It's getting tough!

Man, oh man! I'm fighting with everything I have in me..... I just want sweets, pop, yummies! It's so hard to keep on track and not go on a little eating bender. I just need to get through tomorrows Salsa Aerobics and then I'm home free. NO workouts for 4 days. STAY focused! STAY determined! But it's much easier said than done. NOPE.... I can do this... I think. STOP it..... I can and will do this. I'm gonna kick my own butt in class and then stay for the 15 minutes weight session as well. Then and only then will I be able to enjoy my Anniversary Weekend, completely guilt free!
C~

Deserved Poundage

I'm up .5lbs. Deserved. Yesterday I had a Subway sandwich and a diet coke. Not bad but not something my body is used to. I'm been pop free for two weeks, probably threw by body into some sort of caffeine shock. Today is a new day and tomorrow I'm adding an hour long Salsa Aerobics class to my work out. With 5 days to go I'm going to kick it in overdrive.

Despite the odds

The definition of Torture is: the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty. Each of us can think of something they deem to be torturous, sheer cruelty...... seeing an X with a new love, missing your favorite show because you forgot to set up your DVR. For me, Torture is defined by spending any amount of time at my parents house while trying to eat right. Douglas had to take a day trip to Houston so I packed an overnight bag for Daniel and I and headed to their house. This was the hardest two days I've gone through since starting this diet. My parents cupboards are filled with little Debbie cakes, piesand cereal. Their fridge is filled with Mountain Dew and HEB brand Cola. AKA the absolute best drinks in the history of drinks. My Dad is the absolute best cook on the planet Earth. Probably because he comes from the school of "it's all about flavor." He adds a pound of butter to potatoes, cooks with lard, adds bacon to green beans. It's so delicious but so not the temptation I needed right now. I will admit I ate one brownie and nursed the yummy goodness of a Mountain Dew over the course of an entire day. Aside from that I stuck to my guns and I am very proud of myself. I not only maintained healthy eating habits but managed to lose an entire pound. Take that temptation!! Our anniversary is a mere 5 days away and I'm not going to give in now. Eating out with our friends, putting on a bathing suit, relaxing in front of the TV or doing nothing at all will feel so good, so deserved after all of the effort that Douglas and I have put into this program.

Great Work Out

I've had a few more great work outs. I'm feeling somewhat stronger and the interval rowing is easier. It feels so good to be working out my heart the way I am. Muscles.... in my arms, legs and stomach are great to have strengthened but my heart is the most important muscle in my entire body. Only 12 days to go!! I am so going to reach my (short term) goal!
C~

Turbulence Training Resumed

Douglas and I have had a lot on our plate the past few days. He's back at work busier than ever! Problems to solve, traveling to plan, presentations to create and so much more. With that being said he took the night of from working out to play catch up. I don't need much of an excuse to take a night off so I joined him. I got in a great cardio session at the gym so I don't feel guilty about it. I think Douglas missed his work out because he was talking about how hard he was going to "pump it" tonight. He's motivated to say the least.
I don't know how but I managed to weigh in at 164lbs for a second day in a row. I'm super stoked about that. Things are going well.

New Lows bring New Highs!

So persistence does pay off! I was feeling horrible about myself, my work outs, my eating. I was critiquing every single thing I touched over the past two weeks. I know it's early on and I shouldn't expect so much but I thought for sure I'd be dropping a lot these first few days of the program. I was Analyzing everything. Wondering where I was going wrong. Apparently nowhere. I just needed to stick with it. I'm a habitual starter, stopper when it comes to setting goals. I talk myself into failure before I start. By two weeks in I've already convinced myself I can't do it therefor I don't and then I feel terrible. But this time I didn't do that, for the first time and I feel so good about myself for doing so. Douglas was the best. He tried to keep me motivated and on track. It's amazing how he knows when to push and when to back off (most of the time). What a wonderful husband and gym partner! I am at 164lbs. The lowest I've been in a really long time and I feel fantastic. So much so that I'm going back into the gym for my interval training with more determination than ever. I'm so close to reaching my goals I can feel it. I want it and I know I can make it. I'm doing it and it feels GREAT.
WOOOOO!!
~C.B~

