Technical Difficulties...

In more ways than one! Our internet got wiped out Thursday night during a massive electrical storm. Several of Charter's and the power companies boxes got fried. A couple were even melted, and our modem got fried because when they installed it they somehow failed to see the surged protector and plugged it right into the wall next to the surge protector. Whatever, at least we didn't have to pay for a new modem and it's all fixed now. But that's why I didn't chime in yesterday.
The other technical difficulty was that we had a horrendous storm, added on top of the fact that I accidentally added a set to my biking on Thursday, so my joints were killing me. And I had to get blood drawn, so I decided to let myself have a little treat and I did nothing. (*side note* the technician who took my blood was crazy. I'm serious. By the time we got back to the operatory to draw the blood I was quite nervous. She kept telling me how good she was at drawing blood. Yeah, tell that to my inch long bruise today.) Pretty much. We did go to a church picnic, and I did some corralling of children, but that was it.
Today, we went to the pool. I did six laps today, two consecutive, and I ran after my kids after the pool at the playground while we waited for John to do his laps. And I'm bushed and gonna go snuggle on the couch in front of a movie with my hubby now.
See y'all bright eyed and bushy tailed on Monday!
The Almighty Liz

Boy Did I Make Up For My Lack of Exercise Today!

So today was Dragon Con! We took the kids over to watch the parade. It was really fun, and the kids made out with a TON of candy and beaded necklaces. It was fun. We then walked down the parade route maybe 5 - 6 blocks, and went into the convention. The whole hotel was taken up with convention booths and stuff, we walked around looking at the exhibits for maybe 1 1/2 hours, which included going to the hotel next door and walking through the hall of fame where we saw Sean Astin, Adam West, Micky Dolenz, Kevin Sorbo, Hayden Panetierre, Mr. Zulu (I forgot his real name), Michael Rosenbaum (Lex on Smallville) and many many more. I was rather disappointed though, because they were all selling their autographs and photo ops for at least $30.00, and Adam West was charging $50. (Whores - $50.00 for 4 seconds of their time? Please.) Anyway, after we had seen everything we wanted, we headed back toward Underground Atlanta, probably 8 blocks, and walked all up and down there for another 1 1/2 hours at least. The kids were so good, they got very tired, but they didn't complain too much. I'd say we got a pretty good workout today.

Oh yeah, and yesterday I walked around Walmart for at least and hour, probably a little longer than that while we had new tires put on the car.

Friday-Walking 1 Hour

Ok, so I did not plan on walking with the kids in a stroller, but I found Vance's bus stop and it is 4 blocks away. The school itself is only 6 blocks away, and we would not have to cross a busy street like we would if we walked down to the bus stop. Plus, we could sleep another 20 minutes, which would be especially good for Quisqueya since she's not used to getting up that early.

Anyway, I made the executive decision to walk Vance to school, and then I forgot his peanut allergy medicines for emergencies (benadryl, epi-pen) so we had to walk back home, and I thought since it was only two blocks from the school we would also go by the library. It was easier than my normal workout because it was only two kids for the first 15 minutes (dropping Vance off at pre-school) and then it was just me and Q for the last 45 minutes. It was really nice only pushing one, and only having one to deal with while we walked.

I didn't feel tired at all, even though I got up an hour early, and did my exercise about 3 hours earlier than I'm used to. My back is better again today, though I can still feel it when I bend over or sit still too long. I will not have to worry about walking Vance to school for another 3 days, so hopefully my back will be totally normal by then. I'm also shipping the kids off to Grandma's house tonight mwahahaha! For more back rest, yeah! yeah! I need the rest!

DC's Thursday

Lyra and I walked a mile this morning and then another mile this evening.

Breakfast: Quinoa w/ strawberries, almonds, walnuts, flax, soymilk & cantaloupe

Lunch: Stirfry leftovers

Snack: jerky & trail mix

Dinner: smoothie w/ blueberries, strawberries, flax, Greek yogurt, soymilk


I'm not feeling so hot today and I don't have much of an appetite. Neverless my digestive system has finally started working. My tummy is pretty happy today. :)

I'm a girl....

I got up this morning at 5:30 to begin my routine and low and behold, it is that time of the month.....grr....My sister Jill once told me that it is no excuse to take the day off from running so, I did my strength workout and then went for a run. At about 1.5 miles I was seriously considering turning around and just calling 3 miles good for today. I'm a little strange and for me, being called a wimp or something to that a effect actually motivates me. So, when I thought I wanted to turn around, I thought of Jill telling me that being a girl is no excuse for slacking off and finished my 5 miles. I'm exhausted now but it was a good run.

Break: Protein Drink at work
Lunch: 2 slices pizza and 2 breadsticks (It was free...I know, that's no excuse!)
Snack: slice of Watermelon
Dinner: Mexican food: 3 corn tortillas, sour cream and chicken concoction, I don't remember what it was called but it was delicious!! and of course, rice and beans

Thankfully, I don't have any medical conditions, that I know about anyway......I obviously always start off running too much too soon, since that is the definition for shin splints. I have a hard time sticking with a workout routine. So, I am grateful to Liz for starting this! I think that if I have to report I'll feel guilty if I don't get up and move!:)

Ack!

Well, today I did six six min sets with six min rests (666 aaaaaaaahhhhhh!) on accident. I lost track, and when I tallied up my miles and time spent, realized I'd done one extra. No wonder this workout was so hard!!, I thought to myself. And dude. I am totally not ready for it. I might have to take an unscheduled rest day tomorrow, I hurt. We'll see. I covered 7.4 miles at 15-16 mph. Oh man, I am in pain. Medication to sleep tonight kinda pain, ugh.
I also saw my doctor today (Dana and I live strangely parallel lives in some areas, lol!). It was a very good visit. Good news and bad news of course, but mostly good. I am progressing. I am getting better. However, I'm not there yet. I will continue with the antibiotics until at least December. *sigh* He is happy, however, with the fact that my joints are no longer swollen. They swell sometimes, but it goes away the next day, and he says that means they don't have permanent rheumatoid arthritis. Yay! If it took a week, say, for the swelling to go down, then we would know it was a permanent condition. He is concerned about my kidneys, since I have had problems with them before, and come to find out the kidneys are the second organ to get attacked, after the heart, with rheumatic fever. This is on insidious little disease! Anyway, I might be up for a round of tests soon, depending on how some blood work I'm getting done tomorrow turns out. And consensus is; I'm not sterile. Hooray! There was a slight question there, but it turns out that due to the traumatic illness my body had to go through, I just didn't ovulate for a 2, maybe 3 months. (if only I'd known...! Wasted time worrying about getting pregnant.....)
And can you believe it, I totally forgot to tell him how well I've been keeping his prescription to work out?! I called back later and told a nurse to tell him. It'll make him feel good.
All in all, I'm feeling bright and hopeful. The end is in sight! It's maybe a year away, but I can definitely see that far ahead! Hooray!!
The Almighty Liz

Thursday -Marching in Place-1 hour

I marched in place for an hour while watching TV (Star Trek:Enterprise Season 3 on DVD). I jogged for about 5 minutes, and waved my arms in circles to work my upper body and chest. I made sure to keep my body upright the whole time so as to not irritate my back where it hurts (right under the left shoulder blade).

My back is about 2/3 of the way better. Wow, I'm mostly glad all that pain is gone, but I think I will be taking it easy for at least week. No bending, or lifting, and especially not those two things together! I'm also glad that the pain started to go away because I did not want to have to see three doctors, and go to physical therapy like I did 6 years ago when I sprained/strained my lower back.

