Trying Again-A Weight loss Journey

Week 1 of 24

Starting January 2nd I resolved to start exercising again. Even though I’d exercised the majority of 2020 and 2021, I lost almost nothing. In 2020, I never ate out of the house, in 2021 I didn’t eat out that much. The only thing I have left to blame is drinking to much on the weekends and Friday night pizza.

I decided to try the newest “magic pill” Trim Life Labs Keto. Even though the good reviews online were questionable and there were several that call it a scam, I decided to try.

So this is the end of week one, exercising, suppressing my appetite, and not drinking.
My first week, I still haven’t lost any weight. Despite the magic pills claim that I could lose up to 5 lbs, I haven’t lost anything. I have been feeling a lot hungrier than I have ever felt before, I don’t remember ever feeling so hungry all the time. However, cravings for carbs are gone and I’ve actually tried to convince myself just one drink with the hubby (habit I guess) but my body feels sick at the idea. So I am constantly munching on small portions of veggies or fruits. I can’t eat a-lot before I get full and I don’t eat after 5:30pm.

I guess they are doing something, because I feel different. Just not what I was expecting. The way these pills were advertised, IS VERY misleading and after purchasing them, I can see why people say it’s a scam. They lead you to believe if you pay for 3 bottles you get 2 free, not so. You pay for 5 at a “discounted” cost, then you go to checkout and a pop up asks if you want the cleansing bottle also, when you say continue to cart (thinking you are bypassing it) it actually adds it with out you knowing. I didn’t get an email with an invoice or confirmation, so, yeah. Scam-ish.

But I have them now so, I’m going to take them and record in detail how I feel about them and if I think they do any good.
As of today, I’m not convinced. Hopefully next week I have a different opinion.
As for exercising, I’ve been walking,jogging, and doing some light weights. I’ve been feeling a little sick, as have the boys, so I didn’t do as much as I would have liked. But! I did some and that’s better than none!!!

Have a wonderful week everyone!!Wishing y’all Happiness, Good Health, and Success!!!

Chase.the incredible

Just for fun 🤩

Advertisement

Morning Person, Are You?

People ask me, “are you a morning person?” when I tell them that I’ve been waking up at 5am to work out.

My response is “well, I’m telling myself that I am, and I seem to be buying into it”.

Before I start stretching and yawning and trying to come alive enough to hit that treadmill and follow along with my fitness app, I have to convince myself that I don’t want to stay in bed. Sometimes my husband gives me a strong nudge towards the edge of the bed to help make my decision. When it feels optional, I would rather stay in bed. Until I finally get started that is, then I’m super happy and feeling great that I started the morning building up a sweat.

The next question that usually follows is ” why don’t you just work out in the evening, after work?”.

My response (with a tone that says it should be obvious: “ummm, because I have kids and I work full time”

That’s what I think about that

I’ve been doing this new routine for about a month now, and it’s getting easier. The fact I can do it with no interruptions and without worrying about what my little people are doing and what they should be doing is a huge perk and motivation for keeping it up. It’s just me and Chase.

Me and Chase (find him @chase.theincredible on Instagram)

It’s a great feeling of accomplishment up until lunch time, then it’s a subtle feeling of exhaustion that creeps into me more and more as the rest of the day plays out. Sometimes I will go on walks during lunch time to try and wake myself up. Makes sense right, give more energy get more energy……..yeah, not so much at this point. But I’m killing my apple rings so “YAY!”

Seriously though, it’s great and I feel better. It would be even more fantastic if I lost weight though. I’ve changed my diet significantly, and still nothing at this point. Hardly a pound. WTH!

Regardless, I’ll keep at it. I am strong like Hulk!

I’ve also found that I really enjoy 10 minute Mindful Cool Downs after my work outs. I think it has had a really big impact on my mood, I don’t shriek at the boys all morning to get ready for school as much these day. I’m much more “Hakuna Matata”! Messy hair, mix-matched socks, both of them yelling at each other and fighting over the cereal box, what ever, no worries, HAKUNA MATATA!!

