Better Late Than Never

Wow it's been SO long since I've blogged! Sorry if you've been checking only to find nothing new. It's been super busy around these parts.

After the sickness left our house I was able to finally make it back to camp (after a whole missed week) last Wednesday. It was extra special for me because my husband was there to join me. I was excited for him to see what I get the pleasure of doing 4-5 times a week. The beat downs I love and hate at the same time. I remember posting on the RSBC Facebook page for Curtis to make it an extra tough one, just to be sure Joel really had a good time. Lovely wife, aren't I? Yes. Anyway, he really liked it. He gave me props when we got home, not that he wasn't already proud of me, he was even more proud after he experience it for himself. He had AWFUL form.. Like... reallllyy bad. I had to laugh at him, just a little bit though, because I was there when I started. My first day I probably looked just as ridiculous. Maybe it's because he appears to be fit, tall, skinny.. etc. Skinny does NOT equal fit. I told him when we got home that he needed to work on his form before he hurts himself and I think he is interested in trying. At least at home with me. He was sore for days... 5 to be exact. I give him a hard time, but I was so proud of him and loved working out with him.

The next day was Thanksgiving, and the second annual RSBC Turkey morning workout. I took pictures of the event, You can see those here if you are interested. It was a huge turn out with 100+ campers and their families. Working out that morning gave campers a free pass at stuffing their faces. It was earned.

I didn't stuff my face though :) Thursday I had dinner at my in-laws house. I had a healthy portion, no seconds, and a piece of pie. Friday was dinner at my parents house. They don't cook as healthy as my husband's parents, so even though it was a holiday and I COULD'VE gone buck wild with the food, still I controlled myself. I started off with a HUGE helping of salad, like 2/3 of my plate full of salad. Ate that first, ate slowly, then proceeded to the rest of my meal. My sister made these amazing little turkey smokey things wrapped in turkey bacon and baked. I doubt they were nitrate free but omg were they good. I had a few of those. Small helpings of turkey, stuffing, potatoes. And then PIE. Yummy, delicious, creamy pie. Just a small sliver of each (3) to equal one regular size. It was sooo good.

I'm pretty proud of myself. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the food, but more importantly I love getting all my family together. It's fun and chaotic. I normally would get so full from multiple helpings of food that I felt sick. Go into a food coma on the couch afterwards, etc. This time I didn't. I think I actually left both places hungry! Imagine that. I guess I just didn't care about the consequences in the past. Now I do.


So while I did eat food I normally shouldn't (stuffing, potatoes, pie), overall I didn't do too bad.

Next was Black Friday. One year (before children obviously) my husband and I camped out over night at Best Buy. I don't even think we bought anything great, but it was an experience. Since then, we'd scout the papers, see if there is anything that's a good deal, but don't need to start waiting in line at 10pm the night before for. For the past 2 years we've gone to Babies R Us to get their baby wipes door buster. A box of wipes for $5! That's like.. 50% off. Having 2 babies in diapers, that's a big deal. You can only buy 3 boxes though. The plan was for both of us to go, each get 3. Joel had to work so I had to go by myself. With both kids. Got my 3, ran to Target.. they didn't have my frames I wanted, went to the other BRU for 3 more boxes, they were sold out, went to the other Target for frames-- sold out.. hmpf. So 3 hours of in and out of stores, each time hauling both girls in and out of their car seats, into the stroller or shopping cart. I was exhausted and only got 3 boxes of wipes out of it! Disappointing.

It was a good workout though. I was sweating when I got home.

What's next... trying to remember the whole last week... Oh then it was the weekend. We hung our Christmas lights on the house, and put up out tree :)

Monday, I had to miss camp. It seems like I always miss Mondays. They're so hard to get anything done. Especially right now. It's busy season for me, so work-wise I'm swamped.

Don't fret- just because I miss camp, doesn't mean I don't get a good burn in during the day. It's much more boring, but I still do it. I'll hop on the elliptical for 20 minutes of cardio, then pop in Jillian's 30 day shred, which is another 20 minutes. It's pretty similar to boot camp, just again, boring. I love the group atmosphere.

AND I've missed my RSBC friends!

