Busy fun days

This is all be a "mother-of-all" post, since we've had some full and fun-filled days and there is not enough time to split them in separate entries.

So first things, first: BALLET

The Nutcracker tech week is in full swing; in fact it started yesterday after church, when we went for the first stage rehearsal. Somebody was very excited, all eyes and ears, focused, but also a bit nervous (before getting up on the stage.)

(My little Cherub is the very first one on the right.)

We are very proud of Ella for working so hard on that stage last night and every single class period that led up to this. All those little Cherubs looked adorable up there and they couldn't be more fit to open the Guardian Angels scene.

Hrishi's Hunting trip:

Hrishi travelled to Omaha for work and he was able to make the tail end of the week into a couple of hunting days with his great friend, Dennis. He got four turkeys (only brought home two) and a 150 lbs buck. Now, that's success right there! He was so excited and so were we, getting all the updates and pictures from the field!!!

He drove over 10 hours yesterday to get back to Dallas, and right after dinner he and my mom cleaned up and cut up around 35 lbs of meat, while dad and I watched and took pictures, and Ella played with the buck's antlers! Now that's some fun family time, wouldn't you agree?? :)

Here are our two talented butchers and their masterpieces: (nice roast pieces, tenderloins, steaks, hamburger cuts, and shanks. YUM!!!) We already have a few local friends whom we'll be sharing the joy! :)

She is the funniest!!

The yield of this hunting trip justified a purchase I've been planning for a long time, a chest freezer. Now I can store meats, vegetables, bread, and whatever else I can freeze to my heart's content. Very happy about that as I am generally a bulk buyer. :)

And since we've been eating a whole lot of turkey lately and now we have a lot of deer, we decided to mix things up a bit this Thanksgiving and instead of turkey, grill some deer tenderloins. We've had that before and is absolutely delish.  

School:

The end of 2nd six weeks' report card came home on Friday, and once again our little student did very well! To spoil her a bit mamaie had scumptious cupcakes waiting for her after school.

Friday they also had their classroom Thanksgiving feast and popsicle party.

Best friends' birthday party: 

To make Friday the best day ever, after school she went to her school best friend's house (Emma) to celebrate her birthday! These girls love each other so much and they are so cute together. You see, aside from their cute bubbly personalities, they share some of the same food allergies and asthma and I guess that helped them bond more. Emma's mom, knowing of Ella's severe food allergies (from Emma), prepared and bought everything with that in mind (dairy free chicken nuggets, rice ice cream -nut and dairy free, home-made dairy-free pumpking muffins with vegan chocolate chips, etc.) I was so impressed with this amazing woman. It is the first time when a friend/parent goes all out of the way to accomodate Ella's food allergies. The mom, one amazing woman, and Emma-a wonderful friend. That really made my day!! The made a pretty frame craft, colored, cut, played games, and roasted marshmallows. Fun galore!

Hard Eight Texas BBQ:

We gave mom and dad a real taste of Texas barbeque and they loved it. On Saturday evening we went out to our favorite BBQ joint and had a feast:



Running shoes:

I've been getting blue/black toes since I've been starting to run longer distances. Not extremely painful but still uncomfortable. One of my FIT group friends, a more experienced runner herself, suggested that it may be the shoe size, too small and asked if I had fitted shoes for comfort and best results. My Bowerman series Nike had been doing the job just fine but not in the running arena but they were not fitted to my foot and running style. So I decided to finally take the leap, find a speciality store, open my wallet (big), and get myself a pair of fitted shoes. And I am so glad I did. My first 5.5 mile run on Friday in my Ghost4 Brooks was seamless. These "guys" are going to take me far! :) They are impeccable!

Otherwise, I'm keeping myself motivated  planning to sign up for my first Warrior Dash event next April. I'm very excited and pumped to start training for that. The training itself won't be much different than what I'm doing now but it'll have a higher purpose and help me stay more motivated and on track.

To help wiht my fear of heights, I'll try rock climbing. And go back to swimming at least once a week.
Exciting times, I'm telling you! :)

Run, run, run (4 miles)

I did it this Friday inspite of the fact that I had a sore throat and not much desire or energy to hit the gym. I wanted to do it though not only because it was on my training plan for Friday to run 4 miles, but because knew that I would have a great sense of accomplishment afterward. So went ahead and "checked" myself into the gym and got on that treadmill.  It was a big deal for me. Once I got past the 3 mile "milestone", I knew I could finish. I never before ran this much and it was amazing! Hard, but amazing.  My average speed was 5.5-6.5 running only, no walking.
It's difficult  to put words to how exercise makes me feel but I know for a fact that along with the common benefits of overall health, strength, and flexibility, it gives me the courage, confidence, and determination to accomplish more and more every day, and not only in the physical realm. What I once perceived as difficult or challenging tasks at work or at home, now I welcome and feel grateful for. It's a wonderful thing, a huge transformation in my life. And because it's so wonderful I just can't stop talking about it. :) What were once foreign objects that I wanted nothing to do with, are now good friends (i.e. barbells, dumb bells, heavy ball, core ball, bosu and medical balls, push carts, cables, elastic bands, iron grips, etc.)
For me to also know that I can motivate others while I'm doing what I'm doing to keep my own motivation up, is both humbling and inspiring. And because it's no fun doing this all by myself, I created a little Facebook group, "Friends in Training" in hopes to create a community of us out there working towards the same goals of living a healthier and happier life through good nutrition and physical exercise. To keep another one another motivated and accountable so we may all reach our goals. I hope everyone has as much fun out there, as I do.

