Busy bee

Wow, it's been a super busy weekend. Friday started my on call week for work but lucky it wasn't too bad. No calls and few emails this weekend. Friday evening I stopped at The Stash yarn shop on my way home from work. I bought a bunch of yarn for a crocheting project I'm embarking on. I have never crocheted and Friday evening I started teaching myself with the help of YouTube. I didn't get very far and it took me 3 hours to make a tiny tan circle-ish square. *Sigh* This is what it should look like when it's done though it might be next winter before I finish it.


On Saturday morning I caught up on some shows I had DVRed. Saturday afternoon Ken and I took a trip to Michaels, Lowes, and Target. Ken and I both had some craft projects we wanted to work on so we went to Michaels to stock up on supplies. I've also begun cross-stitching, which is much easier than crocheting. That project is top secret for now but once it's finished I will be sure to post some pictures.

We had quite an interesting time at Lowes. We needed to buy a watering can and a dust buster. Unfortunately there was some weird guy beat boxing in the vacuum aisle and they only had one dust buster and it was not really what we were looking for.

We stopped at Target last which was really busy. Saturday afternoon and Target's busy, go figure. We found a dust buster and a few other things we needed and headed for home. After we unloaded the car and had lunch I went grocery shopping. Then came home and did some cross-stitching for a few hours.

Sunday morning I got up and did some more cross-stitching. I think I'm hooked. Ken and I went to the library and I found a book about crocheting and Ken got a few books as well. Then home for some hardcore cleaning and that brings me up to this moment when I realized I hadn't blogged in some time.

I didn't get any exercising in this weekend but I'll be back at the gym first thing tomorrow morning. I've been going in the mornings before work and that has been pretty good. That way I still get to come home after work and hang out with Ken. I'm hoping all of these new projects will keep me distracted with the winter months coming and keep me from shoveling food in my face. The holidays are always difficult. Well, that's all I have for today.

Back at it

Well, I've been back at it full steam this week.

My mom and uncle were here to visit us from October 18 through October 25 and I only went to the gym once that week. I didn't do a lot of healthy eating either while they were here but I chalked it up to a week vacation and tried not to feel too bad. The day after they left I was back at the gym (Wednesday). It was rough getting back at it. I went the next day on Thursday as well. I was feeling pretty awful though by Thursday evening and realized I must be coming down with something. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I rested and I surprisingly started feeling much better by the end of the weekend.

Monday I was back at the gym and back to eating better. After working out I realized that I had forgotten my hair dryer and makeup. I considered going home but I said "screw it" and went to work sans makeup. I figured I'd try to face my computer screen all day.

Today I woke up late and rushed around to get to the gym. I had another awesome start to my day. I dropped my water cup and the lid flew off and water went all over the gym carpet. Tons of people saw me and I felt like a moron. Once I finished up I went down to the locker room where I found that I had forgotten to bring a towel. ARGHHHHH! So I had to drive home and get ready there and then drive to work which caused me to be 15 minutes late for work *sigh*

I've checked and double checked my bag for tomorrow. Blow dryer, check. Makeup, check. Towel, check. Clothes, check. Shoes, check. I'm sure I probably forgot something and it will be another interesting day.

I have managed to lose the 2 pounds that I gained while my mom was in town and I am down another pound. I keep wondering how long it will be until my weight loss really picks up again. I hope this is not it for me. I guess if it is I'll be happy to maintain the weight I'm at. I do feel much better and my clothes are looking better on me. I don't feel quite so self-conscious.

Time for bed. It's another early day tomorrow.

Staying busy

I've been at a standstill the last couple of weeks with my weight loss. I am still down 20 pounds but I have just been stuck. I know this happens to a lot of people when they are trying to lose weight and this is the point when most people give up but I am determined to lose more so this week I stepped up my workout.

So needless to say I was busy this week. Next week my mom and uncle will be in town visiting so I won't be able to workout as much. I am still going to try to squeeze in sometime at the gym here and there.


I didn't really eat the greatest this week. Which probably counteracted all of my working out. The cafeteria at work was having Mexican food this week and it was really good. Wednesday I had taco salad and Thursday I had two soft tacos. Friday morning I had eggs, bacon, turkey sausage, and a biscuit from the cafeteria for breakfast and Thursday and Friday night I had pizza. Wow, when I list it out that sounds like a lot of junk. I had been eating vegetable soup everyday for lunch for the last week or two but after I had it Monday and Tuesday this week I couldn't stand to eat anymore.


I am down a pant size (as I posted on Facebook) which is really exciting. I just hope I will begin losing weight again. I am remaining optimist. If I keep up the hard work I'm sure to lose more.


