Day 230, 231, 232 + 233

I have no idea what my deal is. I'm only in my 30's and my memory is already shot. I could have sworn I had posted something in the last two days. If my memory is this bad now... oye I don't even wanna know what's gonna happen when I'm older.

8/20
This morning I did Rockin' Body, Shaun T's dance party. I only did 40 minutes because I was running late for work.

8/19
Yesterday I did pushups. I did three sets of ten narrow push-ups and three sets of ten wide push-ups. Push-ups are my new friend. Lol

8/18
Thursday I did rockin body disco groove and booty time. It was 60 minutes total.

8/17
Wednesday morning I did rockin body Rock it Out and hard-core abs 58 mins total.

Tomorrow will be the last day of doing this rockin body program, and I plan to start a new one called Cize also by Shaun T. I hope i'm able to stay motivated through it!

One day at a time. One choice at a time. I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength.

Day 180

Well, it seems as though I'm on a roll. Today got up early and I got onto the optical for 60 minutes. My bottom is soooo sore. These side lunges with a knee raise or knee ups made me so sore. I had a hard time trying to get around today because of it. So what did I do? I did some more hahaha.

I hope I can get out of bed tomorrow LOL

One day at a time. One choice at a time.

I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength.

Day 132

This morning after I dropped the boy off at school, I came back home, got onto the elliptical for 60 minutes and watched some Fringe.

It feels better being back on a regular schedule again,  although I feel like by mentioning it, I'm somehow sabotaging it. Oye.

One day at a time. One choice at a time.

I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength.

Day 131

I woke up this morning feeling much better.  I got onto the elliptical for 30 mins and then for an additional 30 mins after dropping the big kid off to school.

I wish al days could be this easy.

One day at a time. One choice at a time.

I can do so things in Christ who gives me strength.

Day 97

Hey I already got into bed and just remembered that I needed to post this. I didn't post for yesterday either! I don't know where my brain has been.

Anyway today I watched iZombie and I got in an hour on the elliptical trainer. I'm exhausted so I'm going to bed.

One day at a time. one choice at a time.

I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength.

Day 92

Today I got onto the elliptical (with my lipstick on ;-)) for an hour and watched the last episode of the season of PLL.

I also did my weigh-in and measurements AND took a picture!

Back in 2009 when I completed this challenge the first time,  I didn't lose much weight,  but saw a lot of inches come off. I am seeing a repeat this year lol.

This month I lost 1lb, for a total of 8.8 lbs lost, but lost a bunch of inches.

I'm a little mad bc I did my measurements this morning but after going to retrieve them just now, my old phone deleted them,  along with the other previous months. I have to find a better system then relying on blogger mobile, bc frankly it sucks.

I remember losing 2? inches off my hips, 2 off my waist one off my arms, I think... and one off of my bust. I'll just have to do them again. So mad!

Here is an April 1 pic. I chose this dress bc I think it gives an honest representation of my curves, and if I start shrinking, I think it will show that.

I'll post measurements later, by Monday at the latest.

One day at a time. One choice at a time.

I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength.

Update: blogger won't let me attach any pics without crashing, so I'll have to figure out how to attach them later #bloggersucks

Day 83

Day 82

Day 53 (tuesday 2/22/11)

It was a workday. I walked 3.08 miles in 60 minutes for exercise.

I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength! (Phil 4:13)

Day 50 (Yaay for DDR!)

During 2009 when I did my first 365 day challenge of exercise, I accumulated quite a few exercise-at-home type videos/games. One of them was Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) for the Wii. It is a lot of fun and has all sorts of modes. Back then I couldn't do the harder/faster songs, like I can do them now, so it's even more fun than it was back then.

The mode I choose most often is the Exercise Mode, which tracks your minutes and estimated calories burned based off of your weight and accuracy with the moves (it estimates your HR). I use the Wii Balance Board and the nunchucks. It consists of hula hooping turns, hip swings (to the left, right, front and back), punches and punch/shakes (hard to explain).

Today I did 60 minutes of DDR and burned 407 calories--it might have been 404. It showed me on my last song, but didn't take me to a "yaay you completed your goal" page, like I thought it would. Anyway, it was roughly around 400 calories (I saw 40_ calories). It took me longer than 60 minutes to complete, because each song is like less than 3 minutes, and then you have to select another song, but it was fun, and it went by fast enough. My hips, ankles and calves are a little sore now.

