Days 19 and 21

Day 19 - The 25th. After working out on the 24th, I went outside to transplant a baby tree that sits on our front porch. After getting it transplanted, I happened to look over at the garden and saw how overpopulated it was with weeds - so I fixed it. After an hour and a half of being bent over yanking weeds out of the ground, the backs of my legs and lower back were KILLING me. Want a good workout? Weed a garden. Seriously. The next day was my long day at the library, and there are stairs I have to take the stairs to get to where I need to be. I claimed the stairs as my workout, then came home and decluttered the house - more stairs. By the time I went to bed, I had gone up and down a flight of stairs 30 times. My legs are still on fire from that, but ya know what? I got up and did my TurboFire this morning!

Day 21 - Welcome to a brand new day! I have gotten laundry going, baked a cake, done my HIIT workout for the day, and am now sitting here drinking my vanilla/blueberry/banana shake! I also have a whiny kitty at my feet, because she's not getting played with.
I have a hard time keeping up with Chalene and her crew, but today, I was able to find a little inner strength and push myself. Any time I'd head toward the couch, I wouldn't let myself sit down - stay standing during these workouts, or you won't get back up to continue, trust me. I was able to do two full intervals out of the three this time - the first and the last, and I still tried to keep up during the middle one, but just couldn't breathe. My cardiovascular system isn't up to all three yet, but that's ok - I'm getting there! My arms, and legs are jello, and my abs are sore - but that's good! It's fat and inability leaving the body.

I raise my shake to those of you who have found the will to at least try! I promise, once you get started, it's hard to quit. For those of you who aren't, what's stopping you? I've been at this off and on for 2 weeks. When I started, I weighed 124 and felt like crap - constantly tired, always stressed with no end in sight. Ya know what? I'm down to 121, and my stomach looks like this: Keep moving forward!

Day 18

Welcome to a brand new day. I don't know about you, but I am exhausted. Our bedroom is one of the warmest in the house in the summer, even with the air conditioning on, the fan going, and black out curtains on the windows. Last night, our cat decided she wanted to snuggle, so I woke up several times drenched in sweat from the hot room and the hot cat. I think the dreary, rainy weather (which was nasty and muggy yesterday) has something to do with my exhaustion, too. But ya know what? I still got up at 7:15 (thanks to a reminder/wake up text from Lauren) and did my workout. My knee has been bugging me the last few days, so I just did the warm up on TurboFire, then reverted to my old workout of sit ups, push ups, lunges, and squats. It's not a terrible knee pain, but still tender, and I don't want to make it worse - especially since I have a lot of stairs to maneuver over the next few days. I may go out after work and buy a knee brace, just to be safe. 

Yesterday I found myself going back to just sitting on the couch and watching TV. After my show was over, I hopped up and did the modified version of TurboFit (primarily to shut up the voice in my head that was nagging me to do it). Eventually, this will turn to habit, but until then, I have to force myself to make it habit.

It's a quick post today, as I have work to do and coffee to drink. Happy Tuesday! Keep moving forward!

Isaiah and Jeremiah

Remember that post about an off week? I've had another one, only this time none of me was into it. I even gave up on the Shakeology stuff, 'cause it tasted to me like I was chewing on a leaf. Something in me this morning decided to kick it into high gear, so I made a shake without ice, which helped immensely. I'm still working on that as I sit at my internship (not getting a whole lot done, as my eyelids are droopy), but I will prevail today if it kills me. 

Exercising today is going to include not only doing TurboFire later, but also helping a few friends of mine move. So, what lit the fire under me? I'm tired of being tired, as well as feeling like a slug in general. Stress has hit hard this week, and instead of fighting back, I let it run over me like a train. No more! I'm gonna kick some tail and take no prisoners, and I've got two verses to help me get there. One I wear around my neck every day with my cross, the other I just found in my Verse of the Day email.
"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and will not be faint." — Isaiah 40:31

Ya know how Jillian Michaels has the saying "unless you puke, faint, or die, keep going"? Same principle. Every night you go to sleep and wake up the next morning, God's renewing your strength. When you train hard, your body recovers to give you more endurance, which then makes you able to train harder yet. Never give up, never surrender!

