Goals not met so far...

Okay, I have been having serious trouble meeting my goals for January - as evidenced by the fact that I have not been posting everyday as was my initial intention. I have not been working out very much either.

On the plus side, I have been following my primal WOE (way of eating - I like this so much better than "diet") with a good 80/20 success rate. I know I eat more dairy and nuts than recommended (I have been keeping it full fat and organic as much as possible) and I have nibble on hot dogs (not recommended) and ranch dressing (has "modified food starch - a clever way to say "wheat") which I suspect has stalled my progress somewhat. I gained 5lbs the first week on PB (Primal Blueprint) putting me at 259, but that has come back down to 253.4 - and I suspect another pound or two has come off since I weighed myself last week, but as I have no heat right now (ran out of oil for the furnace, can't get a delivery until Monday, been 35-45 in my house for 4 days!), I am not getting undressed to weigh myself any time soon!

When I have low carbed and tried Paleo or clean eating in the past I have never let go of my splenda, or "Atkins approved" treats... so I had never had the taste bud shift. This time (while I still use Stevia in my coffee) I have avoided treats in general this month. So the other day when I made a steak for dinner and dipped a bite in steak sauce, my first reaction was "OMG how much sugar is in this stuff!" - apparently 2g per serving, and a serving ain't all that big! My new preferred steak sauce is a dash of sea salt and a pat of organic butter, so good - I could eat my weight in steak when it is prepared right! :)

So, I will eventually LHT (Lift Heavy Things) most likely using ChaLEAN Extreme, I will sprint using Turbo Fire, and I will get in lots of movement running or using my NordicTrack Ski machine. I know if I follow these PB "laws" I will see the success I want!

ChaLEAN Extreme and Turbo Fire

This is what you get when you let a four year old monkey boy pick your workout programs. He likes the ones with the girls best :)

I have not gotten out to run since Sunday. I am hoping that I will be able to tomorrow. Food has been pretty good., Higher carb and a bit of sugar today - but the sugar was in the form of craisins and a tsp of honey instead of the nutter butter bar that smelled so good...

I have done 2 days of CLX and 2 Turbo Fire HIIT workouts. I think I am going to do INSANITY too at least for January. Might as well go hardcore for the 4 weeks that I do not have anything else taking up my time.

Cold

Too cold to run outside with the boys again today. I think the temp is going back up tomorrow. I need a treadmill ...

I have tons of DVDs I could have done today, but the thought of them left me cold so I decided to "rest" today. Now I am off to bed to get some real sleep.

Day 1 CLX

I asked the monkey which program I should start. He decided on the one "with the girl" :) He has always had a thing for blondes. So today was day 1 of ChaLEAN Extreme. I did not get my miles in today - blizzard like conditions meant I couldn't get outside with the boys and the timing did not work going by myself.

Paleo eating was good today - although cravings for chocolate have been hitting fairly hard. I am getting some blood tests tomorrow and not eating anything until late afternoon - getting my thyroid, vit D and cholesterol checked. Maybe some other things too. I am hoping something will shed light on my "failure to progress" in improving my shape.

Variety

If you can name a workout DVD infomercial program I probably have it.

• TurboFire, Check
• Zumba, Check
• Zumba Exhilarate, Check
• P90X, Check
• Insanity, Check
• Hip Hop Abs, Check
• the Firm, Check
• Slim in Six, Check
• Brazil Butt Lift, Check

I have them all, I have tried them all, and I have come to the realization that DVDs are not for me. I like the schedule. I like having something specific to do. Sometimes I even like the lack of planning - I don't have to think about my workout, I just have to pop in the scheduled DVD and do it. But after 2 or 3 weeks of the same program and the same rotation I am so bored I want to cry! It takes more effort and will power than I have to do the same workout even one more time. I just can't stick to the schedule. I hate it, I hate myself, and I give up on my fitness goals when I try to force myself into the DVD mold. 

But running. I love running - I tolerate treadmill running, but getting outside to do my run excites me. Every workout is different. Different air, different time, different scenery. Even when I run the same road over and over again, it changes as only the country side can change. My music is on shuffle, so I don't even get the same songs or playlist with every workout. 

And I think about getting out on the road every day. Practically every minute of every day. "When can I get my run in? How will this (weight, food, water, pace) affect my run? Should I take the boys in the stroller? Should I take the dogs? Should I go by myself?"

I see more changes in my body from running. I have rock hard calves. And I can feel tight, strong muscles in my quads - even if I can't see them yet. 

I love running, and I only wish I had found my pace and my place on the road before now.

What workouts do you look forward to? 

What is guaranteed to get you off the couch and moving?

Doubles

I overslept some this morning and didn't really get my workout in. (Arlene, don't worry about standing me up, when I saw that you weren't there I decided to get a little more shut eye!) But I didn't want to miss out on the day entirely, so late tonight, before I headed for bed I did HIIT 15. Tomorrow I am going to start Turbo Fire / ChaLEAN Extreme doubles. I am doing Turbo Fire in the morning and CLX after school. I am excited to add to my program.

