I'd rather be a Last Minute Mommy

So, I'm finally done!

Not that you knew I was even working on it.  (And by "I," I mean her.)

But...I have a new blog!

It's like this site, only, more... um.... me.

Less posting for other people's gain.  Less posting about stuff that doesn't matter to me.

More crass.  More upfront.  More frequent.  More awesomeness.

Go now.




P.S...I'm not sure what's going to happen with this blog.  I'm keeping it for now.  I might keep posting, might not.  Yep, that's about all I know.

I'd rather list 5 things I love about LA Boxing

Today you get a "Five Things" post and an LA Boxing post, all wrapped up in one.  (Five Things is a meme created by Trayce, in which I simply tell you 5 things about me.)

Ohhh, LA Boxing, how I love you, let me count the ways...

1.  You provide an hour of "me" time, at least three times a week.  Yes, I count sweating buckets as "me" time these days - a girl takes what she can get.

2.  I have gotten the first "Hey!  You are looking thinner!" compliments (from anyone in my family other than my awesome Mother-In-Law) since possibly before I had my last kid.

3.  I can lift my 8-year-old over the railing and into her loft bed while she is sleeping with out the fear of giving her a concussion on one of the posts.

4.  Apparently I have arm muscles, and the tiniest hint of ab muscles - who knew!

5.  You have showed me that I can keep going.  I can hold that plank, I can keep hitting that bag, and I can do one more rep.  That is worth more than I can say.

Happy Friday, ya'll!  Now, either join us and blog your own "Five Things" or go hit the gym!  I'll let you choose. 

I'd rather get better and box

I'm sick.  This stupid summer cold came on from out of no where at the end of the week and now here I am, Monday afternoon, still feeling like I was run over by a truck.

Let me tell you people, this isn't pretty.  At all.  I have yet to master the art of being "sick-cute" as opposed to "sick-gross."  I'm a fabulous mix of the dwarfs: Gumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Dopey, and the yet to be found dwarf - Icky.

So I think I have the right to complain.  The right to moan about my achy muscles, to blow my nose loudly, to sleep half the day.  I have a lot to gripe about.

But do you know what one of the most annoying parts of this cold is?  I missed boxing.

What?  Did I write that correctly?  Have the cold meds sent me into a NyQuil-induced drugged-up haze?  Nope.

I miss boxing and I'm bummed.

I normally go in once during the weekend to LA Boxing to sweat out the stress of the week.  Hit the heavy bag hard and walk away feeling like a weekend warrior.  I get on a high horse - gloating in the face of my former "can't be bothered to get off the couch" weekend-self.  I start Monday feeling strong, not bloated.  Quicker, not exhausted.  Ready.

Not this week.  Monday is currently laughing at me, all balled up in the corner, and kicking my butt.  (Well, to be honest, last week wasn't a gleaming example either.  Apparently Memorial day weekend - and alcohol - make for a really, really bad personal training session on Tuesday.  It was laughable.  Literally.  We laughed at my inability to do just about anything last week.)  But this is even more reason why I was ready to have a great weekend so that I could return to training on Tuesday in top notch form.

Instead, I spent yesterday in bed, surrounded by tissues.

I miss boxing.  I want to get well.  I need to get well.  So I can go back, put on the gloves, and get back into the groove.  Kick some butt.  Tell the heavy bag who's boss.

I'm going to drag my butt in there tomorrow if I have to.  It may not be pretty, but I know I'll feel so much better for doing it.

Now, please pass the chicken noodle soup.

I'd rather confess, I'm an eat-out-aholic

I have a confession.

I eat out.

A lot.

Not just a lot - but frequently.  I am too embarrassed to admit how many meals (and how much money) I spend eating out.  I think the trend started a long time ago - way back in college, because who wanted to eat the crap they passed as food - and it just never let up.

It has its advantages.  My kids have grown up going to restaurants, so they know how to behave well while there.  It takes the stress out of planning for and making dinner.  It tastes good - most of the time.

But the disadvantages are huge.  The finances can't keep up with me.  My kids may be growing up to think it's normal to eat crappy food all the time - and worse yet, that it is the most perfect reward for doing even the smallest task.  And, of course, the weight gain.

