Insanity?

John mentioned that he wanted the beachbody program Insanity the other day.
It got me thinking - if I get this program for him, we might be able to do it together.  If I had someone there to do it with me, I'd actually do it.  I hate working out alone <em>39</em>
I have been emailing back and forth with Monica Gray (Chalene Johnson's best friend, you know, the creator of Turbo Jam, Turbo Fire, etc?).  Well I live near all of those beautiful, fit ladies.  Monica has been trying to get me to one of her classes at the gym.  Have I mentioned how SCARED I am of taking her class?  She is also a beachbody coach.  I am considering becoming one too so that I can get a discount on Insanity, Chalean Extreme and Shakeology.  I would love to get into better shape.  Monica offered to call me to answer any of my questions.  I very well might take her up on that.  OMG I almost feel like she's a celebrity about to call me!!!  <em>198</em>  I will keep you all posted if we decide to do this.  I need to ensure my finances are good before I purchase anything.
Tomorrow is my last day at my current job.  Bittersweet but glad it's finally come.  Monday I start my new job.  I'm thrilled!!!
I've been super tired lately and not really in the mood to workout so I have skipped a lot of yoga classes that I should have gone to.  I just don't have the energy and poop out early in the class.  I just am lacking the stamina to keep up lately.  I'm trying to rest tons!  I really need to lose some of this weight.  The fat around my hips is terrible, I hate it.  Not to mention the fat all over the rest of me too.  But lately it's been my hips that are pissing me off.  <em>101</em>
I'm feeling a little more "sparked" now that I'm considering joining beachbody as a coach and possibly meeting Monica to workout in her class one day.  How very cool!
I hope you all have a great day!

Job, Dr. Phil, Vacation and other random updates!

So much has been going on!

First and foremost, thank you for all of your support regarding the interview process for that job.  They contacted me via the temp agency last Monday and wanted to hire me.  Problem was they wanted me to start on Tuesday.  I was on vacation until Tuesday which I told them about up front.  They also forgot that I was currently employed and needed to provide a notice to my employer.  Granted, my employer typically doesn’t accept a two week notice, I was still going to give them one.  The company decided they did not want to be flexible with their training schedule and chose their second pick instead of me.  I didn’t post about it because something didn’t feel right when I got the initial call from the temp agency.  I didn’t get excited either which I took as a bad sign.  Why would I not get excited about a job that pays almost 20k more per year?  I decided that everything happens for a reason.  That job was not meant for me.  I figure if that door opened, even briefly, then other doors should open as well.

Dr. Phil’s show did not return my email inquiry from last week so I’m assuming they have no interest in having me on the show.  Oh well, I’ll keep on with the struggle.  I’ve managed to maintain my weight the last several weeks give or take a few ounces.

I am going to follow a program that my Grandma and her two sisters in laws have been doing.  They’ve had great success with it.  I will share it with you if it works for me but for now, I’m going to keep it to myself.

John and I have been regularly walking or bike riding every night the last week or so.  At least 30 minutes a night.  I have also been doing yoga for an hour once or twice a week.  I have 18 more prepaid yoga classes to use up by the end of May; I better get a move on it!  Lol

Our vacation was wonderful and long overdue.  We went to Ojai for two nights.  The day we got there, we explored town and had lunch on the patio of a Mexican Restaurant.  They had live music and it was gorgeous out.  The next day we went for a hike in the morning, (that’s when I got the call about the job) then went to the hotel to wash up.  Then we headed into town to grab lunch.  John treated me to a pedicure while he went in search of a cigar.  We also went wine tasting.  I didn’t get to explore as many shops as I would have liked which means we need to go back soon!  :)  After my pedicure, I walked a few blocks back to our hotel so that John didn’t have to come get me.  We went out to dinner that night, John wanted Chinese food.  Ojai mainly has Mexican or Italian food.  So we went to the next town over for Chinese food.  Oh man, it was terrible.  I couldn’t eat it.  The place was run down, the food was terrible! We tried, lol.  We went to Lake Casitas to walk around after dinner.  There we found some adorable puppies that were just over a month old.  The little girls let us hold them, they were adorable!  We grabbed some dessert (I also got a quesadilla since I didn’t really eat dinner) and went back to the hotel.  I will post some pictures later.

