Shannon’s BodyBlog

After last night, I am convinced I will never be destined for a good night’s sleep.  I was hopeful that one day I would be when my kids were older, but now I’m completely less of hope.

It was bedtime and my youngest was whining about wanting to sleep with his older brother.  Older brother let him sleep with him the night before…begrudgingly…and put his foot down about not wanting him to sleep with him another night.

Well, I asked my youngest, "Isn’t your bed nice and warm and comfy?  Why don’t you want to sleep in your own bed?"

"There’s monsters under my bed."

I asked him what I could do to get rid of them.
He said, "Turn on all the lights in the house."

My husband heard this and said NO WAY.

I told him to not get involved and I closed the bedroom door.  He was ruining my negotiation skillz at work.

So I asked him to pick something else that would work.  He told me he wanted to sleep with me.

I said, NO WAY. haha.  I told him there is no such thing as monsters, but he was truely convinced there were as he has said time and time again over the months when he’d come into my room and snuggle up against me.

As anyone who reads my blog on a regular basis knows, I hate to be touched while I’m trying to sleep because it prevents me from sleeping. Well, guess what, he’s been coming into our room for the past 3 years replacing his older brother who slept with us for his first 5 years of his life (his choice, not mine) and I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since around my senior year in college, soooo I’ve been sleep deprived for the past 15 goddamn years.
So, anyway, I told him, "How about if I block the bottom of the bed so nothing can get out."

He liked that idea.

I put a flimsy cardboard box against the side of his bed (he plays in it, LOL).  Then I put a basket of laundry against the side (hahahaha….see why not getting it done comes in handy??), then I put a filing box he had for storing his papers and drawings, and finally I finagled a storage box top against the very little opening left against his bed.

"Won’t the monsters move all of this stuff?"

"No, monsters are weak and lazy, that’s why they lay under your bed all the time hoping to scare you.  But they can’t push their way out with all of this stuff against your bed."

He was satisfied with the fortress that was his bed and snuggled under the covers with a big soft teddy bear for extra protection.

I checked in on him when I had to test my oldest son’s blood sugar for the night and he was sound asleep.

Ahh, what a sweet little angel.  He looks just like he did when he was a baby.

No sooner was I about to finally fall asleep after watching Housewives of Orange County did he come in wanting to sleep with us.

GRRRRRRR………..   I know why mama lions eat their young!!

So I camped out at the computer here on good ol’ BB.com until it was time for Conan O’Brien to come on because I love him and he makes me laugh and puts me into a good mood, and FINALLY fell asleep on the couch being woken up way too early in the morning by the most bizarre, vivid dream.

UGH.

Weight Training:  Legs and tris

Cardio:  600

Breakfast:  2 whole eggs, 2 egg whites

potatoes

Snack:  cottage cheese and pineapple

Lunch:  salad with croutons, sunflower seeds, and olives

Dinner:  Grilled chicken sandwich

I love when someone sends me an insulting PM and then they get banned.  HABATCHI.

Anyway, it was pretty crowded at the gym yesterday with everyone having the day off for MLK Day.

I saw two more characters at the gym.  Who knew there would be so many where I live.  But then, NH is a weird place to begin with.

I saw this couple for the first time ever.  I figured they must be ones who go at a different time, but with the way they mucked up the DB rack, I was HOPING they were new to the system.

The girl had black hair tied up in a ponytail with full on makeup and a hoochie outfit.  Short tank and low rider sweats.  She wasn’t ready to wear that outfit as her muffin top and armpit boobs indicated.

Her boyfriend had the same color hair….spiked, and eyebrows better groomed than any woman I’ve seen.  They were perfectly waxed into sideways colon marks.  He was an apple….skinny arms and legs with a beer gut.
The girl took the only 8 pound DB’s I needed, so I had to resort to using the 10 lb DB’s for my side lateral raises.  I have to use lighter ones because something is not right with my shoulder, but I wound up feeling OK….not great, but not too much pain.

