GUESS WHAT? GUESS WHAT?

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do a figure show this spring!!!!!!!  I had NO INTENTIONS what so ever, to compete this year.  BUT, a friend of mine from the gym has wanted to compete and I told her that I would help her.  Well, she picked out the Grand Rapids show which is May 22nd.  So I was looking at soccer and baseball schedules and we have NOTHING for either of the kids that weekend (well no tournaments).  So I would be able to go and help her.  But then, I started thinking about how fun it was to do a show with my friend Beky, when I helped her do the Kalamazoo in 2007 and I thought well, if I'm going to be there anyway, I might as well do it with her!  I loved having someone to diet and train with when I did the one in '07.  I still have 3 weeks from today to think about it.  I've been praying about it, and I will keep praying about it, but so far everything has fallen into place.  

I'm home this afternoon because Jeremiah finally got pink eye.  It's so weird how they each got it about a week and a half to two weeks apart.  I worked this morning because he's old enough to stay home alone which is nice.

I did go skiing yesterday!!  My first time ever!  It was fun.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and not windy.  It was cold, but it didn't feel like it with the sun out.  I tried to snow board and failed big time.  So then I skied.  I'm not going to lie, I wasn't very good, but I still had fun.  I'm not a daredevil and I DO NOT want to risk getting hurt, so I went down slow!   My friends Holly and Jeannell were great teachers and Jeannell stuck with me the whole day!

Any Swimmers out there?

I got a video of me swimming today, and I need a lot of work.  There are a couple of girls at the Y who have been helping some of us fix our strokes.  Lisa helped today and she had a lot more constructive criticism for me than Kim.  Which is good, I want to try and fix it.  Here's what I need to fix:   I reach across my body, so I need to keep my arms out more.  When I breathe I take my whole face out of the water and I need to only take one goggle out.  And I need to do a full stroke.  Whew!  I'll see what I can do in 3 weeks.  But if anyone has any more advice or tips for me I'd love to hear them.

Training has been good this week.  My left calf is STILL sore from Monday's wall jumps.  Today I ran 4 miles and trained legs, then swam for an hour.  We did some kick drills that were good.  We did 50's on the 2:15.  It took 2 minutes to kick down and back and then we rested 15 seconds and then we were off again.  I only trained shoulders once this week, but they were pretty sore.  I got in everything else.  Cardio slacked a tad, I didn't get as much running in as I wanted, but I got enough.

Oh, my choose to lose team took 1st again this week!  So 3 out of 4 weeks, we've been in first.

We have another busy weekend ahead.  Jeremiah is going to the baseball camp at Albion College that he's gone to every year since he was 7.  Tonight we are going swimming with my nephew, then the other kids have games tomorrow and I might go skiing on Sunday.  I've NEVER been downhill skiing before!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Day One

Well my 2 busiest days of the week are over!  Monday's and Tuesday's  I leave the house at 8 and don't get home until at least 8.  So it always feels good to get them out of the way.  Wednesdays are pretty busy too, but at least I have a couple hours home in the afternoon.  

I had to call this Day One on my new plan because I had 2145 calories yesterday.  We got home late last night and Chris had picked up Pizza Sam's.  I already had Salmon all COOKED and everything in the fridge, but the pizza looked soooo good.   But Sunday and Monday I was under 2000.  So I will try to do better than 2 days this time!

I am sooo sore everywhere!  I'm like this every mid week though.  But my calves are extremely sore from doing 3 minutes of wall jumps.  From insertion to insertion they hurt!  And my delts and glutes are really sore.  I swam today and it felt pretty good.  I think I'm going to have my mom video me swimming on Friday.  Some people look so fluid and smooth when they swim, I want to know what I look like.

I got my hair colored dark.  I love it, but it's definitely a drastic change.  Picture is below.  I said I was going to post a full body picture of me each month, but I just CAN"T do it.  It's THAT bad.  I really really should post it on the side of my blog, because I would have to think, knowing that everyone can see that would motivate me to do something about it, but I just can't.  It's amazing what you can hide with clothes.  Maybe I'll make that picture my screen saver and then update that  every month.

Check out my Choose To Lose Team!  This was 5 weeks ago at the kick off.  Since then they have lost 150 pounds!!  The contest has actually only been 4 weeks because the kick off was a week before it actually started.  So we still have 6 more weeks.  I'm so proud of them.  I just have such an intense focus on them right now.  I want to help them anyway that I can.  In fact, I've had two dreams about them!  I am going to get a group shot at the end.  And if they let me, I might do a little success story on a couple of them.  

I had my favorite bathing suit stolen!!!  After I showered I left it back by the showers and it's gone!  It was a purple and black Nike sporty tank suit.  I loved it!!!!  Who knows maybe it will show up, but I highly doubt it.

That's about it!

My Plan

Here's my new plan:  I'm going to start posting my weekly weigh in on the right of my blog, and I'm going to post a picture once a month.

I'm also going to keep a running tally of how many days I keep my calories under 2,000.  If I don't one day, then I will title my next post Day 1 and start over.