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." --- Jeremiah 29:11

This one is for those of us that worry. I, for one, am a huge harborer of stress. I'm getting better at letting things go, but I have long way before I've got the 'give it up to God' thing down. When I stress, since I'm new to working out, I veg out on the couch and channel surf. Last night I did it with a bag of popcorn and a glass of wine. This morning it took everything in me to trudge out of bed, and a little voice in my head was "nice" enough to remind me that if I'd worked out last night instead of vegging, I would feel a lot better today. Don't you hate it when that voice is right? I do. Besides, how the heck am I supposed to have wicked hot abs and unflabby arms for my high school reunion if I'm sitting on the couch eating popcorn (hint: I won't). I need to remember - and the ring on my necklace helps me to do so - that God's got the rest of my life handled for me, it's up to me to stay in shape otherwise. 

That is one thing that always annoyed me about the way-into-fitness people. They all seem to have their crap together, constantly have energy, etc. Very annoying, and make the normal humans looking on think about secretly switching their coffee to decaf so they'd be like the rest of us. I'm still like that to a degree - thinking Chalene needs a pot of decaf, and wondering if she's thinking about the laundry list of crap that needs done back at home while she's giving out instructions for the next round of kicks and punches. So while doing this, know that I'm just like you - I wonder when I'll get a workout in between homework, dishes, laundry, making dinner, and managing a trip back home to visit my in-laws. It's called life, we all go through it. What needs to be learned in all this is time management. I always forget there's 7 days in a week, trying to push Monday through Sunday into just Monday through Wednesday. Laundry will always be there, as will the dishes. Family is important, friends are important, YOU are important, so focus on what matters (and get help with the housework). 

I'll post today and tomorrow's workout info in tomorrow's post. Have a good Monday, and remember to keep moving forward!

A book review and a lesson

I said I'd review the books when I got through with them, so here we are.

The Power by Rhonda Byrne
Here is the synopsis from Goodreads: The Secret revealed the law of attraction. Now Rhonda Byrne reveals the greatest power in the universe: The Power to have anything you want. In this book you will come to understand that all it takes is just one thing to change your relationships, money, health, happiness, career, and your entire life. Every discovery, invention, and human creation comes from The Power. Perfect health, incredible relationships, a career you love, a life filled with happiness, and the money you need to be, do, and have everything you want, all come from The Power. The life of your dreams has always been closer to you than you realized, because The Power to have everything good in your life is inside you. To create anything, to change anything, all it takes is just one thing: THE POWER.
My review: I will say that the synopsis makes it sound good. Lauren told me I had to read it, that it changed her life. I'm very happy that it works for some people and they enjoyed it, but I couldn't get into it. I feel like she reiterated herself several times, so I don't know if that was meant to really stick this into your head and keep it there, or if she's got some form of dementia and couldn't remember what she just wrote a few paragraphs back (if this were the case, you'd think the editors would've picked up on it and corrected it). Maybe it's me that has the problem and this woman has it all figured out. Who knows, either way, I gave it the old college try, but I just couldn't finish it. I finally gave up, set it aside, and started The Daniel Plan, which I am VERY excited about! Don't go by me, though. Just because I didn't care for it, doesn't mean it won't speak to you. That's the awesomeness of books - there is something out there for everyone.

