Week 12: The Year of Change - Post Spring Break

            I can’t believe that it’s only been 12 weeks on this journey so far.  It feels like so much longer.  Spring Break was great!  The girls and I had a great time!  They loved spending time with their Poppy and Nana and our side trip to Disney was a blast!  Well, I promised that I’d share the good bad and ugly with you, so here is a summary of what we ate at Disney. 

We always have to get our Dole Whips!!

Lunch at our Resort. 

Don't worry, I shared this croissant donut!

The girls' salad.  They weren't interested, but I was.

Pizza at Via Napoli's in Italy at Epcot.

Dessert - Tiramisu.

Cupcakes for dessert on our last day at Magic Kingdom (Be Our Guest for lunch).

Turkey sandwich at Be Our Guest.  It was yummy!

We brought a few souveniours back with us.  They're gone now.      
   

This was our "we don't want to leave Disney" faces.

Winnie the Pooh!

Mommy actually rode the Carousel too!

This trip was magical, as always.  We got to ride this car up and down Main Street.

I love these girls so much!! 

I could visibly see the difference in my weight from those two trips.

Morning workout on my Dad's back porch.

           Once we were back to my Dad’s, we made better choices food-wise.  We had a great time at my Dad’s, we got to go out on his boat twice.  This single mom was also very spoiled!  They cooked for us and did our laundry.  It was amazing!  This NEVER happens!  I was sooooo grateful.  J

            Now, the trip home…I didn’t plan like I did for the trip out (at least not for the second day). I did well on the rode the first day, but dinner was a disaster.  We stopped in Mississippi on Saturday night and our hotel happened to be super close to a movie theatre.  That was perfect for us to catch the new Cinderella!!  We stopped to get dinner first.  It wasn’t a great experience and we ended up having to leave without dinner.  So, our dinner that night was popcorn and soft pretzels.  For lunch on Sunday we went through a Wendy’s drive-thru.   I felt super GROSS after that rode trip.  Needless to say, the first stop that we made when we got back in town was to store to get some groceries and had rotisserie chicken, sweet potatoes, broccoli, & salad for dinner that night!  Yum!

            So…I ended up gaining 2 pounds during the week, but I also think that some of that is that I don’t drink as much water when I’m driving so that I don’t have to stop as much.  Oh, I also did drink some diet soda during the trip.  By the end of this week though, I was back down those 2 pounds.  Sadly though, I haven’t done that great this weekend.  I had to work 6 days this week and by the time that I left school yesterday I was so exhausted that I didn’t feel like making the good choices.  Let’s just say that Girl Scout cookies were eaten.  J  Don’t worry, we made another trip to the store today and we have good eating plans for the week. 

            I have been consistent in my workouts though.  I will say that for the past few years when I start out with a new exercise & eating regime in January, I usually end up quitting by the time Spring Break rolls around.  This is the first time in years that I not only worked out several times during Spring Break, but that I picked up right where I left off when I came back in town.  I know for sure that this time is different.  I do want you to understand something though…my dedication has nothing to do with me.  It is not MY own strength.  Jesus is giving me the strength every day to make better choices and to be committed to working out.  His Word pushes me.  His Word tells us to take care of our bodies.  I am only trying to be obedient to Him and to be more like Him.  It’s a day by day process. 

            I’ll be out of town this coming weekend chaperoning a choir trip to New York.  It’s a crazy week this week too because we have UIL and I have to get my girls ready to stay with friends and then get myself ready for the trip.  This is a stressful time of year.  It’s non-stop from now until June.  This will be a true test of my endurance and strength.  I’ll keep you updated! J Oh, and be sure to check out my Youtube page if you want to see what some of the workouts look like.  You can get there by clicking here.

           

Ann

1st day back to routine!

