LOL

Erica did not think it was funny when I showed her this picture after she asked to see the 'usie' we took at lunch yesterday.

(I can be pretty funny sometimes).

Here is the real picture from lunch.

(Sorry you're not taller Erica)

Yesterday, we got to eat lunch with Mike and Jess, and Jess' wife and one of his clients/our friend Renee. It was so fun. Jess started out the meal by asking, "So, how are we doing this? Are we really eating or do I have to be a good example for all of you?"

In unison, we all said, "WE ARE REALLY EATING!"

And, we did. Delicious pasta and salads and pizza. It was so good!

And the company wasn't too bad either. It's fun to have cool friends.

And, Mike just sat back and watched us all eat - without really saying anything. He did, however, scarf down a whole lot of spaghetti and meatballs. 

Genetics are not fair.

He did say, as we were leaving, that we will be paying for this 'eating with reckless abandon lunch date' at today's workout.

Bring it on. I ain't scared!

(Just kidding. I really am scared. Please be nice!)

Obstacles

When we got to the gym last Tuesday, Mike was rushing around setting up a little obstacle course.

Except, it wasn't little. It was humongous and really difficult.

But - deep down - we knew that it was really just a matter of time until something like this showed up.

He grabbed Brianne right away and showed her what he wanted her to do. Whew! I was relieved that I didn't have to participate.

However, my relief was short-lived. Not only did I also have to do this obstacle course but, I was so incredibly slow (and uncoordinated) that B lapped me about 25 times.

That's not embarrassing at all.

(and, yes, I heard "Get moving Cali!" about 210 times in an hour).

So, here's how it went.

We had to jump over the first two things (I have no idea what they're called - but they're high), then squat on the 3rd (so low that our booty touched the yellow strap - thanks for that suggestion Jess). 

Funny how it didn't seem so high when we had to lower our butt that low.

Then, we jumped forward over the next two, then sideways to the right to the 25 lb kettle bell.

There, we did squats and lifted the kettle bell to our chin as we stood up, then flipped it upside down over our heads.

And repeat.

30 times, guys.

Then, we jumped to the left twice, forward twice, to the left twice more and made it to the mat.

There, we got to do 20 burpees.

We had to do 3 sets of all of that.

THEN, can you see the workout platforms (stools? I really need to broaden my workout vocab) on the left of the photo? You'll notice that there are 2. A tall one and a taller one. (I'm not even sure why Mike teases us with options because we never actually get them).

So, by the time I got to the platform section and grabbed the 15 lb kettle bell and stepped up on the shorter platform, Mike rushed over and took the shorter platform away.

Great, because I was doing so well anyway.

So, we had to do 20 step-ups with each leg and the 15 lb kettle bell. No big deal.

Then, guess what we had to do?

We had to sprint to the stop sign and back.

And, we did this - over and over - for our whole workout. I seriously wanted to pass out. Seriously.

But, you know what? I did it. It wasn't pretty or graceful or fast, but, I did way more than I thought I would be able to. I complain to and about Mike a lot (not all the time, I do have to sleep - lol) but I really appreciate him. I need him to push me and yell at me and keep me accountable. He is also pretty good about encouraging - but not usually until the workout is over - when he comes out of trainer Mike mode.

I am grateful that he pairs me up with Brianne and Charis who are in such good shape. I am not close to where they are physically, but they push me to do better and make me hustle in the attempt to keep up.

Lately, I have been thinking about obstacles in this journey of mine. Most of the obstacles come from my own insecurities and lack of confidence. Am I really doing this? Can I even do this? As silly as it sounds, I have to continually remind myself that this is it, this is my life now. 

I AM DOING THIS.

Sure, it's not happening as fast as I want and I hit walls often, but my body is changing and I am stronger and more confident than ever before.

Another re-occurring obstacle is making time (it's not just going to happen) - time for exercise and to plan and cook healthy meals. It takes a lot of time and energy to put my health and fitness first and still be able to fit everything in life into each day. It can be over-whelming sometimes. Even though I am far from perfect, it is getting more manageable.

Laziness is a huge obstacle for me. My favorite place to be is on my couch, in my stretchy pants, just vegging out to a marathon of any trashy show. Why is TV not as enjoyable on a treadmill? I don't think I'll ever know the answer. Plus, the last thing I want to do when my alarm goes off at 5:15 am is get up and work out. I am not great at this, but little by little I am improving.

I just have to continually weigh the costs and benefits. There is nothing as great or important as being healthy. Mike reminds us all the time that we don't have anything if we don't have our health. We can work and save our whole lives, but it will be for nothing if we aren't healthy enough (or alive enough) to enjoy it. And that doesn't just apply to the end of our lives. It applies to right now - to today.

Life is so much happier when your health is your #1 priority.

We have to decide every single day what our priorities will be.

And, if we mess up one day, start again.

Tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity to be awesome!

(I got these quotes here)

Begin Doing

White Bean Chicken Soup

I am always looking for new, tasty, healthy, inexpensive meals. Life was so much easier when I could just swing through the drive-thru and pick up dinner on the way home from work.

Easier, but expensive and so unhealthy.

Eating well takes a lot of time and planning, but it's worth it. I am a firm believer that you get good out when you put good in. I have definitely found it to be true the past few months.

I love soup, and fall is the perfect time for it so I have been looking for good recipes.

I love soups with a lot of protein - ones that have staying power. No one likes to be hungry an hour after a meal. I found a recipe last weekend that is technically chili, but it felt more like a soup to me.

Go here for the original recipe. I changed it a little and it was good. Not life changing or anything, but pretty tasty.

