4 weeks already??

Wow… is it really 4 weeks already?? I cannot believe this is already 1/3 of the way through, how nuts!! The isabody challenge ends 8/2/2016 for me, and I just booked my tickets to go to Celebration with my good friend Molly, who I haven’t seen in YEARS! I am so glad that we have connected, and we are building my new business together. I’ll admit it’s a lot to handle also working a full time job, with a self-employed husband, who is also getting his master’s degree (yes he is a really good a multi-tasking), but the last few months have opened my eyes to something better, which is helping people. I used to think of my life as a very negative thing, too much to do, too little time. I never have enough money. I never get to go on vacation. I have to work all the time. I can’t lose weight. I can’t afford it. How negative and awful right?? Well I’ve realized that because of my negative mindset, I have been failing at tasks I could have accomplished years ago. If only I would have just believed in myself. Sounds pretty simple right?? I’m not a psychiatrist, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t know it all. But I do know now that if you tell yourself you can, you CAN, and you WILL. I started learning this during my workouts. Once I told myself “get out of bed!!!” I did, every day. And when I kept telling myself “Push harder, you can finish”, turns out, I could. I’m not perfect, and I still have doubts about things, but I now know that as long as I have confidence, and believe that I can accomplish what I set my mind to, it WILL HAPPEN!

This week Boot camp classes were awesome and challenging. Which I needed because of the Memorial Day holiday this weekend. With a state job I got Monday off (YYEESSS) but that also means a lot of tasty good around. I did indulge on Saturday with BBQ Ribs, and twice baked potatoes, and Oreo cupcakes. Yea… told you I indulged. Friday and Sunday were great though, two shakes each day, Meat and Veggies for dinner, and kept the starches/carbs very low both days. I am going to start a cleanse tomorrow to rebalance, because I still don’t feel right (bloated and ‘fluffy’). Excited to try out my first 2 day!! I also tried a new shake recipe called “cinnamon toast crunch” which consists of French vanilla Isalean shake, PBfit, banana, and a little cinnamon. Tastes amazing!! That is actually my new favorite recipe of the week! I used a lot of breakfast food for my dinner (brinner in my house), which is fine, always packed full of protein, and deliciousness. I like to add salsa to my eggs, or avocado (if I have any on hand). Sweet potatoes take the place of regular potatoes too. We also get farm fresh eggs from Clint’s mom and dad, so cage free!!

I thought maybe some people were wondering what kind of workouts I have been doing at home. I have a couple that I have written up, and sometimes I will write up more if I feel like what I am doing is getting old. Here are a couple I have written to do over my lunch hour, so they aren’t very long. You can always do them 2X or 3X for a longer workout, or if you’re just a complete badass☺. Here they are:

15 Min workout:

Each exercise is 45 seconds, with a 15 second rest. You can also do 1 full minute instead of 45 seconds.

1. Squat with a hammer curl (using heavy dumbbells)
2. Jumping jacks-fast
3. Sumo Squat (wide leg, toes pointed out) holding weight (heavy dumbbells).
4. Jumping Jacks- fast
5. Squat Jumps for 30 sec, then last 15 mini squat jumps.
6. Chest press on the floor, with legs in the air. (you can have your legs straight out for a harder workout)
7. Forearm plank
8. Reverse chest flys
9. Knee to elbow plank
10. Upright row with dumbbells.
11. Burpees- no pushup (you can add the pushup for a harder set).
12. V-Up abs
13. Toe touches ( I use a raise part of my floor, but a box, or bosu ball or even a pillow will do).
14. Abs- Leg Drops
15. Jack Squats (jumping jacks, but you squat when legs are apart)

Here is my 20 minute workout, same time intervals. Most of them are pretty similar stuff, mostly because I like them, and I feel like I can do more with exercises I like.

