The Winter Blues... and Weight Gain

You are probably wondering what the heck happened to me right?

Shoot... I havent posted since the end of September! and SOOO much has happened since then.

Winter in Michigan was a bitch. With that has come weight gain. Significant weight gain. Sigh. Thats ok though. Starting today I am back on track with what I was doing before...but we will get into that more in a minute.

December both of my boys had surgery. Oldest had tonsils, adenoids and tubes. Youngest had tonsils and adenoids. It was the recovery week from HELL! Both boys went 7 days without eating a thing AND it was a fight to get pain meds in them or even get them to drink. Sigh. Both have recovered well though and both can hear. WOO HOO!

I got a job in February. You are looking at a no longer Starving Artist. Yup. Thats right. I am actually a paid artist! Not sure if you have heard of the new trend popping up and around... where you go and paint a painting and drink some wine while you are at it? Yup. Thats what I do. I am an artist for a company that does that. WOO HOO. They treat their artists great. I am moving up the ladder and am now in charge of the mobile locations which is what I do. So read mobile locations as bars and restaurants and peoples homes. My company has two studios too which I sometimes teach at. The downside with bars and restaurants is needing to buy your food and drink every night. Yup. Just about every night. And THIS is what helped with my weight gain. And I am working 5-6 days a week right now.

For the record... I have NOT stepped on a scale. But I do know that my pants are tight and I cant get them on anymore. Right now I am living in my nice summer dresses. Fine by me. BUT I am not happy with my body and what I look like.

So that means it is time to take back control.

Today I did really well with my new "diet". I had a shakeology for lunch with peanut butter and banana. Dinner was a salad with chicken, mushrooms, red pepper, hard boiled egg and some blueberry balsamic vinegar. YUM!!

After dinner, because my job was canceled for the evening, I ran for 45 min on the elliptical and then did some free weights for my upper body. What a workout! I was dripping with sweat and it was HARD to finish out the elliptical, BUT I did it and I was feeling proud. Baby steps right?

So this will be the restart of my diary and my journey. I dont need to get down to a size 6 where I was before, but instead if I can get to about a 10 I would feel very comfortable. Right now I am at a size 14 so not horrible but still. The pants are tight. And frankly, I dont feel good about myself or my body right now for letting me get this way. So I am kicking it back into gear. I need to get a new schedule going which is tricky with my work schedule. See? I work evenings. Normally a show is from 7-9. So I leave for work about 5 so I get there in time to set up for the party and be ready for when people start to show up.

I have time in the morning in which I have been going to the gym and walking or running. Or if I am in pain, foam rolling and sitting in the sauna. BUT I need to work out more. Before I was working out quite a bit. And now that I have quite a bit that has to come off, I need to pick up the pace again.

So thats where I have been. Hopefully I will be on here more. But my job keeps me busy and hopping!

Have a great Tuesday all!

Nothing says fun like getting hit on

So Friday I went and got my hair cut off.
What do you think?

I love it! And with it has come this completely different sassy attitude. Seriously. I feel like a million bucks!

And that night when I was out for a birthday dinner with my friend, apparently that new 'tude came thru.

One of the guys that I know (not well) came over to our party and started chatting with me. Well..hitting on me more like it. You want to talk about a wonderful feeling! Of course I told him I was married but it was still awesome for the ego. No harm, no foul and I still consider him an acquaintance/friend. And I came home and told Aaron. He thought it was pretty cool because he knows I have some self image issues and that this was a huge boost for me.

Being hit on made me feel super desirable which was a first for me since starting to date my husband (and I mean desirable to someone other than my husband. He still desires me. Lol).

The rest of the weekend was great. No one showed for Zumba Saturday (they were hungover lol) so I went and did Body Pump at Powerhouse.

Oh baby! I missed that class!

Sunday was a rest day for me but I must have worked hard because I lost 3 lbs over the weekend!!

And I now have a revamped gym schedule because it is time to lean back up.

Monday AM- T25
Monday PM- Zumba class then Body Combat

Tuesday AM- T25
Tuesday PM- CX Worxs, Body Flow, then RPM

Wednesday AM- T25 followed by a run
Wednesday PM- gym for lifting

Thursday AM- T25
Thursday PM- weights followed by RPM plus

Friday AM- double shot of T25
Friday PM- Possible Zumba class or weights

Saturday AM- Zumba class followed by Body Pump

Sunday REST!!

Crazy I know but it is time to get back in the game. I have some personal goals that I want to meet within the next year and I am working hard to meet them.

I also want to start working with Eric again. Probably within the next month or so.

End of October I will also be having a group on Facebook for peeps who want to lose 5lbs in 10 days. Let me know if you want info about it.

Wow. That is about it for now!
Sorry I don't post a ton right now but life is revolving around kids and Beach body and working out. I promise I will try to post more!!

