Long over due......

It's been awhile since I've posted anything. I got a bit off track with my exercise program. My eating and tracking went well, but has sort of tapered off in consistency in the past few weeks. I haven't lost as much progress as I have in the past, but I feel my body beginning to creep back to where it was. It's time to going again. I got down to 229lbs, which is pretty big for me. But I then end up self sabotaging or losing focus. We also had illness going around the house, so I've been fighting and recovering from this blasted cold.


I did do the Monster Mash on Oct 30, and I will be beginning training this week to due the turkey trot. My goal would be to be able to at least 1 full mile of the 2 mile event that we will be entering into. I also redid my calendar for my TurboLean program and my week now starts on Monday, which means tomorrow is the start of a new week. I've been getting more activity in on a daily basis. My cupboards are once again stocked with lots of good options and I am currently preparing dried beans in my slow cooker to freeze and use over the next month. With my food being more in order, I will be able to more easily track my food. It's been a bit on and off, so I really need to get back into doing my posting with my food diary for accountability. My kitchen is also more in order, I almost have ALL the dishes caught up. We got really behind with being sick, and then of course, when the kitchen is messy and not clean I don't want to cook in it.

So I'm back. I keep getting a little farther each time, and I know that I can do this!

Fired up!!!

The last few days have been amazing. I've been within my goals and my workouts have been so much fun. I've really been enjoying the Push Circuits for CLX and I'm getting better and better at Fire 30 each time. I really brought the intensity to Saturday's workout. My 4 year old son danced around and even tried some of the moves while I was doing the exercise. He's been really interested in "mommy's exercises" and he wanted to exercise with me. He ended up hanging onto me for some of the combo routines, which made it more challenging, which I was okay with so I allowed it. We actually made it into sort of a game. He was fascinated by the Fire Drills, and was disappointed when the next day I did the Stretch 10 and there weren't any. He also encourages me to do another exercise (sort of like he's my little personal trainer) and the time with him is great. We're still working on the when he goes off to play with his toys, to respect mommy's exercise space. But it's a great experience all the same. I tell him how much I love it when he exercises with me, and he gets so excited when it's a move he can do. I wish I would have been able to get it on video.

I did the TurboFire: 45EZ. It was my first time doing it, so that's always a bit awkward, but I still got a good workout in which always feels really good. I've just had so much energy lately, and I've really enjoyed being in closer contact with my friends. My best friend and MOH, Sarah is one of my new accountability buddies, she's been doing the Tubo Jam videos, which I will be trying myself here in the near future. My friend Ben just started P90X today, so I checked in with him to see how his workout went. I always get really excited when my friends and I are working to better health and we keep in touch and support each other. I also have my accountability buddy on myfitnesspal.com, who has also just become a beach body coach. She has been just awesome with the support and also sharing about her eating and exercise. She is also doing Turbo Jam.

My eating was pretty good. I'm really excited about dinner. We had cucumber and egg sandwiches with were fantastic. I made a dressing to spread a little on the bread and to use for the cucumber and grape tomatoes on the side. It turned out pretty awesome, although I think I'm going to go with maybe juice from only half a lime instead of a whole, and then use either red wine or balsamic vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. Perhaps also had a bit of fresh ground black pepper. But here's the recipe:

4 Tbs kraft reduced fat mayo with olive oil
juice from 1/2 lime or 2 Tbs lime juice (or to preference)
1 Tbs red wine or balsamic vinegar, or whatever you prefer
1 to 2 Tbs cilantro, chopped
habanero sauce to taste, non vinegar based (I used Melinda's Chipotle & XXXtra hot), you could also use chili sauce like Sriracha.

Mix in a small ramekin or mug or small prep bowl until smooth.

Makes 2 servings.

I took a little of it and spread it onto two Orowheat sandwich thins, with one egg over medium and thinly sliced cucumber.

I then served on the side about 1 half sliced cucumber (per plate) and some grape tomatoes. The remaining dressing was divided among the two plates and drizzled on top of the veggies. It was such a satisfying meal, and really versatile. Also it only took me about 10 to 20 mins to make, was super easy and looked like it was more complicated than it really was. Ah, I love that.

