Nov. 24

Crap, I haven't blogged in two days. It's the first time I've ever skipped since I started, and not even just 1 day at that, TWO days!! Oh well. I didn't exercise on Saturday and ate too much... Sunday was a crazy day too, but I attempted CP2... my tummy hurt, though, and the light was beaming through the window into my face which made the entire experience unpleasant, so after about 10 minutes, I quit, lol...

Today's Workouts: Turbo Total Body Blast (60 minutes)

Breakfast: homemade (and sugar-free!) pancakes!!

Lunch:

Dinner:

Dessert/snacks:

Water:

Daily Vitamins: check

Nightly Vitamins:

Nov. 21 --

Hello!

Well, the scale said 133.4 today, the number is continuing to drop! I am also very sore today... normally the scale goes UP around this TOM... interesting. And I even ate a snickers bar, lol. Thing is, when I eat something like that, I work it into my calories. If I choose to eat a Snickers for dinner, I suffer the consequences.

Today, the consequences were waking up an hour later than usual, after having slept more than the recommended amount of sleep... I was so tired I went to bed early, around 9pm!! AND I MISSED THE OFFICE!!!!!! I realized this morning that I completely forgot to watch it. Ah, well, I will watch it online today.

Seeing more fine definition in the abs lately, it's getting me pumped!! I just got a new Ab DVD "Blast off the Belly Fat"... it has five 10-minute ab workouts on it. I haven't tried it yet. I'm scared, lol.

As soon as the scale reads 130, I will post new pictures. Including pics of my abs, lol :-)

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Today's Workouts: Punch, Kick, & Jam with weighted gloves... everything except the 4-minute band portion.

Breakfast: 1 banana before workout, after workout, 1 small chicken breast with olive tomato sauce, a smidge ricotta, a sprinkle of shredded mozzarella, and three turkey meatballs.

Lunch: big spinach leaf salad with southwestern dressing. four dark chocolate brownies. ouch. i know.

Dinner:

Dessert/snacks: after breakfast: ice cream sandwich... e.d. chocolate stick

Water: sooo hard to drink when its cold out, dude

Daily Vitamins: check

Nightly Vitamins:

"Something Beautiful"

I love love love this song... it meets me right where I am right now somehow. I'm done craving the "not good enough" and ready for something real.

I want to start it over
I want to start again
I want a new beginning
One without an end
I feel it inside
Calling out my name

It's a voice that whispers my name
It's a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Love will take us where
Something's beautiful

I've heard it in the silence
Seen it on a face
I've felt it in a long hour
Like a sweet embrace
I know this is true
It's calling out to me

It's a voice that whispers my name
It's a kiss without any shame
Something beautiful
Like a song that stirs in my head
Love will take us where
Something's beautiful

It's the child on her wedding day
It's the daddy that gives her away
Something beautiful
When we laugh so hard we cry
It's the love between you and I
Something beautiful

Nov. 20 -- Praise be, yo

On Tuesday, (this is actually what I wanted to post yesterday but did not)...but I wanted to say that I am convinced that the Bible is ALIVE and that God really speaks to you through it if you open your heart to it... by that I mean open it EXPECTING God to talk.

Tuesday, I was kinda busy and was feeling a little disconnected and uninspired for some reason, and was feeling guilty, AGAIN, for stuff that has happened. At the end of the day I realized I hadn't picked up my Bible, as I had been, since 5:30 in the morning. So as much as I wanted to go to bed, I opened it up to 1 Peter, which is what I'm currently reading with a friend of mine in Germany, and started reading... I got bounced to Isaiah 53, but my eyes fell on the page next to it, to Isaiah 55, in which I had circled verse 3, "Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life." ... I kept reading. "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," I read... "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine,"......."My ways and thoughts are higher than yours," God said to me through these verses.

