Keeping busy and MOVING

Hope that you are having a great and active holiday. I will be back to blogging daily after the holidays and when I start P90X2 full time. In the meantime I have been dabbling in the workouts and I am HURTING... sooo good! I need to add more air to my medicine and stability balls but I think that this is going to be a round for the records. I am going to smash this one outta the park and my MOM is going to be doing it with me. Mr. Wonderful just can not see himself "rolling around on a ball"... so Mom and I are beginning as soon as I get back from New Brunswick. I have also been snowshoeing... did 5 kms on Tuesday and it was awesome... here is a picture of our head field where I trekked... I live in God's country, what can I say!

Happy New Years friends!!

Logging my food

Do you do that? Do you log your food for the day... everyday? When I am focused and doing well it means that I am logging my food and exercising. That is it... it is the secret to weight loss... be honest about what you are consuming and work out daily. It works for me when I follow my own advice.

Anyway, I am leaving you with a couple more motivational prints that I found on Pinterest. I did Cardio X last night followed by a 15 minute sprint... tonight is night 2 in my B210K program that I am doing to regain some of my stamina that I have lost before the big competition. My hubby is getting jealous of my motivation and he is likely to cave and join me soon.

On the nutrition side... I ate 5 small meals yesterday (first time in a long time)and I even made a spicy chili quinoa salad... it was EXCELLENT. Anyway, I kept the calorie count under my goal and feel great this morning and back on it again. I did have some sleeplessness last night... not sure why but I am hoping that it will be better tonight.

Make it a great day folks!

What's new?

Are you all ready for the holidays? I can't wait to have some time off to focus on my family first, my workouts second and my studies third. Two weeks of being selfish... I just hope that I can come back to reality after it is over.

The plan? Well, I am running and working out haphazardly until January 16th when I start a new challenge. I am part of my Coach's team for P90x2 and I will have Tony Horton judging my results!!! OMGoodness, that should be the motivation that I need to really BRING IT this round. I have all the necessary equipment under the tree all wrapped up pretty. I will play around with the workouts and test them before the challenge so that I can really work it hard once I begin. I am getting my dear sweet hubby to join the challenge too because you all know that he hits it out of the park when he puts his mind to it. He also has the body that allows him to make HUGE changes quickly. Anyway, I wanted to check in and wish you all a happy holiday and leave you with a new sentiment for girls like me, thanks to Pinterest (if you are on Pinterest add me... I have no followers :P):

Week 2 & 3 in review

Oh dear, where has the time gone?

I have to confess that I have been doing a little too much of this:














Wishing that I was doing a little more of this:
















and this:

















beacause I have to post these (really embarrasing BUT I have to own it!)




































So, what is there to report? I have lost 2 pounds ... that is it. I have not been able to get in my workouts daily but get in about half right now. P90x2 is GONNA KILL me... but I need a new motivation and some inspiration because I do not wish to go to Disney FAT. I am getting thick around the midsection AGAIN and I am not giving up. I will update again next week.

Make it a great day!

Week 1 in review

Well, week one is in the books and here are my results:

P90X workouts: 5/6
Lunch hour walks with Superwoman: 1
Other workouts: Splitting wood for 2 hours
Water intake (min. 64oz) 5/7 days
Clean eating and logging eats: 6/7 days
Cheats: 1/7 days

I worked hard and sweated a bundle... I am sore from head to toe and I weighed in this morning to find out that all of my hard work ADDED two pounds to my already overweight body. :K

What are my plans for this week? Continue to commit to the new routine. I am planning to continue to follow the workouts and eat clean but I may increase my calories. Seems strange? Well, I am going to be eating 5 small meals a day, limit my coffee to three for the week and try and be more accountable on the weekends. I will post my before pics this week (when I load them to my computer).

Thanks for supporting me... I will keep trying and hopefully have a loss to share for this week. I am going to take my measurements too this week because I do not want the scale to dictate my success or failure. I feel great (sore but great) and looking forward to this week.

