"Mama says they was my magic shoes" - Forest Gump

I don't know what week Natalie is on, but we are starting week 5 and we ARE halfway through the program! Crazy lady!

AND... okay, okay so I sweat like a 900 lb woman, and pretty much look like this:

But lets not talk about what Natalie likes to do in Yoga..... there is a really funny picture I want to put in this blog, but I won't do that to her!!! :)

So today I went and got some new running shoes. Ever since that crazy running class a couple of weeks ago, I feel like I have permanent shin splints and have the knees of a 90 year old woman. Great now I am 90 and weigh 900 lbs. Ugh.

I have had a really hard time running the past few classes, so I figured its about time to invest in some new shoes. These are the ones I got:

I am excited to try them out on Thursday. Hopefully they help out my knees and I can "Run Forest, RUN".

So YAY for our weight loss this past week. Natalie and I are doing better than I thought we would do and I am so proud of us. I am not sure what my deal was in class today. I really was not feeling the work out at all. I had every reason to be motivated considering my weight loss, but I don't think I pushed myself as hard as I should have.

Oh well, its a new week and I am hoping for another 2 lb weight loss this week. Lets keep our fingers crossed!! :)

Week 4

So this is the beginning of week four....we are almost halfway through the program :) Although it has been REALLY tough, it feels like it went by pretty fast! We are making better food choices every day than we would have before this program.

Last night (Sunday) me & Mandy started to panic a little bit about the weigh in! We were both feeling a little bloated so we decided we needed a last minute sweat fest. Now, if you have ever worked out with Mandy then you know that she sweats on a whole 'nother level. Its like a 900 lb woman walking through 115 degree weather....its crazy! We will be doing something for 2 seconds and her hair will be wet, but hey its workin' for her! Sweat it out sister :) Anyway, we decided to go to Mt. Rubidoux and go for a quick hike. We decided this like 15 minutes before sunset so by the time we got there it was getting dim out. We pushed ourselves through the steep trail on the mountain and when we got to the top it felt great. What didnt feel great were the tricep dips and push ups we did when we got there :) Once we headed down I was so glad that we did it, i felt better already! That was until we realized that it was getting DARK very quick. About halfway down it started to get so dark that we couldnt really see in front of us. It was SO scary. The "baby" snake we saw on our way up was suddenly in the front of Mandy's mind, and I swore there was a serial killer hiding behind a tree. Between the both of us we got really creeped out. After threatening to take out my "razor blade", hearing lots of movement in the bushes and pretty much running and screaming the whole way down, I was happy to be at my car :) Needless to say we wont be going on anymore nighttime hikes, but it was still a fun experience. When I got home i felt refreshed and was not feeling too terrible about the weigh in looming the next morning.

So this morning came and when I woke up I was pretty much dreading the scale....let's face it, it has not been my friend lately! The alarm went off, i cussed under my breath, thought seriously about going back to sleep and got up. When I got to body back i I saw the scale and wanted to fake an illness to go back home! But i got on it anyway.....here are this weeks results.

Nat: -3.8 lbs this week, 7 lbs total
Mandy: -2.4 lbs this week, 8.8 lbs total

We both had a really great week! I am very nervous that my body is going to remain in this really annoying pattern of loss-gain-loss-gain, but hopefully it will begin to act normal and let me have a loss ;)

XOXO,

Nat

S.E.R.I.O.U.S.L.Y?!?!

Ok so I kind of sucked this week on Body Back! My week was busy with taking a friend out to a birthday lunch, my first extreme couponing trip, a day at Disneyland, a Father's Day BBQ for my hubby, and taking the hubby for dinner on Father's Day! I ate out A LOT. I made good choices, but I still ate out WAY to much! So this is my morning.....

5:25 AM: Corey smacks me "Babe you are gunna be late!! Get up!" I look at the clock "Ummm no I already am late! I was supposed to be there 10 minutes ago!"

CRAP! So I race to get ready and arrive to Body Back 25 minutes late :( When I get there I weigh in to find out that.....

