Change of Plans: I am my own trainer!

It has been 18 months since I first began working out at Fit Body Bootcamp regularly.  During that span I have lost 80 pounds!  (Last week I stopped by the high school where I used to teach two years ago and nobody recognized me.  I literally had to tell people that I worked with on a daily basis who I was. Crazy!)  Bootcamp has been instrumental in my continual weight loss and body composition change.  It has completely changed the way I exercise and think of exercise.  I, like most women, was a cardio junkie and rarely lifted any weights until I started bootcamp.  So you might be able to understand my panic and concern when my bootcamp membership expired at the end of October.  Financially it is not an option for us to renew my membership right now.  I went a full week without working out.  I felt guilty, worried about putting the pounds back on and losing muscle, and dreading lonely trips to the neighborhood gym..  Then a friend posted a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout on Facebook and it dawned on me that it was possible for me, after all I had learned at Fit Body Bootcamp, to be my own trainer for awhile.  

I printed out the workout, downloaded a HIIT timer app for my phone, and stepped out our front door for my first bootcamp workout sans trainer.  Dan joined me and Lena played in the park while we did our workout.  It went amazingly well!  Lena was even so intrigued that she came over and tried to do some of the exercises with us.  I was so inspired by that first workout that I did some research and developed a few more workouts based on the equipment that I have available to me and I ordered a few small items from Amazon.  Check out my equipment:

Resistance Bands - I had these already...time to put them to good use!

I got this $40 high speed jump rope on sale at Amazon for $5!

I ordered these furniture sliders instead of Valslide sliders.  They are great for working out on carpet inside the house.

Four Waxman furniture sliders cost around $10 while the Valslide workout sliders were two for $25.  

 Checkout this video that teaches you how to do some exercises with sliders:

I still need to get a kettle bell to add variety to my workouts.

My dad gave me an 8 pound medicine ball and I will save some money to buy a heavier one.

I am working on acquiring a pair of dumbells to add variety to my workouts.  I have access to some 8 pounders but I need some heavier ones.

One of the great things about bootcamp is that you can do many exercises with minimal or no equipment.  The video above has many of these "body weight" type of exercises to try.

Not being able to attend my regular Fit Body Bootcamp classes has been a huge bummer.  I miss my trainers who always push me, check my form, and introduce new exercises.  I miss the huge variety of equipment available to me.  I miss my fellow bootcampers, especially the 5 am crew, who pushed me and helped me find humor in a hard workout.   But there have been some great and unforseen side effects of being my own trainer:

1. Dan has started working out with me and he is a great partner.  I love that we can do this together.
2. Even though she is young, Lena gets to see us working out and I am beginning to be a good role model to her of staying physically active.
3. Neighbors and strangers have been asking about our workouts since we do them mostly in the park in front of our house.  Two moms in the neighborhood are going to try to join me in my workouts in the coming weeks.  
4. I don't have to drive anywhere to do these workouts which means I am more likely to do them and I can do them while I am staying home with Lena.  That makes my workout schedule much more flexible.
5. I have been able to help a few others get started with HIIT.  I love that I can "pay it forward" with all the great knowledge I have acquired during my time at Fit Body Bootcamp.
6. I have gained confidence that I am strong enough and knowledgeable enough to be my own trainer for now.  
7. Vacations have been a time of weakness for Dan and I as far as fitness goes.  We have gotten better over the last few trips being careful to stay active but these workouts are great because I can simple pack the sliders and one resistance band and have a whole army of exercises to do right in my hotel room!

Here are the workouts that I have created so far.  I modeled them after the HIIT workout that my friend posted on Facebook the other week.   I am not a professional so I can't vouch for their effectiveness or accuracy but I have tried them all out except the dumbbell workout and they make my body feel sore in the right way.  I am going to add 12 minutes of jump rope to the end of each workout starting this week and try to do one 3-5 mile run per week as well.  If you have any great HIIT workout tips or exercises for me to try let me know!  I still have much to learn!

