Weigh In and Adventures in Tropical Shakeology

I finally got my Tropical Shakeology in Thursday and I was so extremely excited to get to try it. 

Friday morning I blended up a smoothie that was Tropical Shakeology with the Shakeology Fiber Boost, V8 Strawberry Banana Fusion, a frozen mixed berry blend (strawberries, bananas and peaches) and ice cubes.

Tropical: Take 1! Strawberry Banana!

It was super tasty and almost overly filling!  Towards the bottom there was a bit of a gritty taste/mouth feel but I was overall very pleased! So yummy, yummy!

Today I went back and did another Shakeology concoction that was similar but even better!

Tropical: Take 2 - Cranberry Yums!!

Tropical Shakeology, Shakeology Fiber Boost, V8 Cranberry Blackberry, Dole Mixed Berries with Cranberries and ice. It's delicious and filling and I blended it extra long and it's far less gritty than the first round. 

I can't wait to try some more creative recipes to see what other tasty things I can enjoy for breakfast!

Today was also weigh in day and I weighed in at exactly 313 pounds.  That's 2.8 pounds down from last week.  The weekend after next I'll do measurements and pictures too and I'm nervous and excited too.  Right now I'm down a little more than 7 pounds in 2 weeks so I think it'll be a good weigh in/measurement/picture experience. 

I'm just so excited to have found something to add in to my weight loss routine that seems to really be helping. 

I gave up bread for Lent...

... and it 's one of the hardest things I've ever done.

It's been years since I observed Lent and I wanted to choose to give up something that I felt would be difficult and something that would really make me consider all the gifts I have on a daily basis.

Bread, biscuits, rolls, buns, garlic bread, breadsticks, bagels, muffins - warm and fresh out of the oven, they all evoke memories of family gatherings, of meals with friends.  I have a very emotional connection to bread and I guess it's even more evident now that I'm avoiding it all together.

It's hard to think about going places I have fond memories of without having the option to nom on their signature bread, or sandwich bread, or even just breadsticks! The perfect compliment to a good shared meal.

I guess I really adhere to the idea of "breaking bread" with someone.  Last night, Sarah and I went out to dinner and I had to say no to warm bread at the Italian place.  The agony! Warm, crusty, cheesy garlic bread? Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie! 

I know it's only for 40 days but I really feel that I am going to struggle extremely hard with this task.  I would do just about anything for a biscuit at this point! I guess that's the point, right? 

I think the only thing harder to give up would have been if I said no potatoes. I think it's probably the only things I have stronger ties to than bread.  All of my comfort foods have potatoes or bread as a primary component.   

I know, like anything else, the first few days are going to be the hardest.  I've been told that on a low carb diet you actually don't even think about the carbs after about 10 days... we'll see if I feel that way next Wednesday. 

We'll see how this goes.  It's an interesting experiment in self control, self discipline.

Weigh in GLEE

4.8 pounds. I lost 4.8 pounds this past week.  I am on cloud 9!

I know that's not normal and I will likely have a slight gain in next weeks weigh in but it was great to see that change when I hopped on the scale this morning.

Today I spent some quality time learning new Zumba routines.  The new ZIN release is AMAZING.  I taught Mr. Saxobeat today and am hoping to feel comfortable enough with If You Wanna Dance to do it tomorrow night. Loveeeeee it.

Tomorrow I'm off work and fully intend on getting up at my normal time and getting in some Zumba learning time, a TurboJam workout and a Rockin' Body workout and my Shakeology shake before we head off to Raleigh for a day of shopping.

I'm finally going to go shopping for shoes... get some lift to my heel and maybe get this silly Achilles tendon to heal!

It's important to stay on routine even if the day is anything but!

I'm hoping to wake up to a little bit of snow tomorrow.  We'll see though!

Mission: Spoil Myself!

As part of working on me I have to learn to spoil myself from time to time.  As part of that goal I took myself out today for a day of me time.

We had an amazing Zumba class this morning! 33 people on a Saturday morning is pretty bad ass to begin with but the energy was through the roof.  After a long hot shower and lunch with Marsh and Chip I headed off to be a girl!!

I got a manicure, a pedicure and I got my eyebrows waxed AND I got my hair trimmed and shaped up.  I felt positively girly and I liked it. 

After that I went shopping for some groceries and some more organizational stuff.  I got a lot of personal business stuff organized and I want to get my actual work stuff in the same state of organization.  When I got home I put stuff away and curled up on the couch and caught up on some DVR. 