Single Brooks Adrenaline Running Shoe Seeks Mate

I am a Brooks Adrenaline 9 running shoe about 2 years old seeks same for mate. I enjoy kicking around on everyday tasks and chill on the floor by the door waiting for my next adventure. I love living an active lifestyle, and wish to find my mate to be able to embark on it together. I want to run and dance and walk, to experience the outdoors and the wonders of that contraption with the moving belt that we run on when it's wet outside. I do enjoy the rain and mud, but sometimes you want a nice cozy place to have fun. Please contact me as soon as possible. I am anxious to find the right shoe as soon as I can, for I am very lonely and bored being all on my own. Left shoes need not apply.

I apologize for the hiatus

It's been awhile, over a week since I've posted anything, and I apologize. It's been a crazy and exciting couple of weeks. First, we have postponed the wedding to next summer. We have found our new venue and I'm really excited about it. Dancing Deer Mountain is gorgeous and I feel that we will be able to have a really awesome event out there, we also have a lot more time to save and plan, since we were so far behind on EVERYTHING. It also just works out better for everyone, which is a plus. I was looking forward to getting married in December, but it was starting to get so stressful that I wasn't sure if we'd be able to get everything done in time.

I have not been on the exercise wagon as much, and my eating wasn't the best, but I also didn't really backslide. I've held my own if anything. Thanks to the help of my new accountability buddy Jaime, I've been getting back on track and able to remember what I get so excited about when it comes to my goals and what I enjoy about my exercise schedule. I started my week yesterday with Push Circuit 1 and tonight I have Fire 30, Abs 10 and my C25K workout. I should probably get started on it soon, but I wanted to get a quick blog entry up to officially acknowledge my return.

In light of the extended wedding date, I have increased my goal from 30lbs of weightloss by the wedding to 60lbs! As I get closer to the original 30, I will then update my ticker, it's simply more motivating for me right now having 25lbs to go instead of 55lbs to go.

My eating is also going GREAT to day. I have yet to plan out dinner, but we went grocery shopping and the house has been restocked.

I hope everyone has been well the last couple weeks and I look forward to keeping you all posted on my journey. It hasn't been easy, but I've never felt this good about it before, or this encouraged. Thank you all.

Big decisions at the last moment

Today was a productive day. I went out to go look at invitations with my mom. The place we were going to go to look at them, Paper Plus, was closed. We had a brief window of time to go out and look for them and decided to try to go early in the morning on Monday before work since they opened at 7:30am, and instead try to go do some other wedding stuff. We went to Micheal's to look at what they had for possible wedding supplies, decorations and the the like. I had also remembered them having a lot of stuff in my colors.

We also were very inspired having just been at my co-worker/her employee, Brooke's, wedding the evening before. Especially when we found out that these flowers were in fact not real, but silk:

 

 We found some real awesome stuff, and also got a vision for the centerpieces more clear. It was so much fun doing wedding stuff with my mommers. We haven't done much of that yet, even with 3 months to go. 

We also found these on the wedding aisle. A DIY set that was exactly in my colors. They weren't exactly what we were talking about getting originally, but I love them. I feel a lot less anxious now that we have the invitations figured out. It also means that despite the set back of our original destination being closed, we were still able to achieve our goal. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

So we got the venue, the dress, the invitations, some of the decorations, the cake set up. But there's a lot that we are behind on, we don't have the caterer or the photographer. Also, we haven't figured out the officiant. We have a beautiful church lined up for our wedding, but it seems nice if we could have a close friend or someone who really knows us perform the ceremony. I have also just had ideas of postponing until next summer. We'd have more time to plan and save money, and an outdoor wedding sounds really nice. I am concerned about how heavy my dress is, but my mom said she knows of a great venue with lots of shade. 

