Holidays Without the Weight Gain?

WARNING: Long, AWESOME post.

So, I did something kinda awesome. I finished the WHOLE ENTIRE P90X3 program.

Yeah. That's 90 days of hard core workouts. Nailed it. Well, sorta.

I didn't follow the nutrition plan as strictly as I probably should have, cuz you know, there was cake occasionally, or pumpkin waffles...*drool*

Anyways, that's where my Shakeology comes in, like a superhero I might add. See, this stuff is like magic. It reduces my sweet tooth cravings (which are heavy duty), gives me all the nutrients I SHOULD be getting from vegetables,  and keeps me full for about 3 hours (thus preventing unnecessary snacking, like me driving to Einstein's multiple times a day). And it tastes FANTASTIC. *score*

And now for the results: I can do twice as many pull-ups as I could when I first started, I can curl 20# dumbbells (for a little while), and I can do lots of funky push-ups. I feel pretty cool. AND I maintained my weight the whole 90 days, through anniversary celebrations, birthdays, family get-togethers, and kids leaving their pop tarts lying around the house. Winning.

SO WHAT? I'll tell you: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years are gonna crash down on us all WITHIN the next 90 days. What's your plan? Would you maybe like a safety net so you don't gain an extra 15-20 lbs? You COULD even lose weight through the holidays...just sayin.

I've got a support group for other sweet tooth mommas like me that starts October 19th. Wanna know more? Just comment and I'll give you all the info, cuz we're friends, and I like you!

-Brooke

Happy New Year! Here are the T25 Results!

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Hey Friends!  I took a little vacation for Christmas and New Years...I hope you don't mind.  Did lots of fun stuff, like sleep in, play with friends and family, eat good food and enjoy the spirit of the season.  I hope you all did stuff like that too :-)

I got a new toy for my birthday last month, and for Christmas I got some sticky vinyl to use in it, so I made some stuff for our home.

But the big news is that I had a couple of KILLER catch-up days, and completed my goal of finishing T25 before the New Year.  Done :-)

Are you ready for the pictures?

And here's the "total transformation journey", whatever you want to call it.

To be perfectly honest, by the end of T25 I had stayed pretty much the same since 21 Day Fix.  Maybe lost a little tone, but my measurements were all about the same.  And since I really did eat whatever I wanted over Christmas Break, I'm definitely counting this as a win.

But now that's over, and I've started Insanity Max 30, WHICH I am loving.  No joke.  I'm done being injured and doing modifiers (except for my wrist, but I'm making it work harder) and it is kicking my butt.  AND I LIKE IT.

4 days into it and I'm already making progress. :-D

So.  What are your New Years Resolutions?

REAL.

I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet. :-)  I know you're all cheering inside, right?  I had an epiphany/duh moment.  Usually the holidays roll around and I'm thinking "Yay!  I get pies, cookies, caramels, and our family's traditional Christmas morning cream cheese French toast casserole!"  Yum.  Am I the only one that gets excited by this "excuse" to indulge?  Yeah, I thought not.  No judgment!  We're cool.  I won't tell your secret.  Anywho, this year has been a little different.  Heck yes I've been excited for these yuletide goodies, and yes, I have appreciated them adequately :-)  Trust me :-)  But there's been a noticeable change this go round:  I've actually LOST WEIGHT this month. No lies.  And this is where I get completely REAL with you.  I've shown you my transformation pictures, and at that time I gave you a deficit number.  I had lost ~26 lbs, yeah?  K.  When I decided I needed to do more than workout to be healthy, I weighed 148.8 lbs.  Which, for a woman at 5'7" put me at the high end of the "healthy" BMI range at 23.3.  Now hold on to your socks.  Today I weighed in at my lowest weight yet, 5 months later.

This is how excited I was about it.  I posted this picture even though my toes look sad; but this post is titled "REAL" so, there you go.  119.8!  That is 29 lbs EVEN.  And the last 2 of it came off this month.  So now, my BMI is 18.8, at the low end of the healthy range for my height.  Moral of the story:  If I, who STILL has to give in to my sweet tooth regularly, can LOSE WEIGHT during the peak of the weight gain season, so can YOU.  I don't do this to brag; seriously.  I do this to show you that it's possible.  I've been totally honest with you, completely upfront about what I've done, and why it's working.  I even showed you a nasty picture of my feet, which motivated me to do this:

The holidays don't have to be a time to dread the goodies and the threat of weight gain if you make it a habit BEFOREHAND to take care of yourself.  Everyone deserves to feel this awesome about themselves.  I've spent SO LONG, TOO LONG being uncomfortable in my own skin.  Have you? 

