Changes Needed (Day 14 of 20)

Just got done doing Energy. It would seem that I am doing the opposite of what I want to be doing. What I WANT to do is get my yoga done earlier in the day, so that I can relax at night and actually go to sleep and just feel better and not feel nagged to get my yoga in. What I AM doing is doing yoga after midnight (for the past two days anyway). Not cool.

Oh and I don't want anyone to think I am doing that awesome with my calorie intake either. That's why yesterday I put "and counting." I knew there was a chance I would overdo it and I did. I did it again today too. Both were a bit over 2500 calories. Could I have done worse? Yes. Is it that bad? Depends. For an active person who goes around during the day working, doing errands, exercising it should be a normal-ish amount. For me, no it's not good. I need to be losing weight and 2500 calorie days are not going to cut it. Having said that, I'm actually not eating that bad. I got into the wine the past two days and said bye-bye to my calories. No more of that.

Tomorrow will consist of a refreshing exercise heavy day with healthy meals and most importantly, no alcohol. I guess I've been making up for all the nights I didn't drink. Well except those last two semesters. Both my friends turned 21 that last year, so we had to celebrate.... several times. : ) But I'd rather be healthy and alcohol kind of sucks anyway (although wine is delicious). Relaxing with a glass of wine isn't bad, but I've been doing a little more than that and getting healthy is more important. No more of that either.

I will finish the last couple of days of my 20 days challenge being focused on getting as close to my goal as possible. Oh and in case you were wondering, my goal is unreachable now and I actually haven't lost any weight since I've set it, but I would love to at least lose one or two pounds. That would be awesome. More of that.

I hope everyone is doing a little better than me, but just keep motivated and going your own path. If something isn't working, fix it!

20 Day Challenge_____________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/21/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/22/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)
Day 6 (8/23/13): Red Hot Core
Day 7 (8/24/13): Diamond Cutter + Red Hot Core

Day 8 (8/25/13): Below the Belt + Red Hot Core

Day 9 (8/26/13): Mix Tape + Red Hot Core
Day 10 (8/27/13): Energy + Red Hot Core
Day 11 (8/28/13): Fat Burner + Red Hot Core
Day 12 (8/29/13): Energy + Red Hot Core
Day 13 (8/30/13): Red Hot Core
Day 14 (8/31/13): Energy

Lazy Day (Day 13 of 20)

Just going to be a lazy day for me today. In other words, I'll be doing Red Hot Core as my work out for the day. It should never be knocked though! Even if it's around 13 minutes long, it can pack a punch if you are truly engaging. If your core isn't developed (mine definitely needs work), then you will be feeling this in your abs within the first three minutes.

Nothing wrong with that! Can I do more? Yes, of course. But I think it is important to maintain the course of achieving your goals without overdoing it and adding the stress of keeping up a crazy workout schedule. That's why I love Red Hot Core. It;s best for me to do something everyday. If I give myself an "off" day, that one day become two, then three, then I am working out once every now and again. With Red Hot Core I can commit to a 13 minutes workout that I feel and still have a lazy day. Love it.

Vegetarian Chili for dinner. Recipe can be found here. Will post my verdict later. Oh and it's a very good idea NOT to touch the burner on the stove.... just sayin'.

Oh and if you have been keeping up with my posts and vlogs, you will know that I am now doing 30 days of tracking my food (mostly calorie intake). Today is going great with 1252 calories and counting!

20 Day Challenge_____________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/21/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/22/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)
Day 6 (8/23/13): Red Hot Core
Day 7 (8/24/13): Diamond Cutter + Red Hot Core

Day 8 (8/25/13): Below the Belt + Red Hot Core

Day 9 (8/26/13): Mix Tape + Red Hot Core
Day 10 (8/27/13): Energy + Red Hot Core
Day 11 (8/28/13): Fat Burner + Red Hot Core
Day 12 (8/29/13): Energy + Red Hot Core
Day 13 (8/30/13): Red Hot Core

60 Day Update (Day 12 of 20)

Today was my 60 Day Update. Check out my video for it below! I talk about my weight loss since my last update and my total weight loss; show my pictures since my last update; and talk about what I've been doing and what my goals are for the next 30 days.

I'll post my pics below, but also make sure to check them out on the tab below my banner marked "Photo Journey." (Click to enlarge):

I can tell the difference since I have started and I really had to think about that today to feel good about my progress. I have been feeling that it isn't enough, but at the end of the day I am doing better than I was when I started. That was what I wanted: to feel better. I have gained some weight since Friday, however, so I will have to start monitoring my food intake. Starting tomorrow I will track my calories until my 90 day update. Then I will evaluate again how I am doing and any changes that need to be made.


Today by itself was okay. I got up late, but not too late. I actually did good and woke myself up and got up to weigh myself and measure and take pics. Then I ate a pretty good lunch with protein and veggies.Dinner consisted of some tofu that I marinated and onions and celery. Was very good. Of course I am ruining all of that by having a drink. Really need to stop that, but as soon as I start tracking my food and drink tomorrow I think the problem will take care of itself, because of all the calories that are in alcohol. I can already foresee my weight loss by tracking. The biggest thing is to not stress out about it. If I do then I will reduce my goal dates. Better to lose weight gradually and with less stress than overdo it and gain everything back.

