Weapons of Mass Reduction Week 2

Monday: Bodypump 60 min, ran 1.5 miles outside 11:40 min/mile

Tuesday: T25 Cardio Workout (Alpha Phase)
Wednesday: Jillian Michaels Shred it with Weights (wasn't impressed), jog/ran 1.5 miles outside with Duke (not the fastest time Duke struggles running in a straight line!)
Thursday: Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit (Intense!)
Friday: 1.5 mile run with Duke 12:05 min/mile
Saturday: 2.06 mile run with Duke 12:39 min/mile


I'm tempted to put the scale away for the next few weeks. This week I noticed myself obsessing over the scale. I weighed myself 3 days in a row and the scale wasn't budging besides going up a little! Then I would get frustrated because I felt good and I felt like I was getting in shape. It de-motivated me. I started doing some research and I found that its actually not a good idea to weigh yourself for the first few weeks when starting a new exercise/diet program. Your body is going through a lot of changes and its just not fair to you to have the scale tell you its working that quick. A lot of it is water weight and also the scale doesn't know the difference between water,fat and muscle.

It's been a bad eating week so I'm not even planning on weighing in tomorrow morning so I'm just posting this tonight. Friday night we went to Red Lobster...so good! Oh my goodness but their dang biscuits I should have just told them to not even bring them. If it hadn't have been for them I would have been fine. Oh and today... made a bad decision to start the day with pop tarts. Did you know a serving size is only 1 pop tart?! What a scam. Then package them as signals! Geez! Anywhoo that was 1/4 of my daily calorie allowance right there...dang!



(Ok I weighed in...I'm down .8 lbs. Making my total weight loss so far 4lbs! pretty happy if I keep this up I will be down 20lbs by the end of the year/challenge!)

Mom P's B-day, Lindsey's B-day and Halloween!

My (Lindsey) parents came and visited us in ND for a few days over mine and my mom's b-day. They got here on Friday Oct. 25 which is my mom's b-day. I picked them up from the airport, pretty sure its one of the smallest airports ever. We went back to the house and hung out while we waited for Ben to get off of work. My parents were being so silly they had their ipad and their phones and were Facebooking and making me laugh so hard. They said they never have time to do that because they are always so busy. We had a great "life" talk. I love my parents they are some of my best friends. I am so lucky I am literally able to talk to them about everything and anything I love it.

When Ben got home we went to dinner at Famous Dave's It was delicious. When we got home we watched TV and a movie and sang happy birthday to my mom and had cake. 

Saturday morning we all slept in. Then we went to the only doughnut shop (that I can find) in Bismarck. We bought 1 of every doughnut! It was 3 boxes of doughnuts!!! 

Went back home ate doughnuts and the guys tried to figure out how to work a clay pigeon shooter we bought. Then it was off to shoot the shotgun. We only had to drive about 20 min and it was a nice/safe outdoor range. The clay pigeon thrower worked once and then we lost a screw so we just threw them with the handheld one for the rest of the time. Oh my goodness I love shooting!!! The shotgun is a blast! (no pun intended). My mom was a little worried but she did great! And guess who shot the clay pigeon on her very first shot of the day...Thats right me! I am a redneck woman :D 

My mom shooting the gun.

Then we drove down the road a little more and went to a lake to go fishing. We only had one fishing pole. We didn't end up catching anything but it was a gorgeous day and it was just us there. Duke was extremely happy to be there. We let him off his leash and he went crazy! He was playing in the sand and running around he absolutely loved it! And then we heard a splash...poor Duke had fallen in the lake. Ben went running down and was able to pull him out. He was fine. We weren't sure whether to laugh or feel sorry for Duke. It was hilarious but Duke was also so scared when he was in the water. He dried off on the sand and stayed a little bit further away from the lake from then on. That night we went to Olive Garden for dinner! Yum! I threw up in the parking lot after because my GERD was bugging me so bad! Lame! Then we went and saw a movie and got milk to have doughnuts with in the morning.

Me fishing. Like my new hair color?!

