Leg workout

What an emotional week!  Even though I didn't realize it until it was over, the election really got to me! But it's just a reminder to put all of my faith in God.    He is in control like always and I don't have to worry and shouldn't worry about anything!  I'm so thankful for my family who loves the Lord and the few Christian friends that I have.  I will continue to seek Him, Love Him, abide in His will and rely on His grace and mercy and let Him take care of the rest!  I'm SO very thankful to be able to truly cast my burdens on Him and know that He DOES  care about me!!!

 On Wednesday, the day following the election, I woke up not feeling well.  Headache, a little nauseous and decided not to go into work.  I RARELY do that!  But I felt kind of mopey and unsettled.  I took some time and prayed and poured out my heart to God and I felt better.  What also helped me feel better was walking into my youngest son's room and finding the above!!  He had set his dinosaur in the middle of his room, with some pillows around it.  Put sunglasses and a Michigan State necklace on it, put a bone and a bag of chips in it's mouth!  That is so typical of Luke. He loves his stuffed animals and always has.  When he makes his bed, he sets them up differently every time.  Sometimes they are playing a baseball game (according to him) or they are at school (according to him)!    But this brought a smile to my face for sure.  Man, I love that kid!


Fitness goal, well, I just don't feel like I'm making a whole lot of progress!  I was down 2 pounds last Monday, so we will see what happens this week.  My pull ups are the same.  I lifted back and biceps today and I could still only do 2 pull ups.  But I will keep plugging away.  Today I ran for the first time since the Detroit half.  I did 3 miles with some of the girls I run with.  It's supposed to be beautiful weather this weekend :)  I also lifted legs yesterday and I am SO sore today!!  I will post my leg workout at the bottom.  So I just think it's going to take some time.  Honestly, I'm not used to that.  Usually if I gain a little weight, I can diet for a week and at least get to 140 and feel comfortable.  I guess I just really over did it this summer and gained more than just water weight and really put on some pounds!  If I give up though, I will just regret it later.

Below is something I put together for a post workout meal this last week and it was really good!  It's 8 Ounces of Plain Greek Yogurt, 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder, 2 TBS of PB2 (powdered peanut butter if you are not familiar) and 2 packets of stevia.  Then because it was for post workout, I ate it with 2 chocolate graham cracker!  It tasted so much like chocolate peanut butter cheesecake!  And cheesecake is my all time favorite dessert!  It had 38 grams of protein!!!  Next time I think I will cut it in half!

Now below is what I had for lunch today!  I was super hungry when I got home, I had lifted back and biceps, then ran 3 miles and then taught a yoga for runners class.  So i ate an apple and starting preparing this.   I used the fold it flat outs, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, black olives, pizza sauce and super thin cheese.  I should have cooked up a chicken breast to add, but didn't want to take the time.  I LOVE veggie pizzas!  The green peppers and onions make it oh so good!  And this was only about 200 calories!!  (and very filling)

Here's the leg workout I did yesterday:

Superset #1:  Smith machine reverse lunges - 20 reps

                      Dumbell forward lunges onto step - 20 reps

Superset #2:  Step downs off of step (these work the glutes so well) - 15 each leg

                      Glute kickbacks with tubing - 15 each leg

Superset #3:  Leg extensions - 15

                      Single leg walking Deadlifts - 10 each leg

Superset #4:  Adduction - inner thigh machine - 15 reps

                      Side steps with tubing around ankles - 20 each way

Have a great weekend!

Girls of Grace

The Girls of Grace conference was awesome!  I felt so blessed and renewed after this great day of being ministered to by some great speakers and singers!  Below is Naomi and I ready for a fun day ahead!

 Here I am with the other "moms" :)  

 Naomi and her friends we came with.  Yes she is the same age as them, she's just little :)  She takes after my husband's side of the family.

 Here we are with the Sidewalk Prophets.  They were the best part of the day for me.  I love all of their songs.  The first time I ever heard, The Words I Would Say, I cried and told my kids I was dedicating that song to them.  It still makes me cry every time I hear it, and they opened up with that song.  You could see how much they love the Lord when they sing and it was amazing to be able to sing along with them in worship.  They have a powerful testimony and I felt so blessed to be able to hear them sing live.

