Pushing the limits...

So here we are, it's week 6. 6!! WOW! I can't believe it! Actually I can. The days have quickly turned into weeks and we've been moving closer to measuring day. This Saturday is measuring day (a few are getting measured Friday due to time constraints) and I can't wait!! I know already that I've gotten results. I've been putting more and more of my clothes in the "too big" pile. I never in a million years thought that I would have a "too big" pile! It's crazy. I used to have a "too small" pile or it was actually my "someday I might wear these again" pile. Now I can't wait to try those small clothes on to see if they fit yet!! If not, oh well, just means I have more work to do!!

Missy gave me a pair of workout pants (watch for pics of them on Ben's Blog) that are too big for her (yay!). I tried them on tonight and they fit! Can you believe it? I just put on a pair of stretchy pants that didn't stretch to the limit when I put them on!!! And, they are... wait for it... (hope you don't mind Missy).. 1x!! I used to wear 3x! Can you believe it?! Well believe it!! It's an amazing feeling... I have NEVER felt this good.. mind & body.. I'm gaining confidence and learning to love myself.. Anyone who's overweight knows how it is. You have a very hard time believing that you are beautiful and worthy of being loved for who you are. I was lucky enough to find a man that loves me exactly the way I am. He doesn't care if I weigh 100 or 300 pounds. I am beautiful to him. And I think maybe I'm starting to see what he sees in me. It's not easy for sure.. He has told me so many times, "Look at yourself. Look at that beautiful, sexy woman in the mirror. You are absolutely gorgeous." I just couldn't see it. All I saw was this big blobby thing with long black hair and glasses. Now I'm starting see her. I know that she's been in there all the time, I just needed help to find her. Now that I'm starting to see & feel the results, I don't want to stop. I can't wait to see what week 16 is like.. then 18.. 20.. I'm not ever going to stop working out and having good nutrition. NEVER. This is my life now. This is the way it's going to be. People can try to tempt me with sugary sweets or unsupportive foods, but I don't want that anymore. It's not a part of my life anymore.

Today was cardio day at BBC. We did: alternating firehose slam, jump rope, suicide sprints (Christine & I did the bike due to knee pain), plate clean & press and... burpees. We all killed it today. We pushed ourselves hard to beat the numbers that Ben put on the board for us.

I know you're waiting to find out.. sooo.. how was the burpees?? You want to know?? You really really want to know??? Ok, ok.. I'll tell you.. Did I hit 20 this time? Nope.. I hit 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh yeah! oh yeah!!!! When Ben was putting our goal #s on the board, he started to write 18 and I said "no, don't do it. 20. Thank you!" The first 2 times I did the burpees I hit 19 and I was 2 seconds away from 20. So I knew I had to really punch it to make 20. The next time I did burpees, I did it. I hit 20! I was SOO psyched!!! Then I wanted to beat that # (yeah yeah.. competitive). The next time I got very close to 21, but like I said, I hit 21 the last time I did the 'ol burpees. I believe that Tonia beat her high of 23 with 24! Nice going!!!

I was on such a high from finally hitting 20, and the usual energy boost that I was just on cloud nine when I got to work. I was so... up.. that I'm pretty sure I sucessfully annoyed everyone in my office! I could not sit still! I was singing and dancing around!! LOVED IT!! Plus, my knees are starting to feel better.. "It's a great day to be alive I know the suns still shinin when I close my eyes. There's some hard times in the neighborhood, but why can't every day be just this good?". =) Looking forward to tomorrow, when Ben promised to really kick our butts before he heads out of town for a few days. But don't worry, the girls & I are going to head to IROC and workout hard while Ben's away. Apparently Ben is going to give us a workout plan for Wednesday & Thursday. Should be fun!

Well I am off to fitday to plan tomorrow.. then get my stuff together for tomorrow & hit the hay.. so night all!!

Pile On the fun

Today's workout was Pile On. Holy god!!! That was the toughest workout we've done so far. I know I say that this workout or that one was hard, but no. This one was TOUGH!! I don't know if I'll get these all in the right order, but Ben hasn't posted his blog yet. So check out his blog in case I flub up the order.

So for the first round we did:

Kettlebell Swings
Kettlebell High Pull

Do each exercise for 1 minute with a 5 second transition in between. There were so many of us (16!) that some had to use dumbells (Missy, Erica, Tonia & I-Christine wasn't able to workout with us but she made it for MMC). There was then a 1 minute break.

Then we did:

Kettlebell Swings
Kettlebell High Pull
Goblet Squats
Flutter Kick

The Flutter Kick was just what you would think. Have both legs in the air, back flat on the floor and kick your legs, keeping your knees slightly bent. Move your whole legs, not kicking at the knee.

1 minute break, then:

Kettlebell Swings
Kettlebell High Pull
Goblet Squats
Flutter Kick
Hip Extensions (1 leg for 30 seconds then switch)
Push Ups

1 minute break, then:

Kettlebell Swings
Kettlebell High Pull
Goblet Squats
Flutter Kick
Hip Extensions
Push Ups
Lunges
Side plank w/arm raise

The side plank is hard enough, but to keep your other arm up in the air is HELLA hard!! At this point my knees were getting pretty sore..

1 minute break, then:

Kettlebell Swings
Kettlebell High Pull
Goblet Squats
Flutter Kick
Hip Extensions
Push Ups
Lunges
Side Planks w/arm raises
Burpees
Hill Climbers

So I got to the push ups (I was able to do one or two standard ones in the first round or two!!). At the lunges, my knees were done. It hurt like hell to try to do them, so Ben had me do overhead presses. I did the side planks (the best I could). I was able to do some burpees, but holy crapola was it hard on the knees!! There was no way I could do the hill climbers. Ben had me doing jumping jacks at first, but that hurt my knees also. So he had me do some more push ups. I have to admit that this was very frustrating to me. I am very competitive and, I'll admit, probably my own worst critic. So when I can't do something, or something is keeping me from doing what everyone else is doing, I get irritated. I feel like I should've been able to do the whole list, but my knees just wouldn't let me. Sucked.. big time. BUT, Mike & I are back from our trip to Littleton (don't worry blogfans, I brought my snacks with me!) and I am icing my knees. I will keep doing this all night and tomorrow and hopefully that will help. I also took some Tylenol earlier and that's seemed to help also. I was also able to ice my knees before our trip too so I'm sure that helped.

After the workout, Charlotte, Margaret and Deveney stopped in and shared about their bootcamp and MM experience and give us some encouragement. It was nice to hear and very helpful! When they would talk about something, I found myself nodding my head like, "yeah me too!". Thanks ladies! Then after the ladies left we did our usual MMC. My week was good. Tried cauliflower (bleached broccoli) and it was gross. Also a couple of us admitted that we were getting kinda bored with our food. It's hard for me because I don't like a lot of different stuff. I get a good amount of variation during the day, but at night, it's harder to figure out something different to make for supper than beef, pork & chicken (Mike's not a huge chicken fan either). But I'll get through it.. I heard that Ben is putting together a recipe book so I can't wait to see that and get some ideas.

Tomorrow we'll be spending time with my sister-in-law, her husband and their two beautiful girls!! Can't wait!! =) Should be very fun!!

Until Monday... peace!

Cardio anyone?

This time, Ben changed it up a little. We did suicide sprints, alternating firehose slams, jump rope & plate clean and press.

My knees have been bothering me this week, so Ben had me do the bike instead of the suicide sprints. But don't worry, that doesn't mean I was slacking off today!! I rode that bike like there was no tomorrow!! Or as Missy has said "imagine a big bear is chasing you!". LOL.. I did a few rounds of icing my knees today (ice for 20 minutes on each knee then off for an hour) and they feel much MUCH better!! =)

For the first round of alternating firehose slams I did 143.. Hell yeeeah!! But I couldn't get past that number. Had me wondering if I f-ing counted right the first time. LOL.. no worries...

