Jillian Michaels - Body Revolution

Finally, I am getting around to my workout program! After committing myself to buckling down and losing the baby weight (who am I kidding, it's a lot more than baby weight) I had to come up with a fitness plan. I've lost weight using Jillian's website and DVDs in the past and I knew it worked, so I went back to my "roots" and ordered JMBR.

I ordered this bad boy as well. I had a hard time justifying the expense, but it's been more than worth it.

Here is a cliff note version of the program...
Basically, the program is broken down into 3 Phases, or months. Each phase consists of 2 front of the body work outs, 2 back of the body work outs, and 1 cardio workout to carry you through the entire month. Every 2 weeks you progress to more challenging exercises. Each DVD is 30 minutes. BIG selling point for a busy mom!  Moving on...

I started Phase 1 the beginning of March. It.kicked.my.butt! But I pushed myself, and I pushed myself a little too hard which resulted in my leg injury and almost 3 weeks off. What can I say, sometimes I'm not the brightest crayon in the box. I ended up with a 10 pound weight loss by the end of Phase 1. Had I not hurt myself, I'm sure that number would have been significantly more.

Confession, I was so completed disgusted with myself and my appearance at the beginning of this program, that I did not take before pictures or measurements. I'm kicking myself for that now. Know matter how low your self esteem may be or how much you might dread seeing that picture or those inches in writing, DO IT! You will regret it later!

I started Phase 2 on Monday, completing DVD 5 last night and 6 tonight. Holy Moley!! I should have known Jillian would be kicking it up big time. I was dripping wet tonight, which means it's doing its job! I'm expecting to see big changes in myself this Phase.

Randomness Continued...

I may have posted instead of saved before I finished all my randomness. Looks like a two post kind of day! I got home from work tonight to see my new Fitness magazine had arrived. Check out who's on the cover...

Sounds weird, I'm sure, but just seeing her on the cover gave me the motivation I needed to really get my butt back into gear. Great timing. I'm sure she did the article just for me. 

Normally, I cook our week night meals on the weekend. After working 9 hours, the last thing I want to do is spend time in front of the stove for what seems like hours on end. Who has time for that!? I want to play with the munchkin, enjoy myself and fit a workout in at some point. Then, once you're done cooking and eating, you still have this to deal with...

I despise it! But tonight I made an exception. I found a recipe on Pinterest awhile back for "Skinny Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas". I came across the recipe last night, and could not get them off my mind. So I spent my lunch break at the store picking up supplies. You can find the recipe HERE. I substituted the sour cream for Greek yogurt, and used corn tortillas in an attempt to make them even more "skinny".

They were good, and I'll definitely be making them again. However, I know they would have been amazing had I not gone the skinny route. Ah, the torture of being healthy! I kid... maybe.

I'm not a huge fan of corn tortillas, but I chose to go healthier anyways. Also, I have never tried greek yogurt until tonight. Everyone raves about it and swears you can't even tell it's not sour cream. Yeah, they lie. I could most definitely tell the difference. It wasn't bad by any means, it will just take some getting used to. Most importantly, Wyatt ate it and he is rarely impressed by chicken. So overall, it's a win in our house.

Goodbye Boot - Hello Jillian! (And Other Randomness)

That's right! The boot is gone, finally. Let me tell ya, two weeks of no work outs makes for a very grumpy Tiff. (I could have done modified workouts, I didn't. LAZY!)

I got my first post injury workout in last night, and I was a bit nervous. But guess what? No pain! None! Let me be honest here - I went downhill BIG TIME for two and half weeks. No work out = Zero motivation for healthy living. I piged out on junk and lots of it. Chinese, pizza, fast food, Reeses... you name it, I ate it. I was expecting to start over from square one with this workout. I thought I'd be passed out on the floor like I was at the beginning. But I pushed, and I made it through with no rests. VICTORY! Of course, it always helps to have Jillian "watching".

A little guy woke me up at 4:45 this morning, so I got some cardio in already today. VICTORY, once again. (There has to be a bright side to getting up that early, right?) Speaking of the little guy, he's not so little anymore. We moved up to a big boy bed this weekend. How do I make him stop growing so fast!?

Sorry.. back on topic. It feels great to be back at it! It feels great to be eating healthy again and on track! Here's to no more injuries... knock on wood.

Rest Days You Say??

What's this? You're supposed to take rest days when a new program states, "Rest Day." Huh, who knew? Or in my case, it may have been more an "I'm invincible. Rest days are for fools" situation.

Who's the fool? This girl, as it turns out.

Yup, that happened. 

