Day 310 - OHB Day 2

Okay so I named my mission Operation Hot Bridesmaid, thus the "OHB" in the title of my blog today. Short one today and you may not hear from me for a few days because I am going to New York for the Bachelorette Party from Wed - Sun. I have been doing well so far, did my upper body workout yesterday: planche, pullup hangs, pushups, jacks, dips, and headstands. I know it sounds weird but I am going for core and functional strength. There's a method to my madness. Then tonight was Jujitsu so got a regular workout from that. Thanks to all that have stopped by so far with well wishes, will be around to check on you soon.
See ya!

Day 309 - Anybody miss me?

Can't believe it's been 2 months since my last post, and I don't even want to say how long since I stopped my nutrition and exercise program. Not good. But there have been so many things changing in my life there was just no way. So I won't go into it, but as of today I am beginning a 4 week sprint to get rid of some of the fat I accumulated in the last 2 months in order to be ready for my sister-in-law's wedding on September 13th. So technically it's 26 days away, a little less than 4 weeks, but this past Saturday was not a good day to start. Anyway, I am going to focus just on exercise because right now, #1 nutrition isn't that bad and #2 I want to see how much difference I can do with just exercise. A little experiment. And I know you all are going to give me a hard time for this, but I am not putting up pictures. I just can't bring myself to do it. I haven't really gained that much weight but I know I have lost muscle and gained fat and I just can't bear to put up that pic yet. I promise, however, that I will take a pic today and save it for a reveal coming up on the day of the wedding. How's that?
So with that I am off and running. Well, not actually running because I still have a sprained ankle, but bodyweighting or whatever you would call that. I will not be able to daily check on everyone again just yet, I have so many obligations right now that is just not possible, but I do appreciate anyone who stops by and I do want to thank those of you who stopped by to check on me in my absence: Suzette (of course! thanks for everything!), Christy, Andrew, Michael, Jonny, Lilla, Buffedstuff, Diane, and Larry (who I don't even know!) I appreciate each and every comment that you left and all of your well wishes and thoughts. I hope I can repay the kindness soon.

Day 241

Just popping by to tell you all that I am still around and thanks for all the comments and check-ins, I just have a lot going on personally right now and am not able to dedicate myself to blogging or any of the like. Sorry to all of you out there, I hope to be back in the near future, but for now an upcoming mission is postponed until I can work some things out. I'll be around here and there checking in. See you later.

Day 233 - Running around

I spent today doing more things to get Jeff back on his feet and he even went into work for 3 hours but that was because he had a project he had to finish for someone because otherwise he is still not ready to work. I still have so much to do to get back into my regular routine it is a little overwhelming. I went to Jujitsu tonight, though, so at least I got that in. We are now starting to prepare for the tournament July 12 since we had promotions last week and everyone passed. So the next 6 weeks will be a little different for us all. Hopefully I will get in some harder workouts there and start lifting weights again at home. Sorry I have been so out of touch with everyone, there's just a lot going on here.

Day 232 - More life

Well Jeff couldn't get out of bed today due to a flare up in his sciatic nerve so after seeing off our family, I spent the day taking Jeff to the doctors, getting prescriptions, and caring for him. So it's been one thing after another lately, hope I can get back on track. Nutrition has be atrocious pretty much since memorial day and workouts other than walking and Jujitsu have been non-existant. But here's a pic of me for today anyway.

Day 231 - Dover Race

All weekend we have played host to 7 family members who were visiting in order to see the Dover NASCAR race with us today. It was interesting. I have never gone to a race before and I am totally beat. We took a lot of pictures and I got a lot of sun. I still have not decided what I want to do for my next mission so it won't be kicking off the beginning of next week as I had thought. I'll figure it out soon, but here's a pic just to document my in-between mission time. Thanks for checking in on me everyone, I should be back to regular shred-mode soon.

Day 228 - My Anniversary

Just another quick post today because it is my anniversary and I am also preparing for family to be visiting all weekend so it's been busy. Things are going very well and I am excited to be getting back into shred-mode next week sometime. Haven't totally decided what the next goals are, but I'll be in much better shape to get them after this rest period. See ya!