This means a lot... in recent weeks I have slowly been realizing that I have spent a significant amount of time expecting God to bless me in a specific way... but I expected him to bless me in the way I had pictured in my head... BLIND, I was, indeed. I spend so much time searching for something specific, messing around, doing the wrong things, that I COMPLETELY MISS the gift God had set in front of me. This is relevant in many areas of my life right now; I can't even begin to list them! So my prayer lately has been that God help me think like Him better, instead of like I would like to think. My past essentially proves that I stink at thinking on my own, lol... I want to see people through His eyes, shed my old expectations and pre-programmed agendas and focus instead on what HE would want to bless me with, not what I find for myself, which, let's face it, hasn't been good stuff.

Now, though I feel like I'm getting yet another chance to do things the right way. Praise be, yo.

My eyes continued to drift... Isaiah 54:4.. "Fear not, you will no longer live in shame. Don't be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember the shame of your youth."

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Weight loss news: I am down to a solid 134! Only 4 more lbs to go!!!

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Today's Workouts: CP remix w/ gloves + booty sculpt/abs w/ 8 & 5 lb weights

Breakfast: 1 banana before workout, after workout pita pizza with sundried tomato pesto (which has a lot of salt, i noticed today... better cut back!), part-skim ricotta, 4 small pepperonis, 5-6 sliced cherry tomatoes, sprinkle of mozzarella, oregano, garlic + spinach leaf salad w/ light Italian

Lunch: MAN i hate terribly today... the dentist visit depressed me a little... I couldn't eat my sandwich, so I had a box of Barnum's circus animal crackers instead... 240 calories

Dinner: the sandwich, once the numbness finally wore off... two thin slices salami, one whole wheat bagel (180 cal), 1 wedge laughing cow cheese with herbs, 1 slice havarti cheese (we're out of Gouda, dude-a)

Dessert/snacks: after breakfast, strawberry ice cream sandwich, and an entire snickers bar..... AHHHHHHHHH!

Water: so far so good

Daily Vitamins: check

Nightly Vitamins:

Nov. 19 -- down some...

I'M DOWN TO 134.4!!! 4.4 more lbs to 130! My original goal was to be AT 130 by December 1, but now that I see how hard it is for me to get the numbers to go down while I'm building muscle, I think I want to be there by December 31.

Today's Workouts: Kickin' Core CP (first 30 minutes) + 3T minus warmup + 20 minute workout minus warm up and cooldown + Kickin' Core fitness orb portion (last 15 minutes, minus pushups, LOL)

Breakfast: one banana before workout, after workout 1 cup black beans, 2/3 cup brown rice, pinch of shredded cheddar.

Lunch: pita pizza with sundried tomato pesto, part-skim ricotta, 5 small pepperonis, 6 sliced cherry tomatoes, sprinkle of mozzarella, garlic and oregano

Dinner: i think i had two "dinners" ... first was at 4:30pm, ate one slice mestemacher fitness bread with 2 slices thin salami, 1 slice gouda, with chive and onion cream cheese. second dinner was at like 8pm, was one $2.44 taco from Qdoba on campus, with grilled chicken, pico de gallo, lettuce, red onions, green peppers, a smidge of light sour cream on a small soft flour tortilla. sooooooo good!

Dessert/snacks: after breakfast a piece of extra dark chocolate (60 calories)... after lunch, ice cream sandwich

Water: on my way

Daily Vitamins: check

Nightly Vitamins: --

Nov. 18

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."

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Today's Workouts: Turbo....as usual, lol... my favorite, CP2 with weighted gloves. LOVE IT!

+ 2 mile Fast Start workout with Dad

Breakfast: banana before workout... directly after workout, two sugar-free oatmeal cookies (approx. 90 calories) later, a bowl of beans with rice and a smidge cheddar

Lunch: a bowl of beans with a smidge of cheddar + spinach leaf salad

Dinner: a fresco style steak burrito (yep, forgot my dinner for school...)

