Shannon’s BodyBlog

Today is my 13th wedding anniversary.  I was thinking back to when my husband and I met and where we are today.

I met him when I was 20 years old, so I’ve known him all of my adult life.  Funny enough, we met in a bar.  It was a place where neither one of us had ever gone to before and never returned to after.

So, here is this guy who approached me and asked me my name and now I’m still with him 17 years later after building a life and family with him.  Three great, funny, smart kids, a dog, a minivan, and a nice comfortable home.

We’ve had our ups and downs, but I’m really proud we stuck it out and worked hard at making our marriage a good one.  The work will never stop as it shouldn’t in a marriage, but the work is enjoyable.

I still want to look good for him and make him turn his attention to me the way he did the night we met.

So, here’s to continuing to my diet and working out and keeping fit and trim and showing all the other women that he’s all mine and he gets it pretty damned good at home

My husband and I stole away this weekend up to the mountains of New Hampshire.  While we were hard pressed to find a restaurant that wasn’t an hour from where we were staying, I managed to use this weekend to cheat away.

I gained 6 damned pounds!  I know it’s all water, but goddamn is my body hanging onto a lot of it.

The biggest injustice is that I never even had dessert the whole weekend!!

I’m just waiting for my body to kick in and "release" all that fluid.  I know you don’t need the particulars, but hey, everybody pees.

In the meantime, I finished my early morning workout (it’s pitch black here still as I write this) and I’ll be back to eating clean.

Oh yeah, and ONE of my next 30 day goals is to drink a gallon of water a day.  I don’t make a point to drink enough and I have to.  I’ll start a countdown soon.  I’m heading down to NJ this coming weekend for my friend’s birthday party and I know I won’t be able to get in a gallon during the days I’m down there.  Plus, I want it to coincide with another goal I have.

That is that.  In the meantime, I’m guzzling down as much of the stuff as possible.

These 30 days were more about discipline than anything else.  In the past, I’d take 2 steps forward in eating healthy and losing weight, but then a weekend binge would take me 4 steps back and I’d be worse off than I was before.  Doing that over and over was pathetic and just plain idiotic.  It got me absolutely no where but frustrated, guilt ridden, and hateful toward my stupid decisions.  It was poison to my system in all ways.  I kept thinking about Einstein’s definition of insanity:  Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  I guess I was certifiably insane.
I was fed up with my sorry ways, so I got mad and made myself go on a strictly clean, no cheating diet for 30 days.  I figured 30 days would be enough to help correct the bad habits I developed over the past 5 years since I’d had my last baby and give me time to see some results.

I focused on one thing only.  I concentrated on eating clean, well balanced meals first and foremost.  And then I was curious to see where that would get me.  The best I thought I’d do would be to lose 6 pounds.

I didn’t do weight training as religiously as I hoped, but for the most part, it was done on a weekly basis.  Although the past week and a half sucked in that department.

As for cardio, I did it 3-6 days a week.  It varied during these 4 weeks.  In the past, I lost all 60+ pounds I gained with each of my first two pregnancies within 8 and 5 months respectively when I was breastfeeding my first two children.  Knowing that breastfeeding ALONE burns 500 calories a day, and that it allowed me to lose 2 pounds a week in addition to me eating small, healthy meals everyday, I figured that burning 500 calories during my cardio sessions would help achieve the same results.

Today, I have a full day of continuing to eat strictly clean with no cheats, but here is where the past month has gotten me:

I’ve lost 13 pounds.  My weight this morning is still 138.

My measurements taken a couple of days into the diet:

Waist:  30.8"

Hips:  38

Chest:  35

Thigh:  23

Calf:  14.8

Arms:  12

Measurements as of this morning:

Waist:  28.75"

Hips:  35"

Chest:  33"

Thigh:  22.25"

Calf:  14"

Arm:  11.25"

Last night after we finished taking the progress pictures, my husband asked me how I was going to eat after the 30 days are over.  I told I’d eat the same way I am now, but if we have pizza for dinner, then I’ll have a slice.  We order it around twice a month, so it’s not going to cut into my progress too much.  If we go out to dinner on the rare occasion that we do, I will order a healthy meal, but I won’t agonize over how clean it is.  I’ll allow a cheat meal or a cheat day, but I’m not going to binge away.  I will eat like a civilized human being, haha.
And when we go out to a movie that we get out to a few times a year, I am definitely ordering my popcorn and Milkduds.

