Day 3 of Reboot

Yesterday was a tad easier than the first day. I think because I stayed busy.

I started off with my fantastic smoothies that I mentioned in yesterdays blog.

I also went to the dealership and got my quote for my car. $10,000 buy out. We owe $11,894 on it.

So I called my dad to get his opinion if we should bite it and take the deal. He told me to look at a couple other things, plus call my aunt and then call him back last night.

So on a hunch from pricing I was seeing online, I stopped at another dealership. That ones initial price for my car was $11,000 to which I mentioned I had an aunt that works at a Ford dealership in Northern Michigan and that I didnt want to incur the costs of driving my car up there and that her price is $11,000 sight unseen. I got him to come up to $11,200 for the buy out. Getting close! Plus we would get back a bit of money from the extended warranty on the car because the dealership doesnt keep that.

Then when I am getting ready to drive home, I checked my email quick and saw that I had an email from someone that was interested in my car from the ad on Craigslist. I thought it was a scam because I have been getting a lot of them and the only message originally was "Are you the original owner" to which I simply replied "Yes I am the original owner". Two days had passed and I wrote the email off as a scam and was surprised to see another email from the person asking for my # and address to arrange an inspection.

I thought this was just a continuation of the scam BECAUSE it seemed weird with no name or anything attached to it. SO I responded with "Forgive me, but I have been receiving a lot of scams on Craigslist. I am wondering if you are local and where you live".

And he replied! He understood and told me where he lived. He is local to me and lives pretty close by. And he wanted to arrange an inspection for my vehicle. We have been going back and forth emailing and I get the impression that he is an older gentleman. I was forth rite and told him if he wanted the car the transaction would be done at Chase bank because their name is on the title and they need to sign off. He would not receive possession of the car until the check or money order cleared. At that time of possession, we would meet at secretary of state where he could have the title and apply for the license plate for it. I told him I didnt want to presume, but wanted to lay out the facts in order to protect my family from scam. He was perfectly fine with it. And now I have it in writing to prove it which is good. 

I did tell him that Aaron is going out of town on Saturday (didnt tell him for how long) and that I would like him to come over before that because it is his name on the title. We shall see what happens! Keep your fingers crossed!

If he buys the car for the full amount we are asking, we can actually make a bit of money on the car and pay for the 2 new tires the other Escape needs.

So with all my running around yesterday I didnt really have time to think about food. That was a good thing. When I got home last night from the second dealership, it was dinnertime. I had some dried fruit, kale chips and half a grapefruit.

Then we took the kids outside last night and played. I am trying to teach Xavier how to ride a bike and pedal. Who would have thought that would be so hard??? Then we cleaned out the garage a bit so I could get the Christmas decorations back into the storage attic above the garage. Then we cut down the dead flowers (mums and salvia) from the front yard to make room for the new ones already coming up. I made the kids help put the dead stuff into yard bags explaining to them that this is what chores are and that if they help good, they can earn a toy back. It worked and they got to pick out one of their toys I confiscated this morning.

So by the time we were all done with that, and the kids were in bed, and we got Aarons file cabinet moved in from the garage it was late. Too late to run on the elliptical. So I didn't and relaxed for a while last night.

I stepped on the scale this morning and I was down 2 lbs! to 156.0. Nice!

And my smoothie of the morning is one that I HAVE to share with you. It is excellent!

I have a bullet style blender so I have to accommodate the small "cup". This is the amounts I used:
1/2 comice pear
1/2 golden delicious apple
4-5 frozen strawberries
a handful of spinach
1 banana
Coconut water (I used coconut milk)

Blend til smooth. The pears and apple are so good! I took the remaining halves of the apple and pear and stuck them in the freezer so my smoothie will be colder next time.

So tonight I think we will be going to dinner at Red Robin. Last night I looked over the menu again and this is what I decided I will order:

This is Red Robins Southwest Grilled chicken salad. The description is: "This ancho ordinary salad. Ancho-grilled chicken breast, avocado slices and fresh-fried jalapeño coins dance on top of crisp greens tossed in salsa-ranch dressing. Diced red and green bell peppers and onions, chipotle black beans, Cheddar and Pepper-Jack cheeses and crunchy tortilla strips complete this extraordinary salad.'

This is how I will order it. Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad...hold the chicken, cheeses, tortilla strips and dressing. I would like regular jalepeno slices instead of the fried ones and some green onions and tomatoes on top. And an order of salsa and guacamole on the side.

I think this keeps in touch with my fast for the week. Dont you?

Tonight is RPM at 8pm. I am hoping that I make it if we are going to dinner at 5:30. It shouldnt be a problem but it all depends on Aarons grandma and if we will be going back to her house afterwards or not. Class fills up really quick so I would have to be there by about 7:00 to make sure I get a spot. This would be my last RPM for a while so I really want to go.

***EDITED**** I just made a good smoothie for lunch and wanted to pass it on. Very simple but sweet and delicious. I cut up the remaining halves of my apple and pear that I had stuck in the freezer and cut them up and threw them into my blender with some spinach and water. Oh so excellent and I will definitely be making this one again!!

Tip of the Day:

Day 2 of Reboot

All things considered, yesterday was a pretty good day for day 1 of a fast.

Yesterday afternoon I hit the gym. I did 30 minutes on the ARC, then CX, Flow, and finally RPM. In the interest of being fair with this whole Reboot, I will be honest. I was a bit tired at the beginning of my time at the gym and did not give it my all until RPM. I really wanted to make sure that I had energy left for the class. The energy loss could be because of the fast, or because my Aunt is visiting me...no way of really knowing why.

Funny too- Eric (my RPM instructor) knows that I am doing the fast and that yesterday was day one. He asked me how many classes I have done that day to which I replied that this was my third class. He kind of tisked but I told him that I didnt do P90X yesterday. LOL. I just really think it is excellent that he is watching out for me and making sure that I am not doing too much. It is exactly what I want in a personal trainer and I cannot wait to hire him!

Calories burned at the gym: 953

I didnt have a smoothie for dinner last night once I got home, but had quite a few carrots and dried fruit. I also had a small glass of coconut milk.

This morning I am down a half pound to 158.0. Nothing spectacular but I wasnt expecting a 5lb loss a day. LOL

This morning I had a fantastic smoothie that I mentioned in my tip of the day from yesterday.

It was:
1 orange- I sliced off the peel, then cut out the segments so there are no membranes attached
a handful of frozen pineapple
about 2 tsp of ginger grated
water
And I added spinach to mine.

It was excellent! A great wake me up for the day.

For lunch, I am having this:

It is a smoothie which has:

rainbow swiss chard leaves
Berries of choice (I used strawberries)
blueberries
coconut milk
frozen pomegranate seeds (my store didnt have pomegranate so I used a few blackberries)

It is good but the fruit is not super sweet yet so it isnt quite as good as if it would have had a banana in it for the extra sweet.

The veggies are baby carrots, broccoli and purple cauliflower. I also had some swiss chard stems and they are surprisingly pretty sweet! Very good!

I also am cheating (just a tad) and made some kale chips with garlic powder on them. They do have some olive oil and I guess olives are a veggie so it is up to you if you consider it cheating. It feels to me like I am a bit though it is way better than sneaking other food like jerky.

