Biggest Loser and recaps

First if you havent watched Biggest Loser yet and you dont want it spoiled, skip this part of my blog today.

Fair warning!

Ok for those of you who watched it...

What did you think?

Do you like how they are handling the childhood obesity issue?

I like that they are having the kids do the work at home. 1. because the kids parents have issues themselves so it will be good for the whole family to do this 2. because these kids dont need to be subjected to the insane trainings that the adults on the ranch go thru 3. because the kids dont need the politics and games that they always do on the ranch in order not to be voted off

I also love that they arent weighing the kids on national television AND that they cant get voted off. AND they are showing the kids that exercise can be fun!!

Now what did you think of the puke fest that happened? And what did you think of the one guy falling off of the treadmill (repeatedly)? And finally, what did you think about Nikki quitting?

I felt her pain. It struck a nerve with me when she said she wasnt ready. How many times did you diet but because you werent ready the weight came back on (and then some)? I can raise my hand to this! It seemed like I was always losing weight to please others but never for myself.

I am glad that she is going home to see a psychologist to work thru her problems and to help herself get ready to adapt to a new healthy lifestyle. I mean- it took me (and is still taking me) a LONG time to readjust my head. I used to look in the mirror when I wore a size 24 and see a size 14. Now that I am a size 8 I look in the mirror and see a size 24. It is just never ending is it?

My sadness lies in the fact that I really wish that she could have asked herself before coming on the show if she was ready for this. Anyone who watches the show knows how hard the first workout is. And you know that it ALWAYS ends with at least one person puking. Her coming on the show and then quitting means that someone else in that audience got ripped off from coming on the show. Now before you start sending me hate letters, think about it. Do you think that she thought that the first day would be a walk in the park? That she weighed close to 300 lbs but could complete with ease the workouts that Jillian, Bob or Dolvett was going to give her?

It is never easy. When you weigh close to 300 lbs or more and you let yourself go for that long, every day is a struggle.

You have to want it...to live it...to be willing to die for it, to work hard for it in order to get off that much weight. Trust me. I was there myself.

To think that I will just go on the Biggest Loser and I will come home skinny like it is some magic skinny pill isnt realistic. These people work out ALL. DAY. LONG! That takes stamina.

I am glad that she decided to leave now. Go. Get help. I wish that they would update on her at the finale but I dont think they will. I wish her luck though in conquering her demons. We all have them. It is how you slay them that counts.

NOW...

Yesterday I ate well. I had my Mean Green smoothie and I had to strain it. I think that was due to the ginger and celery. For lunch I made a beet juice. I was in the middle of drinking it and baking kale chips at the same time when my timer for the chips went off. I stood up and my computer cord whipped the juice right off the table. UGH. Thankfully we have hardwood floors but it looked like a bloody mess. LOL.
Dinner was more vegan chili. Nom Nom!

Then last night I went on the elliptical for an hour and also did my plank a day. 2 min 15 seconds. That is fricken forever!! And I also beat my record for the elliptical.

I was able to do 4.62 miles on the elliptical in an hour. Really good on the fat burn setting. I was on level 9 which is constantly like running thru mud. In the hour and a half that I worked out, I was able to burn 820 calories.

Today I weighed in the same at 165.0. I am cool with that.

For breakfast I had an english muffin with peanut butter, a hard boiled egg, and an ab juice. Kale, spinach, cucumber, broccoli and lemon. Sounds gross I know but I added a bunch of ice and 3/4 of a lemon and it just tasted like a tart lemon water. I could drink it every day. Honestly. Once I got to the bottom of the juice though were the little left over bits and I couldnt drink that so I tossed that part.

BUT

My Nutribullet stopped working. I am SO bummed. So I will have to pack it up and take it back to Kohls tomorrow. I dont really know what happened. Luckily Kohls is a great store so I should just be able to exchange it.

My cousin and her kids are coming over in just a bit so for lunch I will probably have some almonds and some more chili.

Tonight is running and then working my legs with Eric. I dont know if you saw the big rubber band that Nikki was using last night when she was with Jillian, but that is one of the exercises that Eric and I do. So I messaged him asking if we could use that again and he said yes! Very excited.

Ok everyone..I am off to clean my floors quick of the childrens crumbs before more crumbs come down onto the floor. LOL. Have a great Monday!

***PS I was asked what was in the Healthe Trim that was the appetite suppressant and it is Saffron. Healthe Trim uses real saffron extract in their pills***

Tip of the Day:

Healthe Trim Update, Recipes and more!

