It's been a while!!!

Howdy y'all!  It has been a while hasn't it?!  I just realized I haven't posted in over two months!!  Holy cow!!  Life has been busy as always!  Little man is growing like crazy and learning new things everyday!  To catch you up on what's going on in my life, I am going back to school starting next week!  I am getting my prerequisites done to hopefully get into nursing school and become and RN like I've wanted to do for years, but took the scenic route in life instead!  Due to my school schedule, Camden and I flew out to Kansas to visit my family on July 16th through the 29th.  We had a fabulous time and hated to come home, but while I was away, hubby remodeled our bathroom and finished up the painting and wood laminate flooring in the living room!  It was a welcomed surprise and it looks so good!!

Hubby and I celebrated 7 years of marriage yesterday!  It hasn't been easy, but it's been worth it!!  We went out Friday night for dinner and a movie and a good friend of ours watched Camden for us.  We enjoyed our time together without little man, but I sure missed him while we were away for a few hours!!!  Can't imagine life without that little stinker!  :)

While I was in Kansas back in December my mom did a body fat analysis on me and I believe I shared those numbers with y'all then because I was astonished at how unhealthy those numbers were, but to recap, here they are again:

Tuesday December 18, 2012

Weight: 203.2

BMI: 32.8

Body Fat Percentage: 49.2

Muscle: 22.1

Visceral Fat: 8

Age: 54

RMI: 1633

Monday July 29, 2013

Weight: 182.2

BMI: 29.4

Body Fat Percentage: 44.2

Muscle: 24.3

Visceral Fat: 7

Age: 48

RMI: 1543

I was somewhat pleased with these numbers (mainly the fact that the bad ones are going down and the good one (muscle) is going up!!!  I still have a really long way to go to be where I want to be but I'm glad that I'm getting there and will eventually be at goal.

Because of my  RMI changing, I also changed my calorie intake in My Fitness Pal.  I have been in a funk y'all and am lacking motivation horribly.  Getting the house cleaned and in order is one thing, and I am doing very well at that, but working out isn't going so hot and eating is even worse.  I don't really know what exactly is going on but I need to get out of this slump I am in!  It's killing me!  

What do you do to motivate you?  How often do you change up your exercise routine or eating plan?  I want to know what works for you!

My First 5K.....and possibly my last!

I woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning to get prepared for my 5K.  My nerves were all over the place, and I wanted to go ahead and get breakfast in my stomach so if there were any adverse effects (read: nervous tummy), they would have time to do their thing.  LOL.  For breakfast, I had my mandarin orange spark, a sandwich thin with a little bit of peanut butter, an Advocare meal replacement shake, and about a 1/3 of a banana.  I didn't really think bacon and eggs would sit very well.  :)  I left the house at 7:15 to head to my friends house that I was running the race with and as soon as I got there, we loaded up and headed to Greenville.  

We got to Greenville, signed in, got our bibs and chips on and then waited.........and waited.

Before 

Finally, at about 8:55 we started lining up to get started.  There were only about 120 or so people running and there was also a 1 mile fun run/walk that started a little later.  

So, we heard the on your mark, blah blah blah (I honestly don't know what they said, I just knew when to go!).  I pushed start on my heart rate monitor and off we went.  Lynn, Emily and I stayed together for the first probably tenth of a mile and we told Lynn to go.....and that, she did!!  She wanted an under 40 minute 5K and Emily and I were hoping for 45.  When we stopped running to catch our breath and walk, I looked at the time on my HRM and we had run for 3:15.  What is funny is that when I was doing my C25K training runs, in week 4, you have to run for 3 minutes and I NEVER could get it!  Funny how running is such a mental game....with YOURSELF, and only yourself!

Emily and I both started getting some shin and calf pains, but we pushed through and would run when we could and walk when we felt we couldn't run anymore, and the only time we stopped was to stretch on a curb.  We were told there was a water station at Mile 2 and when we hit that we started getting really excited.  But then when we rounded a couple more corners, we saw the Mile 2 sign and that mentally through me off, because I thought we were already there and that we only had 1.1 miles left of the race.  