Around dinner time I headed to a birthday party for a friend and that's where my day stopped being awesome. I developed a shellfish allergy a few years ago and it's not severe but it's annoying.  Well they had a good old fashioned oyster bake and had lots of other shellfish on hand.  I stuck to what I knew was shrimp and oyster free but I must have accidentally eaten something because my mouth started to feel funny and I got queasy. 

So now I'm home, doing laundry and waiting for the Benadryl to knock me out. 

Other things I've done this week to spoil myself?  I went to see Nunsense at the Nash Arts council last night and we did dinner at Outback and I didn't worry about calories and just ate what tasted good. 

Then I bought a new purse, a new wallet and a new lunch tote from ThirtyOne. 

AND I spent a good chunk of change on my business cards and new checks and on some base product to keep around to share the Shakeology love.  I cannot WAIT to get my hands on Tropical and I NEED more GreenBerry.  I just need to keep from drinking EVERYTHING I bought!

Mission: Organization

Do you know how hard it is to get your hands on an accordion file folder at this time of year?  I mean, what the heck?  I just wanted a file sorter to keep my stuff organized.

I did find a pretty cool organizer though.

 

What I like about this is that it's only 8 pockets but each pocket doubles as an envelope section to hold smaller things. My front pocket, for example, is for miscellaneous information with the pocket envelope at the bottom holds my thank you cards to be sent out.  Then I've got a folder for Powder Blue stuff, Zumba stuff, Shakeology stuff, BeachBody stuff, Push challenge material and bills and personal documents.

It was starting to get cumbersome hauling around random pieces of paper to various places.  I can just toss this in to my bag and pull out my cheat sheets for Hustle, my new Zumba choreography cheat sheets, information for people interested in Shakeology or BeachBody challenges and not be searching through random stuff to get what I need. 

I also spent some time organizing more stuff in my workout central.  I threw out documentation I didn't need, found some additional documentation to go with my taxes (I had the amounts from my check book but now I have the formal receipts) and threw away some extrameous packing materials that were hanging around.  

All in all, not a bad days work for trying to get organized.  Tonight, after I teach Hustle at the Y, I'm going to finish going through all the stuff in the drawers next to my side of the bed and try to come up with an organizational structure for my gym bag as well.  It's so hard because I need a lot of space for clothes when I do double or triple classes in a day but I also hate lugging around my large duffel bag.  Ugh!

I also need to buy a new purse for all the stuff I need to carry.  Currently my bag isn't big enough to even hold my calendar.  I'll find something, I'm sure.

Today I also started reading Chalene Johnson's new book PUSH.  It's a lot like the 30 Day Challenge I did last October but a little different and a bit more focused and I'm excited about it.  Today I did my priority worksheet and I went back and compared to the last challenge and wow have things changed in just that time! I'm excited to see what new stuff I learn about myself this time around!

Progress Pictures (Reader Beware!)

This may be the hardest post I've ever written.  Mostly because I'm about to post pics of me in a sport bra.  This shouldn't be pleasant for anyone... but I really want to share the pictures and the success I've had over the last month with you all.

The stats on January 2 - 

Weight: 330.2 lbs
Chest: 46.5
Waist: 45.5
Hips: 66.5

The stats on February 9 -

Weight: 320.4 lbs
Chest: 45.5
Waist: 45
Hips: 64

The count?

Weight: -9.8 lbs
Chest: -1
Waist: -.5
Hips: -2.5

Now, the pictures!

Before

After

Things I notice - I have more of a neck, my angry fat fold in the front are getting much smaller and my calves look thinner, especially through the ankle area.

Before

After

My thighs look smaller, my calf muscles look higher, tighter and more defined. Also, my stomach looks flatter and it doesn't hang down/over nearly as much.  I can also see my arms look smaller!

Before

After

Definitely can see a difference in my butt here.  The "butt shelf" is greatly diminished! My thighs look less lumpy and there's much less there to make my stance wider.  My fat rolls on my back are smaller and far less defined. The arm and upper back fat are starting to melt away and I can tell, even in just the month between these, that my upper arms are more toned.  Even in a still picture I look less jiggly!

I'll be interested to see what these pictures look like in another 30 days!

30 Day BeachBody Challenge: Results!

HOORAY!

Weight: -9.8 pounds
Chest: -.05 inches
Waist- -1.5 inches
Hips- -2 inches

Almost 10 pounds and 4.5 inches in 30 days?  Bring on the next 30!

Pictures to come... eventually!

My Achilles Tendon is my Achilles Heel.

My Achilles tendon really is an Achilles tendon. It's going to be the death of me.

On November 12, 2005 I fell in my drive way while getting in to my car.  I broke my ankle.  Specifically I snapped off my Lateral malleolus.  I broke it off. SNAP.  (Yes, it made that noise.)

