Crazy amounts of energy today

With spring break being this week we changed the workout schedule. I spent the beginning of my day at the library being a grad student. Then, I went to workout with Steve and knocked it out of the park. I started with a warm up that turned into a self-challenge. I jogged/speed walked 1 mile in 13 1/2 minutes. Not super impressive for "real runners" but VERY good for me! And to think, that was my WARM UP! My real workout was, shall I just say, WOW. Had I known AFTER then workout what I was going to be doing I would have never attempted my mile challenge. haha Today was the first time I did a complete 1 hour workout. It consisted of push ups, punching bags, sit ups.....and 9 flights of stairs. I looked pretty beaten up at the end. But again, I DID IT! :)

Because of Easter I am only doing 2 training sessions this week with Steve. So I will be weighing in on Thursday, 4 days early. Hoping to see results!! Keeping my fingers crossed and my determination strong.

To top off the workout, tonight the kids and I went in the backyard and did some yard work. I am planning to put down tar paper and white rock around the garage. In preparation for tomorrow Joey and I pulled up the old wood chips and put the border stones in place. Tomorrow I hope/plan to fill in some soil and set the border stones. Hopefully Saturday we can do the rest. Joe's big concern: how much white rock will this take??? I just want to see it D.O.N.E.!!! Then we have 2 boxes to build so we can plant a blueberry and raspberry bush. I'd like to put white rock over there too but not sure Joe will agree that it fits into the "yard budget".

In the meantime, the contest continues and more to follow soon...

AMAZING DAY and NEW LIFE GOAL

Went to my workout this morning and weighed in. Lost another 4 lbs!!!! I am just so thrilled with that!! And...I have OFFICIALLY lost my first 20 lbs in the contest. Not only that, but I have gained muscle (which weighs more than fat) and have lost inches everywhere. Won't know those exact numbers, though, until the end of the contest. I can't even tell you how incredible this feels for me.

After my workout I met with a lady from the Herald News. She talked with me about different personality types and effective ways for each personality type to work out. Ironically, she and I are identical types. She shared with me something that has made an impact on me. Last week she celebrated 5 YEARS of working out every single day. I was so inspired by this. The past week or so I have been wondering what "post contest" life would look for me. I now have a goal to reach my 5 years of working out daily as well. Eileen shared with me that she looks at her weekly schedule every Sunday night and schedules in her workouts. She treats it as any other important thing she has on her schedule for the week. I plan to do the same thing. Anyone wanna join me in this goal?? It would be amazing to have my 50th birthday bash knowing I had spent 5+ years working out daily!!!

We have made a few changes this week to my meal plan and to my cardio workouts. Hoping for continued success during the last 1/2 of the contest period!!! I am so proud of myself and the effort it has taken to stay focused and energized during the past 1 1/2 months.

I am on spring break the next 7 days and I have made myself a schedule so that I don't waste away the days. Tomorrow I am digging out around the garage to prep it for tar paper and white rocks that will be put in place next weekend. I also have Friday carved out to spend with my kids and friends. The rest of the week will be working on my action research study and training modules for my Developmental Therapist credentials. I know, don't knock yourselves over with excitement over such plans....haha.

I also have a short workout week and will be doing my next weigh in on Thursday instead of Sunday. Wish me well!!!! More to follow....

Happy Sunday!

So, I went to workout today and weighed in. Lost another 1 1/2 lbs! Now really as much as I wanted, but I am glad to see the loss! Then the workout started. We went through my cardio schedule for days I don't work out with Steve. And guess what....I JOGGED FOR 7 MINUTES! Again, may not sound like much, but for me it was HUGE. I also ran on speed 7 for the first time and jogged a total of another 10-15 minutes with breaks. I sweat like I have never sweat before and felt so proud of myself afterwards!!!

We have decided to up my calories to 1600 daily from the 1400 and he gave me this new cardio workout. We're hoping to see more progress next Sunday. I'm going to really work hard this week and see what results we can get. I will try to type up my cardio workout tomorrow.

I have made some changes to my meal plan and am adding "grilled" veggies to my agenda. LOVED it and plan to do that again for tomorrow. Put on a bed of lettuce and 4 oz of chicken and it is amazing!!! That with my tuna or veggie chili for lunch and I will be one happy camper!! My snacks have been cottage cheese and oranges or strawberries with almonds in the morning and an apple with peanut butter in the afternoon. I think this will be a good week!!