1. Sitting kick trough’s
2. Sumo Squat thrusts with weight (kettle bells work great for this, but a dumbbell works too).
3. Sitting Kick trough’s
4. Shoulder press with 1 arm-Right
5. Shoulder press with 1 arm –Left
6. Triceps dips (or your can use the weight behind your head for triceps lifts).
7. Running man
8. Alternative push-ups, side to side.
9. V-up abs
10. 1 legged deadlift with weight-right leg
11. 1 legged deadlift with weight-left leg
12. Hand plank
13. Right side hand plank
14. Left side hand plank
15. Burpees
16. Bicycle Abs
17. Jumping Jacks-fast
18. Leg Drops
19. Jump, jump squat side to side- fast.

Lastly, here is my 25 minute workout, I wrote this one up today, and it was the perfect time for me to do over my lunch.

1. Squat with weight, shoulder press with stand up.
2. Jumping step ups
3. Good mornings- wide legged
4. Good mornings- legs touching
5. Lunge jumps
6. Regular curls
7. Forearm plank
8. Hammer curls
9. Cross-body mountain climbers
10. Triceps dips
11. V-up abs
12. Bicycle abs
13. Leg drops
14. Side plank dips-right side
15. Side plank dips- left side
16. Hydrant kick- right side
17. Donkey kick- right side
18. Hydrant kick –left side
19. Donkey kick-left side
20. Squat Thrusts, hands on the floor
21. Chest to the floor pushups (I push my chest to the floor, and lift my hands off the ground before pushing myself back up).
22. Sitting kick trough’s
23. X-Squats
24. Burpees
25. Mini Sumo squat jumps- barely jump off the floor.

Well, those are my favorite home workouts so far! If you have questions, please feel free to text/call/Facebook me, anything I can do to help people get healthy, and happy, I’m in!!
Here are also some of my favorite calorie information charts. I don’t count calories really, but its good to know what is in what you are eating ☺

Better luck next week!?

Week 3 is done! Boot camp started back up last week, which is much better for me, because I am not as self-motivated as I should be. I think every night I set out clothes to wake up, and go run, and never ever did. I did workout once over my lunch on Friday, which felt great, and because there wasn’t a bonus boot camp day, I felt pretty obligated. Mary should be proud of the new guilt she has instilled in me to work out, even when she isn’t teaching class! Waking up early is just not something I don’t think I can ever get used to, without having something to go to. I don’t understand how people do it all the time. I mean, why on earth would you ever want to willingly get out of bed that early everyday?!?! By that early, I mean 4:30 am. I can see 5:30… that’s fine. But 4:30?!?! I still don’t know how I do it.

I will admit, this week could have gone way better for me. I was really hoping to get my but in gear, and try to get some good cardio in to prepare me for Zumba classes, but that wasn’t the case. I think I was so wound up from the last couple of weeks, that I just took it easy on purpose. Dinners were not even very eventful at my house, we were going to have friends over on Sunday, and took out 4 big sirloins, but our plans didn’t work out, so we pretty much had steak every night last week. Not that I am complaining! I love steak! We had grilled stead, steak quesadillas, I had a sliced steak sandwich one day for lunch. Just a little too much of anything gets old, well to me anyway.

This week was more about me connecting with people, and spending quality time, which is good for the soul. I met (randomly) this great gal here in Chadron named Christa. She sells Lularoe (a fantastic, and very cute clothing line) and I found her on Facebook.----- Side note, if you haven’t already, and if you like cute, comfortable clothes, you should look up her site. Christa Katen is her name. I probably added most of you to her page already, because I love supporting local self-employed businesses when I can. Also, she is awesome, and these clothes are awesome. Check them out. You won’t be disappointed. Ok, side not finished. --- I requested to be added to her local page, and ended up buying a shirt from her. Later on she asked me if I was from Idaho, which I am (OF COURSE I AM IDAHO IS AMAZING, I LOVE IDAHO!!!) is what I wanted to say. Turns out she is only two years younger than me, and grew up a couple of hours away from me. She has a son around Anna’s age too, so we tried out a play date, which went OK. I mean, we both have only children, who are at the age where everything is theirs… so there was a lot of crying, because they wanted what each other had. Seems about right I guess. On Friday I offered to help her set up for a ‘pop up party’ at her house to try to get some people to come by and look at her clothes. I had the BEST TIME! It brought back my high school days helping out at my mom’s shop, and I got to hang out with a cool Idaho person, while still living in Nebraska. I drank about a bottle of wine… so that \also was a plus to my Friday night. Ok, maybe more than a bottle, but who’s counting!