So, I went on to do other exercises and came back to do the side laterals again.  The way my plan has it layed out, I do side laterals after every other exercise.

This time, she was using the 5 lb DB’s to do curls and he was using the 15’s to do something…wasn’t paying much attention because they were right up against the rack doing them.  I said "excuse me" so I could get in front to grab the 10’s again because she hid the 8’s on me.

None of them moved, so I had to squeeze in and reach them.  Grrr….

I finally see that they put all of their DB’s back, and was ready to use the 8’s.

They’re not there.  WTF.

I look again and all the of the DB’s they used were in the wrong spot.  The places are clearly marked so they’d know where to put them and they haphazardly put them back wherever the hell they wanted.

One 8 was in the 15 spot, the other 8 was in the 5 spot, they were here there and everywhere.

Damn, my kids make enough of a mess at home….I don’t need to be picking after people at the gym.

Oh yeah, and Mr. HooHoo man was there.

Only this time he used a different sound when pumping the iron.  It was a certain growl that sounded so familiar.

And I’m so sorry I recognized it.  When it occured to me he sounded like the Cowardly Lion, I had to go into deep meditation to prevent a whoop of laughter from coming out.

Goddamn what a stressful time at the gym.  LOL, it’s the little things that get me sometimes.

Weight Training:  chest, biceps, calves

Cardio:  600

Breakfast:  1 whole egg, 2 egg whites

whole wheat toast

coffee

Lunch:  Chicken tenders (homemade)

spaghetti

Dinner:  crash hot potatoes

steak

broccoli

salad

(Can I just mention that I canNOT wait until tomorrow when the kids are back in school and my husband goes back to work?  My nerves are completely shot.  Holy sh*t, LOL).

My scale told me I’m 7 pounds heavier than I was last week.  Instead of getting discouraged or frustrated, I told myself that I wouldn’t be able to fit into the skinny jeans I wore on Saturday if I took the scale’s word for it.

Some of you may say:  "Don’t weight yourself, measure instead."

Well, I have measured and I’m about the same as before I started with the weight training routine Janthony put me on.  What that tells me is that I’ve replaced fat with muscle and I’m coming out with about the same measurements (plus or minus a 1/4 inch here and there).  If the scale were gospel, my measurements would go up much more than a 1/4 inch.
I put on water weight like crazy most of the time.  I don’t know what causes it, but it’s gotten worse since the birth of my last child.  I fluctuate as much as 5-7 pounds now when it used to be 1 or 2 pounds.

I’ll just keep my nose to the grindstone….doing my weight training, cardio, and clean eating.  It’s got to do me better than not doing any of those things at all.

But I don’t want to settle back on my expectations either and say "What I’m doing now is good enough."

I plan to keep up with my weight training and increasing the weight as I go along the way I usually do.

I plan to improve my diet by eating a LOT more vegetables.

And I plan to tack on another 100 calories to my 500 calorie a day goal.

I’d rather do better than I am now than get discouraged and settle for less.

Weight Training:  Shoulders, back

Cardio:  600

Breakfast:  1 whole egg, 1 egg white

oatmeal

coffee

Lunch:  brown rice

green beans

protein shake

Dinner:  Chicken

green beans

spaghetti

Cardio:  500

Breakfast:  no appetite…will eat later

cottage cheese

banana

Snack:  a couple few almonds

Lunch:  1/2 cup or so of pasta

chicken breast

Dinner:  tilapia

green beans

….like a Big Mac or a Twinkie or a honking slice of pizza (or whatever else you crave that will set you off track), watch this video first.  It’ll wilt your appetite like none other.

