Home stretch!

Actually, we've rounded third and are just about at home base... what an amazing journey this has been.. I was watching the videos from when we first started and then the following weeks. I can't even believe the person that I see in the first videos. Who IS that girl in the purple pants? I don't recognize her... at all!! I watched the way that I was moving, the weights I was able to use, how much I struggled, just to move from one exercise to the next.... Makes me ask, what the F was I thinking back then? Why did I think that that was ok? Or, I knew that it wasn't ok. I can tell you what I was thinking back then. I was thinking, I don't like myself. I don't like how I look. I feel terrible. I'm sick of this. I need help. I can't even begin to tell you just how much this whole journey has changed my life... how it has SAVED my life!!! I feel great about myself.. I actually love myself!!! I'm starting to love how I look (I have more work to do on that part, but it's coming along VERY nicely!! Don't you worry!). Best of all, I am positive that most of my medical problems have been resolved. I'm sure that my type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are all well within normal ranges. I can't wait to go back to my doctor to find out for sure!! =) I do still use my c-pap machine to sleep at night, but I am VERY proud to say that I've made an appointment with the sleep lab to get reassessed. I seriously can't wait for that. I've been having trouble getting a good night's sleep lately. I have to wear earplugs because my mask leaks and it's really loud. Plus, I wake up in the morning with "cotton mouth" which means that I'm opening my mouth at night. That means that the pressure is too high on my machine. That is a great thing because it means I don't need the machine's pressure (or not as much) to keep my airway open at night. I am definitely getting closer to actually not using that machine anymore. It will be a momentus day when I can say that I no longer need that machine to sleep. No one deserves to be strapped to a machine at night. No one.

I had no idea when we started this journey that the hardest part would be the emotional side. I thought it was going to be all diet and exercise... But SO much of this is gaining what you never thought you had (confidence, happiness...) or for some, gaining it back (because you were once thin, but then for one reason or another gained weight). I was always the fat girl. The funny fat girl. Starting with my early teens and compiling from there. Well now I can be the funny skinny bitch!! LOL...

I feel extremely blessed and grateful to have been chosen for this opportunity. Thank you a million times over for everyone that voted for me. Thank you to my family, friends, co-workers and community for supporting me this entire 16 weeks. I couldn't have done this without any of you. A special thank you to my wonderful husband of 4 years. My best friend, my soul mate. He has been there encouraging and supporting me every single step of the way. I love you Micheal. Forever & always. =) Of course, a very big thank you to MOO92 for sponsoring this contest. I am so grateful that you did this! Thank you Erica, Missy, Tonia and Christine. This has been a crazy and emotional journey and I couldn't have made it through without you guys. Thank you for being my friend. And if you think just because this is over that you're rid of me you have another thing coming!! LOL.. Ben, well, there just aren't enough thank you's for you. You have supported, pushed, and encouraged me more than you can ever know. You have helped me to change my life and really, save my life. How do you say thank you for something like that? I don't know, but I'm certainly going to try. =) I look forward to taking bootcamp classes from here on out and know that you will continue to help me become a better me.

Well, I'm going to sign off now.... Tune in to Moo92 on Friday 6/12 (or log on to www.moo92.com and click on "listen live on demand"). The other MOOsers and I will be on and the winner of "The Biggest MOOser" will be announced!

~L

Who's that girl?

yes yes.. it's ME!!! =) Now just wait until you see the full length picture on week 16!! =)

Friday, it was cardio day again and we did intervals inside, then went for a 20 minute run. I believe we had to run inside at IROC because the weather wasn't cooperating. =( But, T & I had our Ipods and the lady at the desk at IROC was nice enough to turn the radio on so E had something to listen to. As we started I vowed to myself that I was going to run for the whole 20 minutes. I hadn't done that to date and I knew that I could do it if I just pushed myself and MADE myself do it. And I did!! I ran for the whole 20 minutes and I'm very proud of that!! =) I believe we run just over a mile as well. It kinda sucked to have to run inside, and no offense to IROC, but the walking track is boring to run around. It's only 1/10th of a mile so it takes 10 times around to make a mile. So running/walking 2 miles or more ends up being very tedious.

Saturday was good. E & I were back at IROC and we did this: Started with rounds, 8 reps each of pull ups and squat presses. Then: A). Reverse Lunge Band Row x 6 reps per side, Stability Ball Push up Jacknife x 6. Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes. B). Squat Press x 6, Pull ups x 6. Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes. The pull ups were especially difficult because IROC doesn't have a bar or rings that we could do pull ups on. We had to use these two handles that were built into one of the weight benches. They were way over our heads (even E! who is fantastically tall!) so we had to stand on a little bar that was a brace for the bench thing and then grab onto the handles and do the jumping pull ups. The real trick was to be sure of where your feet landed when you came back down. The bar wasn't directly under us, it was more in front so we had to be careful. There was one time that I wasn't careful and my feet slipped off the bar and I went all the way to the floor. Don't worry though, I wasn't hurt. It just startled me more than anything. Let me tell you, my arms were still sore yesterday from that one. WHOA! After our rounds, we went outside and did sprints. 1 1/2 minute sprint 1 1/2 minute rest x 2.

Sunday was pretty good. It was another all protein day for the 28 day diet so it was a little rough, but not too bad. We also went to my sister-in-law's and hung out with her, her husband and their beautiful girls (neice playtime!!!!). I brought my food for the afternoon with me so that part was fine. I drank a LOT of water!! LOL..

Yesterday it was back to BBC... and I was very glad!!! We all did our thang last week without Ben, but I could tell I was lacking that extra push that he always gives us. I did push myself, and busted it in the workouts, but I missed hearing "Get there!" "Come on! Push! Go all out!!!". I think we all did. Anywho... we did: Front Squats 4 sets of 8 reps then, A). Band Lunge Row x 6 per side, Stability Ball Crunch Jacknife x 6. As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes. B). Squat Press x 6, Pull ups x 6. As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes. Finished with 6 rounds of 30 seconds high intensity 90 second recovery sprints. Kicked my ace!!!! I do have to say that I definitely like the long runs rather than sprints. I seriously suck at sprints!! I would rather do the D run again than do sprints!! Ha! What does that tell you!!! =) Crazy!!! Oh, and did I mention that I wore my grey BBC t-shirt for the first time???!! Hells yeah I did!!!!! And it is a LARGE! Large!!! I started out in a 3x!!! Get the F out!!!!!!!!! You want some motivation to lose weight? That's it right there!!! NEVER in my life did I think that I, Lisa Cordeau would be wearing a t-shirt that was a large. NEVER. Yet here I am. It's just amazing. I get teary just thinking about it. Trust me, those are tears of joy. Even better was after class when E, Ben & I were stretching & talking. Ben said that when I first walked in he hardly recognized me and that I looked like a different person. =) Nice!!!!!!!! Fantastic is what it is!!! I couldn't be prouder of the progress/changes that I've made. I have truly changed my life, and it's all for the better. =)

Today was cardio and we did intervals again. The stations were bike, burpees & sprints. We did 1 minute of work, 1 minute rest, 1 minute "active" rest of get up sit ups. We did this for 5 rounds. Afterward we went outside (it was a little cold, but not too bad) and ran for 20 minutes. Again I pushed myself and made myself run the whole 20 minutes. It felt really good. Like really really good!! =)

Never have I been more "up" than I am right now. I have never felt better and I will only feel more and more fantastic as I lose more weight! I have no doubt that that will happen. I hope that everyone reading this blog that wants to get healthy and lose inches and/or pounds will be inspired to do so and will inspire others to do so as well (pay it forward!). =) =)

~L

End of week 14.. wow..

So, here I am..... sitting here, out of the poker game (!!!?!) and thinking.. well, it's been a few days, I should blog. But I'm finding myself at a loss for words. What do I say that I haven't repeated a million times in the last 14 weeks? Any damned thing I want I guess... LOL.. it's MY blog!! LOL...

Well, let me start with the workout yesterday. Cardio day. It was T, E & I. We did our warm up in the arena of IROC, then did our intervals of sprints, burpees & sprints 1 minute of each with 1 minute rest and 1 minute get up sit ups. After that we went outside and ran for 20 minutes. It was actually a nice little run. We ended up running by a mulch place and it smelled really good! It was a little misty, but otherwise it was good.

Today was a weights day so I met the girls at IROC (T couldn't make it) and we used the gym to do our workout. First of all, I have to say that I'm SO glad that Ben keeps his place cool (even in the winter) because the workout room at IROC was a freakin sauna!!!!! There isn't any ventilation or windows that you can open, so OMG it gets really HOT in there!! Anyway, we started doing push presses using dbs (M & I) and E & C did "pull ups". We didn't have anywhere that we could do pull ups so we did like this reverse crunch thing. Then we did A) push ups feet on ball jackknife and reverse lunge band pull (M & I started on this) and B)reverse crunch things and squat press. Do 6 reps of each back and forth for 10 minutes straight then switch to the other two. After that we did 2 minute sprints with 2 minutes rest X 3. We started out in the arena, but that was rough on the knees. So we switched to the walking track. The reverse crunch thing was really tough for me. I'm sure people have seen what you do this on. It's like this tall thing with 2 arm things. You put your arms on the arm things, hold onto the pegs at the end and your legs dangle below you, then you pull your legs up towards you. I couldn't seem to hold myself up. I kept ending up with my shoulders scrunched way up. It was irritating me that I couldn't do it, but I just kept doing it anyway. I am stubborn!! LOL.. but that's ok. We worked our butts off today.

I'm glad that we are proving that we can still work out when Ben is gone. We definitely miss him... miss hearing "Come on! Get there! Push!" I am still definitely motivated and push myself, but I don't think it's the same as during our classes. Just proves that Ben really knows what he's doing! Personally, I think I need that extra push. Obviously. Otherwise I would've been able to lose this weight on my own... anyway.. I'm rambling..

I think that's it.. Tomorrow is another cardio day so it'll be the same as Wednesday.. running running running! =)

~L

D Run & 4 days of catch up

Sorry again that it's been so long since I posted. Now that the weather is nice, it's harder & harder to stay inside and stay in front of the computer. Plus, since we aren't using fitday for the diet, I don't need to be on the computer as much which has made Mike very happy. LOL.

