Goddess of Health

Health Resolutions

2010-12-29T00:38:00.001-07:00

Hello fellow healthy friends! I talked about my New Year's resolutions for all aspects of my life on my other blog but I wanted to talk about some specific fitness/health ones that I have here. My overall resolution is just going to be consistent with eating right and exercising regularly. In 2010 I would say I was only doing that about six out of the twelve months, which is not okay. So just doing that will be great. But here's what else I want to work on...

1. Get my flexibility back.

When I was dancing in high school I was, of course, very flexible. I could do the splits on both sides (and almost in the center), my back was more flexible than it had ever been, I could kick very high, etc. And I loved being flexible. But once I stopped dancing, I stopped stretching for an hour or so every day, and I lost it very quickly. I am still more flexible than the average person but I miss being able to do things like the splits. So, I'm going to start stretching again, for at least a half hour every day. And my goal is to be able to do the side splits, on both sides, again my March 30th, 2011. I think this is a doable goal. I will also be doing more yoga to help with my flexibility, and hopefully as I get more Gumby-like I can move onto some more advanced yoga poses.

2. Run a 5K.

Even though I don't like running, it is a very good form of exercise. And, while I don't advocate doing exercise you dislike if you're just starting to get back into exercise, I'm the type of person who can deal with something I don't particularly like if I think it's benefiting me. So, at some point in this year (probably the summer), I'm going to condition myself to run a 5K again. I know that a 5K isn't anything amazing, but I haven't been able to run that far without stopping since I was a senior in high school, so it'll be a big deal for me.

3. Get better at hoop dancing.

Have I talked about hoop dancing on here before? I'll have to go look through my posts and see, 'cause if I haven't I really need to. I absolutely love dancing, but I'm not on a dance team anymore and can't go out to a club all the time, so when I discovered hoop dancing it was this fantastic way for me to fulfill my desire to dance all on my own, and pretty much anytime, as long as I could get outside, or be in a spacious room. The only problem is that I'm not just having to control my body, I have to control the hoop, and that's what makes it beautiful, but I have not practiced enough at mastering certain moves which makes it so I'm still very limited in what I do. I know the only way I'm going to get better is to practice, so as soon as the weather turns warm this year, I'm going to practice a lot. Maybe I'll even post a video once I get good. :)

4. Be at my goal weight for Summer.

Here's the thing. My goal weight is 130. It's a weight I look really good at. However, it's kind of hard for me to get to/maintain it. So I've realized that I am okay with not being at 130 all year. As long as I'm not above 145, I am still at a very healthy weight, and I still look...decent. This past month I've been wavering between 137 and 141, due to all the holiday treats and scaling back a little on the exercise, and that's been okay. At this time of year I'm just covered in sweaters and pants 24/7 anyway. But I do want to make sure that I am at 130 when the summer starts, and all throughout it, because I want to be able to wear all the stuff I want without worrying about how my body looks. In order to do this I'll make sure to really buckle down on my diet and up the exercise starting in March, so that I'll have plenty of time to hit my goal by summer. Of course this doesn't mean I won't be exercising and eating well the rest of the year, it just means I won't be torturing myself if I don't look perfect.

5. Journal my food and exercise.

Everyone knows that if you can stand to do this, it helps a lot with keeping you on track with healthy eating and consistent exercise. So I have gotten a journal (which I will talk about in another post) and plan to journal all my food and exercise. I think it will help me a lot because I know that if I have to write down a missed workout or a crappy food choice, it will make it so I don't make the bad choice a lot of the time.

Oh, I also want to post on this blog more consistently. We'll see how that goes. And to some this might sound like a lot, but keep in mind that I won't be doing it all at once. The hoop dancing and running probably won't happen until the summer. I won't be working on being in tip top shape all year long. Pretty much the only things I will be doing the entire year are #1 and #5. Completely doable. I think if you're making a resolution to eat healthier/exercise/lose weight that it's great but make sure you make small goals and figure out how exactly you're going to achieve them. And if you're already rather healthy, then do like me and make it your goal to get better at new things. Let's all get healthier and more fit in 2011!

Fit Gear Review: Shoes for Crews StayFit shoes

2010-12-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

So I work at a fast food place, which requires me to have shoes that are non-slip. I'd been using some Skechers that I'd bought a while back, but those were wearing out and it was time for me to buy some new shoes. Then I discovered, while looking for the Shoes for Crews catalog, that they have new "StayFit" styles that are basically their brand of "fitness" shoes. Here's what I think about fitness shoes. If I can't wear them to the gym (most of the time they aren't really meant for this) and they're too ugly for me to wear just walking around, then what's the point? I'm not going to bother with them because the benefits probably aren't that great, and I don't like wearing ugly shoes.

But for work, I really don't care. So I figured, why not try out some good, work-approved shoes that might also help my legs get a little more of a workout? I've been using them for about three weeks now, and I'll tell you what I think of them in case any readers are thinking of getting a fitness shoe.

They're very comfortable, but they are also something that the feet need to get used to. In a normal shoe, the arch of the foot is allowed to flex back and forth when you walk. With these shoes, your arch is completely supported, and your foot rocks back and forth in the shoe. It really does feel like walking in sand. The first couple of times I wore them, my feet would start hurting by the end of my shift because they weren't used to it, but now it's not a problem at all. Another thing that I really like about them is that they provide a lot of cushion so it's easier on the joints. This is important to me when I'm on my feet for eight hours a day.

What I don't like about them is they do still look kind of ugly, just because of the "rocker" bottom. I also recommend not wearing them for more than eight hours or so because the foot is meant to be flex back and forth and wearing them for everything you do is probably not good for you. As far as how much they're actually helping with what they claim to do...

Improve posture... Check! I find it more difficult to slouch in these for some reason.
Revieve fatigue and reduce pressure on joints... Check! Definitely recommend if you experience joint pain and have a job in which you're required to be on your feet most of the time.
Help tone legs... Maybe. Honestly, I do feel my muscles working more when I walk with these, due to having to push through more than just the floor, but I haven't seen any significant changes. Also, it's hard to tell with me because I workout on a regular basis anyway, so it would probably be better to test this on someone who doesn't do any kind of exercise other than walking.

Also, they don't claim to improve balance, but they definitely do because you are forced to constantly balance with them. And I am always working on improving my balance so this is a good thing. So I say, if you can stand the ugliness of them, and you want to reduce pressure on your joints, and you don't do a lot of exercises for your legs normally, then go ahead and invest in a fitness shoe. It can't hurt. But don't think that it will suddenly get you legs like a super model (or even like the girls in the commercials). It's just gonna make them work a little harder...and that's a good thing.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T02:04:00.000-07:00

You know, I meant to write this post earlier this week. In it I was going to put my tips for how to stay "on track" on Thanksgiving and not go overboard and pretty much all the same stuff that 50 other blogs have written about this week. And then I realized that I don't really have any advice because everyone is going to handle it differently, and as long as you handle it in a way that works for you, then that's great. My simple solution is portion control. I always exercise portion control, so it's not hard. I don't like feeling like I'm the stuffed turkey after I'm done with my meal. But I don't deprive myself of anything I want. Food is way too damn good to do that, especially when a lot of the foods served at Thanksgiving are only served that one day. It does kind of help though that I don't like stuffing, or gravy, or deviled eggs... So I kind of cut out a lot of the bad stuff already just because I don't like it. But if you like to do something other than portion control, if you want to calorie count, or just completely abstain, or bring your own food, or whatever, that's all great. What matters is that you feel in control on Thanksgiving. A holiday shouldn't be something that gets in the way of the healthy lifestyle you want to be living. So don't let it.

Now I just want to say a few things that I'm thankful for...
- My perfectly functional body. I've gone over this on my blog before, but I really do love it and appreciate how well it works.
- My job. It's not the job I want, or even like very much, but it is a job and right now lots of people don't have that, so I have to remind myself to be grateful for it.
- My parents. I have a good relationship with them, and they're very supportive of me and always make sure to check in and see how I'm doing. They did an amazing job raising me and continue to be great.
- My cat. She brings me joy. :)
- My roommates. It's a lot of fun having roommates again; I'm not lonely anymore and it's helping me out financially. I'm very glad they decided to move in with me.
- Men. I love men. They're simply wonderful and make me happy.
- The house I live in. I have a great landlord, and it's a roomy house that is great for this stage of my life.

What are you thankful for? Have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Back.

2010-11-19T04:04:00.000-07:00

I've been avoiding writing this post for a couple of weeks. The last blog I wrote was the day that my roommates moved in with me. And ever since they moved in, my exercise and eating has not been as great as I like. I'm not blaming them because it's been my decision, but they have been a distraction, something that threw me out of my routine. The exercise has been pretty good. Haven't been doing any less than five days a week. But my eating went downhill. Not too much, just not the right stuff. It's been a lot of cheap food lately, or when I do cook, they want me to make something tasty and not completely healthy, so I do. And I got out of the habit of eating five meals a day which I know is something that's very helpful for me to do, and I'm trying to start that again. So yeah, my final results for the end of Brazil Butt Lift weren't as stellar as I would have liked them to have been. When I actually ended the program, last Sunday, I was at 135, but today I checked the scaled and I'm at 138.2. Eeek.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still at a healthy weight. I'm still being active. And I'm still probably eating better than most Americans. But I know I'm not doing my best, and it bothers me that I let a change in my life derail my focus on getting into better shape. So now I'm trying to figure out exactly what I want to do to get that focus back. I'm working on starting to eat better again. And I'm going to go back to working out six days a week instead of five. One of my roommates is trying to lose weight so we've been exercising together so I don't want to start a specific plan at the moment...we're just kind of trying to get a good balance of workouts in throughout the week. Today I had a pretty good workout. It was one from a magazine that I had never tried, a good combination of cardio and toning moves that kicked my butt. But I was disappointed in myself because I was supposed to do the rotation three times through, and I only did it twice because me and my roommate were tired. But had I been on my own, I know I would have powered through and did the third rotation. I just stopped because my partner did, which was weak of me, and it's something that I won't let happen again.

So that's where I am right now. Still being fairly healthy but I haven't been as strict with myself as I should be, and therefore I haven't gotten exactly the results I want. One thing that's good is I have definitely gotten stronger and my cardiovascular endurance has gone up since I started back in August. I'm very happy about that. I noticed I can do things like a lot of push-ups now, and I love feeling strong. Now if I can just get my weight to where I want it to be I will be one happy camper. I'll start being better about updating this blog several times a week again because it helps with my accountability (notice how I haven't posted when I haven't been doing that great?) and I'll let you know what kinds of workouts I'm doing and what I'm eating. I'll also be making a post later this week about Thanksgiving. Now I've got to go read all the blogs I've been missing out on and see if all my blog buddies have been doing better than me. I hope so!

The Music Moves Me

2010-10-30T02:48:00.000-06:00

Today I want to talk about the utilizing the power of music while exercising. It's something that has always helped me immensely when I workout. I can tell you that there is no way in hell I would be able to get through a spin class without the great music my instructor would play, and it certainly makes it easier to do things like the elliptical when I have great songs to distract me. It can even help me push harder during weight lifting if it's the right type of song. However, since I've started just working out to DVDs, I haven't had much chance to listen to my own music, and I kind of missed it. Exercise DVDs aren't known for having the most amazing music, after all. But today I had to do Rio Extreme again, and I since I'd done it twice before and could follow it pretty well, I decided to mute the DVD and play my music instead. And let me tell you, it was SO much easier to get through this workout when I had Kanye West, Rihanna, Enrique Iglesias, etc. playing, lifting my mood, making it so I wanted to push harder. I'll share my playlist with you in case anyone is looking for some new stuff to help you push just a little harder. It's about 50 minutes long, so it was the perfect length for Rio Extreme.

"Into the Night" - Santana feat. Chad Kroeger (perfect for the warm-up)
"Richman" - 3OH!3
"U + Ur Hand" - Pink
"Hips Don't Lie" - Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean
"I Like It" - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
"Carry Out" - Timbaland feat. Justin Timberlake
"Hard" - Rihanna feat. Jeezy
"W.A.M.S." - Fall Out Boy
"Stronger" - Kanye West (you just gotta have this song on every workout playlist)
"Push" - Enrique Iglesias feat. Lil' Wayne
"Only Girl (In the World)" - Rihanna
"Love the Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna

The last three have a slower beat to them, but it's good because that's the part where the intensity starts going down and it's just floor work and then the cool down. I will definitely be doing the rest of my Rio Extreme workouts to this playlist because it really did make it a lot more enjoyable.

Also wanted to mention a cool thing I noticed the other day. My nails are looking great. They're really strong, and have actually grown out to a nice long length. The last time they looked this good was right after I gave birth. Usually they're weak and short because I work with my hands all the time. I totally attribute this to the Shakeology. Pretty cool side effect. :)

And full disclosure....I ate well today but did have a Coors Light at the end of the night. I had it because I wanted to feel good tonight and won't be going out to party on Halloween. That's probably a good thing since I would have drank a lot more than one beer if I went out. Speaking of, I hope you all have a great Halloween! I've already got my pumpkin carved and will be passing out packets of baby carrots to the chitlins. I know, I'm so festive.

Total Health, New Workouts, and Calves

2010-10-28T17:43:00.001-06:00

I have a few different things I want to talk about with this post.

The first one is about the blood work I got done recently. I don't know if I mentioned that I had my blood drawn in early October. It was the first time I'd ever had it drawn just for blood work, and I got the "full chemistry profile" which evaluated the levels of different minerals and nutrients in the bones, thyroid, looked at heart, kidney, and liver functions, levels of iron, cholesterol, and triglycerides. I decided to get this done because I'm really about complete health. I've been thin my whole life, aside from right after giving birth. But I know that being thin does not automatically mean that I (or anyone else) is healthy. I know a girl who is smaller than I am (but still at a healthy weight) who downs massive amounts of fried, fatty, and super sugary foods every day, drinks often, and smokes. Don't ask me how she stays thin, because I don't know, but some day her body is going to fight back. It's going to shut down on her from all the abuse she has put it through. That's going to happen to pretty much everybody who treats their bodies like crap, thin or not.

Personally, I like to be thin because I like to look good, but being healthy is very important as well. Diabetes runs rampant in my family, so I am constantly trying not to have too much sugar. This is hard since sugar is the one thing I normally crave, but I do a pretty good job with moderation. Over the past few months I have been eating quite well, but before that, I honestly could have done a lot better. I was using portion control to make sure I didn't gain weight, but was eating a lot of fast food, and the stuff I ate at home was cheap food, devoid of nutrients, like Ramen or mac and cheese. Because of this, I hoped that my results wouldn't be too bad, and if anything was, I knew I could fix it with just more clean eating the way I have been.

So what were the results? Everything looked great! :D I got the results back at my town's annual Health Fair, and it was pretty cool because there was a table of doctors who were discussing the results with each person. The doctor looked at mine, told me everything looked great, and to just keep doing what I was doing and to stay at a healthy weight and I should be good. This made me really happy. My blood sugar was good, which is one of the main ones I worry about, Overall cholesterol was great, iron and calcium were where they should be... Yeah, nothing to worry about right now. I'm convinced if I had gotten this done in the summer, before I had started drinking Shakeology and really focusing on eating all healthy foods,* the results would have looked rather different. But I love seeing this because now I'm even more encouraged to keep eating healthy and exercising because not only do I see the results manifested in how my body looks, but I know that my insides are doing well, too. I would encourage everyone to go get some blood work done through their doctor or your local health clinic or whatever because it really is a good resource to show you if you need to change anything in your diet or if you're on track.

Next, I wanted to mention that I'm in the last two weeks of Brazil Butt Lift. Woot! It's actually going to be more like three because I'm going to do the six-day slim down after the 12 weeks is done, but for these last two weeks of the program I've started doing the deluxe workouts. There are three new workouts: Rio Extreme, Abs Rapido, and Upper Cuts. I've done all three now, and have to say that if anyone is thinking about purchasing Brazil Butt Lift, I'd also encourage you to get the deluxe package because these workouts are awesome! Rio Extreme is a high intensity interval workout that's 50 minutes long, and the entire time it has me doing about two minutes of cardio, then a strength training move, then cardio, then strength. Without breaks. It's hard. I was completely spent after I got done, but I also felt great! This is just the thing to help me burn off the last amount of fat before I'm done. The next day I did Abs Rapido, which is a quick but effective standing abs workout that I really enjoyed, and Upper Cuts. That's a quick upper body workout, and I was thinking, Oh, this shouldn't be too hard. BOY, was I wrong. At the end of those 13 minutes my arms were dead! And I was only using 5 pound weights! It has a lot of exercises different from what was in Sculpt, so it was a good change.

Last I wanted to mention a new body part that I'm loving: my calves. Let me tell you, I've never really liked my calves. Most women who are pear-shaped say they gain weight in their hips and thighs. For me, it's my entire legs, including the calves. And I think that nice, defined calves are really sexy on women, so I've always wanted mine to be more sculpted, but they were very stubborn. Well I was looking in the mirror yesterday and noticing that my calves no longer look "fat" as I kind of thought they used to, and when I raise up on my toes, they actually have some decent definition to them. Yay! Finally! This program is amazing, I'm telling ya. Do you have any body parts that you used to dislike but have come to love since you started exercising?

Sorry about the randomness of this post, but it's just some stuff that's been on my mind. Have a great week, everyone!

I Love My Body!

2010-10-20T16:44:00.000-06:00

I found out by checking out the fabulous Mizfit's blog that today is National Love Your Body day. And I thought, How fantastic is that? A day in which we should all focus on loving our bodies, focus on what it is that makes each of ours great. And there are so many things! The human body is absolutely incredible! From giving birth to running marathons to giving us the energy to do everything we need in these crazy times. I could go on and on about how beautiful and amazing the human body is because I truly love it, but I'm going to stop before you doze off.