Saturday we went to Clint’s aunt Marijo’s son Jon’s graduation party. Both of us were hanging a little, and the drive is a bit long, but once we got there we had a great time. It was great to see everyone, I always like Merchen gatherings, and nothing is ever dull or old. Anna and I rode Marijo’s horse too, she loved it. I am so glad I have such a brave kid who loves to try out almost anything. That kid sees an animal, and she wants to pet it. If she sees any cows, they are her papa’s cows. If she sees a horse, she needs to ride it. She also showed up to the party in jeans, a cowgirl jean jacket, and a pink tutu, courtesy of her Grammie sending her the cutest clothes in the world. Clint's Uncle Darren and Mae came over for dinner afterward, I love spending time with these guys. Seriously fun people, and they always make me laugh. We need to get up to hot springs so I can get better at drumming (there is a mini Merchen band), don't worry I'll post videos whenever it happens!

Sunday we went to my in-laws to brand the calves out there. Very nice and relaxing, and I didn’t have to cook. I went off the deep end a little and made homemade tortilla chips, with cheesy queso dip, and Laura made homemade strawberry ice cream. I guess what I am saying is that I needed to indulge, but I went a little over board. Time to get back on the train, and start moving again. I also felt like crap after eating that food. Its good to know that the healthier food I am eating makes me feel much better. I think I saw a meme this week that said “wouldn’t it be nice if the label on what you old told you how you would feel an hour later?” yes. The answer is yes. I do really really wish that.

It’s really great meeting with so many likeminded, health conscious people lately. I know that when people are not into what I am into, it can get pretty annoying listening to me talk about working out, eating new foods, making new recipes, cleansing, protein, or whatever, but I am happy to have met the people I have so far. Thank you to anyone that has been open minded enough to learn more about what I have been up to these days, and all of the support I have gotten too. Without it I probably would have never gotten the confidence I have to get going.

New goals for this week:

1. Work out 5 out of 7 days.
2. Make a new recipe that would be on the ‘clean eating’ approved list.
3. Spend three nights away from  my computer/phone and with Anna until 9 pm.

Thanks again for reading everyone!!

Week 2 complete-food prep!

Hello Everyone! 
So week 2 of my 12 week challenge is complete, and I am so happy, because boot camp starts again tomorrow. I only had class once last week, and I was able to fit in a 30 Minute HIIT (high intensiity training) workout over my lunch Thursday, then a 1.5 mile jog with Anna later that night (picture below :) ). I did a 3 mile run Saturday because it was our only nice day the whole week, and I kept a 10 minute mile pace!! That is a big deal for me. I have lower back problems, and running has usually made it worse, but I felt great after some stretching before and after :)

My HIIT work out I wrote myself, combining my favorite workouts from boot camp, and what I have done from bodyrocktv.com in the past. If you don't have knowledge of HIIT workouts, and would like to try them out, and don't have a gym/boot camp to sign up for (I highly recommend this, because you meet new people, and have accountability showing up for classes), I would suggest looking up Body Rock workouts on youtube.com. They have different challenges, that last anywhere from 12 minutes, to 1 hour long. Great for people who want to start, or for people who want to try something new. This can be hard to keep up with at home, but if home workouts are your only option, I would check them out, its FREE! I wrote my own because if you are able to do the workouts you are good at/like, you can usually push yourself harder and get more cardio built into your workout. I am not an expert, just sharing my own experience. This week I was sad I had to cut it to 30 minutes, I could have went a whole hour. I started incorporating more of my performance workout line this week too, and it really gives me more endurance, so happy I found something with all natural ingredients and is helping me really push myself to the next level!

So I only got three workouts in this week, but that is OK! I did a daily cleanse on Tuesday, which re-set my body, I felt so excellent afterwards! My favorite meal this week was crock pot teriyaki chicken wings with some sriracha sauce. I'll be honest, I stole this from my friends fiance, he made them before, and they were so good, I had to make them. I put them in my crock pot all day (starting at 10 am), came home, put them on the grill to crisp them up, them put them back in the crock pot until dinner. I just used teriyaki marinade, with sriracha sauce ( I didn't use a TON because Anna needed to eat them too!). They were amazing! Paired with  steamed broccoli and carrots, and sweet potato tots. Dinner on Wednesday was delicious!

