Weigh in Wednesday

When I got home Wednesday I heard the voicemail that my glasses were ready.  I flew down to Greenwood to pick them up and posted this picture on Facebook that night.  Nobody said they preferred B!  I thought it was funny since A was the first pair I selected, while waiting for my exam.

Thursday I received a smoothie box from Green Blender to review, being a fellow Fitfluential Ambassador.  I made two of them over the weekend.  I'm loving the exploration of fruits, veggies, and superfoods I've never had before!  I made Austin look up things (like how to cut the persimmon LOL) to have him involved.

A photo posted by Cassandra Schmigotzki (@longandwindingroadtowellness) on Jan 9, 2016 at 7:42am PST

A photo posted by Cassandra Schmigotzki (@longandwindingroadtowellness) on Jan 10, 2016 at 9:06am PST

*About Green Blender & How It Started*

I started Green Blender because I wanted to help people create healthy habits in their life. I often find that when we decide to make a health change two things happen: 1. We get immediately overwhelmed with choices (i.e., should I go paleo, do I cut out all grain/dairy, what about quinoa,
etc.) and 2. We start moving towards extremes (i.e., I have to go raw vegan tomorrow, I can't have ice cream ever)

This diet path can get overwhelming, lead to deprivation and may not see long lasting results. As you know (your blog attests to this), living a healthy lifestyle starts with building healthy habits and not extreme dieting. Green Blender is all about setting our members up for long term success by helping them start their day with a healthy decision.

Green Blender is a smoothie delivery service. Every week, our members receive all the pre-portioned ingredients and superfoods to make smoothies at home.

Jenna Tanenbaum, Founder

I can't wait to try the three other recipes I received!  Should you want to sign up to receive your own smoothie subscription box visit Green Blender and enter the code cassandra to receive a 20% discount.

Monday night I finally showed Benny my goals post.  He basically said it's stupid to pursue the certification because it's like the Beachbody business never took off.  Has anyone had to deal with their spouse being against their passions?  How do I go about registering for everything and showing him that this won't also be a flop without pissing him off?

While we were talking Benny said that he is ready to quit smoking!  He said that he can feel it affecting his heart.  What he used to do while smoking he hasn't done since coming to the US (smoking inside the house while doing certain activities) so he has no real enjoyment from smoking anymore.  I recommended that he take Chantix since that's the program I know people who've used.  I messaged his doctor so he can be ready to discuss Benny's options for smoking cessation.  Did you know that it's considered preventative care so most smoking cessation programs are free with your insurance?  We'll try any program they allow to get Benny to quit smoking!

THURSDAY I burned my way through P90X3 MMX.

FRIDAY I played with my weights for Incinerator.

SATURDAY I wrapped up week 7 with CVX, using a 3 lb dumbbell.

MONDAY I did Isometrix.

Yesterday I continued stretching with Dynamix.

Today I did some cardio with Accelerator.

Linking up with Jill for Fitness Health & Happiness

Final Week of Super Heroine Fitness

Welcome to The Long and Winding Road to Wellness all ye visitors from the Grow Your Blog Hop!

Not long after I published last week's post I received notification that I'm a Sweat Pink Ambassador!  I'm excited to see where this takes me.  I already ordered and received 40 #sweatpinklaces to give out for various special achievements over the holidays. 

This also adds to the Fitfluential Ambassadorship.

5 Random Things About Me

Since there are new folks visiting as a part of the Hop I thought I'd try another 5 random things about me.  It's been a while since I've done one of these so bear with me.

1. It's only since starting on this journey that I discovered it's my dream job to be a Wellness Coach and run a Wellness Center.  Finding the money to pay for the certification through NETA and getting my foot in the door somewhere without any formal experience and education is proving to be a mighty challenge.
2. Growing up I used to be scared of the grates in the sidewalk downtown.  I would do everything I could to avoid walking across them.  For some reason I had this fear that I'd fall through.  Some days it still bothers me but for the most part on my walks I go over them with no problems now.
3. I used to regularly dye my hair an auburn color but wouldn't go full red.  Can you imagine me as a redhead?
4. I took ballet & tap in preschool.  My uncoordinated self would be the one you'd often see going the opposite direction from everyone else.  Grandma (mom's mom) still has a picture somewhere from a show where this actually happened.
5. I've never been drunk.  Buzzed but never fully loaded.  Every time I tell people this there's always someone that says that they're going to get me drunk but never invite me anywhere to even try.

What are 5 things you'd like me to know about you?

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...


<a href="http://aintnodramamama.blogspot.com/"> <img src="http://imageshack.com/a/img537/4720/M6Nql0.png" alt="Weigh-in Wednesday!">

THURSDAY I got in more reps during Super Heroine Fitness Episode 3 Adventure 4 Circuit B than the last time despite being sweaty and lightheaded with my nose dripping.

SATURDAY I began the final week with Adventure 1.  The first song that popped up on my Pandora was a perfect title for Halloween - Ghosts 'n' Stuff by Deadmou5.  After eating lunch Austin and I headed to the library.  Austin wore his costume (less the knife).  Because it was Irvington's Halloween Festival we had to park about 3/4 mile away and walk in.  After picking up our items we checked out the non-food booths but didn't see anything we wanted to buy.  It was windy and sprinkled on us a couple of times while trick-or-treating that night.  (I had to wear my jacket draped over my shoulders but Austin was hot.)

