Day 323 (day 1 / week 46)

Today was day 2 of the 30 day shred. I did level 1 again. I didn't have the monkey boy bothering me today, but this time Pebbles was. All good, I just put her outside and finished :).

I am sore and my ankle that I recently sprained is starting to act up. I noticed it during the jump rope part today and during the butt kick part. I need to be careful because I have to work regardless, so during those cardio segments, with the jumping, I am doing arm up/knee up and horizontal bicep curls/leg kicks, from Slim in 6. It's the only think I can think of to do, to substitute in. I'm sure throughout the next 28 days, I'll think of more, and my ankle will get stronger.

On top of the ankle my knees are popping all over the place. I stopped taking the glucosamine regularly (I forget a lot now) so it wore off I guess. I really need to start taking it again. I felt invincible. My popping knees make me feel old.

I meant to get onto the Wii Fit today, but only did the Body Test. Today we started Pebbles' dog training. If she doesn't quit jumping, biting and tearing up everything, my hubby is going to give her away, so I enrolled her in puppy school. The instructor said he hasn't seen a puppy as hyper as her in a long time and that I am going to struggle, but as long as I am diligent, she will eventually learn. Today we played the "name game" (to get her to learn her name--she already knows this) and limp leash walking, which she does ok with around the house, but as soon as we hit outside, she goes crazy. I took her to the dog park also, and brought the Monkey Boy, so I walked a mile, just in the time I was there (30 mins or so).

I'm tired and am gonna head to sleep. I have a pic of my Wii Fit age for today (26) but I'm too lazy to put it up. I changed my clothes (top color) and my hair to reflect my new(ish) hair. My Mii looks so cute :).

Have a good night. See you in la manana, unless I procrastinate a 2nd part of exercise all day again, like I have been doing lately. Don't do this. It sucks. It really does. lol.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 311 (day 3 / week 44)

Today didn't go at all how I had planned. I wanted to post measurements and a picture for the 1st of the month, but just haven't gotten around to the picture. I also got another haircut that I thought I liked, but my hubby doesn't like it at all, so my opinion is starting to change about it too. All good, it will grow back.

I have my measurements, but am not happy about them (or my weight), so I am just not going to post them. There aren't any big excuses, except for Aunt Flow is visiting, and I am always bloated and usually gain weight when she is here. I did lose 2 inches total so that is better than nothing.

I will try to get a picture up soon, for at least a monthly comparison (maybe tomorrow after work if my hubby isn't crabby about taking it??). I will look different just because of my haircut. When I was thinner, I could pull this off a lot better than I am now that I am really over weight.

Anyway, off to bed. Sorry for making you wait longer for the picture. Life happen.

Oh! I almost forgot! I did squats today as my exercise. I did 3 sets of 10 squats. I need to start taking glucosamine regularly again, because my knees were popping. Lovely.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 191 (day 2 / week 28)

Today I got up and did my usual thing. I decided to give my ankles a rest and made today a (non)rest day by not walking/skipping before my hubby left for work. I decided to do some videos instead. As I was headed into my exercise room, the Monkey Boy greeted me in his sleep "hi mama" voice. Awe shucks, maybe I will be walking today, but with The Boy, instead. I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk and got a "no."

Since he was up so early, I thought maybe he just needed to wake up a little more and ask again later. I had already decided on this walk (since the videos were out of the quesiton now) to pass some time by snuggling with him earlier, rather than later. It was nice.

After some wake-up time, I asked him again if he wanted to go for a walk and this time got a firm, "no." Oh well. (I asked him like 4 more times after that and he still said no lol).

I was disappointed with the time passed that I could have been doing something, but it's all good. I don't want him to ever think that I would rather exercise, than spend time with him. He asked for Spongebob, so I poped the DVD in, and eventually snuck into the exercise room.

Today was more of a low intensity workout, and it was only for 50 minutes (496 calories burned), instead of 60 minutes. I totally forgot about the Quickfire Challenges (QFC) until now, as I am typing this, so by the end of today, I will probably have gotten over 60 minutes in (I just checked and today's QFC are T Stands--50 in groups of 10).

Today I did The Firm's Body Sculpt with the Fanny Lifter. The lower body segment took FOREVER. I really don't like doing the step up things (there are a lot of these, that's probably why). I guess they are kind of like single leg squats in a way or like really tall lunges. Whatever they are, I don't like doing them. My ankles and knees bother me, despite my knee not going over my toe and focusing on my muscle--I think I might just be too heavy for them to be comfortable to me. After I lose some more weight, I'm sure it will feel better. For now I am just going to stick to Ab Sculpt and Cardio Sculpt, although they are in CS also--just not so many of them.

The upper arm section was a bit chintzy too...I don't feel like I got a good upper body workout, not like my legs and compared to the other videos that I have done (Slim in 6, 30 Day Shred, etc). I feel like it was a lot shorter also, because we spent a lot of time doing stretches and junk. Oh well. That's why I am calling this a (non) rest day.