Instead, I want to talk about why I love my body. I have always been fairly comfortable with my body. Probably more so than the average person (female?) in today's society. Even when I haven't thought it was perfect (and, well, I've never thought it was perfect) I have always loved it and not had a problem with others seeing it or anything like that. In fact, when I lived in a big city a few years back I did quite a bit of nude art modeling because I think nude art is beautiful and to me it was a great use for my body. If there is anything that I can think of that has made it so I am overall happy and comfortable with my body it is two main things:

--I look at it, a lot. I don't mind being naked. Studies have shown that the more you look at your body, the more comfortable you are with it, no matter the shape.

--I recognize the good things that my body can do, instead of just focusing on how it looks.

So if you're having trouble with truly loving your body, maybe try taking those two tips to heart. It has helped me a lot, and maybe it will help you, too.

Here's what I love about my body...

--Even through pregnancy, my stomach was resilient and stayed stretch-mark free.

--It is a natural pear shape. While I might say that I hate that my legs are so hard to get in shape, it's a much healthier place to gain weight, and I love the curves of my hips and butt.

--My stomach is super low-maintenance.

--It is strong. I can build muscle very easily when I want to, and I love that I can do things like several push-ups, pull-ups, etc. Strength makes me feel powerful, even when I'm small.

--I have a kick-ass immune system. I credit a good part of this to my parents (thanks, Mom!), but I think it's also because I take care of my body by eating well and exercising. But yeah, I generally only get sick once a year, and it lasts one day.

--It can feel insanely good.

--It is coordinated. Please do not ask me to play any kind of sport. Ever. Well, bowling's okay. But nothing else. HOWEVER, I can do some great stuff with my hips on the dance floor. I discovered my love for dancing in middle school, and it is still my most favorite thing to do. When I'm dancing, everything is okay, and I love that my body picks up on dance fairly easily.

--I'm tall. I like this. Being tall makes a lot of stuff easier. :)

So there you go. And you know what? There are things I don't like. But I just try not to focus on them. Because most of what I don't like are things I can't change without some kind of surgery. So instead, I try to remember everything I love about it. That helps a lot.

Now I want to know, why do you love your body? Tell me in the comments, or if you do a blog post about it, be sure to link me to that so I can read all about what makes yours unique and wonderful.

I will leave you with this...

You only get one body. Love it. Care for it. Treat it as your most precious possession.

Remove Temptation

2010-10-17T02:29:00.000-06:00

Because kittens make everything better.

When it comes to food, do you have iron strong will power? No? Well let me tell you something: neither do I. I like to think that I'm good at resisting stuff that I know is bad for me, but it's not always the case. Sometimes, if the bad thing is there, I will crack and go for it depending on my mood, current situation, what's going on around me, my hunger level, etc. So do you want to know my secret for managing to actually stay with healthy eating I would say, oh, 90% of the time? I remove temptation as much as possible. And you should, too.

It's simple. If cake is your most favorite thing ever, don't have it in your house! Even if you say you're only going to have a sliver, you know dang well that the next time you're having a bad day that a good portion of that cake is gonna be gone, and then you'll be mad at yourself. Or maybe there are some foods that you just have a problem exercising portion control with. Is it soda? Is it chips? Is it peanut butter? Everyone is different, but my solution to all of those things is to not eat them at all, and once again, not have them in your house. My problem food? Ritz crackers. Good Lord, I can eat those things by the roll and still not feel full. Because I know this about myself, I can't remember the last time I bought or ate Ritz crackers. I shouldn't be eating them anyway, so it's not like I miss them. If you have foods that you can't control yourself around, don't have them around you. Just cut them out of your life.

There are also temptations all around the place when we're not at home. Food is everywhere. But I still try to avoid stuff I'm going to have trouble with as much as possible. For instance, I work at McDonald's and every night we usually have some pies, cookies, and/or parfaits left over. Now often, if work was stressful or something, I will want to eat one of those things. And they'll just be sitting a few feet outside the office, calling me to eat them. So what I've started doing is just throwing them away right away after closing. That way, even if I did decide I wanted one, they're not there anymore. Another thing I would suggest is to not go to restaurants when you're on a diet in which they have these amazing, fattening dishes that you just love. Because even if you fully intend on just getting something healthy, it's often a pretty high possibility that you're going to crack, get that amazing chicken alfredo dish or whatever, and then rationalize, "Well, I don't come here very often...." Just go somewhere where you don't really like much of the food and that way it'll be easier for you to grab the healthiest thing. Is that terribly unsexy? Yes, yes it is. But it will make your healthy living lifestyle so much easier and your body will thank you. Oh, and this one's obvious--if you have a problem with portion control don't go to buffets. Ever. The food is gross and unhealthy, the price is high if you do actually manage to not eat a ton, and the whole time you'll be having an inner battle about whether or not you should go for that second (or third) plate. It's not worth the stress, just don't do it.

At this point you may be saying, "But Rebecca, I can't keep only healthy food in my house because my kids/spouse need junk!" Actually, you might not say it exactly like that because that sounds pretty silly. It is silly, it's a piss-poor excuse, and you know it. If you are someone who's in charge of the household then you can mostly control what goes into it. Your spouse may still insist on you buying a few of their favorite treats, but there's absolutely no reason you need to be buying crap food for your kids (you want them to be healthy too, right?). And it may be helpful to have a talk with your spouse if a lot of the food they want is stuff that you have a problem with eating too much of, or is just something you don't want to be putting into your body at all.

So, that is just a little bit of common sense advice that I hope will help you with sticking to your diet of choice. We won't always have the power to resist temptations, so if we make it so the temptations are not around, it will be so much easier. Have a great Sunday, everyone, and stay healthy and happy. :)

Working It

2010-10-14T04:19:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to do a quick post about how my week is going so far. Nothing terribly interesting or insightful, but blogging helps me, so I'm posting anyway.

The week has been good so far. I've followed my menu plan 100% and I gotta say, I missed having one a lot. I feel so much more organized and structured now that I have it again and everyday I just open up my blog, see what I'm eating for that day and make it. It's so easy and nice. Do you do menu plans? If you don't but are interested, do you want me to do a post talking more about how I make mine? Let me know...

Exercise has been good. I'm still having to just workout from memory or cards for four of the workouts, but it's whatever. I'm rolling with it, learning to enjoy the fact that I get to listen to my music of choice (I like doing push-ups while listening to "Hard" by Rihanna) and sometimes I'll do more reps than I remember doing to the DVD, if I'm feeling strong. Oh, and let me tell you what I'm doing for these final four weeks. I'm in the home stretch now! So, the guide says that I'm supposed to do the Combination plan again for the last four weeks, but to switch the weeks around so it's not like I'm doing the same four weeks of exercise that I just did. So what I'm going to do is week 3 and 4 of the plan, and then for the last two weeks, since I got the Deluxe package when I bought this, I will be adding in the deluxe workouts. There are three new workouts that I'll be doing in those two weeks. One is called Rio Extreme which I've heard is, in fact, quite extreme as it's an intense, non-stop cardio and sculpting workout. One is a short ab workout, and I'm curious to see if I like that better than Tummy Tuck, and the last is an upper body workout. Sculpt has worked well on making my arms look good again, but it'll be nice to do something else. I'll of course let you know more about those workouts in the last two weeks when I actually start them.

In other news, I'm going to a Healthy Woman meeting tomorrow in which I'll be speaking to the women there about how staying active and eating right are the most important types of personal care that they can do for themselves. I want everyone to be healthy and happy!

Menu Plan Monday--Week 9

2010-10-11T05:31:00.000-06:00

Hey! Remember these? Yeah, I didn't do them for the last two weeks because I was busy and didn't have money to buy groceries anyway, so was therefore pretty limited in the meals/snacks I had to prepare. But, this week I am back at it! I found over the last two weeks that when I don't have the structure of my menu plan, my eating goes a little astray. I won't eat my five small meals a day... I grab convenience foods... I'll end up only eating once before work, be starving, and then eat something stupid *cough*pumpkin pie*cough*. So here is my healthy menu plan for this week, gonna stick to it, and I'm excited about that.

Monday:
High-Fiber Cereal
½ sliced apple with 2 tsp. peanut butter
Tuna Pita and Fresh Arugula Salad w/ 1 cup coconut water
8 baby carrots, 3 cherry tomatoes, and 1 part-skim mozzarella string cheese
Side salad w/ grilled chicken and low-fat balsamic vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
1 oz. dark chocolate

Tuesday:
Goat Cheese Egg White Omelet with Pineapple
¾ cup low-fat plain yogurt with ½ sliced banana
Grilled Chicken and Goat Cheese Wrap w/ 1 cup coconut water
3 rice crackers with ¼ cup salsa
Side salad w/ grilled chicken and low-fat balsamic vinaigrette (McDonald’s)

Wednesday:
Canadian Bacon and Toast
½ cup edamame
Veggie Pita w/ 1 cup coconut water
1 large hard-boiled egg
Side salad w/ grilled chicken and low-fat balsamic vinaigrette (McDonald’s)

Thursday:
Green and White Eggs
½ cup low-fat cottage cheese ¼ cup mixed berries
Pita Pizza
½ cup lemon sorbet with ¼ blueberries
Side salad w/ grilled chicken and low-fat balsamic vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
Coco Loco drink (Shakeology)

Friday:
Oatmeal
¾ plain yogurt with ½ cup high-fiber cereal w/ acai juice
Shrimp Skewers
12 Wheat Thins with 2 oz. low-fat cheese
Chocolate Shakeology drink

Saturday:
Ricotta Cheese and Fruit
1 medium pear with 1 oz. low-fat cheese
Lentil Salad
Coco Loco drink (Shakeology)
Pork Chop and Baked Apple Wedges

Sunday:
Whole Wheat Toast and Almond Butter
Shake Your Booty drink (Shakeology)
Soup and Roast Beef Sandwich
2 Tbsp. bean dip with 20 baked tortilla chips and salsa
Grilled Chicken Breast with Broccoli and Quinoa

For tons more menu plan ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday at I'm An Organizing Junkie. Have a great week, everyone!

Nutrition for a Cause!

2010-10-08T14:57:00.000-06:00

If you use Facebook (and, uh, who doesn't?) you've probably seen all sorts of things in your news feed about breast cancer awareness this month, one of them being where girls "like it." Now, funny as that is, it wasn't really doing anything to help raise funds or awareness or do any good in stopping breast cancer. Finding a way to cure breast cancer, or for right now, just helping women who are having to deal with it, is really important to me and every year I've thought, I wish there was a better way for me to help. And that's when a fellow Team Beachbody coach posted on Facebook that perhaps we should donate money from sales of Shakeology to help fight breast cancer. And I thought that this was a great idea.

So, starting today, through November 8th (I want to do this for a whole month) I will donate $15 from any Shakeology orders placed through my site. I will do this whether you get on Home Direct (which I highly recommend 'cause of free shipping and workouts and a shaker cup) or you can just order it one time to see how you like it. Either way, I'll donate. And to tie this in with breast cancer, one of the main preventative measures doctors say you can take to avoid breast cancer is being a healthy weight and eating well. Shakeology is fantastic for this. It is a meal replacement shake that is crazy delicious and filling and the most nutritious thing you're going to eat all day, but is only 140 calories, so it can be a super helpful weight loss tool. You can see all sorts of success stories from people who lost a significant amount of weight by just drinking Shakeology once a day and exercising three times a week. Also, smoking has been shown to reduce the risk of pretty much all types of cancer, so if you're a smoker, please please please quit. You can just switch the money that you spend on cigarettes every day to Shakeology, and start giving your body something good.

I haven't talked a lot about Shakeology yet, so I'll be brief now about why it's so amazing and why you really owe it to yourself to give it a try. This shake is completely natural, no artificial foods, sweeteners, any of that junk in it because Beachbody really does care about what goes into your body. It's made from 70 healthy ingredients, many of them being things that are really hard to get in our diet everyday, such as camu camu, gogi berry, acai berry, sacha inchi...these are all foods that are an incredible source of nutrition and antioxidants, but you're probably not going to be eating them and getting all those benefits if you're not drinking Shakeology. All in all, Shakeology provides your body with protein, essential amino acids, probiotics, digestive enzymes, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and 23 vitamins and minerals. That's a TON of nutrition packed into one little shake.

Since I have started using it regularly (just last month) I found that I had plenty of energy in the day, it kept me full for a long time, and my sugar cravings went down. That's a really big deal for me because a sweet tooth is something that I struggle with while trying to eat healthy. And I just love knowing that I'm putting something SO nutritious into my body, yet I don't even have to think about it. So, if you've been wondering what this Shakeology stuff is that I've been posting about, then give it a try this month. There will be money going to a good cause for it, and your body will love it, too. And if for some reason you don't, Beachbody does have a 30-day "bottom of the bag" guarantee in which you can get your money back if for some reason you don't love the way it makes you feel. But you're gonna love it.

You can see a lot more information about Shakeology at my Shakeology site. You can also order it there, or you can just click on the ad on the sidebar. Now let's get healthy and help fight breast cancer!

Checking In

2010-10-07T16:12:00.000-06:00

Sorry I didn't post on Monday. Just got busy and this fell lower on the priority list. I guess it's good that at least when I'm not blogging, I still keep exercise and good eating high on my priorities. So on Monday my weight was 136.6, slightly up from the week before, but I checked it today and it was lower again, so I'm good. :) Oh, and I never posted my menu plan because I realized I wouldn't have money to buy groceries this week, so I've just been kind of grabbing stuff from what I have...and somehow I've been managing to pretty much stay on the plan. At the very least, I don't think I'm going over the calories I'm supposed to have.

The exercise has been a little frustrating this week. Haven't figured out how to get my TV to work, and my computer is still refusing to read two out of the three DVDs. :-/ So the only ones I can actually follow right now are Cardio Axe and Tummy Tuck. Luckily, I pretty much remember about 90% of the stuff that he has me do in Sculpt and High & Tight, so I've just been doing that on my own, and then for Bum Bum, I'm doing the moves off of the training cards that I mentioned before. And by the way, it must have been the fact that I just switched it up or something, but when I did the two circuits of the moves on the cards last week my butt was SO sore the next day! Something that hasn't happened in a while. It's a good feeling! Hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to fix it soon here, otherwise I guess I'll just keep doing what I've been doing and hope it still yields results. And for the last two weeks I'm going to be doing some new workouts anyway, and I'm hoping my computer reads those DVDs.

This morning I got some blood work done for a health fair that we'll be having in town on October 23rd. I'll get the results of it then. It's a basic blood chemistry panel that will tell me where levels of certain nutrients are, cholesterol, glucose, all that good stuff. I've never gotten blood work done before, so I'm excited to see what it says. I'm hoping that everything is where it's supposed to be, but if not then I will be sure to make any diet changes necessary to bring everything to where it should be.

So yeah, just doing as best as I can, and my Shakeology will be arriving this week so that's good. How is everyone else doing? Are you guys following your exercise and healthy eating plans still, or have the seasonal changes thrown you off?

Lesson Learned...

2010-10-04T01:16:00.000-06:00

Alright, so drinking to the point of drunkenness really isn't a good idea on this plan. I'm a lightweight, so it doesn't take a lot of alcohol to get me drunk, but tonight when my friend suggested going to get some yummy, greasy food I was like, "Hellz yeah!" We went to Arby's and I ended up getting a medium curly fry and a chocolate turnover. Not good. But, I'm going to move on, I will post my weight tomorrow morning, whatever the scale says...which I'm slightly worried about... And we weren't able to figure out how to get my TV working, so I'm hoping that my computer will cooperate tomorrow so that I can properly get my workout in. Oh, and I'm really tired so I'm just gonna figure out my meal plan sometime tomorrow. So much for me being inspirational... But I guess it's good to see that even with me being dedicated to good health, I still make stupid decisions sometimes. It was just one decision though, and I will be starting off the week strong!

Make It Work

2010-10-03T08:35:00.000-06:00

Happy Sunday, everybody! Today's the last day of my weekend (ha, I actually got the weekend off like people with normal jobs!) and it's been really nice. It's my rest day for exercise, and I plan on getting the rest of the cleaning done for my house today. I already had High Fiber Cereal for breakfast (with acai juice, of course) and some coconut water for a snack. Did you guys know that coconut water is way good for you and delicious? 'Cause it is. Try it. It's always good to try something new. :) I'm thinking I'm going to have the Roast Chicken and Chickpea Salad for lunch and Turkey Meatballs with Black Bean Corn Salad for dinner. Oh, and I do plan on drinking some alcohol tonight so I'm just not going to have many snacks to somewhat make up for those calories. I haven't drank in well over a month now, I believe, so I think it's okay.

About the title of this post--yesterday my scheduled workout was High & Tight and Tummy Tuck. Well I did Tummy Tuck, then popped in the other DVD that High & Tight is on. And my computer is stupid and refused to recognize the DVD. WTF? I don't know what's wrong, but my TV is also on the fritz right now (getting that checked out tonight) so I didn't have a way to play the other part of my workout. I was really frustrated but then remembered that there were these cards that came with the program that have exercise moves on them. When I saw them I remember thinking, When am I ever gonna use these? but they actually really came in handy because there were 12 different moves, all from the various workouts, and it told me how many reps to do of each move. So, I turned on some Enrique Iglesias music (oh yeah) and did two circuits of the 12 moves. It wasn't the same as doing the DVD, but it was about the same length of time, my legs and butt felt it, and I sweated, so I figure, good enough! I'll be damned if I'm gonna let my stupid electronics make me miss a workout. So the next time you're facing something that might cause you to miss your workout, just figure out a way to make it work. If you wake up late, fit it in later that night. If the weather's bad and you usually do stuff outside, go to the gym, or do an exercise DVD. If your DVD player stops working, do what you remember or just find another routine you can do without a DVD. There's always a way that you can make sure you're getting exercise in your day. Don't let convenient excuses ruin that for you.