           

Week 10: The Year of Change - Results and How to Travel and Still Be Healthy

     Woo-hoo!  Spring Break is finally here!  So is the last day of my 21 Day Fix Extreme.  I really enjoyed this plan.  I was never hungry (if I ate everything that I was allowed to eat).  Now, I did a few things different than the plan calls for.  One of them was that I couldn’t give up my coffee completely and I couldn’t drink it with only one Stevia and one tspn of Unsweetened Almond Milk.  I just couldn’t do it.  So, every day I drank my cup of coffee with 4 Stevias & 1 splenda along with more than 1 tspn of Unsweetened Almond Milk (no judging!)  J  I did go from two cups of coffee to one cup a day.  THAT is an accomplishment!  I also didn’t only do Autumn Calabrese’s workouts.  I did Les Mills' Body Pump 3 days a week and Autumn’s 21 Day Fix Extreme the other 4.  I think that made a difference because I was building my muscles back up over the 21 Days. 

     Well, the results are in.  Overall in inches I lost 3.75.  In pounds, I lost 3.  I was hoping to see a bigger difference, but muscle weighs more than fat.  I know that I’ll see an even bigger difference at the end of May.  If you look at the before pictures (taken in December when I started) to the 8 week mark and then today, you can see more definition in my back.  As my friend pointed out, we’re also starting to see some waist!  I’ll take that! 

The big thing is that I’m feeling a change and my girls are watching me exercise and make good choices in my eating.  They are even eating more fruits and veggies and love it when mommy exercises!! 

     Now, how do you travel and stay on the 21DFX?  It takes a lot of planning.  As you can see in the pictures below, I pre-packed our breakfast and lunch.  Here was what I packed for myself:

Breakfast:  Shakeology

Snacks: 2 slices of Ezekiel Bread with Almond Butter, Carrots, Fruit, & almonds

Lunch: Shakeology

Dinner:  Salmon, Broccoli, & Whole Grain Rice

I sectioned off the rice so that I wouldn't eat it all.

That was for the first day of road travel.  For dinner we ate at Denny’s.  I chose Denny’s for 2 reasons:  kids eat free (home girl is on a budget) and I found out that our hotel only offered breads, cereal and muffins for breakfast.  Our hotel room did have a fridge and microwave though.  So, at the end of our dinner I ordered egg whites with spinach and tomatoes to go and stuck them in the fridge in our room for breakfast.  Sunday’s menu was:

Breakfast:  Eggs from Denny’s & Ezekiel Toast with Peanut Butter

Snacks: Ezekiel Bread with Almond Butter, Fruit

Lunch:  Shakeology

Dinner:  Salad, Whole Wheat Pasta, & Dad’s Famous Meatballs (yummy!)

This was actually lunch on Monday (dad's meatballs with sweet potato).

The girls’ bags (I made one for day 1 of travel and one for day 2 of travel) had 2 snack bags of Honey Nut Cheerios & Cinnamon Squares, mini Blueberry Muffins, Homemade Almond Butter Crackers, & Organic Squeezable Fruit from Aldi.  I also had fruit that I packed in our cooler bag for them.  We ended up using the Day 1 bag over two days of travel.  J  For lunch, I had made them Peanut Butter and Nutella Sandwiches.  My dad and I went to the store when we got in and I was able to choose healthy options for our stay here (chicken, sweet potatoes, veggies and fruit). 

            Tomorrow, we head to Disney.  Woo-hoo!  If you don’t know me that well, I am OBSESSED with Disney!  I plan on doing a quick 30 minute workout in the morning before we leave and then drinking my Shakeology.  By the way…I did the Yoga Fit Extreme from 21DFX at the hotel on Sunday morning and then I did the Plyo Fit Extreme this morning.  

We have a late breakfast/early lunch reservation at O’Hana’s and then we’re on our own.  My goal is to have at least one of my meals be a healthy choice each day.  I also plan on still drinking my Shakeology once a day.  Since it’s Disney, I do plan on having my Dole Whip and some other fun dessert while we’re there.  I’ll keep you posted on all of the good (and the bad) choices that I make.  J  Ha!!  Stay tuned for more!

Dinner one night this past week.  Rotisserie Chicken, green beans, & sweet potato with a dab of peanut butter.
Kid approved!!!

Breakfast on our snow day last week: French Toast & Scrambled Eggs.
All 21 DFX approved!

Have a great week!

Ann

Week 9 - The Year of Change

     I can't believe that I am going on week 9 of my journey!  I have grown so much!  This week I continued with my 21 Day Fix Extreme Eating Plan and began my Body Pump workouts and the 21 Day Fix Extreme workouts!  I'm really enjoying it so far.  I have missed my Body Pump workouts!  I've made it through the 21 Day Fix Extreme workouts (even with an occasional burpee) too!