This pain was actually worse than when I hurt my lower back, so I was pretty freaked out for about a day. It got better yesterday (but I still took the day off from exercise altogether) and then today it is better again. I did a little more walking around the house today since Erik was not here (he took the day off yesterday). Erik had me recite all the things I had done Tuesday, and then I kept remembering other things I had done, that was when he came to the conclusion that, "You officially did too much!"

DC's Dr's Appt.

Hey are those enough abbreviations for ya. If not I'll try to put even more in my next post title! :)

OK so I'm reckoning this blog is about more than just fitness. I see it as a wellness blog too. That's why I post my meals/snacks etc... My goal is wellness. With that in mind I thought that I'd post a bit about my ongoing health struggles & treatment.

I saw a new doctor yesterday. Dr. Smith is a quantum neurologist & he also practices a highly specific form of chiropractics. My MD is at her wits end with me so I've been shipped off to someone new.

Here's a run down of everything that I've been diagnosed with...

Anaphylaxis: nearly killed me in 2003, I've experienced it six times, we have no idea what will set it off next. It's considered an autoimmune disease.

Hypoglycemia: It took a while to figure this one out. After the veggie days people started to notice me acting odd if I went more than three hours between meals. I'd get confused, I'd lose my balance, I'd cry & get irrational... Hypoglycemia was the catalyst for my current eating patterns. I can go longer between meals & snacks if the food I eat has good fat, protein, complex carbs. It's awful to be chained to meal times. It seriously hindered my groove. For emergencies I almost always carry jerky, trail mix, & a Kashi granola bar. As a side note: Did ya'll know that a lot of people who are diagnosed with depression are acutally suffering from hypo?

Enlarged Thyroid: I've been tested for thyroid function because my thyroid is enlarged. Every doctor I've ever visited has asked me to be tested. My primary function is on the low end of normal but my secondary function is way off. For instance my basal body temperature is usually between 95 & 96 degrees. Even during ovulation when it should be in the 99 to 100 degree range I'm still not reaching 97 degrees. A lot of people are a degree low in temp but to actually hit 95 on a regular basis is really bad. Everyone should check their basal temp periodically. We've got to get it up to at least 97 degrees.

Insulin Resistance: It's possible that I may have been struggling with this for many years however it manifested in a serious way after I stopped my strict vegetarian diet.

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: This is directly related to insulin resistance. When I'm no longer insulin resistant the PCOS will go away. This came to my knowledge when I was admitted into the hospital on my mission. A rather large cyst ruptured and I could even feel the pain through the narcotics. Not fun! Hours of testing including CT Scan & internal ultrasound gave us the info we needed.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome : I've suffered with this most of my life. It became a serious issue during my freshman year of college when I had to be put on medication for the problem. My vegetarian diet helped tremendously but caused other issues.

Bleeding Ulcers: I've also had ulcers since my freshman year of college. The bleeding is a recent event as far as we can tell. It's under control currently with medication that costs in excess of $300 a month. The ulcers are most certaintly contributing to the IBS.

Kidney Cysts: not to be confused with polycystic kidney disease which is genetic. Up to 30% of people over 70 have these. I'm one of the lucky ones that has had them since childhood. Most people have bladder infections or UTI infections. Very few have actual kidney infections yet I do. They've resulted in 106 degree fevers. All I can say is that I've only asked God to let me die once and it was due to a problem caused by these little buggers. Nothing like spending a night packed in ice.

Allergy Induced Asthma: This again goes back to just how seriously my allergies affect me. I don't have to use my inhaler often but there have been times that I've literally gotten down on my knees and thanked God for Proventil. Again we never know when this with flare although I'm really good at predicting seasonal triggers and pre-medicating for them specifically.

I also have some "structural problems" My pelvis is twisted & it makes my right leg shorter than my left leg. My spine is straight instead of an "S" curve. My neck is also straight instead of curved. Here's where my clinical clumsiness comes in. I over correct when I walk, hop, jump, run and it leads to me getting hurt a lot. This is where intense chiropractic therapy will be very useful.

That's all the big stuff. I suffered from a lot of secondary problems like chronic mouth sores, boils, drastic blood pressure fluctuations, loss of smell, acute sinusitis, bloody noses, intense pain, irregular periods, rashes, etc... These are all caused by the primary issues and should end when the primary problems are corrected.

And just to give ya'll an idea why my doctors are so confused I'll share one of my many bizarre medical issues...

One day I woke up and there was huge amounts of green stuff coming out of my belly button. For some reason my belly button had opened up and was leaking misc. fluid from my abdomen. They burned it shut while I was awake with no anesthesia. Not fun!

So yesterday I went to a new doctor and lived through approx. 30 tests. He and his PA were very optimitic. They said that my case is serious & even life-threatening if left unattended. Yet they saw no reason that I can't make a complete recovery from most of the problems & that the remaining ones should be greatly reduced. I'm feeling pretty hopeful. I go back to get the test results on Friday as well as the treatment plan. Exciting times!

I'm beyond happy that I can walk & hike. Still I'm looking forward to resuming yoga or trying something new. I like to try new things. Luckily though I'm in Southern Utah and even the simplest of walks are incredible photo opportunities. It's hard to get bored with so much prettiness everywhere.

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Yup, I took two days off in a row. Wanna make something of it?! I'm at that awkward stage where I'm not good enough to be able to run with my insanely early in the morning running group, (I just don't think it's safe for me to run alone in the dark, so I'm not running by myself at 5 am) it's too hot to run after Bruce gets home from work (for me anyway. Heat and I have serious problems, when it comes to running. I don't sweat enough, so I literally cook myself. I'm not being a wuss, I seriously can't do it. I'm not an excuse maker either, I'll be one of the only ones in our running group who will want to run, here in a few months, when it hits zero degrees outside (not kidding, I've done it.) And Clayton isn't stable enough yet to be able to put him in my running stroller. Pretty much, the only time I can run is at 6:00 am. It's just getting light, so I feel safe enough, and it's not hot. That'd be great, except I have to get my kids ready for school. On those days when I do run, it's cereal for breakfast, because I just don't have time for anything else. ANYWAY, I'm having a hard time squeezing it in. But if you know me at all, I can't stand not to work out, in some form for too many days in a row. I just feel gross if I don't, kind of like wearing dirty underwear.

So, today after I got up with the intentions to run, and Clayton didn't cooperate with me so I couldn't leave, I gritted my teeth and did the hated stair workout. I jogged up and down my stairs for a half an hour. It's a heck of a workout. Just BORING! No worse than a treadmill though, I guess, except that you can't watch TV and do the stairs at the same time. It is good for me to do something different though. I am guilty of doing the same kind of workout all of the time, which is not a good thing.

Things will brighten up before too long though. I will be able to go back to running with my group, the heat will go away, and Clayton will get big enough to be able to sit in the running stroller with Justice. Then my opportunities for running will be much more bounteous. Okay, I'll shut up now.

Chow, love ya'll!

