Ripped in 30

I am finished with Ripped in 30. I lost 10 pounds during the last four weeks and many inches. I have updated my current weight and measurements into the chart if you want to see specifics.

Before Ripped in 30

After Ripped in 30

Today I started a new weight lifting program. Besides these videos, I have stuck only to cardio up to this point. But now I am going to lift 3 times a week as I do the program outlined in "The New Rules of Lifting for Women". If you are interested in lifting weights, this book is a must read. It is a 6 month program and hopefully by the end of it I'll be much stronger and looking good.

**I feel like most (if not all) of the weight I've lost has been from my waist up. My hips and legs really haven't changed that much, so I'm really hoping that weight lifting can help that along.

Proud Moment

Do you remember how Wednesday was a bit of a rough day for me? Well that rough day poured into the rest of the week. Will woke up earlier than usual this morning and I had a pounding headache. I was determined to go running, but my head hurt, by body hurt, and I wanted sleep!

Luckily Lance woke up and I was able to take a short nap on the couch. I woke up around 9:30am and decided I was feeling well enough to try for a run.

I'm trying to always make Saturday my long runs. Last Saturday, I ran my 4.75 miles for my furthest distance ever. My only goal for today was to try and beat it, even if it was only by a little tiny bit. I figured I'd run a little slower and push for more distance.

Using my favorite running app Endomondo on my phone, I began running. And I kept running. And my legs hurt. And I kept running. And I felt like I was going to throw up a few times. And I kept running.

When I finally allowed myself to look at my time, I had been running for 57 minutes and had beat my goal. But I was determined to not stop there. I made it my new goal to run 60 minutes straight. I had already been running for 57 minutes, what was another 3 minutes, right?

GOAL COMPLETE!

I ran 5.4 miles in 60 minutes. I extremely shocked and pleased with my pace. I figured I was running 5.0mph or less the entire time, so I was stoked to see it was faster than that.

Here is a breakdown:
Mile 1: 10:53
Mile 2: 11:05
Mile 3: 11:09
Mile 4: 11:19
Mile 5: 11:16

This picture was taking after my run. Usually my shirt is pretty much drenched in sweat, but for some reason it wasn't today. Wont find me complaining about that!

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!

"Hump Day"

Wednesday's truly are my hump day. For some unknown reason, I always wake up completely exhausted Wednesday mornings. I have to drag myself to the gym and try to get some semblance of a workout in. And even the thought of doing Ripped in 30 is unappealing.

Today was especially rough, but I did what I had to do and made it to the gym. I felt tired, weak, and a bit sore and the last thing I wanted to do was go running. So I decided that even if I just spent an hour walking on a treadmill, it was still better than nothing.

I walked at 14% incline, speed 4.0-4.2 for about 40 minutes. Then I decided I wanted to run a little bit, and figured I should run for one mile at my fastest speed. I tried to stay between 6.0 mph and 6.5 mph, but that only lasted for about 6 minutes before I dropped down to 5.4 mph. I ended up doing a mile in 10:14...about 30 seconds off my fastest time.

My adrenaline from my workout lasted about 2-3 hours. I got home and was feeling great. I ran a few errands and was doing lots of stuff. Then at about 2 o'clock, exhaustion hit again. I pretty much collapsed on the floor and took a quick power nap. And I did not want to get up...ever.

I thought about doing Ripped in 30, but I wasn't sure I had the energy. I thought about it some more and decided that I needed to push myself. I haven't missed a day of Ripped in 30 yet, and I only have 3 days left! Why quit now? That would just be silly! Plus I knew I would be so disappointed in myself if I didn't do it. So I put the DVD in and did it. I'll admit, I didn't push myself as hard as I usually do, but I was still sweating pretty good.

Now it is 6pm and I am feeling great and getting ready to go to volleyball! I know this is a long, boring post...but the moral of the story is that YOU ARE CAPABLE! You are capable of working out! You are capable of pushing yourself hard! Sometimes when we don't have motivation, that's when it's most important to just do it anyways.

Wednesdays are usually my rough day...in the morning at least. But I know that if I can just push through and get past those workouts, then I'll be feeling great and the rest of my week will fly by. I don't feel tired or lacking energy, in fact I'm pumped to go play some sports!

Just remember, YOU ARE CAPABLE of amazing things! Whenever you come to the top of your hill and you feel like you can't make it, push just a little harder and think how great it'll be once your on the other side.

Buffalo Chicken

I made this recipe for dinner on Sunday and boy was it good! I love it because it is SO simple. It only has 3 ingredients and requires hardly any work. That's my kind of meal! Did I also mention that it is low calorie?

Buffalo Chicken
-4 chicken breasts (I used about 20 oz of chicken)
-2/3 bottle Buffalo marinade (I used KC Masterpiece Hot Buffalo marinade)
-One packet of dry ranch mix (I used Kroger Fat Free Party Ranch Dip)

Put the chicken in the bottom of the crock pot. Pour 2/3 of the buffalo sauce over the chicken, then add the packet of dry ranch mix. Mix it together. Cook on low for about 5-6 hours. Shred the chicken with a fork. Then cook for an additional hour.

