Plank challenge and other stuff

So tonight I did a plank challenge with my kids! Super fun, but I will say it was a bit rigged. I have been doing planks for a while and baby girl is in cheer, so her core is super strong. Baby boy didn't really have a chance, but he surprised us all.

Plank challenge :
Round 1.                      Round 2
Baby girl:  0.55.           1.36
Baby boy:  1.07.           1.30
Me:  1.45.                     2.00

In baby boy's defense, he didn't even know what a plank was when we started this challenge. He has also spent the majority of the summer doing NOTHING...so to hang for over a minute impressed me, but he is also competitive.

I finished the workout with sit-ups, v-ups, full body roll up and stretches. Even though it wasn't a traditional work out, I enjoyed getting the kids to "play".

Hitting the 'wall'

Last week I have had problems with forgetfulness, being grumpy and tired, all the time.  I think after 6 weeks for consistant working out, I finally hit that "wall".  I took the majority of this past week off from working out and I feel better, so when I go back to working out tomorrow, I'm hoping for renwed energy. To be honest, I even stopped eating healthy and drinking the water I know I should.

I am nervous about what the scale will show on my weekly weigh in (tomorrow) but I know that my clothes are still loose and that should be enought.  Right?

Today, I will be spending the day at baby girls car wash, so it will be a final day of not a typical work-out.  I think I like the non-typical work outs. 

No more diet pills...and it is all in my head

I used to be a dedicated user of diet pills. I thought I could not lose the weight without them; and then I would use them all and not buy more for a little while and the weight would add back on. And I would start all over. To be completely honest, it has been 2 months since I've taken a diet pill. I was unsure about how much weight I would lose without the pills, but it was all in my head. I have changed from the pills to drinking LeanShake 25 from GNC (I LOVE the stuff) and I have dropped 6 pounds! A lot of it is, I know really watch what I eat (thanks to myfitnesspal.com) and I exercise regularly.

So, now that I've kicked the diet pills habit, I still have the scale habit to beat, but I don't think that will be as easy to beat, but then again, that is all in my head too.

Another thing that is in my head is my dislike of running...being in Alaska doesn't help because of the cold weather for so many months, but when I was in the military, I disliked running, and I had to run everyday. But my hubby said that the running is all mental...I just have to get over it, and get that voice in my head to stop telling me I can't do it.

I borrowed a co-workers 10 minute trainer...and I LOVE it! I like that it is different from just being on a treadmill, or cybex arc machine. I am hopeful that this will help me see the weight drop off Hubby can see there is a difference, but the voice in my head keeps telling me there is no change; and I am wearing pants a size smaller...but I can't get that voice in my head to change its thinking...at least not overnight.

Happy day to everyone.

Another Manic Monday...

So...I had to drive into work today, instead of using the share-a-ride...which normally isn't a big deal, but today turned into a case of the "Monday's".

I forgot my lunch and walking shoes at the house; I remembered them 1/2 to the office (which was about the 25 minute mark...to far to turn around.). Which means all my good food choices didn't happen. Lovely! So I made do with the vending machine, and what was in my desk...not pretty, but I wasn't hungry. Anyway, that was the worst part of my day, so I'm pretty thankful things improved.

While at work, I was able to enroll my son into a 3-day ropes course at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson...he is excited and so am I...the first real exercise activity I didn't have to force him into! Baby girl wanted to participate too, but her cheer leading schedule won't allow it. But this is something good for my son, so she will have to deal with it.

Well, time for my exercise for the day:

30 minutes on the cybex arc machine. I did intervals again, and boy do my legs hurt! But it is a good feeling.

Crunches: 100
Shoulder press: 50 reps @ 20 lbs
Push ups (girl-y): 20
Push-ups (regular): 10

It was a light day, but I'm happy with what I did.

I'm so ready for today to be over and another day to happen...with less morning drama!

My baby boy is 15 today

Happy Birthday to my baby boy.  He is 15 today...wow, where did the time go? While MIL was here, she bought him his birthday presents, so hubby and I didn't go overboard with presents. Well, since today is his birthday, I went to the gym not long after I woke up. I only did cardio today, and knowing this was going to be a high calorie day, I wanted to burn some calories before I started eating.

Today at the gym, I did 40 minute on what is called a cybex arc machine. It is a cross between an elptical machine and a stepper. I also did intervals today, so my legs are exteremly tired.

After the 40 minutes on the arc, I did a walk/run for 15 minutes.

