Tease Part 2

Ok I am not going to draw this out. I found some pictures last March on here (about 10 days before the tornado struck) and I thought I would compare with how I am currently. I took the pictures 2 days ago when I was 161 lbs. I am wearing the same shirt and same jeans (my sisters). You will notice that it looks like my shirt shrunk a little over the wearings and washings. The cowl is smaller and it is shorter. Sorry for the blurriness in the 2012 picture. I had to pull the photos from my blog. AND my mom so KINDLY pointed out that it isnt March 2013. LOL. Wishful thinking for spring to come?? But for whatever reason Picasa isnt letting me edit the text. So it is what it is. LOL

First comparision:

Photo 1: Jeans are looser around the knees and my sides arent as bumpy. Notice my weight is higher in the new photos.

Photo 2: I think my arms look a little firmer and my tummy a little flatter. Maybe the waist is a little narrower?

Photo 3: This is my favorite comparison. You can see a small muffin top with the 2012. The 2013 shows the button of the jeans sticking out. Also my butt in the 2013 photo looks much more rounder and lifted. Thighs also look a little smaller and are not straining the jeans as much.

What do you think? Can you tell a difference or are my eyes deceiving me? I will be taking another progression photo in my bikini on Saturday so stay tuned!

So last night it didnt take me as long to get to the gym because I didnt have to leave til 6pm. I actually left about 6 minutes or so earlier than that so I was at the gym by 6:15. Bonus! More time for running.

So I set off at an easy pace of 5.2mph. I was going to be running for about an hour before class. No sprints but a nice easy run. I got in 4 miles then dropped it down to walk for a few before bumping it back up. At one point I did go up to 6mph but I didnt want to fatigue myself too much before RPM. All in all, I stopped at 5 miles in.

Then we had RPM. By then my legs were pretty sore. But I pushed thru. I will admit I took it a little easier on the mountains than I normally do though. And during one of the songs Eric kept saying "squeeze your core" and I kept doing it. So much so I actually got a cramp in my ab. LOL. Thankfully it was the end of the song when it happened so I had a quick reprieve.

So last night at the gym I burned 1200 calories. Funny how a couple times now it has been right on and an even number.

This morning I weighed in at 158.0. Another pound gone and only 4 lbs til goal!!

And the best part?? I am wearing my size 6 jeans as I type. And they arent tight or do they have a lot of muffin top. Maybe I can get a picture of me in them later.

Today is more gym. Running and Zumba. I did message the gals to see if any of them want to go to Red Brick again tonight. I am torn if we do on what to order. They have a portebello mushroom burger or I could get the black bean burger again. Not sure which would be less in calories.

Well thats the news thus far today. Tomorrow I am actually going to go to the gym for RPM. Eric is filling in for a spinning class which means he can do whatever type of music he wants to do! Which means we are in for a KILLER class!! So if I dont post right away tomorrow, thats why!

Have a great day everyone!!

Tip of the Day:

Wednesday recap and Thursday Outlook

Sorry for the cursing in this picture. I love the sentiment though and thought I would share.

Yesterday the house was a bust. It needed A LOT of work. Now I am not afraid of work, but the layout was crummy and not at all conducive to entertaining. So a no go there.

Last night though I got in 4 miles on the treadmill before working with Eric. Then we did free weights. Chest night...So flys,presses, tricep dips, push ups, I got to play with a weighted ball and threw it down, I did donkey kicks...it was fun. Then he took me for abs. I laid flat on my back with my legs hanging off. Eric explained the "positions". 1- legs straight out 2- legs 30 degree angle 3- legs 60 degree angle and 4- legs 90 degree angle. Then he would tell me a number and I had to put my legs in that spot. So he might go 1, 3, 4, 1, 2, 4, 1, 4,1, 4.....and as he told me, I would put my legs there. I was laughing but oh holy hell. Sometimes he would say them fast. Sometimes slow so I had to hold my legs in that position for a few seconds. Finally he would finish and make me go to position 4 and do 15-30 pulse ups. AHHHH. By the third circuit I couldnt even pulse anymore. LOL.

Then I went back and walked another 1.5 miles to stretch out.
Calories burned: 873. Doesnt seem like much but heart rate goes down when you are laying down.

Today I woke up and weighed 159.0!!! Only 5 lbs til goal! How excited am I??

And today I am making a new vegan dish. Black Bean Enchiladas! Ymmy! I will let you know how they turn out.

