Ahh… the time is near

I’m off for 8 days to warm sunny Mazatlan as of May 2nd. I have gone there enough times now it is like going home. The same people work there, the same people visit at the same time we do and eventually friendships of a sort develop. We are bringing our friends again but without their son this time. I’m kind of disappointed in that part because although he is now 14 years old, he is a lot of fun to “play” with. He loves to go swimming and so do I and so I always had someone to splash around in the pool with. Mr. Sandra is a bit of a stick in the mud when it comes to swimming. We don’t swim in the ocean all that much these days due to the jelly fish but if they aren’t around, then I will go. Seen too many people over the years getting stung and I would just rather stay safe and sound in the pool.

We are bringing our own ping pong paddles and balls because like most resorts (at least in Mazatlan) the economy has hit them and they don’t’ seem to replace their worn out broken down toys. Maybe it is because there are a lot of kids there and truthfully they don’t treat things the same as if they were their own. So we are bringing some because I love playing it and getting a good laugh in. Works up a sweat too!

We aren’t doing “all-inclusive” this time either. Decided to try out various different restaurants which is actually good for me. I can pick and choose better meals than just what the hotel provides. Quite frankly they LOVE using tons of butter in their food so this should work out to my advantage. And when you don’t do all-inclusive you don’t feel like you must eat/drink your money’s worth. $1100 between two adults is a lot of food/drink to make it worth while the cost.

I didn’t lose all the weight I wanted to before I left but there is no one to blame but myself. It isn’t like I didn’t have the tools basically handed to me on a silver plate. I just made choices that didn’t follow the plan to the letter and because of that, I didn’t succeed like I originally planned. I haven’t given up, my timeline has just been extended. I’m strong, healthy and feel pretty good about myself and that entire persona helps with my exterior presentation So too bad to anyone else that doesn’t like me in my bathing suit – they can just look the other way.

When I get back I am going to get those bad choices under control and see if I can’t make my goal by my 50th BD. I’m also going through that menopause thing and like my sister says, no matter how much you work out, or eat on track, that pouch is going to stay until you get through this. She works her ass off and is about 30lbs less than me and I think she looks great but she has the little tummy pouch that didn’t show up until recently, that she just can’t work off. It’s all connected…. I just know it is….

I won’t be blogging again until I get back (I don’t think) as I don’t have much time. I’m so busy here at work, especially with leaving for a little over a week.

And my personal life is just nuts.

I hope you are all doing FANTASTIC!

TTYL

Sandra

Body Action System

I finally found something that Mr. Sandra likes to do for exercise. It’s the Body Action System or BAS. I think it was from watching the BL show and seeing how well some of the girls were doing with boxing and when we saw the Infomercial for this product, I said I’d love to try this and he said he would love to give that a try as well. So I ordered it and  within less than two weeks it showed up.

It folds away when not needed but we have it set up downstairs in front of my Bowflex – which means it’s hard to get to the Bowflex but I’m not using it right now anyway.

This is the one we got:

I think it will be fun to use. I haven’t tried it yet but Mr. Sandra said he got on it right away yesterday and starting punching the daylights out of it. It gets his heart rate up and it is something he likes to do. Yeah!! I really hope it works for him because the treadmill daily walk is starting to wane for him and it’s like pulling teeth when I ask him if he has “walked” today. He shows great momentum for about 2 weeks then drops off.

Now I really have to move to a bigger house because my basement is full – hardly have any room to move down there with all my workout equipment. I have way too much exercise stuff and could open my own gym

But with moving to an acreage I need to have this stuff at home as going to a gym isn’t going to be all that easy.

Have I mentioned I’m moving in July? Probably not…. will save that for another post and will post pictures of the place.

Hope you are all having a fantastic week – I’ll let you know how it goes with this BAS and if I can rock it or not….

ttyl

Sandra

p.s., I just found out our IT department is getting re-org’d as of May 1st. Oh the joys of change… happens around here every few years and since I’ve been here for 23 years – I guess I’m used to it. I’m now apart of a group called “Emerging Infrastructure Technologies” which really means I get to investigate, test, play with anything new that comes out and decide if it is a fit for the company. I think it will be fun!

Body Confidence–Book Review

About The Book

I was contacted by TLC Book Tours to give Mark MacDonald of Venice Nutrition’s new book “Body Confidence” a review. I figured since I just about own every other book there is available, that I’d give this one a go. In the beginning of the book he talks about his own struggles and at first I thought “he has no idea”. But as I got going through the book, a lot of information he presents I have read before and I do believe in the theory. In some cases a bunch of these went off…

This book is not only for those that want to lose weight, it is for folks that want to gain muscle as well. It’s really about Body Confidence – feeling good about the skin you are in.