His nutsack is a definite appetite killer in my book:

Weight Training:  Day off

Cardio:  505

Breakfast:  5 eggs (2 whole, 3 whites)
whole wheat toast

coffee w/ milk

Snack:  almonds

Lunch:  chicken breast sandwich on whole wheat

Dinner:  asian chicken salad wrap

It’s kind of hard to keep your head in working out and staying motivated when you’re constantly covered up from head to toe with fleece to top it off.  Don’t get me wrong…..my workouts are doing great and I have no trouble WANTING to keep up my workouts and doing so.
But, I can’t wait for summer when I can wear SHORTS and FLIP FLOPS and TANK TOPS and SEE my progress.

For now I have to settle for when I’m in and out of the shower which only allows a few seconds of "check myself out" time because it’s FREEZING when I hop in and out of the shower.

Today I want to put on some sunless tanning lotion just to get a little bit of healthy athletic glow because right now my skin has the wrong kind of glow going on (as in the white glow in the dark kind).

And then this weekend I want to go bathing suit shopping!!  They’re out now, right?  I could’ve sworn I saw a whole bunch at Target.

And then I’m giving myself a pedi.  I need some summertime color on my toesy’s.

And THEN….I don’t know….have warm thoughts about the South.

Weight Training:  Shoulders, bi’s, abs

Cardio:  500

Breakfast:  5 eggs (2 whole 3 whites)

whole wheat toast

coffee w/ milk

Lunch:  Pasta and chicken salad w/ ff Italian dressing

Snack:  2 clementines

protein shake

Dinner:  2 veggie burgers

Mr. Yin is a sporadic gym goer.

He comes to the gym dressed in a gray sweatshirt tucked into thick gray sweatpants, the bottoms of which are tucked into workboots.

He sweats his ass off on the machines.

He carries a gallon jug of water to replenish all that sweats out of him.

He has a big fat belly and days old scruff on his face.

The bottom of his big fat belly sticks out when his sweatshirt comes untucked while doing pullups.

He has been coming to the gym as far back as I can remember and hasn’t changed a bit.
Mr. Yang is perfect.

He wears a perfectly fit designer tank top with matching thin sweatpants and straps that stay around his wrists at all times.

He has a perfect haircut and perfect skin.

He walks purposefully to each machine, or piece of equipment with perfect posture.
I watch what he does because his lifting technique is impeccable.

Whatever move he does, he lifts slowly, squeezes at the top, and slowly lowers the weight.

He has a great looking physique.

And he’s on the side of nerdy.

Two more characters at my gym.

Weight Training:  Back, shoulders, calves

Cardio:  500

Breakfast:  oatmeal

banana

coffee w/ milk

Lunch:  Steamed shrimp and vegetables

rice

Dinner:  Chicken

pasta

…..because they failed with this invention:

Weight Training:  Legs, tris

Cardio:  500 in 21 minutes (DOUCHE BAG)
Breakfast:  5 eggs (2 whole, 3 white)

whole wheat toast

coffee w/ milk

Lunch:  can o’ tuna

Dinner:  steamed shrimp and vegetables

rice

I weighed in at 132 this morning which means I’ve lost 13 pounds since January 1st.

I meant to mention this guy a while ago, but this guy at my gym has the biggest goddamn feet I’ve ever seen on someone his height.  I think if he isn’t my height, he MIGHT be an inch taller.  His sneakers have got to be a size 15 or larger.  I swear they look like clown shoes on the guy as they’re real thick and heavy looking.  I don’t know how he doesn’t trip all over the place trying to lift them high enough to take a proper step.  It’s the goofiest thing to see.
Another story:  Yesterday, two guys were partnering up for their weight lifting.  I don’t know what they were doing because I had my back turned on them, but all I could hear was a lot of grunting and the other guy saying, "Is that all you can do?  Is that all you have?  C’mon that’s all you can do?  You can do another."

The grunter says, "You had me on the f*cking stairmaster for 30 minutes before this, and you want more out of me?  You ran me into the ground on that thing."

I don’t know, I thought that was funny and nearly busted out laughing.  I smiled instead.

Final story:  My youngest son is the worst negotiator in the world.  In the past, I tell him things like that he can go to bed at 8:15 instead of 8:00.  He’ll come back saying "How about 7:30."