Day 227 - Hanging in

Well I don't have anything new to report after my eventful day yesterday. I am just taking off some time before I start a new mission, deciding what I want to do and giving my body and metabolism some time to rest and reset so the next mission will bring bigger changes. Talk to you all soon!

Day 226 - What a day

Well today I certainly had God looking over me. I have a meeting on Tuesday mornings at 9:30am so I left for that and decided to stop at Dunkin Donuts to get some donuts for the ladies in my class with me. Obviously something I wouldn't normally do, but for some reason I just got it in my head to go there. I guess I was craving an iced coffee, but I could get that at a lot of other places around here, and to get to the Dunkin Donuts I actually had to take a different route to my meeting, but still I went. So as I was getting out of my car to go in, I noticed that one of my front tires was flat. I had not noticed while driving, but the tires on my car are low profile so they you can almost drive on them flat and not notice. Now I have had to put air in this tire before so I just thought "slow leak" and went ahead into the store, got my stuff, and left to put air in. I called one of the ladies at my meeting and told them I would be late, but to expect me shortly. The tire seemed to hold air fine so I started to head toward my meeting as usual. Before I could get far, though, the woman I had called to tell I was late called me back to say that there were only two others there and we just figured we'd cancel for today since everyone else was busy. So I turned around to go home, but decided that since I had the extra time, I would stop by the dealer and see if they could find a nail or something in my tire and plug it so I wouldn't have to put air in it any more. Well, I get in there and after they pulled the wheel off my car, the service guy calls me back and says "you have to look at this". I was saying "oh, it's like going to the principle's office or something, going into the back" and then he shows me the tire. On the inside, where no one could see it, that tire was absolutely shredded almost all the way around. You could see metal, not just a little metal, like a quarter inch of steel sticking out of the edge. Apparently, the alignment of my front wheels had been off and they were both tilted toward the inside of my car, so I didn't feel it pulling to one side or the other. My mechanic said it was a bomb waiting to go off. He actually couldn't even believe I had made it this far and thought that it would have had a blowout any time. And I am on the interstate all the time, 70 mph, and I don't need to tell you what a blowout at 70 can do. If I would not have stopped for coffee, I would have been on that highway going 70 this morning.
I'm sure some people will just see this whole experience as "luck" or "coincidence" but I know that God was watching out for me. There was a time in my life when I thought a comment like that was absolutely ridiculous - "God doesn't have time to worry about such trivial things", I would say. But I believe now that God is most often visible in the little things, the everyday occurrences that, if you aren't paying attention, you might miss. Those are the things that make up most of our lives, not the big, obvious, life changing moments. How many of those do you have in a lifetime? God doesn't wait for something rare like that to show us that Hhe loves us. He shows us each and every day, moment to moment, if we are just open enough to see it. And He takes care of all of us, even if we don't believe in him or give him credit, He believes in us. But all of our lives would be much better if we did notice and did give Him the glory for all of the things that He helps us through, because then others might understand how great life with Him really is. And we would have much more company in Heaven.
Have a wonderful day.

Day 225 - More later

Sorry still in vacation mode with the holiday. And it isn't over really because we have a long weekend coming up with family visiting as well so all this week I am preparing for that. With the pressure off from SC 2.0, I won't be posting pics for this week and I'll start my next mission next week or so. I need a break! Talk to you all soon!

Day 224 - Memorial Day

Well I can't believe it's already Memorial Day weekend. This Beach Body Shred has gone so fast and I did not make nearly the progress I had envisioned for myself. I'll have the final numbers tomorrow, but I wanted just to put up a quick post to say congrats to all my fellow shredders and the rest of the NY4 for finishing our latest mission in daily accountability. You are all my inspiration and example to aspire to. I want to do more soon, but have not yet decided what the timeline will be for next time. For now, I'll just say good night and that I'll be back tomorrow with more details on my final results from the BBS. See ya!
*****************************
Update: Here's my final pics:

Shredder Council 2.0 Accountability (Day 28)

Day 223 - Down to the wire

Day 222 - Pics Only

Day 221 - Not much

Nothing new to report, a lot of work to do today so haven't been able to edit my pics yet - they'll be up later. Sore today from the running yesterday but still glad I did it. I might do more this weekend, the weather is finally supposed to be nice. Nutrition was a weird today - my timing was off because I slept late and I had half a donut in the afternoon but still didn't go over on carbs because I had pretty much no others besides that and the nutrition info said 16g in half so I'm good. Thanks for all the well wishes for Gram, I hope to have some good news soon.