You can do these workouts in two ways:

Way #1 – High Intensity Intervals

30 seconds per exercise with a 10 second rest in between / do 2-3 rounds

Way #2 – Tabata

For each exercise do 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest / repeat four times and then rest for 20 seconds while preparing to move on to the next exercise / do 1 round

Workout #1 (chair or bench)

1. Jumping Jacks -Total body 
2. Wall sit - Lower body 
3. Push-up - Upper body 
4. Bicycle crunch - Core 
5. Step-up onto chair - Total body 
6. Squat - Lower body 
7. Triceps dip on chair - Upper body 
8. Plank - Core 
9. High knees/running in place - Total body 
10. Lunge - Lower body 
11. Push-up and rotation - Upper body 
12. Side plank - Core

Workout #2 (resistance band)

1. Burpees -Total body 
2. Reverse Lunge - Lower body 
3. Lateral Raise with resistance band - Upper body 
4. Russian Twists - Core 
5. Mountain Climbers - Total body 
6. Jump Squat - Lower body 
7. Bicep Curls with resistance bands - Upper body 
8. Anti-rotation band - Core 
9. Star jumps - Total body 
10. Single Leg Hip Bridges - Lower body 
11. Tricep kick backs with band- Upper body 
12. Flutter kicks - Core

Workout #3­­ (sliders)

1. Slider jacks -Total body 
2. Side lunge with slider (right side) - Lower body 
3. Alligator Walk with sliders- Upper body 
4. Heel touch - Core 
5. Mountain Climber Sliders- Total body 
6. Side lunge with slider (left side) - Lower body 
7. Tricep push up - Upper body 
8. Slider ab roll - Core 
9. Knee tucks with sliders - Total body 
10. Leg curl with sliders - Lower body 
11. Spiderman Push ups with sliders - Upper body 
12. Pike abs with sliders - Core

Workout #4­­ (Dumbbells and Kettle bell)

1. Dumbbell or Kettle bell swings -Total body 
2. Sumo Squat ­­- Lower body 
3. Bent over row - Upper body 
4. Russian twists with dumbbell - Core 
5. Half Turkish get ups - Total body 
6. Squat with dumbbells - Lower body 
7. Renegade Rows - Upper body 
8. Triangle Press (right side) - Core 
9. Squat Thrusters - Total body 
10. Reverse Lunge with bicep curl - Lower body 
11. Half squat tricep press - Upper body 
12. Triangle Press (left side) - Core

Beginner Workout #1­­ (resistance bands / bench or stool / 1 heavy dumbbell)

1. Step onto chair -Total body 
2. Wall sit - Lower body 
3. Lateral raises with resistance band- Upper body 
4. Russian twists - Core 
5. High Knees (or march in place) - Total body 
6. Squats - Lower body 
7. Bicep Curls with resistance band - Upper body 
8. Anti-rotation band - Core 
9. Dumbbell swing - Total body 
10. Lunge ­­­- Lower body 
11. Tricep band pull- Upper body 
12. Hip bridges - Core

FET #5 Transfer Date Scheduled

Transfer day is two weeks from today - on November 22nd!  Aunt Flow showed up on Halloween and I made the drive and saw Dr. K the next day for my baseline ultrasound and bloodwork and began my Delestrogen shots that same night.

FET #5 meds have arrived!

Today was my second visit to Dr. K's office.  It is a little crazy that I have to drive for 4.5 hours (round trip) for a 20 minute doctor appointment but considering some people fly across the world to see him I really don't have that far to go to get great care. Today the weather was great and I had such nice views from the freeway.

Downtown LA from the 101 fwy - I was able to snap this shot because traffic was at a stand still!

Next week is my last appointment before transfer day.  I have some extra time with Dr. K because we will be discussing our plan for the embryos.  We have three left in storage: two from our first Snowflakes match and one left from Lena's match (it is a blast that was thawed as a 2PN when Lena was thawed in March 2011 and then refrozen).  We will see what comes of that conversation.

Lena Joyce: Two Years Old!

Our baby is a bright eyed, fast talking, high energy, fun-loving two year old toddler!  She amuses us daily over the things she says and does and I just can't believe how quickly things are changing.

Happy Lena

• She knows some shapes (square, circle, and star) and is really starting to enjoy doing puzzles.

