Are You Ready Y'all?

First, thanks to all of you for bearing with me yesterday.

I was a whiny baby and somebody should have called a waaaaahmbulance. So, I can't run for two weeks. It's not like I lost a foot and can never walk again.

I appreciate every one's encouragement. I felt like if I would have been around some of you in person yesterday you would have smacked me across the face and told me to snap out of it (and rightly so). I was definitely not out fishing for compliments but they came and made me feel better.

I did some weight training, stretching, and ab/core training as well as about 15 minutes of Tae Bo (upper body only). I learned a few new variations of crunches and I know I'll be hurting at work today (cleaning with my friend again).

My heart rate never got over 85 but my arms and abs felt the burn and I'll take it.

OK, OK, I agree - enough about yesterday...

ANNOUNCEMENT TIME...

Training starts on Monday!

Who's doing it?

I need names people! I need to know!

Since I am not allowed to run for the next two weeks I need to live through you all. Will someone please run for me? Please????????

For those of you who need a little incentive ($$$$) I am happy to announce a new contest ...

THE RACE TO THE STARTING LINE!

The distance between my house and the starting line of the Flint Journal Catch Your Breath 5K is a little over 430 miles.

Let's see who can walk/jog their way!

Participants will start out in Louisville, Kentucky. For every day that you train, you will move 18 miles closer to the starting line in Flint, Michigan.

(Why 18 miles? 430 miles / 24 potential training days = almost 18)

The training guide calls for you to get in three days a week for eight weeks.

You are encouraged to exercise more than three days a week, but I will only count three days.

The person closest to the starting line on the Friday before the race will be the winner. The winner will receive a Subway gift card!

If more than one person makes it all the way to the finish line then more than one person will receive a gift card!

As a reminder...

Week One requires you to pick three days in which you will train for twenty minutes. On those days you will walk for FOUR minutes and jog for ONE minutes. You will repeat that FOUR TIMES.

*short side story*

Ori started t-ball last night!! Her and her BFF Elena were so cute. There was one point Coach Troy was trying to explain to them how to get down and be ready for the ball and Ori totally looked like she was doing the Cha Cha Slide -

"Hands on your knees! Hands on your knees!"

Their first game is Saturday!

My first co-ed league game is tonight! I am tres tres nervous!


Daily and Weekend Challenge:

Register for the race! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW!

If you can't make it - find a race on Active.com and register!

Weigh Day Week 11 !!

Goal: Lose baby weight + 30 lbs

Achieved so far: Baby weight is gone!

Pre-pregnancy weight: 221.0

Weight last week: 211.2

Current weight: 206.8

Weight loss/gain since last week: -4.4 !!!!

TOTAL WEIGHT LOST (not including baby weight): -14.2 !!!!

What a great weigh in for my 51st blog!

I can not believe I am so close to saying I weigh "one hundred and something"! I had a brief stint in the 100's when I was in the 10th grade but other than that it has been a looooooooong time! WOOHOO!

I think part of the reason the weigh loss was so big though is because I only did my resistance band training once last week. Instead of doing them I opted to work on my push ups and crunches.

I did about 500 crunches last week. I just measured my waist and I am at 42 inches! Just a few weeks of crunches and I've already lost 2 inches!

Leslie doesn't know it but I have her to thank for this! Probably over a month ago her and I were running and she said she could feel her abs burning. I told her that I didn't even know if I had any and what was the point in working on them since it would take a tummy tuck and some lipo in order for me to get a nice tummy. "It can never hurt to strengthen your core," was her reply. Touche, Leslie!

I had a successful week with both eating and running.

I ate lots of veggies this week and lots of brown rice. Both really helped to fill me up and make me feel satisfied. I love the fact that I actually know what those two things feel like now! I used to think feeling full meant feeling sick. So not the case!

I wasn't feeling well on Tuesday but Leslie came over and I ran anyway. I think part of the reason that I wasn't sick for long was because I kept up with my exercise! Since her hubby was out of town on Thursday, she came over again for dinner and we ran before hand. We really pushed it both days and it felt wonderful.