Tonight I was back. YAY. Got to see a few people. A few of them said I was looking thinner, thank you! Carmen said I was "looking little". I laughed because the last time I was little, I was a baby. It felt good to hear though. I'm getting there.

Today's camp was intense. I loved being back. It took me like 5 minutes after we were done just to catch my breath enough to put my mat and weights back! Time to pull it together, get back on the camp train. Hopefully no one around here gets sick again. I feel like I've missed so much camp lately and it actually bothers me. So referencing my post title:

Better Late Than Never.


Curtis said it near the end of camp tonight. I don't know why but it just stuck with me and I thought right there "That's my blog post tonight". I started reflecting at that moment. 


I was late to camp today by a few minutes, but I still made it.
I'm late, in life, at working out.
Late at being healthy.
Late at being the HAPPIEST I CAN be.
Late at loving myself to the fullest.

It really is better to be late than nothing at all. I can't afford 'never'. The time is now, even if I'm a little behind.

Hurt So Good

Just like John Mellencamp said. I love feeling some soreness after a good workout, reminds me that I actually DID something!

So WOW. The past few days have be ca-ray-zy! I didn't even blog about last Thursday because my mind was so occupied with my daughter's upcoming 2nd birthday party. I had SOO much prep to do. I actually don't even remember Thursday and Friday......... Wait... just came to me, Thursday at boot camp we had a special guest representing the Special Olympics in for a good motivational pep talk. I photographed that.. more on that later.

Before I get too far, a few of you have been begging me for an updated pic. I promised that since on the 12th we were taking measurements and 'before' pictures, I'd update that day.. well, as above stated, I've been so busy basically last weekend is a blur. I look absolutely freakin' HORRID in my 'before' pics that we took on Saturday, which is another reason I didn't post it. So today I was having another one of those "Skinny Days" and felt pretty good so I had the hubster snap a quick one of me before heading off to camp. Here is my progression thus far since the beginning in June, til now Week 21. I've lost 11 inches around my waist, BOOYA!

Week 21 overall, Week 10 at boot camp.

My husband decided he needed to be sitting down while taking the picture, so looking up at my chin(s) isn't very flattering. But I digress.

So that's that. Moving on.

As I said on Thursday we had a special guest come to camp and give us all a little pep talk. He spoke about teamwork and determination. After watching him complete one of the hardest sessions I've done at camp, I was so impressed and definitely motivated. He was so kind and inspiring, made me want to work so much harder. Here are a few images from that day. Dakota was such a trooper!

I know the stamp say Rock Star BC, but I can use these images, since I am the photographer :)

Friday-- blur. Crazy prepping/cleaning for the party. Nothing exciting here.

Saturday was measurements, pictures and then an INSANE, INSANE Trx session with Rachelle. OMG. I felt that workout for days, actually... I think I felt it up until yesterday. We did these TRX Saws and Pendulums that rocked my world. Rachelle said we'd do 3 cycles, 12 rounds each. Then she said to do some "practice saws/pendulums" before we started so we knew what we were doing. "WHAT THE..?!" Is what I said.. during the PRACTICE round. And she thinks we're doing three rounds of these? psssh.

I lasted 1.5 rounds. Imagine if I could've done the whole three, I'd still be in pain I'm sure!

Here are the pendulums.

The saws:

So yea.. crazy. But SOO good.

I whined like a little baby all day Saturday and Sunday while I prepped the food for the party (Sunday afternoon). I home-made my chicken marinade, it had to be cooked before hand so that was Saturday. Then I made 2 different kinds of salsa, that had to be made Sat. also so the flavors would be right for the next day. I moaned and groaned while chopping, my lats were on FIRE. I even contemplated taking some Tylenol to get through the pain so I could keeping working. I'm not big on OTC pills or medication, so I just complained through the pain instead. :) Betcha would've loved being in my house that day! My poor husband. At least I had a good reason!

Sunday winds around, still haven't rested. I've been preparing for this party for forever mentally. Physically, I prepared by working out enough last week to earn myself a treat. The cake. I planned on having a piece of cake at my daughters party no matter what. I think I deserved it. Curtis says to "earn your cheat day." I worked out 6 times last week! I earned it. I didn't use my cheat for the whole day though. I served all sorts of food, most fresh and healthy, some not like hotdogs and chips.. Proudly though, I didn't have any of that. I snacked on lots of celery and carrots, greek yogurt ranch dip, my grilled chicken, more celery.

