WE MADE IT TO DAY THREE!

JUMP UP~ drink your 8 ounces of water, because I know I just did!

Mini exercise consisted of 20 girlie push ups.  My arms are starting to feel strong...yay!

Breakfast was another smoothie.  That is the norm for Jeff and I.  It is quick, easy and packed with nutrients.  Today we had an apple, 1/2 banana, a couple of chunks of pineapple and a few strawberries and blackberries with almond milk and almonds, and the large handful of spinach...YUMMO!

I filled my water cup at work and sipped 32 ounces...16 before lunch and 16 after.

Lunch was a bit of pork and some frozen grapes.  I love the treat of the icy grapes!

Afternoon snack was a fresh tomato out of the garden.

Right after work I headed down to the wellness center at my work and had 60 minutes of KICK BUTT ZUMBA!  I LOVE IT!  The teacher really concentrates on your core, and YOU FEEL IT.  She adds a ton of squats and butt moves too.  I come out of there DRENCHED, but happy!

Dinner consisted of some grilled salmon with lemon squeeze and cajun seasoning and a fresh salad with romaine, garden tomatoes and my lemon cucumbers.  If you live near, PLEASE COME GET SOME!  They are taking over the garden!

Ended the day with 8 more ounces of water an a nice stretch session before bed....whew!

Last Week of My Twelve Week Challenge

Ok, this is the last week of the twelve week challenge I participated in at work.  As you can see, there are not many posts, and can I tell you something?  I was not motivated, and I fear that I was not successful.  I had to really sit down and take a look at why.  This is hard for me, because I don't like to admit defeat, and I am competitive person.  Here are the reasons:

1.  I did not commit to myself fully.  I knew that I wanted to lose weight, but the commitment was just not there.

2.  I did not plan ahead.  I didn't plan what I was going to do for exercise, what I was going to cut out, or not cut out with eating.

3. I let stress dictate my snacking.  I used food for comfort.

4.  I used excuses, the most common being, I will do better tomorrow, or next week.


What is the difference this time?

1.  My doctor basically gave me a time frame to lose weight.  I have health issues that are blaring "WARNING".  This hit me hard.  This is not a time to say "I can wait for tomorrow".

2.  I have a daughter I promised that I would eat clean as long as she was clean from an addiction of her own.  She is so important to me (as are my other children and husband), but food really is MY ADDICTION, and I really cant pretend it is not.

3.  I AM DOING THIS FOR MYSELF!  I am worth it!

4.  I have a cute niece that posted a 30 day Paleo challenge, and it hit me hard...I am TAKING THE CHALLENGE!  See her blog here: Challenge


5. I am ready to run, to play to live to laugh, to feel sexy and to wear cute jeans!

Want to come play with us?

I will be posting recipes, my exercise and my ups and downs...OH, and pictures weekly...AAAHHHHH.

Take the challenge!

WEEK ONE OF OUR SUMMER CHALLENGE...DONE!

We started a Summer Challenge at my work to help us through bikini season...HA HA!  I am very excited to share this journey with a few of my friends here.  The main reason is that I need to get back on track and be ACCOUNTABLE!

We are taking turns bringing a little gift to the winner of the week. This week my friend Cheyann kicked BOOTIE with 2.32%.  I am proud of her, she has been doing a great job...this is a challenge to her for this week...I'M Gonna take you down to CHINA TOWN sista:)

I will be posting a week one through week 12 side pic...aaahhhh! stay tuned!

SATURDAY...

There was no family work out scheduled for today, so I took it upon myself to look through other motivating blogs to see if I could find a good plan for training for a 5 k I signed up for in June.  I read some great ideas!  I am going to take a few plans, tweak them for my age, level of fitness and I will post my finished product here tomorrow.  5k..HERE I COME!

So exercise today will consist of a Rockin' work-out party in my living room with my fitness tapes.  Sometimes I like to do that, because I can shake my booty all I want, dont have to get dressed, and I can hop on the WII and have them tell me that I am still obese.  It doesn't bother me anymore, because I look at that cute little cartoon character and I tell her..."I cant wait for the day when you will say..hmmm, she is not obese anymore, she is healthy."  IT WILL HAPPEN LITTLE CARTOON LADY!

I started my day off with a yummy smoothie with 2 cups of baby kale, an apple, a date for sweetness, a spoonful of coconut oil, almond milk and whey protein powder...