Whenever Timmy Time comes on this is the face she makes.

• Her favorite TV shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Timmy Time, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Kipper, Minnie Mouse Bowtique, and her Baby Signing Times DVDs.  What is really fun is that she is beginning to sing along to the music in her favorite shows.  She will ask for a show by saying, "Wannawatchashow?" which she clearly learned from us.  

Sad Lena

• She has become more of a drama queen these days.  When she doesn't get her way she will cry, "Oh No! Oh, no!" and then fall to the floor and burst into tears.  

Fun with cousin Abby or "Aboo" as Lena calls her.

• She is a great imitator!  We laugh all the time when she repeats things she has heard.  The other day our dog (who has developed a barking problem) was barking away and Lena stopped what she was doing to walk over to the slider door, banged on it, and yelled in an authoritative voice, "No!  Daddy says no!"  

Lena riding the train for the first time to San Juan Capistrano.

• She speaks in phrases now.  Some of her more frequent ones are: "They'll be back" which is how she comforts herself when Daddy or Mommy have to leave, "I'm stuck!" which she says whenever she can't climb down from the bed or in other precarious situations. The other day she kept repeating "I'm stuck, I'm stuck!" I couldn't figure out what was stuck until I held her and realized she had stuffed a bunch of blocks down her footie pjs and they were all stuck inside the legs.  Ha! She also likes to declare what things are like "It's a cow!" or "It's a kitty!"

Lena's newest favorite is drawing with chalk.

She really loves to draw!

Daddy is great at playing with Lena.  She loves it when he draws Mickey Mouse!

• Some of her favorite activities are getting into my kitchen cabinets and stacking things (cups, boxes of foil and plastic wrap, bowls, etc), coloring (chalk outside, crayons and pencil on paper, etc), petting our kitties and feeding them treats, playing outdoors- she often will declare "Let's go!" and then pulls you along.

Always climbing..everything...everywhere!

• We are so glad that Lena has finally started to try some new foods as she has been an extremely picky eater thus far.  Lately she has tried and liked broccoli, roasted carrots and squash, cauliflower rice, scrambled eggs, and almond butter but her go to favorites are still chicken, pizza, yogurt, fish crackers, cheese, spaghetti, and pancakes.  I still can't get her to eat fruit!

She LOVES brushing her teeth or "sheeth" as she calls them.  Lately she loves look at herself in the mirror.

• Her two year stats are: size 7 shoes, size 24 months or 2T clothes, 24 pounds, 33 inches tall, and size 4 diapers.  Lena is now in the 50th percentile for both height and weight!

Petting a baby chick at the Corona Pumpkin Farm 

Spotting fish in the tank at the Long Beach Aquarium

• Forget dolls!  Lena is a big fan of any and all animals (especially elephants, dogs, cats, and cows), trains ("choos"), airplanes ("naenains"), and trucks.  For fun we go to the pet store to look at fish and the other animals there or play in the park and spot airplanes that fly over.  

Happy Birthday precious girl!  You are such a joy to everyone you meet.  Nobody I know can turn strangers into friends as fast as you.  You never discriminate with your kindness and your tender, "Hi!"s.  You have a smile and inner warmth that can melt the most seemingly hard and closed off people.  God has certainly blessed you with a strong and yet sweet spirit and thus we are blessed as well.

FET #5 Update: Aunt Flow is MIA!

This post is for my EA buddies and to my male family and friends...you might just want to skip this one.

Our plans for an October FET have been delayed!  In August when we found out we lost our babies from my pregnancy in FET #4 the last words Nurse A had for me were, "give us a call when you get your period."  After I went off my meds I miscarried surprisingly fast (on September 7th).  I decided to let my body rest for one menstrual cycle and figured we would just begin our next FET cycle at the beginning of October when my next period was due.  Well...my body has other plans apparently. It has been 46 days and counting since my miscarriage and still no period.  While this is not totally unusual, it is unusual for me.  I can only assume my body is readjusting after my pregnancy and miscarriage in August.  I know what you might be thinking...I am not pregnant.  I took a test; it was negative.  At least we've had additional time to raise the funds for our next transfer.  We are only $823 away from our goal of $2500 we need for Dr. K's FET fees!  My EBAY sales have been steady.  In fact I need to prep a bunch of items to restock my store because the inventory is so low!  It has been really neat to see how my EBAY store has allowed family and friends to support our adoption and be part of this process.  Here is just one example:

This is a package of love; an item one friend donated to our adoption fund eBay store and then bought by another friend.