Good Sunday morning all!

First I want to address Healthe Trim and where I am at with it and then I will recap what I did yesterday and my juice experience this morning.

Healthe Trim.

When I bought it back before Thanksgiving, I was in the 180's weight wise. I was still working out but it wasnt coming off like I wanted. I had already started working with Eric a couple times but even with the running, and the zumba, I wasnt seeing the numbers move much.

So I thought that I would give the new Raspberry Healthe Trim a go. Now I do have to admit this...

I still drank coffee after being on Healthe Trim for about 3 weeks. For 3 weeks I cut caffeine completely!! I wanted to see how my body felt on it for a while.

They say to not drink caffeine because there is already caffeine in the pills from green tea and they dont want you to get shaky. However! I have a VERY high tolerance for caffeine- probably from all the other diet pills I used to take LOL. So I found that I didnt get the shakes even with coffee in the morning.

Now that doesnt mean that you should go out and drink pop (soda) because it has caffeine.

These pills will not work if you have artificial sweeteners. They just wont. End of story.

Way, way back, I didnt stop the artificial sweeteners and surprise, surprise they didnt work. This means to read labels. Now I think they are talking about artificial sweeteners in big amounts. Soda, ice cream, cookies etc. The reason being is that artificial sweeteners negate the appetite suppressant that is in the pills. FAIR WARNING! And a LOT of the so called "diet foods" have artifical sweeteners so READ!

Anyways...

If you look at my weigh in chart, you can see that I started dropping weight pretty quickly after that (with the exception of the couple of holiday days). And even when I did gain the weight, it dropped back off quickly.

I would take 2 pills in the morning about 6am when I got up to get the kids ready for school. Have breakfast about 8:30, then have lunch about noon, take two more pills at 2pm and have a light dinner after I worked out. They say to wait a couple hours after taking the pills to make sure they absorb into your body before you eat.

The thing I noticed about these pills quickly is that my hunger disappeared. These pills are great for making you feel full faster. I would take them in the morning and really have to push myself to have breakfast. And yes. Have breakfast. It is what is going to get your body burning the food fast during the day. And try to make breakfast your BIGGEST meal of the day. It will burn all day long and you wont go to bed with a stuffed stomach. If you skip breakfast, your body goes into starvation mode and you can actually GAIN weight. Dont want that do we??

So now I am down to my last few pills. And I am going to hoard them for emergencies. Just in case I need to reorder and want some to get me thru until my order gets here.

As of right now I am no longer taking Healthe Trim. Yesterday was my first full day off of it.

No you dont have withdrawl. Or shakes...or suddenly become ravenous.

Why am I stopping it you may ask.

Well I just feel like I am in a good spot now. I have gotten back down and my body is responding really well to my exercise. Healthe Trim helped get my mind and body in a good place. And I know from this point on, I can do this on my own.

These pills are costly. But they do work. BUT to get the best results, you should start changing your diet. Track what you eat and also exercise. I do know people who didnt do anything to change their diets. They still ate the pizza, hot dogs etc and they said the pills made them feel fuller faster. And they were successful at losing weight. BUT what you have to consider if this is the route you are going to go, is that are you going to LISTEN to your body and STOP when you feel full? Otherwise, forget it. These pills wont help you. They arent magic. You cant continue to eat a half of a pizza and expect to lose weight with a magic pill. Thats the fact. But if you can eat pizza, listen to your body and STOP when your body tells you that you feel satiated and full, then yup these will work for you. For me I had to cut my arm off in order to stop the cancer. LOL- bad analogy I know. BUT I had to stop eating the bad stuff because I knew starting out that if pizza was put in front of me that I couldnt say no. That I would overeat to the point of being sick. So this is all about what works for you.

Would I buy them again? Yes. I am a supporter of this company. And I think I have used just about all their products. And just as a reminder- I am not compensated by Healthe Trim for this review. I bought them on my own, with my own money. Yes they sent me the Cleanse for free because of the ordering mix up but that is because they are a great company and would probably do the same for you.

Ok I hope this answers your questions. Let me know if you have more!!

Back to yesterday!

I ended up running out when the boys went down for a nap to get a book called the Happy Herbivore. It is a low fat vegan cookbook. My friend Ambreen has been cooking out of it and all the food looks so good. So after talking with Aaron yesterday morning about my decision to become vegetarian (on a trial basis) and how I want to do the juice fast and also incorporate a vegan dish into our meals once a week, I went and got the cookbook.