Exercise wise, I did Energy and Red Hot Core. I had meant today to be another exercise heavy day with my extra, non-yoga workout attached. I got tired though after doing my yoga and decided that since my exercise isn't the problem I would just chill a little today after my yoga workout and not stress about it and prepare for tomorrow. Will continue to do my challenge and hope that next Thurs/Fri weigh in is better than today's and most likely tomorrow's.

How have y'all been doing?

20 Day Challenge_____________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/21/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/22/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)
Day 6 (8/23/13): Red Hot Core
Day 7 (8/24/13): Diamond Cutter + Red Hot Core

Day 8 (8/25/13): Below the Belt + Red Hot Core

Day 9 (8/26/13): Mix Tape + Red Hot Core
Day 10 (8/27/13): Energy + Red Hot Core
Day 11 (8/28/13): Fat Burner + Red Hot Core
Day 12 (8/29/13): Energy + Red Hot Core

Lateness (Day 11 of 20)

Super late yoga night (as in 11:45 I started it), but an even later post. I thought I wanted to be getting this stuff in earlier... Need to be up a little earlier tomorrow with it being a big day and everything. Tomorrow is finally my 60 Day update with DDPYoga. I've only been talking about it everyday now for the past week. Not too excited about it, but still going to weigh-in, measure, and take pictures and shoot a video. I know I've lost stuff since the first 30 days though, so that's always nice.

Other than that, I had a mind opener tonight. Was talking to a friend about how something isn't working for us like we want it with the weight loss even though we are working out. I figured it was the food and decided to round up what I ate today, calorie wise.... Um.... can you say 3000 cals? It was near there. Today was a heavy day; I don't eat like that everyday (had a bit lot of wine). Still... that is ridiculous. I was avoiding counting calories again, due to the stress it ends up involving, but there is no way around it now. I need to retrain myself to eat a proper amount at least. After I get used to that, then maybe I can cut out the counting and just pay attention to what I'm eating. Thinking about starting that Friday. Tomorrow I am going to focus on the update and everything and try to cleanse a bit with no heavy foods. Might do a no carb day? Just don't want to feel as heavy after today.

Guess I'll leave off here. Some changes to make, but I am happy that I've been keeping up the exercise. That is half the battle and at least I'm doing good there. I do have to get it in earlier in the day though. Tomorrow is also my big exercise day where I do the extra exercise like I did last week. Should make me feel better after that!

20 Day Challenge_____________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/21/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/22/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)
Day 6 (8/23/13): Red Hot Core
Day 7 (8/24/13): Diamond Cutter + Red Hot Core

Day 8 (8/25/13): Below the Belt + Red Hot Core

Day 9 (8/26/13): Mix Tape + Red Hot Core
Day 10 (8/27/13): Energy + Red Hot Core
Day 11 (8/28/13): Fat Burner + Red Hot Core

Halfsies (Day 10 of 20)

Halfway through my 20 day challenge. Feels like it's been twice that long though. It was another late night for yoga, as in I just finished it. I did Energy and Red Hot Core. It was really nice to get back to Energy after challenging myself with the other workouts. I need to have more energy for these workouts though. I think I need to tweak my sleep schedule a bit still, so I can wake up and get them done. It's so tiring just to think about getting up and dong yoga at a certain point. I'm still getting it done, but it's getting harder to get them in and it's only been 10 days. 10 more to go!

Thursday is my 60 day update and I'm a bit nervous. I mean I should have at least lost another inch on my waist, but I'm not losing the weight like I want anymore. Still a big improvement on where I started. I guess that's how I need to be looking at it. I feel way better than I did and a lot less stressed. That was the main reason I started this.

Gonna end the post short tonight as I left it so late and I am tired. Hope to go to sleep at a relatively decent hour tonight. Hope everyone is doing well!!!

20 Day Challenge_____________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/21/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/22/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)
Day 6 (8/23/13): Red Hot Core
Day 7 (8/24/13): Diamond Cutter + Red Hot Core

Day 8 (8/25/13): Below the Belt + Red Hot Core

Day 9 (8/26/13): Mix Tape + Red Hot Core
Day 10 (8/27/13): Energy + Red Hot Core

Night Sessions (Day 9 of 20)

I really need to get back to getting my yoga sessions in during the day when I have a little more energy. I just did Mix Tape and Red Hot Core (RHC). I kind of  played out a little bit while doing Mix Tape, but I figured even if I'm not engaging fully I'm still doing better than just sitting down. I had never done Mix Tape before, so it was a little weird to do RHC moves during it and then to do them again when I followed up by doing the RHC workout. I thought about not doing it, but since I told myself I would I did it in the end.

Can't go breaking myself out of the habit of doing what I told myself I was going to do. Not now that I am a day away from being halfway through my 20 day challenge. The days seem to be going by really fast, but the challenge seems to be slow going. Not sure how that is happening or if it even makes sense. I'm doing it though. I just hope I get the results I want in the end.