Hopefully "Aunt Flow" will make her appearance soon.  We have a fun family adventure planned at the end of November for my cousin's wedding and I would hate to delay my cycle or have our FET be too close to our trip.  Stay tuned!

UPDATE....(10/30).....54 days and counting...

Long Beach Half Marathon 2013

The "Shack Mama" crosses the finish line again!

Long Beach Half Marathon 2013

Finish Time: 2:38

PR by 13 minutes!

My traditional post race victory pose!

On October 13th I competed in my second half marathon this year.  This time I raced in Long Beach and it was a beautiful day for a nice long run!  It was hands down the most scenic race I've ever done. It was incredible to run next to the Queen Mary, around a lighthouse, over the bay bridge while the fire boat did a water spout salute, run next to the ocean while the waves were crashing, and then down Ocean Blvd past historic buildings and palm tree lined streets.  It was a very well run race too!

An areal view of the start line.  You can see the Queen Mary in the background.

The Long Beach fire boat doing their water cannon salute.

 This time I raced with Team Mike who all run in honor of my sister in law's father who was a fire fighter who passed away two years ago from pancreatic cancer.  Several friends and members of my boot camp were there to run as well.  It was fun to see some familiar faces as I made my way through the 13.1 mile race.

Some of the Team Mike crew!

I decided to run this race just six weeks before race day so I didn't have much training time.  In fact I only ran twice to get ready for this race and mostly focused on putting on muscle through my boot camp workouts.  I wasn't sure how my body would handle such a long distance without adequate training but everything went surprisingly well!  The first six miles I ran a 9:30-10:30 pace which is pretty fast for me.  I felt really good and didn't hurt like I did in my last half marathon.  After mile 8 I began to get really hungry and lose steam.  That is where my lack of training caught up with me. I had the strength but not the endurance.  I came across several inspiring runners that kept me motivated and helped me push through to the end and my last mile I finished really strong.  I ended up finishing 13 minutes faster than my last half marathon and my body felt MUCH better than last time too.

Going strong at mile 7!

Crossing the finish line!

It was fun to have lots of cheerleaders in the race.  Dan also loaded my phone with lots of great songs to run to and I always run faster with good music in my ears.

My brother Sam who completed the LB Full Marathon in 2012

My sister in law Kristen who completed the LB Half Marathon in 2012 while 7.5 months pregnant and the Full Marathon in 2011 to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Dan my ever faithful supporter.  He had the hardest job taking care of Lena while I ran.

My littlest cheerleaders: Lena and cousin Riley

The Long Beach Half Marathon was such a great race and I had such a strong run that I am pretty sure my running days are far from over.  I can't wait to race again!

I think she would jump into the water if she could.

"FISH!!! FISH!!!"

We had such a fun weekend as a family.  On Saturday we took Lena to the Long Beach Aquarium for the first time and she LOVED it!  She ran around yelling "Fish! Fish!" for the first 30 minutes and kept calling all the seals and sea lions "dog dogs".  Then we ate a nice lunch on the boardwalk and checked into our race hotel so we could have a relaxing evening and morning before the race.  Can't wait till next year!

It was a great race day but by the end Lena was "toast"!!!

Exciting FET #5 Fundraising Update!

