TF Day 9

Low HIIT 25. Not my favorite workout. It was nice because it was short. I had two complaints with this workout: 1) it went REALLY slow. I think that's why it's called a low HIIT, but, for me, it was hard to stay motivated with this one. Thankfully it was over with super quick. 2) There is some very annoying girl whooping throughout the workout like she's really into it. It's quite annoying. I have no idea how to block it out. Chalene even mentioned the girl whooping, but I think she meant it to be positive. UGH! It was super annoying.
So far this is the only workout I've not liked, and really the workout itself wasn't bad. It was a ton of squats and lunges so I was definitely feeling it in my butt this morning. It was just really slow. It didn't seem to have the normal energy of her workouts.
The squat challenge is also coming along really well. Skater lunges were yesterday - they made me think of P90X since we did those leg day in that series. Today was weighted sumo squats (I used my 12 lb dumbbell). Two more days of squats to finish the challenge! My goal is 200 a day of each type. I'll end up doing 1400 instead of 1000. It's a great challenge and I'm definitely feeling the burn!
Tonight, if it cools down, I'll be running with Tabitha at 8pm. It's in the high 90's right now - so hot outside. ICK! I didn't even go for my morning walk. It was humid by 8am - I was so not interested in taking the kiddos out in that.
I came across this cool poster on facebook the other day. I think it's a great reminder for days when I feel blah and like I haven't come very far at all.

TF Day 7

TF day 7 routine was Core 20 and Stretch 40. The core workout was amazing! We used the resistance bands for just about every exercise. The second exercise we did we held the resistance band behind our heads (at our neck area) and it was secured with our foot. We had to crunch. It was a good exercise but it hurt my elbows. I'm thinking I was doing something wrong, but I have no idea what. The second time through it I squatted lower (to take some of the resistance off) and I lowered my elbows more and it greatly helped...it didn't look like anyone else in the video was doing it that way though. Guess that's one of the problems with at home workouts - if you have issues you don't have anyone there to correct you.
Anyway, we did a few core exercises that had my abs screaming at me. This morning they are fine, no pain or anything. The 40 minute stretch was great too, it's basically yoga. It was very relaxing. When it's time to do round 2 of P90X I wouldn't mind doing this workout instead of P90X yoga. It had a lot of the same moves, but it was more enjoyable for me.
For part of the 40 stretch we used the green bands - those really improved some of the stretches. I liked using it!

Tabitha and I also met at 6pm to run last night (right before the TF workout). We only did 20 minutes (1.8 miles). Slow, steady run and a great warm-up for the nights workout. It'll work out great running on Tuesday's if the schedule keeps core on Tuesdays. Friday is our next run day and that's our rest day, so it works great.
I'm doing really well with my squat challenge too. Yesterday was 3 way jump squats. Basically you squat, then jump to a wide squat, then jump to a sumo squat, and then jump back to a wide squat, and then back to a basic squat and repeat. They went really fast with each set equaling 5 squats. I did 200 of them and could've done more. I really liked those. Today it was prisoner squats; basic squat but your arms are behind your head and you keep your elbows back out of your line of sight. I had to put a chair behind me so I could keep my balance (I didn't rest against it, I just had it there in case I needed it)...Denver thought it was fun to climb in the chair as I was squatting down. It was quite the game for him - LOL! I've got 600 squats done (I'm doing 200 of each kind). Tomorrow it's skater squats (just like the one's we did in P90X). Those should be fun. It'll probably be 100 per leg. Good times!

June Goals

It's the last week of June already and I totally rocked my goals this month!!
Goal #1 for June was to weigh-in weekly and lose a total of 4 lbs.
June 1 - 173 lbs
June 26 - 166 lbs
I lost 7 lbs this month!!! That's as much weight as I've lost in the past few months. I have NO IDEA what I did that was different; really I just upped my cardio.
Goal #2 - track every day.
I'm still tracking every day. I don't always complete it, but I'm tracking and being very conscious of everything I'm eating.
Goal #3 - up the cardio
...and boy have I!!! I ran my longest run ever last Sunday (5 miles), I've been walking at least 2-3 miles a day Mon-Fri, and I started doing TurboFire (which I totally LOVE!). One of those things, if not all of them, have blasted me right through that plateau. TurboFire is doing something Insanity never did for me. I'm sure it has a lot to do with how much I enjoy it. I am definitely putting more effort into the workouts, and it's really nice not having to modify the moves.
My 4th and final goal for June was to not eat after 8pm.
this was definitely my hardest goal. Sometimes I don't get home until 730-8pm and then until I'm done showering and have the kids in bed it can be 9pm before I'm unwinding. My stomach is usually growling. I try to make my protein smoothies last longer, that helps some. I'm working on eating my protein bars slower too instead of inhaling them. If I'm going to stay up until at least 11pm I'll have a snack at 9pm. I just make sure I weigh it out and it's a proper portion. No sitting in front of the tv with Chris eating chips and salsa or homemade popcorn without measuring it first!