I have chosen my HARD... Bring it!!!

Make it a great day!

Illustrating my progress

Thanks to the photo bank on Google Images I can illustrate for you all where I am near the end of week one of my recommittment to a healthier me:

Let me begin by illustrating perfectly my only regret:

I missed one workout this week and will be doubling up today to catch up. I just ran out of time yesterday and couldn't get the workout in... but I wasn't worrying because I knew that I was done work today at noon and that I have time for two workouts today. I mean... I would not have a problem wasting two hours watching a movie, right... so I think that time will serve me better catching up on the workout I missed.




Beautifully said...


















And this is just a reminder to myself!










My Beachbody coach sent me the information on the new P90x application for Iphone... I think that I may wait to get it because I am just doing this in absence of the X2... I would prefer to spend $60 on an application for that program rather than this one.

Well, have a great weekend everyone... be back on Monday to fill you all in and share my BEFORES :EEK

Doing my Best

But really feeling sluggish. It may be because I am working out without any gas in the engine or just trying to re-establish some order in my workouts... but whatever the cause I am struggling. This morning I got Bear out of bed an convinced her to do it with me. It started off ok and she was getting in gear (but, between you and I she is not really trying very hard... I can't wait till she sees some results - that will push her) but really felt that Plyo was more than she could handle... so I popped in Core Synergistics instead. We got through it but it really wasn't pretty. This weekend we are taking our before pics (even though we will be a week into it) so that we can stay motivated. I will post them even though I am NOT proud of what I have let myself get to. Then I will post the 30 and 60 day pics and then I will be on to P90x2 :D

So, not much more to report. On the diet side it is going really well; I am keeping my protein high and feeling full all day. I am getting my water in and the systems are working great as a result. On the topic of protein I am going to admit that I tried the Visalus shakes and I want to know what you think of them? Have you tried them? Have you had success with them? If I am being totally honest I HATE them. They are gritty, odd-tasting and I just can NOT learn to like them. I tried ... I had two shakes but made three and the thought of drinking it made me nausous. So, I am back on Lean Body shakes with 35% protein and loving the chocolate milkshake flavor. I am going to start taking a multivitamin as well as CLA... but haven't yet. What supplements do you all take?

Make it a great day and I should say that I am HURTIN'! My core is on FIRE... it hurts to bed, to get up out of bed, to laugh, to cough... it hurts! I LOVE IT!

I Currently Struggle With...

... Time management!

Ok, so here is the deal... I have a new puppy and although she is the sweetest thing ever she has been getting me up twice a night to let her out to pee. In addition to that she also sleeps in our bed! Bad, I know but I can not help it... I hate to hear her cry. Why do I do these things to myself? I wish I were more selfish, but alas it is not in me to be like that. So, what has it done for my training? My plan was to wake up in the morning and do my workouts but that did not happen since I was not getting my rest at night. To work out at night (these days) are out of the question because ... this is my evening schedule :

Monday: Municipal Council Meeting
Tuesday: Bear goes to tutoring and Marge is studying
Wednesday: Bear goes to tutoring and Marge is working until 8 then studying till 9 with Bear
Thursday: Bubba has additional hockey practice (this is on top of the weekend practices for extra ice time because he is finally getting it and is starting to LOVE it)
Friday... I have no current plans for Friday.

This is not unusual... it is every week. What I did not mention is that Squeelie has hip hop as well on Monday's and Tuesday - Thursday she has after-school activities that require us to go get her. Our plates are FULL at night but I am not using any of this as an excuse... instead I made a plan. The plan was to start eating right as of November 1st (done!) and when the hour fell back I would get up REGARDLESS to work out at 4:45am. So this is what it looked like this morning:

4:35am: Meadow needs to pee so Momma takes her out
4:40am: Peeing complete and Momma is wide awake thanks to the Fall air... feed Meadow and Callie and leave them in the garage
4:45am: Beg Bear to get up and do it with me... not happening so I push play and enjoy the tranquility (that is until Tony starts)
5:45am: Workout in and 20oz of water down... hop in the shower and ready to start the day!

