back at it

I can't believe I haven't posted for 2 months!  I suppose I have just been too busy enjoying summer. 
A trip to Florida for my cousin's wedding, and a trip to South Carolina with the family I work for.  Unfortunately I may have enjoyed and indulged just a little too much.  Missing out on gym time and not keeping up with eating properly has caught with me. 

Today is exactly one month until my birthday.  I am rededicating myself to boot camp and my healthier lifestyle.  At last check (before all the vacations) I was down a total of 20lbs lost.  I'm making my next goal to lose another 10 by my birthday, so I have a month.  I was so good at making the gym a priority in the beginning, but when I got busy I let that priority fall by the wayside.  If I didn't have time to make to the gym on a Saturday then I wouldn't be weighing in, and then I'd think "well, I'm not weighing in this week, so I can have that, just this once".  And, of course, just this once happened more than one time. 
But what is done, is done.  I'm getting back at it, and I'm going to post things publicly more often to keep me accountable.

So, starting with today here's what I've done so far:
Vanilla protein shake for breakfast
1hr aquaZumba
1 egg + 2whites and lots of veggies scrambled for lunch

If you've never tried aquaZumba, I highly recommend it!  It is so much fun, I wish I could do it every day!

Thanks for keeping me accountable guys!   :)

craziness

These last few weeks have been insane to say the least.  Since the beginning of May I have been at the home of one of the families I work for almost non stop...

I knew for months that I would be with the kids for 2 weeks while their parents were out of town.  I had our daily schedules all planned out in my little day planner book, I thought I was going to get so much done in 2 weeks.  I would take the girls to school at 7:30am, go to the gym and get in as much working out as I could before I had to pick them up at 3pm.  Wrong-o. 

Oh, it all started out fantastic.  I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, got the kids up, fed and out the door on time.  Gym time in the morning is my favorite, either there is a fun class I can take, or there is hardly anyone there and I can drip sweat on the treadmill all I want without much of an audience.  I'd go home, shower, fix a healthy lunch and have plenty of time to run an errand or two before I picked the kids up from school.  Evenings were crazy busy, I knew I wouldn't make it to boot camp in the evenings, which is why I had planned to work my butt off in the mornings.  Every night there was softball practice, cheerleading clinics, or gymnastics.  I honestly have mad respect for the girls' mom, I have no clue how she does it.  Talk about birth control! (but seriously, they are great kids and I love them dearly)

Then disaster strikes.  One day I woke up and the morning started off totally normal.  I made it to the gym, ran around all day and night, but by the time I got back to the house with the kids I felt horrible.  I have been healthy for 6 months with not so much as a sniffle.  My healthy streak came to an end.  I have no clue what I got, it was so awful it was that type of sickess people refer to as "the crud".  By the following morning I was hacking up my lung, my head felt like it was going to burst and I had no voice.  Thank God for cell phones, my main form of communication became texting the girls because calling up the stairs was far too strenuous, walking up the stairs to whisper to them was out of the question because the climb up all those stairs left me completely out of breath. 

I fought "the crud" with every thing I knew to do.  I probably used every form of cold/flu medicine they had in their cabinets.  I popped vitamin C tablets like they were m&ms.  I drank this super vitamin C juice I found at Kroger.  I guzzled water.  I started going back to my house (because it is in the same town as the girls school and I didn't have to drive as far) and passing out until it was time to go pick the kids up again.  I was determined to get better as fast as possible, but it still rendered me weak and lazy for 8 days straight. 

 

 

I have no idea what this sickness has done to me.  I haven't been on a scale, I haven't done anything close to a work out.  Some days I didn't ingest anything more than juice, herbal tea and warm chicken broth.  Other days, crunchy grilled cheese sandwiches were just the thing for scratching my itchy throat.  Ice cream felt aahhhh-mazing!  And let's face it, being with 3 kids for 2 weeks, yummy snacks and treats were inevitable. (Did I mention that there was a college graduation party for my little brother and my mama cooked?!)

So there it is, 2 weeks of crazy.  I'm finally able to breathe again, but I'm not totally well.  I still have to blow my nose free of gunk when I wake up, and there is this obnoxious rattly cough that is trying to hang on.  I am actually dying to get back into the gym.  I miss it!  I never would have thought I would say that 3 months ago.  But ultimately I decided it is probably best to wait until I am 100%.  I think being thrown off the back of a treadmill in a wheezy heap would probably be disastrous.  Hopefully I'll be back to boot camp on Monday evening, I have a summer body to work on! :) 

Round 2

Before I start this blog I have to give a shout out to my best friend, ST.  She celebrated her 100th pound lost this week!  Since her surgery in 2011 and two rounds of boot camp, she's been at this weight loss journey much longer than I have, and I'm so proud of her and happy to have her to walk down the weight loss road with me! 