So for baby boys birthday (he will always be baby boy, no matter how old, or how tall), we ordered sausage from Black's Barbeque in Lockhart, Texas. We are origianlly from Texas and my kids love barbecue. Baby boy loves sausage and baby girl loves ribs. With all this AWESOME food, it is no wonder I have problems keeping the weight off. So, along with with sausage, we had beans (which will be GREAT as leftovers) and home made mac-n-cheese. My calories for is meal was over 600 (according to myfitnesspal)! After that great meal, we had chocolate cake, with chocoalate frosting (which helped the calories jump to over 600.) I included a picture of the cake, baby girl wanted to put candles in the shape of number 15 and ended up using 16 candles. When Baby boy originally saw the cake, he complained about the number of candles is more than his age, so I told baby girl to finish adding all the candles we had. :-) The real fire will happen if we try to light all hubby's candles (he will be 40).

So after all that wonderful food, I think I need to work out again, but to be honest, all I really want to do is take a nap. :-)

So tomorrow, baby girl will be making cupcakes for hubby's birthday (which is Tuesday...another high calorie day).& I will be happy when the birthdays are over.

My addiction...or rather, obsession

I'll admit, I have an addiction...and if you guessed chocolate,You would be partly right. I am addicted to the scale...I weigh myself every morning. Some studies state that daily weigh-ins are a good thing, but some days I'll weigh before bed too, just to see how much I gained during the day. I know it isn't healthy, and I should hide my scale, but I can't seem to be able to keep it away. In the past month, I have dropped 4 pounds. I am happy with the number, but I know that my weight is strictly a number...and the scale has no bearing on whether I am healthy or fit. I know all this...it is just actually putting it into practice. I guess the next step is measuring my success in different ways.My next obsession is working out. Currently, I go to a gym to work out, but that is getting old and I'm going to start working out at home with a DVD or two when my membership ends at the end of August. This leads me to today's workout...abs! I haven't strictly worked abs in a week, and it was tough. Last week I was able to hold a plank for 1 min 30 sec, today I was shaking at 45 seconds, but I pushed it to a full min. Workout:Bike @ gym: 40 mins and 13.5 milesCrunches: 125 repsStanding side crunches: 50 each sideFront standing crunch: 50 repsPlank: 1 min (2 times)Side plank: 30 sec each side (2 times)Back extension (machine) 100 repsStanding twist: 50 times each sideV-sit: 10 repsFull body roll up: 10 repsI went to the gym feeling guilty about going, but I went anyway and had a great workout. I was also able to talk baby girl into making her brother's birthday cake, so all I have to do now is wait for it to cool off so I can add frosting. The worst part is I've been craving chocolate cake since the beginning of June and now it is in my house! Wish me luck, with not giving into my cravings.

The horrible, terrible, food day...um...weekend

This weekend is a time of celebration and parties...what is so speical about this weekend?  My son is turning 15, on Sunday!  AND, my hubby will be 40 on Tuesday.  I'm not as concerned about Tuesday as I am this weekend.  My hubby has ordered barbeque and we have chocolate cake.  All-in-all, it doesn't sound too bad, but I've been craving chocoalte cake. 

To be fair to the weekend, since it has just started, is the horrible, terrible food day started on Friday, the 13th.  I tried to follow my food plan, but I just couldn't resist the M&Ms.  But that led me to the deep fried chicken for dinner.  I ate a salad with it, but there were also french fries...followed by several Tequial Sunrise's (yummy)...and the only workout was walking at lunch.

So, even with the bad start to the weekend, I am going to keep going and make it to the gym today.  I guess the perfect time to go to the gym would be now, since I'm the only one awake. 

Finally, please join me in My Fitness Pal http://www.myfitnesspal.com/mclainfamily. 

Wednesday's workout

Today's workout:
35 minutes on the bike in the gym. I rode 11 miles.

Today was an upper body day:
Pull up - 30 reps
Dips - 30 reps
Lat pull down - 45 reps (15 each at 50 lbs, 60 lbs, and 70 lbs)
Rear delt - 20 reps at 55 lbs
Pec fly - 30 reps at 55 lbs
Seated row - 30 reps at 30 lbs
Chest press - 30 reps at 30 lbs.

Crunches - 100 reps

I did an ok job with my food choices today. I am glad that the cookies are almost gone, but there are 2 birthdays coming up next week. My son's birthday on Sunday and Hubby's birthday on Tuesday. That's a lot of cake! Oh and before MIL left, she bought us the cake mixes and both are chocolate and chocolate frosting...my biggest temptation, ever.

On another note, I have been working out, consistently, for a month, and I'm starting to see da difference in my body. I am obsessed with the number on the scale, but seeing my body change makes me happy.