DC's Wednesday

Lyra & I walked for a mile. I also babysat for a 2 year old & a five month old. They kept me busy! :)


Breakfast: Ezekiel Raisin Bread w/ organic peanut butter, almonds, walnuts, flax & Greek yogurt w/ strawberries

Lunch: Roast beef/Pastrami Sandwich w/ Swiss cheese on Ezekiel Break

Snack: trail mix

Dinner: Polish Sausage, Spinach Salad, German Potato Salad, pasta salad

*Groooooan*

I did a ten minute Pilates ab workout today, since I decided I needed a break during the week. I have two Pilates videos, a tape and a dvd. My dvd player is not working, so I decided to do the tape. The tape is also easier and since I'm currently a weakling, I figured that was all to the good. A nice easy workout, I thought. No problem.
WRONG! Holy crap, you'd think it had already come home to me how unstrong I am, but apparently not! There is no more cockiness in me. I am entirely humble. (you hear that all you deities?! I'm HUMBLE!) I'll have to do this workout more often. I seriously didn't realize how truly horribly feeble I am. *sigh* But no matter. Before long (or after long, whichever, it doesn't matter) I WILL BE SVELTE!!
The Almighty Liz

Started out lazy....

I got up at 5:45 this morning so that I could do a strength workout before my run. It went well, the strength workout but I was lazy on my run this morning and only went a mile because I planned on doing an interval workout after work. Before the intervals I ran one mile, then I sprinted half a lap and ran the other half for a total of one mile. And because I was feeling guilty for only doing a total of three miles I ran a fourth....... Pretty good workout, though I'm a little sore from the strength workout this morning, it's been a while!

Breakfast: cheese, banana, and a piece of toast with butter and raspberry jam
Lunch: Homemade enchiladas, refried beans and spanish rice
Dinner: Dido Dana's dinner...:)

DC's Tuesday

I walked Lyra for a mile this morning.


Breakfast: Quinoa w/ fresh peaches, strawberries, blueberries, almonds, walnuts, flax seed & Ezekiel toast w/ butter & cantaloupe


Lunch: dinner leftovers from yesterday

Snack: trail mix

Dinner: banana/peach smoothie w/ Greek yogurt, soy milk, wheat germ & OJ concentrate

Tuesday- Marching/ Running in Place

Houston we have a problem! I hurt my back while I was out gardening, or just after I came in from gardening, so I really have no idea how I hurt it. I did something kinda dumb in that I decided to still try and work out after I was in severe pain. I thought, "ok, I can't do my kickboxing workout, but marching in place is almost ZERO impact!" Well, marching in place felt so good, I decided to jog in place for 5 minutes, twice.

Probably not the smartest thing. I currently can barely move. It looks like I have the first "let's get svelte" injury. Sigh, anyone want to trade backs with me?

Finally...

Ok, so after about a week off... which was strictly because of the sheer workload I came back to. I finally got around to exercising today. It wasn't exactly high intensity, but I could feel a burn in my calves as I walked up a hill beside my house. I still have a huge headache, but I walked about 20 minutes at a pretty good pace. It felt good to get moving again.

Whew!

Today was really hard, until I realized that someone had been messing with the tension on my bike, and it was way more than usual. Unfortunately, I had already exhausted myself, so even with lowering the tension, finishing out the rest of my sets was a struggle. I maintained about 14-15 mph, covered 6 miles, and did five sets of 6 min each, with six min rests. Tomorrow, I think I will do Pilates.
By the way, we kicked this week off with a BANG! Lots of you threw off the Monday slump, and got moving. Good work everyone! Let's try to maintain our momentum as the week progresses!
The Almighty Liz

Back Dating

After a few days of slacking off, I ran yesterday after Bruce got home from work. I didn't have time to get on here and blog about it. I took off with the intent to run 30 minutes. However, the heat got to me (I've been doing most of my running in the early am, before the heat starts.) I did manage to run just over 26 minutes, but I had to stop and walk twice. Yay for fall coming. I can't run in the heat worth a darn!

Monday-Walking 1 hour

I walked really fast the first half hour, and then we stopped so Erik could get a bite to eat, and then I walked slower on the way back but we took more hills. I did some walking on Sunday with my siblings (including my younger sister who was visiting from Minneapolis), but I don't think I will count it since I was wearing flip-flops ;). I also did some pretty heavy duty housecleaning since Vance's teacher is coming to the house tomorrow. I was so busy this weekend with sister visiting that I did not have a chance to clean hardly anything.

I'm on the Liz bandwagon, but instead of gaining weight, I just have not lost any weight. I'm hoping it will only take a month of exercising like this to lose weight. On the plus side, I feel lots better; more energy, more patience with the kids, and my clothes fit better.

I will be posting pics soon so we can do some before and after type shots!

DC's Monday

I walked Lyra this morning. I cleaned the house. I also ran around the backyard like a nut playing with my dog.

Breakfast: Smoothie w/ banana, peaches, wheat germ, Greek yogurt, & soy milk

Snack: Beef Jerky

Lunch: Turkey Sandwich w/ Swiss Cheese

Dinner: Beef w/ broccoli, peas, onions, edamame in Thai Peanut Sauce & Jasmine Rice

Dessert: strawberries in Greek yogurt w/ slivered almonds, crushed walnuts, flax seeds & vanilla

Monday, Monday.....

The Olympics ended early yesterday, 10pm, so I actually went to bed on time and got up this morning to run. 5.5 miles and it wasn't too bad. The weather this morning was perfect running temperature. I am definitely feeling better about the half marathon.....of course when I hit 11 miles and can't feel my legs I might not be so impressed with myself!!:)
Breakfast: Granola Bar
Lunch: crispy chicken sandwich and french fries...
Dinner: Beef, Brocoli and rice
Snacks: cantalope
Desert: Strawberries, vanilla and greek yogurt

lots of water today!! I really need to get a gallon jug and keep it in the fridge to remind me to drink a lot every day....

Happy Monday!

I did very well today indeed. I cut my rest time down by two minutes, so now I'm six minutes on the bike, six minutes off. I increased my mph to 15, and stayed there, so I covered exactly six miles. I totally kick bootie! I feel really good too, so this week has started with a bang! You probably noticed that I haven't posted my weight like I said I was going to. That's because I've gained FOUR lbs in the past two weeks!!!! Two lbs a week. That's right, I now weigh 139. What the crap? I thought once you start exercising you loose weight? We are not happy, not at all. Any insight? Anyone? I haven't changed my eating habits at all. Freaking just a little. Anyway, at least the exercising is going well, lol! Here's hoping tomorrow goes just a good as today!
The Almighty Liz

Week 1 on Svelte!

Dana's post has inspired me to do the same and post a weekly and continuous total.

Week 1: 1.5 lb

Total: NA

I'm not sure on my measurements.....

Miles run: 15

Miles Biked: 8

Total Miles: 23

Next week there are no Olympics so I should be better about getting to bed on time and running in the mornings! Mal, sehen.....

Svelte Stats 8/24/08

Today I rested! I love having a day of rest. :)

Progress report:

Weight

Weekly: -1.5 lbs

Total: -18.5 lbs

Inches

Weekly:

Total:

(I'll have to get back to ya'll on the inches. I can't find my measuring tape.)

Breakfast: Ezekiel Bread English muffin w/ peanut butter, blackberry jam, walnuts

Lunch: Pastrami/Roast Beef Sandwich, 1/2 breadstick w/ marinara sauce

Dinner: Spaghetti w/ ground turkey, onions, green peppers, sauce & 1/2 breadstick

Dessert: triple chocolate m&ms

Liz's Day...Oh Man, I Lost Count

LOL! Well, whatever day this is, here's what I did;
We finally got to go to the pool, and we found out that it hasn't been open except on weekends starting last weekend, which is why we were unable to do our lap swims (my husband and I) this week. They won't be open this week, and then they are open Saturday, Sunday, and Labor Day Monday, and that's IT! Total suckage. But I was able to get in some laps today. Four total, two consecutive, and with only a 3 minute break between the other laps. I counted playing with my kids as a lap, too. Getting better! Just in time for the silly place to close. ARGH! No worries about me just giving up though. OOOOH, no. The closest Y is 17 minutes away, and uber expensive, so they're out, but I'm definitely still researching. I won't give up my swims without a fight, by golly! Anyway, I'm over and out for the weekend, since tomorrow is Sunday, my day of total rest. I'll see you all on Monday, but in the meantime be thinking healthy thoughts!
The Almighty Liz

Friday- Walking 1 hour

Whew! I was a whirlwind this week. I pushed two kids in a stroller up to the gas mart to get a soda and then walked back. I may not feel svelte, but I feel more tucked in at least. Man, the humidity has been killing me for walking the last few days. I can't breathe!

