No Excuses!

I have heard stories about cardio 3.  Lots of 'oh, this is the toughest workout ev-ah'.  I'll be honest, I was afraid..... very afraid I would give into the lazy voice inside my head that sometimes wants to turn off the dvd 5 minutes into the workout.  I needed to be prepared, that lazy girl is gone.  She disappeared someway midway through phase 2.  Instead of looking for the easy way out to avoid pain, she began embracing the discomfort and started looking for ways to make things more challenging.

So to make sure there were no excuses for cardio 3.  I dressed in my workout finest.  My mom used to work for the American Cancer Society and there was a program there called 'Look Good, Feel Better'.  I am a firm believer in this.

I triple knotted my shoes- NO WAY are these babies coming untied and allowing me a break.

I filled not 1, but 2 water bottles to chug in between circuits.

It's go time!  I'm not going to lie, lazy girl popped into my head despite my preparations- but she was defeated!!  This workout is the MOTHER of all cardio workouts.   Jillian starts the workout saying this is the most viscous workout she's created- I believe her.  She's mentioned before that she wants us nauseous.  I've always mentally blew her off, but I felt a tiny bit sick after the workout.

So here goes.  Be prepared to spend most of your time either in the air jumping or on your hands with your feet in the air during plank.  We've got- rock stars, fast feet, canon ball jumps, double unders, high knees (oh but wait, after 4 you jump into plank and back up for more high knees), jumping squats, jumping lunges, side plank burpees, plank mogul, plank squat thrust, down dog thrusts, zig zag jumps, the one legged up- over-over-backs, and of course plank punches.

But the best thing is- YOU CAN DO IT.  It's amazing how accomplished I felt at the end.  After I peeled myself off my sweaty mat, I was standing so much taller the rest of the day.

I stopped my heart rate monitor and was stunned, is this even humanly possible?!?! I'll take that number with a grain of salt.

TOP of the world.  After I recovered, my son reminded me I wasn't done- yoga tonight mom.

So I spent more time in plank.  We did a plank move similar to the crow push ups in workout 7 because I made the mistake of saying I wanted to work the obliques.  We did do alot of stretching in the glutes- YESSSSS!!!

Busy day, hubby out of town = strictly leftovers for food today, so no food pics.

Don't be scared by this review- we've got this!! :)  It's going to keep getting better and better.  Good night and may the odds be ever in your favor.

Now, that's a progression!

Workout 10- oh wow, no words.  I started out this workout a little cocky since yesterday went about 10 times better than I expected.  The warm up rocked.  My previously tight workout pants were totally sagging during the rock star jumps.  There is a really fun warm up move 'up downs with superman'.  You drop down- do a superman move and then pop back up.

The rest of the work out was a whirlwind of jumping, jumping, and more jumping.  Jumping lunges, back lunge and pop into a front kick, jumping squat into an upright row.  Then you think you're getting a break with the static moves- DON'T BE FOOLED  these are much harder than the jumping- holding chair pose with weights- oh my.  There was a really fun cable move where you do a curtsy lunge and hold the cable in front of you and do a reverse fly with the cable as you lunge.  The hardest move for me was a balance move in circuit four.  You put a weight on the floor and bring one hand forward onto the weight- your back leg and arm are lifted behind you. 

This was a great workout!  If you were wanting to feel it in your butt and thighs- this is the ticket.  I am a little worried about braving cardio 3 with this soreness.

The search is over for buckwheat flour.  These pancakes definitely live up to the hype. I actually think it's the fruit syrup that make them so good-I used equal parts raspberries and blueberries.  My tablespoons must not have been heaping enough because I got 24 pancakes out of this rather than 18.

I had the cheddar, tomato, avocado burrito for lunch- not pictured.

For my snack I had the dark chocolate, cinnamon banana pops.

And for dinner delicious tostadas from cooking light- OMG, so good and less than 400 calories for these 2.   PERFECTION.

My food prep is going good, I froze the pancakes, banana pops and garlic pita chips.  I am hoping to make the quinoa crunch and my own zucchini hummus tonight.

