Over Stuffed Sausages... yummm (evil laugh)

So, today is day 3 of my 30 day challenge. You didn't think I forgot did ya? I have been working for the past few days, and am still exhausted (not to mention my feet are killing me!) from moving and now from work also. I thought it would, but it didn't stop me :).

Monday and Tuesday I worked but this is what I have done so far:

((Sunday (Jan 31): 14,924 steps))
Monday (Feb 1, day 1): 11,920 steps
Tuesday (Feb 2, day 2): 15,214 steps
Wednesday (Feb 3, day 3): 45 minutes of Cardio on Your Shape (1012 calories burned!)

For my birthday my hubby bought me some exercise games for the Wii and I broke out the "Your Shape" for the first time today. I have mixed feelings on it.

It does a little like pre-test to see where your exercise level is, and it grades you in letters, like in school. My pre-test thingy scored with an A+. I didn't realize it at the time, and I may be wrong, but this score made the game think that I am really fit and can jump around like a skinny girl. Man, it was hard but I stuck through the entire thing. I think it put me into a fitness level that I am not at yet.

This game was a huge eye opener also. I am HUGE. I think because I exercise regularly again, and have been consecutively for over a year now (I can't believe that I can say that!), that my idea of what I look like is more of how I feel, and my energy, than what I really look like. It was depressing to see me up there on my TV screen. All I could see was my fat blubbery stomach bouncing out of my shirt during the jumping portions--which was like all of it. My legs look like sausages overstuffed with cottage cheese. If that isn't motivation enough to get moving, I don't know what is.

The other thing I didn't like about it is that we don't have enough lighting (even lighting) in our living room (with all the shades up, natural sunlight and all of the lights on), and the pale couch/wall match with my pale skin color lol. Seriously. It says to (in my own words) clash with your background. I blend in. It's kind of funny but frustrating at the same time. I wore different colored pants and shirt, but my arms match our pale couches lol (my in laws are giving us their couches tonight on a totally unrelated/related thought--navy leather. sweet!).

Anyway I thought today was "arm" day, but I found out the hard way that it was cardio day instead. lol. I kept wondering when it was going to get to the strength training part. Thirty-five minutes into it, we did donkey kicks and side kicks and that was about it.

I am not scheduled to come into work tomorrow, but they called and asked me if I would, so if my FiL can watch the Monkey Boy, I will. Yaay for overtime. I hope I am not too sore but I am sure I will manage.

Hope everything is well with everyone.

I keep getting these spam comments so I am thinking about turning off the anonymous comment option, if I can figure it out.

Take care and see you either tomorrow or the day after.

I can do this. I am a star.

It's time for a break

I need a break. I think that I bit off more than I can chew by trying to do 2 years of exercise in a row, and I think it's just too much. I talked to my family and they all agree. I just have so much going on, and instead of relieving stress, it's become a stressor. Over the past year I have learned what it takes to make a positive lifestyle change, and how to have the dedication and determination to do it.

This "break" doesn't mean that everything will stop. It means that I need to give myself the chance to do it on my own, and not because I have to (that's the difference in my mind with this resolution). So yesterday, I took a much deserved break. I didn't exercise. I exercised for 365 days in a row and then some. I proved to myself that I can do it, so I will never say to myself again, that I can't. It hung over my head like I was forgetting to do something all day, but at the end of the day, it felt good to let go.

Yesterday I still watched what I ate, and I wouldn't really call it, "watching" because it's just what I do now. I am so used to knowing to look for the numbers and that's a good thing. It's apart of my lifestyle change, and I don't find myself craving calorie filled junk anymore, like I used to. Knowing those numbers makes it hard to enjoy the food. I also want to focus more time on the Sparkpeople plan. It teaches some great stuff for lifestyle change, and I just want to do the whole thing over again, w/out any added disruptions. I think I had too much on my plate to fully absorb the great info (I learned a lot, but I can learn SO MUCH more).

I also still plan to keep up the no sugar/no soda thing. It's so hard with the no sugar, but easy when it's not around (it's those "around" times that are a pest!), and I will still continue to talk about that, because so many people struggle with it too, but the no soda thing I think I have in the bag. It's more like a soda/strange chemicals ban.

Anyway I didn't weigh myself or do my measurements, like I said. Sorry. I spent a lot of the day trying to recover financial damages (so stressful). In 2009 I started out at 215lbs and at my lowest I got to 183. I have since gained 10lbs but I'm not upset because it will eventually be lost too. I now weigh about 193lbs. Having this goal made me obsess over my weight more so than usual, I think, because it was measurable by that number. I still plan to lose more weight this year than last, but I won't and can't obsess over it because I have other priorities that are more important.