This fast is a little tougher than what I expected it to be. I would LOVE to have a hard boiled egg or an english muffin. Last night after the gym I walked in to the smell of pizza that Aaron made for dinner last night.
Yesterday Aaron asked if I could make him some beef jerky. I had a recipe from Clean Eat magazine for jerky that I had been dying to try so I pulled that out. Now my house smells of glorious wonderful scruptious beef jerky. How tempting is that??? AND to top it off, I had Aaron try it, and he said it was REALLY good and did I want a bite? How rude! Ugh!

My biggest worry about cheating will be towards the end of this week. Aarons grandma wants to go out to eat before he leaves for Alabama. Not a big deal, but I know it will be a place like Red Robin. And I really cant not eat when we all go out. So I need to come up with a game plan even if it means bending the rule a bit for one meal because Aaron wont let me NOT eat when we go out. So I will be studying the menus.

Dont worry folks..I will keep you apprised of my game plan.

Tonight I plan on running on the elliptical or outside. Not sure which yet.

On a personal note, please say some quick prayers.
After I dropped Xavier off at school I swung thru a local dealership to see if they would be interested in buying my Escape. Turns out they are because they are low on 4 cylinder Escapes and mine has really low mileage. Unfortunately, the boss man wasnt in because he was in a meeting in a different city. SO the salesman asked that I come back about three o'clock today.

So please say some prayers that they offer close to what we owe on it so we can be down one vehicle!

Tip of the Day:

For fresh herb storage in the fridge, wrap your herbs in damp papertowels and place in a ziploc bag. My herbs stay fresh for about a week doing it that way rather than having the money go down the drain when you only need a bit at a time.

AND an extra tip...

Just looked up Red Robin and they have a Gardenburger option that I can have wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. Guess what I will be having? It is a bit processed and has soy so it isnt entirely veggie, but I will have it topped with guacamole, onions and a ton of veggies. There will probably be a bit of oil involved, but it allows me to eat and still stay pretty true to my fast...dont you think??? Chime in on your opinions on this one...I need some help here!

Day 1 of Veggie/fruit Diet

First I have some most excellent news! Last night I went for a run around the neighborhood and I ran a full 10k!! Actually I ran a bit over (6.25 miles). I ran at an average of 5.5 mph and did the whole 10k in 1:08:14. I dont think that is bad for my first time out. Calories burned 778.

This morning I weighed in at 158.5. Yup I gained some weight over the weekend. I am blaming it on salt and Aunt Flo. Dont worry though...this will come down by the end of the week BECAUSE today is:

Day 1 of my Veggie/Fruit diet.

I plan on doing this for a week (so until next Tuesday) but I may extend it depending on how it goes.

This morning was excellent. I started off with one of my normal smoothies made out of my stockpile of frozen fruit.

My morning smoothie was frozen papaya, frozen mango, a huge handful of spinach, water and a banana. Yummy!

I was also thinking ahead and yesterday started to dehydrate kiwi, banana, pineapple and apples. So I have a huge bowlful of dried fruit to munch on too.

After playgroup today, I took the kids to a run to Meijer. My entire cart (well ok 94%) was full of fruits and veggies...celery, baby carrots, spinach, grapefruit, watermelon, peaches, bananas, apples, kiwi, mangos, avocados, mint, beets, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries,ginger, kale, broccoli, purple cauliflower, rainbow chard...you name it, I bought it.

I finally have it all cleaned and in the fridge ready to go for me.

Yesterday I watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" on Hulu yesterday (thanks Czesia!). It was an awesome movie and very eye opening. Though I eat a ton of fruits and veggies now, I will be interested to see how I feel after this week is up and if I lose any weight at all.

So I googled the mean green smoothie that he makes in the movie for the recipe and found out that he has a website where you can plan your own reboot plus buy a juicer if you want to...

It is a pretty nice site. If you want to check it out you can: www.jointhereboot.com

They have different juice recipes AND smoothie recipes! Just what I need!

So for lunch I am having one from his site.

I am having the blackberry kiwi blend which is:

frozen pineapple
frozen blackberries
1 kiwi
1 banana (I just realized I didnt put one in mine LOL)
1/2 comice pear
coconut water (I used coconut milk...I couldnt find coconut water)
and I used about 20 mint leaves

It is delicious and refreshing.

I am also having a big bowl of baby carrots and celery.

So far so good for the day!

Tonight I have the gym to go to. CX, Body Flow, and RPM. We will see how I feel tonight after the physical expenditure!!

Stay tuned to see how it goes for me this week!!!

Tip of the Day: 

 

Vitamin Boosting juices:

Cold and Flu:  One carrot, one apple and a piece of ginger

Detox: 1/4 of one raw beetroot, one carrot, one apple and a handful of mint

Energy: one orange, one piece of ginger and a handful of pineapple

(I may be converting some of these to smoothies this week!!)

Interesting weekend...

First off...I am home!!!

If anyone watches the Walking Dead like I do, this little picture is for you! I watched it up at the cabin last night, and I cannot wait to see how the Season Finale goes!!

Ok...lets recap my weekend.

I gained weight...I am not stressing about it. It was the last weekend that my husband is home before I have to play single mom for 2 months so I indulged. While most of the food I had was healthy for you, I did over indulge in the evenings after the kids went to bed with my homemade trail mix: some chips (clean ones though!!), edemame, peanuts, a few chocolate chips, pretzels and almonds. Lots of the weight gain has to do with salt, and my jeans my sister gave me are still loose in the waist so like I said...not sweating it.

I did weigh myself on my mother in laws scale, but I think her batteries in it are dying so I dont know how accurate it is.

Friday---
I was not able to get in P90X that day. Bad me! Between running to the grocery store, library, school and back plus packing, it wasnt in the cards. We got on the road about 4:30ish and headed north. Traffic wasnt bad at all. We had to stop on the way to fill up with gas, so we also got dinner at Subway. I had a turkey sub (I know it was friday, but I didnt want the fat from the tuna and I cant do a dry veggie sub) with spinach and all the different veggies on it. To drink I had lemonade. Bad Bad! but better than soda (I think).

We got to the cabin about 8 and I noticed that we must have lost power recently because none of the clocks were set. So we got all the groceries and gear into the house and unpacked and then I reset all the clocks.

The power outage we found out later was from a huge snowstorm that hit last week. The power was out for 4-5 days. Which also explains why when my husband got some ice cream out of the freezer, it was the consistency of marshmellow fluff. Ew gross!!

There was still a bit of snow around on the grass but the roads were pretty clear so I was optimistic that I would be able to run the next day.

Saturday---
The weather was much warmer. Mid 40's. Definitely a good running day.
So I donned my yoga pants, my yoga top, sweatshirt, wintercoat, hat, sunglasses and shoes and started off while the boys took a nap.

The cabin is in Northern Michigan. It is set on a little lake. Years ago, there was a horrible forest fire and the fire department used the water from the lake to help put out the fire. This reduced the depth of the lake to an average depth of about 5' deep- not kidding! We could walk across the lake without our head going under water up until a couple years ago.

This is a picture of the frozen lake. Our cabin is the very last on the road and is immediately to the left of the dead end sign. I am standing on a pile of snow that the plows left at the end of the road which in the summer time is the public access to the lake.

