July 27

Hello... I have returned! After a week-long hiatus from working out and focusing on my health (broken bone, gallbladder attack, trip to Arizona....), I am back in action today. I wasn't sure I would work out today because I was pretty tired, but after a conversation with Amber about exercise and health, I felt compelled to hit the treadmill instead of the bed. So glad I did! I am starting the Isagenix cleanse over today as it became difficult to focus on that last week as well.

As for the conversation with Amber, I thought I'd share a bit of what we discussed (hopefully she won't mind! :) because I think it's important for all of us mommas to remember. In her considerations of joining a gym, she's feeling the inevitable guilt that moms face when they feel they're doing something for themselves-- money, leaving the kids, and feeling selfish about all of it. I've definitely felt it all. Before Lacey was born, though, I decided that I would not give in to that feeling. I honestly feel like that's one of Satan's tools to keep us miserable. He takes a genuinely good thing like motherhood and uses that to keep us from doing things that would make us happier, more in tune, and ultimately better mothers and wives. Health is NOT selfish!! Think of how you feel when you're feeling over weight with the typical aches and pains associated with not living a healthy life. As for me, I was not happy. I thought I was happy, but now that I'm healthy, I know how to be so much happier. I was easily depressed and didn't feel worthy of the things that I wanted. I wasn't as good a friend, a sister, a wife, etc. If I were still over weight, I know I wouldn't be a great mom either. How would getting out of that slump be considered selfish??? Let's step away from the short-term effects and think of the long term ones. If you were to stay on the exact same road you're on right now with the same eating and exercise plan you currently keep, how do you think you'll feel 10, 20, 30 + years from now? That's hard to think about because it seems so far off and we all like to think we're invinscible, but ask people in their 50s and 60s if they wish they'd taken better care of themselves when they were younger and I'm sure they'd say yes. It's possible to age well and to be active and healthy for many years. Think of how your kids, grandkids, and so forth would benefit from that. Think of all of the things you can accomplish and do as a healthy 40, 50, 60, 70... year old. The kids are all going to leave home at some point, leaving you to either continue a downhill spiral or to travel, earn college degrees and have a rewarding career, go on missions, etc. etc. etc. The fact that Satan has convinced us women that working towards health goals is selfish is astounding to me! But he is a cunning one and knows what will work. Darn him! Hm... I've jumped on a soap box, haven't I? Well, take it for what it's worth. My simple hope is that we, as mothers, will resolve to stop allowing those thoughts to keep us from achieving what we and our families deserve. If you continue to avoid workouts and healthy living, then let it be for some other reason because selfishness just isn't valid in my book.

That's my lecture for the evening. Now time for Bachelorette!!! Who's it gonna be????

July 14 Day 3 of 30-Day Cleanse

So far, so good! I'm already back down to 158 today!! (Remember that the scale said 162 just on Sunday!) I suspect that part of that quick loss simply has to do with retention or something but any change on the scale is a good thing and I'll take it! I'm hopeful once again that I may actually reach that 155 goal by the time we go to Pheonix next week... wouldn't that be great?! The two shakes and one meal a day thing really hasn't been so bad. I was worried that I would be hungry, but I haven't been. Of course, I throw in a healthy snack like apple w/ peanut butter or almonds and some other piece of fruit or something of that nature and it keeps me full and happy. I'm sure it will become more difficult as the days go on, simply because I'll want to eat something as opposed to drinking two meals a day, but seeing the progress will certainly help to keep me going. I don't typically advocate rapid weight loss but this really is about cleansing your body, kicking bad habits, and priming your body for continued healthy living. For me, it's the thing that is going to take me the rest of the way on this journey and I am quite confident that it will work... it already is doing so. Can't wait to see how far it takes me!

As for my workout, here we go (to the best of my memory because I forgot to write it all down today... oops!)...

3-minute warm up run
Squats:
3 sets * 75 lbs * 15 reps

Step ups in between sets, holding 15-lb dumbells w/ a front kick as I came up-- step ups always help to get my heart rate up, but the front kick made it shoot up there.. quite the exercise!

Dead lifts:
3 sets * 75 lbs * 12-15 reps

More step ups between sets

Walking lunges:
3 sets * 8 lb ball twist (for the obliques) * 20 steps

Leg extension:
3 sets * 75 lbs * 15 reps
Supersetted w/
Hamstring curl:
3 sets * 55 lbs * 15 reps

Ended with a 20-minute run in zone 2 and 3
Calorie burn: 815

Hard workout but totally worth it!

