Start Strong, Finish Strong.

So on Saturday with Garrett being sick I got to spend an extra time working out. I redid my measurements - not much change there. My right bicep gained half an inch and my right thigh lost an inch but everything else has stayed the same. Shouldn't I be losing and gaining inches the same on both sides? I spent over 30 minutes on the Wii Fit just doing the runs, yoga and other aerobics. Then I did Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred. I decided that since I've done over 15 days of Level 1, not consecutively, that it would be a wise idea to switch it up. It was hard to complete and I had to stop a lot. It reminded me of when I started with Level 1. I went back down to 3 pound weights because I didn't know the exercises that well and wanted to work on perfecting the posture.

Ellie and I took the kids to the park yesterday because I had to make a grocery run. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the last post but I got the other Biggest Loser Cookbook. It has completely different recipes and they all look wonderful! I also got some things that I know are just good and good for you that I know I will eat a lot of the time.

I kind of feel that I will struggle with making meals once we move because with two small kids that don't eat the same as we adults and John who would rather eat junk food than something good for you all the time I will be the only one making a change. My mom told me that I have to do for myself and my kids first and then John will have to conform to our schedule if he wants to really share in what the family does. I guess that makes sense. I just hate making meals thinking everyone will be eatting and it ends up just being the kids and I which come out to only about 2 servings!

I am really excited though about making the change and finding good recipes that everyone loves. Maybe if I find things that everyone wants to eat, John will enjoy coming home to eat a homecooked meal. We always talked about wanting our kids to be raised around the dinner table instead of the couch! So far we started going in the wrong direction. I'm trying to fix that early on so our family memories are filled with sharing, laughter and good food instead of tv and laziness.

Getting my groove back

I have been really bummed lately because slowly but surely my weight has crept back up to almost 164 (163 weighing in this afternoon after lunch). The lowest I was at after Christmas was 155.7 and I really wish I could have just maintained that. Of course that was right after I had spent two days throwing up from that virus and then the kids got it. This week I increased my weights while doing the 30 day Shred from 3 pounds to 5 pounds. It made me so sore the first day that I had to take a day off. Then I did it again yesterday.

Early this morning Becky, the neighbor, called and said she had somethings we could take off her hands if we wanted them. One of the things was a bike. An exercise bike but it's really nice. It has the digital reader, heart rate monitor, and an all around great piece of equipment. And even if I can't take it with us when we move (if we go to Japan) than at least it will help me right now. I really want to make it to my goal by summer. I have to buy a new bathing suit this year because after 3 years my other one, which hid my growing belly and saw me through two babies, finally bit the dust!

Today John is super tired and Garrett is getting sick so with them sleeping I have had extended time to workout. I did 32 minutes on the wii. From 10 minutes running to boxing to hula hooping and some yoga and stregth. I also did the Level 2 on the 30 Day Shred and might even go for a walk later with Ellie and the kids. Because it's so hilly here it will be a great workout and something we're all more able to do since it's starting to get warmer. Can't wait to get into this better shape I've been waiting for since forever!!! Seriously feeling good about all this!!!

One after another

So this past week has been full of ups and downs! John had a 4 day weekend because of President's Day so on Friday we went skiing for 5 or 6 hours. We were sore the next day but still took the kids to the TN aquarium in Chattanooga and ended up walking around and holding Garrett for nearly 3 hours. So I took both of those as workout days. Then on Sunday and Monday John and I just watched movies. On Sunday when we went to go watch From Paris with Love (John Travolta)I wore heels and my heel started hurting that evening. Then Monday John had to send a kid off to boot camp so we went to watch Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson and while I was sitting there I lifted my body up with my arms to put my leg under me and ended up pulling a muscle in my lower belly. Freakin' ridiculous.

So in the past month I have had shin splints, major heel pain and now a pulled muscle in my "core". I also haven't been keeping up with what I'm eating. In the past few days I have downed an entire 4 helpings of homemade mac n' cheese, 2 personal pizzas, 3 chocolate bars, 2 cans of Ginger ale, Steak rice and cauliflower dinner that I made for 1, 2 ice cream cones, Mexican, McDonald's, tons of movie popcorn and junior mints, and probably a whole nother half a list of things that would make you vomit just hearing about it all. I can really tell how they're affecting me. I feel sluggish, tired, grouchy, and I have a canker sore on the inside of my lower lip. I really have to make a major turn around. I was doing so good on the working out, despite my injuries, and eating better foods.

