I love weekend workouts!

The workout plans that Ken and I are doing have you working out 6 days a week - 1 day of rest. They say to take that day on Sunday. Not me. Weekends are great for workouts because you can do them at your leisure and you can do extra long workouts or two in a day or whatever you want.

Saturdays are cardio and weights. If it's cold outside I do turbo fire for cardio. If it's nice, I run!

I've made my Sundays Yoga day.

1 week to the 10K....Kendayl's tutu is talking to her and saying it's not ready - but it is. We're going to crush it. Never mind you that I haven't run over 4 miles since I started "training."

Bring on the week!

HCC

Grandma is watching over me!

Hil: Great post about Grandma... you nailed it! On that note I found her watergate salad recipe in her handwriting today:) can't wait to make it!!!

Ok.... you're probably asking me why is my Grandma watching over me today specifically (of course she's watching over me) well....
1. I ate great today!!! There were moments I told myself "I'm hungry" but I wasn't... I was just bored (ha!) soo I drank my water and found something to do to keep my occupied and IT WORKED:)
2. I have a child moving... I know it sounds mean but I'm human and this kid (who is very bright and cute sometimes) has taken my money (all of it) and has run and run and run and I'm spent. Nothing I try works and I'm exhausted... welp, he's moving!!
3. I worked out after work even though I'm super tired but I feel great!
4. I don't even have to explain this one.... look below at my dinner....




I mean COME ON!! I had pizza last night and I was craving it again and the best part... TONY SAYS I CAN EAT IT:) It's on a pita that has 12g of fiber and only 100 calories, a little bit of pizza sauce, 1/4 c. low fat moz. cheese, onion, mushrooms, pepperocini's, and buffalo baked chicken. The best part is that I get to eat the WHOLE PIZZA! I don't know about you but I love a good pizza and one slice turns into a few slices fast so this way I can eat the whole thing and it's guilt free!! Whoop!!:)


Everyone should try it:)

Ok back to grading papers... Hil I wish you were here you were such a great grader!

xoxox

Lessons about Fat

It's not secret that I love beachbody.com. I own several of the work out DVDs including Insanity, Turbo Fire Brazil Butt Lift and Power 90. I like that I can work out right in my living room. I recently did a test and I did body pump and then the scultping DVDs with Turbo Fire. Both were very different but the next day, I felt sore in the same areas and ultimately believe that I get the same benefits.

One of the things I like so much about beachbody.com is that I also get news letters that help educate me on various topics. Today, they're talking about fat.

I mentioned in one of my first posts that we measured our body fat for our work competition. I measured at 32.47 with calipers. Here's what I think is interesting: according to what I read, a healthy woman should be between 20 - 25% body fat. Anything over 30% is considered obese. I'm not overlly praising of my body in general but I know that I'm not obese regardless of what that number says. What I like is this article points out accuracy concerns and reminds us that in general the number is not what's important - it's that your number starts going down.

One popular exercise myth is that if we're trying to lose body fat, we should just do lots of cardio and sweat and burn fat, then build muscle later. That's a sort of "lose weight now, get in shape later" approach. There's some truth there. The more we exercise, the more calories we expend and the sooner our bodies tap into our fat stores for energy. But by building up muscle, in addition to doing cardio activity, we can burn a lot more calories, even while we're at rest, and maximize the calorie burn during cardio. Plus, when the stored fat begins to melt off, there will be lean, sexy muscle in its place.

Kendayl and I are focusing on taking it one day at a time. This isn't about 90 days; it's about making life changes. So just as a reminder:

Any activity will go a long way toward reducing body fat percentage. And health professionals advise that even a modest decrease in body fat percentage will have extraordinary health benefits. So even if achieving that ideal "supermodel" weight seems impossible, you can really enhance your quality of life by making a few minor changes in your activity level and diet.

Lessons Learned

Suffice it stay, based on Kendayl's post, it's been a rough go of it lately. Seeing Grandma in pain was one of the worst experiences of my life. My grandmother was an amazingly strong woman. She loved life. She was opinionated, vivacious, and loving. She taught her grand-daughters to BURP! She was down right awesome.

I love her. I loved her. I will always love her. She taught me so much. One of those things is about the importance of my health and my body.

The not awesome side of grandma was that she didn't take care of herself. Because this has such a profound lesson - It's worth sharing. She was large. She ate Hardee's hotdogs and burgers and loved Taco Bell. I've never known her to be anything by over-weight. And at some point, her joints started to give out, she had pain and needed a cane. The cane then became her excuse to not move and not go out. Eventually, that turned in to depression (or rather what I'm assuming was depression). She gave up on life because she thought she couldn't change. At last weeks count, she was on more than 8 different medications for pain and various health problems.