As I started running, I realized it was a little chillier than I thought due to the 30-40mph wind gusts. Holy Cow!! I decided to still run my normal route which are the main roads that lead to the cabin, then up to the dirt road that accesses the other side of the lake, then back.

This is Eggleston. I ran this road already and was making a turn onto CO604. It is pretty flat in this area, but with the wind gusts, I was pretty slow.

This is the County Road that I am standing on the corner of getting ready to run.

After the County Road, this is the dirt road that is on the other side of the lake. I dont know the name of it. At this point I am happy because I know my run is almost done. The wind was killing me and slowing me down so much. I had sweat and snot dripping and I wasnt sure what was what.

A shot of me running on the dirt road. The wind was so strong that it was blowing up the hood of my coat.

After the dirt road was run, there is a little two track road that connects one side of the lake to the other. This road was completely frozen over. I had to walk on the sides in the field so I didnt slip and fall. Talk about screwing up my running time!!!

Even the animals had problems walking on the ice! These are deer tracks and the poor thing must have lost its footing and slid.

Last leg of the run. You cant see the cabins, but I am actually running thru the subdivision now with other cabins around.

All I thought this whole time was about Rocky Balboa and when he trained in Russia with the mountains and carrying the log tree up it. This is exactly what I felt like!

The whole run was 3.64 miles and I ran it at a speed of 4.9 mph. Not bad for having to walk that frozen road at basically a crawl too! I did the whole thing in 44:38. Calories burned: 503

That afternoon, I was sitting there reading a book and I kept hearing a beeping noise. Here we were having power issues BUT it wasnt for the whole cabin. The only areas affected were the range, the bathroom lights, the furnace and the computer area. Weird!! It went on and off all day and was very annoying!!

Finally at dinner the power was back on and I was going to cook a whole chicken. WELL I went to set the clock on the oven and got an error code. We called Fridgedaire and here the code is for a blown circuit panel. Wonderful! Thank goodness that the cooktop is gas so we still had that, but the error code prevented the oven from working. SO no baked chicken for us! AND wouldnt you know, most of the food I brought with us was for the oven.

So we did hot dogs on the stove top for the kids and Aaron, some chicken sausage on the stove top for me, and I did spaghetti squash and sauteed veggies on the stovetop too. Yummy!

That night I did Kenpo after the kids went to bed. My calories burned is not accurate because I forgot to shut off my HRM, but anyways, according to it I burned 635 calories (in 2hrs 33 min lol).

Aaron told his parents that night about the power issue and the oven. Oh and the internet wasnt working either...go figure. I think the storm knocked that out. So we were going to make the calls and get it all scheduled to be fixed on Sunday.

That night, Aaron and I played Phase 10. A very addicting and fun game. Like a cross between Uno and Rummy. I indulged in some mix drinks...Vodka, grenadine, blue curaco and pineapple juice. Yummy! Plus my made up trail mix that I mentioned above.

I did not sleep well at all that night. I think from the alcohol. I felt so bloated and yucky- not hungover- just not right.

Sunday---
This was a little more of the same.
I went for another run but this time I altered it.

I went from the sub, up Eggleston, and up Country Road. Instead of running on the dirt road and back across the frozen road, I turned back around on the Country Road and back to Eggleston and home.

It was still breezy but this time, I could go in my yoga pants and sweatshirt and I was plenty warm.

This route was 4.40 miles, and I was able to run it at an average speed of 5.7mph. I got it completed in 46:15 and burned 580 calories.

That day we still were having problems with the power so rather than call to have a service repairman out to have the power kill the range again, I figured it best to wait until the power company gets everything straightened around.

That night because we had no oven, and I had to cook the chicken (because it was thawed and I could refreeze it). I separated the chicken apart and cooked it on the grill. Thank goodness for the grill!!

I ended up having some sweet potato that I stabbed and wrapped in foil and placed on the grill to cook. It took a long time because of the size of the potato, but it was really yummy.

Last night was Phase 10 with Aaron and I again. It was lots of fun. Plus we watched Walking Dead (so good!) and just relaxed. No alcohol for me this time. Just water and hot tea. I slept so much better last night too!

I had brought up P90X legs, back and abs, but stupid me realized we cant do part of the dvd because it required pull ups and we had no bar or bands. Ah well...no biggie. I will make up for it this week.


Monday---
This morning we got up, got the kids fed and got packed to go.

Because we were limited on food up there, I decided that I would start my fruit and veggie fast tomorrow.

I did however make up a new smoothie and while it sounds gross, it was very good.

Spinach
Sweet potato (left over from last nights grilling)
frozen blueberries
frozen raspberries
strawberries
water
banana

The sweet potato added a really nice texture and sweetness to the smoothie. It was VERY filling and I had to dump about half of it out because we were packed up and ready to go home.

Tonight I plan on running on the elliptical after the kids go to bed to try to get rid of some of the salt bloat I have going on. This week is a recovery week for P90X and I need to look up the schedule and see what this weeks is.

All is well back on the home front. The cat missed us and hasnt stopped meowing since we got home.

This is my last week before I play single mom and my exercise routine gets drastically changed. So I will be taking advantage this week.

Also some more good news...I made Aaron pull out his bills so I could pay them and they arent as horrible as I thought. Still bad, but something we can work on. Whew! I was expecting double what they are because he was using the personal cards for work.

Plus I think we are just about current on all our bills now. Another sigh of relief. Now to just pay them down.

I did have some people contact me about my car and one person came and looked at it.
No luck in selling it yet so keep your fingers crossed. We only owe about $1400 on Aarons car and if we sold mine, and paid his off, it would leave us with three cars but only two car payments.

Anyways I am off to take more car pictures and alter my Craigslist ads. Hopefully now that I have more pictures, we will get more action from the ads.

Have a great day!!

Tip of the Day:

Its Friday!!

Yesterday I had a good day.

I got my P90X yoga in. Burned 314 calories.

Last night I did 45 minutes on the treadmill running at 5.1 mph pace, then did 20 minutes walking at 3.5 pace. I am trying to build up my endurance and running time length for the half marathon I am doing in June.

Then I did RPM. Oh Holy Heck! My legs and abs were SO SORE that they twitched the whole way home. I love that class!!

Calories burned at the gym: 1306.

Total for the day: 1620 calories

Today when I stepped on the scale I met my big time goal...154.0 lbs even.

That means I am now officially in the "normal" BMI range.

I know BMI doesn't mean much. I mean, professional bodybuilders are considered "obese" from the BMI charts because it doesn't take into account muscle mass or anything like that. But how cool is it to go from the "obese" category to the "overweight" category and from there, now to the "normal" category??

Today is a bit different for me. Because this is Aarons last weekend before he goes to Alabama, we as a family are taking a trip to his parents cabin for the weekend. So if I am not on here, you know why. So because this morning was so crazy with running to the store for groceries for this weekend, then to home to unload, then to library for library time with the kids, now how to get Xavier lunch, then to run him to school, then to come home, pack and sometime have lunch in there, to pick Xavier up from school and get on the road to head north, (whew) I dont think I will be having time to exercise today.

So my plan is this...