Well if you havent noticed, this post is later than normal. I just got back from my Zumba Interview. This is how it went:

It didnt.

I got to the gym right on time. Had my resume, license, and iPod in tow. Told the girl at the front desk that I had a meeting with Pam and I was told to wait on the couch.

After 15 minutes of waiting, I was asked by the girl at the front desk what time my appt was for. I told her and asked if I could use the restroom because Pam wasnt even in the building yet.

When I came up the front desk girl asked me my name and handed me the phone. I thought it was Pam. Maybe she was sick, child was sick...whatever.

No. It was a man named Mike. Told me that Pam "suddenly resigned" yesterday. That he didnt know I had an interview today.How she left them in a lurch. Asked me if I knew how to manage fitness classes (ah no) and I gave him some of my background.

He told me that he would call me once they get a manager for the fitness classes and that he was interested in talking to me. Loved my story...yadda yadda.

I got off the phone with him and left my information. One of the guys that was behind the counter asked if I could give him some background about myself if I might be working there. So I went thru the whole story again. What I did before, how I was a stay at home mom, how I lost the weight etc. I had even brought in a before picture and showed it to him.

The whole thing just felt very unprofessional. I understand being left in a lurch but I was blindsided. Maybe it was my intuition kicking in? Dont know.

Now I am just upset and angry. Time to work off the aggression tonight at the gym.

Ok so I am off. Have to go get Landry from Preschool.
Have a great day everyone!!

Tip of the Day: Why Water is good for you!!

Treadmill Tuesday

Good Wednesday morning everyone!

Yesterday was a great day. I actually ate more calories than normal but stayed within my limit.

Last night my friend K let me come over to use her new treadmill. I went for an hour and got 4.5 miles in. I burned 551 calories.

Imagine my slight disappointment today when I see that I am at 161. Up a pound. It wasnt because I ate bad or didnt exercise so I am assuming it may just be some water retention or lactic acid build up.

Hopefully with tonight being running and upper body with Eric, I should be able to lose that and hopefully plus by tomorrow. I am going to add sprints into my running tonight. We shall see how that goes!

Tomorrow is my Zumba Interview/audition. I am VERY excited! I have been listening to my songs trying to figure out which ones to do. Wish me luck huh? I will try to do a post tomorrow afternoon letting you know how I did.

Today is going to be a fun day for us. Aaron and I are going to look at a house. We have some changes coming up this summer but it will be a new fresh start to everything we have gone thru this past year. Hopefully we arent too surprised today.

So this is my meals for today:
Breakfast: Ab juice (plus I added a beet- really yummy!), english muffin with PB, hard boiled egg
Lunch- Lunch will be on the go because of the showing but I am going to pack some celery and a Larabar
Dinner- cheese stick, some almonds and pretzels

This is all preliminary. Doesnt seem like much but I am sure I will be snacking during the day. Just harder for me to figure out what to pack on the go that is easy to eat.

Tomorrow I am making a vegan dish for dinner. My gym class is later so I can actually eat a little early. On the docket is smoky black bean enchiladas. They look fabulous! So I need to get a few groceries today from the store once I pick up Xavier from school.

Thats all the news I have for today. I need to get my kids up and out of bed for school. Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Tip of the Day:

Oh Happy Day!

So lately I have been trying to write a bit of my blog ahead of time and finish it up the day it goes live adding in my exercise, food, weight etc. It helps so I can get my thoughts straight and write, review, edit as necessary.

Well yesterday (today as I am writing this), I sat here trying to figure out what to write about. I was frustrated with our payroll because the money was taken out of my husbands work account and not yet deposited into our personal WHICH puts me a week behind in bill pay. So I was stressed. It was supposed to be direct deposited. Comerica told me that because both accounts (work and personal) were thru them that it would show same day. So imagine my freaking when the money was taken out last week and no sign of it today!! Then to top it off, Apricot has been missing for a week with no spottings of him anywhere.

Well God works in mysterious ways sometimes.

I called the payroll place. The money will be in there tomorrow. I was nervous because it is a new checking account and it is the first time we are direct depositing into this. So a big whew there.

Then all of a sudden I look up and Apricot is at our door! Seriously! A funny thing is that the other neighborhood cat, Skittles, was with him too (who is an outside only cat). I had contacted Skittles owner the other day and asked if she had seen Skittles because Apricot AND Penni's cat was missing...and she had seen him yesterday. She said she wished she could ask him where Apricot was. I just thought it was cute. Sort of like Skittles saying "hey I found him for you- here you go!".

