Be a Little Better

So I haven't gotten out of bed at 5am once. Have I given up striving toward this way of life? Absolutely not!! I just haven't grabbed it yet. It is much harder to get out of bed when it's cold and dark and quiet in the house. What mother doesn't want to take advantage of more sleep when the opportunity presents itself? However, I've been choosing to stay in bed even after I wake on my own in the 5 o'clock hour. For shame!!! I WILL do better!!

I've lost another pound and am loving it! It gives me the courage to do a little better each day. I have short lapses of judgement during a certain part of the month. That's when all rational, healthy, reasonable thinking goes out the window and I gorge myself on anything that does not resemble a food from nature. This past week it was full sized candy bars. My husband was given a whole box of them from work and I ate so many of them in a 24 hour period that I'm too embarrased to admit to the actual number. After that, I was a new woman. Mostly because the thought of sugar made me nauseous, but also because my hormone surge shifted. That truly is one thing that I cannot gain control of through the old "mind over matter" principle. When my hormones are imbalanced, my brain disintegrates. Thankfully I've found some remedies that help to lessen the effects. I'm lucky that my sugar rampage last week only lasted for a day.

So here's to being a little better today. Take control of your appetites, renew your convictions, respect your intestines and the rest will fall into place.

Just do it!!

So we spent a few days at the beach and now I'm refreshed and full of memories. I love vacation, especially when I can remember how to play with my kids again. Sometimes, at home, I forget that there's fun to be had among all the many chores to be done. Now I'm sitting at home in my pajamas at 9:00 am listening to Brett's cartoons. Time to get my workout clothes on before I become a total bum. :)

I haven't been getting up at 5am consistently this month......or even on purpose. I think the few times that I actually did get up early was when I crashed the night before at 8pm. Haha! Oh well. Some goals are tougher than others and although I haven't reached it yet, I will keep trying. I think the best part of this last week (aside from the glorious sound of the waves) was losing a pound after coming home from vacation. Woohoo!! Didn't really expect that, but when I think about it I only ate a brownie and a few pieces of pizza in lieu of healthy foods. The rest of the time was my homemade goodness. I turned down several treats and snacks that are just not for me. I love having control of my diet!! It makes me realize that I have more self control than I thought. When I watch others struggle and wish that their own diets were different, I just want to shout from the rooftops that the only person to change your diet is YOU. So do it!! Don't just wish and hope that things were different. Make the changes yourself, for yourself and your family. Do it because you love yourself and want something better than mainstream. Don't settle because it's easy. You'll never be satisfied with the cop out. It's like the 2 year old who wants what he wants when he wants it. Indulge him every time and he'll never get enough. Just like him you'll ALWAYS be wanting something better. So go out and grab it! Provide yourself and your families with the health and wellness we all deserve. True health and wellness doesn't make money, so don't expect someone else to do it for you. You MUST be in charge. Take courage and get to work!!

Adjusting my sights

So it's been 4 months and I haven't thought twice about this blog. Why you ask? Well, I was too busy swimming, heading to the gym with all my kids, or taking said kids to dance and karate. Oh yeah and I potty trained my youngest boy. That's right, no more diapers. Triumph!! Besides that, I'm down 10 pounds from my last post. In fact, even better, I'm out of the 160's!! I finally reached 159 this past week. I've been pretty consistent in the gym until a couple of weeks ago. The weather has been cooling off and I got a bike and trailer for my birthday this summer. It's so awesome!!! My son and I ride over into the acreage neighborhood and look at all the animals. It's a great time. So I've canceled my gym membership to be renewed next summer when I absolutely cannot exercise outside. I've also been working in the chicken's yard. There's much to be done and it's all manual labor. What better way to get a workout?! I've bought some new clothes because my others just don't fit. Awesome right?! I still have 24 pounds until I reach my ultimate goal, but my next goal milestone is to start getting up at 5am. Not necessarily to exercise, but to get stuff done before my family wakes up. That way, I won't get behind so easily on my daily routine. Usually when that happens, exercise is the first thing out the window. So instead of focusing on my weight number, I'm focusing on getting back a habit that I've lived before and LOVED!! It's going to be a great change.