Breakfast:  1 whole egg, 3 egg whites

whole wheat toast

2 cups coffee w/ skim

Snack:  almonds

One of my favorite things in the world is to have a cold bedroom while under the covers all toasty warm with the pillow feeling perfectly right under my head.  That’s how comfortable I was this morning and I saw I had to wake up and get my day started at 5:15 am.

I was going to stay there until I remembered the words of Jack Lalanne!  I once read that he said he has woken up every single day at 5:30 in the morning to work out.  He said he hates doing it because he’d rather stay in a warm bed with his wife than have to get up and exercise.  But he did it because he knew he had to get it done to be as healthy as he is.
Did you know he’s still alive??  He’s 94 years old doing fingertip pushups. The spritely little machine is still kickin’.  And did you know he invented the Smith Machine?  I didn’t know that.
I remember my mom pulling a chair to the middle of the living room early in the morning, turning the TV dial to the Jack Lalanne show and kicking her legs out to the side and to the back and then doing some deep knee bends with her arms stretched out in front of her.  I’d have my dirty blanky with me doing what they did.  I think I was around 2 or 3 at the time.
Hey, do me a favor.  If I reach the age of 94 and have to be spoon fed while crapping my diapers, just take me out into the woods and shoot me.  Please.

Since I don’t want that to happen, I got out of bed and did my cardio.  I burned 514 calories in less than 25 minutes.  I couldn’t bear to be on the machine any longer than that.

Breakfast:  1 whole egg, 3 egg whites

whole wheat toast

coffee w/ skim

Snack:  pear

Lunch:  Black beans with salsa

Celery sticks and hummus (I finally finished the last of it!!!!)

Snack:  Almonds

Snack 2:  banana

Dinner:  Chinese takeout - Steamed chicken and mixed vegetables, no sauce.

I weighed in this morning and I’m down another pound.  That puts me at a 13 pound loss now.

I skipped my workout this morning but will probably do it later provided the migraine I woke up with is gone.  I can’t even lay down to sleep it off because it gets more intense when I lay down.

Enough of my complaints.  I’ve been thinking about other goals.  I think being super strict with my diet for 30 days helped break me of some bad habits.  So, now I’m thinking of other 30 day goals.  Even though I’ve had nothing but water all this time, the amount sucks.  I know I don’t drink enough.  So that will probably be my next goal.  Drinking the right amount every single day.

I’ll think of some more bad habits having to do with my health.

What an exciting blog post this was!!  YIPPEEE Kay Yay, Mofo!!

Breakfast:  Lf cottage cheese

Banana

2 cups coffee w/ skim…..not helping my migraine….ugh.

Snack:  almonds

Lunch:  Tuna mixed w/ hummus (hadn’t had that for a while)

1 cup of grapes

Spinach salad

Snack:  banana

Dinner:  Baked potato topped with 1/2 cup black beans and salsa

Snack:  almonds

This morning I didn’t want to get out of bed.  I think I got too much sleep…if that’s possible.  I fell asleep before 9 o’clock last night.  I didn’t want to fall asleep so early, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open.  Anywho, my workout was HARD to get through.  I pushed enough to burn 400 calories.  I want to make this week count, but it is a JOURNEY as so many people like to describe it, so this is one measly day out of many.

I want to go out and buy a sexy dress for this weekend so I can look hot for my husband of 13 years as of September 30th.

I’ve been a total beyotch at home lately and he informed me that he has his limits.  So I’ve got to be on my best behavior.   Women’s hormones suck, you that??  You men know that!  Haha.

Breakfast:  1 whole egg, 3 egg whites

whole wheat toast

coffee w/ skim

Snack:  Pear

Lunch:  Leftovers from last night’s dinner - Turkey burger (no bun) smothered in mushrooms and onions

Sauteed green peppers

Snack:  Protein bar

Snack 2:  LF cottage cheese
Dinner:  This looks like puke, but it tastes really good - Mash black beans, heat in a pan.  Scramble 2 eggs and then mix with the beans.  Top with salsa.

Early morning cardio 600 calories in less than 30 minutes

Breakfast:  1 whole egg, 3 egg whites

whole wheat toast

coffee w/ skim

Snack:  Apple

Lunch:  Salmon

broccoli

spinach salad w/ green peppers and almonds

Snack:  Banana

Dinner:  Homemade turkey burgers (no bun) smothered in sauteed mushrooms and onions

Sauteed, sliced green peppers

A.  I can’t believe I made it this far without cheating.

B.  I can’t believe it’s already Day 25.

Observations about nerds from my 6 year old daughter:

When someone was a nerd in high school, they grow up to be hotties, like dad did.

