Day 50: Modify to Survive

As some of you know already, I was able to get up this morning and work out!! I’ve been out for 3 days, 1 of which was an actual rest day, so it hasn’t been all that bad. My back didn’t hurt all throughout the workout and I didn’t have to take any ibuprofen either!! I am very thankful!!

I decided to take it easy for today because I knew I had to do two workouts. And, coming from 3 days of rest, it could have been a severe shock to my body if I “beasted” it out on both workouts. So, I compromised/modified a little and stopped the first video about 15 minutes short and then started the Fit Test. All in all, I got about 1 hour and 15 minutes of exercise today. I was very excited!!

Another reason I was excited is because I was able to beat 7 out of 8 of my previous Fit Test scores. And, I’m not talking by 2 or 3 reps, I’m talking like 7 to 24 reps! I was very surprised that my endurance has increased even though I had to take 3 days off.

Today was also Weigh Day. To be honest, I wasn’t really sweating this one because I knew I wouldn’t see the 160’s like I was hoping to. So, I tried my best to eat right and even though I slipped up a few times, overall, I’m satisfied. When I stepped on the scale this morning, it said 174.0! (Which, from last week is a 2.4 pound gain!!) The reason I am not sweating it or even the slightest bit worried is because I stepped on the scale before I went to work and it said 172.2, which is only .6 pound gain. So, I’m thinking that 174.0 is a reflection of water weight gain and possibly some undigested food. This week should work itself out and I might see “16!!”

So, I won’t keep you much longer. I just wanted to update you on how things were going. Have a blessed night!!

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

Day 48: What Next??

As many of you have read, I decided to take it easy yesterday. I didn’t do the workout because of some back pain issues that I’d been having. Well, today was the same story.

I took 3 rounds of Ibuprofen yesterday (like my Auntie E “prescribed”) and it seemed to work wonders!! I don’t recall having much trouble or pain.

This morning was a different story though. I woke up and my back hurt! (Man!!) I was kind of hopeful that I’d be able to start back up, but that was crushed once I got moving. Again, I decided to take it easy today and let my body heal. I’ve already had 2 rounds of Ibuprofen and it’s helped thus far. Hopefully, by Monday, I’ll be back in the game and ready to start my last two weeks. I’ll just have to take it day by day.

Onto something else. Lately, I’ve been thinking about what I should do next. Should I do another round of Insanity? (Even though it’s proved to be hard on my body.) Should I do another round of P90X even though I find it kind of boring? Or, should I try to do something else altogether?

I haven’t officially made my decision yet but I am leaning more toward doing another round of P90X. It has proven to me that it works (I lost 32 pounds from doing it the first time.) I am still just as motivated to work hard to get the results that I desire, but I’m a little hesitant since when I tried it the second time, I wasn’t as motivated to continue.

(I have a feeling though that I will be able to go through it again with more determination simply because my state of mind has been renewed and I’m practically in the home stretch of my goal.)

Either way, even though I’ve been having a TERRIBLE week, I predict that my future is still bright!! Pastor Chris (My Pastor at World Harvest Church) was talking about Landmark Moments in your life and I truly believe that a Landmark Moment for me was when I decided to get healthy. Thinking about it, the decision I made was life-changing and such a benefit that it’d be oh so hard to forget or stray away from. I committed my mind and body to a specific goal and I’ve been going strong since January. (It’s been almost 8 entire months!!) This is by far the best thing I have done for myself in terms of my physical “man” and I am pretty sure that my decision and persistence to reach my goal has inspired others as well. I never thought I’d be able to do something like this: getting my life back, so to speak.

I guess what I am trying to say is that though these past few days have been extremely rough, which could even include some gain on my part, I am still looking at the big picture. In the grand scheme of things, even if giving up a week for my body to heal means that I gain a few pounds, it means nothing if my eyes are still on the prize. Yes, I want to be at 130 by the end of this year, but it really doesn’t matter as long as I continue. My body can only do so much and I’m not going to force it to work hard if it really needs to rest.

I believe that when life changing moments occur, a certain degree of dedication is assumed. As an example from Pastor’s message today, a Landmark Moment for Moses was seeing the burning bush. I can only imagine that once he saw that, he became dedicated! When a woman has a child, no doubt she becomes dedicated to being the best mother she can be. When things were looking rocky for PJ and me, that was a Landmark Moment for me and I became dedicated. I became dedicated when I decided to get in shape. Take a moment to reflect on the Landmark Moments in your life.

