I'm healthy again!

It has been 6 weeks since I have exercised. Ouch! The first week I had a really bad sore throat- I wasn't able to eat anything but Popsicle (they soothed my red hot throat). The next two weeks I had a bad case of hives - head to toe hives- huge welts. They were very painful and I itched like crazy. After battling that for two weeks I then had a head cold which caused an extremely runny nose and then congestion and then a week or two of coughing- not just a little 2 second cough- a full outraged smokers cough. I now just have lots of phlegm, so I hope I am on the mend. Tomorrow which is a Monday- I will do my best to get my butt out of bed after this 6 week hiatus and begin my work outs once again. I really do enjoy working out- it is just building up the momentum to actually do it.

I have a few things I could do. I could get up before the kids get up and do my strength training and then once the kids are on the bus I can go for my hour walk. I love the outdoors and now that the weather is getting warmer I think I just might conquer that beast tomorrow and start hill training once again to get my butt back and my calves strengthened again.

I did the eating Vegan for one month and absolutely loved it. I did cheat a few times as I didn't realize that eating Vegan meant no honey, so I did have honey. I will continue eating Vegan, but I am going to change it a bit to meet my needs, so it won't be a true Vegan, but it will be close. It has been nice because I know I have lost inches- no so many pounds, but inches, so that is good. I love having protein shakes and so I will use the whey protein isolate. I don't really care for cheese anymore, so I won't miss that. Yogurt I really liked, but I think I will do without that too, so for now I will allow the Whey protein isolate and continue with my 4 food groups which are grains, lentils & beans, vegetables and fruits. I will only eat meat if I am at a friends house who have cooked a meal for my family other than that I won't be eating it that much. I felt less bloated when I was on the Vegan diet plan.
tnd making goals and then not meeting them or making them and not following up. I really want to succeed this time, so I will make a few goals and go from there.

Goals:

4 week goal- April 25th - be 8 pounds lighter than I am now. I will weigh in on Monday, and should be 8 lbs less in a month.

I bought a brown skirt size 10- I want to be able to fit into that comfortably with no bulges in 4 weeks.

Walking outside for 1 hour- everyday (no Sundays) for the next 4 weeks.

Cardio Day

Okay, it is a must for me to do some sort of cardio everyday- Today I chose to do treadmill cardio. Here is my routine:

Warm-up- 5 minutes
Stretches: lower-back stretch, seated hamstring stretch, straddle stretch, left and right straddle stretch, right and left hamstring stretch, gluteal stretch, lower-back stretch, right and left quad stretch, upper body stretch, arm circles, shrugs and neck turns

Cardio: walk/jog on treadmill for 25 minutes.

Cooldown: about 2-5 minutes it depended on how long I was jogging as to how long I need to get my breathing back to normal.

Crunches: 50

Superman: 20

It's a New Year w/ new goals and progress

Well as you can see I crashed after November. I continued working with my trainer till Decmember 17th and then I did absolutely nothing. After my big loss in November I didn't follow any eating plan and I gained all my weight back and then some. Yikes. I am a true believer now that a healthy lifestyle is 90% diet and 10% exercise. So, here I go again. I do feel more energized since starting an exercise progam in September and I am stronger. I just need to be more disciplined in the eating area. No more eating cookie dough, pastries, chocolate, cookies, breads and all the other processed stuff out there in which I poison my body with.

Well here it is the actual evidence that I did nothing the last few weeks and that I did nothing in regards to my eating.

Chest - 40 3/8"
Waist - 37 1/2"
Hips - 40 1/2"
Thigh - 23 1/2"
Calve - 15 1/2"
weight- 180.8 (gain of 6 lbs since November 2010)

Exercise- Tae Bo Cardio- 44 minutes

Using a Personal Trainer pays off!

So, if any of you are waivering on if to find a personal trainer- I say "go for it". You will not be dissapointed. My husband did just that back in September and the results are amazing. You get pushed to fatigue and it feels great. Yes, I do feel like I want to die or throw up, which I have by the way- thrown up- not die.

The workouts are hard, but you feel better about yourself and you feel as if you have accomplished something beyond your potential. You push yourself beyond your comfort zone and it feels good.

Our trainer uses no expensive machines. She brings an exercise ball, medicine ball and some strength bands and that is it. We use our own body weight to lose weight- it's true! We do pushups, pullups, lots of core exercises, bench dips, shoulder presses, bicep, tricep curls, core exercises, ab exercises- did I mention core exercises, and lots of wall sits (ouch!). It is all good.

Here is my progress from the last 3 months.

Upper Arm- 11 3/4(sep), 11 1/2(Oct), 11 1/2(Nov)
Chest- 43 (sep), 42 (oct), 40 3/4 (nov)
Waist- 37 1/4 (sep), 36 1/2 (oct), 34 1/2 (nov)******3 inches********
Abd- 41 1/2 (sep), 39 1/4 (oct), 36 1/2 (nov)******5 inches********
Hips- 40 3/4 (sep), 40 3/4 (oct), 40 1/4 (nov)
Thigh- 23 1/2 (sep), 23 1/2 (oct), 23 1/4 (nov)
Calf- 16 (sep), 15 1/2 (oct), 15 1/4 (nov)
weight- 182.8(sep), 184(oct), 174.8 (nov)

I am very pleased with my results. I am working hard to lose another 10 lbs by Christmas.

Training day #6

Well I survived the first two weeks. I will go in two week increments until I reach my goal. My first goal is to weigh 179 lbs. Look what all that junk eating and lack of exercising does to oneself. Anyway it is time to press on and just look towards the future and to push myself to be better.

The workout today wasn't as bad as I thought it would be as yesterday was my birthday and we traveled to the states to go to the temple and do some shopping. I ate pretty good and didn't binge. I didn't even snack at Costco, so that is a bonus right there.

