Week 4 Of Holiday Avoid-The-Poundage Blowout

All in all, this week went okay. I really can't complain...but I will just for a moment.

I got in workouts on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Between class assignments and exams (finals begin this Thursday, December 1st), and family time, I decided that even though I wanted more than 4 good workouts this past week, I'm satisfied.

Because I'm doing a condensed version of P90X, weeks 1-4 are the 'First 30 days' workout and weeks 5-8 are the 'Second 30 Days'...which means that today I started a new routine. So, so, so sore.

I wanted to share my favorite healthy dessert. Grapes, raw almonds, and 1 banana satisfy the sweet tooth and give the right amount of protein, carbs, and good fat.

Thanksloving And The Chick

Kimber came home from school one day and said, "On Thanksloving, we get to eat the chick." We liked it so much that it stuck. This Thanksloving, we went to the Ronald McDonald house during the morning to volunteer our time and sanitize the play area & toys for the children who live there while receiving treatment.

All....all...all I could think of all morning long was sweet Mackenzie Rye Webster. I kept thinking that if somehow MRW was to have lived long enough, the Ronald McDonald house might have been a place where she and her parents might have stayed. We left her mark there while we dedicated our time. She passed away between Thanksgiving & Christmas 2 years ago, and she's in our prayers. I wish I could have met her.

 My dad was in charge of the traditional meal this year, and I was on clean-up committee. It was a night full of family and relaxation.

I am so thankful for our health. The days events and people we met reminded us that not everyone has their health. I'm thankful for family, for tender moments, and for our time together.

From this chick to you, Happy Thanksloving.

Week 3 of Holiday Avoid-The-Poundage Blowout

If week 2 was awesome, then week 3 was magical. 

We had Thanksgiving lunches with each of our children at their schools during the week. On Friday evening, Kimber had her holiday performance - her class was a band of roosters.

Then, on Saturday morning I was inducted into the Alpha Chi Collegiate Honors Scholarship Society. I was humbled to be a part of such an amazing group of people. The president of our university, Dr. Natalicio, gave the address and we each were pinned and then asked to talk about our plans following graduation. The deans over the different colleges represented did the pinning ceremony.

 On the left, I'm getting pinned & on the right I'm speaking to the group.

On the left is Dr. Natalicio, the president of the university. On the right is 

Dr. Castaneda, an esteemed behavioral neuroscientist, and my mentor.

Saturday night topped everything off with date night. Sushi filled our bellies.

I felt extremely strong in the gym, and I stuck to my nutrition plan. I didn't work out Saturday due to the events, and on Sunday we spent a family day together. So, I didn't get my weekend workout in...but I'm not too upset. I got in five great workouts, enjoyed the events, and felt balanced and healthy.

This week is gonna be a tough week as far as scheduling everything. The kiddos are out of school all week, but we still have class...so I've had to lean on family for assistance. It is a week crammed full of tests, projects, and quizzes all week for the both of us, so we're trading off studying. I will be super-happy if I get in 4-5 rigorous workouts this week.

This week, I'm so very THANKFUL for:

• Professors that dance with passion when they speak about their areas of expertise. They inspire!!
• Date Nights. I don't think that men understand the magic in them. To guys, it's sushi out and money gone. To us, its getting ready and putting on perfume...an opportunity to feel young and beautiful while we're out with the one we love. I look forward to date night for weeks.
• My sister, who spent her Saturday morning with both of our children so that we could attend this event and they could play and have fun. They adore their Tannymal.

The Medicated Child

I am absolutely fascinated with the human brain....how we learn, how we perceive, our emotions, addictions, retrieval of information from infancy to adulthood. I've done numerous posts on this ranging from depression to addiction to how exercise is linked to increased test scores. I believe that nothing changes in our environment until it first changes in our brain. I'm also a mom, and I believe that growing children into healthy, responsible members of society is probably both the best and the most difficult job ever.

