Highway 78

Aaron and I are packing our bags again today to make the long drive south on Highway 78 towards home. The drive is long, and very DARK at night. We are always so thankful when we finally make it to our destination. This weekend that is to my mom and dad's house to celebrate my birthday! Last weekend, Aaron and I were with his family. They are so sweet. They celebrated my birthday there, too! MIL made me delicious Southern Beef Stew, YUM! A personalized "L" shaped birthday cake and that's all I didn't have anymore sweets that night and S'mores by a fire later in the evening. I have been dying to have S'mores ALL winter. I had two then thought I was going to be sick. Don't you love that feeling?

 I've gotten 22 out of 28 things for my 28th year. The closer I get to 28 the harder it becomes. This is not to say there aren't a million things I should and need to do to better myself spiritually. It's sort of challenging to sit down and list them all out. I will keep thinking.

Tomorrow morning my mom and I are headed to the local cupcakery to pick out my birthday cup cakes! I expect them to be very delicious! Think "GiGi's Cupcakes"! Thanks, mom! Tomorrow is going to be sort of my last hoorah in the sweets/dessert department. I have really been thinking about how I gave up Dr. Peppers and all other soft drinks. I can most certainly give up sweets and desserts. I won't completely eliminate refined sugar out of my diet completely, at least not right now. However, I know doing so would really put me over the edge in my weight-loss journey. When I work out consistently during the week and eat well and eat enough, I feel really good and the number on the scale even goes down. BUT my middle area just isn't changing much. Hello, sugar! Doesn't sugar cause you to gain/keep weight in your abdomen?

Daddy is grilling pork chops for me tomorrow! I LOVE when he grills pork chops. He said he special ordered some thick cut chops from the butcher. He's such a sweetie pie.

Well anyway, tomorrow I am going to enjoy that those cupcakes, and probably a waffle at Waffle House in the morning. After that, game over. If you see me at the next bridal/baby shower/birthday party and my eye is twitching or I run and hide while I hyper-ventilate, it will be because I'm trying to say NO to all those goodies luring me to them. Ha, as if they have some sort of super powers...

Sunday, Aaron and I have our second job try-out. We are excited and thankful to God for the opportunity. In our minds we think we know how we would like our future to look. Ultimately, God knows what is best for us and where we will be the most effective. I am so thankful for THAT!

Have a blessed weekend "all" you readers! Seriously, the fact that anyone reads what I have to say makes me all giddy inside!

Lemon Protein Bars

recipe

In an attempt to have healthier snacks around the house I made these Lemon Protein Bars from heandsheeatclean.com. Normally I would have gone straight to the chocolate recipe or even the pumpkin one, but I was trying to accommodate my sweet husband who lacks a sweet tooth! He loves lemons so I thought this would be perfect for the both of us to snack on.

These protein bars are pretty good! They ARE very lemony. I followed the recipe exactly except I used whole wheat flour instead of the recommended oat flour. I don't have oat flour. Also, the protein powder I used probably isn't considered "clean", but again it's what I had on hand. I just went with what I had since this was the first time trying a recipe like this and I wasn't sure if we would even like them. When I use up the protein powder we have I WILL be purchasing a clean version. The stuff is just too expensive to just throw it away. 

These are WAY better than any store-bought protein bar I've ever tried. Granted, I've only tried two or three different kinds. Check out HASEC for the recipe and details about these Lemon Protein Bars. There is a lot of good information and recipes for eating clean and just plain being healthier in general. 

I'll be making the pumpkin version next. OH and check out their recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough! One reader said in the comments section that they blended the quick oats to a powder consistency before mixing with the other ingredients. That sounds like it would make it closer to the actual consistency of real cookie dough. I will be trying this one out, too! 

Besides the protein bars I bought fresh veggies for snacking. I washed and chopped and bagged them. TBH, I just don't like raw broccoli!! I LOVE it when it is steamed, and I don't steam it to mush either. I just don't like it raw. AJ likes it however. So I guess I'll be eating the carrots and he can have the broccoli, blech. We also have fruits and greek yogurt and almonds. 