When it was finally my turn to sit down and enjoy myself, I also enjoyed my piece of cake. yummmm. Ask Jessica if you don't believe me. It was 'moan out loud' delicious. I had a hard time concentrating on the story she was telling me because I was falling in love with the rare treat in my hands. I savored it like you wouldn't even believe. Probably because I knew it would be a long time until I had another piece. I probably wont have cake again until my Selah's (my 6 month old) birthday in May. So you can bet I was a little involved in my plate. It's a beauty, look at this thing! and No, I didn't make it.

If you're interested in your own cake, obviously doesn't have to be Strawberry Shortcake theme, let me know and I will send you contact information. The lady is a local girl and not only are her cakes GORGEOUS, they taste amazing and PERFECT for any party requiring a cake :)

Here is the birthday girl herself. She hogged all the balloons. It was her party after all :)

Monday, I took the day off. I didn't feel guilty, I needed and deserved the rest. I had major damage control to do after the hurricane of children left my house. Clean up is the worst part of any party. After clean up, I did nothing. I finished up some work on the computer, but when that was done, I just chillaxed. WHEW. FINALLY a chance to breath!

Tonight-- back to the grind again. Boot camp was awesome, got in a great sweat. Why is it so warm out? I was so hot in my long sleeve shirt, I just about had to strip down. I wouldn't do that to the other campers though, no worries!

I'm excited about the week. With the party done and over, I can focus my mind on my weight loss again. Even though the holidays are right around the corner... Story of my life, there's always something 'right around the corner'. Just the way the cookie crumbles I guess. Now I'm off to eat some veggies.

Ropes Galore!

Wow am I exhausted! Last night was my 4th workout this week, today will be my 5th and that still leaves TRX on Saturday. It's more exhausting just thinking about the rest of the week too lol!

I've got a crazy weekend ahead of me, I don't even see any relaxing in my near future. My daughter's 2nd birthday party is on Sunday. A huge BBQ, lots of people, lots of little kids. I've got so much prep to do!

Last night I went to camp ready to bust a move like every other day and during warm up my tail bone started hurting when I would jump. ouch. I wondered why? I thought maybe I needed to pop something, do some twists. No that wasn't it. If I ran, shuffled, jacked.. anything with impact, my tailbone hurt. So I needed to modify basically the entire night, since it was a cardio day, I knew it would be full of high running, jumping etc. Curtis said we could hit the ropes if we ever needed to switch something up. So I started there since the first round was TRX jump squats. A whole round of ropes. 10w/10r x 10 rounds. YOWZA. Then moved on to throwing the medicine ball side ways the shuffling to get it.. I couldn't shuffle either, so I modified to side slams. The next station didn't hurt to bad, it was sprinting forward then back pedaling about 5 yards or so. As long as I wasn't pounding the cement I was okay. Next came bear crawls. I tried it, figured it's no impact so it should be okay. I was wrong. You put a lot of pressure on your back during a bear crawl and it felt like my tail bone was shattering.

Off to the ropes again.

The cycle repeated a few times. I visited the ropes a few times more. One of the rounds I decided to try the jump squats and just pop up on my toes. That wasn't too bad so I did that for the last few cycles. So I tried everything and if I needed to modify I'd go on the ropes... which was a lot.

Midway through the night, I figured out why my tailbone was hurting. Earlier yesterday I tripped over one of my daughter's toys laying on the living room floor. I was so mad especially since I had JUST cleaned up the toys and didn't expect anything to be there when I walked back out of baby girl's room. Apparently my 2 year old doesn't think toys should go in the toy room. hmphf.

Sooooo..that was that. I went home, ate some great lentil soup. I had a dream last night that I lost 14 pounds. HA. If only that were true. I'll get there eventually I guess.

Love me some 2x Tuesdays!

