This is one of those weeks where I am thrilled that it’s Friday and the weekend is here. We didn’t have a bad week, more of just an off week and I’m ready to recharge and start next week fresh. It always seems the first week after a vacation (Neil was off for 10 days) is a little funny so hoping that next week we get back into our normal routine.
Alright lets talk Fitness Friday. This week wasn’t exactly as active as I had planned. I only ended up getting in two runs so a big whomp to that. Basically I just did make time for it no other excuse than that. This week I focused on getting things done around the house during my hands free minutes (from holding a baby, wiping noses, kissing boo-boos) I spent catching up on the tower of dirty dishes, organizing the cupboards and cleaning up the main living area and the playroom.
So now that we talked about (what little) I did this week lets start on plans for next week:
My Lorna Jane MNB Diary has four circuit workouts to try so I am going to do all four this week and see how it goes. While I don’t have the workouts I will be doing to share with you, you can give this (similar) one a try.
Happy Fitness Friday on Saturday! You’d think I’d get myself in a better routine so I wasn’t posting a day late but alas a day late is better than never right? Or maybe I should just change this post to [fill in the blank] Saturday – leave your ideas in the comments.
So Monday marks the end of my DietBet game and well I’ll just come out and say it I didn’t win. I had to lose around 9 pounds to win and that being said I knew it would be a long shot. That all being said I did lose 4 pounds! That’s 1 pound per week which I think it is a pretty healthy amount of weight. On top of losing a few pounds I have also got myself back into a semi-regular fitness routine and have improved my diet. While I have made improvements over the past four weeks there is still a long way to go before I reach my final goals.
So what’s next? Like I said I have got myself back on a semi-regular fitness routine and my goal is to make it a regular routine. To do so Neil and I are going to sit down this weekend and come up with a workout time plan so that both of us are really able to take time during the week to workout without guilt. I say without guilt because as parents of two small children it can sometimes be mentally really challenging to make time for yourself and commit to that but we both know we need to so we are making it a priority.
I also have been doing okay with drinking enough water but I sometimes have days when I completely forget about it and just don’t drink enough. Lately I have been having a harder time because Neil “stole” my Blender bottle aka my favorite water bottle and so I haven’t been drinking as much as I should be. That being said I am going to get myself a new Blender bottle and make it my goal to drink at least 4-28oz bottles by 7pm.
Lastly, while eating healthy is going pretty well I am focusing on eating well about 75% of the time and I would really like it to be more like 85-90% of the time. I am all about eating in moderation so I do think that there is a time and place to indulge a little but I know that sometimes I indulge more than I need to. To help me be successful I am making it my goal to do bi-weekly meal planning and weekly meal prep. I also am going to make sure to buy more healthy snacks to have in the house because that is one of my downfalls. I don’t buy enough healthy snacks and then I am feeling snack-y and pick up rice chips or bean chips from Whole Foods and Neil and I eat an entire bag – not good!
Happy Fri….errr Saturday! Sorry this post is a day late but yesterday ended up being crazy busy and we were out of the house from 8am-8pm! Yikes! Friday night is also our no-computer at home date night so as soon as we got home it was kids to bed, make a quick curry and (frozen) dumplings, pour a glass of wine and crash on the couch with The Blacklist.
Hiking last Sunday
So here it is the DietBet halfway update. So far as of last Sunday I am 20% to my DietBet goal weight. I don’t weigh in again until tomorrow morning but I unfortunately don’t think it has changed much since last week. That being said what has changed for the better is my activity level and diet. So far things are moving in the direction I want: weight (slowly) going down, activity level going up and diet becoming cleaner and cleaner.
So what are my goals for the next two weeks? Run more, hike more, walk more, strength train, and lots of yoga. Focus on eating really well/clean 80-90% of the time (right now I am closer to 65-75%) and create a clean pantry/fridge aka stock up on lots of whole grains, beans, fruits and veggies and reduce packaged goods. Lastly, get organized, declutter and do something for myself that nourishes my mind, body and soul.
