Want to get back to my posts!

I feel so empty by the lack of posts for so long. I hope to get back to regular posts. It still looks like I am getting some regular visits from google search results. This weekend I created an awesome pulled pork tenderloin in the slow cooker that the kids and Daddy loved. Just put it in the crock pot with cumin, a little salt and some chili powder and leave it for 6-8 hours on low. It created some good bark and enough juice itself to keep it juicy and flavorful. We also had fat free refried beans casserole (1 can of fat free refried beans mixed with 1 can of pinto beans drained, topped with chopped green chilies, chopped onions and chopped tomatoes and sprinkled with grated cheddar cheese then warmed in the oven. We warmed corn tortillas in the grill pan and had rice on the side. The kids made their own burritos. I didn't take any pictures. One step at a time!

Hello 2014 and new beginnings.

Happy New Year, everyone!

2014 brings lots of promise, changes and new beginnings. In November, I had some cosmetic surgery done to remove some excess skin and fat from having children and being extremely overweight as a young adult. I feel great and have lost about 20 lbs, even though they removed about 5 with the procedures.

I am looking up at the future and hope to get back to my blog, get back to some of my hobbies and start having some real fun in 2014.

I look forward to putting together some recipes and getting them posted. It feels good to be coming back.

Thanks!
Angie

Work, Travel, kids and excuses Oh My.

A friend of mine posted a question the other day on Facebook. "Question of the day. You are the CEO of your body, how do you rate your performance based on 1) What you put in it. 2) Meeting the level of physical activity required?"

Oh boy - talk about giving you a big fat reality check. No pun intended.

I am not doing well. I had to drive across South Dakota in 2 1/2 days. I feel like I am doing laundry daily and can never get it put away. I am losing my desire to cook - which is REALLY bad.

Today - this is what's left of my frozen lunch. I've gotten *that* lazy. I need to do some major mental shifting. Now.

Been doing "okay". I really am having a hard time getting motivated consistently on workouts. One or two days I'm gung ho and then all weekend, I had no desire. Eating at least one salad a day. Egg whites and some kind of fat free beans in the morning. Still no white carbs. I dragged myself to the gym today even though I really didn't want to. Banged out two miles on the treadmill and some resistance reps.

Tonight's workout

Today I did some research on functional training and developed my own 45 minute workout. This was the alternative to relying on one more person or thing for my motivation.

Here's what I did:

12 min on treadmill - 1:30 walk / 1 min jog
30 minutes of following:

Warm up :
knee touches - 60
modified jumping jack - 25 each side
wall squats using balance ball - 15 x 3 alternating reps with
Seated twist with medicine ball rolling behind my back 15 each side
1 minute plank

2x

Wax on wax off using mat and those plastic furniture movers that have a pad on one side and plastic on other. While in plank, you use extend your arms and do a wax on wax off motion. 8 reps each side
Balance ball bridge with chest press 15 rep
Tricep on wall (standing johnny C) 15 rep
Medicine ball down and twist up 10 each side
Bent leg life with a row - 15

1 x

dumb bell chop 15 each side
kettle bell swing 15
sexy spider 8 each side
Lunge with press - 8 each side


I also went to machines and did 2 reps of 15 tricep extensions and stretching.

Left the gym feeling satisfied and was only there from 4:30 to 5:15 pm.

Food:

Lara Bar
can of no salt black beans
baby greens salad
another lara bar
homemade spaghetti sauce / no pasta

dinner/snacks to come.

Thanks all!

ak-47

Lunch - Another day of trying

Second day of getting son ready for day camp. Its not easy. Its like repacking them every morning for what's to come and making sure you have plenty of supplies because in most cases, what was wet the night before is not dry. Making sure he has a healthy breakfast, making sure nothing is forgotten because the camp is in Dallas proper. Then there's getting the girl ready. The couch potato who has her nose stuck in the ipad addicted to Wallace and Gromit. Then there comes me : shower and prepare a decent lunch and hopefully get to the office by 10. *sigh*

So this morning, its a baby greens salad with veggies, fat free feta and pepitas for crunch since I'm not using croutons. If you haven't checked out pepitas you should, though in moderation. They are sunflower seeds on steroids. The innards, yes I said innards, of a pumpkin seed.



Anyhow, here is my salad that I will enjoy with no salt black beans at lunch. They want me to eat 2400 calories and work my way down until I start losing. 2400? I barely get in 1200. Maybe that's a clue.

later, ak-47

Fitness assessment & grocery shopping

There's nothing quite like getting that reality slap in the face during a body fat test.

Whatever, it confirms what I already knew. Rip the bandaid off and keep going.

Highlights:

I was able to do a 1 min plank. She was surprised as she said many women come in and can't do that.

She suggested I do functional training to build muscle versus killing myself over cardio.

40% nutrition, 40% resistance, 20% cardio. 3 / 45 minute days of functional training and then if I do something other than that, its a plus.

Start higher on the calorie intake, work your way down based on whether I am losing or not. Another BF check in 6-8 weeks.

Anyone that truly knows me knows that I am very knowledgeable about diet, food and nutrition. What I am missing is that right combo for me and doing the hard work to study up and pay attention and make it my new hobby. The lady that I met with was about 60 years old and in FANTASTIC shape. But at one point, okay, alot of points through the conversation, I felt like she was talking preaching to what she was seeing on the outside and not giving me any credit at all. And asking some really strange open ended questions that truly felt like she thought I was an idiot or not knowledgeable after I had already established my journey from a size 22/24 in the mid 90's to a size 12 and feeling FABULOUS up until 2003/2004 when I started having children. I did all of that with personal training and no supplements. But I was also in my 20s.

Women lose lots of muscle every year after 30. If you keep doing or thinking the same way at 40 that you did at 30 or 20, you will fail, as I have. Unfortunately, women also sometimes deal with more family pressures, stress, raising children, undiagnosed anxiety or depression that all make matters worse.

After the session I drove on over to Kroger and bought about 50$ of fresh vegetables, Lara bars and what not. I do love food and I do love good food that is good for you. I have to keep it simple.

Next assignment is to build a 45 min functional workout schedule that will save me from paying 119$ to show up, again, at a specific time to do group training. I need to make it simple and flexible. Rarely am I ever available every day at 9:30 AM or 6 PM.

Now off to make that huge salad =) Thanks to everyone for the encouragement today when I sent this out.

Signing off as a big gun, ready to do this, in the handle given to me by a very dear friend who I miss ALOT!

AK-47