EAT CLEAN WITH ME TODAY!  It feels so good!  Take it one day at a time.  Just tell yourself that you are going to feed your body healthy, strengthening foods and drink your water...just today.  Tomorrow you can tell yourself the same thing.  I think this is an important approach, because if you have one day where you don't do well, that is only ONE DAY!  You can start over the next day...trick your psyche...

One more thing...take a few minutes today and clear your mind, and just breathe...deep breathes...cleansing breaths.  Refocus on why you are important and why you need to treat yourself well

Namaste

Saturday Family Workout

This week we had a fun time playing with Zumba, then Jenica came over and lead us in some awesome Yoga.  I feel SO good when I breathe!  All the guys in the family chickened out this week.  I think they didn't dare "shake it" in front of us!  We did the ab's from P90 something or other and Amber kicked our trash with that.

I love getting together with the family each Saturday.  It is so motivating and SO much fun:)

Namaste~

Wednesday Night ZUMBA!

Can I tell you that I have a new love?  I sauntered down to Springville tonight to the Sweaty Chix Fitness to see what all the rave is with the Zumba fitness that people are talking about.  There were a ton of people, and the lights were low and the music was bumpin' just like a dance club.  The CUTEST little babe was up on the podium dancin' away and the energy was contagious.  She had a twin sister that tag teamed a few songs and the hour went by so fast!
For a big girl that is working on getting small, this work out was fast paced, hard, but sure didn't feel like it was hard...just FUN!
Thank you Ani and Kathy...I will be back!  Thank you for taking the time to come talk to me:)

I am loving this journey!

FOOD

I have had a lot of people ask my what I eat while I am on this program to health.  I have studied up on a lot of different ways of eating and I really like the raw diet for some things, but it comes down to this...
WHOLE, NATURAL FOODS ROCK...they just do.  The simpler, the less processed the better.  I DO eat meat, but not a ton.  I just make sure most of our meals are full of FRESH vegies and fruits, good quality protein and cheeses, good oils, whole grains when we can, and the less processed the best.  I know they always say shop around the outside of the grocery store.  Guess what?  That is SUCH a great idea and one you should think of when planning (yes, I said PLANNING) your menu's.
I make sure that I have a well stocked pantry, so if the kids need a snack, it is hopefully readily available.

Everyone is different, but here are my staples:

Olive oil
Sea Salt
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Mesquite seasoning
I grow mint, basil, oregano, thyme, cilantro, dill, chives, rosemary, tarragon. When they are not fresh out of my garden, I use the extra I took the time to freeze or dry.
Lemons
Limes
Oranges
Apples
Spinach
Kale
Green onions
Onions
Garlic bulbs
Arugula
Red peppers
Avocado
Romaine (for Jeff)
Carrots
Sweet Potatoes
Yukon Gold potatoes
Canned diced tomatoes
Frozen Berries
Whey Protein
Yogurts
Parmesan and Feta cheese
Chicken tenders
Ground Turkey
Flank Steak
Tuna
Whole Wheat Bread
Oatmeal
Cornmeal
Cracked Wheat
Brown Rick
Salmon
Craisins
Golden Raisins
Almonds
Pine nuts
Walnuts
Dried Coconut
Pure Maple Syrup
Blue Agave syrup
Coconut Oil
Chicken Broth
Vegie Broth

These are things that are ALWAYS in the home.  I always add another green vegie for the week, which changes...Asparagus, Broccoli, snap peas..I let my kids help with the menu, so they can choose their favorites. I will also pick up a different fruit or two for the week, pineapple, watermelon, peaches, pears. Another hint is to take them to the store and tell them they can pick any cool fruit or vegie they want.  That way, they think it is a cool treat, and we have tried some things that are keepers... cumquats, brussel sprouts, jack fruit, star fruit, parsnips..have all been picked.

Another good and fun thing to do is to get a Bountiful Basket, or a Coop share.  It's fun to be surprised by the fresh fruits and vegies, and to look up fun ways to use them.

I will pick a fun meat, such as Hot Italian Turkey Sausage, or Filet's or shrimp once in a while, but if I always have the ingredients on my main list, we have hundreds of nutritious meals that can be made and the ingredients to season them!