After the shin and calf pain subsided, our feet started bothering us.  The bottom of my right foot was burning and Emily's right heel was bothering her, but we kept going.  Then the dreaded hip flexor issues started up all the way until the finish line.  We walked a lot more the last mile than we wanted to and when we rounded the corner and could see the finish line we started running.  We completed the race in 45:47.  Sooo close to our goal, but not quite.  You have to start somewhere though, right?  And we can only go up from here!  Lynn completed hers in 36:16 and set a new PR!

We have seen the finish line!!

We did it!!

After!  Hot sweaty messes!  :)

I am so incredibly proud of all of us and so thankful for the ability to be able to do these races, even though this was my very first one.  There were so many times during the race where I wanted to burst out crying.  The fact that Emily told me she wasn't going to leave me and then when we would round several corners and there would be people cheering us on!  It was so moving and touching, and, lets just be honest, I am a big ol' baby!  I checked my heart rate monitor at the end of the race and it said I had burned like 570 calories.  My heart rate never went below like 155-160 and that was just from walking.  It was in the 170s most of the time, which I was kind of concerned about.  But it was HOT!!!

Out of 14 people aged 20-29, I was second to last.  I was also looking at the 50 and up age group results and EVERY.SINGLE.ONE was faster than me.  That kinda puts things into perspective for me and shows me how much work I have to do to get better at this.

There is already talk of an Electric Run and a 10K in September and October.....eeek!!!!  And I have been invited to start running with a group of women on Saturday mornings.  We shall see!

I hope y'all had a good weekend.  I am incredibly sore today and have been alternation ibuprofen and tylenol most of the weekend.  I was hoping to be able to go for a walk sometime today, but with the torrential downpour that is going on right now and is supposed to go on all day, that isn't going to happen.  And, I can't get to my treadmill on account of all the flooring that is laying in front of it.  I will figure something out!  Happy Monday y'all!

Freaking out

I am running my first 5k tomorrow (Saturday). To say that I am nervous would be a HUGE understatement. I am freaking out!!! I will never have another FIRST 5k. I would like to finish in under 45 minutes but I know I won't be able to run the whole thing and I am perfectly okay with that. 

I never finished my Couch to 5k program. Yeah, I'm lame. I got to about week 4 and struggled sooooo much with running for a full 3 minutes that I knew there was n way at would be able to move on and be able to run a full 5 minutes. So I just stopped the whole thing altogether.

But, I did not stop running altogether. I did more interval training than anything on my treadmill and ran some outside as well. And let me tell you, it is hard work pushing your 22 lb 1 year old in his big jogging stroller, against the wind!! Needless to say, I only did that once and sweet talked the hubby into letting me go end run by myself. 

Workouts lately have been few and far between. My husband and I have been working on repainting and laying wood laminate flooring throughout the house. It is looking sooo good and after almost 6 years in this house we are finally getting it how we want it!! I am the painter and hubby is the floor lay-er. He is doing such a good job with it! I will post pictures when we are finished! 

Hope y'all had a great week and have an even better weekend!

Are you doing anything fun/exciting this weekend?

Ramblings

I have been horrible about posting.  Camden is walking now (HOLY COW!!) and I can't leave him alone for 10 seconds, let alone long enough to write a post.  Plus, he likes to bang on the keyboard and make my laptop do all kinds of crazy stuff when he sees I'm on it.  I can't believe how much this little stinker has grown!! 

(as a side not, yes, I fixed his seatbelt--didn't realize it was down as far as it was, and no, I don't drive around with him like that!)

Last Monday I started the cleanse phase of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge.  It has been going pretty well.  Thomas and I were out of town with baby boy yesterday and we came upon a new sushi restaurant that we had not tried yet, so since I had been craving sushi for WEEKS now, we decided to stop.  It was amazing!  Then we discovered a gelato place....and yes, I had gelato.  But not even 20 minutes later, my stomach revolted.  Won't be doing that again!!  I weighed in at 182.6 at the start of my challenge and this morning (started Day 6) I am at 179.6.  I'd say it's going pretty well!  I am absolutely loving the energy that I have and how good, clean food makes me feel!  Not sure why I haven't been eating like this all along!  And, Spark, oh.my.goodness!  It is AMAZING!!!  I just might have to convince hubby to let me continue buying that once I stop.  I haven't even missed coffee!!  And from an EVERY.DAY coffee drinker, that says a lot.  

