Hating the Fluctuations

So can I just tell you how much I hate the 2-3 pound fluctuations that you can have within 24 hours. They totally get me down! I was ready to post the picture of the scale. 174 and then today when I got on it said 177. I haven't done anything different! I'll try again tomorrow and just hope that I had ate something salty or was just retaining water. It is seriously infuriating!

It are times like these that I want to give in. Actually...confession....after weighing this morning I was so mad that today I totally went off plan and did not eat like I was supposed to. Isn't that weird how it works. You would think that being up would make me want to be perfect today but it didn't...it made me want to sabotage the entire thing. When I see good results I do better.

I am trying to convince myself to go to a 20 minute cardio interval workout in order to compensate for some of my poor decisions. Really don't feel like it though. I am drained. Spent the day out in the sun and the kids just went to bed. I am ready for relaxation not another workout. 20 minutes though...right? Tomorrow at church, I am wearing the dress that I wore in Chicago...so for those of you that moaned and groaned about me not having a picture, I will make sure to snap one; so check back.

ARRGGHH!

Jogging Stroller

This morning I am going for a jog on the greenbelt. We have a nice greenway here that connects most of the local parks in town. I just got a new jogging double stroller. I have been looking for them on Craig's list and the other day I was at a friends house and saw that she had one. Her kids are a little older than mine so I asked her about it and she said she was just about to put it on Craig's List. She was going to sell if for $65 but offered it to me for $50. SOLD! I looked this stroller up online and it is $200 brand new. Last night I cleaned it all up, stitched the one very small hole in the mesh and it literally looks brand new. I can't wait to try it out. Hudson loves it too! Last night he was climbing in it and putting his cars in the cup holders. He was ready to go. It is also nice because you can lay the back down allowing the kids to lay down individually. This will be great for places like Dollywood or long days.

Our area is very hilly so I am excited to have this. I think it will make walking-jogging-running this area much easier. There are even a few short hikes that are paved. We are talking about doing one of them tomorrow. It is called "Look Rock" off the Foothills parkway. It is just a mile but has a beautiful view of the city. Happy trails ahead.

The weather has been amazing! All the trees are in bloom, everything is greening up. I have even laid out a few times and got some sun. There is a tree here in Tennessee called the dogwood. They are very beautiful. The next week is the dogwoods festival. They have tons of walking and driving trails where you can see all the trees. We go every year so looking forward to it. Tomorrow it is supposed to be 88 and sunny. We are planning to spend the day out on the lake with grandparents and their boat. Hudson can't wait!

The 4 Hr Body

A couple of weeks ago I decided to tackle all 571 pages of the 4 hour body by Tim Ferris. What a good book. Some crazy stuff but really good. It was an easy read too. When you look at it, it looks impossible....like a big hard back text book but surprisingly I read it really fast in about a week. He encourages you to skip around which I did; reading the sections that interested me the most and then the fluff.

It is way too much information to give you a real review. I can't say that I agreed with all of it but a lot of it does make sense. I have reduced my carbohydrate intake dramatically since reading it. I have also done more kettle bell training. His writing style is definitely not boring and it was easy to just keep turning the pages. He lays it out really well too so you can read more details or less if you want to. I am kind of a science geek so I loved reading all the details of his testing.

I thought about writing a full review but then I thought that someone else probably has probably already done that. Here is a nice review. If you want more details...click here.

Thursday night workouts

So at the request of some of my readers, here are a few more videos. The workout tonight was great. I had Tammye catch a couple of moves on vid. It is so hard because she is trying to manage the group and I only get very short breaks in between the exercises or she gets mad at me. So, I will try and sneak in a few videos but can't promise them all the time. Tonight there were three moves that we havent done before....here they are.

Kettle Bell Pulse with Knee slap jump
(I look ridiculous but seriously these kill. We did 10 pulses then a jump (10x) twice. A big thanks to my friend B.Jaye for agreeing to be in this video)


One Armed Squat and Lift using TRX bands


Side Plank Jump with Push-up (check out our feet on the push-up, they were sideways)


It are these crazy exercises that make me love it so much. There is always a challenge and she is always changing it up so you never know what to expect. This is always a total body workout and I swear you get sore with muscles that you didn't even know that you had. Especially all the core muscles; its all those crazy exercises on the bosu, or stability ball that really kill ya later. Tonight we did 2 sets of 25 squat jumps on the bosu, I know that I will be feeling that tomorrow.