I haven't blogged or been to boot camp in a while because life has been a little crazy lately!  Hubby and I celebrated our 1st anniversary with a trip to Cincinnati for the weekend, and the families I work for have had a lot going on.  But I managed to make it to the gym one day this week, and I am starting my second 8-week boot camp tomorrow morning.  I doubt I'll have lost anything, anniversary celebratory meals aren't exactly diet friendly! :)

 

I am currently down 19 pounds from where I was on March 1st, before I started boot camp.  I'm proud of what I've accomplished, but I am by no means finished.  V and I discussed some nutrition strategies and I'm starting a new plan to help balance my hormones in hopes of boosting my metabolism.  It is restrictive, but it makes sense, and I am now 100% committed to making the best choices in my life for my health. I wouldn't say I was completely successful at sticking to the plan this week, unfortunately.  But Monday is a new week, and I'll give it another go!

This is my first boot camp before and after photo.  From March 1st-April25th 2013.  For me, it is visual proof that the hard work is worth it!

Sunny Sunday ☀

So yesterday I weighed in 1lb lighter and measured 2 inches smaller in my belly! I'll take it!
 Yesterday was a gorgeous Saturday, V made us run outside, and while I was grumbling inwardly I must say it felt wonderful to be outside in the fresh air and sunshine. Turns out running around with a weighted ball in my arms was an excellent warm up for the rest of my day. My sister moved into her new apartment yesterday and helping her carry all those boxes and dresser drawers up three flights of stairs just seemed like an extension of our morning workout.

So, onto today. I really wanted to do nothing but lay in the sunshine today, but alas, I'll have to food prep at some point. Maybe I'll wait until the rain starts this afternoon and I'm forced back inside. Prepping for at least the first three days of the week is 100% necessary for me. My job as a nanny to a 3 month-old baby girl means I have to leave my house no later than 6:30am. I was never much of a morning person, so having food already prepared means I'm not scrambling to find breakfast within an hour of waking, and I can have my lunch and snacks packed ahead of time. Makes 6am MUCH easier.

 I am a Pinterest addict. I find all kinds of great ideas to copy there. This morning I made my own version of these egg white breakfast things I'd seen on Pinterest. It's like an omlette and a muffin had a baby.
 Here's what I used:

3 eggs
3/4 cup liquid egg whites
 Baby spinach leaves
Chopped bell pepper
 Chopped red onion
 1 tbls low-sodium bacon bits (30cals per tbls)
 Pinch of each: sea salt, chili powder, cumin & crushed red pepper (I like my food spicy!)
Olive oil spray
 Muffin pan

 I sprayed 4 muffin cups, put veggies in each cup and sprinkled a few bacon bits in each cup (30 cals divided by 4 cups is less than 8 calories per muffin). Mix the spices/seasonings with the eggs and whites and beat. Pour over veggies in each cup. Bake 450*F for 15mins

 In hind sight, I probably could have made 5-6 muffins with these measurements. They kind of overflowed. But they are quite tasty, I had one this morning for my breakfast, and I'll use the others for my next 3 breakfasts.

she made me do it!

Well, this is my first blog post, ever.  Of any kind.  I'm a little nervous and really don't know what to write, or what anyone will think of this blog... but I think it will help me in my weight loss journey to keep up this blog, so I'm doing it for me!

Yesterday was exactly 5 weeks since I walked into the little gym located in an old thrift store.  I went with my best friend to check out this boot camp that she, and several people on facebook, had been attending.  I had read about it on the gym's website and was pretty sure I wanted to start doing it as well, but I have to admit I was terrified.  Especially when my friend introduced me to V, the boot camp leader/trainer/coach.  She told me she didn't mind if I sat in on the class and participated, but if I did I could not back out.  Anyway, the rest is history, I participated, thought I was going to die, and then drug my sore butt back to the gym the following morning to have a one-on-one meeting with V about boot camp and the nutrition program.  It was an emotional meeting.  I saw my weight for real for the first time in a long time. We talked about self worth.  I was a hot, teary mess when I left, but V has been the most encouraging, butt kicking, knowledgeable God send I could have ever asked for.  She lit a fire under my rear end and I'm so grateful for that. 

Fast forward 5 weeks, and here we are.  I'm down a total of 10lbs, I'm eating better, feeling better and working out no less that 4 days a week.  Last night before boot camp class V suggested to me that I start a blog.  Since I love to cook (and eat, duh!) I could post recipes, journal, put up photos, and as I gain followers this blog will keep me accountable.  So this is my open book.  Read/follow if you want, you're gonna see the real me.  All my struggles and triumphs.  And hopefully I'll post some pics soon. 

  Tomorrow will be my 5th weigh-in Saturday.  We'll see how much damage I did over Easter!