As I come to a close, I just wanted to remind all of you that it’s not too late. If you read this and you are still trying to decide whether or not to take that step into becoming healthier, by all means, just take it. It will be one of the BEST decisions on your life. If you are continuing to progress to a goal, congratulations!! It takes a lot of effort and determination and you’ve accomplished a lot!!

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

Day 47: So Ouch that I had to Take a Break

Let me first highlight the last few days so that what I say today will make sense.

Wednesday:

After I got off work that morning, I was very excited to start my workout. (I was excited because after it was over, my husband and I were planning to do a few things that day. One of which was to go to Murray to check out Traveling Pants Consignment Shop.) Anyway, about half way through my workout, I noticed that my left calf was starting to hurt a little. I tried to ease up on some of the moves so that it wouldn’t hurt as much but that was to no avail. It continued to hurt and I felt my heart rate getting slower and slower because I just couldn’t do any of the moves. By the time 45 minutes of the workout had passed, I was in such pain and my heart rate had gone down so much that I decided to call it quits. I skipped to the Cool Down, took a shower, and then wrapped my calf with ACE. It seemed to help a little bit. (Now, whenever I walk, I can feel a slight tinge of pain. L)

By the way, we never ended up making it to Murray on Wednesday. We had so much to do with the other stuff that we simply didn’t have enough time to drive an hour away and then get back in time for PJ to be on time for work. So, I settled with going home and watching PJ play Batman: Arkham Asylum while I rested on the bed with ACE. Once he left, I took ACE off and then took a nice three hour nap and my leg felt loads better once I woke up.

For the rest of the evening, I deep cleaned the house, did the laundry, and baked some more banana cookies. I woke up at 6:00 pm and was a busy little bee up until about 12:30 am. Through all that time, my leg didn’t give me any trouble. Yay!

When I went to bed, I put ACE back on just to make sure everything was alright.

Thursday:

Out of all 45 days of Insanity, this had been absolute worst!! I woke up with the most horrible back pain I’d ever experience in my life!! When I sat up, it worsened and upon standing, it was like someone was stabbing me in the back!! I hobbled into the kitchen to get my water for my workout and just bending down was unimaginable!! It nearly took my breath away!! I thought to myself: “Exercising will hopefully loosen my body up and make my back not hurt as much.” So, I proceeded to the living room and pushed “play.”

The workout was alright. It was the week’s recovery day and I was kind of happy that I didn’t have to do any intense stuff. I was still in pain but it seemed to fade a little throughout the workout. Once it was over, I showered and in anticipation, woke PJ up so we could finally go to Murray.

I drove to Murray and tried my absolute best to be as comfortable as possible. I was in some pain but it was not as bad as when I woke up. Most of it seemed to dissipate when we arrived at the consignment shop!! (I wasn’t focused on it, that’s why.)

We got home from the consignment shop and PJ played Batman some more while I half watched while putting up my new treasures. I guess I had become used to the back pain and it wasn’t as hard to move around this time. Once all the clothes were hung, I sat down and ate some Garlic, Parmesan and Herb Pita chips with Garlic Hummus. It was very yummy, but intense on the breath, so I popped in some mint gum and a few minutes later, took PJ to work.

After taking PJ to work, I noticed that because of the gum, I had gotten a really bad headache. (I don’t chew gum much for this reason.)I spit it out and hoped that the pain would lessen a little. I went to the few places that I had to go and then it was home for me.

Exhausted, hurt and head throbbing, I decided to do a Pinterest project while listening to ‘As Long As You Love Me,’ by The Biebs, over and over.  Needless to say, the blaring music and the constantly moving did not do anything for my headache. It worsened and once I was finished, I turned off the music, cleaned up the project stuff, turned off the lights and tried to rest until PJ had to be picked up.

Today:

I woke up this morning with back pain again! (Getting so tired of being hurt!!) So, I opted out of working out today because I didn’t want to hurt my body more. So, I took a nap until it was time for me to get ready for work. Thankfully, I felt much better. I’m still experiencing some back pain but nowhere near as close to what it’s been the like the last few days.

I am so ready for a break from all this pain!! I might have to take a few days off in order to rest, but it’s a lot better than working out and wearing out my body.

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

Day 44: Powered Up

Today’s workout seemed to have a little bit of added energy and power today. During the warm-up, I was able to go faster than I’d ever gone before and I was able to keep up with Shaun T. I was purposeful to keep going when it hurt and the only time that I actually stopped was to catch my breath (because it was out of control) or because my stomach was hurting me. (<< I’m not sure why this was. I thought it was my abs at first but then ruled out that idea because it was a sharp pain.) As soon as I got that under control, I kept going and had a very good workout.

