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?

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My Garden

This year the only things I planted from seed are the leafy kind - Arugula, Lettuce, & Swiss Chard.  It looks like one of them has sprouted but I don't remember which it was LOL.  Benny overloaded on the tomatoes this year; he REALLY wants garden fresh!  I picked up the Eggplant and two of the tomatoes at the farmer's market.  The broccoli somehow came up from last year so hopefully it'll produce something this time.  Most of the other starters we picked up at Menards, and a couple from Walmart (i.e. the squash).  The seeds I won on Listia.  I didn't find any good looking zucchini to plant like I wanted this year.  How does your garden grow?

Weigh-In

I weighed in Tuesday night down 2.6 lbs, which put me .8 lbs above my goal window.  Benny finally took my measurements last night (first time in 3 months!) but there weren't really any changes.  He did say that my muscles felt firmer so I guess that counts...

Week of Workouts

FRIDAY I did some twisted yoga.

SATURDAY I did Burn Intervals & Ab Burner.  Since this was the 6th one I'll be switching to Extreme Abs instead of the burner one.  I haven't peeked to see what's different.  Will see this weekend!

SUNDAY was Burn It Off! & Recharge.

TUESDAY I wrapped up the second week of the push phase with Push Circuit 3.  I can hardly believe I'm halfway through ChaLEAN Extreme already!  This program just seems to be flying by much quicker than any other one I've done.

WEDNESDAY I did Push Circuit 2 in the morning.  I made it on time to the farmer's market and picked up some Organic Turmeric from Redwine Farms.  I used it in a recipe last night (will be seeing that by this weekend).  Does your Turmeric look more yellow or orange?

THURSDAY I did Push Circuit 1.

Surgery is Official!

I got a call from the scheduling lady and everything's confirmed for September 22nd at 7:30 AM.  We'll have to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM.  When Benny saw that arrival time on the paperwork he was like WHAT?? LOL  So now that's all taken care of I can sit back and wait just under 16 weeks to have the polyp removed, getting back to a normal TOM (we hope)!

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Meanwhile...

I weighed in Tuesday up another 1.8 lbs.  Not sure what's going on but am hoping it's all the muscle I'm building with ChaLEAN Extreme.  Feeling stronger almost every week!

Week of Workouts

SATURDAY I did Burn Intervals & Ab Burner in the morning.  In the afternoon I spent about an hour pulling the weeds out of the garden.  Then Austin and I spent an hour planting flowers in the bed out front.  Benny and Austin worked on getting the tough roots up with a pickaxe.

SUNDAY morning was Burn It Off! & Recharge.  In the afternoon I spent about 3 hours spreading the soil.  I had Austin water the dirt so it would be easier to mix it in.

3 bags of this size I think

After he left I got to planting the starters.

MONDAY I did an hour of yoga.
TUESDAY I wrapped up the first week of the push phase with Push Circuit 3.
WEDNESDAY I did Push Circuit 2 in the morning.  I tried to make it to the farmer's market but got caught in a downpour.  Some random stranger felt sorry for me and stopped traffic to give me a ride to the market.  But by the time we got there most booths were already gone and the others were packing up.

THURSDAY I did Push Circuit 1.

For some reason almost every time I write PUSH it comes out PURSH.  Not sure what my fingers are trying to do LOL.  Also, Salt-N-Pepa's Push It keeps playing in my head....Has this happened to anyone else completing ChaLEAN Extreme?

Surgery Update

Apparently the Hysteroscopy with Polypectomy CAN be done at IU...not sure why it was never brought up before.  We're just waiting for the approvals to go through Anthem but for now it's scheduled for September 22nd at 7:45 AM.  Keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have to change anything....

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Color Dash Recap and a Giveaway

I weighed in Tuesday exactly the same as last week; I just wish it was back down in my goal window.  On the plus side my bikini arrived Friday!  I just need to have the top tightened somehow as it's too loose LOL  I have no plans to go anywhere with this bikini; it's just for me!  What things do you have or do that are just for you?

