Working Out

So I have promised a few pictures of my workouts. It is really hard to get good pictures though. I mean, we are all supposed to be working out and there aren't a lot of breaks. I tried to get Tammye to take a few though. This might just give you a few ideas of the things I am doing though.

Speed Skaters

Traveling Burpees

Weighted Rope Pull

One Armed Dumbell Press on Stability Ball with Pelvic Tilt

So for those of you that were wondering. This is what the torture looks like. However, I love it and I keep coming back from more. I'll try to take more pictures this week. I probably need to see if I can bring a friend with me just to take pictures.

I know that I still have a layer of fat that needs to go away but I also know that once it does there is strong, toned, in shape physique underneath. Someday....hopefully someday soon!

Salmon & Glazed Carrots

I love salmon & glazed carrots. My friend told me about this very simple way to make salmon and I used a recipe I had for glazed carrots and modified it to be lower in sugar. You could also use splenda or stevia in your carrots if you are eliminating table sugar. I wish I hadn't served in on a paper plate, kind of makes my picture look ghetto.

Salmon
4-6 oz salmon filet (1 for each person)
butter
lemon
worshetire sauce
salt & pepper

Directions:
Melt a little butter and brush over salmon
sprinkle lemon juice and worcshetire sauce on top
add salt and pepper, I also added a little lemon zest
Bake at 350 till salmon is flaky and then broil for 2 minutes until brown

Glazed Carrots
9 carrots (1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 TBSP sugar (recipe called for whole TBSP)
1 TBSP butter (recipe called for 2)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper

Directions:
Quarter and cut carrots into 2-inch lengths or cut into thin circles.
In a skillet, bring carrots, sugar, 1/2 cup water, butter, and salt to boil. Reduce heat; simmer, partly covered, 6 minutes.
Cook uncovered, over high, tossing often until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with pepper.

Home Sweet Home

To sum up my trip to Chicago

1) Saw great friends

2) Learned a lot at my classes

3) Ate excellent food

4) Ate too much food

5) Worked out a few times at the hotel

6) Walked and danced till my feet fell off

7) Shopped at Macy's for the first time in years

8) Missed my family bunches

9) Rocked my size 12 dress!

10) Met the Rev. Jesse Jackson

11) Froze my a$$ off...I know why it's called the windy city

12) Gained 2 Lbs (ouch)

13) Got a new face

14) Had lots more slack in the airplane seat belt

15) Had an awesome time!

If you want to read about the boring details...keep reading but that pretty much sums it up.

Had a great time. It all started with my plane trip there. The last time I was on a plane I could barely buckle the seat belt and thought how embarrassing it would be to have to ask for in extender. Not this time. Look at all that slack!

The weather was terrible and so so windy but it didnt stop me from having a good time. My hotel was amazing! It was one of the nicest hotels I have stayed in and the hotel gym was as nice as the gym I go to on a regular basis. It was equipped with cardio equip, weights, machines, bosu ball, kettle bells, free earbuds for accessing music on the equipment, fresh lemon water, towels, and more. The location was incredible. I was in the heart of Chicago, right on Michigan Ave and within walking distance to the magnificent mile (shopping), bicentennial park, the lake, art institute, and more.

The eating was my major down fall. We ate at 5 star restaurants including: The Girl & Goat (Top Chef winner Stephanie Izzard) which was the most obscure food I have ever ate but delicious. It was Tapas style so we all ordered two things and shared. There were several receptions with unlimited hors devours and drinks. We also went to an amazing Italian restaurant which is were we met Jesse Jackson. I am not his biggest fan but it was still cool to see someone famous. I had incredible sushi, cuban sandwich and deep dish chicago style pizza for lunches. See why I gained the two pounds?

Now I did walk a lot. I actually walked so much that I think I have a mild case of plantar fasciitis. My left foot is killin me. I also danced a lot. Every night we went out and danced. One night we went to the funnest dueling piano bar. Those guys are so talented...they seriously could play any song by ear; any genre, any generation, anything.

Shopping was a wonderful experience. I only bought two shirts and a little sweater but I tried on lots of stuff. The greatest part about it was that I had to get a smaller size then I had started with in the dressing room. The lady helping me told me that I should get XL because the brand I was looking at, INC, runs small. After trying it on, I had to get larges in everything I bought. Here is a picture of me with this new outfit. Sadly though, I didn't really get a picture of me in my size 12 dress and I totally ROCKED it! I did get this one group photo but you can't even see it.

Those are my two buddies; Calvin and Jason. They are good guys and were great surrogate husbands for the trip. They made sure I always got back to my hotel safely and even poor Calvin carried my coat and purse while I tried on clothes. Haha. Did I mention that I felt so good in that dress! I had already asked one of my friends to take my picture the day before in the Macy's outfit though and I felt silly asking him to take it again. I promise to wear it to church next Sunday and post a picture though. Also while shopping at Macy's I visited the Clinique counter and the MAC counter. My skin has been really dry and flaky and causing me problems. All solved! I feel like I have a new face. The Clinique 3-step worked for me. I also got a mini makeover at MAC with some fun new eye shadow.

All in all I had an awesome time but missed my family and my little kiddos so much. Travis did such a good job taking care of the kids. He had to be out the door every morning by 6:55 with their breakfast and lunches packed, extra changes of clothes, diapers, bottles, etc. He had to remember to brush their teeth, give them baths, their medicine (they both had an ear infection), story time, and put them to bed. He is a wonderful dad. I think he missed me more than the kids did. He definitely hasn't taken me for granted this week. Lol. Wish he could of been with me; I'm glad to be home. Home Sweet Home.