I started an awesome, new program (details on that another day) the beginning of March. I was excited to get my healthy self back, I was pumped and seeing results. So I thought to myself, if I don't take my rest days, I'll see even MORE results. (I quite possibly was doubling up my workouts as well. A bit excessive, I know). About 2.5 weeks in, I started getting a lot of discomfort in my leg, especially while doing cardio. I figured it was just some normal soreness and ignored it.

 After a couple more days, the swelling started. I then decided maybe I had shin splints. Eh, I've had shin splints before, no biggy. Power through! After a week, the pain was constant and waking me in the middle of the night. At this point I'm thinking... maaaybe this isn't so minor. So off to the doctor I went.

After a very pricey doctor visit, and several x-rays later, it was determined I have stress fractures along my tibia. Not a huge deal, but slightly bigger than shin splints. (The doctor laughed when I told him that's what I thought it was.) Note to self: Shin splints hurt, but apparently they don't hurt THIS much.

Moral of the story? Listen to the people that designed the program. Rather it's a trainer, an online program, a DVD... odds are they know a bit more than you about fitness. My doubling up, and no rest days back fired just a bit. In exchange, I got 2-3 weeks off (One down, hopefully only one more to go) and have to wear this fashionable piece around. Sexy, right? 

Until Next Time,

Tiffany

Phone Books and Haircuts

Wyatt is not your average almost-two-year-old when it comes to reading material...

You'd expect a little boy to enjoy children's books, big pictures, interactive stories that make noise.. you know the kind. Wyatt; however, has a weird obsession with phone books. His first phone book (as seen above) went everywhere with us. In the car, to bed, in the bathroom during bath time. It even made a few trips to the store. When suddenly one day, the world ended....

Since then he has broadened his literary choices to the yellow pages at Mama's work...

The Reader's Digest at the Pediatrician's Office...

To "Don't Call Me Fat!" in Glamour while waiting for his hair cut today... 

Needless to say, he brightened a lot of people's day while waiting. There were a lot of chuckles and comments about how cute it was.. (gotta say, I agree with them.) That all changed once it was time for the actual hair cut. Wyatt has had his cut a thousand times, and is always a perfect little angel for them. So what not expecting or prepared for the coming events. 

About one minute after this picture was taken, he lost his marbles a bit. You would have thought Santa was kidnapped and he was never going to have another birthday again with the way he was carrying on. The kicking, and crying, and trying to climb over the chair was one thing... but then the yelling started. "OWIE MAMA! OWIE MAMA! NO NO NO!" Shoppers were coming in to make sure a child wasn't being brutally beaten, for real. He's lucky he's so darn cute. I'm thinking we'll boycott all future haircuts and go for the long hippie look from now on! I kid... (maybe).

Until Next Time,

Tiffany

My Story

I'm Tiffany - A full time working mama of one ornery, strong willed, amazingly sweet, adorable-if-I-do-say-so-myself, (almost) two year old little boy, Wyatt.

Easter 2013

I'm a crafter in my "spare time"... which isn't often with this little helper guy around. I've recently been learning to crochet, but like to throw some random projects in from time to time.

I'm stubborn (Wyatt possibly gets that from me), somewhat sarcastic. I'm blunt - I say what I mean and mean what I say. Wyoming girl - born and raised and love my country music. (Blake Shelton? Yes, please) I love anything GREEN and am determined to ride in a hot air balloon (preferably a green one, of course) before I die (Bucket-list #1). I have a slight unhealthy obsession with Jillian Michaels. 

I am on a fitness, get healthy, find the new Tiff journey. Jillian has helped me lose weight (60 lbs pre-baby) before, and I know she will help me succeed again! I'll tell ya right now, 90% of my workouts are through her. I'm sticking with what I know shows results. A gym membership is not in the cards right now, so my bedroom is my gym! It's two years post baby, and I've thought about losing the weight everyday since Wyatt was born. There was always "something" getting in the way. Too tired, no time, illness after illness (pneumonia, me - ear infections, the munchkin). Broken bones (Wyatt, then. Me, now). I've hidden behind the camera long enough. I realized recently, working out and eating healthier is never going to be convenient. There is never going to be time for it unless I MAKE the time. Is my house a little less tidy now? Yes. Are my craft projects taking the back burner a bit? Yes. Have I fallen behind on my favorite TV shows? Yes. (Life does go on with less TV believe it or not). But I'm getting my life back, I'm teaching my son great habits that are going to help him throughout his life and that makes it all worth it. 

My workout buddy

I'm not going to be perfect. I'm going to have slip ups. (Like this past week for example, but that's for a later post). But I'm a firm believer that it's the imperfections that build us up, that create the lasting memories and that make us who we are meant to be.