Again, thanks for reading! More Tuesday :)

Very tough week

I think I am having one of the hardest times so far with my meals. I have tried to keep my mind focused on the things I can have instead of the things I cannot. But for some reason, I am obsessed with all of the "can'ts" today. It's been frustrating and I can't seem to get past it. Decided to make myself some homemade soup for dinner tonight. I threw in all my faves....chicken, mushrooms, tomato, onion, carrots, spinach. Then I added barley to hopefully make it a bit more filling. I'm hoping that this is going to help me get through this. Of course, a vegetarian taco from Zacatacos would taste far better....or any number of other faves of mine. But I really want to make it through this tough stretch.

Tomorrow is another weigh in and I hope to have shed a few extra lbs for my efforts. If not, I am not going to get down. I have worked harder in the past 5 weeks than I ever have. And I feel the effects. The changes are there, no matter what the scale may say. Steve is hoping for a 7 lb loss. I would be thrilled with that....but will take anything in the "-" numbers. :)

More soon...just needed to get these feelings in writing so that I can put them to rest. As always, thanks for reading!

Feeling GOOOOOD!

Tonight's workout felt so good. I worked very hard and did so many push ups and weights. And man did I ever sweat tonight. I was a bit worried that being sick again over the weekend would affect my workout. But I really came back around 90%, or maybe even a bit more. :) I couldn't believe how good it all felt. There are muscles showing up now that I didn't even know I had. Think maybe next week I will put in a "1/3 done" picture in for everyone!! I'll have to hire my mini trainer to take it for me. I will do it Sunday after my next weigh in.

I am working this week so hard on my positive attitude. Positive vibes bring on results. I have also buried my scale. I tried not to, but I still found myself weighing myself last week. That's negative energy that just doesn't bring the good stuff that I want to see. So, NO MORE weighing myself except on Sundays at Push Fitness with Steve. NO MORE!

This week my home workouts continue in full force. I backed off last week due to my illness but am refusing to let it take me down again this week. It is NOT going to happen!!!

More to follow after Thursdays workout...

Still in 2nd place

After yesterday's weigh in and workout, I am still in 2nd place. I have lost 5.1 % of my body weight. First place is at 5.6 %. Just means I need to step up the pace a bit. Being sick last week made it difficult for me to do my home treadmill workouts. Unfortunately, over the weekend my sore and swollen throat returned and I was quickly put on a 10 day oral antibiotic to hopefully kick it completely this time. My doctor wants to meet with me once this contest is over and possibly send me to an ENT for my throat. I can't even think of having tonsils removed at almost 45 years of age!!!

The good thing that has come out of this contest is my meal plan regimen. I really like the foods and have begun getting a little creative with it. We had a seminar over the weekend at a Whole Foods store in Palatine. There was a good statement about eating variety and not getting stuck in a rut. Your body gets bored too and doesn't break down the food in the same way if not given a good variety. I had gotten into a groove of eating the same things....probably out of convenience as much as anything else. So, yesterday I stepped that up as well and came up with a few new things for my meals to kind of surprise the system. I even made up a new "chili" that is surprisingly good. Not sure if it would be something many people would like, but I love it. It even has spinach, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, barley, and garbanzo beans. Makes you wanna run out and get the ingredients huh!! (haha) Everything in it is low sodium. To offset that I added a little extra hot sauce to give it some kick. I'm also going to add 2 egg omelets to the mix with some interesting veggies in it. Again, little salt....but loaded with flavor!!!

My challenge now is to come up with a menu that will work in my next internship. Working with 14 early childhood students with high needs will make it interesting. Stopping to eat twice in that time period is not going to be easy. I never thought I would have the challenge of trying to find time to eat!!!! :)

More to follow after tomorrow's workout. Hopefully it will be good news that my throat is feeling better and the workouts are getting a bit easier. Or at least more tolerable :)

I'm BACK!!!

Went to my workout tonight with determination! I cannot believe the workout we did. It was intense. I started with a 4 minute walk/warm-up, 3 minute job, 4 minute walk. And then Steve had me hit my workout back to back with only treadmill breaks in between. This was probably the hardest workout I have done so far. And it felt AWESOME! I can't believe that I worked so hard less than a week after having strep throat. I have never come back from something like that so quickly.

I am really looking forward to my weigh in on Sunday and really hope to see the results I have been feeling all week. Not sure what my loss will be as I do not weigh myself at all during the week. I focus on the end result instead and picture myself at the end of the 3 months.

I bought myself a new pair of jeans a size smaller than I have been wearing. I bought them on Ebay because I don't plan to wear them for long. :) I also bought TWO pair the next size smaller as an added incentive. Cannot wait to be wearing those!!!!

Today I went back to my regular meal plan. I had made some adjustments due to the strep throat. As it turned out, I need to return to my protein smoothies for the rest of the week as my appetite hasn't quite returned yet and my energy level dropped a bit tonight that was unexpected. We decided I should keep up at least my afternoon protein shake to boost the energy level until my full appetite returns.