Lost track of time......and a little weight too.

So it's been almost 2 months since I've posted. What could I possibly have to do other than blog?! (Every mother knows the answer to this preposterous question.) Well I've made progress in all areas of my exercise routine. I've started lifting weights and have increased my resistance on the machines. I've rediscovered the calorie burn that hills on the treadmill can provide. I've slowly gotten a routine that increases my incline and speed alternately and steadily. I've started taking some classes as well. I tried the body sculpt class. Both times I thought I was gonna die. I've since realized that my body cannot handle the stress of cardio and weights at the same time. My heart pounds, my face crawls, I get really hot and have to leave the room to cool down. Needless to say, I haven't gone back. I have however been doing a yoga stretch class every Monday. It's the perfect ending to a workout!! So relaxing and I really enjoy it. I also take a Zumba class on Wednesdays. It's so fun!! I love trying to make my moves look like the instructor but I have a long way to go. I've lost about 5 pounds and have lost a few inches collectively all over my body. My husband told me last week as we were walking home from church, "Liesl, your calves are awesome!" That made me feel extra great!!! I have noticed that I look different in my workout clothes and that really makes me feel good.

I've made some changes to my original goals. I've also made changes to my diet. At one point I wasn't eating enough calories for a sedentary lifestyle, let alone an active one. So I have to be super vigilant about what I'm eating. Turns out grains and veggies don't have very many calories. Who knew?! So my new goal for a daily calorie burn is 300-350. This is about 45 minutes on the treadmill with some toning exercises to finish. I try to work on toning each region of the body twice a week. On my Zumba day I just don't worry about the calorie burn since I can't track it. But the toning afterward is a must! I've completely gotten rid of white sugar in my house. I don't even bake with it! I've found a yogurt shop close to my house that sweetens with stevia and I love it!!! They're getting a lot of business from me. :) I'm also learning about soaking grains, beans, and nuts in order to reduce toxins in the food and be able to properly digest them. I haven't gotten to the nuts yet, but the rice and beans were a part of my dinner tonight and they tasted great!!

Overall, I'm doing so much better than I was two months ago. However, I also know that there is always room for improvement. Whether it's with my exercise routine, my diet, or the way that I'm cooking my food, I will continue to learn as much as I can in order to restore better health to my family and I. This is my main goal. Here's to reaching it!!

Pudge won't budge!!!

I tried my first class at the Y about ten days ago. I'm still shuddering with fear. It was a body sculpting class and I really wanted to be in the group environment. I was quickly made aware of my naivity. This wasn't just an aerobics class, this was a butt-kicking like I haven't had in years! I couldn't finish the class because my heart rate was way too high. I shouldn't have used the weights and done the over head arm exercises. I realized this years ago when I would workout at home but didn't remember until my heart was racing. Now, I am 31 and you know what they say. As soon as the calendar says you're 30, there's no hope for you. You immediately cannot lose weight, boost your metabolism, or burn fat and you can forget about . How unfortunate for me to be so elderly. :( Give me a break people!!! Don't tell me that I can't train my body to be better just because of my number age! I may have to tweak my workouts and diet, but it can be done.

Vacations are TOO relaxing???

So Spring Break was wonderful for our family! Camping, zoo, out for ice cream, Art Center, Mall, out to lunch, etc. We had such a good time and my YMCA card got NO exercise. I didn't really expect to workout everyday with all the kids home but I didn't think I'd bail completely. So Monday thru Friday I had a great time with my kids and am grateful that we were able to do all of those things together. So do I regret not getting to the gym? A little, but I'm not going to get discouraged, because I was taking care of what mattered most. I did, however, exercise Saturday morning and weighed/measured as well. Somehow I've gained weight but lost inches. Go figure. All I know is when I got back in the zone Monday morning, it felt really good. My goal every day is burn about 450 calories. I eat about 1500 calories per day so I'm determined to see improvements in myself.

