When George Gershwin wrote "Summertime, and the livin' is easy...", he didn't have four children running around him.  What a crazy, busy summer!  It has been so long since my last post.  I believe the last time I posted was my Turbo Fire success with the Inferno Plan.  Since then, we had a "stay-cation" with family visiting, I took a professional development class, caught a nasty summer cold and had a weekend getaway with my husband.  I looked at my super gym calendar and have managed to average 4 workouts a week this month.  I stepped on the scale earlier this week, expecting to see that I had gained all the weight back that I had worked so hard to lose, but was surprised to see that I was up only 2 pounds.  Gotta get back on track.  It has been so incredibly hot here that my motivation seems to have melted. (I HATE hot weather!  Guess it's the Scandinavian genes in me, but I would much prefer a cool, crisp day over 100 degrees.)

My husband just reminded me that my birthday is tomorrow.  I guess I'll get back on track after my pity party which will inevitably include something chocolate :)  I will admit, though, that even when I feel like I'm not as intentional about my eating and calorie counting, since making a life change including working out and eating healthy, I don't crave the naughty stuff as much as I did before.  And, when I do indulge, portion control is much easier.  The guilt is way less and the treat tastes better!  A benefit of eating healthy that I didn't expect. :)

Day 5 of Turbo Fire Inferno Plan and drum roll, please....

6 POUNDS!  There's 6 less pounds of me to love :)  Honestly, I think the key to my success wasn't just the work-outs, but taking the time to write down and estimate every single calorie I put in my mouth.  I kept it between 1100 and 1300 calories this week.  The scale hasn't shown me numbers like that since before child #2 was born.  This was the boost through that plateau that I desperately needed.  I'm just hoping that I can continue the loss.  I'm being totally realistic here, too, knowing that I need to ease up a bit on the work-outs (the Inferno Plan recommends not doing it more than 5 days because it is so intense with a pretty low-calorie intake).  I would be happy with a 1-2 pound loss each week.  Next week I'll start following one of the Turbo Fire schedules that includes toning, sculpting and ab work.

Tomorrow I'm headed to a local Team Beachbody meeting to learn more about some exciting new products and promotions.  I know they just released new Chocolate Vegan Shakeology, as well as a free trial on challenge packs.  I'll update when I learn more.

Nap time for my littlest Little, which means it's time for my Fire 55 class :)

Here's my plan for this week:  The 5-Day Inferno Plan by Turbo Fire.  I need a kick in the pants to get me back into my routines, and this looks like a great way to jump-start my motivation and metabolism.

Today's workout:  55 min Turbo Fire; total calories:  1300.  I also made sure I got at least 8 cups of water today.  I made a huge pitcher of water with cucumber, lemon, mint leaves and grated ginger.  I have a hard time drinking plain water, and this got me hydrated.  Time to flush some toxins outta here!  Time for bed before I feel the urge to snack!

One full week into summer vacation!  Since the beginning of June, unfortunately, I feel like my eating habits have derailed.  End of the school year stress and craziness, birthdays (my baby turned 2!) and a big family cook-out have allowed bad eating habits and more processed foods into the house.  I thought I would have the week to figure out a plan and map out meals, but I found myself playing outside with my kids instead of sitting down and planning out meals or cooking.  I had a couple days that I didn't have my Shakeology and wow, did I feel sluggish and yucky.  This weekend I have to come up with a meal plan and get myself back to Whole Foods (without the kids).  No excuses.  

Ugh.  What a week it has been.  I have been doing Turbo Fire and it has been perfect to release the stress that I'm under right now.  End of the school year:  "I hate it, but I love it."-Tony Horton.  I'm not done with the school year until Tuesday the 12th.  Technically, my teaching partner works the first half of the week, but we think it's important for us both to be there the last day. Report cards, cleaning and packing the classroom, projects, paperwork, student issues, and the devastating news that our school didn't pass "No Child Left Behind" requirements has made for a tough week.

I admit, I'm addicted to Chalene and her work-outs.  I did great with eating last week.  I really watched calories and did well with reducing intake to around 1200.  I had pieced together a plan based off one of the 5-day plans in the Turbo Fire kit.  The scale didn't move much, but, another pair of capris that I haven't worn in years fit very comfortably now.  I really think I need to steer clear of that scale.  It just brings me down.