I actually like the jump rope now (yeah I sing that song in my head as I do it.. but I have to sing REALLY fast!!) Misssuzyhadasteamboatthesteamboathadabell.... LOL.. That's the one that I beat the most. I freaked myself out a little bit one of the times because I landed wrong on my right foot and it turned out a little bit. I caught myself before it totally went over, but it scared me and made me pause for a second.

The last one was plate clean & press. Sounds like an eating competition.. but yeah.. no. Christine and I used the 10lb plate and Missy & Erica used the 25lb plate. You hold the plate on it's edge on the floor with your hands on it like a steering wheel, squating down. Then you lift it up over your head. Do as many reps as you can. You can see Missy doing this in the video Ben posted on his blog. You can hear him telling her to squat more, so that part is very important. I think Ben said it keeps you from hurting your back.

Ben told us yesterday that we can now join the Saturday morning bootcamp class.. Well, he said it was "optional".. but not so much. Anyway, if you've been reading my blog you'll see that on Saturdays I miss the workout, so I'm happy that we're adding Saturdays. Although we'll see tomorrow because I guess we're doing the one called "Pile On". Check out this video Ben did demonstrating this workout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjT1BHoRiVU .. tell me you aren't jealous of me!! LOL.. yeah you know you are.. hooly moses!! brace yourselves girls, this is gonna be a tough one! But we can do it!! BYOI!!

Well, we are off to play poker with some friends.. so if my arms aren't totally killed tomorrow, I'll blog ya later! Hee hee hee

Spread the pain.... I mean Wealth

The first thing we did this morning was planks, but with a change. This time we did 20 second planks the usual way. Then, rotate to one side for 20 seconds and then to the other side for 20 seconds without falling. That is one round. We did that 3 times. Just trying to stay up on my side was the bigger challenge. It was hard!!

Then, we did Spread the Wealth. This is what we did:

Circuit 1
Kettlebell Swings x 10
Push ups x 20
Goblet Squat x 10

Circuit 2
Renegade Rows x 10 each side
Reverse Crunches x 15
Step ups x 15 per side

Complete as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes, then switch circuits and try to get as many rounds in that circuit as you did in the previous circuit.

For the first circuit, we all did it 3 times. The second circuit was much tougher. Hoooooly hell was it tough!! If you're wondering, and I'm sure you are, the renegade rows go like this: you have two dumbells on the floor. You get in the plank position, but with your feet about shoulder width apart. Then, you lift the dumbell up towards your chest, alternating arms. What?! Oh yeah!! whoo! For the reverse crunches you lift your legs (together) and then pull them towards your head, bending as you go (it's easier to imagine if someone demonstrates!!) and you do want your lower back to come off the floor. My challege was the step ups. I don't know why I have such a hard time with those damned things!! I was using a 10lb dumbell in each hand and Erica & Missy were using 15s (Christine missed today because her little one was sick-missed you!). It was funny because Missy was like "not-uh! Use the 15s!" and I said "DUDE!! I can barely get up there with the 10s!" hee hee.. I called her dude.. But I do that to everyone.. chicks, actual dudes. I don't really discriminate. As long as it doesn't bother the person that I call them that, then it's DUDE! Just ask my coworker Jen. The first thing she says to me when I walk in is "DUUUUUUUUDE!!" LOL.. Anyway... I'm getting off track.. so yeah, step ups are hard. Another one of my challenges.

So.. that's about it.. I felt MUCH better today, so that was good. Thanks to everyone that gave me their well wishes. I think it must've worked!!! =) I've avoided the pukey pukeys (so far!)!!

PIN! =0)

Look Ma! I'm on top of the world!! Oh *&$% where'd the floor go??!!

It was cardio day and this time Ben changed things up a little and it was AWESOME!! The stations were: alternating firehose slams (instead of lifting and dropping both arms at once, alternate arms), suicide sprints, jump rope and oh yes, burpees!!

The alternating firehose slams was a hell of a lot harder than the other ones. Holy crap!! But we all banged out great numbers!! My highest was 100. My arms & core are definately feeling that one!!

Suicide sprints are really hard. Like I've said, I'm really not a runner, but I did it!! Ben set my number at 7 and I hit it at least 3 times! Now to beat it!!

You know, as kids we did jump rope all the time. Singing those silly songs and jumpin rope all recess long. What was that one? "Miiss suzy had a steamboat the steamboat had a bell, miss suzy went to heaven the steamboat went to hell-o operator..." Well let me tell you, this was no freakin recess!! It was harder than I thought it would be.

Ok, so you KNEW I was going to talk about my burpees last. I know you knew. S'ok. So Monday, my highest # was 17. I VOWED on Monday that I would get 20. So...... did I make it you ask?!!!!
Nope, not today. But don't cry for me argentina... my highest # today was 19. 19!!!!!! Can you freakin believe it? I can't! Actually, that's not true, I can!! The last time I got 19 I knew that it was getting close. I heard the CD say 10 seconds left and I was at 15 or 16. So I knew I had to push to get 20. So I was like ok.. 20 you can do it.. you can do it.. 17... 18....19 and just as I stood up and started to do another one, Ben yelled "REST!!".. NOOOOOOOOO!!! I needed like 3 more seconds to do just one more... ONE MORE!! But that's ok.. I have my eye on the prize and I WILL get 20! I WILL!!

After I left bootcamp today, I was tired, but happy. By the time I got cleaned up and was at work, the energy boost had hit and I was on cloud nine!! I FELT light! Like I had just lost 10 pounds instantly!! It was really really great!! I wish I could say that it lasted all day and whatnot, but it didn't. By 11 my stomach was doing flip flops and I thought that I was going to toss my cookies. I was able to eat lunch, but by mid-afternoon I really felt like I was going to lose my lunch so I went home. I layed down and semi-napped until about 5:30 and decided that I needed to try to eat something. I did and thank God that has stayed down. I'm feeling MUCH better now. I don't know what that was all about, but it really sucked. My #s got a little messed up for today because of that so I'm not going to post what I ate today. I don't usually go so long between meals, but I was able to have a snack a little while ago, so I still got all my meals in. My calories aren't what they should be for today, but when you're sick you'll have that.

I honestly have to say that I can't wait to see what we're doing tomorrow. Whatever it is, BRING IT ON BEN.. I'm ready!!!! BYOI (Bring Your Own It)!!! LOL

Night!

Dakota's Destiny... kicks my toukas!

Today's workout was called Dakota's Destiny. And yes, it kicked my toukas!! Here is what we did:
Rows
Squat Press
Wood Chops
Step ups
Get up Sit ups
Push ups
Kettlebell Swings
Goblet Squats
Hip Extension (some single leg)
Hill Climbers

Perform each exercise for one minute, there is no rest between exercises. Rest for one minute after completing all exercises. Perform 3 rounds. On the last round, Erica started off the push ups with standard push ups. The other girls followed so when it was my turn to do pushups, I wasn't doing the modified ones!!! Can you tell I'm just a weee bit competitive??!? They are a hell of a lot harder than you think!! I can go down part way, but I have a hard time getting back up! But I did one!! ONE.. Next time we do push ups I'm definately going to do the standard ones. =)

THEN we did Push up Matrix:
3 Push ups
1 Jump Squat
6 Push ups
2 Jump Squats
9 Push ups
3 Jump Squats
12 Push ups
4 Jump Squats
15 Push ups
5 Jump Squats

Complete once in the quickest time you can. Missy and Erica finished in like 1:30, Christine was just under the 2 minute mark and I got like 2:30. Mine wasn't too bad.. obviously need to go a little faster to keep up with the other girls.