Easter was great too.  Our church service was amazing and the Easter lilies smelled wonderful!  John and I made each other a small Easter basket.  Then John had me do an egg hunt in the house, it was fun!  We didn’t do much after that.  Homework and laundry really.  Both cats got an Easter bath which they were not happy about.  But now they are both soft and fluffy!  And clean!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter!  He has risen indeed!

3 weeks Gluten Free, Dr. Phil and job interviews!

Well today marks 3 weeks of gluten free!  I've done really good and have not felt deprived at all.  I'm not feeling any better yet and heard that it could take 3-6 weeks to detox and another 3-6 weeks to feel better.  I guess we shall see.  I have been trying out some local gluten free menu's at some restaurants, and found a really cool gluten free bakery.  It was delicious!  Very moist but almost too rich!
Dr. Phil's show called me.  They are considering me for a weight loss show to help me lose weight since I have been having difficulties.  I sent them all the information they requested.  I am just waiting to hear back, I am so excited!  I hope I get on the show and can get this weight off!

Things at my office have been a bit rough.  So I began to look for a job.  Since school has been a lot of work, I haven't been looking very hard.  Last weekend I made my resume searchable online.  Monday I got a call from a temp agency.  I met with them on Wednesday.  When I walked in they told me they had been talking about me all week and they were so excited to have me there.  What a great feeling that was!  They already had a place they thought would be a great fit for me.  They scheduled me for an interview on Thursday and I met with the president of that mortgage company on Thursday.  The interview went amazing with the president.  He thought I was perfect for the job and a perfect fit with the company.  But he wanted me to do another interview with the processing supervisor.  I met with her on Friday for a quick interview.  She told me she was very tough to work for and that she expects perfection.  She understands mistakes happen but not lazy, careless mistakes.  I look at it this way- the pay is a lot more (10k-18k more per year) and things have to be an improvement compared to my current employer.  I should be finding out tomorrow if I got it.  I feel like I did and I feel like it would be a good fit.  Plus it would give me recent mortgage experience which I need for my resume.  I've been out of the industry for 4 years and a lot of companies don't like that.  So please keep your fingers crossed for me!

John and I watched a Hungry for a Change film today.  It was great and very inspiring.  We decided to attempt to do a juice detox for about 3 days.  So we bought some wheat grass powder, spirulina powder, liquid aminos and aloe vera juice.  We also bought tons of veggies and fruit to juice.  I think we are going to do it over a weekend to make sure that if we have any adverse effects, at least we are home to have them!  lol  We went to Mothers Market to buy some things and I found a Juice Fasting and Detox book to read.  It might be a week or two from now before we actually do the detox.
Next weekend is our weekend getaway to Ojai!  I'm so excited.  Two nights away with my love.  Just us, a peaceful little healthy community and an organic winery.  Sounds like heaven!  It has been extremely stressful with school but I got a B on my last final on Friday and got my five page essay submitted today.  yay!  This weekend was relaxing.  Yesterday we spent with my brother, dad and stepmom at the beach for lunch and a walk to celebrate my brother's birthday.  Then we went to my dad and stepmom's to visit.  Next thing we knew it was 9:30 and we all had skipped dinner!  haha  So my dad snuck $20 in my hand and told me to pay for dinner for John and I.  We grabbed some dinner then came home.  John wanted to go right to bed but I didn't.  I wanted to hang out so my food could digest before bed.  Today we watched a movie, had John's friend Dave over, had my mom over briefly and went shopping at the grocery store.  As I'm writing this, we just had crazy loud thunder and some bright lightening less then two miles from our house.  It was cool but scared the cats!  The rain is starting again.  It's been pouring most of the afternoon.

Well I hope you all had a great weekend!  I'm off to veg out some more.  :)

Gluten Free Day 1 and 2

Today is Day 2 being Gluten Free.

So far, other then the enormous grocery bill and the amount of time I've spent cooking, it hasn't been too hard to change over.  I don't feel any different yet.  I am extremely tired today but that could be due to my being sick and probably coughing all night in my sleep.  John was floored at how expensive our grocery bill was.  Not that I blame him one bit.  I was not planning on spending over $200.00 but things require so many different types of flours and such.  And the flours add up!  Teeny loaves of bread are $4.99 and up.  That's  a lot of money.