July 12... Hello again!

OK... after a couple of difficult weeks, I'm back. Also making their return are a four pounds that I worked so hard to lose. With the extra calories from the apple juice and olive oil (I still gag at the thought!), the cold that made it all too easy to lay around the house in my jammies and avoid the gym, and the lack of discipline that ensued as a result, the scale said 162 this morning. That's even hard to type! But, it is what it is and I can only move forward and do my best to undo the damage. I am doing something new this month that should help me get rid of those pounds pretty quickly. You've seen that we drink Isagenix shakes every morning. Well, Isagenix is a product that we've half-heartedly promoted in the office and are considering doing a little more with it. Mike has a couple of patients who have had a lot of success using and selling the product and they'd like to get us to take a more active role with it. We're veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrry unsure of doing that for various reasons, but we agreed to give it more of a shot to help us reach our goals and then we'll see what we want to do with it from there. For the next month, I am going to be doing a 30-day Isagenix cleanse. It involves replacing two meals a day with the shakes (which really are quite good and pretty filling) and then eating a sensible meal and snacks for the remainder of the day. One day a week, I'll drink this cleanse stuff that will, in theory, rid my body of toxins and all kinds of junk that shouldn't be there. Technically, I'm not supposed to eat much of anything on that day, but we'll see... I'm not into starving myself! I'm sure I'll modify things a bit and add more calories to compensate for my workouts, but it will be interesting to see how this goes. I am hopeful that it will help me to get to that 155 goal by the end of it and that it will help my body to function more effectively. Especially with the gallstones and other digestive problems I have had, it may be just the thing I need. And if anyone else is interested in trying any of these products along with me, we can get you started.

As for the surgery, I have an appointment with an insurance agent tomorrow to change our policy and then a meeting with the surgeon on Wednesday. Hopefully this thing will be out pronto! It's been a year and a half and I am ready to be rid of it! We're hopeful that this won't change plans too drastically but we'll see.....

July 8

So, today wasn't the ideal day. Went in for the ultrasound on my gallbladder and as it turns out, drinking the apple juice and olive oil was nothing but a big calorie consumption with none of the benefits we hoped for. Gggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! It didn't work. Some of you may be thinking "Well DUH!" but it has worked for several people I know so why not me? I don't know. Not fair. There remain lots of little stones in there, filling up my poor gallbladder. Next step: surgery. It's a simple surgery, assuming all goes as planned... they won't know how invasive it needs to be until they get in there. Ideally, it's laproscopic... but it could be worse. The recovery isn't long (again, this is assuming...), and given than I'm an otherwise healthy 27-year-old, I don't anticipate long-lasting effects. A part of me was pretty disappointed to see the stones, but there is also a part of me that's actually quite happy to just get it out after all of the trouble it has caused me. To know that I will never have a gallbladder attack again is a beautiful thing! If you've had one, you know what I mean. If you haven't, well, imagine being in labor without the relief of a break in contractions and doing that once a month or more. So very, very painful! So yes, it's coming out. It does mean other disappointing things when it comes to the next baby. We were thinking that it would happen quite soon, but now with the expense of the surgery, we may just have to push it back a bit longer. That was a bit of a painful reality at first, but if that's what happens, then it's fine. It won't be much longer and it will give us time to get other things in order anyway so maybe it's all for the best. Stupid gallbladder. Stupid crappy insurance. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I'm whining. And while I did work out today, it was sort of mellow because I was supposed to be fasting before my ultrasound, which meant that I couldn't take in water. Who wants a really tough workout if you can't drink water?? Overview: squats (3 sets of 15 at 70 lbs), deadlifts (same reps and weight as squats), leg press (3 sets of 15 reps at 100 lbs), hamstring curl (3 sets of 15 at 55 lbs), leg extension (3 sets of 15 reps at 75 lbs), and calf extensions (3 sets of 15 reps at 110 lbs). I didn't wear my heart rate monitor so I have no clue on the calories. And I don't feel like counting the calories consumed... just that kind of day. I do know that it's been hard to really get back in the game after last week and I need to find my focus again. I gained 3 or 4 pounds through all of that! How very, very frustrating! Ug. I'm just frustrated all around. I should stop writing and go clean the kitchen or something. At least I have a fun day to look forward to tomorrow-- Amber's bringing the kids down to play and then Haylee and Grace are staying with us for a couple of days. Fun times with the nieces!