So here's what I had to eat today:

Pre w/o: 1 small apple
Post w/o: prograde in 16oz 1% Milk
Lunch: Turkey breast sandwich (2 slices CK wheat bread, 3 teaspoons mustard, 1 c field greens lettuce -very leafy, but I ate it!) & 15 strawberrries in cho-yo
Snack: 1/2 large cuke
Dinner: boneless pork chop, 3 t honey mustard, 1/2 cup peas & 1 small apple with 1 T peanut butter
Calories: 1492, Fat 19%, Carbs 47%, Protein 34%

My numbers are pretty off.... Like I've said, it's a little trickier now that my calories have dropped. Just have to keep plugging away. I do have to say that the apple with peanut butter on it was damned yummy! I've never tried that before.. WOW! That will definately be on my menu in the future! =o)

Night!

Brand new Monday

Cardio day..... only this time, we did 30:60. No 90 second rest, no "active rest", just 60 seconds of rest between stations. Oh-My-GOD!! I never thought that I would miss that extra 30 seconds, but I did!! Holy god did I miss it!! The stations were: the bike, firehose slam, burpees, suicide sprints and a new one, box jumps.

Ben gave us goals to hit and told us to beat 2 in the first 10 rounds. For the firehose slam, he gave me 51 as that was the last # I had hit last week. My highest? 59! Oh yeah!!! And let me tell you, the other girls were no slouches either!! EVERYONE's #'s were in the 60's (well, mine was close!!). Nice going ladies!!

For suicide sprints, my # was 7. I hit it once.. that's the next one to work on. Let me tell ya, running is not my forte, but I'm going to beat that damned number!!

The new one, box jumps was tough. You stand in front of the box (or piled up mats in our case) and with both feet, jump up onto the mats and step down. It's a hell of a lot tougher than you think!! I hit my # of 10 once.

Let's see... is that all of them? Oh I forgot one!! My favey BUUUUURRRPPEEES!!! LOL.. My starting number was 17. I had my eyes on the prize. 20.. gotta get 20.. I hit 17 twice and then got 18!! Who knew?!?! When we first started, I could barely do 12 in 30 seconds. Now I can do 18!!! HELL YEAH!! I haven't hit 20 yet, but let me tell you, it's coming. I can absolutely guarantee that I WILL do 20. Mark my words!

Last night I tried Cauliflower for the first time. Erica had said that she steamed it and mashed it up like potatoes and put some garlic on it. So I steamed them up (trying not to breathe too deeply around them as they stunk like broccoli) and then used some spray butter, onion & garlic powders and mixed and mashed them up. I had exactly 1 forkful. The first one was ok, but when I took another forkfull, I couldn't swallow it. It was so NASTY!! I had to spit it out. Bleeeeeeeccch!! Someone bleached some broccoli and called it cauliflower!! I guess the only thing I can say is that I tried. Sorry Ben, but I tried!!

I think maybe I've pushed through my wall a little. I definately feel better than last week.. just need to keep on keeping on and get er done! Luckily I have a LOT of people supporting me!! =)

Night!

Lisa-fy your fridge!!!!

That's right..... Mike & I went grocery shopping and stocked the fridge but good!! So here are some pics of my fridge so that everyone can Lisa-fy:

So on the top left of the first pic is ham steaks, the foil wrapped things are boneless pork chops and then steaks behind & next to those in the packages at the back. On the bottom you can see some of the veggies we got, peas and carrots. In the bottom picture on the top left is a pork loin, then egg beaters (these are in 2 serving little cups-3 in a package. Conveeeenieeent!!) and my bread. On the bottom is green beans, corn, broccoli and cauliflower.

That's right... Cauliflower!! My veggie to try this week!! I have to admit I'm a little nervous, but Erica gave me a great idea to try. Steam them, then put them in the food processer so they're like mashed potato consistency, add some spices and there you go!

This is the bottom part of the fridge. In the first picture on the left is the chicken breasts that I cooked up tonight. Sometimes I'll put 1/2 a breast in a container, sometimes all of it in one. Then next to that is a ham steak and eggs and better'n eggs egg substitute. In the second picture, the egg substitute again, pizza sauce that I used on my whole wheat pasta and a raw onion (nevermind the miracle whip back there.. that's why it at the back!! So I can ignore it!!). In the third picture is my "bread & butter". All of my veggies and fruits all cut up into portion sizes that I generally use during the week. The last one is my cho-yo, milk, spray butter and apples at the back.

I took this one because I wanted to show that I do use ziplock bags. I used up almost every last piece of plastic ware we have so I stuck my celery in bags. Still works!


This is the side of my fridge. Sorry it's so blurry. Stupid camera.. You can kind of see what I do though. These are the labels I didn't use this time. When I figure out on Fitday what I'm having for the day, I put the containers together and when I take them out of the fridge I stick my labels on the side of the fridge so I can reuse them. The labels are just index cards cut into 4 and taped to the container. Then next to that is the "grocery list" Ben gave us as a guideline and the long thing is a magnetic list. I use that as my grocery list. So when I see that I'm starting to run low I just write whatever I will need on the list!

This is my counter. Fairly self-explanatory. But a good idea to keep stuff like this on the counter so if you get hungry you can just grab something good to snack on instead of the bad stuff.

Today Mike & I took a trip to Barre (before the shopping trip). I was a little nervous because we planned on eating out for lunch. I grabbed a few snacks to take with me and we were off. We got what we needed and headed to the Wayside for lunch. Unfortunately, we could see that the waiting line was very long before we even turned in the parking lot! So we went to Applebee's instead (one of my favorites!!). It was a little hard to figure out what to have, but I settled on the Garlic Herb Chicken. It came with potatoes and a "seasonal vegetable". I figured I'd just have them leave out the potato and double the veggie. Wanna guess what the damned vegetable was?? Oh yeah. Broccoli. Someone somewhere really doesn't like me. LOL.. Oh and the other vegetable was a broccoli and carrot mix. Oy. So I just had them omit the potatoes and got a "house salad" with light italian dressing. The salad came out first and it was covered with cheese, bacon bits and crutons. *sigh* I'm a picky salad eater anyway so I'm actually used to picking a bunch of stuff off of my salads. I'm weird, I know.. my idea of a perfect salad is lettuce and cukes. That's it. So there was also tomatoes in it. I picked off as much of the cheese and bacon bits, begrudgingly pushed the crutons to the side and gave Mike my tomatoes (he loves it when I get salads because he gets extra veggies for his). I love crutons, but why waste carbs on them? Plus I didn't know what else they had on them, like butter. I only used about 1/2 of the dressing they gave me and the salad was pretty good. Then the chicken. It was a pretty large chicken breast and the garlic herb sauce wasn't really a sauce. It was just like a little chopped up garlic in a small amout of oil like substance. I scraped most of it off just to be safe. I still got broccoli so I gave that to Mike and he gave me his carrots (he got the brocolli/carrot veggie combo). I also got a glass of milk (she said it was 1%, guess I have to trust it was... tasted like it). By the time I finished the chicken, carrots and milk I was full. It was really yummy!! It didn't even bother me that Mike got onion rings as an appetizer. So yay to me for being able to eat out. Phew!! I think it all worked out right on Fitday too so I'm glad we went out for lunch. Proves that it can be done!! Oh, I almost forgot, in Mike's veggie combo was zucchini. I'd mistakenly eaten it once when I was a kid because I thought it was a cucumber. I didn't like it then, and I definately don't like it now. Ewwww.

Mike's so funny.. this morning he said... "so what time do you want me to wake you up tomorrow?" I was like "uh, not before 9 or you're in BIG trouble!!". I have one day that I can sleep in and dammit I AM!! LOL... Now if the cats could just understand... so glad we close the bedroom door at night.. =) I think tomorrow is going to be a stay home, watch movies and veg day. Gotta looove Sundays!!!

Later gators.

Slackin!

Hello again blogfans.. You read that right.. because that's what I've been doing this week... Slackin off on my blog. Actually, I've been pretty busy this week.. but I'm back.

