Month: February 2012

ROCKIN IT OUT 1 YEAR LATER!

I’ve only been blogging for a couple of months but I’ve been on my fitness and good health journey for a year now! It was this week ONE YEAR ago that AJ Tucker from iChooseFit bootcamps called me up and told me I had no more excuses! There was a location practically in my backyard and it was my time to get moving.

iChooseFit

That phone call couldn’t have come at a better time. I had lost my mother a few weeks before that phone call. I was a hot mess of overeating and drinking a few too many alcoholic beverages. I was a round butterball standing at 5’2″ tall and about 160lbs. I know I wasn’t 250lbs but I was on my way there. I’ve had my roller coaster with eating right and getting fit since I had my first child almost 13 years ago. But I was in a bad spot getting worse at this point in my life. I was supposed to start Feb 7th but there was a ton of ice that week and I had other “excuses” pop up. It was actually Feb 14th that I started working out but it was this week a year ago I prepared myself to kick my own ass!

A year ago! Look at those chubby cheeks!

I’ll be honest the first two weeks of bootcamp were tough but I was still coming home and eating too much and having the occasional cocktail. After that first two weeks I had not lost a pound (even gained a pound if I remember correctly) and I was furious with myself. Why put in all the hard work at 5:30 am and NO RESULTS. I knew I had to change it ALL up at once. Jump in the DEEP END of the pool and get to work. And so I did. iChooseFit wasn’t only about getting your butt beat down it was about nutrition. There was a FoodCamp program included and I got all the info I could and I got to work. I got serious. I went shopping for good stuff, jumped in with Advocare and got my head on right and my tail into gear. In the first week of the program “shakedown” I lost 7lbs! HOLY SHIT! Are you kidding me? Who is this girl? I didn’t know her but I was already liking her. I’ll never forget I could barely do a pushup without falling to my knees and after that week I had lost 7lbs I was doing KNEE PUSH UPs. AJ was going on with some cadence about how you grew so it’s up to you to move it, in regards to weight. Then all of a sudden I hear “Stephanie, Get OFF your knees!” It was all nice and sweet in the cadence but it was serious. I surely thought that couldn’t be me he’s referring to (there’s at least 5 Stephanie’s enrolled) and sure enough he was talking about THIS STEPHANIE… he says you’re 7 lbs lighter get off your knees and do regular pushups and SO I DID and from there on out I did regular pushups to the point where I HAD to drop to my knees.

I never stopped pushing myself from that point! In 3 months I lost 20lbs! I was stoked! And maybe I was a little too stoked! I started eating a little more, indulging a little more and even though I was working out like a crazy person I started to feel like poo again. I would gain some lose some, gain some more, lose some more but just hovering. I had got myself into a funk of sorts. I needed another kick in the butt and I just wasn’t able to do it myself.

This was about the time I started CrossFit in August. CrossFit Boom to be more exact. I had met my coach, Grant Coomes, at a CrossFit challenge in Dallas. It was soon after that he opened his box and Ernie signed up. It was only a couple of weeks after that and I was “trying” it out. I was excited for something new and the competitive aspects of it all but I was hesitant because it involved a lot of NEW movements and a lot of learning and I wasn’t sure how competent I would be! I can’t even begin to tell how silly I was in thinking such things. As with anything you train, you learn and you practice. Baby steps! Before I knew it I was doing olympic lifting, slinging around kettlebells and doing “dirty girl” WODs. I even entered my first “competition” (for beginners that is) only 2 months after my start date! I didn’t KILL it but I came in 26th out of 50 women.

2 months in.... FIRST Competition... WODAPALOOZA

I was feeling better than ever, stronger than ever and started dabbling in the PALEO world. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’ve changed in the past year. And thus my blogging commenced. I should have started a year ago but I knew myself and I was a mess. I would try something for a few weeks then quit. I was a binge worker outer. But a year later I feel confident I am no longer that person. I’m an ATHLETE, in progress still, but an ATHLETE none the less!

I can’t say that I didn’t know this was in me because once upon a time in a land far far away I was a tiny little athletic thing. But I hadn’t been there in such a long time. I’m a different person now for certain with goals and long term thoughts of good health. Back then it was just who I was, a kid, ignorant to what laid ahead of me in life. I can’t say that I’m that much more knowledgeable now, haha,  but I have 3 kids I want to LIVE for and that I want to lay the foundation for them. I want to be around for their kids and be the baddest grandma in town!

