Happy New Year!

Surgery is done. I survived and am recovering.

I thought I would chicken out beforehand as I kept doubting going in that this was a good decision. Then about three days before my surgery, I got my cycle again (early) and it hurt really bad. It was a good reminder that I didn't want to go through this pain every month for the next 10-20 years.

The pain isn't too bad so far, some aches here and there when my meds wear off. Probably hurts less right now then one of my painful periods with the strong meds.

Lucky to have my parents and husband taking such good care of me. My kids are being pretty sweet too :).

Happy 2015. I'm looking forward to recovering and really focusing on my health and fitness this coming year!


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So soon?

Wow, the end of the year is approaching fast. How does time pass by so quickly?!?! We've been doing a lot of work inside the house. We've donated all sorts of furniture, clothes, toys, etc and moved our playroom downstairs. Our home gym has been getting an update too and now we are going through boxes and boxes of stuff from our storage rooms. The purging is good, but hard to keep going through.

On the medical front, it's that time of the month again and I'm crazy hormonal and the pain is really bad this time in my lower back currently. I'm not digging this new type of pain (or any of the pain for that matter).

Until next time...
~A


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Step 1

Couldn't get motivated lately, but got on the treadmill for 35 minutes at least. Baby steps!


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Busy days

Work has been crazy. Today my calls started early and just kept running into the next call. I didn't get a workout in yesterday so I have definitely been antsy. One of my calls for postponed by 30 minutes which left me with enough time to get in my T25. Now to shower, make my Shakeology lunch, and get back to my desk!

Lunch yesterday - actually pretty filling.



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Results

I love the feeling of getting stronger. I hate the feeling that I've became week from the last couple of months of lackadaisical workout scheduling and prioritization.

I have been waking up earlier (thanks to DST I think) which has helped me to get in my workout before my first morning call.

Today I did my T25 total body challenge. This has always been a tough one, but felt even tougher again as I've weakened in the last couple of months. Need to kick my own tail. My shakeology is yum as always and gives me my caffeine and energy boost in one.

Oops back on point to feeling strong:
I'm amazed by my kids who can go all day long and work hard and are so strong! I want them to make it a lifelong healthy habit and not find themselves facing an uphill battle to get going and stay going when they get older. I think they are on their way though - my baby girl is 5 years old and kicking @ss in gymnastics and trains 7.5 hours a week In the gym. She has muscles!! My 8 year old has completed bike races, running races, and even his first triathlon. He may not have rocked each one on first try, but he has finished them all and is excited to do better next time.

I want to be a good role model for them to also be strong and heck even to just keep up with them. They are my motivation to get fitter and faster. I must print this out and remind myself that i can't get results if I slack off.



I've read that you need to write down your goals and publicize it to hold yourself more accountable. I'm gonna brainstorm my November goals, December goals, and 2015 goals where I do my best thinking (in the shower :)) and come back and post those later.



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Ha?

Per my 5 year old: "Mommy, you look a little bit skinnier (as she motions with her hands in). You used to be a tinier bit fatter (as she makes a tiny gesture with her fingers)."

Haha? Gotta love my little bundles of joy and their honesty.


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Diagnosis

Hello there,

I just wanted to share why I haven't been posting as much lately.  Besides the usual life is busy chasing kids and keeping up with work reasons.  This might be too TMI for some of you so feel free to skip on out and come back another day :).

My monthly cycles have always been painful, but they've gotten increasingly more so lately.  I had an ultrasound done and it seems like I have a small endometrial polyp and possibly adenomysis.   Here is a good link / youtube video explaining the condition.

The cramps hurt like crazy (sometimes like a contraction pain), the blood loss/flow is insane and no fun at all.  I was getting light headed and dizzy which the doc said was probably from low iron from the blood.  So now my regiment during this time consists of popping tons of pills with: iron supplement, stool softeners to counter the iron pills, lysteda (an acid to help reduce the clotting / flow), and Motrin 800.

Usually all I want to do is hibernate away for a few days, but lately R has been traveling a lot and the timing has been coinciding with my cycles which have just sucked.  So even though all I want to do is assume the fetal position, I can't and must pick myself up and carry on with work and taking care of the kids.