Dessert/snacks: ice cream sandwich after breakfast (hey I'd been up for 5 hours!) and probably too many reese's peanut butter chips... :::ashamed:::
+ one hot chocolate (80 cal)

Water: could have done better

Daily Vitamins: check

Nightly Vitamins: ---

Nov. 17 -- Blooming and Building My House

I have fallen in love with the following verse... its just so beautiful, inspiring, and strengthening!!!

"Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him." -- Colossians 2:6

I was thinking about it, and since it seems likely I'll end up in Germany again soon, it really does make the most sense to grow your roots into Jesus as opposed to the place you live or want to live. I get asked by others and myself a lot, which is your real home? Do you like Germany or Florida better? The fact of the matter is, if I refuse to let my roots grow into any place or anyone besides Jesus, it doesn't matter, because if I change locations, there is no "uprooting" of my soul. It sheds some new light on that saying, "Bloom where you are planted!" .... and it's a lot easier to bloom if you've already got your roots with you no matter where you go! Likewise, if I build my house on Him, the place I really live won't matter as much.

And now for some news on the bod, aka God's house!

Lately I haven't felt up to cranking out 90 minutes of exercise. It has seemed lately that one hour is enough, even 40 minutes. If I do 40 minutes and try really hard, I think it's just as good as doing 60 or 80 minutes when I'm already pretty tired.

Plus I now own four pairs of jeans in a size 4 and so I know it can't be just a fluke that ONE brand fits me in that size. The scale said 135 today, and I feel a little bit bloated, so I'm optimistic that perhaps I'm another pound or two closer to my goal. We'll know once the TOM is over; my weight seems more stable after that. For obvious reasons, lol :-)

I really want to focus a lot on building muscle, not that I get BIG, but that muscle chases out useless, shapeless fat. I am happy with the size that I am, I just want to be tighter. Even if that means not losing a single pound more :-) I mean that! I do think I could afford to lose a teeeeeny bit more on my butt, though, and an even teenier bit more on my stomach. I see definition in my abs that I have never ever seen before so I know all of these bootcamp abs workouts are working (plus, when I try a really tough ab workout for the first time and it makes me SCREAM from pain, the second time never hurts as bad :-))

I'm just working on building my house. I gotta take care of this gift, you know? Sure, it's on loan and we'll all get new bodies eventually... but I think of this way... if I borrow a book from the library, do I destroy it by letting it gather dust or sit out in the sun? Because something's on loan (that was purchased at a very high price, might I add), that should be a reason to want to take care of it and make sure it's in proper working condition for as long as possible.

So there you have it: build your house on HIM, and take care of the "other" house that you have been blessed with. I believe God is glorified when we take joy and [the good kind of] pride in being good shepherds of the gifts He gives us.

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Today's Workouts: everything except the cooldown on CP remix, 20 minutes of Lower Body jam (skipped floor work), then advanced Bootcamp abs (9 minutes)

walk strong w/ Dad, 2 lb weights

Breakfast: 1 banana and one oatmeal cookie before workout, after workout 3/4 cup black beans and they are so freaking delicious. 2/3 cup brown rice, 1 small sausage link + 8 oz. skim milk

Lunch: scoop of black beans, 1/2 cup brown rice, sprinkled with a pinch of shredded cheddar

Dinner: FFAF: "Food from a Friend" Hannah fed starving me a serving of beautiful bow-tie pasta with a delicious vegetable medley sauce which included zucchini, tomatoes, and I think mushrooms... very delicious!!

Dessert/snacks: 1 74% organic dark chocolate square, a few hours later a strawberry ice cream sandwich from Aldi, yummy yum and only 130 calories!!! ... after lunch (2:30pm) -- one graham cracker with a bit of reduced fat PB.

Water: man, the cold weather makes me less thirsty for some reason... i really have to FORCE myself to drink, yo

Daily Vitamins: check

Nightly Vitamins: you know, i skipped them bc I usually just take cinnamon, gelatin for my nails, green tea, and acidopholus (for my bowels actually lol), which is the most important, but I think all the beans I ate will do a fine job :-)