Hey Batter, Batter, Batter!

Today has been marked by yoga, powdered sugar and red velvet batter. It’s 12:16 AM (technically Tuesday) and I am beat!!

Woke up at 9:38 AM, got up, weighed in, measured and then started yoga X. I weigh 170.4 as of today so at least it’s going down instead of up this time. I measured and things are not changing. (But, yet my clothes are loose.)

Yoga was good. By the end, I was very tired and sore.

After my workout, my husband and I got ready to make yet another run to Hobby Lobby and Michaels for the cakes/cupcakes and a run to Lowes to get a 5-gallon bucket for the icing. It started pouring down rain as soon as we were done in HL, so needless to say, we got pretty wet. L

As soon as we got home, I immediately started making the cream cheese icing, which nearly wore out my precious Kitchen-Aid. Thankfully, I was able to finish before it got too hot to move anymore. I made 12X the original recipe which made about 38 cups of frosting. That’s a lot of powdered sugar, folks! I used 60 cups of it!! I’m pretty sure my kitchen is covered in a fine layer of powdered sugar but I wasn’t able to clean it up because I was getting ready for baking the cakes.

Oh yeah, if I didn’t tell you the other day, our oven broke. (wah wah!) I had to pack all of my ingredients and move it to my mom’s house because she said I could use her oven. (Thank God for moms!) Upon getting there, I immediately started on that.

My progress was halted when I ran into another problem. I tried to make 6X the recipe of red velvet cake but that was entirely too much for my mixer to handle. (The oil and sugar alone, which were the first things to go in to the mixer equaled 18 cups together!) Since everything was basically already mixed and just ready to be combined, I needed a bigger bowel and a way to mix it. Ended up having to go to Walmart to get another 5-gallon bucket and a hand mixer. That was fun, let me tell you.

I decided to only do a 3x recipe the next time two more times so that it would fit in my mixer and I could just combine it with the 6x recipe in the bucket. (It was nearly full by the time I finished all making all my batter.) And, it was red, so that made for an even more fun experience ;)

While the cakes were baking, I decided to make my fondant decorations for the cake and cupcakes. 

Thankfully, I was able to sit down during these few hours with the exception of getting up to get the cakes out of the oven.

I will post pictures later, I’m kind of tired and don’t really feel like getting up to upload the pictures to my computer.

Sometimes, when you know you are going to have a busy, exhausting day, it’s best to get your workout done first thing so you don’t have any excuse not to do it. That’s exactly what I am planning to do once I wake up tomorrow. Then, it’s back to business.

Alright, I’m tired and done for tonight. I really thought this was going to be a short post but that I got to talking about cakes and well, here we are now.

Have a wonderful Tuesday, since I’m already partially in it. Be blessed!

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

Exercise, Cake and Cupcakes

Next week is going to be crazy! For those of you who do not know, I went to school for baking and pastry arts. And, I was asked to make a cake for a 50^th anniversary. Tomorrow is when production starts and Friday is the day of the event. So, yeah, this is an all week thing that will probably take up most of my time.

But, what does that NOT mean. Well, folks, that does NOT mean that I am going to skip my workouts. I’m gonna have to taste the cake, frosting and I’ll probably have at least half of a cupcake at the event, but that does not mean that P90X can wait a week. Remember, guys, I’m still on a journey and that doesn’t mean that the fattening part of life should get me side tracked. Somehow, some way, I am going to do this!

Let me give you a little mini run down of what this week will consist of. Week 4 is the Rest Week for Month 1. (Yay! One month almost down!) Monday is Yoga, make all my frosting, and bake cakes day. You’ve already had a little information about yoga, but what you don’t know is that I have to make about 40 cups of cream cheese frosting. (Yeah, I get to make the good stuff.) <<This past week, I had to test recipes and it was so good, lemme tell you, that I couldn’t resist eating it…I’ve since stopped and think I’ve had my fill of cream cheese frosting (for a little while at least.) The cake will all be red velvet (which I’m not too fond of unless it’s smothered with cream cheese frosting…so, I won’t have much trouble staying away from eating the crumbs.) [[the frosting will be made at my house and the cakes will be made at my mom’s house<<our oven broke Friday evening :/ so the two will be separate until Tuesday night unless plans change.]]

