Shannon’s BodyBlog

Hell was visiting my mother-in-law this weekend (hehe) while she stays with my husband’s brother and his family for the summer and to spend the weekend with them for our nephew’s birthday (plus it was hers too, but that’s neither here nor there).
I thought I’d come out smelling like a rose because I was so on target with my diet and felt invincible.

Here was what I ate starting Thursday night until today:

KFC

Pizza

Cake

Hot dog

Toasted marshmallows

Ice cream cake

Pastries

Donuts

McDonald’s

I think I blacked out at some point from feeling like crap and must’ve eaten something I can’t recall, LOL.  I feel like there should be more on the list.

I did, however, eat a healthy breakfast Saturday morning!
Now it’s back to eating clean again.

I couldn’t finish my dinner tonight!  In fact, since I’ve started eating clean I’ve been eating less and less because I can’t seem to fit it all in.  I eat 6 meals per day.  I’ve written a description of the diet in an earlier blog post.

Today, I had no appetite and forgot to eat my morning snack which is a piece of fruit (any kind).  This is what I had today:

Breakfast:  4 egg whites, 1 egg yolk

1 slice whole wheat toast, dry

1 large cup coffee with 1/3 cup milk (in a large mug….it’s a must have)

Snack:  missed it

Lunch:  Small piece of haddock (approx. 2-3 oz.)

1 small sweet potato

3/4 c. homemade curried cream of carrot soup (creamy texture is from tofu)

Snack:  10 almonds

Dinner:  3 turkey meatballs

handful of fresh spinach

1 med sweet potato

I had to stop eating my dinner and come back to it later on.  I should’ve had double to triple the amount of the vegetables I had for the entire day, but just couldn’t.
I was able to get through my circuit routine with the heaviest dumbbells I’ve used to date: 15 lbs. for each arm on bicep curls, seated over head press, chest flye, dumbbell row.  The rest of the exercises requiring dumbbells were done using 10 lbs. per arm.

But cardio on the elliptical sucked tonight.  My legs were burning and I couldn’t keep up the pace.  I got through 15 minutes burning around 225 calories, but my legs were burning the entire time.  I couldn’t get through that initial wall where I get that burst of energy once you’re warmed up.

At what point do you start using supplements?  If I can’t eat everything I’m supposed to, would supplements be a good alternative?

I’m looking to lose about 20 pounds and would like to have a well defined physique.  Any suggestions are welcome!

It’s funny how my kids push themselves harder than I do myself.  Any little inconvience has set me back from completing what I was supposed to do.  Working out was put on the backburner because of those niggling little responsibilities like carpooling, housework, and whatever else came up that I could use as an excuse.

Yet, with my kids, I (we) teach them not to quit.  Not to let anything get in the way of achieving their goals.

I’ve mentioned that my son has Type 1 diabetes.  When he was 6 years old, he was involved in karate and on a day he was taking his test to reach Green Belt, he was dealt with a major obstacle.  Due to his nervousness, excitement, and the rigors of the test, his body went into overdrive and his blood sugar dropped dangerously low.

My husband was there to treat his low blood sugar with a juice box and my son just fell apart.  Because his brain was essentially starving, he became panicked and started crying inconsolably.  He said he wanted to go home.  He didn’t want to finish the test.  He just wanted to go home to see mom.
His karate instructor told him he was so close and to not give up.  He told him he’d hate to see him not get to the next level…not really understanding that my son wasn’t in control of what he was saying.  Sort of like when someone is inebriated and tend to do and say things they ordinarily wouldn’t.

My husband explained the part about our son not really knowing what he was saying, so the instructor said he could continue taking the test at another time.

My husband held him while he cried and told him he’d feel better soon and to just sit and wait until it happened.

Once a low blood sugar is treated, the person snaps out of whatever mood they’re in as though nothing ever happened and that is precisely what happened to my son.

After his blood sugar reached a normal range, he wiped the tears from his face, and said he wanted to finish taking the test.  He went into the dojo and later came out with his Green belt.

I take lesson in that and have felt ashamed that I quit so easily while he, at only 6 years old, pulled himself out from under an oppressive monster that diabetes can be.

So, here I am back at it again…working to achieve my goal.

I looooved that song when it came out back when I was how ever old I was….young.  Rocky rules!

Late last night I was feeling tired from the day at the beach in the sun, getting a sunburn, (and my traumatizing BHM experience, heh) but I was feeling like I needed to get some cardio in.

I had 2 choices.  I could either drag my a** downstairs and get on the elliptical, or I could drag my a** upstairs and go to bed.

The angel and the devil were trying to plead their cases, but I kept thinking about how consistent I was being with my workouts and I didn’t want to mess it up with my bad procrastination habit, but damn I was sooo tired and sleep seemed so delicious at the time, so I…….

