Thanksgiving and a little motivation :-)

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the beach with my family. There was sooooooooooo much food (over 33 items) on the menu but I stood my ground and had a plate of veggies and a side salad. Then I ate about 4oz of baked turkey and I indulged a little by having a dinner roll and some dessert. I got in tons of exercise from moving, climbing, cooking, standing, walking and etc... and burned well over 900 cals Thanksgiving Day. I hit the beach for a nice stroll with the family the next day and just relaxed. I received soooo many compliments about my weight loss  and was greeted with congrats, hugs, questions about my journey and stories of how i've inspired them.

Sunday night after we all went back to our destinations, my mom called me and told me how proud she was of me. She said that she couldn't get the image of me out of her mind. Now, for those who don't know, my mom has survived 3 or 4 strokes and 2 mild heart attacks. She’s also a diabetic and she has hypertension and high cholesterol. She has slight paralysis on her left side and spends most of her time in her wheel chair. She is one of the reasons why my health is a priority!!! She told me that her wheel chair was malfunctioning so instead getting it fixed or staying at home she decided that she would get up and walk with her walker. She hasn’t used it in a few years because she was completely comfortable with relying on her wheel chair. She said that seeing my drive, will power and determination along with my fitness journey success is what replayed in her mind. She said “Hope, if you can do it so can I!!!” She said she walked everywhere she needed to go. Up the stairs, down the stairs, to church and etc…. with her walker. She said “I moved at a slow pace BUT I moved!!!” My heart was FULL!!! After we got off the phone I just wanted to go and run an extra mile for her.

 

This journey is for REAL! There are so many people who need to see that it is possible and that it can be done. Though you may have setbacks, times of frustration, lack of progress, injuries and etc… don’t ever give up!! Get back in there and pick up where you left off. Your journey is never JUST for you! You are an inspiration to someone else whether you know it or not. Get out there and find a way to make it happen!!!

My Doctor's Visit Today...

YESSSSSS I made it through my obgyn appointment!!!! I sat there as a nervous wreak while waiting on my doc to make her entrance. I got the works.... urine test, breat exam, pelvic and pap test topped off with a books worth of personal questions. It was all worth it when my doc hugged me and wiped away a few tears after seeing how much weight I've lost. The scale showed that I'm down 31 lbs since Feb and I was fully clothed with my shoes and jacket on.... body bugg on 1 arm and hrm on the other... phone and keys in each pocket.... and I wore JEANS!!! She told all of the nurses about my success and I had to give a motivational speech to them as they asked how I did it, what I eat, what exercises I do and etc... My doc is also training to run her first 1/2 marathon in December so we bonded over our training stories :-) Whew!!! Glad it's OVER!!!! My BP was elevated from the stress/agony/anxiety I put myself through in anticipation of this appointment. I only slept for 2 hours last night and I was so worked up. After my 20 minute appt they took my pressure again and it had gone down by 30 points!!! I was given a clean bill of health and she told me I could try to conceive if I wanted.... LOL!!!!!!! No thanks! I don't like how worked up I get at such a rapid pace soooooo, i'm gonna make an appt with my primary care doc to see what he could recommend about dealing with that. Other than that, i'm good. My doc told me i'm in the best shape of my life!!!

Here we go AGAIN...

 

I feel like I should just cry and do my own thing!!! Soooo here I am, fresh off of a laid back workout week (last week). I ONLY did insanity week 7.... NO treadmill, NO jogging or powerwalking.... NO strengthtraining or weights. I literally had withdrawals and teary eyes as I Walked past my treadmill and rubbed it :-(. So you know, this week i'm totally amped up and ready for a good workout and these were the messages left on my polarFT60 heart rate monitor this morning!!! I am so unhappy about this week's suggestion of yet another recovery week... This will be the 3rd week i'm supposedly in need of a "recovery". I limited my workouts to 5 days a week and did not wear my watch all weekend during my regular hustlin' around with the kids (my bodybugg showed that I burned 2300-2500 cals per day Saturday & Sunday). Some things just can't be cut out of my schedule. Now I don't know what to do. I'm so anxious to get back to my treadmill, strength training and insanity but my watch is fussing at me. I have my annual physical with my OBGYN tomorrow so i'm gonna ask my doc for suggestions. I guess i'm going to stick with today's workout plan and and see what she says tomorrow.

Scaling it back for yet another week....

*sigh*.... so I woke up this morning all ready for my grueling workout only to find this message awaiting me on my Polar Heart Rate Monitor/Watch...

Last week was my INSANITY recovery week and I scaled back on my running and strength training. Now my polarFT60 is telling me that I need a recovery week this week???? It wants me to stay out of my max heart rate zone and only spend minimal time in zones 1 & 2. It also suggests that I cut back on the amount of hours I workout with a significant reduction in the calories I burn. I just can't do it. My metabolism is at an all time high and i'm burning a ton of calories constantly with little to no effort at all. This weekend I didn't do any planned workouts. I just did tons of walking that comes with hustlin' around with my kids' sports all weekend and I still managed to burn well over 2000 calories each day (Fri/Sat/Sun). I'm amped up for some intense workouts this week with insanity but I will stay off of my treadmill and stay away from my weights this week. I hate having to switch things up but i'll see if this watch knows what it's talking about. I'm not a happy camper...

Soooo today's "light" workout included INSANITY FitTest #3 and Max Interval Circuit..... Day 1/month 2/round 2 is officially in the books. Here are my results: switch kicks 141; power jacks 114; power knees 127; power jumps 22; globe jumps 15; suicide jumps 26; pushup jacks 21; low plank oblique 71. My goal for this final month is to lean out. I'm starting to get that Serena Williams look and it's GREAT for body building but not so much for running (which is what i'm training for in the coming months). So lighter weights (more reps), more cardio and healthier food choices are going to get me there :-)