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Since I am a huge fan of Kara Goucher I wanted to share with you that she is goinng to be on the cover of the November/December issue of Women’s Running Magazine which hits stands November 11th.
Included in the magazine will be a day in the life feature story of Kara that highlights her training techniques, eating habits and inner-most thoughts. I don’t know about you but I LOVE day in the life posts and vlogs. They are one of my favorite types of blogs to read and now that I am writing this I am thinking I should really include more on my blog – what do you think?
Anyways in the November/December issue of Women’s Running Magazine Kara’s life is in full display as she shares the contents of her fridge, her lip gloss hoarding problem, and her training routine which includes two-hour full-body sports massage (where do I sign up?) from her therapist of 15 years, Allan Kupczak.
One thing that really draws me to follow Kara and her life is that she is also a mom. Kara is mom to four-year-old Colt. Though pregnancy was a tricky proposition given her career, Kara said motherhood “was the best decision I ever made.” I have to agree with her it is really the best decision that I’ve ever made as well.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this issue of the magazine in exchange for sharing the news of Kara Goucher’s cover.
Happy Friday Friends and Happy Halloween! What is everyone doing to celebrate? We are heading to meet up with friends and take our littles trick-or-treating tonight. Tomorrow night we are hosting our annual pumpkin beer tasting party with a small group of friends. So excited- this is my favorite time of the year!
Okay so let’s talk about the workouts this week….
The Goods.
I started back at running this week and let me tell you it feels good but it hurts so bad. I am having to do runs with the kids in the BOB Dualie or get up early/head out late for a run on the treadmill. This week I have only done runs with the stroller and I forgot how much harder it is and I’m feeling sore in a good way. So I have done two runs (Wednesday & Today).
I have also been going out for a number of walks with the kids and Neil in the evening. We went out for a Sunday evening and Wednesday evening (and tonight we will as well). I also took the kids on a nice long 3+ mile walk Thursday.
The Bads.
No yoga this week. I just didn’t make it this week and I didn’t do any at home practice.
No strength training this week. I didn’t plan for it and now I am wishing I had because I know I need to do more of it.
Only two runs. I would really like to try for three runs per week. P.S. my weeks are Saturday-Friday for the purpose these of these Fitness Friday posts.
Next Week.
Plans –> three runs, (at least) three evening family walks, one yoga class, and two days of strength training.
What are your fitness goods and bads of the week? What are your plans/goals for next week?
Let’s start this off by saying I did not follow my workout plan schedule at all this week. I did get out for a few good walks with the new BOB Revolution Flex Dualie but otherwise I didn’t go to yoga or do any strength training or running. Let’s call this week a wash and focus on the next.
So now that we have talked about what I didn’t do this week let’s talk about what I plan on doing over the next 30ish weeks. Yes I plan on taking 30 weeks to train for my quarter marathon because when you have only gone on five runs in the past 12 months getting back to running takes time and for me it takes a good amount of time.
I plan on following a hybrid version of Jeff Galloway’s 5k and 10k plans starting with a few extra slow start weeks. Over the next three weeks I’m starting out slow with the goal to get in three 15-20 minute runs in each week. After that I will follow the Galloway 5k plan and then continue into the 10k plan based on where the 5k plan ends.
Along with training for my race I am making the commitment to myself and my yoga practice. I have a 10-class punch pas with only 1 punch out it so at least for the next 9ish weeks I will be going to at least one class per week. In addition to training and yoga I need to get back to a regular strength training routine so that is on the agenda as well.
Okay so here is the last part of this post…
DietBet Before Photos
Now I debated telling you my starting weight and maybe I will but honestly I am embarrassed. I know that I need to be kind to myself and remember that over the last three years I have been pregnant twice and am now nursing so this will all take time. Nevertheless the number is not my favorite. That being said I will tell you my 4% that I need to lose to win is about 9lbs so from that if you really want to figure out the math you can figure out my starting weight.
As I shared on Wednesday my goal and purpose for hosting and participating in this DietBet is to get myself back on track. It’s to work with others to accomplish our health and fitness goals and if I happen to lose the 9lbs I need to be able to win then great. I am not going to be cutting tons of calories or working out for 4 hours a day (not like I have time). Also first and foremost comes making sure that I keep my milk supply up because feeding Alder is my priority.
