Picture Issues

Ok so I haven't figured out a way to post my before and current pictures side by side on my pictures page...if anyone can help, let me know. So I am posting them on here instead because I think I can get them side by side.

30 Day results and general funniness

This is my mantra for the day if I don't see big results.

Well I guess we should get onto it and post the pictures. I will be trying to do side by side pictures of my "befores" under my picture tab so we can closely scrutinize them.

One thing I will mention when I was putting my swimsuit on is that I was able to put my top on the tightest notch. I wasnt able to do that before. And my bottoms are a little looser in the booty area.



Now for some funniness....Last night I was getting ready for bed and I was brushing my teeth and then it happened.

Ready for it? My peck twitched....it twitched like weight lifters do...where they bounce flex them back and forth? HA HA HA.

So I started to see if I could get them each to do it. I can but it takes concentration.
The funny thing about this is that right before this happened, a commercial was on tv with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and he did that same thing.

Just something I never thought I would be able to do.

Tip of the day:
MODERATION! Have fun and have a safe Super Bowl everyone!

Ice Skating and the Big Day!!

Tomorrow is the Big Day... and I don't just mean the Super Bowl.

Tomorrow is the day that I take my 30 day pictures from doing the P90X workout.

I have to admit, I am excited and a little scared at the same time. I mean, what if I cant see any changes? It doesn't mean that I am not working hard, and it doesn't mean that I am going to quit, but man...I don't know if I can step up my game much more!!!

Today I didn't do the P90X yoga. I will be doing it tomorrow instead when my boys nap. A good way to burn some calories before eating during the game.

Today instead, was my oldest sons first ice skating lesson. He is 4 and a half years old. I was very proud of him that he didn't give up after falling so many times (his daddy gave up when he was little and having lessons). He did however cop out a little and when he fell, waited for an instructor to come and help him up. After a while the one instructor caught on and yelled at him to do it. I applaud her. I was doing the same thing from the sidelines. And eventually when he fell, he figured out how to get himself up.

At the end of the class, the last 15 minutes are open skate. The parents and siblings are allowed to rent skates and come on the ice too. So I rented skates, went out, and held him up by the arm pits while he tried to play hockey with the little sticks and pucks they put on the ice. He was in heaven. At the end I had him hold my hand, keep the stick in the other, and march over the ice to help him learn to skate. All in all he did pretty good...heck I did pretty good too. I am sure I burned a few calories holding him up and moving him over the ice. AND I didn't fall at all. Ha. Makes me want to buy some ice skates now!!

Afterwards, we all went out to the local coney island for breakfast. I did pretty good considering. I ordered the spinach skillet with egg whites, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, grilled onions and no cheese. I had whole wheat toast and I did have hash browns. BUT I didn't have any sausage or bacon...and I LOVE bacon.

Tonight for dinner I had homemade veggie lasagna with spinach, carrots, mushrooms, squash, low fat mozzarella and low fat ricotta cheese with whole grain noodles and veggie sauce. Not exactly Eating Clean, but pretty dang close. My mother in law and my oldest son made it. It was delicious and I admit I had two pieces- but I hadn't eaten since breakfast.

We will see how the pictures turn out tomorrow after feasting tonight. LOL.

Tip of the Day: Perfect for tomorrow!!

Sleeplessness and 10k

So last night I went to the gym to try to run a 10k before my CX workout.

Unfortunately the treadmill caps out at 60 minutes so I knew I would have to restart my run. I wasn't going to push it and get an injury my first time at a long distance.

I set my mph for a steady 5.2 and off I went.

The first 30 minutes I ran with my sweatshirt on. Once I hit 30 minutes, while still running, I took it off so I just had my sleeveless workout top on. That made a HUGE difference and re-energized me to keep going. Towards the end I bumped up my speed to 5.4. Once I finished my 60 minutes, I did a "cool down" keeping my speed at 4.0 or higher. The max "cool down" I could do was 10 minutes- I was trying to cheat it to get my full distance in without having to start a new program. It didn't work. I got 5.89 miles in before I had to start over.

I still had 30 minutes before CX began so I set my treadmill onto the "fat burn" mode and off I went. With fat burn, it only allows you a certain heart rate and will adjust your speed to get the correct rate. Well, it took me, in total, 75 minutes to get my 10k done. I would have been able to do it faster, but the cool down and fat burn session slowed me some. All in all though I was very happy that I could actually run the distance!

After I was done with the fat burn session, I got in another mile+, so in total, I did 6.89 miles (probably a little closer to 7 miles).