 Below is Meredith Andrews.  I fell in love with her.  SO genuine, such a passion for serving Christ!  She lead the worship music throughout the day and lead most of the prayers.  I would LOVE to meet her in person.  She is someone who I just wish I could be real life friends with!  She inspired me in a lot of ways, but I guess the biggest thing was to also be genuine!  You could tell she was just being herself and that she loved what she does and does it for the glory of God and not men!

 Below is Annie Downs.  She was one of the speakers.  She is funny!!  She talked about using our words to glorify God.  She has a blog, it is annieblogs.com, check her out, I think you will like her!

 And here is Britt Nicole!  She's kind of like my Naomi, tiny, lol!!  She's just a little thing but sure has a big voice!  She wasn't my favorite only because it was almost like a rock star concert.  All the younger girls went to the front and were trying to touch her and stuff.  The music was LOUD and you couldn't really hear the words.  I know most of her songs, so I knew the words, but it was hard to worship along with her.  But that was just MY opinion!   She was definitely a hit for the younger girls, and that was really what this day was for!

 And below are all of the speakers and artists from the day.  The first 3 from the left are Point of Grace! They are the MC's and they did sing a few of their songs too.  I couldn't help but think of everything they must sacrifice to fulfill this ministry.  They all have kids, and they must have to leave them on weekends that they do their conferences.  They did say that their kids sometimes come with them, but mostly not.  I think about how busy our weekends are and how much stuff my kids are involved in and wonder like I very often do, if it's too much!  Are my priorities out of balance?   Am I putting God first?Am I teaching my kids that God comes first?  

Lastly I want to share for myself mostly, what I took home from this conference!  I got two things out of this.  The first one is that I really need and want to keep praying for my kids!  I want to relax and pray and let God work in their lives.  I very often think and stress about their future.  My kids are smart and very athletic!  I feel pressure for them to be very successful as adults, either in athletics or in career choice!  I feel like they have to be on the best sports team, the best classes, can't miss an important sports camp for fear they may get behind, or if they don't do well on one assignment they may lower their grade!!  I KNOW that is wrong!  I realized this weekend after listening to some of the struggles that some of these speakers have had and God's seen them through, that GOD is IN CONTROL!  I KNOW that, but I'm so guilty of still worrying and trying to control things myself!  I found some peace, that God has a plan for them, and it may not be anything that I ever could have dreamed up.  My job as the parent is to PRAY, discipline, disciple, encourage and LOVE them!  I need God's help to do all of that, but HE will take care of the rest!

Secondly, it's probably not surprising after what I just said about my kids, that I put all of those same expectations on MYSELF!  I always blamed it on being a first born!  I don't like to do things that I'm not good at.  I stick to things I am good at, but even those things, I often get burnt out on because the newness or the feeling of being good at it wears off.  For example, being a personal trainer!  God's given me a passion for it.  But, there has been several times over the years, and I have to admit, just recently, that I have wanted to quit.  I feel like I'm not as good at it as I should be, or there are other trainers just starting at our gym who are better, look better, or they are male and many women want a male trainer.  But it has hit me recently that it DOESN'T MATTER IF I'M NOT GOOD AT IT!  God has given me a passion for it and has CALLED me to do it!  Therefore if I do it for his Glory and do it the best I can for HIM, then I'm PERFECT at it and I'm the best personal trainer out there!!  You know what I mean?  Satan wants me to believe I'm not good at it.  He wants me to ONLY see the negative!  But, there is a lot more positive then negative.  If I open my eyes, I see that over the years I have had so many clients that have stuck with me, I've had several write ups in the local papers about me and what I'm doing with my teams and clients, and I hear people say all the time, oh, I've heard about you!  And it's all positive.  SO, I'm NOT saying this to toot my own horn, but I'm realizing that I need to wake up everyday and say, ok God, what are we going to do today?  How are you going to use me today as I get the opportunity to engage one on one, or in groups, or in front of a whole group of people?  HE gave me this passion!  I went into the gym today with some new found confidence!  Not in me, but in Christ who lives through me!  I felt a little bolder, a little kinder, a little more patient, gentle, compassionate, a little more humble!  Thank you God!

Back in Action

It's Friday, yea!!  I'm super excited because Naomi and I are going to the Girls of Grace conference tomorrow.  If you are not familiar, it is a christian conference for teenage girls.  There will be speakers and Christian song artists there.  One of my favorite bands are Sidewalk Prophets and they will be there.  They sing the song Live Like That.  I have it as my ring tone on my phone.  I posted it below with the words if you've never heard it.  

