Phase 3-

I haven't written on here in a while, like everyone else, I've gotten busy.  I currently am a mom of two very active, amazing, funny girls.  I am a wife to a husband who works 40+ hours a week (12 hour shifts) (on top of being a full time student).  I also work 3 days a week.  I see my husband a couple of hours a day, due to our very busy lives.  

Through all the hustle and bustle of life, I am trying to get healthy.  I am taking at least one hour a day all to myself, and being selfish.  This hour a day is my time to think, to watch whatever I want to, and to listen to whatever cheesy dance music I can.  The only thing is...I am doing all of this while trying to burn as many calories as possible at the gym.  The gym is MY TIME!  I am sacrificing an hour of sleep every morning to maintain my sanity.  I am running out all of my frustrations from mean customers at work, or with whining kids from the previous day, and  getting myself ready for the day to come.  I am taking this time to become the best me I know how to.  I have my downfalls, and my set backs on a regular basis.  

Even though I am working out 5 days a week, I started to plateau in my weight loss.  I got frustrated, at this point in my husbands healthy lifestyle change he was about 5 pounds away from his goal, and I am still 15 pounds away.  I have lost 40 so far, but hadn't lost any in a few weeks.  I shared my annoyance with Derrick.  So he adjusted my workout routine yet again.  And I was put on a strict clean eating "cleanse". 

Phase 3:

50 mins of HARD cardio, this can be whatever cardio I want, but I have to do 50 mins of it- Through trial and error, I have found that I need to do at least a mile of the treadmill to "warm-up" this gets my heart rate above 170.  I have always had a VERY high resting heart rate, but low blood pressure.  So in order for me to burn the most calories I have to keep my heart rate above 166 through my cardio routine.   I use my heart rate monitor to keep this in check.  As long as I run first, I am able to maintain my optimal heart rate for calories burned.  Every other day, I run a mile, then I do the stair climber for the rest of the time.  The opposite days, I run a 5K on the treadmill, then I go to the elliptical and complete the time, or I speed walk on the treadmill, at a high incline (4.2 mph, with an incline of 8) I rotate between these so I don't get burned out on any of these, and so that I trick my body into not getting lazy.  (If you do the same routine every day, it takes about 6 times in a row for your body to figure out the laziest way to complete the task at hand, so switch it up so that your body is "tricked")

20 mins of weights- this is a low-impact, fast-paced, higher-reps. Weight training.  What has been called the "cave-man" workout! I rotate between core, arms, legs, and back. (I pick two a day to focus on and rotate between them)

As far as my eating habits, I struggled through the holidays.  I snacked more than I should have, I started to get a major sweet tooth.  I became addicted to graham crackers and pretty much any carb sweet treat.  It had become an issue.  So my new cleanse, I couldn't snack on any carbs. (I could still eat my almond-butter and jelly sandwich)  Any treat that I ate, I had to be able to name all of the ingredients in it.  (So my treats switched from graham crackers, to fruits).  I could have one carb treat a week, but even with that I had to be able to name all of the ingredients- so natural treats that we baked I could have.  This is for a whole month, and then we will re-evaluate my eating habits.  I am eating lots of lean-proteins, fruits, veggies, and healthy fats.  

Another thing I have had to do, increase my water intake.  I carry a water bottle with me, and I need to drink at least 72 oz of water a day, I am increasing my intake daily, and want to get to up to the gallon challenge (drink at least a gallon of water a day) but I am far from this! But just another goal I get to reach for and then crush! 

By doing this, I have re-triggered my weight loss, and have gotten back on pace.  I have my struggles, but I learn from them.   I have learned that I lose weight differently than Derrick did.  I also know that I have different areas that I needed to tone/lose more weight because well, having two kids will do that to you! It has been a challenge for Derrick as well, as he is trying to coach me through this, because my body type has reacted differently than his did to different activities.  Something I have to remember: some activity is better than NO activity, switching an unhealthy habit for a healthy one, has NEVER hurt anyone.  Also, I won't regret what I did today a month from now, but I will regret not doing anything!  

I have found a love for this healthy stuff!  I thank my stubbornness, and my husband for this!