Yaay for posting early! Now I won't procrastinate and dread the rest of the day doing it. :)

I can do all things in Christ who gives me strength! (Phil 4:13)

I am selfish...

Today was my day off (have to work again tomorrow) and I got up early to exercise. As soon as I go on the Wii Fit balance board, the Monkey Boy woke up. I had the volume turned all the way down, so he definitely didn't hear it. He just has that, "mommy-selfish-dar," he knows when I am being selfish.

It's so hard to be in "selfish mode" with a toddler around. Yes, exercising is selfish. It totally should be because it's about you and no one else. You may choose to exercise to look pleasing--we don't see ourselves the way others do--literally...we aren't a third person (duh). We may (should) choose to exercise for our health, so that we may be around for generations to come. Any reason, we have to do it ourselves, no one else can do it for us (awe man!).

So because I know now that it's getting hard for me to exercise when The Boy is awake, I am going to tweak my goal. You have to tweak your goals to be successful at them, if you see that no doing so will compromise your success. I still plan to blog/exercise early everyday, but I think putting a 2pm limit on it, is hard. Some days my son doesn't even take a nap until 4pm. I also know that exercising when my hubby is here is A LOT harder, so I think I am going to make his ETA my new goal mark. He usually gets home around 5:30pm. I know if I haven't exercised before he gets home, I resort to squats and/or push ups before bed, when he is already in bed. I think this tweak to my goal is more realistic and will help me to stay successful with the new changes I am trying to incorporate for 2010.

My son took a small nap and I was able to get 32 Wii minutes in on the Wii Fit. I did the skateboarding one and the obstacle course, both, over and over again. I also did an hour of heavy cleaing.

Staying away from sugar is SO MUCH easier at home than it is at work. Home is a controlled environment and I just don't have it here. At work, everyone has it around so it's tough. Today I haven't thought about wanting it at all, so that is good progress. Cutting out the soda has helped me to re-own an old goal of drinking a lot of water a day.

As the fresh beat band sings...it was a great day, the very best day, and nothing could be better.

Make it count!

I can do this. I am a star.

5/370

Day 308 (day 7 / week 43)

Today I took advantage of the chair and my crutches. I woke up this morning really sore (shoulders and triceps) so there is definitely something to using the crutches, working my arms. They are like static triceps contractions I guess. Every time I take a step with the crutches, I am holding my body weight up with my arms, using my triceps, biceps and shoulders. Try it. The next time you are in between 2 tables, put your hands on the table and lift your body off of the floor, supporting your body on your hands. That is what it feels like to use crutches. It is exhausting. I had to stop several times to give my arms a break. It took me over 20 minute to get to and from my car, the same distance that it takes me 3-5 minutes to walk. My arms hurt.

The other thing that I did was take advantage of the rolling chair in class and the carpet. I had to use the restroom, but it was on the other side of the elevators, and my arms were sore from the crutches, so some classmates suggested that I roll down the hallway in the chair, instead of use crutches. I looked like an idiot, but I got there quicker than I would have on crutches and I got a GREAT leg workout (right leg only lol) which I never expected. My thigh was screaming! I almost stopped, and then realized that I could use it as exercise, like as quickfires for the day. I was rolling backwards, pushing with my right leg, and there was tension because of the carpet. I pushed myself easily 100-200 times down the hallway, passed the elevators and back to the class room. My leg is sore. Only my right one lol. I hope (and I am totally kidding when I say this) that my right leg doesn't end up larger than my left. That would be a fun story to explain to people that stare. I would get a tshirt made if that were the case. That would be awesome.

I am off to bed. I am SO sleepy.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 256 (day 4 / week 37)

Today was a busy day. We had a lot of fun though.

I did a few different things for exercise, and lost track of time after 50 minutes.

We walked a lot today and then we did something that surprised the socks off of me.



Meet Pebbles. The newest addition to our family :). Isn't she the cutest thing ever??

We already love her so much, and the Monkey Boy is beyond happy. She is a member of our household, and stuck with us. The poor thing (we are a bunch of nerds).

