I have never really been one to skip exercising. It’s one of my favorite things to do so you know I’m having some issues.  I need to get past it and just push forward.

My online personal trainer, Tina has been so great at helping me through this rough time.  I have been coming out of the funk by getting outdoors and mowing the lawn, prepping for some gardening and spent tons of hours last weekend power washing the entire deck and front porch. Huge project! Then this weekend we stained the deck over two days.  I have been spending time planning a little outdoor oasis for us on our back deck so that has been really good for me.

I am not going to make any excuses but tell you that I sure hope my exercise funk is gone by tomorrow afternoon!  Hopefully you’ll see a daily exercise log next Sunday.  I would like to get on the spin bike this week, do a Zumba workout, maybe a Turbo Jam workout and of course get back on my personal training strength/weights program.

What do you do when you are in a total exercise funk?

 

We had a procedure done to put a splint on and my poor poor kitty went crazy. He was attacking the splint, wouldn’t go potty and it was just one horrible experience.  Everyone kept telling us he would get used to it but we went with our gut and had it removed.  That was a tough day, not knowing if we were making the right decision but we made it and planned to have another $1000 plus surgery to get plates put in his leg (scheduled for tomorrow).

I got home and knew we had made the right decision. He’s been resting peacefully since Friday afternoon although he can’t walk on his back left leg.  It’s really sad what he has gone through but when you adopt a pet or have one in general,  you just take on the responsibility.  There was no other option!

So needless to say, I only worked out ONCE this week and you know what?  I am totally OK with it because I was and still am exhausted.  I had a mini break down, OK I was a hot mess on Friday at the vet and I just need to focus and deal with the kitty situation.

I’m going to try to get in some workouts this week but I need my sleep too.  One might think these are all excuses and well, yep they might be but I have been trying to eat well to compensate AND I have been successful so far with my No Naughty Desserts May challenge.  YEA, so proud of myself.  I did almost give in due to all the stress but I got past that.

Thinking I would like to make some homemade granola bars tomorrow while Franklin is in surgery.  I need to keep my mind off of it all so we’ll see.

I’ll end the post here and wish you all a great week.  I’ll check in as I can with updates.  Thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers for my sweet kitty boy.  Our other cat Wilbur is being a trooper and loves his brother a lot.  They sure miss their cuddle time as do we.

Oh and my workout for the week is below whoo hoo

Monday-

*Spinning
Time: 42 min.
Calories burned: 512

How did your week go?

 

And for those that don’t know, I had pulled something in my groin which in turn made my already bad knee worse.  I’m feeling better now but still need to stay accountable with my workouts so here you go.

Don’t laugh too hard.

Oh and good news….my spin bike and the elliptical is fixed. Thanks to my awesome hubby who is Mr. Fix Anything.  Love him! Thank you honey.

Monday-Tuesday- Day off

Wednesday-

*Yoga (Upper Body on the Go at Gaiam TV)
Time: 18 min.

Still have some knee/leg issues but I wanted to do some type of workout.  It was nice and relaxing and I was able to do it from the iPad in our living room.  Now all I need is a good yoga mat lol  Be on the lookout for my review on Gaiam TV. It’s awesome!

Thursday-Sunday- OFF

So this week was a total wash but I am feeling a ton better.  Still a few aches and pains but nothing a bit of Excedrin can’t cure.  I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing.  I’ll be easing back in this week and will start my 12 weeks of online personal training with Tina next week so that I can give my new workouts my full attention.

Speaking of Tina, today is the last day of her Best Body Bootcamp which started EIGHT weeks ago. I have to say I did great. We had to choose goals each week to meet and the ones I chose really helped me see what I need to work on (get more sleep, be consistent on some things, eat dinner at home more, etc.). Thanks Tina for an awesome bootcamp.  THREE people will be in the running for $1000 each. Let’s hope one of those is me *wink*

My challenge for May is NUTRITION!  I am going to give up my ‘naughty’ desserts and replace them with fruit, Greek yogurt and other more healthy options which may or may not include SOME chocolate.  I need to make some pretty drastic changes to really up my game and get back on the weight loss wagon.  Taking a bit here and there from various programs like Paleo, low carb, etc. but won’t be following any one program.  I’m a vegetarian (though I still eat fish) and would like to throw a few vegan meals into my week as well.

