Happy Happy Day!

Yesterday was my Extreme Tuesday.

Plyometrics came first at home and I burned 510 calories.

Then last night came the gym. 25 minutes on the ARC, CX, Body Flow then RPM. I am totally hooked on RPM but more about that in a few.

Get this...last night at the gym...I burned 1281 calories!!
Total for the day: 1791 calories. I was very happy with that number.

I was even happier with that number when I woke up this morning and got on the scale. And the number staring back at me was 160 lbs. Yes folks. You read that right. 3.5 lb loss since yesterday! Holy crap!

I must have sweated out the sugar and stress that had me retaining weight. I really shook that monkey off my shoulder...at least for now.

Now back to RPM. I LOVE it. It takes a lot to get me sore and that class guarantees sore legs the next day. In fact, I am thinking about switching up my exercise routine again. Constantly changing arent I? I am trying to keep my body confused.

Because I gave up Body Pump on Thurs, I looked at the new gym schedule to see if Thurs held an AM RPM class. It does. HOWEVER it is at 6:15. And I have to get there about 45 minutes before class starts to sign up. And my drive to the gym is about 15-20 minutes. Ugh. So instead, I may be doing the late evening RPM class at 8pm.

The reason for picking up another RPM class is a very simple one. My upper body is getting into great shape but the majority of my weight is still in my lower half. My cousin told me that RPM and spinning in general give you great results in your legs which is something I really want to achieve before my sisters wedding in July and well before swimsuit season too.

So Thursday workouts will now be P90X yoga with ARC and RPM in the evening. Whew.

Then my husband was looking at the gym schedule for today and said the class that looks really fun is kickboxing and why don't I go to that one? Well why not? My cousin goes to that class tonight, so I texted her to find out about it. She said it is awesome cardio and I will need 2 towels to wipe up all my sweat. LOL. Sign me up. I am all about a new class. She also said that I need to get there really early to sign up for the class because it fills up within 10 minutes. You are allowed to sign up a max of 45 minutes before class and they only have so many spots available.

I totally cant wait to see how many calories I burn in this class.

This morning I already completed my P90X Chest, shoulders and triceps and Ab Ripper. Oh buddy. Feel the burn. So far, 477 calories gone. Wee haw.

Onward and Downward to the 150's (hopefully tomorrow)!!

Tip of the Day:

Hardcore Tuesday

Ok I am feeling a bit back to normal now.

I drank a gallon of Sassy Water yesterday and while it helped a bit, I am still struggling to get back on track with my regularity.

Yesterday I did P90X back, biceps and ab ripper. I burned 428 calories.

Then last night I ran for approx. 35 minutes. My aunt called a few minutes after I started and stupid me forgot to pause the elliptical. Originally I had set the elliptical on the Fat Burn setting for 45 minutes. I did bring the phone back down and talked to her while I ran. Boy does that sky rocket your heart rate!! For the approx 35 minutes, I burned 500 calories.

This morning I weighed in at 163. A half pound down from yesterday. Heading back in the right direction.

Today is Hardcore Tuesday. Normally before my sons Playgroup, I do Plyometrics but I have a few errands I have to run before hand so Plyometrics will have to wait until about lunch time. I will do it while the kids eat and then when they nap, I will have my lunch to refuel.

Tonight is gym night. ARC training, CX Works, Body Flow, then RPM. If I don't get back on track from today, I dont know how I will. LOL.

I know that part of the reason for my weight gain besides the sugar is stress. I have been immensely stressed lately with some financial difficulties my family is going thru right now. It will get better, and is already starting to ease a bit, but until some major things are done, the stress will be lingering.

This whole time that we have been going thru this, I have put my stress into Gods hands. It really is all about not fretting. God will provide. And I truly believe everything happens for a reason. I have been pretty calm and at peace.