So now I’m a good 30lbs lighter. I still fluctuate and probably always will. Right now it’s between 30-35lbs lighter. But I’ve truly learned to not let the scale lead the way. Sure mentally I’d like to lose a few more lbs. I’m only 5’2. And sure I’d like everything to be rockin but the fact and truth is that I’ve had 3 boys and I didn’t take care of myself like I should have but I’m on the right path now. It doesn’t happen overnight. I do know I feel strong. I don’t weigh everyday, not even weekly. I know I’m putting good things in me and I’m taking time to work on my physical self. With that comes confidence that helps me work on my mental and emotional self! It’s a WIN/WIN!

I know this wasn’t a workout update or a food update…. just a personal one to let you know, YOU CAN DO IT TOO! I wasn’t already skinny, getting skinnier. I wasn’t healthy and just dialing in on better health. I was and still am a regular girl, lady, woman….whatever, hahaha, I still call myself a GIRL. Life hits me hard sometimes but I know I can take it on. I have a great family. I have great support systems in both iChooseFit and CrossFit Boom. I’ve met a lot of like minded folks who inspire me. I FEEL GREAT. It’s a good feeling. Find your path. Find buddies. Find HEALTH! Live life. Don’t sit on the sidelines watching it go by. Don’t just WATCH the reality weight loss shows or READ the blogs. DO SOMETHING. MOVE YOUR BUTT! I promise you’ll feel better. You can see on my About Page my befores and afters. I don’t take many pics cause I’m still critical of myself in picture form! I’m working on it. But I did snap a shot of me today.

2/8/12 ME TODAY!

Have a super great Wednesday. Half way through the week. Start NOW, not later. Move NOW not tomorrow. Live TODAY!

Busy Busy and What I Think is a Better Attitude!

ARRGGHHH!!! That’s what I want to do, like in Garden State where they all just yell. I’ve been swamped with work, busy at home, cranking out some freelance work and just going bonkers. I NEED a vacation! STAT! I need Ford Escape Routes to CALL me and Ernie up and say HEY YOU’RE ON! Let’s go… pack your bags. But until that happens I need to play catch up on this ol (errr, still relatively new) blog of mine.

Oh the weekend. I finally slept in till a whopping 8:30 am on Saturday and Sunday! Woooooo! Go ME! And I finally finished The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo. Took me longer than I had hoped but I finally finished. For those of you who don’t care I’m sorry. Just doing a recap! Hahah, Get OVER it! We trekked out to Grandview again because our PORK BELLY order was ready and decided it was a good day for a field trip. We picked up some more meats as well. We were saddened that they were out of eggs, but I suppose that will happen. I didn’t take any pictures because frankly when I have 3 boys, Ernie and my Dad I just forget to do anything. We ordered burgers (sans bread) and they were delicious. We had a little fiasco where I thought I lost my debit card but I won’t get into those details. It was a big OL THANK GOODNESS my dad was there to pay for our order! We also made a stop at Rosey Ridge Farm to pick up more milk as well as some butter I ordered at the last minute. The boys had hoped there was a pig on the loose but he was where he belonged. They did however get to see a GINORMOUS turkey! He was big and very curious about us but he kept his distance. I bet he would be a tasty dinner! Again no pictures. I should have taken a picture of that beautiful turkey!

The rest of the weekend was just busy. Nothing else exciting to report :/

2/6/12 WOD

I do believe that I started this week out with the better attitude like I had talked about last week. I Showed up to the box yesterday morning tired as all get out but physically rested nonetheless. Worked the OHS (overhead squat) and hit my 5, 5, and 5+ which ended at 10 reps! Woooo. Granted the weight isn’t amazingly heavy. Worked up to 55lbs. My shoulder flexibility has greatly improved. My only downfall now is the flexibility on the insides of my wrists. The wide grip on the bar combined with the weight really puts a strain on the insides of my wrists. But I did get a little better overall.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the MetCon at first glance. Holding a pullup for 1 minute! YOWSERS! That was not easy. So every time you drop you get a point. The idea is to have the least points. I didn’t do so horrible. Just on the PULLUPS. I didn’t drop once on the pushup hold and I only dropped a few times on the LSits. There was a collective sigh of relief at the end of the last round. It was a painful morning!

