LMP Round 2 Phase 1 Schedule

As you all know I have started Round 2 of Les Mills Pump. There is no hybrid Schedule out there that I have found that incorporated Running as well as the Les Mills Pump Ultimate Cross Training workout plans. Using the Round One Phase One Schedule I added the Running, UCT workouts, The Yoga I like to do on rest days to reset myself as well as a couple other things that I just plain enjoy doing. I kept the weight training segment part of the schedule exactly the same as it was before and just switched out the walking days with other things and added runs and other workouts seeing I am at a higher fitness level now and can push myself harder than I could when I started Round 1.  Just to keep myself accountable here is my Round 2 Phase 1 schedule.

PHASE 1: TE WERO: The Challenge

 

Today is Day two, So….. it is time for me to get my Yoga in and I will run later this evening once it starts to cool down. I have found that I really like running and walking outdoors at night. It is serene. Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend. I have a weekend of house guests again so it should be fun!! I am glad they don’t think it is rude when I disappear on them to work out. I have even gotten some of them to work out with me!

Ohh Yeah!

Weigh In and Shopping for Cardio

Is it possible to consider five hours of walking around shopping as cardio? After returning home I was pooped, and broke. But, I need clothes to wear that fit. No one works hard to lose weight just to keep wearing the clothes they wore when they were larger. Also I prefer the term “get rid of weight” over “lost weight” when something is lost you tend to look for it. I really don’t want any of my size back. so whoever finds it can keep it! So yeah, I shopped ’till I dropped once again. For quite some time I have been saying I want to wear shorts again, and I ending up braving trying a pair on, I wasn’t too turned off by them but didn’t like the style, so I loaded up the dressing room and left the shop with two pairs of shorts!! I have not worn shorts in three years or more so this is a big deal. I also bought two dresses that are wait for it… wait.. MEDIUMS! So exciting.  It has been a long time since I have fit into a medium dress. No more clothing shopping for a while I will wait until this set is too big, I now have enough pieces to get me through some time mixing and matching. Well, I do need some jean Capri’s but that is it. So here were my finds from yesterdays shopping extravaganza:

Oh and I think I have my scale back in order and went across the street to my lovely neighbor Janis’ and tried her two scales. This is where I ended up for week 12:

• Chest: 32 inches  (- 1.5 inches)
• R Arm: 12 inches  (- 0 inches)
• L  Arm: 12 inches (+ .5 inches)
• Waist: 32 inches (- 0 inches)
• Hips: 41 inches (- 0 inches)
• R Thigh: 23.5 inches (- 1 inches)
• L Thigh: 23.5 inches (- 1 inches)
• Weight: 168 pounds (-3 pounds)
• Pant Size: 12
• BMI: 29.5

For a total of 3 inches and 3 pounds lost. This is day 86 of 90 of Les Mills Pump so on Day 90 I will have my last official weigh and measure in documents my 90 pump results. My Les Mills Pump Ultimate Cross Training Upgrade was dropped off by FedEx yesterday. I will blog about that later, promise So, that will begin the day after Round 1 of Les Mills Pump is done. It is a 30 day schedule, I will continue my blogs and keep counting weeks as they are now.

Dessert without guilt: My Healthier Chocolate Cake Recipe!

It is possible to eat something sweet and not feel the need to beat yourself up afterwards. It is okay to treat yourself every once in a while, it is even better to do it and still feel you made a far better choice than you could have. This was me last night. I wanted, chocolate, I wanted crunchy and I wanted salty all at the same time. So I hit the kitchen and threw together a microwave chocolate cake. It was far healthier than any processed snack and still fell within my clean eating guideline so I was pleased with myself and my craving was satisfied. I still don’t harbor any guilt over my choice either. That is rare for me. So here is a picture of my delicious creation and the recipe. This is a single serving recipe.

Oh so tasty!

Clean Eating Chocolate Cake:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon dark chocolate cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons 100% unbleached whole wheat graham flour
• 2 teaspoons agave nectar
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 packets Stevia In the Raw
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened coconut
• 2 teaspoons applesauce
• 3 tablespoons skim milk (you could substitute with milk of choice)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon dark chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon unsalted shelled sunflower seeds
• 1 pinch course sea salt

In a small bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients (minus the chips and salt) and Stevia well. Add wet ingredients and stir well. After it is fully mixed pour into mug or ramekin add chips reserving a few, sprinkle remaining chips, seeds and salt on the top of batter. Place in microwave and microwave on high for 1 minute. It did bubble over just a tiny bit so I would recommend placing it on a microwave safe dish or paper towel.Let cool for a minute then enjoy! I am yet to calculate the nutrition to an exact but my rough calculation rounded it out to about:

• Calories: 170
• Fat: 2 grams
• Carbs: 35 grams
• Fiber: 6.5 grams
• Protein:5.6 grams

I feel like I am running on E today. I slept less than two hours. I am so temped to grab a Sugar Free Red Bull so I can function. So far I have resisted but have accomplished nothing. I rarely have caffeine via doctors orders. Apparently caffeine and Sleep Deprivation Disorder is not a good mix. Who would have thought, huh? Right now I am having a smoothie in hopes that it give me some up and go. If not, I will be naughty and have some caffeine. After I blog I am going to have an egg to so I get my protein in. Thank goodness today is an easy workout day. Yoga and C25K!  I think I will do LMP Flow and some Gaiam Energizing Yoga too, get the blood flowing before my C25K. Yawn!