Anyway, this has been bringing me down a lot lately and disrupting my workout routine with the constant starts and stops.  Need to get back and press 'Start'.

Yikes

I have decided that getting old is just no fun!!  I think I have really bad allergies right now.  So does poor little K.  My eyes are all itchy, my throat and sinuses hurt, and I wake up with all sorts of drainage issues.  So I guess it is ragweed that's bothering me.  :-(

I've been getting light headed a lot lately too.  My doctor thinks it is because I'm low in iron so just started taking some iron tablets.  Hope it will help and I can get the energy and stability to get my workout on!!

Legs like jello

Ahhhhh my legs feel like jello and also like they are slightly on fire! My girl is at her new gymnastics class which is 3 hours long so I decided I would just drop her off and hit my gym not too far away.

I thought I was getting on the elliptical and then got all my gear set up around / on it and realized it was some cross ramp thing. I was kind of wondering why it looked so tall. Anyway then I felt too embarrassed to hop off so I did this for 25 minutes. I actually liked it so will probably do it again next time. Then did the recumbent bike for 21 mins or so. I finished up on the elliptical for 10 mins. Not too bad, guess I should've just done 4 more mins to hit a full hour of cardio. Ah well. Pretty close :).


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Hot, Hot, Hot!!

Our AC died yesterday. It's been super hot in here and I feel so yicky! Since I was already a giant pile of sweat, I did my T25 this morning. Between a hurt right ankle, left wrist, the monthly thing, I totally didn't nail the workout. I'm pretty behind at this point but have now finished week 2 day 2. Hoping the AC gets fixed today or tomorrow so I can get back into the groove!!


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Mia

Sorry I'm having a bit of an off week. Husband was traveling and then I got not the best medical news (not deadly no worries) that I've been busy processing and researching. Will check back in next week!


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Long long day!

I went to a sleep study center last night to try and figure out why I'm not sleeping well and two if there are other issues causing me to snore.

The first is because I told my doc I had a hard time focusing and felt like I had ADD and was all over the place. He suggested starting with a sleep study as lack of quality sleep could impact the next day. This sounds logical!

I didn't sleep well at all. I didn't read the paperwork packet as we were rushing around and had both sweet tea and coke for dinner. Dinner was not until 7:45 and we didn't leave restaurant until almost 8:45. I had to leave for the center at 9:15 so I got home rushed around and packed and headed out. Then they told me the study ends at 5am so I had to hurry and fall asleep. I was plugged up to all sorts of wire. That made it hard to sleep too!! I remember turning the tv off at 11:30 and then waking on and off until 5am. I get my results on Friday.

I got home hoping to nap on the sofa, but I couldn't fall asleep so I got up and worked on donations / cleaning. Then I went downstairs to workout before the family woke up. I actually did both Day 5 programs of Lower Focus and Cardio. I took a few minutes between to eat an orange for breakfast. I didn't nail either workout but I also did more than barely made it. It was just hard to get myself started up and moving fast with each DVD.

I also walked a couple of times back and forth to drop off and pick up k from a neighbor at the end of the street. Then I just went on another walk with another neighbor tonight for 1.84 miles. Today's step count is now 17k+ :)



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Day 4

I woke up early, worked out, folded and put away a lot of laundry, cleaned a bit, and now I'm ready for a nap.

I don't recall the abs workout being as hard by the end of the first time I did t25 so I need to work more on my core! The v sit moves are the hardest.
(My image won't post :-( )

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Day 3 a day late

Well yesterday I had good intentions but didn't get to my workout. Ended up knocking out a deliverable for work that I have been staring at for awhile and not making progress. I did spend time yesterday finding some planner printables and think I found two that might suit me. I'll have to edit it slightly but pretty good. So all was not lost yesterday. I'll link up to them later.

Today was total body challenge and it was definitely a challenge. I was struggling a bit. Still better than week 1 day 3 of round 1 but I was not expecting to struggle so much. I think it was because I didn't work out until 5pm and all I had by that time was 2/3 of my shake and some gum all day. My body was out of fuel. Plus my sleep schedule has been awful lately!



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Theories

A few things swirling around my head tonight as I wrap up the evening.

I'm still sore.  Feeling the burn.  Reminding myself that this is all goodness.

