Power 90 Day 17 - Back on track and a Dr visit

Today I woke up  wanting to get a walk in before all the other stuff started happening.  It was going to be FDN (Family Dinner Night), and I wanted to work out with Christopher when he got home from work.  However, when I finally got fully awake, I realized my mother in law was already here. That's not really a reason not to go walking, but it slowed me down a bit.  Then I saw my kitchen.  It was a disaster area. It looked like 90% of the tupperware stuff in the fridge had been emptied and all the leftovers eaten and dishes left all over the place. The sink was full, the counters were full, there was even stuff stacked on the stove. Rhiannon, I groggily remembered had gone to the park for a picnic and swimming with her boyfriend. It was her week to do dishes. I called her and blessed her out for leaving before doing her chores (she knows better). She came home a little later and got started on them.

Since I was no longer in the mood to go walking, I decided to get started on dinner.  The only thing we could make that would feed a lot of people were kabobs, so I got the chicken prepped and the veggies.  Then I realized someone had eaten all the chunks of pineapple and mushrooms. I also got the feeling we were out of charcoal.  I sent Faelyn and her grandma to the store to get a list of stuff I needed, and I got the food I did have marinating in the fridge.

About that time I wondered where the heck Christopher was.  He worked 6-3 or so I thought, and it was nearly 4. I texted him, and it turns out he worked til 5. Sigh.  So I made my protein and spinach shake and went to listen to my Audible book. When Faelyn got back, she said they were out of pineapple, but I had found a handful someone had left in a small container in the fridge, oh well. Everything had been marinating about an hour by the time Christopher walked in.

He said the kabobs had to be ready to go as soon as he started the coals, so the girls put them together while he and I did our workout. We finally were back to doing the strength training workout. I am proud to say I did all the pushups!  They may not have been perfect or very low, but I did them instead of just collapsing.  My arms are fussing at me even as I write this. The back scratchers on my right arm were rough, but I felt great knowing I DID them! I love the strength training workout, even the pushups.  I really like feeling stronger!

Christopher did tell me what happened at his Dr appt today... this was a special appt he set up after his TIA (mini stroke) last month.  He's going in for a TEE next week. They need to see if there is a hole in his heart that a clot from his kidney tumor could have gotten through and into his neck or brain. If they don't find a hole, then he has to go for an ultrasound later to see if there's a severe buildup in his neck arteries. If there is a hole, then he'll have to have surgery to repair it. I was numb hearing all of this.  Oh and if it is the arteries being blocked, then he'll have to go on coumadin for the rest of his life.  That's dangerous.  And he'll be on Plavix too. Scary.

Another thing was that one of his toenails just fell off last week.  The Dr was not happy to hear that.  He said it could have been due to a blood clot which could be very likely since his mother has a weid rare (in that no one else has ever had this before) blood disorder.  Her blood runs think like molasses and even coumadin does nothing for it.  She was on the highest dose they can give and she was still getting blood clots in her lungs.  So, while we thought his health problems were really behind him and we were going to get healthy for the rest of our lives... it looks like we're still battling his heart disease. I hate it.

Here's a pic of dinner.  So good!

Imported Post - Power 90 Day 5 - So Much For Privacy

This morning before work, I packed C's and the girls' lunches, which took some time, then headed to bed. So when I woke up this afternoon, I was dragging. I was determined not to skip my workout, but I was running out of time. The older girls get home on the bus at 3:20 and it was already after 2:30.  I HATE being walked in on during a workout - or watched by the kids. Then I remember both of them were going home with their boyfriends because of parties or volunteer stuff. So, I wouldn't be interrupted.  So, I relaxed, took my time and started the workout.  Today is strength training. I was 20 minutes into the workout, when Rhiannon and her best friend Moneesha came through the front door. There I was in my sports bra, shorts, hair a mess, and probably unshaved armpits, holding a resistance band over my head in the middle of a military press I think it was.. or one of those high ones. I paused it and went to my room. I was embarrassed. Not only for how I looked, but how the house looks. It's a freaking mess right now. So, it ruined my whole groove. Tonight, I am going to do the workout over again with Christopher since he's doing his after work. Since we only have one resistance band, I'm going to head to the store a little early and get some weights. That way we can do the strength training at the same time.

Tonight's dinner/my lunch is chicken stir fry from the power 90 booklet.  It's not really much of a recipe, just cook the chicken in a little oil, add the veggies and a little soy sauce and serve with brown rice. What struck me though is how much better stir fry is with fresh veggies.  I used to only use frozen veggies in my stirfry and it was not the greatest food to eat..  this was AMAZING! Fresh is best!