Good news! My older sister wants to join up! She's trying to get back into running too, so it should be lots of fun.

Liz, I'm sending you her e-mail!!!

Hooray!

Business first:
I did way better today. No comparisons to the last few days. Taking a day off yesterday was definitely the best thing to do. (Dang! I totally hate it when the husband is right) I did 5 sets of 6 min each with 8 min rests in between at between 13-14 mph (much tighter mph than the other day) and I covered 6.2 miles. So I think that now I will make Thursday and Sunday my rest days. Probably on Thursday I will do something very low key, like Pilates, just to keep my momentum, and mix up my workouts a bit, but no more than one workout on my tape. They're ten minutes each. The workout felt super good today! I might say I'm even feeling...SVELTE!
Couple of items to review today:
If any of you have anyone that you think would be interested in joining us, please get me their email, and I will invite them. I am just convinced that the more people we get to join, the better this will work. I would also like to thank everyone for joining, and for doing such a super job so far! I don't know about you guys, but I am still loving this! All the encouragement and inspiration is priceless! I totally feel like I'm part of a wonderful group of people who are an endless source of kudos! I love logging onto the page and reading about everyone's workouts, and watching you grow and progress. And it hasn't even been two weeks yet! You guys should really read your backlogs if you haven't been doing so, because you can really see some major improvement in everybody. I also wake up wanting to work out for the first time in my life. And it's a great feeling!
Let's keep the ball rolling as we come to the conclusion of week two. I'm still working on improvements to the site. I'd really love to have individual progression graphs for example. I think I'll add an element to the page for all the great recipes so graciously supplied by Dana, so we can continue to share recipes and healthy eating tips. If you all have any other ideas on how to make this site even better, just let me know!
So, who else if feeling SVELTE?!
The Almighty Liz

yay for thursday!

Well I went to work. Then I went to my friend's house. We ate dinner & played games. I got back home in time to watch the Olympics. That's about it for me today.

Breakfast: Ginger/Soy Chicken & noodles leftovers. (I was running late to work.:)

Snack: Trail Mix

Snack: Sun Chips

Dinner: Grill hamburger, corn on the cob, pasta salad

Dessert: Pumpkin Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

Thanks for the Welcome!!:)

I am excited to be part of the Svelte group! My sister and I will be running a half marathon, approximately 13 miles, on September 13th. I'll admit that since moving to Cedar City I have been lax on my training but tonight I ran 5 miles at a nice easy pace in one hour. I think that I could have comfortable run a faster pace or added more mileage so my slacking in recent weeks has not completely set me back on training!:) However, I definitely did not drink enough water today because I got abdominal cramps about halfway through my run today. Naja, if your not in pain your not working hard enough! Just kidding, ideally, I would be able to run 5 miles with absolutely no pain......The shine splints seem to be gone so that is nice. Hopefully with proper stretching and exercises to strenghten the shines, they won't return.

Thanks for the welcome Liz! And I'm sure that Dana will make sure that I don't go MIA!:)

Thursday- Walking 45 minutes, Callanetics 45 minutes

Before I describe my workout, I have to say. I LOVE LIZ TO PIECES!!! WHAT A GREAT IDEA TO MOTIVATE PEOPLE TO DO EXERCISE! GENIUS!!! I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER SINCE I STARTED DOING THIS!! WOOT! WOOT ALOT!

So, I would have walked for an hour, but it started raining so I cut across parking lots and took a shorter way home from the grocery store. My right leg was hurting again today, so I decided to do my Callanetics tape (invented by Callan Pickney, a strange little skinny lady, whose exercise program nevertheless rocks).

Callanetics-for anyone who wants to try this, I do the original tape that came out like 20 years ago, and I still have it. The tape is mostly stretches (which feel great right now!) with some fine muscle exercises. I think when I loaned the tape to Liz she said it was hard for her, but once you do it 10 times or so I think it's easy to get back into for the rest of your life (according to my experience anyway). It pulls out neck tension, shoulder tension, leg tension, lengthens your neck, stretches your back, and it helps tighten up the smaller flabby parts of your body (like under your arms, your inner thighs, the sides of your stomach, and saddlebags).

I feel so much better. I'm so glad I decided to pull out that old tape.

Pooped Out

Alright, I hate to do this but today I'm just copping out. I'm exhausted. I went to Wal-Mart, and I'm going to count it good for the day. My little body is just screaming for a break, and John is of the opinion that I've pushed it just a bit too hard for the dilapidated condition I'm in, so I'm taking it easy today. I'm just impatient to the 'nth degree. Here's a big welcome to Lisa, Dana's roommate, who joined us yesterday. We can't wait to hear from you! There are still a few people out there MIA as well, so here's a holler for you. Where did you go? Come out come out wherever you are! Are we SVELTE, or no? Let's hear a big "HECK YEAH"!!
The Almighty Liz

Renae Report

Ran 26 minutes.

hump day

No real exercise today. It's the wrong couple days of the month for me. You girls know what I'm talk about...

But for me it's as much about what I eat as my exercise routines. So on the food front:

Breakfast: Ezekiel bread w/ peanut butter, walnuts, flax seeds, & raspberry preserves.

Snack: Trail Mix

Snack: Popcorn

Dinner: Ginger/Lime Chicken & noodles w/ yellow, red, orange, green bell peppers, walnuts, flax

Dessert: three pieces Dove dark chocolate

Wednesday- Walking 1 hour

I pushed the kids in the double stroller up to get a soda, and then back down to get some allergy medicine from CVS. I felt kind of sluggish while I was walking, though.
I don't know if it was the high humidity, or the kickboxing or what. I have not kickboxed since winter since I've been walking instead, and kickboxing is something I like to do indoors. I will not be able to swim for 3 weeks due to the pool I go to being closed for cleaning.

What will I do without my weekly swim? I mean, besides kickboxing ;)

Liz's Day Nine

Well, shucks, I think I've hit a plateau. Dang! Well, I increased the tension on my bike today, so I only accomplished four sets of six min each instead of five, covering 4.2 miles. My speed was all over the place, but I never went over 15 and never under 11 mph. I'm still exhausted. I'm struggling this week big time, but I honestly think it's because I completely changed my schedule in every way possible, because of Jonni starting school. Going to bed early, getting up early, naptime in a totally different place...my body is going WHAT are you DOING?! I'm really grateful to Dana for her breakfast recipes too, because I've been so brain dead the past few days, that I've skipped breakfast without meaning to (not that it's my favorite meal of the day anyway, it's totally not). I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow I think. But I'm definitely hanging in there! I want to be SVELTE!!
The Almighty Liz

Renae Report

Didn't feel like getting up to run (stayed up too late watching Olympics). I walked 4 miles in one hour pushing my two youngest in a stroller on a hilly course.

Breakfast Recipes.