When someone was a hottie in high school, they grow up to be nerds.

Breakfast:  3 whole eggs

whole wheat toast

coffee w/ skim

Snack:  almonds

Lunch:  Tuna mixed with cottage cheese ( I totally forgot about this combo.  My ex-boss who was big into bodybuilding told me about it back when I worked with him)

Baby carrots

Snack:  coffee w/ skim

1 cup grapes

Dinner:  6 oz salmon  Bake in oven at 375 for approx 10-15 minutes
skillet potatoes (small diced potatoes, toss in bowl with tbs olive oil, salt, and onion powder…sautee in pan until browned and tender)

Snack:  protein bar

This morning I woke up at my new early time (5 a.m.) and thought that I’d take a day off.  And then I thought ‘I can’t take a day off already!  I only started this morning thing a couple of days ago’…..although I’ve been doing cardio for several days in a row before that, but at night.

I decided to get up later (at 6:40) and do my workout anyway.  I burned 605 calories in 30 minutes….my all time high calorie burn!!  Yay!

Another decision to make is whether to carry this 30 Day Eating Clean Project beyond 30 days.

The day my 30 Days ends is the day my husband and I go away alone for the weekend to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary.

Well, I thought about it and figured what is there to cheat with?  Even when we do go out, we don’t get dessert.  On the rare occasion we do, but that’s about it, so I can live without it.  And being that we’ll most likely hit a seacoast location, it’s easy to find a place that serves fresh seafood.

Now, when I SEAfood I EAT it!!!!!  I love love love the stuff.  Give me raw clams, raw oysters, lobster, crabs, scallops, shrimp, flounder…ANYTHING.  To me, it feels like a cheat meal.  I never eat any of it with drawn butter or in any kind of scampi sauce.  I love it plain or at least with a little bit of cocktail sauce.

So, I can easily get away with not cheating beyond the 30 days during our romantic (sleep filled) getaway.

Even if I do cheat, I’ve decided that I will only cheat with food that is astronomically delicious…..like Milk Duds and salted, buttered airpopped popcorn.  Nothing really ever satifies me and never lives up to the expectations my mind builds up except for those two things.

But I only eat Milkduds when we go out to see a movie, so I won’t be cheating but once or twice a year because A.  There hasn’t been a decent movie that’s worth paying for during the past few years, and B.  My mom only comes to visit every couple of months anyway which is who we use to babysit….’cuz we’re too cheap poor to pay a babysitter
I’m not even going to think about the holidays yet.  That’s a whole other animal to deal with.

Breakfast:  1 whole egg, 3 egg whites

1 slice whole wheat bread

Snack:  Apple

Lunch:  7 oz. london broil

steamed mixed greens

Snack:  Protein bar

Dinner:  Lazy dinner - 1 cup oatmeal w/ dried apricots, almonds

cup of coffee with skim

Snack: apple

Dark and early this morning I burned 555 calories in 30 minutes.  Woot!

Yesterday I met up with a personal trainer at my gym.  It was just an initial meeting to talk, and for her to show me some things that I thought would expand my horizons.  I used to see a personal trainer at the other gym I belonged to who took great glee in making me do challenging workouts just to see if I could do them.  He’d read about the latest training workouts that pro football players were doing and introduced me to them.  I felt like he was the mad scientist and I was a little (gym) rat performing his experiments.  I loved every minute of it.

Anyway, she was better off working with the elderly.  And where she got her information from…..I’ll never know.

"Never do more than one chest exercise because it will pull in your chest muscles and cause you to slouch."

Whaaa???

And then she said, "It’s a proven fact that women slouch because they were so used to slouching to hide their developing breasts during their early teen years."
So, there I am yesterday, in my baggy sports bra, being disappointed as I listened to this PT and watched her demonstrate lame exercises on a swiss ball that I have at home.  (which reminds me….I have to go shopping).
The point of joining the gym was to have access to equipment that I can’t use at home!  I’ve contacted a fellow BB member.  I’m sure she’ll be able to come up with a kickass workout for me

Breakfast:  1 whole egg, 3 egg whites

1/2 cup oatmeal

Snack:  cottage cheese

almonds

Lunch:  London broil

grilled eggplant

cantaloupe

Snack:  skipped it

Dinner:  London broil

leftover eggplant

cantaloupe and pineapple mixed with cottage cheese