I am also excited for my grill - it should be here tomorrow! I will be making Buffalo sliders and a bunch of grilled chicken breasts!

No one will recognize me

I have been doing Turbo Fire without fail every day for the last 20 days. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night - doesn't matter, I get it done every day. I have also been listening to Chalene Johnson's motivation audio program that comes with the ChaLEAN Extreme program 2-3 times a day. And for the last 5 weeks I have been taking anti-depressants.

I have been scared to put that on my blog - to announce to the "world" (my fabulous followers and who ever else happens to stumble across my blog :)) that I was suffering from depression. There is such a stigma attached to it that I am scared that it would hurt my chances to get a job, or get insurance or any number of other things in the future. But the medication is helping me. I am enjoying my children and my husband more, I am looking forward to getting out of bed every day. I don't want to cry all the time, I don't want to spend all my time on the couch. I want to do things and be fit. If I had the coordination I would turn cartwheels every day. It is amazing to be free of the emotional weight that was holding me down for so long. I had been depressed for such a long time that I couldn't remember not feeling like I was constantly standing on the edge.

One of the wonderful things that my medication (Welbutrin, if anyone wants to know - I can't say enough good things about it) has helped me do is to have the motivation to work out again. And stick with it. And view it as a lifestyle change. Listening to Chalene's audio program has helped me mentally define my goals for 2011. Here they are:

1. Lose 118 lbs (112 now, down 6 pounds in the last 3 weeks)
2. Complete Turbo Fire, ChaLEAN Extreme and a Hybrid of the two
3. Graduate College
4. Get my teaching certification
5. Get a teaching job!

I vow that one year from now people will not recognize me. I will look like a completely different person. I will be the person that has been locked inside myself for so long. I am the fit, healthy person I have always wanted to be.

Proper Form

Ah the difference proper form makes! Yet another reason that I love ChaLEAN Extreme is that Chalene Johnson explains the proper form for strength training moves AND SHOWS YOU! She has one of the participants on the DVD show the proper and improper form. I have been lifting weights for easily 15 years and in all that time I have been doing dead lifts wrong. I had always heard that dead lifts were great for the butt and legs and never ever felt them targeting the areas they were supposed to when I was doing them. Until today! Hours later I can feel the movement in my glutes and hamstrings too. Every step up the stairs is a mini session in pain - the good kind - and I feel vindicated that I really worked today.

I worked out this morning - in spite of oversleeping by about 3 hours - but I did not get my run in. I ate clean all day and avoided (no matter how much I wanted them) sweets in sticking to part of the "Gorgeous Glutes" challenge I am in on the Tosca Reno boards.

I also have at least one more reader than I knew of! :) One of my fellow students not only told me he has read a couple of my blogs, but that I looked like I had lost weight. Thanks Pete - that really made my day!

Nothing like a shopping trip to depress/motivate you...

257.0
"disco" dancing with Jonas

So I had set aside money to buy some clothes - a couple pairs of jeans, some shirts... so that I had more than 1 pair of jeans to wear. Yeah, that did not happen. I found jeans, and technically they "fit" but how I looked in them was unacceptable. UNACCEPTABLE! I had severe muffin top. And "front butt" - visible "front butt". It was awful. I practically wanted to throw up I looked so awful.

So that was a swift and depressing message that I need to get moving and change my lifestyle. I was truly disgusted with myself. I bought a pack of t-shirts and a tie-dye kit, 2 pairs of sweat pants and a light hoodie jacket. I will not live like this. It really did gross me out.

So  - since I was joining an end of the year ChaLEAN Extreme challenge anyway, I have decided to kick it up a notch. I will complete the ChaLEAN Extreme challenge/program and add Couch to 5K training onto it.

1. Monday/Wednesday/Friday (Strength or Rest days anyway) I will get up before taking the boys to daycare and do the strength training portion of my program. After dropping them off I will either run near the house, or if the weather prevents it I will make sure to leave for school early enough to run on the treadmills at school. 
2. Tuesdays I will do Zumba and one of Chalene's Ab programs (from Turbo Jam, CLX or TurboFire)
3. Thursdays I will do TurboFire and wither BBL or an ab program
4. Saturday I will do CLX
5. Sunday I will BBL or Hip Hop Abs

Morning Mission Accomplished

258.0
CLX Burn Circuit 3

I did it this morning! Up at at 'em by 6:30, workout accomplished, boys fed, me fed, homework worked on... I feel good. I started about an hour later than I actually wanted to, but that was mainly because Jonas woke up at 5AM and would not go back to bed. I finally got him watching cartoons long enough to finish my workout - he came down for the last 5 minutes and worked out with mommy. Always fun to watch he grabbed my 3lb weights off the table and did sumo squats with me and the stretches at the end - including the moaning and groaning I was doing because of the increase in my weights today!

And as my body was calling out for spinach sautéed eggs for breakfast and lunch, that is what I decided to eat. Big bottle of water and a small glass of milk to round it out and I feel that I did what I needed to do today to be healthy