Then last Friday I received a piece of mail that rocked my world and threw me into a loop. Really sent my stress level skyrocking. Finally last night I broke down and called my parents. This whole time I have felt like I havent had anyone to talk to about this...that besides Aarons family this was something that needed to be left in the dark...that I have to figure out and get thru it myself. I was worried about how my family would judge us by what we are going thru. That they would see it as our fault. After talking to my parents, I felt a huge sense of relief. Aaron worries that my parents will look at him differently. Like he isnt providing for his family. I hope that that isnt the case. Right now, I hate having to depend on family, but then again, if you cant count on family, who can you count on? Aarons family has been a huge support. They understand and know what we are going thru. And that is a blessing that cannot even be expressed into words.

Unconditional love...what an awesome thing!

For my fellow bloggers and readers, please keep my family in your prayers as we go thru this difficult time.
I will keep you filled in as to how we are doing.

Tip of the Day:

What was that about???

All I can say is "whoa".

Yesterday as you all know if you read my blog, I had a birthday party to go to. They made home made tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, chicken fajitas, carrots, hummus, celery, veggie pizza, strawberries, carrot cake, angel food cake mixed with fat free cool whip and had heath bars crushed on top, and finally margarita cupcake complete with soaked in tequila.

I started off with bunches of carrots and celery.
Then I had a little fajita with some salsa, guac, and some onions. I didn't add cheese. And it was on a whole wheat tortilla.

I did have a few chips and guac and some hummus.
For dessert, I had a very small piece of the angel food concoction. It was awesome! And as a treat I had a margarita cupcake which I scraped most of the frosting off of. All very good and I knew I would gain some weight, but this is a treat and sometimes we just need treats.

I did very good by not drinking a margarita. I did have a sip of Aarons and while it tasted good, I just didnt want a whole one. One sip was enough. I stuck to plain water and hot plain tea.

We didnt get home until almost 10pm last night so I did not get on the elliptical like I had originally planned.

Now gets me into the "woah" part.

Everyone that has been reading this blog for some times knows that I am really trying to Eat Clean. Last night was the first night in a long time that it was kind of thrown out of the window for a full meal.

Last night I had some of the most vivid and scary dreams I can ever remember. I mean we are talking graphic dreams in which some unspeakable things were done to me against my will and then I was kidnapped (if you get my drift). I woke up just before 4:30am and almost started crying. I really had to catch my breath and calm down. And of course after that, I had a really really really hard time falling back to sleep.

Now I am wondering if the nightmares were from the sugar and processed foods. Dont get me wrong, most of the food was pretty healthy even if it did have some processed things in it. I am thinking more about the cupcake and decadent frosting and the alcohol.

Has anyone else had that happen? Is it a user dream like Czesia had? It just really creeped me out.

This morning when I stepped onto the scale I weighed 163.5. I am ok with that. I didnt get to work out yesterday and I had some processed food and sugar. It wasnt surprising. Hopefully today I will start flushing my system back out and get back on track. After I am done writing all this up, I am going to make a modified Sassy Water. I think my mint has expired in the fridge so I will just be doing cucumber, lemon and ginger.

Hopefully this drink will help me in other areas besides my bloat as well.

This is a TMI alert!!

Before I started losing weight, I could go #2 up to 2, 3, or sometimes more a day.
Since losing weight, number #2 only comes maybe once every other day. Probably because I am not eating as much and the body is able to use more of what I am eating. I get that.

But man. For the past 3-4 days, it feels like I have to go. I have constant pressure down there. But when I go into the bathroom, (TMI again) either nothing comes out or just a very little bit.

Not to get gross, but does anyone else have this problem?

If it doesnt change soon, I may have to resort to an enema to do a clean out. Dr Oz recommends that for constipation because it provides pretty immediate relief. Where as drinking prune juice or something like X-Lax may not even work.

I am sure that this problem has a bit to do with my weight gain too.

What a stupid problem to have huh?
So that is another reason I am doing the Sassy water. Hopefully it will work as well as it did last time and help clean me out.

Ok nuff weirdness for today.

Today is P90X back, biceps and abs.
Tonight is one hour on the elliptical.

Hopefully this will get me back on track with the weight.

Tip of the Day:

Sunday Musings...