Now for the lesson. We've been eating cleaner around here for a while, and I've been cooking like crazy (because it's healthier and it's more budget friendly) - until last night. I got off work at 6 and called Zach, mentioned a few dinner ideas to him, and he goes "let's have Chinese!" That wasn't on the list I rattled off, but ok. 
Something in my head said no. It continued to say no as we ordered, waited for it to be delivered, and as I began eating the 'no' turned into a 'you'll be paying for this later'. I should've listened, but it was mushroom chicken! Yeah, not worth it at 5:30 this morning when I woke up with stomach pains that would make a grown man cry. I finally was able to go back to sleep, only to get up at 8:30 with dire urgency. So far, all I've had for breakfast today is gatorade, and I see chicken soup in my future, as they are safer than anything else in my kitchen right now. I'll also be cooking tonight. 
I came back out of the bathroom earlier and looked at Zach, saying "No more. No more take out. No more greasy food. No more, no more, no more. I hate feeling like this, and I refuse to ever again." 
So, the moral of the story is if you put crap in, you will get crap out, and feel like crap the entire time. We'll still eat out from time to time - it's inevitable sometimes, like when you go on vacation - but we'll make smarter, healthier choices. I'm just glad I didn't eat the whole serving they delivered, or I'd be an even worse mess. And no, I probably won't be working out today - today gets to be a rest and recuperate day. I'll start up again tomorrow. Keep moving forward!

Day 17

Good morning fellow fitness people! If I didn't have to be up to open the door for the window replacement guys, I wouldn't be up right now. Thankfully, they had to be here at 8:30, so I'm up and have already gotten a workout in. Sweat is the new coffee (although I might have some later).

I decided I couldn't keep up with the intro TurboFire DVD, so I just went with whatever DVD Zach had in when he did it the other day, which was one of the HIIT workouts. Now, trust me when I say that I think Chalene needs to switch to decaf, especially this early in the morning, but the girl knows her stuff. I'm not comfortable enough yet to pull a Lauren and make my own clilp that shows me doing the moves, but the following is a sample of TurboFire:


I'm still new to this whole thing, so if my body started telling me I couldn't do something, I stopped. She does three rounds of each, and I found myself doing one and a half to two, stopping when I couldn't do it because I was out of breath. I'm literally going from being a couch potato to TurboFire, so my lungs aren't used to this kind of exertion. I did back it up a few times and try it again, and then my brain kicked in and reminded me that if I hurt myself, I wouldn't be able to do it at all. Listen to your body - there is a difference between pain and muscle tightness, and your body will let you know which is which. I figure no matter how long I can keep up, I'm still lapping my old self on the couch, and there's always tomorrow to try again. 

Yes, you read right - Zach has been doing this as well. Although he needs to learn how to land lighter, as he's coming down hard enough to shake Joseph in our nativity scene completely around. Poor guy almost looks like he's in time out on the cresh. BUT at least he's doing something. In fact, he's also doing weights, so he's really doing good - and looking good, if I may say so. 

If you're not sure about doing this workout (I admit, it looks intense, you wonder if you'll be able to keep up, and the negative voice in your head isn't helping - tell that voice to shut up), just remember it's only 15 minutes long, and you'll be burning calories long after it's over. Plus, you could kill 15 minutes or more sitting on Facebook, and all you're getting out of that is gossip and possible carpal tunnel. Get up! Get moving! And for the love of all that's holy, keep moving forward!

Off week

I didn't work out today. I didn't work out yesterday. I haven't worked out all week. Please don't ask why, because I don't know, but I will use it as an opportunity to shed some light on something that bothers me. 

