day 164 (day 3 / week 24)

I totally forgot that we were going to be celebrating my hubby's father's birthday today...actually I thought we were going to be doing it tomorrow, so this is why I didn't post until now. I got up early (enough) and procrastinated to the point that I could only do the 30 day shred, once, instead of twice, then I jumped in the shower and we were off to Nana and Papa's house. Oh well. Once is better than nothing! I'll do them both tomorrow :). I am excited to :).

I can feel my shoulder and back muscles from the plank position exercises we do, and from the traveling push ups, and it feels great! I love the feeling of worked muscles.

A lot of you guys showed interest yesterday, in the Omega 3-6-9 that I mentioned. They have changed my skin, it's so nice now! I usually have pretty dry/flaky skin--especially my feet and elbows. My left elbow gets really really dry during the summer months and my feet usually look horrible, because I live in flip flops. I am not a doctor, and so I am not saying that these omegas are a cure for anything, but I think they have helped me and my grody skin.

My monther in law (MIL) talks about beneficial oils a lot, more specifically, Udo Oil. I never really had any interest in it or what it was, because I thought it was just a fad something or other, that she uses for her Prism Diet. The thing that really got me is that she always says "when you eat olive oil, or smart balance, or a beneficial oil, don't count the calories." That drives me absolutely nutty because in school, they grilled in us "calories in, calories out" and if we weren't supposed to count the calories on EVOO and such, why is there a nutritional fact on the bottle that tells me there is 120 calories per TB (or whatever)? This drove me nuts, which is why I never really paid attention to what Udo Oil is.

We were having our little debate about it once again (maybe a month or 2 ago?), when I asked her where she was getting her info about not counting the calories...yadda yadda yadda and she gave me the information that her prism leader gave to her when she first started about beneficial oils and what to do with them (It was like from the 90's I think--she kept it all this time!). I read them, still didn't agree w/ the calorie part, but became interested because of what it said about added health benefits. She told me to research Udo Erasmus, which I did, and decided, that because she swears on the stuff (and so does her mother)--2 women that I respect and love a lot, that it made her hair/skin/nails much softer and stronger AND that she lost weight, that I would trust her and try it. I said that if I gained any weight, counting the calories or not (her paper work said I could count the calories if it would make those of us with that issue, feel better) that I would stop. The paperwork said to take beneficial oil up to 10 TB a day--again, I'm not a doctor or medical/nutritional professional, so please don't do this--until your skin is soft.
UPDATE 6/15/09: I just want to make sure that you guys aren't misunderstanding this previous sentence. I am not saying to take 10 TB of this a day (or that Udo Erasmus says this either). I do not, and believe it's waaay too much! I think the point that the pamphlet was trying to make was to take a lot of it until your skin is soft--which I also don't think you should do. Read the label of whatever you take (whether it's vitamins or this) and take it as suggested! I took my capsules as the bottle suggested.

Here is the info about Udo's Oil 3-6-9 blend specifically--because she swears by this stuff. His formula uses a 2:1:1 ratio of omega 3, omega 6 and omega 9. He is anal about quality and all that jazz, so his is expensive, but you get what you pay for. On his site, I also saw that he has softgel versions of this, so I took the cheap route, and found Omega 3-6-9 in soft gels (nature's bounty) at CVS pharmacy...they have them everywhere including walmart and target also... and started taking them 3x a day. The best part was that they were BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!! YAAHHOOO! Gotta love that. I figured if I took them, and nothing happened, then I don't feel bad because I spent $12 on both of them (compared to $50 for Udo Oil). I first mentioned that I started taking these in April and don't know or remember when I started seeing a difference (my hubby actually first noticed) but I continue to take it, and my skin isn't dry anymore. I added it as a sparkpeople goal (to take 3x/day) so that I don't forget (along with my glucosamine). The pic on the left, is what I take now. It's a 1:1:1 ratio, and not as strong as Udo Oil ( 6g of Omega-3 ALA, 3g of Omega-6 LA, 13mg GLA, 3g Omega-9 OA), so I bet that stuff works even better! I am not Udo Erasmus, or a Udo expert, or even sell this stuff (you would think I was, huh? lol), and have never taken any classes on beneficial oils before, so please don't go buy this stuff, down the entire bottle, get sick, break out, sweat oil and blame it on me (not that this would happen--you guys get what I'm saying though, right? ;)). CVS now has a different brand on sale, but it's not the same ratio, and is not as potent as what I am taking now, or Udo Oil. I also don't get "fish burps" and I have read a lot about, with fish oils and such. If I take all 3 at one time I do (sometimes even with 2), but I can count on one hand the number of times I have had a fish burp (I hate that term lol)--so that's pretty darn good!