So yesterday when he got home from school, he asked for a granola bar.  These kids go through those things like locusts, so I have to ration them out if they’re going to last longer than a day.

Anyway, I told him he already had one so that’s it.  He said, "No I didn’t, I had two today!"

Well, there, now you’re really not getting anymore at all, I tell him.

My oldest son says to him in a low voice, "You went too far with that.  If you had just told her one, you probably could’ve talked her into getting another, but you blew it."

My youngest catches on and is all "Aw MAAAN."

Weight Training:  Biceps, chest, calves

Cardio:  500
Breakfast:  1 cup cottage cheese with 1 serving pineapple (it’s like dessert for breakfast)

coffee w/ milk

Lunch:  sushi

Snackish:  2 portions of fish

Breakfast for dinner:  5 eggs

2 slices whole wheat toast

1 banana

1 cup milk

I was watching the Military Channel yesterday (while NOT folding laundry) about men joining the Navy Seals.  The documentary was covering 12 days of grueling exercises to see who would stay and who would quit and move on to the next phase of the program.

There was one exercise where they had to swim from one end of an indoor pool to the other end while staying under water.  They couldn’t come up for air at any point.  It took approximately 4 minutes or so to cross.  Brain damage occurs around the 5 minute mark, so those men want to make sure they swim to the other side before that happens.

Well, quite a few of the men made it to the other side, but they were either on the verge of being passed out, or they WERE passed out and had to be saved.

What got me is that these mens bodies pushed themselves beyond the point of reasoning.  While their minds were probably screaming at them to come up for air, they bypassed that instinct and somehow kept their bodies moving despite being barely conscious by the end.

I took that thought with me while thinking about myself at the gym.  While I’m not about to lift weights until I pass out….how f*cking embarrassing would that be….I need to find a way to push past what my mind is telling me my body can do.

Another thing I saw that struck me is when teams of men had a boat race in the ocean.  The first place team won the chance to rest, while everyone else had to do some excruciating exercises as punishment.

One instructor informed the men that the only thing worse than what they had to do is being captured by the enemy and to think of these exercises as being captured by the enemy.

He also said that "being in second place is just being the first to come in last".  Because if you’re not first, you’re either captured or dead.  I took that quote to heart.

It made me think of the quote Ricky Bobby’s dad always said in Talledega Nights:  "If you ain’t first, you’re last."  And then I laughed to myself.

Dammit!  I can never take anything seriously.

Shows like the Navy Seals documentary, or seeing competitors in triathlon races or any other event that requires a lot of mind-strength, have always appealed to me.  I love seeing people push themselves past the limits of what their minds set for them.

I also have to mention my son whose mind power is amazing to me.  No matter how cr*ppy he’s feeling while playing a sport because of out of whack blood sugars, he fixes the problem by drinking some juice to raise his blood sugars, or coming in for a dose of insulin if they’re running too high, and he gets right back out a continues playing.  He NEVER uses his limitations as an excuse to compete with less than 200% effort.
Usually I can never get past curling 15# dumbbells, but last week I was able to curl 20# DB’s 5 times during the end of a particular bicep exercise.  The next time out, I plan to curl those 20# bastards for the majority of the reps I have to do.

The show also got me motivated to do more than I had done yesterday morning.  It was my off-day for weight training, but I still did my 500 calorie burn.  Well, Mdrane suggested I burn another 500 calories earlier in the day that I scoffed at.  I decided to burn another 500 calories for a total of 1,000 calories for the day.

I expect to push past a lot of the limitations my mind has set for me.

Weight Training:  shoulders, back, abs

Cardio:  500
Breakfast:  Must I write it?  I will anyway:  5 eggs (1 whole, 4 whites)

oatmeal

coffee w/ milk

Lunch:  open faced Sardine sandwich (1 can sardines, 1 slice whole wheat)

Dinner:  fish

brown rice

vegetable