Thursday, July 28, 2011

Water check!

Are you drinking enough water today?  I know I'm slacking and need to step it up!

Here's an excerpt from an article on the Mayo Clinic's website that I found:

How much water do you need?

Every day you lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. For your body to function properly, you must replenish its water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.
So how much water does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need? In general, doctors recommend 8 or 9 cups. Here are the most common ways of calculating that amount:
  • Replacement approach. The average urine output for adults is about 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) a day. You lose close to an additional liter (about 4 cups) of water a day through breathing, sweating and bowel movements. Food usually accounts for 20 percent of your total fluid intake, so if you consume 2 liters of water or other beverages a day (a little more than 8 cups) along with your normal diet, you will typically replace your lost fluids.
  • Eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Another approach to water intake is the "8 x 8 rule" — drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day (about 1.9 liters). The rule could also be stated, "Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day," as all fluids count toward the daily total. Although the approach really isn't supported by scientific evidence, many people use this easy-to-remember rule as a guideline for how much water and other fluids to drink.
  • Dietary recommendations. The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.
Even apart from the above approaches, if you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) or more of colorless or slightly yellow urine a day, your fluid intake is probably adequate. If you're concerned about your fluid intake, check with your doctor or a registered dietitian. He or she can help you determine the amount of water that's best for you.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Honest, Trust, Believing

I'm having such a hard time getting back into my routine after taking a few days off the beginning of July.  Just those few days off gave me a taste of what it's like to be lazy.  It gave me a taste of an easy life.  A life of not caring what I eat.  A life of getting some additional sleep.  It gave me a taste of what life was almost like 1 year ago.  Now I'm trying to get rid of that taste in my mouth.  Now I need to stop with the excuses about why I can't exercise and why I can't count calories from the little bite of deliciousness I just popped in my mouth and start being HONEST with myself.  I need to start to TRUST myself.  I need to start BELIEVING in myself once again.

I'm starting to make a come around again.  This morning I tried a new treadmill workout that resulted in some heavy breathing and lots of sweat.  I also realized I've been neglecting my core so I did some work on that too. 

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Try it Tuesday

Today's Try it Tuesday is Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred.

Last night I did the 30 Day Shred Level 1 for the first time since 2008.  Back in 2008 that workout resulted in a very out of breath girl who was cursing at Jillian.  Yes that would be me that I was describing.  Last night I found the workout to be easier so I must be doing something right in the fitness department!  For those who have not heard of the workout, Jillian focuses on circuit training in this video to get maximum results in calorie burning.  It is a pretty intense workout, but on the shorter side for workout videos so it all works out.

I'm cheap though and I don't buy workout DVD's because I know they most likely will just collect dust.  If you have Comcast for a cable provider, check On Demand under Sports and Fitness.  Most of the time you're able to find it on there for FREE!  If not there are other great workouts to try out. 

I was overly ambitious when I went to bed because I set my alarm to wake up and do the workout again.  Yeah, when that alarm went off I quickly silenced it because I was sore.  I will be doing it again tonight though.  Tomorrow I'm hoping it's back to the gym.  

Monday, July 25, 2011

Motivational Monday

Weekly Weigh-In

163.4 - so it's a loss.  Not all the way down to where I was the end of June, but they I'll take it.  I didn't count calories this weekend, but did pretty good I think.

I've been craving meatballs something fierce so I'm making some turkey meatballs for dinner tonight in the crockpot.  I'm excited to use some fresh herbs from the garden.  Speaking of cravings, last night I made spaghetti for dinner, oh that was a delicious taste after not having it for almost the entire year!

I really need to pick a day to do some super nanny moves on the boys at night time because they're really screwing with my gym routine with their poor sleep and it's not getting any better.  Last night I was up at 3am and not able to fall back asleep until just about when my alarm would have gone off.  So I changed the alarm so I would do an On Demand workout here at home and I could get some extra sleep.  Well when that alarm went off I woke up to the little guy laying on top of me, so needless to say I wasn't able to leave the bed.  Yes i could have, but that would have resulted in me waking him up and I would have had a whiny sleepy toddler and still unable to workout. 