1000 Squats Challenge

Well those pesky people at I See Fit People are up to it again with another challenge! This time it's do 1000 squats in one week. The lunges worked out well and the jumping rope one was a total fail - guess that makes me 1 for 1 with their challenges, so I figured I'd go for it and take the lead!
I found this motivational post today - yeah, baby, burn those calories! Anyway, each day you either complete an air squat (just a basic squat using nothing but the air) or complete the challenge squat of the day - today it was weighted squats. They said barbell, but I don't own a barbell, so I used my 12 lb dumbbells. I knocked out 200 of them! 75 at breakfast, 75 at lunch, and then 50 after my Turbofire workout.
Here I am doing my last 50 tonight. Down...

 Up...

 Down...

 That butt is going to get much smaller. Oh yes, it will!

Not doing squats here, but I think I'm starting to look pretty good. Those are medium pants! Old Navy medium, but still a medium!!!

My abs are not so hot right now. I might have to start throwing some hip hop abs into my TurboFire just to get some focus on that area. Or maybe it's as simple as throwing some planks and situps into my morning routine? Speaking of abs, tomorrow's TurboFire routine - core 20! 20 minutes of abs with a resistance band. Um, looks like I'm going to get what I'm asking for! HA!

BWC 5K

Today I ran in the Baltimore Women's Classic 5K in downtown Baltimore. It was a great day for a race! I finished 483 out of 2888 women with a time of 29:51 (9:38 mile pace). That's my best race yet!!! I'm so proud of myself. I ran it "alone." I look alone, right?!

I'm in there...can you find me? Where's Angie?! LOL

Ah! There I am.

I lined up with the 11-12 minute mile group which I assumed would be a good fit for me. I brought my MP3 player with me since I normally have someone running with me to chat with I thought it would help fill the "silence," but really I just zoned out and focused on passing people.
My AWESOME hubby joined me this morning (my equally AWESOME sister stayed at home with our kiddos). We joked that it felt like a "date." He volunteered and got to help out at water station #2 which worked out beautifully since it was by the start to the race (it was sort of like a figure 8 - big loop, with a small loop to the finish...I ran past water station 2 before crossing the start line, again, and looping around the water front to the finish).
Here we are hanging out at the water station before the race started...

How do you like my socks?! I bought them to wear to the NorthFace Endurance trail run the other weekend, but I had a wardrobe malfunction with the running skirt. I really like the cute little running skirt, what I don't like is the shorts that are attached to it. They bunch up and drive me crazy, so I recently found these Under Armor compression shorts that work beautifully under it - they keep the crappy attached ones in place and they don't ride up anymore. I picked up my race packet yesterday and when I saw the neon green shirt I knew what my race outfit would be! I was super excited to be able to wear the socks. I liked them!

At the end of the race they gave me a rose, a beautiful yellow rose that Katelynn immediately claimed, and an awesome towel that was soaked in cold water - it was total bliss! I draped that over my neck and didn't remove it until we got in the truck. It was so nice - better then any medal!!
Chris walked down to the finish line with me and took a picture.

Then we walked back along the little loop at the end and took some photos - it was a great view to end the race with!!!

I'm a dork! "Chris, take a picture of me 'running' the race!" LOL Ah, good times.

It really was a beautiful day and a great race. I hope all my races this summer go as smoothly; shame my favorite volunteer won't be able to make any of the other ones.

TF Day 4

Well things are going really well with the TurboFire series! This morning was the Fire Starter one, and it was just as much fun as the first time - if not a little more since you already know the routines. My bodybugg said I burned 400 calories - woo-hoo! Not bad for 47 minutes of exercise.
Last night we did 45EZ. That workout was so much fun! Guess I'm going to say that a lot with these, but for me, they really are a lot of fun. They remind me so much of being in a group exercise class which I've always loved doing. Anyway, I thought it was interesting that yesterday I burned 490 calories in a little less time (only 43 minutes). The intensity was a little different. 45EZ has a lot of fun "dance" type moves, and punches; Lots and lots of punches that include a twist to them. When we were done the middle of my back (backside of rib cage) was sore. Yeah to an "ab" workout without crunches!! I'll take it.
My eating yesterday was really good! I wrote out all of my snacks beforehand and I stuck with them (1 rice cake with almond butter and a banana before my morning walk...did 3 miles with Denver in the jogging stroller); a piece of cinnamon raisin bread with apple jelly and coffee; protein smoothie after my workout (blueberries, banana, almond milk, vanilla protein powder).
Chris is off for 3 days so we took the kiddos to the park and the library yesterday morning. Afterwards Katelynn said she was thirsty and wanted lemonade. Chris got all excited and said, "Chick-fil-a?!" Um, okay. I got their southwest grilled chicken salad. It was actually really yummy. Dinner was just leftovers so I had the last of the chicken barely soup I'd made and added some cheese tortellini's that I made the kids to it. My calorie count came in around 1900 - right on track!
Um, okay, so that's what I put in myfitnesspal. After I completed we snuggled up for a movie and I said, "chips and salsa?" Why not. I was still super hungry and came in under goal for the day (I know that's not the point...I need to stay at goal and still burn 400 calories a day to lose a pound a week...I get it, but my stomach was growling). As I went into the kitchen to measure it out Chris said "with cheese?" So, I made nachos. I measured it all out - 4 servings of chips, fresh green peppers, diced green chiles, diced tomatoes, black beans, 3 oz of cheese - throw it all in the oven. YUM! Chris ate most of it. I probably had about 1.5 servings of chips and 1.5 oz of cheese max, so around a 300 calorie snack. Trust me a few years ago that would've been a late night snack around 1000 calories. I've really come a long way. In fact, I've come so far that I'm running out of "skinny" clothes!
You know, that box of clothes that you keep for someday. Someday I will fit in these again. Well my someday clothes now fit and are getting lose. The problem?! I don't have anything smaller!!! It has literally been years since I've been able to fit in these clothes. Most of them I've given to Good-Will because, seriously, I'll never be that small again. Well, guess what?! I AM!! I can't think of a better reason to go shopping - can you?!
My "I just finished 90 days of TurboFire" treat is going to be size 10 jeans! Oh yea!!! I've NEVER worn size 10's! Here I come baby!!!