So, this is my most recent fitness journey. I take selfies and screenshots every morning before, during, and after my work outs and post them on Instagram, if anyone finds they inspiring or entertaining GREAT! BONUS SIDE EFFECT! but I do it for myself, because for some odd unexplainable reason it helps to keep me motivated. I guess that might be called “vanity”, I think someone wrote a song about me. Just kidding. About the song part. 🙂

This Saturday my family and I are joining several of my co-workers in Ft. Lauderdale for a Color Run. I am super excited that fun runs are starting back up. I will be sure to tell you all about it next week!

Until then, Wishing You and Yours a lot of Happiness, Good Health, Strength, & Success!!

See, there is a song! lol

Gettin’ Dirty

Finally things are happening!

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the virtual races last year, but I’m ready for a real Fun Run!

Last year before the world stopped, me and some gal pals purchased tickets to do the Muddy Princess run in West Palm Beach. One year later we finally got to get dirty.

We signup for the 11:45 run, none of us are really morning people, especially on the weekend. When we got there the parking was well set up, I’m not really sure why we had to pay $10 per car when it’s normally free to park; I guess to pay the people for keeping order and organization. Still, I think $10 is a little much. They didn’t have a DJ or any trucks, but that’s understandable in the days of COVID and it didn’t bother me. The registration and bag check process was seamless and we didn’t have to wait long.

The run itself wasn’t as muddy as we had hoped. It was more dirt trail than anything and not all the obstacles had mud, some of the ones that did, it was dried up and the water trucks had stopped coming by the time we got there. There were a few good ones holes where we could play in the dirty water but I wouldn’t say it was muddy. The amount of obstacles were decent and good for beginners, if you are a person who likes to do Spartan races I wouldn’t recommend this one. That wasn’t our case, we are all beginners and out to have fun and do something different. In the end, we met our goal and we all ended up dirty girls.

Something I really liked was that they had photographers at the best obstacles and plenty of water stations to rehydrate (very important in the FL sun). The pictures they took were awesome and very much appreciated. I had my waterproof camera with me, but the pics aren’t quite as good as what they took.

We are planning on signing up for this event again next year because we did have fun. Hopefully the covid restrictions will be gone and they can make it muddier and better. If you have a group of gal pals you want to spend some time with and get down and dirty I would recommend it, but just know it may not be all that you expected.

Not Much To Say: Just some selfies and workout activity

Ok. Ok. I know the mileage and time isn’t mind blowing impressive. At least I’m making time to do something! This doesn’t include any bike riding or swimming with the kiddos, just jogging/walking.

Plus I wanted to show off all my bandanas. 🙂 Bandana love! lol

Happy Terrific Tuesday Y’all!!

Slow and Steady

It’s not a crazy fast start, but it’s a start getting back into an exercise routine. There was a point when I was doing 4-5 miles in about a hour. But then I dropped the ball when an enormous bowling ball called “virtual school” got thrown into the mix.

I know, theoretically, I am not supposed to do anything. The kids login and follow along with the teachers and it’s like I’m not even here, right? Well. Maybe some of y’all are fortunate enough to have kids who are self motivated and learn really easily. Mine are not those kids. They need help and get frustrated trying to talk to the teacher thru the camera. They are home and feel they can get up and move around anytime they want. I need to feed them, give them snacks. Then they want to share things and play with the puppy. They like to fight with each other all day long. In between this, I need to finish my work.

This has been my biggest gripe about COVID, is the virtual school. I am sorry I’ve brought it up several times now, but holy hells bells captain! It’s been tough.

I finally am at the end of my rope, they need to go back to school. I had a meeting with our school team last week, and the boys started back today! HALLELLULAH!!!