1) Laws of Motion
This was floating through my head earlier as I was doing dishes.  I may have seen it earlier this week on facebook or something, but can't remember - but I felt compelled to finding the right image to match my thoughts.

All I wanted to do was sit down for a few minutes and relax, but I knew if I put my bottom down I wouldn't get up easily.

image source: jenniferfrisk.com

So I stayed upright to tidy up the kitchen and kept chanting this in my head:

image source: advicefromnashville.com

This is an important reminder for me and why I keep going and going.  It's much easier to keep on moving when I've started and much easier to give up if I stop.  So stay motivated my friends!

2) Theory on Productivity
According to Wiki (ha!) Productivity is an average measure of the efficiency of production.  It can be expressed as the ratio of output to inputs used in the production process, i.e. output per unit of input.  

Since I adore watching baby girl's gymnastics practice, but want to get things accomplished during that time, I keep myself productive for the 2.5 hours with my portable workstation setup.  Yes, I bring my own table to gymnastics.... :)

3) Weight Loss Principle

source: goodlifedietitians

Exercise only gets me so far.  I may tone up, get some better muscle definition, but the weight is not dropping off.  I have to face the fact that I just gotta eat less.

My dinner was pretty much a repeat of my lunch.  Spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and some carrot sticks followed by pineapple and then I had a flavor ice (I didn't read the calorie on that).  No juice, sweet tea, or soda today.  Did have a smaller latte with some sugar, water, and my shake earlier.

#Motivation

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Lunch time workout Round 2 of Focus T25 Day 2

Got my workout in during lunch break. Quick observations as I need to get cleaned up and get back to work.

* I think Speed 1.0 is my favorite alpha program. Maybe it's all the stretch breaks?
* It went by faster than yesterday's Cardio. It could be because I did 7 mins already last night before I found out Alice was coming over so it was more of a T32 :)
* My calves are still sore since I'm working out again about 15 hours after the last session and I haven't done as much workouts in the two weeks prior leading up to this.
* This time around I feel like there is so much more improvement. I can keep up for more of the program at higher intensity without too many breaks into the modified form. I'm not quite at doing the whole workout completely through without stopping (this is a goal though), but I see so much progress. I'm able to do all of the Burpee and then kicks through both entire sets. I remember initially doing them standing with Tania the modifier and now to hop down Burpee and back up and kick feels awesome!!!!

I thought I would just fill out my journal and share the picture going forward versus updating image files.



Breakfast was my usual shakeology + espresso. Lunch is a spinach salad cooked by my husband as I'm short on time with garlic and a bit of olive oil topped with some grape tomatoes. I couldn't find my almond slivers so that's on the grocery list now.


#happygirl


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Refreshed and Recharged

I'm back! Been on the road for a work trip and then straight to a family vacation at the beach.

Right before I left, I had used the BeachBody 3 Day Refresh kit so I could fit into my work clothes :-). It's always nerve wrecking to go into a professional environment and be dressed up when I work from home pretty much everyday in my workout gear.

I only lost about 3 pounds with the refresh and I will have to calculate all the measurement deltas later. The biggest gain for me though was just learning to appreciate and make better food choices as well as reducing my sugar needs. I think that was a big win. I started to drink black coffee on my trip. I've since regressed and have to put in a bit of sugar or milk on the strong stuff, but at least I can get by with just a little bit versus heaping portions of sugar. I'm eating better now for the most part except the occasional indulgence (butter chicken last night at our favorite Indian restaurant).

Anyway, I've thought about what I wanted to do when I got home if I wanted to get back on PiYo or do something else. I decided to go back to doing Focus T25. It's my true love and it's easier to stick to something I love.

I set my alarm for 7:15am this morning to ease back into getting up early. I snoozed until 8:15am. It's rough because I haven't been sleeping well on the road and am up way early even in vacation. Now that I'm home and needing to be up earlier, I struggle because my bed is so cozy. *sigh*.

So I didn't get my workout in this am. I did go workout at 8pm. My friend Alice came over and did Day 1 with me. She did an amazing job!! I'm glad she came over as it was completely a last minute invitation resulting from her messaging me and asking if I liked to walk and wanted to be her walking partner. Little did she know what she was about to get into. ;-)

Well I'm glad I took an extra day off of work to get settled back in. Tomorrow though it is back to the grind.