Speaking of food, I also did some freezer meal food prep on Saturday. I used the following link, making 12 meals total.

http://www.graciouslysaved.com/2013/08/12-easy-paleo-ish-crock-pot-meals.html?m=1

I use sweet potatoes when needed, and because a lot of the chicken is 'Mexican flavored', I can eat them with whole wheat tortillas if I feel like it. I will also add homemade guacamole whenever I can. Guacamole has a lot of good fats that our bodies need, and its delicious. 
I also got bountiful baskets from my local food coop this week. Ff you haven't already tried this, you need to! The website is www.bountifulbaskets.org. Please see if you can pick up in your area, its only $19.50 (total) for 1 basket of fruits and veggies, and they sometimes have some seriously good 'add-ons'. This time I got 40 lbs. of bananas. What do you do with 40 lbs. of bananas you ask? I cut them up, freeze them, and stick them in my shakes!! Or make paleo banana bread! Or make banana bread to give away! I highly recommend bountiful basket, as it makes you try new veggies you may not have before, and you can't make an excuse not to buy it at the store. You never know what is going to be in the basket, but whatever you don't want, you can give to someone else  (my mother in law gets all of our not wants and she loves it). 
Here is my freezer meals stacked up, and my overflowing veggie crisp drawer :). 

Today was filled with gratitude and relaxation (and cutting up bananas). I say gratitude because to start the week, I got news that a friend, and team-mate for my business house burnt down early Monday morning. She lives far away, and we have only met in 'person' once, but my heart ached for her all week. My grandpa's house burned down when I was about 15, and I will never forget the pain he felt losing EVERYTHING. My friend and her family are OK, which is what I am most thankful for, but the best part is how people have really embraced her and her family, to make sure they loved, appreciated and taken care of. I know that they will be OK, it will be a long hard road, but they are here with us today! 

That is it for this week. If anyone has any questions about HIIT workouts, or maybe more freezer meal recipes feel free to ask! I love sharing what I know. I don't know a lot, but whatever I can share to better someone else's life, I would love to help.

Thanks for reading everyone!! 

Week 1 down!

Oh man! This week was hard to get through! I think I should have waited to start my challenge, but it turns out that I actually did well considering how busy I was all week.
I helped out some of my other day car mom's this last week with a fundraiser for our day care provider (AKA the best lady EVER!!!) and her husband with a fundraiser due to a horrible accident Dan had over super bowl Sunday this year. I also had some volunteering over my lunches, and needed food to make for two brandings over the weekend. I made it to both workouts last week, and the one this morning, so at least I got that exercise I needed in my day. Over the week I was so busy, I took half hour lunches, barely made it home for dinner two nights, and probably would have went without eating with how busy work was. If it wasn't for my meal replacement shakes and meal bars I would have either a.) spend over $25 eating out, and it wouldn't have been healthy for me or b.)not eaten at all... which would have also been bad, or even worse. Instead I was able to eat on the run, get full, and stay energized. I couldn't believe how much energy I pulled out of myself this last week. I have never been more thankful for having my shakes and bars.. EVER!!
I did manage to make a few meals this week! We try to eat as 'paleo' as we can in our house, but I do usually make pasta or potatoes for my little one, she needs the carbs :). This week my favorite meal was probably my easiest meal. I had a ton of good foods and veggies from my bountiful basket (shameless plug) which included purple potatoes, red and orange bell peppers, summer squash, and carrots. I just tossed all of that in a bow with extra virgin olive oil, and some ' Jamaican Jerk' seasoning I had laying around. I then cut up chicken breasts into cubes, also rubbed some spices on it (Jamaican Jerk, thyme, rosemary, and garlic) and cooked it all on a cookie sheet for about 25 minutes. The chicken was cooked, tasted great, and all of our food was in a big healthy pile. Can't get better than that!!! It was also the most colorful plate of good I have ever made, I wish I had snapped a picture, ugh next time!

