Maintenance Week 3 with a Giveaway

I weighed in last night down 3.8 lbs putting me back into the goal range.

Week of Workouts

Thursday was Jillian Michaels Shred-It with Weights Level 1.  I did Level 2 on Friday.

Saturday was Jillian Michaels Extreme Shed & Shred Level 1.

Monday was Kelly Coffey-Meyer's 30 Minutes to Fitness Circuit Burn Workout 1.

Yesterday was Kelly Coffey-Meyer's 30 Minutes to Fitness Lift in Full Throttle Workout 1 - Olympic Lifting.

My hips and thighs have been achy all week so I decided to do some yoga this morning.  I ended up with Adriene Mishler's Morning Yoga routine that I found on Grokker.

Probiotics-a-Plenty

As I mentioned previously Week 2 I was using LiviaOne Daily Liquid Probiotics.  At work I put the drops in my water bottle once a day and on the weekends I put it in a glass of water.

The instructions say to use 4 droppers full of LiviaOne daily (1-2 for children 12 & under).  First of all I could never get a full dropper.  I usually could only get about an inch of the dropper filled with the liquid.  Is the dropper supposed to be filled every time?  If so, I wasn't getting enough and I'd need to double or triple the dosage.

One day I had an issue with the dropper itself.  For whatever reason the liquid wasn't staying in the dropper.  I had to play with it a while and eventually it started holding liquid again.

Probiotics in liquid form are odorless, colorless, and tasteless so you could forget that you were even taking anything!

Week 3 I used the Microbiome Plus+ GI Probiotic.  This probiotic comes in a 30 day supply of 4 boxes, 2 packets of pills in each box, to be taken with meals.  On each packet are 7 probiotic capsules and 7 prebiotic fiber tablets..  One packet is for the mornings and the other for the evenings.

I would take the first dosage with breakfast or lunch and the second dosage with dinner or dessert.  It was a little annoying having to take 4 pills a day; that just seems excessive.  I'm not sure of the logic behind the probiotic and prebiotic having to be separate.

TMI ALERT:  Saturday (I think it was) I weighed myself before going to the bathroom and afterwards.  I had lost about 1 lb!  I've never checked this before so I'm not sure if this is a normal load for me or if the Microbiome Probiotic is really helping me.

For whatever reason when I use a probiotic I'm much gassier.  It's not painful in my abdomen but it's not just a little toot either.  Week 2 I gained weight but week 3 I lost weight.  As far as probiotics go, does that mean that Microbiome is better than LiviaOne?  Or was the loss because of two solid weeks of probiotics?

IShopNutrition would like to give 5 lucky readers a chance to try the Microbiome Plus+ GI Probiotic.  Complete the entry form below for your chance to win a 30 day supply!

Entry-Form

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I received these products for free in exchange for my review.  Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe would be good for my readers.

Maintenance Week 2

I weighed in last night up another 2.8 lbs.  This puts me above the goal window so I thought that meant the 6 weeks would restart once I got back to goal.  We were giving our Weight Watchers success stories again last night and were asked where we are on our journeys.  When I said I hit goal but was over this time the leader still said I had only 4 weeks left.  So I guess you just have 6 weeks no matter whether you're over, under, or right where you need to be.  Works for me!

Week of Workouts

Thursday was Cardio & Abs.

Friday was a welcomed rest day.

Saturday I wrapped up week 9 with Build: Chest/Tris.

Sunday was another rest day; it felt weird with two rest days so close together.

Monday was Bulk: Back.

Tuesday was Build: Legs.

Today was Bulk: Chest.

I kept trying to renew the Body Beast DVDs but had no luck this time around; I have to bring them back to the library today.  I'm 8th on the request list but hope I don't have to wait long.  I plan to pick up where I left off whenever I get the DVDs back.  In the meantime I have plenty of other workouts still checked out that I can do.