Well I hope y'all are having a great weekend!  I will leave you with another picture!  I was having a skinny day and felt the need to document it!  :)

Link-Up and Getting Back to the Basics

I am doing a link-up with Skinny Meg today for Workout Wednesday.  First of all, let me state, I am a wannabe CrossFitter.  I use the term "wannabe" because I can't hang with true CrossFitters that workout at a "box" (CrossFit gym) and such.  Mainly, the nearest box is 45 minutes away and while I love the camaraderie that you get from working out at a box, I just can't justify spending the money that it is for a membership AND driving 45 minutes just to work out!  So, back in 2009 I made do with what I had and my mom and dad, who are both L1 CrossFit trainers, gave me workouts to do with what little equipment  I had....my body, some dumbbells, and a few kettlebells.  This worked for me tremendously from 2009 until about 2010-2011ish (I lost about 50 lbs) and then I got lazy and stupid and gained all the weight back....then got knocked up!  Anyway, I digress.  Why I have attempted other workouts with what seems to be not much progress, I don't know.  So I am going to get back to the basics and what helped me get fit to begin with.  See, I have this trusty notebook that I have put all of my workouts in since August of 2009 when I first started.  I am breaking that bad boy out and starting from the beginning.  I may modify some of the workouts to incorporate more of the new exercises that I have learned and because I feel like I am much stronger than I was before.  

If you are unfamiliar with CrossFit and how it works, CrossFit is "constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity" (Taken from What is CrossFit?).  Each exercise is timed and you push yourself to complete the WOD (workout of the day) as quickly as possible with correct technique.  So, onto my Wednesday Workout.  I did a warm-up of 5 minutes on the treadmill, alternating walking and jogging to get my heart rate up.  Then I did 10 push-ups, 20 squats, 30 jumping jacks and stretched some.  Here is the workout:  

It took me 20:20 to do this.  I wanted under 20 but will know to push myself harder the next time I do this exercise.  With the warm-up, workout, cool down and some stretching I burned 311 calories!  Not too shabby!  

I also wanted to share a website that I have really enjoyed using to take the guesswork out of having to come up with a workout.  If you are interested in CrossFit but are intimidated by a box, or just don't have the means to workout at one, this website is phenomenal!  CrossFit Mamas was started by a stay at home mom of 4 whose husband had been doing CrossFit for few years and she was intrigued by it but didn't have the opportunity to workout outside the home so she has found a way to adapt the workouts from the main CrossFit website to be able to do them at home with the equipment she had.  Go check it out if you are interested!  Anyway, until next time!

It's already April?!

I can't believe March is already over and April is here.  I am putting the final touches on planning my baby boy's FIRST birthday party!!!  I can't believe he is going to be 1 year old next week!  Saying this year has flown by is a complete understatement!  I will have a post with lots and lots of pictures after his party next Saturday.  I am having SOOOO much fun planning this party!!!

We took a few kids from our youth group over to Tennessee to Johnson University while they were on Spring Break.  We left after church on Easter Sunday....with an almost 1 year old.....it is an 8 hour drive there.  I think it was probably closer to 10 hours because of all the times we had to stop.  My son actually slept most of the time.....his daddy on the other hand (my husband) has a bladder the size of a pea and we stopped, and stopped, and stopped some more.  It was the same way on the way home but I think we were all so ready to be home that the trip seemed to take FOR.EV.ER!!!!  Here are a few pictures from the few days we were there.

This first picture was at a rest stop on the way to Tennessee.....he was such a good little travel buddy!!

Lovely family portrait at Calhoun's in Knoxville.  It was a really good Tennessee BBQ restaurant (except I got a cheeseburger).  But hubby let me taste his BBQ...delish!!!

Of course on youth trips, you have to have a little fun!  We weren't too far from Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg so we did a little shopping at the Tanger Outlets in Pigeon Forge and Camden just HAD to have these sunglasses.  He seriously threw a fit when we took them off of him in the store that I actually paid for the clothes we got and put the sunglasses back and had to go back in the store and buy them!  Spoiled rotten!!!