Here's another picture:


She makes me exercise and I don't even realize it. She's 5 1/2 months old and a Corgi/Terrier mix (we think). We rescued her from a local shelter and she has completely stolen our hearts. She is going to make it easier for me to get up early to walk. I just need to train her to walk, cause she doesn't like her leash at this point :).

The Monkey Boy, Pebbles and I have been playing hard all day. That's great exercise, just in case you didn't know :).

The other thing that I did for exercise was my hubby's BFF came over with his spiff-o-matic Dyson ball vacuum thing, and I got to clean. Twice. That thing is different. I can feel my arms are a little tired/sore and that is awesome. We want one. It's expensive though. But it's worth it. Words can't describe the work it does. You have to see it for yourself. I swear that I could hear angels singing in a perfect octave when I was vacuuming. It is awesome.

Anyway gotta get to sleep for work in the AM. Have a great night! Make tomorrow count!

I can do this. I am a star.

The other thing that I did for

Day 240 (day 2 / week 35)

Right now I am sitting on my couch with an ice pack on my foot. I went to a car show with my hubby and FIL tonight and slipped and fell with my leg pinned in back of me. I was wearing my flip flops so only my foot got scraped up and is swollen, thank goodness. My ankle bothered me earlier, but now it's only my big toe.

Today for exercise I did sort of a potpourri of things, if you will. Not traditional exercise, but things that I know that I get a good workout from--mopping and heavy house work, jumping around and dancing with the Monkey Boy. We do this thing, like in the movie Flashdance, where we run in place really fast and go in circles, like ring-around-the-Rosie. We walked a lot today and then went to a small car show tonight, and all day The Monkey Boy wanted to be held the entire time so I got a pretty good workout with that (man! He's getting heavy!). The thing that bummed me out the most about my fall was that when I fell, my wrist or hand hit the button that cleared all of my info stored on my HRM from today. Oh well. I know all of this was over an hour's worth of stuff so I will just call it that, but I don't have the calorie burn info anymore. Oh well, I shouldn't be so dependant on it anyway lol.

Thank you all so much for your support. After hearing what you feel about my question, "Did I blow it yesterday?" and feeling that yesterday was a more than usual phsyical day (it's usually a physical day at work, but I don't usually have to move beds around and do as much heavy transferring), I am going to let go of any negative feelings I have about it, and just keep moving on. Thank you for your opinions and for caring enough to respond! ((Hugs to you all!)).

My computer is about to die any minute, so I have to end now.

Have a good weekend, and see you tomorrow!

Make it count! There are so many ways in which to do so!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 199 (day 3 / week 29)

Today I started off feeling a little discouraged because I didn't get up early enough to walk outside (6:30am)...it was already 90 degrees by the time I wanted to get out of the house and the weather channel is predicting a high of 114F today! I know that if I don't exercise earlier rather than later, especially on a hot day, I struggle with it. Not a fan of heat--I'm one of those people that would rather be cold than hot (I grew up in the mountains). Anyway, before letting the procrastination fog rolled over, I went and did something. The Firm's Cardio Sculpt (60 minutes), which I welcomed, because my legs are no longer sore, and this was an indicator for me (yaay!).

I also did and extra 25 minutes of miscellaneous circuit training: concentration curls, triceps extensions, lateral raises (?) and my Quickfire Challenge for the day, squat thrusts. I did 2 sets of 10 regular squat thrusts and 3 sets of 10 modified squat thrusts using my fanny lifter. The other QFC for today is to walk fast for 10-15 minutes, every 2-3 hours, 3-5 times a day. I am not going to do this one--it's too hot outside.

Off to bake a sugar free carrot cake for my hubby's grandmother's birthday (it's today!). Happy birthday Gram!

Make today count! If you are doing that outside, don't forget about sunblock!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 187 (day 5 / week 27)

Today I went for a walk with the Monkey Boy again. Let me tell you, he did not want to go. He threw the biggest fit as I was putting him in the stroller and even as I pushed him out the door--he wanted to stay home and watch TV, the little stinker.

It was around 8am, and I woke him up so that I could take this walk. I had already decided to walk today, and knew that it was supposed to get to 105F today, so I skipped my video and tried to set out early.