Tomorrow (Saturday) I will do my regular scheduled workout...P90X kempo. I also plan on running 3-4 miles on the country roads around the cabin. It is supposed to be much warmer up there this weekend.

Sunday I will make up my missed work out from today...P90X legs, back and abs plus do another 3-4 mile run in the evening.

I hate getting thrown off my schedule, but that is life. And it will be ok.

I am making sure I pack a ton of food that I can eat for the cabin. I dont want to get derailed when I get up there by unhealthy snacks. I will probably gain some weight this weekend. It is ok. I will get it back off next week.

Also I mentioned that I went to the Library today. I finally got a card for the family and wanted to rent "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and "Forks over Knives" but alas, my library doesnt have them and they had to put them on hold from another library for me. Bummer because I really wanted to take one with me to watch up at the cabin.

Monday I will still be going to my all fruit/veggie diet for the week. Keep tuned as to how I am doing with that.

I did pick up some LaraBars for in between my crazy work outs at the gym to keep me refueled. It was funny- I was trying to find the ingredients on one of the bars but I kept overlooking them. Why? Because the only ingredients are dates and cashews. LOL LOL. It isnt very often you buy something from a store that only has TWO ingredients. I did good though and stayed away from the chocolate LaraBars. Instead I got the cherry pie one (three ingredients) and the cashew bars.

Well folks, thats the news for now. I need to run and get Xavier to school to come back and pack before Landry goes down for his nap.

Have a great weekend!!

Tip of the Day:

Can it get any better?

I had a most excellent day yesterday.

Yesterday morning we took the boys to the park to play. We walked there and of course I turned on my HRM to see how many calories I burned. Not much, but it was a lot of fun. 135 calories. The boys had fun too but we couldnt stay for too long because it was still pretty chilly and windy.

Then before I had to take Xavier to school, I did the P90X chest, shoulders, triceps and ab ripper. This is the cd that does all the different types of push-ups. Ugh. Normally I don't think I would hate them as much, but I have a very limited motion with my right shoulder and I cannot get down very low. I really think that it is a hurt rotator cuff but it doesn't hurt me unless I try to do a fly or push-up or that type of range of motion so for now it stays. And I adapt.

Calories burned: 306

Then last night after we got the boys to bed I went for a run outside. All of the RPM and heavy resistance training on the elliptical is paying off because the hills did not slow me down like they used to. The weather was perfect, albeit a little windy, but I felt so good that I extended my run. I have decided that I am going to run a half marathon June 3rd and want to start building up my running time. I need to maintain a 14 minute mile and from what I understand, the ground is pretty hilly. Good thing is, that is only running about 4.5 mph and I can speed walk that quickly. And as a huge bonus, all finishers of the half marathon get a medal. Talk about incentive! It will be my first one and it is a local race, so that couldn't be any sweeter!

Last night I ended up running 3.95 miles in 43:51 at a speed of about 5.4 mph. Not too bad with pretty heavy winds.

As I mentioned before, I extended my run and changed up my route so I had no idea of how far I actually ran until I got home. Next time I think I will stay with my regular route and just do it twice. That would give me about 6 miles.

Calories burned: 506

Total for the day: 947

Last night we lost power so when I awoke and looked at my clock, I had no idea what time it was. The rain was still pouring down and it was making me have to pee. Plus I was unable to contain my excitement about stepping on the scale.

                         
Thats right folks. I made my goal of 155. And not only did I make my goal weight, but I surpassed it!!

I am so excited!!! If I can get down another half pound, then I will be in the "normal" range for my BMI. I have never ever been in the "normal" range and I think that would be THE BEST reward of all! So that is my next goal.

Right now I am not changing anything as far as diet or exercise goes. Even though I am at my Goal Weight, my lower body still needs a lot of toning and tightening. So if I get into the low 150's or even the 140's, it will just be a complete bonus for me! We will see how low my body wants to go with its weight.

This morning I made up a new smoothie too. Warning- it may sound gross, but it is really good!

• 2 peeled carrots- which I steamed quickly in my microwave with some water

• some sliced ginger- i recommend next time grating it because I am getting some fibers in my drink that remind me of fish bones...lol

• spinach (of course)

• water

• frozen blueberries

• ice cubes (because my carrots were still hot)

• one fresh banana

(Next time I make this, instead of blueberries, I want to use oranges for a good vitamin C drink)

Very good and very refreshing. The ginger really wakes you up and also helps clean you out. LOL And you cant taste the carrots or the spinach at all though I think the carrots lend a bit of sweetness to the smoothie.

The reason I did this, is because next week I want to try to do an all veggie/fruit diet. Czesia inspired me. I don't have a juicer, so I wont be limiting myself to juice, or to smoothies. I think the texture of a smoothie would make me sick after a while. So any type of veggies and fruit will be acceptable. I may even make some sweet potato and red skin "chips" in my dehydrator. And I am stopping by the store tonight to get beets, celery root, pineapple and a ton of other things to dehydrate. LOL.

This is going to be really hard for me at lunch especially because I love my hard boiled eggs and english muffin with peanut butter that I have every day. BUT we will see how I do. I am only going to do this for one week.

This is my reward for reaching goal weight. LOL. The things we do!

I have also decided that I will give myself another reward as we get closer to the half marathon and things get smoother here on the homefront.

I really need a new pair of ear buds that hook around the ear so they stay on when I run. This is going to be really needed for the length of the run in June. I just consider it a late reward for hitting my goal weight.

Ok onto the exercise routine for the day....

Today is P90X yoga. I will be doing this in just a little while. It is a very long hour and a half so I like to get it done as quickly as possible. I LOVE the dvd, it is just VERY LONG.

Tonight is ARC (or treadmill- dont know yet) then RPM. Time to get my butt kicked by Eric again- though I admit I keep coming back so I must love it. LOL.

Tip of the Day:

I feel like a used car lot...

Ok all...I normally don't post "non-weightloss" things on my blog, but I am extending an olive branch to all of you to keep an ear out for someone who may be interested in one of three cars I have for sale.

Because my husbands business no longer needs these cars we now have 4 vehicles and four car payments.

We need to sell 2 cars- one of the Escapes, and the truck to get us back down to our two car household.

Here is what I have for sale. The picture shown above is my car. It is probably the Escape that has the best chance of selling because of the price. I love my car and there is nothing wrong with it.

Here are the specs on it:
2008 Ford Escape XLT FWD 4 cylinder automatic

Exterior is Lt. Sage Clearcoat (though it really looks like a goldish-khaki)
Interior is Stone Premium Cloth Bucket Seats

103" Wheelbase
DURATEC 2.3L I4 Engine
4-speed automatic O/D transmission

16" aluminum wheels
Front fog lamps
Privacy glass
Liftgate with flip up glass

Cloth 60/40 rear seats
Front cloth bucket seats
AM/FM single CD/mp3 player
auxiliary audio input jack
Speed control/tilt wheel
12v power outlets (2)

16.5 gallon fuel tank
Automatic head lamps
Power windows, locks, mirrors

Safety canopy
Side airbags
Advancetrac w/ roll stability control
4 wheel anti lock brakes
duel front airbags
Latch system for carseats
Tire pressure monitor system
Remote keyless entry

Options:
Convenience Package:
mini-oh console w/ map light
Power moonroof with shade
Satellite radio (you must pay for. It is turned off right now)

Fuel Economy Estimates
20 mpg City, 26 mpg Highway

A HUGE BONUS IS THAT IT HAS A TRANSFERABLE EXTENDED WARRANTY TO 100,000 MILES!!!