This weekend we went to my parents house in Tennessee. My mom and dad did a great job of filling the house with healthy goodies and that really helped with my success on the scale this morning. The chicken sausage scrambler was the best dad!

Octavio and I got to run 3.2 miles together on Saturday morning (yep dad, I measured it and it's more than a 5k). It was the hilliest terrain I have ever ran on and I didn't enjoy it until it was over.

Seriously, look....

First you go down and up this hill...

Then you turn the corner and go down and up this hill...

That is a 0.8 mile circle and we ran it four times so we hit each of those hills four times!

We ran it in 31:39 though and I am proud of that!

My parents gave me one of their big exercise balls so I am going to check out some of the workouts on Sparkpeople.com and see how I do this week with that. I will continue my push up and crunch training and I have to run Mon, Wed, Fri, and Sun this week.

*On another note*

My baby turned FOUR this weekend :(

Oriana got a nice healthy present from us for her birthday :) For some reason she thinks in order to stop the bike you need to honk the horn!


I can't lie. I had a taste of her cake :)



What did she do on her first day after turning four?

"Mommy, now I can pick out my own clothes."

Challenge:

In the spirit of strengthening your core...

Pick two of these and do 12 reps!


For some of my readers from MySpace who are just joining me, tomorrow I will address your questions about the race! Tune in again!

Don't forget to leave a comment and show me some love!

Dinner and a Drink

My hubby is the grill master!

I had some pork set out yesterday for dinner and I knew I was going to cook it on the grill but I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do with it. Then, my hubby said the magic word...

KABOBS!

Even Ori was happy!

*Pause for Praise*

At dinner Octavio announced that starting at the end of this month he will only be required to work Monday - Thursday!!! WooHOO!

Now for a little drink discussion...

*Disclaimer*

Janet asked last week if there were any tips to stop drinking soda. Although I started typing this blog to address only that question, it turned into a rant on my part. So, Janet, aside from the specific articles I linked regarding soda addiction, please don't take any of this as my speaking directly to you. When I say "you" in this blog, I am not talking specifically to you Janet, but to my readers in general .

Also, I am not a medical doctor.

*End Disclaimer*

:)

Soda addiction is pretty common. I'm not talking about an occasional soft drink with dinner. I am talking about always having a can in your hand, not being able to go anywhere without stopping at the gas station to buy one (or two), and keeping one on your bedside table at night just in case you wake up parched.

Most people don't necessarily think they are addicted to it. And since there is so much more attention placed on alcohol, drug, and cigarette addiction, this one just doesn't seem that important.

But your health is important! In fact, it is much, MUCH more important than a sugary drink.

If asked whether you would like a sugary drink or a healthier life, the answer should be easy but I know that it isn't always as easy as it sounds. As with any addiction, you can't really start to fix the problem until you admit you have it in the first place. I have poked a little fun in the past at 12 Step Programs but in all actuality, they make sense.

I will say before I go into any of the other ideas I have found that prayer is going to be the most powerful option. If you are a believer in Him and have faith in Him, Jesus promises that "you will receive whatever you ask in prayer"(Matthew 21:22-23)

I could attempt to scare soda addicts with crazy tales of the acid in soda but they're just not true !

Some of these articles might help move a soda addict in the right direction:

If a description of what soda does to you might turn your head (or stomach) try this or you can look here.

If you are concerned about human rights around the world this one might help

The truth of the matter is if you aren't ready to quit, you won't quit. And the cold turkey approach may work for a few people or work for a while but chances are, it won't stick.

Everyone is always looking for the easiest way to accomplish something. A fad diet, a magic pill, something so that they don't have to do as much to deal with the problem. Well, anyone who has, or has had an addiction knows that it is never easy and it always takes work to overcome it.

You can wake up one day and say to yourself "I want to quit this habit today".

Do you want to quit or do you want to want to quit?

I went through over a year of wanting to want to be healthier before I finally bucked up and did it. I just got so disgusted with my behavior that I finally knew it was either deal with it or continue to be miserable.