After that I ran to Meijer and bought a ton of produce to get me thru the week.

Last night I made vegan chili for dinner. It is awesome!

And then I made vegan black bean brownies. I know, I know, it sounds really gross but you pulse it all up and you cant taste the beans at all. It really takes the place of the flour density. And there is oatmeal in it as well.

The kids werent fans of chili so they had hot dogs. I made them each try one bite but they just werent digging it. It is a bit spicy so that is ok. I will continue to have them try one bite each time. Then if they dont like it, they dont have to eat it.

Aaron and I both had the chili and again- it was awesome! I didnt miss the meat at all. The beans made me feel really full with just over a cup of the chili. And for just over a cup of chili, it has 307 calories, 1.9 g fat, 17.2 g protein, 18.6 g fiber, 117% of Vitamin C for the day plus so many other great vitamins and minerals.

And the boys LOVED the brownies. A big pat on the back for me for now being able to sneak in beans, bananas, and oatmeal into their diets thru a brownie. LOL. The brownies are really fudgie and dense. They say one batch yields 9 brownies but I can only have a small piece at a time. Excellent for when I crave chocolate. It stops me from over indulging. And for 1/9 of a pan of brownies, it has 112 calories, 0.9 g fat, 12.2g sugar, and 3.5 g protein. Well I should say that this is if you go by the recipe. I tweaked it. Instead of agave nectar, I used real maple syrup. And instead of raw sugar, I used a squirt of raw honey.

After that the boys got to bed and I went downstairs and ran 1 mile on the elliptical. I was waiting for my friend to come over to work out in the basement. I was getting frustrated because we got a new stereo for the iPod/iPhone and even though it was plugged in, it kept turning itself off after a few minutes. Finally I put batteries in it to see if that helped. It did but why in the world do I have to put batteries in something if it plugs into a wall? Ugh.

Anyways so I had to keep getting on and off the elliptical to fiddle with the stereo and turn it back on.

Finally after a mile I stopped, got off and called Aaron down to take a picture of me. No- no nakedness you perverts. LOL. I wanted to try doing that plank at home by myself that Eric had me do on Friday.

I was able to do it!! And with no assistance I might add!! And when my friend got here I showed her. She is doing the plank a day challenge with me and wanted to show her how to one up the challenge.

Then she and I did the plank a day 1:30 standard forearm plank. After that, I introduced her to Zumba and we did about 45 minutes. After that I showed her some exercises she could do with a balance ball, how to do side planks, mountain climbers and a couple other things to strengthen her core. All in all, for me in 1:28 I burned 619 calories. Not terrific but I will take it.

After the exercising was done, my friend left and Aaron and I watched Snow White and the Huntsman. Good movie. Nothing I would buy, but I would watch it again.

This morning I weighed in at 165.0. Woo hoo! Back down to my low pre holiday. Now to work towards getting back into the 150's. It is getting close!

This morning I decided that I would make a juice with all the produce I have. The first one I wanted to try is the Mean Green that was in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It has kale, ginger, lemon, granny smith apple, celery and cucumber in it. Well I ended up having to strain it from my nutribullet. I think with all the stringiness from the kale, ginger and celery it just made it too thick and I couldnt drink it. Once I strained it, it was pretty good. Zippy from the ginger for sure but I didnt have to choke it down.

Today my plan is to have another juice for lunch with some veggies and hummus and almonds and some chili for dinner. I also plan on making some kale chips. Yummy! Then I will run on the elliptical for an hour before calling it a night. It is a school night after all! WOO HOO!

Tip of the day: I have to share the recipes from yesterday just in case you want to try them. I will also include them on my recipes page for future reference. Please let me know if you try either of these recipes and how you like them. I would love to hear the feedback. And I will fill you in with recipes as I experiment with my vegetarian/vegan lifestyle.

VEGAN 3-bean chili
Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:
1 orange bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-squares
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-squares
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-squares
1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3-4 tablespoons water for sautéing
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons chili powder
3 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped (or one 16-ounce can diced tomatoes)
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained (or 1-1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Water or tomato juice as needed
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves or fresh parsley (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat up the few tablespoons of water in a heavy 4-quart saucepan over medium heat. This is to replace the oil that is often used for sautéing.
2. Add the bell peppers, onion, garlic, oregano, and chili powder, cayenne, coriander, and cumin, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the tomatoes, the canned corn, and all the beans, and bring to a boil. Add a little water as needed.
4. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, adding water or tomato juice as needed if too much liquid evaporates. Season with salt and black pepper, and stir in the cilantro or parsley. Serve in shallow bowls.

