A Whole New World

On September 25th of this year, I will be a mom for 10 years. Shocking. For these past 10 years I have put myself on the back burner and done everything for these 3 little monkeys while doing nothing for myself. I have woken up before the sun to workout, I have stayed up until midnight so I could get in a workout, but today, that all changed. And, it’s like a new world has opened up for me. One that involved me going to bed at 10pm last night instead of 8  and getting up at 6 this morning and enjoying the quiet time before the troops woke up.

Creepiest self photo ever? Yep. I win.

This morning I sent my two oldest off to school, came home and made my youngest his breakfast and then made myself breakfast

Washed down with this delicious water

And then about 15 minutes later, at 9am, I did one sweaty 30 minute Turbo Fire workout (Fire 30). It was awesome. I feel like a brand new mama. One that actually CAN take care of herself now without having to be up before the sun to get it done! My energy has been through the roof today and I love it!!!

Feeling {that} Burn

I actually thought about shutting down. I let other websites dictate my feelings and blogging and then I realized I’m not in high school anymore and I can do what I want. This is my site, I’m paying for it, and I decide the content. If you’re looking for serious, thought provoking posts, this isn’t the place. I blog for fun and to keep myself accountable.

In other {more important} news, Turbo Fire is kicking my butt!!! I have been doing some of the easier DVD’s, but yesterday decided to start following the actual schedule that came with the program. There is a 9 week prep schedule and then 20 week actual class schedule. Up first, Fire 30 and Stretch 10. Wow. My Polar FT7 heart rate monitor was going nuts, I really need more cardio in my life!!!! At the end, I was s.p.e.n.t. I had sweat coming out of places I didn’t know could sweat and was exhausted!!

540 calories burned in 58 minutes. I’ll take it! This is the highest calorie burn I’ve had to date and I earned every one of those calories burned.

Today was supposed to be weights day, but I woke up in some serious pain. I can’t raise my arms overhead and my obliques are on fire…all signs of a good workout, but I don’t want to burn myself out so I took a rest day. I’m not sure if that was the best idea or not, but it’s done.

Admitting Defeat

I tried. I really tried. Evening workouts just aren’t going to work. Dang it. With 3 little kids and a husband who’s schedule is unpredictable lately, I have skipped and/or shortened so many workouts this week, I may as well as not have done anything. I tried doing a 30 minute DVD the other day that took nearly 2 hours because I had to keep stopping and helping someone with something. Not acceptable. So. Crap. Back to early morning workouts it is. And let me tell you, it was tough waking up early this morning!!!

It’s been a long day…and it’s only 2:15.

I am finally over this cold that had me under it’s hold the last few days. Thank goodness! My house has been suffering this week along with me, things have been picked up, but not cleaned as much as I normally do every day. I’ve been disinfecting my little heart out for most of the day today.

Breakfast: It’s no secret I love egg sandwiches, but I’ve been getting kind of sick of the same old sandwich, so I tried doing something different today and tried it Peanut Butter Fingers style.

 

Safe to say I’m hooked.

English muffin, egg, sharp cheddar cheese and strawberry jam. I can’t wait to try different combos of cheese and jelly. On the side I had a Cara Cara orange, these are my favorite oranges, I was so sad this was the last one in my stash.

Lunch was a little outing for Aiden and I today, we went to a friend’s house with some other moms and two cute little newborns. We had the most delicious soup and rolls, perfect for this snowy {finally!!!!} day.

Time for more disinfecting, hope you’re all having a great day!

Taco Night

I have had mad cravings for mexican food and pizza this week and when that happens, it means something is arriving. The cramps and bloat kicked in yesterday and, well, I don’t have to explain the rest to you  

Thankfully, my kids’ favorite night is taco night! They love them and it was just what my uterus was craving as well.

So good. So sad there wasn’t enough for leftovers for lunch today.

After dinner, I changed and did Turbo Fire: Stretch 40. This is only the 3rd time I’ve done this DVD, but last night was the one where I noticed how much progress I’m making. I did the planks, the pushups, everything! It’s pretty exciting to see my body responding well to exercise…and really motivating!

The downside to everything: I have a weigh in tomorrow morning at weight watchers and last month this time I had a 3lb gain because of my period bloat and I really don’t want that to happen again!

Is there anything I can do to combat the bloating today?

Baked, not fried

You may have noticed that there haven’t been any Turbo Fire updates, that’s because I got very discouraged doing one titled Core 20. My body literally can not move like that yet. The core exercises were near impossible and I found myself watching and making half-hearted attempts thinking that would somehow make me capable in doing them.

I haven’t worked out since Saturday morning and was going to admit defeat and do something else instead of the Turbo Fire / ChaLEAN Extreme combo I was doing. And then I received this comment:

You can do it!!!!! Whatever you do, you can’t get discouraged!!!

And this one that made me cry:

Jen you are truly an inspiration!! THIS right here is why you blog. There are so many people who are moments away from walking away from it all BUT all it will take is for them to read this and they will be inspired. YOU will inspire them. You’ve inspired me! Thank you Jen!

I put my big girl pants on and I’m NOT admitting defeat. There are some moves I can’t do right now, but if I keep trying, I will be able to do them!!!

My Mom and I are starting a yoga class tonight. I’m nervous about doing yoga in front of people, but I’m excited as well. And tomorrow morning, I WILL be doing a TF or CLX DVD.

Breakfast:

A Chocolate Nut Bella Bar and a banana. (6P+)

Ingredients: Dates, Walnuts, Pecans, Agave Syrup, Hemp Seed, Rolled Oats, Hemp Powder, Ground Flax, Brown Rice Protein, Cocoa Powder, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Salt.