So let me sum up.. Wednesday was cardio day again.. And what, oh pray tell, was on the board when I got to BBC? Any guesses? Yes! BUUUURRRPPEEES!!!! This time, I was living up to my goal of 20.. well, I got close anyway.. I got 17.. Again, I needed like 3-5 more seconds to get just one more. Next week... next week.. Speaking of, we start doing 30:60 next week. No more 30:90. I think we're all ready though.

Thursday we started out doing strength circuits with push presses. We started with just the bar that's 45lbs and added. I believe Christine & I ended with 105lbs and Erica ended with 115. Way to go ladies!! Then we moved on to Roll the Dice... This was actually pretty fun since the die picked which of these exercises you were doing:

1's- Push ups x 15
2's- Rows x 15
3's- Get up Sit ups x 15
4's- Weighted Step ups x 15 each leg
5's- Burpees x 15
6's- Squat Press x 15

Want to guess which one I started with?! You guessed it.. Burpees. Oy. So you do 50 jumping jacks to start then roll the dice twice to see which two you're doing. I did my rolls one at a time to keep it interesting. We did this for about 30 minutes. I ended up doing 30 rows, 30 get up sit ups, 15 weighted step ups (well, 15 per leg so 30 really), 15 burpees and 15 squat press and about 150 jumping jacks (maybe 200-but look at me! Who would've thought I could do that many?! It wasn't all at once but still impressive!). After that we did wall sits and planks. I think 4 rounds. Holy quads of fire!

Today I can't even remember all the stuff we did because it was a loong list!! I think Ben called it 32 minutes.. something like that. Some of the ones I remember, lots of kettlebell swings, get up sit ups, push ups, burpees, kettlebell high pull, goblet squats, lunges and the new one was turkish crunches. Whoa (think Joey Lawrence). You get in the standard push up position and then bring your knee up to your opposite arm. I dare anyone to try this because it is not easy! At the end we did planks for 2 minutes!! I think Erica and Tonia were able to stay up the whole time.. good for you!!

I feel like I've kinda hit a wall.. mostly on a personal level. But I have faith that with the help & support of my fellow moosers, Ben and the hubs (and of course everyone reading) I'll be able to push through.

PIN!

Kettlebell hell.. er I mean fun!!

Today was a little different workout. We did the following exercises: Kettlebell Swings, Alternating Reverse Lunges, Kettlebell High Pull,Push ups, Kettlebell Swings, Get up Sit ups, Goblet Squats, & Planks. Do all of these in the following rounds: Round 1: 30 seconds each exercise, Round 2: 45 seconds each exercise, Round 3: 60 seconds each exercise, Round 4: 45 seconds each exercise,Round 5: 30 seconds each exercise. Most of those you've seen before, but Alternating Reverse Lunges are just what they sound like. Instead of stepping forward in a normal lunge, you step back and get your back knee as close to the floor as you can. Not an easy task!! The other new one was Get Up Sit Ups. This is like a regular sit up except that you put your arms up in front of you pointing towards the ceiling. Then you do a sit up and try to get your torso up as high as you can (up to your knees if you can). At first I couldn't get all the way up, but by the end I had gotten there!

After that was push up ladders. Ben said they're our favorite.. umm.. yeah! NOT!! LOL! I call those killer push ups.. by the end, your arms are BURRNING!!!

Food is going pretty well for me. It's a little trickier since Ben lowered my calories (who knew 58 calories would make such a difference!). I've been hitting them, but I've noticed the change in the amount of food I can eat. Seems like I'm eating much less than I was before.. But I'm still not ever hungry (except for right now because it's supper time!).. I'm sure I'll be able to adapt soon.

So here's what I ate today:

• pre-workout: banana
• post-workout: prograde in 8oz 1% milk
• lunch: 1 medium chicken breast, 3 teaspoons honey mustard for dipping, 2/3 c green beans, 1 cup cantaloupe
• snack: 1 medium apple
• dinner: 1 5oz hamburger (grilled on our gas grill- boy is Mike happy to be back to using that!!) on 2 slices CK wheat bread, 3 teaspoons mustard, 1oz diced onion, 2/3 cup cooked carrots (from frozen) and 8oz glass of 1% milk

Well, I guess I've run out of things to say for today.. cardio day tomorrow!! I think maybe Tonia will be joining us and Missy won't as she's on a business trip for a few days. I know I will definately miss her!! (I'm sure the other girls will too!!) She keeps us all in stiches!!

PIN!

I am woman! Hear me roar!!!

It was cardio day again in Mooserville. Tonia joined us for this one, and from the sounds of her blog, enjoyed herself thoroughly (LOL).

So this time we had 5 stations: bike, firehose slam, suicide sprints, burpees and high knees. Again, Ben gave us goals and told us we had to beat 2 in the first 10 rounds (same as before 30:90 active rest). My good ol buddy, burpees. Again, my number this time was 15. The first two times I got 15 exactly. And again, I was like 3 seconds away from beating that #. I was DETERMINED and I mean DE-TER-MINED to beat that frickin #. Finally, the third time I did the burpees I got 16. 16!!!!! HELLL YEAAAH!!! The last turn at them I got 14, but I'm glad that I finally beat 15! I knew I could do it and I did!! Whooo!! SO proud of myself!! So next time, I'm getting frickin 18!! Actually, you know what?! I'm going for 20! I'm going to CRUSH that puny 15!

By the time we were done our 20 rounds, my lungs were on fire!! Those suicide sprints and firehose slams are KILLER!

I'm so lucky that my in-laws live 2 minutes from work and are generous enough to let me come to their house and shower! They are awesome!! I'm now working 9-5 and trying to go from BBC in Derby to my house in Newport then back to Derby Line in an hour is pretty crazy!! So now I'm able to go to their house, get ready for work and NOT be late!! Yippee!!! Thanks so much you guys!! =)

My co-workers and I were talking today and one asked what I was going to eat after this is all over. I was like, I'm never going back!! What would be the point? You know? If I was just going to go back to eating all that crap, why am I doing this Biggest Mooser thing? That would be stupid!! And, why go back to all my medical problems, feeling bad about myself and not getting to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams of having children? There's no point in it. This is my life now. This is my healthy, HAPPY life! A lot of people have told me that I am much much happier now. My father-in-law said that I have a glow about me. I've noticed it too. I have SO much more energy and I just feel so good all the time that I can't help but smile!!

Mike and I went for a walk after I got out of work today. A 3 mile walk!!! It felt great!! On our route there are a couple hills that I usually get winded on (one is by Kingdom Racket & Fitness in Newport) and I didn't get winded!! I was SO proud of myself!!! And so was Mike!! As we got closer to the top of that hill (it's really not that steep) I could hear the Rocky song playing in my head..... "Feelin strong now..." I couldn't help it, I put my hands up and was like.. "HELL YEAH!!" Mike looked at me weird and said, "what?". "Dude, I just walked up that hill and didn't get winded. I ALWAYS got winded on that hill!" He was SO proud of the changes that I've made. He's starting to notice them too. =) The only thing is, I wore my work shoes and they really aren't that great for walking in. So I have a HUGE blister on my left foot. Hopefully this won't affect tomorrow's workout. I'm going to tape a gauze pad to it for extra cushion. Hopefully Ben doesn't yell at me.. lol..

Here's what I ate today:

• Pre-workout: banana
• Post-workout: 2 scoops (1 svg) Prograde in 16oz 1% milk
• Lunch: 2 servings Hatfield 98% fat free ham steak on 2 slices CK wheat bread, 1 c romaine lettuce & 3 t French's Honey Mustard, 4 medium celery stalks cut up
• Snack: Cho Yo peach, 1/2 medium cuke
• Dinner: 5oz boneless pork chop, 2 t French's Honey Mustard for dipping, 1/2 c corn, 4 medium celery sticks cut up
• Calories 1619, Fat 16%, Protein 40%, Carbs 44%, dietary fiber 27.2 grams
  

Oh, almost forgot to mention. Me & broccoli? That's a no-go. I tried, I really really did, but I seriously nearly tossed my cookies trying to get that nasty stuff down.. I only ate like maybe 4 pieces of it and gave the rest to Mike (who couldn't help but laugh-but he wasn't being mean about it.. so no hate mail!!). My friend Mona posted a recipe for me to try.. I don't know.. maybe I'll give it a try, but for now.. no broccoli for this girl.