And, oh yea, this is so true!!!!

TF Day 2

Tonight's workout was Low HIIT 20 (which was actually only about 17 minutes) followed by Stretch 10. Another great workout! I'm in love with all the energy Chalene has; her workouts are just so motivating and I feel so great afterwards. No more dreading the workouts - love that!
I also love the HIIT's - great concept. Short, effective workouts - sign me up!! HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training; they are all about speed. Fast, quick workouts where you're supposed to burn more fat then a normal cardio session. It supposedly speeds up your metabolism so you burn more during the day...I know I definitely have more energy the next day! It's what Insanity is as well, only for some reason Chalene's are a lot more enjoyable; at least to me they are.
After our workout Tabitha and I went for a 25 minute run. It was hot, humid, and down right miserable. We actually maintained a decent pace (I think we just wanted to get it over with); we both felt light headed when we were done. Doesn't matter how much water you drink on days like today the weather just zaps all your strength. I'm so glad it's not supposed to be as hot over the weekend and most importantly - on race day!
So, anyway, tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, but I'm doing TF 45EZ (it's 43 minutes long) instead since I have my race on Sunday - just switching up the two days. I'm also getting up early and doing some laps around the parade field with my friend Michele (probably do 3 or 4 laps; each lap is 1.2 miles). 
I sat down and went over the TF food guide today. Read through it and figured out my numbers. It said my goal should be 1940 calories a day. I've got some work to do. My friend Patty said that sometimes she'll plan out exactly what she's going to eat that day. I always figured that was too much work, that I'd rather just grab something when I was hungry. Well, we see where that has gotten me - 9 months and only 12 lbs. SO, I wrote down some things for tomorrow. A snack to eat before breakfast to keep me from being hungry on my walk...I'll eat breakfast afterwards, and two other snacks plus my lunch. I didn't write out a dinner yet since Chris will be off work for the next 3 days. I'll run some ideas by him in the morning and then write it down. See how that works for me. It won't take me anytime at all to sit down in the evenings and jot down a few food ideas for the next day.
Believe it or not I've actually got a lot of the food already in my cupboards...I was surprised. Turns out that we are doing pretty well with our choices, I'm just eating too many of them in one day! *Face palm* I think it's just how I pair them. My meals are a little bigger then they "need" to be, so I'm going to make some modifications and see how it goes. Right now my stomach is growling up a storm, but I've already had a smoothie after my workout and a protein bar, so I'm sipping on tea (sleepytime) and then headed to bed. Trying not to give into the urge to just dump salsa in the jar and munch away. I figured maybe if I sit down and write out my thoughts it'll keep me away from the snacks that keep calling my name.

TURBOFIRE Day 1

Tonight was Day 1 of TurboFire (TF) and I absolutely LOVED it! What an amazing workout. We did the Fire Starter workout which was basically a kickboxing routine. It was fast and fun. I'm so glad that I can look forward to workouts again; I absolutely dreaded Insanity days.
My biggest complaint was that we selected having the music "fired up," so it was hard to hear the moves. Next time we won't select that option...probably not the best idea for a new workout. It was also funny seeing all the changes in the people. Some of the cast were from the original TF set (Fire Starter is part of 6 new routines added to the original TF set). Allie, the girl who does the modified moves, has put on some weight and Chalene looks a little sickly. Very, very skinny. I think she looks healthier in the original set (and in CLX). Anyway, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's workout!

June - halfway already!

Can you believe we are halfway through June already?! Seriously, where does the time go? I feel like I just made up my goals last week and now I'm halfway to meeting them, or rather, not meeting them.
1) Weekly Weigh-in / lose 4 lbs.
I still hate the scale! My excitement about being 169 last week was derailed when it said 171 yesterday. Today it said 170. I'm not on track to losing 1 lb a week...I'm on track to gaining 1 lb a week. UGH! When is all of this supposed to start clicking?! 
2) Track every day.
Doing good with this one as well. Myfitnesspal said I'm at 30 days - woo-hoo! But, wait, before I get too excited I must remind myself that when I hit "complete" that means I'm done, no turning off the computer, and then "forgetting" to log the late night munchies.
3) Up the cardio!!!
I did some type of cardio every day last week. This is what my week looked like at a glance:
Sun - run
Mon - walk (3 miles), Lean 1
Tues - walk (1 mile), elliptical for 1 hour
Wed - walk (3 miles)
Thurs - run
Fri - walk (2.5 miles), Lean 3
Sat - Zoo (lots of walking)
Sun - run (5 miler!!!)
Mon - walk (3 miles)
...and yet I still put on 1-2 lbs. That is a crazy amount of extra calories I must've eaten. I just don't see it. Gosh darn it!
4) My 4th and final goal for June is to not eat after 8pm.
Yea, not doing so good on this one. We've started making popcorn on the stove top. 3 TBSP oil and 1/3 cup popcorn, that's it. Chris gets half, I get half. I was thinking it's around 100-150 calories, but I just hopped over to myfitnesspal and created the recipe - it's 345 cals per serving BUT that's still only an extra 200 calories...that doesn't equal 2 lbs.