Still need to work on food intake as always. I did a lot better today though, so I think I may be making some progress. Two things I know I need to work on: breakfast and carbs. For breakfast, it's actually the fact that I still need to tweak my sleep schedule a bit so that i get up in time to actually have breakfast. I am not allowing myself to squeeze in an extra meal to make up for it. If I want breakfast (actually I do need breakfast) I need to get up for it. The carbs aren't horrible, but I still need to work on eating more vegetables than I have been.

It's all about them baby steps and making progress. This isn't an overnight process so i know it is going to take some time for my body to really show the results that I am working for, but I confess I have my doubts about if I'm doing enough. I just feel that I went from doing nothing to doing so much to improve my health and I'm not seeing a lot of what I thought I would see, especially from losing weight before. I really just don't want to go back to counting calories. That's too much stress and this is about lowering my stress not adding to it. Well those are just some of my worries and doubts. I wouldn't be human if I didn't have any, right?

I always end up typing more lately than I think I will. That's what happens when you tend to ramble on I suppose. Let me know how you all are doing. Leave a comment, I love them
: )

20 Day Challenge_____________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/21/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/22/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)
Day 6 (8/23/13): Red Hot Core
Day 7 (8/24/13): Diamond Cutter + Red Hot Core

Day 8 (8/25/13): Below the Belt + Red Hot Core

Day 9 (8/26/13): Mix Tape + Red Hot Core

Why so serious? (Day 8 of 20)

You know I'm serious about this challenge if I woke up just to do yoga... Seriously I was so tired that I decided that I had to take a nap at 6:30. I was going to get up after an hour, watch a show, and then do yoga. That didn't happen. Fell back asleep after my alarm went off. Somehow (probably my subconscious not wanting me to screw up the challenge) I woke up and am about to do yoga at almost 10:00 at night. Not only am I about to yoga, but I am going to do Below the Belt and Red Hot Core. Why am I going to do that? Because I'm nuts. Will finish writing post after yoga. By the way, I'm still really tired.

Pretty much modified and didn't engage as much on the second half of Below the Belt, but I'm tired and I know I still got a workout, especially with Red Hot Core at the end. I;m sweating and was shaking, so I know I was turning stuff on. I'm glad I woke up to workout though. I would have been so mad at myself tomorrow if I hadn't. I need to be careful though, knowing me I woke wake up next time. I need to be getting my workouts in earlier in the day I guess.

So while I'm pretty serious about the workouts lately, I am still slacking on the food front. This week was supposed to see me being more serious about what I am eating. Today consisted of pizza. Granted, the whole reason for the pizza is because I had been craving it since I graduated in May and it wasn't my idea to go do the trip into the city to get some things and grab the pizza on the way back, but I was happy happy happy while eating it. I guess I'm okay about it since I know it's not everyday I do this. I know I just need to do the program and actually get serious about what I'm eating, but I'm concentrating so much on the workouts and I feel better about that since I was having such a tough time not doing them not to long ago. I just feel much better these days because of it. I'll get there I just am not going to stress about it.

Guess that's it for tonight. Hoping to go back to sleep soon. Close call, but I managed to get it in. Did you get everything in you wanted today?

____________________________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/21/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/22/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)
Day 6 (8/23/13): Red Hot Core
Day 7 (8/24/13): Diamond Cutter + Red Hot Core

Day 8 (8/25/13): Below the Belt + Red Hot Core

Feeling Froggy (Day 7 of 20)

I decided yesterday that the disappointing weigh-in would not make me go backwards. This time around, setbacks = motivation. I don't want to live on excuses for the rest of my life. I mean if I let one little disappointment own my life, then I might as well quit all together. So I've decided that I really need to be in this. I've a little lax when it comes to my food. I've been concentrating on just not overeating, but I really need to think about WHAT I am eating more. That's not to say I've been eating tons of unhealthy stuff, but I can be doing better.

I just got done with Diamond Cutter AND Red Hot Core (RHC). Did I mention I was feeling froggy? To be honest I forgot how long Diamond Cutter was until I was already five minutes into the program. I forgot that I used to only do half of the workout. Not anymore. I mean I had to modify here and there and I took more frequent water breaks, but I did it. I even thought about only doing half or not doing RHC after, but since I wrote down that I was going to do it, I decided that I needed to follow through. Super tired and feeling good. Kind of proud of myself. Will love the day that I will be able to do all of these without modifying. That day I will be super glad that I did everything that I did today. Although, to be honest, I already am glad.

Ah yes, so I've decided to be more proactive about what I eat. I wrote down yesterday what I was going to eat today. I won't do that all the time, because it's not always possible for me to know what I'm going to eat the next day. For the next couple of days though I am going to try and keep it up. I didn't get up in time to eat breakfast and decided not to squeeze it in. If I want breakfast, I need to get up for it. Lunch was good and I only ate what I said I was, so that's good. Dinner was half a plate of corn and a little rice and I reheated 2 kabob sticks that we had for dinner yesterday that I saute with Spicy Chili Sauce. Was super delicious. I'll include a pic of the kabobs with a sort of recipe although with kabobs it's mostly just assembly ; ) Oh the other thing I need to work on is giving up alcohol for awhile to help with weight loss. I don't drink a lot or often, but when I'm in a mood for it I can drink a little bit and I don't want it to affect my weight loss. Till tomorrow!