It’s only for a half days this week. So they go from 8-11am then come home and do math and specials virtually for now. Hopefully, next week they can stay thru lunch and math, and eventually the whole day the week after that. They were excited when I picked them up, they had a great day! PRAYING we have more of these days! I hate getting the phone calls from the school that one of my kids is freaking out.

All I can do is keep on trying and keep on running! What is the old saying, “Slow and Steady wins the race”

Have a beautiful day !

Flex It Pink-Virtual Run & Fitness Motivation

Talk about Woman Power!!!

Flex it Pink or FIP is an amazing website that provides fun fitness motivation for all women. They have a variety of options available that will work with just about any budget. You can buy individual products and virtual races or subscribe to receive fun monthly motivation.

I have only been subscribed for a couple of months now, but I really do love the product and the can tell that these ladies are passionate about what they do. They offer videos and monthly work out challenges to help keep you focus on your fitness goals.

This is the package I received for August. It was full of fun stuff and really yummy samples for energy water and coffee. The shirts are comfortable and well made, I love fitness shirts and tanks!!

If you’re looking for a program to help you stay motivated, you should definitely check out Flex It Pink!

Running Thru 2020

It has definitely been a year to reflect and reinvent. Well, for most. For me, it’s just another year full of challenges. Helping my boys who have more learning challenges than most kids their age in the general population; every year is a year for me to acquire a new level of patience, understanding, and to continuously try to think outside the box to find solutions that will help them but also to find balance between “Career/Work Time”, “Family Time”, “Husband Time, Troubleshoot problems at School time”, and most importantly “Me Time”.

Successful people often say: “You need to prioritize. You can do everything, you just can’t do everything at once.” Well, all of those things I have listed are top priorities and I really have no choice but to do everything at once. What am I saying?, there is always a choice. I choose to put energy into all of those categories because if I don’t now, I’m going to be to far behind later. I may not be getting as far as I would like, but being able to move an inch is better than not moving at all.

This year has actually been less stressful than most. We as a family are in a better place emotionally, we all get along better. That in itself is a big relief and accomplishment that allows me to be able to balance better. Because I have to work from home, I transferred to a different department that allows me to be more flexible with my daily schedule, thus enabling me to help the kids with school (cry. sob. drink.) and for me to get on a better exercise routine.

Exercise is Essential. If I don’t run or at the very least walk daily, I feel absolutely miserable. Running has been a positive attitude life saver for me and has probably saved my kids from a Mommy Monster on a few occasions. Not to say that I haven’t lost my shit a few times this year, but running has alleviated and dissolved some of the chaos. I am getting a little pissed off that I haven’t lost any weight though. I have ran about 200 miles this year and cut out fast food but have only lost a few pounds. Another thing I have had to learn to be “ok” with to be happy. I feel better however. That’s the important part.

I have joined several running groups on Facebook and follow many runners/walkers on Instagram some of whom I chat with. Since I have started the blog site and joined runners on social media, I have come to believe that runners are the happiest most positive people on this planet. Seriously, they are so encouraging, supportive, adventurous, and for the most part, SUPER HAPPY people. I absolutely love it. The days that I feel drained and worn down, all I have to do is scroll through my social media pages for 5 minutes, it’s enough to make me say “Fine. I will get off my ass and give it a go”. 4-5 miles later, drenched in sweat, I’m feeling re-energized and happy I did it.

I’ve also taken a like to virtual runs. I don’t really care for the ones where I just get a medal. I usually join the ones where I get a tank top or t-shirt instead. the medals are beautiful, but they just end up in a box. My kids also like to do the virtual runs, but honestly they would rather have YouTube Minecraft Video time as a reward. Whatever gets them moving.

Getting into a running routine has been the biggest benefit for me so far in 2020, I am going to keep running thru 2020 and into 2021 with the goal of completing at least one half marathon next year.

We have each other. And we are making the best of a “lock down” situation. 2020 is only 365 days. It won’t last forever, as with everything in life.