Tuesdays are definitely my favorite camp days. They're also my husband's day off so I'm able to go to camp twice a day. I went this morning at 9:15am and again tonight at 6:30. Oy... the workouts were brutal, but yet again I obviously loved it since I went back for more. This morning the dumb-bells I chose were 10 lbs. They were good, but I could've done more so tonight I went for the 12 lb'ers. With the muscle fatigue I had from this morning behind me tonight, the 12's were definitely enough. I don't think I'm going back to the 10's :)

Back in the day (9 weeks ago lol) I could NOT do a mountain climber. I literally could not lift one leg forward without falling down. Today I am pleased and so proud to announce that not only can I do the full on mountain climbers, fast and for the full round without dropping, I can do them with RESISTANCE BANDS!! Can you believe it?! Remember this video?

I'm not a gloater and don't like to brag (much, teehee) but I very proud of myself. I've been strutting around the house with my nose high "I can do mountain climbers, neh ner neh ner neeehh nerr!" Who do I have at home to brag to like it's a competition? Not my 2 year old lol, and definitely not my 5 month old! I'm just happy for myself and I feel like yelling it to the world! There is absolutely no telling what the future holds :)


Hey ladies, wanna know a good way to get rid of cramps? Get your work out on. It doesn't make them feel better, but usually the rest of your body aching draws the attention away lol.

Tomorrow I'm thinking of taking the kids to the park, maybe walking around the mall for a few hours, just getting out. I love being more active, having more energy. I can actually experience my children's childhood WITH them, versus standing (or sitting) on the sidelines watching them have fun without me. My husband and I finally put dates on our vacation next year to Sea World. It's one of our favorite places ever. Just knowing that I'll have the energy to walk around the park all day long, walking up the bleacher stands, running with them on the beach... it's so motivating to keep up with what I've been doing. They're truly my inspiration.

For those asking for an updated picture, I know I'm so far behind. At camp we're doing a "before" picture and taking measurements this Saturday the 12th so I'll use that picture as my update and my new before for the fat buster program. Stay tuned for that, no excuses why I haven't put it up after that since everyone will be getting a pic!

Okay another thing, you're probably sick of me talking about this kale salad that Allison gave me the recipe for but I'm pretty much obsessed with kale now. It's my new favorite green leafy veggie and I just can NOT get enough. Can I eat too much kale? If so, someone best tell me quick because I'm like a stinkin' rabbit with it. I had to stop at the store on the way home from camp tonight to get some more. I'm making something different, but it's still with kale. I'll mix it with Romaine lettuce, the delicious dressing that came with the kale salad recipe, OH and I'm topping it with some tuna. I get the good tuna (expensive too) so I'm pretty excited about it.

I need to go clothes shopping, my pants are too big, and I've seriously never had that issue before :)

Skinny Days

I haven't had many 'skinny days', but have far too many 'fat days'. Not just in literal size, but the feeling. Looking in the mirror and seeing myself bloated and.. just not being happy with  myself. A few times over the course of 9 weeks that I've been at boot camp, I've had a few "skinny days". Today was one of them. I woke up this morning and my pants felt a little loose, I knew they were far too big when I put my cell phone in my pocket and they just about fell down to my ankles! I went and weighed myself, stupid scale. I think I'm finally going to get a new one that will give a full reading. I know it's wrong because I'll step on, it'll give me one number, then I'll get off and repeat and it's completely different number, usually about 5 lb difference. I want to measure body fat % so I think I'll get a nifty one.

Anyway, the scale is not my friend, but my pants fell down, so something is happening for sure!

Then I looked in the mirror and said "huh.." turned to the side, turned to the front again.. asked my husband, "Does my stomach actually look smaller to you? or is it just me" Being the good man that he is, of COURSE he told me I looked smaller, he's smart. But no really, my stomach felt "flatter" not bloated at all, less flabby. (am I giving you a mental image yet? LOL!) My face looked a little skinnier too, and my butt.. well, I can't tell but my husband, yet again with a smart answer, said it's getting pretty toned..  okay, Honey.

So I felt good all day. I love having to tighten the drawstrings of stretchy pants. I always thought they were stupid for being put in them. Why would you tighten pants made to stretch? I had to tighten my workout pants too at camp! Curtis got in some new t-shirts and hoodies with the camp logo on them, I've been waiting for one to represent! so I'm glad I finally got one. It's a long sleeve, just in time too. I was able to fit in a size smaller than I thought, but still ended up going with the large size so I'm comfortable while working out and have a little wiggle room.