Give Me a Break

2010-10-02T04:15:00.000-06:00

Today I finally got to relax as my three day weekend started. It was so nice. I got to read a little, catch up on blogs, exercise at a decent hour (Sculpt today), and I even went out on a date. I must confess that on this date I had a burger and some amazing fries. I can usually pass on fries pretty easily, but this local restaurant makes some awesome beer-battered fries and I just did not want to resist them. But, I ate healthy the rest of the day. Let's see, I had...High Fiber Cereal for breakfast, then rice cakes with salsa, greeenberry Shakeology with a few raspberries...and then the burger and fries. That's why I exercise though, to burn stuff like that off. I love food and every once in a while, if I'm presented with amazing fries, I'm gonna have some. It's just making it an "every once in a while" habit as opposed to a four-times-a-week habit that makes it okay. Okay for weight loss, at least. It's never really okay for my body, but I drink Shakeology to try and even that all out. Anyway, not much to report today...it was a simple day, without stress. In fact, my living situation will be changing slightly in a month, for the better, so that made me happy. Enjoy your weekend, everybody!

Busy busy...

2010-09-30T05:36:00.000-06:00

Gah, it's been a week since I posted. Didn't realize it had been that long... Well, I have good reason. I ended up getting another job, which is good financially, but not so good as far as my time goes. There end up being a couple days a week where I work 15 hours, and then I end up trying to fit sleep, exercise, chores, doing errands, and getting my proper meals into that. It's stressful and crappy and I really wish that I didn't have to work two jobs just to survive, but such is life. I have been getting my workouts in, and I've been eating well for the most part. I did stick to my menu plan as scheduled all last week, so yay for that!

But this last Sunday was when I started my other job, and then I worked Monday too, and I just could not justify spending an hour or two to create my meal plan like normal, and then going grocery shopping, especially when my schedule is all effed up anyway and I'm not at home to actually eat a lot of the time. So. I know this is kind of setting myself up for failure with the diet. But, I have been trying hard to do well. Eating meals and snacks at home that I still have the stuff for. I discovered that adding acai juice to milk for my cereal is crazy delicious.

Looks scrumptious, right? Well, it was, and it's a dang good way to start off the day. I've been good most of the time and just eating the grilled chicken salad at McDonald's, but tonight I confess that I did have a pumpkin pie as well. Man, I love pumpkin pie. Not that those are nearly as good actual homemade pumpkin pie, but they're not bad. Other than that, I haven't really slipped up, except for not eating as often or at the times that I should. Working 15 hours a day and attempting to fit sleep in at weird times will mess with a person's eating schedule for sure.

Oh, and I totally forgot to take my weight on Monday. So I took it now and am at 136. I think that's .2 down from when I last weighed...can't remember. Whatever. I'm still looking good, just worn out. Shakeology helps keep my energy up some, but I need a job that's not stressing me out all the time. And I need to be able to get more sleep if I need it. I'm posting this at 5:30 now 'cause my internal clock is all sorts of messed up. Blah. A couple people have made comments on my posts that I'm inspiring or make them want to get fit. Thank you. I am glad. Nothing would make me happier than for everyone to be in the best health possible for them, and that starts with simple steps like making better choices with your eating, and making an effort to fit exercise into your day and move a little more when you can. So today I challenge you to pick a salad over fries, pick water over soda, to not drive around for five minutes just so you can find the closest parking space possible, and start your day off with a little sweat. You'll be better for this. If I can do this, you can too. Have a great day, everyone.

Weekend Recap

2010-09-23T05:26:00.000-06:00

First, you gotta check out my awesome new shirt.

Ah, I love it! I decided to reward myself with it because I've been working hard for six weeks now and I needed a new shirt.

Alright, so, my weekend was pretty nice. On Tuesday the weather was quite lovely so I got a four hour walk in and then did High & Tight and Tummy Tuck later that day. I used the medium resistance band for the first time and felt weak! It's tough all over again (not that it ever really got easy...) but I'm looking forward to getting stronger. My eating was right on for that day except for a small glass of 2Day Fruit juice. This stuff is delicious. It's fruit juice with little bits of fruit in it as well. So good. I love juice. I normally do not buy it, and it's not on plan, but I got it 'cause it was on sale. Other than that, I was good. I also went to our library and realized that it sucks. I couldn't find any of the books I had originally wanted to get. But I did find "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "Fast Food Nation" so hopefully those are good. As for the others that I wanted, I suppose I will just have to buy them eventually.

Wednesday wasn't as nice. The weather was dreary so I didn't go walking, and I got some news that really irritated me quite a bit. I'm over it now, but it messed with my day for a little bit. My eating was all on plan that day as well. I tried the Brazilian Breakfast Smoothie with greenberry Shakeology for the first time instead of vanilla protein powder and it was really delicious! I spent a lot of the day surfing the internet and reading...could have been more active. Also didn't get my workout of Bum Bum and Sculpt in until really late. This is a freaking hard combo. I'm dripping with sweat and my legs are fatigued by the end of Bum Bum, and then I have to do 50 minutes of strength training. Tough, for sure. And let me tell you, I really did not want to work out yesterday. It was late, I was a little tired, I knew it would be hard. I was even tempted to at least just do the 10-minute Bum Bum Rapido. But here's what I did. I told myself that I didn't care that I didn't want to work out and I just did it. It was still hard. There was still a part of me that kind of wanted to be in bed at the time. But the important part was I got it in and I gave it my all. Next time you're really not wanting to do your workout, just do it. Don't let your mind talk you out of it. You owe it to yourself. That's why I did mine last night. Because even though my mind was telling me to be lazy, skipping it would not have done me any favors.

Have a great day, everyone!

Yay for the weekend!

2010-09-21T04:22:00.000-06:00

Friends, today I was happy because I didn't have to close at work, and it is my "Friday." I ate the food that was on my menu today. I did weigh in and find myself at 136.2 (0.8 pounds up from last week, I believe). *sighs* These last few pounds sure are being stubborn, and I know that things like donuts don't help. But, moving forward, I'm going to eat completely on plan this week and will see a drop on that scale next Monday. But on the bright side, my butt is looking awesome. No, really. Not being vain here (okay, maybe a little). But it just is. It's more lifted than it used to be, yet it's still pretty much just as round (which I like), and it's a lot firmer. So yay for that! My arms and abs are also looking pretty stellar again. So take that, scale! I don't care what you say 'cause I like what I'm seeing when I look in the mirror.

Workout for today was Cardio Axe and Sculpt. I'm thinking that maybe I should get some 8-pound weights because there are a few times in Sculpt where I'm feeling my 5-pounds are a little light. Not the whole workout, mind you, but a couple exercises. I also went grocery shopping today and got some acai juice for the first time. And let me tell you--that stuff is freaking expensive! It will last me a while 'cause I'm only going to drink a little at a time, but still. Tomorrow I will be heading to the library to pick up a few books that I've been wanting to read for a while. One on my list is "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan. I've heard so many good things about this book. Have any of you read it? What did you think?

Well, I'm looking forward to my next two days off. I hope to get a walk in if the weather is nice enough and to learn some cool stuff from the books I get.

Menu Plan Monday--Week 6

2010-09-20T04:02:00.000-06:00

Welcoooome to another exciting round of Menu Plan Monday! This week we have a few rollovers from week 5, but not many (good job, Rebecca). I will be drinking Shakeology six out of the seven days, and will also be adding acai juice into my milk, water, whatever, once in a while. Will be trying a new dinner recipe (yay!) but still eating McDonald's a couple days a week 'cause what can I say? I'm poor and the food is free. Anyway, I'm excited about this menu plan, I really enjoy all the food on it, and I'm positive that I will be able to stick to it 100%.

Monday:
Green and White Eggs w/ acai juice
3 rice crackers with ¼ cup salsa
Side salad with grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
1 large hard-boiled egg
Turkey Meatballs and Black Bean and Corn Salad w/ 1 cup coconut water

Tuesday:
Oatmeal
1 cup raw string beans, ½ cup baby carrots, with ¼ cup salsa
Veggie Pita w/ 1 cup coconut water
Shake Your Booty drink (Shakeology)
Grilled Chicken Breast with Broccoli and Quinoa

Wednesday:
Brazilian Breakfast Smoothie
1 large hard-boiled egg
Roast Chicken and Chickpea Salad
2 tbsp. bean dip with 20 baked tortilla chips and salsa
Portobello Mushroom Bake w/ 1 cup coconut water

Thursday:
Turkey Sausage and Egg White Wrap
1 cup cottage cheese with ½ cup berries
Pita Pizza
½ cup edamame
Chocolate Shakeology drink
1 oz. dark chocolate

Friday:
Whole Wheat Toast and Almond Butter
Shake Your Booty drink (Shakeology)
Shrimp Skewers
8 baby carrots, 3 cherry tomatoes, and 1 mozzarella string cheese
Side salad with grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
½ sliced apple with 2 tsp. peanut butter

Saturday:
High-Fiber Cereal w/ acai juice
½ cup low-fat cottage cheese with ¼ cup mixed berries
Black Bean Soup and Salad w/ 1 cup coconut water
Shake Your Booty drink (Shakeology)
Side salad with grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)

Sunday:
Brazilian Breakfast Smoothie
3 rice crackers with ¼ cup salsa
Soup and Roast Beef Sandwich
12 Wheat Thins with 2 oz. low-fat cheese
Side salad with grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
½ cup sorbet with ¼ cup blueberries

To see what everyone else is eating this week and for more menu plan fun, stop by Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Some Good, Some Bad

2010-09-19T23:45:00.000-06:00

My day started off well. Mostly. The actual start wasn't good, I guess. What happened is I had a massage scheduled in the morning, I set my alarm, and the alarm didn't go off so I woke up late. I knew I needed to grab breakfast before the massage but didn't have time to prepare anything so I stopped at a gas station on the way. I suppose I could have chosen a piece of fruit or some yogurt or something, but for some stupid reason I didn't. I saw a doughnut, and even though I don't particularly like doughnuts, that's what I decided to purchase. It just looked good. I ate it and it didn't taste half as good as it looked. Whatever. I'm sure it didn't have a whole lot more calories than my breakfast would have had anyway, but it was nutritionally void.

But after starting my day off poorly eating-wise, it took a turn for the great because I got a massage. For the first time in at least two years. And it felt freaking great. Oh man, I need to do a blog sometime about how important and wonderful I think massage is for the body, and I had missed getting them regularly so much. Throughout the entire day today my body felt great, I was so relaxed, my shoulders weren't tense anymore... I'm glad I was finally able to take Leandro's advice and get a massage on my rest day. I hope that I will be able to do that more often. However, I did notice that once I got to work, a couple hours in I was dragging. It could be because I've only gotten about nine hours of sleep in the last two days, but I do that a lot and usually don't have problems with my energy. I didn't take my Shakeology today but did put something into my body that was terrible, so I attribute it to that. However, after the doughnut slip-up my eating was good for the rest of the day. I ate at McD's because I worked late tonight, but that was fine.

Since I'm six weeks into the program now, I'm having to switch out some ingredients to keep the meals fresh and interesting and this wrap was just as good with roast beef instead of chicken. Next week I am looking to have no slip-ups with my eating, and I hope that I will be able to handle High & Tight with moving up to the medium resistance band. Have a great week, everyone! Let's start Monday right.

Problems

2010-09-18T06:08:00.000-06:00

I was talking with a friend today about health, nutrition, weight loss, and the coaching that I've been doing lately. This friend of mine is overweight, has been for a long time, and has not had any interest in getting in shape. But I was explaining to him the reasons that I think it's so important to take care of your body, to value your health, and to lose extra weight to get to the point where you're healthy.

In life, there are a lot of challenges we face. A lot of problems presented to us in everyday life. Depending on what they are they can make life very hard or they can simply be an inconvenience. But a lot of the problems are things we do not have a lot of control over. Have a job that doesn't pay you well enough? It can be pretty hard to find a different job. Have a partner that doesn't act exactly how you'd like? That's just how they are and you can't change them. Have a car that keeps breaking down? Unless you have money to get a new one, you just have to work with it as best you can.

There's so much in life that can go wrong. That can make things harder. And a lot of it is stuff that is hard to change. We just have to deal with it in the best way possible. But you know what you can change? You can make it so you don't have to worry about fitting into airplane seats. You can make it so you don't have to struggle to keep up with your children each day. You can make it so you can go into any clothing store and easily find your size and feel good about how you look in your clothes. So, when you know the solution to those sorts of problems why would you not do something to change it? Life should be enjoyable. Life should be fun. Life should be as stress free as possible. And if the food you're eating is slowly poisoning your body and you aren't able to do the things you want because of this, then something's wrong. Then you have to realize that this is a preventable problem. It will take work at first. Hell, it will always take effort. But it is SO worth it. Don't make life harder than it needs to be. Don't deal with problems that should never be there in the first place. You are worth it. No matter how busy you are, make time to work out most days of the week. No matter what your income is make sure you're buying healthy food. Your body is your most precious asset. Treat it right.

Today I did my workout (Bum Bum and Tummy Tuck) and ate right, including my Shakeology. So delicious! And the recipe I used makes a TON. About 34 oz of shake. Very filling. I also received my lovely pink yoga mat yesterday and it makes High & Tight and Tummy Tuck so much better because my knees and spine aren't screaming out in pain due to grinding into the floor. So that's great! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and remember to value the amazing gift that is your body.


I know, I'm terrible, I let my cat on the table all the time...

Th-th-th-that that don't kill me, can only make me stronger...

2010-09-16T02:16:00.000-06:00

Man, that song's good for Spinning to. Anyway, today's workout was Sculpt and it was a good one. Although we improve little by little every day in our fitness journeys, certain improvements usually hit us all of a sudden. Today, it was the fact that I have gotten a lot stronger. During today's workout I went lower than normal on all of the push-ups. (And may I just say, I love that all of the women, except for the modifier, do real push-ups. None of this on your knees crap.) I did not completely dread the overhead presses with curtsy lunge and side leg lifts. I was able to do about half of the mermaids exactly like Leandro does them. And the back extensions...those damn back extensions...let's just say I got through them with less strife than I normally have.

It was a wonderful thing, being noticeably stronger. I love that even though this program focuses heavily on the butt, it does give a great full-body workout as well. Leandro is definitely my new favorite Beachbody trainer and I am highly excited for the new Brazil Butt Lift workouts that will be coming out at the end of this year. I'll report more on those as soon as I know more. My eating was also good for today. I didn't plan on having Shakeology, but at my Healthy Woman meeting all I ate was a few pieces of carrot, cucumber, and celery...I'm not sure if it was even 100 calories. So in order to get my calories in for the day, I came home and had the delicious Coco Loco shake. It tastes like dessert! Tomorrow I've got to go back to work, and I'm happy that I'll be able to drink Shakeology there for my dinner. And I'm curious, is there a meal replacement shake that any of you really like?

Just Another Day

2010-09-15T05:22:00.000-06:00

"You have to have fun, because that is what life is all about."--Leandro Carvalho

Yes it is. That's why I'm doing this fitness program. Today was nice because I didn't have to work. I was able to get some chores done around the house and listen to more information about coaching.

Health in a box, yo.

My Shakeology finally came in the evening and I wasn't planning on drinking a shake today, but I was so excited about it that I decided to have the Shake Your Booty drink (that's a scoop of Greenberry with half a banana, a little ice, and a cup of water) and it was delicious! I'm very excited to finally be getting Shakeology. :D And by the way, that 200 calorie drink? Kept me full for six and a half hours, even with exercising in that period. It's good stuff. Exercise for the day was Cardio Axe and High & Tight. I thought my butt looked good in the jeans I was wearing today, so here's a progress picture.

And here was the new stuff I ate today. Almost forgot to mention that the Tomato and Mango Roast Chicken Salad was freaking delicious! Oh so flavorful and very filling, but even though I would have been fine with just the salad, I got to have dessert (that's the strawberry and ricotta cheese that's pictured). I love this diet!

Progress

2010-09-14T03:41:00.000-06:00

Oh man, it's almost 3 A.M. and I realized that I never did a blog post today with my updated measurements and weight. The good news is I managed to lose a tiny bit of weight this week despite having a few meals off plan, and my measurements have changed slightly. So, after the first four weeks of this program here are my stats.

Weight: 135.4 (down 2.2 pounds from starting, down 1.2 from last week)
Chest: 32" (same)
Waist: 27.25" (3/4" off of this...always the first place to lose inches)
Right Arm: 11" (now my arms are even, yay!)
Left Arm: 11"
Hips: 38" (same)
Right Thigh: 21.5" (down 1/2")
Left Thigh: 21.75" (down 1/4")

I'm surprised that my hip measurement didn't change at all, but that's okay because my butt is looking much more lifted, and it's noticeably more toned, too. My legs are becoming a little bit more defined each day, it's just a matter of getting the stubborn fat off of them. I believe Leandro will help me do it! My four-pack is also back, and my arms are more defined now (especially my triceps, woot!). This program is great! Can't wait to see what changes the next eight weeks brings. I am SO going to look like a supermodel when I'm done. :-P

So, I was really excited for my Shakeology (and my coach starter kit) to get here today. They told me it would be here the 13th. The tracking this morning said it was out for delivery at 7 A.M. And I didn't have to work until 5 P.M. so I was totally going to get it. But no. UPS sucks and they didn't bother delivering it to my house until 6:30 P.M. I live in a freaking small town. It shouldn't take that long to deliver one box to my house. Since I was working when they delivered it, it's not here 'cause I have to sign for it. Now I have to wait for their slow asses to deliver it tomorrow. Grr. Good thing I'm off work.

Today I followed my menu (except I had my regular salad at work instead of Shakeology). My workout was Bum Bum and Tummy Tuck. I forgot to mention that I ordered a yoga mat a few days ago with a gift card that I'd forgotten I had. It should be arriving pretty soon, and I'm really hoping that makes workouts like Tummy Tuck and High and Tight more pleasant. I'm sick of my spine and hip bones grinding into the floor. This week I have a lot of cardio though, so I'm looking forward to that.