Every week, from Monday til Thursday, I am pretty good at eating.  I eat veggies, and fruit, no fried food, and hardly any sweetened beverages.

But, then then Friday rolls around.  Who wants to cook Friday night?

And then Saturday arrives.  It's the weekend, let's celebrate!

Then it's Sunday . . . might as well take advantage of the weekend while I can!

Before I knew it, I was too busy/stressed/tired to cook some weekend nights too.

Now, I could probably eat this:

But, I usually cave, and get this:

Sighhhhhhhhh.

My confession: I'm a eat-out-aholic.

What does an eat-out-aholic do to try to get it in check?  Well, the setting day or number of visit limits didn't really work.  And setting a budget didn't really work either.  So now we are getting drastic:

No. Eating. Meals. Out. . . for a month.

(The only exception: my daughters birthday (when we are taking her out to an amusement park) and our anniversary.)

"That's not too bad" you may say, but for me, it's unheard of.  To be honest, the thought of doing this makes my stress levels rise.  It will be hard.  Hard to plan, hard to follow through, hard to not wuss out on.

But, I have a problem, and something has to be done.  I just have to do it.

Do you have any fantastic (yummy, but easy) recipes to share?  Have you kicked the eat-out-aholic habit?  Please, I beg of you, help a sister out with you input below!

I'd rather have a cool app

A while back Mariana from Riding With No Hands introduced me to SparkPeople.  It really is a fantastic site that helps people reach their healthy goals - for free.  They have nutrition, health and fitness information in all forms and types, including articles, interactive tools (fitness trackers, meal planner) motivational tools, and a huge online community.

While it has so much to offer (so, so much) I had one problem with it - I was majorly overwhelmed.  There was just too much for me to focus on, and I found myself losing track of time every time I got on.  I quickly bailed on the whole thing, altogether. (Sorry for going MIA in your group, Mariana!  No hard feelings?)  It was a bummer to know I was wasting such an awesome tool kit, but sometimes you just have to have the right fit for it to work.

Since then, I have had the pleasure of becoming a smart phone owner.  (I heart my Droid.)  I've seen so many great apps to use for healthy purposes - and have used a hand full of them.  But guess what I just stumbled onto?  A SparkPeople app!

And it is a beautiful, beautiful thing.  Here's why I'm using it:

• It helps you determine your goals - weight loss, calories in, and calories out.
• There is a food tracker that includes an optional menu plan, tailored to your calorie needs.
• There is a fitness tracker as well, that calculates your calories burned based on the activity you did.
• Multiple status bars and reports show you where you are in your goals - including a weight graph and a water tracker. (Which I was really happy to find - there is a severe lack of good apps for simple water intake.)
• Links to just a few SparkPeople articles. (This is great for me, I can go look if I want, but I don't feel overwhelmed.)
• Plus, you have the option to link to a SparkPeople online account, or just do the app by itself.  If you link up, all of the info automatically shares between the app and site.

Of course, you can always go to the mobile site with any web-enabled cell phone, but (besides the Android) this app is also available on the Blackberry and iPhone.  I also found another handy little SparkPeople app - SparkRecipes.

It's perfect for finding tons of healthy recipes.  It includes a search by keyword or by category/course/cuisine/occasion or dietary needs.  Each recipe also includes nutritional information, and the option to view it online to get comments and ratings.

These are my new tools to help me kick butt.  Got any to share?

I'd rather kick it up

It's time to fess up.  I've been slacking off on this weight-loosing gig.  More than slacking, really - more like going backward.

It mostly started when I found out my scale was lying to me, and it just kept going downhill from there.  I guess there are a lot of excuses, but none of them are any good.  I've been stuck in a "I couldn't care less" crazy spiral, and I want out.

Alarms started ringing the last time I stepped on my (new) scale.  Due to the huge error in the old scale, and the total lack of all things healthy, I've crept back up over 200 pounds.  In truth *gulp* I weighed in at 208 pounds.  Ugh, that sucks to write, but it's the truth.