In the first chapter – “Why Diets Fail”, I thought I would read the same thing I read all the time. But I was pleasantly surprised – enough to want to keep reading the book. I kind of sat up and started to pay attention.  Mark says:

"We’ve all had that moment in life when we felt in control of our health. We got there somehow through diet, exercise, our genetics or whatever other means. For whatever reason, things just worked. Then for some other reason everything that was working seems to vanish suddenly. We spent endless hours focusing on the past, trying to figure out what had changed. That moment becomes our hope, out future possibility--our ace in the hole. We believe that at any time we can pull out that ace and get back to where we were during that moment. We have justifications for not doing anything like “life is too busy, or After the holidays”. We take on each day feeling just a bit worse, having less energy, getting more stressed, watching our weight and body fat slowly increase. We tell ourselves that is not a problem, that we know what to do, we are just not doing it. We keep tight hold on that ace in the hole ready to use it at any time”.

Sound familiar?

So what's the solution? According the Mark, blood sugar stabilization through meal intervals, nutrient ratios and calories per meal. He believes that nutrition should be used to create an internal balance. With Ron’s blood sugar being so high right now, I really started to pay attention to this part. If I could keep Ron’s blood stable through out the day, I figured he would be much healthier for it. Stabilize your blood sugar and your body won’t store the excess as fat. hmmm…..

He talks about set points – which is the scale weight your body is used to – comfortable at. And when you gain weight, and go on a diet, you can quickly lose those 10-15 lbs you gained right up until you hit that set-point. He talks about how to get beyond that, how to re-program your metabolism. Again another fitness guru that talks about not getting on the scale but rather focus on the body fat percentage. For me this is huge – I get depressed when I get on the scale on a daily basis and see it go up and down 2-3lbs every day depending on what I ate the day before. If I could get on the scale and only look at my Lean Body weight and see that go up (or down) then I’d be happier

Ever heard of the Kaizen method – we get the speech here at work all the time and it does apply to our bodies as well. Small attainable goals, that is the best way to lose weight. Mark has some great examples in his book that really get you thinking. Setting small attainable goals to reach your final destination. But he wants us to ask ourselves the “WHY?” of why we are wanting to achieve those goals.

1. Why do I want to achieve my goals?
2. What will I get from achieving my goals?
3. What happens once I reach my goals?
4. Is my why strong enough to keep me focused on my health during life’s challenges?
5. Is the why I’ve chosen only short term? if so what is my long term why?

Being clear on the above will help us with the reasons to stay the course and live fully.

He helps you develop a plan for your “Body Confidence” in the final chapters. You focus on :

1. Sleep
2. Nutrition
3. Exercise
4. Vitamins, minerals, Omega’s
5. Water
6. Stress.

I could go into more detail about all of the above but this post would be way too long. I guess you are going to have to just get the book and have a read

Overall I think it’s a pretty good book!

ttyl

Sandra

Fitbit Weekly Stats

They have finally created a weekly summary and are emailing it out… J I like it! (not 100% this is going to post correctly via email to blogger).

I've gotta move more this week!!

Hi Sandra, here are your weekly stats. 4/04/2011 to 4/10/2011 WEEK'S MOST ACTIVE DAY Tuesday, Apr 5 WEEK'S LEAST ACTIVE DAY Friday, Apr 8   TOTAL STEPS 33,106 DAILY AVERAGE 4,729 steps WEEKLY BEST 6,627 steps TOTAL DISTANCE 15.16 miles DAILY AVERAGE 2.17 miles WEEKLY BEST 3.03 miles TOTAL CALS BURNED 15,930 DAILY AVERAGE 2,276 cals WEEKLY BEST 2,686 cals         AVG SLEEP DURATION 7 hrs 4 min AVG TIMES AWAKENED 7 AVG TIME TO FALL ASLEEP 0hrs 5min

April Update Wk1

Well after a busy weekend of watching kids, having company and going trap/skeet shooting on Saturday and Sunday I did not get in any exercising. I LOVE exercising on the weekend because I can workout longer. And now I feel guilty about it. I did go to Hot Yoga on Friday night but I’m not counting that for weekend workouts.

So here’s how I did:

1. Drink 120oz of H20 per day. This is especially needed on the Hot Yoga days. The more I drink the better I feel.

This isn’t a problem M-F but can be an issue on the weekend. I need to work on getting in more water Sa/Su

2. Strength Train 3x a week. More muscle I have the more fat I’m going to burn.

I did 1x session last Monday and nothing for the rest of the week. I was just so freakin tired all week. I could not get up in the mornings. I went to Hot Yoga after work but I just couldn’t get up in the morning. I was dragging my ass all day at work too. Finally felt human at around Friday.

3. Cardio sessions 2x a week. Not much more than that because I will need days to recover as well. I do not classify walking on my treadmill as cardio. I want hard, heart pumping, interval cardio.

Blah – nope nothing but a lunch time walk one day and that did not even come close to “cardio”.

4. Hot Yoga 2-3x a week – this is an interval training of sorts – not an easy workout and I get very dehydrated so need to make sure #1 happens daily.