I have to give a shout out to Liz for reminding me that I promised to post some recipes. I'd forgotten all about it. These are just a few that I already had on my computer. I have several more that I need to type out for ya'll. Also a few of these are suggestions which I find just as helpful as actual recipes. Oh and I of course substitute herbal tea or Postum for the coffee. :)

1. The 5-Minute Breakfast

Toast 1 slice 100% whole wheat raisin bread and spread with 1 Tbsp peanut butter. Serve with 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt and 1 cup strawberries, sliced.

2. Homemade MuesliMix

1/2 c uncooked rolled oats; 1 med tart apple, chopped; and 1 Tbsp slivered almonds. Top with 2/3 c light soy milk or fat-free milk. Serve with 6 oz calcium- and vitamin D fortified orange juice.

3. Sweet Smoothie

In blender, mix 1 med banana, 1 c frozen peaches, 6 oz low-fat vanilla yogurt, 2 Tbsp orange juice concentrate, 1 Tbsp toasted wheat germ, and a dash of almond extract.

4. Breakfast Burrito

In nonstick pan, scramble 1 whole egg and 1 egg white (or 1/2 c liquid egg substitute). Fill a 101/2" whole wheat tortilla with egg, 1 oz shredded low-fat Cheddar cheese, 2 Tbsp salsa, 3 Tbsp chopped tomato, and 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro. Serve with 1 c cubed melon (like honeydew or cantaloupe).

5. Latte & Muffin

Mix 2/3 c warm 1% milk with strong coffee. Top a 2 oz (Ping-Pong ball size) bran muffin with 1 Tbsp peanut butter and serve with fruit salad (1/2 med orange, peeled and chopped, and 1 kiwifruit, peeled and chopped).

6. Berry Ricotta ToastTop

1 slice 100% whole wheat toast with 1 Tbsp jam and 1/3 c part-skim ricotta. Serve with 2/3 c blueberries, 6 oz grapefruit juice, and 1 c coffee with 1/3 c 1% milk.

7. Orange Sunshine Pancakes

In medium bowl, combine 1/2 c 1% milk; 1/3 c low-fat, low-sodium pancake mix; 2 Tbsp liquid egg substitute; 4 tsp toasted wheat germ; 1 Tbsp orange juice concentrate; and 1 tsp grated orange zest. Pour two circles of batter onto hot griddle coated with cooking spray and cook until bubbles begin to pop. Flip and cook 2 minutes or until done. Top with 2 Tbsp marmalade and 1/3 c fat-free plain yogurt.

8. Vegetable Omelet

In small pan coated with cooking spray, sauté 2 Tbsp each diced onion and green bell pepper until tender, approximately 3 minutes. Remove. In same pan, add 3/4 c liquid egg substitute and cook over low heat until firm. Add onion-pepper mixture and 1/2 c diced tomato, then fold egg in half. Serve with 1 slice 100% whole wheat toast topped with 2 tsp jam and 8 oz calcium- and vitamin D fortified orange juice.

9. Fruity Parfait

In tall glass, layer 1/3 c low-fat burner granola; 1 c low-fat plain yogurt; 1 med orange, peeled and chopped; 1 kiwifruit, peeled and chopped; and 2 tsp dried fruit (apricots, raisins, etc.).

10. Cereal Blender

Mix 1/2 c each shredded wheat cereal and Cheerios, and top with 2 Tbsp dried cherries or raisins, 1 Tbsp chopped unsalted walnuts, and 1 tsp dried coconut. Add 1 c light soy milk or fat-free milk. Serve with 6 oz apricot nectar.

The "kid" workout

Ok, so I've been back in KY for about 4 days and unfortunately, I haven't been able do exercise at all until today.
I was exhausted all day Sunday after travelling until after midnight Saturday. Then Monday I had the best intentions, until I went to work. Work wore me out mentally and I couldn't bring myself to go to the gym.
Today though, after work, I met up with my best friends. One of them has 3 kids. After eating, the three of us chased the 3 kids. It was rough. The mom was minding the baby, Parker, since she is teething. Leaving myself and my best friend to entertain the 4 year old and the 2 old. I am beat! You'd think we'd be better able to handle children on a playground! So, since there was no real workout today, I did manage to work up a sweat chasing the kids... and pushing the merry-go-round.
I'm going to do better. Work has been hectic and it's rough to leave in time to make it to the gym before it closes. But I'll get back on track as soon as things settle down.

Swiffer Workout :)

Today in addition to running (literally) around with my dog in a big open field I also cleaned my apartment. I swept, I swiffered (dry), I vacuumed, I swiffered (wet) all 1900 square feet of it. I moved furniture, and I'm soooooo tired! Sweat was literally dripping off of me. It was one of the best workouts I've had in weeks! :)


Breakfast: Ezekiel Bread w/ sunflower & peanut butter, raspberry preserves, flax seeds, & walnuts

Lunch: garden salad w/ grilled chicken & honey mustard dressing

Snack: various chocolate

Dinner: hamburger w/ no bun, garden salad

Liz's Day Nine

Holy schniekies. Well, I did the exact same workout as yesterday, and I'm just as bushed. We were going to go swimming tonight, but when we got there the pool was closed. (idiots) It's closing for good in just a couple of weeks, so I'm going to have to find an indoor pool, because I don't think I can give up my bi-weekly swims; they're such a good workout. I would also like to remind Dana that she was going to share breakfast recipes with us. I'm waiting on pins and needles lady! We are also missing several people the last couple of days, so I would just like to give a holler to those who are hiding, and say get back on the horse! You can do it! Get out there and kick some boot-tay!
The Almighty Liz

Tuesday- Kickboxing 1 hour

"PRIORITZE EXERCISE"-- my favorite Dr. Phil quote. I think I did a pretty good job today.

My kickboxing workout was more like 45 minutes punching & kicking and marching in place 15 minutes. I made my kickboxing workout from about 5-6 of my favorite boxing/kickboxing workout tapes. I actually still have a bunch of the kickboxing tapes if anyone wants to borrow them.

I got up at 6am this morning to watch Ahlanna, and I only got 3 hours sleep last night. Anyone else mind-numbingly tired? I'm glad I decided to kickbox instead of taking a nap with the kids, as Quis Bear boycotted her nap and just played in her crib for an hour or so. I like to post late at night, but I might just go straight to sleep after I eat dinner.

"I'm pretty tiured now, I think I'll go ho-ome"

R Runs More

26 minutes today.

Monday-Stength 30 minutes Walking 60 minutes

Yeah baby, because I rule! Ok, enough self-congrats ;)

Erik & I did really well on the walking part. We did in 60 minutes what usually takes us 90 minutes. We alternated pushing the double stroller too.

I also finally got my strength workout in earlier in the day so I can explain what I do:

2-3 minute warm-up

10 minutes arms (all done with a 10 lb free weight)- 10 bicep curls left arm, 10 bicep curls right arm (three times), 10 overhead lifts right arm, 10 overhead lifts left arm (three times), 10 forearm curls right arm, 10 forearm curls left arm (three times),
10 shoulder lifts right arm, 10 shoulder lifts left arm (three times), then three sets of 20 chest lifts with both arms pushing the same weight.

10 minutes abs- I'm up to about 160 crunches, with side stomach, and lower belly exercises between sets of 20 crunches. I took all my favorites from this 30 minute stomach workout (Denise Austin) and made it into a 10 minute stomach workout.