:)

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- Note all links to BeachBody products go to my Coach referral page

All clear

Wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Some angles were painful due to the area that they were trying to get. Had a to have the u/s done on the breast and under arms as well since mammo didn't get the area. Might be TMI, but really not that many people reading my updates so no biggie :-). What I have learned is I have denser tissue on one side and the assymetric sizing caused them to do the u/s to check. They think lumps are just sebaceous cysts. No sign of breast cancer or even enlarged lymph nodes. Praise the Lord for the all clear! :-)


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Mammo

Waiting for a pelvic u/s and my first mammogram. The pelvic u/a is for the previously mentioned painful cycles. The mammogram is for some lumps under my arm that hasn't gone away. I'm nervous. Not sure if about the pain of the procedures or about the potential results. So just blogging here to distract myself! Eeeep.


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Bed time

My kids don't understand why I'm in bed before them. Yes, I'm tired and ready to go to sleep early for once! 9:15pm is way earlier than my usual after midnight bed time. Waiting for the melatonin to kick in...

Tmr hoping to feel better to get back into the grind.


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Down

Well I'm down for a day or two. I get horrible horrible cramps (TMI) at the start of my cycle and all I want to do is curl up in a ball and hide (but I can't). I got a prescription blood thinner for these days that seemed to have helped the last couple of times, but I can't find it right now ;-(. That old saying about how it hurts less after childbirth is not true! They hurt bad before I had kids and I think even worse now.

All I want too is comfort food so I dragged myself to the kitchen and made some congee this afternoon and ate that for lunch with shredded dried pork. It's not the prettiest picture, but it'll do.





I really wanted more comfort food for dinner and we were going to order delivery from my favorite Taiwanese restaurant and got all the way to checkout before realizing they were closed on Mondays. I was so sad. My husband felt bad for him and he made me dinner with rice cakes and bean curd! This is the first time he has cooked bean curd for me :).

Alright I'm off to bed early tonight I think. Night night.

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Off the road

We've been on the road for the last week and a half. We logged over 50+ hours in the car in the past 10 days so working out was a bit hard to fit in. I got in a lot of walking and 1.5 days in the gym which is better than nothing. I didn't do any of my DVDs I packed though :-/.

Got home last night and it looks like I've packed on 5 pounds on this trip. I'm hoping this is mostly water / monthly fluctuation weight :-/. So first thing this morning I'm back to my first love Focus T25 :-). Day 1 Cardio complete!

I'm a sweaty mess but this time the first round felt a lot better than when I did it the first time.

Off to get cleaned up now!


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Too many rest days!

Sometimes my days all blur together. I got massage on Sunday. It ended up being a deep tissue massage and I felt beat up like a lump of dough afterwards. It was good but I needed more time to recover.

Then yesterday I had someone pulled a muscle in my arm and it hurt. Gotta love my tiger balm patches though. Yes I'm Asian and I love my Tiger Balm! ;-)

Trying to find time in my schedule to workout is super challenging once the day gets going. I'll keep saying I'll do it during this or that block of what looks like free time in the afternoon and it is always overcome by events. Well I'm back on today and just finished Day 14: Core.

The moves seem more doable each time. I'm not loving it yet like I loved my T-25 but it is growing on me. I like her style of talking and she does seem to know when I want to give up as she throws out the encouragements right when I get to that spot of wanting to stop and gets me to push through.

The knees though are killer. The back is okay finally but the knees. I think the knees (and ankle) will improve when I drop more weight and put less stress on it. I pray that is the case anyway.

Now need to go get my work day started and hop on a conference call!

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Wow.

Yesterday was a day of much needed rest. I thought I should push through as I was worried that if I take a rest I wouldn't come back.

Been really tired lately. Went to a sleep center yesterday to start a sleep study. Anyway I digress.

Today was Day 13: Sweat. 40 minutes long. Well I think maybe closer to 36....

I gotta admit that I still don't love it but omg what a difference a few sessions make. I thought I was able to keep up much better and did much more of the workout in its intended form, depth, etc. I think partly because my strength has already increased and because I know the moves better and could move / flow through instead of fumbling along.