One problem I have is that I really clean things ups and get structured and lose several pounds the first couple weeks, but I still don't LOOK the way I want so I get frustrated.  For some reason I feel like as soon as I eat better I should look like I'm at least half way through a contest prep!  LOL!  So if I put the focus and the goal on staying under my calories then I think that might help me not feel frustrated about what I see right now.

BUT, all that said, I'm only going to stick with it IF I'm really ready to lose these last few pounds.  How many times have I said this before????  I"m going to do these things for accountability, but really if I'm really ready I will do them for ME not matter what.  So we will see!  I really want to feel good this summer.  I have some Bulldog tank tops that I can't wear, I HAVE to sport the Bulldog tanks, come on!

I'm not going to do a contest diet, in fact, I will eat like I have been, but just trying to be very conscious of staying under those 2000 calories.  I can't control the scale, but I CAN control my actions and what I DO.  (I drill that into my clients all the time, hmmm?)  And then if the scale doesn't budge, I'll lower my calories for a while.

This morning I weighed 143.8 and my body fat was lower too!  I was shocked, I had been weighing 145-146 in the morning.  I think I know why.  I REALLY struggle the first 2 weeks of my cycle.  I stay bloated and mentally don't feel motivated.  Then bam, I ovulate and my whole mental focus changes.  I lose some water weight and out of no where I get this desire to clean my house, eat good, and I'm more organized.  So, you can probably guess, I ovulated a couple days ago.  SO, now that I'm aware of this, I will have to try hard to get through it in a couple weeks, knowing that it will get better.  And looking back at my weigh ins, those last two weeks is when I usually weigh 139-141 because I am on track and then I have that PMS week that sets me back and it stays there for a couple weeks.  I HATE hormones!

Well, enough about that.  This has been such a good weekend.  SOOOO much more relaxing than last weekend.  Friday night Chris worked so I took the kids to the High School Winter Carnival game.  Saturday,  was the usual, B-ball clinic and only 2 games though and they were spread out, 12 and 5 so we both got to go to both games.  We went to lunch at Applebees in between.  I got the fiesta lime chicken because it was on the 2 for $20 list.  Holy cow I looked it up when we got home and 1245 calories.  Good thing I scraped and wiped everything off the chicken and only ate probably 2 bites of the rice.  So then after Naomi's game we decided to go to a movie.  We seen Blindside.  We hardly ever go to the movies and lately we hardly ever do anything as a family like that, so it was very fun!  Today is church and then the usual afternoon practices and stuff.

WORKOUTS

Friday I swam with my Mom and my boss Julie.  After the pool was closed we went down there, it was kind of dark and quiet, it was cool.  But Kim, the aquatics supervisor came down to help us with our strokes.  I definitely learned a few things.  I was surprised that she said I was doing a lot of things right, but she told me to turn my hips a lot more and that really helps.  I'm also focusing on reaching more and really pulling through.  My lats are SORE!

Yesterday I did some cardio before Lukes game.  I didn't have much time so I did Miles on the 10, is what I call it.  I ran a 9:30 mile (warm up) and then walked for 30 seconds.  Then  I ran a 8:30 mile and walked for a minute and half.  Then I ran a 7:30 mile and walked for 2 1/2 minutes.  That's all I had time for, but sometimes I will do more miles and either work my way down slower like do a 9:30,9:00,8:30,8:00,7:30, or I'll go down and then work my way back up.  It's hard to work your way back up though, because everything feels soooo slow after you've been going faster.  But, it's a fun treadmill workout, since treadmills can be so boring.

Yikes

I can't believe it is Friday already, I love Friday's!  I'm not going to the gym today until noon, so I'm at home cleaning and cooking.  I've got some Salmon in the oven and some chicken in the crock pot and then I'm going to cook up some of that quinoa and make some salsa.  It feels soooo good to be at home for a few hours.  I had my breakfast in peace and now I'm sittin here with some green tea!

Luke stayed home again yesterday because the pink eye spread to the other eye.  So he had to go with me to get my windshield replaced.  The day before it was tires!  He was soooo good though.  I really miss having him home with me.  He said to me " Mom remember last year, I'd get off the bus and then we'd go garage saling?  Can we do that today?"  Well, it was like 13 degrees and blowing snow and just icky out.  I was like sorry buddy, no garage sales today!  We did go to the mall and he got his hair cut.

Anyways, so he also had to go to work with me again in the morning.  All I had was one client, so before that I did a little bit of chest.  Guess what?  I benched 135!!!!  Just one rep, but it felt good!  That was the only working out I got in yesterday though!  I was going to swim and take Luke down with me and have him play in the shallow end while I did laps, but the pool was too busy.  Bummer!

When I walked into the gym yesterday, one of my clients was there and she said she had some protein shakes for me.  She said she wasn't going to be able to use them all before they expired and wondered if I wanted them.  OF COURSE!  Wow, 3 little presents in one week!  Thanks Amy!

I got to see my new nephew Hudson!!!  He's soooo cute!  Here's a pic of my brother Nathaniel and his family, Nicole Nolan and Hudson.  My sister in law looks awesome!  She's a pilates instructor and she stayed in great shape.  She's anxious to get back in really good shape, I remember that feeling!  