Delicious food/fuel.

Menu Plan Monday--Week 5

2010-09-13T04:49:00.000-06:00

So the good thing about this week's meal plan is I didn't have to figure out a grocery list. The bad thing is I didn't have to do that 'cause I'm not buying any groceries this week. It was pretty challenging figuring out food I was going to eat all week that fit the plan, but I did it. I'm also receiving my Shakeology today, so that helps. I hope everyone has a great week!

Monday:
Goat Cheese Egg White Omelet with Pineapple
1 oz. almonds
Grilled Chicken and Goat Cheese Wrap w/ 1 cup coconut water
3 rice crackers with ¼ cup salsa
Carl Daikeler Special (Shakeology)

Tuesday:
Oatmeal
1 oz. walnuts
Veggie Burger
1 large hard-boiled egg
Tomato & Mango Roast Chicken Salad
1 oz. dark chocolate

Wednesday:
High Fiber Cereal
½ cup edamame
Turkey Hummus Wrap
Snack at Healthy Woman meeting
Chicken Fajita

Thursday:
Canadian Bacon and Toast
1 oz. peanuts
Lentil Salad
12 Wheat Thins with 2 oz. low-fat cheese
Carl Daikeler Special (Shakeology)

Friday:
Ricotta Cheese and Fruit
3 rice crackers with ¼ cup salsa
Carl Daikeler Special (Shakeology)
1 cup raw string beans, ½ cup baby carrots, with ¼ cup salsa
Side salad with grilled chicken and low-fat balsamic vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
½ cup sorbet with ¼ cup blueberries

Saturday:
Tropical Yogurt Swirl
1 large hard-boiled egg
Carl Daikeler Special (Shakeology)
2 tbsp. bean dip with 20 baked tortilla chips and salsa
Side salad with grilled chicken and low-fat balsamic vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
1 cup coconut water

Sunday:
Oatmeal
½ cup edamame
Roast Beef and Goat Cheese Wrap w/ 1 cup coconut water
Shake Your Booty drink (Shakeology)
Turkey Meatballs and Black Bean and Corn Salad

For tons of great menu plans, please visit Menu Plan Monday at I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Don't Settle for Less!

2010-09-12T16:16:00.000-06:00

Leandro says that all the time during the different workouts, and I love it. It make me push myself just a little bit harder whenever he says it, makes me remember why I'm doing this. Because I don't want to settle for less. I want the best that I can have. My best body. The best health. My best life. It's possible. I just have to work for it and be committed to whatever it is that's going to get me those things.

Since my last post I went off plan a couple times with my eating (once was due to a work party in which I really did not have any healthy options, and wasn't going to have an opportunity to eat anytime soon afterward), but after beating myself up about it a little bit I realized that wasn't productive and I just needed to get back to completely healthy eating and feeling good and focusing on my goals. Yesterday was completely on plan, and I did my exercise of Bum Bum and Sculpt. Let me tell you, that's a tough combo. I haven't been the sore the day after for a while now and today I'm sore in a lot of places. I'm happy that today is a rest day. Here are a few things I ate Thursday, Friday, and Saturday... Oh, I didn't receive my Shakeology on Saturday like I was hoping, but I will be getting it tomorrow, so I've just been eating the grilled chicken salad at work like normal. Can't wait to start taking it tomorrow though!

Tomorrow begins week 5 of the program (already?!) and I'll be starting the classic solution. After the first four weeks of the pear-shaped solution, I'm now supposed to do the classic for 8 weeks. I'll post my weight tomorrow like always as well as take my measurements again. I'm hoping to have lost at least an inch or two. One thing I've noticed is that my butt is definitely looking more lifted than it was four weeks ago. Yay! When I started I just barely passed the pencil test (is the butt sagging so much that it can hold a pencil under it?) and now there's no chance it could hold on to that pencil. I'm looking forward to seeing more changes in my legs. They're definitely getting more toned, but the layer of fat is still covering that up. I hope everyone had a happy and healthy weekend, and let's make next week a good one!

Fired Up

2010-09-09T01:31:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone, today I had another good day. :D My morning started with a call from a job I applied for a couple months ago, and I told her I was still interested. So tomorrow morning I'm going to be going to talk to someone about the job and I really hope I get it! Please keep your fingers crossed for me 'cause I could really use more income.

Moving on. Food for the day was good! I had a new meal for lunch that was pretty tasty. Workout was great! High & Tight still kicks my butt when I use the resistance bands and ankle weights, and once I get to week 5 I'm going to switch to the green (medium strength) band. I'm a little scared to do that, but I'm committed to getting great results! My guy friend told me tonight that my butt is looking more lifted already, so that makes me happy.

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day for me. I have to work out a lot earlier than usual because I need to go meet the manager about that job early in the morning, then I have a webinar to listen in on, then a Healthy Woman meeting, then work at night. Whew! Should be a good, productive day though. I'm hoping work gets a little better. I also am busy coming up with lots of ideas for how I can grow my coaching business and start getting my town healthier. It would be just fantastic if I could do that. I hope everyone has a great Thursday. Remember to be as active as you can be and give your body the good food it deserves!

Be Grateful Always

2010-09-08T18:05:00.002-06:00

Just now getting around to posting about how yesterday went... It was a good day. I really needed a good day. I was productive and got some much-needed chores done, and then in the late afternoon I realized that the weather was too freaking great to stay inside. So I went for a nice four-mile walk. And that walk was not exercise. It was pure joy and gratitude for the beautiful day (in September in Wyoming these are very rare), for my ability to walk four miles in complete ease, and for the time to clear my head. On that walk I also realized that while work may be sucking lately, I need to at least be grateful that I have a job. That's something that a lot of people don't have right now. I'm also grateful that I found out about Beachbody a couple years ago, while watching an infomercial early one morning, and thinking that product would be the one to help me get my body back after pregnancy. It's turned into a great relationship with me getting more great products from them and now being able to help others with their weight loss and fitness goals.

After my walk I did Sculpt and I'm pleased to tell you I'm getting better at a lot of the exercises that used to be really tough for me (by getting better I mean I can do them, but they're still not easy) and I finally have triceps again! Yes! Just in time for them to be covered up in sweaters soon... Oh well. I tried a couple new meals yesterday--the Turkey Hummus Wrap which was really tasty and filling, and the Turkey Meatballs (I actually used beef 'cause I couldn't find turkey) and Black Bean and Corn Salad. This was very good as well, and easy to throw together. I'll be making it again. The only bad thing about my food yesterday was that it was kind of heavy on the meat. Usually I'm pretty good about planning out my days to where I'm only having meat once or twice in the day, but I had it three times yesterday and it left me feeling kind of heavy. Lesson learned.

Catching Up

2010-09-07T15:47:00.004-06:00

Hello everyone. I've been slacking at these blog updates. But I've just been so busy lately with work and trying to learn as much as I can about Beachbody coaching, and I'm already coaching a few people, so all of that has been taking up time, chunks of time that used to be spent blogging every night. However, I have mostly been doing good.

Saturday was a good day. Followed my menu for the day and did my workout. I tried the Shrimp Skewers for lunch for the first time and man, that's a filling lunch! I had trouble getting it all down. It's amazing how much more you can eat when you eat high volume, low calorie foods.

Sunday was my rest day. It was a bad one. Work was really lame (this has been a huge source of stress for me lately, and I don't generally get stressed!) and instead of waiting until I got home afterward to prepare my dinner, I just ate there. And instead of having a salad, I had 6 chicken McNuggets with sweet chili sauce and 6 oz. of our new pumpkin pie shake, which was really good. It was dumb though because this was the night right before my weekly weigh-in, and I'd done so good with my food the rest of the week. Oh well. That night I did Bum Bum Rapido in an attempt to mitigate some of the damage. That's a really fun workout.

So yesterday when I weighed in I was still at 136.6. No loss, no gain. Grr. I guess I should have known that these last few pounds would be pretty stubborn. If I want them to leave, my eating will just have to be perfect. And that shouldn't be hard considering the food allowed in this diet is really good. Come on, Rebecca, get it together. I use the Team Beachbody message boards and in one of the threads we're starting a clean eating challenge today and it's going through the end of September, so that will give me just a little more accountability and hopefully help me keep my eating on track. Yesterday I was proud of myself for getting my workout in. I was dumb and didn't do it before work, and after work I was completely beat, and quite frankly all I wanted to do was drink, but I did not drink, and instead I did my three workouts. Okay, I admit I just did Bum Bum Rapido again instead of the full Bum Bum, but I really did not want to be exercising for an hour and a half late at night.

Now I have today and tomorrow off. I'm finally gonna get a chance to recharge, clean up my house, and learn some more about coaching. Still need to get my Sculpt workout in today, but I'll do that later. Here's some of the food I've eaten over the last three days...

Menu Plan Monday--Week 4

2010-09-06T05:47:00.002-06:00

Happy Labor Day, everyone! I hope most of you actually get to have this as a vacation day today. I will be laboring away at work, sadly. And make no mistake, people do not grill on this holiday. Tons will get fast food just like any other day. Pretty ridiculous really. Me? I'd rather make my food at home as much as possible. It's fun for me and I actually know what's going in it. This weeks menu includes a few lunches and dinners that I haven't tried yet from the Brazil Butt Lift nutrition plan, and what I'm really excited about is getting to start incorporating Shakeology into my menu! Yay! I should have it by Saturday, I hope, I hope, so instead of eating a salad at work I will just blend that up.

Monday:
Turkey Sausage and Egg White Wrap
½ cup edamame
Grilled Chicken and Goat Cheese Wrap
½ 6-inch whole wheat pita with ¼ cup hummus
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
1 oz. dark chocolate

Tuesday:
High-Fiber Cereal
1 oz. peanuts
Turkey Hummus Wrap
4 oz. lean roast beef with Dijon mustard
Turkey Meatballs and Black Bean Corn Salad w/ 1 cup coconut water

Wednesday:
Ricotta Cheese and Fruit
1 oz. almonds
Roast Chicken and Chickpea Salad w/ 1 cup coconut water
8 baby carrots, 3 cherry tomatoes, and 1 part-skim mozzarella cheese
Flank Steak with Baked Potato and Asparagus

Thursday:
Whole Wheat Toast and Almond Butter
½ cup low-fat cottage cheese with ¼ cup mixed berries
Soup and Roast Beef Sandwich
2 tbsp. bean dip with 20 baked tortilla chips and salsa
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
1 oz. dark chocolate

Friday:
Canadian Bacon and Toast
1 pear with 1 oz. low-fat cheese
Black Bean Soup and Salad
1 oz. walnuts
Tomato & Mango Roast Chicken Salad

Saturday:
Tropical Yogurt Swirl
¾ cup low-fat plain yogurt with ½ sliced banana
Veggie Pita
1 large hard-boiled egg
Carl Daikeler Special (Shakeology)

Sunday:
Brazilian Breakfast Smoothie
½ sliced apple with 2 tsp. peanut butter
Tuna Pita and Fresh Arugula Salad
½ cup edamame and 1 cup coconut water
Carl Daikeler Special (Shakeology)
3 rice crackers with ¼ cup salsa

For hundreds of great menu plans, do check out the Menu Plan Monday post at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Mostly Good

2010-09-04T07:20:00.001-06:00

It's 6:45 am and I haven't been to sleep. Sleep's for old people, for people who want to waste their precious time, for people who actually care about that aspect of their health. I'll be staying up today.

When I arrived home from work, shortly after midnight, I was in a foul mood. I'd been beaten down all night by a barrage of customers that can't get enough of that perfect combination of fat, salt, sugar, and affordability. It was downright awful. I didn't even get a break and as a result ended up not getting my dinner for the day. I just came home and ate some almonds. Whatever.

But when I look back on the day now, it was mostly good. I was excited and happy and full of positive energy for the whole first part of it, and I'm going to choose to remember that part. Reflecting on the bad doesn't do me any good. It'll just put me in a bad mood in anticipation for work tonight. I like to be happy. So the bad can go into the corners of my mind where it eventually fades away.

Instead I want to tell you about how I ate on plan all day and really enjoyed it. How even though I was exhausted after work, I did my Sculpt workout afterward because I hadn't gotten it in earlier that day. Of course I didn't feel like doing it. But I am committed, damn it! And commitment means sticking to something even when you don't really want to. So I got it in and had a great workout. Oh, and I want to show you one of my favorite exercise shirts.

Live your life in motion...something I always try to do. Anyway, what made me really happy for the first part of the day yesterday was that I finally became a Beachbody coach. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while now because a) I love Beachbody and the products they sell, and b) I need to be doing something with my life that I can actually feel good about. Something that I truly enjoy. And I really really enjoy talking to people about health and fitness and nutrition and helping them reach their personal fitness goals. This is why I like reading weight loss blogs so much. I'm getting to see someone better themselves in such an awesome way and it's just great. And now, if people need help reaching their goals, I can be a person to help them, whether they're using Beachbody stuff or not. I already am helping a friend who's said he's wanted to lose weight for a while but just hasn't been sure exactly what he should be doing. I've been providing him with information about what will help him achieve his goals, and it's really fun. :)

I'm also excited because I finally just bit the bullet and ordered Shakeology (had been holding off 'cause it's kind of expensive). If you don't know what Shakeology is, and are interested in finding out, just click the link on the side of my blog. I'll be doing a post sometime in the future about the benefits of Shakeology and all that jazz, but right now I'll just say it's a super healthy shake, and I'm going to replace my McDonald's meals with that 'cause I can just blend it up right there. Now I won't have to eat anything there anymore. Yes! Today will be a good day. I'm about to eat Green and White Eggs for breakfast, then learn some more about this whole coaching thang, and I'll get my High & Tight and Tummy Tuck workout in before 11. It's Saturday, so I hope that everyone out there is having a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

I'm Lovin' It...

2010-09-02T23:55:00.000-06:00

Haha, that's funny 'cause I work at McDonald's and don't love it but I AM loving my workouts and food! Today I brought it with the Cardio Axe and Bum Bum Live again. I tell you, I must have missed cardio something fierce in week 2 because this week I'm just going all out with it. I made that Bum Bum Live workout my bitch today! Yeah boy! Haha. I'm rather energetic for it being as late as it is.

All the food I had today was really tasty. I tried papaya for the first time since I was a child and was a little nervous about it. To my recollection, it was not good. But my tastebuds have changed a lot, so that's why I gave it a try. And honestly? I don't know what so many people's problem with papaya is! It's dang good! Okay, it does smell weird. Kind of bad. Kind of really bad if you have a very good nose. But if you can get past that, the actual taste is delicious. I'm gonna have the same lunch again next week for sure. Oh, I did cheat a little...with the dessert shown, I was supposed to have only 1/4 cup of yogurt, and it didn't have to be plain, so I chose french vanilla. I put the quarter cup on the peaches and looked at the rest of it thinking it would be wasteful to just throw it away. So I started eating the rest of the container, but I actually only had a few spoonfuls because it was so sweet and I'm just not used to that anymore. I'm kind of glad.

Well, it's back to work tomorrow, and Sculpt is the workout. Have a great Friday, everyone!

Move More!

2010-09-01T23:55:00.000-06:00

Hi all! Today was a successful day. I got in my Sculpt workout, ate on plan, and got a fair amount of activity in. And I want to give you a tip today that I think will help you in losing weight, or just maintaining your healthy figure. It's very simple. Wait for it...you need to train yourself to move more. But here's the thing. I'm not talking exercise. Anyone can get in an hour of exercise a day or whatever. I mean you need to move more when you're not exercising. You need to park at the end of the lot when you go grocery shopping because that means you'll get to (get to, not have to) walk a little more. You need to take the friggin' stairs. You should walk to the 7-11 that's only three blocks away instead of taking the car. You should dance when a great song on the radio comes on! (Oh, is it only me that likes to do that? Yeah, well, I don't care what others think.) Next time it's a nice day out, instead of just sitting indoors, go for a walk! Hell, have some more sex. It's all little ways of getting your body moving that really add up.

Our bodies were meant to move! For many centuries, we did not have to do things like make sure we got our exercise in each day because so many of our jobs were very physical and we did not have things like dishwashers, washing machines, cars, restaurants, etc. making our lives so much easier. These things are all wonderful and I would not trade anything for them, but, it means that just fitting in a little slot of exercise in your day and then sitting around for the rest of it isn't going to cut it. The body isn't meant to work that way. You should try to fit as much light to moderate activity into your day as possible, as well as getting your good workouts in.

Today I kept myself busy by doing chores around the house for the first part of the day, then I opted to go into work for two hours because they were shorthanded and I figured it'd be better than sitting around on the computer, then I did Sculpt after work, and then I gave a friend a one hour massage (which always makes me sweat, so I know it's some kind of workout). And as a result, I felt better because I knew that it wasn't a day where I just surfed the internet and wasted my time. So I challenge you to figure out more ways in which you can fit extra activity into your day. Your body will be glad that you did.

Food for today was almost all vegetarian. I had to switch my lunch 'cause the stuff for it wasn't ready. The Grilled Veggie Tart was okay...not bad, but kind of flavorless. Probably won't make again.

Make Me Sweat

2010-08-31T23:55:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday, everyone! Oh, it's not Friday, you say? Well it was my Friday 'cause I'm off the next two days. Hellz yeah. My day started off well with a nice 2 mile walk. We've been having some really crappy cold weather here this last week, but the sun was actually shining and it was warm enough to not have to wear a jacket, so I took advantage. I wouldn't call it exercise because walking doesn't ever get my heart rate up, but it burned a few extra calories. Always a good thing.