Back to my first 4 mile run: I was exctatic, proud and happy, and sweaty too. After the run I went into one of the group fitness studios and did some nice stretching and couldn't help but snap some pictures. :) I do like my new "me" a lot, as "it" stand a little taller and straighter, more confident, happier, and stronger. :-)


Big smile right there on my face!

I'm pumped up about reaching my next weight (fat) loss goal and my 10K run in a few weeks. Then hopefully the Alpha Showdown and the next tri. The possibilities are almost endless, that's for sure.

And for all this, I thank Him every day, and my amazing Hrishi and Ella, and my trainer John Lee who believed in me a year ago and gave me the wings to fly higher than I ever thought possible.

"Tri" not to suck!

This awesomely athletic, mother-of-four friend from our ward posted this on her FB wall. She did a triathlon on Labor Day and said she saw this on a t-shirt at her first tri ever and stuck with her. Funny little "saying" and although not overly motivational, sometimes it does come to just that, not sucking! Lol! :)
So here I am: a very very very beginner pre-tri athlete (should I even call myself that??) stuck in a rut with my (tri) training. Having so much stuff going on (adoption training and school-start), I didn't make to the gym last week. In fact, last Saturday was my first time to swim in almost two weeks. Yes, seriously! Although I really want to do this event, with having met my weight loss goal, it just seems harder and harder to get motivated and get working hard. (I guess that's why I really signed up for this in the first place: to set a new goal, to get myself to go one tiny step further past my weight loss thing.) Some pep talk from my trainer got me back on track though.(Thank you very much!) If I am not going to train hard and prepare for this, I will be dissapointed with myself. He couldn't be more right. Keep in mind, we're talking about somebody who was dissappointed for not being in the top 20 finishers for the Boot Camp event (never wrote about this and now you know WHY! lol :-)) And I prepared pretty well for that one.
(We've been very fortunate to get these member loyalty rewards at our club Lifetime Fitness and I've been putting them to good use getting a couple of additional personal training sessions for FREE, yeay!)

So a couple of days back, although not in swimming, I broke a personal record with my interval (see the little green captions on the picture.) It makes me happy and gives me the boost that I need to keep going at it.

Because like with everything else in life, it is about doing better or doing more than you did yesterday, and not doing better or more than somebody else did/does.  (And I DO have to SPELL ALL THIS OUT IN MY HEAD over and over again almost every time I see someone taller or slimmer running like there is no tomorrow on that treadmill.) And I also have to remember that we're always supposed to do the best that WE CAN with what WE HAVE. In this case, for me that's a 142 lb body on a 5' 2" frame and with a genetically high heart rate, but with lots of will power or maybe just STUBBORNESS! :))

(This was going to be a very quick short post but can't stop now...!)

One final word: this realization, knowledge, resiliance, and whatever else it is, came ONE DAY AT A TIME. One day at a time of profuse sweating, pain, and tears, one day at a time of strict dieting (of saying no to things once I used to love), one day at a time of prayers and work, and then more work and prayers.

Changed forever

Since I've been getting a lot of compliments on my slimmer self lately, which is very very nice, by the way, from all of you awesome friends and family out there, I thought a post is in order to summarize and document if you will, my "how I got here" journey... I'm still very much engaged in this whole thing as I'm not at the end but rather in the middle of my journey. In fact, I don't think there is an end to getting and staying fit and healthy. So here is how I did/am doing it...

It started back in August of last year... I was feeling tired, no energy, and no desire to exercise and get my act straight about eating healthier and less. At the last physical I had, the doctor said my cholesterol was borderline, blood pressure a little high for my age, not very good signs. I wasn't really happy with myself because of all this. I had some desire but not enough to take the plunge and really commit to starting a new chapter that would change my lifestyle forever. It's probably because I knew it would and change is not easy, it's scary even ... how about my late night snacks (crumbled fetta cheese, kalamata olives and cucumbers with yummy white fluffy bread-that's what I would usually have after putting Ella to sleep and sitting down to watch some TV), how about my OREO cakesters, biscotti, and pastries? How about my fettucine alfredo pasta? And the list could on and on and on. I had a gym membership at Lifetime Fitness and at one point when we were living in Omaha I got a bit serious about going and accomplished a 11 lbs weight loss, not too much but still something. We kept our membership when we moved to TX and started going again but only once in a while. I could always find excuses (wiped out after a long work day, cooking, cleaning, getting Ella ready for the next day, etc.) but I knew deep inside that it can be done and it needs to be done but just didn't feel up to it.