So let's see.. Friday.. we did this: Started with Deadlift 4 sets of 8 reps, then: A) Reverse Lunge Band Row x 6 reps per side, Stability Ball Push up Jacknife x 6. Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes. B) Squat Press x 6, Pull ups x 6. Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 minutes. Then Intervals: 6 rounds 30 seconds high intensity 90 seconds recovery. We went outside and ran on Taplin Road for that part. I'm liking the new workouts. They're challenging and are made more so the more that I push myself. =) Harder you push the more fat you burn!!

Saturday we still did a bootcamp workout (I know.. we're nuts!!) but T, E & I were the only Moosers to make it. We did Deck of Cards. I really liked this one. It's kind of like Roll the Dice where you basically don't know which exercise you're going to be doing or how many until you pick the card (roll the dice). I don't remember what the specifics are of what we did but it was good. After that we did the Dandelion Run. It was pretty tough, but it was good. I was under the impression that my leg (the first) would be fairly flat. No such luck. There were plenty of hills. But that's ok. We ran for a good mile before we had to stop & walk. My sister-in-law ran with me and she was fantastic at keeping me going!!! So thanks sis!! =) We estimated that we ran about 2 miles of it and walked about 1 mile. Not too bad. I felt bad for T & Ben because they were on the 2nd leg and it was all hills. Like huge ones from what they said. A special thanks to T for running that leg because Deveney was supposed to run with us, but had to bow out at the last minute because of a conflict with a fundraiser that was later Saturday night. Then Missy was the 3rd leg and E ran the 4th. I am extremely proud of all of us for doing this run (and all the other bootcampers that did it!! ). We are AWESOME!!! Thanks to C for coming out and supporting us as well! I have to tell you that on Saturday I came home, had lunch, worked in the garden for a couple hours and I was done. I seriously could've taken a nap, but I just planned on going to bed early. Around 4 or 5 Mike was like, let's go do something!!! I told him, dude, you go right ahead. I am pooped!!!! I was not going anywhere!!! He ended up going to a poker game and I stayed home and relaxed and then went to bed (fairly) early.

Sunday was ok. It was the total protein day of the diet, so that was a little rough. To make it worse, we went to the races to watch my brother so I had to bring everything with me. So I had to eat my steak for lunch and chicken for dinner cold, but it was ok. I drank a TON of water and chewed gum. Oh, and got a nice sunburn ontop of the sun I had gotten on Saturday. It's not too bad though.

Yesterday was the first workout without Ben who is gone on vaca (and a business thing too). It went well. It was just T & I and we met up at IROC and did 2 rounds of sprints and 1 round of burpees 1 minute per round 2 minutes rest with 1 minute of that doing get up sit ups. Then we stayed at the walking track and ran for 20 minutes. I think tomorrow we're going to plan on running outside.

Today it was T, C & I. We were able to use the community room at IROC and did two circuits: A) Straight leg romanian deadlift - they had a couple bars with a little bit of weight so we used those - X12 reps and Crunches on the ball with 10lb weight x 12. Do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes. T started on this one. Then C & I started on this one: B) Step ups (weighted - we had fairly light weights but busted out the rounds) x12 each leg and kb or db swing x 12 - we used 25lb plates. So the weight was fairly light for these exercises so we busted butt to do a ton of rounds. I think we did really well. =)

Tomorrow is cardio day so that will be back at the IROC walking track/arena for sprints, burpees and maybe high knees.. then running outside. =)

The 28 day diet is going well. I haven't really had too much trouble with it. I just have to sit down with the menu and figure out my substitutions. =) Not bad. I haven't really had too much trouble with being hungry except for the all protein day. I think that's why I was chewing gum. Helped to keep my mind off it. I've actually been chewing a lot of gum lately which I'm getting out of now. I don't want to start using it as a crutch to ward off hunger. I should be fine though.

Later!

~L

28 day program - the final push

Sorry that it's been so long.. My computer didn't have a virus like a thought, it was just the video card going to hell. Thanks Shaun for fixing it for us! (E's significant other) =) It's running great now!

Where to start? Well, on Monday we started the 28 day program. It's a diet designed to melt the fat off you and fast. The really nice thing is that the menus for the entire 28 days is planned out for you. Every single meal. The extra nice thing is that there is a "substitution list". Whoever came up with this is a genius!!! And must've known that I would be doing this diet!! Otherwise I would be one very unhappy girl.. there's a LOT of fish on these menus and this girl and fish, just don't mix. (Fish is at the top of the "blech list". LOL) It was funny Sunday because I printed out the first 7 days so I could make my shopping list, and I got the sub list out and made at least 1 substitution every single day. For some days there are 3 or more!!! But don't worry, I'm not straying!!! So far so good. I'm definitely not hungry at all and I'm still eating all the supportive stuff that I should be. The only thing is, this is very light on carbs and VERY heavy on protein. But that's ok. I can deal with that for awhile. I told Mike before I went shopping that there was a lot of chicken in my menu. He said: "good thing you could eat chicken every day!" I said: "ask me again after we're done!" LOL... It actually hasn't been that bad though. I am eating some lean beef and lots and LOTS of egg whites!!!! Today's lunch was a soup and OMG it was SO good!! =) I'm sure you're thinking, "she can have soup???", yes I can!!!!!! It was 2 cups low sodium chicken broth, celery, 6.75 oz chicken breast, onion and tomatoes. You cook the veggies in EVOO then add to the chicken broth & breast. I also put garlic powder, onion powder and oregano in my broth. The best part was after I heated it up I also put 3 tablespoons of parmesean cheese on top and mixed it in... yum yum yum!!!! Before now I always thought parmesean cheese was gross, but you know, it's starting to grow on me!!! The other night I had chicken parmesean.. oh was that tasty!!! It was 6.75 oz chicken (see? eating lotsa chicken!!) 1/2 cup tomato sauce and 3 tablespoons parm cheese.. try it!! =)

There are also specific workouts that go with this diet. You can check out Ben's blog for what we've been doing this week. I don't know if he's posted today, but I know he didn't on Tuesday. You didn't miss much there. We just did cardio. We did a 1 minute round at each of the stations with 1 minute rest and the 1 minute active rest (get up sit ups). The stations were sprints, bike and burpees. Then we went outside (yay for nice weather!!) and did a 20 minute distance run. Just run 20 minutes. On Tuesday we ran from the parking lot, out to Taplin Rd, to Rte 111, then turned behind the BBC building and back to the parking lot. It's not a bad little route, but kinda tough on the knees & legs to transition from grass to gravel to pavement to grass to gravel to grass. Today we ran down Taplin Rd, turned off on a little road and ran down there. We just went for 10 minutes and then turned around and ran back the other 10. That's a nice run, just one small hill, all gravel and nice scenery!! Next week will be a little tough as Ben will be gone all week so we will be on our own. He has given us our marching orders for the week so we're all set with what we have to do. It'll be interesting for sure.

Ummm.. let's see.. I think that's it.. I think I'm working my way out of my funk. Finding out I've lost nearly 50lbs in 12 weeks has definitely helped. I'm hoping that I'll hit 65lbs lost by the end. It'd be great to hit 15% body fat lost and 20". That would be amazing!! I'll "get there" though...

Saturday is the Dandelion Run. I'm nervous, but I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm really really happy that my sister-in-law will be running with me. I know she'll keep me going. =) If you're reading this and you're local, come on down (we start the run at 9am) and cheer us on!!! =)

~L

Catch me up

I'm hoping that this will post since my computer has some serious virus that is totally screwing it up.. but there is hope, E nicely volunteered her significant other to take a look at it for us and see if he can fix it. So keep your fingers crossed!

This has been a very emotional week for me personally. I found out on Sunday that my aunt in NY had died from lung cancer. She was only 53. May she rest in peace. And when a family member dies suddenly it makes you think... It was tough, I didn't really know her that well (sadly) because they live 6-7 hours from me, so I got to see them maybe once or twice a year. Plus, I wasn't able to attend the services which I feel really rotten about. I'm sure my family understands and will accept that my thoughts and prayers are with them. Then on Wednesday I found out that my co-worker, Flo had had a stroke and was in the hospital. On Friday I found out when I got to work that she never woke from the stroke and had passed away Thursday night. She was 63. My thoughts and prayers are with her family in this very difficult time. It was so unreal at work on Friday because I had just seen Flo on Wednesday. She was there, walking around and fine and now she's gone. I wish I could say that I knew her very well, but I'd actually only worked with her for about 5 or 6 months. She will be sorely missed at NGJ. RIP Flo.

Friday was measurement day for me. I was really nervous. I knew that I'd kept dropping weight, but I wasn't sure what my measurements would be like. Would the roadblock I'd been working through this week hurt me? The answer? Not a chance in hell. I lost 24 more pounds. 2.1% body fat and 4.5". So my totals so far is 47lbs lost, 8.6% body fat lost and 13.5" total lost. These #s totally blow my mind. Honestly this whole thing has just been surreal. It's kind of like I've been doing the workouts and eating what I was supposed to so that's been real, but the weight coming off and my clothes getting baggy hasn't been. Like I was on the outside looking in, watching. But I look in the mirror now and I see it. I see a new me and it's bloody wonderful!!!

Friday was the last day of 30:30:30. Ben hasn't really told us what we're going to be doing this coming week for cardio except it's 20 minutes of intervals and 20 minutes of running. We don't know what the intervals are yet. So Friday we did 30:30:30 of sprints outside. It was a really nice day so it was great to be able to get outside. Although I'm not that big a fan of sprints, it's definitely helped build my endurance which is great. On the very last sprint, Ben told us to really push and make it the best one yet. So somehow I was able to dig deep and just run, sprint as fast as I could. It felt great to really push myself and challenge myself to do better. I felt like my lungs were going to burst after, but I felt SO good!!

Saturday was "Bring a Friend Day". I brought my co-worker Bernice with me. We did a new one Ben is calling "Death Valley" which is an appropriate name for it. Lol. Here is what we did:

20-16-12-8-4-8-12-16-20

Pull ups/Rows
Clean and Press
Jump Squats/Sky and Ground Squats
1 Arm Kettlebell Swings
Russian Twists
Uneven Push ups/Push ups

Move through reps completing 20 for all exercises, then 16, then 12 and so on.

Bernice did VERY well for her first time and I am VERY proud of her!!! =) She almost puked, but not quite! =) So you know it was a good one. Ha ha ha. We got through the list 3 times. So we ended by doing 12 reps of each one. I hope that she will consider taking more BBC classes, but that's up to her.. who knows? Maybe we scared her away!! LOL...