I want to thank PBS for bringing these two together for one of the most provocative, disturbing shows. The Medicated Child provides anecdotal evidence as it follows a few children on their medicated journey.

There is no question that children can be born with congenital diseases. Type I Diabetes didn't just spring up from nowhere, so it makes sense that a child can also be born with problems that could affect learning and development. However, I also believe that in this society we often choose medication over modifications to our environment. Controversial as it is to say, some of us choose pills over parenting.

We choose to feed our kids a diet of corndogs and ketchup washed down with soda day after day and then wonder why they cannot concentrate. We often call that ADD when it's not. We have moved them from the outdoors to the indoors and then medicate when they cannot control their temper or their energy. We often refer to that as ADHD when it isn't. Now, we're medicating young children for bipolar disorder.

I am not going to attempt to tell people how to parent...I've already made that mistake. I cannot imagine the heartache, frustration, and numerous questions any parent considering psychiatric medication for their child asks themselves. Instead, I beg anyone considering these meds for their child to first do the following:

- Watch this show

-Look at their child's environment and ask themselves....really ask themselves...if they've given their child every tool they need for success that day. This includes their nutrition, their sleep, their rigorous exercise time, and their parent's attention.

-Think about behavior modification options, visiting a child-psychologist before seeing a child-psychiatrist to see if there are non-medicated ways to change the child's behavior and focus. Is medication the only way out, or is it the easy way out?

- Ask about unbiased studies. These are not studies done by pharmaceutical companies, but by the National Institute of Health (NIH). They are funded with grant money, researched by the best and brightest neuroscientists, and their results do not sell books, pills, or generate profits.

May your children be fed and watered well so that they can grow into beautiful adults who accomplish amazing things.

Week 2 of Holiday-Avoid-The-Poundage Blowout

This week was a GREAT week!! The soreness from last week was gone, and the highlight was when I was doing my P90X Plyometric workout on Tuesday, some random guy came up to me and stopped me to tell me how impressed he was. Thanks, random guy...you made my week!! Of course, I could hardly breathe & was foaming at the mouth to try and tell him thank you.

Since I decided to do this 8-week round of P90X at the gym, I wanted to share why I chose to do it this way. My school opened up a new state-of-the-art fitness center at the beginning of the semester. All students pay approximately $70.00 per semester for fees to use this facility (whether we choose to use it or not), and I felt that I'm already paying for this awesome gym, I might as well use it. Looks snazzy, huh?! I'm a lucky girl.

 

Here's My Little Corner Of The Gym Every Thursday For Yoga

 This week, I'm so very THANKFUL for:

• Proactiv - My acne started at age 22, and hasn't stopped since. Great product.
• My wonderful children - who told me today that..."You're beauuuful..."
• My extraordinary locker. For an additional $15 per semester, I get this lucky sucker. It is so large that it houses my yoga mat, my backpack, shampoo, conditioner, a toothbrush & toothpaste, my ibuprofen, facial and body cleanser, moisturizer, an extra pair of running shoes, AND my P90X workout booklet.

Jay's Birthday Weekend

 

The Four of Us As Meerkats

 

Fighting Giraffes....They Were Really Getting After It

  

Kinds Of Poop

Made & Decorated With Love

 The Birthday Boy

Week 1 Of Holiday Avoid-The-Poundage Blowout

I'm always amazed at the immediate results I see with this program every time I do it (this is my third round, although both rounds 2 and 3 were only 8 weeks instead of the full 90 days). Within just a few days, I see definition.

I'm also always amazed at how sore I get. Even though I'm a consistent worker-outer, this program just seems to kick things up to a different level for me. On Friday, I felt so hypoglycemic after the legs/back workout that I was unable to finish the Ab Ripper, and had to get some Gatorade in me along with a shower and a nap before I could do anything for anyone. That hasn't happened to me in a long, long time.