Apricot was unharmed, warm, dry and a little hungry and thirsty. He has not lost weight or looks any different. His collar was still on. Yesterday I posted on our subdivision board that I was looking thru peoples backyards so if they saw me to not be alarmed. We have such a great neighborhood!

Now I dont know where he was, and I am not going to assume, but I wonder if a child or someone had him. He smells very smokey and not outdoorsy. I wonder if someone opened a door to go out and he escaped.  Or if he got trapped in someones garage. Poor Apricot kept meowing like he was trying to tell his story. I wish I could understand him.

I am just thankful that whether or not someone had him that he a. escaped or was released, b. was taken care of c. wasnt hurt and d. CAME HOME!

Penni's cat is still missing. Maybe we should send Skittles after her too. LOL. (Edited: Penni's cat came home last night. Maybe there was a cat convention somewhere LOL)

So now the worry can cease and I can get on with the day. Apricot is sleeping, I can pay bills tomorrow (today when this goes live), and the world will continue on.

Life is good.

Now to continue on with what I did for exercise yesterday...

I got to the gym and Ambreen was there to meet me. She gave me a vegan breakfast bar she made and some hawaiian chickpea teriyaki on couscous to try. Um...yum!

After she left (she had just finished her class) I jumped on the treadmill. I bumped my speed up to 6.0 and ran that for 1.6 miles then bumped my speed up to 6.5 to finish 2 miles out. Then because I was working legs, I took my speed down to 4.4 mph and finished another 1.75 miles before stopping to work with Eric.

Eric, Eric, Eric... We started with the leg press. Light weight...then he took me to the treadmill. Said he wanted to work on stamina. And he set that sucker to a speed of 8.5 mph and had me run that for 45 seconds. Who knew 45 seconds could be so long? Then we repeated that circuit adding weight, then back to the treadmill. Yeah. This time he took it to 10mph!! OMG I about died. For the third time on the leg press he added even more weight. When I was done he told me I had just pressed over 300 lbs! AHHH and OMG! Then back to the damn treadmill. He took pity on me and had me do 45 seconds at I "think" either 8.5 or 9.5mph. Not sure which. Shit, Shit, Shit.

Then it was time to relocate. I did squats alternating in the circuit with jump squats. Last round in the circuit I did 225 lb squats 4 times!!

Then it was onto deadlifts and fast mountainclimbers. I have no idea how much weight I deadlifted but I felt like I was the dead one. LOL.

Afterwards I walked on the treadmill for another 2 miles to stretch the legs out. Calories burned at the gym: 1000

When I got home it was just in time for Biggest Loser. My 13 goals group does a Biggest Loser Challenge during commercial breaks and because I was the one to make it up this week, well it meant I had to do it.

So first commercial break was a 1 minute forearm plank
Second commercial break was 25 SLOW mountainclimbers (each side)
Third commercial break was a 1 minute side plank
Fourth commercial break was a 1 minute side plank (other side)

If you could hold it longer than a minute, well then bonus for you. By that time for me a minute was all I could do.

This morning I woke up and was back down to 160.0. Nice!

So here is my plan of attack for today:
Breakfast: AB juice, english muffin with PB, hard boiled egg
Lunch: Hawaiian chickpea teriyaki, scallions, hummus w/ hot sauce
Dinner: Celery, a cheese stick and some hummus

Snacks: Almonds, pretzels

Workout will be my elliptical. I plan on running for an hour on my fat burning mode. Then I will probably do some more core work using my balancing ball. Oh and my shoulder exercises. Tomorrow is upper body with Eric so I want to make sure I work the shoulders tonight.

Landry got up this morning at 5am and puked so I am keeping him home today from school. So it will be a low key day for us otherwise. Luckily he made it to the bathroom and it was mostly phlegm but he went back to bed and slept where normally he would have stayed awake and played. SO because it is just preschool, I am keeping him out. If he has the flu bug I would rather not spread it.

Thats the news for now. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Tip/fact of the Day:

Nothing Monumental

Good Monday Morning everyone! What do you have planned for the day? How was your weekend?