Then I had work. When I had my lunch break I was this close to getting me something unhealthy and calorie-laden. I really just wanted something fried for some stupid reason. HOWEVER, I work with a girl who has a crazy nice lower body, the type that I am striving to get, and I looked at her nice calves and thought, No, that greasy nastiness is not gonna go in my body today because that is what I want my legs to look like, damn it. So thank you, co-worker, for unknowingly aiding me in making a good decision today. The decision to eat that same salad that I always do. Food ended up being all on plan today again. :)

After work I still had my workout to get in for the day. I did Cardio Axe and Bum Bum Live and boy, was it fun! I'd missed doing cardio last week, and it was double whammy today, but I rose to the challenge! That Bum Bum Live is still a killer though. At one point it has me doing jumping split lunges and I just try to be like the girl in the video acting like she's really enjoying it. Ha. I think I'm going to do it later in this week again, just to try to condition myself to the moves a little bit more. And I'm curious, do you guys look forward to your cardio or your strength training workouts more? For me it really depends on the program I'm doing.

"Best believe somebody's paying the pied piper..."

2010-08-30T23:50:00.000-06:00

Weigh-in day. Yup. I was 136.6 today, which is up 1.2 pounds from last week. Ugh. But, I'm still down 1 pound from when I started Brazil Butt Lift. So I guess that's something. Yeah, I deserved it so I'm not gonna be all mopey that I gained this week. It's not like I was all, "I ate 100% on plan and gave my all in every workout and I still gained!" Nope. Not the story at all. So I'm moving on and doing better so that I can actually earn a loss again and get closer to where I want to be.

Today the eating was completely on plan except for I didn't eat my second snack of half a pita pocket with hummus. Was going to eat it when I got home from work but didn't feel like it. The food I did eat was really good and filling, as usual. I did Sculpt again for my workout...I'm getting a little sick of this one just because of how often I've done it lately. I miss the intensity of Bum Bum and the fun of Cardio Axe. Luckily, I get to do both of those tomorrow! It's gonna be tough, but I'm up for the challenge. I think I'm going to do Bum Bum Live because I want to see if that one will be at all easier than it was when I tried it on day 1 of this program. Don't really have anything else to say today... Just going to do better this week and look forward to seeing more changes. Here's yummy food.

Menu Plan Monday--Week 3

2010-08-30T05:34:00.000-06:00

Well, I can't say that I did so well with my menu plan last week. Only followed about 75% of it due to being too lazy to cook the meals or just deciding I wanted something else to eat. But no matter. I simply transferred the unmade meals/snacks over to this weeks menu which is actually really great because I'm still a week away from pay day... That's why you also won't notice a whole lot of variation in the meals and snacks this week. Trying to work with what I already have.

Monday:
Goat Cheese Egg White Omelet with Pineapple
2 tbsp. bean dip with 20 baked tortilla chips and salsa
Soup and Roast Beef Sandwich
½ 6-inch whole wheat pita with ¼ cup hummus
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)

Tuesday:
Brazilian Breakfast Smoothie
¾ cup low-fat plain yogurt with ½ sliced banana
Tuna Pita and Fresh Arugula Salad
1 large hard-boiled egg
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
½ cup edamame

Wednesday:
Pita Scramble
2 oz. white turkey breast meat with ½ small sliced avocado
Grilled Chicken and Goat Cheese Wrap
1 cup raw string beans, ½ cup baby carrots with ¼ cup salsa
Grilled Veggie Tart w/ 1 cup coconut water

Thursday:
Whole Wheat Toast with Almond Butter
1 oz. peanuts
Veggie Burger
12 Wheat Thins with 2 oz. low-fat cheese
Salmon with String Beans and Couscous

Friday:
Tropical Yogurt Swirl
¾ cup plain non-fat yogurt with ½ cup high-fiber cereal
Pita Pizza
1 oz. almonds
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)

Saturday:
Green and White Eggs
3 rice crackers with ¼ cup salsa
Shrimp Skewers
½ cup edamame
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
1 oz. peanuts

Sunday:
Oatmeal
12 Wheat Thins with 2 oz. low-fat cheese
Black Bean Soup and Salad
½ cup sorbet with ¼ cup blueberries
Turkey and Black Bean Corn Salad w/ 1 cup coconut water

I am going to be trying a couple new meals which I'm excited about. Have a great week, everyone! For more great menu plan ideas, visit the Menu Plan Monday post at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

My Butt

2010-08-29T23:59:00.000-06:00

Today was my rest day and I enjoyed it. Took a nice bubble bath after work and gave my muscles a chance to recover after a solid six days of toning/strength workouts.

Doesn't that look lovely?

I want to talk a bit about my butt, my legs, how I feel about them, and why I wanted to do this program.

My butt, while not even close to perfect, is probably one of my top three favorite body parts. It' one of the main things that makes my body attractive, I think. It looks shapely in jeans, is round, big enough, and makes it so I have some curves since I have nothing going on up top. I never realized that my butt was really anything nice until I started getting attention from guys and they mentioned that it was one of my better parts. Then I started to really appreciate it. However, even though a lot of people have said I have a great butt, I know it could be so much better. Like you can see in one of the before pictures, it can definitely use a little lift. What you can't see is that it was not firm in the slightest. There have been several times in the last five years in which I was exercising 5-6 days a week and doing serious weight lifting for three or four of them. In these times, my body got very firm. My whole upper body was tight, my thighs were firm (but still a little too large for my taste), but my butt...it stayed the same. Still nothing but fat. I could seriously flex the muscle and not be able to feel it at all. I want this to change. Of course I like having fat there, that's a big part of what gives it the nice shape, but I'd like to add a little more muscle, too.

Now here's what's cool. Last summer I was spinning and weight lifting three days a week, and doing exercise DVDs for the other two. It took probably about four months before I started noticing any change at all in my butt. It was just a little bit firmer. Still plenty of fat covering the muscle, but there was a slight difference. Today, after two weeks of doing Brazil Butt Lift, my butt feels as firm as it did after about four months of exercise last year. That is awesome. I honestly cannot wait to see my results from this program. I wrote my Beachbody coach the other day about how I just want to see results now, but I know that it does not work like that, that I have to be patient. And one day I will wake up and my butt will be lifted and firm, and my saddlebags will be gone. That will be a happy day.

I also think it's going to do wonders for my legs. I look at my legs this week, and while a lot of the fat is still there, my calves are definitely becoming more defined (yes!) and my quads are somewhat prominent again. My legs are something that I've always been self conscious about, thinking that they're the "downfall" of my figure. And even though I've always been pretty active, and they've changed for the better, they've never been exactly how I want. But I've seen the results others have gotten from this program and I know that as long as I put in the work and keep it clean in the kitchen, I'm going to finally be able to get what I want. That's a great feeling: actually knowing how to get what you want and being on the path to getting it. What is it that you want? For your body, or for your life? What are you doing to get there?

Eating was spot on today. I had the four things shown in the picture, plus a side salad with grilled chicken and an ounce of almonds. I'm looking forward to the cardio heavy week ahead. Make it a great week, everybody!

Just Do It!

2010-08-29T02:04:00.001-06:00

Ever have those days where you don't feel like working out?

Where you know you need to but being lazy sounds so much better...?

Where the thought of getting sore and sweaty and out of breath is not appealing in the slightest...?

I know I do. And I'm willing to bet all of you do, too. (Except for Tony. But he's kind of crazy. Just kidding, Tony, you're an inspiration.) Anyway, today was one of those days. It actually wouldn't have been that way if I'd gotten my Sculpt workout out of the way in the morning like most days, but I had other plans, so I put it off until after work. And then it just got harder and harder to get my butt up off this computer chair and make myself do it. But I did. Because I am committed. And if my eating is not going to be 100% perfect, by God, at least my workouts are going to be.

So I got my exercise clothes on, looked in the mirror, and told myself that I was going to have a great workout and give it my all. And you know what? I did. It was a wonderful workout! I was able to do all the stuff in it, which I've never done before. Some of it may simply be me getting stronger (yay!) but I attribute a lot of it to the attitude that was taken right before starting. When he got to mermaids (a pretty tough tricep/upper body exercise) I finally was able to do the regular version, not "level 1." When he did all the plank work in the ab section, I held it the entire time. And when we did the stretching at the end, I stretched farther than I have before. Now I can go into tomorrow, my rest day, knowing that I gave my all this week at least on the exercise front, and I can enjoy giving my body a break. Moral of the story, folks--just do it, and you will feel good that you did.

As far as food went today, I did well again. Had Canadian Bacon Toast for breakfast, then 1/2 an apple with peanut butter for my first snack. I also did a little prep work before heading off to work so that I could eat my lunch at home on my half hour lunch break. Decided to make the Lentil Salad (finally!). This was another dud... I mean, it wasn't gross, but it was pretty flavorless, I can't lie. Oh well though, it was a nice change from eating that same friggin' salad all the time at McDonald's. Then back at work I ate my second snack: a hard-boiled egg. It was kind of funny...the person I was working next to went out for a smoke break. When she came back, I insisted I get a snack break to eat my egg because if people are allowed to get breaks to slowly kill themselves, I should be allowed to keep my metabolism up. They agreed. Once I got home I planned on having Salmon with Green Beans and Couscous but frankly, I just didn't feel like cooking anything and wasn't that hungry, so I skipped my dinner. I feel fine, so it's whatever. I'm kind of glad that I have so many meals/snacks that I didn't make this week, 'cause I'm still about a week from pay day...have to see what I have left to continue my healthy eating. Here was most of my food for the day. Tomorrow I'll be blogging about my butt!

And I'm back!

2010-08-28T01:31:00.000-06:00

Finally, a day where I did everything I was supposed to. And it felt great. Woke up on time this morning and ate my breakfast. Which, I will be honest, I had a pretty hard time getting down. It was a Whole Wheat Pita and Cottage Cheese Roll-Up which consisted of half of a whole wheat pita with a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese spread on it, and then two slices of tomato. You're apparently supposed to roll this up, but there was no way it was rolling...I just kind of folded it in half. Anyway, I also had an orange with it. I posted before about how I have a hard time with cottage cheese if there isn't enough of something else to disguise the flavor/texture, and there definitely was not with this breakfast. I found myself gagging a couple times trying to get it down. Won't be having this one again...

After that I did my workout for the day which was Cardio Axe (I missed this!) and High & Tight. Had a great time getting my dance on and High & Tight burned just as much as ever. Then I had just enough time to shower, get ready for work, and eat a snack before leaving. I'm pretty much just picking and choosing from missed snacks/meals earlier in the week, so I decided on a pear with 1 oz. cheddar cheese. That held me over until my break at work at which point I had a side salad with grilled chicken. I was also smart and brought 1 oz. of dark chocolate with me because that's something I can easily grab really quick when we're slow. So I ate that a couple hours after my lunch. Then I came home and cooked a delicious steak dinner with flank steak, asparagus, half a baked potato, and onions and mushrooms on top of the steak. I broiled it and it came out perfectly medium rare and flavorful even though I forgot to marinate it. Who says you can't eat healthy and still enjoy delicious food? I think being able to have things like steak and dark chocolate make this diet so awesome. Here's a picture of most of the stuff I ate today.

Well, tomorrow I have the Sculpt workout again and then my rest day is on Sunday. I'm hoping that I can squeeze out a small loss for the week if I do good these next few days, but if I just maintain then I'll be happy with that, too. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Running toward the wagon

2010-08-27T01:27:00.001-06:00

After yesterday's embarrassing post I was determined to make today a good day. And well, it sort of worked. Here's the thing, I got my exercise in, and I didn't eat anything that I shouldn't have, but I also didn't eat all of my food. Not even close. What happened was...

I had to work at 11, which is a lot earlier than normal for me. So I planned to wake up a couple hours before work, eat breakfast, workout, shower, eat a snack, then go to work. Yeah, none of that happened because my alarm didn't go off and I ended up waking just barely before having to be at work (I go to bed really late). Wasn't able to eat anything before work, was famished a half hour into my shift and had super low energy until I got my break. At that time I had my side salad with grilled chicken and sweet citrus water. Then I was good for several hours afterward. About two hours before my shift ended, I got really hungry again, but there was no way for me to eat. So eventually my body gave up on telling me that it was hungry. 'Cause that's what it does. Does anyone else's body do this? I must say, it's kind of nice.

So when I got home, a little after 7 pm, I'd only eaten one meal for the day, and I still had to get my workout in. I did the Sculpt workout, showered, and then was just feeling lazy and didn't want to actually cook anything. And my body still wasn't screaming, "Feed me!" even though I'm sure that's what it wanted. I decided to go with a snack of 1/2 cup of lemon sorbet and 1/4 cup of blueberries. Which was freakin' delicious. You know, I used to always say how ridiculous it was that ice cream and the like put a 1/2 cup as a serving on their nutrition facts. But you know what? That 1/2 cup (with the fruit) was perfect. I wouldn't have wanted anymore. It would have been too much sugar. In conclusion, that's all I ate today. I know it was bad for my metabolism, and I know I didn't get all my nutrients in, but I have to think it kind of makes up for my previous two semi-gluttonous days. Maybe?

It's kind of embarrassing, but my chest and triceps were still sore during the day today from the Sculpt workout I did on Monday. Yeah...somebody's terribly out of shape. However, doing it again today, I can kind of see why. There are a LOT of chest and tricep exercises in that workout. I really like how much tricep work there is though because last summer my triceps just popped and I think that's really sexy on women, and now you can barely see them. :( Looking forward to getting them to stand out again. Have a great Friday, everybody!

Maybe I could just lie...

2010-08-26T02:14:00.000-06:00

Nah, that ain't me. So I'm gonna be honest. The first half of this week has just not been a good one. I've gotten all my workouts in because that's the easy part, but the food...not so good. It started out shaky on Monday where I stayed within my calories but didn't eat the right stuff. Then on Tuesday I started the day out well with a delicious breakfast (I even ate runny yolk and didn't gag!), a snack, and my veggie burger for lunch. But sometime in the afternoon before work, I decided it would be an okay idea to get a peach milkshake. Don't ask me why I thought that would be okay because I really don't know. It was stupid. I got a small one, but whatever, it was a frickin' milkshake and I shouldn't have had it. At work that night I had my usual meal, but I also had some pieces of candy, so I just skipped my other two planned snacks for the day. But still too many calories and bad stuff. *sigh*

Today wasn't any better. Had my healthy breakfast in which I tried almond butter for the first time and OH MY GOODNESS that stuff is tasty. It's like my new favorite thing! I had a hard time restraining myself to the one tablespoon that was called for in the breakfast, but I did. I am looking forward to the next time I get to eat it. Then I had my snack of string cheese, cherry tomatoes, and baby carrots. When it came to lunch time, I had a craving for a sweet pork burrito. Mind you, I've had this craving lingering in the back of my mind for about three days now. Usually I don't get too bad of food cravings, but this one was just nagging me. I hadn't had one of these bad boys in well over a month, and I kept thinking of how delicious it would be. So it was a combination of the craving and me being lazy and not wanting to prepare lunch myself that helped me make another stupid decision to get that burrito. It was good though. So good. I skipped my other snacks again in an attempt to make up for the extra calories. Then at work tonight I had my side salad but instead of just having the grilled chicken on it with some water I had a small burger and a small smoothie. Gah, I feel like the worst health blogger ever. Two really terrible days. I mean, I suppose I didn't binge or anything, but then I never binge... I just ate stuff that I know is not good for me, doesn't make my body feel good, and is not conducive to me getting the body I want.

And I've been trying to figure out why I did this. I mean, I really do enjoy the food plan in this program. I wasn't necessarily feeling deprived. I think the problem is being a little too comfortable with my body. When I started this, I stated that I was sick of not having my body exactly the way I wanted, but I do still like it. I still consider it to be nice and not a complete eyesore. So...when my brain is saying that it wants a milkshake, and I tell it no, it tells me, Rebecca, come on, you look fine, one milkshake isn't going to hurt. That, and there's no guy seeing me naked on a regular basis anymore, so I was just getting a little complacent. A week in. Stupid, right? Well, I don't consider myself a stupid person, so this stops right here. No more complacency. No more eating crap that does harm to my body. No more excuses.

One good thing I have to report is that my soreness level in the lower body is going way down. That means I'm getting stronger already. Woot! My upper body (particularly chest and triceps) is still pretty sore from Sculpt on Monday though. That will be my workout tomorrow again.

Before I go, I just want to ask, am I the only one who didn't know that you cannot freeze and then thaw a banana?? I used half a banana in a snack last week, didn't want to waste it, so I froze it. It froze great, looked fine. Then I was going to use the other half in a snack this week, so I took it out of the freezer about a half hour before, then come back to the kitchen to find a pool of water around this half banana that is now just soggy and pathetic looking and was not in any way edible. So yeah, lesson learned, I guess I can't thaw frozen bananas, but I'm just wondering if I'm the only dumb one out there...

fist pump

2010-08-24T03:10:00.000-06:00

Today was my weigh-in after the first week and I was at 135.4 pounds for a loss of 2.2 pounds the first week. Heck yes! Considering I screwed up a couple times during the week I will so take that. Some other changes I've noticed are that I'm getting considerably less sore the day after my workouts than I was just a week ago. Also, my abs are poking through slightly more than they were last Monday. They are always the first thing to show though when I'm losing weight (please don't hate me; my legs will take forever to look nice). I do think my quad muscles are just a tiny bit more noticeable than they were last week...but maybe that's just wishful thinking, I don't know. This next week's exercise schedule is a lot different from week 1. In week 1 I had a cardio workout everyday, and this next week it's pretty much all toning workouts with the exception of Cardio Axe on Friday. This worries me 'cause I look at my legs and think of all the fat I still need to burn off, but I will trust the program.

Today I did Sculpt for the first time, and I enjoyed it. It's a total-body strength routine, and it was good. Once again, Leandro has me using my whole body in many moves (sometimes to the point of feeling just a tad uncoordinated). I especially enjoyed the ab section in this workout. Very good oblique work, and nothing killed my neck. There's also a lot of good upper body work in this routine. Actually, I would say that it's pretty light on lower body toning. I didn't feel a burn in my legs or butt at all in this workout, even though there were some exercises for them. It just isn't a focus. Which is probably fine considering how much they're worked in all the other routines. I like that even though this program mainly focuses on the butt and legs, it has a DVD which works the whole body. This way I know I'm not going to be losing all my strength in my arms and back.