"Okay mom, I'm ready to go!!!"  Love my little stink pot!  He brings me so much joy and laughter!

No Scale Challenge

Sorry I am a little late posting my update from the No Scale Challenge.  This mama has been busy!  Due to me being a big idiot over Easter and the trip to Tennessee, I actually gained weight.  I still lost overall from March 1 until now, but definitely not like I wanted to.  It is so hard for me to eat healthy when I am traveling and was in a car more than I was actually at the destination.  LOL....plus I felt very rushed in getting things together and didn't feel prepared at all.  Excuses, excuses, I know....but you better believe that as soon as we got back from Tennessee, I was right back on the wagon the very next day!  This chick don't play!!!  So, for the results so far....

One Mile Time--12:20 (15:53)

Plank time--2:35 (1:47)

Crunches in 1 minute--55 (52)

Push-ups in 1 minute--40 on knees (37 on knees)

Burpees (OH HOW I LOATHE YOU!!!!)--12 (13)

Tricep Dips in 1 minutes--45 (41)

Weight--188.4 (190.4)

Purple italics are from March 1st.

Overall I didn't really lose many inches....in fact in some areas I gained.  I have been doing ChaLean Extreme and really increasing my weight lifting so that could be why.  Good news though is that my 16's are falling off of me and I am pretty much in a solid 14...woohoo!  I could probably get rid of my XL tops but since the "baggy" look is in I am keeping them until they look too sloppy!  So I would think it is safe to say I am in a solid L.  I lost 2 lbs total, but before I left for my trip I weighed and had gotten as low as 186.6.  I will get there!  Once I get my eating 100% back under control and as long as I don't slip up too bad I am anxious to see how I do this month!  Self control and willpower!!!  I got this!!!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and enjoy that spring has finally come!  (At least here in North Carolina it has!!)

Liebster Award!!!

Laura from Simply Healthy Mama nominated me for a Liebster Award!  I am so honored and excited!!!  For those of you that don't know what a Liebster Award is, the gist of it is that it is awarded to new and up and coming blogs/bloggers that don't have very many followers.  I have to give a little info about myself, answer the questions the person who nominated me wants to know, think of questions for my nominees and then nominate some blogs/bloggers for the award as well!  So, lets get started!

First I have to tell some things about myself:

1.  I am a preacher's daughter and have been my entire life.....contrary to popular belief, I am NOT "the worst", although I did go through a slight rebellious stage but my parents (at least my dad) knew about everything I did!  Haha!

2.  I also married a preacher.  :)  What can I say?!  It's all I've known!

3.  I have a Bachelor's degree from Bible College that I am doing nothing with, therefore I want to go back to school to become an RN.  :)

4.  I have lived in 5 different states.

5. I went to 2 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, 2 high schools, and technically 2 colleges.

6.  I absolutely hated living in Kansas when I was in high school, but now I wish I still lived there.  (Funny how things change after you have children!)

7.  I always wanted to be a mom and thought that pregnancy and birth would be so much fun....boy was I wrong!!!  I had "morning sickness" the ENTIRE pregnancy and anytime during the day.  After 2 days in "labor", my son's head started swelling through my cervix and they had to preform an emergency c-section.

8.   I think I will always struggle with my weight.

9.  My family means more to me than anything in the world!

10.  I have never traveled out of the United States.

11.  It is a goal of mine to become a Level 1 CrossFit Certified Trainer.  (I have a LONG way to go!)

Now, I have to answer Laura's Eleven Questions

1.  What is your favorite clothing store?  Old Navy
2.  Heels or flats?  Oh, I so love the look of heels.  They are just sexy, but they KILL my feet so I have to say, flats all the way!
3.  Favorite book?  Hmmm, this is a good question.  I have really enjoyed ALL of Robert Whitlow's books.  law/mystery with some religious undertones.
4.  What is the furthest you've traveled from home?  I have no idea what is "further"....Florida, Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin.
5.  Which season is your favorite?  Summer!!!
6.  Favorite tv show?  Biggest Loser, The Voice
7.  Favorite subject in high school? Is Band a subject?  If not, then probably Algebra and Chemistry.
8.  Beach or Mountains?  Beach all the way!!!
9.  All time favorite movie?  I have been thinking about this one for the last 5 minutes.....I have NO clue!  I like a lot of movies but none come to mind if I have to watch it over and over and over again.  Hmmm, I will have to think about that!
10.  What superpower do you wish you had?  The ability to read people's minds. 
11.  First celebrity crush?   JTT

Next up is my questions for my nominees.