I did have moments where my lack of focus kicked in and I wanted to bail after 20 minutes but I stuck with it. Just kept telling myself do 5 more mins. What helped too is that my husband have me some encouragement this morning and said hey he is finally after all these years feeling the beginning of a muscle on me. Ha!

That is all. Must shower and get going on our busy weekend day. I do have a massage booked for later so I'm excited. I checked my calendar history and the last one was almost a year ago. Craziness. Must not wait that long next time!!


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PiYo Day 11

Finished my PiYo Day 11: Define Upper Body. Good 20 minute workout as always. I like the 20 minute sessions :). Learning to do the abs work with knee movement more smoothly each time to reduce the amount of knee pops. I hate having to workout but I am loving the feeling afterwards. Not the jello feeling in my arms - that part kind of sucks - but the warm fuzzies of making progress towards my goals.

Yeah me!


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Day 10

Hi! Day 10 of PiYo (Core) complete. This was a 30 minute session and the first time I did this workout. It usually takes me a few times doing the same workout before I feel really comfortable with it and start to enjoy it.

Definitely focused on the core today with this workout. The legs to elbows in plank are hard for me. My knees also make a lot of popping noises when I do the bicycle moves so I've learned to start slowing down on those and make those movements smoother. Seems to help where I don't feel like a Rice Krispie cereal going snap, crackle, and pop each rotation through!!

I don't love to workout, but I need to get fit and I love that I'm able to keep this up. For me I'm discovering the key is consistency. Just gotta do it and stay In the routine. If I get out of the routine and groove of working out, it just becomes easier and easier to skip the next one and then of course harder and harder to restart.

So, I'm hanging in there - how about you?


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PiYo

Howdy!  Here is where I am so far:

Thursday July 3rd: Day 5 - Rest
Friday, July 4th: Day 6 - Define Lower Body
Saturday, July 5th: Should've been Day 7 but had an extra rest day
Sunday, July 6th: Day 7 -  Define Upper Body
Monday, July 7th: Day 8 - Sweat <-- hard="" p="" this="" was="">Tuesday, July 8th: Day 9 -  Define Lower Body

Wow- didn't realize I had gone so many days without blogging.  Wanted to give it a little more time so I could think about the program more.  I can definitely do the 20 minute workouts.  They are nice in that I can do the moves and not have to stare at the screen because she talks you through the movements.

When I do the 40 minute sweat session, it is definitely much more challenging.  I just have a harder time with endurance being able to last that long.  Maybe had gotten too spoiled with my 25 minute sessions :D.

These are easier on most of my body, but been a bit hard on my bad ankles still.  Hoping it all improves over time!!

Anyway, keeping on keeping on here - hope you are as well!

Zzzzz

I'm typically a night owl, but I think I burned too many late night candles this week.  Combine that with early work calls and all of this working out and I'm exhausted.  I nearly fell asleep before my kids tonight.  Only reason I didn't was because one got their feelings hurt and I had to do some extra cuddle time.

Sooooooooo PiYo Day 4: Sweat.  This one was a 40 minute session and it was definitely a workout.  Did I break out in all out sweat?  No, but I did feel some forming and the only reason it wasn't dripping was because I had the fan right on me while I was working out.

So how did I feel?  All those push ups were killer.  My arms are yet again sore.  The up downs with burpees added in - wow.

The trainer?  She is just so nice and encouraging.  Really strange to be working out and have someone be so encouraging and saying you are beautiful, etc.  Maybe too much watching the biggest loser and picturing Jillian Michael's screaming at the people?  It is a very different energy / intensity compared to T25, but it is still a good workout.  The pace is good for the yoga / pilates feel where it is supposed to be nice and calm.  The flow of the moves is good and it is easy to keep up with the sequencing and how she repeats the moves.

Definitely not as high intensity with lots of jumping, etc. so good for someone seeking low impact.  The only part that was hard for me was the amount of pain in my ankle/lack of arch.  I need to tape up with my kensio tape the next time I do these workouts.  (I have no arches from something called an accessory navicular which is an extra bone on the side of my ankle.  This extra bone makes the tendons have to stretch further to go around and the pain can get intense.)  Okay, enough whining - I enjoyed the workout and as I feel the pain in my arm I have to believe it is working :).  Off to bed now to recover.  Night!