My family's diet is improving with the occasional "non-approved" snackbox that slips in the house. Usually by a well-meaning family member that brings something over for the kids. I cook from scratch most of the time and the dishes pile up faster than I can even think about cleaning them. It's so worth it though. I know that convenience over health is never worth it, so I'll just have to delegate more work to my children so we can get it all done right. :) We still eat desserts, don't get me wrong. My family still eats white sugar, just not in our dinner! I love treats, but when someone tries to pass off junk-food as something healthy I get really annoyed. Don't pump my food full of "Natural Flavoring", Hydrogenated oils, and all sorts of -ides and -ates, and then tell me that it's good for me. Just call it what it is and I'll decide for myself thank you very much!!! I will take this time to promote Breyers ice cream. It's expesive but has a VERY short ingredient list compared to any other ice cream. Use your coupons to make it worth it!! I would elaborate on the coupon savings, but that's an entirely different blog.

One accomplishment I have noticed is my increasing will power. I've noticed that I don't give in to junk as easily as I used to do. I walked past candy aisles and actually searched for a peanut butter snickers in the check out line. In the end I walked away from it all and left it behind. But don't worry, it'll be alright on the shelf. There's enough preservatives in it to survive until we have our own WALL-E bots cleaning up for us.

So until next week; here's to the treadmill, the resistance machine or whatever motivates you best!

No more pudge!!

So I finally broke down and did it. I forked over the cash to join the YMCA. My usual response is "We don't have the money", mainly because for so long we truly didn't. However, as I've learned in the past couple of years, sometimes I have to make changes in order to make financial room. So maybe it's not so much about how much money there is, but rather what I choose to do with it. (That's my Oprah Ah-hah moment) Anyway, I've been a member for 5 whole days now and I'm in love. There's a nice casual feeling in the gym. No competition between who looks best or runs the fastest. There's kind of a general "Way to go" look in everyone's eyes for those around them. In fact, yesterday as I was on the eliptical, there was an older man two machines over. I couldn't help but notice when he picked up his speed and was really pushing himself. When he was done I want to yell good job and give him a high five, but I probably would have fallen off of my machine, and I've never met him before. Having been a new member I didn't want to get thrown out for assault, so I kept on my own workout but felt proud for him.

One of my favorite parts about the gym is being able to look myself in the mirror when my workout gets hard. I can stare at myself and will my body to keep going. What a simple concept this is and it's kind of amazing at the same time how much that helps me. At first I was just hooking up my headphones to watch tv while I biked or walked but today was the first time I didn't watch or listen to anything. My iPod was out of battery and the tv was out on the treadmill. So instead I concentrated on the way I used my muscles with every step rather than just plopping my feet down in order to keep up. It's wonderful to feel that control over my body; to know that I'm in charge of how I workout and not just how often. What an awakening! Again, it seems simple, but it's so valuable.

After warming up on the treadmill for a couple of miles, I made my way over to the resistance machines for circuit training. I haven't weight trained in over a decade! I have some free weights at home that I've used off and on throughout the years, but the convenience of the machines is great and there are other people rotating on the machines so there's no excuse to quit like there is at home with nobody watching. Now I know that the last thing on anyone's mind is how well I or anyone other than themselves is doing in their workout, but it helps to have others around to give me the motivation to finish.

I've lost 4 pounds in the last 5 days. Most of that was due to water weight. (Ladies you know what I'm talkin' bout.) But I'm one pound lighter than I was before I mimicked a blowfish. My goal is to lose 2 pounds per week. and I'm half way there. I weigh-in again this Saturday and take my own measurements to track inches lost, so I've got 3 more workouts to meet my 2 pound goal. I know I can do it and I'm so excited for all the possibilities I will discover during this season of my life. I can't wait to put on my swimsuit this summer and hear the sighs of relief; both from me and from the stitches in my swimsuit. Feeling confident in myself is something only I can give myself and I'm glad to say that I'm making that happen. Whether I'm battling the incline on the treadmill or struggling up a metaphoric hill I'm going to put one foot in front of the other over and over again until I reach the top. No more excuses!!!