Week of Workouts

SATURDAY I managed to get Burn Intervals and Ab Burner in before heading out to the Brookside Bash Color Dash.  This map is from the race site.

I knew it was through the park but what I didn't realize was that there were so many hills!

This is what MapMyWalk recorded so it appears they changed the route a little.

I essentially wore 4 layers up top for the race...yet somehow the colors went all the way through.  I had a huge stripe across my abdomen, just below my bra.  There was a huge patch on my left side that looked like a bruise from the colors collecting there.  How in the world did that happen?  The Sara Lee shirt was tucked into my shorts.  The Dash shirt was over the shorts so I could get to my flipbelt for the phone.

OK, back to the regular workouts....

SUNDAY was Burn It Off! and Recharge.
MONDAY I wrapped up the Burn phase with Burn Circuit 2
TUESDAY was an active rest day with Yoga.
WEDNESDAY I began the Push phase with Push Circuit 2.
THURSDAY was Push Circuit 1.

Fish Oil Review & Giveaway

I was given a bottle of Pro Star Health Omega 3 Fish Oil for free in exchange for my review.  If you recall, the last fish oil we tried was 1400 mg but with this one we're back to only 1000 mg (and giving Benny 3 pills).  These are the standard size (that I've seen) of about an inch long softgels.  When I first opened the bottle I immediately smelled a fishy odor that I hadn't detected with any of the other fish oils.  Thankfully the smell was just captured in the bottle and not in the softgels themselves.  The odor is the only thing that comes to mind distinguishing this fish oil from any other.

Enter to win your own bottle to try.

Entry-Form

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4 for Friday

 

Tuesday I weighed in down a pound but I'm still 1.6 lbs above the weight range.  Then TOM settles in early so I don't think next week will be any better....will see how things go.

I have to figure out how to get back into the groove of getting my walk AND the blog post in so I can share on time LOL

Week of Workouts

THURSDAY:  Burn Circuit 1
FRIDAY:  Yoga
SATURDAY:  Burn Intervals & Ab Burner
SUNDAY:  Burn It Off! & Recharge
MONDAY:  Due to this weird stomach/abdominal pain that woke me up about 4AM I made this a rest day and even stayed home from work.  This baby bird smacked into my bedroom window while I was resting in the morning, staying on the sill about 30 minutes.

TUESDAY:  Burn Circuit 2
WEDNESDAY:  Burn Circuit 3 in the morning and walking 2.2 miles during lunch.
THURSDAY:  Burn Circuit 1
FRIDAY:  Yoga from The Yoga Collective

My Second Race

Tomorrow is my second 5K - Brookside Bash Color Dash.  Scattered showers are in the forecast so we'll see how messy I get!  This is what I think I'm wearing...tank top over the shirt they provide.

 

Any tips for clean up afterwards, rain or shine?

 

Upcoming Surgery

April's TOM lasted about 10 days.  When I told the doctor about it he said again what it was they saw on my ultrasound last year the team - a cervical polyp.  So it looks like I need to have a hysteroscopy with polypectomy to remove it.  I've never had any surgery before and the only time I was knocked out was for an upper endoscopy.  You'd think I'd be worried about the procedure but I'm not; I'm just concerned about the cost.  I finally told Benny about it.  When he looked online about the procedure he was freaking out about the potential complications instead of the money.

I'm waiting for the doctor to get back with me how we're to schedule it for late September or October.  His nurse isn't sure because for whatever reason it's to be at Eskenazi Hospital instead of IU.  She doesn't know how things work over there.

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The Yoga Collective Giveaway and My New Program

Last week I just wasn't feeling it with TOM and health insurance shockers...I didn't have it in me to write my weekly post.  And that's OK, it happens sometimes.  Still feeling bloated but able to think more clearly this week.  To start us off today I have a giveaway.

The Yoga Collective

I was contacted by The Yoga Collective to check out their yoga workout videos.  I was given three codes for a free year's membership in exchange for my honest review, one for myself and two to give away.

