Friday Check-In

Today is a good day. This week has been a great week! I have really stuck to my plan. I've eaten smaller portions, felt full and got a grip on the mindless snacking. I woke up at 5:30 this morning, excited and anxious to see if the scale budged at all in my favor. It did!!! I lost 3.1 lbs!!!!! I am so happy! this is better than I ever did on Weight Watchers last year, or the time I tried Advocare's 24 day challenge. I feel like I am off and running! I have been exploring some different workouts. Next week I am going to start more HIIT/Crossfit type workouts and see where that gets me. Its all about finding out what works for you. So far, I am loving the fact that I am in a weight loss support group with my mom, and my 3 very best pals from home. It makes such a difference!!!

Workout

http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/strategic-circuit-training-maximum-calorie-burn This is the workout that I did last week. I love it! I'm keeping it for future use

First Week

This week went SO well in some aspects, and not so well in others. The good: My week started off shaky. I wasn't feeling great and had a couple of not so great workouts. Hey, something is better than nothing though. Monday I did some Piyo. It was a Crunch Fitness video I found on youtube. I ate well all day, but then we had a PTA meeting Monday night and I didn't plan a dinner (this is the biggest lesson I've learned this week. I need to plan better). I made popcorn for dinner.... Tuesday I started my new class at the gym. I've taken classes with this instructor before and he's always intense. The class was from 6-6:30 and I wanted to get something in before hand but I wasn't sure if I should run and over do it, then feel beat by the time I get to his class. I decided to spin fo about 25 minutes. I also did make a good dinner and only ate half of what I normally would with this dish. Wednesday was a day of struggle. I got to the gym ready to go. I finally felt better and I had planned to use the stair climber and then do a full body HIIT workout. Well, I got off the stairs and felt like I was starving. Then I felt like I was weak and shaky from being so hungry. I shouldn't have been hungry, I ate well and ate plenty.... So, I ended up riding the bike for another 20 minutes and doing some abs. I hate that I couldn't do the workout I had planned. But when Thursday rolled around, I was at my best. I found a great workout from Muscle and Fitness mag that I wrote up and did and then I ran 3 set of Tabata sprints. Those are KILLER. basically, I warm up with a jog at around 6 (speed), then after 3 minutes I start my first set. It's 4 minutes long of 20 seconds on 10 seconds off. I set the speed at 8 and move it up 2 for each following set. Friday was an off day, Sat I did the same workout again, only added in spin. Yesterday was an off day. Saturday night we got together with friends. I did splurge. More than I realized. I only had 1 beer and a rumchata shot, but I slept like utter crap. I felt tired and sluggish yesterday. Ok, buh-bye all alcohol for a little while. I totally ate like crap yesterday and between that and my not so good dinners, I paid for it on the scale this morning. Positives of the week: Brett has started regularly going to the gym. He is set up with a trainer. And the best of all: He agreed, willingly to take the 21 day body transformation challenge with me at our gym. FINALLY!!!!! My goals for this week: PLAN MY DINNERS! I have a roast in the crock pot right now. I am going to make a veggie and roast some baby red taters. I have most of my dinners planned for the week. Keep eating fruit! I have discovered oranges aren't as bad as I thought! Start my split training again. Working certain body parts with each workout vs full body each time.

Let The Games Begin!

Ugh, barf. I can't believe I am sharing these with whoever might stumble upon them. Lets hope we NEVER see this body again. My next pics I post (now that I've figured it out) will be 10# loss and so on and so on.... Stats: Weight: 167.7 Bust: 36 (Holy schmoly, that's really big for me. I am usually like a 32. NO BUENO!) Chest: 32.5 Waist: 36.5 Hips: 44, again. YIKES! I feel so much more confident in my journey this time. I really hope that the momentum continues. I am already down 1.5 lb from my melt down in the zoo 2 weeks ago when I was walking with my son and my fat jeans, already snug, popped open. yeah, big clue it's time to tighten the reigns!!! I had plans to meet my friend at the gym for 5:30 boot camp but really wasn't feeling well, so I slept in and then did some Yoga/Pilates at lunch. I am starting my Kettlebell/TRX class tomorrow and hoping to get a run in before hand!