Yesterday I decided to get a run in outside before the rain started back up. So when the kids went to bed, I took off. I was doing great with an average pace per mile of 9:34 UNTIL I was on the return road home. There is a huge but gradual hill almost the entire distance back to the house. I was trying to power run it, but it was SO long that I just couldnt do it and walked part of it. I mean my max heart rate was 192!!! I ended up running a distance of 3.14 miles in 31:18. I do have to add that this includes needing to stop for lights. And my average pace was 9:57 so I was running just slightly over 6 mph. I am VERY happy with that!!

Then I entered back into the sub and decided to look for our cat. He is still missing. The stray that was at the shelter was not chipped and was not picked up from this area. But I can tell you SOMETHING is going on. Penni's cat is now missing too! Her cat went out Saturday night and has not returned. Really weird. We dont think it is a coyote. We are too far into the sub for that. So we arent sure if someone is picking these cats up or hurting them or if another animal is getting them or what.  I am lucky the kids havent noticed yet. I am still waiting for that one.

So I am not sure how much longer I walked there but I do know that I froze my butt off. I was sweaty and cold and I stepped in a soggy bunch of grass that caused the water to go straight thru my shoe to my foot. And all with still no sign of him.

So for my running and cat search, I burned 530 calories. Not bad for an hour.

Then last night I ended up going for 30 minutes on the elliptical on the fat burn setting. I ended up getting in 2.18 miles. Then I did some arm exercises. Aaron came down to run too and I challenged him to do my same routine on the fat burn. He about DIED! LOL. He said "this is a lot harder than just running" um duh! My highest level on there is a level 9. About running thru mud. I told him he had to do that every night. That I do that same setting for an HOUR!! LOL.

My calorie burn last night was 426 for an hour. Not surprising for weights being involved.

I ate pretty good yesterday too. Breakfast was a modified juice. Beet, ginger, lime and kale. Then I had a hard boiled egg and a clementine to go with it. Lunch was my left over black bean burger from Friday night. I was really disappointed that my wrap from the night before got soggy and I had to throw it away. Dinner I kept it light with celery, scallions and some hummus and hot sauce. Then Xavier didnt eat his last Jets Breadstick so I ate that. Yum!

After working out I had a cheesestick, some pretzel sticks, almonds, and chips and salsa. The salt probably got me a little bit but I was hungry after running all that time.

Weight this morning was 162.5. So down a pound. I am hoping that if I keep on track I can sweat off the excess salt weight tonight at the gym. Tonight is running and lower body with Eric. My favorite!! I always love how sore he can make me....wait...that sounded bad. Wow that should NOT be taken out of context. LOL.

So that is my day for today. As I said in the title, nothing monumental. No huge weight loss, but slow, steady progress. I like it and I will take it.

And thanks for all the thoughts and prayers about our cat. I miss him VERY much. As much of a pain he was sometimes, he was SUCH a lover. And so good with the kids. He will be very missed.

Tip of the Day:

A little setback

Hey all!

A year from now what you do wish you would have started today? Are you waiting to start something? Are you procrastinating?? What are you afraid to start??

Yesterday was my rest day.

We first went over for noon to my Aunts house so I could help her with window coverings and such. Aaron went to my Uncles work to check it out. My uncle is in charge of a huge construction project in Detroit so Aaron was able to go and see the project because it is almost completed. They were there for 4 hours!!

I ended up eating pretty good at lunch. Orange bell pepper, an orange, cucumber, baby carrots, some olives (the italian kinds with the pits), and some wasabi almonds. The almonds were awesome but not clean. BUT they were pretty low in sodium so I opted for them over smoked almonds. Then I snacked on some white cheddar cheese here or there.

Because it was so late when they got back (and the 2 men hadnt had lunch) we had a quick snack of cheese, crackers, and olives.

Then we went to dinner. I ordered a chipotle black bean wrap.(I had half of one) It is AWESOME! I did have some fries with ketchup too. For my dessert I had a half of chardonnay.

Then when we got home I had the urge to snack. I had another glass of wine, some pretzels, a small breadstick, some almonds...really not bad stuff.

BUT between the salt from the olives, the alcohol and cheese and bread, I gained weight. 3.5 lbs to be exact. I am back at 163.5 lbs. Its ok though. I am back on track today and I WILL get into the 150's this week!!

This morning I am enjoying a juice. I had to make it up for the fact that I am out of lemon and cucumber. LOL. So I used the rest of my spinach, some kale, a beet, half a lime and 1" of ginger. Not bad!