*Find a Zumba class near you http://www.zumba.com/en-US/parties/search/

First week at the gym

I finished out my 6 weeks of boot camp last week. I have to admit I was kind of sad on my last day. I had finally started to talk to some people and actually started enjoying the workout. Unfortunately boot camp cost $99 per month with a one year commitment or $199 per month without the commitment. That is a bit steep for my price range. Luckily because of my super awesome employer I get a membership at 24 hour fitness for $24.99 per month. They have work out classes 7 days a week and a lap pool, sauna, jacuzzi, running track, locker rooms, and tons of workout equipment so even though I will miss boot camp I am getting more bang for my buck at the gym.

On Monday I got up at 4:50 am like I did everyday for boot camp and went to the gym (which is right next door to where I went for boot camp, a little confusing that early in the morning). They have a Monday morning boot camp class. We did some running and some other cardio and ab workouts. It wasn't too bad.

On Tuesday I went to the 5:30 pm step class. Wow was that one tough! For one thing I tried to be super tough and use the regular step that wasn't adjustable. About half way through class I was regretting that decision. I had planned to do that step class from 5:30 - 6:30 and then stay for Zumba from 6:30 - 7:30 but after the step class I was exhausted and I went home.

On Wednesday they had a 5:30 am Cardio Mix class. It was pretty good. It was a mixture of step and weights and we did a lot of leg and ab workouts that day (my ab muscles are still sore). It was a really good workout and I am excited to go back to that one. I got ready for work at the gym that morning instead of driving back home. I was happy to find that they had shower stalls rather than the giant wall of open shows like in middle and high school. They even had a little changing room in with the lockers. It was pretty decent and cut close to 20 minutes off of my travel time in the morning.

Today I didn't go at all. They had an evening step class and cycling class but I was running late leaving work and I knew I would never make it on time. I know, I know, that's how the excuses to not go to the gym begin but I am going in the morning. They don't have any classes tomorrow morning but I'm going to go and try using some of the fancy machinery and then swim some laps before work.

Saturday they have an 8:30 am Zumba, a 9:30 am Cycling, 9:45 am Body Pump, and 10:30 am Yoga so I plan to try to go to at least one of those or Sundays 1:00 pm Kickboxing, maybe both if I get up enough motivation. I do find that if I work out on the weekend I tend to get more done the rest of the weekend.

It is hard getting this new routine down. I had really gotten use to getting up every morning at 4:50 and going to boot camp, then driving home, getting ready, and going to work but I think the gym will be good. I will get more variety and that will keep me from getting bored.

As far as my dieting I didn't do so well this week. Sunday I met Ken for his lunch break from work and we had to go somewhere close and somewhat fast so we went to Arby's. I had a junior roast beef sandwich. I also had some pizza this week so neither of those meals were especially healthy. I am up 2 pounds but I am going to keep working hard and trying to eat better. I am still proud of the strides I have made. I feel a lot better when I am eating better and working out. I even had some ladies at work comment on how bagging some of my work clothes are getting on me. They asked me what I was doing and I told them about my 5:30 am boot camp. They just laughed.

8% down and another 8% to go

I finished my 5th week of boot camp. One more week left and I will be done with my 6 weeks. As crazy as this sounds I am actually going to miss it a little. Even though I still hate getting up at 5:30 am and I REALLY hate running I have gotten into a routing.


On Wednesday I finally had a weigh in. It was my first one since I had started boot camp. I mean I had been weighing myself at home on and off  but they weigh and measure us using the Jackson/Pollock 3 caliper method. When they weighed me I was up 3 pounds from where I had been but after the measurement I found out that I had lost 8% body fat. I have another 8% to go to put me in the "Acceptable" body fat range. Even though I knew I was losing weight because my clothes were getting looser it was nice to see the numbers to confirm it.


I felt a little better this morning because I weighed myself and I lost the 3 pounds I was up and another 3 pounds giving me a total weight lose of 23 pounds. I was actually surprised that I lost anything at all this week because I had a bagel for dinner the other night. I also made some brownies for Ken last night and I ate one. The surprising thing about it was I had a very different reaction to the sugar than I usually do. Before I started exercising and eating better I ate a lot of sugar and it made me really tired. After I ate the brownie last night I was on a sugar high. I couldn't sleep. I ended up staying awake until 2 am because of it. I had a stomach ache this morning to and I vowed not to eat any more of them.