Yesterdays recap.

I did Kempo with Aaron and burned 459 calories.
Then last night I did a full hour on the elliptical for a burn or 631 calories. Total calories burned yesterday from exercise: 1090. Nice.

This morning when I stepped on the scale, I only lost .5 pound. My weight this morning was 161.0. It is a loss and I will take it.

BUT I know what went wrong yesterday and it was multiple things.

1. I didnt get my normal smoothie for breakfast to kick off the metabolism. And instead because I was stuck at the doctor, I had to eat what was in my purse which was dried cranberries. Dried fruit you would think would be good for you, but most of the time it has a LOT of sugar added to it. Not good for me.

2. When I got home I had lunch. And I finished off my left over sandwich from when I went out Thurs. Really yummy but again, with the bun and the guacamole, not the best thing. Plus I still had 2 hard boiled eggs, an english muffin with natural peanut butter and some baby carrots. Did I mention that I was hungry???

3. For dinner I had my missed smoothie from that morning. Nothing wrong with that. I finally had gotten to the store to get more spinach.

4. After I ran and took a shower, I had a glass of wine. It was the Berringer Red Moscato. Very tasty and a little sweet. I limited myself to only one glass. And I had a few kernals of popcorn. Aaron had popped it the night before with coconut oil and sea salt. Normally I could eat a whole bowl, but it didn't really sound good last night.

So these few things threw me off track yesterday. A loss is a loss though and I will take it. And I am back on track for today.

I had my smoothie, and I will have my normal lunch. English muffin with Natural PB, 2 hard boiled eggs, a handful of baby carrots with a wedge of laughing cow cheese.

Tonight I will be making spaghetti for the family with sausage sauce. For me, it will be some quinoa with sauteed spinach, tomatoes, garlic and onion.

And then after the boys go to bed, I will be hitting the elliptical again. No P90X scheduled for today. It is a rest day.

Now my next question and I would like readers to weigh in:

You all know if you have been following me, that I set my goal weight for 155. I am now 6 lbs away. My question to you is, in all of your various stages of weight loss, have you set multiple goal weights?

The reason I ask is this... When I get to 155, because it is only 6 lbs away, I know that I still have a lot of fat and flab on my legs, hips and stomach. That is where I hold most of my weight. I don't know if I will be able to get into the 140s or if I will look too skinny, but I am trying to decide if I should go for more weight off or not. I mean, if I keep losing weight, apparently it will mean my body isnt finished yet, but at that point do I reset a new goal?

Very exciting to think that if I stay on top of things, I could be to my goal weight in about 2 weeks. That is, if my elliptical keeps helping me burn like it has been!

Tip of the Day (which could have helped me yesterday):

Some good news, and some great news!

This morning I stepped on the scale...
and got some great news!

Staring back at me the scale said 161.5!! Down 1.5 lbs from yesterday! Whew! I cannot wait to get into the 150s!! My lowest weight from starting this whole thing was 159. Almost there again!

Then I got ready and headed off to the doctors to have my ears rechecked.

My appointment was at 8:30. I didnt get into a patient room until 11:00. And stupid me..I didnt have breakfast before leaving this morning because I didnt think it would take that long. It was my first time going here so I didnt know how their procedure went. I really cant complain though. Luckily I had some dried cranberries in my purse that I keep as a snack for the kids in case they get hungry while they are out. So that was my breakfast.

And I got a bit more of good news from the doctor when I finally saw him. My ear drums are healed. I don't have to worry about showering anymore. However, I still have some fluid back behind my ear drums. This could either go away on its own or could cause another infection. So we are treating me with multiple over the counter drugs to try to dry it up. If it doesn't, and becomes a reoccurring problem, I will have to see an ENT for ear tubes. Shocking because I always thought those were for little kids.

So if my blogs seem weird the next few days, it is because I am taking Sutafed, Benedryl and a nasal spray. LOL.

This afternoon I will be doing P90X Kempo. Originally I planned on doing it while the boys napped but because my appointment was so late, I opted to eat instead. LOL.