What healthy (even clean) snacks to you keep around the house? 

I'm really doing it!

After two different times starting and quitting, I, along with my awesome gym buddy, have completed the first three weeks of the "Total Body Blitz" 12-week exercise program. I have to say I am feeling great! Pounds are coming off... granted not like on the Biggest Loser, but they are coming off! My jeans are getting looser and looser. That makes me excited! There is nothing like results to make you want to keep going. I had a small victory in our work out today, too. I completed real-deal box jumps as prescribed. You are probably like, woo-hoo... go, you... but it was a victory indeed for me. We had been doing the box jumps on an aerobic step that's only like three or four inches off the floor. Like this one only without the risers underneath.

Today I used a 12" box. It was scary making the first jump because I kept picturing myself missing the box and scraping my shins all to pieces. After that, it was awesome! So the 12" box is the shortest one in this picture. Hey, gotta start somewhere!!

  

Can you believe there are people out there that can jump a 62" box?! Check out this video just for fun. I'm not even sure if that's the highest one. Have you ever heard of Cross Fit? That is definitely something I would like to get in to eventually. Those people are so fit. Although, some of the women are VERY built and that's not my goal. 

Anyway. My diet hasn't been top notch by any means, but I am certainly eating better. I've been keeping up with tracking my calories on My Fitness Pal and I know that has helped. I really want to take mine and AJ's diet to the next level and really eat clean. We have made several changes in our pantry, but one thing we haven't gotten rid of is potato chips!! I don't eat them every day, but on days when we have a sandwich for lunch I want chips. Sometimes we will have apple slices instead, but those chips are so yummy. I could do some carrot sticks. 

What have your work outs been like lately?

Have you had any personal victories?

 

Something worth blogging about...

I think that has been my problem this entire time. The reason I cannot post consistently is because I rarely have anything worth blogging about, besides things of a spiritual nature of course. Even then I haven't been able to keep up the "Light for Your Path" series I said I was going to have. Blogging requires creativity. I like to think that I am creative; however, I believe my creativity has been stunned. "By what?" you may be asking. I blame the television. Well, my television doesn't do anything wrong until I turn it on then somehow I find myself sitting... watching... for longer than I want to admit. Not to mention while I'm watching the TV, I'm also checking Facebook a zillion times (I already quit FB once.) and my e-mail. BTW no one e-mails me... besides the 100 websites I've signed up to receive sale advertisements and things like that. WHY? I don't know. I don't ever buy anything! So... I must blame myself. I've stunned my own creativity into oblivion! awww, man... this has by far been the greatest challenge of being at home daily. I know I'm not the only one who struggles with this, am I? I want so badly to be able to work from the home to have time to take care of my family one day. Here I am having been given the opportunity and I have the time and it's wasted.

The good news is it's a new year! ha ha! Because I couldn't change anything about myself until after the new year came, right? Anyway.

How am I going to quit my TV watching habit? Well, AJ and I have talked about getting rid of the television, but we have yet to decide to just do it. We want to keep it to watch movies of course. So now it's up to just good ole self-discipline. Wasting time while watching TV has not only kept me from blogging like I want to, but it has also kept me from reading more, learning to sew, becoming a better cook, keeping a "house chores" schedule, visiting with friends more often... studying the Bible like I should. Oh man, it's just getting worse and worse.

OKAY. Back to the bright side. Self-discipline. Right.

I'm thankful to God for the opportunity to do right again and to be a better person all around.

So from now on I am going to spend more time doing the things I want to do and need to do for God, myself, for my husband, and for others.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest... let's talk about something worth blogging about!

You know that 12 week "Total Body Blitz" I've tried to start a couple of times now? I have officially made it through week one of the program without skipping a day and doing the workouts as prescribed. I would not have been able to do it without my workout buddy though! She has been a real encouragement to me this week, especially today. She helped me run longer than I think I have in over three years. WOO HOO! Only 11 more weeks to go! We can so do it.