Went down and cranked out a 457 calorie burn, baby!  I played my favorite songs so that I would want to stay on and listen.  It didn’t matter how fast or slow or mellow the song was.  Usually I pick a song based on the energy and beat of it which I use to determined my intensity level, but this time it was all about what pleased me.

Download this song:

Cherub Rock by Smashing Pumpkins

What is UP with banana hammocks?

The first beautiful day we had in a loooong time was spent at the beach, today.  The beach was really crowded because everyone was taking advantage of the beautiful weather while they could.

We found a primo spot right next to the jetty so that it would be easy for our kids to find us and it’s a built in playground if they get sick of the sand.

We settle in nicely when who shows up but Banana Hammock Man.  He was about 60 years old, tanned, leathery, and short.  But not fat…just saggy.

He plants his chair right.  next.  to.  mine.  No buffer zone to speak of.  Didn’t even try to even out the spacing between my chair and the people next to us.

And then he just stands there….back to the sun….ass facing me….face level.  It was fabulous to have a saggy ass smack dab in my facial space.

My husband came over after playing catch with our son and mouthed to me to look behind me.  I told him I was absolutely aware of the violation.
BHM stood there for an eternity.  My kids started asking why he was standing there.  Never moved.  Never adjusted his footing.  Ugh.

Finally he lays on his chair and begins his sun worship.  He couldn’t get any tanner than he already was.  He was a tanorexic.

So he’s laying there and every time I returned to my chair after being in the water, I had to witness his saggy ass.  I have to tell you how ill I felt.  I tried not to look, but it was right there.  Damn…….

We finally started packing up to leave and he adjusted his positioning so that now he was laying on his back.  Not only was he laying on his back, but his legs were spread with his feet planted on the sand so that the insides of his saggy thighs could get some rays.

And his saggy ball sack was just laying there all lumpy and disgusting.

My husband said the guy was a pig.  I thoroughly agreed.

One of the bright spots to the day was that I felt like the skinniest woman at the beach.  General public….go on a diet….and wear appropriate bathing attire to hold in your gut.  Women, that goes for you too!  No bikinis when you can’t see your own feet!

My daughter, who was 5 YEARS OLD at the time, asked me, "Mom, does eating watermelon make your butt smaller?"

I just sank inside myself and thought, ‘Great, this shit is starting already.’

I told her watermelon is healthy and that her body is just fine the way it is.

She said "Great!  Give me some watermelon!  I want a small butt."

Grrrrr.

She doesn’t have a butt worth losing!  She’s all spindly legs and arms right now at 6 years old.
So starts my responsibility toward making sure my kids (the boys included) have a healthy body image of themselves.

I don’t emphasize how a person should look.  I emphasize the ACTIONS people should take like eating healthy and exercising, even if it’s recreational like sports or family hikes.

My mother used to focus on how my body looked even when I was probably under my ideal weight for my height.  I blogged about what lousy cooks my parents were and ate the bare minimum, LOL.

So to hear things like, "Your stomach shouldn’t stick out like that.  Stand up straight and suck in your stomach", when I was 15 years old, 5′5" and 120 pounds, made me focus on my appearance….in an unhealthy way.  I thought there was something wrong with the way I looked even when I was getting compliments from other people….boys, my parent’s friends, my ballet teacher, etc.

But, my mom’s critiques are what I took to heart.  I trusted her judgement.  She was my mom.  Parents are their children’s strongest influences whether you want to believe it or not.

I also have a memory of coming home from college to visit my mom who lived next door to my grandmother.

It was a routine with us:  I’d drop off my suitcase at home, walk next door, and knock on my grandmother’s door who always had it locked.

She’d answer the door (my mother was always visiting there) and my mother would come up behind her.  The first thing they’d ALWAYS do and say was to look me up and down while commenting that my butt was getting bigger, or that I was putting on weight.  And then they’d step aside to let me in as they continued inspecting my weight gain.  They’d never say ‘hello’…or ‘welcome home! we missed you’.
Let me put that into perspective for you:  At the time when I was in college, I was still 5′5" and weighed 125…127…and never weighed more than 128.

During those times they critiqued me during the 4 years I came home from college for visits, I never put on more than 3 pounds.  Also, for my height, I was the ideal weight in addition to being constantly active and athletic.  My grandmother once told me that she was skinnier than I was when she was my age and I shouldn’t weigh as much as I did.

Holy shit!  I couldn’t win!  At the time, I was very impressionable and again, took what they said to heart.

Instead of trying to please them by making myself sick from trying to get to their "ideal" weight, I gave up and figured "shit, I’m eating healthy, exercising, and it’s still not right." Why bother trying at all.