Gearing up and planning our garden too.  Hopefully we can get that planted next weekend!

How was your week?  Got any goals for May?

 

At the beginning of the week I came to her to let her know I was having some back issues and she immediately replied with some possible solutions as far as new moves for current workouts go.  Not totally sure what is causing my back issues but when I wake up in the morning it’s horrible and then it goes away within the first hour I’m up.  So odd!  Sounds like I’m totally falling apart with all these issues but I swear it won’t last forever. I WILL push through it.

Here are my workouts for the week.

Monday-

*Strength Workout C (BBB)
Time: 25 min.
Calories burned: 237

*Core Circuit (BBB)
Time: 9:15 min.
Calories burned: 95

Vertical knee raises: 12

Tuesday-

*Strength Workout A (BBB)
Time: 21:30 min.
Calories burned: 151

*Boxing (shadow & kick)
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 242

Vertical knee raises: 10

And just a heads up I am going to have the Better Healthy Living Challenge again this June so get ready! It will be a little different except we will still have some awesome prizes!  We have some fun prize donations already and more coming in.  If you would like to donate or know of anyone who has a great healthy living product/service, spread the word.  I’ll be writing a post all about it soon.

Wednesday-

*Spinning
Time: 40 min.
Calories burned: 468

Vertical knee raises: 10

Thursday-Sunday-Nada

Drats I missed all these workouts. Thurs. was my day off, Friday I was sick and well then I ended up with a pulled muscle in my groin.  Oh so not fun!  I cannot afford to miss more workouts.  Gotta get back on the wagon ASAP. It MUST happen, it WILL happen.  No excuses!

Please keep your fingers and toes crossed that I can get back to working out on Tuesday. Right now I’m in quite a bit of pain so hopefully one more day off will do it.

Hope you had a great week.

Got anything special planned for this coming week?

 

I can’t believe we are starting week 7 of the Best Body Bootcamp with Tina over at Best Body Fitness.  I am getting ready to sign up with her for an additional 12 weeks so I’m excited about that.

The bootcamp has been really awesome!  What I have gained from it so far is learning how to do strength training on a consistent basis.  I have also been challenged to do different types of intervals, workouts and more.  I would highly recommend her affordable online personal training.

Would you like the chance to win a pedometer to start counting your daily steps?  Thanks to Rotary International, I get to give one away. Mine came in the mail this weekend so I’m going to start using it this week.  It’s a cool opportunity to help bring awareness to a special cause. You have a really good chance to win one!

Monday- Day off

Tuesday-

* Strength/weights workout C (BBB)
Time: 22 min.
Calories burned: 131

*Core Circuit x 3 (BBB)
Time: 8 min.
Calories burned: 84

*BOSU workout
Time: 5 min.
Calories burned: 71

THIS is the BOSU workout I did and oh my!  I only got through 1 round and I wasn’t able to do the full jumping jacks (I was a bit nervous since my previous accident on the BOSU lol).  Be sure to check out her BOSU workout video.

Vertical knee raises: 10

Wednesday-

*Strength workout A (BBB)
Time: 25 min.
Calories burned: 202

*Spinning
Time: 15 min.
Calories burned: 182

Vertical knee raises: 12

Today I just did not feel it.  I couldn’t get int the groove, sometimes you win some and you lose some.

Thursday-Friday- Nada!

Saturday-

*Treadmill intervals (x6)
Time: 36 min.
Miles: 2.02
Calories burned: 535

*Strength workout B (BBB)
Time: 28 min.
Calories burned: 276

Vertical knee raises: 12

Sunday- Day off

Whoa what a challenging week!  As you can see, I didn’t exercise every day. I really have no excuse but I was personally challenged with some biz and personal stuff.  I definitely need to work on making time to exercise even when things happen so I’m definitely going to work on that.

Next month my focus is going to actually be on NUTRITION.  I am struggling big time when it comes to choosing healthy all the time.  I may do some drastic changes  in May to challenge myself in that area.  Like giving up dessert (or at least my idea of dessert being ice cream or cookies).  I could really use a nutritionist that is for sure.  I know what I should be eating however when it comes to knowing what I should be getting as far as protein, fiber, etc. I have no clue.