An excellent car. Mostly city driving. This has been a personal, not company vehicle and well cared for.

Asking $12,300 and has about 54,000 miles on it.

Nothing wrong with car. Couldn't get additional pictures because of my husbands car parked next to it.
No dents, scratches, or rust.

Another car we have for sale is:


2009 Ford Escape XLT SUV V6 Engine
(I dont have all the details listed on this one like mine because I dont have the car or the window sticker currently. The car is sitting in a friends barn in storage. I should be getting it back tomorrow to take a picture of it). I am sure it is very similar to mine as far as what the standards are.

Sterling gray clear coat metallic
Approx 55,000 miles.

Options included:
Power steering, power locks, 6 way power driver seat, CD player, A/C, cruise control, driver and passenger air bag, power exterior mirrors, reclining seat, electronic traction control, power brakes, power windows, radio, radial all season tires, tilt steering wheel, tinted glass, bucket seats, sunroof, sync, clock, rear window defroster, front side air bags, cloth seats, fog lights, alloy wheels, interval wipers, dual speed rear window wiper, fold down rear seats, luggage rack, ABS

This was an occasional driver vehicle for office personnel. Very clean.
Asking $17,100 

And Finally:

2007 F-150 Regular Cab, 4x2 style with extended bed.
Silver color
Approx 40,000 miles.

Power steering, CD player, A/C, cruise control, cloth seats with hard vinyl floor. Includes after market truck bed tool box and plastic bed liner.

Perfect vehicle for your company.
Currently has logo on the sides of the truck but can be easily removed. Logo was done by Fast Signs. Logo can be removed with a hair dryer and can be done by current owner before new owner take possession.

There is a small dent on the suicide door passenger side at the bottom. Probably from driving on construction job site. Nothing major.

 This truck is in great shape. Mainly city driving going back and forth to job sites. Was used by construction Foreman so was parked all day at job sites.

Asking 13,400 including the tool box.

I already have the cars and truck listed on Craigslist but thought my blog might be a way to get a wider audience.

Unfortunately, we cannot trade them in to a dealership and they will not outright buy them.

Please say some prayers that we can sell two of these vehicles!!


Thanks everyone!!!

Most Excellent Day!

Today is a most excellent day. It is already 50 degrees outside with a high predicted of 64! Today will be the day to play outside with the kids.

Let me recap last night.

Well we all know (if you read yesterdays blog) that I did Plyometrics in the morning. Calories burned: 531

Then last night I went to the gym and did about 30 minutes on the ARC...I had to stop early to pee and refill my water bottle before class. LOL. Then I had CX, and Body Flow. Calories burned: 693.

I seperated out RPM again and I notice one thing...Tuesdays my calorie burn in RPM is pretty low compared to the other days I do it. I think this is because it is really going onto hour 4 of working out for the day and I am just spent. The calorie burn I am about to type in is a little high because I forgot to turn off my HRM and talked with Eric (the instructor) for a few minutes after class. Calories burned: 497

So my total for yesterday was: 1721 Holy Cow!

When I got home I was famished. I didnt want to eat anything too heavy before bed so I had some of my celery root chips, the rest of the dehydrated fruit, and a couple small pieces of chicken.

One quick thing about my dehydrated fruit and celery root chips before I continue the story. Yesterday Aarons Aunt and Grandma came over to pick up our carpet cleaner. I keep the chips and the fruit out on the counter for snacking and Aarons Aunt and Grandma had some of each. They loved them! Aarons grandma even took a baggie of chips home with her. So it isn't just me that thinks they are good. I will definitely be making them again and adding my own spin on them..

This morning I was rewarded for all my hard work. The scale said 156!!! That is ONE POUND away from goal...well really two pounds. I have been playing with the BMI calculator, and if I can get to 154 it will put me into the "normal" range. I have NEVER been in the normal range. So I am adjusting my goal weight by one pound.

So last night after RPM I had something very cool happen to me.

I had a girl named Amanda tell me as she was putting her bike away that she found my blog and has been reading it. She came to RPM last night because she had been reading my reviews on the class and wasnt doing anything but sitting around.

How surreal is that? How very cool! I have met her before, but it didnt really compute because she is my cousins friend and usually when I see her, I see her friend. Yup I am just kind of dumb that way when it comes to recognizing faces. LOL

This is how she found my blog....

I created a group on Facebook with the same title of this blog. A New Beginning- My Journey to Avoid the Knife. It is an open group so if anyone wants to join, they (and you) can. It is a way to keep my weight loss separate from my personal FB page. That way only people who WANT to hear about my weight loss do.

One of my friends and instructors of some classes I take (Becca) joined my group. She happens to be friends with Amanda too. When I added Becca to my group, Amanda noticed, and checked it out. That is how she found me and my blog. I post my blog updates on my FB page. It is funny. She never knew I was that heavy. Very liberating for me to have people whom I met before find out about my past. It is a way to free the skeletons that are in my closet.

So for my exercise today:
P90X is on my schedule. Today is chest, shoulders, triceps and Ab Ripper. Ugh. One handed push ups again!!!
I am hoping to do this workout about 11am today. BECAUSE with the weather being so nice, I want to take advantage and go for a run outside today after the boys go to bed.

So that is my schedule. Very light in comparison to Tuesday, but the body needs a break. P90X and running.

Tip of the Day: Comes from Clean Eating Online

If you've never had beets you are missing out! They are delicious and an so incredibly nutritious! Not only do they contain folate, Vitamin C and potassium but also Vitamin A, calcium and iron. Plus they are rich in fiber.

Roasted Beet recipe

Ingredients:
6-8 medium beets
Olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and thoroughly scrub beets. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place beets on cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle garlic over beets. Cover tightly with tin foil and place in oven.
Bake for 1 hour. Remove from heat. Let cool until beets are easy to handle. Slip skins off, slice, and serve. Makes 6 servings.
Nutritional information: Clalories: 78, Protein: 1 g., Carbs: 8 g., Sugars: 5 g., Fat: 4

My Reviews and ramblings

First think I will review is our "chicken pizza" dinner from last night. I adapted it from fellow blogger Susieannabella.

I took a thawed chicken breast and pounded it flat and wide to make the "pizza crust". I then added some italian seasoning, fresh tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, fresh spinach, red onion (to mine), mozzarella cheese sticks ripped apart, and some crushed red pepper. To my husbands and my boys, I also added some shredded parmesan cheese.

I baked them for about 20 minutes at 380 degrees. Super easy! These were fantastic. My boys gobbled it up (minus the veggies). And my husband loved it. 

The thing that I loved the most about this recipe, is that you can basically mix it up and use just about anything in your fridge and pantry. You can add ham, or red peppers...whatever floats your boat. And you can make them for your individual familys taste. Mine was the only one that had red onion and I left the crushed pepper off of the boys.

Again, I give this recipe a huge two thumbs up! I have also added it to my "Recipes" page that I added at the top of the blog.