10 minutes legs-I lay on my side and lift my leg to a 45 degree angle and kick out from the knee, this works my butt muscle (glutes?). I do this10 times on one leg, switch to the other side and other leg and do 10 more, until I have 30-40 on each side. Then I lay on my side and lift my leg straight up to the ceiling, and bring it down (but not resting) and back up again 10 times on each leg until I've done 30-40. This works my side of my thigh muscle. For the front of my leg (big thigh muscle) I lay flat on my back and first bring my bent leg up into my belly and out straight again, and then keep my leg straight and lift it up toward my belly. I do this 10 times on each leg until I've done 30 on each leg. Then I just stand up and lift my feet up for calf raises to work my calves.

5-7 minutes cool down, stretch, ect.

Liz's Day Eight

Oh my goodness, today was super hard for some reason. I blame it on the fact that, since today was the first day of school for Jonni, I got up at 7:30 AM for the first time in like a year. However, I did manage to improve some. I went from 10-12 mph to 12-14 mph, 5 min. sets to 6 min. sets, and 10 min. rests in between to 8 min. rests. I did a total of five sets, and so covered 5.2 miles. But oh my good golly heck, I'm bushed! This was by far and away the hardest workout so far. How was everyone else's Monday?
The Almighty Liz

Bad Day for Liz's Day Six

Okay guys, sorry I didn't post yesterday. And my workout yesterday was wimpy. I ran errands to the grocery, the local Farmer's Market, and Wal-Mart. I blame it on the fact that I got no sleep Friday night, and I was just wiped out. Sorry about that! I plan on hitting the ground running (or the bike pedaling) tomorrow though!!
The Almighty Liz

busy day for dana

We started early and went to the Hoover Dam before Trisha's plane left for Nashville. I didn't really exercise unless ya'll count a lot of walking in 115 degrees. Things on the food front weren't much better.

Brunch: BBQ Chicken Sandwich, potato wedges, soda

Snack: Beef Jerky & Trail Mix & soda

Dessert: part of a Dove Dark Chocolate Bar

I'm not really disappointed in today's exercise or lack thereof as the case may be. (The Hoover Dam is so worth the trip.) I'm also not unhappy with my food choices. I'm just frustrated that I didn't eat more today. I know that my body needs more food than what's listed above. I don't want to demolish my metabolism but I'm sure one busy day won't flatline it... I hope.

However, I was on the road nearly the whole day and I just couldn't bring myself to pull up to the McDonalds drive through and order a burger. I did get an Asian Chicken Salad but dang that's hard to eat while driving. ha ha! I need to be more organized and bring a couple sandwiches along. I'll do better next time.

R & B

We got a sitter and were going to bike. But alas, we ran out of time. Ran 25 minutes instead. Donkey-butt slow, but at least we didn't walk.

Bad Day For Mary

So yesterday I didn't post, but I'll tell you about it now. It started out well, I got Daniel off to school and then took Superman for his walk twice around the culdesac (and the tiny one just off this one) and got back about 25 minutes later. Had my breakfast- a glass of milk a banana and a packet of cinnamon roll oatmeal (my favorite flavor oatmeal). For lunch I was actually good. I made a box of mac & cheese for Launa and me, and I gave her a couple of scoops and myself a couple more scoops than her (she doesn't eat). When I was done with my mac & cheese, I didn't go back and finish the box. I was not only not hungry, but my in-laws told us they wanted to take us to a special place for dessert, and I knew it was going to be calorie city. So at dinner time, they took us to the Marietta Diner. Ahwhwhwh man! Okay. I had a gyro and Greek salad (and fries, oddly enough, a bad combo to add the fries, and, fry lover that I am, I only had a couple 'cuz they just didn't GO with the meal.) My Greek food was excellent! I loved it! The gyro had that meat (I don't know what it is, but it's goo-oo-ood!) lettuce and tomato and a great cucumber dressing to go in it, and the Greek salad had lettuce, kalamata olives, cucumbers and tomatoes and a nice whatever kind of pepper they put in with your Papa John's pizza. I don't know what the dressing was, but it was kinda red and watery and WAY good! Everyone else was done eating their food and I was only 1/2 way through mine. I was just savoring the flavor. Okay, so dessert. They have cakes that are 6 layers thick! All kinds of 'em! We all chose a different kind of cake (Mine was New York blackout cake! Dark chocolate cake with pudding and kinda whipped chocolate frosting between the layers! Mmmmmmmmm! Froooosting!) I only ate 1/2 of it yesterday, I was way full. I woke up still fat this morning and had the other 1/2 for breakfast. Yeah, major eating violation, maybe I won't lose those 3 lbs this week.) and went home. After we got the children in bed, I took Superman out for his second walk, same as that morning. So I guess I got almost an hour of walking in, and with my crazy dog ans the giant hill that kills my legs and bottom, I guess I did okay for my exercise.

As a side note, Jeremy has decided he wants Michael Phelps' job. Did you guys see what that guys eats on a daily basis?! Jeremy is going to become a duck and live in the water so he can eat all that junk. :)

John's 2 bits

Sorry, I couldn't resist making a foolish post earlier. I do think this blog is a very good idea. Liz is kicking some gluteous max lately with her working out, which is great, cause if she doesn't she will probably die prematurely.

I won't be posting everytime I work out--- too much work for me. I am lazy, and will work out without being accountable to anybody anyway. But I will give a general run down of my physical routines here.

I have basically four wieght lifting exercises that I do. Push ups, shoulders, curls and triceps. I work these into my morning as I get ready for work--- Do a set before the shower, do a set after the shower, do a set after I brush my teeth, etc- stuff like that. Most of the time spent lifting wieghts is not actually lifting, but recovering inbetween sets anyway. So doing wieghts this way doesn't cost me much time. I don't lift every morning. Probably every 1.5 mornings. On the mornings I lift, I do three sets of 8-12 reps. In a week and a half I usually get through all four work outs. Before I started swimming, I went through the routine faster, but the swimming lately has let me slow up on the upper body stuff- swimming (for me at least) is prety upper body intensive.

I generally get some sort of cardio in every day except Sundays. (ok more honestly 5 times a week). I make Sundays recovery days, infallibly. I belive in rest. For cardio, I typically run a 5K or so, but since summer has started I get to mix it up with swimming too. Tuesday and Thursday nights are adult swim at the local pool, so I get in a swim for half an hour. Some days when I am feeling frisky, I will make a biathalon of it and run the 2 miles to the pool and the 2 miles back. Fridays have evolved into a non-running day for me also. That's when I get to mix it up. Usually I practice my martial arts for part of my cardio on Fridays, 15 minutes or so, then add a pilates abs work out or do some time on Liz's stationary bike, or maybe an abreviated run. Lately I have taken to throwing in one of my wieght lifting routines as part of the Friday work outs too.

The other thing that I am a beliver in is solid 8 hours of sleep. I didn't used to be such a stickler about getting the 8 hours a night in- but I find that I am a much happier and nicer person if I get my sleep. They say that when you are tired you tend to make poorer choices about what you eat and what you do, including whether or not you work out. If the choice is between 6.5 hours of sleep with 0.5 hours of working out vs. 7.5 hours of sleep and no work out, much of the time I think you will be healthier for getting the extra sleep. Time is finite. You can only do so much.

my day of rest?

I got up at 8 & worked til 2. Then I worked from 4:30 to 8:00 at the temple. So I guess it was kinda restful...

Breakfast: Ezekiel toast w/ sunflower butter, raspberry preserves, & flax seeds.

Snack: Trail Mix

Lunch: Mongolian BBQ

Dinner: Mongolian BBQ

Dessert: four pieces of Dove Dark Chocolate

Friday- Walking 1 hour (plus some strength?)