Night y'all.

A Saturday workout??

Oooh yeah!!! But first let me start with yesterday.

Friday we did Fitness Score (Missy had to miss it because of a family emergency. We missed her VERY much!! It was pretty quiet without her to make us all giggle!!). Do the max number of reps of push ups without stopping and write that # down. Then rest for about 30-45 seconds and do the max number of reps for rows/pull ups. Erica and Tonia did the pull ups, I did rows. I didn't try to do pull ups.. but I will soon!! Anyway, you do this three times (three for each exercise) and write down how many reps you did. The first time we did this like 3 weeks ago, I got 18 total push ups. This time, I did 67!!!! What what?!! Oh yeah! Just keep in mind that these are the modified push ups, but damn!! I ROCKED it!! LOL.. So THEN we did Tabata Squats. It's like a regular squat, but you get down low enough for your butt to touch a milk crate. We did 8 rounds of 20 seconds each with 5 seconds rest in between. OH MY ACHING ASS!! Actually, it's more like OH MY ACHIN QUADS!!! I needed the firehose because after the 8 rounds my quads were on FIIIRE!!! You keep track in your head of how many reps you did for each round and use the lowest number of all 8 rounds. So if you started out cookin like me and did 13, but then in the 3rd round did 7 then you would use 7. If you do lower than that in any of the other rounds you use that #. So if i had slowed down in the last round and only gotten 6 (I didn't!) That was the # I would've had to use. So you take your total # for push ups + total # of rows/pull ups and divide by your Tabata Squats. That is your fitness score. Mine was (I think) 931. I think we'll do that again in like 3 more weeks to see how we've progressed.

I wasn't going to, but I did give in to temptation and weighed myself yesterday morning. The verdict? I've lost 13 pounds!!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!! While I will admit that I was expecting a little higher number, I'm very happy!! Don't worry, Ben gave me the hairy eyeball for weighing myself early! LOL.


We weren't done there, then we did this:

10 Kettlebell swings
1 Burpee
9 swings
2 Burpees
8 swings
3 Burpees
7 Swings
4 Burpees
6 Swings
5 Burpees
5 Swings
6 Burpees
4 Swings
7 Burpees
3 Swings
8 Burpees
2 Swings
9 Burpees
1 Swing
10 Burpees

Complete in the quickest time you can. Hoooly hell!! Ben told us that the best time he's had was around 6 minutes. Erica got around 5 1/2 minutes (Tonia too I think! You go girls!) and Christine and I finished in 6:46. Hell yeah!! Punch it Margaret!!

Friday was a tough day for me. It was one of my coworkers last day AND we had a pot luck at work. There were brownies, chocolate covered peanut butter balls (some call them bullseyes).. mac & cheese, sweet & sour hot dogs (just to name a few).. oh yeah.. and I had to sit there and smell all this good stuff cooking in the kitchen ALL DAY!! It SUUUCKKKED!!! BUT, you'll be glad to know that I did not let temptation get the best of me and ate NONE of it!!! NONE!! I got my food that I had brought from home and ate that. While they were having brownies and cake I had my Ben's Brownie Batter with banana. YUUM!!! I just kept telling myself, "You don't need that crap. Look how good you're doing!" And, I thought of all the people that have told me how good I'm looking. Why sabotage it for 30 minutes of pleasure? Plus, I've ALWAYS been an emotional eater and it was definately an emotional day! But I resisted!

So here's what I ate yesterday:

• Pre-workout: 1 medium apple
• Post-workout: 3/4 c Better'n Eggs scrambled, 1 slice Country Kitchen whole wheat bread with about 5 sprays of I can't believe it's not butter spray
• Lunch: 5oz boneless pork chop, 16oz 1% Milk, Brownie Batter (2 scoops Prograde, 1 tablespoon penut butter & water) w/banana cut into it (ate about 1/2)
• Snack: other 1/2 of Brownie Batter, 1 cup cantaloupe
• Dinner: 1 medium chicken breast , 3 teaspoons French's Honey Mustard for dipping & 1 medium cuke
• Calories 1608, Fat 19%, Protein 47%, Carbs 34% DF (dietary fiber) 21.2 grams

So today was supposed to be our Metabolism Makeover class. But Ben decided yesterday after our workout that we should come before MM and do a workout. Since we missed Monday, we all thought it was a grrrrreaat idea!!! LOL.. actually we did. And, it gave Missy a chance to do another workout for the week since she missed all the fun yesterday. So today we did another version of the day we did Something's Missing (see Ben's blog for a look back). Except we did this:

A) Kettlebell high pull & hip lifts

B) Goblet squats & push press

C) Step ups & planks

D) Kettlebell swings & push ups

So again, do the first one for 1 minute, 5 second transition and to the other exercise for 1 minute. Do each one 3 times, then 1 minute rest in between. 2 girls from the class that's starting next week came a week early... must be they wanted to get a jump start! I bet they'll be sorry tomorrooow!! Hee hee hee!! That's ok.. now you kinda know what to expect right girls?! AFTER the workout we did the MM which was good. We talked about how the week went for all of us (seems like Friday the 13th keeps it's rep!)... and yadda yadda yadda.. we laughed... A LOT!! I nearly had water come out my nose... good times.. good times!

This is actually the first weekend where Mike & I are not going anywhere. Feels kind of nice not to be rushing all over!! We're going to the movies tonight to see Watchmen so that should be fun. No popcorn & soda for me!! I wonder if they'll know if I sneak in some celery sticks?! Everyone else will be crunching their popcorn, so who's to know? Mums the word right?! LOL.. I think tomorrow we're planning on a movie day. We do this every so often. We get up whenever, stay in our pj's all day and watch movies!!! It's great. I got some great deals on meat at DVS today so we're all set for meals. For anyone that doesn't know, Mike and I are huge movie buffs. We love 'em and we have HUGE collection!! =) We will regularly have a stack of movies on top of the entertainment center that we haven't seen yet. We are expert bargain hunters!!

Here is the meal plan for today:

• Pre-workout: 1 cup cantaloupe
• Post-workout: 1 CK (country kitchen) toast w/1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1/2 cup cantaloupe
• Lunch: 5 oz hamburger patty on 2 slice CK w/3 teaspoons mustard & 1 teaspoon grey poupon, 1 banana, 1 1/2 c watermelon & 1 svg prograde (2 scoops) in 8oz 1% milk
• Snack: 8 medium celery stalks & 1 medium cuke
• Dinner: 1 medium chicken breast w/2 teaspoons honey mustard for dipping, 1 1/3 c green beans, 1 c broccoli
• Calories 1615, Fat 23%, Protein 38%, Carbs 39%, DF 34.6 grams

Yep, I'm trying broccoli. I think I'm going to try sprinkling some seasoning on them after I steam them and maybe some butter spray. I'm a little nervous as I've NEVER liked broccoli. At least my fiber is way up for the day. Oh, and Ben had me reduce my calories a little because I've lot a good amount of weight and I've been hitting my #s every single day. That makes things just a little trickier. I used to have sort of a cushion. I'd get very close (damned near right on some days) to my calories & other #s and know I was good for the day, but now I can only have 1620 calories so not going over is a little trickier now. Don't fret though... I'll work it!! Until tomorrow blogfans!! (I'll give you a quick rundown of the movies we've watched when we take a break for lunch!) TTFN!

Cardio madness!!

There were 4 stations again today, the bike, burpees (Oh how I still hate thee!! LOL. Just kidding Ben!!) firehose slam and suicide sprints. Ben gave us goals to hit and told us to beat them ALL!! It was ca-raaayzyyy!