Yes!! I did this one three days in a row. First time I’ve done that – usually it is every other day. But by Friday I was bending further so the more you go the better it is.

5. Complete 2 cycles of a parasite/candida cleanse (My biofeedback specialist recommended I give this a go before I go to Maz).

So far so good – taking it every day.

a. No sugar, no fermented foods, no alcohol ß huge for me if I can get this done

ummmm…. not so good here

6. 8400 calories in for the week. No more, no less. This does become difficult on some days because of the increased exercising. But if I’m eating good, whole fruits and vegetables and lots of lean protein – then I should be more than satisfied.

Again – I do great M-F but suck on the weekends. I am not tracking it well enough nor following the plan exactly. Need to fix this.

7. Spend some time recovering every week. I am pretty tired by Fridays and I do need at least one day off each week. Even having a sit down job where I don’t do much activity, I still need some down time at home.

Well I was just plain tired all week and I guess taking all that time off from exercising was my recovery WEEK not recovery day

8. Be consistent in my supplement routine. I’m on and off some days and to really take advantage of the anti-oxidants, EFAs etc, I need to take them every single day.

Yes – even on the weekend I managed to get it together.

So this week I must do much better than the previous week. I’m already scheduled for 3x Hot Yoga but that is after work. It’s getting my butt out of bed that I’m having an issue with. Today wasn’t much better. So my plan is to get home tonight and work on the muscles!!

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

ttyl

Sandra

April Plans

I have 27 days until I leave for Mazatlan. I am going to try to make April my best month ever. Hopefully I will also learn a ton and apply it from now on.

Here’s my plan and goals:

1.       Drink 120oz of H20 per day. This is especially needed on the Hot Yoga days. The more I drink the better I feel.

2.       Strength Train 3x a week. More muscle I have the more fat I’m going to burn.

3.       Cardio sessions 2x a week. Not much more than that because I will need days to recover as well. I do not classify walking on my treadmill as cardio. I want hard, heart pumping, interval cardio.

4.       Hot Yoga 2-3x a week – this is an interval training of sorts – not an easy workout and I get very dehydrated so need to make sure #1 happens daily.

5.       Complete 2 cycles of a parasite/candida cleanse (My biofeedback specialist recommended I give this a go before I go to Maz).

a.       No sugar, no fermented foods, no alcohol ß huge for me if I can get this done

6.       8400 calories in for the week. No more, no less. This does become difficult on some days because of the increased exercising. But if I’m eating good, whole fruits and vegetables and lots of lean protein – then I should be more than satisfied.

7.       Spend some time recovering every week. I am pretty tired by Fridays and I do need at least one day off each week. Even having a sit down job where I don’t do much activity, I still need some down time at home.

8.       Be consistent in my supplement routine. I’m on and off some days and to really take advantage of the anti-oxidants, EFAs etc, I need to take them every single day.

 

Just having Mr. Sandra eating as close to clean as I can get him, his blood sugars have lowered J He is not liking the portion sizes however, so he is starting to eat more frequently (smaller meals spaced out) … see my evil plan is working.  So between the two of us, we should be in good shape to get out of shape in Mazatlan ;)

I think to keep myself accountable I may do a weekly update on how I’ve done during the week. Keeps my journal up to date and me on track.

 

I hope you all have a fantastic week.

Sandra

Ah... Spring Time

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

March Review

This past weekend marked my Phase 1 of my strength training 90 day workout. I gained a ton of strength in the last 4 weeks and my endurance is a lot better. I worked out about 30 hours in total in March.  I had about 7 days off from exercising. Every once in awhile I need a break because I just plain get tired out. Especially by the end of the week.

My weigh-in didn’t show much of a difference but it is going down which is positive.

And my measurements are down.

People have NO idea that I weigh as much as I do…. Folks at work keep asking me how much more I want to lose and when I tell them 40lbs they think that is too much. Truth is I want to lose about 50 more…but will see when I get there.

Silly….Here’s are my Jan/March “public”  comparison pictures…. Not much but I can see a huge difference in my core. That’s where I’ve lost most of the inches and that is just fine with me – 12.5” in total.

Mr. Sandra wants to seriously get healthier (yeah!!) so for the month of April I can see HUGE changes going on around our house. It won’t be easy but it can be done.  I eat correctly 90% of the time, now it’s time to get the rest of the house in order. Normally I spend Sundays getting my week stuff ready and now it will be both of us getting our week stuff ready. I want to get everything sorted out for him so that it is an easy decision each day. If you don’t plan, you eat on impulse and it isn’t necessarily the best choice at hand. In my house they are generally lazy when it comes to food, if it isn’t easy and fast, they can’t be bothered. I have full cupboards but it all takes prep time. My kids often open the cupboards and say “there’s nothing to eat”. Oh yes there is, you just have to make it….

I hope you all are having a FANTASTIC weekend!!

ttyl

Sandra