Breakfast consisted of plain oatmeal with some fixins added in (apple, raisins, vanilla and cinnimon).

The workout... was intense. I was able to get 20 pushups in for each set (except the diamond (15) and the dive bombers (10)). As for the chin ups I did 10 reps for each set... the first set assisted and the second set on my Smith machine using 80 pounds. The lawnmowers and the heavy pants were sets of 12 @ 25 pounds. The back flys were sets of 15 with 15 pounds of weights.

I feel AMAZING! I know that I will be hurting tomorrow morning and that Plyo is gonna kill me tomorrow but I am looking forward to it.













MAKE it a great day and Bring IT!

November 1st = 1st day of last round of the X

I got my first exam back yesterday and got a 90% ... yeah me! Now, that I feel I have a good handle on this learning thing I am making November 1st the first day back at the X. I have to admit that I have GAINED weight and inches but today I start sweating them back off. I will post stats tomorrow and get back at being accountable through my blog.

So, if you want to follow my progress please visit daily... it helps to know that others are aware of my goals so that I have a little pressure to keep at it.

Goals! Let's talk goals for a moment... what are my goals this round? I think that they include, but may not be limited to, the following:

1. To regain my endurance that I so helplessly threw away from the unplanned break
2. To prepare myself for January 1st when I begin P90x2
3. To remould my body for the beaches of Fl in March
4. To lead by example for my children
5. To feel well; strong; alive
6. To begin to be proud of my body again

That will do for now ;) So it has been declared and I am looking forward to recording my progress here.

Bring it!!

B-U-S-Y but need to make time for the X

I have to admit that training has been non-existant at my house. I had planned to begin the X again and have another full round in before the P90x2 arrives BUT this is what I have been busy with:















But I will soon be into a groove that will allow me to manage all of my many tasks and still make time for the X... but for now I am working on building another layer of fat over the last one :S God bless me...

Make it a great day!

Lookie here what I ordered!

January 1st we start this installation of Tony's torture :P

Sorry for my absence...

.. but I found a new obsession :P Here is a video to show you





We have been traveling all over and along our travels a stranger told us about this bike park that is just 2 hours from our home. It has become a regular place for our family to chill and we are all learning to defy gravity and take our bikes where we never imagined taking them before!



I will update again soon with progress information.

Make it a great day!

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday

Now, I have decided that I would share some yummy recipes with you on Tuesdays. I have been trying hard to eat clean and watch my sugar intake so I am always looking for healthy recipes that I can share with my family.

With Fall in the air I have been planning to start making some yummy oatmeal for breakfast again. I love oatmeal because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside and it keeps me full for a long time. Don't take my word for it... here are 10 reasons to try Oatmeal for your breakfast, according to THIS WEBSITE:


Over 40 studies show that eating oatmeal may help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. According to Quaker, all it takes is 3/4 cup of oatmeal each day to help lower cholesterol. The soluble fiber in oats helps remove LDL or "bad" cholesterol, while maintaining the good cholesterol that your body needs. In January 1997, the Food and Drug Administration announced that oatmeal could carry a label claiming it may reduce the risk of heart disease when combined with a low-fat diet.

The soluble fiber in oatmeal absorbs a considerable amount of water which significantly slows down your digestive process. This result is that you'll feel full longer, i.e. oatmeal can help you control your weight.

You probably already have oats in your kitchen. It's estimated that eighty percent of U.S. households currently have oats in their cupboards.

New research suggests that eating oatmeal may reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes. In fact, the American Diabetes Association already recommends that people with diabetes eat grains like oats. The soluble fiber in these foods help to control blood glucose levels.

With the exception of certain flavored varieties, the oats found in your grocery store are 100% natural. If you look at the ingredients on a canister of rolled oats, you will usually see only one ingredient... rolled oats.