So here I go. The journey officially starts on Monday and will last for 28 days. At the end of it I will share with you just how much I did lose and my final photos. Along the way I’ll check in with how things are going and other related things.
*These are not my official photos that I submit to DietBet. Tomorrow I will take new photos one of me on the scale airport security style and one of the number on the scale with my weigh in word. You can learn more about that here.
The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Grokker.
So it’s no secret that I am really making an effort to get back to regular workouts. One thing that I am finding however is that getting out of the house to workout is a bit of a challenge to coordinate with two kids. That being said I have been trying to find ways to fit in a workout at home, even if that workout is only 20 minutes long. I mean a short workout is better than no workout, am I right?
Well that’s when the new health and wellness site, Grokker, comes into play. I tell you I have been hearing about this site for a few months now because Neil can’t stop talking about it. He asks me weekly if I have tried it out yet and every time my answer is not yet, until now that is.
When the opportunity to work with FitFluential and Grokker came my way I decided that this was the perfect time to finally check out what all the hype was about. To top it off Grokker is also hosting the October Fitfluential 4 Weeks to Wellness Challenge on their site so it provided me with even more incentive to get working out and participate.
The 4 Weeks to Wellness Challenge provides you with weekly workouts and healthy recipes to try. The one thing I appreciate is that they offer alternatives for the day as well because sometimes I just don’t want to yoga and would rather do a HIIT workout. Also to be honest the recipes videos just aren’t my thing so I’d rather sub a quick workout for one of the recipes and focus on my own recipes. Hey, I’m not saying the recipe videos aren’t well done, they just aren’t for me.
So far I have done the:
Yoga for Beginners – Sun Salutations (18 min)
Metabolic Meltdown (23:02)
and
Yoga for Kids: Beach Fun (18:53)
Edith has become so interested in yoga and has to get out her go-ga mat almost everyday. She has a toddler yoga book that goes through a variety of poses that she follows along with so I figured that she would love to do go-ga with mama (or dada). She went nuts for this video and I can see us doing this a few times per week.
While I might be short on time to go out to the gym or to a yoga class I can always find 20 or so minutes in the day to do a workout video even if that means doing yoga for kids with Edith. I currently am using the 14 day free trial of Grokker but I plan to buy a subscription after this time because I really do enjoy using it and find it helpful for me to keep up on my workouts. I have been slipping in a quick workout during naptimes or right after Edith goes down for bed. I need to get my butt up and out of bed in the morning and work on fitting in my workout then but for now this works. I like not having to fumble with a DVD I can just turn my computer on (I need to get this linked up to my ChromeCast which would make it even easier) and choose which workout I want to do. Easy peasy.
For those of you who are still wondering what exactly Grokkeris here is a little more info:
What is Grokker?
Grokker is the community driven content network offering high quality, expert-led
videos in three key wellness areas: yoga, fitness and cooking. Grokker makes it
easy and enjoyable for enthusiasts to discover valuable content and seamlessly
organize and share choice topics, experts and opinions with a larger like- minded
community.
How do they choose content?
Grokker offerings must pass strict editorial, quality, and taste standards, with
category managers actively curating a selection of the best tutorials on each
topic available from other Web sources. All content available on Grokker has
been viewed and vetted, as well as categorized and tagged by its editors.
I haven’t tried them yet but Grokker also offers group classes if you are the type of person who really thrives on a community centered workout this might be something for you:
What are Grokker Group Classes?
Grokker group classes are a new feature for the network, which promotes
community-driven wellness through a portfolio of high-quality, in-house produced
fitness, yoga and cooking videos. Grokker group classes allow fitness
enthusiasts to engage with each other and the trainers themselves via online
chat, bringing the group fitness experience right to the users’ living rooms.