Nutritional Facts:
-Calories: 191 per serving
-Carbs: 10g per serving
-Fats: 3g per serving
-Protein: 30g per serving

These nutritional facts are based on the recipe making 4 servings. But I found afterwards, that those are HUGE servings. I made 2 mini roll sandwiches and only used half a serving.

And that's it! Another of my favorite things about this dish is that I think it's so versatile. For Sunday, we used dinner rolls to make little sandwiches with them.The next day, Lance decided to make some rice and put the chicken over rice. I bet it would also be good in a wrap or burrito. Or you could simply add a little cheese. So many possibilities.

To give you an idea of what my dinner looked like tonight:

I made a sandwich using about 2/3 of a serving of the buffalo chicken and put it on a Kroger Sandwich Thin. And I had a large salad to go with it. Lately, my absolute favorite thing in a salad is frozen peas. So my salad consists of romaine lettuce, 1/3 cup peas, and 2 tablespoons ranch dressing.

An important piece of this meal is the bread. An average slice of bread is around 100 calories. So if you wanted to make a sandwich, that would be at least 200 calories for just the bread alone. So I found these great bread replacements and I love them. Sandwich Thins. Basically two really thin pieces of bread. The reason they are awesome? For the whole bun (2 pieces) it's only 90 calories! I use these for everything. I use them for deli sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a bun for my turkey burgers, etc. They are a must.

The most important thing is probably the Ranch Dressing. I found this dressing a few weeks ago and I am in LOVE! Normal ranch dressing has about 150 calories for a 2 TBSP serving. That is ridiculous! So for the past few months, I've been using fat free ranch, which has about 50-60 calories per serving. But it tastes terrible! I've learned to somehow tolerate it though. Until I found this amazing dressing. This dressing is only 45 calories per serving AND IT TASTES GREAT!!! Wahoo! Now I can pile on the ranch and not have to worry about adding 1000 calories.

This entire meal....for the sandwich and the salad....was only 336 calories!

Definitely one we'll be making again.

A Good Wednesday

Every Wednesday at the Sports Academy, me and a group of women get together to play volleyball. It's hard to describe how much I love playing volleyball. It's that much. It's honestly something I look forward to so much. It gives me a little break from Will, gives me interaction time with other women, plus it gives me a little exercise. Who wouldn't love that? So if you need me on a Wednesday night, you know where to find me.

But this picture just made my Wednesday even better. Want to know why? Because I went shopping today and got this new jacket for a great price. And although the price made me happy, something else made me way happier. The size. This jacket is a size...wait for it...wait for it...SMALL! Now I know that it's probably wrongly sized or just some random fluke, but I don't care! I don't think I've ever worn a small (or medium for that matter) in my life. When I was a kid going into juniors, I skipped straight to large or extra large. So this was an awesome small little victory for me! Now if only I could get my hips and legs to start shrinking....

Running in the Rain

I woke up this morning to a slight drizzle outside. It looked really refreshing so I decided to do my running outside today. I know most people would probably do the opposite and avoid running outside while it was raining. But there is something about the rain that I have always loved, and I think it feels so great to run in it.

The only thing I hate about the rain is having to wear a jacket. I HATE running in sweatshirts, jackets, long sleeves, etc. I get hot enough and sweat enough without warm clothing, I hate to add any layers. But it was a bit too cold to be running in short sleeves, so jacket it was.

It didn't take me long into my run to realize that the little "drizzle" I thought it was, was more of a steady, but light rain. I was literally dripping by the time I got home and looked like a drowned rat.

I kept a pretty good pace and I am mostly happy with my time. I ran 3.2 miles in 36:06. So close to my personal best! I definitely think I could've beaten it and shaved off at least 20-30 seconds. Next time.
Here is a breakdown of my miles:
Mile 1 - 11:11 minutes
Mile 2 - 11:25 minutes
Mile 3 - 11:22 minutes

The route I take is a really slow incline for the first mile to mile an a half, then the rest of the way is slightly downhill.

Overall, I feel pretty good about my run. It was one of my faster times and it was in the rain. There is a 5K race this Saturday that I am considering doing. I want to because I think it would be fun and I think I would push a little more being around other people and knowing that it was a race. But I'm having a hard time justifying spending $25 to go run a route that I could probably do any day.

4/16- Workout

This morning I spend an hour on the treadmill.

15 minutes walking 4.0 mph with 13.5% incline. (I cheat and hang on to the rails, but it's still a good workout.)

After the 15 minutes, I began jogging at 5.1 mph. I jogged at this speed for 15 minutes then started increasing the speed. I'd run one minute at 5.2, one minute at 5.3, then one minute at 5.4. Then I'd go back to 5.1 for a few minutes, and repeat. Then second time, I went up to 5.6 and ran at 5.6 for 2-3 minutes. Then I went back down to 5.2.