As far as my food today, I did screw up a little. Didn't go over my calories, but I got too much sugar because I didn't eat exactly what I was supposed to. I was good up until lunch time at which point I was Skyping with one of my friends that I rarely get to talk with. I didn't feel like stopping the conversation to prepare my lunch, so I decided to just have my snack and make lunch later. Well, the conversation ended up lasting about four hours, and in that time I got hungry again so I had about a cup of coconut water and a dark chocolate bar. Once the conversation finally ended, it was late, and so I just made my dinner. Like I said, what I ate instead of the lunch didn't make me have too many calories, but it did make it so I didn't get all the vegetables in today that I should have. I like to focus on all around nutrition, not just calories, so I will do better tomorrow.

Almost forgot to mention that I got a food scale today which is really nice because now I'm not having to guesstimate ounces of things like nuts, cheese, and meat. Yay! Have a great week, everybody!

Menu Plan Monday--Week 2

2010-08-23T02:00:00.000-06:00

Alright, so I did pretty well with my menu plan last week. Followed about 90% of it. Whatever meals/snacks didn't get made got transferred over to this week's plan. I really love the way I'm eating right now. I feel good and have energy all throughout the day and my stomach is never upset. Give clean eating a try. As long as you don't restrict what you can have too much, I promise that you will love it and feel so much better!

Monday:
Turkey Sausage and Egg White Wrap
12 Wheat Thins with 2 oz. low-fat cheese
Lentil Salad
1 oz. peanuts
Portobello Mushroom Bake

Tuesday:
Green and White Eggs
¾ cup low-fat plain yogurt with ½ sliced banana
Veggie Burger
1 small baked potato w/ salsa and 1 tbsp. non-fat sour cream
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
½ cup sorbet with ¼ cup blueberries

Wednesday:
Whole Wheat Toast and Almond Butter
8 baby carrots, 3 cherry tomatoes, and 1 part-skim mozzarella string cheese
Pita Pizza
2 oz. white turkey breast meat with ½ small sliced avocado
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
1 oz. dark chocolate

Thursday:
Whole Wheat Pita and Cottage Cheese Roll-Up
1 medium pear sliced with 1 oz. low-fat cheese
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
1 large hard-boiled egg
Flank Steak with Baked Potato and Asparagus
¾ cup non-fat plain yogurt topped with 1/3 cup raspberries

Friday:
Canadian Bacon and Toast
½ cup 2% low-fat cottage cheese with ¼ cup mixed seasonal berries
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
1 oz. almonds
Grilled Veggie Tart
½ sliced apple with 2 tsp. peanut butter

Saturday:
Ricotta Cheese and Fruit
1 large hard-boiled egg
Side Salad w/ grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette (McDonald’s)
½ cup edamame
Turkey Meatballs and Black Bean Corn Salad w/ 1 cup coconut water

Sunday:
Goat Cheese Egg White Omelet with Pineapple
2 tbsp. bean dip with 20 baked tortilla chips and salsa
Soup and Roast Beef Sandwich
½ 6-inch whole wheat pita with ¼ cup hummus
Salmon with String Beans and Couscous

For more great menu plan ideas visit Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie! Have a great week, everybody, and eat well!

Week 1 done!

2010-08-23T00:02:00.000-06:00

One week closer to having the body I want. Woot! Today was a rest day so all I had to really do was eat right. Leandro suggested I get a massage, and I would have loved to do that, but wasn't able to find someone to schedule it with. Next time... I was also going to go on a walk, but it of course had to rain half the day, so that was out. Instead I did some chores around my house and went grocery shopping for next week.

I stayed on plan again all day with my food. All of it was really tasty again. I didn't eat my third snack though because after everything else I ate today I just felt really full, and I don't like to eat if my body isn't telling me I need to. Lunch was crazy filling. It was good but slightly annoying because fitting all of the veggies in the pita pocket was hard! With my lunch I had a cup of coconut water, and that was my first time ever trying it, and it's delicious! I have a new favorite drink. If you haven't tried coconut water, try it. The Vita Loco brand is really good. With my second snack of the day I discovered that rice cakes actually have flavor if you put something on them (silly me...used to eat them plain), and then for dinner I tried orange roughy for the first time and I really liked that, too! I love finding new tasty foods. Oh, I also had brown rice with dinner but it's not in the picture because I forgot that brown rice takes for-e-ver to make.

Tomorrow I'll be posting my menu plan for the week as well as my daily post. In that I'll put my weight to see if I've lost anything yet. My plan is to weigh myself once a week and do measurements once every four weeks.

Update

2010-08-22T16:52:00.000-06:00

Hey, everybody. The reason I've been absent from this blog for a couple days is because I've just been really busy, and by the time I get on late at night I'm too tired to upload my photos and write out a blog. But it doesn't mean I haven't been working the program! So here's an update on how the Friday and Saturday went...

Friday had Cardio Axe and High & Tight scheduled for the workouts that day. Cardio Axe was really fun, and I worked up a little more of a sweat this time since I was more familiar with the moves and able to really work it. Then came High & Tight which is a straight up toning DVD (as opposed to Bum Bum which is a mixture of cardio and toning). The guide said to do it without equipment my first time, so I listened. The workout is split into three parts: standing work with bands, floor work with bands, and floor work with ankle weights. During the standing part, it wasn't too hard. I was thinking, Man, maybe I should have used the bands anyway, this is a little easy. Then came the floor work and HOLY CRAP I was glad I did not have to use the equipment! Some of the moves he made me do had my butt muscles absolutely on fire! I have no idea how the women in the video do all those moves, with the equipment, and make it look so simple. At one point I was even cursing at the TV, yelling at him to let me stop. Of course, I could have chosen to stop on my own, but I like to do everything he tells me unless I absolutely can't. I look forward to the day when I'm able to do this workout with the weights and bands and not be completely pushed to my limit.

So after that great workout, I stuck to the plan for my food all day, and went out dancing with one of my friends that night. I LOVE to dance, it's such a good de-stresser for me, and it's an awesome workout for my abs and legs, 'cause I do some great stuff with my hips. I did have one mixed drink while I was out, but I do not feel bad about that at all because I spent a good two hours dancing, so I'm quite sure I worked those calories off. Here's a picture of my food for that day. The oatmeal for breakfast was really good. It was just plain oatmeal (not from a packet), but with some slivered almonds and a scoop of chocolate whey protein powder added to it. Chocolate oatmeal--yum! My lunch and dinner were also really delicious and really filling. If you want to know exactly what was in the salad or fajita or anything, just leave a comment about it.

Saturday was a good day as well. Bum Bum was the workout and while this workout still makes me sweat like a pig, I'm finding that I'm less sore the day after, so that's progress! In addition to my workout, I had to work last night which had me running around for several hours. That's one thing I do love about my job; it's very active in most positions. I really don't like desk jobs because I like to be able to move! Food was on plan again. However, this was the first day that I didn't completely love everything that I ate. I enjoyed my salad at McDonald's, really loved the breakfast, and enjoyed the chips with dip and salsa. But the cottage cheese and melon...I kind of had to choke that down. I've been trying to force myself to like cottage cheese over the past year or so, and it kind of works, but it really depends on what I'm eating with it. And honeydew melon apparently does not cut it for covering up that taste well enough. Also, the chicken and black bean salad was just alright. Not bad, but not my favorite meal.

Well, I'll post again later with a summary of how today went and my menu plan for next week. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Alkaline vs. Acidic

2010-08-20T03:04:00.001-06:00

Since today is a rest day I wanted to talk about an aspect of nutrition that I don't think everyone is aware of. I know I wasn't until a couple months ago when I happened upon a video on this subject and it was so interesting to me that I started reading other articles and watching more videos about it. I'm talking about the body's pH, and how the food we eat can make it either more alkaline or more acidic. Basically, everything has a level of pH level anywhere from 1-14. A 7 is neutral. That's about where your body sits naturally. Anything above that is considered alkaline, and anything below that is considered acidic.

We either want our bodies to be neutral, or slightly alkaline (about a 7.5, but no higher than that). Any acidity is bad and can create a lot of health problems such as a weakened immune system and osteoporosis down the line. The reason it does this is because the body can't really stand to be very far below the natural pH of 7. We can easily make it this way though by eating a lot of acidic foods which include: red meat, dairy, cheese, eggs, grains, artificial sweeteners, soda, and a lot of other main foods that comprise the American diet nowadays. So what happens is we take in all this acidic food which brings the pH level lower than it should be, and the body is forced to bring it back to neutral, because if it goes more than slightly acidic or slightly alkaline, the body can't really function. It's very good at bringing it back to neutral, but to do this, it has to use precious vitamins and minerals that should be being used for other stuff. Such as calcium. We get a lot of calcium in our diets, yet we still have a high rate of osteoporosis in this country, and that's because the calcium is having to be used for balancing our pH levels as opposed to strengthening our bones. It's hard on the body and is something we can avoid if we just try to eat slightly more alkaline foods than acidic.

Some alkaline foods include kale (get your calcium from this!), tomatoes, nuts, legumes, lemons, limes, pretty much most fruits and vegetables. If you're wondering why lemons and limes are alkaline when they seem pretty acidic, it's because they become alkaline after digestion. So if most or all of this information is new to you, and you feel like your diet is tending toward acidic, then I challenge you to take this little bit of information that I've given you, go expand on it by reading other articles on the internet or whatever, and then work on making sure the food in your diet tends more toward the alkaline side. It will make you feel better and your body will be able to run so much more efficiently.

Now as for how I did today with the plan, it was a rest day for exercise, which I definitely need as I'm still pretty sore. Leandro told me in the guide to take a bubble bath, so I did. It was lovely and very soothing on my sore muscles. My food was delicious again, but I did stray from the plan in the evening. I went to a friend's party and didn't plan on eating while I was there, but everything just looked so good, so I had really small portions of a few things (mostly sweet stuff...damn my sweet tooth). In an attempt to make up for the calories spent there, I didn't eat my second snack for the day or dinner. And I got a little "exercise" with a guy later in the evening, so that helped to burn a few calories. :) Here's the food I ate at home today...maybe I should make a rule--if I'm not prepared to take a picture of it, then I shouldn't eat it. That would eliminate me eating unplanned meals outside of my home.

That Brazilian breakfast smoothie was really good with vanilla whey protein powder, but I'd love to try it with Shakeology once I can afford that. Also, my lunch was so freaking good! Even though I couldn't find arugula for the "arugula salad" because my town is stupid and carries such a poor variety of vegetables. Tomorrow I have the day off again (from work, not exercise), and I'm looking forward to a new routine, High & Tight, and the eating will be 100% on plan!

I got that Bum Bum pow!

2010-08-19T03:25:00.000-06:00

Well, today was a pretty good day. I actually got a little over eight hours of sleep in which was definitely needed so I woke up a bit later than usual, but feeling rested. I had my tasty breakfast, which looked pitifully small but filled me up. Then I did the Bum Bum workout today. Last time I did it I didn't mention that I actually did Bum Bum Live. This was because I'd heard people say that it was just like Bum Bum, but with him breaking down the moves more and that there wasn't much focus on the music. Well, that's not true. It's a pretty different routine. There are a couple moves in it that are the same, and both get your butt and legs burning, but it's not the same thing. Bum Bum Live seems a little more grueling because you're doing fewer moves for more reps, and there's not as much fun dance-type stuff in it. I liked the regular Bum Bum quite a bit more because there is a much greater variety of moves, the music and setting is a lot more fun, and there are a few "fun" moves, stuff that wasn't making my muscles hate me. The only thing I liked less in the regular one is there isn't as much time for stretching, and it's slightly less intense. So, that all being said, this workout made me sweat like crazy again! Much more than the actual cardio workout. It's just so much work for the big muscle groups in the legs, and a lot of it is pretty fast paced, so it gets my heart rate up like a cardio workout, but with the benefit of strength/toning moves. I absolutely love dripping with sweat after a great workout though, so it's all good! Here's proof of how hard this workout is for me at the moment...

Lovely, right? It's pretty sweet when you're sweating so much that your shirt becomes see-through. I'm interested to see if this ever gets any easier. Today I'm sore again, and it's more all over this time. Butt and legs of course, abs are definitely feeling it, my neck (not a good thing though), and even my triceps are a little sore from all that damn plank work.

As for food today I did stay on the plan, but learned that I have to eat at regular intervals otherwise I get really hungry. I stated the other day that the 1400 calories seems to be perfect for my body. But that's only if I'm getting the calories every few hours. Since I woke up later than usual today, the meals were a little bit behind schedule, and I only got up to my lunch before having to go to work. I figured I could just eat my dinner at work as planned, and then come home and have my snack (that was supposed to be before dinner) afterward. Well, I had dinner a few hours after going into work and that was fine, but about two hours after that I got hungry. It was bad, too, because we were really busy and I was having to expend a lot of energy but my body had no fuel. Now I know that I really do need to eat as scheduled or else it doesn't work for me. I did get my second snack in when I got home, but it would have been better earlier in the day. And about the food today, once again it was really delicious. I absolutely loved my lunch, which was a veggie burger in a wheat pita pocket with lettuce, chopped up tomatoes, a slice of cheddar cheese, and a bunch of guacamole with carrots on the side. SO good! I'll definitely be eating this at least once a week. By the way, if you're someone who likes guacamole but don't want to bother making it yourself all the time, I found an awesome brand that's actually real guacamole, as opposed to most of the "guacamoles" that contain less than 2% of avocado--WTF?? Anyway, it's called Wholly Guacamole and you can find it in the produce aisle. Just in case that's something you've been looking for... I also noticed that today is the first time I've eaten red meat in three days. I'm thinking that's a good thing. Here's another picture of the foods I ate today (minus dinner, 'cause that was just the side salad with chicken again).

And with that I'm going to say goodnight because I'm very tired. Tomorrow is a rest day for exercise and I need it. Also off of work. It's gonna be nice. :-)

Grr...

2010-08-18T01:59:00.001-06:00

Only on day two and already I've screwed up. Oh well. I'm not perfect, I just like to try to be. However, I think I still handled my screw up well and I'll tell you why. Today my routine varied in a way I wasn't prepared for. I had to go out of town for a class for my job that lasted from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. And it was an hour drive each way so that means I was away from my home and my healthy food for ten hours today. At a McDonald's. Ugh. For some reason I thought I'd be okay. Thought I could still stick to the plan. I ate my tasty breakfast at 5:45 right before I had to run out the door and I brought my lemon water with me.

Oh! Let me tell you about the lemon water real quick. This is a tip that Leandro posted on the Team Beachbody website. He said that when we're not eating healthy our bodies can lean more toward an acidic pH level (because pretty much all unhealthy food is on the acidic side of the pH scale) and that can make it so the body holds on to fat. So he recommends that for the first four days on the plan we drink water with fresh squeezed lemon because lemon is surprisingly very alkaline. On day one we're supposed to squeeze one lemon into a glass of water, day two is two lemons, day three is three lemons, and day four is four whole lemons. Just the two lemons today was pretty freaking sour, so I'm thinking that tomorrow and the next day I will just squeeze one lemon into a glass of water and drink that many glasses.

Anyway, back to the day. At around 8:00 a.m. I was feeling hungry again and was due for a snack so I decided to have an egg on an English muffin because this was in a list of acceptable foods in the eating out guide. I made sure they didn't put any liquid margarine on the muffin. This held me over for a little while and I didn't feel too bad about the decision. But then I was in the room, watching boring video after boring video, positively crashing because I was running off of about four hours of sleep (did I mention I've had approximately ten hours total in the last three days?). I needed something to help me stay awake. And they had brought in a big bowl of candy for us to snack on... I'd been good about resisting, but I finally gave in and had a fun size Twizzler, a fun size Snickers, and a fun size Kit Kat. Stupid me. Felt bad about that decision afterward for sure. But, the sugar rush did make it so I stayed awake.

Then for lunch, I made another not great decision. I got apple dippers (without caramel), which was fine, but I also got a grilled chicken chipotle bbq snack wrap. It's not terribly high in calories, but the sauce is pretty sugary, and it has full fat cheese in it, so I should have just stuck with my side salad with grilled chicken. But my will power was low at the time and that sounded good to me, so that is what I got. The good thing I can say for the day though is that generally when I do stuff like this, even if it isn't something to completely derail me, I derail myself by saying, "Well, now the day is ruined so I might as well just have that ice cream cone that's looking really good and a mocha frappe." I wanted those things, but I didn't have them, because I told myself that the day wasn't ruined, that even though I ate some off-plan food and some candy (for shame...) that I could still eat healthy the rest of the day. That's a pretty big deal for me. I tend to have a perfectionist and all-or-nothing personality so to be able to make a logical decision like that about reigning it back felt very good. So once I got home, I made the decision to eat one of the snacks that I'd planned and then if I felt hungry later I would eat more, but if not, that would be all I had for the day.

I did my workout shortly after getting home. Today was Cardio Axe and Tummy Tuck. So, cardio and ab work. I've done both of these before, but not for several months. I forgot how much fun the dancing in Cardio Axe is! I just love it, and I continue to love Leandro's fun, vibrant personality. The only complaint I have with this workout is I would like it to be a little longer and/or a little more intense. It does make me sweat, but not as much as a lot of my other cardio DVDs. As for Tummy Tuck, I now remember why it's been so long since I've done this one. The routine is very good, and I'm sure it will give me nice abs, but I just don't like it very much. It involves a lot of crunches, which I'm not a big fan of (neck straining galore), and a lot of plank work. Which I actually do like, but not for about five minutes total. My shoulders are just screaming at me by the end, to the point where I can't focus on the actual ab work that's being done. I much prefer the Ab Jam routine from Turbo Jam or a couple other DVDs that I have. But it's all good. I will do that workout when I need to and completely love the rest of the program.