Serving suggestions and variations:
*Add a dollop of non-dairy sour cream on top of the chili once it’s plated.
*You can obviously use any color variation of bell pepper; the more color variety, the prettier the dish is. Same goes for the beans. You can use all black or white (Navy, Great Northern, etc.) instead of pinto. It’s really up to you, your preferences, and what you have on hand.
*Add more cayenne and chili powder to make it hotter.
*Serve with different color tortilla chips: white, red, and black/blue.
*Sprinkle shredded non-dairy cheese over the chili. (Follow Your Heart brand is delicious. Check Whole Foods and other large natural foods stores, or ask your grocer to order it)

VEGAN Black Bean Brownies
1 15 oz can black beans, drained, rinsed
2 spotted bananas
1/2 cup agave nectar (I used real maple syrup)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup raw sugar (optional) (I used just a squirt of Raw Honey)
1/4 tsp salt (optional) (I didnt use)
1/4 cup instant oats

-Preheat oven 350
-Grease 9-inch square pan
-Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender (except oats) and blend until smooth
-Stir in oats and dump into a pan
-Bake 30 mins or until toothpick comes out clean

Lots of updates!! Movies, Moves and More!

Good morning all! I hope you are all going to have a FABULOUS Saturday! 

Yesterday was an excellent workout day. I got in 3.12 miles before Zumba class. My legs were REALLY sore so I started off walking at 4.0 to warm the muscles a bit and then I picked it up to 5.0 mph. I didnt want to injure or push myself too hard. Then my friend Ambreen showed up (the one I did the Holiday Hustle with) and I slowed to a walk so we could talk.

Then we had Zumba class. It was great as always though I had to cut it back because my legs hurt so badly. Remember I still had to work out with Eric after this.

In Zumba we did some fun classic songs as well as some newer ones.

Then I cut out of the cool down because class was running over in order to work with Eric. There was no point in cooling down when I still needed to be warm.

With Eric I did chest presses, some flys, negative arm dips, and a bunch of other arm stuff I dont know the names for. AND I did something AWESOME. A plank. Not just any old plank. My feet were up on a bench and my arms were on a balance ball. So there I am completely off the ground and I feared that I was going to fall to the side and bash my head into the huge plate that was next to me. LOL. Luckily Eric helped me steady the ball. I did that exercise twice and I held it for 30 seconds each. I plan on practicing that move at home.

I ended up burning 1235 calories during my 2:33 at the gym. I was very happy with that.

Yesterday I also made my first smoothie for lunch. Here is what it was: 3 celery ribs, 1 granny smith apple, 14 almonds and some cinnamon. The cinnamon helped a lot. Before I added the cinnamon the smoothie was pretty bland with a hint of sour from the apple. But I was VERY full and it lasted until I was done at the gym.

Today though I am going to make some adjustments. Instead of a granny smith, I am going to use a gala apple which is sweeter. I am also going to add the cinnamon before I blend the smoothie. 

I do need to go to the grocery store and will either do that today or tomorrow. I need to get more veggies- beets, carrots, more celery, kale, spinach...etc. 

I found an interesting chart on "Juicing Vegetables" that shows how much protein you can get from each veggie. I am going to include that as my tip of the day. Lots of people ask of vegans or vegetarians "If you are a (fill in the blank), how are you going to get your needed protein?"  Well veggies are a great way. Some of them have more than beef, chicken or eggs.

And speaking of that....

Yesterday I watched a couple movies. One was Hungry for Change. This was a great supplement to Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It wasnt as entertaining, and basically included what I already knew, but it was still good to watch.

Then I started over with Vegucated which I HIGHLY recommend watching. I dont know that I will be able to eat meat again. I think I am going to make an effort to go vegetarian/ partly vegan. There were things they pointed out in the movie that I found surprising. Did you know Oreos are Vegan?? The movie just didnt focus on the diet, and didnt just focus on the treatment of animals but went a bit deeper into the health and environmental side. She found 3 people on Craigslist that would be interested in becoming vegan for 6 weeks and that wanted to learn about it. The experiment was to see at the end how these peoples health improved and if they went back to being an omnivore. I would LOVE to have Aaron watch this movie just once. But really I know that is a fat chance in hell. Hey I am being realistic here!