I walked for one hour again today with two kids in the double stroller. We went to the library (because Breaking Dawn came in woot!). I have to say, my right leg is not happy right now, and I'm pretty tired. Good thing I always take two days off (Saturdays & Sundays) to recover.

Also, I drilled and hammered for about 30-45 minutes constructing a raised bed to expand the vegetable garden next year. I wonder if that counts as a strength workout? It sure sucked some life out of me like my usual strength workout does.

Confession for the day (or week)- I did not do my 30 minute (arms, belly, legs) strength workout this week. It just did not seem to want to be fitted in somehow.

Today I looked in the mirror and saw that it was totally unnessecary for me to work out.
But I did anyway.

Liz Day Five

Alright ladies, I am much impressed with myself. I've gone from 3 five minute sets with a rest of 15 minutes in between to FIVE 5 minute sets with 10 minutes rests in between. I went from and average of 8-10 mph covering just under 2.5 miles, to 12-15 mph with a 20mph 1 minute burn at the end of the last set that covered 4.7 miles today. And I did this in just FIVE DAYS. Can you believe that?! So tomorrow, I'm going to work on 7-8 minute rests in between, and six minute sets. And if I handle it okay after the first one, adding that 20 mph 1 minute burn to the end of each set, instead of just the last one.
I am an ANIMAL.
I so need to figure out how to get progress graphs up, so we can see our progress.
Are you guys feeling as good as me? Oh, and by the way, I totally woke up sore today. Swimming is definitely more difficult. I've been waking up feeling those workouts, but not enough to impair me in any way. This morning I was absolutely hurting, but again, not so bad that I couldn't improve my biking today! *ROAR!!*
So hang in there everybody! I know that this is a good thing. We have two more days before this blog is a week old, and look at the progress we've all made already. We will rule the Earth with our power!
The Almighty Liz

Renae Runs Some More

I made it 23 minutes today with out walking. Speed average was 6.1 mph. That's 2.33 miles at just under 10 minute miles. Getting better, but still a long way to go.

Ezekiel Bread

I discovered Ezekiel Bread during my many years as a vegetarian/vegan. The name comes from Ezekiel 4:9 in the Bible which is a recipe for bread. When the grains are sprouted, combined, and baked it becomes a complete protein.

The texture is different but it's worth the effort. A sandwich made with this stuff lasts hours longer than regular bread. Because of the excellent protein & 18 amino acids in the bread there's no need to worry about its carb count.

On the exercise front... I went on a 2.75 mile hike with Trisha & Lisa in Spring Creek Canyon.

Breakfast: 1 piece Ezekiel Toast w/ Sunflower Butter, Raspberry Preserves, & Flax seed with cantaloupe. Believe it or not it lasted the entire morning.

Snack: trail mix

Lunch: Thai Peanut Chicken, corn on the cob, jasmine rice w/ flax seed, & cantaloupe

Dinner: Hamburger (made w/ beef from Lisa's grandma's farm), chips, with a few pieces of Dove Dark Chocolate for dessert.

The Dog Walking Workout

Once again, I walked the dog tonight, but this time I walked around the cul de sac twice! Sadly, it still only took me 25 minutes! Tomorrow after I get Daniel off to school I will walk the dog twice around, and I will walk him again when the evening cools the day off.

-M

Thursday- Walking 1 Hour

That's it. I walked one hour while pushing the double stroller with kids. We went to the gas station and I got a fountain soda, and then we went home.

Confession for the day- I ate a burger for dinner with no vegetables (I usually eat two vegetables with dinner).

Liz's Day Four

Okay girls (and whatever guys are out there lurking), this is going to be a short and sweet post; I'm exhausted. I'll be peppy tomorrow.
We went to the pool, and I met all my goals from yesterday. I swam two consecutive laps, with no breaks in between. I did three more after that, and I kept my breaks to five minutes or less, which is a vast improvement over 5-10 (more like ten) minute breaks.
I also ran errands to Wal-Mart today, which I totally count as a separate workout, since with two kids I always come home wiped out.
Okay, that's it for today, and again sorry so short. Another problem I have is insomnia, and this week has been a doozy for me. Any tips on beating insomnia? There must be something out there I haven't tried. I have both kinds; trouble falling asleep, and trouble staying asleep, although the latter is due to nightmares, so there's not much you can do about those. Anyway, here's a big fat welcome to Trisha, who joined our ranks today! And good work to everyone else who posted today. Keep it up guys! We'll be SVELTE in no time!
The Almighty Liz

Dana's Survival Camp!

Ok, so this week has been nothing like the normal workout routines I usually do at home. Because here I am in Utah doing some heavy duty high altitude hiking!
I didn't have as many problems as I thought I would given the hole in my heart thing, but I must say, I'm really glad that I had already started walking at home before I made it out here.
Dana has been a great influence on my thoughts about nutrition this week. So I'm going to take a lot of great information home with me.
I just have to share something that happened to me last week. There was a lady in our office from one of our other facilities. We were talking about food and the like, because we both really like food. But after she heard some of the foods I refuse to eat (tomatoes, broccoli, etc) she told me that I ate like a child. It hit me like a ton of bricks... I eat like a college kid even though I'm a grown woman! I need help! I am never afraid to try any food that you put in front of me (ok, I might draw the line at monkey brains or something...) and I've tried to make myself like tomatoes and broccoli, but I just can't stomach the texture.
Give me some tips guys... I can exercise all day long, but if I don't change the way I eat, it's not going to do any good.

Las Vegas

I spent the day with friends in Las Vegas. So while we weren't really hiking we did a whole lotta walking in 110 degrees heat. My friend, Amanda, said she could "feel the burn" at the end of the day. :)


My day started out with a bowl of raisin bran w/ soy milk so I could hit the "eat within two hours of waking" goal. For lunch I had turkey & chedder cheese on Ezekiel Bread with cantaloupe. Dinner was an In & Out Burger w/ fries. Raspberry & chocolate gelatto was my desert. Oh and I had peanut butter & raspberry preserves on Ezekiel Bread for a snack.

That's my day in a nutshell. Congrats to everyone for all the exercise. I love reading how ya'll are finding what works for you. It give me great ideas!

Wednesday- Walking 1 hour

I walked with the kids in a double stroller for one hour today to go to Shop N Save and get bananas, cereal bars, and apples and then come back. I actually found a sort of hilly area, and re-discovered a really hilly area Erik and I used to walk. I think I will save walking on the really hilly area until Erik can go with me and we can take turns pushing the double stroller.

I have not been walking for about a month due to illness (Fifth Disease), and no house AC (I was afraid of getting overheated and puking). I've basically have only been swimming and doing my strength workout once a week. We also had no refrigerator for about 3 weeks, so we ate out A LOT. Bad combo for me, I gained 5 pounds. That 5 lbs WAS the 5 lbs that would have made it 20 lbs I lost this year with extra exercise and trying to eat better, but now it is only 15 lbs that I have lost.

First goal-lose the 5 lbs I gained in July. Second goal-Lose 20 more lbs or get pregnant. 3rd goal-workout 4-5 hours a week until I lose the weight. I also want to keep up that workout level even if I do get pregnant so maybe I will only gain 20 lbs with the next pregnancy instead of the usual 35-40 lbs.