Heading to Chicago

Well, I am headed to Chicago this afternoon for a business trip and will be there for four days (coming home Thursday evening) so I won't be doing much blogging. I have a good friend that is going with me and I have asked him to hold me accountable for what we eat and to make sure that I go to the hotel gym at least every day. I am really looking forward to this trip as we have some fun stuff planned but I am also sad to be leaving my kiddos. I hope Travis survives. He is such a good daddy. I know they will be okay. I can't wait to have the entire queen sized bed all to myself yet I think I will miss the little feet in my back or warm breath on my face. I sure do love my kids. They bring so much joy to my life and make life so meaningful.

I'll be posting about my trip when I return. Can't wait to wear my new dress!

POW Camp

This morning was brutal. I spent 100 minutes with my trainer and a bunch of other exercise enthusiasts. Saturday sessions are called "Weekend Warrior" but I teased Tammye today and told her that I felt like a POW not a Warrior. Haha. Yet, somehow I keep coming back for more. I also went to a session on Wednesday; it is her advanced group which I try to avoid but I couldn't go on my regular Thursday so I tried it. A couple things I have done this week for either the first time in a long long time or never before: I jumped rope (don't think I've done that since 6th grade), ran at 8.0 on the treadmill (even though it was only a minute it almost killed me), walked at a 15 incline on the treadmill, and did one legged gliders (see pic below).

When I first started working out I could not even do two legged gliders more than once. This week I did one leggers 15 times on each side. Yay! When I did this I thought my trainer might cry. She was like "Cheryl I am so proud of you, this is a major breakthrough for us". It was a proud moment. If you'd like to try these at home, you can use paper plates to imitate as the gliding disk. It is better if you are on carpet. You can also do them with a paper plate under each leg and that is an easier modification.

I know that I am the strongest I have ever been in my whole life. I have been trying to take some pics of some of the crazy things we do and I'll be doing a post soon with several pics.

Today we did several exercises. We started out with some circuits using elastic bands, jump ropes and medicine balls; this included exercises such as lunges, squats, rows, chest press, overhead press and all sorts of crazy jumps with the rope including normal jump rope and then some drills wear we laid the rope on the ground and did mogul jumps, speed skaters and a modified football run. Then we went for a little run. We ran 4 minutes and then did 50 air squats, ran 3 minutes and did 30 air squats, ran 2 minutes and did 20 air squats, ran for 1 minute and did 20 air squats and ran for 30 seconds and did 10 squat jumps. (this may not be exactly but close enough). We also did a series of ab exercises such as bicycle crunches and reverse crunches. The torture never ends. We then hit the stairs at the amphitheater doing mountain climbers with torso twist, spider man push ups, tricep dips and box jumps.

The weather was so beautiful we did our entire workout at the park today. It was awesome! After all of that...I thought I'd die but then the group headed to the parking lot for more drills, we did a combo of running, shuffling, high knees and running backwards, then did some elastic band bicep curls, followed by firewalkers. These freaking hurt. It is just a little elastic band you put around your ankles and you walk side ways (step together, step....ouch these make your entire leg burn) and then did some lunges while holding the medicine ball over our head. Did I mention that after all that we did it all again??

This is serious torture. I am not sure what water boarding is like but this has got to be close. Not really but you get what I am saying. However, when you are done you feel so good. There are people of all different strengths, shapes and sizes in the group and we all keep each other motivated. It is fun and motivating to see some of the true athletes in the group.

Bod Pod

Sorry I havent blogged in a while. I was without a computer for about a week and just didnt like the idea of blogging from my phone. I am headed to Chicago tomorrow and as soon as I get back I am getting a test done called "Bod Pod". It is one of the most accurate ways to test your lean tissue vs fat tissue percentages. I know how much weight I have lost but I have also gained a lot of muscle and as we all know muscle ways more than fat so I am interested to see the results. I will be re doing the test in 60 days. It isn't very expensive for those of you wondering....$40 for one time or $60 for two tests. I am really excited. I am also planning on getting a blood panel done to test cholesterol, insulin levels, triglycerides, etc. Just thought it would be great to get a base line. I'll let you know what I find out.

Just how does the BOD POD work?

While a person sits inside the enclosure, a rapidly vibrating diaphragm in the wall of the test chamber produces small changes in air pressure between it and an adjoining reference chamber. The changes in air pressure can be used to determine the amount of air the person displaces in the test chamber. In turn, that measurement leads to an estimation of the person’s body volume, corrected for the volume of air in the lungs at the time of the measurement.
Then, taking the person’s body mass (obtained by a scale) and dividing it by the person’s body volume, the body density is determined. With that, a person’s percent body fat can be calculated.

Mini Meatloaf & Mashed Cauliflower

These are two great recipes that you can make whether you are on low carb or low fat diets. You can always tweak the ingredients a little to make this right for you. It is also nice because the meatloaves are portion controlled. This is super easy and very yummy. Even if mashed cauliflower sounds gross, TRY IT! You might be surprised, it is very similar to potatoes with out the carbs and lots of fiber.

Meatloaf
Lean Ground beef
1 carrot grated (you could exclude if very low carb)
1/2-1 chopped green bell pepper
1/2-1 chopped onion
1 small can tomato sauce
1/4-1/2 C Oatmeal
1 egg

Combine all ingredients. Roll into small balls and fill 12 tin muffin pan (spray pan with cooking spray or olive oil). Bake at 350 until beef is cooked thoroughly. I add a sauce for the last 10 minutes of catchup, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke and a small amount of brown sugar.

Mashed Cauliflower
1 medium head cauliflower
milk or half & half
butter
salt
1/4 C instant potatoes (optional)
garlic/parmesean/cheese/chives (optional)

Steam cauliflower until soft. Combine all ingredients and mash with hand masher or food processor just as you would for mashed potatoes. I promise that this is good! You get the yummy goodness of potatoes with out the starchy carbs and you get lots of added fiber.