NO MORE.  

Reishi

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  The girls had so much fun playing with their cousins that they hardly ate! Which is how I knew it would go down ;-)  Isn't that how it always is with kids?  I did way better than in past Thanksgivings, and had one plateful of deliciousness, maybe I took an extra roll...or two :-)  And after an appropriate amount of time digesting, I indulged in 3 small slices of pie with whipped cream on the side.  Then I went early "Black Friday" shopping with these guys (my cute "little" siblings, who are all younger AND taller than me).

The next day Brandon went Black Friday shopping and brought home a beautiful Christmas tree for a steal, and we took great pleasure in decking the halls.  I think our tree needs a few more strings of lights, perhaps ;-)

So...today is Saturday.  You know what that means!  Fun facts about Shakeology :-)  Today's special ingredient is reishi.  Reishi is a reddish mushroom which acts as a balancing agent.  I did a small amount of research here and here, and the biggest benefit seems to be as an immune system booster and an agent that returns the body to normalcy, and who isn't interested in that during the season of sniffling noses and yucky coughs?  It's more preventative than a cure, if I'm understanding what I've read.  Other benefits include lowering high blood pressure and improving blood circulation.  Sounds good to me :-)  Bottoms up!

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!  If you think about it, Thanksgiving is really the pinnacle of Fall. Everything else is just kinda downhill.  You know what I'm talking about, don't pretend you don't.  Yes, Christmas is very exciting, and the anticipation and build-up for that day is palpable and exciting, but Christmas has always been anti-climactic (?) for me, probably because there's a certain expectation of gifts.  Maybe I need to grow up and get over it :-)

So, back to Thanksgiving.  I've always had a sizable family representation here in Utah, but now the majority has shifted, or maybe evened out between my maternal family and paternal family.  This year we'll be gathering with my dad's side of the family, where there will also be lots of little kids present for my girlies to play with, just like on my mom's side.  But what's exciting about this is that they're "newer" friends.  Works for me, just as long as I get to enjoy PIE.  Speaking of which...

...this is what I did today.  I'm in charge of contributing rolls tomorrow.  Yeah, I needed to make sure they were "done."  That's why there's a roll by the pies with a bite taken out of it.... :-)  I also volunteered to bring some pie, because I like to bake.  Also, I can count on somebody else to bring the pumpkin, pecan, and some fruit kind of pie.  But nobody else makes buttermilk pie.  And this stuff is GOOD.  Pair it with a good vanilla ice cream, say...Blue Bell, and you're making magic.  *drool*

Moving on.  Remember how I've been complaining about having a nasty cough clenching its fist around my lungs and suffocating me?  Yeah, turns out that the girls had bronchitis and I had a sinus infection to boot.  Soooooo after three weeks of that we're finally medicated and on the mend.  But first we had to go down to St. George for the weekend to infect our favorite family/friends--who apparently already had it last week.  But we all had lots of fun nonetheless.  And now you get to look at our memories :-)

This was taken at The Fractured Prune.  Have you heard of it?  Their donuts are AMAZING.  Miss {C} ate more than her fair share, and she's not normally one for getting her hands all sticky.

Naturally we did some shopping, and I always feel like it's a win when I remember to buy things for Brandon too :-)

And this picture just made me laugh.  She sat there for at least 10 minutes. just cleaning her feet with a wipe while we were driving home.  Weirdo.

Well, now that I'm on a few decongestants, ibuprofen, and antibiotics, I decided to hit the workouts a little harder.  And by that I mean still taking it easy on the cardio, so my respiratory system doesn't fail, and adding more weight training, because I enjoy it.

Bad news:  Because we were taking a vacation, and my birthday was yesterday, and tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I've been letting my vigilant eating habits slide....I'm basically back to where I was before I did 21 Day Fix.  But it's not too bad.  I thought I still looked decent for my birthday dinner with Brandon and the girls.

Guess who's 27?  THIS girl!

And you know, it wouldn't be a REAL birthday if we didn't indulge in cake, right?  We hit Sweet Tooth Fairy and picked up an Oreo Cream cupcake, an Apple Pie, Sweet Potato Pie, and Pumpkin Pie cupcake as well.  You know, 'tis the season :-)  They were pretty good, but my favorite is still the Strawberry Shortcake.  MMMMMMM.