Lessons learned from MIL visit

I know, a weird concept, but I think there were some lessons I learned from her visit. Her words are quoted.  My MIL is in her 70s and based on this trip, Hubby and I think this might be her last trip to AK.
She spent just a week with us, and I'm glad she was able to visit. It took some time for me to learn these lessons, but they are still something to think about.

1. "I did the things I wanted to and some I didn't. I climbed that mountain, even though I didn't want to." Yes, these were my dear MILs parting words.  We all do things we don't want to do, but have to do them anyway.  The mountain she talked about isn't really a mountain but a walk to the waterfalls.  It felt like a mountain to her because she does not get out an walk.  She admits she is out of shape.  For me, getting healthy is my mountain.  It seems like I will never reach my goal, but I won't give up.
2. "You used to be skinny?" Perception! I has taken me a month to get over "being skinny" to "being healty", but when a person doesn't understand why you are working out, it hurts to hear that the work you have done is gone unnoticed.  She is older, and conviced that her weight gain is only because of her Thryoid. 

3.  "Isn't your weight determined by your Thryoid?"  This is her reason why she isn't healthy.  It helped me realize that there are lots of excuses, some sound sillier than others.  My weight issue is because of what
I eat and exercise.  I used to not exercise, and that helped my weight gain.  I saw this saying on the web somewhere: You can't out train a bad diet.  If I'm eating like crap, I will gain weight.
4. "This is a typical house in Alaska.". Typical...nothing is ever that easy.  She is trying to put Alaska in a little box that fits her thougts, but just like there is not a typical house, there is not a typical workout.  As my body gets used to what I'm doing, I need to change things up; either increase the weights or do something different. 
5. "You don't just look around the stores anymore?" She went grocery shopping with us and wanted to look around.  Hubby doesn't like crowds, and generally we shop early Saturday or Sunday morning.  Since she was here, we went on a Friday afternoon (not the best time for hubby, but we were making MIL happy.)  She wanted to look around, while he wanted to get our groceries and get out.  Rushing through life...sometimes you have to slow down. Whether it is slowing down to actually smell the roses, or in weight loss, sometimes, slowly is best. 

"Food Revolution" by Jamie Oliver on BBC

Tonight, hubby found "Food Revolution" by Jamie Oliver on BBC. On the episode we are currently watching, he made processed chicken nuggets. Disturbing, to say the least. I saw this episode once before on Hulu about 6 months ago. I haven't eaten a chicken nugget since. I really haven't eaten at the fast food places since. Ii can't believe schools feed our children this crap.

I'm not 100% clean eater, but something's are not worth putting in my body and my cooking at home is very little processed food.

What are your thoughts on processed food?

Today's workout

Since today I made "monkey bread" and chocolate chip cookies (thankfully, not the lava ones, but regular cookies) I headed to the gym.

This is my workout for today;

Cardio:
30 mins on a cybex acr machine (a cross between a stair stepper and a treadmill).

Legs (machine)
Squat - 40 reps (100 lbs)
Leg extension - 40 reps (40 lbs)
Seated leg curl - 40 reps (40 lbs)
Prone leg curl - 20 reps (30 lbs)
Hip adduction - 50 reps (40 lbs)
Hip abduction - 50 reps (40 lbs)
Leg press - 10 (100 lbs)

I also did 100 sit-ups (4 sets of 25).

I didn't realize how weak my legs were until I got to the leg press...next time I will push harder.

House full of enablers

I have a house full of enablers!  With MIL here, she wants to try all the things the kids tell her I bake/cook very well (In the kids biased opinion, but I'll take anyway.)  Well, I have cooked donughts, and now I'm making monkey bread.  This afternoon it is chocolate chip lava cookies.  Trying to eat healthy is not working when I have all this good smelling stuff around.  It is very hard to not taste things in the prepping mode. 

I have also started back to drinking GNC's Lean System 25.  I had been drinking them before, but when I ran out, I didn't get more, but I have gone back to drinking them.  They really helped me watch my calories before.

MIL visit

Well, my mother-in-law has been visiting for the past week. I love her, but I'm ready for her to go back to Texas. I have been trying to go to the gym while she has been here, and she is GREAT with the backwards compliments. "with all the time you spend in the gym, you should be super skinny." "you used to be as small as Megan, weren't you?". (btw, mega is my 12 year old daughter, and I'm 36!). Anyway, I'm glad the kids have had a chance to visit with her, but i am ready for her to leave.

New to this

This is my first attempt at a blog and I am exicted to start blogging. I decided to title my blog "Tryin to get fit" because that has always been my answer when people ask why I am going to the gym, or working out. I have never seen myself as fit or healthy but I am always trying. It is my hope that by blogging my journey, I will not be "Trying" but will actually finally be fit and healthy.