As for what I ended up eating today, once I got home I had a 6 oz. plain Greek yogurt with 1/2 cup shredded wheat squares cereal. Didn't absolutely love this because plain yogurt is still a little too sour for my tastes, but I ate it all because it was filling and chock full of fiber, calcium, and protein. Then I went to work for 4 1/2 hours. Got hungry by the end of my shift so when I came home I ate celery, cucumber slices, and hummus. I just love cucumbers. So simple and delicious. Almost forgot to mention that I'm pleasantly sore today. Whoo! Oh, here's another collage of the three (planned) things I ate today. I didn't take pictures of the other stuff because I was around other people and didn't want them asking why I was taking pictures of my food.

So reflecting on the day...I may have messed up, but I proved to myself that I can mess up and not completely fail which is a great thing for me to know. Now I'm off to bed because I've been awake for the past 21 hours and I'm dead tired.

It's official...

2010-08-17T00:06:00.001-06:00

One day in and I am in love with Brazil Butt Lift! Especially Leandro Carvalho. I freaking love his personality! I also love the food on this plan. It was so so good today. I didn't feel deprived one bit and 1400 calories seems to be perfect for me because I wasn't hungry at all today.

But for your viewing pleasure (ha!) let me go ahead and show you this picture of me post-workout.

You're probably thinking, Goodness, she must have done some killer cardio today! Oh no. I didn't. Today was Booty Basics which was not so much a workout as a video to show in detail how to do the signature moves so that he doesn't have to explain them too much later. It did warm me up because in it you do several reps of each move as you learn them, but it wasn't really a workout. That was about 20 minutes long. Then I did Bum Bum which is not a cardio DVD, but a strength/toning one. I'm gonna be honest. This workout kicked my ass. I am in such poor shape! Five minutes into the routine he's got me doing some squat thing that has been going on for what feels like forever and my thighs are on fire. He lets up just before I collapse, and we move on to more equally tough, but different, moves. I guess maybe it's just because my legs aren't very toned. Even at my current fitness level I don't have a problem with most upper body and ab workouts, but the leg stuff is killer. Anyway...that routine was about 35 minutes and as you can see, I was drenched in sweat by the end of it. This is gonna be awesome. There's no way I can't get great results from this program. Tomorrow I'm doing Cardio Axe and Tummy Tuck which I'm looking forward to because I've actually done those before and really enjoy them.

I want to talk for a minute about Leandro, and how he's become my new favorite Beachbody trainer. His personality is pretty...unique, and that means some people will probably be annoyed by him or not like him, but I think he's fantastic! He's so full of energy and life and excitement all throughout the workouts. You can tell that he's very passionate about what he does. The entire time he makes encouraging, upbeat comments that kind of help while my butt is screaming, "What the hell are you doing to me?!" I also really appreciated how at the end of Bum Bum he allotted just under ten minutes for stretching. I think flexibility is very important, and not all programs give much attention to it, but he had me do some good leg stretches and it's just nice that I don't have to worry about doing that after I shut the DVD off. He gave a really good quote, too: "Stretching is not about doing; it's about allowing." I liked that. Another aspect of the exercises that I enjoy is that a lot of them incorporate balance and whole body movement. Too often when I'm doing leg exercises, I'm just using my legs. But through all the exercises in Bum Bum he had me using my arms in graceful ways that really made my whole body feel connected. It would be nice if more trainers did this.

Before this post gets too crazy long I have to talk about the food. It is really delicious. I've never done a "diet" where I honestly enjoyed the food this much and wasn't feeling deprived at all. I did a collage of the food I ate today just 'cause I love food pictures and to show you how good it all was.

The breakfast started my day off great. I got to have two of my favorite fruits and goat cheese is effing delicious. With my salad at lunch I used Leandro's suggestion of jazzing up my water and I made Sweet Citrus water with a slice of lemon and a packet of Splenda (I have a sweet tooth...) and it was very good. I'll probably be drinking that again. Dinner was very filling and very tasty with the sausage, peppers, and onions, plus a side salad of mixed greens, strawberries, and balsamic vinegar (such a perfect combination!). And then I even got to have an ounce of dark chocolate at the end of the night. Yum!

Beginning Stats and Before Pictures

2010-08-16T01:46:00.001-06:00

Well, today I'm starting a specific program to get the butt and legs I've always dreamed of and I wanted to be sure to document what I looked like (and measured) at the start because a funny thing happens when you start to lose weight and reshape your body... It doesn't happen overnight. It happens slowly. A pound, maybe a couple will drop off every week. You'll lose a couple of inches over the course of several weeks. You'll slowly tighten up. And as this is happening, you're looking in the mirror thinking, I don't see much of a change. Why the heck am I working my butt off?! At least, I know that's what's happened with me every other time I went on a program and didn't take pictures or anything at the start. Sure, I saw changes eventually. Like, months in, once the changes were really significant. But this time I'll be able to measure even slight progress, and that will help to keep me going. :)

So, I weighed myself this morning and was at 137.6 lbs. I like to stay between 130 and 135, but this is what happens when I'm fairly lazy with exercise and lax with my food intake. So my goal with Brazil Butt Lift is to get back down to 130. I look very good at this weight, but I do have to work to stay there. Twelve weeks to drop about 7 1/2 pounds seems reasonable to me. I can do it. Also, I'm currently a size 6 pretty much across the board in pants and skirts and I would love to drop down to a 4.

Measurements are:
Chest--32" (Yeah...this isn't going to change.)
Right Arm--10.75" (I'm thinking this arm is a little smaller because I'm right handed.)
Left Arm--11'' (The size my arms are right now is good and I don't care if they change at all.)
Waist--28" (I'd like to get this down to 26".)
Hips--38" (Eeesh. Hoping to lose at least 2" here...mostly from the hips, don't want my butt to shrink too much.)
Thighs--22" (I think 2" off each of these would be great, too.)

Now here are a couple before pictures. I realize that I am a healthy weight and already fairly thin, so please don't think I'm trying to be anorexic or anything. I just am not completely happy with my body right now and know it can be better if I simply put the work in. There is quite a bit of cellulite on my butt and the back of my thighs that doesn't show too much in these pictures, and I'm really hoping that that will decrease with some weight loss and better toning. Plus, it'd be nice to get my fitness level back up there, too.

Goodness, that butt one is SO not pretty, almost wasn't going to post it, but other bloggers have posted similar pictures so if they can be brave so can I. Plus, I don't think the side shot gives a very good idea of the lift that it really does need. I chose these two outfits for the before shots because the bikini I'm wearing in the butt picture is one I got this summer that I absolutely love and it has the potential to make my butt look super great if only I was a few pounds lighter. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case this summer so I never actually wore it. :( And the blue outfit is my most favorite exercise outfit, but I don't feel comfortable wearing it anymore because of the shape my legs are in. But once this is regimen is done (or perhaps even during it) I'm going to rock that outfit again!

Menu Plan Monday--Week 1

2010-08-16T00:59:00.001-06:00

I am a big planner. Especially when it comes to my diet. I love meal planning. It helps me immensely with making sure I'm getting in all my fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and having everything already planned out makes it so I don't just run out and grab fast food or something because the plan was to have a certain meal and I don't like to deviate from that. Meal planning doesn't work for everyone (especially to the extreme I do it) because some like to just see what they feel like having that day, but I really figuring out what I'm going to eat for the week and then not having to ever think about it; just refer to the plan. So here's my plan for the week. I'm going to follow the Fat-Burning Foods guide that's included in the BBL program so that I see the best results possible. The food sounds really good to me, and I'm excited for what I'm going to eat this week. This plan includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

Monday:
Goat Cheese Egg White Omelet with Pineapple
1 oz. almonds
Side Salad with grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Dressing (McDonald’s)
½ a sliced apple with 2 tsp. peanut butter
Turkey Sausage with Peppers and Onions
1 oz. dark chocolate

Tuesday:
Canadian Bacon and Toast
Celery sticks and cucumber slices with 2 tbsp. hummus
Lentil Salad
3/4 cup plain non-fat yogurt with ½ cup high-fiber cereal
Side Salad with grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Dressing (McDonald’s)

Wednesday:
High-Fiber Cereal
1 medium pear sliced with 1 oz. low-fat cheese
Veggie Burger
4 oz. lean roast beef rolled with Dijon mustard for dipping
Side Salad with grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Dressing (McDonald’s)

Thursday:
Brazilian Breakfast Smoothie
1 large hard-boiled egg
Tuna Pita and Fresh Arugula Salad
1 cup 2% cottage cheese with ½ cup sliced honeydew melon
Portobello Mushroom Bake
½ cup sorbet with ¼ cup blueberries

Friday:
Oatmeal
¾ cup low-fat plain yogurt with ½ sliced banana
Black Bean Soup and Salad
1 large hard-boiled egg
Chicken Fajitas
½ cup sorbet with ¼ cup blueberries

Saturday:
Tropical Yogurt Swirl
1 fresh fig with a scant drizzle of honey and 1 part-skim mozzarella string cheese
Grilled Chicken and Bean Spinach Salad
2 tbsp. bean dip with 20 baked tortilla chips and salsa
Side Salad with grilled chicken and Low-Fat Balsamic Dressing (McDonald’s)

Sunday:
Pita Scramble
8 baby carrots, 3 cherry tomatoes, and 1 part-skim mozzarella string cheese
Veggie Pita w/ 1 cup coconut milk
¾ cup non-fat plain yogurt topped with 1/3 cup raspberries
Herb-Grilled Orange Roughy with Cucumber and Avocado Salad
3 rice crackers with ¼ cup salsa

I almost forgot to mention, if you're wondering why you see the same McDonald's meal on there several times it's because that's where I work, and I figure I'll just eat that on the days that I'm working. At the back of the food guide it gives some options that are okay when eating out, and that falls within the guidelines. And as stated in a previous post, each day is approximately 1400 calories.

For more great meal plan ideas check out Menu Plan Monday at I'm An Organizing Junkie.

Brazil Butt Lift

2010-08-14T01:00:00.000-06:00

(You're welcome for that image, guys.)

Readers, it's time to do something about this body of mine. The summer's been passing by, and each day I've had more chances to look at it with it constantly being donned in shorts and tank tops and mini skirts and sun dresses. And each day, I think, I should do something about those saddle bags...my butt could definitely be higher...where did my four-pack go? And you maybe be wondering why I have waited until the end of summer to do something about it. No logical reason, really. It's just that motivation has finally struck me to really buckle down with my diet and do more than three days of exercise a week. I don't care that within oh, 'bout three weeks I won't be able to show my legs or arms off anymore. I just want my body to look good for me. 'Cause even if nobody else is seeing it through the winter, I will. I want to feel good about it again. Plus, I really do feel best when I'm pushing my body with a great exercise routine and getting all the proper nutrition I need. It's possible for me to maintain my weight with portion control, but it doesn't mean that it's the best for my body.

So, how am I going to whoop my sagging butt back into shape? Brazil Butt Lift, baby! This is a complete 12-week workout (and nutrition) program that was developed by BeachBody. If you know anything about me you know that I'm a big fan of BeachBody's products. Other programs I've used and love are Turbo Jam and Yoga Booty Ballet so I know that this company puts out some really great stuff. I purchased this latest workout way back in January but never bothered doing it...until now. It's a workout designed by Leandro Carvalho that specifically targets the lower body which is most definitely my problem area. I'm so pear-shaped. My abs and arms and back stay slim with hardly any effort but my legs and butt just do not like to be toned. I intend to change that with this program.

One aspect of it that's really neat is that it has four different "Booty Makeover" calendars set up depending on what your butt type is which is genius because butts can be very different. Mine is the Pear-Shaped solution which states: "You're curvy, which is a good thing, but a little too big below the hips and a little out of proportion. Larger hips and stubborn saddlebags that stick out to the side give you a wide-angle silhouette." That's me! And if this program can change that in 12 weeks I will be SO grateful as I haven't found anything else that gives me exactly the shape I want for my butt and legs. And in case you're wondering what that shape is, I would love for my butt to look like Adriana Lima's, hence the image above. That would be so amazing. I believe it's possible, don't you? (Dare to dream.)

The program uses a mix of Brazilian-style dance moves and serious butt and leg-toning exercises to get results, and it makes sure that it's targeting all three of the glute muscles, not just one of them, for that tight rounded look. Leandro also guarantees that the leg exercises will slim, not bulk, my thighs which has been a problem for me in the past. Another thing I think I'll really like about this program is the nutrition plan. It isn't super low on carbs, which I find really hard to follow, and the food is actually *gasp* interesting! Not two egg whites and some plain oatmeal for breakfast and a piece of grilled chicken with steamed asparagus for dinner. I mean, I like those things, but I'm gonna be realistic. I love food and I need flavor. I can only keep up a really clean diet for maybe two weeks at a time, not twelve. So, I don't think it's going to be a problem for me to stick to this one because I'm going to be allotted 1400 calories a day, and it seems like plenty of tasty, different food.

I'm starting the plan on Monday. On Sunday I'll post my starting stats (weight, measurements) as well as some before pictures. I think I'm also going to post my menu plan for the week every Monday so you can see what kind of stuff I'm eating and it'll help to keep me accountable. I'm excited!

You Can Always Do More

2010-07-25T01:52:00.000-06:00

When did people stop wanting to test their limits? When did we settle for doing as little as possible and achieving poor results? When did we stop pushing ourselves? Has it always been this way, or is this just a recent thing? I guess I don't really know since I'm only 22 years old, but it seems like this is how it's been for a great deal of my life and it saddens me because everyone can do more than they think they can. In any area of their life, usually. But I'm gonna focus on fitness in this post, because that's what this blog is about.

These thoughts were prompted by a Healthy Woman meeting I went to recently. It really is a cool program that holds monthly meetings about various health topics, and if you want to learn more about it or see if there's one in your area, just click that link. Anyway, this month's topic was about the benefits of strength training for women, which is something that I think is really important. A lot of women don't include as much strength training in their exercise regimen as they should because they just don't realize how many great benefits there are. Increases metabolism, helps to prevent osteoporosis, makes everyday tasks easier...just to name a few. Oh, and unless you're doing nothing but lifting really heavy, and eating a diet specifically meant so that you can build a ton of muscle, you're not going to get too big. So, yeah, I was happy that they were going to be talking about this to all the women in the group who maybe didn't know this.

The speaker was a physical therapist but she did know a lot about strength training and the benefits of it. After she got past the initial information though, the presentation started to irk me a little because it seemed like she was trying to make it sound like we didn't really need to do much. Doing 15 sit-ups a week during commercial breaks will give you abdominal strength. Using 1/2 pound soup cans as dumbbells will tone your arms. Stuff like that. Now, maybe that's true for someone who never does anything, ever. Or someone who has something like muscular dystrophy or some other disease that severely degenerates the muscles. But the average person's body needs more than that to develop strength and tone because this kind of stuff is not stressing our muscles anymore than different tasks that we perform throughout the day. There were women asking what ab exercises they could do that were really easy. The point of exercise is not for it to be easy. We'll never see any results by doing stuff that doesn't actually force the muscles to work just a little harder than they're used to.

It just really bothered me that she seemed afraid to tell us that we could do a lot. And that we should. By God, these bodies were given to us to be used to their full potential! You CAN bench press your body weight. You CAN do pull-ups. You CAN do a lot of push-ups, and not the ones on your knees. You can make it so that you'll be able to identify all the main muscles on your body because strength training has given you an amazing figure. Everyone should be doing this. And as a result, you're not going to have as many problems when you age. You're going to feel confident and strong. And you're going to be pleased with your body, not only because of the way it looks, but because of all the things you know it can do.

Now, I'm gonna go do some pull-ups in my basement and get a good ab workout in. What are you going to do today to push yourself?

Don't Underestimate Yoga

2010-04-15T23:14:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been doing pretty well with exercising regularly. At least 3-4 times a week, sometimes more, I've been doing an hour of exercise. That's a lot better than I was doing a couple months ago, so I'm happy with it. I'm also on the "I can't afford to eat" diet, so hopefully that will yield results sometime soon. Right now I'm pretty much limited to DVDs at home since I no longer have a gym membership, but that's okay because I have a decent collection. I'd do something outside but I'm in Wyoming, and we won't have nice weather until July. Anyway, I'm always trying to get my very out of shape boyfriend to exercise with me, and I've been feeling a little depressed lately, so he agreed to workout with me today as a way to try and cheer me up.

So I told him he could pick whatever DVD(s) he wanted as long as it was at least an hour. He decided on a 15-minute strength training and a 45-minute yoga DVD. He picked the yoga because he'd never done it before but figured it was the easiest out of my whole collection. Ha. So we did the strength training and he was very underwhelmed by it, mostly because all he had to use were my five pound weights.

Then we started the yoga. To be fair, this was vinyasa style yoga, which is a much more flowing, "quick" type of yoga than others you may have tried or seen. This is probably my favorite type of yoga, though I do enjoy hatha sometimes if I really want to work on my flexibility. What I really like about vinyasa is it feels like a workout to me. It doesn't necessarily make me break a sweat, but it does leave my muscles feeling mildly tired and lengthened afterward. Because that's the great thing about yoga--you're getting resistance training through your own body weight while increasing flexibility at the same time. On top of that, it's even more stress relieving (for me, at least) than other types of exercise just because of the nature of it. Instead of me pounding away on a treadmill I'm smoothly flowing from chaturanga to upward dog to downward dog to warrior I and it's all very calming.