Already looking tasty!

Hope this gives me some energy!

What was in my smoothie?

• 1 mango
• 1 kiwi
• 1 handful spinach
• 2 mandarin oranges
• 1/2 cup FF Greek yogurt
• 1 handful ice
• 1 handful of mixed berries: blueberries, raspberries and blackberries
• 1/3 cup FF milk

 

Does my ass make my ass look big?

Yesterday was rough for me. It seemed that everything I put on make me look like a heifer, even all the new size 12′s I bought last week. How is that there was no weight gain and even a bit of inches lost and I saw myself as fat as I was when I stated all this? Anyhow, everything I tried on I hated. I liked the clothes, but they didn’t look right to me. Being that discouraged made me want to throw in the towel, I had this feeling that all this hard work has been for nothing. Why did I do that to myself? it is not like I wanted to feel that was, self sabotage was not my plan at all. Some of the unhappiness I have been feeling over other things must be wearing me down. Not to worry though nothing is permanent.

So today is Wednesday, it is day 79 of Les Mills Pump, I still love it on day 79 just as much as I did on day one. I am still grateful that I gave it a go. If there were live classes around here I would get a gym membership in a second. I think that I am finally to the point where I don’t feel too fat for group fitness. Shyness is something that really came with weight gain. I am getting back to my more open outgoing, who give a damn what you think self again, I know it sounds strange after the first part of this blog. Yesterday was a rough day for some reason, that’s all.

The carpet people are coming to measure today! I went and confirmed what color and pile I wanted, sugar cookie.  Why is it that I always like the most expensive of everything. Even before I have a clue what the price is I always find that I gravitate to items of a higher cost? I must have good taste I did find a new chair I really liked. I need to find a couple more I like so there are choices. And no luck on a TV/media stand. I think we need to make the two-hour trek to Ikea maybe. Haven’t even started looking for shelving for the archway wall.  The house is a huge mess. Furniture all over, the stuff from the walls strewn about which leads to making more clutter. How does that happen? Things will be in order soon enough. I can’t wait for the living room, Purple room (sitting and treadmill room right now but soon to be an office), steps and hallway to have it’s pretty new floor coverings!

Time to get going with my day. The kiddo is off to school, time for me to get going on part one of my workouts. I am super starving today, I can’t wait to eat breakfast. I don’t think I got me calories in to calories out ratio right. I had a major calorie burn yesterday, just about 1000 cals! That must be why I am starving.

Just one more random thought. I really, REALLY want a sashimi lunch from Hello Sushi. If they were open right now that would be my breakfast. I have been craving sashimi for a week now at least!

Have a great day everyone!

 

I’m Back! Here is how week 11 measured up!

Wow, it was strange not writing blogs and reading blogs for a few days. Blogging has become a habit, maybe even a ritual for me. I missed it. I spent the entire weekend painting. When we bought out house every inch of it was brown, every wall, every floor and even the outside is brown (except one bathroom they never bothered painting and the laundry room). The people who built this must have had a brown obsession. The only lived here six months after they built it so they didn’t have a chance to realize that they made a bad choice with all the brown. Upon buying it we knew we didn’t like the brown but would change it over time. We have now rid, 4 bedrooms, the living room, sitting room, kitchen/dining rooms, the upstairs hallway and the foyer of the brown. All that there is left is 2 bathrooms and the carpet. The Carpet guys were supposed to come measure yesterday but did not and will be here tomorrow. Hopefully the new carpet will be in soon! I did not take before pictures just because I was in the let’s do this zone and didn’t think of it but here are the pics I have. The pics are not the best because I am still waiting for Canon to actually do their job.

Original brown walls

Hallway/stairwell landing. Painting two story tall walls is hard!

Hallway: tape is still up and paint trays on the floor but you get the point.

What happens when you beagle decides he needs to sit against the wall and constantly wag his tail against it. his tail is not supposed to be white it looks naturally white, but it is not.

Contrast with new color

Almond white on main walls and baked scone on the accent wall (fireplace)

The kid approves!