Back to last August now...I took the free FIT test at Lifetime and the data was not looking good: my body age was well beyond my years, and my fitness level, well it was basically non-existent. So I decided something had to be done. I signed up for personal training, twice a week. I was working out hard with the trainer but not doing too well on my diet. I didn't have the accountability nor a strong committment to do my best. After two months of training I was only 3 lbs lighter with hardly any improvement in the fitness area and I was starting to wonder how could I ever lose the weight and get fitter.... Finally after not seeing the expected and promised results of personal training and after my trainer blew off a couple of appointments, I decided it was time for a change. I requested a new trainer. Meeting and working with John Lee (read one of his interviews here, very insightful http://www.muscleprodigy.com/john-lee-interview-arcl-1698.html) was probably one of the best things that happen to me. After my first meeting with John, I knew I could do it! I knew it was possible; it was possible for me to lose the weight and most importantly to get fit! This guy had a great track record and he himself was/is a great athlete and amateur body builder. When he asked me what my goals were, aside from losing the weight, I told him that I wanted to become an athlete, be able to do hard things, learn to love to exercise. It was basically something like: "I want to be a new person, all around. And I need you to help me to do that."  I was on fire: lost 8 lbs in 4 weeks. I was tracking my food intake religiously (I still do), I was eating only the right foods, in the right quantities and dilligently working out three more times a week outside of my personal training sessions (which were twice a week.) My personal training workouts were very hard, very advanced, they were burning me 650-750 cals/hr and I was loving it. Still do. During the first two, three months of our training he was checking regularly on my diet/which I was tracking online at http://www.livestrong.com/ and continuosly making suggestions on improvement with specific foods/brand names, ingredients, substitutes, etc. And I was buildling muscle like crazy :-) I'm still working hard, still tracking my food and although the weight loss has slowed down, I know I'm still improving fitness-wise.

(This is the guy who helped change my life and I am forever grateful for that.)

Today, Hrishi who is darn good athlete, is amazed at my physial strength and agility. I was never the athletic type so for me this is a huge accomplishment.... I would rank it somewhere close to getting my Master's degree with a young child and a full-time job, but in a sense it's probably an even bigger accomplishment than that, at least for me.  I've learned things about my body  (physically and mentally) that I never knew possible and I've gained knowledge and confidence that will be with me through the years, allowing me to live a healthy and hopefully long life with my sweet family, God permitting. Now I'm happy that I can actually say "no" to foods that I know are not healthy or do not support my weight loss goal, that I can make conscious food choices that are not based on impulse or emotions, and I'm happy to talk to others about my experience. I never believed in diets, no matter how "scientific" they may be! Part of it is because I experienced with some of them myself and I found that there IS NO MAGIC BULLET. There is no magic diet other than serious personal committment to eat right (qualitatively and quantitatively, as size MATTERS!) and exercise in a way that will build muscle and burn fat. And I've learned it's always up to me, always!

A few more words on diet, I've learned that what you cook yourself at home is always the best and healthiest choice you have. It's of course much more time consuming to plan and prepare your daily meals (thank goodness for the four years of practice with making Ella's meals daily: they've really helped me get disciplined in this regard), but it's so worth it.  The other benefit of cooking my own meals is that it's so much more economical than eating out. Only once in a while I "indulge" with a Subway sandwhich, or a healthy choice at a good restaurant.

Now some personal inspiration I wrote a while back in a facebook post: "I never want to forget how good it feels to work out, to work out hard, my hardest, and push myself to the limit. It's such an amazing feeling, so rewarding and far beyond the physical realm. It's empowering on every single level: physical, mental, psychological, even spiritual." (Moi)

YESTERDAY....
-I didn't want to get off the couch.
-I didn't want to go exercise although I was paying gym membership fees
-I didn't want to give up my guilty pleasures (sweet and salty snacks)
-I was frustrated and felt stuck with this "me" who was not doing what she was supposed to be doing, and was sliding further and further away from a healthy lifestyle.
-I was tired all the time
-the list could go on and on...

TODAY....
-I'm confident as never before
-I'm stronger than never before
-I'm willing to do all that I can to stay fit for good.
-I love working out and working hard (boy, you should see my complext training exercises, they kick my behind every time but they feel good!)
-I love filling my plate with fresh or freshly cooked veggies and lean meats and I DON'T THINK (GOOD)CARBS ARE BAD for ME!
-I don't live with fear or regret of what I could have done yesterday and didn't do, because I always try to do it and make time for it (talking about my workouts.)
-I have energy and I AM HAPPY with MYSELF physically.
-And most importantly, I KNOW THIS IS NOT THE END, BUT JUST THE BEGINNING.

Under no pretence of being a fitness or nutrition guru, these are thoughts/lessons learned from my own personal experience that I wanted to put down here so my family will know what it took and is taking (me) to live a happy and healthy life; who knows maybe this will come in handy, if they'd ever find themselves to be in need of a bit of fitness advice. :-)

I love this quote from an article (and I recommend reading it all by the way) published in the Experience Life magazine by Lifetime:

"When your intuition signals that you’ve found something or someone truly right for you, the choice often becomes strangely easy. “It feels healthy; it feels good; it doesn’t feel like you’re forcing it, there’s not a lot of conflict.""

[I have to confess that putting all this down on 'paper' today has served as a really nice motivation booster!]