As far as my fitness goals go..........  I did really well sticking to my goals the week after my 1/2 marathon.  BUT, then the weekend came and I blew it!  That completely ruined all my work from the week and I weighed in .2 pounds heavier than I had the week before!  UGH!  So I cleaned it up again Monday and so far this week I've been doing good.  My goal is to follow through THIS WEEKEND!!!    I also lifted FOUR days this week!!  That was a huge accomplishment!  I have not been lifting consistently for about a year.  I went through a phase where I thought it was making me bulky, lol!  (it couldn't have been all the calories I was consuming).  I also am just recovering from a strained transverse ligament in my shoulder caused from my poor swimming form this summer, so I was trying to rest that.  

Pull ups!!!!  I'm recording them on a separate page and eventually I will add videos of them.  I did 2 on Monday and I did them again today.  I could only do 2 again today, but the 2 that I did seemed a little easier, I just couldn't squeeze out that 3rd one though.  So my goal is to add one a week until I get back to 6-7, and then hopefully I will be able to add 1 every other week.  

Below was my dinner tonight!  YUM!  I love the thin frozen chicken breast from Sam's club.  I keep some thawed in the fridge and then it's so easy to throw one in a pan with some salt, pepper and garlic and it's done in 5 minutes and so tasty.  My broccoli is left over from my guiltless chicken platter from lunch at Chili's today with a friend.  And the grapefruit I picked up today because Naomi and I love them!  

 I also threw some raw almonds in the oven and roasted them.  They have such a good flavor roasted and I love the extra crunch!  One of my favorite evening snacks is almonds (sometimes dipped in peanut butter, weird I know!) and scrambled egg whites!

So hopefully on Monday I will be able to post a lower weight in my weigh in pages!

What are your fitness goals?

Got any fun plans for the weekend?

Detroit Half Marathon Recap

The Detroit Half Marathon was SO. MUCH. FUN.!!!  I think there were 13 of us that ran.  We met in Detroit on Saturday and went to the expo.  I finally bought a marathon stick!  I Love it!  I'd been using my pampered chef rolling pin but this is even better.  

 Above is Jeannell and I.  This was the sign we made for our room.  It says No Down Dog Zone, lol!  It was kind of a private joke we had going on within the group.

 This is some of us at the expo.  Everyone in this picture except me was getting ready to do their first 1/2 marathon.  There was so much nervous excitement going around, it was awesome!

We had reservations at an Italian restaurant that was in the hotel.  I had Lasagna!  The picture looks kind of gross, but it was really good.

Later that night we made sure to all lay on our backs with our feet up in the air for 15 minutes!  I tell you what, that seems to help me so much!  It is supposed to help with lactic acid build up during your run.  Maybe it's just mental, but it really helps me!

The morning of the race was perfect.  The weather was so good that day.  Running the bridge right at sunset is amazing!  I spent the first 3 miles just giving God thanks and praising him for my health, friends and the beauty He has given us all around!

Anyway, the important stuff, I missed a PR by NINE seconds!!!!  I was bummed about that, but I beat my time from last month and this was a much tougher course.  My time was 1:59:33.  I have ran 5 1/2 marathons now and 4 of them have been in 1:59 something!  I want so badly to break that!  A big part of it will be to lose some weight.  I have a hunch that if I can get down 20 pounds that I could probably run a 1:55 1/2 marathon!  That has always been my ultimate goal!  

On a sadder note, my husbands Grandpa passed away Sunday evening.  His Dad flew in from Arizona that afternoon and they decided to take him off the ventilator.  He never even took a breath on his own. So this week we had the visitation and the funeral was yesterday.  Grandma is at peace, we know without a doubt that we will see him again someday.  It is still hard though, they were married 62 years, so I'm just praying that God will give her the strength she needs to get through everyday.  The message at the funeral was very positive and the gospel was given!  

I started dieting on Monday.  Now that the race is over, diet will be my top priority.  I don't have to worry about energy levels and performance.  I am counting my calories and eating as clean and healthy as I can.  I'm teaching 3 yoga classes a week, 1 circuit class and I'm going to start lifting regularly again.  I would like to start focusing on the goals that I've had forever:  

10 Pull Ups

21 something 5K

1:55 half marathon

Weight between 129-133

Getting ready for Half Marathon and focusing on things above!