So my plan for today is:  do an On Demand workout tonight or if I'm able to get both boys to nap in the afternoon that would be even better and pray that tonight goes better so I can get a good workout in tomorrow.  I found a treadmill program I've been dying to try out!

I'll leave you with this.  If you're on Facebook, you may have seen it going around.  I got a chuckle out of it this morning.
  
I just figured out why i can't lose weight! The shampoo I use in the shower that runs down my body says "For extra volume and body". I'm going to start using "Dawn" dish soap. It says " Dissolves fat that is otherwise difficult to remove".






Thursday, July 21, 2011

High Five!

I'm giving myself a High-Five because I actually made it to the gym last night!  For some reason, my husband tried to talk me out of going.  When I got there I was reminded of why I hate going at night.  I got there around 9pm and it was more crowded than at 4am (obviously).  It was hot.  I'm sure the fact that it was 85 degrees out at 9pm did play into it a little, but all that extra body heat made running on the treadmill less than desirable.  The way my gym is set up, the treadmills are in the center, not under the HUGE industrial fans that create a nice breeze.  I hopped on the treadmill hoping to run for a quit a bit, but after 5 minutes I felt like I was going to die from the heat, so I walked a bit, then finished the last .25 mile running.  The ARC trainer is under a fan so I headed there for 60 minutes.  After that my legs felt like they were going to fall off.  Next up was a cool down on the bike so I could enter all my information into the My Fitness Pal app on the phone to make sure I burned enough calories for the day.  I did and even had enough for a glass of milk with Ovaltine for when I got home.  Going to the gym late was ok for getting a workout in in a fix, but I think I'll be sticking to my early morning routine.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

change of plans

So last night/early morning was a nightmare in our house with the kids sleep which meant I didn't make it to the gym.  The oldest was up screaming his head off because he wanted his daddy, but we're trying to break a horrible habit that began a while ago.  The youngest was up because the oldest was screaming and our house is small so there's really no escaping it.  He finally fell asleep snuggled up against me and if I moved he woke up.  My blood was boiling from listening to the oldest, I had a head ache.  At 4:45am my husband asked me if I wanted to go out and run.  He had to leave a little earlier than normal which meant I had to be back a little earlier than normal  Um, first of all, it's still dark.  2nd, it's super humid and hot this week, even in the night.  I'll just go to the gym tonight. 

So my plan for the day is to eat my extra workout calories during the day, so that when night comes I will HAVE to go to the gym, or have a potential gain for the week.  I'm already dreading it.  I haven't been to the gym at night since last year some time.  I really hope it's not busy.  On the bright side.  It's super hot and humid here this week like I already said.  The boys and I have been spending a lot of time in the pool.  It's only a 3ft high pool, but I've managed to get some water aerobics in while out there. 

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Fitness tips from Chris Powell

I found this on the Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition on Facebook.  I found #2 to be especially interesting.

1.
Make Fitness a Labor of Love
The key to making fitness a lifestyle is to find something you LOVE. Explore all modalities of fitness from weight lifting to cycling, basketball to badminton. Think about it like dating. There is some form of fitness out there that will be a match made in heaven for you!

2.
To Avoid the Plateau, Follow the 'Rule of 6'
Did you know that your body adapts to everything? Even working out! It actually takes about six exposures to a specific workout for your body to experience all of its benefits. To experience increased fitness and weight loss benefits you need to change things up after every six workouts!
 
3.
Use the FITT Principle
If you plateau, change ONE of the following variables to get your body losing again.


 F - FREQUENCY - Increase the Frequency (Instead of swimming for 3 days per week, increase to 4 days per week)
 I - INTENSITY - Increase the Intensity (Instead of jogging at 4.5 on the treadmill, jog at 5.0)
 T - TIME - Increase the Time (Instead of playing soccer for 45 minutes, play for 60 minutes)
 T - TYPE - Change to a different type of activity (Instead of rowing, try jumping rope or boxing)

Try it Tuesday

This weeks Try it Tuesday is a delicious chicken recipe.  It is kind of high in sodium due to the French onion soup, but it's very tasty!  I like to serve it with some brown rice and a veggie.