In society as we know it, people are on this movement to be uber skinny. I'm talking disgustingly skinny - the kind of skinny where models look like Holocaust survivors. I am not, and refuse to ever be, this thin. I am naturally thin - I got my mom's French genes, so I have the thin, hourglass figure. Also floating around inside me are genes daddy passed down from his side - the Dutch ones, where women have a huge rack and a small caboose for a backside. Grandma D. always called her boobs her 'shelf', as they caught everything. I want to never have either of these things, as a tiny figure with big tatas just looks uncomfortable to me. However, I do want to be healthy in this body of mine, as it's going to be the vessel that carries me until God finally calls me home. Now then, what REALLY irritates me about society and fitness is that people give you crap about having an off week, so I have put myself through emotional turmoil about what a bad person I am for not having worked out this week - and then I talked to Lauren. I'm pretty sure God was telling me he was giving me a present when he let Lauren into my life, as she knows just how to knock the stupid out of me in a way that isn't cruel. As I whined and cried to her about the pathetic loser I was this week, among my other issues, she listened. And then she said "It happens. I didn't workout all last week. Sometimes life just happens. If there's a voice in the back of your head saying 'you can't do this' you need to tell it to shut up. That's what I learned to do when I started doing personal development." Ya know what? She's entirely right. We're all human, and therefore make mistakes, or get lazy, or whatever. I fully admit that. You know what I did this week? I did some homework, went to both my internship and work, and then came home and sat on the couch and watched TV. I distinctly remember a thought popping into my head every once and a while of "You should be working out" or "Those DVDs won't play themselves" but a voice would creep in and smother it with "Ya know what sounds good? Ice cream" and I'd stay on my couch cushion. I stopped keeping ice cream in the house two months ago, so to get a bowl would mean leaving my cushion and going 3 blocks to Frozen Custard, so it's gotta say something that I was also too lazy to do that. You're allowed to have a week off here and there, you're allowed to eat that brownie or drink that cookie dough milk shake, just do it in moderation and don't make a habit of it. Also don't make a habit of "well, if I go for a 30 minute run, it'll be as if I never ate that bag of chips." By doing this you're not actually getting anything accomplished, you're just sticking yourself in limbo, and limbo isn't any fun. 

So, I told you that story to tell you this story. I got to thinking tonight about why I am doing this, and here are my reasons. 
1. At the library I work in, we have a gorgeous staircase that leads to the second floor. To me, it looks like a less dramatic version of the one on the Titanic, and I have a love affair with all things Titanic. (Library is on the left, Titanic on the right)

There is an elevator in the library, but I prefer to take the stairs, unless I have no choice (taking a cart to the second floor, for example, requires use of the elevator). Generally, by the time I get to the top of the stairs, I'm huffing and puffing like a chain smoker. I don't smoke anything but the tires on really hot cars, so I prefer to not sound like one. 

2. I'm not overweight by any means, but I do have a few trouble zones - namely my tummy and my hips/thighs. Plus my upper arms do this awesome jiggly trick when I wave. I would love to get these squared away so that I'll look just as good out of clothes as I do in them. 

3. I have heard - and read - in various places where if the momma-to-be has a nice set of abs under her pregnancy ____ (I don't want to call it fat, as you're growing a human, so it's not fat, it's just a little something extra to help your oven turn out your little bun), then it is easier for her when it comes time to push. I don't know if this is true or not, but I'd rather have the tight abs just in case it is, in fact, true. No woman in her right mind wants to spend any length of unnecessary time in labor or delivery. Plus, I have also heard, read, and it has been proven to me that if you workout prior to and during your pregnancy, the weight melts off faster after because you go back to the habit of working out. *No, I'm not pregnant, nor are we trying yet.

4. This one is pure vanity - I want to be my husband's arm candy. I want to look hot in a bikini at any time of the year. I want to turn heads later in life, and not because I fell down a flight of stairs. I want to be able to go to my 40th high school reunion and make the guys drool when we're all in our 50s. 

5. I want to be able to teach our future kids good habits. Children are like sponges, in that they soak up everything you do because you're mom or dad and you're cool! They want to be just like you, so do you want them eating chips and candy all day long, washing it down with soda and KoolAid? Not if you want them to be healthy, you don't. 

Ok, those are my top 5 reasons. After having talked with Lauren, I feel much better about it all, and plan to workout tomorrow morning. It seems for a few days, I forgot my own mantra. Maybe I need to have it tattooed on my forehead (or not). In the mean time, I've also come across a few books that may help me with this new road I'm on. The first is called The Power by Rhonda Byrne. I'll actually be reading this as soon as I finish up this post. The second is one I found today while mom and I perused a local Christian shop: The Daniel Plan. Last but not least, I heard about this one from a new friend - who is also into this whole nutrition and fitness stuff - Crazy, Sexy Diet. I plan to review these after I've finished with them, so if you decide to read them based on my review, you can. If not, they are linked to their overviews/reviews on Goodreads.com, which also has links that lead to where you can purchase them. The librarian in me reminds you to save some money and check with your local library first to see if they have a copy you can borrow. Always support your local libraries, as they support you.

