Tag Archives: Miscellaneous Ramblings

This year for my birthday I celebrated the new me! This is Me 2.0 and I am now ready to kick ass! Granted Me 2.0 still has a few glitches…I tend to forget the I am the one who has changed, not those around me…but I’m adjusting to my new programming.

Things were a little different this year as I spent my birthday alone for the first time ever…. Well, I had my two kids with me in the morning but then my awesome father-in-law took them fishing for the day so I could go out for my birthday and not worry about them.

I spent my time alone shopping for some much needed new clothing since Me 2.0 is a slimmer design. I tried on tons of new items and actually liked what I saw in the mirror (SHOCKING). This time I managed to pick out the proper size instead of reaching for the larger ones first. I also tried to step out of the box a bit and go for some “not so me” type of items like the hot halter top I bought.

Now, I wont lie….I spent most of day upset that I was alone.  I ran every emotion known to man kind and almost overloaded my circuits. Thankfully I had quite a few texts throughout the day that made me smile, literally LOL and make me realize that I could still make the best of things and have fun.

So yes, I spent my birthday alone and dinner was a slice of pizza by myself. There was no singing of happy birthday or a cake with family. Yes, it bothered me A LOT! But on the up side I got to spend time with me, and I felt comfortable with that. I think for the first time I truly saw the new me in the mirror and I kinda like her!

I figured the night would end with me hanging out alone with a movie and all my new clothes, maybe give myself a pedicure or something, but after the kiddies returned home and they were tucked into bed I headed across the street to my neighbors. When I got there I received the best surprise…..a cupcake! Not just any cupcake though…this one had a candle on it…and they sang happy birthday to me! It was a small gesture but it meant more to me than they know. Thanks neighbor!

So here’s to Me 2.0! I hope you like the new programming as much as I do…cause there’s no backing out of this upgrade!

The other night I watched the movie KICK-ASS and for some odd reason the character HIT-GIRL inspired me. I know…weird…she’s like 10 or 11yrs old but she was killer…literally! I just loved the focused attitude, lack of fear and confidence she had. I would have loved to have had a character like her to look up when I was a kid instead of Barbie…bleh!

KICK-ASS also had a killer soundtrack that made me wanna be active. I downloaded it last night and totally felt like working out while listening to it.

So…somehow a movie based on a comic book managed to re-motivate me. Last night I did Kenpo followed by Chest & Back done Crossift style and I also did Ab Ripper 200. This morning I woke up and did some 10 Minute Trainer Yoga followed by Plyometrics and then did the fitness trail with my neighbor. I know…it sounds like a lot and I will be achy but getting back on track is worth it me. I needed to find that focus and confidence that I lost when I couldn’t complete Insanity. (Plus I scheduled a 60 minute Deep Tissue massage for tonight….ahhhhh….can’t wait!)

I’ve realized how strong I have become mentally as well as physically. I have come so far in this journey and I am happy I found some inspiration to keep pushing. I can’t let the fact that I failed at a program set me back. Mentally I totally could have stuck with Insanity….but it’s the physical limitation that got me. I have to accept that I need to work harder and now I have new goal to work towards.

Between my Ninja Master SarahRocks!, Hit-Girl, my psycho buddy Pascal and all of the wonderful Beachbody Coaches I have met on Twitter I am sure I will reach my goals and KICK-ASS along the way!

Check out Hit-Girl in action HERE

I’ve heard this comment quite a few times and never really paid much mind to it….until recently. As you know I have been doing P90X for well over a 100 days. I am in my 2nd Round and despite Ab Ripper X , Ab Ripper 200 and Core Synergistics I don’t have abs. Well, let me rephrase that…you can’t see my abs. I have lost over 6 inches from my waist and I can feel them, but they are trapped under a disgusting layer of gooey, flabby, fat….lovely image eh?! (Obviously, that is not me in the pic featured here either…sigh)

The other night I was on Facebook and found this article from Tony Horton:

“In the land of last hurrahs, the infamous 6-pack is high on the list. The feeling out there is that if you’ve got a 6-pack, you’ve arrived. I have a 6-pack and love handles. What does that say about me? I’ve arrived at needing to eat my cake/cookies too. Owning a 6-pack (or even an 8-pack) is a result of three key components: diet, cardiovascular exercise, and core/ab work. What most people don’t realize is that the core/ab work is last on the list when it comes to how your abs rise to the surface. That’s right—last! Once they begin to show, the way you work them will influence their aesthetic appearance.

If you had stayed active and ate well early on in life (and stayed that way), your stomach muscles would be as easy to see as your head. That stuff covering up your abs is fat. Fat that has accumulated from a life of poor diet and inactivity. Your abdominal muscles are buried far beneath the surface. Ninety-eight percent of humans who attempt to bring the 6-pack to the surface with just crunches, ab lounges, and any other silly low-calorie-burning repetitive motion will fail. That fat is unburned fuel. Cardiovascular exercise involving your legs and a diet low in fat, sugar, and sodium is the way of the 6-pack.

Talk to anyone who has had great results resurfacing the 6-pack from doing Power 90®, and they’ll tell you that eating in the top two tiers of Michi’s Ladder and three solid cardio days a week (done consistently) had more to do with it than crunches alone. Do your Ab Ripper routines, Cardio, and Sculpt three days a week. Eat the kind of food seven days a week that doesn’t add to the unwanted fuel that keeps “The Pack” from rising to the surface.