I think my problem was that when I was getting those new recipes to try out that I didn't get enough to make meals for weeks like we need. The meals I did make were amazing. And my in-laws don't really keep a lot of food around the house that can make separate meals that aren't all spaghetti. And I also have to make meals that the kids will eat so I'm not becoming a short order cook.

Goal for today: Stop eatting those stupid Chocolate Bars and drinking this Ginger Ale and get a workout or two in. Maybe make Ellie do a late night workout with me and do one while the kids are napping. We have all gotten all jumbled up with having everyone off of work for almost a whole week due to the snow.

Another swift kick in the .......

I was watching my DVR'd Biggest Loser this morning. I love this show because even though I never plan on being big enough to be on the show I find all the work they put in so inspiring. You can really see how they make the changes mentally and push themselves to be the best. I really wish that I could find the motivation they have to really make this commitment for life. I mean I plan on being committed but I don't know how I plan to reach my goals or even if I have set enough

So after doing my workout on Monday I got this terrible heel pain. I had been standing, jumping, and working on my feet for hours and hours and I got so worried that I might have done some thing seriously wrong and really hurt myself. So I immediately went to webmd.com and put in my symptoms and went through the finally things it could be. I came upon Planter Fasciitis and it said that this is where the tendon in the bottom of your foot stretches and tiny tears are created causing the tendon to become inflammed. It also sometimes results in shin splints. I apparently takes a long time to heal and I was thinking that it just seems like one thing after another. I can't seem to get any better and when I get one thing taken care of, something else pops up.

So I stayed off it for a few days, wore shoes all day except right before bed and tried to cushion my heel as much as I could so that hopefully it would start getting better. Well I woke up today and even walking without shoes on isn't painful. I can tell that, from when I wasn't wearing shoes and I would walk on my toes so I wasn't putting pressure on my heel, my calf and hips are tender and probably have been thrown out of whack. So I'm going to try to do a workout or two today and see how things are when I put higher impact moves on my lower body.

Other than that good news, or discovery rather, I have been having a hard time keeping on track with everything. Chelsea has been fighting me on eatting breakfast so we have been getting a rougher start than usual to each day. And it throws off our whole day. I have already used most of my recipes for this month and don't really have extra items to make a complete meal that would be delicious and healthy. Sometimes I wonder how I will be able to do this and make the good meals that we're all starting to find and love once we move. I feel like it will take such a long time to get things back to the way we want them once we leave John's parents house.
I really want to find recipes that I can use a lot of the same ingredients for and that are good. John use to complain that my meals were bland and just thrown together last minute when we lived in our apartment. It was their lack in substance and appeal that made him reach for something like fast food that he thought tasted better. Now I am finding things that are good and challenging the taste buds and I really want to keep that up once we move.

So there are alot of things going on internally and physically. I really hope things start to look up. I hate having all these set backs.

Hardwood = Fat Belly

Day 2 of the new start of the 30 Day Shred. I did a great job and felt that I really pushed myself to a new level. My shin splint is going away and it's so nice to feel like I'm healing......except that after working out I started making our Valentine's Day cookies. It took me nearly 2 hours to finish everything from baking to decorating. After that I started working on my spreadsheet and I noticed that when I got up to do something for the kids I had this sharp stabbing pain in my left heel (the same leg as my shin splint!). So I immediately went to webmd and put in my symptoms and Planter Fisciitis came up. I was reading about it and I can see how that could be present considering it is the ligament that runs the length of your entire foot. So I'm resting and hoping that it goes away soon. A lot of the sites that I read about Planter Fisciitis said that it could take years to heal fully from this heel problem! That would kill me.

I have worked out tons before moving here last September and never had I had problem after problem pop up. I swear it's the fact that there are hardwood floors in this house. Only part of upstairs are carpeted so we mostly walk on the hardwood floors.

But I can tell that a change is happening in my body. When I'm not bloated, like today, My rings fit more loosely, I can tell that the upper part of my abs are less flabby, my arms are noticeably more toned and I think my thighs are looking slimmer. The sad thing is that I'm only concerned with my belly and the rest is just a bonus. I know that it takes time to get off the worst of the worst which is usually the belly, in most Americans. Like I've said before, I'm hoping to be able to wear a more flattering bathingsuit this summer and I'm hoping to find an activity that I really enjoy, be it kickboxing, running, etc.

