February 20, 2010

Here we are again. I promised to check in every Saturday with a brief update on my progress with the Ten in 10 Healthy Challenge. This will be my seventh update and we only have three more to go. If I reach my goal weight When I hit my goal, I'm treating myself to a new swimsuit, so that's one thing that's really keeping me motivated.

The past week was a bit like a roller coaster. After only being home from Texas for two days, we had a gorgeous three day weekend which included an all day Brunch on Sunday with Bloody Marys and Mimosas.

Luckily, I can resist cinnamon rolls, donuts, and croissants, but my weakness lies with the pigs in a blanket and the Mexican Crustless Quiche that I brought which had an entire pound of bacon in it. 🙂

Once Monday rolled around, it became a continuation of the all day Sunday party. Luckily, I got in a long walk early in the morning because we ended up having a lot of friends off work so we all got together again for salami, cheese, crackers, and more Bloody Marys.

(Needless to say, I didn't keep up  on my food log this week. Starting that again tomorrow.)

By the time Tuesday arrived, I was ready to get back into the gym. Tuesday and Wednesday I did some major cardio workouts and included weight training on Tuesday. On Friday, I was in my ‘kick butt' yoga class. I feel like a new person when I leave that class!

Long, story short, with all my indulgences, I did manage to lose a pound this week, so I'm happy! Next week is probably going to be a critical week for me. I'm guessing that these last four pounds are going to be pretty hard to blast off of my fanny. I'm going to have to crank it up a notch this week.

As for today, I'm going to enjoy “my weekend rules”. 🙂

~LilSis

February 13, 2010

Time flies when you're having fun, right? 🙂

It doesn't really seem like it's been six weeks since I started the Ten in 10 Healthy Challenge. It's been a really good thing for me; I've been more focused and more motivated than ever before. Those nasty ten pounds that crept onto my body during my time in “the boot” last Spring have refused to budge until now! (Oops! I think I said that I wouldn't mention that again.)

Here are some positive things that happened this past week:

• I was able to spend a lot of quality time with my family while in Texas.

• I got to see my BFF, K on my visit. (We've been BFF's since 7th grade.)

• I was able to get in good workouts while on my trip. (Which I don't always make a high priority on my visits.)

• I managed to maintain my weight, despite a great meal at each of my three favorite Mexican restaurants and two amazing dinners at my new favorite Greek spot in Dallas.

I worked out really hard every day after returning home from my trip so I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a little disappointed to not to see the scale go down a pound or two when I weighed in yesterday. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, though, because I'm just grateful that it didn't go up.

Not that it has anything to do with this challenge but the best part of this past week was having some ‘one on one' time with my oldest son, BigT. I don't think I've mentioned it here on BigSisLilSis yet, but he leaves in nine days for Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois to begin his Basic Training. I won't be able to speak to him or see him for two months so I'm really grateful that I was able to make the trip to spend some quality time with him before he ships out. We're proud of ya, BigT!

And a HUGE thanks goes to BigSis for taking such good care of him and letting him stay with her during this interim period!

~LilSis

February 6, 2010

This week's update is going to be short and sweet because I'm in Texas visiting my family and I'm trying to make the most of my time with them.  Just a quick update:

I wasn't able to weigh in yesterday but I feel like I've maintained my weight or maybe lost a little this week. We have already had Mexican Food twice and are meeting up with friends today for lunch at another favorite Mexican restaurant but I'm trying to make better choices for my entree and just cut back on the chip eating. I had already decided that I was going to allow myself a treat, or two, while here as long as I could keep up the daily workouts.

I've had a great time exercising this week. First, I visited the Y with BigT and convinced him to ride an Espresso bike next to me so we could chat. Then one day BigSis took me to her health club as a guest and we got in a great cardio workout on several new machines.

I'd have to say, though, that the most fun I had working out this week was yesterday when we all took turns doing different exercises on BigSis' WiiFit Plus.

I've never been crazy about video games because I don't like sitting still for very long, but the WiiFit really does make exercising a lot of fun! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 🙂

We already have the WiiFit at my house but I'm going to order the WiiFit Plus as soon as I can! These new exercises will make you laugh and get your heart pumping!

I hope everyone had a great week and have a fun-filled Super Bowl Weekend!

~LilSis

January 30, 2010

The Ten in '10 Healthy Challenge officially began on January 2, 2010 so in just a couple of days it will be a month since I started the challenge. I weighed in yesterday and I've lost a total of 6 pounds in the four weeks so I'm feeling pretty good. Not a lot has changed since my update last week, I'm just really trying hard to stay focused and keep myself motivated.