All my goals are tied into each other - I tracked every day, up'd my cardio, did not do so good with stopping the late night munchies, and the scale went up. I think each one reflects upon the other SO, maybe if I focus on cutting out the late night snacking the scale will go in the direction I want it to? I've noticed that I'll "complete" my food log for the day, log off the computer, and then grab a snack which I conveniently forget to log the next day, so really there is no point in analyzing the numbers when they aren't accurate to begin with. Sigh. Setting myself up for failure is what I'm doing. What's the point of putting in all the extra work (i.e. cardio) if I'm sabotaging myself with the munchies?!

I so got this! I AM greater then these darn munchies, I WILL figure this out, and I WILL continue to be proud of myself for all that I've accomplished so far!

5 miler!

WOW! I ran at least 5 miles today - first time EVER!! I'm so proud of myself!! I've never run that far before, and it felt pretty good. I met Tabitha and we drove to Patapsco Valley State Park and ran their Grist Mill Trail.

The trail is a 2.4 mile (one way) paved trail that follows a river and is very scenic. We maintained a really good pace and when we got to the end of the 2.4 mile section we kept running through a dirt trail (turns out it was a mountain bike path which we were very lucky not to run into any since there wasn't a lot of room - great trail just the same!)...I'd guess it was about .25 mile trail. I love trail runs! I actually sprinted most of this bike trail (probably a good thing too because once we exited 2 mountain bikes came out not long after...thought I heard someone hooting and hollering - LOL!). I think sprinting on a trail is different then a paved path - your jumping over limbs, creeks, up hills, down hills. It keeps you on your toes and is a lot of fun (what I had been hoping the NorthFace Endurance race would've been like).
We were hoping to get some water at the Visitor Center which was at the end of the bike trail, but it turns out they don't have a water fountain there. UGH! So we looped around and followed the main road back to the "start" of the paved trail. Got lucky and passed a picnic area that had a water fountain! Gulped some water, used the potty, and started on our way back to the vehicle.
We ended up stopping about a mile in to get more water (different Visitor Center) and then ran the rest of the way. We don't have a GPS or anything that tracks distance so I set my timer for 60 minutes when we started. It went off when we were almost back at the vehicle, I reset it; total run time: 65 minutes.
I am so proud - only 2 stops for water/potty. We've started talking about looking into those water belts for our longer runs - it'd be nice to have somewhere to stash our keys as well.
When we had about half a mile to go my toes on my right foot started to hurt. I thought it was kind of funny, but I guess they were tired of pushing me forward. Now that I've been home for a bit my left heal is hurting some too. I think this just means more stretching before and after. It'll feel good to run our normal 3-3.5 miles on Tues and Fri. This coming Sunday I have an all women's 5K that I signed up for! I'm super excited. My Sister is going to watch the kids and Chris volunteered to man a water station then we're going to both help clean up.
I'm starting to really enjoy running!

CLX/Insanity Results

Day 1:

Day 90:

By the photos I don't think I look very different. My face/neck look thinner and I think my shoulders look more shapely/rounded. Here are the numbers:
           Day 1 / Day 97
Weight: 176 / 169
Chest: 38 / 37
Arms: 13.5 / 12.5
Waist: 34 / 35
Abductor: 46 / 44.5
Thighs: 27 / 26.5
Hips: 39.5 / 38.5
Overall, I'm pleased with the results. I'd like to see bigger numbers, and I know that's going to take more dedication when it comes to what I eat. I'm starting TurboFire on Wednesday and I'm really looking forward to more cardio. When I break-out of the 160's I'm going to need an entire new wardrobe! I haven't been that small in years. Guess that's something I can look forward to - shopping trip!

TurboFire Schedule

YES! TurboFire starts next week - WOO-HOO!!! Tabitha is interested in doing it with me and my friend Patty is going to do it from afar with me too. I can't wait to start it. We start Wed or Thurs. Depends on when Patty gets her copy. It'll be good to take a few days of rest in-between programs.