Wish me luck on a fast healing and hope that it is just a sore day for me and nothing more serious. I plan on making a doctors appointment to make sure, I can do that since I don't have to pay for getting anything done!

Another starting point.

Superbowl Sunday! It's almost a guarantee for eatting disatster! I started my 30 Days of working with Jillian Michaels -30 day Shred. I love the DVD and now I can tell my shin splint is much much better. Ellie is working out with me and will hopefully hold me accountable for getting through the first 10 days so I can keep it up. I am easily irritated because she doesn't do the moves correctly and I know if she gets hurt she will blame me!

Eatting today was alright....it started off good and it's ending poorly. I made a great breakfast for everyone which was a first in this house. For lunch John made spicy mashed eggplant and we had roti's with it (classically tasting Indian food). And then because of the superbowl we are having pizza and home-made nachos. So like I said, it's ending poorly. I plan on having tomorrow be an all around excellent day. I can't believe it's almost Monday. But I plan on getting the kids back on schedule so I can get back on my workout schedule!

Inconsistant =C

I really haven't worked out other than the one day earlier this week. My mom has been here and I hate having to workout while she's here because I feel like even if she can't see me, she can use echo location to make a picture of what I may be doing! I'm just kidding my mom doesn't have echo location!


I really need to get a lot of things straight if I plan on taking control of my life and turning it into what I want to it be. I really hate some things in life that surround me, and it's up to me to make the best of them and make a change. I have control over what I eat, when I workout, how hard I workout and how my family is affected by my lifestyle change. I hate people who are in denial about what they need to do health-wise, people who can't take control of habits and people who overall can't control themselves.
I sometimes feel like I am steering myself in the wrong direction when I go to take my kids to McDonald's, decide to eat a pizza instead of something healthier or most of all when I let myself find time to NOT workout. I enjoy being able to make good food that is also good for you. I enjoy being able to get a quick but effective workout in and raise my energy level and my mood just by doing something that also makes me physically stronger. So why don't we do that all the time if it makes us feel good to do all the great things on this list? That is an answer I can't find within myself. Otherwise, I would do it all the time and not worry about anything else.

I plan on being in better shape by summer time. Not because I want to be able to wear a bikini again, although that would be nice, but because it will allow me enough time to get to my goal in a healthy way. I would love to say that if I could drop all the weight in my life that I don't need in one night I would do it instantly but I know that for overall health those methods that provide those sorts of results aren't worth it. Now, if there was a magical pill that guaranteed that my health would improve and my body would function better and my weight would stay at the most healthy and appealing shape for my body, I would jump on that like a cheetah on a gazelle!!! But I know that it isn't realistic to think that way because there is no magic way to do anything like that. Only with hardwork will you reap the rewards you are after! It's the truth and anyone who believes that if you just "think" you will be thin one day will be extremely disappointed when they end their life in worse shape then when they first started believing it was all by thought!

So wish me luck in my attempt to start over on my 30 Days with Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I really love the DVD and want to be at the point where I can get off the first section! I've tried Level 2 one day and it was so much fun but when my shin splint came back like Micahel Myers I knew that to heal it would take time and taking that much time off would mean I'd have to start over. It's discouraging but I guess that means it's a bump in my road and I have to just keep going?! Will do then.

Finally something better

First the great news: Today I finally did my 30 day Shred without wanting to die from leg pain!!! Super great news, right? My wii informed me that it had been 8 days since my last weigh-in. My last actual workout, though, was 1/30/10 (the same day I got my new sneakers). I was 159.4 today and that was right after eatting lunch. So that's nice to see that I can maintain my weight loss without going crazy and not working out. I'm still holding weigh-ins on Monday so I will post again on the weight then.
My shoes worked great. I didn't really start to feel that nagging pain until more than halfway through my workout. I didn't get to do the last 4 minutes because Garrett woke up and when I tried to set him down to finish he just came at me screaming. It was almost threatening so I just stopped and figured that I made a great effort at what I did get done and hopefully he'll sleep more tomorrow! Yippie to me though for doing a great job after I have had to take nearly two weeks off.