I GAINED 1.4 pounds.......Seriously, week 1 all over again? And this is a whole pound more that that debacle! I was irritated. Even though I was seriously irritated that I gained, I know that it cannot be real weight. I have not eaten nearly enough calories to gain over a pound. I feel like it is not even possible. Breanne mentioned that if you ate out a lot, there is a lot of sodium in the food so you could be retaining fluids. I am praying that is what happened with me because seriously, I had  my share of "mistakes" over the week but none tragic enough to gain this amount of weight! So for now I stand at only 3.2 lbs lost. Hopefully next week will catch me up because if not, Im going to Chipotle......Ok i'm kidding. Or not.

Mandy, however is kicking some serious ass and lost another 1.6 lbs for a total of 6.4 Lbs!!! She is doing so well and is holding steady with the weight loss! She was even in Laughlin this week and managed to pull through and lose weight! YOU GO GIRL!

As for this weeks plan I am going to really try to crack down on the eating out. If it doesn't come out of my refrigerator, I'm not going to eat it! Well, we will see how that goes considering we are taking my mother-in-law out to dinner for her birthday tonight and tomorrow we are meeting some school friends for lunch! All I can do is my best! 

XOXO,

Nat

Week 2 Assessments

So we kinda slacked this week with our blogging. A lot has happened this week, so I will just recap a few things.

Weigh in on Monday:

Amanda

Previous Weight: 145.8

Current Weight: 143.8

Yay I lost another 2 lbs.... that makes 4.8 total in two weeks.

Natalie

Previous Weight: 158.4

Current Weight: 153.4

YES you are seeing this correctly, my amazing sister lost 5 lbs last week!!! I am so proud of her and the hard work that she has done.

The weigh in tomorrow is going to be a little more challenging.... I went to laughlin for 3 days and didn't eat that great, and it kinda threw me off track... I haven't been eating my snacks like a should, I have been adding some things in there that I wouldn't have eaten the first week. I am really motivated to get back on track this week. I went grocery shopping, so I am good in the food department, there are no excuses now. I really didn't work out as much as I have been this week either. I only worked out 3 times, and normally I do about 5 workouts each week.

AND to top it off, my aunt came to town.... you know her name! :( So I have been super bloated this week. I won't be surprised if I gained a little bit with all that was going on this week.

On the upside, I had a very emotional and proud workout on thursday.... it was a running class... I hate running. We would do 5 minute jog, 1 minute walk, 2 minute run, 1 minute walk, 1 minute sprint, 1 minute walk... and so on. This was the worst class I have ever had and I pretty much felt like I wanted to punch everyone and everything. Those 1 minute sprints last so long, but the 1 minute walks I swear were only 20 seconds.

To top it off, we had to sprint up the hill every 3o seconds.... AND THEN, when we got to the top of the hill, Breanne told us to run all the way back to the studio. She said it wasn't that far. HAHA! She said we could run as slow or as fast as we wanted. A couple minutes in I was starting to lose it.... Breanne starting running next to me, I told her I was about to start crying, next thing I know I am crying and Breanne is giving this really amazing motivational speech about how I have these gremlins on my shoulder telling me that I can't do this and they want me to stop... and I CAN DO THIS. I cried and pushed and it hurt so bad. I really did not think I could make it up that hill. Breanne ran with me the whole time and encouraged me to keep going and I did. I broke down my wall and wiped those gremlins off my shoulder and sprinted the last couple seconds. When I made it, I broke down crying because I was so proud that I did it and I hurt so bad all over my body. I could not ask for a better instructor through all of this. She pushes us so hard and expects so much from us, but I wouldn't want it any other way!

Tania tracked our calories burned for that running class....... 900!!!! WOW!

This week had its ups and downs, but I am definitely ready to get back to business and get back on track.

I will update you all on our weigh in tomorrow.... cross your fingers that I did not gain any weight!!! :)

LBS till I meet my goal: 8.8

XoXo

Amanda

No Pain, No Gain

So my week started off pretty good. Body Back on Monday, Nursing 2 Final on Tuesday (I passed!! WOO HOO), Stroller Strides on Wednesday and Body Back this morning.