In contrast, her older sister is 92 years old (10 years older than Grandma). Blanche still cuts her own grass. She walks a mile and half a day (she recently cut it down from 3 I believe). She is on ONE medication and that's for her bones. She's been on weight watchers for something like 25 years. When I joined WW two years ago, my instructor was actually coached by Blanche when she first started WW. She made a decision every day to put her health first and take care of herself. Seeing her at the funeral - watching her say goodbye to her last sibling threw that very lesson right in my face. There's a lot to learn from the people we love. Sometimes those lessons are learned not because of something they did but because of something they didn't do.

Some days I will chose to not care. But everyday I wake up, I get to make that choice and I get to live with the consequence - both good and bad.

That's my lesson.

So today I did my work out with Chalene and Turbo Fire. I even did Yoga. Brace yourself... I even touched my toes. I haven't done that but maybe twice in my life. Thank you Bethany Yoga!

So here's to grandma - for teaching me so much, for loving me more and for reminding me to love every day as if it were my last.

rough times

I feel like as soon as I say I won't have anymore excuses I come up with another excuse...

Unfortunately my grandmother passed away last Friday after 82 years. She was the rock of our family and the reason why I have my middle name, Jennings. I know that she's at peace and finally pain free but not having her here anymore is heart breaking. I miss her dearly and it's hard to imagine her not in my life. I heard news from my mom on Thursday morning that grandma wasn't doing well and that it was time for me to come home. I immediately found someone to cover my class. I rushed home and threw things in a bag and ran out the door. All I I could think about was how I had to get there to tell her I love her once more. I rushed as fast as I could and when I walked into her room she was lying there with an oxygen mask on and an "I'm tired" look on her face. I stopped and turned and walked out of the door. While I thought I was ready to see her it was hard to face her because I knew this was the end. My sister said that she wanted to see me and so I pulled it together and went it. I sat by her side and we got to talk and I got to tell her that I loved her (I think I said it 100 times). She kept telling me how proud of me she was and how much my kids at school loved me.

Quickly there after things started to happen fast. She was in so much pain that our #1 goal was to keep her comfortable. We decided to call in Hospice to take over. Thursday day and night came and I said my goodbye and my I love you's before I went home. The next morning Hilary and I went back to the hospital and there she was again holding on (She always was stubborn:). We spent the day at the hospital with all of our family crying and laughing and telling all the stories under the sun. Before we new it most of the day was gone. We were laughing and carrying on so much when we paused for a moment we looked at grandma and realized she was taking her last breath. We stood around her holding her hands and telling her that we loved her and that it was time for her to go home. It was silent. You could have heard a pin drop in that room. It was the quietest we've all been since it all started. She was at peace. She wasn't crying, or screaming from the pain, or telling us not to leave her alone. She was finally free of all the pain she had been suffering from for so long. It was a bittersweet moment. We all stood there and said "How do you say goodbye". My uncle said "You don't, it's an I'll see you later".

When we were younger my sister and I would spend New Years with her and we'd have burping contests with Sparkling Cider and eat cookie dough together. She was a champion burper:) She could finish a word search faster than anybody I know. She always got the T.V. Guide from the newspaper and highlighted her favorite Soap Operas so she wouldn't miss them (even though we showed her how to use the guide on the TV... she was persistent in using the newspaper version) She was so organized that she had rubber bands around her wrists at all times just in case something needed to be held together. She was our rubber band to our family. She held us all together and always made us remember where we came from... a lovely family. I catch myself laughing one moment at the memories that we've shared and the next moment I'm sobbing because I miss her. I know that only time will heal the heart...

Grandma I love you with all my heart and I know you're safe and sound and happy to be with Grandaddy once again. I carry you with me everyday and know that you're watching over me. I miss you dearly and know that one day we will be together again burping and eating cookie dough just like when we were little.... As you always tell us, "I love you a bushel and a peck and hug around the neck"... <3

I feel like I must post a little about my lack of good eating habits...here goes it...

Needless to say my diet and exercise really hasn't been my top priority. I did work out but not to the extent that I would have liked. I did use the "this one's for grandma" more than I probably should have but honestly I don't care... I truly enjoyed the time I shared with my family and if that means I ate stuff I shouldn't have, I'm ok with that...

With that said... here I am again trying to get back on the horse after falling off. I will say that in 11 days (yes I'm counting) Mike and I move in together and I can't wait. It's like the light at the end of this, what seems to be, endless dark tunnel. I've ordered p90x and we are ready to start it together! It's always nice having someone along for the journey and having it be Mike gets me very excited. I want to be healthy, attractive, and most of all I want to feel good and having Mike along side me to help motivate and just to have someone go along for the ride with me sounds wonderful.