Up and discouraged

GEEZ! I'm up half a pound. I thought for sure I'd break the 166lb mark today. Nope! I'm up, I gained. Why? What the frick is going on? To tell you the truth I want to give in. I'm so easily affected by things like this. I feel like I'm giving it my all with no return. What I want to do is have a big ol' glass of Mtn. Dew and some french fries! That'll show the scale..... you wanna go up, I'll make you go up. If my anniversary wasn't 18 days-14hrs. and 37min. away I'd hit McDonald's for a McGriddle combo. Instead I'm going to spend the morning trying to get myself out of my funk and back on track. The upside.... my favorite pre-pregnancy jeans are fitting better. Good things are apparently happening they're just not transferring to the scale. Oh well, tonight is another workout and tomorrow is another day to weigh in. Maybe, hopefully, prayerfully this will be my week to break the mark. Who knows? We'll see.
~C.B.~

That wasn't 1/2 bad

Wasn't 1/2 bad? Oh! Who am I kidding! It was workout B. Of course it was bad. The only upside to this go-round is that I don't feel the urge to puke as intensely as before. I still can't knock out all of my push-ups so I've scaled down to 6 instead of the required 8. And I find myself tugging on my neck and head to get the last few reps of my bicycle crunches finished. I know, I know you're not supposed to do that. It's supposed to be all abs. What if your like me and you don't have abs? Then what? All joking aside I know that's not the proper technique and can cause injury so I'll just have to focus on not doing that during the next workout. I am postponing tonight's rowing. Only because Douglas, Daniel and I are going to the Y in the morning. I'm going to try to do 40 min. instead of 20 to get caught up but knowing that my boys are having tons of fun in the pool might drag me off of the bicycle a little earlier.
~C.B.~

TT 6-Month Bodyweight Program

Last night I did workout A from Phase 1 of the TT 6-Month Bodyweight Program. As the name implies, the workout is all calisthenics and consists of a circuit of 8 different exercises done for between 12 and 20 reps. You do all the exercises in a row, rest a minute and repeat two more times. Again, this is a big change from the 3 sets of 5 workouts I'm used to. The effort is totally different and my body will really have to grow to adapt to these new workouts. While I do enjoy the heavy weight lifting more, I'm excited about how all the little stabilizer muscles are being worked and how that new strength will transfer over once I start regular weight lifting again. Tonight I will spend another 20 minutes on the rowing maching getting in my interval training for the day. My favorite soundtrack to listen to during this workout is Best of Johnny Cash. All his songs about tough guys make it easier for me to resist quitting when I get tired.
-D.B.

Turbulence Training workout A

I have to say that I find TT's workout A easier than B. Each workout requires the entire body including all of the tiny balancing muscles that I never knew I had so they're each equally challenging. Maybe it's because B seems to focus on legs and lower body which are by far my weakest muscles or maybe it's all my imagination. Either way I enjoyed last night's workout (A) much more than two nights ago. I failed in the eating department yesterday. I don't know why but I ate a handful of marshmallows. BAD, bad,bad!! I haven't ate marshmallows in years, I know I don't love them. It's because I'm "dieting" that I craved them. I kicked my own butt on the rowing machine after strength training to make up for it. When I was supposed to be giving an 8 out of 10 (per TT) I gave 10 out of 10. Tough and I didn't want to do it but I feel good for doing it. Just starting each workout is a challenge for me. I wish I were a gym rat, someone who enjoyed working out, a person who could be pumped and looking forward to pumping iron but I'm so not that person. I know that nothing comes easy and that anything worth having i.e.: a few shed lbs by our 10TH anniversary and a bathing suit body by summer is worth putting in all the effort. The tricky part is staying focused and keeping those things in mind when temptations arise. A month ago I would have taken my "failure" to the extreme. I would have stopped working out, ate whatever I wanted all day long and then felt horrible about myself for giving up for an entire week. That's not the case. I'm sticking with this...... for the first time! It feels good.
Well, it's off for some cleaning while Douglas and Daniel are out playing.
~C.B.~