Hope your workouts were fantastic!  I’m off to plan our meals for this week (another goal for May along with cooking!).  Hubby celebrates his 50th birthday this Wednesday and it’s going to be another busy week but I am going to try really hard to exercise 5 out of 6 days.

What is one thing you are struggling with this month?

 

This week’s workouts were pretty darn good.  I had a lot more energy this week thanks to my green homemade fruit smoothies AND yummy cereal from Attune Foods.

I had the chance to sample some cereal from Attune. They were generous enough to send me 3 boxes and I absolutely love them all.  I was having a major craving for cereal this week along with green smoothies so it was perfect timing.  And I had more energy that I have had in a while.

I don’t remember Uncle Sam cereal as a kid BUT Kev did.  Each serving of Uncle Sam Original cereal has 10 grams of fiber, 7 grams of protein and LESS THAN one gram of sugar! You can try it with milk, yogurt, sprinkled on salads or even as a breading for chicken or tofu.

I also tried their Erewhon brand cereals, Crispy Brown Rice (gluten free) and Corn Flakes.  YUM! None of Erewhon’s cereals have dairy, soy, peanuts or tree nuts in them.  And they always use natural sweeteners and flavors and pure ingredients, in fact organic whenever possible.

I will definitely buy from Attune Foods in the future. Thanks for letting me share these great products with you.

Now on to this weeks workouts.  I think I did pretty good except I did not feel like working out on Friday but I did it anyway.  Today is Easter and I didn’t get to my workout but I am OK with it. I’ll make up for it this week!

Monday-

*Turbo Jam Cardio Party Mix 2 (workout DVD)
Time: 45 min.
Calories burned: 615

*Core Circuit (BBB)
Time: 6 min.
Calories burned: 73

Vertical knee raises: 10

Oh my goodness! This was 3 sets of 3 different moves, each move being 30 seconds with 10 seconds rest for me to move to the next. Not sure if I’m doing this correctly but it was an awesome workout none the less.

Tuesday-

*Strength workout A (BBB)
Time: 23 min.
Calories burned: 197

*Spin/Treadmill
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 288

Vertical knee raises: 10

Today I started the new set of workouts Tina, my personal trainer sent for the next 4 weeks.  I used a bit heavier weights and did good.  Got on the spin bike for 10 min. it started making weird noises so had to get off and do something different so I hopped on the elliptical and it was making funny noises so then I went over to the treadmill and did a run/walk for 10 min (.59 mi.). Gotta call for them to come check the equipment out. Boo!

Wednesday-

*Walk Away the Pounds 4 miles
Time: 45 min.
Miles: 4
Calories burned: 512

Vertical knee raises: 10

Thursday- Day off

Friday-

*Strength workout B (BBB)
Time: 26 min.
Calories burned: 182

*Circuit Interval (BBB)
Time: 9 min.
Calories burned: 114

This was weights and treadmill.

Vertical knee raises: 10

Saturday-

*Core workout (3 sets) (BBB)
Time: 7 min.
Calories burned: 54

*Treadmill intervals (BBB)
Time: 40 min.
Miles: 2.28
Calories burned: 623

Vertical knee raises: 10

Sunday- Happy Easter (took the day off)

So overall a good week and I am still loving the Best Body Bootcamp and personal training with Tina.  It’s really kept me on track with doing strength and weights on a consistent basis.

Definitely going to add on at least 12 more weeks of personal training. Off to do some belated birthday shopping online.  I’m looking for a good plus size sports bra (do you have any recommendations?) and I think I’m going to get some more headbands.

How did your workouts go?

 

This weeks workouts were really good!  I think I’m getting addicted to spinning again. It’s a real good calorie burn and I can change it up all the time (steady state, intervals, etc.)  There are some spinning workouts on DVD that I would love to try.

Other than spinning, my bootcamp and personal training workouts were awesome.  I can’t believe this ends week FOUR.

Just got my new plan for the next 4 weeks from Tina at Best Body Fitness and I’m REALLY stoked.  Lots of fun, HARD moves. Going to bump up the intensity a bit.