I didn't make it in the crockpot because a friend borrowed mine and I couldn't be bothered to walk 2 blocks to get it. Mostly because I didn't get ready at all the whole weekend because I didn't plan to leave the house for 2 whole days - and I didn't.

So, I boiled a pound of chicken. The original recipe says to use bone-in chicken but I just used boneless, skinless chicken breasts (because that's what I had and I didn't want to go to the store). The chicken was frozen, so I boiled it for 30 minutes (I added chicken bullion to add flavor) then shredded it and put it back in the broth.

In a separate pan, I sauteed 3 tsps of garlic (the original recipe calls for 4 tsps, but I felt like that was too much - 3 tsps was just right) with a cup of diced onion to bring out the flavor and added it to the pot of chicken. (Here's a little something you probably don't know about me: I hate cutting onions. I hate it that my hands smell bad for days after any contact with an onion so I buy the pre-chopped frozen onions. I actually have 'onion gloves' that I use in the event that I absolutely cannot avoid cutting an onion. I know, I'm weird).

I rinsed 2 cans of white kidney beans and added them, along with a 2 small cans of green chilies. I didn't use cumin because I don't really like it. There was enough flavor from the garlic, onion and chilies.

I forgot to take a cup of beans out and blend it to make the soup a little thicker but I thought it tasted fine without that step.

This is pretty simple to make and tastes pretty good. I froze half of it to have later because I'm pretty sure I would get sick of it (or anything) after eating it everyday for a whole week. This recipe makes about 8 servings.

Enjoy!

#tbt

Looking Back…

It’s always amazing to see progress… I have Cali to help me see this. By her putting the photos side by side, I can really see how far I have come in such a short time.  

I used to crop all photos of myself so they were basically just a head!  

But now, with hard work and dedication - and a lot of cheering, I no longer feel the need to “crop” my body out of shots.  Thanks to Mike and staff (you know I’m talking about you, Jess) at Strive Fitness, I feel I’m taking my life back!!!  Many tears, lots of sweat, and helpful nudging from my support team really makes a difference.

7 Months

7 months!!

It is official.  

I have been paying for pain for the last 7 months.  It’s been such a crazy mind & body altering experience.  I think when I realized that there was a big change in me was when my children went back to school and I was at the school after the 3 month summer vacation.    Lots of comments from lots of people.  It’s such a weird experience to respond to those comments.  I have learned a few things with this experience.  

1. People are truly trying to pay you a compliment when they make the effort to comment.  Although the things that they say might not necessarily come out as a compliment, it is 99% of the time sincere.   Haters gonna hate hate hate  

2. A simple “Thank you, it’s been a lot of fun and hard work” is enough of a response.  I recently saw a friend who had lost A LOT of weight and I told her that she looked great.  Her response was snarky and it hurt my feelings.  I was genuinely telling her she looked great.   All I said was “Wow you look great”!   The compliments are a big part of my motivation.  If no one told me they could see a change, would I want to keep going?  I am not sure how easy it would be.  

3.  Have fun with the attention, but do not let it go to your head.  Regardless of the exterior, the interior is still the same.  Keep it in check.  

My experience the last 7 months with Mike and his colleagues at the gym has been so much fun!  I am grateful for their friendships, motivation, and genuine concern for each of us.    Mike definitely has more confidence in me than I do, but in the end, he is always right.  There hasn’t been anything yet that he has told me to do that I ended up not being able to do.  There have been times I have thought he was flat out crazy, but like I said, Mike is always right!

Keep On Keeping On

So, Mr. Andam had a new torture method for us at last Thursday's workout. 

Actually, it wasn't new but he was very, very sneaky about what he made us do. 

When we got to the gym, he said, "Ok ladies! We are going to alternate jump squats and lunges. 1 jump squat to 20 lunges, then 2 jump squats to 19 lunges and so on until the starting numbers are flipped."

No big deal, right?

(20 is not a very big number. This I got).

Well, it actually turned out the be an extremely big deal. 

Huge.

And, I couldn't really figure out why, but I was so flipping tired. Like, seriously exhausted and I could tell that all my girls were really struggling too. 

What the crud?

I mean, Mike's workouts are never easy but this one was especially kicking our booties. 

After we struggled through the lunges and jump squats, he pulled me to the corner to alternate burpees and push-ups, 1 to 20, 2 to 19 and so on. 

By this point, I knew the drill.

You guys, I was dying. Quite literally. I know that I still have a lot of work to do to get where I want to be with my health and fitness but I'm in pretty ok shape right now. Workouts are really hard but I can usually hold my own. 

Not this night. It felt like night #1 all over again.

So, I am no mathematician but what we were doing didn't feel like it should have been so dang hard.

Does anyone know - off the top of their head - just how many lunges, jump squats, burpees and push-ups we did?

Anyone?!

That night after I got home, showered, ate dinner and pulled my blasted body into bed (that is literally all I could manage), I ripped out the calculator on my phone and added up all the crap we did.  

I'm sure there's some awesome formula to figure out what we did but, since I was popular in high school, I don't know it. 

So, I literally added 20 + 19 + 18...and so on. 

And, guess what the grand total is?!

Just guess.

Guys, it's 210.

210 lunges

210 jump squats

210 burpees

210 push-ups

Oh, then we got to work on our arms a little more...but the ratio was a little lower = 1 to 10, 2 to 9 and so on. 

For a grand total of 55.

55 shoulder presses

55 bicep curls

So, here is our fitness equation:

   210

+ 210

+ 210

+ 210

+   55

+   55

+     2 (laps around the block)

hell on earth

(I'm not overly dramatic at all, huh?)

He may not be overly warm and fuzzy, but the man gets results!