This is the chicken on my pizza stone. A couple of them had been removed for cooling for the boys.

Next up: Celery Root Chips

I just took these out of the dehydrator right before I snapped the picture. They are very good and crunchy like a chip.

There really isnt a recipe with amounts per say...I just went by what the blogger said as far as what ingredients to add.

Here is the "recipe".

Peel and thinly slice the celery root. I used my mandoline to do it to get even chips
In a gallon bag, add some olive oil, honey (the original recipe called for agave nectar), rosemary, garlic, (I used my Pampered Chef rosemary seasoning because it had garlic already in it too), and some apple cider vinegar. Oh and some salt and pepper.

Add the celery root. Seal the bag, and shake to coat. Make sure you seperate all the chips in the bag to coat them all. They like to stick together.

Let marinate for a couple hours. I just left mine out on the countertop.

I put them in my dehydrator in the afternoon and let them go til about 11:30. So about 18-20 hours. It will really just depend on how thinly you slice the chips. You want to make sure they are crispy.

If you havent had celery root before, it tastes just like celery with the exception of having no ribs and string to contend with. There really isnt much of a celery flavor left after you dehydrate them though.

These chips are very good, but I think the next time I make them, I will not use the rosemary seasoning. Instead I will probably use more garlic or even some bbq spices. Hmmmm....healthy bbq chips. Yeah!

Now for my daily review.

Yesterday I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the treadmill walking on the fat burn setting. After was my CX class. Calories burned: 469

Then last night I did my P90X back, biceps and ab ripper. After I was done with that, I got on my elliptical for 30 minutes of cardio on the fat burn setting. Calories burned: 663

Total for the day: 1132 calories burned.

This morning I was rewarded for all my hard work when the scale told me I weighed 157.0. Only 2 lbs til my goal weight!

I now weigh less than my mom!! Who would have ever guessed that would happen?!?

This morning I got right to work and did P90X Plyometrics. Oh how I hate that dvd but I am always glad that I pushed play, pushed thru it and got it done. Calories burned so far: 531

Tonight is my insane night at the gym.

ARC training (or running, not sure yet), CX, Body Flow (yoga), and RPM (hurts so good!)

I am hoping the scale rewards me again tomorrow. I am getting oh so close to my goal!

Today I tried on a shirt that I have that has horizontal stripes and I must say it looks good on me now! Dont judge my face...LOL. I didnt have makeup on yet and I had just finished Plyometrics a few minutes prior.

I am also sporting the jeans my sister gave me (again). I love them and they are starting to get a little big in the waist. They are a size 29 and I dont have any clue what size that equates to in normal womens sizing.

And the last thing I need to bring up for the day...

For those of you that have lost weight, are you cold now? I am frickin cold ALL THE TIME!!  Not even kidding when I say this...but I sleep in pajama pants, a tank top and a robe. Yes a robe.

I am sitting here wearing the outfit in the picture above and I am freezing. Its a thermal shirt...wtf?? My feet are freezing too and I have socks and boots on. Geeze! Someone get me a heating blanket!!

Guess that was the only good thing about being heavier. LOL.

Ok enough for the day. Onto:

Tip of the Day! Found this on Pinterest (again) and thought it was a really cute idea! Especially for those with no gym. Hope you can read it!!

Celery Root Chips and other experiments

Just had to share my experiment with all of you.

A while back I was on Pinterest when I came across a recipe for Celery Root Chips. They looked exactly like a potato chip.

So when I went to Meijer yesterday I bought one.

Pretty easy to make as long as you have a dehydrator.

I peeled the celery root and used my mandoline to cut them into thin slices. In a gallon bag I combined olive oil, the Pampered Chef rosemary seasoning I have (it already had garlic in the seasoning or I would have added more), some sea salt, some pepper, a dab of honey (instead of agave nectar) and a small pour of apple cider vinegar. 

I mixed it up really well then added the sliced celery root to it and shook it all around making sure that I covered the pieces.

Then I let it marinate on my countertop in the gallon bag for a couple hours.

They are now in my dehydrator and should be ready by tomorrow morning. They smell really good though!

So far, I havent had a bad recipe from Pinterest. I have done the kale chips, the beet chips, roasted cauliflower, and the roasted chick peas (though my chickpeas did not stay crunchy).

I cant wait to try these out tomorrow!

Also tonight I will be making chicken pizza from fellow blogger Susie over at susieannabella. It looks absolutely delicious and I cant wait to try it out!

Be sure to look for my reviews tomorrow.

And, if you havent noticed, I have added a couple new tabs to the top of my blog. One is for my Go To foods that were great with my weight loss, and the other one is for things that I love.

I am thinking about adding a tab for recipes. What do you think???

Week 7 of Phase Two of P90X

Lets cut to the chase this morning before I recap my day yesterday.

This morning I weighed in at 158.0 again. While I wish that number would have been lower, this marks the first time that I have not gained over a weekend. So I am happy.

Yesterday I worked my butt off.

I did 44 minutes on the ARC and burned 418 calories.
I had my RPM class and burned 488 calories.
Then last night I ran on the elliptical for just over an hour and burned 648 calories.

Total for the day: 1554 calories. Holy cow!

You would think that with all of that exercising, that I would have lost weight but I think what did me in was some salt and also some fresh fruit. Let me explain.

I had stopped at the store on my way home from the gym and bought a ton of fresh produce. So when I got home I cleaned it all, chopped up a lot and stored it in my freezer for smoothies. We are talking strawberries, papaya, mango, bananas, two pineapples, blueberries, a coconut and more! Some I chose to dry out in my dehydrator for snacks...4 kiwis, a pint of strawberries and a half of a pineapple. Yummy!

But while I was cutting up fruit, I was snacking. And fruit really does have a ton of sugar in it. Natural sugar- yes. But sugar all the same.

I had also bought a big bunch of Kale and made kale chips too. My husband just loves them so I make them a little extra salty just for him. I use both some cracked sea salt and some garlic salt. I use the garlic salt because I always forget when I am at the store to buy garlic powder. LOL. But after eating quite a few chips, the salt started to get to me. Dont get me wrong- they taste buttery and awesome! Just a touch more salt than I would normally eat.

Lunch (besides the fruit) was the same as always. An english muffin with natural peanut butter, a cheese stick, baby carrots and broccoli and two hard boiled eggs.

Dinner was the most excellent Brussell Spouts Czesia made the other day. Red onion, brussell sprouts, garlic and crushed red pepper made with absolutely no oil. How fantastic!

To be honest, I really didnt want to run last night. Then I went upstairs and stepped on the scale. Staring back at me was 160.5. Yes I know you shouldnt weigh yourself more than once a day....dont judge. This is my insecurity I am dealing with. LOL. So once I saw that number I knew I had to go run. So I did. And of course I weighed myself again after running. LOL. 158.5. Whew. That is why I love running at night. Burns calories that were consumed during the day and gets your metabolism going before bed. I have no problems exercising then sleeping so it is what I do.

Today brings gym time with running on the treadmill and then CX. Today we have a sub from the normal instructor, but I was at Melissas class when she was filming for her certification so I know it will be a great class. Cant wait!!

Then I will be experimenting with making Celery Root Chips. I found the recipe on Pinterest, and now that my fruit is all dehydrated, I will be making these. I will let you know how they turn out!

