To recap, I’m working out three times a week at 2pm, for one hour and 5 minutes.  I wish I could do it earlier in the morning when your weight and all is more accurate but I just can’t.  I start by warming up on the ‘stair climber’ machine for 5 minutes.  That one hour consists of 30 minutes of circuit training, which is HARD.  We work upper, lower, abs and it’s killer.  I never knew how weak my upper body strength was.  It’s also crazy to see your legs shaking from being so weak!  The other 30 minutes is cardio.  My cardio is done usually on the stair climber, which burns a lot of calories, and/or the treadmill and elliptical.  I find that I don’t burn near as much calories on the elliptical as I do on the other two though I prefer the stair climber even though it kills my legs.  (fyi, we didn’t do cardio for the first two weeks of training. We started with trying to gain some strength since I had none.)

3x a week/1hr & 5minutes/cardio and circuit training

While I have been incorporating more healthy eating habits and water, I still do eat whatever everyone else eats, just less.  This might have something to do with a smaller pound weight loss but I’m still very happy with my loss, especially in inches.   I’m SOOOO much firmer and can tell huge differences in my stamina and strength since I first started.

So I think by having the food options that Nutrisystem is giving me, I’ll definitely be able to really lose more.  I really need that here on the ranch.

With that, here are my numbers…………..

About 8lbs lost (mostly likely gained muscle) and 12.25 inches lost from my neck, down to my calves.   Sarah tells me that 2lbs per week is a healthy weight loss, especially for me still eating “fatty” foods here and there.  She thinks I’m doing great and so do I.    We kicked it up a notch this week and I’m starting Zumba 7 the treadmill at home this week as well.  I think doing all that will really make a difference but I need that Nutrisystem FO SHO!

And that’s the update y’all.  I really appreciate the support I’ve gotten from everyone. It feels so good to have that and it truly is motivation!  Until next time……….

When I first started at the gym, I could only do 5 leg presses at 80lbs.  Recently, I was able to do a pyramid set of 230lbs (about 35 total reps).  Wow, what a difference right?  I also did 100 squats during a 30minute circuit training workout.  I never thought I’d be able to do that.  Never!   Also, when I first started, my trainer would have to give me 30 second breaks to catch my breathe in between sets.  Today, I rarely need to do that.  I’m seeing firmness in my butt and thigh area and muscles in my calves and arms.  I see my stamina building but what I’ve noticed the most is how my energy level has increased a great deal.  Even my son stated how he’s noticed that I wake up in a better mood and ready to go.  That makes me feel great that he’s noticing….and proud.

Meet my trainer Sarah – (I took a photo of the photo on the wall at Anytime Fitness) Ummm, yeah, I have to train with that! That should be motivation enough right? lol

This is our inspiration wall.  It’s where we can write what’s on our minds, what inspires us, encourage others.  I love it.  We just started it and today when I walked in, it had quite a few quotes on it.  Very motivating.

Today I teared up throughout the workout. I felt weak both physically and emotionally but I pushed threw.   I kept thinking about how I could not fail this time and how I couldn’t let my family down, who have been so encouraging.  Sarah said I’d have bad days and today was one but I know that as long as I give my all, I’ll make it through.

FOOD and SOMETHING NEW

I have made some incredible food (and beverage) changes since I started.  Sarah has been AWESOME at teaching me nutrition and while I don’t cut out all the “good stuff”, I have incorporated more of the great stuff.  I’ve even noticed that when I eat fatty foods, I can taste the “greasiness” in whatever it is.  And you know what else?  I rarely drink soda anymore.  I know right? I can see your mouth dropped.  I still will sometimes grab a fountain Dr. Pepper but I only get the small vs the 44oz like I once did.  I have also switched to Diet sodas but even still, I don’t drink them that much.  Only when I’m desperate for the carbonation.  I now drink TONS of PROPEL ZERO.  Remember how I drank Propel?  Well now they have ZERO which is NO calories.  I have a calorie budget of 1300-1500 and can now drink all that I want.  WOOOHOOO!

NUTRISYSTEM

Like I said, I have made some healthy and awesome food eating changes but I feel like, at 200lbs still, I need a little more help.  Being on the ranch with the boys, makes it awful hard to eat healthier things because they don’t really want that all the time, so I decided to apply for Nutrisystem’s Blogger program.  I rarely do things like this but I feel that this will really help me reach my goal faster and give me the boost that I need, all while still exercising and getting more sleep.