One of the things that I am super proud of was that I was able to do the Frog Jumps without stopping. Frog Jumps start out in a squat position with finger tips touching the floor. From that position, you jump up and back and then squat down and touch the floor again. You go back and forth until the 45 seconds runs out. Last week, this was a very painful move. This week, it was still a painful move (in a good way) but I pushed myself to just do it. When you set your mind to doing things, you can accomplish a lot!!

Onto something different. I’ve heard a lot of people say, “Well, I just like food too much” as an excuse not to get healthy. Food has become too important to a lot of people that they are simply not willing to give it up for a healthier body. The truth of the matter is that you don’t have to give up your favorite foods even though you may be trying to get healthier. I’ve learned this throughout my journey and it’s actually not that hard to master. Once you decide that food will not rule your life, you become in control of your situation and food takes the back seat.

Lately, I’ve had a desire to bake. I got my Associates is Baking and Pastry Arts and I really enjoy doing it. But, I haven’t been baking up until about a week ago since January. I know that with baking comes sugar, butter, flour, and a bunch of other unhealthy stuff that I have been staying away from; that’s why I haven’t been baking. I was afraid that the temptation of the wonderful sugary stuff that I absolutely adore would somehow get to me and my progress and work for the day would all be wasted because I couldn’t control myself. Well, this past week, I’ve learned that that is simply untrue. I’ve found a way to get the enjoyment out of baking and not having to pay the price of the calories all the baked stuff packs: give it away!!

Today, I made some banana cookies with peanut butter frosting and chocolate chips on top. They were pretty yummy if I do say so myself. (I had to try them to see if it tasted alright to serve to people; plus, I like to taste to see if it’s worth making again. These cookies were definitely worth making again!!) Anyway, I only made these cookies because we had some bananas that were getting too ripe to each without making faces and I wanted to make them for other people to enjoy. So, I put them to good use!! The recipe made a little more than 5 dozen and it was making the house smell like banana-y goodness! But, I absolutely DID NOT want to keep all of this around the house!! (I saved PJ some without the frosting because he liked them, but I will not eat them.) So, what do you do with almost 4.5 dozen cookies?? GIVE THEM AWAY!! We had church tonight so it was a perfect setting and they went fast!! (Yes!! I didn’t have to take any home!!) I think I will continue to combine my desire for giving and my talent of baking so that others can enjoy it. I’ve wanted to try new recipes and this is a prefect way to do so that will keep me healthy in body and happy in hobby. I’m trying to decide what’s next. Hmm??

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

Day 43: Weigh Day and Measurements

This is going to be a short blog post simply because not a lot happened today. However, I did weigh in and I am happy to say that I’ve never seen this number as a weight before either. I am less than 2 pounds away from being in the 160’s and I’m hoping that next Monday will be the day that I see a “16” in front of my weight. (I’m pretty positive that I will. J)

Anyway, as assumed by the title, I took some measurements. Jennifer, the lady whose son I’ve mentioned several times in my previous posts. (I don’t know why I’ve never mentioned her name before.) Anyway, she has been SO helpful while I’ve been on my journey. Her entire family has gone through P90X (with awesome results) and so she knows a thing or to about weight loss and things to do to track it. She encouraged me to take measurements. And, that is what I did. I measured both calves, both arms, both thighs, my waist from hip to hip, my tummy starting with my belly button, my bust from the very center, and just underneath my bust. (I should have taken these types of measurements before P90X!!)

Anyway, when I went to bed last night, I weighed myself: 175.0. L About an hour later, I weighed myself again: 174.2. L. This morning, I weighed myself again: 171.6 J! This means that I’ve lost a total of 43.4 pounds since January and 64.4 since September 2011. Wow!!

I shall now leave you with something that my aunt wrote in her blog post last night as well as another shout out.

“Forget about getting skinny. Eat well and exercise. The weight will take care of itself.”

http://erinspieceofthepie.wordpress.com/finding-my-beautiful/ <<that’s her link if you’d like to check it out. She’s awesome!! I love you Auntie E!!

Also, this shout out is for Alex Miller. She just messaged me today and said that she has lost 13 pounds!! Way to go girl!! Keep up the amazing work!!

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

Day 42: From L to M!!