In other weight-loss news, I've been tracking my food and exercise on My Fitness Pal consistently again. I've also gone 11 days without a soda, too! I'm trying to go from now until AJ graduates without sweets. You might be thinking that is extreme and that I can have sweets in moderation. Well, not for me. Sugary snacks, cakes, cookies, ice cream, etc are going to be the death of me... so for now, they are dead to me.

Thanks for reading! Have a very blessed weekend. Don't forget to make your best effort to attend worship services this Sunday.

"I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy might acts. I will speak of the glorious honor of they majesty, and of the wondrous works."  Psalm 145:1-5

Work out week 2.

Two? Yes, two. I repeated the first week because I didn't feel like I really did everything correctly the first time. Even repeating it I didn't do the 60 min jog on Friday. It is hard for me to get to the gym on Fridays.

Updated. I totally forgot to post my work out for the week. Here you go! 

Week 2:

• Monday – 5 sets of 8: deadlifts, bulgarian squats, lunges. 50: squat jumps,  calve raises.  Plank for 3 minutes, 60 reverse crunches, 60 hanging knee raises (these are almost impossible for me... going to get it.)
• Tuesday – 60 minutes HIIT cycling (:30/1:30 format)
• Wednesday – 5 sets of 8: incline bench press, clean and press, overhead tricep extension, bent over barbell row, concentration curls, upright row.
• Thursday – 60 minutes HIIT running (sprint for 30 seconds/jog for 1:30 minutes)
• Friday – 5 sets of 8: deadlifts, bulgarian squats, lunges. 50 squat jumps, 50 calve raises.  Plank for 3 minutes, 60 reverse crunches, 60 hanging knee raises

Tips: When there aren’t any sets listed for squat jumps, calve raises, planks, and any ab exercises, complete the number of reps/time in as few sets as possible. i.e. 50 squats as fast as possible, before moving on to the 50 calve raises.  Continue to go heavy on the weight during resistance training.

 
I use to really enjoy going to the gym first thing in the AM. Now I would rather go at 1:30 in the afternoon. I have figured out that it is the SLOWEST time for the gym; there are like 2 or 3 other people there at that time. Its awesome. Starting next week I will begin working again, keeping a little girl at my apartment 3 days a week. I will have to go first thing on those days at least.

I am afraid I will have another poor weigh-in next week. Even though the first is a Monday I am waiting until the fourth in order to give myself an extra couple of days. :/ Sad I know. I am going to predict a 2 lb loss. We shall see!

Tomorrow is mine and AJ's THIRD anniversary!!!! Yippee!!!! I love him A LOT! Won't say much about it since I will probably do an anniversary post tomorrow. <3 data-blogger-escaped-br="br">
Wednesday is our oldest nephew Sam's 8th birthday! I can't believe how grown he is! He is in second grade and loves video games, books, movies, Star Wars and all the super heroes. Most 8 year-old boys do though, don't they? He plays soccer, too! I am planning to go home for his birthday party this weekend. I am more than excited about this because it has been awhile since I have seen him! Not only that, but my brother (Sam's dad) and his youngest son, Gareth, are coming from Maryland, too! Its been a really long time since I have seen them. Its going to be a great weekend. The only thing that would make it better is if AJ could go with me. Sam loves his uncle and will be sad AJ couldn't come.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures of the birthday boy.




Sam when he was about two. Photo belongs to his mom.




Sam at 7 and 3/4s with my beautiful mom. Isn't Sam a handsome boy? :)
This photo was taken by my sister-in-law.

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Monster sighting... Big and green.

Okay that was sort of corny. I'm talking about the "Green Monster" spinach smoothie. I've known about these smoothies for a while, but am just now getting to try them. You can find more information about green smoothies here and the benefits of spinach here.