Sunday, Oct. 27 My b-day! My cute nieces in Ohio called me in the morning. They wanted to know if I had a computer and if I would like to talk on the computer (Skype). So cute! They sang happy birthday to me and told me stories. Loved it! We all took showers and got ready for the day. We wanted to go shop and look around at the mall but since we live in such a small town the mall doesn't open till noon! At the mall I got a really warm hoodie and a super warm coat that I got a great deal on! Went back home took a nap, ordered pizza and watched a movie! My parents left early the next morning! We had such a fun weekend!

My mom modeling my new coat.

Me in my new hoodie with the tag still on.

For Halloween we didn't do anything special. We did dress up and we looked Awesome! We only got one trick or treater and it was a lady from the ward with her son. We stayed warm inside and watched scary movies.

Weapons of Mass Reduction Week 1

Last year around this time my sis in law Karlie invited me to do a Holiday Fitness Challenge with her. A friend of hers started a Facebook page and we all contributed $3 to the pot and were paired up with someone in the group. Everyone would post during the fitness challenge motivating quotes what there workouts were looking like that day/week what they were struggling with etc. There were 3 categories that you could win: Biggest Loser (based on % lost) Best fitted Jeans and Mr/Mrs. Energy. I stayed involved in the discussion but really did not put a lot of effort into it and I don't think I really changed my workout habits. So anyways I chose to do the challenge again this year. I invited some of my friends and family to also join this year. Ben is doing it with me and is in my group. This year instead of $3 we each did $10. I believe our Biggest loser pot is at $350 and then the best fitted jeans is $150 and then Mr/Mrs. Energy is some gift cards and fun stuff. This week was the first week of the challenge. Between my plantar fasciitis GERD and just not feeling as healthy I'm really excited to get back to my healthy self. The group is amazing. I was worried about not working out on Tuesday so I posted on the group page to give me crap if I didn't work out and I had multiple comments encouraging me to get my work out in! It was great! We are all trying to better ourselves and stay healthy through the crazy holidays. This week went really well for me. I have started using myfitnesspal again I have it set at 2lbs per week which puts me at about 1200 calories a day. When I exercise I get extra calories for what I have burned. Some days I use them some days I don't. Here is what my workouts looked like this week:

Tuesday: Went for a run outside. Got a 12:20 mile time which is awesome for me! I went 1.5 miles

Love my new headband for cold running days.

I took this pic and posted it on the groups page so they knew I was out and running.

Wednesday: Same as Tuesday and then also did Jillian Michaels : 6 week 6 pack Abs level 1. It was intense but I liked it! Excited to see how much I can progress. The entire workout is on Youtube!!! Awesome! So give it a try if you want a free good workout!

Thursday: I did T25 lower body focus! Wow! Awesome!

Friday: Insanity's Recovery. I thought it was going to be a little bit more "relaxed". Silly me. It was yoga and stretching mixed with pushups and planks! Whoo good workout though and I finished.

Saturday: Insanity's Fit Test. Ben did it with me. Whoo it was rough but another awesome workout! We also took Duke for about 1.5 mile walk that evening.

As of this morning I am down 3.2 lbs. I'm going to try and weigh in once a week but sometimes its hard not to do more.

My goals for this challenge are:

Lose 15lbs
For the 5K on Thanksgiving morning run it in 35 min or less
Be able to do 5 real pushups. I'm really going to focus on cutting down on sugars and carbs ahh! So rough! I want to up my protein at least 50 grams a day of good protein.

Time Flies

I really really really hate thinking of blog title posts. Maybe I'll just start going through the dictionary and using the first word that I open to on a page...blah! 

Anywhoo...I don't think I should blog when I'm in these weird moods but eh...what can ya do?

So first off I think I mentioned last post (or maybe not) that Ben and I signed up to do a run Thanksgiving morning. Ben is doing a 10K (6.2) miles and I'm doing a 5K(3.1) miles. I've never trained for a 5K I just kind of show up do it and then get frustrated with how out of shape I am! HA! Not this time. I found a Couch to 5K running plan printed it out and hung it on the fridge. The first week I think I only ran once but I've been doing better. Last week I ran 3 times. This week I've ran once so far. I can't believe what my body is capable of! I love pushing myself it feels great! This week I'm on the run 6 walk 2 phase. By Thanksgiving week I should have worked up to running (not jalking jog/walking) for 30 min straight. I would really like to finish in 35 minutes or less so we will see. 