Anyway, back to our yoga session. So it starts with the basic sun salutation, and about three minutes into quickly flowing through this series of poses, Josh starts talking about how he can't do it, it's hurting his wrists, it's too hard. I chuckled a little and told him to do his best. He did, and we moved on to other poses and he complained about how they were hard in other ways. And the thing is, I knew he would have trouble with the yoga. I've seen guys who have been working out regularly try this type of yoga for the first time and have trouble with it. It's just because it's something different than they're used to. But they see it, with the people not sweating, and often mostly women doing it, and they just assume it's really easy. A lot of the time they assume it's "beneath them" and that they don't need to waste their time with it.

Yoga IS challenging and it is most definitely worth your time. You can start out, hella unflexible and a complete beginner, improve a ton, and then when it gets easy, you move on to more advanced poses, and suddenly it's not easy anymore. Tony Horton, the creator of P90X which I'm sure a lot of you have probably heard of, has a yoga workout in that program, and he refers to yoga as "the fountain of youth." Which is why I wonder why there are still so many people out there who are committed to being healthy, exercise regularly, yet have never done any yoga in their life. It's so strange to me. It keeps your muscles strong, yet flexible, and it calms your mind. You can do it anywhere. You don't need any equipment. So if you do decide you want to start, either go to a class first where an instructor can properly show you how to do the moves, or just get a good DVD. The one I used today is MTV Yoga, and it's a great one for beginners. It has a very good instructor and awesome music. When I first started I could only do the beginner versions of all the moves, but now I have all the advanced down. I don't recommend starting out from poses in a book because it's best to see someone actually doing them, but once you get the basics down, a book can be helpful if you want to, say, go do yoga on the beach near your house (I know there's some lucky person out there that lives right next to a beach). Oh, I almost forgot: if you're pregnant, prenatal yoga is just about the best thing ever. I did it a few times when I was pregnant and those sessions were honestly the best I felt throughout the entire pregnancy. So try it today. What have you got to lose?

Don't Like Water?

2010-02-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Everyone who is living a healthy lifestyle (or getting there) knows that water is very important to the body. Many say that it helps them lose a lot more weight. Others say their skin is clearer. The fact is the body can be up to 75% water, and we lose a lot of that through sweating, etc., so we need to constantly replenish it. Most people have heard the 8 glasses a day guideline, but I've read articles that say it's best to drink 9-13 cups a day.

But what happens if you don't like water? Well, lately, as I mentioned during my cleanse, I wasn't doing a very good job of getting my water in. I've never minded plain water, but we just get tap water, and although the water in my town is of pretty good quality, it tasted a little bit funny which made me not as inclined to drink it. I mean, who likes cloudy water? And then at my work they're kind of jerks about us not drinking water anywhere where a customer could possibly see us, so it's difficult to get it in there, too. I knew I needed to do something though to get me drinking more than 5-6 cups a day, especially considering I do exercise for at least a half hour most days.

So we got a Brita water pitcher. And it is bomb! I love it. Water tastes SO much better now, and like I said, it wasn't particularly bad before. Now I'm easily drinking 8 glasses a day at home, and then whatever I can get in at work. So people, if you don't like water because you don't like the taste of it, try getting a filter. I would say drink bottled water, but that can get rather expensive (not to mention it's hard on the environment). And for those of you who don't like the taste of just plain water, even when it is completely clean, try adding lemon or lime to it. No, not Crystal Light, that stuff's full of aspartame and shouldn't our water be chemical-free? It can also be fun to add something like frozen grapes instead of ice. If you make sure to drink your recommended intake of water each day, you'll find that you do feel better, your skin may look clearer, you'll have more energy because your body is properly hydrated, and you'll probably lose weight since you're not drinking your calories. Drinking your recommended amount of water every day is probably the most simple thing you can do for your health. So if you're not doing it already, start today.

Well, done with that.

2010-02-14T01:30:00.000-07:00

Today was the final day of the cleanse, thank goodness. I really didn't enjoy my food today. I used to be a very picky person. I have gotten over a lot of my dislikes, and even if I don't love certain foods I can usually tolerate them. But there are still some things I really don't like. I tried eating them today, and it just didn't work it. So here's what I ate.

Breakfast was two poached eggs. I have always hated runny yolk. I can't remember the last time I tried it. Was probably five years old or so. So I thought, maybe the way I remember disgusting runny yolk won't apply anymore. Maybe I'll think it's okay now. But first, we have to talk about preparing the eggs. Since I don't like runny yolk, I've never tried to poach eggs. Well, has anyone seen Julie & Julia? Remember that scene where she tries to poach eggs for the first time? That was me today. Only I never got a perfect one like she did. I only had three eggs, the first one was not salvageable in any way, and for the two that you see here, I lost a good bit of the white, which is my favorite part. :-( I even added vinegar to the water and tried to spoon the white around the yolk right when cracking it in the water like everyone says, but I guess I'm just a crappy cook who can't poach eggs. Whatev. The only thing that ultimately mattered is after having two bites of the eggs I decided I definitely could NOT eat that gross runny yolk, and threw them out. Any intelligent person (including Josh) might be wondering to themselves why I didn't just scramble them or something. Well, because I'm a perfectionist and wanted to follow the plan to a T. And, I wanted to see if I could poach eggs.

Natural light, how I love you. Even though I didn't enjoy this lunch in the slightest, I quite like this picture. Anyway, this was lunch; the grilled chicken breast was dry and flavorless, and the salad wasn't good. It was supposed to have papaya in it, but I could not find that anywhere in my lame town. I'm sure that might have helped. Well, I don't know, I remember trying papaya once as a child and not liking it, but I honestly cannot remember how it actually tasted, so I very well might enjoy it now. *shrugs* The greens were supposed to be arugula, but arugula is apparently too high-brow for Evanston, so I settled on baby spinach. And with that with a small avocado, a little bit of shallot, some cilantro (which has got to be my least favorite herb), and a little lime juice. I ate all of the chicken because it's not like it was inedible, but I only had about a third of the salad before I gave up and gave it to someone else. Did I mention that I really don't like avocados either? I think their texture is nice, but the flavor is just not for me. So I went to work pretty hungry.

Dinner was a salad of baby spinach (once again, instead of arugula), red chard, cherry tomatoes, half a mango, all tossed in a little white rice vinegar, and topped with two slices of plain grilled tofu. This salad was much better than the one I had for lunch because I actually liked all of the ingredients. Although it is a huge pain in the ass cutting a mango. I forgot how b-l-a-n-d tofu is when it's not seasoned or anything, so I made sure to just eat every bite with a piece of tomato or mango or something. Oh, and I was so ravenous, that I forgot to take a picture of this. Sorry. It really was fairly pretty with the different colors.

I remembered to take a picture of my dessert though, which was some effing delicious raspberry sorbet. Oh, this was so good. Favorite food of the day. It was Haagen-Dazs brand, in case anyone's wondering. Get thee to the store and try some for yourself straight away.

My water for today was good. Pretty sure I had 8-9 glasses. I didn't have any green tea. Oh well. I did the ab video, some more stomach toning exercises, and a hip-hop dance video. Well, now I'm done with this cleanse. I don't notice any difference in my body since it's only been three days, but I do definitely notice a difference in how I feel. I haven't eaten this clean since, oh, summer of last year, and I've felt really good the last three days. Well, I woke up with very little energy today but that was probably because I hardly ate anything for dinner the night before. But that was my fault, not the plan's. So if you're looking for something that is easy enough to do since it's only three days to help you get off of junk food, or at least kind of clean out your system but you aren't down with an all liquid diet, then give this a shot. Especially if you're not as picky as me. Now that I've been eating really well for three days and want to keep continue feeling good, I'm going to be more careful with the choices I make again. I can't always buy the exact groceries I want, and Josh does like to eat out, but I can still make smart choices. After all, summer is just five months away here!

Damned Artichokes!

2010-02-13T01:50:00.000-07:00

Alright, well today was day two of Tracy Anderson's "Valentine's Day cleanse." I enjoyed most of my food today, more than I did yesterday's. But a vegetable made a fool of me today which I will get into later. :-( Let's talk about what I ate for the day...

I really enjoyed breakfast today because I got my sweet, sweet sugar (but no HFCS!), and I just like yogurt in general. Tracy called for 1 cup of Kefir probiotic yogurt. Whatever the heck that is, I could not find it, not even at the health store. So I settled for the closest thing my town had: Yoplait's new YoPlus probiotic yogurt in a delicious blackberry pomegranate flavor. Yum! This was once again a very filling breakfast.

Lunch was actually very tasty. I would probably make this quick recipe again even when not doing this plan. It is tuna salad in an egg wrap. An egg wrap is some eggs cooked in an omelet pan in a thin layer, and then you wrap up whatever you're eating in it. I planned on using only one egg, but it would have been way too thin, so I used two. The tuna salad consisted of one can of white tuna, 1 teaspoon of mustard, a little celery for crunch, and a scoop of chia seeds. If you don't know what chia seeds are, look them up, they're hella good for you. And they didn't alter the flavor at all, really, just gave a tiny crunch every once in a while. A lot of people would have probably balked at the absence of mayonnaise in this, but I don't like mayonnaise, so I was actually glad it wasn't in there.

My snack, which I had while working at McDonald's, where the delicious smell of McNuggets was wafting up my nostrils the whole night long, was a green apple and some Early Grey-flavored green tea. Well, only about an ounce of that. I tried it 'cause someone recommended that after me telling them I dislike unsweetened green tea. Well, it turns out I also dislike Earl Grey tea, so it wasn't any better. The apple was delicious though. I usually don't eat Granny Smith apples just by themselves, but after I got over the tartness in the first few bites I realized it was a great flavor on its own. And I think it was just what my body needed because I was not hungry during my entire 7-hour shift.

Ugh, sorry for the terrible photo. Dinner was supposed to be five grilled shrimp with a steamed artichoke. I say supposed to be because I wasn't able to eat the friggin' artichoke. I'd never cooked with artichokes before because I don't much care for them. But I don't much care for green tea either, and I'm drinking that, so I figured, why not? But I still didn't know how I was supposed to eat this very intimidating vegetable. A quick trip to YouTube cleared that up for me, and I was ready to go. Steamed that sucker for ten minutes, the way I've steamed all my other vegetables, took it out, and attempted to start eating the meat from the leaves. But there wasn't really much there, and it was really hard to tear them off. I decided to screw the leaves and get the heart of the artichoke. So I hacked them all off, and when I got to the part that was the heart, the leaves were still very hard, not at all edible. Sad day. Josh mentioned that I should have boiled it 'cause they're tough suckers. Well, I wish it would have instructed me to boil it 'cause I didn't know. Anyway...I ate my measly five shrimp for dinner, and now I sit here with a gnawing hunger. I really want to eat one of the fruit and Jell-O cups that's in the fridge. But I won't. 'Cause that would be cheating. I'll go to bed soon here and then I won't realize that I'm hungry. :)

For exercise today, I didn't manage to fit cardio in, but I did do Tracy's toning exercises. First was that fun ab video. My abs weren't sore today from the stuff I did yesterday, but I can really feel it working when I do the exercises, so that's good enough. Then I did four different exercises--one focusing on the obliques, the chest, the butt, and the thighs. All the exercises except for the chest one were killer. Tracy Anderson focuses on the "accessory" muscles as she calls them, and she mentioned that "waking up the accessory muscles is a painful thing." True that. Oh, I got about 5-6 cups of water today. Well, tomorrow's the last day of this, and I'm feeling fine, except for being hungry tonight. Looking forward to getting chicken and sorbet tomorrow.

First Day of Cleanse

2010-02-12T01:43:00.000-07:00

So today was day one of the "cleanse." It went well. We all know how day ones go. They're easy because it's all new and exciting. Well I'll tell ya, if this was a diet I had to follow for more than three days I definitely would not be sticking to it. But I understand the purpose. To help get my body off the crappy food I've been eating lately. However, that doesn't mean I enjoy eating almost all bland food. I've said before that I cook mostly healthy food, but there's a difference between healthy and completely clean. Anyway, on to what I ate today (with pictures!)...

Breakfast was a whole sweet potato, sliced up and sauteed in some organic olive oil spray. And then to that I got to add two tablespoons of maple syrup, which was actually a pretty generous amount. And this was not too bad. The maple syrup definitely added a lot of flavor, and it was uber-filling. I usually have a snack between breakfast and lunch, but I didn't need it today. Which was good since the plan didn't call for one. Oh, and with breakfast I had my first glass of water for the day.

The plan says I can only drink water and green tea. And I assume that's green tea without any sugar in it. Which I can't really stand, but hey, I forced myself to like the nastiness that is cottage cheese, so why not this? It's been a long time since I've had unsweetened green tea, and I still think it tastes like weeds. Oh well. If I force myself to drink it enough, I'm sure it will become tolerable.

Lunch was bland. Really not that great. It had lots of good-for-me stuff in it, so I ate it, but I can't say I enjoyed this or that it's a lunch I would ever look forward to. It had half a cup of quinoa in it, which I do like, along with a bunch of steamed kale, two stalks of steamed asparagus, and one hard-boiled egg. Meh. And although it was filling at the time, I got hungry just about an hour later.

After lunch we went to see a movie. Legion, which SUCKED, by the way, trust me on this, do not waste your time. I was good at the movie and just got me a cup of water (but damn, those Swedish Fish were looking good) but by the time I got home I was definitely ready for my snack. The plan said either an apple or blueberries, and since blueberries are expensive I went for a sweet, delicious Fuji apple. Man, did I enjoy this. I have a rather fast metabolism. And I was reading an article once about how people with different metabolisms crave different foods. It was mostly focused on those who have trouble with their weight, but it did mention if you have a fast metabolism that the main cravings you get will be sugar because that just means your body is low on energy. This is most definitely true for me as all day I was craving sugary stuff.

Finally for dinner I had what was probably my favorite meal of the day: grilled salmon with steamed broccoli. I already mentioned that I love broccoli, and while growing up I always had it steamed with no butter or anything added to it, so I'm fine with it like that. I also love salmon, and even though it's nice when there are spices or something on it, to add some kick, it was still good. Water for the day wasn't as good as it could have been...probably only about 5 cups. But I also had about 12 oz. of green tea, and I think that counts for water, too.

My exercise today was fun. First I did my Dance Off Inches:Sizzlin Salsa DVD, which I've had for years but still really enjoy. It's a fun cardio salsa dance workout, and the instruction is great. If you want to check it out, know that the exercise level is beginner to moderate. Then for my toning exercises, I did some ab moves that Tracy recommended in a magazine, as well as the short ab video posted on her site, which is really fun by the way! I'm eager to see if my abs are sore at all tomorrow. So yeah, I'm feeling good, tomorrow I plan on doing another dance DVD, the ab video, and some leg exercises. And I get to have yogurt tomorrow morning. Heck yes, I'm looking forward to that!

Welcome

2010-02-11T00:19:00.000-07:00

For a long time, I've been very interested in health, the body, weight loss, nutrition, and exercise. It's all very fascinating to me. I follow a lot of different blogs that cover these subjects (check out my blogroll for some great reading), and now I've decided to start a blog of my own where I can share this passion.

I consider myself a pretty healthy person. My parents raised me right, and for this I was fortunate. As a child, we never had video games, and our TV watching was rather limited, especially in my early years. For most of my childhood I was in California, so I was almost always outside, running around, keeping active. And my parents also taught me to like good, whole foods. Things like vegetables (I love broccoli!) and fruits, whole wheat bread, cereals that aren't complete junk, and dinners that don't come from a box. I will always be grateful to my parents for teaching me the value of living a healthy lifestyle. And because I was raised this way, I've never had a problem with my weight. I did have a child, and had to work to get the weight off afterward, but since I have good eating habits, it was not as hard as it is for some.

I love being active, finding new exercise that I enjoy, and eating whole foods. I really enjoy cooking, and I generally cook about 90% healthy meals. If I'm not cooking something particularly healthy, I just watch my portion sizes and it usually is alright. Some of my favorite ways to exercise include dancing/dance-based aerobics, yoga, spinning, and strength training, but I do a lot more than that. I tend to get bored easily if I do the same routine for too long, so that's why I'm always trying different stuff. The one form of exercise I don't do is anything sports related. For as active as I've always been, I'm terribly un-athletic.

The one thing I've noticed though is I really love having a plan. If I can find a program that comes with a specific routine set out for me, with a nutrition plan telling me what to eat on what days, I love it. I'll do other stuff, too, but I gravitate toward the plans because I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and it gives me something to do perfectly. If I'm just doing my own thing than it's easy for me to eat something that I shouldn't really be eating or skip a workout, but if it's in the plan then I just can't skip it or stray from it.

So, in this blog, I'm going to be sharing a lot of my (amateur, non-professional) advice about health and nutrition, and I'll also be sharing with you how the latest programs I'm doing are going. I kind of like to treat my body like a guinea pig, so if you're wondering about how good a book, DVD, whatever really works, then check this blog out and I might just be doing it. As almost everybody is, I am never completely happy with my body. Even though it looks nice and I have a healthy body image, I usually feel that it can use some improvement. So I'll be doing programs that I think will get me to that perfect body image that I have in my head.

The first thing I'm going to be talking about on this blog is a three-day "cleanse" I've decided to do. It's not a cleanse in the traditional sense of just drinking some weird liquid or something, rather it's just three days of eating very clean. Lately we have been financially tight in our household and haven't been able to afford to buy healthy foods for a while, so I've been forced to eat a lot more processed and fast food than I'd ever like. As a result I haven't been feeling as good as normal lately, and so I'm hoping this will help me get back on track. It's a plan that Tracy Anderson put together. She's a celebrity trainer that I'm sure a lot of people have heard of. It looks like during the cleanse she also wants us to exercise doing cardio and toning exercises. Since she's a huge advocate of dancing for cardio, I plan on doing one of my dance cardio DVDs for each day of the cleanse, as well as some of her signature toning exercises.

If this sounds like something you want to do as well, check out the plan here. The second video is some fun looking ab work, and there are also other videos on her site showing some of her toning exercises. If I like this, then I'll look into getting her DVDs once I have some money to spare.