My goal for the burpees was 15. I got close most of the time, but I just couldn't seem to beat it. That was kinda frustrating for me because I wanted to beat it SO bad. It's no secret that I really am not a big fan of the burpees, so I wanted to finally do good at them! The last 3 or 4 times that I did the burpees I took my glasses off because they were just bouncing on my face which was a little distracting. Of course, I am completely blind without them. I can SEE stuff, but everything beyond about 6 inches from my face is blurry. Anything beyond that is a big blurry blob. So anyway, I felt like I was going really fast and I pushed myself hard to keep going and go fast. But I could only get 15. So I hit the goal, but I wanted to BEAT it!!! Ugh! It seemed like everytime that the CD man said 10 seconds left I was at like 10 or 11. So I would really push it and right when he said rest I stood up for #15. 3-5 more seconds and I would've had 16!! GRRRR!! I'll have to ask Ben how I can get faster at those. So next time we do those (which I'm sure is soon!) I'm going to beat that damned 15!!!

So the new tourture... er.. exercise (LOL) today was suicide sprints. Anyone who's done sports knows exactly what these are!! For those who didn't/don't do sports, these are when you run from one end of the room to the other, reach down and touch the floor and run to the other end and touch the floor. Do this as many times as you can in 30 seconds. These were very hard. I felt like my lungs were going to explode!! I've never been much of a runner, but I did fairly well.

I tried Ben's brownie batter recipe today. YUM!! Who's a fan of the "batter"? This girl is!!! Although I just looked at the recipe again and it was only 1 scoop of the Prograde and I used 2. It was a little thick, but I kept putting water in it until it was a little soupy. It was SO good! I didn't have any strawberries (don't worry Ben, it's on my grocery list on the side of the fridge!!) but I think when I get some I'll make it again and cut some up into it.. I'm imagining it'll be a little like chocolate covered strawberries!! YUMMO!!! Who doesn't love that?? I had it at work and you should've seen the girls in my office!!!! They were right on me, like "are you supposed to be eating that?" "What is that?" "I don't think THAT'S on your diet!". Relax people!! It's all good!!! Ha ha ha!! I let them all try a taste and most seemed to think it was really good. I told them what was in it and they were like "really?!?!" YEP!! Deeelish and Ben approved!!! Oh brownie batter, where have you been all my life?!

Tomorrow is Friday.. wheew! Another week done!! I'm really trying to not weigh myself until next week as that will make a month, but I'm thinking that maybe I'll give in and weigh myself tomorrow. It's a little early, but I've waited long enough I think!! Time to satisfy everyone's curiosity.. especially my own!!

Well, that's it for now... Here's what I ate today:

• Pre work out : Banana
• Post work out: 3/4 c Better'n Eggs egg substitute, 1 slice Country Kitchen whole wheat bread w/about 4 sprays of I can't believe it's not butter spray
• Lunch: 1/2 can tuna mixed with mustard and just a litte spicy brown mustard on 2 slices Country Kitchen wheat bread with a little extra mustard, 1/3 of a medium celery stick cut ontop of the tuna, 8oz 1% Milk, Ben's Brownie Batter (2 scoops Prograde protein powder, 2 tablespoons peanut butter & added water until a good consistency) and 1 cup cantaloupe. I couldn't finish all of the Brownie Batter so I put what was left aside.
• Snack: The rest of the Brownie Batter & 1 medium cucumber
• Supper: 2 servings ham steak (1/2 an 8oz ham steak), 3 teaspoons French's Honey Mustard for dipping and the rest of the 4 medium stalks of celery.

Oh yeah, I forgot the tuna.. Everyone knows I'm not a huge fish fan. I'm not a fan at all actually, but I was able to eat the tuna as a sandwich. It was a little more tolerable anyway. Ok, now I'm really done.. until tomorrow when Tonia joins us again (yipee!! =oP ). TTFN! PIN!

Forgot my food too

Today's food (people have asked what I eat so here's a list of what I ate today- still trying to figure this blogging thing out.. I hope to have it listed on the side of the blog for the day.. somehow!)

Pre-workout: 1 medium banana

Post-workout: 3 servings (3/4 cup) Better'n Eggs Egg substitute, 2 slices Country Kitchen 100% whole wheat bread toasted with 1 tablespoon penut butter (split between the two slices)

Lunch: 1/2 Mckenzie Boneless Ham Steak, 3 teaspoons French's Honey Mustard (for dipping), salad: 1 cup Romaine hearts lettuce, 1/2 medium cuke, 2 medium celery stalks cut up and 2 tablespoons (1 serving) Wishbone Zesty Italian dressing, then 2 scoops (1 serving) Prograde lean chocolate protein shake in 16oz 1% Milk

Snack: Cho Yo peach yogurt mixed with 10 cut up strawberries & 1 medium cuke

Supper: 1/2 large chicken breast, 3 teaspoons French's Honey Mustard (for dipping) and 2 medium celery

Calories 1663 (I'm allowed 1678), Fat 19%, Carbs 43%, Protein 39% and 27.1 grams dietary fiber

Well I HAVE to get to bed or it won't take much for Ben to kick my butt in the morning!! =)

A workout with no name

Tonia joined us for our workout this morning, and she rocked it along with the rest of us!! You go girl!!

Our workout this morning was something like 4 Minute Madness except it was 6 minutes!! There were 4 stations with 2 exercises at each station. We did each set of exercises 3 times, then rested for 1 minute. The stations were: A) Kettlebell Deadlift, Push Press B) Rows, Goblet Squats C) Step ups, Wood Chops D) Wall Sits, Kettlebell Swings. The other 3 girls were at a station by themselves, but Christine and I were together on this one. Everything was tough, but Christine and I finished on the wall sits and kettlebell swings. My thighs were BURRNIING by the time we were done. At one point Ben came over and put the timer in front of me so I could see how long we had left. A couple times I pounded my hands on the wall, begging for the time to be called. I honestly don't know how those people on the Biggest Loser last night did it for 4 minutes straight! They are my heros!! Oh, but before all this we alternated between planks and superwomans while Ben figured out our tourture for the day (LOL). It was a tough workout and I don't mind saying that I was sweating... uh glistening... like a pig by the end of it!!

I see on the Biggest Mooser blog that Ben has posted his recipe for "Brownie Batter". Let me tell you, I can't wait to try that one because it sounds SOOO yummy!! I haven't actually tried any new foods this week. It's been kinda crazy this week actually. Work is very busy and we always seem to be doing something the rest of the time. But I plan on trying a recipe a friend gave me for roasted cauliflower (Thanks Mona!!) very soon.

Well, sorry this is a short one, but I got home late from Bowling tonight (don't ask about my scores!! ooooh so bad!) so I have to dash off to bed. P.I.N! (ask Missy what that is!! LOL)

Back to the Grind

It was business as usual today at bootcamp. Cardio day. And Ben did not disappoint!! We did 30:90 (active rest of high knees) then 30:60 for 20 rounds total. So we did each station 5 times for those that didn't want to do the math.. LOL.. The stations were see saw band rows, firehose slam, burpees (oh how i missed thee! NOT!) and the bike. All of this would've been a little easier if dough-head me had remembered my sneakers!! Trying to pedal that bike in stocking feet really sucked!! Believe me when I say I have put my sneakers by the door so I don't forget them again!! Ben gave us all rep goals to hit and told us to beat them. We all did really great at this. Of course as we did more rounds it got tougher to beat the goals. On the last two rounds, Ben told us that we had to beat one of these two or we would have to do two more rounds. CRANK IT!!!! And we did!! Of course I had the bike the first one so I couldn't help the girls out, but the last one was burpees. I looked at my number on the board. 15. "Ok, I haven't hit it yet, but I've gotten close. This time I'm beating it." I was SOO close!! Like 5 more seconds and I would've had 16!!! But at least I made it to 15 for the first time today. So go me!! Luckily the other girls beat their #s too so we didn't have to do 2 more rounds. However, the fun was not over yet!! We did 1 minute intervals of planks and supermans.. er.. womans. Lol.