Now, this past week...not so great.  Still doing the Turbo Fire work-outs...alternating between the 45 and 55 minute ones right now.  I need something predictable with a good sweat.  I'm such a stress -induced eater, though.  Last weekend was filled with some really not-so-smart choices, but as the week progressed, I got back on track.

So, next week I'll be taking a look at the bigger picture Turbo Fire and getting a schedule put together to follow.  I'll also be spending a little more time establishing the coaching side of Team Beachbody.  If anyone would like to join me for a super fun summer Turbo Fire challenge, let me know.  You can click on the upper left link, Team Beachbody Fitness, on my blog page for more info.

I cheated on Tony this week.  Tony Horton and P90X, that is.

I got a taste of Chalene with Turbo Fire.  I LOVE it!  This week I did the Fire Starter video Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  The fastest 37 minutes ever! I still loosely maintained my P90X schedule, doing Plyo and partial strength-training work-outs.  Friday I did some yoga with my students to help calm them down (it's that time of year!) and ran a mile with them at our 22nd Annual Fun Run.  This morning I'm heading out to do a 5K with my friend of nearly 32 years.

Cardio is what I have been missing.  I stepped on the scale today...2 pounds down from last weekend!!

I switched up some meals this week, too.  I made a quinoa tabouleh that made for an easy dinner side and lunch at work.  Thai lettuce wraps one night, (thank you for the great recipe, Jill...it was YUM!). Friday nights have become burger night here.  We used to do carry-out from various places on Friday nights, but since making the commitment to lose this weight in Januar, I've been making our own burgers.  I figured I have more control over the fat content and quality of the meat by splurging on lean ground sirloin from Whole Foods.  This week, though,  I opted for an organic marinated portobello mushroom burger on a whole wheat (lightly toasted/grilled) english muffin while the rest of the fam ate their burgers.  While the kids ate their baked fries, I had more tabouleh.  Mmmmmm!

Happy Memorial Day!

So, is it still considered stress eating when you grab and gnaw on celery sticks?  4:30-5:30 is the time of day when all craziness breaks out in my house.  Yesterday was one of those days.  Trying to fix dinner while my 2nd-grader was egging on and chasing my irrational 3-year-old who was throwing the most massive fit, toys and punches.  In the meantime, my soon-to-be 2-year-old was crying, attached to my leg while I'm trying to throw dinner together to feed my little crazies.  Thank goodness I had a bag of celery sticks on the counter instead a bag of Cheetos or Tootsie Rolls.  Instinctively, I grabbed at that bag and began chomping the celery down like a rabid rabbit.  

This week I'll admit I am pulling back a little bit on the P90X.  I did the Turbo Fire intro video on Monday and loved it!  It's the same/similar moves from the class I took at the gym for a couple years, so I was able to jump in and keep up with the intro video.  I've also spent the past 2 days setting up our first veggie garden, so I felt I had gotten quite a back work-out by digging up and leveling the soil before assembling our raised garden beds.  Oh, and hauling 10 bags of soil, I'm feeling the work-out.  I threw in a couple sets of push-ups to work the chest.  

Yesterday was Plyo.  My 3-year-old helped me out.  He's doing "jumping the river" with me.  

(This is pre-tantrum) 

At the beginning of the week, I expressed my frustration with the scale and made it a point to really, really watch what I eat.  I expected the scale to move, but...it didn't.  I was feeling pretty defeated this morning, so I decided to take a pity-party trip over to Title Nine (I love their stuff!).  I have been eyeing a summer skirt every time I go on their online site.  My reward for completing P90X is going to be picking out a couple things from their store.  I was out and about without kiddos, so I stopped by to see if they had the skirt in the store and maybe try it on.  I grabbed the usual sizes that I've worn...I won't share my weight even with my husband, but will tell the world here that I grabbed a 10 and a 12.  No matter how much my weight has fluctuated since having kids, those 2 sizes have been where I've been since baby #1 came along.  Pre-kids, I grabbed 4s and 6s.  Oh, to grab those sizes again.  Tried on the 12.  Too big.  Tried on the 10 and to my surprise...still too big!!  What?!  I walked out of the store purchasing that skirt in the first single-digit size, an 8,  in 12 years.  

I got to the car and literally cried.  That was the motivation I desperately needed.  The scale numbers may not be going down, but the sizes are dropping.  