After the workout we had our final MMC. It was kind of emotional, but mostly we just reflected on how this whole thing went, what was hard, what was easy. That kind of stuff. For me, the hardest thing was the emotional part. I don't think I ever realized just how much of an emotional thing getting healthy and losing weight is. All of the "baggage" and "issues" that you have to get over personally can be overwhelming. For me, my past has played a huge role in why I got big in the first place. One of the most valuable things I've learned is to let your past be your past and look to the future. Don't let something that happened in the past hold you back from being happy now or in the future. Take charge of your life. Trust has always been an issue for me as well. I've had people close to me, who I thought were my friends, hurt me. So trusting new people, not so easy. I used to put up walls to sheild myself. Just go about my business and not let anyone see the real me. But these women, these 4 women and Ben have shown me that I don't need to put up walls anymore. So I made the conscious decision to let go grudges of the past and make peace with it. I may still put up a few walls at first, but nothing like before. I can't believe how much I've been able to grow as a person through this experience. I can never thank everyone that voted for me enough for believing in me and helping me to start on this journey. I know it's not over yet, that we have 4 more weeks, but I hope you've been following along with me and I hope that I have inspired you. I hope that I can inspire anyone out there that wants to lose weight or get healthy to do it. Just do it. Do it for yourself, find that inner woman/man that you know is inside of you. Cause he or she is there, ready to be loved.

I've been listening to my Ipod in my car a lot lately and I found this song and I think that it really says what I want to say to my fellow Moosers. So here it is. Enjoy:

Artist/Band: Rascal Flatts
Lyrics for Song: My Wish
Lyrics for Album: Me and My Gang

I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,
But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.
I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take.
But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish. his is my wish
I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big

~L

Train the Trainer!!! ...and my Moo92 interview (I hope)

Today we did "Train the Trainer". OMFG it was SO funny!!!!!!!!!!!!! C took a video of the whole thing and hopefully she'll have it posted some time this weekend or by Monday. It's kind of long, but seriously worth watching!!!

So, here is what we made Ben do:

Cartwheels down the gym & back
Crabwalk down the gym & back
Handstand max hold
Band pull - Ben had an elastic band around his waist and had to pull 3 of us down the gym & back (sprinting)

Go through this list as many times as possible in 15 minutes. Ben did very well and got through the list 3 times.. maybe even 4. It seems like maybe I'm missing one, but I think that was all the exercises we had him do. He was sweating his ass off though!! Loved it!!! Ha ha ha ha ha! Ahh revenge is sweet! LOL.. It was a lot of fun...

After, the real work began. We warmed up and then did 8 rounds of:

KB high pull burpee
Flutter kicks
Push ups
Jumping pull ups

One time through the list is a round. Do each exercise for 1 minute w/5 second transition, no rest between rounds. After that we went outside and did what Ben calls the Birch run while your partner does planks. Ben & E were one team, M & T were another and C & I were the final team. The Birch Run isn't anything special, we just sprint to the Birch tree and back. But it was hard nonetheless. I don't know how far it is to that freakin Birch tree, but it's damned far enough!!

Last Wednesday I was interviewed by Moo92 about how it's been going so far. The djs Tod & Deveney were nice enough to put the interview on a disk for all of us. C has already posted hers and hopefully the others will post theirs as well. I'm hoping that this works. Ok, nope didn't work. =( UGH... I'm trying.. I'm just not sure how to post it.. I'll have to ask C how she did it. Plus, my computer is on the verge of a major meltdown so I'm lucky to get this blog in. I'm hoping that we can get the tower to the computer dude and get it fixed up soon.. But for now...

G'night!

~L

Run Forest Run!!

It was cardio day again in BBC land. We started doing our intervals inside when someone ( I won't name names -Missy) suggested that we run outside. So, we jogged out to the road and ran a gazillion 30 second sprint intervals. Oh it was so much fun!! (sarcasm is kinda lost on here LOL). Honestly, it kind of sucked. Like really hard. After awhile I started getting a pain in my hip in the front (apparently it's my hip flexor) on my right side. It KILLED to keep running with it hurting like it was, but I did. I kept on running. I definitely wasn't sprinting, but at least I was still running. So I'm hanging onto that. I kept going and pushed through and that's the important thing. I could've let it bother me, but I decided that it wasn't going to.

I think maybe I'm starting to come out of my funk. I felt pretty good today, eventhough I was walking around my office like an old lady. LOL. My hip hurt, my knees were sore, but it reminded me of the hard work that I'm doing. I am working hard (we all are) every damned day. The benefits are numerous. I haven't even reaped all the benefits yet. I can't wait until I can get rid of my stupid sleep machine. I'm starting to really hate that stupid thing. I will be a little scared when it is time to get rid of it because I've been using it for SO long that I feel like I'm kind of dependent on it, but I'll be fine. And, I know that Mike will be VERY happy when I get rid of it too. =) I can't wait to go back to my doctor after we're done and have my cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes tested again. How much do you want to bet that those are all normal now? I'd bet quite a bit!! Most importantly, I can't wait to have children. It's something that I've wanted for my entire life. I've always known that I wanted to be a mother since I was a little girl. My dream was to have a really big family and enjoy being a stay-at-home mommy. My weight has been holding me back from that, but not for much longer!!! I may not have as many as I had originally planned, but I will have at least one! =)

So for anyone out there that's reading this and wants to lose weight...Do it. Do it now. If you have goals or dreams that seem unatainable because of your weight, get your ASS up off that couch or out of that chair and do something about it. No excuses. You are worth it. You deserve to be happy. Once you start, don't give up. Keep going, remember why you're doing it. Remember those goals & dreams that you had on hold because of your weight and keep pushing. GET THERE.

I found this quote on Facebook and I think it's very true: "Today I give myself permission to be greater than my fears".

~L

Pile On!

We did Pile On today and it was really tough. Apparently this one is infamous for being hard and it has earned it's fame.

We started with:
KB swings
KB high pull
1 minute each one with a 5 second transition.

Then:
KB swings
KB high pull
Prisoner squats
Flutter kicks
1 minute each w/5 second transition

Then:
KB swings
KB high pull
Prisoner squats
Flutter kicks
Push up
Single leg hip extension w/knee bent & held to body

Then:
KB swings
KB high pull
Prisoner squats
Flutter kicks
Push ups
Single leg hip extension
Burpee
Wall sit

Then:
KB swings
KB high pull
Prisoner squats
Flutter kicks
Push ups
Single leg hip extension
Burpee
Wall sit
_________
Star burpees

I know that the star burpees was the last one we did, but I can't remember what the other exercise we did was. I'm not entirely sure this is the correct order either.

I have a confession.. I've been running at least 2 times a week, but my confession is that last week I only ran one day. Last Tuesday was the last time I ran. I had planned on running on Saturday, but life got in the way and I didn't. I just didn't and I take full responsiblity for that. Tonight I went for a mile & 1/2 run and I was only able to run 3/4 of a mile straight without stopping. I ended up stopping quite a few times. I'm really kicking myself for not running last week. I wish I had because tonight was ROUGH. I have only myself to blame for that and I'm irritated with myself. I will be running on Thursday and Saturday so look for updates on that. The Dandelion Run is next Saturday and I am nervous. I'm so happy that my sister-in-law will be running right next to me. Her support in this is tremendous.

So that's what's up. I still feel like I'm in a funk and I'm trying to work my way out of it, but it's not happening very fast. I'll come out of it though. I'm confident.

Night.
~L

What happened?

I feel SO bad for Missy!! She & I were doing sprints this morning and had gotten ahead of me and then all of a sudden tripped. She wasn't hurt and laughed it off. But a little while later she fell again!! This time she hurt her knee because she fell on the exact same spot that she had earlier. I felt so bad for her! She had to sit out for a few minutes because she was in pain. She bravely tried to do a few rounds on the bike, but that only made her pain worse. BUT, she did persevere and did push ups then see saw press. I am VERY proud of her for not giving up!!! =)

I feel like I've been having a hard time lately. This whole experience has been kind of surreal for me. I look in the mirror and I see someone completely new. I've never seen this girl. I have alway looked in the mirror and looked away. I NEVER liked what I saw. NEVER. Now I do like what I see, I just don't know who she is. It's kind of weird. It's like I didn't believe that I would lose all this weight. Maybe because I've failed SO many times before. Not one thing has ever worked for me until now. So maybe I thought that this wouldn't be any different, and it is different. Very, very different. I'm really really losing weight and getting healthy. It's scary actually. So I'm going to keep doing what I do every day and work through this.

I am extremely lucky to have my MF in my life. I leaned on them all today and they were as wonderful as they've always been. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I could not be going through this journey without Missy, Tonia, Christine, Erica and Ben. Thank you guys.

That's about it from me.. it's been a long day. Night!

~L

A, B, C, D O-M-G!

I have a feeling this is going to be a short entry today... sorry folks.. This girl is TIRED!!!!!!!! I had a work situation last night and didn't get to bed until 12:30. I got up at 6am this morning and did my BBC thing (I don't want to miss a class), came home, napped for an hour and a half and went to work, but I am STILL tired. So, as soon as I'm done this, I am going to bed. I can't wait!!

So today we did A, B, C, D. Basically this is four stations, 2 exercises at each station, 50 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, 60 second rest after 3 rounds (was it 4?) at each station.

Station A was tennis ball single leg hip extension and dumbell clean & press. The tennis ball one is you take a tennis ball and put it at your hip, then pull your leg back so that it's squeezing the ball to your hip. Then, you do a hip extension. That is a lot harder than it sounds, and man does it work the ace area!!!! The db clean & press is you have a db in each hand (I started w/15s), you squat just a bit so that they're down at mid-thigh, then you bring them up by your shoulders, standing up straight and then press them up. Apparently I made it look too easy with the 15s because Ben came over and handed me 20 pounders. Upping the ante..like it!! =)

Station B was jackknife on ball (I'm sure Ben will call it something else) and sky & ground squats. The ball thing.. oh my lord! You put your feet on the ball (it's the workout ball we used on cardio day) and then get in a push up/plank position. The first trick is to balance. That is the first thing. Then, you pull your legs towards your chest. Very challenging!! Me likey! =) For the sky & ground squats you have a db in each hand (I used 15s), one arm is up over your head, one is down between your legs and you squat. This was not easy either!!