Work and exercise is hard. All of you working peepz out there know this. I was spoiled at the beginning of my resolution because I was a stay at home mom. I had A LOT of time on my hands, more so than now (even on my day's off because I'm playing catch up). Once I started working, the exercise thing got hard, and I stopped enjoying it. It became a chore.

Anyway, I still struggle and am still going to blog when I can, but I think I need a rest from blogging daily, and trying to catch up on the days that I didn't blog. It's just too much.

I hope you all are well! Thank you again for all of your support!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 326 (day 4 / week 46)

Man, I thought Sunday was a hard day. Today was worse, but I got in 15,065 steps. That's 7.13 miles! I transferred patients, took the stairs and did all the same workday stuff that I do.

The stairs are becoming easier, and I am noticing squeezing and stretching is becoming easier thanks to yoga. Gotta love yoga.

God also blessed me. Lately I haven't been praying like I used to. I used to pray for all things. When I needed help, and when I didn't. I forget that I ALWAYS need help. Work is so stressful and hard, that I always just thank God for helping me, but I never ask Him for help, or invite Him along with my day.

I did today, and I got on time. That is huge. Today was a lot busier (the step count shows it!) and I finished early. I needed this. My supervisors are not happy that I have had to stay late to finish. I asked, "what can I do to fix it?" I was told, "you are a smart girl. You will figure it out." (biggest cop out answer ever.) I honestly have no idea how to fix it. I gave up, left it in His hands, and I finished. On time. I honestly don't know what I did differently today to finish early, but it was all Him. Same pod (the section that I work on)... mostly the same nurses... same patients...He helped me. He had to have. Nothing else makes sense. What a blessing.

One more day left. I pray He is there with me again, helping me. He will. God is faithful.

Make tomorrow count! It's gonna be the end of the week before you know it! You know what that means, right? Black Friday. Don't wait until then to get the walking in! You'll be glad you didn't!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 320 (day 5 / week 45)

I'm beat.

I just got home from work and need to go take a shower and go to bed.

I walked 11,297 steps today (5.35 miles). I have been scratching my head for the last few days because I have been the busiest that I have ever been at work and I am seeing smaller numbers (stepwise). *Shrugs*

Gotta work again in the morning. *cry* (it's been such a hard week at work!)

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 303 (day 2 / week 43)

Today I got on the Wii Fit again (man I love that thing!) and went for 87 Wii Minutes. My arms are sore today from some of the yoga things and strength moves they had me do yesterday.

I wish I could take a picture and show you all of the stuff I am doing. I like the yoga on the Wii balance board, because it really shows me how to do the position correctly, with the correct posture and correct balance. It's different than just doing it along to a video like Slim in 6. I always heard people say yoga was hard, but I never thought that was true...until now. It's hard to relax and keep your balance perfect while holding the tree pose, or half moon.

I decided (just now) that I am going to take a picture of my favorites, and share one with you everyday (on my day's off). Since I finished my workout today, I will start tomorrow.

It's getting cold here in Vegas. When I say cold, I don't mean like Colorado cold, or East Coast cold...I mean for Vegas it's cold. It's been in the 60s. It's also a dry cold and windy (for Vegas). My skin hurts. Isn't it funny how during the summer, keeping the house at a certain temp is nice, but when the weather changes outside (for the colder), that same temperature in the house just feels cold too?

The monkey boy is all of a sudden attempting the potty, so I gotta go!

Make today count! It's almost the end of the year. Get a start on 2010!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 282 (day 2 / week 40)

It's bedtime. I have to make it quick because the hubby is getting frustrated.

I committed to the 30 Day Shred yesterday, and 100 days of no sugar, and didn't do 1 of the 2 today, like I said I would. Can you guess which one it is?

I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted sugar, but I didn't. It was hard, but didn't have any. I even made my son whole wheat honey chocolate chip pancakes, and made enough for 2, but remembered before I made it, that I committed.

I also committed to the 30DS but I am SO sore today. My legs are kicking. I was out of the house by 6:15 this morning driving to Pahrump to get Pebbles spayed, and got home early in the afternoon. The monkey boy took a nap, and so did I (he was up 3 times last night, because his nose was stuffed and he couldn't breathe well--gotta love Vicks vapor rub!). By the time I woke up the hubby was home and Pebbles needed some TLC... the monkey boy doesn't quite understand that she has bo0-boos and can't play with him--exactly what I was afraid of so I have to keep my eye on the little guy (he also keeps trying to force feed her and doesn't understand or refuses to understand that she just can't eat or doesn't want to eat yet after her surgery).

