Progress Report

Okay I haven't done my measurements this week, however, since it's been so long since I've posted how I'm progressing I thought I would share this.

This is the weight chart taken from my bodyspace account at bodybuilding.com. This morning(and also a couple days ago) I weighed in at 168.4. Yep I've broken through the 170s. I'm so proud that even after overeating slightly yesterday I'm still below that dreaded number.

I'm 10lbs less then I was over a year ago and 16lbs less then at the peak over the past year.

Being healthy is tough when you're starting out unhealthy. In my past, I was slightly disordered in my eating. Basically in order to lose weight I wouldn't eat. I would count every single calorie that passed my lips and make sure that I was eating less then 100 calories a sitting. I lost weight yes. This loss isn't sustainable though. This way of eating wasn't healthy. I made myself sick, I would be so anemic I couldn't stay awake more then short times before needing a nap. I would be lightheaded. It wasn't fun.

My weight now is coming off slowly. I'm losing inches, I can see some muscle definition. I'm going to have awesome abs by the time it's all said and done. My body is already telling me to move when I go more then one day without exercising. I don't count calories, I count nutrients and ingredients. I only glance at the label and make sure I'm not putting tons of artificial crap in my body. I go by the 80/20 rule, eat right 80% of the time and don't worry so much about the 20%.

I'm getting awesome one pound, one rep, one mile, one hour at a time.

Raiding the Pantry

I'm shopping out of the Pantry for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. So far I think we're having:

• Applesauce pie
• Cranberry Sauce Meringue Pie
• Peach Cobbler
• Fruit Salad,
• Wild Rice stuffing,
• Green Bean Casserole,
• Dinner rolls,
• Mashed Potatoes and Gravy,
• and of course the Turkey.

I'm going to add another vegetable side dish or two to the menu as well. My plan is to cook enough that I don't have to actually cook again till about Sunday night. I'm going to try to make everything as healthy as possible. However, I don't fret over healthy too much during holiday meals. It's not a way we eat all the time and an occasional splurge doesn't hurt anything. As long as you don't overeat. So I'm planning on trying to stopping when my belly is full and not eating again until I'm hungry. I also plan on getting everyone outside tomorrow since it's suppose to be a better day then today.

This Weeks Plans

This week I'm not making very many of them actually.

I've been sick since Wednesday afternoon last week. A nasty bit of bladder infection plus a cold has knocked me on my booty. Today I'm feeling some better, but I've still got a long ways to go before I'm 100%.

So for this week, since it is a crazy holiday week and I'm recovering from an illness I'm going to take it fairly easy. Monday and Tuesday I may be able to spend some time in the gym. Wednesday I'm home with the kiddies and will be getting some of the baking done for Thursday. Maybe some free weights or some chasing the kiddies around the house. Dough fights anyone? Okay kind of an inside joke there. Thursday I'm planning on having a small-ish Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, wild rice with cranberries, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, fruit salad, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie. I want to make a pecan pie, but the prices of pecans are so high. Maybe if I can find someone who will let me come and pick them off their trees/lawn. Thursday's weather is suppose to be okay so maybe I'll chase my bunch outdoors for a little flag football.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be just whatever happens. I've got finals coming up fast and I do have to spend some of the Thanksgiving weekend studying for them.

Well, That Was a Bust...

Last week started out well, I got in on Monday and Tuesday and worked out as planned. Then Tuesday night my van decided that it needed a rest on the way home after class. I got about 5 miles or so from campus and it quit. So had to call the Hubby and have him drive 30 minutes to come get me. We got the van home(Hubby drove it home having to stay on the gas the entire way). However that meant we are down to one vehicle right now. So Wednesday I had a dentist appointment and classes. Since I had to run Hubby home to the kiddies when he got off work I missed my last class wednesday night. Thursday I did get a work out in, Hubby had caught a ride to and from work with a coworker. Fridday I was lazy(which unfortunately is becoming a norm on Fridays for me). Saturday and Sunday was spent around the house and running errands.

So what's up for this week?
Well, for some reason I was thinking I was not going to be able to work out today so left my gym bag at home. Only to realize on the drive to class that Hey I could of worked out between my first two classes. I know why I was thinking I wasn't going to be able to...there's a chance of rain and at first they were saying 11am today and Hubby might of gotten off work early. I can't work out between my second and third classes because of having to go and pick up Hubby.
Tomorrow I should be able to get a workout in after my first class. Also tomorrow we're hoping the part to fix the van is in. Unfortunately it's suppose to rain all day, so I'm not sure Hubby will be able to put said part in van.
Wednesday, as long as the part comes in and we can can get it installed and everything put back together, I'm planning a full body last chance type of work out. Thursday is my last fitness class this semester and we are weighing in. So I've got to be good these last few days so I can hopefully have a big loss. It's also my birthday and they're giving us goodies for participating in the class and I'm considering them as birthday presents too.
So that's it for this week, I'm hoping for more workout time then last week.