For breakfast I will be having a clementine and a hard boiled egg.

Lunch I am going to have a little early and have my black bean burger.  Then while the boys nap I think I am going to go out for a run. It is overcast but in the 40's. Not horrible running weather.

Dinner will be light with celery and scallions and some hummus. Then I will run again tonight but this time on the elliptical and then do some upper body weights.

So I am not going to let this get me down. I am only 4 lbs away from the 150's! How exciting is that!

Have a great day everyone!

Tip of the Day:

Im Such a Tease!

Good Saturday everyone!!

Quick poll- Does the girl at the left look anorexic or no? I used this picture on my FB page yesterday and someone made a comment thinking she looks anorexic. While I used the picture more for the phrase, it brings up an interesting question. I say she looks fit. An anorexic doesnt have abs like that. Doesnt have muscle tone like that. But that is me. What do you think?

First I want to recap... then I have a bit of a teaser for you :)

So most importantly- I beat 30 minutes for 3.1 miles! I was able to finish in 29:12. Now that also includes me having to pause and restart so that takes a little bit of time to rev back up to the program. I was running 6.2+ mph. Some points I even took it up to 7.0mph.

Then I finished out my time before Zumba with walking and talking with Ambreen. I ended up getting in 4.26 miles before Zumba. Then we had Zumba. I dont know why, but I was REALLY high energy last night even after running crazy speeds. I was sweating like a pig too. Maybe it was because I was trying to get my energy up for my audition next week? Not sure. Either way, I burned 1288 calories. A scorcher for a Zumba night for me.

Then I flew home and showered quick before K came and picked me up.

Red Brick was our destination. It took us a while to be seated and I started to feel pretty bad. I was starting to get the sweats and I could feel my sugar dropping. I got a glass of water and ended up going to the bathroom first to pee and second just to fricken sit. My sides were hurting from exercise and still from Wed workout. It was hurting to stand. Finally we were seated and I started to feel better.

I ordered the blackbean burger. It comes on a pretzel roll with lettuce, avocado and tomatoes. I had them add onions. It also comes with a side of tomato aioli.  Sort of like a dry salsa (no liquid). It was nice because I also had the option of a side salad which I took and asked for oil and vinegar on the side. I ended up not using any of the oil but just the vinegar. I ate my entire salad (it tasted SO good probably because I was famished!) and 1/3 of my burger. The burger was FANTASTIC!! I made sure to pack it up and bring it home.

This morning I weighed in at 160.0. Pretty proud of myself that I could eat out and lose weight. It was really late when we ate too.

Ok folks...I promised a teaser. Remember how I mentioned my favorite pair of jeans? And how they were getting a bit big? Remember how I mentioned that I have a few days left until my next round of pictures....WELL...I decided to give you some teasers showing you in my favorite jeans.

See how big they are getting on the side? They were not this loose when I was in the 150's before!!

 

 

I look a little scary in these pictures. LOL. I am wearing minimal makeup and my hair is up because I had the gym last night (pictures were taken yesterday). Nothing I hate worse then sweating off makeup and having it run into your eyes. LOL

Just for reference, these are size 28 jeans from the Buckle. Miss Me is the brand. :) I wonder if I could get into a 27 yet....hmmmm.....Not buying any until closer to summer but it is fun to try on to see progress.

I dont want to give too much away, but I can tell that my stomach is shrinking by where the excess skin hits on my body. Not to get gross but yeah well...ya know. 

Hope you like the teasers. I will be taking really truly comparisons next week!

Today I think I am taking a rest day. I am going to my Aunt Carries today to meet with a lady that is coming out to measure for treatments. I am sort of my aunts interior designer. LOL. I have no idea what time I am going to get home.

I do have some sad news. Our cat has been missing since Monday night. I did contact the police and the animal shelter. This is very not like him to be gone for so long. Neighbors have been out looking for him too. Last night I was on the humane societies website (where I posted the lost ad) and they do have a stray that came in a couple days ago that looks like it could be him. But I wont know until I call to see where this stray was picked up and if this stray is declawed in the front. If so, the next step will be to see if he has his microchip and to go in to look at him. This stray has a very small white spot where Apricots collar would be. He did start going gray in spots so maybe the spot was just hidden by his collar. I am not holding out much hope but I have to call to find out. Please keep Apricot in your prayers.

That is it for today folks. Have a great Saturday!

Tip of the Day:  Good to drink with the flu outbreak.