Off I go to read and look forward to my exercise date with Chalean tomorrow morning! Keep moving forward!

Day 16

I started my day off with one of my Shakeology shakes. It amazes me how much good for you stuff is in these things. 

I also got up actually looking forward to exercising - something I never thought would happen in a million years. I'm still getting used to Charlene and her need-to-switch-to-decaf ways, but on my second day of the intro DVD, I found myself only stopping when I couldn't keep up with her speed demon combos. I've got the basic moves down, and after only 15 minutes of doing the basic movements, I've already got sweat dripping down my face. My glasses won't stay on my nose, and it's an awesome feeling! I've also scared the beans out of poor Lola, but that's what she gets for running across the family room between me and the TV while I workout. 

I also learned today to never do these exercises in just socks - I almost slipped and fell on the carpet. Always always always wear shoes when doing these things. 

I had to stop halfway through, as I felt like throwing up. Probably didn't wait long enough between eating and exercising to let things digest, but hey - I've gotten at least 20 minutes in and I have sweat dripping down me, so I'm gonna call it a win!

If you want to workout too, P90X is on sale right now! Feel free to go here to order P90X or any other workout to help you get your summer look!

No matter what you do, remember to keep moving forward!

Day 15

I got home from work today, and guess what was on the porch? That's right, TurboFire! It's like Christmas in June, I swear! 

It's like Christmas in June, I swear! I ate dinner, did some dishes, and ripped the cellophane off everything - no time like the present to start! Now, the pamphlets say the first class is slowed down to show the moves, but if this is considered slow, then the name Turbo will definitely suit this program well. I may actually have to go a few rounds with this first DVD just so I can figure out the moves better, but I refuse to be discouraged! 

For several years, I had this voice in my head that would go to instant discouragement if I didn't get something on the first try. I'm happy to say that tonight, I told that voice to shut it. I don't know if it belongs to my alter, lazy ego or what, but it can pack its bags and get out, as it is no longer welcome here. I am the boss of me, and I will reign victorious! Tomorrow I plan to watch the DVD, maybe do some moves with her again, and continue on from there. It's also nice that I have a friend who has already done this, so if need be, I can call on her to help me figure things out. Yeah, my coordination isn't the best, but I'm starting from practically couch potato status. I just gotta remember:

If I can do it, you can! Keep moving forward!

[If you're wondering where this phrase comes from, it's Walt Disney - it was the man's motto, so in tribute, his crew put in as part of the movie Meet the Robinsons.]

Day 14

I kind of did a bit of a workout today without meaning to, in that I wore 2 inch heels to work, then followed that six hour shift up with a trip to both Wal-Mart & Meijer. You get strange looks walking around both places while wearing heels and a dress, just in case you were wondering. Lugging 40 pounds of kitty litter in the rain across the parking lot in heels - there's a picture for you. 

I told Zach he had to help me take a before photo when the TurboFire gets here, but until then, you're stuck hearing about my "boring" old regular workouts. Only 4 more days, though! FedEx says it'll be to me by the 6th, as well as my shakes! I'm so excited! 

I did two circuits of Jillian's Backside for Beginners, and I gotta say, I'm a tad disappointed. There should be something somewhere on the DVD case that tells you what is needed in order to do these exercises. I hate having to scramble to find the necessary equipment (a box, dumbbells, etc), thereby delaying my workout, because I had no heads up beforehand. Ms. Michaels, if you could remedy this, that would be epic! I finished out the workout by switching to the Wii and doing 15 minutes of cardio boxing. I really have no plans to ever clock anyone a good one, but I just enjoy boxing so much! My shoulders are aching, my arms are heavy, and it is AWESOME. It helps, too, that I put on my 2 lb gloves for this, so it gave an extra "umph" to the whole thing. 

Considering I just got done boxing, and I'm sweating like you wouldn't believe, I thought the above was appropriate. And awesome. I also made sure my core will sufficiently hurt tomorrow with my arms and shoulders, so I added a few (ok, 20) sit ups with a twist to really get those obliques. 

If I can do it, you can! Keep moving forward!