This morning was a running class and we were paired in teams. I was paired with Kate, and Natalie was paired with Jo. Breanne gave us a little bit of motivation and told us that whoever got to each station first would not have to do the cardio part of that station. Let me tell you, we all basically sprinted to the first station. My legs felt like they were detached from my body, I felt like I looked like Jim Carey in dumb and dumber when he was fake running in the doggy van with his arms moving at top speed, I probably had that same look on my face. I could hardly keep up with Kate.

Not really sure who got to the station first, we lost our top speed somewhere halfway! At this station we first did wheel barrels, this is the one from my cheer days that I HATED. It is such an awkward position and I sound like a frog croaking when I breath in. Next we had to do tag team sprinting, Kate ran halfway, came back and tagged me, and then I ran halfway and came back and tagged her. I sprinted to the halfway mark, turned back and could see nothing but Kate's Yellow arm sticking out at me to tag it. I tagged it, and then CRACK, I fell to the ground. My first thought was, really I am going to be that girl?? Then I realized that it actually hurt and started to hold back the tears. Natalie was so cute... "OMG, are you okay?" Lol... we talked about it later laughing about what she was thinking when I fell to the ground, did she get shot, did she have a heart attack, why the hell did she just pounce to the ground right next to me? I am sure I was so graceful! :)

Breanne came over, and her voice said it all.... "Did you hear a pop?" "Yeah" "Oh Geez!"

The rest of the workout sucked. I really badly wanted to be working out with the rest of these girls, but instead I was trying to keep off my foot. I still did little workouts here and there, including push ups.... by the way, I did 15 in a row and it just barely started hurting. During initial assessments I did 8 in 1 minute and couldn't feel my arms...... I also did wall squats that Breanne said I "rocked". Ya baby! Here is a picture of the partner triceps, apparently I wasn't important because I was now a gimp... (j/k breanne) My legs are the ones barely showing with the black pants on.

The way back up the hill was okay. I walked pretty much the whole way. Tania was really sweet and kept me company. I am really starting to enjoy these ladies company. They are very motivating and inspiring. When we got back we did abs while we enjoyed a light drizzle of rain on our faces. Although during I pretty much told Breanne that it was pouring... lol. I can sometimes exaggerate.

So I have spent the rest of the day just taking care of my ankle (RICE, for all you nursing students).

I really want to go to stroller strides tomorrow. I still want a good weigh in on Monday and I WONT let this stupid ankle get in my way.

I am also excited to spend this weekend with my baby boy. Adam is out of town for the mens boat trip with our church. Can we say party??? Yeah right, I will probably be in bed by 8. I am old!

XoXo

Amanda,

P.S. Shmily

Assessment Day - Week One - Amanda

This morning was our first weigh in. Natalie and I have been dreading this all week. Like Natalie, I have not necessarily felt "skinny" all week. I had a couple of mornings where I was feeling more fit, but not skinny. Of course, when I woke up this morning I felt very bloated (probably those 2 chicken tacos, on corn tortillas, with lettuce, and salsa - probably the heaviest thing I have eaten all week). 

I was running a little bit late this morning, one because I chopped off all of my hair, and I have yet to figure out a way to put it up when I am exercising. I can't stand my sweaty hair on my neck. And two, because I forgot that I needed to print out a photo that inspires to keep moving on. These are the photos I picked: 

My number 1 fan!! I want to be a strong healthy mama for my little boy, and I want to set a good example for him! 

 I know, I know... I can't help it... I love Britney! This picture inspires me, because her stomach is what I want mine to look like! :) 

Anyways, back to assessments. I got to class and everyone was in line, including Natalie (her face was priceless, she looked terrified to stand on that scale). 

I took my shoes off and walked up to the dreaded scale with her. I felt really bad when I saw that she had gained 0.4lbs. I really didn't know what to say. I got on the scale next. 

Starting Weight: 

148.6

Ending Weight: 

145.8

YAY! I lost almost 3 lbs. I was so excited. The room aura was a little bit awkward though. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to smile or if I had to be super quiet like everyone else. I chose to be quiet. 