My 3 year old LOVES these! He thinks they are candy bars! I like how they fill me up for hours and taste delicious as well. I’m not a huge chocolate fan, but these have just enough chocolate to be sweet, but they aren’t overpowering.

Lunch:

I love me some potstickers, they are little dumplings of goodness and up until today, my preferred method of cooking was what they told me to do on the bag; boil in water and then “fry” them in olive oil so they turn brown and get crispy. I had another idea. I turned the oven to 425 and used 2 teaspoons of olive oil (to get in the recommended amount by WW) and baked until they were brown on the top, then flipped them over until they were brown on the other side. Did they taste like they do cooked in a pan with oil? No. But, they were still good and I will cook them like this again!

I also had a simple salad of lettuce, broccoli slaw and Trader Joe’s Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette and strawberries.

The Best Chicken I Have Ever Made

When I was a cheerleader,  one of my favorite parts of practice was stretching, and I was pretty good at it! I prided myself on the fact that I could do right, left and center splits and the infamous vertical split  was not a problem.

This was found on Pinterest, but once upon a time, I could do that.

And then I left high school, stopped cheering,  and really didn’t know what to do. I hated running, thought lifting weights was for bodybuilders only and so I got lazy…really quick. After I got married, the laziness set in even more and we found ourselves coming home from work, eating dinner and then hanging out together on the couch the rest of the night. Fast forward almost 11 years later and here we are, someone who’s body was capable of anything, loved being pushed to the limits, and never thought it would be in the shape it is today.

Part of the reason I chose to do Turbo Fire is because it’s not just cardio, it’s cardio, strength training and yoga mixed in as well. So when I saw on the schedule that yesterday was a DVD called Stretch 40, I was pretty excited. Stretching for 40 minutes?! Yes, please! Then I started doing it and realized I don’t have my 17 year old body and was severely un-flexible! I am in serious amazement that my muscles seem to have “forgotten” what they used to do! I can’t touch my toes? Impossible!! I have to admit that it was fun – sort of – and I’m excited to keep doing this and to see what my body can do now! I want to prove to myself that I can do this, that just because I’m a mom doesn’t mean I can’t be in shape and teach my muscles how to stretch again.

After that was over, I had some cheerios, a banana and a new concoction that I am in love with.

With my new immersion blender, I blended silk vanilla soymilk, cinnamon and a splash of french vanilla coconut creamer.

I warmed it up, blended it again and poured into my mug. It was a frothy, cinnamon/vanilla mug of pure deliciousness!!!

Lunch was something I’ve been craving for days; a salad filled with mixed greens, mixed vegetables and balsamic vinaigrette.

I also had a hardboiled egg on it for some much needed protein. This salad was so good! After weeks of fast food and garbage, my body was craving something fresh. No matter how much I may crave sugar, fast food and diet coke…my body doesn’t. Unfortunately, my body runs so much better on water, vegetables and sugar once in awhile. Dang.

And then there was dinner, and it really was the best chicken I have ever made. I put semi-frozen chicken breasts into a dish with sea salt, pepper and garlic salt on top, covered with foil and baked at 375 for 30 minutes. When it came out, it was still really pink, but not frozen anymore, so I made a glaze. I combined dijon mustard, honey and chicken broth, poured it over the chicken and baked for another 30 minutes, but this time at 350.

It was pretty much done at that point, but I had an idea. First I sprinkled some Thyme on the chicken and then turned the oven to broil. I put the chicken back in for about 5 minutes. The results? Perfectly tender in the middle and a crunch on the outside.

PER-FREAKING-FECTION

I couldn’t get over how delicious this chicken was!!!

Today is my daugher’s 7th birthday and I have 30 cupcakes that still need to be frosted and sprinkled, have a good day!!!

2012

I know some people want to wait until January 1st before starting over with weight loss goals, exercise plans, etc., but for me, I can’t wait. I know that if I say I’ll start Monday, Monday will never happen. Last year was nothing but “mondays” for me, and I won’t have that again this year. I was going to start with some other exercise DVD’s, but after a few days I realized they weren’t for me. I contacted my old Coach through Beachbody yesterday and she got me started on a plan that will take me through the next 20 weeks.

 

I’ll be doing a Turbo Fire / ChaLEAN Extreme Hybrid. I looked through the schedule last night and I’m pretty excited about it! Everything is layed out for me, I just have to push play and stick to it!

Like I mentioned, this hybrid schedule is 20 weeks long, which will take me approximately through Memorial Day.

First things first, I had the husband take “before” pictures last night. No body snarking…

but let’s just say I have some things to work on.

And now I realize why my back hurts ALL the time, I look pregnant!!! Craziness. Full disclosure: I weigh more right this second than I did when any of my 3 children were born. That’s just unacceptable.

And then this morning, I took the obligatory measurements.

• Chest: 44”
• R Arm: 13.5”
• L Arm: 13.5”
• Waist: 41”
• Hips: 46.5”
• R Thigh: 24”
• L Thigh: 24”

On the plan for today was Stretch 40

I thought 40 minutes of stretching? Piece of cake. I was so wrong. So very wrong. It was 40 minutes of modified yoga that kicked my beyond out of shape booty and had me wishing I was not so out of shape!!!

After a shower and some much needed lemon water, I had eggs, toast and a tangerine.

Perfect start to my day! I won’t be making resolutions for 2012, but I will be making goals for myself. Because, really, who doesn’t like a fresh start?

I haven’t been to a Weight Watchers meeting since December 10th and I’m terrified about going tomorrow morning. According to my scale, I packed on about 6lbs. But, I don’t have any regrets. I refused to worry about food or anything else this Christmas season. I concentrated on my family, friends, having fun and making memories…because as anyone can tell you, life is way too freaking short to not have fun with your family and indulge every once in awhile!!!