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!

June 25

Ok, I'm actually posting this on June 26 because I didn't post last night. It's now 6:15 on Saturday morning and I'm AWAKE! Why? Well, for Father's Day, Mike got the new punching bag that he's been wanting... because the three or four others just weren't quite enough. This one is free-standing and he can take it in the back yard. Lovely. That's where he is right now- punching, kicking, and combinations- all at 6:15 on a Saturday morning. Nora, I really hope he isn't waking you and everyone else around us up! He has a long screening today and, if we're lucky, he'll get to join me in Highland Village for Kyra's baptism so he has to get his workout in early. I love his dedication and all, but........

Anyway, yesterday was good. I'm not certain how many calories I consumed... it was sushi night and I can't seem to figure out how many calories are in those rolls I eat. I'd like to think that because it's sushi, it wasn't much. Either way, I probably stayed within 1500 calories with my meals. We went for a swim after dinner and then it just seemed all-too-appropriate to indulge in some frozen yogurt from Braums. Nothing like hot summer days to make a girl crave ice cream! It was quite tasty. Got a decent workout in-- shoulders, back, and a bit of running= 600 calories burned. Could have worked a bit harder but it's ok.

As for today, I'm sitting again at 157 pounds. I realize that's where I was two weeks ago, but given that I probably gained a pound or two last week, that does mean a loss for this week. Just have about a month left before Pheonix so we'll see what I accomplish between now and then. Almost there!!!

June 24

Breakfast:
English muffin w/ pb- 140
Milk- 40
Snack:
Fruit bar- 120
Almonds- 70
Lunch:
Pasta primavera- 250
Snack:
Protein shake- 120
Crackers- 120
Dinner:
On the Border Chicken Fajita Tacos- 450
And I enjoyed my little treat when I came home-- low-fat ice cream with a splash of root beer- 180

Total: 1490
Burned: 700

And because Courtney requested that I start including it, I'll post my workout for the day:

Started with 1/2 hour run in heart rate zone 2 (172-178 bpm)... I normally do the cardio after my weight session but I wasn't going to have time so I went up before Mike joined me for our arm and chest workout. (Mike does chest on Mondays but I want 3 days of cardio so I condense my workouts on my strength days)

Skull crushers-
3 sets * 35 lb curved bar * 12 reps
Jumped rope between sets
Supersetted w/ dumb bell chest press-
3 sets * 20 lb dumb bells * 10 reps

Decline skull crushers (got on a decline bench to work the triceps at a different angle for different emphasis)-
3 sets * 35 lb bar * 10 reps
Jumped rope between sets
Supersetted w/ decline chest press machine
3 sets * 40 lb * 10 reps

Incline alternating bicep dumbell curl-
3 sets * 15 lb (each arm) * 12-15 reps
Jumped rope between sets
Supersetted w/ free motion chest press machine-
3 sets * 50 lb * 12 reps

Bicep hammer curl on preacher bench-
3 sets * 15 lbs * 12- 15 reps each arm
Jumped rope between sets
Supersetted w/ bench press-
3 sets * 45 lbs * 15 reps

That's it for the chest workout today...


Precor tricep extension-
3 sets * 50 lb * 15 reps

Supersetted with

Precor bicep curl-
3 sets * 40 lb * 12 reps

Freemotion alternating tricep extension machine-
3 sets *25 lb * 15 reps

Supersetted with

Freemotion alternating bicep curl machine-
3 sets * 20 lb * 15 reps


There ya have it. If you have a question about what any particular exercise is, let me know and I'll answer it. A lot of these machines aren't available at other gyms, so if you want to do something similar, you'll just have to get creative... or join us at the Lifetime!! You know you wanna!!!
As you can see, we do four exercises for each body part. Some of the exercises are similar in nature, but each works the muscle in a little different way. This week was not heavy weights or high reps-- just right there in the middle. I try to vary that up so next week will look a little different. We do vary our exercises some from week to week as well so that we can constantly shock our bodies. That's pretty essential to see results, whether it's weight loss, added strength, or muscle growth. This certainly isn't the only way to work out, but it's how we do it and it seems to be working for us. I'm always up for giving pointers and advice, though I'm certainly no pro, so take it for what it's worth. All I know is what I've learned and what works for me. Hope you're all doing well in your goals as well!

June 24

Breakfast:
English muffin w/ pb- 120
Milk- 40
Lunch:
Pb & j sandwich- 180
Fruit bar- 120
Almonds- 70
Snack:
Protein shake- 120
Dinner:
Corner Bakery chicken pinini sandwich- 770!! Could've gone for a hamburger for what that amounted to! Hadn't eaten much during the day, though, so I could afford it.

Total: 1420
Burned: 600

Today was a great day! Lacey and I headed to the gym earlier than normal so I could get my run in and hit the pool before lunch. We played together at the pool, ate (or wore, in Lacey's case) lunch with Daddy, and then it was nap-time for Lacey-bug. We took Lacey over to Nora's so we could go to the Temple this afternoon and, as always, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. A quick dinner at Corner Bakery and then we were on the way home to our very happy and well-taken care of Lacey. She LOVES Nora and the kids so we always feel so comforted to know she's in good hands over there. Have I mentioned that I love having such great neighbors? Cuz I do!! Tomorrow will require lots of house-cleaning cuz that has been neglected the last few days! :)

June 23

Breakfast:
Toast w/ pb- 180
Milk- 40
Lunch:
McD's grilled chicken sandwich- 370
Snack:
Almonds- 70
Organic dried apples- 40
Crackers- 120
Dinner:
Pasta primavera- 230
Salad- 60

1110 so far... I'll go for a snack tonight and probably get to 1350.
Burned 800