I told him that since he didn't want to go, we could go for a short walk, so that we could compromise--I get to walk and he gets to come home earlier so he can watch Sesame Street.

Not even 1/2 way into our walk, I realized (the hard way) that I drank too much water before we left lol. I had to stop and use a park bathroom on the way. It was a good thing that I did a shorter route this time, because if I had gone my usual route, there would not have been a bathroom as close and I would have had to wait a lot longer (not a good thing after 32oz of water lol).

We walked for 2.80 miles, and it took me 60 minutes (901 calories burned), including my bathroom break, and the few stops I made to take these pictures:



It's amazing how if you look, you can find beauty all around you. God really blesses all of us in that way. There is obvious beauty and then beauty that is there and mostly unappreciated.

The first 2 pictures were the only color that I saw out of gray. They were taken looking up at the sky, because they towered over my head. The streets are dark gray, the walls are medium gray and the sidewalks are light gray. These flowers looked so beautiful next to the dull shades, and the green trees really popped too, if you looked up at them (the sun is too intense for me to look up in the sky when I walk--even the Monkey Boy wants his blanket over his head).

There is even beauty in death, as shown in this tree--there is green tree after green tree, and then this one in the midst of it all. These dead trees sit there in their calming stillness, and they are truly amazing. They lived long graceful lives, and even after they have have turned gray and stopped growing, they make their presence known. It's quite breathtaking if you let yourself take it all in.

I took a picture of a cactus, because when I think of the desert, I think of cactus. I thought this one was very proportionate and symmetrical in it's own way. I like that :).

If the Monkey Boy goes down for a walk, I want to do The Firm's Ab Sculpt video.

I hope you all have a good day. If you are stressed out, or in a bad place mentally, escape from that and go look outside. You can find beauty everywhere--in grass, rocks, the sky even dead trees.

Make it count!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 186 (day 4 / week 27)

I went into my workout today with the idea in the back of my mind that I wanted it to be a (non)rest day. I told myself that I would do 30 minutes and then turn it off whenever I wanted after that.

When 30 minutes rolled around I thought to myself, "I like this segment, I'll stop when it's over," but then I ended up liking the segment after that too. Long story short, I did the entire video. My (non)rest day, turned into a regular day lol.

I'm really glad that I like The Firm's Body Sculpt with The Fanny Lifter. I find myself getting bored easily with my video workouts so it's nice to find one that I actually like to do. I go into my workout thinking "I'm gonna slack off" or "I'm gonna make it a rest day" and I do the whole thing, and I do it as well as I can. Who does that? Sure as heck not me! At least not the old me. I can remember at the beginning of my journey, doing Slim in 6, and not wanting to workout that day, and not giving it my best. This workout makes me want to do it better. In fact, today I burned 200 more calories than I normally do during this 60 minute workout, because I was trying to do it better (I burned 702 calories according to my HRM). I kept thinking about how I can do this and how I'm getting stronger and that people are actually noticing, and that most importantly I can notice it now. Such a blessing. So much of my daily hard work is paying off. There is nothing more rewarding than that...except for when my son comes and gives me a kiss in the middle of working out and says in his gibberish toddler voice, "love you mama." That is a blessing. He did this today, my sweet Monkey Boy.

Oma and Opa (my hubby's grandparents) are arriving today, from Texas. They are in the process of moving here and we are so excited. They have been on the road for 3 or 4 days and I am so excited to see them. My son has been asking for Oma and Opa since they last visited 2 months ago. They were here for only a few days, but he remembers. He has such a freakish memory, it's funny. He asks for Oma every single time we go to see Nana and Papa (my hubby's parents). He ALWAYS remembers things and we are always saying, "how on earth did he remember that?" Kids are great.

Hope you all have a great day. Make it count! It's worth it, and I promise if you are struggling right now with that (whether it's worth it or not), it will pay off in the long run. I promise, if you are consistant.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 185 (day 3 / week 27)

I had big hopes for today's workout, but I just couldn't do it all. I decided to stop before I started hating it, cause I have to come back and do it again tomorrow.