Tonight starts week 7 of Phase Two of P90X with back, biceps and Ab ripper. I will also be running on the elliptical after I am done. I am almost done with Phase 2. Next week is a recovery week for P90X with lots of yoga, core, and stretching. I cannot believe I am almost in my last month of P90X!!

Tip of the Day: (I hope you can read this. Please let me know if you cant.)

Feel the burn!

Ah what a happy Sunday!

Yesterday I completed P90X Kempo and burned 456 calories.

Last night I ran on the elliptical for 45 minutes and burned 471 calories.

Total burn for the day from exercise: 927

This morning my body thanked me by weighing me in at 158.0 lbs. That makes my weight loss to date officially 110 lbs.

So to thank my body I supplied it with some torture.

Off to the gym I went and did 44 minutes on the ARC. Once again, I kept my calorie burn separate from RPM because I wanted to see if I could get a better calorie burn than the last time. So 44 minutes on the ARC rewarded me with 418 calories burned.

Onto RPM. I can tell I am getting better at cycling. My heart rate climbs quicker which means I am adding more tension. My feet arent constantly hitting the chain area. AND when we have to sprint with high tension, I am able to do much better than I used to. So my calorie burn from RPM was 488 calories. Much better than my 300 and some the first time I took it.

Now I am home and having some lunch and recovering before I hit the elliptical again tonight. Yup. High cardio for me today. No P90X scheduled.

On the way home I stopped at Meijer. They had a bunch of produce on sale and I like to pick up fruit in bulk on sale so I can cut it up and freeze it for smoothies. So some of the things included in my haul were strawberries, bananas, papaya, blueberries, 2 pineapples, a coconut, 3 mangos, kale, celery root to make chips, along with many other things like diapers, wipes and eggs.

Tonight for dinner, the boys will be having left over taco soup. It didnt go over well with the kids last night so I picked up some tortilla chips thinking that it might make it more like a taco if they scooped the soup. They love tacos so maybe this will help them eat better.

For me, I picked up brussell sprouts after seeing fellow blogger Czesia make them. They sounded so yummy I had to try them for myself. So that will be my dinner...onion and brussell sprouts w/ garlic and red pepper flakes to kick up the spice. Yum!

I have two more weeks before I take new pictures and post them. I cant believe I have been doing P90X consistently for almost 60 days now! If you would have asked me to try that program two years ago, I wouldnt have made it thru the first day! Now, I am not only doing P90X, but going to the gym for classes and cardio as well. What a difference a couple years make!!

I am starting to get really excited about the pictures because as I mentioned yesterday, people at the gym are beginning to notice my progress and comment on it. That makes me feel really good and is really a better indication that the number on the scale.

Now I need a new challenge. And I need your help.

I am only 3 lbs away from my goal weight and once I reach it, I want to complete a challenge. But I need some suggestions. Originally I was going to give myself a reward for reaching it, like the juicer I want, but I thought for now, this would be better. I can always ask for the juicer for my birthday coming up in May.

I thought about doing the 10,000 meter row like they did on the biggest loser, but I have yet to find a rowing machine at our gym.

Thought about trying to do pull ups, but I have never attempted an actual one at the gym so not sure how that would go.

So I need some ideas. Feel free to offer more than one!! I may pick a couple of them!

Cheers to a great week and lots more progress and pounds lost!

Tip of the Day:

Skating Saturday

Today is both a good and semi good day. LOL. Sounds odd I know.

Yesterday I did P90X legs, back and abs. Calories burned: 515 calories

Then I hit the gym for ARC, Zumba and CX and burned a whopping 1357 calories. Woah.

Total burned: 1872 calories

I have been wanting some Buffalo Wild Wings for a while so I finally gave into my craving and hit there for take out after the gym. Not the worst thing that I could crave so I was ok with it. I ordered 12 of the Mango Habanaro which is my favorite flavor with lots of spice. I ordered 12 teriaki for Aaron. Also I like having celery so I made sure they put in my sides of celery too.

When I got home, I also had a couple small glasses of wine. It has been quite a while since I had some wine and boy could I tell. Two glasses hit me pretty hard! Not like room spinning hard, but definitely buzzed.

Initially I planned on eating only a couple wings, but I was so hungry that I ate all of them. Oops. Then again, I wont have them calling my name in the fridge now to throw me off track.

This morning I stepped on the scale (this is the semi good day part) and I weighed in at 159.0. A half pound gain from yesterday BUT after eating wings and having wine, I will take it. It is semi good because I gained, but it wasn't much.

I had to get ready for Xaviers Ice skating lessons this morning but I wanted to make sure that I took pictures of me in my sisters jeans (that I talked about yesterday) to show everyone.

Don't judge my picture taking- it is really hard to take pictures of yourself in a full length mirror as many of you know.

Hey look! No muffin top! When I got them from my sister, they fit but I had a HUGE muffin top going on. Now, they are actually a little big in the waist.

Also, last night at the gym, I had a few people comment about how small I was getting. That made me feel really good to know that other people are noticing! Some of the gals in my zumba class even had me flex my "guns". Guess I will be needing to get a picture of my arms up here next time I take my progress pictures!

So back to ice skating. Xavier did really well today and actually listened to his teacher. He didn't give up though he was way slower than the other kids BUT he didn't fall. Not once. Once it came to the last 15 minutes, I went out on the ice with him to play some hockey. I was really happy too because I am becoming much smoother on the ice skates. I am able to turn, stop, go backwards and skate fast. It is as if no time has gone by since I had lessons all those years ago.

Aarons aunt and grandma came to watch Xavier ice skate too and after we were done, they treated us to a nice breakfast at Coney Island. Thanks again!!

Now that these jeans fit, I am very determined to keep them fitting and really didn't want to order anything with hashbrowns and toast (which I love) and eggs cooked on the griddle with lots of butter or oil.

So I asked if they had fresh fruit (because it wasn't on the menu) and hard boiled eggs. And they did! So I had a little goblet full of fruit (which my kids ate part of), and a hard boiled egg and coffee. It has been so long since I had coffee because when I was on the healthe trim, I couldn't have caffeine. I had it black (to avoid the extra calories) and ended up having 3 mugs full. LOL. I am surprised I am not bouncing off walls!

When we got home, I threw into my crockpot ingredients for taco soup for the boys and Aaron tonight. Because it has dry ranch dressing and taco seasoning, and ground beef, I will not be having it. Not sure what I will make for myself, but the boys should like it.

Then I changed into my workout clothes and got my P90X Kempo done for the day. Calories burned: 456.

Tonight I plan on hitting the elliptical after the boys go to bed. Gotta keep burning the calories! Only 4 lbs til goal weight!!

Because my only food so far today has been a smoothie for breakfast (which Landry drank most of), some fresh fruit, a hard boiled egg and I admit- 3 or 4 french fries of Xaviers, I am snacking on my new favorite food:

Seapoint Farms Dry Roasted Edamame

I found it at Kroger in the health food section. I was able to pick from wasabi or sea salt. I went with wasabi. It is my first time eating them and they kind of remind me of a peanut. The wasabi is an awesome kick. It isn't flavored fully on every piece, but you know when you hit one. It sends wonderful tingling-ness up through your nose kind of like the spicy mustard you get at chinese restaurants. The wasabi covered ones remind me (taste wise) almost of the horsey sauce you get from Arbi's.