My friend Ambreen has gone vegan and has a great cookbook that I am on the hunt to get. It is called the Happy Herbivore. She said every recipe she has made from the book has been good. I was concerned about some of the vegan ingredients been processed (because I try to eat clean) BUT she was saying they really dont use that stuff in the book. So my hope is that I can make one vegan dish a week for the family.

This morning I weighed in at 165.5. Woo hoo!! Only 1/2 lb from my low.

Tonight I plan on either going on the elliptical or doing some Zumba if some friends are interested in coming over. I also need to do some arm weights. Eric showed me some strength moves for my shoulder that he wants me to do at home. He hasnt pushed me too hard for my upper body and I really want him to. So I need to do some on my own to strengthen the weak shoulder.

Ok this has gone on too long for today. And for whatever reason Blogger isnt allowing me to type next to my pictures so this seems longer than normal.

Have a great day everyone!

Tip of the Day: I Found this REALLY interesting!

Positive Progress Again

Ah well.

Yesterday as the day wore on the more sore my legs got. By the time I got to the gym and out of the car I could barely move.

So I opted for a slow run moving into a walk before RPM to try to stretch the legs out.

I ended up getting in 3.5 miles. Not as many as I wanted.

When I put on my cycling shoes for RPM and got on the bike, I knew it was going to be a rough class.

I ended up having to really step back my pressure on my bike. My knees were twinging when I cycled and I didnt want to hurt them!! So I ended up taking it easier than I normally like.

Though I did end up burning 985 calories in 2 hours. That was a positive.

After I got home from the gym it was rough. I ended up munching on some string cheese and going up to the shower. A scalding shower to hopefully help my legs. After that I came back down and took some Advil and went to bed.

I am still super slow and achy today. Not sure how I am going to make it thru running, Zumba and upper body training with Eric tonight. All I know is that when I start cursing out Eric when I am training with him, it means I am going to be REALLY sore the next day. Good to know we found that fine line. LOL. And now he knows it. Oh baby. I am in trouble tonight!

Today I weighed in at 166.5.

Three pounds lost yesterday!!

This means that the majority of the weight I gained over the holiday was water weight. And with a little effort you and I can get the weight off. I mean I lost 8 lbs in two days!!

And I am only 1.5 lbs away from where I was pre holiday.

I got this.

And I got an awesome surprise in the mail yesterday. My Nutribullet came a day early!

Bummer is that I found out yesterday that we arent getting paid until next week so I am going to have to put off my juice fast until next week. Not a big deal. I am going to juice what I have around the house. The boys have already had two juice/smoothies which have mostly been fruit. But they are into it and Xavier MADE me add veggies into the juice today. LOL. Here is what they had so far:

1. tomatoes, carrots, celery, blackberries, blueberries and frozen bananas- Xavier doesnt like blackberry seeds and I noticed this didnt pulverize the seeds like I thought that it would. This was not a favorite of his.

2. This morning they are having celery, apple, pear, grapes and frozen banana. They like this one much better. No seeds. And it was more of a juice consistency though it was a little thicker than a store bought juice.

I really like this machine. It is very quiet compared to my NuWave style bullet blender and it blends REALLY quickly. My next door neighbor said that I could borrow her juicer (which is a Kenmore) and I may take her up on it while I do my reset just to compare between the smoothie and juicer.

So here is my meal plan for the day. I am out of english muffins so I need to switch it up a bit.

Breakfast- quick oats with cocoa, real maple syrup, and cinnamon, a hard boiled egg and some turkey
Lunch-  I will be making a celery, grape tomatoes, granny smith apple, almond, lemon juice
Dinner- Probably some turkey and a cheese stick

 What are your plans for the day? Anyone else planning on doing a juice reset?

Tip of the Day:
This is a great list to take with you to the grocery store showing which foods to buy organic.

Summer Inspiration. It is only 6 months away after all!

Yup. I edited the photo. I couldnt find one that had 2013 on it so I made my own (as crude as it is).

I think it is a great reminder for those of us with goals of rocking a summer swimsuit. Those 6 months will fly by!

How do you want to look?

Do you have summer goals you are trying to achieve?

I know I do!

I want to rock out my two piece bathing suits I have.

I want to get a new bathing suit showing off my new flat stomach.