I have some exciting news y’all!! As many of you already know, when I first started my weight loss journey, I also started out in clothes that had a label of XL and even 2XL. For many years, I’d been wearing these sizes and if I continued down the path I was on, no doubt the numbers in front of the sizes of my clothes would have increased as well. But, I decided to stop my horrible habits and make a difference. And, I am very excited to tell you that the difference has been quite dramatic (more so than my weight loss) in the sizes of my clothes.

A few weeks ago, I tried on my wedding dress, which many of you saw, and that was drastic in and of itself. However, I don’t wear my wedding dress practically every day and therefore trying it on once in a while doesn’t make too much of a difference as compared with my day to day clothing. The biggest difference that I can see is in my work clothes. A few weeks ago, I had to ask for a size 14 because my size 16 shirt was getting WAY too loose!! Just the other day, I noticed that my size 14 shirt was also getting WAY too loose. So, Friday morning, I took home a size 12 shirt. I didn’t get a chance to put it on that day or the next so I put it on today right before I went to work. (It still needs to be washed and ironed, but I decided to see how it looked.) Well folks, it fits!! And, not only that, but the tummy area is still a little loose. So, I imagine within the next few weeks, I have to get a size 10. You know what that also means!! I’m so close to the one-digit clothing sizes!! This is awesome!!

On Friday, I also noticed something else. My husband and I went out to eat that night and I had noticed that my favorite shirt was getting a little loose on me. (Btw, the shirt that I was wearing was actually in a bag of clothes that my husband inherited from a church friend of ours << the same one whose son had amazing results from P90X and Insanity. In fact, this bag of clothing had belonged to her son. Anyway, I rummaged through it to see if there was any L size clothing because XL was just way too big for me. I found a few shirts but my favorite one became the Blue UK shirt. I was so happy that it was size L!!) Now, I am saddened by the fact that it is getting too big for me, but absolutely elated that I’m continuing to get smaller!

Before we left, I looked in the mirror and had a “moment” with myself. I started to pulled at various places on the shirt to see how long I might be able to wear it when all of a sudden, a wonderful thought came to me: “Maybe you should try wearing a size M shirt?” This thought remained in my head throughout our dinner and even during Saturday until…

I spent Saturday evening with my mom and one of the things we decided to do was to go to the consignment shop. (I absolutely LOVE consignment shops!! I don’t care if someone already wore it, well, with the exception of certain items like hats, underwear, bras, etc.<< that’s a no go for me. But, I love to browse through the racks and find nice clothing for myself at decent prices!! I’ve actually found a LOT of nice clothing at prices close to NOTHING!! For instance, that shirt I wore to church yesterday: $0.50!!) Anyway, I picked out a very pretty brown and gold knit overshirt (to match a skirt that I also got for $0.50) but it was a size M. I picked it up, admired it’s beauty and then put it back once I saw the “M.” Something inside told me to pick it back up and try it on. So, I pulled it off of the rack again and headed toward the fitting room. Once in the fitting room I just went for it. Slipped it over my head, put my arms through and pulled it down. It fit!! And, it looked awesome!! I just had to get it!! ($0.00 because I used my in-store credit to purchase it!! Along with some gold flip flop heels.)

So, I can now wear size M clothing!! I can’t even remember if I’ve EVER been able to wear size M clothing! When I was younger, for clothes shopping before the school year started, my mom would always have to take me to the women’s department so that stuff would fit. (How embarrassing!!) I remember getting a lot of clothing that made me look like an old woman!! (Double embarrassing!!)

And, now, a story that has got to be the WORST and MOST embarrassing. (Thinking about it now, the emotions I feel toward it is a mix of sadness and hilarity.) Anyway, my mom would sometimes surprise my sister and me with clothes from Sears (because she used to work there.) She’d bring them home, have us try them on and most of the time they would fit (because she knew our sizes.) I remember her buying me a couple of the same types of shirt but in different colors or designs. The item that is a part of this story was a light orange thick cotton shirt with three buttons at the top. It was an “old-lady” shirt but I liked it only because it fit and I needed some new shirts. So, I wore it the next day.

In 7^th grade, I had three out of five old teachers. They taught Reading, English and Social Studies. The oldest was definitely my Social Studies teacher; she was probably between 50 and 60 years old. And, she was disliked because her hearing was a lot better than any of the girls in my class (yes, in 7^th grade, they divided all classes into boys or girls) gave her credit for. She didn’t like for anyone to talk while she was teaching…and…she was very old.