CX was good. We did 4 new tracks from the new release. My butt was burning after the run LOL.

In total at the gym, I burned 1255 calories.

This morning I did the P90X core workout. Ugh. It is an awesome workout but after doing my core so much this week, I was really feeling it. Tonight because of that, I am going to skip CX after Zumba. Anyways, this morning I burned 442 calories. Not bad!

Now-my next issue. Sleeplessness.

Seriously- Does anyone else have problems sleeping AFTER weight loss????
We have a very firm mattress and I loved it when we bought it. Now I wonder if that is hurting my joints because my fluff is gone and I am not getting the support anymore.

Thank goodness I have a spare down comforter. I just put it into the dryer to fluff it. I am going to fold it in half and put it under my mattress pad cover to see if that helps at all. Aaron still sleeps good on his side so we really don't need a new mattress.

I am hoping the kids take a good nap today so I can eat lunch then get a nap myself before heading to the gym at 4. We will see!

Tip of the day- I actually have two of them!

1. Fill a huge pitcher full of about 85 oz of water and keep it in the fridge. Drink from that
throughout the day. By the end of the day, it should be empty. This is an easy way to make sure you are drinking enough water.

2. With Superbowl this weekend, I wanted to post this. I found it on Pinterest yesterday and just had to share!!

STTRREEETTCCCHHHH!!

*Big Sigh*

This morning I did my scheduled P90X Stretch.
Last night after I did Kenpo with Aaron, he and I previewed it to see how long it was, what we needed, what kind of moves we were going to be doing, etc.

It is an hour long. To which I replied- no way am I going to stretch for an hour! Also I thought that it would be a VERY long hour!

Well I got going with it this morning and I didn't stop part way thru nor was it a long hour. It was a fantastic stretch that got every body part. Parts that were sore, are no longer.

I guess this is a lesson for me- not to judge a book by its cover! I will definitely make sure that I do the stretch dvd the next recovery week we have.

I did use my heart rate monitor just out of curiosity. It was only 142 calories I burned. Thats ok. Tonight I head back to the gym and run/walk a 10k then follow up with CXWorx.

Yesterday I did Kenpo with Aaron. I love the kickboxing and my arms were very sore this morning. I burned 431 calories.

This morning I also went to the grocery store and bought a ton of produce and groceries in anticipation for SuperBowl this weekend! I did find a recipe for Clean Eating BBQ sauce online too so if anyone is interested in it, please let me know. I am getting very excited to try these new recipes! I will be making the bbq sauce, clean burger buns, and the clean pretzels along with the kale chips, beet chips, etc that I mentioned a couple days ago. It all sounds delicious!

Tip of the Day:
I hope you can read it all!

New Years Resolutions Reloaded

Today is the first of February.

I think it is only fitting to reassess any New Years Resolutions we may have had.

The gym is already thinning out from those of us who set resolutions to be fitter this year and I don't want you (or I) to become one of the statistics.

How are you doing with your resolution? Are you staying motivated AND determined?

If you are struggling, it may be time to modify those goals we all set for ourselves. Instead of looking at the big picture, set mini goals for ourselves throughout the year. If eating healthy is a goal, start with cutting out caffeine. Once that is done, move onto incorporating more fresh fruits and veggies (as an example). Sometimes a huge change all at once is to much for us to handle and just sets us up for failure.

For me, my New Years Resolution was to get as fit as I can in 6 months to try to avoid needing a tummy tuck. I don't know if this will be possible. I think after carrying a lot of extra weight for a long time plus having two children and lots of stretch marks has just wiped the elasticity in my stomach skin. HOWEVER I do think I can reduce my body fat percentage and get my stomach to an acceptable look for me- at least for this summer. I think I need to change my resolution from 6 months to a good year to get the best results. After that, I will readdress the need for cosmetic surgery.

Also, you may be finding that with your resolution that you made it too broad and not specific enough. You may have said that you wanted to get fit this year. Well what does that really mean? Working out? Changing your diet? You may need to get more specific. "This year I want to start Clean Eating" for example.

I am finding with my goal that I am adding things onto it as I am learning about how to get the best results possible. I started with joining a gym, then I added P90X dvd's into the mix. Now I am starting a new lifestyle of Clean Eating. Plus I have been slathering myself with lotion trying to stimulate collagen elastin in my stomach to firm the skin.

I am also finding that this new lifestyle is giving me goals for the future. Things I never in my past would have dreamed I would do. I am now considering becoming a personal trainer, a nutritionist or fitness instructor (or all three!). I am sure the old me would have said "say what?!?" But this is something to talk about another day.