There are quite a variety of workouts to choose from and some positions I hadn't seen before visiting The Yoga Collective.  The first thing I noticed when searching the videos were the levels.  I had not seen a number system like this before so I asked the rep to explain the differences.  Reading his explanations I considered myself mostly a level 2.

1 is beginner, introducing you to yoga and understanding about breathing and the importance of yoga.

1+ is still beginner but you actually start doing yoga and doing basic stretches.

2 is intermediate. It builds off level 1 and shows you a few more advance moves.

2+ assumes that you know level 1 and the yoga is a little more fast pace because we assume you have watched the previous levels.

3 is advance. We assume you know what you are doing you know the names of the posses and we move a little quicker.

While I was in between programs I made Sunday my day to do yoga.  I searched The Yoga Collective each time and pretty much stuck with the 1+ & 2 levels for my choices.  Here are the four workouts I've done so far

So many workouts so little time to do them all!  I enjoyed each online yoga class I did and will continue to use The Yoga Collective for my active rest days.  I can't wait to explore more of what they have to offer over the year.  I don't see myself advancing levels anytime soon as I'm unable to do any of the arm balancing positions.  I'm happy where I am and can still learn a lot here.

Are you interested in exploring or expanding your yoga abilities?  Take a look at their free yoga videos and see if yoga is something you'd be interested in.  Enter to win a year's membership with The Yoga Collective.  50% of their profits go to charities.  Who could pass that up?

Entry-Form

My New Program

Tuesday afternoon I signed up for the free 30 day trial of Beachbody on Demand.  While I love the idea my computer wasn't cooperating so I won't be continuing beyond the trial.  I still want to continue with strength training so that's what I looked for in the available programs.  I don't feel I'm ready for any of the P90s so I went with Chalene Johnson's ChaLEAN Extreme.  The first day I had to watch the workout on my teeny tiny phone screen....

Now I was scared a bit by EXTREME in the title.  From other extreme workouts they seem crazy difficult.  Not so much with this workout.  The only EXTREME, at least in this first phase, are sets of 3 super duper slow reps.  That is hard because I don't like to lift slow...I know I'm not alone with that.  I don't have as much of a problem lifting up as I do lowering slowly.  After going up for 8 seconds my arms just want to drop LOL

Someone asked me how I liked ChaLEAN Extreme so far in comparison to Body Beast.  Honestly, there's no comparison as the only thing that's similar is you're lifting weights.  Body Beast you have sets increasing and decreasing the amount of weight you're lifting.  ChaLEAN Extreme you only do one set (using the max weight you can lift keeping proper form) of 10-12 reps.  With Body Beast it seems like half your time is sitting or laying down lifting the weights.  I think only one or two lifting exercises in this first phase of ChaLEAN Extreme were done on the floor.  Sagi goes fast and Chalene goes slow.  I could probably go on forever picking apart the differences between the two programs LOL

What I don't like as much is Chalene doesn't give you much time to switch up your weights.  Chalene and the guy use some fancy schmancy dial-a-weight dumbbell set so you just have to flick your finger to adjust your weights.  Chalene's sister and the modifier use a set of 3 dumbbells.  There's another lady using resistance bands instead of dumbbells.  I have to pause the video when I need to switch between the 5/10/15 lb adjustable dumbbell set.  Not a big deal but I could use another set to avoid this LOL

This first month of ChaLEAN Extreme is the Burn Phase.  As you know I don't follow the pre-determined schedules as I move them around to fit my availability.

Here's the Burn schedule I'm following-
WEDNESDAY:  Burn Circuit 3
THURSDAY:  Burn Circuit 1
FRIDAY:  Rest/Yoga
SATURDAY:  Burn Intervals & Ab Burner
SUNDAY:  Burn It Off! & Recharge
MONDAY:  Burn Circuit 2
TUESDAY:  Rest/Yoga

Now I have the potential of TWO sessions with The Yoga Collective!

Have you tried any new programs lately?

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