Station C was pull ups (jumpers - band assisted or no) and rene rows. At first I was going to do the pull ups with a band, but Ben said something about doing them without and I thought, what the hell? Give it a shot. Did all 4 rounds with no band. Harder, but I liked them just as well. =) The rene rows were really tough for me. I used 15lb dbs for these. I don't know if it was getting in the push up position with them or just trying to lift the weights or a combo of the two, but those, I didn't like..

Station D was planks and farmer's carries. I started out with 2 35lb kbs for the farmer's carries, but again, I must've made it look too easy because Ben had me switch to the 44lb kbs. Kind of had a little theme going here today... guess the lesson of the day was push yourself!! I am (absolutely!) getting stronger and to get even stronger I need to challenge myself more, use heavier weights. I thought maybe I had had that epiphany a few days ago, but I guess it really sank in today.

Tomorrow is cardio day and I can't wait to see what Ben comes up with. =) And on that note, this chica is hitting the hay. It's a little later than I had planned to get to bed, but still earlier than usual. Even a little extra sleep will be nice! Night!!

~L dawg

L dawg & the Moo crew

Today was my day to be interviewed by Tod & Deveney on Moo92. It was a lot of fun. =) If anyone missed it, they asked how it was going -great!! really great!!... what was the hardest thing so far for me - I said that my nickname is "blech" because I'm so picky so that's been the hardest thing. We talked about that a little bit. Tod started naming stuff to see what I liked... like broccoli.. BLECH!!!! It was pretty funny because he named off a few and I think he realized that it might've been easier for ME to name stuff that I like rather than him guess.. LOL.. They also gave a mench to the fact that I'm in the lead, but I told them that it's not really about that for me. It's all about getting healthy and happy. The main thing I hope that came from this is that I inspired someone out there to make the decision to get healthy too. That's one of the main things that I want after this. I really want to inspire others. I know a lot of people say it, but "if I can do it, YOU can do it!"

Cardio day.... Ben once again threw another twist at us. This time we were only doing 2 stations. That's it. 1 station for 15 rounds (30:30) then a different station for 15 rounds... no 8,7 8,7. What the french? Yeah. So M & I were teamed up and C & E were teamed up. T missed it because of a prior obligation. M started out doing high knees and I was on the bike. C did db clean & press and E ran sprints. Big kudos to her for asking to take on the sprints. Let me tell you, doing sprints for 8 rounds straight is tough, but doing it for 15 is even tougher!! So good job to E & C for "getting there". M & I busted out the rounds on the bike & high knees though. So good job to us too!! =)

So I think that's pretty much it for today... oh, almost forgot!!! I went for a run last night and upped my distance from 1 mile to 1 1/2 miles. I am very proud to say that I ran an entire mile without stopping! The last 1/2 mile was a little rough, but I can't believe that I did that. I know, I keep saying that every time I run. It just seems like I'm doing just a little better with every run so dammit.. I'm proud!!! Oh, I also mentioned that in my interview today. I said: "If you had told me 3 months ago to run a mile I would've told you where to go and how to get there, but now look at me. I'm running 2-3 times per week!!!" Hell yeah.

~L dawg

Where the F did the weeks go??

It's week 11. 11... are you kidding me?? What the F? I never dreamed when we started that the weeks would fly by like they have. It's actually kind of sad that this whole thing is coming to an end soon. For me, it's not going to end. I am going to keep going. I will be taking more BBC classes and I will NEVER stray from what I've learned in MM. But, it's like a chapter in my book is coming to a close. I guess I need to just keep looking at it that way. As just one chapter in the book of my life. There will be more chapters, lots more. A lot more will have to do with my get healthy journey. And, I know that I will definitely keep in close contact with my Mooser cohorts. Every single one of them will have to put up with me for a very long time so I hope they're prepared!! =)

Tomorrow I'm going to be on Moo92 (you can listen in at www.moo92.com and click on the "listen live" tab on the right hand side - I'll be on around 6:40am EST) talking about how it's going so far. It should be fun. =) E was on Monday and T was on today. Both had a good time so I'm looking forward to it.

Today we did Tabata Extra. But first, we did deadlift. 8 reps for 4 rounds with increasing weight. The last time we did this was back in April. We ended on 115lbs. This time, we started with 115lbs!!! C & I used the same bar and T, E & M used another one. By the end, C & I had gone up to 135lbs (I think).. T, E & M were at like 145!!! Kudos to them for kicking ace on that one!!! =) So the stations for Tabata Extra were: rows & kb swings w/44lb kb, see saw rows w/15 db in each hand and hill climbers, goblet squats w/35lb kb & planks with arms on exercise ball. The last one was very tough. It's very hard to balance yourself on that ball and try to do the plank thingy.. It was a good one though!! I did feel like I didn't push myself as hard today and I hate that feeling. I did work hard, but I feel like it wasn't hard enough. Not for me. I don't know what's been up with me lately, but I feel like I haven't really been pushing myself. I don't know why that would be now, but I don't like it. So tomorrow, bring on 30:30:30.. I'm ready. I'm going to push and work and I don't care if I'm hurting or tired.. or anything else. Time to rekindle the fire and make the final push to week 16. Like I said before, there will be much more to come for me, but I feel like week 16 is a short-term goal. There will be MORE from me. I guaran-damn-tee it!!!

L-dawg

Happy Monday!

Today was cardio day... whew!!!!! But first, E stopped into the radio station for a short update on how she's doing.. Sounded like she had fun. =) Tomorrow will be T's turn, I will be on Wednesday, C on Thursday and M will finish up the week on Friday. I still can't believe that this is week 11.. where the hell did the time go? I guess the old saying is true, time flies when you're having fun!

So we did: Bike & sprints and Burpees & lateral bench jumps. M & T were together and E, C & I were together. M started with the bike, T the sprints, E did the lateral bench jump and C & I did burpees. Again it was 30:30:30 go for 8 rounds on one then switch to the other for 7 rounds. Then switch to the two the other group was doing. I was actually a little bummed that we didn't do the firehose pull... call me crazy, but I LOVE that one! Maybe I was a firewoman (person? LOL) in a former life. =) Hopefully Wednesday that one will be back. =)

We went to Thunder Road yesterday to watch my brother race in the opening day there. We had a great time!! My father-in-law went with us and it was really great to get to hang out with him for the day. =) I, of course, packed a lunch, snack and dinner to bring with me since the food there is anything BUT supportive!! I will admit that when Mike & his dad each came back with a burger & Al's FF, I wanted to dive right in, BUT I didn't. I also have to admit that it was a little tougher yesterday to not get some of that bad food. I found myself a little bored a few times (the late models aren't as interesting to me as the other divisions) and had the urge to go get a fried dough or fries or something. I know that's more of a mental urge than a physical craving. I have always been an emotional eater and one who will eat out of boredom. I haven't really run into the boredom problem until now. It's not a problem though. I made it through yesterday just by concentrating on the races and thinking about how far I've come so far. That was also reinforced by my parents and friends that I saw at the races. I haven't seen my best friend Mya in MONTHS (as previously mentioned) and when she saw me she was like: "Oh my god you look so GOOD!!" which made me feel really great. My mom said: "I can really see the difference! You look great!!" Just more inspiration and motivation for me to keep doing what I'm doing (not that I would stop now!!). Oh, and I got a new T-Road 50th Anniversary t-shirt in... get this... an XL.. I put it on last night and it fit!! It was just a little tight for what I like, but I WILL be wearing it very VERY soon!!!! And then LOOK OUT!!! I'll be wearing that size L BBC shirt before too long!! =)

Have a good one! =)
~L-dawg

And... I'm back

Ok, so I officially suck at this.. blogging that is.. LOL.. But, as you can probably imagine, life is busy and finding the time to blog has become somewhat of a challenge. I promise that I WILL try to do this more!!

Wednesday: Caaaardiooo!!! We did: Sprints & Bike, Hill Climbers & Burpees. Ben threw a little twist in and had us do this in groups. So T, C & I were together and M & E were together. We started with burpees and did 30:30:30 for 8 rounds, then did hill climbers for 30:30:30 for 7 rounds while E & M did the bike and sprints for the same. Then, the groups switched. It was a neat change up. It certainly wasn't any easier for sure!!! I think it's actually a little tougher to stay doing the same one for so many rounds in a row.. Like I keep saying, Ben keeps things interesting, fresh & new!! No wonder I'm addicted!!!! =) =) You can tell by the goofy look on my face in the picture on Ben's blog.. lol... whatta dork!!! ha ha ha!!

Thursday: Roll the Dice (LOVE this one!!) Start each round with 40 Frog Hops then roll the die for your workout fate.

1's- Push ups x 15
2's- Rows/Pull ups x 15
3's- Reverse Crunches x 15
4's- Kettlebell Swings x 15
5's- Star Jump Burpees x 15
6's- Split Squats x 15 per leg

Again, we did this in pairs. C & I and then E & T (M missed it because she had to work and we missed her!!!). The new one is the star jump burpees (just when you thought burpees weren't fun enough, there's yet another variation!! LOL). You do the usual burpee, but when you stand up you jump up with your arms and legs straight out (you look like a star... get it??). C & I only rolled this one once. I think E & T rolled this several times, poor things.. lol.. I believe they even rolled it twice in one round!! C & I did all of them except the kb swings. We did all of the others twice.

Yesterday was cardio and yet again Ben changed it up. We did it in pairs again, M & I and E & T (Christine missed it because she wasn't feeling well - missed you C!). The stations were: Station 1:Bike, Firehose Pull (or Kettlebell Pull) Station 2: Sprints, Lateral Bench Jumps. Sp M & I started at station 1. The firehose pull was actually really fun. I LOVED it!!!! I hope we keep that one for cardio days!! Ben took the firehose and attached one end to a kb. Then we had to pull it across the floor, grab the end, run to the other end and pull it again. It was tough and hurt our hands, but it was great!! Watch the video, you'll see what a great workout that is. Total body baby!! So E & T started with sprints and the lateral bench jumps. Those bench jumps are HARD. You put one leg up on the bench and when it's time to go you use your leg to jump up, switch to the other leg and land on the other side. Keep doing this back and forth. I don't know if I explained that very well, but if you watch the video you'll see what I mean. When it came time for me to do that one, I didn't so much jump and switch. I stood up on the bench & switched. It worked though. I am seriously uncoordinated and if I can fall doing the lateral shuffle, I would surely fall doing that!!! Afterwards we were sitting around and were talking about being flexible and E & T ended up doing a little pretzel race.. check out the 2nd video Ben posted.. frickin hilarious!!! See, we have fun at BBC!!! =)

Today we did The Big Nasty and it WAS nasty!!! The stations were: 50 Hill Climbers per leg, 20 Rows, 25 Goblet Squats, 35 Burpees, 30 Single Leg Hip Extension per leg, 15 Jump Squats/Prisoner Squats, 24 Step ups each leg, 20 Push Press. The top performer for today was Margaret who ended up doing 50 burpees instead of 35. LOL... The reward was a Prograde Craver of her choosing. Congrats Margaret!! You earned it!!