Update: I got two 5lb dumb bells and worked out with Christopher after he got off work. It was actually a lot of fun to work out with him. Working out in front of people is an issue I am going to have to deal with.  This summer I'll have my 3 kids plus all their friends running in and out of the house all day, every day.

Imported Post - Power 90 Day 4 This Really Works!

I'm on Day 4 of Power 90.  OMG am I sore!  Still.  I know it will ease off the more I do it, but man!  Those leg lifts are killer when you have thunder thighs LOL!

Here's what we've had for dinner the last couple nights.

Shrimp Kebobs with brown rice.  These were SO GOOD!  The smokiness of the grill on the veggies was amazing and the marinade YUM!

Vegetarian Curry with more brown rice. This one is also really good. Very filling. Good to have a meatless meal.

I kind of had a feeling my huge gut was a little less huge this morning, so I got out the measuring tape. I have lost 3 inches on my waist!!!  I'm guessing I was a little bloated from some water gain when we took the before measurements, but whatever the reason, it's AWESOME!  My jeans definitely fit better.  They had been getting so tight I had to unbutton them after dinner at work (good thing I work from home!)

Overall, even though I'm sore when I stand and walk, I feel stronger, more limber (in places that aren't in pain), and even standing up taller. The stretches really help with that.  I am going back to my hometown next Saturday to my nephew's graduation. I wonder if there'll be any noticeable change for the people I see there that haven't seen me for a couple weeks.

Hope you're all doing well!
Patty

Imported Post - Power 90 Day 2 - First Day of Cardio!

Today was Day 2 of Power 90.  I am SO GLAD we did the 6 day fat burn first.  It was so much easier than this workout.  I think if we did this one first, we'd have given in the towel. But we know it will get easier. My second day of cardio on the 6-day fat burn was SO much better than the first day. So, we're sticking it out and doing it, no matter how sore we are.  Poor Christopher could barely move when he went to bed, and he has to help unload a truck tomorrow.

Tonight for the family's dinner and my lunch, we had Power Pita Pizzas, straight from the power 90 meal planner booklet. You slice one pita in half along the edges so it becomes two pizza rounds. Stick them in the oven for one minute at 350 to toast a little. Each round gets 1/4 cup sauce (we used our fave cheap Hunt's canned spaghetti sauce, the Four Cheese.)  Then add grilled (or baked which is what I did) chicken pieces or other lean protein.  Faelyn actually put shrimp on hers. Weird. Then chopped veggies, like we had green bell pepper, spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, pineapple (Zoe had a Hawaiian pizza). Then low fat mozzarella cheese.  We found a low fat pizza blend and used it.

I was leery about broccoli on a pizza, but with the cheese it was so yummy! I used more cheese than I normally would, but decided I could have it because I'd not had a mid morning snack and had room for a few more calories. I had a rough workout afterall! I won't be adding extra cheese or anything like that any more this week.  one time thing.

No more weight loss this morning, but I hadn't gained. I know I've lost 11 lbs (well according to our cheap scales), and I can feel a difference, I still don't really see a difference. I put on the same tank top I'd taken our first "Before" photos in, and I look exactly the same to me.  So, where did the 11lbs come from? Have you seen 11 lbs of meat?  It's a LOT.  I guess it was just in the inch or so I'd lost here and there. I hate being so big that I can lose that much and not see it. Looking forward to seeing the lbs drop more and seeing a change!

Imported Post - Power 90 Day 1! Finally!

Today is officially my first day on the 90 day program, Power 90. 

 I had Christopher take my new "Before" photos last night and we did our measurements following the instructional video on their site. It helped, since we never knew exactly where to measure before.

Today, I did my first workout.  It was a strength training one using the resistance band that came with it. It was hard, and I couldn't do the pushups.  I have to work on getting the form right, rather than doing them incorrectly. So, I'll try again in a few days and then keep trying til I have built up some more upper body strength.  The problem is where I have muscle loss due to my car accident when I was 19 and I never built it back up in the arm I almost lost.So, I am really looking forward to actually building muscle there - if it's possible anyway.  What muscle I did have at the time was shredded by the broken bone, so I'm not sure how that will work out.  Does it grow back? Not sure.

I had a chocolate protein shake with frozen bananas for breakfast. Then C and I went grocery shopping. I made a menu for breakfasts, lunches and dinners using the meal planner/recipe book that came with it.  This was a lot easier than it would have been since we did the 6-day fat burn program last week, and were used to the foods and how they're prepared.  It's just more of the same with some new foods added in and more yummy stuff. So our fridge is stuffed to the gills with lots of green stuff, berries, and veggies.