DAY 53 OF 56	NOTES:	POINTS:
Meal #1?	none	1
Meal #2?	12p - chicken & spinach	1
Meal #3?	2p - "free" snack	1
Meal #4?	6p - hamburger	1
Meal #5?	9p - nuts	1
Meal #6?	11p - Atkins bar	1
Water?	96 oz - 16 oz/meal	0
Weights or Rest?	rest	1
Cardio or Rest?	Jujitsu	1
Sleep?	7-8 hrs	1
Accountability?	pics, blog, chart	1
Visualization?	1 hr AVP	1
	Daily Score:	11 of 12
	Cumulative:	?? of 636
	Compliance:	??%

Day 220 - Momentum building but tough news

If you look at my log, I know my meals look weird today but I do take advantage of being on low carb and have some higher fat things sometimes. I never see adverse effects from it, so if I can't have other things I am craving with carbs, I at least let myself have some interesting proteins. Today I took Jedi to the big park about 15 min away from my house and we jogged/walked our way around the path there. It is 2.5 mi long and I would jog for .2 mi, the walk for .1, and so on pretty much all the way around. It took about 30 min. I know that's not that impressive but if you know me, you know that I am in no way a runner so jogging is about all I do and I was working hard enough to work up a sweat and give myself a blister so I think that was good for me. I wanted to do some outdoor cardio to start working on my endurance. I don't have machines at my house and jogging in place just doesn't cut it. So we'll see how often I put that in my routine, but Jedi loved it. He's a runnin' pup, that's for sure. Of course, he pretty much slept the rest of the day so I guess I tired him out. :) And my abs were actually a little sore today from Jujitsu last night, which is rare because it takes a lot to work my abs these days. So I was excited about that, need to do that new exercise more. On the "what am I doing with my life" front, things are generally starting to look up. I'll tell all of you about it some day when I figure it out myself. A lot still to work out on that.
The big thing today is that we got some bad news about Jeff's grandmother - she's been in the hospital upstate (NY) since October and just keeps having complication after complication, and she decided yesterday that she didn't want any more treatment and wants to be "DNR", meaning if something else happens to not bring her back this time. She's on a ventilator so it's only a matter of time before she begins to really deteriorate and we lose her. Probably a few weeks, or a month. So that's tough, I don't really know how to feel about that because right now, nothing has changed, you know, it's just the idea that she will probably not make it out of the hospital. She has given up, she's tired of fighting. So I'll pray for a miracle. I'll ask those of you who believe in them to do so as well if you would. I appreciate it. Talk to you tomorrow.

DAY 52 OF 56	NOTES:	POINTS:
Meal #1?	6a - protein shake	1
Meal #2?	11a - eggs & bacon	1
Meal #3?	2p - chicken on salad	1
Meal #4?	5p - hot dogs	1
Meal #5?	7p - nuts	1
Meal #6?	9p - Atkins bar	1
Water?	96 oz - 16 oz/meal	1
Weights or Rest?	rest	1
Cardio or Rest?	jog/walk 2.5 mi	1
Sleep?	7-8 hrs	1
Accountability?	pics, blog, chart	1
Visualization?	1 hr AVP	1
	Daily Score:	12 of 12
	Cumulative:	?? of 624
	Compliance:	??%