Tomorrow is my first day back at work in quite a few days... while I'm excited to see my teammates (who have kept me afloat recently) and my kiddos, I'm also dreading the fast pace life that comes with working (ha!). On a positive note being at work also gives me the normal routine I have missed recently. My lunch is packed and I'm ready to get back to it!

frustrated and disappointed.FAIL

I won't go into the details but I'm frustrated and disappointed in myself. I've been slipping on my workouts because I'm so busy and I ate sweets because I'm stressed and unhappy at work. I failed.

I will not be posting until I get a positive, no cheating streak going... ugh!!!!!

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?! HELP! :(

-I would just like to add a BIG thank you to Heather for the great phone call and uplifting spirits:) You know being able to work at this with friends supporting you really makes the difference!:) xoxox H

shout out to... MYSELF

I woke up today at 5:00 AM and contemplated working out and going to work. I feel like crud and have ANOTHER sinus infection on the brink. However, I got up and worked out (sculpt 3-4) and while I feel awesome physically I feel like crap on the sick scale. So I'm going to work 1/2 day, going to the minute clinic and going home. I'm going to try and push a sweat 3-4 out today because I missed a day this week but that all depends on how I'm feeling. All in all I'm pretty proud of myself today... and it's only 5:45 AM.

On a mission

As Hilary filled you in already we started over. Is it possible to start over every week? ahah Just kidding! I've had a good week as far as eating and working out goes. I didn't get a chance to work out on Tuesday because of my schedule and there is a possibility of it not happening tonight as well because my friend is in town who lives in Louisiana (hi H!) and I don't want to miss out on that, not to mention I had to rush home to sign my new lease (for the downstairs apt! ahah). I'll tell ya what... life is H.E.C.T.I.C right now. However, while it hasn't been a perfect week in terms of being able to workout everyday or maybe grazing over something I probably shouldn't have. I haven't flipped over completely to the dark side. I realize everyday that I'm a snacker and if I walk pass it more than likely I'm going to try it but I'm trying really hard not to, really really hard. Babysitting seems to be a tough time for me because let's face it: they have food I would never buy (because I would eat it) and food that's just fun! Again, another area I need to be careful in. I bring my own dinner it's just hard when I make the girls their dinner and stumble across pretzel gold fish or cheezits! ayyyayyy!

At any rate life has it's ups and downs with working out, work, eating, and trying to squeeze in a social life. I'm learning to balance everyday and hope that I'll be able to report a week where I didn't slip at all!

I decided after doing Power 90 sculpt and sweat 1-2 for a little over a week that it was time to step it up. It was too easy.... I was barely sweating and really wasn't feeling much. (much different from when I started for the first time last year). So last night Mike and I started sweat 3-4 and I could definitely feel it! It felt great!! My goal tonight is to have dinner with my girlfriends and get home at a decent hour so I can try and squeeze in sculpt. However, if it doesn't happen I plan to wake up and do sculpt and before I head to Mike's tomorrow night I'll do sweat 3-4... I've got a plan and now it's time for me to stick to it!

Cheers! (with water)

ps: I've given up sweets and only drinking 1 night a week. (I'm not a huge sweets person but I'll tell ya if it's the right kinda sweet at the right time... ohhh boy) So 39 days to go!

You can always start over

Last week, Kendayl and I were both lamenting about our diets and our work outs and not getting the results we wanted. In our conversation, Ken decided that we should start over - no cheating, 100% on. She hit send and I stared my computer for at least 2 minutes before I responded. I realize now that I paniced because of how much I was cheating. Yes, I was making my lunches and eating healthy during the day. But then I would eat out for dinner and meet my girl friends out for drinks and I wasn't putting my all in to my work outs. I wasn't going crazy but I wasn't investing all I had towards my goal of looking and feeling better. So Kendayl and I came up with our plan and she wrote about a few days ago. Work out 6 days a week. Allow for alcohol on 1 day a week. So I started Monday off by starting over. And so far so good!

I'm eating 4-5 meals a day. I'm making dinner at home so I can control what and how something is made. And I'm committed to working out. We all say this - getting to the gym or going for a run can be daunting but once I'm there, once I'm done with my work out - I'm so proud and I feel so good.

Last night, I found a recipe on the Food Network call Pizza Pot Pies - and it was healthy!
You can see it here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/pizza-pot-pies-recipe/index.html

Monday: Turbo Fire, 45
Tuesday: Body Pump @ Golds
Wednesday: We'll see! I'm debating yoga or Turbo 30, Fire

Lastly, I'm giving myself things to look forward to - I'm planning my wine nights. That way I don't stray. This week will be tough - I'm meeting some girlfriends for dinner tomorrow night and Matt's family is coming in to town on Friday and we're going out to dinner. I've planned my wine day for Friday.

5 days down, 85 to go.

Morning workouts are back!

Not a big post this morning. I got up at 6am and worked out - that was my goal today! Little steps to success. 45 minute EZ workout, TurboFire.

Let the day begin!!

