To keep you on track..

If you made a goal/resolution to get into shape for 2014, I'm here to help. Today is the last day for free shipping on the P90X3 and Focus T25 challenge packs. After today the shipping and handling goes up to a discounted 2.00 and then will go up again after 1/31/2014. The challenge packs are on sale through January for only 180.00. With the challenge pack you receive the fitness program, one of five delicious Shakeology flavors, and a FREE 30-day trial membership to the Team Beachbody Club. Everything you need to be successful.

To order the P90X3 challenge pack go here: http://teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCPX3205?referringRepId=301613

And to order Focus T25 challenge pack go here: http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCPT25205?referringRepId=301613

First Challenge of 2014

It's been 2014 for a week now. Has anyone fell off their resolutions yet? Honestly, I'm barely keeping mine. Stress lately has been doing that to me. I need accountability (which, of course, is one reason for this page). I have fitness apps on my phone and kindle, but rarely use them. So I decided on my January challenge. This one will run through the end of February as well. 

For the next 7 weeks the challenge is log your health/fitness journey. You can choose your favorite way to do this. I'm going to be using a free printable from here http://www.designfinch.com/2012/09/01/planning-to-get-fit/# (I'm using number 6). Starting this evening I will take a snapshot of my journal each day, whether I fill it out or not. I need to log the good as well as the bad. I will post the picture on here for accountability. 

If you would like to join along just like and comment  on my Facebook page and (if you can) share your log entry. You don't have to share any measurements if you don't want to. Just share that you followed along. Let's hold each other to our goals.

Yay for Friday the 13th

I don't know why everyone gets so superstitious about Friday the 13th. It's usually been pretty good for me, just like every other day of the week. Though it  is about the only date I will go and buy myself a lottery ticket, just hoping for an added bit of luck.

I'm still working out to my Advent exercise calendar. Today is 13 bicycle crunches, love them. I love doing these short exercises this time of year. I've been studying for finals, and so sitting more then I care to do. So these short exercises gets me off my rump and moving. I usually do more then what I wrote to do, I see that as a minimum amount. I believe we should get up and do random exercises at regular intervals. Pop out a few squats or something every 30-45 minutes. Gets blood flowing and keeps your behind from getting sore.

It being cookie season, I think 5 minutes of  medium intense activity for every sweet should help keep those calories burned down a bit. Well, in theory anyway.

Not too much else to post at the moment so I'll leave you with a "lovely" picture of me doing my bodyweight triceps extensions yesterday. 2014 will be the year those flabby arms disappear. I want to wear cute tanks this summer.

Okay before I get back to hitting the books, I'm going to make a quick post on something amazing that became available yesterday. If you haven't already heard, Beachbody has made a new P90x. This one is P90X3, all the intensity and work from P90X in only 30 minute workouts. Perfect for busy people like me who cannot always find time for a 90 minute workout. However, I can almost always squeeze 30 minutes in my day.

Through the rest of December, P90X3 will be discounted. If your a Beachbody club member you get further discounts. Plus there is free shipping right now. Looking for a Christmas gift for the health/fitness nut on your list? Order by December 15th to get P90X3 by Christmas.

Exercise Through Advent ~still in there and correcting an oops

Have made it to day 10 of my exercise through Advent calendar and went to see what today's exercise was and, well, oops.  It seems I either neglected to add days 10, 11, 12, and 20 or somehow those were deleted.

So here is the corrected calendar:

So today's exercise is 10 bear crawls. Here is a video in case you're not sure what a bear crawl is:

I missed posting yesterday, though I did do the exercise I designated for day 3 and this morning I did day 4. Yesterday was easy, this morning was thigh burning, leg shaking fun.

High knees, so easy.

4 minute wall sit and a sorry attempt at a smile. I should of taken the picture before starting.

I finished day one of my fitness Advent calendar. It was easy peasy like I knew it would be. I'm going to try and take a quick picture of me doing each activity as photographic proof. I don't want it to seem as I'm all talk on here. So here is my poorly done picture of me doing a plank

It may of been better, but I had to keep redoing my plank as one of my doggies kept thinking I was on the floor for kisses. So it took me a minute to reach over and hit the button on my laptop to take the darn thing.

Tomorrow is jumping jacks for two minutes. Starting off nice and easy.

December Goals and an Advent Workout

Hello Dear Readers!
I hope everyone of you had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend and made good decisions and made time to be active. I tried my best, the active part was pretty slim due to cold temps and me being a chicken when the thermometer reads below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrr. However I did OK on everything, proof being the scale actually read less today than it did on Wednesday. If I had splurged too much it would of been higher due to water weight gain. I did have soda, and that was probably the worse I did.

December goals:
My main goal for December is to have fun and not stress too much. If I lived in the Southern hemisphere December would be my most favorite month. I love Christmas and everything it stands for. 
So for December lets not worry too much about the food we eat as long as we keep 80/20 in our mind. Eat great 80% of the time so that 20% of the time we can enjoy those Holiday sweets and treats.  No guilt is allowed this month. We will keep active enough to keep those bad, negative thoughts at bay.

For some fitness fun I'm thinking up a fitness Advent calendar. There will be a different exercise each day. So here is the list:

Juneathon Fail

Last week ended up being a wash exercise-wise for me. There was vacation bible school at church all week and I just didn't feel comfortable working out with all those people around(they said they averaged 400 kids a day). That time of month also kicked in and that made me feel washed out and tired most of the week.  So working out consisted of nearly nothing.