Anyway, as for exercise today, I didn't do the 30DS (boo on me!) but my hubby helped me take advantage of the time/places we were out. We went to go do some errands and went to the Apple store to trouble shoot my phone. We parked in the parking garage, and instead of taking the elevator, my hubby was fine with us taking the stairs. We also we also walked the long way around to get to the stairs, so I got a good workout going up the steep grade (man parking garages are steep!). We also parked pretty far at our 2nd destination, but we always do that. I have also been carrying 15ish lbs of puppy love around all day, as well as a 26lb monkey boy, who was a little jealous and also wanted to be carried. My arms are sore. Anyway, tomorrow, sore or not, I am going to do the 30DS. I know that once I do it, if I am sore or not, I will feel better. I remember that about this DVD. So I guess tomorrow will be day 2.

Hope you all had a great Friday!

Off to bed.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 279 (day 6 / week 39)

Today was a tough day. I was on an entirely different pod today, than I was on Sunday and yesterday. I was mad, but got over it (I love the people I work with--great company!) when I realized that my being in a different pod was helping out a newbie. I would feel horrible for a new person to have to experience a busy day, like today, just so I could stay on the same pod as yesterday.

Anyway, I did my stairs thing like usual. In fact I did a Quickfire at the end as I was leaving to go home. I decided to run down the stairs as fast as I could, but doing them like knee ups, like in Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred. It was hard, because surprisingly it takes a lot of coordination, something I don't have much of after my 3rd 12 hour shift in a row lol. I got in some squats today as well, transferring patients. I also got to tell a few more people about Sparkpeople. I love sparkpeople. I am considering getting the cards from their website, because I just love it so much that I want to spread The Spark. :)

I'm exhausted. I am off to bed. I was actually about to hop in bed when I remembered that I didn't post yesterday, or today, so I came back to do this.

I am sure I did something else, but I have a headache from being tired and it hurts a little to think about it. If I remember, I'll update tomorrow. No biggie.

See you in the morning. I love that it's finally fall weather here in Vegas. It means that I can take longer, later walks now that I am not trying to beat triple digit heat.

night-night.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 229 (day 35 / week 33)

I feel like a train wreck. I woke up a little over 30 minutes ago, and I don't feel any better than I did when I went to sleep. Actually, I feel worse. I didn't get enough sleep (like 2.5 hours less than I am used to!), and I am pretty sure I didn't eat enough yesterday. I probably only broke 700 calories. I only have 30 minutes to eat for 12 hours, and when I got home, I'm too exhausted to eat anything more than a bowl of cereal.

I'm not complaining, I just don't know how to do this yet. Three 12 hour shifts in a row, the lack of food associated with those shifts and exercise is HARD. I even got off work late last night. The person training me deserves a 7 foot trophy! He worked 5 days this week! FIVE TWELVE HOUR SHIFTS! You wouldn't even have known, because he was in good spirits and perky. I'm on day 2 and want to roll over and die.

I had to make today a (non)rest day. If I didn't, I'm sure I would feel even worse tomorrow. There is no way I can do 2 miles this morning. I know I didn't eat enough yesterday, and I know I won't eat enough today. I only did 3 sets of 15 reps of concentration curls. This took me only a couple minutes unfortunately :(. I wanted to do jumping jack, but I'm too tired...waay too tired. It's not much I know, but I need to be smart about this, knowing that I am not going to eat much. Starving yourself to lose weight is not the way to go. I won't do that. At least I did something--although it's not much at all, but I'm ok with that, and I'm sure my body will thank me at the end of the day.

Tonight I am going to go to sleep when I get home from work. That will mean even less food. I wonder if it's even possible to do that with a cranky husband and a toddler. He NEVER puts the Monkey Boy down, and it's doubtful that the boy will want to go down at 8-8:30 pm! lol. We'll find out! I think I am going to have to go buy some high calorie meal bars or something and munch on those throughout the day (if I'm able to). This might be my best bet.

Sorry for the cranky, whiny post. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. I PRAY that I will feel better tomorrow, and I praise God now for it. God gives us the strength to do what we gotta do! (Phil 4:13).