This week started off the event-full holiday season. On Friday, my husband was inducted into the Collegiate Honor Society. The thermostat went out, so we replaced that on Saturday. Today, Sunday, is my husband's birthday (and a cheat meal day...I'm baking a cake here shortly), and then tomorrow I've got an exam that I've been studying for incessantly. I didn't do Kenpo yesterday, and I'm thinking instead of replacing that workout with one of Tracy Anderson's today. They're both cardio and work the same muscle groups, I just don't know if I'm ready yet for the Kenpo. It's one of my least favorite workouts, and I cannot stand the warmup. I'll tack on the Ab Ripper from Friday to today's cardio so that I get it all in.

During this season of thanksgiving, I'm thankful for:

• My husband. We've never hid our ups and downs, and we've made a great family together. I'm so very proud that he was honored for his accomplishments. He works diligently at school, and God granted us another year.I hope for many more.
• Gatorade - the old fashioned, powder kind. A scoop of that into my empty water bottle allows me to mix it at the gym for a post-workout recovery drink.
• Ibuprofen. I keep it in my locker at the gym and also in my book bag. An old lady needs her ibuprofen every now and then.
• Tony Horton...who put down onto DVD what most collegiate programs were doing for strength and conditioning and marketing it for the average consumer.
• ACDC, Kid Rock, Metallica, P!nk, Alanis Morissette, and every other artist that produced angry music that hits the lower two, most visceral chakras. They keep energy flowing during the really tough exercises. When it's time to hit the pull-up bar, I punch in one of their songs.

About This Time

Monday was Halloween.

Twenty four days later is Thanksgiving, and then after that it's Christmas & finally New Year's Eve. It's already started...first the Halloween candy-eating, then the pie baking, the stuffing recipes, Christmas Cookie baking, and it all gets topped off with champagne at the end....

...and a New Year's Resolution.

Every year about this time, I find it really tough to stay motivated. Why eat well when all of these once-a-year traditions are out and about? Candy corn won't be around for a whole year, so why not take advantage of it now? I cannot stand the taste of pumpkin pie, but heck....it's not Thanksgiving without one, right?

This year, I've decided to repeat some things that I know work well for me through this really tough part of the year.

1. Motivation
I started an 8-week round of P90X on Monday, October 31st. Every time I begin a new fitness regimen, I find that my motivation skyrockets. This is one of the reasons why I try to change things up every few months and do something new...it stays interesting. This year, instead of doing P90X at home, I'll be doing it at the gym.

2. Structure
I calendered my 60 day routine. Day 1 was Monday. Eight weeks later is Saturday, December 24th - Christmas Eve. I feel confident when I plan. I'm able to look ahead at the next week, plan my weeks out around responsibilities including schoolwork, the kids holiday school events, and finals. This season brings about so many events that I know flexibility is key along with structure, and that's where accountability comes in.

I also calendered my cheat meals between now and the New Year. I'm a big believer in cheat meals because without them, we feel deprived. Deprivation leads to binge eating, and that leads to shame. My cheat meals between now and the New Year include: Halloween night, my husband's birthday dinner in November, November Date Night, Thanksgiving Dinner, December Date Night, Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas (all day), and dinner on New Year's Eve. As we'll be heading out of town for the Christmas holiday, I know that last week of P90X is going to be tough so I'm planning ahead and making workout arrangements in advance. In keeping with P90X structure, I'll not be drinking alcohol during the 60 days with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. This is how alcohol sabotages weight loss.

3. Accountability
The person who has 3 sources of accountability is much more likely to be successful than the person who has none. So, I'm choosing once again to blog weekly regarding this end-of-year avoid-the-holiday-poundage blowout that I'm doing.
 
4. Reward
There's nothing like the pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow, but neither food nor days off should ever be used as a reward. Food is fuel, it's to be used as such. Days off are for rest and repair for the body and mind. One of my favorite health-promoting rewards is a good, deep tissue massage. So, that week between Christmas and the New Year, I'm planning on going and getting me some rubbing.

 Won't you join me and we can do this together?