UGH.

Thankfully, when I was at Fitbloggin, I was given a great opportunity to team up with LA Boxing.  These guys are letting me join their gym for 3 months and hooking me up with weekly personal training sessions as well.  They even gave me a some goodies to get me going - including gloves and wraps.

The gloves have already seen action (aside from my family walloping up on each other) at the local LA Boxing gym, here in Rockville, Maryland.  I had a personal training session Wednesday, and yesterday my friend was sweet enough to join me for a kickboxing class.  Both visits helped me understand why they call it a 1000-calorie workout.  It was intense - I really put my body to work, sweat like crazy, and woke up super sore.

Let me clarify --
By "sweat" I mean:  I exuded rivers of perspiration from the top of my head all the way to the bottom of my feet.
By "sore" I mean:  Each time I moved my limbs, I was reminded how hard I worked, mostly followed by an "owwwwww."
By "put my body to work" I mean:  I found muscles I didn't know existed, pushed myself farther than I thought possible, and opened up my lungs more than I ever have before.

And this is just the beginning.

This is shaping up to be my weekly regiment, for the next 3 months:

Monday - possible rest day, but more likely a walking day
Tuesdays - Yoga (at my yoga studio)
Wednesdays - Personal Training at LA Boxing with Donte (more on him to come)
Thursdays - Boxing class at LA Boxing
Fridays - training walks for my third Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure.
Saturday - another (longer) training walk
Sunday - Kickboxing at LA Boxing

Do you think that this is do-able?  Is it crazy?  Will I be able to get back to the 180's by June - maybe even back into the legwarmers for BlogHer in August?  Will I get strong enough to hold a downward dog for more than 10 seconds?  Do you think I will survive?

What do you think?



Disclosure: As a participant of #Fitbloggin', I was offered (by LA Boxing) three months free membership, free personal training, and merchandise - all in exchange for blogging my *honest* opinions once a week.

I'd rather have a motivating list

I brought it!  I brought it!

Before I go a step further, I've got to say a big thank you for all of the comments I received on last week's post.  I gathered so much motivation from you all!  Some of them made me scared, some of them made me look inward, and they all re-energized me.  If you skip the rest of this post (and, I really wouldn't blame you because, holy hannah am I long winded) then just read this list.  It is some of the suggestions you all gave me to get out of my rut, and get motivated.  (I repeat, these are not my suggestions - they are that of my Mamavation Sista's.)  Save them to use in your "weight loss tool kit."

• Read your old posts, or a journal if you're a non-blogger.  Read the ones when you are sad to see what you want to avoid, read the ones when you had tons of motivation to channel that energy.
• Think about your kids.  If you can't do it for you, do it for them - so that they see a good healthy role model.  (Twenty years from now I don't want my kids to feel like I sometimes do.)
• Have someone give you a pep talk.  Sometimes you just have to be told "you CAN."
• Figure out what drives you - what is the end result you want or don't want.  Will you be okay with staying in this rut forever?
• Find someone who is in the same place and urge each other forward.  (See below for the contest results with my hubby.)
• Try something new - new workout, new workout clothes, new foods.
• Suck it up.  Push your self forward.  Shove the "I can't" monster in the closet and just fake it til you make it.
• Act like who you want to be (like your future healthy self) or emulate a healthy role model.
• Get threatened with wearing a cheese bra topless.  (Yikes!)

So, thats the list.  What follows is my progress for the week.  Seriously, feel free to skip it - I know there are a lot of posts to read, and my feelings won't be hurt. ;)

****************************

This week, the competition with my husband saved me.  If you didn't see it last week, we had a contest to gain the most "healthy habits" points.  Points were gained by working out and taken away for eating out or even suggesting we eat out.  It worked so well for both of us (working out 5 times this week!) that we decided to keep it going.  So no clear cut winner right now.  BUT, I am one point up as a write this post. ;)

I decided to pull back on weight watchers a bit.  Well, truthfully, I have been out of it for a while, but I decided to take a new approach to my eating in general.  I was getting really tired of counting points and measuring, so I decided to put my years of WW knowledge to the test - to see if I could do it with out all the scales, and cups, and trackers.