I made large meals that would carry us throughout the week.  I made pot roast in the crock pot and I made a huge lasagna also.  Plus some gluten free orange cupcakes that were amazing!  I ruined my salad at lunch today, I put dressing on it that had gluten in it.  Thankfully I caught it before I ate it.  I hope I didn't make the same mistake yesterday too.  :(

I am giving this 3-4 weeks to see if there's any improvement on how I am feeling.  If I don't see any improvement, I will safely assume I do not have a gluten sensitivity.

I have been doing  a lot of strength training and not very much cardio to see how my results are.  I take new measurements in one week.  Since I've been sick, I haven't really done any cardio except a bike ride and some light walking.

Last night was hard.  John made toast with some peanut butter and jelly on it.  I wanted it so bad.  I almost asked for a bite.  Instead, I got up and made my own with gluten free bread!  Yay!  I can do this :)

I will keep you posted as to how I'm feeling.

Gluten Free plus workout realizations!

My symptoms have started to return.  I'm tired all the time, I'm foggy brained, can't focus, lack energy.  I was feeling good there for awhile.  Dr. Iris told me a couple of years ago to go gluten free for 30 days to see if it would alleviate these symptoms.  I didn't do it because I didn't know how and to be honest, it seemed like too much work.  I've taken a few tests on various gluten free sites and they all tell me I seem to have a sensitivity to it.  I can have a blood test done but gluten is in more than just wheat products.  It's in rye and barley, etc.  When buying other grains like quinoa, I have to ensure they are certified gluten free because they can be contaminated if processed near gluten.  I found out that if I go entirely gluten free, I will need separate everything.  Cooking utensils, toaster, etc.  It reduces the contamination from gluten products.  It takes a teeny amount to make the symptoms return.  Although I have no plans to buy a whole new kitchen at this point, I will start slowly.  I bought a gluten free cookbook that has many of my favorite meals in it.  I look forward to trying some out!  Especially the lasagna!  :)  I need to prepare a list of the basic essentials I need in the kitchen and start there.  Any gluten free stuff in the fridge, freezer or pantry must be stored above the gluten stuff (again with that contamination concerns!).  So that it my goal this weekend along with homework, midterms, etc.  haha!  I also want to try and come up with a few meals and such that I can make for next week in advance.

I've also been trying to figure out this whole working out thing.  Yes I know how to do it and I know that it's good for me but I realized that I have been focusing on cardio knowing that I should do more ST.  Well let's be real, cardio is getting me nowhere fast.  I remembered that several years ago when I was probably 50 pounds lighter, I lost 20 pounds working out with a trainer one day a week.  Do you know what we did?  Kettlebell stuff before it was popular.  Squats, lunges, bands, rollers and anything that used my body as the weight.  No gym equipment (except the bell, bands and roller).  No treadmill, no ST machines.  They were forbidden.  The only time I could go near one was to put my band around for my next workout.  That was it.  I would hurt for days.  I couldn't sit down to pee without wanting to cry.  But you know what?  It was effective and it WORKED!  So last night instead of running on the treadmill like I was planning, I printed up my sparkpeople.com ST plan.  I went home, started laundry then started my workout.  I'm sore in places I forgot about today!  Not crazy sore but a good sore to remind myself of the good things I did last night.  I am going to try and get a 30 minute walk in tonight but hit the ST tomorrow again!  That will be my focus at this point.  It makes your body look so amazing!

I am trying to get back on the food tracking wagon, just to give myself an idea of what I'm eating.  I have a root canal coming up in a few weeks so I need to be prepared for that.  Then I have the appt for my crown the week after.  Then John and I have a two night getaway just us the following weekend (The very beginning of April).  I'm very much looking forward to it!

Random updates :)

Well let's start with the No 'Poo Experiment.  After about 3 weeks, I gave up with the baking soda.  I moved on to a couple of websites and their gluten free soaps and shampoo's.  I tried the prairie soap and did not like the way my hair felt.  It felt awful!  It made my skin feel dry but I used some lotion after and was just fine.  The deodorant was good but it's not an antiperspirant so all it did was make my armpits smell good for awhile.  haha  I bought some more shampoo and soaps to try, they just came in today.  I will keep you posted.