Sorry for the long explanation. I just wanted you guys to know why I started taking this stuff (to prove my loving MIL wrong--awe man!), and give you guys the link to Udo Erasmus' site, so you can figure out if it's right for you. There is a wealth of information on that site, about all of the health benefits associated with beneficial oils,and everything is referenced too (which is always a good indicator that he isn't just making this stuff up himself just for a quick sale lol). My feet look beautimus! I wish I had a before shot so that I could take an after show, and show you the difference. I honestly didn't think it would do anything. Who knew? (my MIL--duh) lol.

Thanks for reading my incoherent rambling!

Make today count!

I can do this. I am a star.

day 163 (day 2 / week 24)

I just got finished exercising, and I feel great today. I took some of your suggestions and ran with it!

Today I did the 30 day shred (day 12) and did Level 3 and then did Level 1 immediately after. I kept my hand weights doing level 1, and used them for a lot of the cardio circuits (jumping jacks, butt kicks and shadow boxing with the hand weights), and did some harder variations in level 1, from level 3 (like the traveling push ups--I love those!). This is exciting and should keep me busy for a while, cause if you do the math, there are a ton of mathematical variations, if you switch everything around. I think I will double up on the days that I don't walk, and will just do one, on my (non) rest days...we'll see :).

I am still trippin' on the fact that I have to eat more calories. I will trust what I learned in school, and trust what the professionals at Sparkpeople say and just do it. If I start gaining weight though (well mostly if my pants get smaller) I'm stopping! I did eat 1350 calories yesterday, and feel great today, so who knows! I'll give it a few weeks to prove me wrong (lol) :).

I also said this (that I would stop if I gained weight because you don't count those calories) when I started taking the Triple Omega's a few weeks ago, and it never happened! My MIL was TOTALLY right (I still don't understand it though--calories in calories out??)! My skin feels and looks better, and so does my hair *shrugs*. I have...scratch that, I HAD flip flop feet (dried crusty feet--you guys know what I'm talking about, right?) and they look so beautimus now! Not dried and crusty at all! You wouldn't even know that I practically live out of my flip flops. Taking my omegas 3x a day really helped (my version of Udo Oil 2:1:1 formula since I can't afford that). If you guys want to know what that is, let me know! Super simple and I think that CVS has them buy one/get one free right now!

Hope you guys have an excellent weekend!

Make it count!

I can do this. I am a star.

day 116 (day 4 / week 17)

This morning I went and took the initial class (again) to get my CPR certification (I let it expire...oopse!). I woke up early, so that I could exercise before the class, but my workout today was almost an hour long, and I futzed around too much before before starting.

The class only took 3 hours long, and the compressions were a HUGE workout (with the dummies)! I know I will feel it in my lats tomorrow. I got home and immediately exercised, which I am so proud that I did!

I did Punch, Kick and Jam (Turbo Jam--48 minutes) and feel great! I also added a supplement to my diet--Omega 3-6-9 which my MIL swears by although I have the less expensive version AND I am only taking the softgels (not the oil). She says the oils (Udo Oil, more specifically) give you better health benefits all around, including weight loss (she was introduced to it when she was doing the Prism diet--which she also swears by). I'm a little skeptical, but I love her and trust her (not necessarily this diet) so I will try it, for her :). I am still doing my research on it as well (cause that's just what I do) :).

I hope you all have a great Sunday!

I can do this. I am a star.