Hudson Peter Badger

I've been getting my baby fix!  I got to hold my friend Wendi's baby Addie during Jeremiahs' basketball game last night.  She is absolutely ADORABLE!  She kept smiling at me and her outfit was the cutest I think I've ever seen! 

Anyways, hopefully everyone has stopped reading by now and won't see what I write next, J/K!

I got on the scale last night before I got in the shower (yes I never got one until 5:00 p.m.), and I weighed 150.0!!!!!!!!!!  My eyes about popped out of my head.  So I guess my plan of not worrying so much about how much I weigh isn't working, huh?  Now, I have been working out really hard the last month.  Since the first of January I've been on a very strict schedule.  I've been doing back and shoulders on Mondays and Thursdays, chest and arms on Wed, and legs on tues and Fridays.  In the past I hadn't been doing legs or arms and chest, back and shoulders were once a week.  I've also been doing more exercises per body part and sometimes more sets. So I feel like since I've taken it up a notch, my muscles are responding.  And my body fat said it was about 5% lower than it usually reads too, so I was retaining fluid.  But still, I don't even like seeing 140 something, so that freaked me out a little, ok, a lot!  I've also been putting so much focus on my choose to lose team that I've been stress eating.  Isn't that ironic?  I'm trying to teach them ways to not stress eat and it makes me stress eat!  Oh and that reminds me, we came in last place this week.  I was surprised because they did good.  I just think some of the other teams had some really bad weeks and might of kicked it in gear and had a really good week.  We are still in 1st overall though, but barely!

So I need some of my own accountability.  I'm thinking about either posting the weekly weigh in that I do with Jeannell or posting weekly progress pics.  Hmmm......  Here are some goals I have: 

• Lose 5 pounds before the indoor triathlon ( 4 weeks)
• Weigh 135 by Jeremiahs first baseball tournament which is April 17th.
• Be able to do 10 pull ups by my 36th birthday September 6th.

New Tires

I had to get new tires today, I hate spending money on that stuff.  I put that as my title so that I can try to REMEMBER to get them rotated.  By putting that here, if I can't remember when I got them,  I can look back and see.  I'm so bad about remembering stuff like that!

Luke has pink eye.  Naomi had it last week.   So he had to come sit in my office while I trained clients and taught a class.  So I didn't get to do my workout.  That's ok though, I am really sore pretty much everywhere.

I had a crappy swim last night.  I'm not a great swimmer anyway,  but I had nothing in me last night.  My goals for the indoor tri is 750-800 yards in 15 minutes (sad I know), but I also have a couple other goals to work on in the pool the next few weeks.  I want to learn to breathe every 3rd or 4th stroke instead of every 2, and I want to be able to do flip turns.  I know HOW to do flip turns, I just need to work on my breathing pattern, because when I do them, my breathing is different and I run out of air.

My clients hooked me up yesterday!  Renee brought me a bag of Quinoa and Scott brought our whole choose to lose team in  some of his healthy no bake cookies!  Thanks guys!!  It's sooo fun getting little presents :)  Especially healthy ones!

Well tonight Naomi has a b-ball scrimmage and Jeremiah has b-ball practice and then baseball practice immediately afterwards.  Wed's are late nights!  And I still haven't gotten to see my newborn nephew because I can't take Luke!

Not going private

I decided not to have a private blog.  

I was surprised at how many people e-mailed me that I know in person that read my blog and wanted the new link.  The reason I wanted to go private was because I feel funny sometimes writing all this personal stuff and then seeing people and wondering what they are thinking about it.  But you know what, I have had a lot of positive comments, so why stop sharing!  I sometimes think I don't want my clients to know how much I struggle sometimes, so I try to only post positive things on here, but really I guess it's good for them to know I struggle.   I just want to be there to support THEM, but I can still do that.  

THANK YOU  to my few blogger friends that wanted to still follow me!  Even though I don't comment a lot, I still keep up with several blogs!  It's always awesome when you read somebody else's thoughts that day, that was just what you needed to here at that moment!  And it encourages me to see other people set goals and accomplish them.

SO.........  for the fitness part:  This was week 3 for my choose to lose group today and they kicked butt again!  I honestly don't think we will be in 1st again, BUT, everyone was there and to me, that is success!  That's all I ask of them, is to show up, give 100%, and take it one day at a time.  As of last week they had lost 100 pounds in two weeks.  I am having soooooo much fun with this.  After I worked, I did legs and cardio.  Tonight I will go back and swim.  Food has been GOOD today, I haven't been able to say that in a while.  So I just have to finish the day strong.  I did my 15 minute run today at a speed of 7.5 mph - 10.00.  I was at 8.0-8.5 for most of it and it felt good!!!!  It was hard but felt good at the end.  Then I went to my cousins house and put her through a 50 minute workout!

I have a new nephew as of 4 a.m. this morning!  I can't wait to see him, I'll post pics.  It's funny because today is his brother's 2nd birthday.  I can't believe they will share a birthday and then my brother's is in one week.  That will be a lot of Badger Boy Birthdays!