Encouraging Words

A couple of weeks ago I had a Wii dance party with some friends. It was great fun. I set up the projector and screen I use for doing CPR, we served Papa Murphy's DeLite Pizza and danced the night away. What a fun way to burn calories. I invited a girl that comes to my Thursday night work-outs sometimes and a few days after the party I received this note in the mail.

It was so touching to get this and to know that even I can be encouraging to other people. It are little things like this that keep me going. It is not only myself but other people that keep me fighting all the way to finish.

A girlfriend that I go to church with recently lost 30 pounds too. You may remember her from the very beginning. In one of my first posts I told you how we were going to do this together. Her name is Teri. Well, she hurt her foot and it took her a while to get started. I kept telling her that it was 75% diet and that even if she couldn't exercise she could still lose weight. Well, since starting my local Biggest Loser competition at the end of January she has lost all that weight. I saw her today and she looks amazing! Her pants are practically falling off of her. She was sweet and told me that I had been her inspiration and that she finally just DID it! I am so proud of her. I can't wait to see her meet her goals.

Again, it are these stories that make it so that I have to finish and make me never want to gain it back. How discouraging that would be to so many people. I want to set an example. I want people to know that it can be done with out prescription drugs, without surgery, without starving yourself. Just make small changes every day! I try to set small goals every day (drink 80 oz of water, do 20 min of cardio, don't eat carbs after 4 PM, eat all my servings of fruits and veggies, etc). I may not do each of them every day but I try to at least do something! What can you start doing today? What small goals do you set? I'd love your feedback.

Girls Night Out

You know you have good friends when they will come workout with you for a "girls night". My friend Maggie is originally from Knoxville but now lives in Nashville. She is in medical sales so travels to Knoxville frequently. She was in town last night so she and her sister came to work out with me. It was great fun. I just got a text from her today "Not going to lie...I am super sore". It is so fun being able to share my journey and experience with other people. While you may read about my workouts in the gym, I think it is hard to understand unless you come indulge in one with me. Any more takers? I only had one other friend ever come with me to a work out and about a month later she tried to get me fired at my job. Hopefully there was no relation?? Haha. Maggie and her sister Mallory were awesome. They are both in good shape and did every exercise to the very end. Great job girls. I hope you will come again!

We did all go to Tomato Head for dinner. I love that place. All of their food is fresh and organic. So yummy. I figure I earned it since I actually worked out twice yesterday. Went to an hour long high impact cardio and then an hour of strength last night. It was a good day!

Blog Award

April's blog award goes to my trainer Tammye Wright aka The Tamminator. Not only is she my trainer but she is my friend and I love her. I started training with her over 8 months ago and she has really helped me tons. She reads my blog and definitely kicks my butt in my workouts. I never leave the gym not feeling sore the next day. She has me doing things that I have never done before. Travis makes fun of me saying that he could never do my workouts because they are all something weird like standing on one foot....but thats just it....I have better balance and way more core strength because of her efforts.

It is really strange. Tammye abuses me in the gym but I actually go thru withdrawals and miss her if I don't see her within a few days. I love her zufu class and have had lots of fun singing and dancing with her. I have agreed to be in a performance next year at the Clayton center which holds over 1000 people. She asked me to dance in it this year but my confidence was just not quite there. I know I could do the dance but not sure about the outfits. :) It felt good though that she believed enough in me to even ask.

She is not an official follower on my blog (not sure why...hint hint if you're reading this) but I know she reads it. Thank you Tammye for encouraging me and believing in me. You have been great and I love our workouts together. I still have a ways to go though...so keep killing me!

Are you local and interested in training with Tammye and me? Let me know! I'd love to take you to a class, a small group personal training session or weekend warrior! Warning...be prepared to be sore, and I wouldn't start with weekend warrior unless you want to feel like puking. Its great though and WE LOVE IT!

Dynamo Push Ups

So the other night was a good workout night. I have been trying to snap a few pictures. I also got Tammye to take a video of me doing some Dynamo push ups. I have came a long way. Can't believe I can even do one of these. Check out my video.
I have to admit that I have watched this video several times. Still just can't believe I did them. When she first told us what we were doing and showed them to us, I was like "yeah right".

But...somehow I did 2 sets of 8.

Here are a few more pics from my workout that night