1.  If money weren't an issue (for schooling) would you change professions?  If so, what would you do?

2.  What is your favorite color?

3.  Cats or Dogs?

4.  Soda or Pop or even Coke?

5.  Have you ever been arrested?  If so, what for?

6.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

7.  If you could go back and change one thing from your past, what would it be?

8.  What is your favorite food?

9.  What is your favorite sports team?

10.  How many states have you visited?

11.  What is your favorite exercise?

I nominate:

Emily @ Running Like a Mother

Lara @ Dandeleinss Fit

Ashley @ Work That Ash

Jen @ Losing It?!?!

I don't have 11 to nominate, sorry!!

Planning to Succeed and 11 months

I have really been evaluating what I need to change so I can really lose weight and my eating is at the top of the list.  I feel like even though I am logging my calories, I am still allowing myself to eat junk food if I have the calories for it.  For example, Friday night we went out to eat with some friends.  They found out several months ago that anytime after 7:30 PM, Krispy Kreme's HOT NOW sign is on....guess where we went Friday night after sushi?!  I have the picture to prove it!!!

I was a pure glutton for punishment and indulged in a WHOLE, 400ish calorie cookies and creme donut that is new.  It was good, but not worth the 400ish calories.  And then, of course, they original glazed were fresh off the conveyor belt so I had one of those too...at about 190 calories and THEN, half of a blueberry cake donut....and I don't remember how many calories are in that one....yes, I NEED to clean up my diet!!!!

So this is what I did.  Last night, I sat down and planned meals for the next 4 weeks based on what we already have in the house and what I need to buy.  All fairly clean, ex. switching pasta for spaghetti squash and definitely upping the veggies.  You can't really tell from the picture, but I even made my grocery list based on the different departments in the grocery store.  Bam!!!  Planning to succeed!  I can do this and I am so thankful for a supportive hubby who will eat pretty much anything I cook.  Makes my life soooo much easier!

While I was working out today, I attempted week 4 day 3 of Couch to 5K...keyword being "attempted".  I got halfway through and because of this horrible cough I have I was only able to complete half.  I completed the time but walked while I was supposed to be running.....the good news though is I shaved 1:07 off of my mile time!  I am now at a 14:46 mile instead of a 15:53 mile.  I know it's not great, but thinking about how long it took me to fumble through a mile in middle and high school, I am extremely proud of how far I have come!!  I am anxious to see what I can do when I'm not sick!  :)

And I will leave you with the many faces of Camden.  :)  Our baby boy turned 11 months old on Sunday!  I cannot believe how quickly the time flies!  We are in the midst of planning his first birthday party...sock monkey themed and hubby just printed out the invitations tonight!  He is a genius!  :)

Happy Monday y'all!  Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Struggles

I am going to be completely honest in this post.  I am struggling.  I feel like I have several people looking up to me as such an inspiration and I am struggling.  I don't want to work out, I don't want to eat healthy, but at the same time, I don't want to be fat for the rest of my life either.  I think this is in part from feeling icky the past 2 days and pretty much eating whatever I want the past two days as well.  I don't want to fall off the wagon, but I know I am struggling.  I need to clean up my diet.  I need to work out because I know it will make me feel better.....but I just don't want to!  Where has my motivation gone all of a sudden?  I guess this is the time to just suck it up and deal!!!

I have goals to meet and I know that I can't meet them by sitting on the couch and sulking in my sickness.  Sometimes I wish I lived closer to the people that I could work out with or that I could afford a gym membership, but at this point in my life, I would rather stay at home with my son and not be able to afford to go to a gym.  Accountability is key and that is something that I don't feel that I have a lot of but I know that is what I thrive on.  