As I walked into Social Studies that day, a GIANT blanket of embarrassment wrapped around me! My old, snarky teacher was wearing the SAME shirt! GASP!! PANIC!! PANIC!! I was absolutely mortified and only wanted to run away and hide until the school day was over. That day is a day I shall never forget!

Thankfully, if I were to ever see anyone wearing the same thing as me, I’d be able to compliment them because of their wonderful choice in style. I no longer have to worry about wearing clothing just because it fits; I can actually pick the cute stuff and be perfectly content with who I am and how I’m dressed!

Signing Out,

It’s Possible!!

Day 40: A Little Bit of a Setback, But Not Enough to Stop This Girl

Today was a little bit different. I had the Audit Shift again last night and by this morning I was so tired that my vision was kind of fuzzy. (Weird, right?) My voice was also getting a little raspy (not sure why this happens) and I was just so ready for a nap by the time I got home. But, I didn’t give in to the desperate need of my flesh to sleep; I pushed play.

I looked at the schedule last night and found out that I had to go through the Max Interval Circuit. I wasn’t too excited especially since last Monday was the same workout with the addition of the Fit Test. I was expecting my body to behave much like last week and get tired quickly and even fall out a few times. (Fall out meaning that my body just couldn’t take it and I had to rest in order to get my heart rate down enough so I could breathe.) I think I might have actually fallen out too during one of the balance stretching moves. As my body was tumbling to the floor, thankfully only a few feet, I was thinking about what my husband says when he pushes me off the bed, “Fall easy Babe.” <<all in good fun though. He usually catches me before I hit or helps me “fall easy.” Or, he grabs one of my arms and tells me to “Engage your core.” Yeah, we have fun with all this fitness stuff. :D

Anyway, back to the main subject. As it turns out, it wasn’t at all like last week. (Who knew?! Lol.) Apparently it’s easier to maintain form and pace if you only have to do one workout. Lol. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this stuff out, but I was going off of emotions and thoughts from last week. Overall it’s not too bad of a workout (challenging, but doable.) There was one setback to today’s workout though.

Whenever I do push-ups, the padding/muscle below my right thumb seems to become very sensitive. I’ve noticed it before but it was always a dull ache that went away after my workout. Thus, I didn’t worry about it or really even give it a second thought. But, near the end of my Audit Shift, I noticed that the muscle just halfway up my forearm from the thumb muscle I just pointed out was very sore to the touch and even swollen. The beginning of my workout didn’t hurt this area because there were very few movements that required much pressure on that part of my hand. So, I continued to workout. The last circuit was when I felt it the most. A lot of the movements were push-up related or your palms had to be on the floor. By this time, it was hurting so much that I had to resort to my knuckles. (Which are now kind of crusty because the skin was wearing off from the carpet.)

For the parts that I just simply couldn’t do on my knuckles, I improvised by doing moves we’d done previously in order to keep my heart rate up and to try to work the same muscles as the move I was supposed to be doing. For instance, one of the things Shaun had us doing were Floor Switch Kicks. (You sit down with knees bent and palms on the floor slightly behind you. Then, you lift up and kick your feet quickly.) I couldn’t do this because of the pain so I decided to do some Scissors from P90X. (Lay down with feet straight in the air and move your legs like scissors move. This is also an abdominal move.) I didn’t necessarily workout the arm muscles like I would have in the Floor Switch Kicks but I also didn’t want to completely wreck my hand either. Like I’ve said in a previous post, if it hurts, do something else. It’s not worth an injury to keep going when you shouldn’t.

Once the workout was done, my hand was throbbing and I decided to drink my protein shake and head for bed. I’d definitely have to say that those much needed Z’s helped me because I checked my arm and some of the swelling had gone down. Yay! I still need to go purchase some anti-inflammatory pills (I’m thinking ibuprofen.) but other than that, I should be all set and ready for tomorrow.

Oh, before I officially complete this post, I just wanted to give a shout out to Jennipher Mueller and Gretchen Hedrich, my mom. Jennipher has lost 11.6 pounds and my mom has lost 8. Way to go girls!! Keep up the good work. Stay motivated! And, be blessed!! :D

Here are some pictures that I meant to load the last few days but never had a chance to...

 This picture is pretty much self explanatory.

 Protein Shake that I drink every morning. It's kinda good :D

The bandana I rummaged for to keep the sweaty hair from sticking to my face.T

 Today...my sore arm...

The other day. I was sooo sore and tired. Lol, kinda funny :D

Signing Out, 

It's possible!!