Tuesday is Core Synergystics, which I will tell you more about on Tuesday. It’s kind of like Plyometrics in that I don’t like doing it, but it’s a good workout and makes you sweat. I also have to bake the rest of my cakes and depending on how things go, I might crumb coat the tiers.

Wednesday is Kenpo X and hopefully the oven will be fixed by then so I can bake all 100 cupcakes. If not, I’m in for a real hectic week. I’ll probably flat ice the cakes on this day as well.

Thursday is X Stretch, which is kind of like Yoga except that it’s relaxing and I actually fell asleep once while doing it (lol) and cupcake and cake details. I have to get all of this done by a decent amount of time in order to get my nap in for Audit that night.

Friday is Core Synergystics again, sleep, drive to the place that this cake is going to be served (bout an hour+ away), set up, fix any mess ups, attend the event, drive back, Audit!

Saturday morning is Yoga X and church. So, I might as well not go to sleep since I have to do Yoga. Luckily, I have the nursery that morning so the little kids can help me stay awake. :D

By the way, I haven’t actually planned out exactly what is going to happen on what day, the above is more like a guess. You’ll hear more about it on the individual days.

Yeah, this week is going to be busy as all get out, but I’m usually pretty good about getting what needs to be done and still getting enough sleep (or running on fumes if need be). But, like I said you’ll hear more about everything as the week progresses.

I can’t promise you that I will not be tired, but I can promise you that my body will not suffer because of it. Cheer me on as I go through this week.

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

Proud of Week 3

Alas, week 3 is over!! Time to get ready for Week 4!

I am extremely happy to say that week 3 was a success. Who cares about the numbers, I was able to go through the entire week without an ounce of immobilizing pain and my workouts were a lot more consistent.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I do have some pain though, all because of sore muscles. Today is the same story except my whole body aches. (:D)  My calves hurt especially. I was wearing some really high heels today for church and once I slipped my feet out of them, pain shot up both calves! It hurt, but it felt good at the same time. :/ lol

Speaking of church, today’s message was great! Our pastor was talking about how lots of people like to spend hours upon hours looking at their family history, searching for who their ancestors were and where they came from, etc. on places like ancestry.com, in newspaper articles and the like. Some people even search for this type of information to see if they are somehow tied to famous people or people who made a difference in the world. (To be honest, I had never even thought about this subject before.) But, if we are born-again believers, we need not look far because we can find our spiritual family tree right in our Bible; we are kin to The One who made a difference: Jesus!

 Doctor Cody was also talking about how people (with an unrenewed mind) tend to say things like “depression runs in my family,” or “diabetes runs in my family,” or “obesity runs in my family,” etc. (that last one is a cop-out, I think) Anyway, when it comes to my lineage, I have two family trees, so to speak. I have the “Adam Family Tree” and the “Jesus Family Tree.” The “AFT” deals with man. My mom is Gretchen Hedrich, my dad is David Sehorn, my grandmas are Paula Flandermeyer and Sharon Sehorn and so forth. That is my Adam-based family tree. My “JFT” consists of Jesus and me (primarily). I have a relationship with Jesus, therefore, he is part of my “family.” He dwells within me therefore He is always with me.

“Depression runs in my family” could be a “true” statement to your AFT, but in your JFT, it most certainly is not!! If you are a born-again believer, you have the power and the right to cast away the negative “runs in my family” stuff because Jesus is in you! He died and rose for you to be healed, saved and whole!  

I said all of that to say that because Jesus is within me and because I am part of His family, I know that I have the strength to see my goal to completion. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and this is not an exception. God loves me and cares about me and cares about what I care about (the same goes for you too!) He wants to give me the desires of my heart and one of my desires is to be fit; therefore, He is going to help me as I call upon Him.

Before I close this up, let me first tell you a little about the workout today. I set my alarm to 8:00am, woke up and was ready to go! I wanted to sleep a little bit more though so I set my alarm to 8:15am. In a half-daze, I woke up at 8:15am, shut off my alarm and apparently went back to sleep. (ahg!) Woke up startled because I thought I had missed my opportunity to get my workout in before church. (Ahg!) Luckily, it was 8:27am and 8:30am was actually the latest that I needed to get up before it’d be too late. (Yay!) So, I got up, got ready and turned on Kenpo X (even though this is my least favorite workout.)

A few minutes in, I was telling myself that it wasn’t all that bad. The warm-up is my least favorite because it takes about 10 minutes and it’s really slow. This time, my aching muscles really enjoyed the time to stretch because it made me feel a lot better! Today wasn’t bad at all and call me crazy, but I really think my arms are getting more beefed! The definition on top seems to be more evident even though the bottom is still pretty squishy. (:/)

Last thing, I promise. WARM FUZZY TIME! I haven’t told you about one of these in a while now so I think it’s about time. With Kenpo X, there’s a move where you Jab with your left side, then Cross Jab with your right side. Then, you jump and Jab with the right and Cross Jab with your left. You jump every time you do it and I’ve always had a problem with the jumping-switching feet part. I never seemed to have enough energy or ability to do it. Today, I was able to do it!! No problem at all!! Yay!

Ok, I’m done, lol. Be blessed!!

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

^^Kind of wrong...but oh so true! ^^

Oh Yes, Some More Good Pain!!

Week 3 has been a success so far!! I’m happy to say that I’ve not felt too tired [or sick] to work out and I’ve practically stuck to the workouts completely. I really hope the scale reflects all the hard work and pain I have gone through.

Although pain is not a fun feeling, it is a great one! I used to hate working out because of the pain; the pain even made me quit sometimes. But, now, I embrace the pain!! Pain means that my muscles are growing! Pain means that if I keep going, I will get stronger and stronger! Pain means that I am getting even closer to my goals. I like pain now.

Lately, the pain has been almost entirely in my arms; my biceps and triceps hurt a lot whenever I move them! I’ve also had some pain in my back but, unlike with Insanity, this is not the bad kind that immobilizes me. It just hurts and is kind of uncomfortable whenever I lay or sit down. My legs don’t really hurt much which is kind of a surprise; I actually enjoy leg pain! Usually Plyometrics makes my legs hurt, but not this week.

Alright, time to get real. Every time I step on the scale, I have mini freak outs. My numbers don’t seem to be going anywhere; not my weight or my inches!! It’s highly frustrating! The most frustrating thing about it though is that my clothes feel a lot looser. My size 12 work shirt needs to be turned in for a 10 or an 8. (I haven’t mentioned this to my GM yet because we don’t have any size 10 or 8 in the employee uniform closet and ordering new ones every few weeks seems trivial.) The 2 L size T-shirts that I do have are getting too big too! I tried on a medium shirt the other day (that didn’t fit me in high school) and it fit perfectly. The fabric wasn’t being stretched by my rolls and it was an awesome feeling!! It’s just frustrating to see that my weight and inches aren’t changing but I’m getting smaller?? What is that?! That doesn’t even make sense to me!! Usually people who don’t lose weight lose inches but that ain’t happening!! I’m hoping and praying that this dumb months-long plateau will be over soon and I will start to see results like in the first round of P90X. I only have 42 more pounds to lose!!! Ah!! I know that the last stretch of weight is the hardest, but really, why has my body been the same for several months!!??

Thankfully, we were able to buy some groceries to sustain ourselves for at least the next one or two weeks! Maybe getting my calories in, good calories, will help boost another round of weight loss. If not, I’m going to have to figure out something, whether that means getting another workout in or eating less/more. Whatever, I need to do something!!

Alright, so even though I had to half-rant about my progress, or rather lack thereof, I took a real long, hard look in the mirror the other day. I told myself that even if I don’t get to my goal by the end of the year, it doesn’t mean that I have failed. I’m obviously in this thing and am in it to win it. I told myself that no matter how long it takes, I won’t stop reaching for my goal. I want muscles and I won’t stop until I have them. And, even then, I won’t stop maintaining them. I’m in this thing and I’m not going to stop if it gets to the end of the year and I’m not 130 pounds. It’s really just that simple. I didn’t start this thing with a one-year limit and expect to quit as soon as 2012 was up. 2012 is my year and it has been my year. I learned the things that I needed to in order to reach my goals, I’ve successfully lost over 60 pounds since last year and I feel great! I’m not quitting. Besides, my goals are much more important than 130. Both PJ and I want me to be a healthy mommy so that I can carry our children easier than I could have at 236 pounds. I want to have energy for that child as well and I want our child to watch me be nice to my body and in turn want to be nice to his (yes, we are having a boy, lol). I want to be a role model for others as well.

The other day, I was telling my mom all the areas of my body that need work: upper thighs, arms, tummy, etc. She said something that I knew all along, but it stuck more than it ever has. She basically told me that it took years for my body to get to what it had gotten to and that years of abuse to it wouldn’t necessarily be erased all that easily. My mom didn’t say it as harsh as I paraphrased it, but ya know, sometimes tough love is what you need. She also told me that I might even have sagging skin (from being 100+ pounds more than I wanted to be) but that with time I could tone it up. It all made sense to me and kind of gave me a different perspective. Yeah, I was bad to my body. I ate the wrong food…A LOT…and I let myself get to 236 pounds. It was all me. PJ didn’t shove the nacho cheese into my mouth, I did. And, years of doing that will cause you to look like I did. But, as TH says “Rome was not built in a day and neither was your body.” I’ve come so far already and even though I’m still building, it won’t seem like such a hard journey once I reach my goal. I’m excited to see the end result even though going through it is kind of stressful and seems to take forever. It’s all worth it though!!

I have just a few more things to say before this blog comes to an end. I did something brave the other day. For most of Plyometrics and about 30 minutes of yoga, I worked out in my sports bra and underwear. Definitely brave on my part, but something that needed to be done as far as I am concerned. Every day that I exercise, I usually wear my sports bra and sport shorts. The only problem with the shorts is that they hide a good portion of my upper thigh and I can’t really see any muscle motion when I am wearing them. So, I decided to take those off the other day and see exactly what I was working with, lol. While not the most attractive site, not completely horrible and definitely not as bad as at 236 pounds. My thighs still have a long way to go but I can see where the muscle is whenever I do certain moves. :D If you haven’t tried it, I recommend it. (In a safe place where no one will walk in on you. It gets you more in tune with your body I think and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.)

Oh yeah, as I wrote last week, I had some trouble with that Plow and Shoulder Stance. On Thursday, I didn’t have any trouble at all. I took it slow and was able to hold it pretty well. I think I shall take things slow next time and the times after that.

Next week is Recovery Week for the first month. Not much has changed with my body but like I said, hopefully being able to get my calories in will help the process along.

Before I leave you, I want to make a shout out to Alex Miller. She told me recently that she bought Insanity and was pretty excited about it. I, too, am excited for her and am very proud as well. She is a mother of two and from what I read from Facebook, she is a pretty busy woman. Finding time to exercise is probably not the easiest things with two young ones, but dedication to a goal will make it all work out. Super proud of you Alex!! Keep up the good work and drink plenty of water…also, get ready for a butt-whoopin! ;)

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

^^The M size shirt that has no problem fitting me now :D #personalvictory#

We Remember

Before I start today’s blog, I just want to take a few moments to remember 11 years back. I have a really foggy memory of this day because I was only in 6^th grade and didn’t really understand what was going on. It still baffles me to think that something so tragic happened to our great nation. While the pain and sadness of that day cannot be erased, the memories of those lost will not be forgotten. Thank you, as well, to all those men and women who served and will continue to serve.

I’ve never been the person to understand political issues or get involved in much of the debates, but even though that may be the case, it doesn’t negate the fact that 9-11 affected me. To suffer such a loss is absolutely beyond me and I can barely describe it in words.

About a year ago, I rented a movie titled “Remember Me.” I rented this for the sole fact that it had Edward Cullen in it, or Robert Pattinson, but by the end of the movie, it left me feeling completely shocked and quite saddened, remembering 9-11. If you haven’t seen this movie, I’m about to ruin the ending for you. And, since it has been a while since I’ve actually seen the movie, it’s hard to remember exactly what it was about. The ending replays in my mind though. I copied this summary from imdb.com.

Tyler Hawkins, a rebellious, artistic New York student, was estranged from his father, ever-absent tycoon Charles Hawkins, since the suicide of his beloved elder brother Mark, and desperately wants paternal attention for his kid sister, nerdy Caroline, who doesn't fit in her school for the artistically gifted. Ever-provocative Tyler and his college roommate, party animal Aidan Hall, are roughed up at a street fight and wrongly jailed by beastly NYPD detective sergeant Neil Craig. When Aidan discovers Craig's daughter Alyssa 'ally' is a fellow student, he dares smooth Tyler to ask her out, but the two become lovers, also bonding over her own home rebellion. Yet just when things seem to work out, fate strikes, in the end crushingly

During the last few minutes of the movie, Tyler, his dad, and his sister had plans to go somewhere as a family. Something happens that delays his father and they don’t meet up as planned. So, Tyler goes to his father’s place of employment, walks around his office just waiting for him to show. His father had already left by that time and they are kind of wondering what happened to the plan. The scene shoots to Tyler looking out the window and seeing one of the Twin Towers getting hit. We realize at this point that it is September 11^th in the movie and he’s in the other tower that goes down just a few moments later. His girlfriend, Ally, knew where he was, and was trying to reach him as she watched the live footage of the towers on her television.

As this point in the movie, I was left stunned and just couldn’t contain my tears. Thankfully, I was watching it alone and could properly let the emotions I was experiencing flow freely. In that moment, it brought everything to my perspective. To see what it might have been like for people on that day, to hear the horror in people’s voices, to imagine how hard a person could cry and shout out in pain because they lost someone. It reminds me of one of those movies that all of a sudden goes silent when the character is experiencing a gut-wrenching moment like that. They probably do this for people like me who, if heard that, would absolutely lose it.

So, on this day, I have decided to take a break from the usual workout talk. This is a day that we remember and will always remember. To God be the glory that we have made it through, even when it seemed impossible.

Signing Out,

We Remember

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Oh how I wish that the mirror didn’t reflect everything it saw. Today was not a day that I wanted to see how unattractive my backside looked but that’s exactly what I got.

For all of you real women out there, you may know exactly what I mean. For those of you who don’t know, count that as a blessing. But, yes, I must admit, I saw my backside in the mirror today.

I’m not going to go into detail just how or with what clothing that it happened but, it did, and I was not happy. The reflection that I saw made me feel like I was still 236 pounds. Obviously, I am not, but the image that I saw just kind of overwhelmed me with a sinking, gut-wrenching feeling.

Instead of feeling all depressed about it, I took that as an inward challenge. Someday, even though that day may not be soon, I want my derriere to look nice, to be firm, and to be smaller!!! My legs need some work too! I want those to be toned, smaller, and possibly tanned (although pale isn’t a color that I’m ashamed of).

Even though that mirror is sometimes absolutely dreadful, it’s helpful in a way if you look at it with the right attitude. I still don’t want to see those images again, but now that they are burned into my retinas, my challenge should be a constant focus.

On to a different subject. Weigh Day was today and as some of you know, I kind of expected to be back in the 170’s. While that is something I’m not excited about, it was expected considering the week that I had.

For one thing, food was (and unfortunately, still is) scarce. PJ and I have hit a little bit of a dry patch and have had to sacrifice grocery shopping for a few weeks. That means that we are trying to make things last longer. This is probably known as the “Casserole Diet.” A while ago, we bought a 25 pound bag of rice and didn’t really eat much of it until these last few weeks came along. PJ has been combining different condiments as well as the chicken that we did have and making rice casseroles.

