed by RPM. Am I gonna die? Probably. Death by coughing. Sounds pleasant huh? Actually I told Eric that I might have to dial it back so I dont die. Either way it will be good cardio.

Packing is progressing. I have to vent just a bit here though and say that I have packed all the boxes in the house. No exaggeration. And yesterday I asked my husband to bring the boxes to the garage. Do you think he did? So we tripped on them all night yesterday. Bah.

This weekend I need to get all the stuff down from the garage attic so I can see if I have stuff to donate. Then we can really fill the garage as well with all of our stuff for the truck. Right now I am tip toeing around the garage so we can make sure we have room for the pull down ladder. I just cant wait to get the boxes out of the house and into the garage.

But it is progress. All the way around. I feel good about my choices with food (except the pie slip) and I know I will get back to where I was.

A good day.

Tip of the Day:

Woah...Two Posts Two Days in a ROW!!

Morning y'all!

In case you missed it, yesterday I mentioned my boys having surgery. Maybe I didnt mention it on here prior. I thought I had but things have been so crazy lately, that lots of times I dont know if I am coming or I am going.

Both boys need tonsils and adenoids removed. Xavier has significant hearing loss and will also need to have tubes put in. This will be 9 days after we move. Wonderful huh?

And we have what seems to be sucky insurance so we will be needing to pay the deductible off prior to anything being covered so we will be in debt to U of M hospital for a while. Oh well. They dont care as long as you pay at least a bit. Luckily we have a low(er) deductible of $5000.  After the surgery, I will probably be shopping around for new insurance. They raised our monthly rates as well (the bastards!). The only thing stopping me now is that now the boys have a preexisting condition and I am sure that we would need to pay more because of that.

I really wish that we had government supplied insurance. Seriously. I know it is a touchy subject but ya know what? For people like us who have to buy our own insurance, it would be a wonderful thing. Right now we pay $500 a month for our family for medical and dental both of which seem to cover nothing. And shopping for plans? I dont get it. At all. Way too confusing!

But I digress.

Yesterday was a rest day for me. Tonight I hit the gym tonight for legs with Eric.

Eating was going fine yesterday until the evening. This is becoming a reoccurring thing that I am going to have to figure out. Luckily tonight is a late gym night so I wont have time to snack when I get home.

I did an experiment and made homemade pizzas last night for dinner. BUT my pizza had vegan cheese, vegan sausage, and vegan bacon on it as well as onions and mushrooms. It was delicious. The "bacon" was done on the skillet and slightly burned which left something to be desired. But the "sausage" was excellent. Really tasted like sausage. And the "cheese". It actually melted and stretched like real cheese. The name brand of this cheese is Teese. Ambreen and I had it at the VegFest. They have different types of Teese. Pizza, nacho, mac and cheese...At the show we got to try the nacho. Tastes just like it. Ambreen bought the mac and cheese and she said she was really impressed. And I was impressed with the pizza cheese. I may have a new non guilty pleasure. :)

I did use regular pizza dough from Pillsbury so my pizza wasnt completely vegan. But I would make it again.

Breakfast today is a mango, pineapple, banana and spinach smoothie with milk. I made it for the boys and I know Xavier wont be drinking the whole thing. Along with that, I will be having a couple hard boiled eggs and turkey sausage.

Lunch will be roast beef, celery, apple with peanut butter and maybe another smoothie.

I am trying to use up the frozen fruit in the freezer before we move.

Dinner after working out will be an egg white omelet with mushrooms, onions, teese, and vegan sausage. I know Eggs arent vegan but I had left over vegan sausage and cheese from last night.

Then I will have my casin shake made with frozen bananas as well as the chocolate casein.

So that is the news for now. Not much too exciting.

I do find it funny that the closer we get to moving, the grumpier Aaron is getting. Probably from the fact that their are boxes everywhere and he cant watch where he is going and he keeps stubbing his toes. LOL. Dude. If he would help me pack a box, maybe I wouldnt have shit everywhere.

Tip of the Day: