nhop1976’s BodyBlog

Thanksgiving was soooo good and man did I eat!! I ate so much for a few days my scale was up. I wasn’t too afraid because a lot of the gain was water. Today I got on the scale and it is back to 165 and it is on for my day before Christmas weight. It feels great to be exercising again and eating clean. I feel less tired and energetic too.  I will be leaner and lighter in weight too. 158 here I come!!

Today I worked out to my step DVD and also lift weights on my lower body. Leg extensions, curls and lunges. I am feeling a bit sore but you know how that goes. so tomorrow I will rest my lower body and cardio it up after work.

Well I am off to get some rest.  Chat later

Hey everyone!!

I just had to pop in and wish all of my friends a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

If you are on and browsing around, please check out my profile and tell me what you think of my new progress photos? Be nice, but constructive criticism is always welcomed!!

Well I am off to get ready to EAT!!!

Chat later and I will be back at the gym tomorrow!!

Hugs!!

Natasha

Hi all,

I have been doing well after making some adjustments to my meal plan in hopes of dropping one more pound before thanksgiving!! In leu of allergies and running around getting the last few things for our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday I have been very diligent with my workouts! Today I got in 25 minutes of cardio and I worked out:

1. biceps- biceps curls and hammer curls ( I am now curling with 10lbs!!)
2. triceps pull downs 60lbs
3. lats pull downs 100lbs!!
4. arnold press
5. bench press
6. butterflies

I even worked out my neglected area which are my abs! I found a great workout in the January issue of the Oxygen mag that I liked, so I will incorporate that into my routine. Tomorrow I will fit in one more cardio and weight session before I go to work and then Thursday I am going to enjoy myself and Friday I am back to the routine and the beginning of my 32 day christmas challenge!!

Gotta go. I just cut my hair and I bought a new flat iron, so I want to see if it works okay. Hopefully I can post pics of my progress tomorrow night. I don’t see much but maybe I am being a little hard on myself.

Chat later

I am almost completed my 26 day challenge with a total fat loss of 3lbs thus far. It’s good but I could have done way better. I came to the conclusion that I was eating too many calories with my meal plan that I set. Well, the meal plan was fine, but when I substituted two of my meals during the day for my Muscle Milk protein shake I did not take into consideration the amount of calories I was drinking. Did you know that for the suggested serving of the muscle milk I was downing 640 calories? OMG! So if I was replacing two of my five meals with that I was consuming almost 1300 calories with the two shakes on top of the 3 meals I was eating totaling 2100 cals a days. Yikes ya’ll that is way too much for weight loss. I need to stay in the 1300-1500 calories range to loss weight/fat.

So saying that i will be finding a protein shake with less calories. Modifying my meal plans to stay with in the my target caloric range and keep the exercise routine as scheduled. Do you have any suggestions on lower calorie protein shakes? Please let me know. I will be out shopping in a bit with my son. Guess what I will be putting myself on another challenge for fat loss. It will be my Christmas challenge starting the day after Thanksgiving. It will be 32 days long and what I have learned from this challenge I will apply it so that I will reach my 155 goal by the new year!! Feel free to join me!! It will be fun to share our challenges and success together!!

Today Day 18:

I have lots of movement planned today I will be working out my upper body:

1. abs
2. chest
3. shoulders
4. back
5. triceps, biceps, and lats

Then I will be meeting with my girlfriend because she wants to try the tae bo amped while our kids play together. So that will be a 30 minutes workout. Then I will be going for a jog later with another friend of mine. So, today I will be BURNING so FAT away!!!

Well i am off to run errands with my son. His 4th birthday party is this Saturday!! This boy loves some ninja turtles, lol. So , better sneak that in the truck while we are out.

Gotta run!!

Hey everyone,

Sorry I haven’t been here in a while. I have been busy planning my son’s 4th birthday party for this weekend and getting prepared for Thanksgiving. Man I have lots of good food to cook and I am going to enjoy myself that day and then I am back on getting lean after that. Why? I am cooking, turkey, ham, yams, dressing the southern style ones, potato salad, greens, and cheesecake. I have other members of the family bringing more food too. So that’s why. hee hee. Sorry if I through anyone off track with this menu I listed. Hell I am drooling already.

Anyway, my weight is staying the same this week at 165! Darn! My husband feels that I am gaining muscle so that is the reason why the scale is not moving, so I will not get too sad.

Guess what I finally tried? Billy Blanks’ Tae Bo Amped! It was pretty darn tough, but great at the same time. The first workout I tired on Sunday was the full throttle with the amped bar that weighs about 4 pounds. The workout was scheduled for 55 minutes and I only made it through 30. I swear I was sweating buckets 15 minutes into the workout and as a result today I am sore as hell. My entire upper body is sore from my delts, lats, triceps, back and biceps.