About a month ago we began fundraising for our next FET which will hopefully be sometime at the end of this month.  Our half.com and eBay sales have been steady and we have so many more items to list!  This week we realized that while the fundraising is going well it is slow and we won't have the cash in hand to pay Dr. K which means either postpone the FET or put it on the credit card.  Then at the end of the week I got an email from someone who found our Aruba vacation rental on Redweek.com and within 24 hours we completed the rental agreement!  We now have an additional $900 in our bank account for this FET and will get the other $900 in the spring which we will save for future adoption efforts!  How awesome and timely was that!?  I only had it listed for six weeks and it is rented already.  We have another 2014 rental week in Palm Desert, CA that we will list this week and we still have our garage sale that we will do (probably in November).  That brings our current total for FET #5 to $1327!  I made five more eBay sales this weekend and will list a few more items this week so our total will hopefully keep rising. We need $2500 for Dr. K in a few weeks and I will have to order about $350 in FET medications this week so we are about halfway to our financial goal!  This was so encouraging to us and we are so thankful for the way that God has provided for us financially.  We look forward to seeing what God has in store for our family.

Favorite Things: FOOD! How I lost six pounds in one week!

My overhauled bread bowl is now full of veggies for this week's recipes.

I am a total self professed foodie.  I love to eat, to bake, to savor lots of different flavors... I favor most cheese and baked goods.  Dan is also a foodie.  We encourage each other's foodie habits and spoil each other with our favorite foods.  I am one of those wives that shows her love through food.  I bake Dan treats, make yummy dinners, layout out spreads of our favorite cheese and accompaniments, I even bake homemade bread.  I am solely responsible for the baked goods addiction that many of Dan's co-workers have developed because I send baked goods to his office so often.  But this week things have begun to change....

I have come to the realization recently that when I bake really delicious but unhealthy treats and meals for my family (on a regular basis) I am not showing the right kind of love.  I have decided that I want my meals to say, "I am super delicious...I took time and thought to prepare...AND I will nourish your body and keep it working the proper way."  If I truly love my family I will take time to make them food that will keep them healthy, not send them to an early death.

Shopping for week 1 menu! (Plus a few extras like milk for Lena, Goldfish crackers for Lena, Spaghettios for Lena...etc.

I have wanted to change the way I cook for a long time but I put it off.  I didn't want to take the time to research recipes, restructure my pantry, and honestly I didn't want to give up making the baked goods that I love to make.  BUT...I didn't lose any weight from June until the end of September and I knew with my boot camp and triathlon training it wasn't because I wasn't exercising.  I knew that if I wanted to push through this weight loss plateau I was going to have to change the way I ate.

Crockpot meatballs and spaghetti squash.

Recently, I became acquainted with a food blogger online and in real life (I teacher her daughter piano lessons.) whose nutritional philosophy is: "It's time to change the way we eat.  It's time to cut out processed foods and to return to a diet filled with wholesome ingredients." I began following her blog www.realhealthyrecipes.com and her Facebook page (of the same name).  I was surprised by the variety of recipes she has posted and by how good they looked.  Still I was hesitant to try her recipes out because they called for some ingredients I hadn't tried before like blanched almond flour, coconut oil, coconut crystals, nutritional yeast, etc.  Then Diana, the food blogger, offered an 8-week menu planner with accompanying weekly shopping lists and I bought it and last week I began my 8-week boot camp towards a healthier lifestyle.  Here are my thoughts on my new food plan:

• I love shopping for all my meals in one shopping trip at the beginning of the week!
• I love not having to wonder what I should make for dinner every night.
• It is fun rating each meal on our menu so we can decide which ones we want to make again or tweak.
• It is surprisingly easy to make your own meals from fresh, non-processed food five nights a week.
• After not losing a pound all summer I lost six pounds in one week on this new meal plan.  
• Lena (my super picky eater) tried, ate, and liked,THREE new vegetables in one week.  Her favorite is cauliflower rice. (She has tons of variations of this rice that I can't wait to try!)
• I am a fan!

Most of the new ingredients were not that hard to find!  These were some good deals I found at Costco! (Coconut oil, coconut crystals, blue agave syrup)

Since I am such a fan of baked goods I love that Diana has tons of healthier cookie and dessert recipes for me to try.  My favorite so far is a blondie recipe that is awesome!  I am so glad that I have taken the plunge into learning healthier cooking techniques and some great new recipes.  I am certain that I will still eat cheese and have some of my old favorites occasionally but I LOVE that I have finally found a way to eat healthy food without getting bored and feeling deprived.  I will have to update once we get a few more weeks into our 8 week Real Healthy Menu.