Confession for the day- I had a Snickers bar for breakfast. Maybe I made up for it by having a meatless salad for lunch ;)

Walking The Dog

That's exactly what I did. I walked the dog. We're currently on a cul de sac next to a highway, so I can only safely walk the cul de sac with my unruly and poorly trained dog, but there's a good hill which makes my legs ache, and if I walk fast enough, Superman knows he'd better come with me. :) I will soon be expanding to 2 laps around the cul de sac, and if I get really adventurous, I'll make 2 laps, twice a day!

Liz's Day Three

WAAAAHOO! Thanks for joining up everyone! I'm busting with excitement. I don't know about you, but I have a super good feeling about this! It's just so easy! We can work out together without being together! I love it. I'm having so much fun reading about your workouts, and I'm also feeling very pumped up and inspired! Keep it coming! This is GREAT!!
And for those of you who haven't joined up yet, please do! I think the more people we get, the better this will work. Everyone, feel free to invite people. I'm not sure you can, and if you can't, send their emails to me, and I'll do it.
So, this is what I did today:
I did FOUR, yes you read that right, FOUR sets of five minutes each today. I also increased my mph to between 10-12 mph. I only rested for ten minutes between sets, and for the last minute of my last set, I cranked it to 20 mph for the whole minute. Sort of a little burn-out thing. That means that I covered almost three miles all together. I am feeling very blitzy people! I feel GOOD!
Tomorrow is a swim day. I think that swimming is vastly harder than a stationary bike. I've done four laps, with 5-10 min. rests in between, consistently for the past couple of weeks. So tomorrow, I'm going to try to do five laps, and I'm going to try to make the first two laps consecutive, with no rests in between.
So good work to all, and I encourage everyone to keep it up! I've been doing well for three days, and I don't think I've felt this good (physically) the whole stinkin' year of 2008! And get the word out about the blog. Good things beg to be shared.
The Almighty Liz

Enter Renae, The Goober Face

Alright, this is where we are brutally honest, huh? Good, I need someone to be accountable to. So, I'm on my post-baby come back. I hit just over 190 with baby. I am currently down to 164.5. (The vast majority of what I've lost already was baby and water. Now I'm down to the hard part - fat.) Goal weight is 140ish, by Christmas? We'll see. I just did my third post-baby run this morning. I made it 2 miles averaging 10.7 minute miles, with no walking breaks. This is way slow in comparison with my former glory, but I'm very happy to be able to do that much already. Other things on the agenda: Drink more water, eat less junk food (particularly at night), and try to squeeze in a little strength training program. I'm also planning on doing some biking (which, thanks to a minor knee problem, I discovered that I love, and that I have a natural aptitude for - I think it's the giant Sever legs. I just wish my legs were anywhere approximately as ripped as my brothers.) as a cross training thing. I'm hoping to be in good enough shape to do the Challenge of the Bluffs in early Oct, the relay race in late October, and another 10 miler in November. We'll see, that's all I can say. It'll be a stretch.

Okay that's it for me. Ta-ta!

Ran Across This Story

I thought you might find it interesting. The second page near the bottom is especially interesting.

my weight loss steps

OK I'll post in BLUE! :)

I took a different approach to the weight loss diliema... I modified my eating after consulting with the doc. I was given some books to read & some great medical advice.

Step One: Eat Breakfast even if ya hate it. (Which I do.) It's vital to eat a breakfast containing protein, complex carbs, & healthy fat within the first two hours of getting up.

I've lost twenty pounds of fat just by following the above guidelines. I have some great breakfast recipes if ya'll need any. I actually wake up wanting to eat and that hasn't been the case since I was two.

Step Two: Exercise!

Now that I'm minus 20 lbs I've decided to incorporate activites that I actually enjoy. Forget the gym!!! I've started walking my dog in the morning instead of just letting her run around the big empty field. Also I've started hiking on a regular basis. I actually lost 3.5 lbs yesterday due to an intense hike.

p.s. It's great to see a post by Timpani. Woo Woo!

Walking-In A Way

Tonight, after Jeremy left for work, I popped in a musical, and "walked" in front of the tv for 1/2 hour. The music helps keep a rhythm to my walking. Tomorrow if it isn't raining, I'll be taking Superman for a walk. I need to learn how to train him, because he is seriously leash wild! I'm always afraid I'll step on him, since I never know when he's going to suddenly run in front of me when I'm walking. Well, no time to learn like now! See you tomorrow!

Tuesday- Swimming 1 Hour

My posts will be in DARK GREEN so you know it tis I, Timpani the Great. I think the name of this blog should be "Let's All Get Righteous Ghetto Booties". Ok, maybe not so catchy as Liz's choice.

My swimming routine- 15 minutes of breastroke (with swishy arms and kicking like a frog), 15 minutes of freestyle (the hardest for me, sometimes I can only make it 10 minutes), 15 minutes of backstroke (my second favorite, even though it's hard, I can BREATHE), and then 10-15 minutes of swimming underwater (my favorite, that was the first way I learned to swim as a kid was underwater) or twisties for stomach or just general goofing around/cooling down. It took me about a year to get up to this point (swimming full laps for 45 minutes to an hour straight)

At first, I had to take lots of breaks and only did half length laps (swimming the short length of the pool instead of the long length). I always swim at the YMCA in Edwardsville which has an Olympic length pool and lap lanes. I also used to spend a lot of time laying on my back and just kicking to catch my breath and to just keep moving for the full 1 hour cardio effect.

I'm pretty proud of how far I've come with this whole swimming thing ;)

Day Two

Okay people, this won't work unless you join up, or at the very least, COMMENT. Much thanks to Timpani, who has followed through with joining, and we hope to hear about her successes soon! Here's what I did today:
I did another three sets of five minutes each on my stationary bike. However, today I was able to cut my rest time in between down to ten minutes, instead of fifteen. AND, I was able to keep it at 10 mph without letting it fall lower, so I covered 2.5 miles exactly. AND, I'm not nearly as sore today as I thought I would be. I guess I'm tougher than I thought I was. Tomorrow, if the ceiling hasn't caved in on my little high here and I wake up able to move after all, I will add another five minute set, to make a total of four.
So let's get on joining up to the blog, so I don't feel like the lone gunman out here, bragging about how many notches I put in the ole belt today. Let's get excited and moving together!
The Almighty Liz

First Day!

Okay people, I've been saying I would do this for awhile, and now I am. Hopefully (as soon as John shows me how to invite you) you all will join me. This is how I envision this will work;
Whenever you work out, post what you've done. I will be posting on this alot then. And I so totally don't care how wimpy you think your workout was. If you do ANY exercising at all, post it. You all know you're not as wimpy as me, so if I'm putting myself out there, you have no need to be embarrassed. I will make everyone look really good. That will make you feel good, and that is the point of this blog. I will be posting my weight as well, to help myself keep track of that. No one else needs to do that, but you are welcome too. The only requirement, if you decide to join me on this particular blog, is to post your workouts. That way, we can keep track of ourselves, and encourage and support each other.
If I can figure out how to put a graph of my progress and weight and suchlike up, I will. If I can figure that out, then I will do it for anyone else who wants one too.

And soooooo, since this is the very first post, this is what I have done today;
I did three sets of five minutes on my exercise bike. (yes I got one, isn't that great??!) I rested for 15 minutes between each set. I averaged between 8-10 mph, so that means I covered a distance of something a little less than 2.5 miles, but not all at once. I hope to be able to do that same workout tomorrow.
I weighed in this morning at 135 lbs on the dot. My goal is to lose 10 lbs, but I'm not particular about the time. The goal that takes precedence at this point is cardio. Gotta get my heart back in shape. That is my #1 priority.

So, now that I've broken the ice.....let's get SVELTE!
The Almighty Liz