Here is the schedule I'm going to follow:

TurboFire – 12 Week Schedule

Week 1

Day 1: Fire Starter + Stretch 10

Day 2: Low HIIT 20 + Stretch 10

Day 3: REST

Day 4: Fire Starter + Stretch 10

Day 5: Fire 45EZ + Stretch 10

Day 6: Fire Starter + Stretch 10

Day 7: Core 20 + Stretch 40

Week 2

Day 1: Fire 55EZ + Stretch 10

Day 2: Low HIIT 25 + Stretch 10

Day 3: REST

Day 4: HIIT 15 + Sculpt 30

Day 5: Fire 45EZ + Stretch 10

Day 6: Core 20 + Stretch 40

Day 7: Low HIIT 20 + Stretch 10

Week 3

Day 1: Fire 45EZ + Stretch 10

Day 2: Low HIIT 25 + Stretch 10

Day 3: REST

Day 4: HIIT 15 + Tone 30

Day 5: Fire 45EZ + Stretch 10

Day 6: Core 20 + Stretch 40

Day 7: Fire 55EZ + Stretch 10

Week 4

Day 1: Fire 45EZ + Stretch 10

Day 2: Low HIIT 25 + Stretch 10

Day 3: REST

Day 4: HIIT 20 + Sculpt 30

Day 5: Fire 55EZ

Day 6: Core 20 + Stretch 40

Day 7: Fire 45 + Stretch 10

Week 5

Day 1: Fire 55EZ + Stretch 10

Day 2: Fire 30 + Sculpt 30

Day 3: REST

Day 4: Fire 30 + Tone 30

Day 5: Fire 55EZ

Day 6: Fire 45 + Stretch 10

Day 7: Core 20 + Stretch 40

Week 6

Day 1: Fire 55EZ

Day 2: Fire 30 + Sculpt 30

Day 3: REST

Day 4: Fire 30 + Tone 30

Day 5:  Fire 55EZ

Day 6: Fire 45 + Stretch 10

Day 7: Core 20 + Stretch 40

Week 7

Day 1: Fire 55EZ

Day 2: Fire 30 + Sculpt 30

Day 3: REST

Day 4: Fire 30 + Tone 30

Day 5: Fire 55EZ

Day 6: Fire 45 + Stretch 10

Day 7: Core 20 + Stretch 40

Week 8 (Recovery Week)

Day 1: Fire 45EZ + Stretch 10

Day 2: Fire 45 + Stretch 10

Day 3: REST

Day 4: Core 20 + Stretch 40

Day 5: Fire 30 + Stretch 10

Day 6: Fire 45EZ + Stretch 10

Day 7: Core 20 + Stretch 10

Week 9

Day 1: Low HIIT 20 + Sculpt 30

Day 2: Fire 45 + Stretch 10

Day 3: REST

Day 4: HIIT 15 + Tone 30

Day 5: Fire 55EZ

Day 6: HIIT 20 + Sculpt 30

Day 7: Fire 30 + Stretch 10

Week 10

Day 1: HIIT 20 + Tone 30

Day 2: Fire 45 + Stretch 10

Day 3: REST

Day 4: Low HIIT 25 + Sculpt 30

Day 5: Fire 55EZ

Day 6: HIIT 25 + Tone 30

Day 7: Fire 30 + Stretch 10

Week 11

Day 1: Low HIIT 25 + Sculpt 30

Day 2: Fire 45 + Stretch 10

Day 3: REST

Day 4: HIIT 15 + Tone 30

Day 5: Fire 55EZ

Day 6: Low HIIT 20 + Sculpt 30

Day 7: Fire 30 + Stretch 10

Week 12 (Recovery Week)

Day 1: REST

Day 2: Fire 45EZ + Stretch 10

Day 3: Fire 55EZ

Day 4: Stretch 40

Day 5: Fire 45EZ + Stretch 10

Day 6: Stretch 40

Day 7: REST

Reset Please!

I would just love to push the reset button for today. I know we all have days like these; all you can do is just keep moving forward. It started off pretty good - woke up before the kids, had my cheerios, made my coffee, was just sitting down in front of the computer with coffee when Denver woke up. I ran upstairs, got him up and dressed, came downstairs, set him down, put up the gate, closed the bathroom door, started dishes, and heard a crash. SIGH. My coffee, my very full, hot, cup of coffee, was all over the computer desk and Denver. He is so lucky (and me too) that he didn't burn himself. He just had a shocked look on his face. I cleaned it all up - got coffee all over my workout clothes. Then I heard Katelynn waking up, so I went upstairs and got her out of bed. She was already a little worked up. Some day's she wakes up on the wrong side of the bed too. By the time I got her downstairs she was turning very white and got sick all over me. I got her calm and both of us cleaned up then she did it again, and again, and again. UGH! Poor little thing. She had nothing in her tummy so she was just spitting up yellow (I looked it up, turns out it's what happens when you get sick on an empty stomach). She has no fever, so I'm thinking that she ate too much chocolate at the party yesterday and probably drank a little pool water. We're supposed to be going to my parent's house for the weekend, looks like we'll be leaving tomorrow instead of today. I think it's best we wait until her tummy calms down and she feels better. Fingers crossed it's just a 24-hour bug.
Anyway, we canceled our workout last night since the party went until almost 6pm (Tabitha's, who I workout/run with, little girl turned 5). We were going to do it this morning while Chris was at work, so I could get one workout in before heading to my parent's. Well, obviously, that didn't happen. Thankfully Chris brought Pedialyte home with him. Katelynn got some in her system without getting sick and is now taking a nap. The plan is to meet Tabitha for a run at 6pm tonight and possibly squeeze a run in at 7am tomorrow as well. Then it's off to my parent's place until Sunday evening.
I found this today and it fits my day perfectly!