I want to be able to wear a string bikini without having hip bumps (fat saddle bags).

I want to have glamor muscles (back and arms).

So I thought I would share some of the pictures that keep me on track with you!

I had to edit a couple of them. I must be early on finding 2013 images on Pinterest. That or I dont know where the heck to look anymore.

Now for the kicker.

What are you going to do to get your summer body?

How are you staying on track? For me it will be continuing tracking in MyFitnessPal and working out at home and at the gym.

K and I went to Dicks Sporting Goods the other day so she could replace her treadmill and recumbent bike that were totaled in the tornado.

We decided that we would do at home gym nights and alternate at each others houses. So for example, if Aaron goes out of town (which is on his schedule for Jan and Feb) we can work out here because I wont be able to go to the gym.

And once Eric's wife has their baby in Feb, I will be on my own for a few weeks. I will probably pick up Body Pump and still take RPM with whoever subs for him but I still will need to have a backup.

It will be a great way to have a fun refreshing workout and have a buddy who has the same goals as you!

Do you like to work out with a buddy? Or if not working out with someone, do you have an accountability partner??

Fill me in. Goals and Plans. Thats what this forum is about afterall. Having someone there who reads and understands!!

Also I had someone mention about juicing or a smoothie using a blender or Magic Bullet. I want to go over what I ordered and what the difference is.

I bought the NutriBullet which is made by the people who make the Magic Bullet.

The difference is that it is an extractor. It is designed to break down the cell walls and release the nutrients into the smoothie/drink.

Basically it pulverizes the food completely so it isnt chunky like a smoothie and more like a juice. It can do carrots, cashews, peanuts, flax seed and so much more without having any chunkiness. And you dont lose the pulp like you do in a juicer. The pulp and rinds usually have the most nutrients in them.

In fact, I found one person on you tube that compared the nutribullet with the vitamix and they got just about the same pulverization.

Hey if I dont have to spend $300 on a juicer, I will be excited!

And with my NuWave blender breaking, I thought this was a great chance to try this one out. And I got a gift card for Christmas for Kohls and I had a 20% coupon.

So it should be here tomorrow. And one of my goals for the year is to do a 10 day juice fast. I now belong to an online group called "Juicing Vegetables". I have gotten a ton of recipes from there so I can experiment. Funny thing is too that it is mostly veggies and little fruit. Fruit has so much sugar in it that they recommend more veggies over fruit. So I am going to give it a shot. What have I got to lose right?

Ok...now to recap yesterday.

I got 5 miles in on the treadmill. 3.5 miles before working with Eric and another 1.5 afterwards. We did 30 minutes of legs. I am so sore today!! I did 175 lb dead lifts. One of my goals for the year is to do 200 lb deadlifts. So I am getting close!!!

We also did squats, one leg squats (with  no weights), I stepped up onto a bench and then back down into a lunge, I did high  knees and then I did jump squats.

Last night was the first night I cursed Eric out. LOL. He said he knows he is doing something right when I curse.

He took pity on me and we did no abs because my abs were still sore from working them this weekend.

He also talked to me about maybe going to 3 days a week of training. I am responding so well to what he is doing, he wants to take it to the next level. I am thinking about going to three days a week in March.

Then when I got home I did my 1:30 plank. Ouch-a-roo! Anyone else doing the challenge with me?

Tonight is more running and RPM. I am looking forward to running tonight to flush the legs out. I am sore!!

But the best part?

I lost 5 lbs yesterday! Yup. I said that right. 5 lbs!

The water weight from the ham came right off.

Back down to 169.5 this morning. Phew.

Now to tackle the rest of the weight I gained over the holidays. I can do it!

Can you??

Tip of the Day:

Not a roaring start but today is a NEW day!!

Yes well first the positives...

I drank my 2L of water that is on my goal list for 5 days a week.

Bad news?

Water+Sodium= Bloat...

A LOT of bloat.

I had ham yesterday. Not a ton but obviously enough. I ate pretty good otherwise though. A small glass of wine, lots of veggies, hummus and a couple cookies.

But today when I got on the scale?

174.5 lbs!

Ouch! Big ouch! Clothes still fit fine. Tummy looks a little bloated. Oh well.

Water weight that I will sweat out at the gym tonight. And guess what?

I am staying away from that fricken ham. LOL.

So tonight is the treadmill and working with Eric. Not sure if we are going to do legs or upper body. We will need to figure that out.