So I'm sitting here looking at my Athleta magazine while I think and organize all the great things I want to say. I really wish I were in a place that I could look super fit. I know I'm on the path and that is wonderful in and of itself. I'm like one of those girls who always wishes I had something other than what I have, and in this case it's a flat belly and the physique of a runner who has been working towards the olympics since they were 4! There are some yoga positions that display how the clothes look while in pose and I think they are really just unobtainable and almost uncomfortable looking. John and I have decided to switch off every check and either get something we really want out of the money left over after bills. I'm considering if I want to get some extra workout clothes. I wouldn't go to Athleta though because they are super expensive. I would probably be stuck going to Dick's Sporting Goods store where they are still expensive but not as bad! Who knows what I'll do.

I'm just happy that I'm back in the groove of things and that my stamina didn't go back to as low as it was when I first started!!! Till tomorrow.

Puffier than a balloon getting ready to explode!

So lately I've been feeling more and more puffy and PMS-y. The great and not-so-great thing about that is, to be less than graphic, I recently got Mirena so I don't actually get the visitor full force but just some tiny side-effects of the dreaded Monthly guest! I usually just get bloated these days which is nice in the sense that I don't have to deal with everything else but bad because I'm bloated.
I also loose motivation to workout and instead feel like binging on junk food. So I am trying to make sure that I eat better choices that still taste super good so I'm essentially tricking myself. I plan on making a cabbage casserole tonight. It has cabbage, chicken, 2 bacon strips, sauce, etc. I have never had it before but John loves cabbage so we're going to give it a try. I am sure he will love it. I am going to start working out this weekend. Maybe Thursday or Friday while my mom is here visiting so I can have someone to watch the kids. I can just feel the motivation lacking so I can't give a definite day on when I'll get busy.

I am wearing my compression sleeve for my calf today because I ran up the stairs yesterday to get Garrett in the late evening and I'm pretty sure that even though I haven't put strain on myself I am not either totally healed or that any activy I do on this hard wood flooring will just cause me pain. I'm interested to see how the workout will be with my new shoes since I haven't actually done the same workout in my new shoes. I do love them though. They fit nicely and it makes me wonder why I never got fitted before. Until next time.

A learning experience

Like I've posted in my other blog, I recently got a few more weight-oriented books. I have been finishing up reading my "Abs Diet for Women" book. Most of what is included I already know, like to eat more than 3 meals a day, make lunch your heaviest meal, limit your intake of red meat, etc. Some new things I have learned though, are that drinking abour 2 cups of cold water (72degrees or colder) uses up roughly 25 calories. I also learned how to calculate many things: body fat percentage, how many pounds of my total weight are from fat, and how many pounds I need to lose to be at my "ideal" weight.

I thought that learning about little things like how many calories you burn by doing certain things were the most interesting. I first bought the book because it had 12 pages of calories from common foods. I started using that so I could better narrow in on how much I consume in a day.

John and I went to the store yesterday to get the food for the recipes I'm trying. Most are from the BL cookbook but I did find one in Better Homes and Gardens that I'm going to try over the weekend for a light dinner. It's a Pepper-Corn Chowder and it only have 155 calories. I love the thought of a nice easy soup, especially during the colder months. It really just makes the weekends feel cozy. Also I am going to try some cucumber logs, mini turkey fiesta tostadas, Hummus and Tuna English Muffins, Smashed Peas with carmalized onions and ricotta roasted toast. I'm interested to see how everything turns out and I'm sure I'll post some pictures if all is successful.

Workout wise. I haven't worked out since I got my new sneakers on Saturday I think. 2days isn't bad. I did roll my ankle today coming down the stairs carrying my laundry basket and my 9 month old! I put immediate pressure on it and could walk on it within a few minutes. It doesn't hurt to put pressure on it now but I would be weary of starting working out on it today especially since I do the 30 Day Shred and it incorporates a lot of jumping around. I have thin ankles as it is! They aren't really made for anything other than breaking. They definitly don't appear to be the sturdiest of limbs! HAHA.
I'm thinking about making Mondays a weigh-in day. I don't have a scale but I do have my Wii Fit Board and I usually do the body test daily. I started out at 164 Christmas day and then after like a week or two of playing the Wii and Wii Fit Plus I got down to 160-161. Since my Shin Splint episode I haven't spent as much time worrying or working on weight and instead have just lulled around the house doing nothing, feeling frustrated and taking things out on the kids. It should end up being an interesting week. Keep an eye out for that weigh in next week. And I will be jumping back into the game most likely tomorrow. Really hoping that I have stayed at my wieght instead of gaining back up to 160 but will truck on no matter what shows up! Best of Luck to you all in any upcoming programs you have this week.