Afterwards, E & I went for a mile run. I'm happy to say that I only stopped once this time and I walked for maybe 15-20 feet before starting to run again. It was definitely tougher after the killer workout this morning, but we got it done!! I plan on adding a 1/2 mile to my runs this week. I'll let you all know how it goes!! =)

Tomorrow the hubs & I are heading to my hometown of Barre for the opening day of racing at Thunder Road. I can't wait. It's always fun to go and watch my brother race!! But also, my best friend Mya will be there and she hasn't seen me in MONTHS. So I can't wait to see what her reaction will be to my transformation so far. =) If anyone reading this is going to the races tomorrow, don't forget to cheer for #37 in the Tiger division!!! Go Finck Racing!!! =) Oh, and don't worry about my food for tomorrow... I'm definitely bringing a cooler and will have lunch, a snack and dinner with me (no easy task with no microwave to heat food up!) so I will be all set!! No Al's French Fries or fried dough for me!! The closest I'll get to the consession stands is the bathrooms!! LOL... have a good one! =)

L-dawg

The pot calling the kettle black

Yesterday I gave two of my fellow Moosers a hard time because it's been days/weeks since they've posted to their blogs. BUT, looking at my OWN blog, it's been 4 days since I've posted either. So that is where the title of this blog is coming from. Sorry ladies, but I've been a bad blogger too.. =( But I'm here now, so here we go:

Friday: Cardio!! The stations were bike, firehose slams (alternating), frog hops, and burpees. Have I mentioned how much the new 30:30:30 kicks my ass?? Um yeah.... kicks the everlovinshit outta me.. every time!! Holy F!!!

Saturday: I honestly wish I could tell you exactly what we did. I don't really remember now. Sorry folks! But we did several stations for a minute each and did like a round robin around the room. It was fun and very tough.. I do remember some of the exercises: jump squats/prisoner squats, single leg hip extension, rows, step ups, kb swings, kb high pull burpee... I think maybe there were some push ups and planks maybe. It was another challenging workout anyway and I loved it!! Afterward, E, M, Ben & I walked from BBC to the DVS (Derby Village Store for those not from around here) and then RAN back.. I think maybe that was the hardest thing I've done so far!! Actually, the hardest thing is getting the breathing down.. I felt like I was gasping for air more than once!! I've been told that that is the hardest thing to running and once I master that I'll be good to go.. Anyway, it was about a mile and I ran nearly the whole thing!!! I haven't had to run a mile since high school and I just ran one!! I really can't believe it. I don't think it actually sunk in that I just went for a run until afterwards when we were stretching/cooling down. I am so freakin proud of myself! Two months ago, there was no way in hell you would've gotten me to go outside and RUN.. to say anything about running a mile!! My life has truly changed, and changed for the better!!

My weekend was good.. we had a couple poker tournaments, but nothing major. Saturday night was the surprise b-day party for my father in law at the East Side Restaurant. Anyone from this area knows that pretty much everything on their menu is fried so it's a tough place to try to eat supportively. I chose to have this as my cheat meal. O-M-G am I glad I did!!!! I had a few meatballs, a few pieces of garlic toast (MMMMMM), a piece of grilled chicken on a stick, a slice or pork roast and THE yummiest (small) twice baked potato I have ever had!! OMG it was SOOO good!! So the meal that I had wasn't too horrible and I seriously ran it off afterwards chasing after my niece and her new friend... We played tag, we ran around... danced.. it was a great time!

Today we had 4 stations: A) KB Swings (44lb kb), 1 arm db snatch (20lb db), push ups B) rows, step ups (15 db each hand), goblet squat (35lb kb) C) rene rows (with 20lb dbs), reverse crunches, kb high pull burpee (35lb kb) D) squat press (2 20lb db), planks, wood chops (1 20lb db). Do each exercise for 50 seconds, 10 second rest in between. Do each set of 3 exercises 3 times then 1 minute rest between stations. HOOOLY F!!!! By the end of this one, we were ALL dripping sweat!!!! Nice one Ben!!! =)

Well, I don't have to be to work until noon today, so I'm going to go for a run.. I'm going to pace out a mile, then do the same I did Saturday, walk a mile, run a mile.. Next run I'll add on a little more. Should be interesting to do by myself, but I'll be fine.. I'll let ya know how it goes tomorrow.. until then blogfans... I'm outtie...

Peace!!


----I had to add this on since I just came back from my run... Instead of walking a mile, then running a mile, I paced out a 1/2 mile. So I ran a full mile.. no walk!! =) The first 1/2 mile was pretty good. I ran the whole thing without stopping. The second 1/2 of it was very hard. I had to stop a few times and walked for maybe 30 feet or so and then ran again. But I feel like I did really well.. except that I can't stop coughing now.. stupid lungs!! LOL.. so glad I gave up smoking all those years ago!!! Later!

Funny things....

Yesterday we did 30:30:30 again.... holy makerel that kicks the shiat outta me!! Seriously not loving the CD man that says: you're half-way through your break congratulations you've completed __ rounds. He honestly says it like that.. there's MAYBE a 5 second pause. You're like WHAT? That was a fast freakin 30 second rest!! My GOD... Slow it down CD man... fer real! LOL... So here are the stations: Bike, Lateral Shuffle (do NOT cross your feet!! Ok ok! Lesson learned!!!) Plate Punches, Firehose Weave, High Knees. Kicked my ace!

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my last blog that after we were done the 4 rounds then 2 rounds thing, we did planks. THEN we did a relay.. just wanted to clear that up.. we did a LOT on Tuesday.. sweated my ace off...

So today we did the following:

KB Swings (kb=kettlebell for those that don't know Missy-ese)
Reverse Lunges
KB High Pull
Goblet Squats
Push ups w/T stabilization (do a push up then put your arm up in the air, like planks w/rotation)
Get Up Sit Ups
KB Swings
Planks

I don't know if I got them all.. seems like I may be missing one.. but I can't remember right now what it is.. Anyway, we did each one for 30 seconds, rest, then through the list again doing each one for 45 seconds, rest, then each one again for 60 seconds, rest, each again for 45 seconds, rest and one last time each one for 30 seconds. That was definately a rough one. The ol' knees were feeling those reverse lunges.. and the goblets.. But, we all got through & did fantastic!! Missy wasn't there this morning because she was sick, but T was able to join us. I think she may be able to join us more often which is very cool!! Then after that we did relays again. This time one person ran down, did 5 burpees & came back. The other person had to do either high knees or jumping jacks. I believe we did this for about 10 minutes. E & I were paired up and C & T were partners. No rest for the wicked!!

Yesterday at bowling I was waiting for my turn to practice and Carol (who does the Saturday class) was walking back from her practice when she literally did a double take!!! She was like "I didn't even recognize you!!" Later she told me that she had seen me go up to bowl and had thought "who is that?!?" She then said "I don't know if it's the different clothes your wearing or what, but you look so different!!! And so GOOD!"...Such a confidence booster!!! =) Especially since I was wearing my new jeans (3 sizes down... I thank you) I also talked to several of the other ladies about my bootcamp experience and how it's going.. all that good stuff. I don't mind talking about it at all. Ask me anything.... One girl said to me "I've read the workouts you do and I don't think I could do it!" I told her she sure could!! Everyone can do this stuff!! Another said she was too old. I'm like, if you set your mind to it, you can do anything! I think everyone should do this program!! Hey Ben... I think I need a sales commission.. LOL.. just kidding!! =) Anyway, so I feel really great (even more than I was) and I can't wait to see what comes next. =)

The Dandelion Run is now officially a month away. I am really nervous about it, but I think I'll be fine. I've been walking (as previously posted) and I've gotten pretty fast so I'm going to try doing a short run on Saturday (1/2 mile). Then I'm going to keep adding on until D-run day.... I should be good to go by then (I hope!). The biggest thing is that no way 2 months ago would I have even THOUGHT about doing something like that and now I'm going to do it!! Just goes to show what this program has done for me!! =) (commision??? LOL)

Well, this chica needs to head off to bed and get rid of this headache.. later...

30:30:30, tire flippin' & the MF comes through again!!

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but it was a crazy night!! Had some problems at work, so I didn't even get a chance to do my fitday until this morning!! But that's ok.. it's done and I'll be getting my stuff together for the day in just a few.... I wanted to post this morning because I am just feeling SO good and I didn't want to wait until tonight..

Yesterday we started our new cardio time. 30 seconds of work, 30 seconds rest.. and we did 30 rounds instead of 20!! Oh my freeeeekin lord!!!!!!!!! There was a couple times where Erica & I just looked at each other and were like #$*! me this is hard!!! LOL.. The stations were: bike, rene rows, high knees, burpees & hill climbers. Whoo.. definately pumped up the volume!! And the sweat! WOW!

After our workout we were sitting around cooling down and ended up talking about the two big tractor tires that Ben has. It was a nice sunny day, so we (M had left to go to work already) went outside and each gave it a couple tries.. I did the first one on the small one (150lbs) and Ben was like, well that was too easy!! Try the big one! (300lbs) FLIP!! It's not easy by any means, but I can see us doing that in a workout in the near future!! Fun fun fun!! Check out Ben's blog for a video of us each trying it..... oh and me almost smooshing T's adorable dogs.. sorry T!! I did look to make sure they weren't in the way!!