Sometimes it is really hard to go without certain things. I really like cake (but who doesn't right?) but I found an interesting recipe for a Paleo cake. I decided to try making it today. Here is the recipe in case you are interested:


Banana Paleo Chocolate Cake


Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of oil (coconut preferrably) or unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/4 cup of honey (not recommended – rather – use really really really ripe bananas!)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup almond meal/flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3 bananas mashed

Prepare:

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Mix oil (honey if using) and eggs in a large bowl until light an d fluffy.
3. Add almond meal, cocoa powder and bananas
4. Mix well.
5. Line a cake tin with baking paper and pour in banana mixture
6. Bake for somewhere between 25 and 45 minutes, or until the toothpick test comes out clean!
7. Store the cake in the refrigerator.  Good served with fruite  and/or a little almond butter, or with Frosting recipe below!

 Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dark chocolate (73%)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil or better yet, coconut butter
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• pinch of sea salt

Prepare:

1. In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate and coconut oil/butter
2. Stir in honey, vanilla and salt
3. Place frostin gin freezer for 15 minutes to chill and thicken
4. Remove from freezer and whip frosting with a hand blender until it’s thick and fluffy
5. Frost over cake, cookies or cupcakes!

I just tried a piece and it was pretty good. It's a little rich because of the dark chocolate icing. I only used about half the frosting too. The cake is a little grainy due to the almond flour but all in all it was pretty good and will curb any cake cravings.

Ouch!

Well, I'm on my fourth week of boot camp. Last week we had Monday off for Labor Day so I thought I would make up for it over the weekend. I decided to try out 24-hour Fitness since they offer a free 3 day trial and I get a discount through work

On Saturday I went to a Yoga class. It was great! It was a good workout and I liked the balancing and breathing aspects of it. On Sunday I went to a kickboxing class. The instructor was a lady in either her late 50s or early 60s. I couldn't believe what a tough workout it was. I could barely keep up. I was honestly pretty ashamed that this lady was in considerably better shape then me.

After working out Sunday I went home and worked in the yard for 3 hours. I raked and picked up sticks and pine cones. Our lawnmower broke a while back and we've been paying a guy to come and mow for us. He stopped showing up 3 weeks ago. After I raked for awhile I decided to attempt mowing with our non-motorized lawnmower (not one of my finer purchases). It took me 45 minutes to mow 1/4 of the backyard. At this point I gave up.

I went and bought a new lawnmower later that evening.

I felt pretty rough the rest of the evening. I think I might have over done it. It was 90+ degrees out that day. I really thought about skipping boot camp Monday morning but I forced myself out of bed. I went again this morning too but my right leg has really been hurting all day. I think I might have pulled a muscle. I'm hoping it feels better in the morning. I really don't want to miss a day. I only have 2 more weeks left after this week. I am happy to report though that I'm down 3 more pounds. Woo-Hoo!

Hopefully I can keep this pace up and lose another 20.

Go me!

Wow, I've been a huge slacker with the blogging lately. I've been going to boot camp every morning at 5:30 am... yeah AM... so I've been going to sleep around 9 pm. Since I usually don't get home until 5 pm and then make dinner and then that leaves me just a few hours to send with hubby. So needless to say it's limited my blogging time. I thought I would check in today because I weighed myself Tuesday after boot camp and I've lost 7 pounds since I started giving me a total weight loss of 17 pounds over the last month. Go me!

I signed up for 6 weeks of boot camp and Friday I will be at the half way point so I've started thinking about what I will be doing after my 6 weeks is up. I wouldn't mind continuing boot camp but it's pretty expensive; however, I get a discount to 24 Hour fitness through work. They have 5:30 am classes twice a week and 5:30 pm classes 3 days a week in addition to the rest of the gym and a pool so I think I'm going to give this a try after my boot camp time is up.

Dieting... how's that been going you ask? Well, okay. I've been trying to limit the amount of breads, rice, cereal, and pastas I've been eating. I have still been allowing myself a few cheat meals a week. For example I had pizza for dinner tonight but I had chicken and broccoli for lunch and an apple and peanut butter for breakfast. I am trying to work towards no bread and pasta. I figure as long as I keep trying and don't go completely off the rails I'm still doing okay. I do feel significantly better than I did a month ago when I was still eating crap food all of the time.

I have actually noticed something some what interesting. I was having some pain in my ankle for months and once I stopped eating bread and pasta I noticed the pain going away. I don't know if it's because of the weight loss or the lack of gluten. I've heard some people can have slight intolerance to gluten which can cause joint pain and other symptoms. Whatever it is I have been feeling pretty good. Well, I just thought I would give a quick update since I was excited about my small success.