SUNDAY night I went to bed with the chest and back pain similar to what I've been experiencing during the early phase of a gallbladder attack.  I took 4 acetaminophen and went to bed.  The pain didn't increase but held steady throughout the night.  I think I just dozed and never really slept.  I was so sleepy I couldn't bring myself to even do some yoga Monday like I'd planned.

TUESDAY I did Adventure 2 sans sprints.  This was for two reasons - I didn't feel like doing sprints of any kind and I took Benny to his first election.  Sure, it was only the municipal but he needs to know how it works without the crowds.

How was your week?

Next Tuesday will be the last Super Heroine Fitness workout.  I don't yet know what I'll be doing next.  I'm considering designing my own program as I had to make many substitutions due to the lack of equipment or ability/comfort in doing some exercises.  If you have a program that you recommend or something like a template to help me come up with something please be sure to leave a link in the comments.

I was excited to find out that our team is FINALLY offering a weight maintenance contest!  If you're not already involved with Beachbody check out this little press release I wrote up about the contest.  I'd love it if you'd join so we can maintain together.

Linking up with

#MotivateMe Monday Linkup with Fitness Cheerleader & Running Rachel

Workouts and New Equipment

Week of Workouts

Thursday I took a rest day.

Friday I did Kelly Coffey-Meyer's 30 Minutes to Fitness Circuit Burn Workout 2.

Saturday was time for some more lifting with Kelly's Lift in Full Throttle Olympic Lifting workout.

Sunday I did some Tai Chi with Scott Cole.

Monday I did Stephanie Vitorino's Body Target 60 - Total Target 30.

Yesterday was more lifting with Kelly's Lift in Full Throttle Powersculpting workout.

This morning I tried Kelly's Healthy Back workout.  It was a little slow for me and that's odd for her workouts.  The ones I haven't liked were too fast for me! LOL

A Workout Schedule

Since I'm not currently doing any program I've been trying to figure out some kind of schedule to follow.  It just doesn't feel right totally randomly selecting a workout each day.

I've decided that I'll do some kind of weight lifting workout on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  That gives me 40 minutes to lift on Tuesday/Thursday and as much as I feel like on Saturday.  Wednesday and Friday I'll do cardio.  Sunday will be yoga or Tai Chi.  Monday is open for a rest day or more cardio, depending upon how I feel.

What does your workout schedule look like?

$100 at Amazon

I was the grand prize winner on Fitfluential's Twitter chat for International Women's Day so I had been trying to figure out what to get.  I didn't spend it all so I have some for later.  So what did I get?

I got these dumbbells so I can have heavier weights to work with for lifting.  This one is supposed to be delivered today by UPS.  Perfect timing for lifting tomorrow!

I knew I wanted a stability ball to do some different exercises but couldn't decide which one.  I ended up with this pretty blue thing.  As I've never used one before this will be an experience in itself LOL

I want to go through a second round of BODYpeace and hold the actual book in my hand while doing it.  There's always a different mood, temperament, feeling, etc. when using an actual book as opposed to a digital copy.  Will see how things differ.  Who wants to go on this discovery journey with me and be accountability partners or set up a group on Facebook/Google+?  I plan to stretch it out more than the 30 days so I can have plenty of time to think, reflect, and respond.

Linking up with

I've Started a Weightlifting Routine

Last night I weighed in down .4 lbs...not quite making up the .6 lbs gain from last week.  (I had forgotten to publish my post last week but you can catch up here.)

Monday I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women workout.  I have to admit it's kind of boring having to count my reps and not just follow along like you do with DVD programs.  This first stage is supposed to be 6 weeks long but I don't know if I'm going to make it.

Since I'm working out at home and not at a gym I don't have access to the equipment needed to do some of these exercises.  So I've swapped them for another one in the same category.

Workout A Modifications

• Seated Row swapped for Bent Over Row
• Step-up swapped for Weighted Lunge
• Prone Jackknife swapped for Reverse Crunch

Monday I completed two sets of 15 reps and one set of 12 reps for all of Workout A.  I used my 8 lb weights for the whole workout.  Will see how I can challenge myself with this on Friday.

Workout B Modifications

• Wide Grip Lat Pulldown swapped for Dumbbell Pullover
• Swissball Crunch swapped for a regular Crunch

Today it wasn't as consistent for me with Workout B compared to A....Deadlift was three sets of 15 reps with 8 lb weights.  Dumbbell Shoulder Press was three sets of 15 reps with 3 lb weights.  Dumbbell Pullover was three sets of 15 reps with 3 lb weights.  Lunge was two sets of 12 reps and one set of 10 reps with 8 lb weights.  Crunch was three sets of 15 reps.

Yesterday's workout was a total body cardio kickboxing video from Grokker.  Not a good one to follow all those lunges from Workout A; my right thigh is still aching today!  I found out about Grokker in the Fitfluential email last week.  The FFWellness October challenge is their 28 day program.  I don't know how much of it I'll be following but I'll see what all they have each week.  I'll probably do another one of the Grokker videos for my workout tomorrow.

Speaking of Fitfluential...I'm officially an Ambassador!  I think I'm in all their Facebook groups so now I just have to get on my computer at home to add my details to the documents there.  I can't wait to see what kinds of opportunities will arise from this!  (I copied the badge code from one of the welcome emails and put it on my sidebar but it doesn't come out correctly.  If anyone has the code please contact me so I can see what's wrong.)

Linking up with