If you don't know what edamame is, it is a soy bean that is found in pods (kind of like peas).
I heard about them on Dr. Oz. I loves them as a snack because they are a great source of soy protein and contain all 8 essential amino acids and adds no cholesterol or trans-fat to your diet. Just one serving of them (1/4 cp) provides 14g of protein and only 9 carbs. They have 4.5 g of fat with only 0.5g being saturated.

I recommend everyone to try them! They are great and one of my new favorite snacks!!

Tip of the Day:

Crazy Day!

What a crazy day so far! This is now my first chance to sit down and it is going onto 1pm.

Anyways let me recap yesterday first then I will fill you in on what is going on today!!

Yesterday I did P90X Yoga: 371 calories burned

Then I hit the gym early last night. I did 45 minutes on the ARC on the fat burning setting and then did 35 minutes on the treadmill walking on the fat burning session. Calories burned: 752 whew!!

Then came one of my favorite classes- RPM!!! I wanted to clock this class on my HRM seperately so I could see how many calories I burned. It was surprisingly small! 462 calories burned, but the class is under an hour long (about 55 minutes).

So my total yesterday: 1585. wee haw!

For whatever reason, my body responds better to RPM exercise than to Kickboxing. I dont know if it is because RPM is all lower body and that is the area that I need to work on the most so it responds better or what.

Anyways this morning I woke up and weighed myself....

And staring back at me was (drumroll please!!!)

158.5!!!!!  I lost 1.5 lbs yesterday!! Officially in the 150's! How excited was I this morning!!

So I got the kids up out of bed, got them breakfast and headed downstairs to get my burn on with P90X legs, back and abs. Calories burned: 515

Tonight I head back to the gym for ARC, Zumba and CXWorx. Very excited!

And why was I so busy this morning?
Well...after working out I had to hurry and make my morning smoothie, get dressed and get over to school with my kids for my youngest sons playgroup. It is with his speech therapist and we get together with other kids that need therapy so they learn how to communicate with each other.

Then I had to run home and get Xavier lunch. Today he starts preschool and I still had to fill out an emergency contact form. I got it emailed to me today and wouldnt you know I couldnt just edit and fill it in on the computer, but I had to print it. And wouldnt you know that my printer is out of ink.

So I had to jump back INTO the car and run up to school, hurry up and fill out the 5 pages of forms, run back home (thankfully Aaron stayed home with the boys so I wasnt dragging them too) and I wanted to get pictures of Xavier with his backpack for his first day.

Got those done, got Xavier loaded back up into the car and ran back to school with him

I just got home, got my youngest down for a nap and got myself some lunch. Whew! What a day!

Thankfully our Friday playgroups for Landry are only once a month. Normally we go to playgroup for him on Tuesdays and Xavier has school on Monday, Wednesday, Fridays. 

I just figure all this running is helping me burn some extra calories today.

And for all of you wondering how my household is doing...we are doing well. Aaron has some job leads and he should be heading to Alabama for a nuclear plant shutdown in a couple weeks. That will be a good 30 day outage in which he will be making some money to help catch us back up. In the meantime, we are still struggling but we are getting by.

Please keep your thoughts and prayers coming. I would really rather not have to move out of state, but if we have to, we will.

Also, a fellow blogger had this on her site yesterday and I thought I would steal it and repost it for everyone. It goes along with my March Goals above:

And the best thing about today (besides the number on the scale) is that my sister gave me a super cute pair of jeans that she didnt want anymore. They are a low waist with cute little gems all over the pockets. When she game them to me, the went up and on but because of the low rise gave me a horrible muffin top and they were tight. Today I decided to try them on again and they fit! The waist is even a little big! I never ever ever would have thought in a million years that I would ever be able to wear my sisters clothes. Wow! What a great day!

Tip of the Day!

Dang it! So close!

Ok so to recap my day yesterday.

First up was P90X Chest, Shoulders and Triceps and Ab Ripper X. Calories burned: 477

Last night I headed to the gym and started on the treadmill on the fat burn mode. I had about 10 minutes before I could sign up for class and thought it would be a good quick warm up. While I was speed walking, I thought "this is silly. Why am I only walking for 10 minutes?" and bumped my time up to 45 minutes.

I saw my cousin walk in to sign up for the Kickboxing class and we had one minute before we could sign up. So I paused my treadmill and walked over.

The stinkers at the front desk already had the sign up sheet out...I am assuming at least a couple minutes early BECAUSE it was only 5:44 (sign up should START at 5:45 or 45 minutes before class) and I was number 6!!! Talk about a popular class!

Lots of people came in to sign up before 6pm and the class was already full!! Just like that! People were very upset. This class is only offered once a week and there is only one person that does it.

So after I signed up I got back on my treadmill and finished my fat burning session. Calories burned: 373.

Because I was curious about the calorie burn, I separated out my treadmill from the Kickboxing so I could get an accurate calorie count.

Then came kickboxing. I am very familiar with it because of Kempo but this was my first class.
I quickly learned that Lizzy (the instructor) wants everyone to count. And if you dont, you get punished.
Yup. We got punished for not counting loud enough. Plank position and while in plank you jump jack your legs out sideways and back in...for over a minute. Ugh.

The class was a ton of fun. I was in the front row next to my cousin and her friend. At one point Lizzy mopped up the floor with a rag because of how much we were sweating and she chastised the rest of the class because the only place she had to mop up was the front row. LOL.

Lots of kicks, jabs, uppercuts and punches were thrown. I will definitely be trying this class again. It was a great high intensity cardio class with lunges, and jumping jacks thrown into the mix. One thing I must note is that this morning I was not very sore. RPM made me much more sore that Kickboxing.

Calories burned for kickboxing: 512!!

So my calories burned yesterday from exercise was 1362!!

Very nice indeed.

The big DANG IT in all this is that I didnt lose a single pound. This morning I still weighed in at 160. It is ok though. Tonight is RPM again. And if I dont lose from RPM tonight, then definitely from Zumba and CX tomorrow.

Todays work out consists of:
P90X yoga- I already did this one this morning. Calories burned 371.
ARC- Not sure how long I will be on this for. I need to make sure I am there in plenty of time to sign up for RPM because that is another popular class.
RPM- I will be separating out my calorie burn for this class for the curiosity of how much I burn in this class versus Kickboxing

Tip of the Day: The Dirty Dozen!!
From Clean Eating Online

Have you heard about "The Dirty Dozen"? If you're concerned about eating healthfully and have an interest in lowering your intake of pesticides, you need to know about this.
A non-profit group called the Environmental Working Group (EWG) compiled a list of 43 fruits and vegetables and ranked them from most to least-contaminated by pesticides.  The produce ranking is based on the results of 43,000 pesticide tests performed by the USDA and the FDA between 2000 and 2005.  Here are the "Dirty Dozen" - the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables:

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet bell peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Lettuce
• Grapes
• Pears
• Spinach
• Potatoes

ALWAYS buy organic when you purchase any of the above items. By doing so, you'll lower your exposure to pesticides by 90 percent.