Cardio Monday was awesome. I got those pains in my side that I haven't gotten since week one. Curtis said when that happens I should scale it back a notch. So I take it that that means I was working my tale pretty hard :)

Finished up with an amazing dinner.. the kale salad I posted about last week. I had a huge helping and added in some roasted chicken and pears. Definitely a new favorite of mine. Now it's movie time with the hubs before bed.

Lovely day! Thank you to all my friends, family and supports. Your encouragement really means a lot to me and a few words really do go a long way.

EWW McRib Sandwich

I just read an article that explained what actually is IN the infamous, limited time only McRib Sandwich from McDonald's. It's revolting, disgusting, vomitrocious....

"Reportedly the sandwich's ingredients include "a flour-bleaching agent used to make the soles of shoes... and foamed plastics like gym mats."

^^That isn't even the worst part. No thank you, I do not want to eat my gym mat. Read more about it's atrociousness here. Hopefully if you are a "McRib Follower" you will change your mind. Save yourselves people, do NOT eat this crap!

Courtesy of McDonald's

RSBC Madness!!

Wow, It's Friday already! I'm finally able to get some time to blog about yesterday. Busy busy busy. Last night's work out was super hard. I felt really challenged and today I'm feeling the fruits of my labor lol. We started off with the typical warm up: running in place, a few squats, body weight bent over rows which basically are lifting your arms out down and up, like a T-Y-I, push ups and of course some good old mountain climbers. Then Curtis graced us with "call it an extended warm up" and threw in a Mitochondria Push up challenge. A little clip about Mitochondria since I'm no expert, taken from this site:

"Definition Mitochondria and Their Importance to the Metabolic Rate
Mitochondria are little organelles present within all cells of the human body. Mitochondria are often referred to as the “powerhouse of the cell” because they are responsible for producing most energy from food elements. They also contain all of the enzymes associated with aerobic energy production. These organelles are an important part of the metabolism because they control fat burning that occurs at low levels of exertion. The aerobic oxidation forms a large part of our basal metabolic rate so any increase in mitochondrial mass will help raise the metabolism."

So for this we did the 4 second push up... yowza. 2 seconds down, 2 seconds up. 60seconds of WORK and 60 seconds of rest...Slowing it down REALLY forces you to concentrate on your strength. You can't just use the force of gravity to thrust yourself up or down. Can I just say that these are like...10x harder than doing regular push ups? geez.

I could barely do them, I stopped several times, almost fell on my face several times... after the second round (out of 3) I went up to a tire, still could barely do them. I think for those I need to be on a wall.

Last night was killer.. I think I said that already, but it was seriously so hard. I was grunting and making all sorts of noise... sorry to my neighbors if you had to listen to me all night while Curtis was trying to kill us!

For the main workout: ESCALATING DENSITY. What's that? Basically starting out working and resting for equal amount of time, and then escalating your work, while decreasing your rest. Our cycles were like this:

(work/rest)
30/30
40/20
45/15
50/10 <-------- "f@#$**#)^%#@*&&#*@"

For each of those cycles we did 5 different exercises. 5x4= 20 total rounds. blech.

1. Staggered Squat Left (loaded with weights or not, I loaded with one 10 pounder)
2. Staggered Squat Right
3. Bent Over Rows <--- my shoulders are loving that one!
4. Sumo Squat with overhead press <----thighs are loving THAT one!
5. Mountain Climbers OR if you're extra feisty, at the half way point switching to Mountain Jumps... I wont even go there.

So each of those five we'd run through the 30/30, 40/20 etc. The last round, 50/10 was my most verbal round. At the end I pretty much collapsed on my mat and didn't move for a few minutes. Curtis succeeding in kicking my butt no doubt. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

After camp I had my hubby grab me a glass of my post workout drink then picked him and the kids up and headed to the grocery store. I wanted to try a Kale and Brussel Sprout salad that another camper, Allison, had mentioned before. I've never eaten either of them and was scared I'd really hate it. The first few bites I wasn't too thrilled. It wasn't BAD, just not amazing. Then I started getting a few of the toasted sunflower seeds on my fork that had been dressed in the homemade dressing I made... it slowly started getting better and better. By the end of my bowl, I think I fell in love. It was so delicious. Maybe it was an acquired taste or something, but I definitely acquired it! Thanks again Allison for the recipe, having more options means I have more chances to fuel my body correctly.