Nothing fancy for dinner. Roast chicken, brussel sprouts, and broccoli. I did however take note from my co-worker on what to do with the broccoli stems.

Broccoli Stems Marinating

It’s not entirely PALEO but pretty darn close. So you take your stems and clean them up, Peel them like you would a carrot the get rid of the hard exterior. Chop them up, put them in a bowl, pour a little bit of sesame oil, vinegar, minced garlic, salt and a lil sugar. Toss it all around. Seal it up and put it in fridge. I used Apple Cider Vinegar because that’s what I had to use. This morning we opened it up, I let my 12 yr old try it out and he was very receptive to it. He said it tasted very Asian and it was good! My 9 yr old… eh not so much the same reaction. Ah well! Can’t get them to like everything!

Could have been a little more "RED" Velvet Whoopie Pies

But they were excited to try the Red Velvet Whoopie Pies I found over from the good folks at Health-Bent. They have some pretty awesome recipes kickin over there. Check them out! These sweet treats are Gluten Free but not entirely on the Paleo list of things to eat! If you’ve been following along I’ve been testing out recipes for the kids Valentine’s parties. Although my children appreciated the little snack and gobbled them up like there was no tomorrow, they came to a census that kids at school may not be so excited. They told me “we’re used” to not eating so much sugar, so it’s good to us! LOL, it’s true. If you are a sugar junkie…it may not be as delicious as it is to us. It was a fail for Ernie however. Too dry he says. Like I said, I can’t win everyone over. So 4 out of 5 enjoyed them. That’s pretty good in my eyes. I have one more “treat” to test before I just throw in the towel and make cake pops or something! LOL!

2/7/12 WOD

Finally I’m to this morning. Almost caught up now! Skill Strength consisted of Pistols. Damn YOU PISTOLS! One legged squats are what we call pistols and I do not like them. I have nothing else to say on the matter. Moving on the the MetCon…I wussed out and didn’t do the RX of 1.5 pood. I feel I could have Goblet Squatted fine (at a much slower pace) but I had more trouble just picking that darn Kettlebell up … UPSIDE DOWN. So I went for the lesser weight. 400m run, 20 Goblet Squats, 400m run, 15 Goblet Squats, 400m run, 10 Goblet Squats, 400m run, 5 Goblet Squats = 11:08. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th runs were HARD and I’m a wussbag! Go figure.

There ya have it. Missed a day but all caught up now. It’s Tuesday. Come on FRIDAY where ya at? Come on Ford Escape Routes, Give me a CALL! See ya’ll tomorrow!

It’s Friday I’m in Love

TGIF! I never thought this week would end!!!! Yesterday I was declaring a week of SUCK and despite the dreary rain, today has started off really well. I had a better attitude this morning at the box, got out of the house at a decent time and HWY 360 northbound played nicely – Besides the typical work woes… woohooo it’s FRIDAY!

Todays WOD was a lot of legs. Back Squats for skill/strength and Squat Cleans for the MetCon! Yowsers! Much needed break from all the upper body. I was feeling strong in the Back Squats, really focusing on the little things. It was a 5, 5, 5+ session. 100lbs, 110lbs, 115lbs. On my last set though I got stuck at the bottom on my 4th rep. ARGH. I finished with 5 and not +anything. Ah well. I still moved the weight. And I didn’t let it stick with me for the rest of the workout! So that’s an improvement 🙂

MetCon: 2000lbs of Squat Cleans! Say what? So the idea for the MetCon is pick your weight and do reps that add up to 2000lbs. For example if you squat clean 100lbs, you need to push out 20 reps. I chose 70 lbs because I felt that was doable both in weight and reps without being easy and also not becoming impossible. 29 reps was my end goal and I completed it right at 5 minutes. I knocked at 10 pretty quickly. Then proceeded to 5 reps at a time. It wasn’t easy and I was left breathless. I don’t think I’ve ever done that many squat cleans but once I got a good rhythm and better form I felt pretty good about it all. I’ll be feeling it in my lower body later today and all day tomorrow I’m sure! But I finished my BOOM Box week STRONG and less whiny!