Vegetarian Kabobs

You'll need:
Skewers
1 package of Gardein Beefless Tips
1 Green Pepper
2 Small onions
Optional: 1 cored pineapple
Optional: Marinade

Firstly, make sure you SOAK the skewers for about 2 hours, otherwise they'll start to smoke and whatnot on the grill.

While they are soaking you can prepare the rest ahead of time. Cut your green pepper into one inch pieces. Then cut your onion into wedges. If you are going to put on pineapple (grilled pineapple is delicious) then core and cut your pineapple into 1 inch pieces as well. Or you can just buy them in chunks at the store.

As it gets closer to cook, about 30 minutes, if you want to marinade your beefless tips, go ahead and do that. This time we used Lawry's Caribbean Jerk marinade. Whether you do or not, you need to take your beefless tips from the freezer to thaw some. They are still quite frozen when I skewer them, so it may take some elbow grease. You can try to thaw them a little more than we do.

After everything is ready to go, grab your skewer and assemble away! As you are done, you can also drizzle a little more marinade over the skewer if you want.

Skewers before grilling!

Then grill them about 10 minutes or until they are done. We usually grill them after grilling everything else first (my meatless stuff have a special spot on the grill) so the grill is already nice and hot. Then serve and enjoy!

These also make great leftovers. I usually reheat them in a skillet with a little spray and then add some spicy chili sauce and eat with rice, like I did today. Although I'm not eating as much rice as I would before. That's a great thing about filling my plate half with veggies, I have less room for the other stuff!

____________________________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/21/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/22/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)
Day 6 (8/23/13): Red Hot Core
Day 7 (8/24/13): Diamond Cutter + Red Hot Core

Day 6 of 20 (Sore and Tired)

Today has been a busy day so far. Want to get my post up early and make sure to share my newest video (located at the bottom of this post) which was my Day 5 update and also features my weigh-in this morning. Speaking of which.... about a pound down. Not as much as I would like, but i suppose a loss is a loss. Brings the total up to 13 lost. My 60 day is coming up next Thursday, so I won't weigh-in again until then. I will also make sure to do my measurements and my pictures.

Otherwise I'm exhausted! So much for trying to get to sleep earlier! I admit I did stay up until 1 a.m. again, but given my workout yesterday I was definitely tired enough to fall asleep. Laid in bed for the longest time and finally dozed off around 4 a.m. Yes, that is nuts! I got woken up this morning to go grocery shopping though and I managed to get up. I think it was easier because, to be honest, I don't think I ever went into a deep sleep. Makes for a tired day and also will lead me into doing Red Hot Core as my yoga for today. It still counts though and I want to taker it a little easier given my tiredness and the fact that I am good and sore from yesterday. If I'm up to it tomorrow though... I might venture onto Disc 2! Woah, I know, how adventurous of  me, but I actually started on Disc 2 since my Disc 1 was damaged initially. Plus I need to change things up.

I think I need to focus on my food more. I think that is going to be the key to losing more weight. I really need to take the intiative when it comes to that. I may think up another challenge to help me with it. Or just add it to the rest of my 20 Day Challenge. Any ideas?

My vid:

____________________________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/21/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/22/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)
Day 6 (8/23/13): Red Hot Core

Day 5 of 20

That's 1/4 the way through! I like the way that sounds. I've been in the mood to do a serious workout and after my meh day yesterday, I decided today would be a great day to do one since weigh-in is tomorrow morning!

I woke up around 11:30 a.m., which is great for me. I need to be going to sleep a little earlier than 1 a.m. though if I want to get up sooner. To be honest I could have slept more, but knowing that I really wanted to get a workout in, I made myself get up.

I kept putting off of doing my workout though each hour. Have I ever mentioned that I am the Queen of ProcrastiNation? Well I am and it was probably around 4 something when I finally got my DDPYoga in. I did Energy AND Red Hot Core. That felt good although my legs felt like they weren't going to make it through. I must be engaging more than I thought!

I took about 10 minutes to rest and get a little more water in and then I put my shoes on, grabbed my water and iPod, and headed downstairs. I decided to do Burpees and walk on the treadmill. For those who aren't familiar with Burpees, the following pic kind of explains it (click to enlarge):

Start standing, then squat and jump feet back to do a pushup, jump feet back near hands, then stand up into a jump. Rinse and Repeat : )

I do descending sets from 10. So I do 10 and then 9, then 8, so on and so forth. In between I catch my breath, but this time I decided while I was catching my breath I would keep the workout goingby doing 5 minutes in between sets on the treadmill (I literally almost put microwave instead of treadmill...). On the treadmill alone I spent 50 minutes... then with the burpees in between and the yoga today.... oh yeah I got a workout.