Oh and I’m going to be treating myself to an additional 12 weeks of personal training with Tina. OK so on to this weeks workouts…

Monday-

*Mowing the lawn
Time: 1:08
Calories burned: 893

Oh yes it’s that time again if the weather stays nice in IL. I love mowing the lawn because it’s a great workout!

Tuesday-

*Strength workout A (BBB)
Time: 28 min.
Calories burned: 239

*Elliptical intervals (BBB)
Time: 20 min.
Miles: 1.21
Calories burned: 300

Wednesday-

*Spinning
Time: 45 min.
Calories burned: 590

Thursday- Day off

Friday-

*Functional Training 50/10 (BBB)
Time: 9:30
Calories burned: 120

Oh my goodness!  That was 50 seconds on and 10 seconds rest.  Weeks 1-3 were not as hard but this one kicked my butt.  It takes me 10 seconds just to get off the darn floor.  Need to work at this.

*Spin Intervals (3-2-1) (BBB)
Time: 30 min.
Calories burned: 459

Saturday- Day off

Sunday-

*Strength workout B (BBB)
Time: 24 min.
Calories burned: 144

*Spinning
Time: 26 min.
Calories burned: 321

Trying to remember to post a picture after every workout on my Tumblr page.  My FitFluential peeps want to stay accountable to one another so we tweet with the hashtag #fitfluential and #PROOF.  Get on the train with us!  And don’t forget to come over to my Facebook page for daily accountability.

Still planning out my April goals so I’ll probably do a post on that this week.

How did your workouts go this week? What was your favorite workout?

 

Workouts this week were good!

As you know, during the Best Body Bootcamp, we have to pick two goals each week.  My goal to eat dinner at home has stayed the same for the first few weeks of Best Body Bootcamp but I changed up the 2nd goal.

For the first 2 weeks I had a goal to be in bed by 11 PM and I accomplished that most nights.  For the next few months it might not be something I can do so I’m changing it up.

My 2nd goal for this week was to be write a positive thought about myself every day.  You’ll see those below!

This coming week I’ll be changing it up again. Sticking with the goal to eat dinner at home and I’ll change up the second.  Do you have goals for the week?

Although I missed two days in a row of workouts, I think I did pretty well making up for it.  So here are my workouts for the week.

Monday-

*Spinning
Time: 32 min.
Calories burned: 420

Positive thought:  I am strong.

Tuesday-

*Strength workout A (BBB)
Time: 31 min.
Calories burned: 321

*Treadmill (intervals)
Time: 20 min.
Miles: 1.17
Calories burned: 314

Positive thought: I am caring.

Wednesday-Thursday-Day off

Wed. positive thought: I have pretty eyes

Thurs. positive thought: I love life

Friday-

*Spin intervals (BBB)
Time: 30 min.
Calories burned: 394

*Functional training (BBB)
Time: 9:48
Calories burned: 144

Positive thought: I am confident

Saturday-

*Strength workout B (BBB)
Time: 28 min.
Calories burned: 213

*Rebounder
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 267

Positive thought: I think positive

Sunday-

*Turbo Jam 20 Minute Workout
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 287

Positive thought: I’m grateful for a lot of things

Have I said how much I am loving this Best Body Bootcamp and personal training with Tina?  Yep, I know I have but I cannot even explain how good I feel.

P.S. Thanks goes to Attune Foods this week for donating a prize pack to the bootcamp!  I went to the Attune Foods Twitter chat (#attune) this past week and it was a blast. I’ll be sampling and reviewing their products here on the blog soon. Can’t wait to try them!

 

I am so glad that I decided to grab her 8 week plan because I was kind of stumbling and not really sure which way to go with workouts. They were getting old and boring and when it came to strength workouts, I know I needed to add them in on a consistent basis.

But my eyes glazed over when I saw different strength training workouts and I was never sure which workouts would be best for me.  I am excited to do these workouts and try to do better every time.

Here are my workouts for the week:

Monday-

*Walk outside
Time: 25 min.

Decided to skip spinning tonight and went on a walk with Kev. It was nice to get out of the house after being cooped up with my invalid kitty who broke & fractured his leg. It’s going to be a long 16 weeks so any time I can get with hubby and get out of the house I’m going to grab it.  I’ll try to make up for the spin during the week after one of my other workouts.