Here are a few things that have really helped me stay on track.

• Writing down my weekly workout plan and keeping my food log every day.

• Getting up earlier, having breakfast earlier and doing my workout first thing in the morning.

• Planning meals for the week and doing all the grocery shopping on Sunday.

• Always keeping healthy snacks on hand! (I've actually had to start hiding a few things so the guys don't gobble them up.)

This past week, I started getting a little bored with the same elliptical machine that I had been using and I knew I wasn't getting as good a workout as I could so I broke out of my comfort zone and tried a new machine. If you happen to see one of these Matrix Elliptical Cross Trainers at your gym, hop on it and see what you think.

This machine will kick your fanny, but I absolutely love it! 🙂

You have all sorts of different programs to chose from, but so far I like the Fat Burner a lot and the Glute Training is my favorite.  It feels like a stair climber but is much easier on the knees.

This machine really boosted my cardio workout this week!

I think what I learned last week is that if you're getting bored with your workout, then just change things up! I know if I'm getting bored, then the bottom line is that I'm not getting a great workout. Since I'm in the gym five days out of the week, I always go for a really long walk by the beach on Saturday just for a change of scenery.

This next week is probably going to be my toughest challenge yet. I'm leaving on Tuesday to go to Texas and I'll be there for a week visiting family and friends. Typically during my week long visits, we go to our favorite Mexican food restaurants a few times.

I'll definitely give myself a treat or two, but it's going to take a lot of willpower to not overindulge. If I'm not careful, I could easily gain back six pounds in a week of eating tacos, nachos, tortilla soup, chips, salsa, and freshly made guacamole. And, of course, the meal isn't complete without a really cold Dos Equis. 🙂

~LilSis

January 23, 2010

Week three in the Ten in 10 Challenge was a good week for me. I feel good; and basically that's what this challenge is all about; making 2010 a healthy and happy year. Here are a few things I learned this past week.

• Before this challenge started, I had a pretty good workout routine, but never had it in writing. Some days I would walk and some days I would go to the gym, but always at different times of the day; whenever I could squeeze it in. Now, I've discovered that I really like having my weekly exercise plan written down. I know what I'm doing that morning and I know what time I'm doing it. And, it was pretty easy to stick to it. I just had to organize my work schedule around my exercise schedule. (Luckily, I'm able to do that right now.)

• It's really interesting to try different yoga classes and experience different instructors' styles. In my class at the Y on Monday, the instructor taught us how to incorporate the use of a tall rattan pole into our practice. Last week, he used straps. Not knowing what to expect in his class makes it more fun! Then on Friday, I was a little disappointed when I saw a sub come into the classroom. I was thinking to myself, is she going to be any good? (Be careful what you think to yourself.) I could barely keep up! She was harder and faster than our normal instructor. I thoroughly got my fanny kicked that day!

• I'm really happy about getting back into the routine of making my meal plan for the week, writing it down and doing all the shopping on Sunday. It's made life a little less hectic when it comes time for dinner. And, I really like keeping my food log. I wasn't sure if I could stick to it, but this little fitbook is really making it fun and easy to do. I love being able to give myself a happy face when I've had a healthy meal.

• My family really loves brussel sprouts! I've tried a different recipe each week and they love them! Yay! Another green veggie to add to our weekly menu. I had a little obsession about having to eat something green with every meal.

• I finally found a White Turkey Chili Recipe that my guys love. I'll share the recipe with you later this week.

• I actually can survive on the “no beer during the week” rule.

I feel like I lost at least a pound this week, but chose not to get on the scale yesterday. I know myself well enough to know that during this time of the month, the scale is usually up three pounds. (Sorry if that's too much info.) I didn't want to get discouraged, so I'll get back on the silly scale next Friday.

I've tried really hard to keep negativity away from me this week. I had a little unwanted drama try to creep in this week, but I finally had to set a boundary and tell that person that I can't talk to them right now. I have to surround myself with positive people and positive energy this year. We've got a lot of changes going on with our business and I'm  trying to launch something new which is requiring a lot of time learning some things outside of my comfort zone. In order to be as productive as possible, I've decided that I just don't have time for negative people in my life.

I hope everyone had a happy, successful week! I'm looking forward to week four and to reading all the updates from other participants. Even if you aren't doing a weekly update on your blog, I'd love to hear from you. So, leave me a comment and let me know about your week!