Piyo Day 3: Defining Upper

Hello!

Well I got my workout completed for once in the morning hours so.... Day 3: Defining Upper complete!

I'm still conflicted about the PiYo Program though.  Today was just another under 20 minute session.  The instructor / coach seems very kind.  It is a very relaxing feel, definitely not jumping around and going crazy.

I have such mixed feelings about PiYo because I keep thinking as I'm doing the workouts that it is so low intensity that it can't possibly be that effective.  Now that I'm sitting here over an hour later at my desk, my arms are super sore and tired so I have to rethink the effectiveness and believe that it must be working!

Until next time,

June Recap

Hello :)
Can't believe June is on its way out.  Our weather is crazy hot.  Felt like we skipped over the 'nice' weather and went straight from brrrrr cold to ahhhhh hot!!

I checked my tracker and it looks like I've completed about 12 out of 30 days of official workouts this month.  There were some days where I did some biking/walking that I didn't jot down.

Been getting back in the habit and really stepping it up here at the end of the month.  Eating better as well.  A lot carrots and cucumbers.  I am starting to feel like a bunny rabbit.  ^.^

I went with my upline, her upline, her upline's upline to Super Saturday.  It was a great training event followed by a live Piyo session.  It was a good hard workout!

I had ordered the Piyo Workout and it got here on Friday and I started Piyo yesterday (Sunday).  Day 1 of the 60 day program is called Align.  It was a relatively long 40 minute session with a lot of talking.  It was a good intro and if you've never done Pilates or Yoga, then this was a pretty great intro on the moves, etc.  If you've got experience, it still helps with your forms and you grin an bear it :).

I completed Day 2: Define Lower Body.  It was only 20 minutes.  Very doable.  The up down lunges definitely took a toll on my legs.  I haven't figured out my feelings on this instruction yet.  Definitely a very different pace from T25.  Not a bad different, just a different different.  

Looking forward to seeing what Day 3 has in store for me tomorrow!

Total Body Circuit

These days, I'm doing a combination of combat, pump, and T25. I like them all so it is hard to pick. Just finished T25 Total Body Circuit and wow forgot what am intense workout this was.

Now to get going with the day :). Hope you are getting your exercise in as well!

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Keeping on keep on.

Just finished Combat 30 with my son. My thighs are sore!

I'm doing the hybrid pump challenge plus combat workout with t25 on the flow days. It is the summer so some days I just go out and walk or bike with the kids too instead.

Hope you are keeping on keep on with your workout!


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Struggling

I set my alarm to get up early to workout, but I just couldn't get up. Everything is just a little sore with working out again. I was so tired that I must not have moved much last night as one arm was super numb when the first alarm went off!

The mind is willing, the body is not cooperating this morning. :-/


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Party season is over

Well all the candles have been blown out and party season is now over. R, 4, and I are all another year older. Time to stop fooling myself on indulging in extra desserts due to bday treats!

I'm still not happy with how I look in pictures. I've gained nearly half of the weight I lost back *gasp*. Started working out again. Yesterday I started T25 over again with Alpha Cardio. My calves are in so much pain!! Should've stretched better yesterday.

This morning I did a little bike riding with k, walked around the block, and now just finished pump challenge.

Gotta keep it up, eat better, and get ready for the beach!!




My new shoes (motion control for my lack of arches).



My barbell for pump.



My pup was tired too after our walk.

~A

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Another year

*Sigh* nothing like another birthday passing by to make you realize time is going by too quickly. Lately I'm just breaking out, going gray, and having other skin issues. It's sad that as part of my birthday celebrations, I'm buying both acne cream and trying out some skin regenerating serum!!! :-/







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Gym time

Finally starting to use my gym membership. Might be able to get used to this recumbent bike thing and working out while sitting on my bottom. Hmmmm.

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Combat 30

Les Mills Combat 30 complete!  It may have been 9pm when I started, but I'm glad I knocked it out.  It was interesting, started out rather slow and I was getting worried I had to go finish my T-25 from yesterday.  Finally we got to the kick sequence and I started dripping in sweat.  The workout left me pumped up!  Can't wait for the next workout!