Day 219 - It's coming together

Well I didn't get in a regular workout today but I did have a pretty good Jujitsu class tonight so I'm counting that. I have been on virtually no carbs starting yesterday and plan to continue that until the end of the week just to try to burn off those last few pounds that have been hanging on. Low carb seems to work well for me in the short term so we'll see - hopefully I'll see the results as long as I do enough exercise this week. I know it's kind of like cramming for a test, but I really want to show results this week so that I'll be okay with taking some time off after this mission. I haven't decided if I'll do that or not but it's looking like I will just schedule-wise. On that front, though, I do have some things in the works to both free up my time and make more efficient use of my time so I am excited to see how that works because I feel like I have been running around in circles lately when it comes to my work. Hopefully this new approach will help me out and then I'll be more confident about going on a new mission. I do have my tournament on July 12 so it's not like I can really "take off" but probably switch things up to more of an endurance program rather than fat loss. I'll have to check on how to do that exactly, I have done nothing but try to lose fat all my life so I don't really have any data on endurance. Funny. I still haven't decided what I am going to do about my cumulative chart number but here's today's. I'll have to put up my pics tomorrow morning, I am too tired to edit them right now, but they'll be there!

DAY 51 OF 56	NOTES:	POINTS:
Meal #1?	9a - coffee	1
Meal #2?	11a - hamburger & salad	1
Meal #3?	2p - cheese	1
Meal #4?	5p - chicken & green beans	1
Meal #5?	9p - sugar free jello	1
Meal #6?	none	1
Water?	96 oz - 16 oz/meal	1
Weights or Rest?	rest	1
Cardio or Rest?	Jujitsu	1
Sleep?	7-8 hrs	1
Accountability?	pics, blog, chart	1
Visualization?	1 hr AVP	1
	Daily Score:	12 of 12
	Cumulative:	?? of 612
	Compliance:	??%

Day 218 - Questions questions

Hey everybody - sorry I haven't been around lately, just posting pics and all, I don't really know how to explain what has been going on but some things are changing and I just haven't been able to really put any time into blogging and such lately. The last few days have also been pretty bad as far as nutrition and exercise. I got back on the wagon as far as nutrition goes today but not exercise, I hope to accomplish that tomorrow. I did get two comments from family members in the past few days about my arms looking good so that's positive still, I guess. It is important to me to finish out this last week strongly but I just have a lot of things vying for my attention so it is difficult to really concentrate. I want to thank all of you who have been checking in on me. I have been checking up on your blogs when I have a few spare minutes but have not left comments, sorry about that, I just haven't felt very "commenty" lately. So maybe I'll remedy that tomorrow, too. As far as my accountability log goes, it is obviously out the window the last few days so I don't really know what to do about that. I don't want to give up on it so close to the goal, but I don't really know how to score the cumulative stuff since it was so out of whack. I'll have to come up with a good compromise I guess. For now I'll put up my score for today and leave out the cumulative part. I also want to update my last few posts with time machine pics but don't have time for that now, so I'll just do my regular pics for today and I'll have to call it a night. Again I apologize for being such a poor role model for the shredders out there, but I can't really explain what has been going on with me. I'm too young for a mid-life crisis, and it's not even what I would call a crisis anyway, but I can't think of an accurate description. But I can say I am very much out of focus so I want to get that back and that's my number one goal right now - in many areas of my life. So pray for me on that and I'll be back soon. Thanks again all.

DAY 50 OF 56	NOTES:	POINTS:
Meal #1?	9a - protein shake	1
Meal #2?	11a - spinach omelet	1
Meal #3?	2p - chicken & salad	1
Meal #4?	4p - almonds	1
Meal #5?	6p - lean hamburgers	1
Meal #6?	9p - Atkins bar	1
Water?	96 oz - 16 oz/meal	1
Weights or Rest?	rest	1
Cardio or Rest?	none	0
Sleep?	7-8 hrs	1
Accountability?	pics, blog, chart	1
Visualization?	1 hr AVP	1
	Daily Score:	11 of 12
	Cumulative:	?? of 600
	Compliance:	??%

Day 217

Shredder Council 2.0 Accountability (Day 21)

Here's the pic for week 3 - hope everybody is doing well, I'll be around to check soon!