According to recent studies, a diet that includes oatmeal may help reduce high blood pressure. The reduction is linked to the increase in soluble fiber provided by oatmeal. Oats contain more soluble fiber than whole wheat, rice or corn.

Oatmeal contains a wide array of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and is a good source of protein, complex carbohydrates and iron.

The fiber and other nutrients found in oatmeal may actually reduce the risk for certain cancers.

Oatmeal is quick and convenient. Every type of oatmeal can be prepared in a microwave oven. Even when cooked on the stovetop, both old-fashioned and quick oats can usually be made in less than 10 minutes. And what about instant oatmeal… a hot breakfast in under a minute... incredible!

Oatmeal can be absolutely delicious! Whether instant, cooked on the stove or baked in the oven, the combination of flavors you can fit into a serving of oatmeal is limited only by the imagination. Visit Mr Breakfast's Oatmeal Collection to see just 60 of the ways you can start to enjoy oatmeal today!

Here are some of my favorite ways to have oatmeal and some new ways that I plan on trying this Fall:

Strawberry Banana Blast Oatmeal
(1 serving) Thanks to MR BREAKFAST

1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup milk
1 small banana
1/2 cup strawberries
Bring the oats and milk in saucepan to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the oatmeal has reached the desired thickness. Meanwhile, chop up the strawberries and bananas into small pieces. When the oatmeal is done mix in the strawberries and bananas and pour everything into a serving bowl.













Deluxe Crockpot Oatmeal
(7 servings) Another Mr Breakfast recipe

1 C quick cooking oats
2 C milk
1/4 C brown sugar
1 T butter - melted
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 C finely chopped apple
1/2 C raisins and/or dates
1/2 C chopped walnuts or almonds
Grease the inside of Crockpot. Throw all ingredients inside Crockpot and mix well. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours (*please see notes below). Stir before serving.

Great served with milk.


What could be better than waking up to the fresh aroma of a hearty morning meal wafting through the house? With aid of a Crockpot, it's easy to give the entire family a hot breakfast, regardless of when they drag themselves out of bed.


Mr Breakfast would like to thank Oatmeal Man for this recipe.














Now, my go-to favourite oatmeal recipe (for which I have NO pics) is the following:

1/3 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup skim milk
3 small chopped dates
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Bring the oats, dates, spices and milk in saucepan to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the oatmeal has reached the desired thickness. Pour everything into a serving bowl and add more milk :)

Have a tasty Tuesday and MAKE it a great day!

Manic Monday

Monday has arrived and the weekend did not go as planned BUT we made the best of it. We managed to go for a great bike ride before Irene showed up... although she wasn't as bad as we had thought she would be. So, on this Manic Monday I am posting pics of the weekend

















Make it a great day!!

Fitness Friday

Borrowing the title of my Friday blog from a friend :)

OK, so my plan is to reinvent my blog a little and make Friday my day to discuss my training for the past week. No longer am I going to do it day by day because do you really want to hear ALL of the details? Didn't think so! So, beginning next week I will attempt to blog on a more regular basis about fitness related stuff that I am struggling with or researching and/or looking for your assistance with. Stay tuned for that!

SO, this week we pressed play everyday and I can hardly walk as a result. Yep! Back to assisting myself with the walls to sit on the throne, cringing when I rise my arms to give a high five and looking like I have been run over by a MAC truck! I asked Mr. Wonderful last night, while laying on the floor in the gym as we had completed the Side Tri Rise, "why do we do this to ourselves?". We start the X, usually get well into round 2 and then take a break - for whatever reason - only to suffer through the pain of starting over???? We must love torture...

Anyway, we laugh about it but we are HURTING! But it feels SO good...

Here are the stats:

Chest and Back: 452 calories
Plyometrics: 653 calories
Shoulders and Arms: 453 calories
Yoga sub'd out for a short run: 367 calories
Tonight is Legs and Back... can't walk already so it is not going to be pretty :P

I had a great week and I am feeling great. I will be seeing my specialists this week, one for a follow up and the other for my treatment. I think that the pain that I have been feeling in my knees will be lessened after next week and I should be able to BRING it even more.

