Super Heroine Fitness Week 6: Prepping for Surgery Season

Just two weeks until Surgery Season!  Yes, I have to make light of it all because it's so depressing to me.  I never had a broken bone or stiches.  Childbirth was the only instance for me spending time in the hospital.  To have these issues pop up after starting my journey makes me so sad sometimes.  It's a great mental challenge to keep my spirits up some days....

 

Yesterday was my birthday.  KayBee of Nats & Fitness featured my brief transformation story.  I went to work as normal and we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  I ate off their fall menu - two salmon patties with green beans and hashbrown casserole.  Instead of water I drank apple cranberry iced tea.  I'm picky on my teas but this was rather tasty.  I don't know how many glasses I had.



<a href="http://aintnodramamama.blogspot.com/"> <img src="http://imageshack.com/a/img537/4720/M6Nql0.png" alt="Weigh-in Wednesday!">
THURSDAY I was only able to complete 3 sets of Episode 2 Adventure 2 so I determined that I'm not ready for the 15 lb dumbbells for this workout.

SATURDAY I completed 5 sets of Adventure 3 with the 15 lb dumbbells.  We went to Goodwill's 50% off sale but didn't buy much as the selection wasn't very good for me.  Perhaps it's because we went so late.  I'm trying to get the pieces to make my Wonder Woman style Halloween costume.

Two Pairs of Pants

Two Blouses

Two Shirts - S was more loose fitting than the XS!

Pair of dolphins for my collection

MONDAY I did 45 minutes of power yoga with Adriene.

TUESDAY I wrapped up this round of Episode 2 with 4 sets of Adventure 4 using the 15 lb dumbbells.  I wanted to take a picture of the TGU Roll/First Move but those 10 seconds on the timer weren't enough to get back in place.  I kept falling over and almost dropping the dumbbell LOL!

It's supposed to rain most of the day today so I'm not walking.

Linking up with

Hot Time in the City

I weighed in up 1.2 lbs last night while TOM creeps into the picture.

With Erin and Heather no longer hosting Weigh-In Wednesday I've stepped up to co-host with Winter. In doing so I must have something ready to share so you'll see the link up Wednesday morning. This first week I've typed up the entire post Tuesday night on my phone. Will see how I manage this every week.

Week of Workouts

FRIDAY was a Soulful Heart Opening yoga flow.
SATURDAY I did Burn Intervals and Extreme Abs. That was some awkward abs for me! I got confused a few times trying to figure out what they were doing. Hopefully this weekend I'll have a better hold on things.
SUNDAY was Burn It Off! & Recharge.
MONDAY was a Better than Coffee detoxifying yoga session.
TUESDAY I wrapped up week 7 with Push Circuit 3.

Today I'll begin week 8 with Push Circuit 2 and melt my way to the farmer's market. Tomorrow is the strawberry festival and I plan to pick up one of the shortcakes for Benny if the rain stays away.

Goodwill Haul

I wanted to get some summer clothes so I told Benny we were going to Goodwill's monthly 50% off sale Saturday.

I had totally forgotten that with their rewards card you get an additional 10% off. So I got 12 pieces of clothing, Benny got a painting by an obscure artist, Austin got a book cover to use for school in the fall, and donated my change....all for

Next Week

I won't be going to Weight Watchers Tuesday night. Instead Benny and I will be attending an event at MashCraft Brewing Company in Greenwood.

NatureFresh Farms, North America's largest bell pepper grower, is making a stop in Indy as part of their North American Agriculture Education Tour. We'll be touring their Greenhouse Education Center, learning how NatureFresh grows produce, sampling recipes prepared by culinary students, and experiencing MashCraft tapping their #GreenInTheCity317 limited edition brew made from NatureFresh bell peppers.  When I tried several varieties of beer during my beer & spirits management class I thought they were all sour. My taste buds have changed a lot since then so I'm curious if introducing bell peppers into the beer will change my opinion of it.

Have you ever had a beer made with a different ingredient in the mix?

Linking up with

When You Think about it #LoveThighself

This month I'm participating in the Love Thighself challenge from Run DMT and the Mom Buzz.  Every day try to share something POSITIVE about yourself. Try to come up with something different every day – 28 compliments! Amazing, right? Share these positive thoughts however you are comfortable with the #LoveThighself hashtag.  Most of my positive things are posted on the event page on Facebook but there are a few tweets I've done.

Saturday I went to Goodwill's 50% off sale and saved over $40!  I picked up several size 12 pants, jeans, and skirts, as well as a cute Medium skirt.  Yes, I realize it's tight but it's more for spring anyway!

Since December 18th I've lost:

1.5 inches off my thighs

1.25 inches off my arms

.5 inches off my hips

No change in my bust or waist
And I weighed in last night down another 1.4 lbs!  Feeling awesome! 

There was a huge overwhelming response to the release of the 21 Day Fix. The base kit is already on backorder for late March shipment! Now I have no clue what workout I'm doing in March.