No more excuses... I hope

I'm in a rut. a REALLY big rut. I feel like everyone around me is in better shape and has better will power than I do right now. Which to be completely honest... is TRUE. There are treats everywhere and I'm known for being the one to eat eat eat and fortunately not show it (I don't always feel this way and lord knows it's gonna come back and bite me in the love handle one day) but I'm SICK AND TIRED of being known as the girl that can eat like my Dad. While I may hide what eat to the average joe it's definitely a different story underneath the physical appearance. I don't feel confident and I'm very self conscience... I swear I have no will power to only have 1 Cool Ranch Dorito instead of the whole bag...

I was talking to Hil today and we both realized we need to realize that food is fuel and not something we depend on when our emotions get the best of us or we're bored... more so me than her. We're from the south and everyone knows the stigma with living in the south and how we eat... we LOVE to eat! I'm a muncher. I could munch all day long and never feel full (well at least I think I'm not full). Thanks to my amazing father he instilled in us that full means your stomach hurts. SO WRONG!!!! I struggle with this a lot. In my self misery today I whined to my boyfriend about how lame I felt and how unmotivated I was... he reminded me that when I put my mind to something I do it because I love accomplishing my goals. He's right! I wish they were easier to accomplish sometimes but the feeling I get when I'm done and I tried my best is awesome!

So, today I tried to think about to last year this time when I started Tony for the first time and think about what got me and kept me motivated. Besides seeing the scale go down a few lbs. most of all it was the way I looked and felt! I was more toned than I've been since high school and for once I felt confident in a bathing suit. I also remembered how great it felt to cross of a day on my Power 90 calendar after I recorded what workout(s) I did that day. So, today after I shed a few tears and ate a few treats I made my calendars and I'm officially ready to start slashing days, inches, and pounds!

I'm officially here to say that starting tomorrow Friday, March 4,2011 I will be doing Tony Power 90 for 90 days and MORE very strictly BUT realistically!

My goal is to eat the meal plans that he has provided with 1 treat a week and 1 day for alcohol. To rule our treats and alcohol altogether would lead to me binging... let's be serious! I think that's extremely realistic. I want to do Tony 6 days a week and throw in running as much as I can. I don't want to put a certain amount of days on running because I don't want to over work myself or let myself down. However, with that said I do have a race coming up soon and my sister is counting on me to help her get a PR so I definitely need to keep up the running!

I'm feeling really motivated and pumped right now and hope that I can keep this mentality when the hunger sets in!

Any tips or suggestions? I could use all the motivation I can get!

I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!! Heck I know I can... I did it last year!

Biggest Loser and Self Esteem

I started a new job rather recently. I'm the only woman on the team. Which has its perks. For example, there's no drama. Guys just tell you how it is and they move on. There's no guessing what guys think. Down fall - we've all decided to do a Biggest Loser competition from now until Memorial Day.

Biggest Loser Rules:

$100 entry fee per person

You can work out with other people in the contest

Winner - highest total body fat % lostWinner gets 60% of the pot, 2nd place gets 30% and 3rd place gets 10%

I have calipers that I brought in to the office and we measured using this site and option 2.

So far so good. And then the pinching began. Caliper do this: I can't think of any other activity that makes me feel this good about myself - except maybe a pool party with cheerleaders or if perhaps Heidi Klum where here measuring body fat with me.

There are two other women participating. One who was cheerleader and the other who is this adorable school guidance counselor. Both are little bitty cute things.

So we measure. We're all laughing as we do this and at that moment I'm actually fine. It's just a number.

And then the results....

Males: Women:

TC - 20.5% HC - 32.7%

EM - 20.9 MC - 22.6

CW - 28.9 MK - 27.0

MA - 25.1

CO - 20.5

I'm the fattest. YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! And you know guys - they don't care. They aren't thinking what I'm thinking. So emails start going back and forth about how fat we are BUT I'M THE FATTEST. humiliating.

So I threw myself a pitty party and ate more food. Solid solution I think. Maggiano's braised short ribs.

For me, the frustrating part is that I've been the most active this past year and half then I've been most of my life. I work out with pretty good regularity. I can now run. I even, on occasion, do yoga. My diet is far better than it's ever been - doesn't mean that I don't pick the braised short ribs when I'm out for dinner or the alfredo but on the whole, I eat fresh vegetables daily, I make chicken for most dinners...

I'd love to tell you 4 readers out there that I've got an inspirational - BUT we're all beautiful message for the end of this - and while I know that's true - I'm not ready for that yet.

But I do have these questions:

How do you know what's right for your body?

How much do genes have to do with your number and how you loose weight and fat?

The competitive side of me knows what to do here to win - be 100% on. No alcohol, no cheating, no fun. But then what happens after the contest? I don't want to be unrealistic and I want to enjoy life. How do you lose and enjoy it?