I pushed the double stroller out of the store and took off running. Elika screamed "WEEEEEE!!!!" and my husband screamed "Where are you GOING?!" He parked in the very first spot closest to the door but I took off and ran down a whole row of cars and back up to him at the car. I use to nag at him for parking so far away from the door because "look how far we have to walk now!"... LA-ZY! So last night he looked bewildered at me  and said, "What has gotten IN to YOU!?!"

Rock Star has...

Then he told me to run the cart back to the well  in front of the store. So I did. And that was that. I feel amazing!

Long Week, back to RSBC Finally!

Well not really a long week since it's only Wednesday, but it seems like so long because I haven't been to Rock Star Boot Camp (RSBC) since last Thursday for boot camp Friday. You already know that I had to miss TRX Saturday since I posted about that in my last blog. I also missed Monday to be with my kids, and Tuesday my dad had some truck issues or something I needed to bring him to his warehouse to sort out. I left with plenty of time to get to camp, but then got caught behind a major serious accident literally one blog away. It's like seeing it so close, but yet so far out of reach.

Monday was Halloween, obviously.. I dressed my daughter in a mermaid costume that I made myself (squee!!) and I made one for her cousin to wear as well. They were the CUTEST little mermaids that ever walked the land. My youngest baby was a little kitty. She slept the entire time we were trick-or-treating, this year wasn't much for her.

Anyway, my oldest will be 2 two weeks from today and she's never had a piece of candy. Not even one. She did have fun holding out her bucket and saying her version of "trick-or treat" which was "see-yo, see-yo". She's so cute. She loved getting treats in her bucket, even though she wanted nothing to do with them, YAY for her! It was so much fun seeing all the little kids dressed up in their cuteness, meeting new people. I didn't splurge on eating candy though like every other year. I actually don't like too much candy, I'd prefer not to have cavaties thank you! I got soooo much of it though, I think I'm going to have to give it away at Elika's birthday party in a few weeks. Actually that just reminded me that a fellow camper and friend's husband is deployed, serving in the US Army and they missed out on treats, so RSBC is putting together a big box of all the candy we SHOULDN'T be eating to ship to his unit. They'll really enjoy that I bet!

Tonight was the typical "Kill a friend Wednesday" but Curtis decided to call it "kill your partner cardio thunder band day". That basically sums it up to a TEE. We used these wonderful "teal spaghetti" tension bands:

and then proceeded with some crazy partner madness. The band was around our hips, while one person was working, the other served as our tension anchor, pulling back on us creating resistance. We weren't just doing jumping jacks, we were doing jacks while working against a force drawing us back.

30s of work, 5s of rest
5 different stations x 5 cycles.

1. Stationary Sprints
2. Jumping Jacks (killer on the calves and shins!)
3. Full body extensions, jumping if you can at the top
4. Back/Forward pedaling, 2steps back- 2 forward.
5. Side shuffles.

YOWZA!

I highly suggest NOT going a week in between HIIT sessions at RSBC. Seriously. It's such a beyotch getting back into it. My feet hurt, my back hurts, calves, knees... just about everything. BUT I will say that all this "rest" seems to have given my body time to recuperate and I "lost" a few more pounds. I say that in quotes because I've said before that my scale has mood swings. It works sometimes, then it doesn't.

Rachelle has scheduled a before and after measurement dealio to take place 11/12. We're going to take our measurements of our "before" selves and then start on the Rock Star Boot Camp Holiday Fat Buster! Sounds like fun. I can't wait to beat the crap out of my fat and NOT go all crazy with the holiday foods coming up. I'm not exactly sure when we're going to do another measurement to see our progress, but I love that I'll be able to document the changes I'm making with other campers, and see their success as well! YAY.

I'm so glad to be back at camp. Too bad it's the weekend soon.

One last tidbit:

My cucumber salad/salsa was featured in a good friends blog across the country. She's on the east coast, so we're going international :) WOOT. Jk, not that big of a deal. But check out her post here on The Half-baked Housewife. She is hilarious and has some great stuff on her site!