Since Sunday I have felt like I have something stuck in my throat. It made me gag and everything. Its gotten worse and worse and is really bad when I lay down at night. My throat is not sore at all. I still have my tonsils. After trying to self diagnose myself on the internet (I know I know) I finally gave up and went to the Doctor today. I really don't like going to the doctor. I miss this lady I used to go back to in Utah. She was like an alternative medicine doctor but her office was so calming and she never rushed you. Also the midwives that I went to for my anxiety meds were great too. They always took time and actually listened. Every other doctor its like badda bing badda boom here's an RX. OK off my tangent. Went to the doc she felt my throat asked questions looked down it with a light just like normal. Had my thyroid and CBC tested (came back normal) and I'm going in for a swallow test tomorrow. Basically they give me things to eat and swallow do an x-ray while they film it. Hopefully we can get it figured out soon because I am going crazy! 

Ben has found an interest in remote control planes. We splurged and bought him a whole set up a few weeks ago and it finally arrived yesterday. He has basically been working on it non stop when he's home. I get to be the co-pilot! I'm super excited! As soon as he gets some things figured out on it we are going to head out and fly it. Its a pretty big plane the wing span is about 4 4.5 feet.  It has this really awesome remote control too and you can hook it up to the computer and all that good stuff.

And last but not least a little tangent of something that made me frustrated today. I'm not going to go into details just in case but basically I was asked to go to a planning meeting today. Well I take an hour out of my day to go this meeting where we were asked to bring ideas and such...silly me... somehow its already planned??? Annoying! Like c'mon really? 

Ok thats it.

Well no its not. The other day Ben and I wanted to go shooting so we first drove around to see if we could find a place before hand. About 20 minutes away from our house we found an awesome shooting range with a gorgeous lake nearby. So fun! We are really loving ND!

Hello October!

I know I've said this before but I really hate thinking of blog titles. Anyway, I found my journal hallelujah! We sold our bed frame and before we did I checked the side tables and there it was! Thank the heavens! 

We are loving North Dakota! We miss Utah of course especially when we are there but North Dakota has really found a place in our hearts. We live in the 2nd largest city in the state and Bismarck is still super small! I do miss the mountains a lot but ND has its own amazing beauty. I got really worried the the other weekend when it snowed but the snow melted and now the fall colors are absolutely gorgeous! We took a walk to the park today and it literally took my breath away. The park is just down the street and Duke loves to go play there. I've been taking lots of "nature" pictures lately. If you haven't already seen them on Facebook here are a few. I've also included pictures of some other randomness :P

The halloween wreath I put together. I used a foam wreath an old t-shirt and a halloween stocking.

This is our street. Look at those colors! Amazing!

I took this picture while I was driving but I couldn't resist! I was listening to country music at the same time and I felt like a country girl for sure!  

Love everything in this picture amazing! 

Ben and I before the Florida Georgia Line Concert last weekend! We had a blast!

We made S'more hot chocolate the weekend it snowed. It was so delicious and easy to make! 

Ben's job is starting to slow down for the season so we are trying to figure out a plan. Our lease on our apartment is up the end of November. There are plenty of jobs up here though so Ben is looking into some options.We have looked into buying a house but nothing very serious as of yet. I'll just quickly get this part over with... I made a HUGE mistake. I took on 3 jobs got really burned out so now I'm only working 2. I feel really good about my decision. I work at Gold's Gym in the Kids Club (free membership) and I'm a CNA with Dakota Travel Nurse. It's really good money and I really enjoy being a CNA! Now there is Duke. We are worried he has worms again (not fun!) so we are giving him meds to help. He also had a little tiff with the dog upstairs this morning but I think he's OK. He's just been through so much and we are making so much progress with him it just kind of made us really upset but we are good now. Well thats it for now. Just being crazy, random, and loving life as usual! 

Good,Better,Best

*Disclaimer-this is going to be a somewhat religious post. If reading it is going to offend you, make you upset or angry, or make you want to start an argument (please don't)...just know that you have been warned*

I'm going to hang this up on my fridge or front door or something as a reminder.