Anyway, time to pick myself up and dust myself off.  I can do this!!!  I will do this!!!

Beast Mode

I started writing this post yesterday and today ended up being a completely different feeling so I started the post over.  I started week 4 of Couch to 5K and beasted the first day, however, when running tonight for day 2 I struggled.....a lot.  I had to stop several times to stretch out my calves and hip flexors and actually ended up not being able to run all of one of the 3 minute runs, but then ended up running all of the next 5 minute run....it is all such a mental struggle!!  I pushed through the pain tonight, by seriously praying that God would take the pain out of my legs.  I continued staring at my Weight Loss Goal Milestone sheet and looking at my ultimate goal weight.  In fact, I actually bit the skin on my pointer fingers to make the pain go somewhere else so I would take my mind off of how badly my calves and shins were hurting....call me weird, but it worked and I pushed through and finished the last 5 minute jog!!!

I may have mentioned before but this summer is going to be full of lots of time spent at the beach and by the pool and beast mode is now in session!!!  I HAVE to get this flab under control....it would be nice that my second summer after having a baby, I could actually get in a two-piece and feel comfortable in it!  That is my goal, but I have a long way to go!!!

For those of you that are doing either (or both) of the March challenges, how's it going?  I will be honest.  I haven't worked a lot on my No Scale Challenge measurements (tricep dips, push-ups, etc).  But I have still been working out.  I am also really enjoying the Lean Legs challenge!  

Hope y'all have a happy Friday tomorrow!! 

It's March!!!!

Hey ya'll!  It's March....my birth month....:)  We have already started celebrating my birthday even though it isn't actually until Monday.  When I picked Thomas up from the airport on Thursday, he had gone to The Body Shop while in the Charlotte airport and bought me body butter, body scrub, and shower gel in   Moringa, that is a fruity floral (yes, it is both) smell that is awesome!!

The Body Shop

Then, today he took me to the Outer Banks to go to one of my favorite restaurants, Mama Kwans to get their famous fish tacos, that are OUT.OF.THIS.WORLD!!!!

Mama Kwans

And of course, while we were down there we had to go down to the o-chin!!

Anyway, enough of my day and the spoiling that my hubby does of me.  :)  

Again, it is March!!  That means it is the first day of mine and Laura's No Scale Challenge!  I wrote about it earlier in the week on Tuesday, but just as a refresher: 

The rules for the No Scale Challenge are:

• Weigh yourself ONLY once a month.  If you have too big of a temptation, have someone hide the scale for you.
• Complete these six activities and record your results:
• One mile time
• Plank time in one minute
• Crunches in one minute
• Push ups in one minute (military or on knees)
• Burpees in one minute
• Tricep dips in one minute
• Then, work on improving each of the above mentioned activities at least three times a week.

You can do as little or as much of this as you want.  But, YOU are your only competition in this.  Laura and I are mainly doing this to get rid of our obsession with the scale, but we both wanted other ways to see improvement, besides how our clothes fit.  We want to KNOW that we are getting stronger.  Push yourself!  We are also here if you need some pushing.  ;)  We can and we will do this!

I also, took my body measurements (neck, left and right biceps, bust, waist, hips, left and right thigh, and left and right calf just as a baseline.  Laura's awesome husband made a spreadsheet for us to keep track of all of our measurements and results that you can download from her blog!  (If I was all techy and knew how to put it in my blog I would, but this way you can check out Laura's blog too!)

So, here are all of my measurements for the month of March, and some pictures too!

Neck--14"
Right Bicep--13"
Left Bicep--12 3/4"
Bust--41 1/2"
Waist (at belly button)--39"
Hips (at largest part)--43 1/2"
Right Thigh--24 1/2"
Left Thigh--25 3/4"
Right Calf--17 1/2"
Left Calf--17"

One mile time:  15:53 (treadmill)
Plank time:  01:47:01 
Number of crunches in one minute: 52 (Sit-ups--coming ALL the way up were 35)
Number of push-ups in one minute:  37 (knees)  
Number of burpees in one minute:  13
Number of tricep dips in one minute:  41

Sizes:

Jeans: 14--YES, I am FINALLY in a 14 again!!!  I started this whole thing out in 18's--pushing a 20!!!