During the workouts, I really had mixed feelings (ambivalence, as we learned in nursing). I was happy that I lost, but really sad that Natalie didn't. 

The workouts were really hard today. I didn't feel completely into it, like I should considering I had a very motivating weight loss. I felt weak and really just wanted to crawl back in bed with my boys at home. I pushed through the mountain climbers, test the waters, arm lifts, ladder, cherry pickers, reverse leg planks, sit up punches, wall squats, and whatever else we did that I can't remember, probably cause I blacked out.

I feel like this week will be a tough one for me. I had a really great food week last week, and fought off some really tough temptations that I never thought possible. I am hoping that I can stick with it this week so that I can drop another 2lbs. My goal for body back was to be down to 135, which is 13.8 lbs. If I lose 2lbs per week... that gives me a grace period on the weeks that I don't lose as much. I am very optimistic that I can reach this goal, I just have to keep going! :) 

Amanda

You must be F-ing kidding...

So today was our weigh in for week 1 of body back. I had already told Amanda that I was worried about it because usually when I start some sort of "eating plan" I feel skinnier within a day or two which I didn't on this plan. All week I have been saying, I just don't feel like I am losing ANYTHING. So this morning 4:30 came very early, I ate my breakfast and headed for Body Back.

When I got there, everyone was lined up to weigh in. I got in line and waited my turn........

I gained 0.4 lbs.

When I first saw the number a million things were going through my head......You must be f-ing kidding me. I have worked out 5 times this week, followed the meal plan, done everything I'm supposed to do and I GAINED weight? I probably should have just stayed home, slept in late and eaten freaking oreo's all day which I cant do now because I have nothing in the house but brown rice and water. Why am I even doing this if it isn't going to work for me....blah blah blah you get the picture. I pretty much had that stuff going through my head the entire class.

I just don't understand how I could have eaten better than I ever have, exercised harder than I ever have and GAINED weight, it doesn't make sense. I instructor was very sweet, she just told me that my body is probably just in shock mode holding onto everything. I wish that made me feel better. So after crying the whole way home I decided that I need to just get over it. Yes, I did this program to lose weight but I also did it to be healthy and I know that I ate healthier last week than I ever have. I will just stick to the program for now and hope that I see some results next week.

So, in other news, our Nursing 2 final is tomorrow. I am going to be so happy when it is over and I get my grade :) I am already in Summer mode!!!

"I think I might vomit..."

So today was our first "real" Body Back workout. Most of it is a blur because I couldn't really breathe the whole time but I will try to give you some details. I knew before I went that it was going to be a "running" workout and that scared me.....I look like some sort of superhero when I run and it's just awkward! When I got there the instructor Breanne got right to business and had us run down the street to a parking lot. "It's not far" she said. Halfway through the run I was thinking "really, where the HELL is this place?!?!", it was far......very far. When we got there the real madness began and this is where I get a little fuzzy......we squatted, and jumped, and did some things that made my ass feel like it might just fall off! Right around the next station is where I began to get VERY nauseous.....we jumped, and did some arm exercises. I was THISCLOSE to throwing up throughout the rest of class. I even started tearing up at one point thinking "really, this is ridiculous!" but I pushed through it! The last torture we had to endure was to wrap a resistance band around our hips and have someone pull us back while we tried to run UP a hill. Needless to say I thought I was going to die, but I managed to do it alive.

Once we got back to the starting point we stretched a bit. I felt like my whole body was jello. Let me tell you that feeling did not last long......I am already sore, very sore! I'm pretty sure getting out of bed tomorrow morning will be a 30 minute event, and sitting on the toilet will be a chore!!

I am so proud of us for getting through our first really tough workout :) We weigh in on Monday so we will post our week 1 results then! Hopefully we see the results we want to keep us motivated!

As far as food goes, I am pretty bored. There isn't a huge array of meals to chose from for this 8 weeks because they want to help us achieve maximum results. I have pretty much been sticking with the same few things and I'm going to have to switch it up soon to keep myself entertained! Other than that I have felt great, and satisfied! I only felt hungry the first day of the program and now it is becoming much easier.....the eating part at least :)

XOXO,

Nat