Something like this happened. It hurt.

In the process I did some ugly things to my Achilles tendon and the other tendons and ligaments in my ankle and foot.  It was not a pleasant injury and the recovery was fabulously awful.

Since then I have periods of time where my ankle decides it just wants to be a pain... literally and figuratively. About this time last year I came down on my ankle roughly and got my tendon all inflamed.  It took probably 3 months to get back to working out without pain.  This time?  I tweaked it stretching! STRETCHING! Last week when I said it hurt to teach HHH it was because of this silly tendon and it's currently inflamed status. 

Here's the thing - I am doing everything I know to do to in order to get this silly tendon to heal up.  I rest it (outside of teaching, obviously), ice, compression, elevation, anti-inflammatory meds and massaging the tendon before bed time.  It's not getting worse but it's not really getting better either.

It feels better for a day or two and then I'm walking down the hallway at work and it goes "OW! NO WALKING LADY!" or it feels fine all day and then I get up to pee at 3a.m. and it says "Saaaam! Get back in to bed!!!!" Ungh! I just want this to stop being so schizophrenic. 

Aside from dealing with the bum ankle I've been enjoying getting my hands in to the Team Beach Body coaching arena.  I'm really excited about the release of Tropical Shakeology next week.  I need to call tomorrow and get my autoship changed to Strawberry. MmMm. 

I'm really falling in love with GreenBerry too! The sample I got has wound up being addictive.  It's all about getting the right fruit juice behind it and the right fresh or frozen fruit to get the right consistency.  Favorite GreenBerry recipe so far?

• 1 scoop GreenBerry Shakeology
• 1 cup V8 Splash - Mango Peach
• 1 cup frozen Mango chunks.

OMG! It's green and awful looking but it tastes so awesome. I've made this three times so far.  The third time I also added some fresh raspberries I needed to use up and it was too good for words.

Tomorrow is my 30 day weigh in and measurement meeting for my BB challenge and I am excited to see what the scales and tape have to say.

I feel like I'm on a real roll. Nutritionally I'm making good decisions, my exercise schedule is solid and I'm starting to work on some LifeKraze challenges to do 2012 crunches and 2012 push-ups in 2012.  I'm behind but I'm working on them day by day!  I can do this! I can do it all!

Whirlwind week and a new side job!!

If last week was a bad week in terms of health this week was a wild one in terms of work and home life.

My office job has been FULL of insane tasks this past week.  Lots of analysis, a lot of learning new programs and systems and a lot of busy work! I hardly had a moment to catch my breath!

Zumba has been wild and wooly too! Class on Monday at the academy was awesome.  Both classes on Tuesday were fantastic. Wednesday TurboKick kicked my tail from one side of the to the other and Zumba was great too! Until I over stretched my Achilles tendon again. That made both Zumba and Hip Hop Hustle on Thursday kind of painful but totally worth it. 

We did our first "The Show" Hustle class on Thursday and I am so proud of my crew for rocking it hard! It hurt to jump so I had to coach more than dance but I still sweat my tail off.  So proud!

Friday I filled in for Sue at the Y and taught another class.  It was a trip and a half! I love the Friday night crew at the Y.  They brought the fun!

Then I made a decision that I hope winds up being a good one... I signed up to be a BeachBody coach!!

When I started the BeachBody Challenge with Tricia and the rest of the team at the start of January I wasn't sure what I was getting in to but it's been a real eye opened for me.

Shakeology is pretty much the best thing to happen to me nutritionally in a long time! Breakfast is so hard for me because of the queasiness my synthroid and cytomel cause me in the mornings.  Favorite recipes so far?

1. Chocolate Shakeology, 1 cup Dark Chocoloate Almond Milk, 1 packet of Caramel VIA, ice
2. Chocolate Shakeology, 1 cup Vanilla Almond Milk, 1 cup dark frozen cherries, ice
3. GreenBerry Shakeology, 1 cup Healthy Balance Pomegranate, Blueberry, Acai juice, 1 cup frozen blueberries, ice

All three are freaking amazing! They're releasing the new Tropical Shakeology this month and I am psyched beyond belief. 

I'm also totally sold on TurboJam and the Shaun T Rockin' Body workouts! I love the way they mix up my Zumba schedule and help me on days when I don't want to leave the house.  I love the energy they help bring!!

If you're interested in learning more about the fantastic BeachBody workouts and the Shakeology products feel free to visit my websites below!

http://www.beachbodycoach.com/SIMPLYSAM

http://myshakeology.com/simplysam