I bought the ingredients I needed for the most basic green smoothie on Monday and made one that day for lunch. AJ even tried it and said he would like to have more!

Here is the recipe I tried.

1 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon flaxseed
2 cups organic baby spinach
1 banana
Blend completely then add ice and blend on ice setting.








Viola! Green Monster! I am really weird about things I have to drink and its texture. However, this was not awful. The spinach taste really is covered up by the banana taste. It sort of had a bite to it when it first hit my tongue, if that makes sense, but then it just tasted like banana. I haven't tried to make another yet, but planning to today. I am going to put one or two more types of fruit in it. That should make it taste super delicious!
Have you tried a green smoothie? What is your favorite recipe?

Gym time

Check out my gym routine this week.

Week 1

Monday – 60 minutes HIIT cycling (30 seconds 100% intensity, 1:30 60% intensity, repeat for an hour)

Tuesday – 5 sets of 8: squats, barbell deadlifts, sumo squats, walking lunges, reverse lunges. 100 box jumps. Is that possible?

Wednesday – 30 minutes HIIT jump rope (45 seconds jump, 30 seconds rest. repeat for half-hour)/15 minutes row machine. This day will also include a training session with Trainer Lady, henceforth "TL".

Thursday – 5 sets of 8: bench press, military press, barbell curls, skull crushers, snatch, lat pulldowns. 250 ab reps ( you pick the type of exercises)

Friday – 60 minute jog

Tips: Try to complete this Mon-Fri, allowing yourself a full two days off on the weekend. On weight days, make sure the weight is heavy enough that the 7th and 8th rep are VERY tough to complete. Training heavy at the beginning of this program is key for establishing your base.

I found this routine on Pinterest. Its a 12 week program that I intend on sticking to exactly. It looks pretty intense, especially as you progress. I need intense though if I want to lose 30 by Jan 1. It seems like Cross Fit almost. By the way, I saw some of the 2011 Cross FIt games on ESPN today, those ladies are hosses... I don't want to be a hoss. I am not going to post a link because the woman who designed this routine has photos posted of herself and she is not dressed appropriately. Sorry.


Today I'm going to try my first green monster smoothie! Everything I read says they are delicious. Going to do the most basic version first. What are you going to do today to better your health?


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So what's up?

Just so you know, trying to lose weight and gain my health back is not the ONLY thing I am doing lately. (It is a major part, however, because I don't want to get diabetes or heart disease!) But since you're here and I just got back from my work out I'll tell you what I did. Today was a weigh-in day, as you know from my last post. It went just how I thought it would go, well, worse.... I GAINED four pounds in August. In July I LOST eleven pounds. It truly is a science. Put the right things in your body and build muscle and burn calories... VIOLA! Weight goes down. Here's my work out today, pretty short but effective.

Concentration: Chest, shoulders and triceps

Dumbbell chest press on exercise ball, 15 reps.
Dumbbell shoulder press on ball, 15 reps.
Lap around indoor track holding weights.
Repeat three times.

Seated dips on bench, 5 reps. (I know, I'm a weakling!)
[Girl] push-ups, 5 reps.
Repeat three times.

Chest press on band machine, 15 reps, 3 sets.

Shoulder press on band machine, 15 reps.
Seated dips (I think that is what its called. Its the same motion) on band machine, 15 reps.
Repeat three times.

10 minutes on Stair Master (death) at 55 steps per minute.

It was about a 40 min work out. I usually try to work out for an hour to an hour and a half, but part of my time was taken up with the weigh-in and then after the SM I was ready to go.

So besides trying to exercise 5 days a week and boring my husband with chicken and veggies I am super excited to say things at MSOP have gone back to exciting! The students' wives meet every Monday night for a chapel service and ladies Bible class. Usually afterwards we go to Starbucks, because we just can't get enough of each other. I have refused to in the past... but I suppose I should start ordering the "skinny" version of anything I order.
Its just not right to skip the whipped cream!!!!