I'd like to feature stories of anyone who's doing Weight Watchers and the 21 Day Fix.  I'd need their story, before & after Fix photos, how they incorporated the Eating Plan with the Points Plus or Simply Filling program, and their results.  If you or anyone you know is interested please send them my way! 

Linking up with

Done Walking and What's Next

I weighed in this week down only another .4 lbs.  So now it doesn't appear that I'm going to reach my second goal by the end of the month.  It just seems as though everything's slowed down a little for me.

I did stop by Goodwill and purchased three long sleeve shirts and slacks after Tuesday's weigh in.  My size 18s are getting too big but most of the 16s there were too small.  Benny didn't like one of the shirts (a sweater) because it didn't show off my curves enough.  He said it looked like I was wearing a sack.  As for the slacks Benny said they were too wide at the bottom...something no longer in style.  So those were returned yesterday.  I didn't see anything new at that Goodwill location so we'll have to check another.

Thursday's a big day for us as Benny takes his citizenship oath.  I'm taking Austin out of school to experience the whole thing.  I hope to take a lot of pictures while we're there.  I imagine it'll be chilly in the federal courthouse so I plan to wear one of the new to me outfits.

The exhaustion continued this week and not just during the workout.  Normally this level that I'm feeling is associated with PMS but it's the wrong time for that.  So I'm wondering if I'm getting sick; although when I get sick it doesn't usually take weeks to manifest the full symptoms.

After walking a week I'm ready for something different.  I kind of liked the little break in between programs so I may go buy some of Leslie's DVDs to use whenever I feel I need it.  Yesterday I picked up three programs at the library to see which I can do that should all fit in my small space.  But then the challenge became whether or not could I physically do any of them.

With Les Mills Combat you take the most dynamic moves from some mixed martial arts disciplines (Karate/Kung Fu, Capoeira, Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai/Kickboxing, Tai Kwon Do, & Boxing) and combine them into increasingly intense sequences.  I read this and said to myself "Uh, I don't think so."  Never even put the DVD in to watch it.

Brazil Butt Lift appeared to be more reasonable so Austin and I watched the first workout, Bum Bum (pronounced "Boom Boom").  There's this one move where you're walking/dancing/bouncing back and forth on the balls of your feet as if you're wearing high heels.  I can't even wear 1" heels because of the extreme laxity in both ankles.  Technically I'm supposed to wear ankle braces but then I'm really restricted on what shoes I can wear.  Unless someone knows of a modification for this move I don't know that I'm going to ever be able to do this program.

Body Gospel was the one I ended up going with.  There were several moves similar to others I'd done before.  Wow, never have I felt so uncoordinated before!  My arms didn't want to work together with my legs.  When I tried to do my arms either I couldn't keep up or it slowed my legs down.  This program is only 30 days so we'll see where it goes.

Image courtesy of [nuchylee] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I've decided to open up this blog and have guest posts on various health and wellness related topics.  The details of what I'm looking for is posted on my lens.  About which topics in particular would you like to read?

Weight Watchers & Tai Cheng Journey - Phase 2 Complete

Three months of Weight Watchers and six weeks down of Tai Cheng.  As of this week's weigh in I'm down 22 lbs since beginning this journey.  I've lost almost 10% of my previous self already!  It's the lightest I've been in more than 7 years.  No gain during my TOM this time around so I was happy.  This week's loss was the biggest so far - 4.2 lbs.  As far as inches lost, I've shrunk everywhere but my waist.

On Sunday Benny and I went to Goodwill to shop for bottoms (tops still have a way to go before I can get into a smaller size).  I had a whole cart full of pants, shorts, skorts, and capris to try on.  I was so hot from trying on all those bottoms!  Weight Watchers should have a points value for trying on clothes.  I've dropped from a size 22 to a size 18!  We bought everything that fit - 1 skort, 2 shorts, 1 tank, 1 pant, 2 capris, and 1 jean.

At Goodwill we even found an exercise bike for cheap.  I've played on the bike but no serious riding yet as I'm not sure what kind of routine to do with it.  All I know is that I don't have time to ride after Tai Cheng (before work) so it would have to be evenings or weekends only.  Please share any recommendations you have for routines on an exercise bike.

I've started incorporating more veggies into my diet.  Before I didn't even like the taste of bell peppers.  Now I have some with nearly every dinner.  I've started adding lettuce to my sandwiches.  Benny only likes iceberg; he says the others aren't white enough.  However, I taste the lettuce for hours after eating my sandwich.  Has anyone else experienced this?

Workout Weeks 4-6

Neural Reboot 2 is complete now.  With the pain it produced rolling my quads I'm kind of scared of what #3 entails.  Will I experience more pain or sweet relief?  The next three weeks I'll learn the final six moves and be on my way to becoming a Tai Cheng Master!  I kind of like that title.  I may add that to my profile when this is over.

DVDs 4-6

Doing Sequence 2 this week felt a little awkward to me.  Perhaps it's the residue from the painful foam rolling continuing to seep into the Tai Cheng moves.  Somehow I end up facing the TV every time while they're facing one side or another.  The moves flowed better by the end of the week so I stopped worrying about which way I was facing.  After all it's completing the moves not where you are that matters, right?