I should never have listened to them and should’ve been happy in my own skin as it was.

When I hear my daughter talk about her weight or how her body looks, I always tell her, "You look fine.  Just eat healthy and keep playing."  That’s all you need to do.

My husband and our kids used to wrestle around on the floor after he’d get home from work.  He’d lay on the floor…all 6′1", 280 pounds of him and they’d climb all over him like little lion cubs.  He’d toss them around, fly them through the air.  And then they’d lift up his shirt and knead his belly like bread dough.  Pressing, pushing, poking, laughing at daddy’s soft belly.

Well, a few years ago we were sent a picture of us taken at my father-in-law’s 70th birthday party.  We were embarrassed at how we looked although we were well aware of how much we needed to change.

That picture basically lit a fire under our asses…particularly my husband’s.

He joined the gym the next day, and began a low calorie, clean diet.  He went to the gym daily, counted calories, kept a journal of the foods he ate.  All of his spare time was spent losing the weight, and eventually a weight lifting routine.

He was making fast changes, but there was no time to play with the kids the way he used to.

In a few months, though, he reached his goal weight after losing 90 pounds.

He began scaling back on his workouts so that he could start building muscle.

Well, he had more time now to get back to playing with the kids the way he used to.  He got down on the floor one evening after work, and the kids were thrilled to have their daddy lion back again…happy to be his playful little cubs getting tossed about.

My daughter, who was around 3 or 4 at the time, sat on his stomach, lifted his shirt and said,

"Hey!  What happened?!  Where’d it go?"

She was shocked that there was no more belly to knead.

I woke up early this morning to do my workout before the rest of the house awoke.

Things didn’t work out my way.

Dog to be dealt with.

Son’s blood sugars to be tested and treated.

Other two kids awoke….all three needed breakfast prepared for them.

Laundry to do.

I did do my circuit training….but needed time to complete HIIT…..yet to be done.
Friend to chat with

Kids needed lunch prepared.

Lots of other stuff like cleaning,

cooking,

listening to husband bitch about work when he got home,

watching him leave to return to work for the rest of the night,

clean up after dinner,

get kids ready for bed.

I finally did HIIT listening to Pearl Jam:

Nothingman

Spin The Black Circle

Corduroy

Animal

Dissident

Elderly Woman Behind The Counter

Wishlist

Low Light

and I cooled down to All Those Yesterdays

Don’t you think you oughtta rest?
Don’t you think you oughtta lay you head down?
Don’t you think you want to sleep?
Don’t you think you oughtta lay your head down
Tonight?

Don’t you think you’ve done enough?
Oh, don’t you think you’ve got enough?  well maybe…
You don’t think there’s time to stop
There’s time enough for you to lay your head down,
Tonight, tonight

Let it wash away
All those yesterdays

What are you running from?
Taking pills to get along
Creating walls to call your own
So no one catches you?
Drifting off and doing all the things…
That we… all do

Let them wash away
All those yesterdays
All those yesterdays
All those paper plates
All those yesterdays

You’ve got time… you’ve got time to escape
There’s still time… it’s no crime to escape
It’s no crime to escape… it’s no crime to escape
There’s still time, so escape
It’s no crime, crime..

It’s a crime to keep putting off my workouts because of LIFE.  LIFE will always be there taking my time…needing my time…

So I trapped some time and put it to good use burning 527 calories in 30 minutes at 9:30 p.m., tonight.
Now I can lay my head down…..until I start all over again tomorrow.

I always think of "swollen" when I see it here on BB.  What does it mean?  I assume it’s a compliment? LOL.

I used to do a core routine done in as a circuit and it’s been a while since then.  I tried to think of the exercise my trainer had me do, but I want to make sure that I have the right balance of exercises so that I’m not creating a strength imbalance (am I explaining myself OK?).  Here’s what I’ve come up with using a stability ball and dumbbells (3 days/week, 15 reps starting with 1 set and working my way up to 3):

Shoulders:

Front and side lateral

Seated overhead press

Reverse flye
Chest:

Pushups on ball (feet on ball, hands on floor)

Chest press on ball

Chest flye on ball

Biceps:

Bicep curl while balancing on one leg

Preacher curl using ball

Triceps:

Overhead extension

Tricep kickback while sitting on ball

Hamstring:

Hamstring bridge

Calves:

Standing calf raise

Butt and Thighs:

Walking lunges (weighted)

Butt lift using stability ball

Back:

Back extension on ball

Dumbbell row while sitting on ball

Abs:

Swiss ball knee tuck

Crunches on ball

Side obliques crunch on ball

I’ve tried to cover all of the bases, but let me know if you think I should add or replace an exercise.  Thanks!