The Group Class Experience
Group classes offer Grokker members a way to benefit from the social and
accountability elements of attending a live class, without any of the downsides of
commuting to a gym or studio. At the appointed time, Grokker members join the
class from the Grokker homepage. Upon entry, they are announced in the chat
window and can join in the pre-class chat with other Members. The video class
begins playing precisely at the stated time and after class is complete, members
may continue their chat discussion with fellow class-goers.
I call this “the real plan” because back in June when I wrote my postpartum weight loss plan those were all just ideas of what I would like to do. Now here we are 7+ weeks postpartum, have dealt with my postpartum realities and I’m ready to take on the task of refocusing on my health.
Photo from this weekend. 7weeks1day postpartum with Alder (baby #2).
I am currently 20 pounds away from my pre-baby #2 starting weight and I am 40 pounds away from my pre-baby #1 starting weight. Add in another 15 pounds that I had hanging on me before my pregnancy with Edith bringing the grand total to 65 pounds away from my happy weight (I’d say I’m about 80 pounds from my idea weight but that’s a whole other plan).
Right now I have three goals based on the above considerations. Goal 1: Lose 20 pounds. Goal 2: Lose 40 pounds. Goal 3: Lose 65 pounds. Now I’m not setting a timeline but I will say that I’d like to accomplish goal #3 by December 2016.
August before my pregnancy with Alder.
So let me start off by saying my first priority is nourishing my baby boy and taking care of myself. I am nursing and it’s going great and here are no plans to stop anytime soon so I needed to take that into consideration when I created this plan. So here it goes (based on my original postpartum weight loss plan) …
I plan to get back to running at around 9-12 weeks postpartum. Based on my original plan I said 9-12 weeks postpartum and I’m actually feeling pretty great. I have days that are better than others when it comes to healing ie. I still have some light spotting and soreness when I am overly active but have been cleared to start run/walk at 8 weeks postpartum That being said I am planning to start couch to 5k (or something similar) next weekend. I am terrified but also excited to get back at it. My plan is to slow (not like that will be hard) and just ease myself back into running.
I plan to incorporate 2 days of strength training into my workout routine and light cardio once I am cleared to get back to normal activity. I haven’t started strength training but my plan is to start this week. What I have been doing is lots of walking and just this weekend a little bit of hiking. Oh and running up and down three flights of stairs many times per day is getting my ass in shape. So that all being said I’m keeping up with the walking and will be incorporating in strength.
I also plan to get back in a yoga routine. This starts this week! I signed up for my first postpartum class for this Monday night and I can’t wait to get back in the studio. I am starting back slowly with some restorative yoga and let me tell you I just can’t wait. I am going to be doing one class weekly or bi-weekly until my punch pass runs out. I am also planning to do at least one at home sesh per week.
Keep my eating in check! Bah. This has seriously been the hardest. Nursing is no joke and my appetite is often off the charts. Combine that with a busy toddler, trying to keep house and limited time I haven’t been doing my best at eating well. I have been eating far too many sweets and not enough fruits and vegetables. The plan is to BUY more fruits and vegetables because if we have them in the house we will eat them. The second plan is to buy/make less desserts. The third and probably most important thing is to menu plan so that #1 and #2 can be successful.
Drink lots of water! When I was pregnant with Alder I had no problem downing (reusable) bottle after (reusable) bottle of water. For some reason postpartum I have been struggling with this despite always being thirsty. My goal is to drink, drink, drink and drinks some more water. Cut back on the coffee and up the water intake.
Buy myself postpartum clothes in whatever size I have to buy. This is easier said than done but I did it. I bought myself (with some gifted from my parents): three bottoms (one of which is already too big), six tops and two pairs of shoes because my feet also grew. I was also sent a few nursing tops for review. My follow-up to this plan is to continue to buy clothes in whatever size I am at the time aka as I lose weight. I have the next size down in a lot of clothes and as soon as I lose a little weight and my hips (hopefully) shrink a bit they will fit me and then after that I will have to buy all new clothes because I have nada.
Have Fun and Enjoy Life. Stop focusing solely on the number and focus on how I feel. I have two beautiful, healthy children and an amazing, supportive partner and they need met to happy and healthy and to enjoy life with them.