Resolution:  I will be enjoying tomorrow and the rest of the weekend guilt-free.  Monday I start my week-long clean eating group, and I am gonna get back in the saddle.  And I know all of you are gonna fill your plates to overflowing, because that's the way to show gratitude, right?  Waste not and such ;-)  So, if you're feeling yucky come Monday, hit me up on Facebook, and I'll plug you into my group.  There is also a prize...so...yeah :-)

21 Day Fix Results...And NOW; to start T25!

Yes, I made you wait even a little bit longer than I usually do :-)  Here are the pics and the numbers:

These are my "after" pics from Insanity, which also doubled as my "before" pics for 21 Day Fix

These are my "after" pics for 21 Day Fix which I took this morning.  Measuring in at 6.4 lbs and 6.25" lost!  Woot woot!

AND THIS is my TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION!!!!! (said like an announcer at a monster truck rally. And yes, I have been to one of those. I have resided in "hick" nation...so, yeah. ;-)

Yes, you read that right.  26.8 lbs and 24" off!  In LESS than 3 months! C'mon now, the proof is in the pudding.  Who wants in on this action?  I have another challenge group starting up Nov 10th.  If you seriously, desperately want to make a lifestyle change, let me know.  I would LOVE to be your coach and cheerleader!  

If you want more details about how to join my challenge group, you can comment below, friend me on Facebook (Brooke Palmer), or email me at healthforthebusymom@gmail.com. (I am on Instagram and Twitter, but the previous 3 mediums are the best way to reach me.)

So, "now what?" you ask?  T25 baby!  Here's to toning up more, and not losing control during the holidays!  Keep me an honest woman y'all ;-)

I'll see ya in a few days!  I'm taking a vacay!

Day 17: Lower Fix and...Indoor Soccer :-)

Hola!  Yesterday was fantastic!  For the most part.  It started off wonderful with my workout, and then we had plans to meet with Brandon's family and do some going out and about.  First, the workout:

Once again, I did the exercises cautiously, so as not to aggravate my knee.  But I thought this picture turned out pretty good.  Sometimes I think I'm not going as low as the people in the video, but sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised at how well I actually do the exercises.  You should try it sometime.  If you think you aren't doing something the right way, take a picture or record yourself doing the "something" and actually SEE how you're doing.  It gives you an unbiased perspective.

Now for going out and about.  My husband recruits for one of the ski resorts here in the Salt Lake area, and we went up for their Oktoberfest celebration, and also to ride the tram up to the top of Hidden Peak.  It was a fun outing for the little ones and we got some good pictures :-)  This is officially the beginning of the holiday season, where every weekend, it feels, there is a family get-together "to-do" to attend.  (Brandon and I both have lots of family within a 30 mile radius, so it gets pretty busy for us.)

So, we thought we might try to take some family pictures while we were up here, like some fancy ones, but...they're doing construction at the top of the mountain, apparently they're putting a restaurant up there, and they had this awesome gravel pit that the kids were immediately drawn to.  EVERYONE got dirty, whether you played in the pit or not.  Also, it was chillier than we were expecting all the way up there, so Brandon was the only one still showing off his sweater by the time we got there :-)  But the view was gorgeous!

After we came down the mountain, we walked around Oktoberfest.  We don't drink, and also, we had kids with us, so we passed on all the ale options and found the Belgian waffle stand.  This is the "Ultimate" option, complete with nutella, vanilla ice cream, strawberries, and whipped cream.  The girls and I made short work of it, while being entertained by some German folk bands.  We had a lot of fun :-)

Later that day, we went down the valley for our weekly soccer game, which again, we lost.  But it's so much fun to just play :-)  I was scheduled to do 10 minute Ab Fix for my second workout yesterday, but once we got home, we had a damaged finger crisis to deal with (pics to come) and I just didn't buckle down to do it.  I'll tack it on to tomorrow's workouts...somehow.

We also did our weekly grocery shopping, and, like I said: it's the holiday season.  And I'm in trouble.

Moderation in all things, right?  I drank the top quarter of it last night, and I'm planning to have a little bit more tonight.  Baby steps.  For me, that's portion control.  I may not be able to say "no" all the time.  But when I can't say "no," I CAN say "when!"  :-)

Tomorrow: Pilates Fix + 10 minute Ab Fix AND Total Body Cardio Fix.  Also laundry and two shifts of work.  I'll get it all in.  Right?