There you go, that was my weekend in a nutshell. We did also do some shopping around for all mounts for the TV and a new media center. No luck finding what I have in mind. I am very picky I guess. I am hoping to have everything done by the last weekend of the month. I am hosting a jewelry party here and it may be a good thing to not have the house a disastrous mess.

I did well with my food intake over the weekend even with keeping busy. I would have rather had take out all weekend just because it would have been easier. but once I actually made an effort to cook, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I was so close to falling into  my old mindset of being busy means that you should just eat what is quickest and came in a take out box. Whew, crisis adverted. I did get a bit of exercise in but not as much as I would have liked. but painting was pretty hard on my hands with the dip in the weather this weekend. My body hates temp changes. Especially when it drops down like it did. I froze my rear off at Emma’s game on Saturday morning. It was so freaking cold! I wish Michigan weather could make up its mind! Anyhow, I rambled off there for a minute. back on topic now. Exercise.  I didn’t put in as much effort as usual. But painting had to be done and it was work so it counts as a bit of my missed workout. All, in all I still was active. The main thing that I was lacking in was my Les Mills Pump. I missed one session of Extreme. Just did a quick Challenge session instead. I skipped Flow, but no biggie, it’s just a 20  minute yoga workout. All in all I think I could have done worse so I am okay with it.  Got back to it full force yesterday.

I suppose you all want to know how I fared with week eleven, here are my stats for the week:

• Chest: 32 inches  (- 1.5 inches)
• R Arm: 12 inches  (- 0 inches)
• L  Arm: 11.5 inches (- 0 inches)
• Waist: 32 inches (- 0 inches)
• Hips: 41 inches (- 0 inches)
• R Thigh: 24.5 inches (- 0 inches)
• L Thigh: 24.5 inches (- 0 inches)
• Weight: 171 pounds (-0 pounds)
• Pant Size: 12
• BMI: 29.5

Minus 1.5 inches this week. Not too shabby. I would still really love to see the scale start moving though.

I want a do over!

Got up this morning and got Emma off to school as usual. I got half ready to make my pre-run breakfast. I didn’t get any further along. I maybe slept two hours last night. Between the storm freaking out the dog and me having a hard time falling back to sleep I may of been better of just staying up. Tico my beagle mix is usually never afraid of storms, the cracks of thunder that freaked him out must of sounded like fireworks or gun shots. Those two things scare the pee out of him, literally. My bed is screaming my name, loudly. Thinking of answering it’s call. Working out with no sleep is not good and I don’t want to take a day off just because my dog was freaked out. Round one is so close to being done, now is not the time to mess it up! So back to bed I go for a two hour nap and some much needed sleep. My body needs it, my run and Pump Extreme kicked my butt (in a great way) yesterday.

My Scaredy Beagle

Getting the hang of this and loving it.

What I look like running now!

So as you know I have been doing the C25K program, I have switched up the intervals a little bit just because my treadmill is a huge pain to program, but once the intervals are longer I can do it manually with ease so it won’t be so bad. My treadmill has an interval program so that is what I am using as of now. I have gotten faster in the past two weeks, adding an entire mile to my 30 minute time, that puts me at 2.5 miles. Next stop 3.1! And after that no intervals! Yep, I got this.

It is surprising to me how quickly I am able to pick this up. Especially seeing I am still overweight and not in suburb shape. I forget how much strength I have gained doing Pump, it has made trying so many new things

What I will look like running in July, maybe not that thin but that poised!

so much easier! I was able to do some yoga poses today that I have never been able to achieve, do 3 non-girly push ups (had to go to knees after but hey, it is huge for me!), and my hovers are greatly improving. Granted I am not near what I want to achieve but I am doing it! I know it takes time, I know I didn’t fall out of shape overnight.

81 days until The Color Run! All my team dropped but two (bums) but oh well, Sarah, Pat and I are going to rock it! Wondering if I should get different shoes to break in for the race so I don’t chance staining my pretty blue ones I love so much or just running in them and wearing the stains like a trophy? It is almost time for me to order running tutu supplies too! I’m getting excited! Can you tell!

It’s time for my Week 10 check in!

I have an obsession with the apples and measuring tape pictures I collect them on my hard drive now. I am so weird

I am finished with week ten! Wow, the time has really flew by! I am officially 71 days into Round one of Les Mills Pump, that means I have 19 days left to go before Les Mills Ultimate Cross Training! I am a bit nervous.

This week my results were not great but any positive move forward is still a move forward so I will take it with a smile. I went through my meals and i think I pinpointed why I got on the mini plateau, I had some hydration issues (as I blogged about before) and I did not eat enough calories. I miss too many snacks and I am positive my body did some storing. So I am going to start getting back on my proper calories and see how that works. Some days I was almost 700 cals short. That is not good. Buckling down and planning my food better around out schedule is a necessity. So after my workout this afternoon I am on it! I’ve got to do my “mom” schedule for the month anyhow. I am glad I figured out where the issue is and it is an easy fix! Maybe fix up some containers of to go snacks for the week so I can just grab and go will make it easier.