Embrace the good and take note of the bad or Embrace the bad and criticize the good. I choose the to Embrace the Good.

Just some fun

Getting My Kids to Exercise

Like the rest of y’all, our house is trying to get along and make the best of the over abundance of family time we have had the last few months. In between the murder hornets, COVID-19, hurricanes, riots, and every else that happens, we get out to nature or a park to get some vitamin D via sunshine. But we are in the house a lot. My kitchen table is my office and my kids school desk, I set up my mobile gym right next to me so I can stop and exercise for a few minutes or do some stretches. My gym is a jump rope, (2) 10lb weights, exercise ball, and a yoga mat. After i serve dinner I run on my treadmill, which has been one of my best purchases ever!!!

The problem is my kids are getting lazy. Well, lazy until I make them stop watching Netflix or Minecraft videos. Then all of the pent up energy comes out and usually turns into them trying to kill each other, then my blood pressure goes up and de-escalating becomes tricky at this point. I know I should not have been letting them watch so much, but I still have to work and if they aren’t watching something they are very literally making me crazy because being Mom and outstanding employee takes 2 different mind sets and skill sets. Trying to do both simultaneously for 8-10 hours a day has been a headache to say the very least.

So as a solution I tried having them do exercise videos on YouTube, which they enjoy and there is a lot of cool videos for kid work outs. But after a few weeks they started getting tired with it. So I tried to get them to do at least a mile on the treadmill, and that was a battle because they got bored after a quarter mile and start wining. Then I came up with, “so you want to watch Minecraft videos, ok. But you are going to watch it while walking on the treadmill.”

It has been a beautiful compromise. They walk 1.5-2 miles before they realize how far they went. No more fighting to get them to move and they go to sleep easier too. It has been a WIN WIN. Now they ask me if they can walk /run on the treadmill during the week because that’s the only way they get YouTube time now.

I noticed their moods have improved since we started this compromise also. 🥳

Yes.Fit Virtual Racing

I had signed us up for 3 different fun runs this year and not a single one is going to happen because of this virus. They gave me vouchers for next year….if they make it. So, I have turned to virtual racing to get my fix like so many runners. I have tried a few of them now, by far Yes.Fit is my favorite, let me tell you why.

Where all of the programs give you a medal and/or a shirt, its usually sent to you weather or not you actually completed the race. Of course, the only person you are cheating is yourself if you don’t actually complete it, but regardless it’s hard to work for something if you already have it in hand. With Yes.Fit you have to log your miles and when you do complete the race, they send you your chosen reward. To keep you motivated they send e-mails every time you pass a mile marker with some cool information about the theme of your race, pictures, stories along the way, just to name a few. I am currently doing the 97.7 mile Extraterrestrial Highway, I have logged 34 miles so far and started it June 20th. Below are some screen shots of the mile markers I have passed, I didn’t include the link to see what they are about because, hey you have to earn it!! 😉 I just wanted to give you an idea,

The Extraterrestrial Highway is my third race with Yes.Fit, for rewards they give you the option of a shirt or a medal or both if you want to pay for it. I always get the shirts, the medals are really cool but I get more use from the shirts and they are good quality and comfortable.

Another thing I really like about their virtual races, is they have a user friendly app. It keeps track of my progress and I can browse all of their races and challenges easily. Not all of the virtual race programs have apps, in fact I am finding most don’t.

These are pics of the tank tops I received from the other 2 races I completed with Yes.Fit.

If you prefer to achieve before you receive like I do, then Yes.Fit is the way to go. They make virtual racing as realistic as possible with the fun mile marker updates and receiving rewards after you have conquered your race. They make signing up and keeping track of races easy with their app and overall, in my opinion so far are the best Virtual Race Experience I have had to date.

Stay Healthy My Friends!

Disclaimer: I haven’t received any compensation for this review, the company did not ask me to do a review. All words and opinions are my own and have not been influenced by Yes.Fit in any way except they provide an excellent product that I stumbled onto.