I was almost done running a 5K and my time was close to my personal best, so I finished the last little stretch at 7.0. I finished 3.2 miles in 36 minutes, then continued running for a total of 3.54 miles in 40 minutes.

My running speed is still extremely slow and has a lot of room for improvement, which is why I'm starting to do these slow interval climbs and slowly increase it.

This afternoon I started Week 3 of Ripped in 30. Wow. It kicked my butt. The past two weeks I've been able to do most of the advanced moves, but I had to do mostly modified moves today. And there was a move or two that I couldn't even do modified! I was dripping sweat, groaning, and trying to just get through it. Luckily they are short workouts and they go by really fast. It was definitely a challenge, but it is only by pushing ourselves and our bodies that we grow and get stronger. I feel like the DVD is helping me to tone, so it's doing what I hoped it would.

Only 5 more days of level 3...I can do this.

Turkey Dinner

For dinner tonight, we had one of these Jennio-O Turkey and Gravy's. They are a family favorite around here so we make sure to have them every once in a while.

To me, it tastes a little bit different from regular turkey because it isn't as dry, but it's way good.  Plus it's really easy and doesn't really require much. Just stick it in the oven for 2 1/2 hours and it's good to go. We served it with some mashed potatoes and I had a large salad with it. If you keep your portions under control and not over-do it on the potatoes, it can be a very filling meal for very few calories.

For two thin slices of turkey, gravy, a small scoop of mashed potatoes, and a large salad with peas it was around 320 calories.

Ripped in 30 - Week 2

Ripped in 30 is an awesome workout DVD put on by Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser. Here are my top reasons why I love this DVD:

1 -   It is only 20 minutes long! That is a perfect amount of time for a mom with a busy kid. Its short enough that I can do it with Will sitting close by playing, or I can do it while he is napping. Short and sweet.
2 -   It is effective. Don't let the 20 minutes fool you. It's a hard 20 minutes and I'm literally dripping sweat about 5 minutes into the workout.
3 -   She always provides a modified or easier version of the exercise. I'll admit, I do a good portion of the moves modified. I'm just not strong enough yet to do the full advanced version. But I am getting better.
4 -   It's a good combination of strength training, cardio, and ab work. And when you put all three of those together, you get a fabulous looking body (ideally).
5 -   There are 4 different workouts. You do workout one for a week, then move on to workout two. Each one gets progressively harder and builds on the last one. I like the change and its nice to see yourself get stronger as each week goes by.
6 -  Plus it is fairly cheap! You can find it at Walmart for $10 and you could possibly find it online somewhere cheaper.

This morning I completed my last workout of Week 2. Yahoo! When I started, I thought week 1 was pretty easy. I felt good and was ready to get the next week going. Week 2 was killer. The first workout, I was seriously hoping she was kidding. It was hard and I had to take tons of breaks. Today, I still took occasional breaks, but there is a significant difference from just 5 days ago. Its seriously amazing how your body can adapt and change so much in such a short amount of time.

I'm so excited to finally be done with week 2, but I'm extremely nervous and anxious to see what week 3 will bring. I'm sure it'll be rough and I'll be begging for week 2 again. But I also know that I will stick with it and by the end of next week, I will be significantly better at the exercises than I will be on Monday.

So if any of you are looking for a great workout that is not time consuming and that you can do at home, this one is a MUST. Last month, I did her other video called 30 Day Shred. It's pretty much identical to this video, but slightly easier. So I would recommend starting with 30 Day Shred, then when you are done with that go on to Ripped in 30. If there is anyone in Logan that wants to borrow 30DS, you are welcome to it. You'll just need your own set of hand weights.

Believe me, if you are committed and eat sensibly, you will see results!

(Man, Jillian should be paying me for this kind of advertisement!)

Cache Soccer Club

Saturdays are typically my days that I try to do my longest run of the week. I can push myself hard knowing that I will rest all day Sunday. But today I decided to switch it up a bit and play some soccer. I discovered this amazing group last summer right after Will was born. It's basically a group of adults that get together to play soccer. Anyone and everyone is welcome. You basically just check the website to find out when and where they are playing, then you show up. It's pretty much genius. If you are interested, the website is http://cachesoccerclub.com/.

Like I said, I learned about this group last summer but didn't get a chance to play very much because Will was still so little. And the times I did go play, I felt like I was going to die because I was so out of shape. I suddenly remembered about them this last week so I decided to go start playing.  And even though I've been running a lot, it still kicked my butt.

But here are some possible reasons why:
1- There were 19 guys, and only 3 girls...and as much as we hate to admit it, guys are simply faster and harder to compete against.
2- When I run, it's a very (VERY) slow and steady pace. Soccer is most short bursts of full out sprints. Completely different training and endurance required.
3- I did a Jillian Michael's Workout DVD about an hour before I played.
4- And last, because even though I am in BETTER shape than I was 3 months ago, I am still not in great shape.

But even though I was a bit winded at times and my legs started to scream by the end, I had a lot of fun. It's always good to shake up your exercise routine a bit. I hope everyone is having a great Saturday!