I've been struggling lately. I have been happy don't get me wrong but just struggling with where I fit in in this world. If you read this list a lot of the things are exactly how I feel sometimes. I also came from the "Utah Bubble". Which I know I should be grateful for but moving to North Dakota really opened my eyes to religion. The LDS religion is not what you do here. It's not the way of life. Its not assumed that you are Mormon until you tell someone otherwise. I'm not blaming my "questioning" on growing up in Utah but it definitely has a part of it. The other part is I think I'm finally growing up...I know finally...and trying to figure out what I think. Anyway, the reason I'm writing this today is 1) I can't find my journal still I guess I should by a new one but I also enjoy sharing my thoughts. 2)We went to church today and the sister who gave one of the talks just really hit home with me. She almost described my life right now to a T! Ben kept squeezing my arm or tapping my knee while she was talking because it was so me what she was saying.

She started out her talk with this quote from Dallin H. Oaks from his talk Good,Better, Best.
We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.

She then talked about how she had got so caught up in the "wordly" things of life. She wanted to have a clean house, be a great cook, be crafty, be the perfect wife, do well at her job while working crazy amounts of hours there as well. She found herself not happy because she wasn't prioritizing what was important in her life. She began setting aside time each day or week to focus on her spirituality.

Now where am I going with all of this? I love to stay busy so just dropping everything and focusing on my spirtual side is in no way the answer for me. However, I put so much pressure on myself and I know I do and I don't think pinterest or facebook help. It makes me think that everyone but me cooks a unique yet delicious meal, has a cute and organized house, is the best wife, excells at her job and is running marathons. Ugh...I love staying busy however, I need to remember to focus on why I do those things. I shouldn't be doing them to compete with anyone else. I should be doing them because I like to have a clean house I like to feel happy I like to be good wife I like my job and I like being healthy. I personally think it is so important to have spirituality be a part of your life. That doesn't mean you have to be part of a religion either. But for me right now the LDS church is my comfort zone. I believe the majority of its teachings. Some things I have a rough time with but I'm working on it. This week I'm really going to try and focus on the reasoning behind what I'm doing and finding joy in each task and living in the moment. I'm also going to really try and pray and read my scriptures each day. I think it will really help me to get back to my roots and find some of the answers I need.  After all my thoughts today I really feel good about my decision to hold of on school this semester. School is extremely important and a huge priority to Ben and I but we feel we have other priorities and our plates our too full right now to take that on and do well. We both feel good about that decision. I'm excited for the journey's we have to come. I know this was probably a deep and babbling post maybe didn't even make sense what I was trying to say. However, its not for anyone else but me. Journaling has always been a huge part of my life. Its so important and healthy for me to get my thoughts out.

If anyone would like to join I'm going to try and do this scripture challenge.    

Hey..ey!

Do do da doo. When I was a little girl my response to the question "What do you want to be when I grow up?" Was "A doctor, a mom, a dancer, and work at McDonalds." Hahaha... Love it! I feel like I have the same answers now. I want to be a mom one day (please still don't ask I swear I'll had another 5 years to the time frame I have in my head) I miss dancing so much. I miss teaching dance and I miss performing. I don't want to be a doctor but I think I would enjoy being a nurse. Well I've been debating that a lot lately as well. Obviously the pay difference between a nurse and a CNA is great but I see what nurses do every day and I don't know if I would love it as much as I love being a CNA. I love the interaction I get as I CNA. As a nurse you don't do a ton of patient interaction and I think I would miss that. *I have a little chip on my shoulder about doctors today. Had some bad experiences. I really wish doctors were more people oriented sometimes* Anywho...I was really debating about going to school this semester and right when the semester started my grandpa passed and we flew out to Utah for the funeral. Along with some debt we are trying to pay off I decided I needed to take this semester off to really get focused so I can do well if I decide to go. 

So right now I still work at Sanford as a CNA. I am also working for Dakota Travel Nurse as a CNA. I have my first shift with them on Saturday. Its basically on call work (pay is really nice) I just let them know what shifts if any I want to pick up at different locations. I've also been in touch with a dance studio here is Bismarck about teaching at the studio and hope to hear back from them soon. Awhile back I also applied at Golds Gym and I have an interview with them tomorrow to work in the child care. 

Am I Crazy? I think so...but I'm not the one who married me! HA!

What are y'all's experienced opinions? Who wants to just figure out a plan for me? :D