Sore!!!

Time to kick off some new activities!  I did intro to Body Combat this morning and than ran out of time to workout. (I thought it was a 10 min DVD but was more like 20). 

I finally finished my workout before dinner and did the intro for Body Pump, the first DVD Pump Challenge (used 2.5lb weights on each end of the barbell and then for the final shoulders workout I used my 5 pound handheld weights in each arm).  I was feeling pretty good (the bottom halves were hard) and wasn't breaking much of a sweat at the end so I popped in my T-25.  I ended up doing a T-9 (first set of Speed 2.0) as I had to eat dinner (husband cooked a delicious mena), put kids to be bed, finish work, and hop on a conference call. Now my arms are sore beyond belief so I guess that was a good workout. 

Nite nite,

Pain and Gain

No pain, no gain? Not so sure. Got a little too energetic today doing my Rip't Circuit with the Jumping Single Leg Burpee move. Jumped too quickly on one rep and pulled a muscle in my thigh. I also walked to pick up the daughter and then walked again around the trail in the back after dinner. The upside is that it is 8pm and I've already hit 10k steps. The downside is I'm sore! I'm sure there will be physical body gains later, but the immediate gains are all these new Beachbody products!! :-)


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No control

I wonder if this mom just gave up. I was sitting in a side room with my daughter waiting for her gymnastics class to start. There was another lady near me who was on a conference call and her son was quiet and so was my daughter. Suddenly this lady and her three kids bursts into the room all crazy and loud where it was absolute silence before. Literally the room felt like it was filled with 20 kids instead of the three she added and then she was shutting the door and not even in the room with them. She finally came back in and realized this other lady was having a call and gave the most half hearted attempt of anyone I've ever seen control their kids to a quieter level. Basically nothing changed and they were still crazy and the other last finally had to leave the room to take her call. She seemed to just given up on any presence of being a parent and just let her kids run wild while burying her face in her phone. Then I'm trying to get my kid out of the room and send her to class and one of her boys just started to crawl by aimed right at me and basically was trying to use his head to push me out of the way. I'm assuming this kid is 2-3 as he was talking / screaming / walking so we aren't taking newborn. She tried to get him to stop but no apologies. So strange. This has happened before with these kids as well so it isn't the first time they run around like crazy screaming banshees. I think she finally gave up and took her kids out after one started wailing.

What would you do in this instance? It's not like I can speak up and say hi lady please control your kids, yell at the kids to listen to their mom, or even offer a way to distract them when she doesn't even seem to care. I can only put my headphones on and be thankful that I remembered to bring them, that my kids aren't typically like this, and lastly to just say a prayer for her that she finds her way at some point and some method that works for her and her kids.


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Sore throat

I woke up with a sore throat this morning and just generally feeling horrible. I may have to give in and start on allergy shots. This allergy forecast is horrible for today and even worse on Wednesday!!


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How quickly we forget

My leg was already sore and right this morning after the Sat work out still before I even started my Dynamic Core. Now my legs are still sore - especially my knees as I drive. I guess my body just doesn't remember and bounce back like before. Need to remind myself of 'no pain, no gain'.


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Almost there

Getting there - step by step. I pushed play this morning and got in Dynamic Core and also drank my shake. One day at a time. Must focus on the end goal and endure.


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Minimalist Mantra

Found this on Pinterest and Facebook.



Will print and post this up. Some of it will be so hard (basically all the stuff up top) but some will be really good to start (the stuff in the middle).

Got a good start by sorting a large amount of donations this weekend and actually dropping it off. Looking forward to letting go of the non-essential.


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Reboot

The hardest part of any workout I think is pressing play after too many breaks. So much easier when you get in a habit and remember your goals. Between work, being sick, running around with daily life and a quick trip to NYC, I have not been so good about daily workouts. I've been trying to do more such as walking with the kids to places and some t25 but I don't think the results have been the same.

Just finished Rip't Circuit and I'm half way through beta week 5. I need to figure out how to bottle this endorphin high I get from working out now as motivation to push play for the next workout. A friend asked me just last night how do I free my mind and get it to shut down from the daily mental to-do list running through it without meds and alcohol?  Maybe I just found drug of choice and it is my t-25?

A little post workout selfie.