Several other activities have commenced as well including FH ladies class on Tuesdays and Game Day Wednesdays. :) Also, I've been doing a good job about keeping up with the Digging Deep Bible study by Cindy Colley! Are you following along as well?

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On the eve of a weigh-in.

Tonight is the eve of another weigh-in for me. This will be the third one. I thought this would be a good time to write about the beginning of my weightloss journey.
A short background... All my life I was active. I took ballet and tap from the time I was three years old and continued dancing until my college years. The reason I stopped dancing is a whole other story its self. I'm 5'11" and have always been a bigger person. There were about two glorious years, while I was marching with the band in college, that I was totally fit.




Here I am in my best physical condition... about five years ago when I was 21. Two years later I met my husband. I had not been dancing for almost two years, but I was still pretty fit. Here is a picture of AJ, me and our parents a month before we got married in 2009. I was also working out almost every day to prepare for our wedding day.




Still looking and feeling great as far as I was concerned. Coincidentally, my parents (on the left side) have both dropped a ton of weight now and look great. I'm so proud of them. The first six months AJ and I were married I was able to maintain a healthy weight for my height. Close to our one year anniversary I started to slowly gain weight. Mainly, I thought, due to my inactivity and just being happy. I've heard that a person gains weight when they are happy!




At first the weight gain was slow. Then between September 2010 and September 2011 I gained 30 to 40 pounds. Mixed in that year AJ and I completely uprooted our lives and moved to Memphis for him to go to school. (So glad we did!) In September 2011, I stopped taking birth control. (TMI? So sorry!) A couple of months passed and NO CYCLE. I've always had irregular cycles so it was no big deal... at first. Fast forward to May 2012 and still NO cycle. Also, I've only continued to gain weight. Tipping the scale at almost 250 pounds! I made an appointment to see a doctor. After blood work and an ultra sound it is determined that I have PCOS. Poly-cystic Ovary Syndrome involves and can mess up so many things with your body. I won't bore you with all the details. I'll just mention that PCOS is why I wasn't having monthly cycles... because it totally messes with a persons hormones which can totally mess up a persons metabolism which can cause a person to gain a ton of weight if gone undetected. ::sigh::




(This is me shortly after we arrived in Memphis. Getting bigger...)
So after I was given the diagnoses and immediately began thinking of fertility... or infertility. I began reading and reading. It is possible for a woman to become pregnant with PCOS with the help of different medications. Well, at the time AJ and I weren't interested in becoming pregnant so I determined within myself that I was going to correct my PCOS symptoms with weight loss. I've read that sometimes just losing 5 to 7% of you body weight can correct some of the symptoms.




(Here I am, tallest in the middle, at my heaviest back in June 2012. I had actually already started training but not showing a change yet.)
That week I signed up with a personal trainer at the local gym and began changing my diet. I started training at 237 pounds. At my first weigh-in, almost 6 weeks later, I was still at 237. However, my body fat % had gone down and my muscle mass % had gone up. I was showing some promise. At my second weigh-in I was at 226!! I had lost 11 pounds!! I couldn't believe it. I had also shed 4 inches off of my waist alone. I had my trainer measure twice because I just couldn't believe it. I was ecstatic. Losing 11 pounds gave me the boost of confidence and belief that I needed. Just two days after that weigh-in, AJ had a long break from school, two weeks. Thats two weeks away from home, away from the gym, eating out and little to no control over what I was eating.
That brings me to right now. August has been a bust for sure. I am just hoping I am at the same weight I was at when I weighed in at the beginning of August. I think I gained back two or three pounds though. There isn't another break from school until the middle of December. That's over three months of continuous hard core exercise and eating the right foods! I've set a huge goal of thirty pound by January 1st. I can totally do it.
So that's [part] of my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far, ha ha! I'll be back with an update after I weigh-in tomorrow.

**Update** Just as I suspected. My weigh-in results are only a minor set back, though. Ready to hit the gym hard.