Walking

Day 3 of getting up at 7am and walking for an hour is complete! I'm so proud of myself for getting up and moving more. Chris is on leave this week so he's the reason this is even possible. I have to admit it's nice to get up early and get moving. It clears my head and gets my mind racing with all the things I want to do for the day. I hope to keep it up until he deploys and then I'll just have to push the start time back a few hours until the kids are up and ready to go - hopefully the heat won't deter me. Anyway, I just wanted so share my excitement on starting Goal #3 (more cardio) for June!
Today we are headed to a friend's daughter's birthday party. The challenge of the day - avoiding all the goodies! She said she'll have pinatas with candy, a chocolate fountain, cupcakes, etc. UGH! Then tonight it's the last Lean 2 workout.

Update June Goals

June Goals. We're one week into June already - it goes so fast! I think I'm on track so far with my goals, but we'll see.
1) Weekly Weigh-in / lose 4 lbs.
 I stepped on the scale yesterday and for the first time in YEARS it was below 170!!!! It said 169. I stepped off and back on again, yep, still 169. I stepped on again today, and yep, still 169! YEAH!!! It's so exciting. I also wore a pair of capri's this weekend that I haven't worn since 2007 (and they were tight back then) and within an hour they were falling off of me. I love little things like this!
2) Track every day.
Doing good with this one as well. Myfitnesspal said I'm at 20 days - woo-hoo! That's two goals I've hit so far - yea me!
3) Up the cardio!!!
I ran for 35 minutes on Tuesday, then on Wednesday I ran 1.4 miles for National Running Day, 35 minutes on Friday, and then on Sunday I ran 3.7 miles. Total mileage this week: 11.4 miles. I wanted to walk 3 times last week, but I only got one day of walking in. I'll work on that more this week.
4) My 4th and final goal for June is to not eat after 8pm.
I've done pretty well with this one. I've been sipping on tea at night to help avoid snacking; when I get really hungry I just go to bed.

Day 92, CLX/Insanity

This is our last week of CLX/Insanity. So sad. For the most part I've really enjoyed this hybrid. Still not a fan of Insanity, but it was "fun" to give it a try, and I did like the Fast and Furious workout. I am still however a huge fan of Chalene and have decided that I'm going to do TurboFire next - no hybrids (still running 3 times a week though). Just 12 weeks of me and Chalene. The schedule has an additional 8 weeks but I don't have the advanced disks...might have to order those!

I'm not sure if the girls are going to do this one with me or not. We have crazy schedules over the summer. Come September though we'll be hitting the weights together again. Probably CLX then P90X in December.
I'm really hoping that doing straight cardio is going to help me drop some weight. I'm going to work extra hard at getting my eating under control as well. I'm going to follow the food guide this time too - as much as I can.

Day 89, CLX/Insanity

Tonight was Lean 3 from CLX. I tried to use my 12's for every exercise, and almost made it. My arms were screaming at me by those last 2 exercises. I had to drop down to 8's for the extreme on one set. I brought my camera along tonight and Steph snapped a few shots for me.

Here's Tabitha and me doing lunges and overhead presses.

Kneeling doing weighted crunches followed by overhead presses.

 Me :)

 And of course, Chalene's favorite, push-ups. UGH!

As we're cooling down Chalene says the following: "All you can do is your very best. Do not go through it at a comfortable level, but go through it pushing yourself as absolutely hard as you can. Then you can't do anything but succeed. You can't fail if you're giving it your all." I love that! She is so inspirational.
It's Friday so we ran this morning. It was hot and I felt so sluggish. We did 3 miles in 33 minutes. Not our greatest run, but definitely not our worst. Unfortunately, it doesn't really look like Sunday is going to be much better - weather.com says a high of 91. Hopefully it'll cool down by 7pm. Fingers crossed!
After CLX tonight Tabitha and I went to a free event hosted by the USO - bellydancing! It was actually very interesting and lots of fun. The instructor said the hip shaking is actually coming from your legs not your hips, so for a good bit of it was shook our legs (stand on your tippy toes and move your knees back and forth super fast - it really does make your hips shake) - I told Tabitha if we didn't stop soon I was going to set the place on fire from my thighs rubbing together - ROFL! I hope they do it again sometime. Here is a photo that the USO posted...

AND on another note, the North Face Challenge sent me an e-mail and in it there was a photo from the race of Tabitha and I and it let me save it. It's super tiny, but hey, here it is...

National Running Day

Yesterday, June 6th, was National Running Day. In honor of the "holiday" Tabitha and I went on a little jog after our CLX Lean workout. We did 1.3 miles - the weather was gorgeous! I wish it was cool like that every time we ran. I must say that it is definitely tougher running after a strength workout then before, but I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
CLX Lean 2 is tough - it's all shoulders and parts of the arms that just don't get used very much. Tough, tough, tough especially those extreme push-ups and rows while in the plank position. We did Extreme Abs afterwards (I need to make a mental note to never wear my Warrior Dash t-shirt while doing ab routines because it kept sticking to my Yoga mat - sounded like tape ripping every time I tried to sit-up...ha, ha).
I love, love, love her ab routines. We've been doing them for awhile now and I still feel them after our workouts. Gotta love that! Whatever program I do next I'm going to keep them in the rotation.
Tonight is Insanity Fast and Furious and for once I'm looking forward to an Insanity workout...now I know I'm going crazy!