Ohhhh and the Garcinia Cambogia and Safe Colon! The safe colon works awesome! By day 2 I was sleeping better and getting rid of the crap (literally) that has been in the bowels. The garcinia cambogia totally helps with curbing the appetite.

So really that is it for now.
Talk to you all again soon! In the meantime if you have questions, email me! :-)

Cardio Rocker!

This is me this morning. After I did my T25 Core Cardio and a 3 mile run. Not looking my best but what the heck do you expect?!?

I ROCKED my run! 3 miles in 29:29. Splits were 9:59, 9:42, 9:39. Each mile I got better AND I had a fairly hilly course.

I was very excited to see my splits especially because when I started out my run I felt so SLOW.

And I burned 725 calories in the process.

My mother in law had to work today so she wants to do T25 this afternoon so today will be a double hit for me.

I will need the extra calories burned. Today is her birthday and we are going out to dinner to Bahama Breeze. While there are plenty of healthy options, I know I will probably get the seafood chowder and lobster quesadillas. I am OK with that. It is a splurge.

And with probably having burned 1000 calories by then, I can handle it.

Yesterday we had 4 to Zumba class. I was late getting there because both Aaron and my in laws got stuck in traffic. Luckily Maggie was there to start class while I was on my way in.

So yesterday morning I burned 488 calories and then that evening I burned another 551 calories in class. 1039 calories for the day. Not shabby!

I didn't get the supplements in the mail yesterday so they should be here today. I will start them tomorrow. I can't wait to see the results.

I finally feel like I have a good schedule and am 100% back on track with my workouts. I feel like I am leaning up and then will feel confident on moving to major muscle building after I am totally done with T25 (Alpha, Beta and Gamma).

Things are good. Both personally and professionally. I am still in the beginning stages with my Beach body coaching, but I can see sticking with this because I have gotten such wonderful comments from people about how I inspire them. Very humbling but I now know I am where I need to be! It is a great feeling!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!!

Updates and Progress Photo

Hey everyone!!

Checking back in again finally!

The party this weekend was excellent. I could not have asked for better weather- cool but sunny.

The problem family members showed and even brought someone that Aaron said no to, but at that point, what are you gonna do? He even tried to say hi to them but they completely ignored him. I just stayed away.

They didn't stay too long into the afternoon though so it wasn't a big deal.

The party really started after that.

The cake I bought was phenomenal and my thought that we would have a ton of cake left was wrong. We had one piece of chocolate left.

I even went in and taught Zumba before the party to get the calorie burn going! I was proud of myself.

That day was also Staturday. While I didn't have time to take measurements, I did take progress pictures.

This is my before and then after week 6. I am seeing pretty good progress! Not only in the abs, but butt is rounder and thighs are smaller.

I will be doing the Gamma round after I am done with Beta. Then onto Body Beast.

I also started a T25 challenge group on Facebook. Today is day one. I am very excited to be leading a group of people that want to get big changes.

Beginning of last week I also ordered two new supplements that I am going to try for one month.

One is called Safer Colon. You take it in the evening before bed and it is supposed to help detoxify your body and in the process help you sleep better.

The other is called Garcinia Cambogia. You may have heard about it from Dr Oz or one of the other doctor shows.people are getting huge weight loss and tightening from it. Figured I would try it and review it for you all.

They should be coming today or tomorrow in the mail.

The plan is to use Saturdays picture as the "before" and then take the "after" when I am done with T25. The two should just about co-inside with each other.

Today was the start of week 7 of T25. Core Dynamics. Woah. Beta is all about muscle building and this is no joke. No weights are used, but Shaun T knows how to work your core.

Then I went for a 1.2 mile-ish run. I took Casper (my in-laws weimaraner) with me so it was a pretty slow jog. He is getting up in years. I didn't do my full 3.3 mile run because I have to teach Zumba tonight and last week when I would do T25 and then my big run, I would be wiped out pretty early at night.

Shakeology was for breakfast. Not sure what I am going to do for lunch yet. Maybe some eggs and an English muffin. Hmmm... Celery?

Dinner tonight will be authentic Italian pizza from the Italian bakery. I forgot to pull it from the freezer and make it for the party so it will be an easy dinner for all of us tonight.

My plan is to have an Arbonne shake after Zumba. Maybe some tuna or goat cheese too.

We will see.

Well that's the news for now!!! What are you up to? Trying anything new?!?

Life Goes By Quickly

My goodness I haven't posted in a while! I apologize for that!

I had a bit of a rough go after Labor Day. I woke up that day with a huge cramp in my neck so bad that it went straight to my head and caused a migraine.

A migraine so bad that when I stood, I thought I was going to be sick.

And the cabin had no drugs except Tylenol PM. So I took it and went to bed.