July 7

Ok, back in action... here we go...


Since you probably don't really care what exactly I'm eating, I'll just sum it all up by saying I ate about 1480 calories.

Workout (for Courtney): Chest and Back
*Some women are afraid to do much work on their chest because they don't want manly muscles there... which I understand. But, the reality is that unless you're taking steroids (we'll assume that you're not!), you're not likely to get those no matter how many push ups and reps on the bench you do. Actually, I quite love what working my chest has done... kind of an inexpensive lift! Seriously, go for it. And the back? I loooove working out my back! It's not seen unless I'm in a bathing suit, I realize, but a nice-looking back in just sexy so it's a fav of mine. Here's how I did it today.....

5-minute warm up run
Bench-
1- 55 lb - 15 reps
2- 55 lb - 15 reps
3- 55 lb - 15 reps

Superset w/
Lat Pull down-
1- 50 lb- 20 reps
2- 100 lb- 15 reps
3- 100 lb- 15 reps

Jumped rope between each superset and then run 1/4 mile before moving on to next superset....

Decline bench press machine-
1- 40 lb - 15 reps
2- 50 lb - 12 reps
3- 50 lb - 12 reps

Superset w/ Compound row-
1- 90 lb - 20 reps
2- 110 lb - 15 reps
3- 110 lb - 15 reps

Jump rope between each superset and run 1/4 mile before moving on....

Free Motion Machine Press-
1- 40 lb - 15 reps
2- 40 lb - 15 reps
3- 50 lb - 12 reps

Superset w/ Free motion row machine-
1- 50 lb - 15 reps
2- 50 lb - 15 reps
3- 60 lb - 12 reps

Jump rope between each superset and then run 1/4 mile...

Incline bench press-
1- 45 lb - 20 reps
2- 55 lb - 15 reps
3- 55 lb - 12 reps

Superset w/ bent over row-
1- 65 lb - 10 reps
2- 65 lb - 10 reps
3- 65 lb - 8 reps

Jumped rope between each superset

20 minutes of cardio to finish it off
Calories burned: 800

Felt great to get back in there!!! Need to get back into the healthy eating mode... I didn't eat a ton, but I could have made healthier choices. Hard to go back when ya take a little time off, but I'll get there.
Now Courtney, I expect you to do the exact same workout tomorrow! :) As for me, I'll be doing legs... painful deadlifts, grueling squats, but-blasting lunges- bring it on!!!

July 6

Well, I did it. I drank the olive oil. Let me just tell you, it was the grossest thing EVER!!!! 1/2 a cup of olive oil doesn't sound so bad at first, but when you look at it in the glass, all thick and green and oily, it suddenly becomes all too disgusting. The first few sips were so painful and took me probably half an hour to consume... which didn't even amount to half of it. Eventually, I got it all down, all the while convincing myself not to throw it right back up, as I was inclined to do. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. So what happened? Well, I don't know. I mean, I won't go into graphic details because the result was fairly unpleasant as well, but whether or not it helped me to eliminate the stones, I am not yet sure. I will go in on Wednesday to get another ultrasound done to see if gallstones are still present. If there are still a lot of them, then we'll go to surgery. If there are none, then WAHOO! We win! If there are still some but not nearly as many, then I may do the olive oil thing again in a couple of months. Let's just hope that door number 2 holds the prize! Now I know that some of you are thinking that I was sort of pressured into this by my chiropractor husband who did not hide his dissaproval of the surgery; but the reality is that I always agreed with his feelings about it and shared his desire to get rid of the stones naturally if possible. His concern has always been for my overall long-term health, though there were times that the presentation of his opinions was admittedly not quite as mildly put as they could have been. I have always been hopeful that a natural remedy would fix the problem, which is my reason for going to this extreme. If it wasn't effective, then we both agree that surgery is the next option. Why not try the mildest route first, right? I mean, drinking olive oil wasn't all that easy, but it's better than removing an organ! So there you have it. That's where things are today with the gallblader situation. I'll let ya know on Wednesday what we discover. Think happy, stone-free thoughts everyone! :)
And with this little procedure behind me, I'm back in the mode today... well, mostly anyway. My stomach was pretty uneasy all day and my body was tired, but I managed to push a 20-minute run out of me and then I went to the yard for an afternoon of pulling weeds. In an hour and a half (including the 20-minute run), I burned 837 calories. Who knew?! I wouldn't normally consider pulling weeds to be my workout, but today, it was the best I could do. As for calories consumed, I dunno. I ate mostly well, until dinner when we ate out with friends. Chips, black bean dip, sour cream enchiladas.... mmmmm... I ate as if I had no gallstones tonight and it was tasty! But because my body will back to normal tomorrow, so will everything else. My hope is to get to 155 by the end of the month so I have to hit it pretty hard to undo the damage of last week and to keep moving forward. So check back tomorrow for an overview of my day, including of my workout for Courtey and anyone else who cares. As for tonight, time for Bachelorette! What's up with Weesley Wes tonight???