After we were done, it was time for Ben to come to my house for my kitchen makeover. It was very informative! I've already been cutting up my fruits & veggies and putting them in tupperware (I tape labels to them) in my fridge. So I'll put 1 cup of cantaloupe in one container. Another one will have 10 medium strawberries, etc. Ben seemed fairly impressed with my system. Whenever I take a container out that I'm going to use for the day I take the label off and stick it to the side of my fridge. Then when I cut up some more stuff I can just grab one of my labels. Works pretty well. My cupboards weren't too bad. I just need to move the supportive foods to the front and make sure all the unsupportive stuff is at the back out of view. It was funny because Ben said: "I like how you have the chips and cookies at the back of this bottom shelf." I was like: "we have cookies?!" Mike's going to have to hide them!! I don't want to see them! Another tip is to have some fruit out on the counter so that if you get hungry that's the first thing you see and probably the first thing you'll grab. Also, keep your shopping list on the side of your fridge so that when you see you're running out of something it's right there and you can write it down for the next time you go to the store. Keep your freezer stocked with protein sources. You can buy the big packages and then repackage them into single servings. Then when you want to take something out for supper or the night before you can take that single serving out and let it thaw to use. Ok and one last one, buy different sized ziploc bags for storing your stuff or when you need to take things on the go. All very good tips that I will definately use!!

Ben gave me my reward for Missy & I winning (he mistakenly put Erica in the blog) the sprints on the day we did Fight...Gone Bad. Prograde Lean CHOCOLATE protein shake. And let me tell you, it really wasn't that bad!! I tried it with water first and then later with milk. It was a little better with milk. It kind of tasted like chocolate milk, but had a little different taste. Not a bad taste though.

My left knee is a little sore tonight. I put some Mineral Ice on it, but I think I'm going to ice it for a little while. This is the knee that I injured last year at bowling. I had (stupidly) gone to the bathroom wearing my bowling shoes and went right up to bowl after. My foot didn't slide at all and I fell forward, right on my knee!! I was unable to bowl for 2 weeks and did physical therapy to get it better. Now it only acts up occasionally. Hopefully this won't affect my workout tomorrow. It should be ok.

Until tomorrow!! =) Now to see who goes home on the Biggest Loser... Hopefully Mike made it and they hit the 77 lbs to keep everyone safe from elimination. But I doubt it since they continued it from last week (damn them!!!). =)

Keep on truckin!

Hello again Blogfans... I'm sure you're looking for a listing of the crazy workout that we did this morning, but Ben has caught the bug that's going around and was sick this morning. So no workout today. Bummer! Hope you feel better soon Ben!!

So today I'm just going to "keep on truckin" and just keep up with my food. I do have to admit that I miss the energy boost that I get from the workouts. Last night we stopped in to see my sister-in-law, her husband and our two adorable nieces (love you Allie & Beth!). After we left I was pumped. Mike (my husband) was like, "man you are wound!!". Yep, playing with my neices gave me another energy boost. At least I finally HAVE the energy to play with them! I can't believe how much better I feel and how much energy I have. It's crazy. But it's SOOO great!! Allie (the 4 year old) and I get into a tickle fights all the time which generally involves running after each other. I used to only be able to do that for a few minutes before I got worn out and had to sit down. Now I feel like I could run after her for hours!! I can't wait for all this snow to melt so we can run around outside!! I can't believe I'm even saying that! It's something that I've always wanted, but couldn't do until now. So thanks Ben! (and Moo92!)

I'm also already feeling the results of this journey body wise. My clothes are becoming quite baggy. I'm enjoying putting on shirts I haven't work in years and having them fit. SO cool!! Who knew?! All the people that have been following and supporting me in this, that's who!! I never knew I had so many people that cared and would support me. Well, maybe I just didn't open my eyes! So thank you again to everyone that's supporting me in this.

So stay tuned.. hopefully Ben will be feeling better tomorrow and the work will continue. TTFN!

A relaxing Sunday before the work continues!

Aaaah I do love a relaxing Sunday. What's more fun than hanging out with my awesome parents and my husband? Absolutely nothing!!

The day started late because of the time change, but I started out with 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites scrambled and a banana for breakfast. I didn't bring my Better'n Eggs egg substitute so I worked with what my parents have here. Looks like we'll have a late lunch, but we're having chicken breasts, salad & corn. YUM!! See, you can be away from home and make good choices. It's a little more tricky, but it definately can be done! I know I keep saying that over and over, but I think it's an important thing. I used to be one of those people that used that as an excuse to eat poorly. "Oh well, this is what they're making. Guess that's what I'll have to have!" No. Ask to have butter on the side. Suggest a healthier way to cook something. As an example, my mom makes really AWESOME pork chops!! She puts a few rings of onion on them, then a spoon of brown sugar, a teaspoon of honey on top (or you can use lemon juice like I did) and ketchup. Bake @ 350 for 20 minutes covered with foil. Then 20 more uncovered. Oh they are SOOO good!! Now obviously I can't have the brown sugar or the ketchup (all it is is tomatoes & sugar!)so my mom just used the other stuff and they were still just as yummy!! With the chicken breasts today I think my mom will probably bake them, which is good. Love them that way. But I may show her the flattened one I've suggested in previous posts since she has a Foreman Grill too. I love that show Project Runway, and what does Tim ALWAYS tell the contestants? "Make it work!" . Right on Tim, right on!

Me Vs. Oatmeal Round 2!!

Yesterday was a tough yet fun day in Mooserville. Our first stop was at Mooserville Headquarters, Moo92. All five of us, plus Ben, gave a short interview about how it's been going so far. It was fun!! I talked about my first experience with oatmeal. Pretty funny!! Ben recorded it so stay tuned to his blog or Moo's website as I'm sure they'll post it at some point!

Then it was off to BBC (as Missy the abreviation queen calls it!! ha ha ha) for our workout. We did Engine 8. 8 stations, do each one for 1 minute no rest between. 2 of the stations were 1 minute rests and believe me I was counting down to when I could get to those stations (descriptions are on Ben's Blog). We went through the whole list 3 times. I felt like I was going SO slow! It seemed like I was only doing a few reps. I know I was doing more than I think, but it didn't feel like it at the time. I also know I'm my own worst critic so I'm sure Ben will say I did fine. I will say that I did a hell of a lot more pushups than when we first started!! I think I did like 15-18 every time around so that's a minimum of 45 pushups!!! What did I say in my first blog? I did like 18 in a minute & a half with 30 second rests in between.. Hell yeah! Like I told the girls at work, I'm gonna have "guns" before we're done!! Get ready for the gun show!! LOL

But the fun didn't stop there!! After that we alternated between wall sits and farmers carries. Ooooh my quads were BURNING!!! And then the fun continued as Ben had us pull him across the room & back. We each had to go twice, and the final time for Missy & Erica (Christine had to sit out because of her knee - but we know she'll be back to full strength soon!! =)) Ben decided that he was going to sit on the floor and have them pull him. It was HILAROUS!!! The video is even better!! OMG!! Ass on fire!! Too funny!!

So I'm sure you're wondering by now about the title of this blog.. well, it's true. I tried oatmeal again. Only this time, I took 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce, flavored it with cinnamon & nutmeg (I just sprinkled some in, mixed it up, tasted and added some more until it tasted right. Then I heated some water (about a cup), put the oatmeal in the applesauce and added the water. I think the cup of water was too much. I'll probably do about 1/2 cup next time as mine was a bit too soupy. But, (drum roll please) it was actually not bad at all. It almost (ALMOST!!) tasted like apple crisp. I think that one will definately be in my diet at least once a week. So yay to me for being stubborn & determined!! LOL.. But it's like I've been saying, just keep trying new stuff, you may actually end up liking it!! Experiment with spices (as long as they don't have salt added) and make it work for you!!