~LilSis

January 16, 2010

I hope everyone had a great week! It just flew by for me.  I feel like I had a healthy, productive week even if I did slip up a couple of times. We went out on Tuesday for a friend's birthday and enjoyed a few cocktails, then on Wednesday we had friends pop over to say a belated Happy Birthday to SirHoney which led to me staying up way too late that night.

On a positive note, I was able to accomplish almost everything that I had on my list.

• I had great cardio workouts for all but one day. (Which was the morning after I stayed up too late.)

• I started off the week with a great Yoga class at the Y that focuses more on stretching and I finished off the week with a really hard Power Yoga class at 24 Hr Fitness.

• I managed to stick to our weekly menu plan and even made a healthy choice the one time I went out to lunch during the week. (Even though I was craving Mexican food.)

• I was finally able to get HayHay to show me how to operate the new TV and Wii so I took a new Fit Test and set my weight loss goal on the WiiFit to help me monitor my progress. (One nice surprise, the Wii shows my weight 3 pounds lighter than my digital scale.)

• I haven't had one. single. beer. all. week! (Did I ever mention how much I love beer? This is a tough one for me, but I'm sticking to the “no beer during the week” rule.)

• I lost two pounds this week. Seven more to go.

I received my fitbook in the mail this week so I was able to start recording all my goals, workouts, and food all in one place. I have never had any desire to follow any kind of diet program where I had to count calories or points. I just know myself well enough to know that I won't stick to it.

But, after these past two weeks of recording what I ate, I've discovered that it has helped me be more accountable to myself and my commitment to cut down on my snacking and mindless eating. Here's my food log from yesterday. I love how you can rate each meal with the happy face or sad face. 🙂

I only did crunches once last week and was sore for DAYS, but this week, they're on the calendar for three days. Here's my workout plan for next week.

My goals for next week are:

• Go to bed early EVERY night. It's amazing how much better I feel in the morning when I actually get 7 or 8 hours of sleep.

• Plan meals for the week, do the shopping on Sunday and stick to the plan.

• Start every morning with a positive attitude and stay away from any negative influences.

This Challenge isn't just about losing weight; it's about feeling healthier and happier with myself, making better choices in all aspects of my life and keeping a positive attitude about 2010 being a great year! Have you ever heard that a home is said to be lucky and will have a prosperous year if a plant blooms on New Years Day? Look what I found on my Jade plant on New Years Day.

When we first moved to our home almost eight years ago, I moved this sad little Jade plant to my front courtyard because I heard that a Jade plant symbolizes prosperity and good luck. I've nursed this Jade ever since and it's grown to be quite large but has never bloomed until now.

If the Chinese superstition proves to be true then we should be looking forward to a prosperous year! (Believe me when I say that we need for that to happen.)

Have a great week everyone!

~LilSis

January 9, 2010

As I mentioned before, I'm going to do a weekly post on my Ten in 10 Challenge progress. Our team leader and creator of the Ten in 10 challenge, Lori of The Recipe Girl is posting her progress on Saturdays so I thought it made sense for me to do the same. I know some of the other participants are posting on Saturdays as well. At last count, there are 317 people participating in this challenge. 🙂

I feel good about this first week. In looking back at my specific goals, I was able to achieve most of them. Since I want to keep on a positive note, I'll start off with what I was able to accomplish.

• I forced myself to go to bed earlier! (This one is REALLY hard for me.)

• I got up earlier and got my workout done early except for Wednesday when I took the long walk at lunchtime.

• I wrote everything down; food, workout, and weight.

• I planned our meals for the week, did the shopping on Sunday and stuck to the menu.

• I restricted my cocktails and my happy hour snacking. (Had green apple slices instead of cheese and crackers.)

• I was able to lose my one pound for the week. 🙂

I also joined the ten-in-ten-challenge team on Spark People and am excited about making more time to get that all set up. There are some amazing features on this site, including tracking the nutritional information of everything you eat each day. This is a good article that I just received from them yesterday called; “The Four-Letter word that can end mindless eating forever.”

Just a couple of things that I couldn't squeeze in this week were the ‘after dinner' walks, The 30 Day Shred, and the hula hoop on the Wii. We got a new t.v. recently and HayHay has been too busy to teach me how to set up the WiiFit and turn everything on by myself. I'm hoping to have time to do that this weekend. Just 15 minutes of that Hula Hoop is a real workout!

Here's something that I stumbled upon that I thought I'd pass on to anyone that might be interested. Have you heard about or seen the fitbook from fitlosophy?

