The Bull Truth

Alrighty, I'm back at the old blog. And back at the diet. Things have been rough in the healthy department since we moved to Boise, not gonna lie.  First of all, there is no Cardio Barre here.  NO CARDIO BARRE.  Seriously, it makes me want to die.  Second, I'm an emotional eater so bring on the stress of moving, being in a new place, add the Christmas season and all of its wonderful treats and suddenly I'm extra fat and out of shape(and it's extra sad because I had recently finished the 30 in 30 at CB and I was looking pretty dang good).

Back in December, I saw my new primary physician and she recommended losing 15 lbs before I even think about having another baby. Just 15 lbs in order to get my blood pressure and reflux under control.  Sounded easy to me at the time, but it's now been two months and I haven't lost any.  I get to face my doctor tomorrow and she will see my poor, still fat bum. Ugh.

But there is good news!  I finally found some motivation.  I'm tired of feeling cruddy, I'm tired of being achy and I'm looking forward to the awesome feeling I get when I give my body the good things it needs. But ultimately, my final motivation came from watching a very unflattering video of me riding a mechanical bull.  No joke. I had gone out that night feeling cute, but when I saw the video I saw nothing but fat, covered in plaid and leggings, jiggling on top of a big fake bull. Ugh. As not fun as that was to see, I think I needed it to really wake me up.

So I've been drinking more water. And actually eating vegetables.  I joined an actual gym and sometimes I even go workout in it.  I'm still not over the whole CardioBarre thing so I ordered the at-home workout from their website. It's definitely not as fun, and I miss the class atmosphere, but lame CardioBarre is better than no CardioBarre. Plus if I do it at home I can fart when I want to and I don't have to worry about shaving my legs.

Anyway, wish me luck facing the doctor tomorrow with my still-just-as-fat-as-last-time bum.  And please help keep me on track for my 15lbs.

Dirty Thirty

Hey friends! It's been a long time! Honestly, I haven't been very motivated with dieting, or at least not very committed.  Plus, at the beginning of the year I started to get this nasty pain in my side that made it difficult to work out. Then when I went to the doctor, despite having totally clear tests, she was convinced that I had lung cancer, or heart problems or who knows what else. So I coudn't really work out until all that was cleared up. I'm fine, by the way. And I switched doctors since that one was apparently crazy!

But I digress. I'll just say that I'm tired of being overweight, and I'm tired of feeling blah! Not to mention, JR and I would like to have another baby someday, and since the last one almost killed me I would like to go into the next pregnancy as healthy as possible.

So here comes the Dirty Thirty.  As most of you know, I have a small obsession with Cardio Barre and today marks the start of Cardio Barre's 30 in 30 challenge. I am doing it! That means I get to take 30 barre classes in 30 days...yikes! There is no specific method, I can take one class each day or double or triple (eek!) them up, just so long as I get 30 in 30. I'm excited and nervous! Already I know some days I'm going to miss this month, which means I'm going to have to double up soon.  I know it will be good and my body will thank me for it in the end...but wowza it's gonna hurt!

This is where I need your help. Motivation! Help keep me accountable. Get my butt to barre! Already I have had a small moment of suckiness. Today is the first day, the FIRST DAY, and already I skipped my morning class to stay in bed. I made it to the evening class so I'm not technically behind yet. It's crazy though, I have been so excited to start this challenge and yet today it was hard to muster up any enthusiasm. On my way to class I was like I so don't feel like this tonight, and during class I was like is this over yet? Which is so unlike me.  I LOVE barre. I don't know if I'm just letting  my doubts and fears defeat me or what...but I'm going to need to pep myself up if I'm going to make it all 30 days.

So wish me luck in my challenge, I'm going to need it. Plus, anyone who wants to join me at barre is always welcome!

My Thighs Need a Little More Lightning and a Lot Less Thunder

Help! Help!  Help!

First, an update.  Since last February, when I started my diet, I have lost 25 pounds.  25 pounds!  Hooray!  While I am proud of myself, and so happy to be under 200 lbs (yes, I can admit it now, I was over 200...remember I'm only 5'3), I need to do more.  And I need to do it faster.  The weight that I have lost is no small potatoes, but it took me almost a year.  This is mainly due to the fact that I lost motivation and will power several times, plus, yes I'm going to say it again, I love donuts.

I don't want anyone to think that when I say "faster" that I am planning on doing any unhealthy dieting.  No starving myself (haha, like I could ever manage that), no diet pills or weird fad diets.  The main thing I need to do to lose weight faster is to stay focused.  As I said, it took me so long to lose what I did because I kept taking breaks.  And the breaks got longer and longer, and were filled with more and more donuts, fries, and sitting on my butt in my yoga pants.