3 days until the Detroit half!  This pic was taken before one of our group runs this week.  It should be a fun weekend!  My friend Jeannell came over on Tuesday and we made a sign for each hotel room door!  We put some funny stuff on them.  I will have to take pics and post them later.  I also printed 80 something pictures from over the past year of the green team at different races and events.  I'm going to crop them and put them on a board to hang up so that we can have fun looking back and reminiscing over the hard work they put in this past year.

I've still been following along with the Good Morning Girls devotion in Colossians.  The video that was posted on Monday went right along with my life this week.  I had my whole family watch it with me and had my kids memorize colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.  I've been thinking about heaven a lot this week.  My husband's Grandpa was diagnosed with lung cancer in June.  His health started to decline rapidly and this past week he was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia.  Well yesterday my husband called me and asked me if I could go and get the kids out of school and all come up to the hospital.  He just felt like it was a good time for us to all be there together with him at the same time.  We all walked in the door and the first thing he did was look each one of us in the eyes, one at a time, and say I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you  and I love you!!  Later last night he stopped breathing on his own and he is now on a ventilator.  I know he will be with the Lord real soon.  It makes me sad, but it also makes me dream and ponder of what heaven will be like.  It gives me goosebumps to think that soon he will meet his creator!  Even though he is in his 80's and has lived a long life, it REALLY IS just such a short short little blip of time!  God, please help me to set my mind on things above, NOT on earthly things!

The Lord placed on my heart to write Grandpa and Grandma Davis a letter last night.  I told them how thankful I was for the Godly example they have been in our lives and how much their hugs, encouragement, and sacrifices have meant to me over the years.  I told them that I was praying for strength and peace for them.  Well, you know what?  Chris (my husband) took that letter up with him at midnight when he got the call that he had stopped breathing, and Grandpa never got to read it.  Grandma read it, and Chris said she eventually laid down and fell asleep with that letter still in her hand.  But, God has given ME such a peace and a joy in my heart because I feel so good that I was able to express that to them!  I was the one who got the blessing from it.  I think part of it was because I listened to what God placed on my heart.  So many times I feel little nudges and I ignore them.  Like call this person, see what you can do for that person, etc.  It's so easy to ignore them and carry on with my own life.  But I want to start following through with the things God places on my heart.  I know there are boundaries and not all "good" things are what God wants me to necessarily do, so I pray that God will help me know when I need to act!

Choose to lose

I can't believe it's Friday already!  This has been a good week.  Like I said in my last post, God had really been speaking to my heart this week.  Not all good things have happened this week, but I've been in the Word daily and I'm working on being thankful.  And there was one prayer request I had that God clearly answered that just awed me and renewed my faith even more.  I'm hoping to use this blog to keep myself accountable to do my bible study and continually rely on Him for TRUE STRENGTH!  I know not every prayer request will be answered the way I want it to, but I do know that God will answer every prayer request in His time and according to His will!  How awesome is that?!

Below is my daughter Naomi. Her and I are heading out tonight for Indiana for her last soccer tournament of the fall season.  I know we will have a great time and lots of bonding moments!  I thank God every day for her.  I grew up with 4 younger brothers, then my first born was a son, so to have a girl (even though she's a major tomboy) in my life, has been so  much more of a blessing than I could have ever imagined!  My husband will be home with the boys taking them to football and baseball games.

 Below is me with my Choose to Lose team from this past year.  I am a personal trainer and fitness instructor and have been for 15 years.  The last 3 years at the Y center where I work, we have done our own little biggest loser program.  It is hard work, but so rewarding!  Today we had a meeting with the 5 trainers and started planning for this coming contest that will start in January.  I want to start praying for who God picks to be on my team.  This is such an opportunity for me to minister to women.  

Every year has brought unique people and situations and I look forward to what God has planned this year.  This last year this group bonded so well, that we continued on after the contest, and set some goals.  The goal was to do a 5k, a 10k, a sprint triathlon, and a 1/2 marathon together!  Well, we have done all that except the 1/2 marathon which is NEXT Sunday in Detroit!  I'm so proud of them all, because some had never ran more than a mile when they started the program last year.  And it's not even about the distance, it's about setting a goal and having a support team and following through!