Physical Therapy Update

The PT has been working on the Alexander Technique with me, trying to get me to not be using muscles when they're not needed.  I've checked out some books from the library on the subject and will be reading up on it some more.  Have you tried this technique before?

Yesterday I had sneezed while getting ready to leave work to head to therapy so I had a headache when I arrived.  The PT gave me some more exercises to strengthen my C-Spine so I can reduce the impact of my hard sneezes.

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First Week of Maintenance

On this first week of maintenance I weighed in up 1.8 lbs but I'm still in my goal range!  I didn't do many adjustments because it was also TOM week so I already expected some gain.  This is the week to see what I need to do.

Week of Workouts

Thursday was cardio and abs.

Friday I worked my back.  The picture I took for Instagram looks like I'm flapping wings as fast as a hummingbird! LOL

Ready for takeoff! #BodyBeast #FFCheckin #Fitfluential #happydoyear Created with Photo Collage Maker. http://goo.gl/RpSVMx

A photo posted by Cassandra Schmigotzki (@longandwindingroadtowellness) on Jan 9, 2015 at 4:10am PST

Saturday I wrapped up week 8 pulling double duty working my arms and shoulders.

This final 4 week phase of Body Beast has a mix of phase 1 and 2.  Sunday was one of the workouts from phase 1 - Build: Back/Bis.

Monday was Bulk: Legs.

Yesterday was Cardio & Abs again.  Thursday will be the same so it's like 3 leg days in week 9!

This morning was Build: Shoulders.

Probiotics-a-Plenty

I've been given the opportunity to review two different probiotics.  I didn't expect to get them at the same time so I'm not sure how to handle this.  Any recommendations?  I'm thinking about alternating weeks between the two.  What is your favorite type of probiotic?

First up is the LiviaOne Daily Liquid Probiotics.  This is my first liquid supplement so it will be a different experience for me.  The bottle arrived Monday so I started it yesterday.

The second one is the 3 Microbiome Plus+ GI Probiotic which arrived yesterday.  I will be doing a giveaway for this one with 5 winners!

 

 



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Goal

There were no changes in measurements when Benny checked me Monday night. I weighed in last night down 1.6 lbs, surpassing my goal weight! I'm now in Maintenance for six weeks before reaching Lifetime at Weight Watchers. The aim is to stay in the 138-142 lb weight range. I now have an 6 extra points a day to eat....no idea what else I WANT to eat.  What did you add to your daily food intake when you hit maintenance?

 

 

Weight Maintenance

 

So how do you succeed in maintenance? The little booklet they provide when you reach goal gives 5 simple steps.

1. Enjoy your extra food each day. (As long as you don't go overboard, you'll be OK.)
2. Continue exploring ways to make the Plan work for you.
3. Continue attending meetings and weighing in regularly.
4. Keep (or start) moving!
5. Look forward to Lifetime Membership.

Week of Workouts

 

Thursday was cardio and abs.

 

Friday I worked my back.

 

Week 7 wrapped up Saturday working my shoulders.

 

 

Monday I worked my chest.

 

Tuesday was lightheaded leg day.

 

Combo headache this morning so I made it a rest day.  (Delayed onset headache from PT maybe.)

 

Physical Therapy Week 1

 

Tuesday's physical therapy session focused on evaluating me for positional vertigo. Everything looked OK and I passed all the tests. Nothing brought on vertigo. My left eye did have a delay in catching up with my right eye. Not really sure what that means or if there's anything to do about it.

Today's session the PT manipulated the muscles at the base of my skull and jaw.  The little bit of pressure she applied at the base of my skull took my headache away relatively quickly.  I know I clench my jaw sometimes but never thought my muscles there would be so tight!  She also stretched my neck out several times to balance everything out.  At the end she had me lay there with a heated neck wrap.  That felt good but more because IT'S FREEZING OUT!

No clue how much the physical therapy is going to cost me.  I'm sure if Benny saw the pricing he would say quit now.  I really wish the medical and insurance professions were more transparent in pricing so you can better plan for things.

 

 

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