So this is where you all come in.  I need motivation!  I need focus!  I need donuts...um, I mean...vegetables!  Let me tell you what I'm looking for.  I know I've said this before, but inspirational quotes or personal success stories would be wonderful.  I would LOVE suggestions for fun workouts that give good results (hula hoop, anyone?), and even a workout buddy or two.  *just a side note.  DO NOT suggest Cross Fit.  You Cross Fit people are part of a cult, I'm pretty sure.*  I would also take donations to my Cardio Barre fund.  Just throwing that out there.  Finally, I would love healthy recipes.  I have some stipulations on the recipes though.  They can't be too complicated.  It's  really hard to cook with the babe crawling around.  Second, the food has to actually taste good.  Weird suggestion, I know.  I especially like healthy recipes that don't actually taste like diet food...I have a few so I know they exist.  Please give me more! Third, I don't want Paleo recipes, especially if they have a million grams of fat in them.  You Paleo people...also a cult.  And finally, and most importantly, I don't want recipes with any damn cauliflower in them.

I know I'm asking a lot from you, my few and faithful readers, but keep this in mind:  If you need inspiration, focus or, yes, donuts,  I will be there to supply those for you in return.  I want and need to get healthier.  Anyone who feels that they need to make a healthy change, let's do it together.  And yes, I realize how horribly lame and cheesy that sounds, but I'm going to stick by it anyway.  Please post your motivations, successes, recipes, and even your failures (especially if they are funny), either here or to the blog link on Facebook.  Here's to another 25 pounds!!!

Hula Hoopery

Alrighty, as promised, here is my report on my hula hoop workout.  Let me just start out by saying that I when I bought the system I realized that there was going to be some level of lameness associated with this work out.  I had no idea, however, that it was going to be as lame as it was.

In my defense, hula hooping has actually started to become a "thing" in the work out world.  Hula hooping is supposed to be great for stabilizing the core and slimming the waist.  Since I carry lots of fat in the waistular area, plus I'm AWESOME at hula hooping, I thought this workout would be great for me.  And the system I bought not only had a weighted hoop (for added intensity!) but it also came with a  DVD that claimed to give you a full body work out.  I was totally game!

The first thing I noticed about this workout was there wasn't a whole lot of hooping going on.  Silly me for thinking that a hula hooping workout would contain actual hula hooping.  There was a lot of using the hoop (the instructor kept calling it a "tube") to do lame aerobics moves which you will see on my lovely sample video.  And yeah, I guess it was working my whole body, but it was super hard to take anything they were doing seriously.  I think I'm going to have super toned eyeballs though, as I did A LOT of eye rolling throughout the workout.  You will see what I mean.  Bad.  So bad.  To be fair, the actual hooping part is tough and does work the core muscles quite well.  As for the rest of it...well I hope you get a good laugh!

Motivation Meltdown

I need help!  I have gone several months now without losing any weight.  I haven't gained any, so that is a plus, but I am still quite a few pounds away from where I would like to be.  I am in the midst of a full motivation meltdown and I need your help.

It all started with Cardio Barre.  As you all know,  I am a major barre addict.  I finally found something that I enjoy doing, that makes me feel great, and kicks my butt.  However, Cardio Barre is expensive and once all my Groupon deals ran out I haven't been able to afford to go as often as I would like.  And that made me a little depressed.  As in, I really felt like I was going through barre withdrawals.  And then I stopped going almost completely.  And then all those muscles that were getting lean and toned all too quickly started going back to flab.  And that made me want to eat donuts and French fries and drink lots of caffeine instead of my wonderful water that I love.  It's amazing how quick and easy it is to fall into all the old bad habits.

So here is what I'm going to do.  First of all, I'm going to dust off, once again, my big old mug and start my water habit.  I'm going to start with a small, doable goal of working out twice a week...even if it's not my beloved Cardio Barre.  After I break in those habits, I'm really going to knuckle down on the diet part. 

So this is what I need from YOU.  Motivation!  That includes any personal triumphs, things that have worked for you to stay on track, favorite recipes or workouts, words of encouragement, or just a good old fashioned kick in the butt.  Let's do this together!  (oh wow, that was nerdy) 

P.S.  I have recently purchased a fitness hula hoop (with instructional DVD!).  I have not tried it yet, but already I can see it inspiring an interesting, if not hilarious blog post.  Stay tuned...

No Intervention Necessary!

I am an addict.  A Cardio Barre addict.  It used to be when people would say that they were addicted to working out, I not only thought they were crazy, but I also kind of
hated them a little.  I mean, being addicted to chocolate, Dr. Pepper and pajama pants was totally understandable, but working out?  What was wrong with these people?!?!  For
me, those exercise addicts fell into the same "I Loathe You" category as the people that like to go around saying, "Oh I just hate it when I forget to eat!"  Like really, who
forgets to eat?  They must not have any donuts in their cupboards.

But the time has come.  Although I still never forget to eat (I don't think that's EVER going to happen), I am now one of those crazy work-out addicts.  So long as that
workout is Cardio Barre. I can't get enough.  I leave each class already plotting when I can go to another session.  I have been working on ditching my Massage Envy
membership and my gym membership just to fund my Cardio Barre addiction.  And I can't stop talking about it.  I find myself bringing it up repeatedly in conversations, even
when no one seems even remotely interested.  I can't help it. I love the barre!