Let me tell you.... this will probably be my go-to workout when I seriously want a good hard workout that gets me sweating and gets all my pent up energy out. I can't do it everyday or even every other day, but every week maybe I might do this. It just really felt good. Usually I'm fine with just doing DDPYoga, but I was just feeling so meh like I wasn't doing enough. Well, not anymore! Seriously tired from it, so I should be able to go to sleep sooner and better than yesterday.

Oh and I didn't overeat really at all. I am about to eat a little ice cream though, so hopefully I don't go nuts on that, but honestly I am not about to mess up what I did today and tomorrow is weigh in so I think I'll be able to control it.

Until tomorrow!

____________________________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/22/13): Energy

Day 5 (8/23/13): Energy + Red Hot Core (and burpees + treadmill)

Day 4 of 20

This picture was posted on the DDPYoga Facebook page. This is pretty much what goes on in my head when I don't want to do yoga/exercise. Yes I really want to do it essentially and am even excited that I've been doing it, but still I have trouble actually wanting to get up and do it. So the argument just becomes the solution in the end. The question mark becomes a period and I get up and do it. Not all the time, but it will for the rest of these 20 days at least.


Today is Day 4. The sleep deal is better. I could have went to bed a little earlier, but the fact I went to bed last night is improvement enough for one night. Woke up about 11:30, which is later than I had wanted, but I'll take it over 3 or 4 p.m. Hopefully I will be able to get to sleep tonight, so I can keep this going.

Mentally, I'm okay except I am a bit down I suppose. A friend said something at the end of volleyball last night, which is probably what got me really thinking about the future and when I was going to start working on having an actual life. You know... actually living. Still working on that, but seriously need to be more proactive about it. Other than that, I guess I am having a fat day. I mean everyday is kind of a fat day of sorts, but lately I have been feeling a little smaller and feeling confident that I am losing weight. Not today. Today is heavy, but I'm hoping that ends after I do my yoga for today.

I thought with waking up earlier I would be more motivated to do yoga during the day, but since I was so tired after waking up I didn't feel like much of doing anything. I might just do energy again. RHC is so very tempting, but I'm determined not to fall back on that too much. Actually I am making a new rule for myself: no doing RHC two days in a row (unless it's to add at the end of another work out, like doing Energy and then RHC too). I really don't feel like encountering those Broken Table crunches or whatnot and I don't feel like moving on to another disc yet, so Energy it is. But it is better than nothing.

It's kind of pitiful that I seriously want to do a great workout where I really just sweat and feel great at the end, but I still am not too motivated beyond a certain point. It's so weird to be so excited about something, but still feel so.... meh about actually doing it at the same time. I just talked with Zulmarie about weighing in on Fridays and I think tomorrow I will be better motivated for a great workout. I might do yoga tomorrow and then do some regular exercise or something at least extra. Wish I had someone to play tennis with or just play around with volleyball. I suck at both, but I think they are fun. Until then yoga and other stuff around the house it is!

So off to do Energy! I like this picture too, also courtesy of DDPYoga, and this is what I'm going to do now!

____________________________

Day 1 (8/18/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/19/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/20/13): Red Hot Core (and volleyball!)

Day 4 (8/22/13): Energy

Day 3 of 20 (Fare thee well ole volley)

Amazing how days go fast huh? Already done with Day 3 of my 20 Day Challenge to do DDPYoga 20 days in a row as well as generally eat better and be more active and record it all here for your reading entertainment!

Today was the last day of my volleyball season. We actually did great for us. I mean we still lost, but we had a close one going on there and we actually played for a full hour. Anyway, it was a good workout. I normally wouldn't do DDPYoga on top of it, but since I said I would specifically do DDPYoga everyday, then that's what I did. I just did RHC though. I know it's kind of a cop-out to do the shortest one, but it IS a great core workout and I definitely feel it in my abs! So yes the shortest, but it's a good workout and I did a full hour of volleyball, so I consider today a success on that front.

Sleep wise: I stayed up through the night until 7 a.m. and then decided to sleep until noon, so I could actually play volleyball instead of the zombie that would have shown up in my place had I not slept. So far it has worked out, even though I was a bit tired. I'm hoping I can wind down and sleep in the next hour or so. Then I can possibly wake up at a decent hour tomorrow. Here's hoping!

Food wise: it was okay, but could have done better. I had a egg, cheese, and vegetarian bacon bagel for lunch when I woke up (so I guess it was my breakfast, but it was lunch time), so I did have protein (egg and bacon) and carbs (bagel) together, but in fairness I didn't make it and I certainly wasn't going to waste it. It was pretty good though. For dinner I ate Jimmy Johns, which is a sub chain. I had the vegetarian one and did have a bag of Thinny Chips and some sweet raspberry tea. Not the best thing to eat, but it's better than the other choices I had, so I'm happy with it. I've actually been trying not drink caffeine and I have succeeded until today. You can take me out of the South, but you can't take the South out of me and sometimes a southern girl just gotta have her sweet tea!