Tomorrow is field trip day. The pork belly we ordered is in and I need to go pick it up. Probably will add a few items to the order and take the kiddos along so they get a chance to check it out. Maybe even buy them a couple of burgers as well 🙂 And if I’m on top of it I’ll try to take more pictures! LOL, I’m forgetful as you probably should have figured out by now.

Have a rockin weekend! Push past your limits, go outside your comfort zone, do something new, and have fun!

Big Ol’ Week of Suck!

So I lied about the debbie downer talk getting to me! This week had been hard for me mentally and physically. I am not sure why. Just finally wearing down? Job getting in my head? A little bit of both? NO clue as to what exactly but I’m sure it’s a little of everything. The week isn’t over just yet so I have a day left to redeem myself!

I understand I can’t be “ON” everyday and every week but it’s hard when your whole week has been blah. Alright enough complaining and onto the WOD!

2/2/12 WOD

We worked on Power Jerks and I just couldn’t get my body to get under the bar. Every time I was trying to muscle it up. ON my last attempt I FINALLY did it properly! I know how to do it but for some reason I just wasn’t getting anywhere. The weight wasn’t too heavy, just me being in my head like a loser 😦

The MetCon was Toes to Bar and running. WOOOO Fun! LOL! I can do toes to bar but not well enough to knock it out in a WOD so I did knees to elbows. It’s really hard for me to get in a good rhythm but I did find myself knocking out 5 at a time. It definitely shows that I need to work on my upper body movements because I am no GOOD! Between the barbell pushups and the knees to elbow I have just been beaten down. Hopefully this just means I’m getting better. I just don’t see it right now. I suppose I used to not even be able to do knees to elbows, haha, so I should be stoked! I am! I truly am. I’ve come a long way. But my suck ass attitude is getting in the way.

As I sit here typing this I realize WOW you are such a girl baby! Put on your damn big girl panties and STFU! Really Stephanie! So rather than edit, abort and do over, I’m leaving this as is so I can remind myself of what I sound like and hopefully refrain from such depressing mindset. And also hopefully some of you will be motivated to not SOUND like me! Rise above people! Don’t come down to my level!

Here’s hopin to a FANTABULOUS FRIDAY. Rock on.

Snooze + Infinity!

Holy cow I did not want to get up this morning. Knowing Wednesday has become my rest day, I still wanted to get up and get the kids some almond flour pancakes going. I however slept in till the last possible minute I could possibly sleep and still get ready and get to work on time. I really could have slept a few more hours. I wanted to badly, so much I was ready to call in sick or something! LOL. I didn’t though and I rushed around like a maniac! Fortunately my kids are old enough to fend for themselves and even help their slacker mom out.

Obviously not my kids but I'm sure they feel like this when I'm running late!

Speaking of slacker and since I don’t have much to report, here are some interweb stumblings I thought I’d share 🙂 And then I have treats to share as well!

With that said, I found some before and afters of random strangers to hopefully motivate anyone into pushing themselves outsided their comfort zones!

N0w that you have inspiration to LOSE weight I will tempt you with PALEO-ish goodies! Ha, I’m cruel like that. It’s true I have a sweet tooth and I have kids that I like to share my sweet tooth with. Now I can be really good and just go without but I like to provide some sort of treat during Christmas and Valentines and maybe even a little bit at the end of the school year. I’ve always provided some homemade treat and I’m trying to cut out the glutens, processed crap and whatever else there is to making desserts. It’s hard, as we aren’t meant to consume junk, but it’s so easy to make and buy. But I am trying and that is why I have treats on the brain. Earlier I made those yummo NO BAKE treats and they were a hit. So I found these PALEO-ish treats from Paleo Parents. And I was hesitant at first because I’m a choco-junkie but they are DELICIOUS! And definitely fall under the DON’T MAKE EVERYDAY list! Only cause I’ll eat them till I explode.

SNICKERDOODLE WHOOPIE PIES

Ready to Mix and Bake 🙂

Ready to Bake

Finished Snickerdoodle Cookie

Snickerdoodle Whoopie Pie

There ya have it… A good treat but not an everyday treat. I have a couple more recipes to try out before Valentine’s Day then I’ll probably go on a sweet treat hiatus. I need to get back to eating with less sugar in my life 🙂 But I’ll definitely be trying to whip up some good savory meals!

Happy Wednesday Folks! I’m glad it’s my rest day today… I NEED IT. I hope you are getting your rest in as well!