Busy. Busy. Busy.

Whew what a month! It's been a whirlwind. Not quite over, but just about, and that is what matters.
I type this using my new iPhone. It's an early birthday present. Gee I hope my DH gets a job soon so we can continue to eat AND pay our bills.

Last week was so insanely busy, I never had time go sit and type in a blog post. I did weigh in but it was not a good weight. It was back up. There were foods I ate that caused the water weight to creep up. I know that, but it did more than creep, it spiked. I had one dr appt that day and according to their scale I had lost 1 pound in a bit over a year and a half. I had another dr. appt today and explained how frustrating it is. The dr. retested my thyroid and hormones and we'll see how that goes as a start. She also has me keeping track of my food for a week and she'll give me some feedback. Thing is, I went and stocked up on my apples, red pepper and snap peas. She won't see how I cut soda and coffee (loaded with chocolate and milk) from my diet. Or that I increased my workout minutes over the past months. What hopefully she will be able to help me with is what my diet has too much or too little of.

I know one thing I absolutely know I am running low on. Time. If there is some magic answer on how to be super mom, super wife, and fit in working out while also making dinner or taking time to play a bit, puhleeze fill me in. Mkay?!!
Thanks!

Hopefully the much awaited surprise party photos will get posted. I have lots go go through, and edit. I will do my best!!

Wednesday Weigh-in #4

It's time for the Shrinking Days of Summer Challenge weigh-in. This is week 4. I've not blogged about this prior to today, but am going to attempt to return to my blog with updates more consistently. I logged in to post today and see that there have been two posts I began and never finished. One being week #3's weigh in.

Okay enough of that. Here's the are the numbers. ding ding ding... 138.6.

<< BUMMER >> My weight is up slightly again. I am fluctuating up and down like a roller coaster. Where the heck is that descending hill to the end goal?

Since I haven't posted any numbers previously here (and am still a little freaked out to post them) I'll face the music.
Week #1 - 138
Week #2 - 141
Week #3 - 137
Week #4 - 138.6

It's interesting. The big jump up was a cycle week as well as a race week. I felt puffy all over. I feel better, but it would be so nice to be back down about 10 pounds. Photos just don't look good. My eyes are dark and I just don't look like me.

I know my body has taken a beating over the past couple of years. (for those of you reading this and who don't know my story -in short I gained 80# with my pregnancy and after the birth of my 10lb 4oz son was finally diagnosed with Hypothyroidism almost 2 years later.) Now that my hypothyroidism is finally under control, my body has been a priority for me, though responsibilities have consistently gotten in the way. I manage a couple of weeks being gung-ho for working out, and getting IT ALL done, and then crash pretty hard. It takes me a couple of weeks to recover and then I have to start all over again. I am not sure what the right answer is, but if anyone knows it - definitely let me know!!! I wish hiring a nanny and a housekeeper/cook or personal assistant were options for me because I would jump at those solutions in a moment.

Since a personal trainer and all that other stuff isn't in the budget, I am once again attempting to Get My Shhhtufff Together. I have been working pretty hard at watching what I eat. But it's not enough, it's definitely important to get the workouts in. In effort to get back into the swing, today I got up and worked out before work. It wasn't easy to get up at the crack of dawn, but I managed. It felt pretty good. These creaky bones do not like the am workouts. I didn't have as long as I would have liked, but 27 minutes of cardio is better than none! Tonight I took my son to the pool, so got a few walking laps around with him. AND that kind of cardio is way more fun for me. Looking forward to some more workouts like that.

Okay, time to end this if I am going to make it up again tomorrow morning!

Ready to roll

The Zooma Annapolis 10K is coming up on Sunday. It's too soon!!! I am not prepared. Mentally or physically. I am hoping for some kind of epiphany by the time I hit the starting line. I will do my best, but as of today, things are not looking very good. 

Yikes! Time to change the subject and stop freaking myself out. Can't wait to get through that.

