Day 4

Four days into the 30 day challenge, and things are going good so far.  No sugar cravings, no headaches, no pains.  So far, it isn't as bad as I thought it might be.  John and the kids have joined in, so I think that is helping.  Sterling isn't completely on board, but he is trying.  Valerie is really trying hard.  I am so proud of them all!  And myself too!  I've noticed that I have more muscle soreness than usual from my workouts, but nothing intolerable.  My biggest challenge came today when we had a food day at work for a co-worker who is leaving.  The whole area smelled of SUGAR all day!  I didn't have a problem passing up the cookies, doughnuts, and cakes, but it was hard to pass up the peach cobbler!  So far, we've been eating all the leftover Easter eggs, grilled chicken, grilled burgers (no bun), lots of salad, and various nuts.  Definitely need to find some good recipes soon!  As soon as I find some, I'll try to post my favorites.  Stay tuned....

Day 1

Today wasn't as hard as I thought.  I was able to stick with the plan.  I didn't feel too hungry throughout the day, and didn't experience any headaches.  Although, I made the mistake of taking the kids grocery shopping afterward, and then was badly wanting a glass of wine!  Don't worry, won't make that mistake again!  And I don't think my sister will make the mistake of meeting me at the grocery store again if she knows I have to bring the kids! HA!

Last Supper

I'm sitting here eating my "last supper" (so to speak) and trying to figure out what in the world I am going to eat for the next 30 days.  Being Easter, I have over indulged on the sweets, but the next 30 days should all make up for it!  So, as a start, here is an update on my journey to health as of 4/15/2011 I have lost 16.6 lbs, 12.75 total inches, 3.4% body fat!  While, I'm very happy with how far I've come since December, it is also very sad that I have farther to go!  So, tomorrow I start the Whole9 30 day challenge.  I will try to keep you all updated daily with how I am feeling.

Here is an updated picture to show how far I've come so far, and where I am starting at with the challenge:

Ready to take my eating up a notch

FitBodies CrossFit is getting ready to start the Whole30 Challenge.  This is a 30 day Paleo challenge with no cheating!  I'm excited about this, but a little nervous at the same time.  In order for this to really work for me, I'm going to have to get the rest of the family on board a little, and that has not always been easy.  My son refuses to eat most vegetables; my husband is only willing to try so much.  My daughter is a little easier than the boys, but she also will only try so much.  I know that what I put in my mouth is all up to me.  The one thing I am interested to see is how the change in eating affects the way I feel.  I'll keep you posted, but I don't think I actually start the challenge until we get back from vacation (may be too hard to change my old ways while on vacation).  Once I start, I will be sure to blog often on how I am doing.  Until then......

I can't believe what I can do!

I've been doing CrossFit for four months, and some of the things I am able to do now just blow my mind!  When I started, I couldn't do any pull ups (even with the assistance of a big black band), and yesterday, I was able to do 3 rounds of 12 (with the black band)!  I was so surprised.  The last time I did them, I could get to 10, but it was tough.  Somehow yesterday, I was able to do the 12 with little trouble.  Then today, I decided to give ring dips a try (with the assistance of a band).  I was pretty worried cause dips have never been easy for me even just doing them on a bench.  However, I actually did 4 rounds of 5 of them! All I can say is WOW!  Even in high school when I was playing sports all the time I was never able to do pull ups or dips, granted, these are assisted, but knowing that I am getting stronger and will one day be doing them without help seems so much more real!  I'm going to keep pushing.  This weeks goal is to try to push at least one exercise every workout to the next level!  Wish me luck!  I never know what tomorrow's workout is until tomorrow, so this will be a good challenge!

A little out of sorts

I'm not sure why, but I have been feeling a little out of sorts the last few days.  I've had a really hard time concentrating on anything, and haven't been feeling like I fit.  You know, where it doesn't matter if you are sitting in a room full of people that you have known for a long time, but you just don't feel like you belong there.  I'm not sure where this is all coming from either.  I must be just a little burnt out and need of a good vacation.  Fortunately, I only have two more weeks to wait until my kids finally get Spring Break! (What school waits this long to give the kids Spring Break? Ours.)  We are going to take a short trip, and we are all REALLY looking forward to it.  Here's to hoping that we all don't go crazy before we leave!

Focus, I need you now!

The kids summer activities are already starting to ramp up.  I've been fearing this point for the last few months.  The week has shown that I'm really going to have to focus on my goals to make it through the next couple of months.  Due to scheduling, I'm already losing 2 days a week at the gym.  Getting dinner in at a decent hour is also getting more difficult.  This week we haven't been able to sit down to eat dinner together until 7:30 pm!  It has helped that we have tried to plan our meals for the busy nights, but we still need to work on figuring out a good schedule for eating earlier.  This has always been a problem in our house.  Hopefully, we can make good adjustments this summer, so I don't slide back into old bad habits.  Wish me luck!