What I really love about this little book is that there is a place to record your workouts, log your daily food intake, and list your stats and your goals each week. I think having just one place to log everything for each day is going to be really helpful for me. You can take a virtual peek at the Fitbook to get an idea of how the planning pages are designed. You can order the book directly from fitlosophy, but I found fitbook on Amazon, so it's sitting in my shopping cart now just waiting for me to finish my order. Thanks for the Amazon gift certificate, SisMama!

Have a great weekend everyone! I ran across this quote recently and I think I'm going to post it in my bathroom so I can read it every morning.

“If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

– Thomas Edison

~LilSis

January 7, 2010

Seven days into the new year and all is good! I've been able to stay focused this week, have been getting almost 7 hours sleep each night, and have been writing down all my workouts and everything that goes into my mouth. I'm pretty happy because I've already obtained my weight loss goal for the week.

Am I still talking about the Ten in 10 Challenge? Yes.  Am I going to talk about it every day? Probably.

Just kidding. Once I get through this initial week of organizing my schedule and getting myself on track in all aspects of this challenge, I'll get back to talking about other jibber jabber. I'll try to post at least one healthy recipe a week and I'll also post about my progress once a week. I'll probably do that on Saturdays since my official weigh in day is going to be on Fridays and a lot of the other participants have mentioned posting their progress on Saturdays.

I think that to get past a plateau, which is what I'm trying to do, you've got to change things up a bit. I've found a great new bike at the Y that really kicks my fanny, but I don't want to be in the gym every day. I want to be outside on cardio days when I don't also have weight training scheduled.

Since I was in the gym Monday and Tuesday mornings and since yesterday was so gorgeous, I decided to do my walk from the Harbor down to the beach to walk the pier and do some stair climbing. This is one of my favorite routes.  I do this particular walk when I can manage to squeeze in an extra half hour that day.

I don't normally take my camera with me, but I thought it might be fun to snap some shots along the way. Let's go for a walk.

This is where I start. This is also where we spend most of our spare time when not working or doing chores at home.

When the water is not quite so cold, this is where I like to kayak.

I know it's hard to make out what this is in the water, but they're seals sun bathing. These are just their fins sticking up out of the water while they're floating on their backs.

This is HayHay's favorite spot to surf. On any given day at 6:30 in the morning, this spot is full of local surfers.

When we first moved here, this is where I always dropped the kids off with their boogie boards. I still love the view from this spot.

Now, on my way to the Historic Oceanside Pier.

Next, I do a couple of jaunts up and down the ramp to the Pier. A lot of local firemen are normally here doing their workouts. Bummer, no eye candy today!

This big guy is rumored to be the infamous “Charlie the Pelican”. Charlie just made our local news a few days ago because he apparently just returned to Oceanside Pier after being missing since February.

It doesn't look like Charlie is real crazy about having his picture taken. The bait shop owner on the Pier put up the old sign next to Charlie that says “We bite stupid people”! I'll think I'll take a step back now!

A view of the shore from the end of the Pier. Oceanside Pier is one of the longest wooden piers on the entire West Coast. It's over 1950 feet long.

After coming down the ramp from the Pier, this is the first set of stairs that I attack.

And then, I go up and down these a few times.

But, these wooden stairs are my favorite. Once at the top of these, I'm done with stairs for the day.

Now that I'm over 3 miles away from where I started, I normally turn around here and head back towards the Harbor. This is the “Top Gun” house. Don't you just love the old VW Van on the side of the road? Classic!

Last year there was talk that Tom Cruise was buying this house and moving it somewhere else. I don't know what ever happened to that or what's planned for the house but they've cleared this entire lot and left the house standing.

Almost back to the Harbor, this Pink Hibiscus caught my eye as I walked past it so I turned back around to snap a quick shot of it.

After over seven miles round trip, I'm back to the Harbor. I always feel so good when I finish this walk. I don't have the opportunity to do this that often, but when I need to clear my head, this is where I go.  I hope your 2010 is off to a great start!

~LilSis

January 6, 2010

Are you watching Dr. Oz's TV show?  If not, you're missing out on some great health tidbits 5 times a week, but you're also cheating yourself out of excellent motivational diet and exercise info right now.  Like lots of shows this week, the Dr. Oz show is focusing on helping viewers with their weight loss and fitness goals.

I accidentally caught one of Dr. Oz's shows in an evening re-run, and now I try to have it on when I'm home even if I can't sit in front of the TV.  You might think that an entire show devoted to health every day would be a bore and a drag, but it's not.  It's interesting and usually important, and sometimes a tad embarrassing or even gross!  But I've already learned some things I never heard before.