Today I will be working in more cardio. I will rest my upper body and do step aerobics and a leg workout with weights and lounges. Then I will get myself geared for watching the biggest loser tonight!! After that if I have energy I really want to try the core workout that was included with the tae bo amped package I got and see how effective that is too, but I will have to wait until my son gets to bed otherwise I will not be able to concentrate at all. You all with kids know exactly what I am taking about.

Chat later

I am feeling so good today!! Before picking up my son from grandpa’s house I did 60 minutes of cardio!! I am so  proud. I had to do 60 minute because yesterday I was a complete lazy butt. I ate great but did not lift of anything. Later tonight I will lift and workout my legs and abs. Lounges here I come!!

Oh yeah, there is something else I am excited about today. I am going to purchase tickets to the Texas Shredder Classic here is Austin, TX for May 2008!! I am so excited! I am not going to compete because I am just not ready yet, but this year I am going to be a spectator and learn and maybe in 2009 you will see me on stage! I can’t wait!! I am so inspired as hell especially by Michele Wile. You have got to read her transformation story when you get a chance. It is awesome. She competed in the May 2007 event and place 1st in the Short figure division!! Way to Go!!! You Rock!!
By the way, does she have a profile here? I will love to send her some kudos her way. If you know, PLEASE let me know???

Some killer workouts I have had. Today I am off of work and I am glad because I feel like an old grandma walking around with my son. I did a great workout on Sunday on my upper and lower body and I am still feeling it!! Yesterday was my rest day for workouts, however I ate according to plan and drank all of my water. The scale is still at 165 today, maybe more movement next week? We will see.
Today is a challenging day. So far I was doing great with my meals until my son requested a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. As I was preparing it I forgot how good they smell. So, guess what? I had one too. I know I shouldn’t have, but I did. So now my meal plan today is little jacked up, but I will get back on the ball this minute. So far I ate

1. meal 1: Oat meal, turkey breast, and banana
2. meal 2: Chicken breast on sandwich, sunflower seeds
3. meal 3: My mishap.. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich (lots of fat, huh?)
4. Meal 4: Tuna steak, green beans
5. Meal 5: Chicken breast, cauliflower, brown rice

Do you think I did a little damage with the PB&J? I know I must have, I just hope not too much.

Later i will be watching the biggest loser on t.v and then I will force myself to do step aerobics inside of tae bo tonight along with a shoulder and ab workout too. Speaking of Billy Blanks’ tae bo, have any of you tried the tae Bo amped? I just ordered the set and there was a good mix of good and bad reviews on it. Some people complain that the workout set only worked out the upper body and not much emphasis on the lower body which is okay for me. I all ready had a plan for the lower body I just really need to work the upper. But, if you did tried this set please let me know your thoughts on it.

Well, I am off for now.

Well, today I had to do some re-adjustment to my weight. My actual start weight was 168 not 160lbs. I made a boo boo, so now it looked like I gained versus losing weight. I got on the scale again and I am still maintaining my 3lbs loss keeping my scale at 165 this week. I am happy weight that and hoping to see more next week Sunday. I just finished my workout today I did:

1. leg extensions on the bowflex since I did not get them in yesterday
2. hamstring curls
3. lat pull downs
4. tricep pull down
5. bicep curls
6. 30 minute body sculpt with Gilad

I am so ready for bed right now and I know I will be sore in the morning, but oh well!! Tomorrow I have got to fit in some cardio before going to workout. I may just need to go to bed earlier so that I can get up early and workout before my son wakes up. I will get up! I can do it!! ( I am trying to convince myself, huh?) Well, I hope that you all had a great weekend and I look forward to seeing how your weekly progress goes.

Chat later

Hi ya,

Just wanted to update and say that my challenge is still going as planned and it is becoming a good habit to keep. Day 6 I completed rested and recouped from my workouts which my body really needed because today Day 7 I kicked up my cardio routine and did 45 minutes of step aerobics. Man I was so tired beginning the workout but shortly into it I was okay and completed it with no problem. No I just need to finish my resistance training on my legs. You know leg extension, hamstring curls, lounges, thighs, and etc before I really relax for this evening.

So far into a week in my challenge I am already seeing a difference in my legs and waist because my clothes are fitting looser in those areas, yey!!

Well, I am off for now. Gotta blog on my site and get back to working out my legs. Oh yeah check out my friend’s bodyblog page batangelina (tressa) and vote for her in her contest she is in. She is so awesome and a great inspiration to follow.

Good luck girl!!!

Dang, after looking at all of you beautiful figure and fitness pros and your beautiful shoulders I was like that is what I am missing. I need to workout my shoulders. My shoulders look so puny. So I found a great workout in my November issue of Oxygen Magazine, page 116, and had a blast/burn. You know?

1. Seated Dumbbell Shoulders press 4×10
2. Dumbbell Lateral raise 4×10
3. bent over lateral raise 4×10
4. pre-exhaust superset with a barbell 4×10

In a bit I will be going for a walk/jog for 2 miles and then I will return to workout on our bowflex. I need to get in my chest, triceps, lats, and back.

Gotta run! I hope that you all got in your workouts in and had a successful day!