I can do this. I am a star.

day 174 (day 6 / week 25)

The Quickfire Challenges (QFC) I mentioned yesterday are kicking my butt! Today my sides are sore from yesterday, and my legs are still a bit sore from the day before. I ended up doing Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred (day 23) and I also did The Biggest Loser Workout--only the warm-up, the low intensity portion and a few minutes of the cool down, because the Monkey Boy came to bother me a few minutes into it. All good. So I got in around an hours worth, not including the quickfire challenge today which is 4 sets of 20 jumping jacks, all throughout the day, to spike the metabolism (I've done 2 of those sets already). She also has us doing (well it's actually "and/or" but I chose "and") 4-5 sets of 20-25 Side Lunge With Windmill Arms. These, like the jumping jacks have elevated my heart, but they are a bit harder, becuase my obliques and glutes are sore and I can really feel these muscles when I do them. If I weren't sore, they would probably be pretty simple and easy to do.

I am a bit disappointed in myself and in general, and a bit angry as well. I weighed myself today and I have gained 5 lbs (I'm back up to 199!) and 4% body fat! I don't understand this at all. I NEVER go over my calories and I NEVER have cheat days! I watch everything and count everything that I put into my mouth, so it doesn't make any sense. If I can't count it, I don't eat it. It really irritates me because people say "exercise more, and eat less" or "do something more active then you already are" like I have no idea what I am doing, or as if I haven't been doing this for over 6 months straight. Everything is accounted for. Even my own mother takes jabs and makes snide/ignorant remarks. It makes me angry that my body fat % went up but I guess I can accept 5lbs, if it is muscle, but I will never know. I did some measurements because I was concerned with the weight gain, to see if anything changed, and some things got bigger (calves) most things stayed the same, and I lost a few quarters of an inch in other places. It's almost the end of the month and I am afraid I won't be losing many inches again :(. Stupid scale. I am so irritated that I weighed myself. I feel like this is all for nothing right now, and this couldn't have come at a worse time, especially since I have been trying to do more. Why on earth would I want to bust my hump even more than I already am, for nothing?

Am I obviously oblivious to something that everyone else including you guys see, that I don't? Please help!

I guess I'm gonna go do some more jumping jacks.

Sorry for the rant...

Make today count.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 31 (day 3 / week 5)

Oh cow! I can't believe that I almost to post to my blog today! I exercised a few hours ago, but have been busy non-stop since, so that's why it slipped my mind. I sold some stuff on eBay, and was taking pictures of more things to sell while Logan was down for his nap.

I did "Burn It Up!" phase 3 today and for some reason it was harder for me to do today, than in the past. *shrugs* I got nothing as to why lol. I have to put my hands on my hips a lot, and I have been noticing for some time that it feels like my muffin top is getting smaller. I used to have to rest my hand above it or below it, because of how big it was (awkward position for my hand). Now I can rest my hand on it and it isn't awkward.

I also did a lot of running around today trying to ship the items we sold on eBay. For 2.5 hours I was packing, lifting, carrying and squatting with boxes. I think the 5 or 6 boxes combined were about 20 lbs (the heaviest being 9 lbs and long and awkward), so I probably got a pretty good workout doing that. I did feel a little winded at first, but that went away. I hope my back doesn't hurt tomorrow, but I'm pretty aware of proper body mechanics from working at a hospital for so long and being on my feet for 12 hour shifts.

Don't really know what else to say! Ooh! I will be doing my measurements tomorrow morning (first thing), so I will post those after I exercise. Yaay! I'm so excited! (wish I had measured my sausage feet and muffin top lol)

Hope everyone has a great workout! Have a great rest of the weekend :).

God bless!

I can do this. I am a star... with a smaller muffin top lol

Day 26 (day 5 / week 4)

I am really struggling to not hate "Burn it Up!" I did it again today, and it just kicks my butt! I hate it. I really don't look forward to doing it (maybe I will when/if it gets easier for me). Today I procrastinated for over an hour before I exercised because I just really didn't want to do it.

I haven't been in my right state of mind lately--really since I started focusing on myself. My profile says I'm Christian, and by reading most of my blogs, you wouldn't know it. I haven't gone to church since the New Year, and I kick myself for it. I can't take credit for willpower or the strength to get up and exercise everyday--it's all Him. All of the motivation that I get from you guys, comes from Him too. He is looking out for all of us, and He brings us together to lift each other up in our time of need. One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 4:13 and I think about it whenever I struggle. I can do anything through Him because He gives me the strength to do it. I just need to ask. I don't think I have ever said out loud "give me the strength to do this" but God knows our hearts, and he knows mine, and whenever I need the strength, something that one of you guys says to me, gives me the strength. It is such a powerful feeling to know that I sit on my butt, and whine and don't want to exercise, and "hate" what I'm doing, but He puts that tiny glimmer in my heart to do it.