I'm glad it's Friday, aren't you? I hope you all have a great one! Go do something fun! Skip around the house! So much fun... :).

Make it count!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 50 (day 1 / week 8)

Today I decided that since it's the beginning of a week, to just change my workout now, since the workouts I am choosing to do, are based weekly. I can do this, cause it's my workout :).

I miss Debbie Siebers already lol.

Bob is easy on the eyes and makes me laugh so it's ok. He makes us do jumping jacks though, so we'll see how long and far his good looks carry him ;) (j/k).

Today I did The Biggest Loser Workout, plan #1, and boy am I sweaty! Slim in 6 made the jumping jacks much easier, but have I mentioned yet that I really don't like jumping jacks? I REALLY don't like them at all--but they are much easier (I still don't like them though). lol

I am doing the, "6-week workout plan," which has four pre-set workout plans:

#1
Warm-up
Low intensity cardio
cool down stretch

#2
Warm-up
High intensity cardio
cool down stretch

#3
Warm-up
Strength & sculpt
cool down stretch

#4
Warm-up
Boot camp
cool down stretch


Weeks 1-3, I alternate workouts #1 and #3.

Weeks 4-6, I alternate workouts #2 and #4.

I am excited to move on, but I look forward to going back and doing Slim in 6 when I am in better shape, later on in the year.

I am a little nervous about this video (The Biggest Loser Workout) not because it's hard, but because my son got a hold of the disk at some point (who knows when) and it's pretty badly scratched. I really don't want to have to stop doing this workout because they wont play. So far plan #1 is ok and doesn't skip. Tomorrow I will find out about plan #2. *fingers crossed*. If #2 works, then I wont have to worry about it for 3 weeks :).

Can you believe it's day 50 already? I'm glad time is going by fast for me. I hope it's going by fast for you too, and that you are sticking with this.

We are stars! We can do this!

See you guys tomorrow :)

I can do this. I am a star.
sorry for publishing this more than once. I am a typo queen :D

Day 35 (day 7 / week 5)

I had an exercise invite for 5am this morning, but I totally flaked lol. I didn't get a good night's sleep, so I wanted to sleep. I exercised this afternoon after I put dinner in the crockpot and put Logan down for his nap.

For some reason my perception of "Burn It Up!" has changed in the last 2 days. I used to dread doing it in the back of my head. Doing the lunges yesterday felt good (mentally), and I did it again today. My knees popped more today than yesterday but I just tried to ignore it. Pushing through them for some reason has changed my perception of this video. I realized today that when I push through something that I don't want to do, I find myself in this zone that I used to find myself in when I was a gym rat.

I don't think I mentioned it, but yesterday I decided that I would count and do the leg kicks that I don't like, on my own, while the video is on (so I do the section in the same amount of time) and just rotate legs, instead of doing them both at the same time. Usually we do 4 variations of kicks on the right leg, then do push ups, then do the left leg, and more push ups. I think we do between 15-20 push ups each time. I can't remember exactly how many because it's different each time (like 15 and then 22). I decided to do the 1st variation with the right leg then the left leg, then 10 push ups, then the 2nd variation on the right leg then the left and 10 push ups and so on. I do 30 kicks for each variation (for a total of 120 on each leg), which I think is a little more than the video, and I do 4 sets of 10 push ups, which is also a little more than the video combined.

It's funny how if I control it on my own, I can do more than the video, but if I do it with the video, I can't do it--it has to be psychological (see I told you everything is psychological to me!) especially the push ups.

Anyway I also decided that the yoga portion annoys me lol. It's like for 55 minutes we are, go! go! go! fast, push it! and working like maniacs to just slow super down for the yoga. I am still all worked up, and can't cool down that quickly unless I stretch. So, that's what I decided to do. It feels better and I just leave the video on while I do it (playing the yoga portion in the background), and just do the Slim & Limber stretches. I have done the video so much that I have it memorized lol.

I also decided today, since tomorrow starts week 6, and I am doing "Slim in 6" that I would continue phase 3 through week 7, until week 8. I am pretty sure I didn't start this series until I was a week into January anyway, so I am just balancing it out I guess.

I guess that's it!

Hope you have a good workout and a great day!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 34 (day 6 / week 5)

I just finished my workout and feel great! I did "Burn It Up" again, and didn't wuss out of the lunges today. Just the thought of lunges hurt my knees. I have been taking glucosamine everyday and wish it would hurry up and work! lol. I see them (on the video) doing the lunges, and I want to do them so badly I can taste it! So today I did some, but it hurt. I still did them though--that's what matters :).

I had a WOWY exercise invitation for this morning at 9am with the same person that keeps sending them to me, DaleBramall. I don't know him and have never spoken to him, but he's getting me to exercise w/out any procastination (I take it very seriously for some reason lol), so I continue to accept the invitations (he sends them maybe 3-4 days/wk). So anyway, this morning I attempted to exercise during the 9am hour, but Logan made it extremely difficult.