Today was fun! A coworker and I signed up for the rollout of the Chick-Fil-A spicy chicken sandwich. It seemed like it was just a coupon for a new sandwich. And I am always game for spicy food. More like a sucker for it. My friend and I slipped out for lunch thinking, we'll be in and out of there in about 15 minutes. No biggie. It says you have to dine-in on the coupon. Sounds okay, right? What we were not expecting was the red carpet, balloons, hostess, waitress, or the table cloths and the real looking plastic silverware! Our server was fabulous. Christina (or was it Christine) was wonderful. She took our order brought it to us, took our payment, brought back our receipts, refilled our drinks, got our to-go bag, and then she and the hostess actually took our photo to post on facebook. How funny is that? I think Chick-Fil-A is such a fabulous company. Hmmm. Thinking that the fact that this young lady had a badge that said she had worked for them for a year is a great sign. She was enjoying her job waiting on people, we felt that she really was happy with her job. Would it be insane that a career with them is sounding quite luxurious right now? It wouldn't be the craziest idea I have ever heard of?! And notice, I said career, not just a job. I want to work with the fun people that make the cow calendars and make the cow ads and billboards. Hanging out with some creative people would be so nice. People that want to give critique in the designs I do. 

Lastly, I finally broke down and bought some presets for Lightroom. Trying to learn to use LR properly, and smarter. I have lurked around this fabulous website, Pretty Presets. There are some amazing photographers out there. It's kind of intimidating to me. So, then I tried out some of the free presets they have available on a couple of photos. They worked so well, that when the site offered a special discount yesterday, I decided to take the plunge and not just buy one set, but the combo pack of Pretty Presets Collection I and II. I had one new photo that I had taken on Saturday and used it to test a few of these presets out. Here is the photo I decided I liked best. 

This photo used Deep Blue.

He's following in his mommy's footsteps, and I am not going to fight it!

Right now Pretty Presets is offering a giveaway. All the rules are on their website. Of course I am entering the contest. I want all of their presets now. I am officially hooked! 

Biggest Loser, and Big Goals

Tomorrow is the finale for Biggest Loser 9. I am so excited. I think each season I seem to get more emotionally tied to the contestants. This has been a great season. To the point that I really don't know who I think should win. It's a hard call. I am sure we'll all love the outcome. I think the reason I liked this season so much is because it was a team effort throughout. It wasn't so much about ME ME ME, which I think is why we disliked those that really just wanted to win. The rest of the contestants wanted everyone to be the biggest loser. It has been a great ride with these inspiring people. I am going to be very sad to see it end, however I am excited to see Jillian's new show. I hope it is just as inspiring. I work hard to keep Tuesday nights all about ME and getting myself back in shape, and really want to keep it that way, besides, I will miss all the twitter about!

Speaking of getting back in shape. I have been having some physical limitations again, and with that, I have put off working out as much as before. It's amazing how quickly weight comes and settles in when I don't workout. And then it is twice as hard to get moving again. But it's time. I am going to have to work through the pain. As much as I would rather not. It's kind of hard -it's my spine, which obviously is huge when it comes to working out. It's really hard when you are signed up for a race that you know you are no where near prepared to run and it's only a week and a half away. (YIKES!)

Regardless of pain and all that, I am now the proud owner of EAS more workouts and am very excited to get using it. I started yesterday with the first of the 6-week challenge workouts. I went ahead and used the low intensity mode, but mainly because it was pretty late. Tonight I boosted it to medium, then did a few extra boxing workouts to see which I liked best. So far the workouts are good. I like the warm up and cool downs. I am a huge fan of the boxing, hence me adding more of that in later. I hope that as I progress, the workouts change up and get faster.

Other than that, I am working on a new challenge for myself. Not that I really need to add anything else t my list of challenge, but I was already thinking of taking a photo a day or something like that. I realize that those have been done, so I keep trying to figure out how to change it up a bit. One blog I ran across tonight has a challenge on it where the goal is to take a photo of yourself with your kids. I think that would be really hard for me. I LOVE taking pics of what is going on around me, HATE taking photos of myself. Wonder if that is why I should try that one? I am going to wait a bit longer before I set my goal. I just am not ready to commit to this one just yet.

What I am ready to do, is get fit!