Day 216

Day 215 - Pics only

Be back soon...

Day 214 - Still busy...

Trying to take care of a lot of stuff around here - I'll be around to check on everyone this weekend - have a great day!

Day 213 - Quickie

Evening got away from me - gotta roll - be back later with my log but here's my pics plus a special guest.
Also a great big thank you again to my fellow shredders who offered insight into the issues that I discussed yesterday. All of the info was really helpful and I'll update you when something exciting happens (hopefully soon!). See ya!

Day 212 - I'm so strange

A lot of today was spent trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. No lie. It is something that I have been struggling with lately - one of the issues I have been dealing with on these problem days you may have seen for me. I don't really want to get into details here, but suffice it to say I can see myself doing so many more and varied things than I do now that I can't even decide where to start. Does that make any sense? You'd think an almost-30 year old woman would have decided some of these things by now, but by nature I am what I refer to as a "jumper", meaning I jump from one thing to another a lot and never really see one thing through. So I have been trying to not be that way lately, trying to finish what I have started and follow through on projects, etc, but the itch to jump is coming up really strong in me these days and I really just want to leave the mess and start something fresh. And I guess that's really why I jump, is because I get excited about something new (I love the planning and setup stages) and then when it comes to execution, I get bored easily. I get in the midst of something and it gets more difficult or just not as exciting and I don't want to deal with the discipline of finishing it up. Sad to say, but that's how I am. I don't know why I am this way, but my mother is as well so I guess it's hereditary. Not that it is an excuse, but I am really trying to make myself more disciplined because I have a TON of unfinished projects that I am basically scared to look at because they will take so much monotonous work to complete. I have such a short attention span I swear. Anyway, not that you all wanted to know about that, but that's what my day was like. Just drifting between wanting to jump and telling myself all the reasons I should not. Physique transformation is the same way for a lot of people, though, I guess is my point, because in the beginning it's new and exciting, you see changes and everything is going according to plan. Then you get in the middle of things and you just get tired - tired of eating the same things, tired of exercising hard, tired of saying no to things you used to say yes to, tired of explaining to your friends and family what you are doing and why. And so what separates the ones who succeed is whether you choose to stick it out and bear the pain of discipline, or jump and live the pain of regret. It's your choice, and the end results are easy to see. So I guess what that means for me is, I know I can stick to something because I have done it with this body. It was a mess and it's not all the way cleaned up, but the worst really is over and I am seeing it through to completion. And so it is with the other looming projects all around me. If I want the results bad enough, I will be able to buckle down and focus on making it through the day to day, until I begin to see the light. And where that light is, success waits for me.

DAY 44 OF 56	NOTES:	POINTS:
Meal #1?	8a - protein shake	1
Meal #2?	12p - "free" meal	1
Meal #3?	3p - mango	1
Meal #4?	6p - wheat pasta	1
Meal #5?	9p - nuts	1
Meal #6?	none	1
Water?	96 oz - 16 oz/meal	1
Weights or Rest?	rest	1
Cardio or Rest?	Total Body Ten	1
Sleep?	7-8 hrs	1
Accountability?	pics, blog, chart	1
Visualization?	1 hr AVP	1
	Daily Score:	12 of 12
	Cumulative:	467 of 528
	Compliance:	88.4%

200 Day Group Shred Time Machine
So for those of you who have not been following my journey from the beginning, I started blogging just a few days before the original Group Shred. I was 11 days into my first mission when it began, and in a totally different state of mind (and body!) than I am today. So I thought it would be nice for you (and me!) to be able to see (remember) how far I've come! Looking at the pics, the look on my face says it all, I think.

On this day 200 days ago I wrote this post...
Day 12/13 - Busy busy busy!

Here is Adam's post for the day...
Day 353: RTP Group Shred, Day 2 - I'm Blown Away!

And here is my picture from 200 days ago...boy, I'm so miserable it's almost comical...

Day 211 - Two week sprint!