Today was a wicked tough one!!! We did 4 rounds of: push ups x 10, split squats x10 each leg (using 20lb DB), 2pt DB row x 10 each arm (using 20lb DB) & deadlift x 10 (I believe we used 85lbs - I think E used 125). Then we did 2 rounds of: arms elevated push ups x 20, split squats x 20 each leg, deadlift x 20 & ring rows x 20. Once you finish the 4 rounds move right into the 2 rounds. I cruised right along through the 4 rounds (I thought.) and went right into the 2 rounds. But, I was finishing my 2nd round of the 20 reps when everyone else finished.. I was like... what the french? I started doing my 2nd set of split squats and noticed that Missy was doing push ups. I switched to the other leg and paused mid-way through and she said "come on, I'm going with you." That made me smile.. I thought.. you are?!? Then I still had to do the deadlift (everyone cheered me through that!!) and then the rows. Missy came right over and was like, I'll do them with you.. Come on.... So we started doing them and everyone else joined in!! E & C did rows on the rings & Ben did pull ups. When I stopped, Ben hung from the bar.. even more motivation was when he was said "Lisa! Don't leave me hanging!! We're waiting on you!".. I can't believe that they all did that for me.. I was a little irritated that I was, again, the last one to finish, but they all made it better.. I have never in my life had such motivating, supportive people helping me... I could NOT be getting through this journey without any of them. Thank you SO much to my MF.. you guys are absolutely AMAZING people!!! I would definately be lost without each & every one of you. =) And eventhough T didn't work out with us today (she does a class tonight) I know she would've been right there with all of us!!! So thanks to her too.. =)

~L dawg

The Will & the Fire

Lost in the dark, couldn't find my way
Just trying to survive, taking it day by day
Never thought I'd find the happiness I deserve
Not understanding the purpose I serve
A light appeared, a helping hand
A chance to change, make a stand
One of five chosen of 50 that tried
Couldn't believe I was in, sat & cried
The journey has started, now half-way through
Sweating every day, eating right too
Feel my body shrinking, clothes too baggy
And damn if my boobs ain't a lot less saggy!!
My spirit is soaring, the dark is gone
Old ghosts of the past forgotten, so long
Nothing holding me back, from all I desire
I've got the will and the fire
Much more to come in the next 8 weeks
Finally changing my life, and finding what I seek.

--I find that I am much better at expressing myself in writing than I am in person. I've been working on this poem for a few days and now that I finally finished it, I wanted to share it. These last 8 weeks have been amazing and I really can't wait for the next 8. And, for whatever comes after that. I am positive that I will continue to take BBC classes even after The Biggest Mooser is over. And I am extremely excited about that. I've done some changes and I can't wait to make more and become the girl I know has always been inside of me!!

Today was cardio and Ben didn't disappoint. He changed it up yet again. The stations were: Bike, see saw rows, wall sit see saw press and high knees. E & I were paired up for this one and T & M were together. (Missed you all week C!! Can't wait to hear how your week went!!) E & I did the bike & see saw rows and T & M did wall sit see saw press and high knees. So one of the new ones was the see saw rows. We used 2 25lb kettlebells and you put one foot in front, one behind for stability and then lean over and with a bell in each hand pull up towards your chest. HAARD!! Especially for 10 rounds in a row!!! That's right, we did 10 rounds at one, and 10 at another!! HOOLY CRAP!!! The other new one was the wall sit see saw press. So you do a usual wall sit, except you have a db in each hand and alternating arms press (or push) out. This was a very good one.. and very tough!!

Ben gave us a little news today, that was the last time at 30:60. Next week, 30:30 for cardio! I think we're up to the challenge.

Check out Ben's blog for the Mooser standings. Apparently I'm in the lead, but it's darn close!! Well, I am off to poker. Peace!

~L-dawg

Cardio and Day 1 revisited

I think one of the reasons that I'm actually getting addicted to these workouts is that we hardly ever do the same thing.. Love it!!! Even on Cardio day (Wednesday) Ben finds a way to change things just a little to make it more interesting... just more proof that Ben knows what the hell he's doing!!!!

The cardio stations were: bike, firehose slam, high knees and renegade rows (no weight). We still did 30:60, but instead of rotating to the next station during the rest time, we stayed at the same station and did 5 rounds at each one. This definately made things more interesting. I did the rene rows first and by the time the 5th round came around, my shoulders and arms were killing me!!! I was glad to be able to switch to the next station. The firehose slam is also a good one for shoulder/arm killing.. by the end of 5 straight rounds of that you're ready to move on!! Tomorrow is cardio day again and I'm interested to see what we'll be doing.. =)

Today, we did a little revisit to our day 1 workout. The exercises were: Push ups, Squat Press, Rows, Kettlebell Swings. You start where ever you want, and do 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest. Do as many reps as you can in the 30 seconds. Write down your reps. Then do it again. Write down your reps. One last time, and... write down your reps. Total them up. Ben had us use the heavier weights we moved up to this week. So for the squat presses, we used 20lb DB in each hand and kettlebell swings we used the 44lb bell. I think on the first day we were using 10lb DBs for the presses and 25lb bells for the swings.. Just proves how much stronger we've all gotten. For even more proof, Ben told us to bury our 1st day numbers. We all busted it and got it done!!!

For the push ups, on the first day I did 18 total, modified push ups. Today, I did 14 total STANDARD push ups. That's right... on the toes!! Even though I didn't beat my first day score, I'm still very proud that I did that many standard push ups! I couldn't even do 1 before we started and now I can do 14?! Shut UP!! =)

I beat my squat press # by 8 which I am very happy about. Even with sore knees, I cranked it out with heavier weights!! =)

I believe I beat my rows # by like 10.. yeeee haw! Get ready for the gun show!!!

And the swings.... I beat those by like 20!!! After the first 30 seconds, I wrote my # down and flipped back to the day 1 # I had written down and laughed! I had almost beaten my total from the first day in the first round!! OMG!! And with a much heavier weight!

Then, after that you take the total #s that you got for each exercise and do them all again. This time in the quickest time possible. On day 1 I finished in 7:59.... today I finished in 8:08. I'm not upset by that at all. All of the exercises were done with heavier weights and a lot more reps. So I did at least twice as much work in almost the same amount of time...

As promised, here is what went down with the stir fry...... Can I just say O-M-G it was so freakin good!!!!!!!!!!! The couscous was very good and the mix of the onion spice (a premixed VT made blend) with the veggies (that I don't normally eat btw) and the beef was SO good!! num num numnumnum!!! Even Mike liked it!!! I put his beef & veggies over rice, but he gobbled it up like it was going out of style!! That will definately be in my menu once a week!!!

The next thing that I'm going to try is garbonzo beans (chick peas). I like hummus, so I'm told that I should like the beans. I'm thinking so. Just have to gather my courage to try it. But I will!!!

Tonight I went for a 3 mile walk. I'm very proud to say that I busted it and walked at a very fast pace (felt that way to me). There was a couple times where my legs were just buuurning, and I had to push myself to keep going, to keep the same pace. It didn't help that the battery on my ipod died about 1/2 way through the walk (note to self: plug in ipod for about 1/2 hour before embarking on walk!). That was a real bummer because I picked songs that had a good fast beat and kept my pace to that beat. But, I finished it in 55 minutes... 15 minutes faster than my best time. Whoooo hoooo! I'm hoping to do this for like a week and then push myself to cut another 10 minutes (at least) off it.. By the 2nd week in May I'm hoping to be running!! That's the plan. Keep pushing myself to walk faster and then finally start running. I forget if I've mentioned it yet, but there's a local charity run on May 23rd that the other Moosers, Ben, some others from BBC and I are going to run in. It's a 1/2 marathon, so 13 miles. We are doing it as a team so it is a relay. There are 3 legs that are 3 miles and the last leg is 4.1 miles. I'm wicked nervous/scared to be trying to run in this thing. I've never run in my life (except for HS) so I don't know... but I'm doing it.. !! I'm very happy to say that my work is going to sponsor me and donate $25 towards the cause (THANK YOU!!!).. So look for me to be wearing an NGJ t-shirt on the run... oh and it'll be a LARGE.. that's right.. I'm going to be wearing a LARGE!! Hell yeah!! Count on it!!

~L-dawg

4 Rounds -taken out of me

I know I say this a lot, and honestly its a credit to Ben, but today's workout kicked my ass! It was SO hard!!!

We did one called 4 rounds. So we had a few stations, with 2 exercises at each and we had to do 12 reps, switch to the other exercise for 12 reps then back and forth 4 times (get the name now?).. I'm going to try to remember the stations.. I wish that I had time right after the workout so that it's fresh in my mind, but... c'est la vie!!

So the stations were (again all reps are 12 unless specified):

1)Step ups (12 each leg)
Push ups (either variation)

2)Kettlebell High Pull Burpee

Reverse Crunches

3)Deadlift (Missy & I used 100lbs, I think E did 125 - you go girl!)
Assisted Pull Ups

4)One arm DB snatch (12 each arm)
Lunges w/weight (E & I did see saws as our knees were bothering us)

I put these in the order that I did them.. that's the only way I could remember!! Ben gave us until 8am to finish. I saw the step ups on the board and knew instantly that I was going to start there. No way was I going to let the one exercise I hate keep me from finishing a workout again!! It was hard as hell, but I did it!! I got through all those reps of stupid step ups and moved on!! E & M both finished at 8 (actually I think E finished a few minutes early- Good job!!!), but M was right behind her. I finished a few minutes after 8. BUT, I finished!! I am damned proud of myself for that too.. By the time I got to the last station, my knees were on fire, but I pushed through. I was actually relieved when Ben said to do the see saws instead of the lunges. I knew my knees wouldn't be able to take those. For the see saws you have a DB in each hand and alternate pushing them over your head. Not easy by any means!! AND, Ben told us to use heavier weights for our workouts today. SO not only did I do the step ups, but I used 15lb DB in EACH hand instead of 10's. Hell yeah! And I think I used 20's for the DB snatch and see saws.

As everyone who's been following along knows, I am a picky eater. And it's been getting a little harder lately since my calories & %ages were dropped. Now it's hard to find variations to do on the same ol veggies. I know that I need to try new ones, and I have a list posted on my fridge of ones to try. So I will keep trying new ones, but I don't seem to like the ones I try. I know people think that I "just don't like" broccoli & cauliflower, but that's not all true. I HATE them! They seriously make me gag. Ask Mike. He was here when I tried them. He will attest to the fact that I was nearly losing the rest of my dinner trying to just eat them anyway. I know that I will have to just "suck it up and do it" and still eat the veggies I don't like, but it's just making myself do it that's very hard. But, there is hope!! Tomorrow I'm trying something new. Stir fry. I bought onion, green & red peppers and mushrooms. I'm going to use EVOO and an onion spice mix that I have and fry 'em up with my beef that I bought. Then, I'm going to try couscous!! I'm going to put the whole mix over couscous. I think I tried couscous once, but I believe it was plain. I got one that's Chicken & garlic flavored. So I think it'll be pretty tasty with the veggies. I will keep you posted on it!!! =)

I got beat up at bootcamp!!!