I loved the show this week that gave us a 14-Day Plan to reboot our body.  It's from the book “You On a Diet” that Dr. Oz co-authored with Dr. Michael Roizen.  To make it super easy for us, they've given us this PDF file that you can print out and refer to.

To get you started, Day 1 of the plan includes a 30-minute walk, 3 to 5 minutes of stretching, and a kitchen purge that eliminates all traces of simple sugars and syrups, trans fats, saturated fats, and all flours except for whole grain or whole wheat.  After that, we're to restock our kitchen with the healthy staples we'll need going forward.  I'd call that a pretty full and productive Day 1!

I'm also fascinated with Dr Oz's 28-Day Raw Food Challenge, since I just committed to a vegan diet for 2010.  According to the web site, the health benefits of this challenge are:

• Increased energy
• Improved skin appearance
• Better digestion
• Weight loss
• Reduced risk of heart disease

I'm absolutely going to include some raw meals in my vegan diet, but don't think I'm quite up for this challenge just yet.  Maybe soon though!  Who knows what would happen to my poor ol' bod if I went from vegetarian straight to 100% raw vegan.  I'm guessing I'd have a few adjustment issues, but would ultimately feel awesome.  🙂  There could be a few tough days in there though!

If you check out Dr. Oz, let me know if you pick up any great tips.  I'm a fan and think you might be too!

~BigSis

January 2, 2010

Goodbye 2009. Hello 2010!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to put 2009 behind us and I'm looking forward to 2010 being a happy, healthy year! I don't want to waste time talking about how stressful 2009 was for us; instead I want to focus on lots of positive energy to kick off this New Year! Being that 2010 is the beginning of a new decade, I think this is the perfect time to make some changes.

We all have good intentions when it comes to making our New Years Resolutions but how many times have you started out super, duper excited yet within a very short period of time, you lose focus? It's happened to me before, but this year I'm feeling really motivated and determined to achieve my goals.

When first read about the Ten in 10 challenge that was started by Lori of The Recipe Girl; I knew right away that I wanted to participate. If you read The Recipe Girl or follow RecipeGirl on Twitter, I'm sure you've already heard about the Ten in 10 challenge. It's got a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Ten in 10! I decided that my overall goal is going to be to lose ten pounds in ten weeks in 2010! 🙂

This challenge was officially kicked off yesterday and you can read the details of the Ten in 10 challenge to find out how you can join. Anyone can participate and there is no deadline to sign up so you can hop on board at any time.

I’m working on a few new ‘work related' projects that are going to require a lot of focus and time. In order to get everything accomplished that I want to get done, I'm going to have to work harder and smarter. I'm going to try to get to bed earlier so I can get up earlier and instead of working in my office for a few hours before my workout, I'll be doing my daily workout first thing in the morning. That way I'll start my day off right and won't get irritated if something comes up that prevents me from exercising. If I don't have that time for myself to relieve some stress, I'm in an entirely different mood for the rest of the day.

Since I’m already on a pretty regular exercise routine and have still managed to hit a plateau that I can’t seem to get past, I know that there are several specific things that I need to do in order to reach my overall goal.

Losing a pound a week doesn't sound like an unrealistic goal, but I know it's not going to be easy. It's time to get serious and crank it up a notch.

Here are my goals:

• Go to bed earlier so I can get up earlier.

• Plan healthier meals for the whole week and do all grocery shopping on Sunday.

• I've never done this before, but I'm going to write down everything I eat.

• Work out first thing every morning, Monday through Saturday.

• Add 30 minutes of weight training two days a week after one hour of cardio.

• Go to Yoga class three days a week. (I feel so much better when I do this.)

• Walk or ride bike for 30 minutes after dinner at least two or three nights a week.

• Restrict “weekday” cocktails.

• Have a piece of fruit for afternoon snack instead of cheese and crackers.

• Weigh in every Friday and track progress on WiiFit.

• Try to squeeze in one of the Jillian Michaels workouts once a week.

• Add 15 minutes or so of WiiFit Hula Hoop a day or two a week. (It's a great workout, but also a lot of fun!)

For me, this challenge isn't just about losing the weight; it's about eating leaner, exercising more, managing stress, and just basically feeling stronger and healthier.

I’m hoping that by participating in this challenge, I'll connect with some of the other participants who have similar goals and we can help each other stay motivated and on track to achieve our goals for 2010. I'm really excited about this and would love to see some of our readers join this challenge.

~LilSis