Sometime I will share my story of my weight loss journey and how God made a ministry out of fitness for me.  It all started with a program at my church called 3D and the verse Hebrews 12:11.  Unfortunately, I've also been through valleys where I think I can do it on my own and have veered from God's plan for me.  I'm kind of at the point right now.  I've not been being a good steward of my body and have a million excuses that I think should justify why.  But deep down I know there is no excuse.  I'm realizing this week that not being obedient with how I treat my body is affecting more than just my clothing size or my energy.  It's affecting my spiritual life!  I need to go back to the day I was 180 something pounds and decided I couldn't do this alone and that I truly wanted to change so that God could use me and I wouldn't be held back by physical issues OR mental issues from turning to food instead of God.  True strength comes from knowing I'm weak but knowing I have a God that helps me do all things through Him that strengthens me!

Have a great weekend!

Tri Del sol

I did a triathlon this past Saturday.  It was my first since 1999.  It was a 1/2 mile swim, 18 mile bike and 4.5 mile run.  My time was 2:05.  It was so much fun, but I have a LOT of work to do!  

Below are Amy and Kris who did it with me.  It was a beautiful morning and the weather could not have been any more perfect.  It was 56 degrees in the morning!  We have been having such a hot summer that I was totally prepared for the weather to be the biggest obstacle of the day, so the cooler weather is what made everything so enjoyable I think.

This is my transition area.  Boy do I have a lot of work to do on my transitions!  I forgot to have my sunglasses ready and had to dig those out.  I didn't dry my feet off well enough and my socks were soaked!  Next year I think I will get the elastic shoe laces and not wear socks!  I definitely wasn't as prepared for transitions as I should have been.

This is the bike I WANT!!!!  I want it soooooo bad!!!!  My bike is from 1984!  It just can't do what so many other bikes can!  The bike should be my strength, but I got passed by so many people!!!  So I'm hoping and praying that I can get a new bike over the winter.  The bike below is a Trek Madone 4.6 and it's in my favorite color :))

I could have pushed myself more, but in the end I'm happy with my race because I ended feeling good and really enjoyed myself, which makes me want to do more tri's.  I won't be able to do more this year because of time and money and I'm already registered for two 1/2 marathons.  But I am going to focus on them for next year.  So I will have a whole winter to get in the pool and work on my swimming and to save up for that bike :)

Unfortunately I still have not been eating better!  I was doing good right after I started blogging, but then the morning of the race (in the porta potty of course) I started my period.  I felt so fat and bloated and yucky, so of course that day I justified some horrible eating!  I mean why not, I did a tri that day AND I started my period!   So once again I just haven't been able to get back on track.  But I can't let it go another day.  I still want to lose weight for my half marathons and ultimately keep it off so that I can really focus on doing tri's next year.  So I will take it one day at a time!

8 Mile Run

Had a great 8 mile run with some friends this morning!  We finally got some MUCH needed rain and it cooled things off some, which felt so great to run in.  I got a couple blisters though from soggy socks so I'm hoping they don't bug me too much during my tri on Saturday.

These say it all for me!

Goals for Today

Above are the bleachers I ran with a friend this morning!  We started on the right side, ran up and across, back down and across.  We did that 10 times.  Then I ran a mile around the track and she did some sprints.  It was 90 degrees at 8:30 this morning.  Thank goodness for the drinking hoses that were left out for the football players!!

My only goals for today are #1:  Drink this gallon of water!!!!  I've already had a liter, but I WILL drink this whole thing today too!  I have a triathlon this Saturday and I really need to start hydration NOW!  I biked the route last night in 100 degree weather and I felt a little dehydrated this morning during bleachers.  My calves were cramping a little.  So I will be eating plenty of carbs to help hold this water in too.

 Goal #2:  To help with the hydration and carbs, I will eat plenty of these cucumbers and frozen blueberries!!  I'm going to eat 200 grams of carbs today, but my goal is to pick carbs with nutritional value too.  

Even though I hit that point yesterday where I was just MISERABLE, I'm still not feeling 100% motivated and ready to jump on the clean eating bandwagon.  I want to want too, you know what I mean?  But something is still holding me back.  I don't know if it's because I feel like I shouldn't be where I am AGAIN!   Am I going to get on track for a while and then a year or two from now, get way off track again?  I guess I can't worry about that, I just know I need to focus on today, make the best choices I can, focus on setting good examples for my kids and clients, and stop turning to food for comfort.