And I am NOT kidding!!! LOL.. well, ok, not really... but it was a bit of a rough one!!!


To start off with, we do a new warm-up routine. One of the things we do is jump rope. Everyone knows that lately my feet have not been cooperating with my brain when I do this. Today was no different. We were jumping rope and again my big feet (I wear a size 11!!) got caught. I thought I had pulled the jump rope from under my feet, but apparently I hadn't because I pulled up on the jump rope and it broke, right at the handle!! OY! At first I was trying to put it back together, but Missy was like "Lisa!!" and Ben turned around and was like "what the?!".. Busted!!! Sorry Ben!!!! LOL..


Then we did our workout. It was cardio day and Ben threw a new station in. We did bike, firehose weave, renegade rows (no weight) and lateral shuffle. The lateral shuffe is like this: there are two cones set up about 10 feet apart. You have to "shuffle" from one to the other, touching them each time, as fast as you can. The first couple times I did it fine, but the third time was not my charm. Instead of shuffling my big feet, I crossed them. Big mistake.. I crossed them and the side of my shoe caught on the floor and down I went! I was fine.. I didn't hurt anything, but I leaned back after I fell and bumped my head on the weight that was on the bar we use for deadlifts and push presses. Double duh!! Don't worry, I have a hard head!! I didn't even bump it that hard. Just enough to know what a dumb move that was!!

Oh that's not it!! After we were done, M wanted to try doing the assisted pull ups again. So I went over and pulled the band down so that she could put her foot in. She had her hand on the band as well and for whatever reason it slipped and whacked me right in the cheek!! I was like "look, I'm not going to help you anymore if you're just going to beat me up!" LOL.. It was frickin hilarious!! So yes, I got beat up at bootcamp today!!! LMAO... but it was still a good day!!

Christine wasn't with us, but she did do a workout before we had gotten there. (Yay to you for getting up even earlier!!) Erica was also not at BBC this morning because she was sick. Get better soon E! We missed you!!

So that's about it.. I had bowling tonight as a few people on both teams wouldn't be able to make it on Wednesday.. 2 more weeks and bowling is done.. I can't wait. I like it, but I'm ready for this season to be done.

Until tomorrow!!

Over the mountain (Richford that is) and through the woods to Momma & Poppa's we go!

PHEW!!!!!!!!!!! I know, I know.. where the hell have I been for 3 days? Well, it's a funny story.. Friday, I went from BBC to my in-laws to work to home for supper and then to poker. We didn't get home until nearly 11 so I got my bum to bed. Then Saturday was BBC, MMC and over the mountain to my parent's house for the weekend. When we got there we hung out for a bit and then Mom & I got our butts beat in cards by Mike & my dad. (Grrrr.. cheaters!!! Must've cheated!!). I went to plug my stuff into Fitday (I hadn't had a chance until then) and my mom's internet wasn't working. So then I helped Mom get supper ready and that was very yummy (ham & green beans & they all had potato). I messed with the computer some more to see if I could get her internet up and running, but it didn't work. So I used her Blackberry to get my stuff plugged in. Although I ate supportively, the #s didn't work out so well. I'm sure Ben will understand. =) Let me just say that those things are a pain in the ass to try to do Fitday on.. It took for-EVER to plug my foods in!! The stupid buttons are so tiny and close together that there was alot of cursing under my breath as I tried to type stuff in.. Ok, so maybe it wasn't THAT funny a story.. but a story nonetheless.

Anyway.. so Friday was a very fun day. For the locals, you know already that the local dj's Tod & Deveney came and worked out with us. The also broadcast live from BBC too.... It was cardio day and Ben added a few stations to accomodate our guests. The stations were: Alternating Firehose Slams, Burpees, Bike, Frog Jumps, Plate Punches, Band High Knees, Plate Clean and Press. 30:60.. Ben hinted around on Wednesday that eventually we'll be doing 30:30.... that should be interesting!!! =) Oh yeah... I beat my burpees high AGAIN!!! My new # to beat for burpees is 22. 22!!! Can you freaking believe it?? Well believe it!!!

I felt so bad for Christine though. She was doing the band high knees with a new band Ben had just gotten and it broke!! Even worse was that it smacked Erica in the arm. Erica was fine, but C felt bad (don't worry about it C!). We know she didn't do it on purpose!!! C won't be joining us this week for BBC because she has training for a new job and she will be sorely missed!!! =( She said that she will be joining other BBC classes during the week, so I'm glad for that.

Yesterday we started doing max reps of push ups and assisted pull ups (I did jump pull ups). We did this for 10 minutes so you try to do the maximum number of reps of push ups (standard or modified) without stopping. Then you do the same for assisted pull ups. We had 10 minutes to do this and you could try as many times in that 10 minutes as you wanted to get a high #. I did 7 standard push ups. 7!! Holy shniekies!! I couldn't even do 1 when we started!! The first time I did the pull ups I could only do 7, but on my third try I got 8!! I can't believe how much stronger I've gotten already!! It was funny because yesterday my mom & I were talking and I started putting my hair up and she was like "You've got muscles now girl!!".. I was like "oh yeah.. I'm getting GUNS!!".. =)

After that we did:

Goblet Squats
Kettlebell Swings
Burpees
Side plank leg lifts

10 reps for each one, go through the whole list as many times as you can in 10 (15?) minutes. I think there was one more, but I can't for the life of me remember what the hell it was.. Must be I blocked it out!!

Well, tomorrow is cardio day again.. so I can't wait to see what we're doing! Whatever it is, I'm ready! Let's go!! =)

Silver lining

We started out doing push presses and Christine and I finished with 85! 5 more than we did last time.. not a big difference, but hey, we did more! We also did 3 rounds of pull ups (with a band assisting us- we actually did jump pull ups where you put your foot in the band still for support but you jump up to do the chin up) which were very hard!! I definately can't do a pull up (yet!) but I was able to do the jump chin up and actually get my chin up over the bar!

Then, we did this:
50 jump squats
40 goblet squats
30 kettlebell swings
20 step ups w/ 10 lb db, 20 each leg
10 skater jumps per leg
25 burpees w/ pushups
10 skater jumps per leg
20 step ups w/ 10 lb db, 20 each leg
30 kettlebell swing
40 goblet squats
50 jump squats

Ben didn't time us for this one, but gave us a goal of finishing in 35 minutes (I think it was). I didn't finish. When the time came that he wanted us to finish by I was on the 2nd set of step ups. This pissed me off big time. I was VERY upset with myself that I didn't finish the whole workout. The other girls finished, but I did not. This was the first time in 7 weeks that I wasn't able to finish and it was very very frustrating. The one thing that slowed me down was the step ups. Those are definately on my $%*# list. I hate 'em. I don't know if it's because of my knees that it's so hard or it's just getting myself up there. Whatever it was, it pissed me the #$*! off.

If it hadn't been for my MF (Mooser Family- thought I better explain that one!) it probably would've ruined my whole day. They all are really wonderful and I'm so glad & blessed to have them to help me & support me when I need it. They helped me to look at everything I've accomplished so far, how far I've come since we first started. 23lbs, 6.5% body fat... so I'm going to just say "tomorrow's another day" and the girls better watch out because I WILL be on tear tomorrow!! =) Believe it.... Werd.


P.S. One thing I've forgotten to mention this week is that I tried asparagus. It was ok. I spread a little (about 1/2 T) horseradish hummus on it then sprinkled on garlic powder and baked it at 350 for about 10 minutes (I think) then I turned the broiler on and cooked them for awhile longer turning them every once in awhile until there were browned.. they were a little too done actually.. but I cut them up so they looked like green beans.. I will definately try them again but I'll cut the cooking time down some.. =)

So Ben took a 6 week picture so here there are for comparison:

Catchin' up

Yeah.. ok.. so it's been a couple days.. what can I say?? I sat down to blog last night and literally stared at the screen for a few minutes. I was like "I got nuthin'" and turned the computer off. I watched BL (can't believe Sione went home, but how cool is it that he's going to be a personal trainer now??!!) and went to bed.

So, let me catch you up. Tuesday we did Tabata Extra. The extra was the extra butt whoopin that Ben gave us. O-M-G it was HARD!! Almost felt like day one!! So these were the exercises:

1. Double Ring Rows & Deadlift
2. Plate Clean and Press & Push ups
3. Goblet Squat & Flutter Kicks
4. Kettlebell Swing & Renegade Rows

40 seconds of work followed by 20 second rest. Switch exercises during rest break. Complete 4 sets of each exercise before moving to next station. There is a 40 second rest between stations.

Before we were doing the rows with a bar, but the rings are waaay harder! The hardest one is the renegade rows. It's like doing planks and rows at the same time. Actually, that's really what it is. Let me tell you, that one is rough.. Good for the 'ol arms though!!! Bye bye wallies!!! Dude, seriously? You don't know what wallies are? You know, you wave and your wallies wave too? Yeah.. that's them!! LOL..

So we finished this and it was about quarter of 8. Missy turned to Erica and said "oh we aren't done!" and we weren't. After this, we did farmer's carries with a twist. So it was Christine and I and Erica & Missy. The prize? Prograde Cravers. I've heard that they're VERY good!! So the twist is that when your partner gets to the other end of the room, they do 5 burpees and the partner does push ups until the burpees are done. Then the person comes back to the start and the partners switch. This was actually really fun (don't tell Ben!!). We started out and it was E and I head to head. Her longer legs put her ahead of me, but when we got down to the end, we ended up doing synchronized burpees!!!! At one point I had to speed walk (nearly run) to catch up to her!! It was definately a challenge, but it was great. I love the competition!!! E & M started with the heavier weights and at some point Ben switched them to C & I. Congrats to E & M who were able to get ahead of us and win. Enjoy those cravers girls!! You earned them!!!!

So today was cardio and again Ben cranked up the intensity. The stations were: firehose alternating slam, plate punches, burpees, sprints (bike for C & I) and the new one was band high knees. The band high knees was quite interesting! Ben linked two bands together, we stepped into one side and he stepped into the other. Then, when it was time to go, Ben would pull back on his side for resistance and then we had to do high knees!!! No easy task let me tell you!!! AND.. on the last time I did this one, Ben started moving around!! I was like "what are you doing?!!" He's like I'm moving around!! Um yeah I kinda noticed!!!! LOL.. SHEEEZ!!! But, I did like that one.. very challenging!!!