Shirts L/XL

I don't wear dresses, so I have NO clue!  I would imagine a 14 or 16....but who knows!  LOL

My final weight, as of this morning, after eating and drinking a cup of coffee was 190.4!!!!!!  WOOHOOO!!!  Total, I have lost 49.6 lbs since having Camden last April!  So exciting and so close to 50 lbs lost!

And, now for some pictures!!!

SIZE 14 Y'ALL!!!

And, this is my motivation wall!  On the paper, I have all of my weight loss goal milestones and rewards for each 10 lbs lost.  :)

Have a fabulous weekend y'all!!

March Challenges

My friend Laura and I are doing a non-scale challenge starting Friday.  We both have an obsession with weighing and want to break free of the feeling that we are defined by the number on the scale...that somehow it tells our worth or something.  Instead, we are going to focus on getting stronger and healthier.  The things we are going to be looking at are:

• One mile time (this is going to be killer for me, but the only way from here is up!!!  I can barely run 1/4 mile now as it is!!)
• Plank time
• Crunches in one minute
• Push-ups in one minute (on knees or military style)
• Burpees in one minute (burpees, I loathe you...and quite frankly am afraid of you since my knee injury!!!)
• Tricep dips in one minute

In addition to the things listed above we are also going to be taking our body measurements monthly. She has decided to weight monthly, but I don't know if I am even going to do that.  My husband hid my scale this past Friday and I haven't once had the desire to go searching for it.  I am loving that as long as I stick to my workout routines and eating properly, the inches and weight are subsequently going to drop.  I can FEEL it!  :)  So, the last number I saw on the scale was 192.4.  I have no idea if I have lost any weight as of right now but I do know that based on clothing alone, things are getting looser!  My favorite pair of pre-preggo jeans....I actually have a little extra room in them, which I didn't have before getting pregnant!  :)  Progress people, progress!!!

Anyway, back to the challenge.  We are going to take our measurements and do our first round of the above mentioned exercises as a baseline.  You are only in a challenge with yourself.....NO ONE ELSE!  Like Laura said, if you can only do one today, try for two tomorrow and so on.  We can do this!!!  Laura's husband is also making a printable sheet to follow along throughout the duration of the challenge as a place for you to keep track of your progress that she will share on Friday and I am going to sweet talk her into letting me use it on my blog too.  :)  

Secondly, each month, the group that I am a part of decides on a challenge to do.  February's was Fab Ab challenge where we have done sit-ups, push-ups, and planks, gradually increasing the time and amount throughout the month.  We started with 10 sit-ups, a 10 second plank, and 4 push-ups.  On Thursday, we will have increased our time and reps to 100 sit-ups, a 2 minute plank, and 25 push-ups.  For March, we are doing Lean Legs March.  I don't know about y'all, but I could definitely use some help in the leg region.  :)  I found this calendar on Pinterest.

Fun, Fit and Fabulous: Lean Legs March Challenge

This calendar is from last year but you can transfer it onto a calendar for this year.  :)  If you click on the link, she gives you demonstrations of all of the different moves, either by video or a picture tutorial.  If you aren't ready to hide the scale just yet, maybe you can join me on this challenge and get Leaner Legs by summertime!  :)

I am very much looking forward to both of these challenges!

Finally Friday!!