Only two weeks left until the end of both the NY4BBS and the SC 2.0 eligibility phase. I really want to make some visible progress by then so these next two weeks are going to be intense. I just really need to plan ahead and I will be successful! Today was a good start, still need to get the week's plan down but I still didn't get derailed with anything even though my schedule was weird today. I also did measurements today but they were all the same so I won't post them now. Will do my next set for the final reveal in 2 weeks. Can't wait to see if I can make it to my goal weight!! So here's my day's log and pics and the first edition of the time machine!

DAY 43 OF 56	NOTES:	POINTS:
Meal #1?	8a - protein shake	1
Meal #2?	11a - omelet	1
Meal #3?	2p - chicken stir fry	1
Meal #4?	4p - cheese & apple	1
Meal #5?	6p - chicken & salad	1
Meal #6?	9p - Atkins bar & cheese	1
Water?	96 oz - 16 oz/meal	1
Weights or Rest?	TT 2K6 workout A	1
Cardio or Rest?	rest	1
Sleep?	7-8 hrs	1
Accountability?	pics, blog, chart	1
Visualization?	1 hr AVP	1
	Daily Score:	12 of 12
	Cumulative:	455 of 516
	Compliance:	88.2%

200 Day Group Shred Time Machine
So for those of you who have not been following my journey from the beginning, I started just a few days before the original Group Shred. I was 11 days into my first mission when it began, and in a totally different state of mind (and body!) than I am today. So I thought it would be nice for you (and me!) to be able to see (remember) how far I've come! Looking at the pics, the look on my face says it all, I think.

On this day 200 days ago I wrote this post...
Day 11 - I FEEL GREAT!!

Here is Adam's post for the day, introducing the original Group Shred
Day 352: RTP Group Shred, Day 1 - Let The Shredding Begin!

And here is my picture from 200 days ago - wow I still hate looking at it, but it is a good reminder never to go back there.

Day 210 - Happy Mother's Day to All!

Well today I worked for most of the day and I'm not a mother (except to Jedi) so I just spent time with Jeff in the evening. Anyway, unexciting day - also took rest from exercise but will be back with a vengeance on Monday. I have to get up to at least 90% by the end of the BBS, geez! I have been a real slacker this mission! Here's my pics and log:

DAY 42 OF 56	NOTES:	POINTS:
Meal #1?	8a - egg sandwich	1
Meal #2?	12p - caesar salad	1
Meal #3?	3p - cheese & apple	1
Meal #4?	6p - sushi	1
Meal #5?	9p - nuts	1
Meal #6?	none	1
Water?	96 oz - 16 oz/meal	0
Weights or Rest?	rest	1
Cardio or Rest?	rest	1
Sleep?	7-8 hrs	1
Accountability?	pics, blog, chart	1
Visualization?	1 hr AVP	1
	Daily Score:	11 of 12
	Cumulative:	443 of 504
	Compliance:	87.9%

Day 209 - More family time

Today I did Mother's Day with my mom, grandmother, sister, and aunt because I will be working tomorrow and the restaurants are too busy then anyway. So that was nice and I stayed on plan actually. Then I spent a little extra time with my sister and came home to do some things around the house before we had Jeff's family over for the NASCAR race. So a pretty busy day running around but it was fun. I did good all day except I skipped my workout and had two drinks during the race. Just felt like it and I don't think it was really worth it. That usually happens when I think that I want something that I haven't had in a long time. It is anti-climactic. Oh, well. So that was my day. Here's my pics and log:

DAY 41 OF 56	NOTES:	POINTS:
Meal #1?	9a - protein bar	1
Meal #2?	12p - chicken lettuce wraps	1
Meal #3?	3p - cheese & apple	1
Meal #4?	6p - taco salad	1
Meal #5?	9p - nuts	1
Meal #6?	11p - mojitos	0
Water?	96 oz - 16 oz/meal	1
Weights or Rest?	skipped	0
Cardio or Rest?	rest	1
Sleep?	7-8 hrs	1
Accountability?	pics, blog, chart	1
Visualization?	1 hr AVP	1
	Daily Score:	10 of 12
	Cumulative:	432 of 492
	Compliance:	87.8%