So today was good. I'm starting to feel like I need to get other aspects of my life going as well. Like... oh I don't know.... getting a job and moving on my own and getting a life? hehe. All in good time, but I really need to be more proactive about it. Don't want to waste all that time I spent getting All-College Honors and crap with two majors and minor that almost drove me completely insane! I do have to remain calm about it though. It's something that can easily stress me out nowadays and apparently I can't handle that anymore. I guess my mind is starting to clear though. I don't know if that makes sense or not, but I guess I am just generally doing better.

This challenge thing is turning out to be a great idea! Woot for goals!

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Day 1 (8/19/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/20/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/21/13): Red Hot Core

Day 2 of 20

My Internet sucks or it's just my computer, they both suck, but I did my workout earlier and wrote my post:

Just got done doing Energy. I thought I was going to be enthusiastic and do RHC, but Energy coming to a close was met with my own energy depleting. I think when I can finally get my sleep schedule under control that will help with the energy and motivation aspect.

Needless to say, I have not fixed my sleep schedule yet. I thought I would stay up through today and sleep tonight to wake up at a more 'normal' hour tomorrow. That lasted until about 7:30 or 8:00 this morning. I got tired and bored since I was waiting for my video to finalize (which is seriously taking about 8 hours to upload to youtube. I am still waiting... seriously have to figure out how to make this go by a little quicker, otherwise no more videos for me!). Anyway, I went to sleep and didn't get up until after 3:00 p.m. I know, it's horrible, but that's what it is. I will try again tonight as I don't think I will sleep any. (Although I will have to sleep at some point since I have volleyball tomorrow) If this fails again then I will just do a lot of DDPYoga or something when I am up tomorrow to tire myself out or something if volleyball doesn't do the trick. 

Food wise, today has, so far, gone a lot better. I ate dinner about an hour or so getting up, I know it's ridiculous, but bear with me. I like to fill my plate half full with veggies first, so I have limited room for other stuff. So I had half a plate of corn and two choplets (basically a vegetarian version of porkchops) and I said no to the rice-a-roni deal going on. That's hard, but I really want to give the no proteins and carbs together thing another go. 

So Day 2 went well with exercise and food. I just really need to work on the whole sleep thing. Feeling okay otherwise. Hope everyone else is doing well!

~

Oh and I just posted my video for Day 1 on my last blog : )

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Day 1 (8/19/13): Fat Burner

Day 2 (8/20/13): Energy

Day 3 (8/21/13):

Day 1 of 20 (w/vid)

I had almost forgot how much I hated the Broken Table Crunches since I haven't done the Fat Burner workout in awhile. Usually I'm perfectly fine hating the Broken Table as it is. Needless to say I have done Fat Burner as the first workout for my 20 day Challenge. I got a good sweat going and feel a lot better afterwards. The food portion of my challenge didn't go well as it consisted of too many carbs and then some fast food (although it was a veggie burger). I don't eat a lot of fast food, but it had been awhile and my brother bought it for the family (I know I know excuses).

On the sleep front, I tried to stay up and just try to make it through the day, but I only made it to 6:30 and then passed out to wake up at basically dinner time. Really need to switch it back around! That's is something to work on in the next couple of days.

I shot a video kind of explaining what I already did in my last post and talking a little about why I'm doing this and about today as Day 1. It's going to take me a bit to edit (since I was rambling again) and then forever to upload, but I wanted to get this post up tonight.

All in all I could have done a lot better, but I got my workout in and I feel great about that. Hope everyone is doing great with their respective journey and challenges!



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Day 1 (8/19/13): Fat Burner
Day 2 (8/20/13):

20 day Challenge

Well, I didn't do yoga yesterday, but it's okay to take a day off now and again.... or so I told myself. I WILL do Red Hot Core today. Mostly because I want to feel it today and I want something quick, because I'm not really in the mood.

My sleep is totally messed up again. As I said, I can switch it to more 'normal' hours for a week or so, but then it just slides back around. I really need to switch it back though; this going to sleep early in the morning and waking up late afternoon is not going to work for what I want to do. So either I will hopefully randomly go to sleep tonight, or tomorrow I will have to stay up. Kind of hoping I just randomly get tired tonight.

Now for the part that explains that photo: I recently really re-connected with a good friend (Her name is Zulmarie and she is awesome, so go check her out!). Since I was in school I went off the radar a bit, but now I'm back at home and not doing much, so I have plenty of time on my hands! She's kind of in the same spot as me and we were losing weight together before and using each other as moral support and motivation. We were a little enthusiastic I think and I know personally I went all out. I was doing 1 hour workouts everyday with no days off and counting every calorie. Yes I lost 30+ lbs, but no wonder I couldn't keep it up and gained it back. This time around the key is less stress, because honestly I can't handle anymore right now.

Okay now I'm really going to explain the challenge thing: So anyway, we have set up mini goals for ourselves over the next couple of months, so that we have little things to work towards to help achieve our bigger goals. My first one is 215, which is losing 8 more pounds than the 223 I weighed myself last Tuesday. I want to do this by Sept. 6. So starting tomorrow until then, is 20 days. I will do DDPYoga everyday of those 20 days.