Think of what your list for your family is...try to take the toll house cookies OFF the list and the snickers bars...and the SODA!  (Yes, my family has to buy their own of these things...) You should see Jeff's stash.

Another good hint is to know what fruit and vegies are in season and take advantage of that!  We cant get enough watermelon and corn on the cob in the late summer, Peaches and pears...Pineapple.  Look up a good chart if you dont know.

Another last suggestion is GROW YOUR OWN PRODUCE!  I have tomatillos, fresh tomatoes, herbs, kale, arugula, shallots, peppers, swiss chard, carrots, beets, cucumbers and zucchini, kohlrabi and nasturtiums at my disposal for wonderful fresh meals...cant beat that.  Now if someone can talk Jeff into letting me have fruit trees, I would be GOLDEN. ( He thinks they are too messy).

Saturday Workout Madness...

I can't believe that I can type after the work out we had this morning!  We met at Amber and Steve's church gym and started with a run around to warm up.  We then split into 3 teams and did relay races with running, suicides, high skipping and alot of other crazy hard, but fun things.  We then did a boot-camp style work out with different stations to squat, run ladders, tension ropes, ab's with weights, free weights and step. WOW, Amber is amazing...talk about truly kicking my butt...thank-you!

My Weight for the week went DOWN 3.2 pounds!  I will take it:)

We had a great discussion on great things to eat and healthy cooking.  I will be posting some of my quick and easy recipes, but I do want to mention a great cereal that Lynsie told me about today.  It is Honeyville 9 grain cereal.  It has Red Wheat, White Wheat, Barley, Rye Oats, Corn, Buckwheat, Millet and Flax.  You can buy it at Good Earth for $22.99 for 50 pounds people!  She stirs it up into boiling water at night, covers it and it is the perfect them and nice and cooked by morning.  She chops a few almonds, half of an apple and puta a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of agave...guess what my family is eating for breakfast a few times this week:)

Sorry the pictures are  blurry and dark today...dang phone!

Hello!  Welcome to my journey.  My name is Kathleen McDonald.  I am 46 years old and I started a road to health on September 12 of 2012.  My cute niece Amber started a biggest loser contest called "Fab to Flab in 12".  I was at my highest weight of 253.9.  I was on blood pressure meds, diabetes meds, cholesterol meds and downright unhealthy.  I think having to weigh every week switched a light on in my head that made me think a bit when I ate.

Another thing that really helped was trying out for the first play I had been in for 25 years.  I was in the "Nightmare on Broadway" for Payson Community Theater.  At try-outs, Sam (another cute niece) and I talked for a few hours about mental and physical health and so many cool things.  She had me take this test about how I felt about my body and where I store things...VERY INTERESTING...

The first 12 weeks I think the play practice and dancing and being on stage really helped me realize that exercise and moving my body felt good.  I also really love to dance and sing and it was so much fun to share that time with Nathan and Steve my nephews, my brother Craig and his wife Sher, Sam and Malaina my little great niece...Hmmmm...I felt like I had some self esteem, something that I have not had much of in the last few years.

I got married in 2007 to a wonderful man named Jeff McDonald after dating for a few years.  It is hard to get married when you are older.  I love Jeff and he is a great guy, but we have been through a few VERY HARD YEARS.  Stress got to me and I would hide things in my desk drawers to eat.  It didn't help that I sit next to a big candy store in my office.  I would get stressed and there was a peanut-butter snickers right there 4 feet away to make me "feel better."

I have 5 amazing children that I love dearly.  They have had some battles of their own thru my divorce, melding families, some addiction problems, health problems and major surgeries and illnesses.  Every time one of my children was having a hard time, I would stress, take it personally in a bad way with the way I treated my body, and it was all adding up.

I lost 23.7 pounds in that 12 weeks.  I still ate sugar during that time, but I was a bit more conscious of what I put in my body, and I really stepped up the exercise.

I didn't do well over the holidays:(  I am a great cook, and the treats we made for our neighbors were pretty darn good.  I had my fill of sugar cookies, magic bars, buck-eyes, chocolate covered pretzels etc...wow, I just didn't feel well after I ate like that.

I am not perfect, but I am on a journey that is taking me to where I want to be.  My goal weight is 135, and I would like to be there by next Christmas!  

I am going to log my journey here for a help for myself, a journal, and to hopefully give some hope and advice to anyone who needs it!

Cheers!

Kathleen:)