Now to recap my workout yesterday...

Last night I went to the gym and did 2.16 miles on the treadmill. I did it in 30 minutes on the fatburn mode. I started at 5.0mph and then the treadmill took me eventually down to 4.0mph to keep my heart rate on the low side of my "Range".

Then I did CXWorx and Body Flow. Total time at the gym was 2 hours, 39 minutes and I burned 739 calories.

Yesterday morning (as a reminder) I did P90X Core and burned 365 calories making the total burned for the day from exercise 1,104. Not bad!

Today is just a P90X day. It will be Kenpo tonight after the kids go to bed. I love Kenpo so I am looking forward to it.

Tip of the day: Thought this was fitting with Superbowl indulgences coming this weekend so keep this in mind...

Superbowl Sunday

A quick recap of last night and this morning before I get into my Superbowl Menu.

Last night Aaron and I did the P90X Yoga after putting the boys to bed. An hour and a half later I burned 357 calories.

Aaron isn't a big believer in Yoga and thought that it would just be a stretch, but today his stomach is feeling it. I keep telling him that doing Yoga will help with his golf game and he is finally starting to believe me. Maybe next time he will push himself instead of going thru the motions.

Total calories burned yesterday: 1370 (2 CXWorx classes, P90X Kenpo and P90X yoga).

This morning was a new P90X dvd due to it being a "recovery" week. It was the core dvd and boy did I get a good sweat on. Not hard as in moves, but hard to do the moves properly and hold them. It was about an hour with warm up and cool down and the bonus round. Total calories burned: 368. This afternoon is another round of CXWorx and then Body Flow. I do want to 30 minutes of warm up with running or walking. Not sure which yet.

Now back to the topic of today....

I mentioned it yesterday. How are you going to stay on track with your "diet" this weekend with it being Superbowl. Whether you are going to someones house or having a party at your own house, you have to have a plan.

If you are going to someones house for a party, ask if you can bring a dish to pass. Then you can guarantee one thing that is healthy and then indulge a tad in having tastes of some other dishes. It is easy to make things like guacamole and salsa and they are easy to transport. You can then eat it with home made chips or use it to top on burgers as a cleaner alternative to ketchup and mustard. The key when going to someone else's house is not OVERindulging and then hating yourself and your scale in the morning.

If you are having the party at your house, mix "good for you" things in with the standard Superbowl fare.

We are having my in-laws over this weekend for the game. Here is how my menu looks...

1. Kale Chips- Easy to do and my in-laws tried them last weekend and loved them.
2. Popcorn- popped in a pan with some coconut oil topped with some sea salt
3. Turkey Slider burgers- I will have the normal burger toppings available but I will be topping mine with home made guacamole to keep it "clean"
4. Chicken wings- I will bake them in the oven on my stone to get them crispy then will glaze them with some honey. I will also have bbq sauce available for people but that isn't clean for me.
5. Guacamole- homemade and clean
6. Salsa- again homemade and clean
7. Tortilla chips- I am going to make lime chips using whole wheat pitas, some lime juice and sea salt. Bake them in the oven and yum yum.
8. Veggies- have to have veggies. LOL baby carrots, and celery. Make the dip using some fat free sour cream and some seasonings.
9. Soft pretzels- I have a recipe for clean eating ones. I think I may make them and then use them as the "buns" for the turkey sliders.
10. Beet chips- never had them but curious to make them. Slice them thin, toss with a bit of olive oil and sea salt. bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, rotate your two racks in the oven and bake an additional 20 minutes (approx).
11. Rice Krispie treats- not clean but the kids like them.
12. Chips- I buy the kettle chips. The sea salt and pepper ones. They are pretty "clean" but I don't over indulge in them. That's why I am making the kale chips and the beet chips as alternatives for me.

If you want something badly, you have to make a commitment and see it thru. My commitment is to making myself and my family healthy. This is how I am doing it. A day at a time, a bit at a time. Slowly, my husband is seeing the benefits to the healthy lifestyle. He is the one pointing things out to me about chemicals in food and their affects now. It is amazing how easy it was to get him on the health train. The kids now know that McDonalds Happy Meals are no longer options for them due to all the chemicals. Xavier now asks for Homemade Happy Meals. Tyson Popcorn Chicken, some tater tots and chocolate milk. Not exactly "clean", but a whole lot healthier than McDonalds.

This is no longer about a "diet" but a new "lifestyle".

Tip of the day: An easy acronym of what to eat and not eat