So that's challenge #1. DDPYoga everyday for 20 days. I also want to blog everyday during that time and make a video at least once a week. I also want to try to stick with food combining (proteins/veggies and carbs/veggies). Mainly I just want to eat more veggies than carbs. So it's a little challenge, but I figure starting small and building up is better that going all out from the get-go and trying to maintain that.

So Day 1 starts tomorrow~

But yes of course I'm going to do RHC today.

Red Hot Core

Just a little update for the last post before I talk about today: I ended up doing Energy even though I had decided not to by the time I posted that, but Lanie (check out her blog! She is awesome!) commented and said that we should both just get up and do it and we did! Sometimes that's all ya need, just someone who says I will if you will! I'm used to it being used for dares or doing something stupid, but as it turns out, it works great as a motivational tool as well! So thanks Lanie!

As for today, I was well on my way to not wanting to do yoga again, but decided that while my dinner cooked I would do Red Hot Core since it's only around 12 minutes long. I love it because I start to feel it in my core in the first minute or so. It's great! I feel like I should be doing a little more, but the way I had been feeling, I guess I'm doing great just to be moving everyday so far. I need to find my program so that I can go back and fill in what I've been doing to keep track. 

On the food end, I need to be doing better, but I honestly am just concentrating on moving and not overeating. That really hasn't been a problem lately, but my appetite is returning and I don't want to start any overeating again. So far so good. I'm still here.

To Break or Not to Break?

I ended up not doing Energy yesterday. Went out and ate at Taco Bell. Never eat out, so I never beat myself up about it when I actually do. Had a Veggie Cantina Burrito. Didn't have meat in it so I thought I'd give it a try and it was pretty good. I also didn't feel bad about no Energy either, because i ended up playing two games of volleyball. Each game is three sets. It was a good hour and so of volleyball. We suck, but we have some great laughs. Next week is the last week though, so I'm going to have to step up with the DDPYoga. Speaking of... I haven't done anything today yet. Made red beans and rice for dinner and watched some shows with my brother. I should have done it before I ate. I've thought about just taking a break today since yesterday was a lot of sweating, but I should probably do Energy anyway. It's only like 20 minutes right? I'll try to be good and get it in sometime tonight.

Weight Update

Woke up super late, but I think it had something to do with getting woken up so many times during the night. But I did weigh myself and it says 223, which means I've now lost a total of 12 pounds. I think that's due mostly to my doing energy everyday for past couple of days and my lack of appetite. Don't know if I will do Energy today, since I have volleyball. I suppose it depends if I get up shortly and do it. Don't really feel like doing volleyball to be honest. Afraid of my left side still, but I'll go anyway. I don't see the weight loss yet, so I'm almost thinking my scale has made a mistake, but I suppose that is just silly.

Re-energize Kat

Not much to say. Did Energy again. Thought about doing Fat Burner instead, but decided just to stick with Energy. If feeling better tomorrow then I might try Fat Burner or Energy w/ RHC. Feeling better, left arm is just tired a little and woke up bad, but that actually has a reason. It's hard to wake up and have someone ask something of you when you aren't even awake yet and have problems of your own that they aren't even bothering to notice. People... Anyway, still worried, but hanging in there. Getting my appetite back , but don't want to start overeating or anything. Still drinking mostly water. Okay.

Energy Day 3

My last post had me up through the night since 11:30pm last night. It was around 6am when I went and laid down again. It took awhile, but I managed to go to sleep. Woke up around 11am. I was so groggy. Honestly I laid back down, because it felt better to lay down and I still felt so tired. I made myself get up. Then I wanted to take a shower, but thought that I should do DDPYoga first. Otherwise I wouldn't want to do it after I showered. So did Energy again for the same reasons I've done it the past two days. Feel better doing it (although the broken table is a little harder on my left side now) and especially right after I feel better.

I ate some leftovers, that I didn't finish (noticed my appetite has changed and I don't eat much. but it's better than it was a couple days ago) and then sat down to finally go through all my papers I accumulated in college, at least from this last year or two. I had trouble concentrating and felt groggy or heavy-headed. I was wondering if it was some medicine I took even though it says it has caffeine in it. Took a break, paced a bit, drank some water, laid down, rinse and repeat. Started feeling better so went through more papers. Took a long time and still not finished with that stuff, but it kept me doing something which helps. 

So all in all, still some discomfort, but it was better today and I kept busy. Still worried, but hopefully it is just turning out to be anxiety/hormones and because I was being too inactive over the past couple of weeks. I'm going to see how it goes this week and depending on how I'm feeling I might schedule to go in and see someone. If I'm worse it's for certain. If I feel better than I might go anyway if I'm feeling confident enough. I just know it's something I really need to do. I want to continue doing some work out everyday for the time being, even if it is just Energy. It's something and it's a whole lot better than nothing. It makes me feel like I'm being more proactive. I still have those moments where I feel like it's too late and my body gave up on me, but I'm doing my best to go forward. 