Today's Free Hour

Today started bright and early at 5am. Got in 30 minutes on the treadmill. It was a lame workout, but I did it. I just didn't have the energy I needed. I can't imagine what tomorrow's workout will be like!

Which is why I am going to make this a quick post. I have to workout tomorrow morning. I won't have time, or probably any energy later in the day.

I have the day off tomorrow. It's St. Patrick's Day. A fun filled day is planned. Hanging with some high school friends (yes, we graduated in ’86) and about a million other people that have also taken a personal day off for some green fun! It's crazy, but I need it. I've already put in 26 hours in 3 days. Today was about a 15 hour day. I'm tired. You know how it works, right?! Got to put in the time to take the time, or something like that.

I think I might take my camera with me. Probably a crazy idea, but I think being away from social media for an entire day will leave me antsy and therefore I will require another creative outlet. Photography would be the easiest. Smart? Maybe not. But it could make for a fun day with many crazy photo ops. HMMM. I need to weigh the options there. It's not exactly a pocket camera.

Okay, well, I was going to say that I found a free hour today, but since it started at 12am, that means I missed a free hour on Tuesday. It does mean that I have started my FULL FREE DAY already. Hopefully this free day won't become the absolute last for another year.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and a Happy Excuse for a Full Day of Drinking to Ya!

Intervals

Interval training on the treadmill that is. What better way to start out an early Monday morning?

Today is the first Monday of Daylight savings time. At 5am this morning dragging my butt outta bed was kind of tough. It could have been a lot harder since it really was 4am to my brain, and it was a restless night of sleep. All in all it went well.

I decided to listen to an old Podfitness workout (Walk-Jog with Mike Young) I had downloaded this back when Podfitness was the simple solution to use for downloading workouts. If you aren't familiar with them, they are now moving to NextFit which is some type of "keychain trainer" now. I got to mix my itunes music with different trainers and pick the kind of workout I wanted. I have no idea how this new product works, but Podfitness was really easy. I hadn't listened to any of these workouts in a while, so I was really surprised at how motivating this one was for me after all the time that had passed.

It was really a big help to me this am as I kept thinking, I just want to go back to bed!

This was an interval training workout I chose. It said to use dumbbells, and to walk. I did that for a little bit, but when it stepped up to a number 7 on the scale, I ran - without them. For me, a full 35 min interval session is huge!

The music really helped along with the commentary on it. Here's a sample of my am workout.

The first song that boosted my morale was a Keith Urban song. It was possibly because Mr. Commentary had just said to move into the workout segment and to up the level, but part of the lyrics stood out loud and clear.

"Maybe it's a little too early to know if this is gonna work"

I found it kind of ironic even though when you put the rest of the song in there it doesn't really go, but that was exactly what I was thinking at that moment. It also played twice. That is an example of my super fantastic music mixing ability. (HA!)

The next song was good ole Kenny Chesney.

"Suntanned toes ticklin the sand ..."

What other reason than being seen on the beach this summer would I be up at the crack of dawn now?!

"When the sun goes down we'll be back for more"

Yep, that is the plan. An evening strength training session.

I was burning more calories and going a bit further than I have been in the past few am workouts.

22 min into it: 160 cals & 1.5 mi

It may be programmed and kinda lame for some people, but it worked for me. I really have to tell Mr. Commentary, thanks for the little bits and bites like these: "To get to the finish line like a champion," "You can handle it," "Abs stay contracted and strong through this entire workout," "One foot in front of the other, you can do this," and "Let's go for one minute!"

30 min into it: 230 cals & 2.17 mi

2 min into slowdown

Chicago - "I do believe in you and I know you believe in me…"

"…I do believe i'm feeling stronger everyday."

I have to say, I am glad I spent the time I did picking the music I used for these workouts.

"ohhh yeah!"

It was an early morning rise, but I am certain it was worth it in the end. It's time to shower and get cleaned up for work.

35 min total

275 cals and 2.46 mi

"Feelin stronger everyday

Feelin stronger everyday

Feelin stronger everyday

Feelin stronger everyday

Feelin stronger everyday!!!!"