Thanks again for reading my progress. I so appreciate hearing the postive comments and support!! You are all THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!! :)

More soon....

Back to my workouts

I went to my workout tonight for the first time since my strep throat. This morning when I woke up I felt like a million dollars. As the day went on, however, my status dropped and I was less than the 100% that I thought. But, I kept plugging at it and went to the workout. I got there early and walked on the treadmill for about 20 minutes instead of my usual 5 minutes warm up. So, by the time Steve started working with me I was already sweating and feeling the effects of the day. But....I DID IT! Granted, it was a shorter workout, but I still did every push up, every weight, every squat that he asked me to do. And, for the first time I didn't even give one "what" or "just wait" or "you're kidding right". :)

I realized on the way home that I have never really explained my meal plan. Decided to give you a basic meal plan for my day so that you can see that I am not starving myself and I am eating foods from all groups! In fact, since being sick, I have had a hard time finishing this.
Meal 1: oatmeal and 1 c 2% milk
Meal 2: 1/4 cup cottage cheese with 1 cutie tangerine and 1/4 cup almonds
Meal 3: 4 oz turkey OR 4 oz canned tuna in water, 2 tsp lite miracle whip and 1 wheat tortilla
or 1 wheat bread and carrots and celery
Meal 4: 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 string cheese and an apple
Meal 5: 4 oz tilapia, cooked broccoli/cauliflouer, 1/4 cup avocado

My workouts with Steve include lots of weights (varying weights), lots of push ups, squats, lifting, pulling.....and recovering! I also drink LOTS and LOTS of water throughout the day and have 1 or 2 cups coffee (no sweetener/no cream). That has kept me headache free from dropping all artificial sweeteners, etc.

My home workouts are treadmill work. I walk/jog 30-40 minutes every day and vary the speeds and inclines. Keeping my body guessing what I am doing makes it so that I am less likely to plateau.

I feel very good tonight. But....am planning to go to bed soon. Thanks for reading and looking forward to Sunday's weigh in again. Can't believe I even said that!! But I want to see that I am in FIRST PLACE!!!! :)

More soon...
celery

Great news!

I went in today for my weigh in and guess what....I AM IN FIRST PLACE! I have lost 5% of my total weight in only 3 weeks in the contest! This is especially incredible seeing that I have only worked out with Steve once in the past week! First on Tuesday I had flu like symptoms and then Friday night, out of the blue my throat became swollen and I was very feverish. After a doctor visit the results were strep throat, ear infection and sinus infection. Yikes. All in one week. But today Steve put that all into perspective for me. This is all minor stuff. A broken bone would be a major setback. This is all only minor.

My main objective for this week was to continue my meal plan no matter what. And it has paid off. I have tried to keep up with my 5 meals a day. This has been especially difficult with this lates strep bout. I have had to make protein/fruit smoothies and low sodium chicken soup. Things I can swallow. Trying to keep that up has been hard. Strep throat has been a recurring problem for me for years so recovery is not something new to me. The quick recovery is though. I attribute so much of this to my new lifestyle (even as short as it's been). I am grateful to have today and tomorrow yet for some rest and relaxation and hope that I will be closer to "normal" by Tuesday.

Can I say that this contest totally ROCKS!!! Once I am back to 100% Steve and I are going to go through the roof on this and will go further than any of the contestants last year!!! Yeah for positive attitude. But for now.....it's back to bed.

Rough week

I missed my workout on Tuesday due to having the flu. Still not feeling 100% but I went to my workout. Cannot believe this but during my warm up I actually jogged for 3 minutes without a stop. I know....not much right. But that is really big for me! I have never ever jogged in my life (except to a buffet line...haha) and I was so proud. I also did more tonight in my workout than I have done yet. And that was not feeling well!!!! We're going to weigh me in on Sunday to see my results. Can't wait to see how I've done. I didn't get to weigh in for week 2 because of my illness, so it will be super interesting.

In spite of being sick I have really stuck to my meal plans. I haven't strayed off of the plan since the beginning of the contest. It's been easier than I ever imagined. No Diet Coke, no chocolate, no white bread. And I feel better than I have ever felt in my life!!! I see so many benefits to this plan and really plan to continue this once the contest is over. Not sure if it will be as strict as it is now....but then, I want to win this contest!

I have been more than mildly overwhelmed with the attention I have received from this contest. I have received emails, phonecalls and FB messages from people that have seen it. One of the ladies at the center I work even saw the article. It is quite humbling. I just wish people realized that THEY are MY inspiration and not the other way around.

Looking forward to this weekend. And looking forward to my workout Sunday!! WISH ME LUCK!!! :)