Today I'm with my parents relaxing and watching movies. I made sure to bring some fruits, veggies and (yes it's true!) a chobani yogurt with me. It's definately a little trickier away from home, but no worries!! I'm still right on track!!

Peace in the Northeast!! (stole that one from Missy too!! That girl keeps me in stiches!!)

A whole new respect for Firemen! (and women!)

You guessed it, it was cardio day in Mooserville! The stations were: my old buddy the bike (we've reconcilled, you'll be glad to know), step ups, firehose slap and a new one, band pulls. I was actually glad to see the firehose out again. That one was quite the workout and it seemed pretty fun (you HAVE to watch the video from last time!! I just about DIED laughing!! Erica and Missy were CRANKIN!!!!! You go girls!!). What the hell was I thinking?!? Holy mother of pearl!! Ben gave us goals and we had to really push to meet them. It was rough! Let me tell you, my whole body is feeling that one!! Especially from the band pulls. This was a couple of resistance bands anchored to the hanging bar. Then you have to step back and kneel down on one knee. Then pull pull pull!! You're supposed to get your arms all the way back, but wow was that hard. I think the hardest one for me is the step ups. I just can't seem to do that many!! It's frustrating, but I did hit my number once. That made me feel good!

Food was a little better today. No oatmeal thank god. But I am struggling to finish the tuna I had started to eat earlier. I mixed it with regular mustard and a little spicy brown mustard and it's not too bad, but to eat a whole can of it is not easy. It was funny this morning because I had Better'n Eggs egg substitute and the first time I tried it a few days ago I was like, ooh... I had forgotten how these tasted. But today I had them and they were yummy! I don't know what the difference was between today and the other day, but whatever it is I hope it doesn't change! That wasn't really a hard one for me, I grew up on Egg Beaters because my mom has had a probelm with her cholesterol for as long as I can remember. So she made omletes and scrambled eggs with them for us all the time! I remember she even used to microwave them.. Now that's a different taste!! Oh, and the peach Chobani yogurt is GOOD!!! Like, I didn't even need to mix it with fruit good!! The hard thing now is to try to eat broccoli, cauliflower & spinach.. but I'm going to figure out some way to do it!! Receipes welcome!! =)

Tune into Moo92 tomorrow (or log onto Moo92.com and they stream live) as the girls and I will be on there talking about our experience so far! We'll be on around 6:45am (squeezing it in before our workout).

Peace!

Toboggin?? Tabata?? What the?

Today we did Tabata. Holy shamolies!!!! Actually, first we started with dead lifts. We started with the bar which weighs 45lbs by itself. We did 8 reps, then added weight. By the time we were done Christine and I lifted 85lbs!! Woo! Looking forward to the day when that's a really impressive number. But I'm happy with that as a start. Erica and Missy were paired and they ended up lifting 95lbs!! Go girls!!

Again, a listing of the exact exercises are on the Biggest Mooser Blog. Let me tell you, I was sweating like it was raining on me!! And once we were done Tabata, we were not done for the day!! Then we did planks and supermans!! Planks are just getting in the standard push up position (no they are not called "Mens" pushups!), hips down, stomach & butt in. Hold for 30 seconds. A variant to this is to be down on your elbows & forearms. Believe me, this is no easier!! Then a rest and supermans for 30 seconds. You pull your torso up, arms straight out or out to the side (not behind you!) and pull your thighs up off the floor and hold. Let me tell ya my arms and abs are sore!! Whoo!

I have gotten a few emails in the past few days that have been so inspiring!! Thank you so much to those people! And for everyone that reads this blog and is following along. I appreciate your support more than you can possibly know! Here's a couple exerpts from the emails I've gotten (hope the people who sent them don't mind!!):

"Well, I have been following you on Moo92 and I like your attitude...you are so positive...and I need some motivation..... keep up the good work..you are motivating others out there...take my word for it....I like your attitude, it is honest, your comments are humorous and your positive approach makes me want to do this too."

This was from another friend:
"Hi Lisa!I have just read your blog, and seen some of the biggest mooser pics, and I can't tell you how proud i am of you! I think you are really doing a good job, and your attitude about it is really giving me inspiration! The try things, you don't know what you'll like, and the not give up - it's really great & motivating to read! Also, thanks for the Chicken on the George Foreman recipe! I love my george foreman, but til now, have never tried Chicken on it! Any more ideas? And the recipe for the Salsa meatloaf?!Anyway - just wanted to say keep up the good work - I think you're doing great, and your story is so inspiring -- I've been overweight my whole life, and if what you say is true, and anyone can do it -- I want to be one of them!"

It feels so good to get these!!

I did kind of have a bit of a rough day with food today though. I have to admit that I am not the first one to sit down to a bowl of oatmeal, but Ben suggested that I add it to my diet to get more fiber. I was thinking, ok, well I haven't tried it since I was a kid, so what the hay... WHOOOAAA NELLY!!! I did manage to choke down about 1 packet worth, but that was all I could do. I literally was fighting the urge to gag and have it all come back up. I was fairly disappointed at myself as I looked at the sign I posted over my desk "Suck it up and DO IT! No whining! No Excuses!".. The only thing I can say is that I gave it an honest effort. But I'm not totally giving up on it yet. I'm thinking that maybe if I mix it with unsweetened applesauce that it might be ok. This was just plain oatmeal that I made with milk. Bleeeeeeeehhh!! Ben had suggested fruit, but I'm thinking I may need more than just some cut up strawberries in there. Ben has a receipe that he calls brownie batter (no not REAL brownie batter sillies!!) that I'll have to get from him.

So for now, I am lifting my chin and preparing for a good night's rest before tomorrow's cardio day.

To quote one of my favorite songs: " Well tomorrow's another day, and I'm thirsty anyway, so bring on the rain. Well tomorrow's another day and I am not afraid, so bring on the rain."

Which way did she go George? Which way did she go?

I haven't written in a couple days and I feel a little bad about that. I was going to write last night about Sunday and yesterday but I just pooped out and didn't want to. But I'm here now!! =)

Sunday we played poker again (yeah, we love it!!) and again I packed all my essentials. It worked out great. Especially since I got knocked out fairly early and came home (nope not talking about it!!!!). That's about all that went on Sunday.

Monday we were right back at it and Ben kicked our butts yet again! This time we did Four Minute Madness. Missy and I were partners and Erica and Christine were partners. So he gave us 2 exercises and we had to do 12 reps of one then switch to the other exercise. You keep doing this for 4 minutes. This seriously kicked our butts! Again, there's pictures and video of everything on the Biggest Moosers blog. I'd like to say that the workouts are getting easier, but that's just not true!! Ben challenges us each and every day. That's what makes this whole thing so awesome. I have never been pushed so hard in my life!! He gives us goals and makes us break them.

Today was no different. It was another cardio day at bootcamp! Unfortunately, Christine couldn't join us because her little one was sick. =( (Hope you feel better Liberty!) We had 3 stations today instead of the 4 that we've been doing, so we did more "rounds" than before. Hoooly crap!!!!!! The stations were the bike (my old foe!), step ups and firehose slap (not what Ben will call it, but that's pretty much what we did with it!). The firehose slap was he had a firehose (just the outside thing I guess) tied to a kettlebell as an anchor. You grab the ends, wide feet stance, and then bring the ends between your legs, swing up and slap the firehose on the ground. Ben gave us goals for the step ups and firehose thing and we all kicked some butt!! Missy and Erica each did 40 firehose slaps by the end!! Then they were like, "ok Lisa, you get 40!" I was like... uh.... ok (I'd done 26 before that!). So on my last turn on the hose I turned it out and got 32 (I think!). Let me tell you, that firehose thing is NOT easy!! You're working your WHOLE body for that one!!

Well, I gotta get ready for work.. until tomorrow!!!