First of all, let me clear something up.  Cardio Barre is NOT the stripper pole workout.  The reason I am bringing this up is I have had several people operating under the
assumption that I have been going to such classes and they have wanted to see my "moves".  No.  Just no.  Cardio Barre does not use a pole, it uses a barre (the extra letters
on the end of the word "bar" is what makes it classy) and the routine is ballet and pilates based.  There is no twirling or sliding on the barre and absolutely no glitter,
fruit-flavored or otherwise.  So get your minds out of the gutters you filthy animals.

I will admit that I was very hesitant to try Cardio Barre when a friend first mentioned it to me.  It seemed like one of those places that people who were already in shape
went to work out.    Plus I don't like working out in public.  With all the sweating and my jiggly bits doing their sweaty jiggly dance, it's really hard for me to do the
workout thing with an audience.  So Cardio Barre was scary.  Not only was I forced to work out with other people, but I was convinced that those "other people" were going to
be a bunch of stuck up skinny girls.  I am so happy to say that I was wrong.  Cardio Barre is full of people of all shapes, sizes and fitness levels, and I have yet to meet
even one stuck up person.  Oh and did I mention the workout itself is awesome?  Because it is! 

I am not going to lie, it is definitely an ass-kicker of a workout.  It works muscles I didn't even know I had.  I love it!  Most of the instructors are so cute and positive
(I say most, because there is one instructor that is really kind of ewwww...) and they make me work tons harder than I ever would on my own.  Even though I still have a long
way to go, it's so encouraging to see the changes in my body.  Everything is getting tighter (and smaller!) and I'm  definitely getting stronger.  I have had a sciatic nerve
problem for a few years and now after 2 months of the barre it barely even bothers me. Yay!

One thing that has really helped is setting goals for myself in class.  My first one was to be able to make it through the bar thighs section without collapsing in a
sweaty, jiggly heap.  Done!  My next one was to make it through the cardio section without looking like I'm having a sweaty, jiggly stroke.  Done! (unless I have the ewww
instructor that doesn't lead very well.  But in that case I blame the stroke-like behavior on her)  My current goal is to make it through the outer thigh lifts without the
side of my butt cramping up and giving out.  Still a work in progress!

So now you know why I love Cardio Barre.  I will admit that it is still really hard for me to work out with a bunch of people.  And it is even harder for me to have to watch
myself in the mirror when I am at the barre.  Whenever the instructor says, "everyone keep your eyes off the floor" I know it's aimed at me.  But I am working on it.  Maybe a
little more self confidence will be my next class goal.  Maybe.

And one final update...I am now down a total of 20 lbs from when I first started trying to lose weight.  It is slower going than I hoped for, but so long as it's going, that
is all that matters.

I am curious, does anyone else have any particular workouts they love?  Please share!

Crappy-Mox

I have hit a small speed bump in the diet.   Some of you may know that a few years ago I was diagnosed with Pseudo Tumor Cerebri, which I know sounds super scary.  I mean, it has the word TUMOR in it, right?  This condition doesn't involve tumors at all.  I won't get into the nitty gritty of it, but pretty much this condition was making my optic nerve swell and part of my vision kept blacking out.  Now my vision is fine, and I haven't shown any symptoms for years, except one.  My optic nerve is not flat.  This bothers my eye specialist to no end because he can't tell if that is just my normal or if I still have some lingering effects of my condition.

Enter the speed bump.  Diamox.  Diamox is a drug used to treat Pseudo Tumor Cerebri.  I had to take boatloads of it when I was first diagnosed and it SUCKS.  JR and I call it Crappymox because of all of its wonderful side effects.  The doctor has now put me on it again just to see if it can flatten my optic nerve even more.  He also told me to lose weight (duh, already working on it!), and since I'm a horrible patient, I argued with him and told him it almost impossible to lose weight on Diamox.  Here is why:

It's super hard to stay hydrated with Crappymox.  It gets rid of all of the excess fluid in your body and then some.  Even with my gigantor Maverick mug its hard to keep up.  The first time I went to Cardio Barre after starting Crappymox my muscles were screaming!  Not the "this is a good workout" kind of hurt, but more like the "when is this over so I can go die" kind of hurt.

Crappymox causes tingling in fingers, toes and face.  It feels like the stabby pins and needles you get when your foot falls asleep. This is exacerbated by physical activity (ie; running), so the more I use my hands and feet, the more tingling I get.  Super fun!

Crappymox also causes fatigue.  I'm not talking the dopey medicine-head tiredness you get from Benadryl or pain meds.  It takes all your energy and doesn't give it back, usually without warning.  I'm fine and feeling good one minute and totally wiped out the next.  Love my Crappymox!

Crappymox either causes constipation or diarrhea.  It's hard to lose weight with the first one, and TERRIFYING to work out with the second.  'Nuff said.

In all fairness to the Crappymox, I have to admit it does have one great diet advantage.  I can't drink soda.  It won't cause any bad side effects, but somehow the drug makes soda seem like its flat, plus it tastes like its been laced with battery acid.  Diet drinks are the worst!  It's like battery acid with a handful of dirty pennies thrown in.  Yum!

So don't tell my doctor, but despite my complaining and all the yucky side effects, I have still lost weight.  That's because I'm awesome!  Down 18 lbs total.  Go me!

This is a picture of me with a "Farewell to Soda"  dirty Diet Coke from Straws