And guess what???!!!! I BEAT my burpee score!!! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!!! 21 baby!!! Can you see me doing a little dance?

The real fun was the plate punches. In the last couple rounds, C was able to pull ahead of me in her # of these. Nice! But then it was my turn and I upped it. So her last turn she upped it again.. verbally DARING me to beat her!!! Ok... it's ON!!! But, I was not able to catch her!! So good job C and thanks for the competition!! LOVED it!!!! =) It's on again on Friday!! You and me.. plate punches.. 90!!!!!!

Well, it's late and time for this chicky to head to bead. Night all...

Werd. LOL

Cardio twist

Today's cardio was a little different. We had a few of the old favorites and a couple new ones. The stations were: sprints (bike -for Christine & I), firehose alternating slam, jump rope, plate punches and kettlebell high pull burpee.

Plate punches were killer!! You take a 25lb weight (plate obviously) and with it at chest level push it out and bring it back towards you as fast as you can in 30 seconds. HOOOOLY moly chamoly!!! I was the first one to do this and set the bar high at 60.. The girls did great getting VERY close to that #. =)

The other new one was the kettlebell high pull burpee. So you do a normal burpee, except that you start with your feet on either side of the kettlebell. You do the burpee, except that you keep your feet wide and when you bring your feet back towards your hands, you end up with your feet back on either side of the kettlebell. Then you do a high pull. Bring the kettlebell up towards your chin, arms out like wings. Let me tell you, this is NOT easy!! We all got around 10.. a couple were able to get more.

You wouldn't think so, but the jump rope was the thorn in my freakin side today!! For some reason my brain was NOT communicating with my feet.. My brain was like "JUMP" and my feet were like: "Huh? What? You want me to what? Oh look the jump rope is coming around. What do I do? Ohhhh.. jump!" TOO LATE!! Damned feet!!! COOPERATE PLEASE!! *sigh* oh well, there's always Wednesday.

Ben has now lowered my #s again. So my calories are 1551 (was 1620), Carbs 40% (was 45%), Protein 40% (was 35%) and Fat 20% (this one stayed the same). I think it'll take a little adjustment, but it seems to be ok so far. My #s were right on today.. exactly 40, 40, 20. My calories were very close. My only problem is fiber. I have a hard time with getting enough fiber. This is mostly because, as everyone knows by now, I don't like a lot of veggies. But I am trying.. honest!! I googled the fiberous vegetables and am going down the list trying them.. So stay tuned as I'll be posting about the newest one soon.

I had a VERY busy birthday weekend!! Going here and there.. it was good, just very busy. Not much time for relaxing!! The only day I get to sleep in is Sunday. I regularly tell Mike, "If you wake me before 9 on Sunday I will hurt you!!" But I was my own worst enemy on Sunday. For whatever reason (that I have no idea what it is) I woke up at 7:30.. Seven FREAKIN thirty!!! And, I couldn't get back to sleep!!! uuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh! So, I am totally wiped and I am going to bed.. like very very soon... I am going to do my fitday thing and hit the hay.

Good night!!!

It's my party...

I honestly haven't been slacking in my blog duties!!! Honest!!! I just haven't had the time to sit down and blog in the past 3 days!!!

Thursday the girls & I (plus Christine's friend) went to IROC and used the weight room to do some weighted interval training. Day 2 of Ben being gone went a little better than the first one and we even did a little extra on our own!! After we were done our workout we did planks, wall sits (1 minute each), then superwoman & wall sits (2 rounds, 1 minute each). So yay to us for pushing ourselves to work hard!!

Friday Ben was back and it was "brungin!"!!!!! It was cardio day and this is what we did: 30:60 for 20 rounds, firehose weave (swing the ends of the hose out to the side and bring them in together at your chest making a wave like pattern), plate clean and press, sprint (Christine & I did the bike since we both are still having trouble with our knees/shins), renegade rows without weight, jump rope. Let me tell you, my core was feeling this one!! If it wasn't the firehose weave it was the renegade rows without weight. Welcome back Ben!!! =)

Ok, yes, today is my birthday!! I am 32 years old today (but I don't feel any older!). I had a really great day too. Of course, like last Saturday it started out at bootcamp. But this time, I went up early to get my measurements done. I was nervous and excited all in one. I knew I'd obviously lost because my clothes are getting way baggy and everyone is telling me how great I look. Best of all, I FEEL good!! But I was nervous that the #s wouldn't be as big as I thought. So, here are my numbers:

Total weight lost: 23lbs
Total body fat % lost: 6.5% (0.5% behind Missy!!)
Inches lost:
4" off hips
3" off waist
1.25" off thigh
1" off upper arm

So that's 9.25" total lost so far. Holy crap!!! The big # contributing to my total body fat lost was in my back. That was a huge drop.. bye bye back rolls!!! Ben asked us what we had expected and if our #s met that expectation. I honestly have to say that I wasn't sure what to expect. Like I said, I knew that I would have good numbers because I look and feel smaller. I actually thought because the pants I had started out in were hanging off me now that my waist measurement would be higher, but really, I lost 7" from my waist & my hips.. So duh my pants are going to hang off me! So I am VERY happy with my #s so far.

After measurements we had a workout. We started out by doing a new warm-up routine that felt more like a workout!!! Wooo!!!! But, I like the change. Something different to do and you definately get warmed up/geared up for the workout! After the warm up we did 4 minute madness. 5 stations with 2 exercises at each station. You do 12 reps of each exercise and switch back and forth between the two for 4 minutes, doing as many rounds as you can. By the time we were done, I wasn't just dripping sweat, it was pouring off me!!! It was a doozy!!! Oh and we weren't done there... after that we did 4 rounds of planks and superwomans.. whooo!!!

Following our workout we had our usual MMC class, but Cheryl stopped in and shared her bootcamp/MMC journey with us. She is an INSPIRATION!!! I LOVE her ideas for her cupboards (posting your "fat" picture on unsupportive foods to discourage yourself from eating them, taping the portion sizes handout on the inside of the cupboards, making a list of motivational sayings and posting them on the inside of the cupboard for extra motivation). Thank you SO much Cheryl for coming to talk to us today. You are AWESOME!!!! I'm going to be implementing some of the above ideas in my own kitchen!!

After MMC, I came home & got ready & Mike & I headed to Morrisville to meet up with my family (and Mike's sister, her husband and our neices) for my birthday. It was a little difficult to find something on the menu I could have, but I ended up having grilled chicken (no sauce of any kind on it), and peas & pearl onions and a side salad with light italian dressing (I didn't use all they gave me). It came with a potato side but I had them leave that out. I was going to have them double the veggie, but since it was peas and we're only supposed to have them in moderation I stuck to a single serving of it. I think they put butter on the peas so I ended up only eating about 1/2 cup of the peas that they gave me (I didn't eat the onions). Of course the salad had croutons & cheese on it, so like at Applebee's, I scraped all the bad stuff off. It worked out pretty well. We all had a good time.

So the dress pants (and jeans too actually) that I've been wearing are ridiculous to wear. This past week, I used a small black binder clip to keep my pants from falling off me. I knew it was time to get some "transitional" clothes. Mike's b-day gift to me was just that. While we were in Morrisville, we stopped in to Peebles (never been there before, nice store) and I picked up 3 pairs of dress pants. And they are all 3 sizes down from where I started!!! For the first time in my life, I was not in the dressing room crying because I was too big to fit into something!! I was in the dressing room doing the dance of joy because I just put on pants in a size I never thought I would see again!!! It was SO sweet!!! I was looking at the clothes in my new size and I was honestly like, no that won't fit, it's too small. But I grabbed it anyway and tried and I'll be damned... they fit!!!!! I think maybe I was in a little bit of denial just how much I'd actually lost. But I'm over that now.. LOL... Bring on the skinny bitch clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)=)

The new thing I tried this week is hummus. I had never heard of this stuff before I started doing BBC, and of course I was VERY skeptical about trying it. But one of my co-workers had a 7 spice blend that she was dipping her carrot sticks in. So I just took a little taste. Oh my GOD it was SOOOOO good!! SPICY!!! whoooooo.. So I picked up some horseradish hummus and put it on a ham sandwich Friday night. Whooooaaa nelly was that GOOD!!! I also picked up some asparagus to try. A few people have told me that they're really good roasted, especially with garlic (mmmm love me some gahlik!!). So I'm thinking that I'm going to brush on some of my horseradish hummus and roast them.. I'll let you know how it goes.. I'm hoping it's something I like since I haven't had to much success with new veggies. But I'm trying!!!

Well, tomorrow is another busy day.. so I will see you back here on Monday.. =)

When Ben's away.. the Moosers will.. bust it!

This was the first workout we've done on our own. I have to admit that I was a little nervous. It turned out fine though.. We worked it!!

We were going to use Tonia's gym boss (timer) but it was dead. So we found a stop watch in the lost & found and used that (hey, use what you got!). Erica was the time boss today. =)

It was cardio day so we did: burpees, stairs, plate clean & press (we were in the community room at IROC which was set up for the Body Blast class that they have in there, so we were able to have a few weights & stuff to work with), jump rope and weighted step ups. We kept to the 30:60 intervals we've been doing with Ben. Christine brought a friend along so we doubled up on one of the stations. I hate to admit it, but I did miss Ben yelling "get there!" "push!". We all encouraged each other, but it wasn't the same. One time Christine and I did the stairs together and we RACED up and down those stairs!! Let me tell ya, she was frickin crazy legs on those stairs!! =)

Christine's friend was nice enough to take pictures for us (to prove we really DID work out!!! LOL) so here they are:

Ha ha.. love Missy's face in this one.. can you tell we were working hard?? We had just finished a round and she looks a little pooped!! =)

Christine rockin the jump rope and me saying "hello" to the fire alarm.. ha ha ha

Plate clean & press & jump rope.. I'm doing step ups so that's why you can't see me. We were kind of spread out here so she couldn't get me in the picture. Sorry they're so blurry. Stupid camera.. Sometimes it works great, but for the most part it sucks. Time to upgrade!!!

So that's it.. we busted it and got it done.. on to tomorrow!! =)