     Today I wanted to talk about how I make it look so easy!  I totally laughed as I just typed that!  My sister and I were talking on the phone yesterday and she told me that.  Ya'll, this is NOT easy!  I want to cry every morning when that alarm goes off at 4:am.  I am NOT a morning person.  I have to push myself out of bed and get moving.  Once I start moving and PUSH PLAY, it's a whole lot easier.  Why do I work out in the morning instead of the evening (I get asked that a lot)?  The big reason is that I pour so much of my energy into teaching every day, and then I come home to cook dinner, baths, homework, bedtime routine, etc.  Ya'll, I'm pooped by the end of all of that!  I just want to curl up and sleep!  If I suck it up and get up 30 minutes earlier in the morning, I get it over and done with, oh and I get my metabolism going too.  As far as my eating goes, the only way that I am staying on track is by being prepared!  Luckily, I am somewhat of a planner.  I have to be with my crazy life.  After the girls are in bed I really just want to crash, but I don't want to leave myself up for temptation the next day or a rushed/bad morning.  If I haven't had a chance to do dishes and prep the next day's meals before I put the girls to bed, I'll do that right after I put them to bed.  I'm not gonna lie though...I'm tired and I don't want to do it.  I have to though.  I've committed to this journey.  I've also put myself out there on social media for all to see.  I have all of you and my accountability group watching.  No excuses!!!  

                                             

Another thing that has kept me going is the encouragement that I get from many of you.  I don't know if you'll ever know just how much your sweet comments mean to me.  Yesterday, I received a message from an old student that is now in college.  She said that I inspired her to get back into a healthy lifestyle.  Ya'll, THAT is why I'm putting myself out there.  THAT is why I get up every day and I prep every day.  We are meant to encourage each other.  If my journey, flaws and all can encourage others, than I'll keep doing it.

Another thing that I noticed this week, is that my girls love it that I exercise.  Last weekend, they moved the coffee table so that I could workout.  Lyla was disappointed when she woke up and I had already worked out on Thursday morning.  She was sad that she had missed it.  This weekend, they joined me.  Here is a link of my Body Pump workout yesterday.  Here is today's Yoga Fit Extreme workout.  As you can see, my girls love to jump right in and workout with me.  Usually though at some point I have to send them to go play in their room.  Ha!  They are watching me.  They watch what I eat.

Please don't think that I'm perfect!  All I keep thinking about is that in about 9 days...

I'm just like all of you.  I just take one day at a time.  What is your why?  Why did you start this journey or why do you want to start?  Plan ahead.  Plug yourself into an accountability group.  Take advantage of the group, truly be a part of it.  Set yourself up for success! Don't let one bad meal (or whole day of eating) or one missed workout throw you off.  Just pick back up and keep going (Just keep swimming...)!   Also, don't think "Oh, I could never motivate myself to workout alone at home!"  You are not alone!  Once again, truly get plugged into your accountability group.  Text or post throughout the day.  Another one that I hear is, "I'd rather workout at a gym!"  I used to be that person.  I was at the gym about 4-5 times a week and had my group of friends that I worked out with.  Now, my circumstances have changed.  I am a single momma.  It does not work for my family for me to have a gym membership that I would a) leave my children in childcare at the gym (which is more money) & be away from them even more or b) pay the money for a membership that I can't ever use.  Working out at home and still having my accountability has been the best decision!  Of course, you need to decide what is best for you and your family and only YOU will know that.

     This journey has not been an easy one, but it has been worth it.  If you remember, my goal was to be down about 20 pounds by Spring Break.  Well, Spring Break is about 6 days away.  I don't think I'll quite make that goal.  I'll be close, but not quite there.  I had to remind myself as I stepped on the scale this week that now that I've started my Body Pump workouts, I'm starting to build my muscle back up.  That is why I did not see as big of a change this week on the scale.  I'm trying to focus on the fact that I can feel a difference in how my clothes fit.  The number on the scale won't define me!  

Next week, I'll be blogging from the road and sharing tips on traveling and making good food choices!  Stay tuned!  Have a blessed week!

Ann