The plan:
The Firm, Cardio Sculpt w/ Fanny Lifter (60 mins)
The Firm, Body Sculpt w/ Fanny Lifter (45 mins)

What I actually did:
The Firm, Cardio Sculpt w/ Fanny Lifter, 60 minutes, 504 calories burned
The Firm, Body Sculpt w/ Fanny Lifter, 10 minutes, 79 calories burned (lol).

I wanted to do the extra minutes for my official state team on Sparkpeople (Nevada). We realized that we only rank 38/50 in Spark America minutes (all of the minutes/exercise we put into sparkpeople goes into "Spark America minutes"). I think I am already doing a lot of cardio per day--heck, per week, so I am not going to give myself a hard time about it. I wanted to do more today, because I only did 40 minutes yesterday, instead of what I originally planned on.

All good. :)

Off to take a shower and eat something. Hope you have a great 4th of July, if you are from the US. If you're not, I hope you have a great weekend and get pleanty of rest! (I always talk about "go, go, go" but rest is just as important :)).

See you tomorrow ;)

I can do this. I am a star.

day 182 (day 7 / week 26)

Today I wanted to go for a walk. It's about 7:15am as I type this, and it's almost 90 degrees outside, and getting warmer. My hubby says it might rain, but that probably won't affect the heat much. It's still going to be another scorcher today (not like yesterday at 108 though...*whew!*). That being said, I flaked out on my walk and did The Firm, Cardio Sculpt instead, because it's fun. Can you tell that I was excited?

(err der)

Same ol' same ol'. I'm not bored with it yet, which is good, but I am finding myself able to keep up much better now. This is HUGE considering when I first got this workout, I called my sister (during the w/o lol) to give her mad props for being able to keep up w/ the chirography. Man I couldn't keep up at all, I remember thinking it was just nutty. I hope I see some great results from this video! I can see potential! :).

Today's quickfire is to shadow box. I am going to incorporate this with another daily team goal (from the Done Being a Fat Girl group) that I have been forgetting to do--the "Done Girl Dance" lol. Everyday they want us to do this dance for 15 minutes. I guess it's like the happy dance??? Lol. So for the quickfire it says:

*You can move around a room and pretend to fight an imaginary opponent, which involves "dancing" around the room, throwing combinations of punches and ducking and avoiding imaginary punches.

*Or you can work on different punching combinations while staying mostly stationary.

Try to QuickFire Box for 5 minutes spaced out 3-5 times during your day. Set a timer/watch. Try not to make contact ~ Sayin!

So I am going to do the Done Girl Dance in place of the "dancing" part lol and shadow box at the same time lol. This is going to be interesting and I'm sure the Monkey Boy will LOVE this. Turnin' up the music and doing the Squidward butt dance :) Do the Bartman! Everybody shake it from side to side! I keep forgetting to do this Done Girl dance, so now is the perfect time to start up. lol.

I have to say that I was a little nervous about today being the first and doing my measurements, but I'm over it (especially since I did them already lol). It could have been a lot worse, considering that I weighed myself last week and saw that I had gained 5lbs. All in all I am happy and as Loree mentioned yesterday, I am not stopping anytime soon, so this can only get better!

Yesterday I changed my calories burned on sparkpeople to better represent the calories I burn on my power walks since my new discovery (1400+ calories), giving me a new calorie range of 1650-2000 (to eat). Yesterday I didn't even scratch that surface with 1300 at best. Oh well, will try again today! If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. I have been watching my salt intake as well and have been staying under 2500mg of sodium daily (in the 1000-1500 range) which surprisingly took very little effort (*whew*). All of these things that I am doing, are lifestyle changes. When I am done with whatever goals I have, with exercise, this won't change. These things are important to me, to stay healthy. I'm not just gonna go gnaw on a salt lick once Jan 1 rolls back around (ok maybe I will, you caught me! ;)).

Ok, here we go!