At first it was cute, cause he had his arms in the air, and was having fun with the resistance band, but about 10-15 minutes into it, we start doing a front kick and back kick type thing, with opposite legs. My plan was to keep Logan in front of me at all times so that I wouldn't accidentally kick him, but he noticed that I would turn around everytime he went behind me and made a game out of it. I was so worried that I was going to kick him that I stopped, and he wanted "fumbfob" anyway (that's Spongebob to any of you that don't speak toddler).

We went to the store today to gather the extra stuff I didn't have on hand for dinner for the next 2 weeks, and to make Logan laugh, I started doing lunges while pushing the cart. They didn't hurt at all, but maybe it was because I was destracted by trying to make him laugh (everything is pyschological to me lol). Maybe it was the support of the cart *shrugs* either way he laughes so hard it made people stare. I love that :).

Tonight I am making Creamy Corn and Spinach Enchiladas in the crockpot and am so excited! It looks so good (making it) and Logan helped, so it's almost a sure-fire guarantee that he is going to eat it too.

Well I need to go wake him up from his nap!

Hope you have a good day and a great workout!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 27 (day 6 / week 4)

Thank you for all of your responses for yesterday's blog. I felt like I was in a better place to exercise today, so that was nice.

I exercised twice today (not really intentionally). I woke up with the intention to exercise right away because I had an exercise invite for this morning at 6am. I got about 20 minutes into the workout and was miserable, so I stopped. 20 minutes is fine with me. I just felt like I didn't have the energy.

I made some super yummy EVIL snickerdoodle muffins (thanks Erin--she has other great super yummy (and probably evil >:-) recipes also on her Nagle5 News blog), gave Logan a bath, and then cut his hair (HUGE accomplishment--he doesn't really let me come at him with his brush lol). It took me an hour lol. I felt a sense of peace and accomplishment after cutting his hair and putting him down for a nap w/out a stuggle, that I wanted to exercise.

My intention was to do "Ramp It Up!" (phase 2, I miss it *tear* lol), but I forgot that, "Burn It Up!" is on a completely separate disk from the first 2 phases, and I was too lazy to switch out the DVD--baby locks and all (lol wanting to exercise but too lazy to change a DVD lol). So I just did Burn It Up...and...

*Dora music starts* I did it! I did it! We did it! Yay! lo hicimos! (we did it) (we did it) horray!

I did the entire thing without skipping through sections. I think I need to go count everything so I know what I'm up against. I'm almost sure I'll feel stronger to do it all, if I just know what those darn numbers are lol! I dread the lunges because my knees hurt. I went to the store yesterday to get glucosamine, but didn't put it on a list (cause it was the only thing on it) so came home with everything and the kitchen sink BUT the glucosamine lol. Once the lunges part is over, I'm happy and have no problem doing the rest of the workout (The last 2 days skipped over the lunges surprise, surprise! :-O)

Tonight for dinner I am going to make these Easy Chicken Quesadilla's and the Corn and Red Pepper Salad to go along with it (Thank you Wendy--she has healthy recipes on her blog tomatotomata if you are interested--also has nutritional info! yaay!). I originally didn't want to put red peppers in it, cause my hubby doesn't like them, but I decided he needs to get over it lol. If he doesn't like what I cook, he can go to bed without dinner (echoing childhood memories lol). I am also going to add the other veggies she suggested, just cause Logan likes veggies, and I have them on hand (cucumbers and cherry tomatoes).

I hope everyone has a wonderful workout and/or rest day (or rest vacation!).

I can't thank God enough for all of the support I am getting with my resolution. You are all HUGE blessings! Thank you!

I can do this. I am 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 14 (day 7 / week 2)

Today marks the last day of my 2nd week of exercise. Thinking back the last couple of years as a big girl, I don't think I would have ever pictured myself doing this (exercising every single day of the year). I think that besides getting in shape, this resolution is going to teach me how to manage my time a little better and make me a stronger, determined person (both mentally and physically).

I started to do my regular thing, and even told my WOWY that I was going to do "Ramp It Up!" but when I started, my knees just kept popping and cracking, and it bothered me a little. We've gotta listen to our bodies so I decided to do a "(non)rest day," to give my knees a rest.

The current workout that I am doing, "Ramp It Up!" (phase 2) is a greater intensity and duration than the phase 1, "Start It Up!" so I decided to make phase 1, my "(non)rest day." I'm still exercising, but it's a lower intensity, like I mentioned in my first (non)rest day. It also felt better on my knees. I am always careful to make sure my knees are not going over my toes during the plies, squats and lunges. I think my knees are just having a tough time with all the movement I have been doing lately, and this big body. Don't worry little knees! It'll only get easier from here!

I ate 1/2 banana before working out this morning and felt a little better than yesterday. Thanks for the suggestion Ellie!

See you guys tomorrow! Thanks for reading and happy exercising!

I can do this. I am a star.