I hope to go to bed at a decent hour and NOT wake up until at least 7 or 8. The 2-4am wake up and then go back to sleep around 6-7 crap needs to stop. And hopefully no more sleeping all day. Still have no idea what that was about yesterday.

Thanks to those who are keeping up with me! I love and appreciate yall : )

Discomfort and Sleepiness

Did Energy again today. Felt it was safe to do since it's not too strenuous and not too long. Still experiencing discomfort in left chest and arm. Probably need to see someone about it. I know I am young, but being unhealthy for so many years and having heart issues run in family, it might be something to worry about. Which is why I am afraid to go of course. I'm just having a hard time explaining this away with anxiety or hormones. I think I might talk to my mom tomorrow and if I am no better then see where I can go in.

Also, I think I've screwed up my sleep schedule again. I had woken up around 4am and couldn't go back to sleep. I got up and ate and sat at the computer for the bit and around 6:45 managed to lay back down and go to sleep. Couldn't get up again until around 12. Got up and ate a sandwich and while everyone went to town I did yoga. Not too sure what time it was when I went and laid down in my mom's room. Just remember waking up after 5pm. Then I walked into my room and went to sleep in my bed. Why? I don't really know. I just woke up again around 11:30 pm I wanted to go back to sleep because I really didn't want to mess up my schedule. But I had only that one sandwich to eat. Still haven't eaten. I'm having issues with my appetite and what to eat. So I'm going to eat and then hopefully lay back down in the next couple of hours to see if I can't sleep a little more. It's doubtful because I pretty much slept all day.

I had wanted to post something different early and almost did, but I always stop myself from posting. Guess I will post this one though.

Energy!

Did energy today. Huge step forward for me. I've had a bad couple of days. Actually for the past couple of weeks I've felt myself deteriorating, and then around Wednesday I've just gone downhill. That night was horrible, fought like hell to stop from going into a full panic attack. But I've been feeling these weird symptoms and they are all on the left side so it's scary. Thing is I can't tell anymore whether it's just form the anxiety, stress stuff or it's something else and it's causing my anxiety or stress. The chicken or the egg sort of situation.

I stayed up all day yesterday to switch my schedule around, so that I can sleep at night and be up during the day. I felt horrible, achy, anxious all day and couldn't eat a lot. I couldn't take it anymore and went to sleep around 6pm. I woke up a little after 2am, used the bathroom and tried my best to go back to sleep. Didn't happen though. Tried three times. Finally around 7:45-8 I didn't even think I was going to be able to, but I fell asleep after trying again. I got woken up at 10, so that I could still be up during the day and be able to sleep tonight. At first I felt fine, but I still just have an uneasy, sick feeling in my chest and my arm feels a little weird when I stretch my arm fully and rotate it a little.

I decided to go ahead and do some yoga, even if I couldn't do it to the full extent. I did Energy and am glad I did. While I was doing it I felt better and for a bit after I felt better too, but as I sit here writing this, I still feel weird. I know what I should do and need to do, but what happens when you are terrified of doing it? For now I will continue doing yoga in hopes that it's just a mental thing and that I've just been sitting around too long. This was the whole reason I started doing DDPYoga in the first place. I feel like I failed a second chance or something and am afraid I won't get a third.

Oh and I had a post up Wednesday about this challenge I wanted to do for myself, but then a couple of hours later when I turned bad, I took it down. Hopefully I will be able to put it back up tomorrow and will be able to tackle it for the next 20 days.

Sleepness

Nothing too much to update, but I do want to start writing more blog posts. As I mentioned before, I feel like I'm getting in the habit of posting one when I do vlog updates. I think I'm getting lazy all around, because I've just been doing the Freaky Friday Challenges for the vlogs as well. This isn't going to work if I don't do anything I set out to do.

I've super tired a lot and I realize the weird symptoms and anxiety is returning. Haven't had a full blown panic attack again, but I really thought I was on my way to have one last night. Oh and by 'last night' I mean around 5 or 6 this morning. I am back on, what my friend calls, 'vampire hours.' I've always been pretty nocturnal though. Anytime I manage to switch my sleep schedule to more 'normal' hours, it lasts about a week. Even at school or when I worked, the hour I went to sleep became later and later. This led to me being very tired in class or at work. Not cool.

I think regardless of what my schedule is I need to set up a certain time that I do my DDPYoga workouts. Almost like an appointment I have to keep, so no matter what my schedule is I have to get up for it. I'm thinking that this might help me form the habit, so that when I'm not motivated for it (which I'm having a serious problem with) I will do it anyway.

Crocodile!

I think I need to start blogging more. I don't want this to just be a place to put my vlogs, but lately it seems that's what I've been doing. I'll start blogging more, but for now I am going to put my Freaky Friday Challenge up. It's a bit late, because it takes me forever to get the things uploaded and the challenge was set a bit late, but it's up and that's the important thing. I cannot hold a modified crocodile long, but Mia definitely made the video worth it! She is so funny! I crocodile is basically holding a pushup in the down position (about 3 or so inches from the ground). I do it on my knees, because that's about all I can do right now and not for long. Everyone's got to start somewhere!