Had a good warm up with lunges, jumping jacks, burpee's- then on to wall sit, push-ups, pull-ups, bench dips, plank, ab work, band exercises - I am sure I am missing some, but she pushes us for about 60 minutes till we can't do anything else. We have a nice cool down stretch then off to begin our day. I usually then go and make a protein smoothie with blueberries.

Here is to healthy eating, healthy friends and to a healthy lifestyle!

Training day #5

Wow! I feel great- my trainer is amazing and she knows how to push your body so you actually gain from the intensity. Once again- I did burpees, lunges, ab work, bench dips, push-ups, pull-ups, wall sit, plank, band exercises for biceps, triceps, shoulders and back.

It was a good day today. I had a nice work-out yesterday on my off day- I did hill training for 20 minutes.


My waist is getting slimmer and my legs are getting stronger. I think you might even see some calf muscles in there somewhere.

Training day #4

Never and I say never- take a cheat meal and turn it into a whole day. What does that do? Well for starters once you start snacking you can't stop- it is like a smoker not smoking for a while and then having just one smoke and the next thing he knows is that the pack is gone. Note to self- "no future binging"- it doesn't do any good- it just makes it so you have to work that much harder.

On that note- my workout this morning was hard and I had no energy- my trainer asked me "if I cheated", which means meal wise- I told the truth and she just shook her head and then continued to work me hard. After just the warm up I was about to pass out, so what I learned from this experience- is don't punish your body just because you are weak.

I survived the fourth day of training. I did burpee's, bench dips, plank, lunges, pull-ups, push-ups, ab work, and exercise with the bands. It is amazing how you can work your body so hard that you can't give anymore- and it is using your own body weight. Amazing!

Training Day #3

Well I survived another hour with Kate. This is a typical session that consists of warm up, cardio, strength training, balance, core training, push ups, burpee's(which I don't like), wall sit, calf raises, bench dips. It's hard, but feels good. On a scale to 1-10 I was at a 9 with almost wanting to throw-up. It is all good.

I will now go and plan out my meal plan. It's going to be a great day!

Training day #2

My husband and I are having a personal trainer come into our home three days a week. She works us till failure and it feels good. My first day was okay, but I puked after she had left. Today was alot better. I had eaten about an hour before she arrived. That helped me alot. I didn't feel so light headed and had more stamina and better endurance. Because she is strength training us I need to make sure on the off days that I am doing some sort of cardio/yoga.

She also makes sure we do a good warm up before and lots of stretching after.

She has us on a strict eating plan and I am finding I follow it better if I am organinzed and have my meals planned out the day before.

Summer is here

It is the last day of June, and I haven't kept track of my healthy lifestyle. I will make a plan today for the next 9 weeks of summer vacation.

My summer goals for me are:

1)Lose 10 lbs in 9 weeks.
2)Sugar free for the summer. I will allow myself my 1 tablespoon of Maple Syrup a day.
3)Walk everyday with a friend.
4)To follow some sort of exercise program daily- tae-bo, bowflex and katie's bootcamp.
5)To eat a good breakfast and drink lots of water throughout the day.
6)To take my vitamins daily.
7) Ab workout daily

My summer goals for the home are;

1) texture kitchen/diningroom ceiling (done July 13)
2) prime/paint kitchen/diningroom ceiling
3) paint livingrooom
4) paint kitchen/diningroom
5) move deepfreeze downstairs
6) build kitchen pantry
7) lino installed
8) kitchen cupboards built
9) kitchen completed by end of summer 2010
10) pictures back on walls

Time for a cleanse

This week I am doing a cleanse, which basically I am eating lean proteins, lots of veggies and some fruits and drinking lots of water. Today was my first day and so far so good.

I started the morning with a 30 minute walk up and down some rather steep hills. A few hours later I went on another walk. This time up a steeper hill. It was about a 25 minute round trip walk. It was nice. It was pouring rain and I loved it. In about an hour I will try for another walk. I am trying to use my legs more and walk where I can and drive less.

Here is a tip for the day:
Upon wakening drink one large glass of hot purified water(I used warm- not keen on hot liquids) with juice from half a lemon or lime squeezed into it. The drink helps flush waste matter from your digestive track.

Stay focused!

Water aerobics/Swimming

My exercise for today was in the water. I was in the car for three hours traveling. To get all the kinks out I went for a swim and did laps and then jogged in the pool and did some aerobics. The kids were making fun of me, but I felt great. Had a fun time in the pool and slept great that night?

I did it!

It has been 30+ years since I have been on a bike. Today my husband and I decided to go down to the ferry landing here in town to watch the kids do a Sturgeon release. The Sturgeon release is where they have raised Sturgeon's at a fish hatchery and around this time of year they release a bunch into the rivers. We decided to go and watch them and also be with our children. Because it is only 12 km (round trip) we decided to bike it there. Oh my seeing me on a child's bike isn't very pretty. My poor husband having to stare at my backside the whole time. It was actually fun. The only problem is I have longer legs than my son and my butt is quite larger than his, so his little hard seat just wasn't that pleasurable for me. The whole time I was envisioning a new seat that would be comfy and fit my butt. I have a few ideas, so I need to go and see what is all offered in the bike section.

I actually enjoyed the biking, so I might do this everyday. It has been 4 hours and I can feel the stiffening of my muscles, but not too bad yet. We will see what tonight and tomorrow brings.

Oh my poor husband, he was riding our 9 yr old's bike and as he was riding down the highway the handle bars flipped forward and so he went to brake and he pushed the front brakes instead of back and front and did a flip over. What a way to start off the bike ride. He has his aches and pains, but he will survive. I am just glad that wasn't me as I probably would still be lying there.