The reason why I mention this is because I used the word "hate" an awful lot. Words are like emotional magnets. If you surround yourself in negative things, that kind of sticks to the meat on your bones. If I tell myself that I hate something (such a powerful word) I will (Luke 6:45). That's why I always sign off with what I do. If I say I am a star, whether or not it's true, someday I will believe it. I don't want to hate what I'm doing, and God will give me the strength to not hate it. If we have good thoughts in our hearts, we will do good things. If we have bad thoughts in our hearts, we will do bad things (Luke 6:45).

Sorry for the rambling, but I guess it just weighed heavy on my heart, and kind of surprised me to read such negativity coming from me. I really believe that things are how we make them and if I continue to say that I hate this workout this much, I will, and will eventually quit.

I can do this because He gives me the strength. He makes me a star.

Day 25 (day 4 / week 4)

Well I didn't punk out on my workout today. I did "Burn It Up!" again, and it's taking a lot more willpower to do this, than it did the previous phase (Ramp It Up!) because it seems so much longer. I did all 60 minutes today and it was extremely hard. I have to take mini breaks (no more than 30 seconds) because I start to fall or because it's just too hard--too many leg lifts at one time, or lunges. I have never fallen during the yoga part, and I fell today. My son and hubby laughed lol. My knees really hurt today doing the lunges. Not the knee that you are supposed to keep from going passed your toe, but the knee that drops to the ground. Every time it dropped, I could hear a little cracking noise, and then feel pain. I think I am going to see if I can find joint vitamins somewhere pretty cheaply. I need to go get those knee brace thingies one of you guys mentioned to me (I was at Walmart last night and completely forgot).

I remember when I started phase 2 I couldn't do the entire 48 minutes from start to finish without briefly resting, until the last week of that phase. I'm faithful that I will be able to do Phase 3, start to finish without stopping at some point also. If I can't then I am going to stretch phase 3 another week, until I can.

Thank you guys for your comments yesterday. I was beating myself up for not doing the entire workout, and you guys helped me to feel better about that. I did kick myself into gear today to make up for yesterday (thanks Becky, Erin and Destiny!).

The end of this month is creeping up pretty quickly, and soon I will have to take my measurements again. I wont be finished with Slim in 6 when I do it, so I will take my measurements again, when I am done I guess, to see if anything else changes. I'm afraid I am not going to see results in the places I want to see results. I am already prepared to see that my weight didn't drop, only because I can tell that my legs are getting stronger, and muscle weighs more than fat! I also want to take more measurements (arms, thighs, calves, neck and under the breast), so I can see EVERYWHERE that I am losing. I think having those extra measurements will help me to not feel bad, if I don't see the results I want with the current measurements I took. I want to focus more on how I feel anyway, because I can already tell that I feel differently (walking taller, a lot more flexible, less tired)

I hope everyone has a good day, and a great workout! :)


I can do this. I am a star.

Day 9 (day 2 / week 2)

Today Logan isn't feeling well :(. The upside to this is that he wanted to take his nap, sooner than later :). That meant that I got to exercise earlier in the day :). Yaay!

Not to go all "IM" on you guys, but OMG! Yesterday I promised that I was going to do Phase 2 in the Slim in 6 series called, "Ramp It Up!" (RIU) and I did! It was 48 minutes long and kicked my butt! I am all sweaty now and am afraid to think of how I am going to feel tomorrow (soreness). Right around the last 20 minutes was the hardest for me. Debbie has us get on our hands (well elbows) and knees, and do various leg kicks, then push ups, then do the other leg--so hard! I will be very proud of myself when I can do the whole thing without stopping or laying on the floor in defeat (should have taken a picture of that lol).

There is like 4 sections to RIU. The first section is like Start It Up with plies and such, but faster. The 2nd part is with the resistance band (that came with the series). I really enjoy this part. I used to have muscles and loved working them! The 3rd part is the floor exercises from hell--pushups and the leg kicks...ouch!. The 4th and last part is stretching and yoga, which lasts for 5 minutes. I felt my arms quivering in the "exalted warrior" position.

(exalted warrior position)

Thanks for reading and thank you for the encouragement that I have been getting from you guys! You really help me do this, more than you know!

If there is anything else that you guys want me to include in the blog, please don't hesitate to ask!

Happy exercising and see you tomorrow!

We can do this because WE are stars!