It is finally Friday!  Praise the Lord!  This week has been a week from crazy town.  My child has been a hellian this week.  I think he may be teething again and he has been so hard to deal with that on several occasions I have put him in his crib and walked out.  Woooo-saaaaaa, wooooo-saaaaa.  Serenity now, serenity now.  You know, whatever gets you through it.  Something that has made things easier to deal with though is the fact that I can sit down in the mornings, while little man is playing, and do my devotions.  Currently I am going through a devotion on YouVersion (if you don't have this app, you need to get it!!) called She Reads Truth and it is on Phillipians.  I am really enjoying but the other devotion I am doing, I absolutely love!  My aunt got me "Out of the Spin Cycle: Devotions to Lighten Your Mother Load" by Jen Hatmaker and it is phenomenal.  From Amazon,here is part of the book description, "Author and speaker Jen Hatmaker takes the words and deeds of Jesus, adds the humor of a young mom's life, and offers messages of grace and encouragement. She shows overburdened moms forty things Jesus doesn't expect them to do on their own.  Covering areas such as worry, marriage, priorities, money, and the trap of comparison, this lively Bible teacher brings Jesus's message alive in a format geared to the short moments moms have that can be allotted to reflection. This is a devotional for the woman inside the mom--the Bible student, the learner, the world-changer."  It is a great devotional and really gets me going in the mornings and lets me know that I am not alone in this things called motherhood.  Happy Friday y'all!  I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

All thoughts and opinions are my own and I was not compensated for my book review!

Ch-ch-ch-changes and hiding the scale

For those of you that know me, you know that what I am about to tell you is a HUGE deal!  First off let me start by saying, I am obsessed with weighing myself.  I weigh myself pretty much everytime after I use the bathroom all throughout the day.  I don't know what my obsession is with it or why I do it, but for some reason I think that if I don't see the number on the scale for a while that I feel like my life is spinning out of control.

I have asked my husband to hide the scale.  I weighed myself yesterday and was 193.6 (up from 192.2 the previous day).  So that is the last number that I am going based on.  I am so consumed by the number on the scale that if it isn't going down, I feel that I am not successful in my efforts, even though I am eating pretty well and working my butt off with exercising.  I have lost inches, but it still frustrates me when the scale doesn't move or moves very very little week to week.  

I am going to try this for a month.  I am going to continue my exercising.  I may actually kick that up a notch and clean up my eating a little bit more.  I really need to get the bad fats, sugar, and caffeine out of my life!!!  Giving up caffeine is also a HUGE deal.  Thank God they still make decaf coffees and teas so if I really have  a hankering, I can drink one of those.  

I will need your help during this next month.  It is going to be tough to let go of some of these things, but I know it is going to be so good for me!  

Happy Thursday y'all!  It's almost Friday and the weekend!!

Suzanne

Getting down to the nitty gritty

I have been having some motivation issues...the lack of motivation, I might add.  I get so confused with how many calories I should be eating.  I feel hungry all the time when I eat 1440 like My Fitness Pal suggests and my weight loss is going soooooo slow.  That discourages me more than anything, but instead of being so consumed with what the number on the scale says, I need to focus on how my clothes are fitting because I am pretty sure I am losing inches.  Because my body fat percentage is so high, I need to change a lot of that fat to muscle before I am going to start seeing much difference but once that happens I will be a fat burning machine!!!  I have been doing a lot of research on my basal metabolic rate (how many calories your body burns just by existing) and what my daily caloric intake should be to lose weight and everything and I think I am eating too few calories so I am going to try upping my calories and I am going to give it 2 weeks or a 5 lb. gain if it doesn't work.  If it doesn't work, I may completely throw the towel in with calorie counting and go back to strict paleo and not worry how many calories are in foods.  It is all so confusing and discouraging sometimes!

I feel like I am giving up on my dream to "be a runner".  I want to enjoy running but all of the pain that I am in makes me feel like it is never going to happen.  I know running is about 90% mental but when my shin/calf is on fire while I am running there is nothing enjoyable about it.  They say to push through the pain but sometimes that is easier said than done.  I don't want to injure myself.  I have been fitted for shoes and recently purchased some compression sleeves but I think I syked (I have no idea how you spell that word!!) myself up and was able to run 1/4 mile without stopping with pretty much no pain.  But then when I tried to do it again a couple days later, I couldn't do it.  I have decided to go back to week 2 on the C25K plan because I can't run a full 3 minutes like week 3 calls for.

I was hoping to be in the 180's by April but with as slow as my weight loss is going I am not sure if I will make it there by then or not.

Some of our really good friends have rented a beach cottage in June and have invited us to go with them so we are getting down to the nitty gritty and I HAVE to kick it into high gear!

Ok, enough of the self-sabotaging.  Carry on with your regular Monday activities!

Suzanne