Reading this made me step back and really think about my nutrition. I’ve been working at it but I don’t think I have been giving it my all. Yes, I just recently started the 21 Day Clean Eating Challenge and I think this may help to get me closer to the 6 pack I have always dreamed of…..hell who am I kidding…I’ll be happy with flat at the this point. (You know its sad when you look at the Beachbody product guide and say hell I’d be happy with her before photo!)

If you have also been working hard and not seeing results in your abs it may be time to step into the kitchen and up the cardio you do instead of doing 100’s of crunches a day.  I also found this while doing some web searches….maybe it will help you! Flat Stomach Food Guide

It is now officially May, which puts me at almost the one year mark since I started this fitness journey (I only wish I started this blog sooner so I could have looked back at my year of progress…sigh). Along the way I have hit many forks in the road, a lot of bumps and a few fallen trees that could have stopped me in my tracks but I have managed to navigate through all of them and kept pushing on.

One of the biggest challenges for me as someone who has  always been overweight is food. I never  learned balanced, proper nutrition as a kid. My mom has always had weight issues, and as a single working parent she always just stocked the fridge and freezer with what was quick and easy. I grew up on pizza rolls, frozen pizza, microwavable hamburgers, taco night and all kinds of soda, chips and junk. I am sure this had a huge impact on my eating habits as an adult and now as a mom, I myself face the fact that while these quick and easy options may help me daily, it is not going to help my children. I do not want them to go through life as I did and have to face the same issues.

Last May something clicked in me. I did not like the person in the mirror and I decided it was time to make some changes. I started by cutting back on my sugar intake as I was a huge sugar junkie. No more Pop-tarts (which I love and I swear they stare at me when I walk down the aisle they reside in at the grocery store), no cookies just cause they were there, no more late night ice cream and no more snacking out of boredom after 7pm. I was never a big chip eater so I had no issues cutting that sort of stuff out. I also cut back on my caffeine intake which was TOUGH but I survived it and rarely feel the need for a late afternoon pick me up anymore. (However this past week I have my fair share of late night coffee and I have been paying the price for it with a wacky sleep schedule!)

After a few hard weeks of sticking to these diet changes I added daily exercise to the mix. I have NEVER been an exercise person. The idea of getting up and driving to the gym never appealed to me and the thought of purposely making myself sweat and become sore didn’t either. If it wasn’t for a friend of mine who was doing P90X at the time and busting his butt daily I probably never would have done this. He was an inspiration to me and I felt that  if he could do an hour of hardcore intense exercise everyday I could at least do some yoga and cardio.

Oh, by the way….did I mention that I am a part-time cake decorator at Coldstone Creamery and we get complimentary cups of ice cream on every shift? Yeah…tell me about it….major challenge there!

A few weeks in my changes & hard work began to pay off and soon enough the weight started coming off. I was feeling good about myself for a change and I liked it! I found new ways to keep myself motivated, like an upcoming to trip to Disney and a friendly bet with a friend as to who could lose more weight before the trip. I found I was able to go longer on the bike and the treadmill and I began adding new workout dvd’s to keep myself challenged. I didn’t crave the same types of foods I once ate but I would occasionally over indulge on a weekend or feel that I earned a major “cheat”.

Looking back now I think those cheats were stupid of me but it’s because of how much I have learned, how much I have changed and how much I value the importance of nutrition now. At the time I thought I needed those cheats to succeed and you know what….I probably did. I am so glad I took baby steps so I didn’t psych myself out and set myself up to fail as I did so many times in the past.

A year ago I would have never imagined myself working out for an hour a day let alone being a P90X graduate. I would have never even entertained the thought of trying Insanity, or a 21 day clean eating challenge. You would have never caught me reading books about Crossfit or Paleo eating and I NEVER thought I wouldn’t mind bathing suit shopping (well…I still don’t like it but it’s not as awful as it once was). I also never thought I would be helping others to reach their fitness goals by sharing my story and what I have learned along the way.

I still face temptations on a daily basis and I suppose I always will. I’ll be at work and think about having a cup of ice cream or eating a left over Kit-Kat or Oreo cookie.  I have to stop and think about how far I’ve come and realize it isn’t worth it. It’s so easy to just mindlessly eat. (That’s not to say I don’t every now and then….I’m human afterall!) Those darn Pop-tarts have been taunting me lately as well but I’ve told them to “fuck off” cause my ass doesn’t need them!

Before you think I deprive myself of everything or have this super strict diet I don’t. I enjoy pizza and beer and stuff like that. I just try not to have them often and limit how much of it I have. I’ve also become a fan of thin crust veggie pizza and light beer which allows me to enjoy the stuff I love but be smarter about how I eat it. I’ve come to love and enjoy new foods that are actually good for me.

I love to cook and have been making a better effort to cook healthy meals for my family instead of ordering out all the time. The best part is that by my eating healthy items it  makes my kids want to try them too.  They have even begun taking an interest in exercise which makes me so proud!

The lesson here is that there will always be an obstacle in the road to reaching your goals. It may be a fork in the road, a few rough patches or a bag of Doritos screaming for you to eat them. Don’t let them trip you up and stop you from reaching your destination. If you stumble and fall along the way, dust yourself off and keep moving forward. Take baby steps, pace yourself and every now and then look behind yourself to see how far you have come.