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Back!

On Wed, I started my final week of my t25 finally after being sick and out of town and everything! Got my Rip't Circuit complete!


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Back at it

I'm getting back into the routine my friends! Been off my game lately and are like a pig in NYC. I guess it was good that I got a stomach virus the first night and basically retained nothing I gorged on that day?!?!? Had more self restraint the following days since I was still feeling awful but did enjoy a lot still. Actually only about 1 pound heavier than when I left so not bad!


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Starting anew

Yesterday was the first day of my new role at work. I'm excited about having the new opportunity. Unfortunately, my day ended with a giant migraine. I ended up sleeping for almost 11 hours so that felt good. I'm tired of all the snow and cold here and am super ready for warm weather!!!!


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Lazy but did it

Did not find time to workout this morning even though I had my workout gear on. I had to take our kids to Chinese school and was exhausted by the time I got home. My husband has been doing fixes around the house and was tired and about to relax on the couch. I dragged him downstairs to workout with me. We got our Speed 2.0 finished. It was great once i got into it and am glad we did it. Nearing the end of Week 9.

Can't wait for this round to end, check my results, and do it all over again. :)

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Rip't Circuit

Workout was killer today after a week of not working out and feasting too much for Chinese New Year. I think I gained back a couple of pounds from all the celebrations.


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Recovery

Wow, this sinus infection kicked my @ss.  When I first started my antibiotics, it didn't really seem like it was working.  It actually seemed like it was getting worse.  The initial on set was just drainage and really bad pain in my ears, but not bad in my sinuses.  After a couple of days, the ears still hurt bad and then my sinuses got more plugged.  It felt like someone punched me repeatedly around the cheek and jaw area. For a couple of days it even hurt to chew!!

I managed to get some workouts in during this time, but it wasn't very much.

1/18 - Speed 2.0
1/22 - Core Cardio
1/25 - Upper Focus
1/28 - Speed 2.0

Now on to the GOOD NEWS.
Well first start with the Bad which is going to be . My highest weight was the day we returned from a vacation to Colorado on 8/28/2013.  I honestly can't remember when I started this blog if I called this 'X' so I may have to re-baseline my number reporting.  Anyway, I joined a T-25 Challenge starting 11/04.  On this day I weighed X - 2.2 which we will now call Y.  So basically my weight fluctuated up and down between September and October.

On 12/05 I weighed X-5.6 (Y-3.4).

On 1/4 I weighed X - 9.2 (Y-7).

Today 1/29 I weighed X - 12.2 (Y-10).

With being sick quite a bit during this workout period and many holidays actually, I'm only through about 8.5 weeks of T25.  Another 1.5 more weeks of the program to go!  I will likely repeat another round though so I'm looking forward to it.

Puny

I felt pretty sick today but got my Beta Rip't Circuit in this morning which gave me a bit of an energy boost. My eyes and ears really hurt so I went to see the doc and I have sinusitis and fluid in my left ear. Started antibiotics tonight - hope it kicks in soon!!

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Sickly me

Soooo a bit behind but almost finished with week 7. I've been indisposed and had just recovered and did my Rip't circuit on Tues and upper focus on Wed. Now today I'm sick so now taking it slow.
:-(

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Planks

No T25 today, we went skiing today.

Been eyeing the 30 day plank challenge since people keep mentioning it. Had my husband time me and on my elbow I can do it 48 seconds. (He did 1min 11secs.).

Seems like it would be hard to get to 5mins eeep!!!

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Happy New Year!

Hello, hello! Happy new year!

Today is the fourth day of January so I better post about the year end wrap up and goals for this year :).

Tuesday 12/31 - drank my shake and finished Rip't Circuit.

Wednesday 01/01 - rested up from being out too late for NYE (3am owie!).

Thursday 01/02 - shake + Beta Upper Focus

Friday 01/03 - shake + Beta Core Cardio

Saturday 01/04 - headed to the ski slopes withy family

I'm excited about my journey so far. I've for way more energy than ever before and I feel happier as well. I've lost almost 8 pounds since I started and this is through Halloween candy, Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts, and a NYE party. Usually this is the season of weight gain so this feels fantastic!!

Cheers to you for a happy, healthy, and fit 2014!

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