So I’m proud & excited to announce that Nutrisystem has chosen me and will be sending me food to get this weight loss party rockin’!!!    I’ll be honest, with the fees I’m paying for the gym (and personal trainer), this will really help my pocketbook so I’m extremely appreciative of the opportunity.

If you’ve tried Nutrisystem, I’d love to know your favorites.  I know what mine were from way back then but don’t know if it has changed since so I’ll have to start over at finding my favorites.

And that’s my update for this week.  I’m really really proud of myself.  I must tell you though, all of you who encourage me are what drive me to push threw. I think about all your comments and realize how lucky I am to have that support and it just makes me rock on through!  So thank you very much for that.

Me, breathing during the Pow Wow

Along with taking baby steps to eating healthier, I’m also exercising a little bit every day, depending on the agenda for the day. If nothing else, I walk for at least 15 minutes. Every little bit helps right?  I know I’ve mentioned it here several times about how I’m one of those that needs my hand held.  Well, I’m getting that and the accountability that I crave from some new kids on the block over at Community of Movement.  What I love is that even though they aren’t here in my home to make me exercise and get moving, we have a follow up call that asks what we did during the assigned time frame.  This is how it works:

• You call in on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9am.
• You have a 5 minute pow wow; maybe a little breathing and letting the folks know what you’ll be doing for your exercise.
• You hang up, go exercise for 5-55 minutes, whatever you are comfortable with.
• Call back at 9:55am and share how you feel, what you did, etc.

It may not seem like much but the fact that I had to call back in, was that accountability that I needed. Of course I could lie and say I did the exercise when I perhaps hadn’t but why do that?  Why not just do it, take the time for myself and then be able to share with others about it, whether your exercise workout was a good or bad experience. It’s giving you a community, that is doing the same thing you are, where you can encourage and receive support.   It’s exactly what I need.

Community of Movement on Facebook | on Twitter

What are you doing to create positive mental and physical wellness?

If you’d like to know more and perhaps win some prizes, please join the Community of Movement for a fabulous and fun twitter party!  Here are the deets and I hope to see you there!

October 28th (Thursday) at 6:30 PT, 7:30 MT 8:30 central and 9:30 eastern and the hashtag is #UpliftingMoms So if you could please mention that in your posts. There is no RSVP, everyone can just show up.We will have a ton of prizes including:

• – Kindle and Amazon gift card
• - Ipod Nano
• - Nike+ Sportband
• - Luluemon gift card (workout clothes)
• - and more!

Disclosure: I was not approached for this campaign.  I actually saw it at a forum and decided to sign up and hope that I ‘d get chosen.  I did obviously.  I also learned that I’d be compensated for participating in the program, HOWEVER, please know that I truly needed something like this to keep me accountable and I was happy to do it just to have that community of support.  All opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

My weight loss goals have a lot to do with vanity I’ll admit but it’s not the only reason.  Heart disease isn’t something that I think about until I’m lying in bed feeling my heart pounding like it’s gonna come out of my chest and all the blood rushing to my head.  That’s when I get scared and realize that I need to do everything possible to get fit.  I’ve cut out soda, eating low fat where I can, and taking a daily vitamin.  I’ve been watching my eat habits for the past 3 weeks and one of the things that I realize I’m missing is fiber.  I guess I’m becoming sort of a worry wart  these days.  Maybe it’s ’cause I’m getting older and worry about not being here long enough to0 see my grandkids playing in the yard..who knows.  All I know is that I’m tired of being unfit so it’s about time I start doing something about it.

When you think about fiber, what comes to mind?  I think of the bathroom. Seriously.  It never crosses my mind that fiber is good for the heart.  I mean, of course I know it’s good for you but specifically good for your heart, I didn’t know.

In light of some of the things I mentioned earlier, I decided to read about fiber, specifically Metamucil because it’s a brand I know, a brand that immediately comes to mind when I hear ‘fiber’, and a brand that I feel like I can trust. I did some reading and found that with 3 to 4 servings of Metamucil, can possibly reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering your cholesterol.  I got that from the site so feel free to read it and learn about the health benefits yourself but apparently it contains this soluble fiber from psyllium husk that kicks butt.  I remember seeing Metamucil at my grandmother’s house all the time. It will now be in my home regularly….get it? LOL, sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Anyways, I got to thinkin’, the last few times my husband has gone in our local grocery store, he gets his blood pressure checked.  Each of the last three times, it’s been slightly higher.  Maybe not something too serious, but maybe it is. We’ll never know because he doesn’t go to doctors at all.  So then of course, I worry about his cholesterol on top of my own health issues and what we can do about it.