Also, every time I did go shopping, I always thought we were running out of wheat noodles, so I would always buy a box or two. Well, during these scarce times, we had that pasta so we’ve been flip-flopping between rice and pasta. Rice and pasta…Carbs, carbs, carbs. Not so wonderful when you are counting calories and trying to get enough to not be hungry. We are surviving though, so everything is alright. We should be seeing better days soon. :D

To add to the fact that the diet has been kind of crappy lately, whenever I open the empty fridge, I usually scan for about 30 seconds and then shut it finding no satisfaction. When PJ opens the fridge, he sees some kind of casserole or sauce or something that he can make that we will both enjoy. Lol. I’ve never had that ability to just throw stuff together and make it work, so that’s a downfall when I am hungry. A lot of the times, I will just wait until PJ opens the fridge and decides to add a little of this and a little of that and create “genius and delicious!” Sometimes that could be hours so I usually snack on water or just don’t eat. <<bad, bad, bad!!

Like I said though, we will be seeing better days soon. PJ just got a new job and we will have full cupboards once again.

Enough about that now. The workout today was Chest and Back. I’ve detailed this a few weeks ago and it still hasn’t changed. Lol. I got up at a normal time for those of us who do not have children and didn’t have to work till 11pm. (11:50am), got ready, then started my workout. It wasn’t bad but for some reason, I didn’t feel the burn that I usually do. Perhaps I need to up my weights to 10lb or something?? Anyway, I finished that and then started Ab Ripper X. I FELT THAT ONE!! Thankfully, it only lasted the duration of the exercise and I can actually sit and stand up without muscle pain.

Tomorrow is Plyometrics and I am debating whether or not I should do it as soon as I get home from Audit (7:00am) or wait until I get a good nap in and then do it. I am leaning more toward 7:00am just so that I can get it done and still have some energy to do some other things before a nap. I shall see.

Results of Weigh Day: 172.2lb this morning, 171.4lb before work…

Signing Out,

Even though it may take a while, It’s Possible!!

Feeling Better!!

As soon as I got home last night, I wasn’t feeling tired at all. Blah! PJ was already asleep because of the busy day he had had and that always makes me kind of sad when I get home and he’s asleep. To help me get to sleep, I started Big Brother Season 5 on my laptop and hoped that by the time the computer lost battery power, I would be in a position to go to bed.

PJ woke up some 20 minutes later or so and slowly crept upon me in our pitch black house. But, with my amazing hearing and cat-like ability to see in the dark, I knew he was standing just a few feet away. LOL. I asked him why he was awake and his response was because he had slept from the time he had come home from work till that moment. So, he wasn’t about to go back to sleep any time soon either.

I watched my show until the first episode was over and then decided that I should at least try to get some sleep for the day. PJ had already turned his Netflix on and shortly after that I was asleep. Yay!! (It was about 12:30am, if I had to guess.)

I think the reason I might have had trouble going to sleep lately is partly PJ’s fault. When he goes to bed (at whatever time in the morning he decides to), he usually grabs my hip and shakes it a little or scoots REAL close to me and wraps him arm around my tummy or whatever thing he does that makes me wake up.  He did this last night too, at around 3:00am. I woke up for up though, for a few reasons: 1.) Before I went to bed, I had noticed that someone>>pj<<had turned the AC to 69 and I was freezing!! So, I put some sweatpants on and went to bed with my hair down (that’s a NO NO!!). Woke up at 3AM sweating!! I put my hair up, changed to shorts and that was that. 2.) I had to go to the bathroom. 3.) PJ was messing with me again.

Thankfully, I was able to get back to sleep rather easily and get the much my much needed rest.

After all of that sleep talk, I can tell you that tomorrow is going to be a NEW week for P90X. I can’t guarantee that I’m not back to 170-something, but I’m more refreshed and ready to embrace the rest of P90X. I guess sometimes you just need some rest!!

BTW, the wonderful weather makes me extra happy too!! Lol. I love fall and am so thankful that the icky sticky has calmed for at least a few days!! This weather makes me want to get outside and run or play in the nonexistent leaves at the moment. It is Hoodie weather and I’m excited to see how loose my hoodies actually are on me!!

Be blessed readers and keep working at your goal!! You will get there if you stick to it!! Don’t forget to give your body a rest if it needs it!!

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

^^Wanted to add a picture today so I scrolled through "P90X funny" on google images and even though this isn't exactly funny, it's so true...my before pictures are ridiculous!!! But, you have to start somewhere to get somewhere.