Surprisingly, it has gone pretty well.  Every time I'm hungry, I go first for something that is nutritious in some way: fruits, veggies, high protein, fiber.  I still allow myself a bit of chocolate from time to time but I'm finding I am craving things less.  I didn't really "need" that evening snack as much this week.  Several times I thought, "well self, there's nothing in this house that is worth it, so fa-get-a-bout-it."  I'm still making progress, and of course this helps:

It has saved me a few times when rummaging in the pantry looking for "I'm bored so I might as well eat" food.  I see it, I get irritated, I silently kick myself for doing something so annoyingly useful, then I allow it to work.

All of this combined is doing good things - I'm down 2 pounds.  I brought it.  Did you?

I'd rather be making PROGRESS.

It's time to get dirty people.  Can I get a HOO-RAH!?!

I am a "plan it out" kind of girl.  I get it from my mom, so it comes naturally.  I work best when I have a list to refer to.  I have tried denying this part of me, but with no success.  I need to put pen to paper, write it out, then be able to check it off.

I suck at resolutions.  I think most people do.  I also suck at choosing just one.  There are oh-so-many ways I could be better.  How am I supposed to remember (and stick to) every resolution I should make?  My previous answer to that problem was to simply not make any.

Um, yeah, that didn't get me too far.

So here is my solution.  It is a multi-pronged attack.  Get your battle gear on people, and think of me speaking in a gruff voice, much like a seasoned, bitter, mean, old Marine - cause we're going in!

Here are a few of the resources I used:

• I started by reading this post Michele created about intentions.  (Also check the rest of the series, it's all good stuff.)
• I started writing everything out on paper, until I came across this downloadable goal list by Buttoned Up, which makes it look much cuter to look at.
• Then, I found MindBloom, which not only organizes your personalized goals, but gives you ways to track them too.  (I am taking advantage of the free trial, currently.)

Now, solider, are you ready to get into a hail storm?  Here we go...

• First, is my motto:  Make Progress.  I will use this to keep me on track at all times, and as inspiration.  
• Next, my branches, or categories of growth:  Health, Home, Blog, Creativity, Life/Relationships.  I'll focus on telling you about my Health goals.
• Next, I listed 2 or three specific goals I plan to achieve in each catagory - keeping in mind, that these had to be goals that help me... Make Progress.  So, nothing could be out of reach, but I couldn't pick things I am doing already.  For example, Under Health, I included tracking my points 6 times a week and Working out 4 times a week.  These are more than I do on a regular basis (if left to my own devices) but not so much that I feel I will stop trying.  
• Notice, I am NOT saying I want to lose 50 pounds by X date.  That doesn't work for me.  It will simply stress me out or be ignored.  It is a goal that is way to far away for my short-sited eyes to see.  If that is your thing, then right on - get 'er done. (That isn't military, is it?  Just red-neck?  Anyway...)
• The next step I am going to take, is to make it visual. I will make a nice print out (with a kickin' font) to hang "Make Progress" on my refrigerator, on my bathroom mirror, and on my laptop desktop.

The goal here, Marine, is to .... Make Progress.  (See, I beat it into you, just like a real training camp.)  I will remind myself daily, hourly, and will hold that thought in the back of my mind with everything I do.  "Is this something that will help me Make Progress?"  If yes, then (HOO-RAH) I'm doing well, if no, then I will redirect to acquire the target.  (Are you so sick of my military references yet? I'm well aware I'm probably annoying and doing it wrong, to boot.  Get it?  Boot?  bwahahahaha.  Um, anyways...)

Okay, I'm off to get into the thick of it.  If you get a MindBloom account or trial, let me know, as I would love to add you to my "forest" so you can help keep me accountable.  The more people who know my goals, the more likely I will actually do them.  And us Marine's stick together.

By the way, someone, for the love of Pete, tell me why I set out to make a simple post and always end up with paragraphs upon paragraphs of me blah blah blah-ing.  If you've made it this far, then pat yourself on the back from me.  I owe you a drink.