Tuesday-

*Strength workout A (BBB)
Time: 29 min.
Calories burned: 291

This was 4 minutes less and one less calorie burned than week one.  I didn’t take the full 30 second break on each workout.  And hey I didn’t fall off the Bosu LOL

*Spin (BBB 20 min. interval)
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 285

Wednesday-

*Spin (intervals)
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 244

Thursday- Day off

Friday-

*Elliptical intervals (BBB)
Time: 20 min.
Miles: 1.33
Calories burned: 321

*Functional training (BBB)
Time: 9 min.
Calories burned: 138

I wish I had more time to workout but with invalid kitty, I don’t want to leave him alone too long in the crate so I do what I can.  Functional training is on the calendar for Thursdays but we had errands to run yesterday so I had to change around my schedule. At least I got it done!

Saturday-

*Strength workout B (BBB)
Time: 29 min.
Calories burned: 247

*Boxing (BBB)
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 280

Oh boxing, how I love thee! Slam man got a great workout.

Sunday-

*Gardening (digging and preparing the garden)
Time: 1 hr+

I am counting this as a workout because it was not easy and I sweated my butt off.  It is a lot of work to prep for a garden AND we think we are going to expand the garden area a bit so I’ll probably be digging for the next few weekends!

Overall an awesome week!  I really enjoyed all my workouts.

I also wanted to send a shout out to LARABAR and Physique 57 for donating prizes to this week’s bootcamp!

How did your workouts go this week?

 

The only big workout I missed was a spin workout and made up for some of that yesterday.  AND I made up for Thursday’s workout today.

I love the fact that I kept going and worked around it.  I am really liking the variety of workouts that Tina has given me to do over the next 8 weeks.  Let’s do this!

Best Body Bootcamp posts will be tagged with BBB here on the blog and if you follow on Twitter, look for the hashtag #bestbodybootcamp.  AND don’t forget to do your daily workout/healthy eating accountability on my Facebook page.

Monday-

*Spin
Time: 32 min.
Calories burned: 447

Tuesday-

*Strength workout A (BBB)
Time: 33 min.
Calories burned: 292

This strength workout included quite the variety. I can’t share all the moves since this is part of a paid program but quite a few of them I have done before at the gym like chest fly’s, tricep kickbacks, etc.  And I finally got some use out of my old, barely used step. And boy was that a good workout!

*Elliptical intervals (BBB)
Time: 20 min.
Miles: 1.28
Calories burned: 340

This morning did not start out in a good way. I was up early and felt good but then I went to do the 1st move in my workout plan and things fell apart.  I stepped up on the Bosu with my 7 lb weights and slipped right off falling on the floor and into the metal door piece.  I also chipped part of the wall.  So with a bruised and cut elbow AND a very badly bruised left butt cheek, I repositioned the Bosu in another area and went on with my workout.

Wednesday & Thursday-Day off

Friday-

*Treadmill (speed and hill intervals BBB)
Time: 30 min.
Miles: 1.61
Calories burned: 435

Couldn’t run yet due to the fall off the Bosu.  Whoa that bum might take more time to heal.

Saturday-

*Strength workout B (BBB)
Time: 28 min.
Calories burned: 252

*Spin
Time: 25 min.
Calories burned: 367

I was surprised that I was able to spin but my butt didn’t hurt.  It was a good workout today!  Some new moves on the stability ball that I have never done before were making me scream for mercy. Thank you Tina!

Sunday-

*Functional workout (BBB)
Time: 11 min.
Calories burned: 117

This was a quick but good workout.  It included 10 fitness/strength moves, some of the moves new to me.  I love that some boxing moves were included into this because you know I love my boxing! This workout would usually be done on Thursday’s but I had to change my workouts around this week so I did it today.

*Turbo Jam 20 Minute Workout
Time: 20 min.
Calories burned: 296

Oh Turbo Jam, it’s been a while, how I love thee!  I’m going to get back into this because not only is it fun but it’s a darn good workout. Got my sweat on that is for sure.

So this is how we do it….you keep on pushing no matter what curve balls are thrown at you!

How did your workouts go this week?