My measurements:

Measurements: (day 182 / 152 / day 10) (- "/# lost in current month)

Wt: 195.2 / 194.6 / 215 (+0.60#) (total lost 19.8#)
Chest: 37.75" / 39" / 43.75"(-1.25") (total lost -6")
Waist: 33" / 34.75" / 41.5" (-1.75") (total lost -8.5")
Hips: 42.5" / 44" / 47.75" (-1.5") (total lost -5.25")
Neck: 13" / 13" / 14.25" (-0") (total lost -1.25")
Under bust: 33" / 33" / 36.75" (-0") (total lost -3.75")
1" below belly button: 40.5" / 40.75" / 47.5" (-0.25") (total lost -7")
below my bottom (above my thigh): 39.5" / 39.5" / 44" (-0") (total lost -4.50")
R Thigh: 19" / 19.5" / 27" (-0.5") (total lost -8")
L Thigh: 19.5" / 19.5" / 27.5" (-0") (total lost -8")
R Calf: 14.25" / 13.25" / 14.5" (+1") (total lost -0.25")
L Calf: 14.5" / 14" / 14" (+0.5") (total lost -.5")
R upper Arm: 11" / 10.75" / 14" (+0.25") (total lost -3")
L upper Arm: 11.5" / 11" / 13.5" (+0.5") (total lost -2")
R wrist: 5.75" / 5.75" / 6.25" (-0") (total lost -0.5")
L wrist: 5.75" / 5.75" / 6.25" (-0") (total lost -0.5")

Jan 2009

Feb 2009

March 2009

April 1, 2009

May 1, 2009

June 1, 2009

July 1, 2009

Not much of a difference, but I expected this. In June I lost 5.25 inches (gaining 2.25 inches) and gained 0.60 lbs, which I am totally happy with, considering when I weighted myself stupidly last week, I weighed 199 (pretty good comeback from that!). Not too happy seeing green in there, but it could have been worse and some of it makes sense.

For the majority of June I did the 30 Day Shred, and Jillian has us do A LOT of jumping, so that would affect the calves, and she has us do a lot of arm work as well. All in all I am happy and as Loree mentioned yesterday, I am not stopping anytime soon, so this can only get better!

My bodyfat percentage did go up from last month as well, but this might have to do w/ the fact that I probably wasn't eating enough. Surprisingly, I don't really care about this. I know this will take time for me to work on, especially considering that I haven't figured out exactly how much I should be eating quite yet. Still playing with it. The walk that I have been tracking 1400+ calories burned on, isn't the longest walk that I go on, and this month I walked a lot. I will test this theory and see what changes for next month (pretty fascinating to be able to compare numbers and such!).

Anyway I hope you all have a great day! Gonna go do some booty shaking and shadow boxing!

Make today count! You can start new :) it's the beginning of an entire month!

I can do this. I am a star.

day 181 (day 6 / week 26)

I am quite confused. I really thought today was Monday. *scratches head*. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it's actually Tuesday. lol. Oh well, such is life when you are a stay at home mom.

I had an EXCELLENT workout today. I did The Firm, Cardio Sculpt with my Fanny Lifter again. In 60 minutes, I burned 531 calories (SP told me that with low impact step aerobics I would have burned 649). Anyway, on Sunday (I think) I remember thinking, "She's trying to kill us," during the 2nd go around on the fanny lifter, and I found myself thinking it again today, and I laughed out loud, because I remembered saying it previously in the same exact spot. I thought I was having a bad day or something, but nope, I think Allie is really trying to kill us haha! I picture these little horns underneath her princess pony :).


You can see a 7 minute clip of this workout here. Notice the stepford wives smiles that they give during the intro. My hubby and I watch the intro, just for a good laugh. So funny (no offense to them--I'm sure they laugh at it too)! In all seriousness, I really like these ladies. Allie is a great "master trainer" and I am glad to have this video. She gives us a great workout :) (I'm totally just kidding/teasing about the horns and the smiles).

We do this portion near the end, where we are laying our torsos on the fanny lifter and doing leg work...man, I love this! It reminds me of the evil leg lift/kick things on Slim in 6, but these are better, because...it's not as long, so it doesn't feel like torture lol. You can see a small clip of this during the intro to that 7 minute clip. She has us put a 3lb weight in the crease behind our knee. Great workout!

I hope you all have a great Tuesday. Sheesh, I still can't believe it's Tuesday...

Make it count!

I can do this. I am a star.

UPDATE: I calculated my calories burned for a week (3x walking/4x The Firm=6180/week) and changed my calories burned in sparkpeople, and it increased my food! My new range is 1650-2000 daily. Much better than just 1200...I just hope I can actually eat that much and that I will actually see a result! Yaay!