Happy Valentines Day!  I hope you are having a great day.  I am.  I was remembering just now that when I was a little girl, my dad used to bring me home a gift when he brought my mom home one.  I used to love it and look forward to it.  It made me feel special.  I sent my dad a text to remind him and thank him for doing that for me growing up.  It's the little things that count.  haha!  John surprised me this morning with a brand new laptop.  I cried, a lot.  hahaha  Mine is five years old and has been dying on me.  It has become quite a chore to do homework on it.  He knew I couldn't afford to buy a new one so he got me one.  It means so much to me!  Then shortly after I get to work, 13 long stem red roses appear on my desk from the florist.  They are stunning and smell amazing!  I am so spoiled and so blessed!

John's younger sister was in town from Kauai the last week or so.  She flew back yesterday.  Out of the three sisters, she was the only one that I wasn't sure liked me.  It always felt awkward and I always felt guarded with her.  For the first time, we got to really sit and chat.  We got to know each other and really enjoy ourselves.  For the first time, I felt like myself around her and felt comfortable.  It was really nice and I'm glad that we got to know each other better.  She flew into town to surprise their older sister with a surprise 50th birthday party.

This weekend we went shopping at Kohl's.  Their clearance items were like 80% off the clearance price.  Clearly worth it!  Well I bought a really nice, comfortable pair of cotton trousers.  They were like $8.00.  Well they were also a size 18W.  I am mortified to admit that.  I am so tired of how tight my other pants are right now.  Thankfully after washing and wearing them this weekend, I found that they were too big for me.  But not much bigger.  This cannot continue.  I did the Sparkpeople Boot Camp DVD yesterday and did a 50 minute walk/run on Sunday.  I saw some pictures of myself from John's sisters surprise party and was disgusted.  I looked awful.  Enough is enough.  I plan to start the 17 Day Diet next week.  It's clean eating with lean proteins and lots of veggies.  Some friends are also doing that program right now.  I may do a combination of Tosca's Clean Eating Diet with the 17 Day Diet.  They are very similar.  Although I do prefer to try and go gluten free as well.  I will keep you posted.

Back to work I go!  Have a great day!

Half Marathon and Dietary Changes - advice welcomed!

A co-worker popped over to my desk and said, "Dee, do you want to run a half marathon with me in May?"  I looked at her and blinked my eyes.  Then I said, "I can't even run a mile, how would I run 13.1?"  She said we had three months to train.  Please keep in mind, I would love to run but always seem to do stupid stuff to myself.  For instance, I somehow managed to mess up my right foot and get weird stabbing sensations in it when I walk sometimes or go on my tiptoes for something.  Goodness me!  Although the idea of a half marathon does intrigue me, I think I need to be real with myself.  I'm in school plus working full time.  School is a heavy set of classes with tons of reading and assignments.  I was considering saying yes but am now second guessing myself.  I'm afraid it will be too much to take on.  Trying to teach myself how to run and be able to run enough of those 13.1 miles.  John thinks I should wait too and do a few 5k's before attempting a half.  What do you think?

Also, I've been thinking about the foods that John and I have been eating.  I'm not perfect, nor do I claim to be.  But I'm seriously tired of being overweight and I have no one to blame but myself.  I'm trying to decide what a good way for us to eat would be.  I do like the clean style of eating although they do remove some things I like to eat.  I've been cutting out dairy for some time.  I use cheese and cottage cheese but don't use real milk anymore.  I refuse to use fake butter but do have raw organic butter in the freezer and real butter in the fridge.  I try to use olive oil, coconut oil and grapeseed oil for all my cooking needs.  I think Paleo is too much for me to maintain for life.

I was reading information on the 17 Day Diet plan and it totally makes sense.  (No, I'm not doing the plan but I do like to know about these things so I'm informed)  It's basically clean eating rotating things in and out every cycle.  The author states that once you are on a diet, you will always be on a diet because you cannot go back to the way you ate before.  I do have to agree with that in some way.  It shouldn't feel like a diet, it should be a lifestyle change.

I also am considering going gluten free.  All the things I like to eat are now made gluten free.  And wheat is bad for you.  It's not a super wonderful diet grain like they say.  Our bodies have a hard time digesting it and many people have sensitivities to it even if they do not have Celiac's Disease.

How do you eat?  What are your preferences?  I would really love to get some feedback or advice.