This week we're making our meals for the whole family, so the kids will now be eating what we eat as well.  No more making them meals full of carbs like pasta alfredo, or spaghetti or cream soups over egg noodles, etc. Things on the menu this week are meals such as vegetable curry, pita pizzas with chicken, and shrimp and veggies kebobs on the grill.

For a mid morning snack (which was around 4pm for me) I had low fat cottage cheese with blueberries and strawberries. It's better than it sounds LOL - well I never liked cottage cheese before.  Let the berries sit for a while and the cottage cheese takes on the flavor. Really good.

For dinner, Christopher grilled out.  We followed one of the dinner ideas in the book. 4 oz lean beef hamburgers with lettuce and tomatoes and home made baked french fries on the side. He added some seasoning and onions to the burgers.  And we had 100% whole wheat buns.  They were really good!

For an "afternoon" snack which I'll have around 9pm, I'll probably have baby carrots and hummus, or maybe raw peanuts.

For dinner which I have around midnight,  I will likely just have a salad with red wine vinaigrette.

I'm drinking tons of water now. I haven't had any chai tea (which I used to drink probably a gallon of a night) in over a week. When I want something warm to drink, I have a cup of chamomile tea. I do still put Splenda in it, but I have cut way back on how much I use. Mostly I just drink water though.

As of this morning, I'd lost 11 lbs! :) I don't even feel like I'm on a "diet".  It's more like a lifestyle change.  It's all great food, that just happens to be good for us. That rocks!

P.S.  I did mean to get photos of the food each night and post them all through the week, but it was so busy here today, that I got distracted and totally forgot. Will try to remember tomorrow!

A New Beginning

Welcome to my new blog!

I have quite a few followers on my other blog, My Chaotic Home,  but I think things have changed quite a bit since I started it.  This blog is more about where my life is heading now.  It's like a new start for me. I really feel like my life is changing, and this is just one way of showing that.

I'm going to port over some of the posts from there.  The ones dealing with our health and weight-loss journey. So, if you're following me from the old site, you may have seen those before.

My husband and I have both been very overweight, obese really, and his health is really suffering due to it. He had a heart attack at age 36 and was recently in the hospital for his second TIA ("ministroke").  The doctors said he's already on the medication given for TIA.. there's not much more they can do - but my husband can change something - his weight.  At that time we both agreed, that was it. We had to make a change. We were running out of do-overs.

My husband's brother-in-law is a coach for Team Beachbody and is such an inspiration to us both. My sister in law is as well.  She and my husband didn't grow up together.  They're half-siblings, but family is family. We decided to contact him and ask how to go about changing ourselves the way he had. We ended up getting the Power 90 In Home Boot Camp, and are so glad we did. (You may recognize the name P90X - well Power 90 is like the beginner version of that.)

When we joined up with Chris as our coach, he added us to his closed Facebook group and then we found that we joined just in time to join a big 90 day challenge group that was starting. Since it wouldn't start for another week, we decided to go ahead and get a jump start by doing the extra free gift DVD that came with the set.  It's the Power 90 6-Day Fat burn Express. I loved it!

The first day, I could barely move and had to actually sit down 3 times during it. The second day, I could do the whole thing! I was actually surprised.  By the end of the 6 days I could zip right through it and looked forward to the workouts! We followed the meal plan that came with it, to a T. It was so liberating to have meals planned for us.  All we had to do was follow the directions. We didn't have to think about what to cook or fix and try to be healthy. That was pretty awesome.  That week, we still cooked separate meals for our girls. I lost 9 lbs that week!

We then had 2 days off over the weekend, then started the actual Power 90 program on Monday, May 13th. There are two discs.  One has Cardio/Abs 1-2 and Strength training 1-2.  The other has them both for 3-4. You can also go straight to the Abs routine if you wish. The idea is to switch from the 1-2 disc to the 3-4 disc when you can do the first program without any modifications. We're on Day 11 as I write this, and I am nowhere near doing it without modifying something. Simple stuff too, like I can't do a normal jumping jack.  I kind of move my feet back and forth still - no jumping. Also, my pushups probably look NOTHING like the ones Tony Horton does. I am hoping though that I can move on by Day 30.  If not, then at least by day 60 for sure. I do feel stronger every day.

While Power 90 doesn't have a set meal plan like the 6-day did, it does have guidelines and ideas. There's recipes in the book, and I found more on the Team Beachbody website. My intent is to post our meals at least several times a week, if not daily.

I also want to post how my workouts are going, and how I'm feeling about them and my weight-loss/toning in general.

As this journey continues, I hope to also get other areas of my life organized and back in shape, like the house and our finances. I'll tag those posts with different keywords, so you can skip reading those if you aren't interested.

Thanks for coming to my new blog, and I hope you enjoy following along on my journey to getting organized and healthy!