Getting down and dirty

Day 2. it's going much better than I thought. And I'm doing a lot of reflecting. I really REALLY hope I can stay on this path because it feels so good. And I am so lucky to have my 2 childhood best friends along side me in all of this. So, a couple of things that I could easily break into 2 posts, but won't. 1. One thing I have decided I HAVE to stop instantly is my social smoking. I used to be a heavy smoker until we decided it was time to have kids. After Will was born I'd buy a pack here and there, and once I started going out with my friends I'd bring the smokes along. If I am drinking I crave a cigarette. But I feel like shit for days after. Even if I've had only a couple of beers. I will still sit and chain smoke. I can't do it. I really hope my son doesn't pick up this habit because it really is a gross one. Not only the smell of smoke, or smoker's breath, but the health affects that it leaves. So, I gave the rest of my pack to Brett and said give these away to someone at work (who is not at the point of quitting. And they're so expensive, I don't want them to go to waste. OOOhhhh the irony!) 2. if you take workout classes what do you look for in an instructor? For the most part, the instructors at my gym are awesome. Today, though I was less than impressed with the spin instructor. To the point of I almost got up and left. She was almost 10 minutes late. WHAT THE FRIG! class starts at 8 and you should be there ready to go by 10 to in my book. Then after sauntering in late instead of getting going, it's a few minutes of slowly getting the music on, getting her bike ready... ect. If it were me I would have started class while getting my own self set up. I had to be done by 8:45 when the class was scheduled to be over, so I left "early" and felt like I kind of got the side eye from her for doing so. I wanted to get in my abs and then get out of there by 9 so we could get ready for Will's basket ball game. Things I look for in an instructor: BEING ON TIME! Being energetic. Knowing your stuff. Sticking with the format. This spin chick had us getting off the bike to do squats. Ok, it's a cardio day I don't want to do lunges and squats. I did them yesterday. I am HERE TO SPIN! I don't usually feel so irritated, but that really got on my nerves today. Ugh, here's to tomorrow. It's REST day!!!

Welcome to 2015

Its January 1! Insane. Last year went by in the blink of an eye!!!! We celebrated by having a family dinner at our favorite Mexican joint here in West Allis. I have been making small cuts here and there over the past week to be ready for the BIG change that's going to happen beginning on Monday. So, I ordered the tacos. They're small-ish. I get ground beef and then it comes with some lettuce, tomatoes and cheese on it. Like a real little bit. I add on just a small amount of Guace and sour cream. I also order the rice because it is OH SO YUMMY. So, it comes with 3. I ate 1.5 and took the rest home. No soda, just water. then we had some friends in for Charades and other games. It was fun, but our kids were all WILLLLDDDDD! That made me a bit nutty, but we still had fun. Everyone was out by 12:30, and I got Will into bed and then read for an hour. Brett had a case of the snores last night. lovely. So I did end up heading down to the couch for some proper sleep, and I slept until 8 am. No thanks to my dog who was mad he had to be kenneled Wed night because there was just too much chaos for him to be milling around. So, at 7:40 he was barking like a maniac. Will slept until 9:30 and Brett until 10. We have had a LAZY day. We got our tree taken down, and lots of cleaning. Then we cheered on the Badgers and then went out for our final burger for a long time. I've decided to challenge myself to NO pizza and NO fast food for 30 days. I know we have a school fundraiser night at a sub place, so we'll do that in a few weeks, and we have dinner plans at a restaurant, not McDonald's. I can do this! I am also off the soda wagon too. I have been just drinking a ton of water, using my soda stream about once a day, and having my coffee with skim milk in the am. Tomorrow, Will and I are meeting a friend of his so they can run around for the day, but when we're done, Trader Joes, here we come!!!!! I have plans to make some good, lean meats for dinner, along with veggies or something. That's my goal, low cal and healthy. Here's to MY year!

AHHHH 2015 is almost here! And its going to be MY YEAR!

It has been a hot minute since I've blogged in any capacity. And this past year has been one filled with scale struggles. I started off just feeling awful about how I looked and how I felt. I wanted to revamp my diet. I know this is where I lack. I can workout for as long as I want, but then when I come home and eat pizza that ruins anything I've done at the gym. Balance. I lack it. I want it. I felt like I needed to start counting calories. So I did that, but then by the evening I was over logging everything I ate. Finally, in May I met with the dietitian at my gym. I consider her my food therapist. I had been researching all of these different ways to lose weight. and one was called if it fits your macros. SO.MUCH.WORK. I want something simple. I am ok with tracking and counting calories, but I need simplicity. Anything beyond that leads me to feel guilt and like its a chore. Being healthy is work, but it doesn't need to be nearly as hard as we make it. My year has been up and down on the scale. Until I stopped caring and stopped weighing myself. Then I got the bright idea that I needed to check in with the old scale. It was not pretty. In fact, I as up 10 lbs from the summer. Ugh. However, I didn't feel the defeat and guilt I normally would have. I decided that I can't go on this way. I NEED to make changes. That next week I was at the zoo walking in my fat pants that are tight when the zipper popped open. Ugh, then I felt the defeat and sadness. I did this to myself. I need to make changes. I found myself pulling out old MATERNITY sweat pants and lounging in them all night long. It was horrible. I called my best friend and we had a long talk. She recently lost a good chunk of weight herself. Her secret? It wasn't that hard. She made herself more aware of eating low cal foods and cutting back portions. I need to do that. So, starting tomorrow, that's what is going to happen. I've been losely working on it so far, but I need to make some BIG changes. if I don't my weight will become really out of control and before I know it, well, it won't be pretty. My plan: My childhood friends, my mom and I are starting our own weight loss support group. Think weight watchers, only we're not counting points. We'er making changes! I feel like for the last 8 years I've done nothing but bitch about my weight. I can't anymore. I want to just cut portions, watch calories and LOSE. I want to be a big OLE LOSER!!! On Monday I'll take my before pics, weight and measurements Ugh. Nothing worse than having to tell your mom what you weigh! But it has to happen. It just does! Here's to 2015!