Then tonight once they go down for bed, I will run on the elliptical again. Trying to go a bit hard core because I really would love to be in the 150's by Monday.

EDITED TO ADD:
So I was so excited about my ears and weight loss, that I forgot to add my calorie burn and exercises from yesterday.

Yesterday I did the P90X Legs back and abs for a calorie burn of 433 calories.
Then last night I went on the elliptical for 45 minutes on the fat burn mode. I was originally going to do an hour but for whatever reason my heart rate kept going to the high side of my range so I did 45 minutes instead. That burned 481 calories. So my total for the day was 914 calories from exercise.

After the boys napped today, I did the Kempo with Aaron. I am soaked with sweat right now. LOL Calories burned so far today: 459. And tonight I will probably do another 45 to an hour on the elliptical again.

For whatever reason, my elliptical usually guarantees me a pound loss a day. I have no idea why. And I have no idea why I stopped using it... wait I do. It was because we moved. Then I joined a gym and the elliptical just stopped getting used. Well forget about that! The at home elliptical is my new best friend and we have a standing date every night I am not at the gym!

Ok. Tip of the Day!

Restaurant Recap

I had a great day yesterday.

Besides the one bummer of the boys being sick (their fevers are gone finally and they just have a nasty cough now) it was very pleasant.

Yesterday morning I did P90X yoga. Nice stretching and no problems (which I said yesterday) and burned 342 calories.

Last night I had a really nice dinner with my friend Melissa at Max and Erma's. It was a pleasant evening and it was so nice to be able to talk to someone about everything I am going through right now. Life for us is rough at the moment but we are working through it. It was funny that on the way to the restaurant, I heard a new to me song on the radio- "what doesnt kill you makes you stronger".

Anyways, we switched restaurants from the one that we were originally going to go to, so this is what I ordered.

I ordered the Cajun burger (which has caramelized onions and jalapeno cheese). I asked if I could get a grilled chicken breast with the seasonings instead. YES. I asked for no cheese and no mayo or what ever they put on it YES. I asked if instead I could get avocado and jalapeno slices. YES. And as my side, I had a small garden salad with a bit of olive oil and vinegar. The waiter messed up a bit and put guacamole on my sandwich instead of avocado but no big deal. There wasn't a ton on it so I wasn't worried about the extra calories. Also on the sandwich was lettuce and tomato. Yum!

I immediately dug into the salad and cut my sandwich in half. I pulled the breadstick that came with the salad off and set it to the side. I ate my entire salad and half of my sandwich. It was really really good and I told the waiter they should add it to the menu. It had excellent flavor and lots of spice. Capsacian (spelling is wrong on this, I am sure) that is found in hot peppers helps to burn calories you know.

I also had water with dinner. No soda or alcohol. Just plain ice water.

I got a To Go box and brought the other half of my sandwich home along with my breadstick.

And even though it was late (9pm), I went upstairs and changed into my work out gear and hit the elliptical for 45 minutes. Total calories burned from that: 458 calories.

And I went to bed tired.  And I slept good.

This morning I weighed myself (of course) and I stayed the same at 163.0. I couldn't be happier. I went out to eat and didn't gain. 

Today on my schedule is P90X legs, back and abs. Normally I go to Zumba and CX tonight, but the school is having a fundraiser pizza and dance party and I am in charge of decorations. So I will be up at the school at 5 tonight and then at 8 for clean up. I wanted to go to the party but because the boys are sick, I will just go and set up and come home then go back for tear down.

I will do P90X legs, back and abs in a little bit here and then I will run on the elliptical again tonight once I get home from tear down.

Tip of the Day:

Computer is back!

I got my computer back up and running...stupid user error I suppose...

The power cord wasn't unplugged from the wall but was unplugged from each other under the couch (if that makes sense because it is a 2 piece cord)...so even though I had my computer "charging" it really wasn't.

ANYWAYS....

To make up for it, I thought I would do some fun little facts and motivational sayings...

And finally...my favorite picture that I LOVE!