I will be curious too to how much water weight I lose tomorrow.

BUT!

And funny enough- I am not stressing over it. Before I used to get down on myself. Maybe it is because I know that with working with Eric that I can do it. I am going to get to my goal. Maybe it is because now that the holidays are done, I can get back to my normal food and not be tempted anymore. Maybe it is because my Nutribullet should be coming today or tomorrow and I am going to start my juice/smoothie fast. I cant wait to try that!! I want to try beets and carrots...all sorts of crazy veggies I could never do in my old blender.

Today Penni and I are planning on taking the kids to see the Guardians Movie. Ya know...the one with the tooth fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa, etc? We will probably get the kids lunch there. Good for me because I dont buy theater food (for me).

So my breakfast is a big one. An English Muffin with Krema Peanut Butter, 1 hard boiled egg, a little bit of turkey, and Olympus Greek Yogurt with Honey. For lunch I will have some carrots and celery. (I will probably take a small bag of it into the movies with me). Dinner will be after I hit the gym. Probably a little bit of turkey and a cheese stick. Time to get back on track!!

Tonight is the gym.

I will be curious in going to the gym tonight to see how busy it is. Usually after the first of the year you NEED to get there when they put the sheets out for classes 45 minutes before the class actually starts. Zumba is the one that you really have to be there earlier than that and wait in line. Not kidding. Thankfully I dont have to sign up for anything tonight. I just need my treadmill and Eric and whatever crazy contraptions he has me use tonight. And all the people usually last for about a month. Then they stop coming. LOL.

And now for the tip of the day....or should I say Challenge of the Month! 

Who is going to join me???

New Year, New Me, New Beginning!

Happy 2013 everyone!

I hope this year brings you everything you work for and desire!!

Yesterday I did work out at home. I did 45 minutes of Zumba abs and core work. I didnt burn much (247 calories) but my abs were sore.

Then later on I did an hour on the elliptical and some more core work. I burned 590 calories.

I ate fine during the day BUT I knew I was going to gain weight that evening from alcohol bloat.

Aaron ended up running out to Buffalo Wild Wings and got me traditional mango habenero wings, himself teriaki wings, and we split an order of parmesan garlic chicken flatbread. We didnt end up eating until about 9pm and we were starving by that time!

Then to drink I had wine mixed with Sierra Mist for a spritzer of sorts. I had a few of those and I made Aaron a drink that was Sierra Mist, orange pineapple juice and whipped cream vodka. Yummy!

So no surprise today that even though I had less wings than I had planned on, that I gained weight. 2lbs to be exact. BUT my stomach doesnt look bloated. It looks nice and lean and thin. And my abs hurt something awful! Weight today: 169.5. Still in the 160's.

So to me it was a good way to start the year. Do I like the weight gain? No. But do I know that I will get the weight back off? Yes. So no big deal.

Today Penni and family and K are coming over. I am making (having) spiral ham, green bean casserole, chips and salsa, cookies, veggies and hummus, wine. K is bringing beer. Penni is bringing mac and cheese for the kids and she *thinks* pumpkin muffins.

Good thing is, I dont care for ham or green bean casserole so I will be sticking mainly with veggies.

Everyone is coming over about noon. The kids can play, ladies can chat and visit and boys can watch football.

THEN tonight!!

Dont know if you have a Lovers Lane in your area or not, BUT they are having a 50% off sale EVERYTHING in the store today.

If you are new to my blog, you probably dont know that when we moved to this house over a year ago that someone stole ALL of my clothes out of our garage. I mean all my underwear, shirts, socks, dresses, everything!!  So I have slowly been replacing things. It ended up being a good thing but I lost some things that I really liked and couldnt replace. Well the other day I went to get something slinky and cute on for my husband and I forgot I no longer had that outfit anymore. So this sale is PERFECT!!

The sale is from 12-6 in store only so I figured that if I go about 4:30 we will have time to shop for an hour. I messaged Penni and K to see if they wanted to go and while K hasnt responded, Penni said she is in. Should be a nice way to ring in the new year with the hubby. Bow chicka bow wow....LOL.

So thats what I am up to today. Do you have a new year party today? Or are you starting back into the gym today??

What are your new year resolutions? I would love to hear them!

Tip of the day: I will soon be starting a juice fast and want to share some of the recipes I will be trying with you! I "liked" a Facebook page called Juicing Vegetables and they have some great recipes.