I have been logging my food all week, without fail and I have never ate back all my workout calories... so that should show on the scale in a week or so. I have also been drinking lots of water but could always up my water intake and cut back on the coffee... I have two a day ;o

So, that was my week so far! This weekend we are heading out for a camping/biking/hiking adventure! I will be taking pics and I will post some next week... promise!

Have a great weekend!

Having a supportive partner...

... is worth more than anything!

While Mr. Wonderful is in great shape, he still sucks it up and does the workouts with me. I love that he supports me in the ways that he does because without him I am not sure that I would be disciplined enough to push play everyday. Besides, I LOVE working out with him, he pushes me to work harder without saying a word. Just him being there makes me give it more and try my best.

All this because we had a great workout last night... and looking forward to tonight's workouts too! I will update on Friday with some overview of the week and how we are doing. Starting next week I am adding running back into the program. I will be running on lunch three days a week and managing my P90x schedule at the same time. I would love to get the new P90x2 program that is slotted to come out "Fall 2011"... I think that might be what is in store for us following P90x.

Hope you are all having a great day!

A Birthday

... Mine!

36 years young :P

Summer vacation has come to an end

Let the hard work begin!

I feel rejuvenated! I feel ready! I feel like this is going to be a good year...

Over the summer we biked, we ran, we exercised in trees, we played hard and I *think* we burned a lot of calories... BUT

we ate steak, we drank wine and we had ice cream... AND I did not gain anything... AND I did not count anything! NOPE - nothing. I did not count calories in or out. I ate what I wanted and I played hard all day to make up for it. NOW, I am ready to get back to being accountable because I have not hit a maintenance period, actually I still have a lot of weight to lose.

So, how am I going to do it? I am taking my "before" pics tonight and Mr. Wonderful and I are going to be taking measurements as well. Then we are going to get serious about getting back into our routines of training. We are not far away from March 2012 when I will be sporting a two piece on the beaches of FL (as long as it is not too cold).

SO, I will begin posting again... starting today :P

Make it a great day and I hope you had a fun-filled summer like I did.

Too busy for blogging... vacationing, but here are some photos

You might be a fitness freak (wannabe)

... if you end up going to work looking like this! I think that I have forgotten how to do my hair :S

Make it a great day!

The planning has begun

We have booked out 2011 Spring vacation...

Our first trip to the happiest place on Earth was back in 2008 when Bubba was really small so we just took the girls. Then we went back in 2010 with the whole family and we are going again in 2012!! We are excited, can hardly sleep excited and I know that it will be the motivation that I need to keep my ass in gear and get through these next nine months.

Some pics from our last two trips to our fave vacation spot...

Onward and Upward

Good morning all! As my previous post suggests I took Tuesday as my day of rest, although I can hardly call it that. SO, last night I invited Superwoman over and we did Shoulders and Arms together and had a real great burn. I mostly used 20 pound weights for all shoulder exercises and did sets of 8. For all the bicep exercises I used either 20 or 15 pound weights with sets of 8. Finally, for the tricep exercises, my weakest area, I used from 10 pound-15 pound weights with sets of 8. I felt the muscles very well and I know that by tonight my muscles will be crying... but it feels oh so good to have them talking back to me like that ;) So, during the hour of S&B I burned 399 calories with an average HR of 112 and a maximum heart rate of 160. It was a great night.

I then woke up and did my run this morning. It was the first time that I have woke up at 5am to get my run in ... I can say that I do much better at night. Maybe because I hadn't fuelled myself yet, maybe it was because I worked out late last night and my body was still tired... whatever the reason, my early morning run SUCKED! I mean, really sucked! I managed to do 5kms (which I verified the distance with the car on my way to work) in less than 30 minutes but it wasn't pretty. I stopped three times to walk, I just couldn't get going... my knee hurt, my breathing was off, I was HOT - really HOT, I looked down and my heart rate was at 169... just all bad! I did burn 314 calories with my average heart rate at 152 and my maximum heart rate at 176!!!!! Tough run but I am going to try again tomorrow morning.