Oh, and I forgot to update my weight on Sunday with all the excitement of Easter.  I try to set my calories and activity to lose 1 lb a week (4 lbs each phase).   I lost 3.5 lbs - 130's good to see you!!!  I am very, very happy with this.  I had an endocrinologist appointment today and she was asking me how I am losing the weight since I was having so much trouble before.  I have lost 7 lbs since my last appointment 8 weeks ago!  Yay!

I also decided I am going to get these pants for my phase 2 completion reward.  Every aspiring yogi needs something from Lululemon- no???

Have a great night everyone!!

Because you CAN!

So today was my first day of workout 9.  I think I make it pretty clear I do not favor the front of the body workouts, but OMG- I LOVE THIS ONE!  Seriously, my favorite front of the body workout yet.  What was weighing on my mind was how she would be pushing the UP button on the push ups and I got my answer- PUSH UP JACKS- duh!  These are really fun- as you lower into your push up you jack out your legs, as you raise the legs come in.   In the first circuit there is also a one armed plank and you do a sort of lat raise.  You take a dumbbell in your free arm and take it under your body and then bring it back and fly it out.   Other fun strength exercises include dive bombers and then a one legged squat into plank out (I lost my balance on this a couple times, but nailed it by the end).  Oh, and side plank crunches----Ooooh, my obliques feel tight.

The cardio in this is CRAZY.  There is what's called 'Plank Mogul' where you are in plank and you jump out to the side and try to wrap around your hands, then you jump out to the other side.  There are Rock and Roll squats- you get into squat position then roll back (on your back) on your mat and propel yourself forward into standing position.  My legs kept wanting to cross when I came back up into standing so I need to work on it.  Nonetheless- it jacked up my heart rate, so I am happy.

I am really glad my husband isn't home when I work out, because I was 'vocalizing' through this workout today, it would be really embarrassing if someone heard me.  I was DRIPPING when it was done and I feel amazing. 

This morning I had steel cut oats, but instead of topping with apple, I topped with Kiwi and did the same old pecans and drizzle of maple syrup.  Sounds like an odd combination, but OH SO GOOD.

We then went out and searched the town for buckwheat flour.  I really want to make those darn pancakes- they look so good.  After 3 stores and no luck we came home for lunch.  I had the Mediterranean Tuna Wrap.  I LOVE this.  I have always steered clear of tuna sandwiches because I hate mayo.  I love how this gets flavor from olive oil, red onion, capers, celery and hard boiled egg rather than mayo.

I am going to go make the banana almond smoothie after I post this and then head to the park with my little love when he wakes up from his nap.  It is another gorgeous sunny day.  I am going to listen to Jillian's weekly podcast on the walk there and back.  About 25 minutes each way so it is the perfect time to listen to the podcast.

I am hoping to do some bulk food prep tonight.  I spend WAY too much time prepping food and cleaning up.  I need some good grab and go options.  I plan on making the pita chips and some zucchini hummus as well as the cinnamon, chocolate banana pops.


Happy Monday- Enjoy your week.

Phase 3 Eve.....

First off- Happy Easter to your family from mine!  I hope it was a day filled with family, good clean food and warm memories.

And just so you get a better view of this little cutie in his sweater vest-

We had the traditional Easter lunch over at my parents house.  I am not a huge fan of Easter fare so making decent choices was pretty easy for me today.  I had some ham, avocado and tomato salad (delish), and a little bit of bread.  Everyone had strawberry shortcake for dessert and I had some strawberries.  Strawberries are delicious on their own anyway- no need to mucky them up.

So it was a perfect 70 degree day, so we really couldn't resist a bike ride.  We decided to go on a leisurely 10 miler since it is rest day after all.  Well there was a huge head wind, so I worked way harder than I planned to on rest day.

Then of course the dog needed to be walked and a little sweetie had a park he needed to visit- so we went on a little walk and did a lot of playing in the park.

When we got home, we whipped up the Mediterranean Lamb Burgers and Cucumber salad-

This one surprised me- I really thought I would like the lamb burger and be okay with the cucumber salad.  The lamb burger was a little bland- it definitely needs more kick.  The cucumber salad- yes please and Thank you- Ah-mazing!