My favorite part of my workout this week was today was measuring day!! I have to have a whole week off of workouts, which makes me sad, but I love measuring day. Especially today, because my results were unreal. I posted a picture below, there are a total of 6 measurements, totaling from when I started boot camp classes at core fitness. The 2nd page with the most recent measurement I really focused on my diet, intermittent cleansing, and using my companies food a lot more. As you can see, what a HUGE difference!! I am really focusing on getting my body fat % down, which has been going great, hopefully I can keep up my momentum.

 I feel so great to know that this hard work is paying off, and that a busy, full time mom can actually do this. I used to have so many excuses as to why I wouldn't commit, and just workout, or just say no to eating cake, now that I feel this great, I can't believe I waited this long. Of course I did over indulge this Saturday at our friends branding, but that was just 1 day! And we also need to be able to enjoy ourselves and have a great time, which we did :). I am glad that I have chosen something that is a lifestyle, and not a life sentence. Dieting hasn't ever worked for me in the past, but this new lifestyle is working great. I challenge you to do something different this week. Maybe switch up your pop for flavored carbonated water? Arrowhead carbonated water is awesome. Try sweet potato fries instead of regular fries, did you know they make frozen sweet potato fries in a bag??? Try going for a walk two times this week, either over lunch, or after work, or even do I dare say it.. in the morning?? I will say this, no matter how much I hate waking up early, I love getting my workout out of the way first thing. 
Ok well those are my highlights, and some low lights of my first week of my body makeover challenge. If I had to suggest one thing its try something new. I am going to find a new recipie to try out this week, hopefully its not an epic fail. Until next week!!

Started 6/12/2015, most recent measurement is 5/9/2016.

12 week 'body makeover' Challenge!!

Today I have started to embark on a new, short term journey. A weight loss challenge that will be 12 weeks long, and hopefully help me get over a plateau I have been on for the last several weeks. About a year ago I was invited to a fitness group ‘bonus day’ where anyone was welcome. I was invited by my co-worker who said it started at 6:15, and only cost $5. I was totally in, until I realized that it was 6:15 AM, not PM. I hadn’t woken up that early to work out…. Well, ever. I had already said I would go so I set my alarm, dreaded what was about to come in less than 12 hours, and headed to bed early.

I woke up that day thinking to myself that I wasn’t sure if I could do this. I haven’t worked out more than 20 minutes in over 3 years, and I was still trying to lose my baby weight. I was still in a very ‘dark place’ due to my weight gain, and didn’t know if I had the confidence to go into a room of athletes, and try to compete. I say compete because I am a very competitive person, with everyone, especially myself. If I could not win, then I didn’t want to play. Kind of how I have always been, which has been my downfall in a lot of things I hate attempted to accomplish, but quite or failed. Anyway, I went to Core Fitness, got my ass kicked by “mean Mary”, and was addicted, I knew I had to go! All the time! Her only open class time was 5:30 a.m., which seemed insane, but I signed up, and I went. I started off slow going twice a week, then three times, and have been doing ever since. That started my new found self confidence that I could do more than I thought, if I would just try.

Flash forward to today! I signed up for a weight loss challenge through my nutrition company, and boy am I excited. I haven’t had the drive to start something like this, but the last few weeks I have really started to focus on what is going to be best for me, and in return my family. I can’t be sitting on the couch all day when my daughter wants to ride her bike outside. I can’t be too tired to help out around the house because I don’t have the energy. Things have to change. So I am starting with this post today because it is day one. I will try to post once a week. I will probably just talk about my workouts, food I ate, my scheduled meals, if I indulged, and my family, if anyone is interested. I haven’t been writing for a while now, and thought this would be a good time to start. After all, what if my experience motivates someone else to get healthy? Lose weight? Start running again? Or just put a smile on their face? I also think that writing about my challenge will keep me accountable, and motivated. I would love to share my before photos I took today, but I think I will wait to post those until my final week, keep the suspense going☺.

What is next to come ahead is going to be hard, but the result is going to be amazing! Thanks for reading everyone!!