So here are my results, nothing amazing but change is change!

• Chest: 34.5 inches  (- 1.5 inches)
• R Arm: 12 inches  (- 0 inches)
• L  Arm: 11.5 inches (- .5 inches)
• Waist: 32 inches (- 0 inches)
• Hips: 41 inches (- 0 inches)
• R Thigh: 24.5 inches (- 0 inches)
• L Thigh: 24.5 inches (- 0 inches)
• Weight: 171 pounds (-0 pounds)
• Pant Size: 12
• BMI: 29.6

So a 2 inch difference this week! Way better than last weeks no change at all!!

 

Rambling on a Monday (recipe too)

I’ve kept pretty busy today, feeling great now that I have bounced back from the terrible bout of self-inflicted dehydration. Got up, got Emma off to school, then made my breakfast. I found the recipe on Pinterest through a friend and was intrigued. I would definitely make it again. It is called a 1 Minute Clean Berrylicious Microwave Minute Muffin, I made some changes so here is the recipe. Also here is the link to the original recipe. Click for recipe.

 

1 Minute Clean Berrylicious Microwave Minute Muffin JoAnn Style

1/4 cup quick oats
1 egg
small handful of frozen mixed berries (blueberry, blackberry and raspberry)
1 teaspoon of Agave nectar
1 tablespoon of FF milk

Mix oats, egg, agave and milk together in a coffee cup or a ramekin (I used a ramekin), then put berries on top and press into mixture slightly.
Put it in the microwave for 1 minute, check it then see that it isn’t done and microwave for another minute. I think it may have taken longer because I used frozen berries in place of using fresh.

I served it with a sliced Bartlett pear and 8 oz of FF milk. It was very filling and quite tasty!

Isn't it cute?!

After breakfast I got two miles done on the treadmill, I was able to up my jogging and running speed by 1 MPH so I was happy. My inhaler was not even needed. Maybe all this clean eating is resolving my exercise induced asthma issues. I know the asthma was not from being out of shape because I was diagnosed with it as a child. Maybe it was all the chemicals and altered foods? Who knows, I’m not a scientist or a doctor. anyhow, it was a great run and I got to enjoy my new water bottle that my friend Heather brought me the other day. It is so cute! I also realized I need a new set of ear buds, I was getting tired of them popping out mid run and distracting me. So annoying. almost as annoying as the dog pouting any time I get on the treadmill. he hates the thing and doesn’t like people to use it. he stares and pouts and comes up and sniffs you to see if you are okay and it is a distraction. He’s a dog though and doesn’t get it so I forgive him.

Lets see after my run I started dinner. I had left over black beans and ground turkey from last nights black bean burritos so I threw it in the crock pot with a ton of veggies and spices and it is now chili! perfect dinner for tonight. It is chilly and rainy out and Emma has a game to play tonight. May as well put something warm, hearty and healthy in us first. It smells wonderful and I can’t wait until dinner time.

All of my errands were run after that, I enjoy being out running though. Got new rugs for the camper, a new bat and bat bag for Emma. They are both pink of course! I also solved the pesky ear bud issues and got some sport ones. I can’t wait to try them out in the morning tomorrow! Now I need to get my Pump for the day done, have dinner and get the kiddo off to her muddy baseball game.

The Countdown Begins! (and a question for runners)

My next step into fitness

I am in day 70 of my first round of Les Mills Pump, that means I have 20 more days to go. Where did the time go? Truly it does not feel like that much time has already passed! In about a week I will have to order the Les Mills Pump Ultimate Cross Training Deluxe upgrade. It sounds kind of scary. I have never been the deluxe kind of girl. It will be fun though and I will be able to do it. It was surprising to me that I even got this far without quitting. Quitting is not something that I have even thought of. Surprising myself feels good.

Tomorrow I weigh in, there is no obvious changes in my opinion, but with the weeks happenings I didn’t always make the right choices, I don’t think I ate enough, I had missed some workouts, alcohol was consumed a couple of days and I didn’t sleep much. There were a lot of happenings this past week. Life happens and I just got to get on track and get off this plateau. This week we had showings, a funeral, friends come into town, a birthday and Little League season officially started, as well as all the normal stuff.  Really, I don’t think I budgeted my time well. All in all I don’t think I did bad, just not good enough to show change so if I don’t gain pounds or inches when I weigh and measure tomorrow that will be good enough for me.  Tomorrow starts a new fitness week and I will rock it. (Today too!)

I haven’t eaten yet so I better get onto making some breakfast then I am going to get in my C25K before I run errands then do Pump after.

Quick question for all you runners out there. Are Compression socks something you would recommend for races? Do you use them and how have they benefited you.