Make it a great day folks!

Fast or slow, at least I am moving, right :P


Oh and tonight is my most dreaded Yoga which I am subbing out for Core Synergistics... not fighting with myself over running AND yoga... just not gonna do it ;)

I guess there is such a thing as having TOO MUCH FUN!

Last weekend we had a great long weekend and took the littlest children camping. We had an amazing time in the great outdoors and we were able to go on two biking adventures... one along the beaches and another in an off road biking trail. It was SO much fun... the children adored it!













They fell a couple of times and there was blood and scratches but they can't wait to do it again. BUT... when wecame home I noticed that Bubba's knee was looking a little yuckie.











Two days later it was looking really yuckie so I took him to the clinic and they had to drain the infection out of his knee and he is on antibiotics now :( I guess there really is a thing as having too much fun! On our next run both of the littles will be wearing knee and elbow protection... I was a bad momma.

Back on the bandwagon

OK, enough of the semi-committing to stuff - I am back on task 100%. We have decided on the dates that we will be heading back to Disney and I have nine months to get back into shape (although, I can't really remember ever being IN SHAPE, at least not the shape that I aspire to be in at this stage of my life). ANyway, I am back on the P90x schedule and continuing the B210K running as a double. I am really learning to love running... I hate to share that time with anyone (at this stage) because it is the one hour that I get for me! Call me selfish but I love my running time... no one demanding anything of me... just me, my tunes and my heart racing, i LOVE it.

So, last night I did P90x Chest and Back... I have to say that the workout that Mr. Wonderful has made for us is much harder than Tony's. I felt so strong last night doing this workout because of all the weights we have been lifting... it was a great feeling. Burned 452 calories doing the following:

1. Standard Push-Ups: 15/15
2. Wide Front Pull-Ups: 8/8 @ 90 pounds
3. Military Push-Ups: 15/15
4. Reverse Grip Chin-Ups: 8/8 @ 90 pounds
5. Wide Fly Push-Ups: 15/15
6. Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 8/8 @ 90 pounds
7. Decline Push-Ups: 10/10
8. Heavy Pants: 10/10 with 25lb dumbbells
9. Diamond Push-Ups: 10/10
10. Lawnmowers: 10/10 with 25lb dumbbells
11. Dive Bomber Push-Ups: 10/10
12. Back Flys: 10/10 with 15lb dumbbells

I am looking forward to this round of the X and more committed than ever. I know that the running will compliment the schedule and it was obvious to me that my endurance has improved a lot. I am going to get my run in at 3h30 today and then Plyo tonight with Mr. Wonderful. It feels good to be back!

Also, I am using the Lean Body protien shakes for a meal replacement at lunch... subbed out my Syntha 6. Last night for supper I made the Clean Eating Coconut Thai Shrimp ... it was scrumptious and only 338 calories!! Definitely going to make that again.

I will leave you with a photo of me sweating it out following my workout (just because I know how much you all like photos) ... make it a great day!

13 years ago today...

...I said I do to the boy that I fell in love with in grade 9, the father of my first child (and the two that followed) and my best friend. There have been rough times, sad times and LOTS of happy times. I am so blessed with my family and it all started with that boy 21 years ago and the day we said I DO was the beginning of our journey into enternity together. Happy anniversary to us!

Here is a pic of the man that I adore with our three children (from March):

Too bad that there weren't exercises to erase lines

I was out with my family yesterday and my baby sister snapped this pic of me and my Bear ... I can't believe how many lines I have earned over the years. All I can say is that I obviously laugh too much and that I wish there were exercises to erase some of them!!

Make it a great day!

Another quick pic share

My baby BUBBA graduated last week... he is moving on to elementary school from pre-school so Momma took the kids to the beach to capture some memories...