Monday, check

I did do some ab work. I did: 2x25 crunches on the swiss ball, 15 berry pickers, 2x15 bridges(on swiss ball), I did 2x15/60lbs on ab twist machine, 2x20 ab crunch machine.

For arms I did: 1x15/10lbs bicep curls, 1x15/10lbs hammer curls, 1x 15/10lbs tricep extensions. 15 pushups, 2x15/40lbs tricep machine.

Also did 11 minutes on the stationary bike.

Food-wise, I could of done better, could of done worse. I'm not fretting it too much today. My foot is super tender, but I woke up with it feeling that way so it's nothing I did walking on campus or at the gym. It kinda feels like someone is constantly stomping on it. Not hurting too bad, but not too pleasant either.

Plans for the Week

My plan for this week is:

Monday; abs and arms

• I'm going to get on one of the swiss balls and do some ab exercises. There are some good ideas HERE.
• Then I plan on bicep curls, hammer curls, tricep extensions and kickbacks until I can't lift another ounce.
• Cardio is going to be super easy, just 10-15 minutes on stationary bike. I'm not trying to push my ankle at all. I do need some cardio to encourage weight loss and hopefully not lose any endurance.

Tuesday; Legs and back

• Legs will be squats, leg extensions, leg curls, abductor and adductor machines. Nothing were I have to push against anything.
• Back will be rows, pulldowns, back extension, pullup, dumbbell shrug, bentover rows.
• Cardio will also be 10-15 minutes on the stationary bike.

Wednesday; Shoulders and abs (this Wednesday my time available for the gym is limited, but I should still be able to get a minimum of 45 minutes in there)

• Shoulders will be military press, chest press, lateral raises and pushups(knees down)
• Abs will be the ab machines, crunches, captains chair
• Cardio will be 10-15 minutes on stationary bike.

Thursday; Thursdays right now I have my fitness class and so this days workout will be whatever the trainers decide. I think there are only two more classes left so after Thanksgiving I'll be planning my workouts for Thursdays again.

Meal plans;

Well, since I only cook 3 out of 5 days a week right now I'm not in control of dinners or what foods are in the house. Hubby has been doing the majority of the grocery shopping and there are a lot of convenience foods in the house. However I can choose what I eat for breakfasts and lunches and snacks so here are my ideas for those:

Breakfasts: eggs(poached or hard boiled), toast(whole grain bread), grits

Lunches: sandwiches (either peanut butter or ham), veggie soups (homemade quickies), hard boiled eggs, homemade biscuits

Snacks: coffee(black) and fruit or yogurt, both bought on campus. The bad thing about choosing the yogurt is the campus only either has yoplait or their yogurt parfait. Both which have added sugar. However, since there are worse choices that could be made I'm not going to fret over the added sugar too much.

Thanksgiving is just over two weeks away and I need to be going over my recipes and making the necessary changes to them. I also need to be planning my budget for this holiday. I think I'll do this throughout this week and cross-post between here and Jackie's Junk Drawer. I'm doing NaBloPoMo over there so if your curious about anything else going on in my simple life drop by there.

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, the gym anyway. I went to my fitness class today. We did a circuit of spin bikes, push ups, plancks, mountain climbers, box jumps, then a ab pyramid. They did anyway. Me, I couldn't do the mountain climbers or box jumps due to my bum foot. I did the bikes, a modified push up (the girlie ones), a modified planck (knees on ground), and tried to do step ups but ended up doing squats and the ab pyramid.
My darn ankle kept popping when trying to do step ups, so it's obviously not ready to handle much weight yet. It did fine on the bike, and the trainer said that the stationary/spin bikes were good for bad ankles since there's little to no pressure on it. He also told me to do calf raises in a doorway, using the doorway for support, to help strengthen my ankle.
It felt so good to get a workout in, can't wait till I'm back running again. I know it will take a bit of time, and I'm trying to resist the urge to push my ankle. So I'm going to look up and plan my own recovery/rehab workouts to make sure I don't lose any muscle that I've worked so hard to gain. Also I want to encourage my ankle to heal properly.

So Sore

I'm extra super glad that my foot is sprained not broken. I hate these crutches. I'm sure I'm not doing something right so I've been reading and searching for tips to make sure I know the proper mechanics of crutch usage. The only thing I can figure is that the handgrips are not quite right. These are Hubby's crutches from like 5 years ago. His arms are a bit longer then mine. We adjusted them for height but didn't adjust arm length. So tonight I had Hubby adjust the handgrips for my arms and now hopefully I can use them without continuing to kill my biceps. I swear I have a permanent bruise on my right bicep. I dread getting up because of the pain. I cannot yet walk on my foot, I tried. That hurts too. I can put some weight on it, but when I go to take a step pain shoots up from my toes then my ankles.
I hope I get better soon, I don't do injured well.