WW Bistro Chicken
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
6 each boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped shallots
14 1/2 ounces diced canned tomatoes, with juice
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 can French onion soup, condensed
1 cup Swiss cheese, grated (I don't like Swiss so I used cheddar)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a 12" ovenproof skillet, melt the butter in the olive oil over medium-high heat.
Sprinkle the chicken breasts with half the salt and pepper, reserving the rest for the sauce.
Pan-fry the the chicken until both sides are golden but the chicken is not cooked through.
Remove the chicken from the skillet, add the shallots, and cook stirring, until they are softened, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and thyme and cook until the sauce has reduced a bit, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the soup and cook another 4 minutes, seasoning with the remaining salt and pepper.
Return the chicken to the skillet, cover with the cheese, and bake until the cheese is melted and the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Weekly Weigh-In

I was half tempted to skip the weekly weigh in today because I knew it wouldn't be good.  The oldest turned 4 yesterday so we had a weekend of celebrating.  I didn't eat that much, but what I did eat was very sodium induced causing much bloat.  But I owned up to my bad habits and weighed in anyway.  Today the scale said 165.0.  Higher than it was on Friday, but like I said, I was expecting it. 

Today I'm back to calorie counting for the first time since last Thursday.  I woke up and went for a run/walk this morning.  I'm back, I have no more excuses about why I will fall of the wagon.  My husband wants to do another challenge.  So I'm back and ready to kick some butt!

Today I'm also trying to quit drinking soda or at least greatly reduce the amount of intake.  I've been pounding down the beverage way more than I should the whole month of July.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Just a few more hours

is what I need in each day this week.  I absolutely LOVE planning birthday parties.  What I dislike about planning birthday parties is all the work that goes into it!  Of course I can't be one to settle with "hey kid here are balloons, birthday cake and some of your friends."  No I always have to take that one or 2 steps more to make it a fabulous time for all.  I think it's because growing up I never really had a big birthday party.  I always just had my grandparents over and a few neighborhood kids who I constantly played with.  So I'm living my childhood up in my kids right now. :)  So now I'm down to the final days, especially tomorrow and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get it all done.  Most importantly grocery shopping.  The boys have been terrors this week going out to stores.  Part of me is thinking of skipping the gym in the morning and get my exercise speed walking the 24 hr Wal-mart aisles getting the items I need there so that I only have to go to Target and Party City with the boys and then Shop Rite after the husband gets home from work. 

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Rationalizing

Monday was not a good day in our house.  It was our first day at being back in our routine.  The boys were whiney and my patience was running thin.  I was so happy once bedtime came along.  We converted the little guy's crib to a toddler bed because he has become quite the monkey and was beginning to figure out how to climb out of the bed.  He sleeps in a toddler bed at my parents house so we figured - no problem!  WRONG!  He wants to be in a big boy bed (twin) just like his brother.  That means at nighttime he'll wake up and climb in bed with his brother.  Every night he wakes up crying (I think because his brother is a restless sleeper).  So nights have been interesting here.  Fast forward to Tuesday morning 4:15 am.  The little guy wakes up, I bring him out of the room until he calms down, just like any other night when he wakes up so he doesn't wake up the oldest.  I go to put him back down in his bed and he throws a fit.  I end up just taking him to our bed because he sleeps well in there too (because it's not a toddler bed apparently). I have my alarm set for 4:50am to do an outdoor run.  The little guy ends up falling asleep on top of me.  The thoughts that were going through my mind were:

"ok I could transfer him to the actual bed, have him wake up.  My husband would have to deal with him which would make him grumpy at night time due to lack of sleep.  Little guy would be grumpy again due to waking up too early.  The oldest one will feed off of the little one and will act out, which would make the day be a repeat of Monday.  The end result would be stress eating."

or

"I could just lay here in bed, everyone would be nicely rested and we would have a good day.  I'll end up missing a workout, but I'll definitely go tomorrow.  No ifs ands or buts.  He's only going to be this small once, why miss out on this cuddle time?"

Guess which one won?  Yup the later of the 2.  We did end up having a mostly good day and I did no stress eating.  I also did make it to the gym this morning where I did bike, Jackie Warner treadmill workout, some walking as well us upper body strength training. 

“Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.” ~Denis Waitley

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Try it Tuesday

This weeks Try it Tuesday is PARASAILING!

As I posted last week I beat my husband in our Biggest Loser competition which meant I could choose an activity for us to do during our fun day on our staycation.  So I chose parasailing because I've been wanting to do it for years!  The first time I tried to go was our 1st anniversary cruise, but 2 weeks before we left for the cruise I found out I was expecting baby #1, so we had to cancel our reservations.  Second time around was on my 30th birthday cruise.  I made sure I would not be pregnant this time, but mother nature had another idea.  My birthday is in September, high hurricane time.  You guessed it.  A hurricane hit Half Moon Cay, which meant the ship was unable to dock there.  And yes, that was the port I had planned on going parasailing and it would have been on my actual birthday!  Finally last week I was able to make my dream come true and go parasailing, albeit not in the beautiful tropics, but off the coast of New Jersey with Ocean City Parasail.  Instead of beautiful blue Carribean water I had murky Atlantic Ocean but I did it!  What a view from 500' above the ocean.  While we were in the boat there were dolphin sightings, of course I was the only one in the boat who didn't see it.  My husband is not the biggest fan of heights, but he survived!  So if you're ever given the opportunity to parasail, go for it.  It is so amazingly calm and peaceful that high up.  I thought it would be windy but it was nothing but quiet.  Here are a few of the pictures from the picture package that we bought:









 

Monday, July 11, 2011

Weekly Weigh-In

After a week of no exercise and lots of eating out, I'm back.  This morning started off a little shaky with the weekly weigh-in.  My body was not happy.  165.6. What a gain.  I am hoping that much of that is bloat from the increase in sodium. 

I hit the gym again this morning.  Since it was my first day back in a week I decided to somewhat take it easy by doing bike, circuit training then treadmill walking.  It was a grand total of 70 minutes.  It did feel great to be moving again.  I was starting to feel mushy.  Tomorrow, as long as my husband's work schedule allows, I am going to do a run.  My oldest turns 4 this coming weekend so I'm in party planning mode this week, but I'm not going to allow that to be my excuse to miss out on workouts.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Staycation

I've been MIA on here this week.  The boys have been staying at my parents house and my husband and I have been on a little staycation.  Let me tell you - it has been relaxing!  The boys returned home today so it's back to life - back to reality.  I really haven't had much to post on here though because I haven't been making the most healthy decisions.  Sleep won over working out.  I haven't cooked in about 1 week.  We ate out every dinner - buffets, our favorite seafood restaurant, mixed drinks, mexican food.  So delicious but I'm scared to step on the scale.  I'm going to wait a few days hoping whatever bloat there is from increased sodium goes away.  We did get a lot done around the house though - both our bedroom and the boys room was redecorated.  We also had some fun.  I'm hoping the weather cooperates tomorrow for another fun day.  **fingers crossed** that the scattered thunderstorms stay away until evening time. 

Monday, July 4, 2011

Firecracker Run

First of all Happy Independence Day to all.  I hope everyone has a safe and fun time.  I started the day off with a Firecracker 5k.
 I was able to run it with my husband, it was his first 5k.  He really helped pull me along.  I don't know what it is about running a race.  When I do my regular runs I can run no problem.  Once I get at a race I just feel like I'm going to die.  I run the same pace no matter what.  It's just odd.  The weather treated us fairly well, a little humid, but for July it was a nice day for a run.  I could have kissed one person along the route who had their garden hose set up to spray on the road.  That was very refreshing.  My final time was 34:28, so I didn't break my PR or do better than the last run.  But we were towards the back of the pack so minus the amount of time it took to get to the starting line area it would have been close to the same time as in April.  I told my husband to take off at the end, so he beat me by about 40 seconds.  Afterwards we were able to enjoy the town parade. 

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Results of Biggest Loser - Family edition

Results of the Biggest Loser - Family edition are in and guess who the winner is!?!?  Yes Yes that would be !  I won by about .5%.  I found this great website to figure out the percentages.  The good news is that my husband did lose a nice amount of weight and now only has to lose another 13 lbs to reach his goal weight.  So what that all means is Tuesday is going to be an amazing day up in the sky parasailing!  Oh I can't wait.