Day 86, CLX/Insanity

86 days! Wow! Some days I'm just totally amazed at how far I've come with my workouts. I'm feeling really good this week - strong, healthy, happy, and even a tad sexy. Gotta love all the confidence that working out gives you.
Tonight was a run followed by CLX recharge. We ran around 3.3 miles. I (or Tabitha) really need to start thinking about getting a Garmin or something with GPS in it so we know how far we're running. I use mapmyrun, but a lot of the trails on base we run are not on their map so I have to "estimate" it, and I'm pretty sure it's not very accurate. Anyway, it was a great run. We changed it up a bit and started in the development and then did part of the trail run around the golf course (most of it's closed, but a small portion is still open), around the parade field, and back into the development. It was one of those runs where I felt really good and was so amazed at how far we were going.
I've really come a long way with my running. I'm running further and on a more regular basis then I ever have, and it feels great! I am doing mostly 5K's right now, but I would like to work my way up to a 10K and a half-marthon. That's a lot of miles! When I make it to the half-marathon distance I'll think about a marathon, but it's not anything I'm going to do anytime in the next year. I just can't picture myself running that far, but hey, you never know!

June Goals

Hmmm...I wonder what I should make my June goals. I should've made these last week, but I got off track for a little while. So, last month I did the whole no-weigh May where I didn't step on a scale all month (in fact my hubby hid it for me so I wouldn't be tempted). I stepped on the scale on Saturday and I'm at 170. I lost 3 lbs in May. Sigh. I'm now at 170lbs. 6 months into my beachbody programs (90 days of P90X followed by 90 days of CLX/Insanity) and I've managed to lose 12 lbs. It has GOT to be my eating. Seriously, weight should be falling off of me. My next program IS going to be cardio. I will start losing weight - or else body!
I went back and looked at my numbers over the last week based off my bodybugg and myfitnesspal entries: (day/calories burned/calories consumed/difference).
Mon - 2280 / 1750 -521
Tues - 3495 / 2160 - 1335
Wed - 2801 / 2166 - 635
Thurs - 2747 / 2245 - 502
Fri - 3319 / 1945 - 1374
Sat - 3112 / 1686 - 1426
Sun - 3064 / 2796 - 268
Mon (today) - 2277 / 2095 - 182
Now, what in the world do these numbers mean?! Good thing is that I have a deficit every day. A pound of body fat = 3500, so if I have a deficit of 500 calories a day for one week I should lose one pound. Right?! It looks like I'm on track to lose 2lbs. I will weigh myself again on Saturday and then compare the numbers again and see where I am.
I'm not going to toss the scale again. I think I'd rather obsess about it. HA!
June Goals:
1) Weekly Weigh-in / lose 4 lbs.
I want to weigh-in every Saturday morning. I will go with one pound a week goal. I realized back in April that anything more then 4 is too ambitious for me...I'm just not that good - YET!
2) Track every day.
Right now I'm on day 15 of logging! 2 weeks down - woo-hoo!! My friend Patty and I have a good support system going on right now. I wish more of my friends used myfitnesspal!
3) Up the cardio!!!
I run 3 times a week and usually do 3 miles each run (average 9 miles a week). By the end of June, I hope to be up to 4 mile runs. I want to add walking to my routine, so my goal for now is to get 3 walks in a week (in addition to my runs). Right now I don't have a distance or time goal. I just want to be more active. Move more during the day.
I feel like I don't do much at all during the day, then I do my hour workout, then I don't do anything. I want to start being more active as a whole. If I'm not hanging out around the house all day then maybe I won't eat as much and everything will start falling into place. Summer is the best time to make this happen.
So, yea, that's all I got and I realize after reading through them that they are the exact same as every month. So, I'm going to add another goal that's completely different.
4) No eating after 8pm
This is going to be tough! I usually snack while I play on the computer at night, but I'm also usually really hungry, or at least I feel hungry. I'm going to work really hard on this goal this week and see how it goes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to find a new night routine to help me stick with this goal.