July 2

I am soooooooooooo sick of apple juice!!! Seriously, it's just painful drinking so much. All of this sugar is making me feel ill. It's sort of unfortunate that I'm consuming so many calories in APPLE JUICE! I mean, come on, if I'm going to take in an extra 500 calories a day, I could find something far more enjoyable. Oh well. If this works, then it's completely worth it. Unfortunately, I know that I am not going to lose any weight this week and that in all likelihood, I will have gained a couple of pounds by the end of it. Grrrrr! If I had been able to work out all week, I may have avoided it, but the way I'm feeling (mostly because of the cold) has made it difficult. I did get a run in today. I didn't have an hour's worth of energy in me, so I decided to run a 5K (3.1 miles) in preparation for the race I'm running in just a couple of weeks. On the treadmill, I did it in 25 minutes... losing the cold and the gallstone issues will mean I can probably run it even faster than that. I've never done a 5K race so I'm pretty excited to see how fast I can go. I need to start running outside again a couple of times a week to prepare. I'd be pretty happy if I can do it in under 24 minutes. We'll see!
As for the rest of this week, I'm going to try to work in the rest of the muscle groups that I've missed during tomorrow and Saturdays workouts, as well as getting a couple of hour-long cardio sessions in. I have lost time to make up for! Then I'll hit it really hard again next week and hopefully, I'll hit that 155 mark by the time we go to Pheonix. I know it's ridiculous to obsess over a number, but that was my original goal in all of this so I at least want to get there.
Ok I'm so exhausted and have been rambling here so I'm going to bed... just didn't want to miss another day here so this is what I have to share at this late hour. Good night!

July 1

Hello to anyone who still tunes in to this little blog of mine. Sorry if I've kept you hanging. I haven't fallen off the band-wagon (well, not completely anyway!), just off the blogging wagon. It's been an interesting week for me. I've decided to try a cleanse to get rid of the gallstones, a process that began on Monday. For 5 or 6 days, I am to drink loooots of apple juice. 1 qt a day, to be exact. That's close to 500 calories worth of apple juice a day! Needless to say, it may not be a big weight loss week. What I didn't expect is that the apple juice would make me fairly uncomfortable. I guess in the process if softening the gallstones, it's causing them to shift or something- thus irritating my gallbladder. Nothing major, but not overly pleasant. I attempted to work out on Monday but my stomach was fairly upset so I didn't get it all in. Then I caught Lacey's cold which has sort of knocked me out for the last two days. Ug. I'm feeling sluggish after not working out and I have to get back to the gym tomorrow. I'm determined to get really good workouts in for the rest of the week! I'm trying to be careful with what I'm eating, but I haven't been perfect. I've just kind of accepted that it's not going to be a weight loss week so at least I won't be surprised. Back to the cleanse: after 6 days of drinking all of the apple juice, I will drink 1/4 cup of olive oil and some lemon juice on Saturday night before bed. PLEASANT! No, I am not looking forward to this in the slightest. However, if it works, then I'm all for it. I want to keep my gallbladder because I maintain the stance that your body absolutely will not work as well without it. If I can get rid of the stones naturally, why not? I may (or may not) continue to need to do this cleanse periodically, maybe every 6 months to a year, but I'm ok with that. I'd rather keep the organ God gave me, thank you very much. Of course, if I continue having painful attacks after doing this, then I may have no choice. We shall see!
So for the rest of the week, I'll just continue doing what I can and trying to avoid gaining weight. Then I can get back to the hard core routine next week, hopefully free of gallstones. I'll let ya know!