I'm making up for that this week.  Yesterday I did 30 minutes on the spin bike, ran up and walked down 2 flights of stairs 8x, 40-50 minutes of upper body using weight machines and free weights.  After about an hour and a half at the gym I came home and mowed my yard for another hour.  Oh and we do abs everyday yesterday and today I did 72 decline crunches and 72 reps on the ab machine. It's suppose to be 3 sets of 12 times 2, but I get in a groove and forget to pause between sets.  Oops. I usually do about 24 reps then pause for like 30 seconds then another 24 pause, then a 3rd set of 24.  I may need to increase my weight/difficulty.

Oh and I've been asked if I can help some of the other church member with making healthy choices with food/eating. I'll probably enlist the help of another dietetic student who is working out with us, if she's comfortable with it. I have no problems sharing with others the things I learn in class as long as they don't request meal plans.  I don't want to get accused of working without a license and there is a fine line.  I'm sure showing people proper serving sizes and how to make better choices is fine because the SDA does that all the time.

On a good note, one of the ladies working out today was talking to me about her junk food cravings and asked what I thought. She was happy to have some of her questions answered and said maybe God was making this a calling for me. I know was feeling good about talking with her and I really love learning about nutrition and how it affects our bodies. So maybe she's right. As I finish my undergrad I'm so happy to feel as I'm on the right path.

Well, I want to do some more things before my workout high wears off so I guess I need to get off of here and get them done. Have a wonderful day dear readers.

Still Around

I'm here, I've just been trying to get some ideas/plans worked out before I post them.  I trying to work on a exercise plan that will work for me time-wise and I'll post that as soon as I get all the details sorted out.  I'm also working on a no or little sugar plan.  I would like to have no white sugar for me and little sugar for the Hubby and kiddies.  I know getting them to go no sugar is like trying to get milk from a bull.  Just not going to happen.  Maybe when the kids are grown and make their own decisions about what they eat they'll see how unhealthy it is. Unfortunately that is not taught in elementary, middle and high schools.  What is taught is moderation so my kids learn, from school, that a little sugar is okay.  So as not to confuse them, much, I'll let them have a little sugar.  I'll incorporate non-sugar, natural sweeteners in my baked goods that they eat and know that I'm doing my best to get them to eat healthy.
For myself, I'm going to have to stop drinking soda. Yes I've been drinking it again. How much depends solely on what kind of day I'm having.  The more stress I feel the better that can of Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew sounds. Well one can was pretty good, how about another.  I usually don't drink more then 3 (4?) cans a day and not every day.  On a good day I may drink none to one.  A bad day and I've drank four and am forcing myself to not drink another one.  Do I feel less stressed after drinking a can (or four) of soda? No, not really. I usually end up feeling guilty on top of being stressed. So I need to stop and use other, healthier resources for dealing with stress. I live on a quite street, I can go for a walk.  I may have to ignore some looks, heckling from some obnoxious children that live two doors down, but still doable.  I have some hand weights/dumbbells. I can workout.  I have access to internet(obviously) I can look up some yoga videos/exercises.
So goals for nutrition this week are:

•  Ask myself if I really need that soda or just want it. If I'm frustrated with kids, homework, or whatever maybe I should look to do something else.  If afterwards I still want that soda then I can have one, in a glass over ice. 
• To try no-sugar for me and less sugar for the rest of my family.

I do have some fitness goals, though I didn't mention them in what I wrote above. They are:

• To do 30 minutes of weight exercises and 30 minutes of cardio for 6 days this coming week with Saturday being a rest day.
• Cardio will be 3 of the days working on the Couch to 5k program so that I can be ready for the 5k I signed up to run in August. The other 3 days will be 30 minutes on the Gazelle Freestyle I bought at a yard sale last weekend.  I really like this, it's low impact but I'm still able to work up a sweat and get my heartrate up to 130-160 bpm, which is my target rate for weight-loss/fitness.

I'll try to post a couple times this week to update on how it is all going. It's sometimes difficult to post with classes and life, but I'll try. 

Here is the Gazelle freestyle I have and love.

A Family That Workouts Together...

My oldest son is in Civil Air Patrol. It's an auxiliary of the Air Force created in 1941.  Their main mission is search and rescue.  Anyway, he's been a cadet since last October and all he needs to do to move up in rank is pass pt. However, my boy is scrawny.  He's about 5'8"-5'9" and 104lbs fully dressed (to the shoes).  He's okay at the mile run.  He can do the push-ups and curl-ups now.  He has trouble when they do the shuttle run (a 30 foot sprint, picking up a small-ish object from one side running back placing it on the other line then returning to pick up a second object).  He's suppose to do it in 10.5 seconds and his time is 15 seconds.  So I'm trying to help him shave the 4.5 seconds off his time.
So yesterday we started the One Hundred Push-ups program and the Two Hundred Squats program.  My son has no problems with  push-ups, he's been doing them at least once a week for several weeks now.  I'm trying to get him to exercise more often to build muscle. He can probably out push-up me easy, even if his form is awful.  His squats surprised me.  I can do 30-40 squats no problem. My 14 year old son could only do 8 before he said his thighs were sore.  So I'm making sure he keeps with this squats program. I'm trying to teach him that squats will strengthen his legs and help him run faster.  I was sure that he could do at least as many as me if not more.  I'm guessing the pt they do at the C.A.P. meetings focuses on upper body and core moves and not as much on legs.  
When my husband isn't out-of-town, we'll work on a 3-day a week running plan as well.  Not only am I getting fit, I'm encouraging my children to be fit as well.