It also gives us more time to get our house in order. I wish I could move into a new home for a truly fresh start, but with the housing market as it is, I'm still a few years away from being able to sell (at the soonest). So, we'll get this place all set up and ready for our new life together, all three of us. I need to get let go of a lot of stuff anyway, get my life in order. That is one thing that is part of this whole process. So we got the invitations, but have been seriously considering pushing the wedding back to late June or early July. We only have a few days to make this decision to get back half of our deposit from First Christian. The good news is that it was a small deposit, so we really would only be out $100 dollars or so. 

It was an interesting day. It was really great doing planning stuff with my mom. We were really getting into it more. It'd be nice to be able to enjoy it a little longer. Then again, I am really excited about becoming Carson's wife. I've loved him for so long, and I love him so much. As eager as I am, I want it to be right. I don't want to look back afterward, and think at all "It was a great wedding, but I kind of wish we'd waited until the summer" for whatever reason. I also want lots of room for my son to run around and play during the reception. It's not just about me and Carson. It's all of us coming together as a family. That is my focus now.

The Wagon

I've sort of fell off the wagon the last couple days. Maybe more the last week. It's been a rough one. I haven't binged really or even given in much to emotional eating. But we did end up going out a couple times over the weekend and went to the Lane County Fair with my mom and stepdad. It was the first time we were really able to take Miles. He had a blast. We saw goats, and ducks, and horses and cows. Miles even got to go on a couple rides. I bought an awesome parasol, well a very awesome parasol that is also very cheap.

Anyway, the week in general wasn't good. I found out that my ex is having a baby with the girl he's with, which is also the reason I left him. I won't go into the drama much, but lets just say he can barely take care of himself, and he can't even afford to adequately support the one he already has. Then a day or two after that, I almost was no longer a bride on the run, I'd have to change my blog to spinster on the run or something like that. We are working it out and in the end it was a good thing, but it's just been a tense week.

I am looking forward to this afternoon and evening. my co-worker Brooke is getting married, and this will also mark the end of my "bad week". I did keep up on tracking, and my exercise, but I didn't do as well with staying on the wagon with my calorie intake. My big mistake yesterday was that I forgot to take my meds and I didn't eat enough fore going to a BBQ for my son's uncle Mark, he was 17 yesterday (I could hardly believe it). Anyway, it took a lot longer to get the food prepared than I think they had anticipated and so I was ravenous when it was time to eat, and I ended up eating a bit too much. At first I wasn't too worried, since I usually have a deficit from exercising, but I ended up being so tired last night, that I decided to make Thursday once again my rest day and exercise tonight when I get home from the wedding.

The week wasn't all bad. I reached my goal of the month of 500 fitness mins!!!! yay!! I have never reached that before when I've actually set it as a goal. it is pretty exciting. I also stayed on track with my exercise. As I mentioned in my previous post, I did Push Circuit 1 and it completely kicked my ass! it was fantastic. I have been looking forward to Push Circuit 2. BRING IT ON CHALEAN!!!!

I've also really enjoyed the TurboFire: Fire videos. I feel so silly doing them, but then I realized, what am I worried about, I'm having fun! And I've also started to feel more comfortable dancing around the house again randomly when I hear a song I like. It has been so long since I've done that. This journey has been really causing me to look at so many things in my life. I've been working on my mental health as well. I may never have exactly the life I want, but I can have at least parts of it. I can have a strong body. I can have accomplishments that I am proud of. I already have a wonderful little boy, who is my sunshine. I have a loving husband to be, who is really supportive and has been awesome in helping me stay motivated, even when I am discouraged and frustrated. I also have some great friends that have helped me with that too.

Everyday is a new day, and every week is a new week. And all of these new days and weeks are new beginnings. Take it one beginning at a time.

PUSH IT!

Last night was ChaLean Extreme Push Circuit 1. I had for my exercise schedule to do the strength training and then do my C25K, just like I did when I'd have the burn circuits.

It was intense and awesome! And it totally kicked my ass! When I got on the treadmill, I did my walking for 8mins and then started running for 2mins. I can tell that I'm getting stronger, my form is better, but my legs were dead. I got through the first 10min intervals, but I hit muscle failure. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to finish my run, but really proud that I had put so much into the weight training that my body needed more time to recover. I'm really looking forward to rest of the Push Circuits this month.