It took over a week for the cramp to disappear (for the most part). Much of it is probably due to stress with the family over stupid and petty shit for this anniversary party for my in laws. Some people think we are taking credit for the party. We aren't. We had to get a party planned and no one would return my text messages so we picked a date and place. It is my husbands parents and he and his brother have the right to plan their party. These people also want people invited that my in-laws haven't seen in 30± years. Why would we invite them? Now these people may not even come. Fine. This doesn't even begin to explain the conversations that Aaron has had with his family about this party. Craziness. But that is the other reason I have been MIA.

The party is Saturday and I have been cleaning, planning, shopping, setting up etc to get ready for this.

I ended up missing most of T25 last week. I was able to make up as couple of the workouts but this week I am WAY back on track.

Now that Landry is in school too, after I drop the boys I can come home, do T25 and then I have been going for a 3.34 mile run after that! Awesome! It feels great to be running again and I am glad to be making this a new habit.

Eating has been great but my night snacking and drinking has been awful. Drinking helps deal with the stress lol. Bad I know but sue me.

This week has also moved me into the Beta portion of the T25. This focuses more on muscle building. LOVE it!

In fact, I am starting another challenge group on the 16th. If you want in, let me know! I will be restarting from the beginning to go thru it with you.

25 minutes a day, 5 days a week! plus accountability!

AND I can tell you this has helped tremendously with my cardio endurance. It has been forever since I ran anything over 1 mile and yesterday my splits were 10:45 approx with hot humid weather.

Today with the exception of the first mile that I was talking with my mom on the phone (and running 11:23), my remaining splits were 9:45±. I was REALLY happy with that!!

That's about it for now. Sort of quick, but I am alive but extremely busy. Come mid next week, things will calm down a bit. My in laws will be staying with us from tomorrow evening until they go to Ireland on Wednesday. We will get to babysit the dogs. Can't wait! I love Harley and Casper!

OK toodles til next week all!

Catching Up

One thing I am figuring out on this journey is that as hard and as much as I want it to, my body just has its own ideas of what I should weigh.

I am learning that weight is just a number. It is a hard lesson to try to remember.

Today my weight is up a bit to 176.0 BUT my shorts that were tight are now very loose.

My legs are getting bigger and more defined. Obviously muscle is being added.

T25 is still kicking my ass. I have not missed a day. Every day I get up excited to do my workout. Then I start and wonder what I got myself into. But before I know it, the workout is done and I feel bad ass!

On top of all that, I have been trying to weed the garden. It is so overgrown that I am just going thru and pulling plants that really aren't weeds but are just really overgrown plants. I just want to make it beautiful and easy to maintain. Something that it is currently NOT!

Serious calorie burn, serious blisters on my palms from using the little spade but the weight is still up. Oh's to the well's.

Today I am on track but tonight might throw me off. We go to Xaviers school tonight to meet the new principal and take a tour. Then we are either going to Buffalo Wild Wings or Red Robin for dinner. My goal is to eat at neither place and have a protein shake when I get home. We will see if I can stay strong. Lol

I am trying to do a bit of a cleanse by having two protein shakes today.

Tomorrow I head to my sisters for a garage sale. Hopefully we can sell lots of our stuff.
 And I plan on packing some food to take with me. My Shakeology, peanut butter, hard boiled eggs, English muffin, egg whites, balsamic vinegar are just a few.

I want to make it easy on myself to make good choices.


When you go somewhere do you pack food? How do you say no and stay on track?

Tip of the day:

I survived!

Hey all!

This is going to be short and sweet because, well, I am exhausted!

I hurt. My legs are killing me.

I gained two lbs and now am 174. Not from eating bad. Oh no! I ate great! I gained 2 lbs from all the lactic acid build up! Lol. I am fine with it though!

Zumba Friday night was awesome. We only had 5 and 6 people per class but hell...we are used to that! That night I burned 1381 calories putting my burn at over 2000 calories for the day when coupled with the T25 double.

I was actually grateful that no one showed up Saturday morning for class! I worked my arms a bit, came home and Aaron and I took the dog we are dog sitting for a jog/walk.

That night we went out to eat. I had a salad (no dressing) with hummus. Yum.

Yesterday Zumba class rocked again. Only 4 people but I think with finally having nice weather coupled with the Woodward Dream Cruise just kept people out of the gym. It wasn't just our class that was dead but the whole gym! I ended up burning 1021 calories at the gym. Before that, I practiced a routine and burned 199 calories. When I got home after class, I walked the dog and burned another 261 calories.

This morning when it was time for total body T25, my legs screamed at me right away. Lots of screams came out of me too. Lol. Calories burned in 25 minutes, 405 calories.

Tonight is Zumba class again! Then I am following that up with legs. Yeah. I am gonna probably regret that tomorrow but I want to build some muscle mass in my legs.

Eating has been great. I am still sticking with my Shakeology and T25 meals.

I really can't believe how great I am feeling with the Shakeology! And here I was going to cancel it after a month! Nope. Not now.

OK all... I am out of here. The kids are getting restless and it is time to go back outside with them. I am basking in the sun and they can play. Lol.

Toodles all. Have a great Monday!