I think 3 to 4 servings of fiber are doable for us. I think me and my man can down that much and feel good about doing what we can to help our bodies, our hearts.

So what about yourself?  Please tell me I’m not the only one that goes through these worry spells.  We all say we need to take vitamins, drink more water, etc but did taking in more fiber ever really cross your mind?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

I have already begun my treadmill workouts so this will fit right in with that and at the BeeWell website, you can actually log your miles, calories, and even your meals. I’ll be wearing a pedometer to keep track of my steps and encourage you to do the same. The website is jam packed with information to help you succeed in beeing well. From getting valuable information from healthy living experts to healthy eating to having a community forum so that you can share your experiences, ask for help, or get a little support.

MY GOALS

When you  sign up, you can put what your goals are.  I will strive to walk 2 miles, 3 times a week.  It’s not much but I’m new at walking like this so I feel it’s appropriate for me.  I will log my miles to keep track, to help money get donated towards the cause and because  each day you log miles or game codes from pink label Bumble Bee cans,  you could instantly win one of 15,000 prizes!

My goal is lose weight, not just for vanity issues but also to make sure I’m here long enough to see  and run around with my future grandchildren.

With the beautiful weather around the corner, it would be a great time to start walking, even if it’s just around the block!  My kids are joining in with me and I will be reporting back to you how I’m doing so keep checking back and maybe we can unite to be healthier and make a difference!

YOUR GOALS

So what about you?  Would you be willing to partake in the BeeWell Miles campaign by taking steps for a cause?  What steps are you taking to BeeWell and live better?

And by the way, that’s my fake smile….that’s a smile that is trying to cover up the fact that I am cringing inside because she’s taking a fully body picture.  Cringing because she’ll probably show the family that picture and they’ll see that I really am fat..not they don’t already know but a picture is so much more real.

So, because I’ve been working hard on my weight here lately, I want to do a little more.  I’m already doing the 10-minute trainer but I think I need some cardio and I think a treadmill will be perfect for me.  I’ve had one, loved it, it died.

YOUR INPUT NEEDED

I’m asking YOU for your recommendations on a good–cost friendly treadmill.  Something that I can fold up to move into my room out of the way so that it doesn’t crowd my living room.  Can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

So, I also have been doing Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Trainer.  Now you would think that you can really do much for your entire body in that 10 minutes but GOOD GAWD, it kicks my butt!  I have this  great video of me working out to it but my windows movie maker apparently doesn’t like the how it’s formatted and won’t import it.  Arrrrgghhhh…..so I can show you my fat butt doing push ups and such.  Anyways, I love the workout and my body is sore everyday…still have not gotten through the soreness but I will…hopefully.

I’m also eating better.  Cutting out sugars, salts, and carbs….well, not completely cutting them out but trying to be smarter about it.  It’s all about baby steps for me.  Since we live a good ways from town, we always ending up eating in town.  Something I’ve been trying to do is pick smarter choices from the heart attack filled menus at fast food but what has been really great are those beautiful half white-half yellow words called, SUBWAY.  Man, these people did it right!  Delicious, healthy choices with options.  Since I rarely step outside the box to try something new, I always get the 6incher….Roast Beef, NO cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, mustard on whole wheat.  Is it still healthy if you ask for extra roast beef?  Just curious………

WIN IT

So to celebrate my upcoming New Year’s Resolution (weight loss & being healthy), I have a giveaway!

There will be 2 winners.

1st place winner will win the Tony Horton 10 Minute Trainer bundle..valued at well of $100.

2nd place winner will win a $15 Subway Gift Card!

HOW TO ENTER:  READ THE RULES!

Leave a comment telling me some ways that you try to stay healthy during the holidays AND what your favorite Subway sub is!

For additional entries:

• Blog it
• Twitter it, including @acowboyswife and link to this post. (can be done daily)
• Stumble this post (leave your stumbleupon username in comment)

Please leave each additional entry in separate comment.  Giveaway ends on Dec. 18th.