The teacher appreciation luncheon was fantastic, as it usually is.  I'm proud to say that I steered clear of the pasta dishes (although, many were very tempting!) and stuck with fruits, veggies and a small serving of shredded chicken.  After a crazy couple days at work, I was able to unwind with YogaX.  My Littles usually are next to me doing their versions of "downward dog" or using me as a tunnel for their cars and trucks during all the warrior poses.  It definitely forces concentration and balance when there's a freeway of children running through your legs!

Mother's Day, the kids surprised me with a latte from Starbucks and a pastry.  Calories don't count on Mother's Day, right?  :)  It worked out that one of my favorite P90X work-outs, Kenpo (kick boxing), landed on Sunday.  Lots of punching, lots of kicking.  Lots of stress relief!  Instead of going out for lunch (which was really tempting), I opted to make a tropical strawberry Shakeology shake.  Banana, strawberries, coconut water, a little OJ and almond milk...tropical goodness!  

I'm still frustrated that the scale barely budges past a certain number.  I know I have built a lot of muscle--I can even see ab muscles again!  After 2 pregnancies within 18 months, both c-section deliveries, my abs were toast.  Last week was a bittersweet moment when I realized my favorite pair of spring pants were falling off.  But, that darn scale just hasn't moved.  Maybe it's broken :)   My strategy this week is to really watch what I eat, stick to my shakes and try to eat small portions throughout the day.  Yesterday I realized I hadn't eaten lunch until late afternoon.  So, today's plan of attack:  set the timer to remind me to stop and have a mini-meals throughout the day.  I put my littlest Little down for a nap right after lunch and do my work-out, which is why my lunch is usually pushed back until after my work-out.  I need to shift my thinking from breakfast, lunch and dinner to mini-meals spread out over the course of the day.

One of the reasons why I set up my blog is to help keep myself accountable and fess-up to my downfalls.  This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at school.  Today was "sweets day".  I had a couple sweeties bring in sweets.  A raspberry-filled puff pastry with sweet goodness written all over it.  A delicious oatmeal raisin cookie.  Mmmmm.  I set them aside on my desk and got on with my day.  The stress of a crazy morning (which included a boy's bathroom incident, a raging vomit-bug taking down it's 4th victim during reading, among other things), caused the rational-thinking part of my brain to go on vacation and I gobbled it up during lunch.  All of it.  The whole puff-pastry and the whole cookie, in addition to my lunch.  Oh, did I mention the fresh, soft, multigrain bagel with a shmear of veggie cream cheese calling out my name in the teacher's lounge?  Oops.  Fortunately, it fueled my motivation to squeeze my work-out in after work, between dinner shifts (half the family had to go to school for an event while I chose to stay back with the "Littles") and bedtime. 

Tomorrow is the best day of the year:  The PTO Teacher Appreciation Lunch.  Our parents know how to cook and they put on the most incredible lunch for the staff.  I MUST pre-plan my attack for lunch.  Low-carb, lean protein, veggies good, sweets bad.  And, I must avoid the teacher's lounge where all the yummy-goodness left-overs are stored. I'll let you know how it goes. 

I'm on the last phase of P90X.  One of the things that they recommend is to write down how many reps, and how much weight you use for each exercise.  Yesterday, with Chest and Back, it was a pull-up and push-up fest.  When I started, all my push-ups were on my knees.  Looking back at my chart that I log my work-outs on, I could only do a few push-ups on my knees.  Today I was curious at how many push-ups I did...127 on my toes!!  127 plus 66 on my knees!  These were all kinds of push-ups:  standard, decline, military, wide fly, "diamond" and the killer "dive bomber".  Yay!!  Today I was bummed that the scale just hasn't moved as much as I would like, but looking at that accomplishment, I know I'm on the right track to building muscle.  "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

Here we go!  Welcome to my journey to get fit and hopefully encourage others to join me.  About 60 days ago, I began working out with P90X and supplemented my diet with Shakeology, "The Healthiest Meal of the Day".  In the past 60 days, my energy, strength,  and motivation for making healthy choices has increased, in addition to my wardrobe increasing by finally getting back into those pre-pregnancy clothes!  I still have pounds to go, but the change I have felt both physically and mentally has been incredible.  I have experienced such a positive change in my overall well-being that many have inquired about what I'm doing.  I'm looking forward to completing my P90X challenge and beginning a new challenge group in June (after school gets out).

To learn more about what I've been doing, click here:  Shakeology or Beach Body Fitness