I don't think I could have had a better rest day!  I am so excited and nervous to start phase 3 tomorrow.  Workout 9!  YESSS!!!  I feel like I am going on a first date every time it's time for a new workout.  Will I like it?  Will the workout like me?  

I heard Jillian say that Phase 3 is hell on earth on her podcast- but when you are done, you'll thank her!  Bring it and beat me like I owe you money AND grind me into a sexy paste!

I am going to go throw some steel cut oats and almond milk in the crock pot.  I can't wait to see what everyone thinks about their new workouts tomorrow!! ;)  Rest up!

Phase 2- Outta here!!! :)

Okay, so I am going to apologize in advance for the 'YAY ME' tone of this post, but this has been a WONDERFUL Body Revolution day.

Last month I hit my pre-pregnancy weight of 142 at the end of the first phase.  I was so pumped that I braved trying on my pre-pregnancy jeans.  Oh man, they didn't even come close to fitting even though I was the same weight.  This morning, I figured- what the heck, I had a bad week anyway.... let's try them on. 

And here we go!  Not even tight!

Hello World, here's my butt!

Today was the last day of cardio 2.  I normally work out in the morning, but we had alot going on today so I had to workout in the afternoon.  I LOVED it.  I felt like I was able to give it 110 % today.  Jumping higher and feeling way more energetic.  I wish I could workout in the afternoon everyday.

When I got done with cardio 2  I noticed my shoulders in the mirror and was taken aback- hella ripped.  Here you go-you clearly didn't see enough with the butt shot!

Push Ups- they do a body good!

 

 

 

I will be posting my official phase 2 results tomorrow (in case any magic happens overnight).  As you can see in the above pic, there is still some residual muffin top on the left side.  So muffin top- IT'S ON in phase 3.  Oh and pre-pregnancy jeans you are going to be my fat jeans soon.

Have a wonderful easter everyone!! :)

OUCH!

My body is screaming today.

I felt way better about workout 7 this morning than I did on Monday.  I felt so much stronger and I only had to modify the last few seconds of the one legged push ups.  I did NOT have to modify the one legged up, over, over, back jumps today.  I just closed my eyes and just kept saying it to myself 'up, over, over, back, up, over, over back'.  I definitely don't have the greatest range of motion on this, but am so happy I didn't have to modify today.  I totally kissed the ground on those squats today.

Next week's goal- NO modifications (unless it is to make the moves harder).  I think if I say to myself 'one more' when I feel like giving up on the one legged push ups I can get there.  One thing I've noticed is that Jillian really talks up some moves like they are going to be the hardest thing in the world and I'm like 'really?'.  Like the star jumps in this workout.  I would rather do these than the squat thrusts and she makes this move sound so advanced.  And the W raises with the kickout- not bad at all.  Is she just throwing us softballs so we feel we're stronger than we are or am I doing these moves wrong???

Anyway, I am hurting tonight.  Not in a I hurt myself way. A good sore, I've been hit by a truck sort of way.

I hope those on week 7 are enjoying the workouts as much as I am.  I am actually looking forward to tackling this one again on Monday and I hated it the first day.


Have a great night!!

Half Way There! :)

So today was cardio 2 AND Yoga.  I needed both workouts today, because for the last 24 hours,  I have not been as active in my daily life as I usually am.   We can blame this....

So I am very late to the party on this, but this book definitely lives up to the hype.  I was totally sucked in until I finished it, like seriously....obsessed.  I may or may not have braided my hair Katniss Everdeen style for Cardio 2 today.  Scary!!

Cardio 2 was great as usual.  I am a little sore in the butt today from workout 8 yesterday so it definitely did something.  I also noticed today that my engagement and wedding rings are super loose.  I didn't even think to take measurements there.  Hopefully not all the weight is coming off that finger!!

I am really glad I am sticking with Yoga.  I learn something new every time I go.  Today I learned I have a tendency to look down.  The instructor told me I need to look up so that when I am older I don't end up with turkey neck.  So if I look like I am being snobby, I am far, far from it.  I just don't want turkey neck.

Have a great night everyone!!