When the time comes, and you are focused and ready to overcome your addiction, start slow!

Yesterday I talked about thinking of either what you are moving away from or what you are moving towards.

Make a list of all the things that will begin to disappear once you slowly start to take soda out of your daily life, or make a list of all the things that will return to you once this addiction is taken care of. Then, before you begin the process, spend some time, a week maybe, just focusing on that list. Get your mind ready for the fight.

As far as other ways to overcome this addiction, might I suggest a little bit of what others have already suggested? Do replace Coke with water, but not all at once. If you have a coke with each meal, pick a meal you think will be easiest and substitute Coke with water only for that meal. Maybe try this for a week or so, then add water to another meal, etc.

Lastly, a blog like this is a great place to deal with any obstacle you are working on. My cousin Michele is about the embark on a long journey and is having gastric bypass surgery in a few short weeks (may seem to some as an easy way out but I could not disagree more!). She asked me yesterday if it would bother me if she started journaling online with a blog of her own. Absolutely not! I highly recommend it! My goal here is to inspire others to make changes in their lives. How awesome it would be to be able to catch up on the progress of my readers!

Now I am going to talk specifically to you Janet - You can do this. It may seem like a giant but in reality it is just a soft drink. Take some time to get your mind in the right place and accomplish this goal! and be sure to keep us updated on your progress!

Challenge:

30 Jumping Jacks!

Come on people! GO!

Don't forget to deadline to enter Healthy Chelle's Challenge Challenge is fast approaching! The winner will be drawn this Friday! To all readers and participants in the challenge - I need mailing addresses people!

There are three ways you can participate in Healthy Chelle's Challenge Challenge.

1. Complete a challenge. Every time you leave me a comment saying you have completed a challenge I will enter your name in the drawing. Limit one comment per blog.


2. Send me challenge ideas. Every time you send me a challenge idea I will enter your name in the drawing. NO LIMIT!


3. Get a new friend to leave me a comment. Let your friends know about my blog. Anytime someone leaves a comment and says "so-and-so told me to check out your blog" I will enter that so-and-so's name in the drawing.

The sun is shining on the Highway to Health!

Confessions of a Recovering Fast Food Junkie

My name is Chelle and I'm a McDonald's -aholic

That's the first step right? Admitting you have a problem.

Now, I am going to skip to Step 5 of The 12 Steps

STEP 5:

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Of all the fast food places out there, McDonald's seems to be the one that my former self could not get enough of. Some of my most embarrassing confessions have to do with that particular establishment. Some of them make me sick to my stomach just thinking about.

In the name of honesty, here are a couple of my worst offenses...

• I have often ordered two combo meals from the drive thru and ate them both. The only reason I would order two whole meals is so people would see two drinks and think I was ordering for myself and someone else. I probably super-sized them both too.
• I would always hide the evidence. I once hid the wrapper from a fast food restaurant in one of Ori's diapers so my husband wouldn't find it. (Funny thing, he wouldn't have cared)
• I have eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner from McDonald's in the same day more times than I can count.
• Almost every time I had four quarters in my possession I bought a double cheeseburger.

I have sat here for a few minutes looking at those bullet points. I started about 4 or 5 times to type justifications for my behavior, to some how make my actions seem reasonable to my readers. The truth is, there is no excuse and that behavior is not normal.

I am happy to say that I am 2 months clean!

I have said many times that my goal in all this is to be able to assert self control and live a normal life while learning how to eat and behave again. I don't want to completely exclude certain foods, I want to retrain myself to be normal.

That being said, I know that I am still not ready when it comes to McD's.

Funny thing, I really don't miss it (that much).

Challenge:

Pretend your a boxer. (I should have done this one on the Neighborhood Jerk blog!)

Put both your arms up and pretend you are punching a speed bag. If you've ever tried Tae Bo, you know what I am talking about.

Weekend Challenge:

Take a moment to look at the link to this race. I think it is the one I'll be doing in MI.

Catch Your Breath 5K