North Face Endurance Challenge 5K

Tabitha and I ran in the North Face Endurance Challenge 5K run on Sunday. Neither one of us brought our camera along so the only picture I have is above. We did take one together for the "official" photographer, so hopefully we'll be able to get to that one later this week.
We had to get up super early (for me anyway). I picked Tabitha up at her house at 630am. Chris and the kiddos didn't come along to this race; he stayed home and watched Tabitha's three kids as well. So, not only did Chris watch 5 kids, but it was his birthday. I owe him BIG time for it!
It took us about an hour to get there. Traffic was actually really good. Our biggest problem was finding the parking location. The directions said to go right, but as we found out later if we'd have gone left it was right there. We took a 15 minute shuttle ride over to the site, picked up our bibs (absolutely no line), and then stashed our stuff in their bag check (no line for that either). Visited the oh-so-disgusting porta-potties, then watched the half-marathoners leave. There were 3 waves of them! Over 725 people ran the half-marathon! It was pretty cool to watch all those people. Then an hour later the 10K left, and 15 minutes later we were lined up and off we went.
We were warned that it would be a muddy experience from all the rain we got on Friday. Even heard that they had a high drop-out of the ultra-marathon due to the conditions. We figured it couldn't be any worse then the Warrior Dash, right?! We started through a grassy section, went up a hill, across a parking lot and then hit a trail. I got so excited. I LOVE trail runs! I was running way faster then I should, or normally do, but I was having fun. I was passing people, jumping roots, and smiling the whole time. Then my shoe came untied. SIGH. I stopped and Tabitha stopped with me, tied it quickly, and off we went. We ended up crossing the parking lot again, a short trail, then circled back on the grassy section, saw the finish line, sped up, only to be diverted around it - UGH!
Yep, I wasted a lot of energy when I saw that finish line. We shot up this quick little hill and then I stumbled - shoe lace again. I stopped and Tabitha kept going. Double tied it this time. Ran around a soccer field - it was like jogging through a marsh. It was humid, wet, and hot. Turned the corner and saw other runners coming at us, got excited again because I thought we were almost done. I then saw Tabitha and she was close enough to catch, so I picked up the pace, and stumbled again. Yep, other shoelace. WTF! My shoelaces never come undone. That pretty much took the last of my energy. I half-heartedly ran the last leg, stomped through the big muddy section (reason for my muddy shoes), and sprinted across the finish line.
I was 75th overall for the 5k (out of 183...not a big showing). I was 16/45 for my age group, and 33/107 out of the overall females. It was a good race. I only wish we could've ran more "trail" portions. Running through a soccer field is not a trail. Through the trees, over roots, logs, and bridges all the while surrounded by trees - that's my type of trail! If I do this race again next year, it will be the 10k.

Udpate from Barby

I need to get on here and give a shout out to my sister. She has been working really hard and it shows because she looks AMAZING! I am so proud of her. Obviously she is the stronger of the two of us and I don't think I could put the same effort into working out that she does. That's why she wanted us to do the blog, because we are so very different. 

As for me, between school, house hunting, and moving, I have totally fallen off the wagon and am almost back to the beginning. I was using yoga in the beginning to keep my stress level down but it soon became more stressful just trying to find time for it. I have also learned that I am a serious emotional eater, which is going to be a very hard habit to break . I could throw myself into a new diet and workout plan but I still have settlement process and moving to do this month and I can see that going bad quickly. So instead I am going to pick one thing each week to change. My first pick was sweets. Sweets have such a negetive effect on my body and my skin but when things get stressful, that seems to be what I turn to and the more I have, the more I want. So last week I gave up sweets. No cookies. No cake. No ice cream, soda... you get the idea. I ended up losing 6 lbs! (I don't even want to think about how much I was eating to have that large of a loss.) I ate whenever I felt hungry, I didn't count calories, I didn't even work out. I just cut out sweets and it made a huge diffference. It has really motivated me to going because for the first time since March the scale is going down, not up.

I have been doing this to long to think that just cutting out sweets is all I need to do but it was a huge confidence booster. This week I am going to start doing yoga again. My goal is two days a week. I just bought the 21 day yoga challenge but I don't think I am ready for that yet. After all, I still have a lot of packing, a trip to my parents, and settlement. I don't want to over whelm myself and undo what I just accomplished. Two days a week is what I was doing before all this chaos started and is realistic. I am confident I can find two days a week to squeeze in a yoga session.

We'll see if I can continue with no sweets and squeeze in two days of yoga. I am looking forward to the challenge!

Day 82, CLX/Insanity

What a weird day today was! Tabitha mentioned this morning that there were supposed to be storms tonight, so how about we run early. Okay, sounds good to me. It was actually pretty muggy, but there was a decent breeze for the run. We went for 36 minutes, but had to walk up 2 hills. Hills and double jogging strollers are not pleasant, throw in the heat and they'll kill ya! It was an even split though - we ran up 2, walked 2. I also tacked an extra minute onto our run for the walk "breaks." We actually ran 3.3 miles which considering we were pushing 60+ pound strollers is really good!
It was good that we decided to run early because by 6pm tonight the sirens on base were going crazy. Tornado warnings were in effect for most of the evening. I got a mini workout cleaning out our hall closet so we had somewhere to duck into if need be. We were also supposed to meet at 7pm to do CLX Lean 3, but decided not to. Turns out that was a good decision because at 7pm the sirens started going off again and the whole sky got dark and just ugly looking; then at 715pm they had a tornado touch down at BWI (minutes from post). Scary! Chris took the camera outside and got some shots of the crazy clouds.

Once I got the kiddos in bed, I popped in CLX Lean 3 and got my workout on. No little tornado was going to stop me - HA! I felt really good tonight so I pushed it a little harder then last week. I did almost every exercise with my 12's (had to use my 10's for one set). There were a ton of push-ups in this set. The only one I did on my knees were the moving ones and that's because I don't have enough room in my house to try and do those. I'm really enjoying the Lean series. It's a great set of exercises.
Tomorrow is a rest day and then Sunday is my trail race. I've got to get up early - Tabitha and I need to hit the road by 630am!