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.

I have been sick

Wow, I have been out of the loop for awhile now. I have been battling a flu for about 4 weeks now. I think the end is near. Week 1 I had a really bad sore throat. Week 2 was a bad cause of hives infact that was week 2 and 3 and now week 4 I have sneezing, head conjestion, runny nose, coughing and a slightly sore throat. Tired lots. I tried doing cardio on Monday and I was so exhausted after that I was tired all day. I am thinking next week will be better. It has too as I have goals that I want to accomplish.

Arms Day - yeah right!

Oh my what a work-out. I only had 4 hours sleep. I haven't been eating enough either, so my energy level is down, so working out this morning was a work-out as I was sluggish, but I did get through it and after I shower I will have a nap and then begin my day.

Warm up: 5 minutes on treadmill

Stretches x 4 minutes
Arms: Pushups x10, Pull-ups x10- repeat 3 times. After my 3rd set of pull-ups I did another set of pushups till failure and could only do 8 and then I collapsed. My arms were tired as was my core.

Tri-ceps: Dips x10, plank hold for 30 seconds, BiCep Curls (7,7,7) repeat 3 times

Shoulders: Shoulder raise x10, Shoulder Ups x10, Squat row x10, Chest Fly x10- repeat 3 times

Abs: V-sit on ball for 5 reps of 10 seconds, V-sit hold for 1 minute- repeat 3 times, crunches x50

Stretches x5 minutes include superman 10 on each side

I made Vegan Banana Muffins this morning and they turned out wonderful. They are small and just the perfect size for kids' lunches. I used 2 T. of vinegar instead of an egg. Worked out great!

Todays Goal: Drink more water- I am only drinking about 40 oz. a day.

Leg Day-

I am not very fond of leg days. They are my strongest muscles right now as I do lots of walking- but working them out more- ouch! Here are the exercises that I tortured my body with today. Well not tortured but strengthened my body with.

Legs:

Warm up- 5 minutes on treadmill
Stretches
Superset: Reverse Lunges x10, Hamstring pulls on ball x10 (Repeat 3 times)

Walked 2 mintes on Treadmill

Superset: Single leg squat x10, plank x30 -45 min (Repeat 3 times) On the single leg squat I could only do 5 on each leg on the last set- My thighs were burning and shaking.

Superset: Wall sit x1 min, Calf Raises x10 (Repeat 3 times)

Cool Down: Walked on treadmill for about 17 minutes at 3.7 speed, so ended up walking 1 mile.

Ball Exercise for Abs: Basically doing a V-sit - I did that for 5 reps, where you lean back and hold and then sit up and repeat-

Stretches x10 minutes.

Afterwards I came up and made a wonderful breakfast of oatmeal, blueberries, flaxseed, and whole wheat toast (homemade with freshly ground wheat- it makes wonderful toast). I do sweeten my oatmeal with maple syrup and used a bit of soy milk to make it creamy. It is delicious!

Need the Endurance

Good Morning and Welcome to a new week and a new month. It is very vital that if you are exercising that it is so important to fuel your body. I found out the hard way this morning when I was trying to strength train- I had no energy and felt very sluggish. Guess why? Not enough eating and not getting enough sleep.

A new week with new goals. Plan out my daily food journal of what I will be eating and what I actually did eat. I should be eating every 2-3 hours upon waking and my last snack should be 2 hours before bedtime.

I need to make sure I am taking my much needed supplements. I use ones from a company called http://www.quietminds.net/ - they are really the best of the best. I have tried ones from melaleuca which are good so if you want to give them a try at http://www.melaleuca.com/ I use alot of Melaleuca's household cleaning products and I love them.

Well I did my monthly measurements and here they are:
Body Composition:
Upper Arm: 11½
Chest: 37" (43" in Sept.)
Waist: 36" (37 1/4 in Sept)(34½ in Nov)
Hips: 40" (40 3/4 in Sept)
Thigh: 22 ½" (23½ in Sept)
Calf: 15½" (16 in Sept)

So as you can see I have lost some inches since September. I did gain a few inches since November on my waist- which isn't good. Time to re-focus and commit to doing better this month.

Weight: 176.4 (182.8 Sep.) (174.8 Nov.) as you can see I have gained almost two pounds since November, which isn't a good sign. Once again- time to re-commit and really watch the extra calories going in my body.

I am Vegan for the month of February, so it will be nice to see how I feel and look at the end of February. My goal weight for February 28 is 170.

Today's Workout: Arms Day
5 minute warmup- treadmill x5 minutes
Stretchesx 5 minutes
Arms: Pushups x10, Pullups x10 repeat 3 times
Cardio- 2 minutes
Tri-ceps: Dips, plank, Bi-cep Curls x10 repeat 3 times
Shoulders: Shoulder raise, Squat Row, Shoulder Ups, Chest Flyx10 repeat 3 times
Pushups till failure
Alphabet Abs
Stretches X 5 minutes.

Cardio Day- Get up and move that body

Here is another day to a new week. I love Sundays- as that is my body's day of rest from the previous week of workouts and muscle's being used to their maximum. Love and hate it!

This morning began with my usual 5 minute warm-up and then stretches to get me going. I then did 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill. Today I walked at a 12 incline and switched to a 3 incline. I did that for the 30 minutes. I usually walked at the 3 incline for 1-2 minutes. I was really dripping with sweat towards the end. It felt wonderful! I then ended with 1 minute of v-sit crunches and then 50 bicycle crunches. My abs were burning at the end. I could hardly do a crunch. I then ended with the superman and stretches.

I feel great! I have decided to go vegetarian for a month. I found a book called "Food is a Wonder Medicine" The power to heal is on your plate. It is based on the New Four Food Groups which are: Grains, Vegetables, Fruits and Legumes. This is all the foods that I have in my food storage, so why not use them. I will have to buy fresh fruits and veggies, but I have all the grains and legumes. I will convert to soy milk and tofu instead of cheese, milk, butter and eggs. I am looking forward to this new change.

"Be all you can Be" and "Become what you used to Be"

Arms Day!

Good Morning,
Today was working out the arms day. Here is my routine. Enjoy!

Warmup- Run 3 minutes on treadmill
Stretches: Lower-back, seated hamstring stretch, straddle stretch(middle, left and right), Right and left hamstring stretch, gluteal stretch.

Arms: Push-ups x10(regular), pull-ups(wide grip)x10, push-ups (wide)x10, pull-ups(close grip)x10, push-up(close)x5, pull-ups(alternate grip)x10

Cardio: Run 3 minutes on treadmill

Triceps: Dips x10, bi-cep curls 7-7-7(blue bands), plank for 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times. The last plank I held for 1 minute.

Shoulders: Blue Bands (golds gym)
Lateral Raise x10, shoulder press x10, squat row x12, chest fly x12- repeat 3 times. Squat row and chest fly I use a black and pink band together.

Abs: V-sit with going side to side for one minute. Bicycle for 30 seconds.

Stretches: Superman x10 on each side, straddle stretches, right and left gluteal stretch, lower back stretch, left and right quad stretch.

Protein Shake: 3 T. protein powder, 1 cup water, 1/2 c. blueberries, 2 scoops fiberwise(melaleuca brand of a metamucil)