FXB Week 5 - What a Week!

This has been a big week.  BIG.  I mean HUGE.  Ok, where should I start...

I paid my money for one year of FXB FIT membership.  Non-refundable.  Non-transferable. 

Ohmahgawd.  WhathaveIdone?

Oh yes, that's right, I committed to waking up at 4:15am 5-6 days a week until (at least) the end of next Spring.  No, no.  Not supposed to look at it that way.  How's this:  I committed to continue on this journey to a stronger, healthier me for (at least) the next year.  Yes, that's what I did. I'm still in shock (a little) that I committed to this before I even reached the end of my 10 week challenge.  But I kinda had to since space is limited and I didn't want to risk losing my 5am spot.  Sh*t or get off the pot, so they say. 

New FXB things:  super sets came our way - which is a quick succession of band exercises intended to cause muscle confusion and build you up stronger.  My muscles must have been confused because they were screaming "KELLY, WHAT THE @#$% ARE YOU DOING?!"  Haha.

We also had band kicks.  Your partner holds you back with a resistance band, by doing a deep squat, while you attempt to roundhouse kick the punching bag.  This. is. hard.  For both partners.

Ring of Fire happened on Friday.  Set up the punching bags in a giant circle and move around them doing our kickboxing thing and then trade with your partner who is being tortured in the center of the circle with burpees, jump squats, supermans, 4-count pushups and the like.   Good times!

Wacky Sock Wednesday - Week 5 - I got some new socks!!   Those who know me well know that it's kind of a big deal that my sock wardrobe includes something other than St Patrick's Day socks.  Though guess this photo doesn't really prove it cause you can't see my face. 

Here's why we never win the weekly wacky sock trophy.  Pictured above is MAYBE 25% of our class.  Ding #1 - poor participation.  Ding #2 - our pose is always about 4 steps behind everyone else in the creativity department.  Check out these other two classes.  Anybody have any ideas for creative poses??  I'm so embarrassed for my class.

Week 5 also brought Freaky Friday.  Freaky Friday means each class time picks a theme and dresses accordingly for said theme - it's a contest similar to Wacky Sock Wednesday but a little more involved and eXtreme, if you will (tee hee).  "Kickstartin' the day at 5A" elected to choose "JoshStrong" as our theme.  Josh is a high school student who was in a terrible car accident on Super Bowl Sunday and is fighting hard to recover.  Josh's parents are in our 5A class and we wanted to show our support for them and what they are going through. At least we had awesome participation for this - probably >95% of the class!

Here is Erika, Pooja and myself sportin' our Freaky Friday gear.  Don't we look awesome?  And FIT?  And STRONG?  And FIERCE!  And it's only Week 5!  Erika and I are both in for a year of this.  Mess with us, and we will take. you. down.  Don't let those smiles fool you.

Week 5 brought progress testing.  A repeat of orientation day (minus the picture).  My stats:

Weight:  decrease 5.8 pounds

Body Fat %: decrease 2.3%

Chest: decrease 2 inches
Waist:  decrease 0.75 inches
Arm: decrease 0.75 inches
Thigh: decrease 1.25 inches
Hips:  decrease 1 inch

Sit and Reach: from 19.5 inches to 22 inches

Push Ups (from knees): from 21 to 44 in 60 seconds

Sit Ups (full sit-ups - not crunches):  from 17 to 30 in 60 seconds

1 Mile Run:  from 11:30 minutes to 10:15 minutes

So yeah, that's pretty incredible as far as I'm concerned.  I'm so proud, I'm bursting at the seams.  I cried no less than six times before, during and after the 5 week testing.  I was just so overwhelmed.  I never thought I would be where I am.

One more huge thing happened in week 5.  I hit a milestone I never, ever, ever dreamed imaginable.  Never.  Ever.  I stepped on the scale, at home prior to my FXB weigh in, and the number jumped around for a second (I felt like I was on the Biggest Loser where they do the weigh in and the numbers jump like 10 pounds in each direction for dramatic effect before settling on the true weight). And then it stopped.  I almost fell over.  I immediately ran back into the bedroom to grab my phone.  I came back to the bathroom - jumped on the scale again - cause I was pretty sure it was a fluke.  The same number came up.  I took a picture.  Why?

Because since starting all this on June 24, 2013, I have lost 100 pounds.  

 ONE HUNDRED POUNDS!!

I'm starting to get emotional just typing that out.  I had to document it because today was Fun Day, and I earned it, so I'm quite sure I completely undid my milestone but that's ok.  At least for one day, I was a woman that lost 100 pounds. 

Not to end on a down note or anything but I'm very nervous for Week 6.  I have to travel 4 days this week for work and will miss class.  I will get in a workout of some kind every day - at least I will do my very best to try.  But I'm worried about trying to keep up with the nutrition given the temptation and lack of routine that comes with traveling.  I will have to work extra hard to remain focused.  Plus, it's ok to undo my milestone a little bit because of Fun Day.  It's NOT ok to undo my milestone because of a week full of poor choices.  Wish me luck - this is week 1 of 3 in a row where I have to travel.  I can do this.

I love this woman.  She gave me two kids and made me who I am today.  But I don't ever want to see her again.

June 2013

Change is Afoot.

We have lots of random things going on in our house right now.  We are trying essential oils on the kids (and us) at night to see if it helps with sleep.  Definitely not claiming victory.  The first two nights, he got up around 5:30am - which isn't TERRIBLE but he refuses to go back to sleep or stay in bed.  This morning, he got up at 4:45am and went back to bed for 10 minutes and then got up again and refused to go back to bed.  That is still way too early to be getting up.  We get notes from his teacher that he gets grumpy and sassy and it's clearly because he's tired. 

We're not really following a rigid plan with the oils.  There are six different ones and we tried putting certain ones in certain places according to the hippie directions on the internet, but Tyler pretty much wants to run the show and pick what goes where.  So whatever.  We are just rolling with it.  If it starts to work consistently, I don't give a crap where he puts the oil!  Or maybe to GET it to work consistently, we need to follow the hippie directions.  I don't know.  I'm so not in tune with this kind of stuff.  Too fluffy for me.  Maybe that's why it's not working spectacularly - first I must truly believe!  :D

At Lily's doctor appointment yesterday, I talked about how stubborn she is and all our struggles with dinner time, bed time, get dressed time, bath time - well you name it, Lily will have a tantrum about it and be stubborn to the point of bringing me to tears of despair and frustration.  Constant power struggles.  I told the doctor about how we try so hard to stand firm and most of the time we do, but sometimes we just cave because we're exhausted.  She said it sounds like we're doing everything right except the occasional cave - that has to stop.

She also said that the whole fixing of 2 or 3 different suppers needs to stop.  The children will learn to eat what I fix.  They won't starve.  If they are hungry they will eat.  Etc etc etc.  Stuff Joel and I have discussed over and over.  We get it in our brains.  We know that this needs to happen - we've just never felt brave enough (energetic enough) to take it on.

Until now.  Last night, I had made turkey meatballs and zoodles (zucchini noodles) with a side of asparagus.  Probably not exactly the most kid friendly meal to start with so we compromised and gave them a tiny bit of meatball and a tiny bit of asparagus along with some fruit, cheese and yogurt (things we know they will eat).  They couldn't have a dessert and they couldn't have seconds of anything on their plate unless they tasted all items on their plate (pretty sure this was the rule in girl scouts except you had to eat THREE bites).  

Anyhow, Lily was stubborn and wouldn't touch the meatball or asparagus - flat out claiming that she doesn't like it.  Followed by the claim that she doesn't want a treat anyway and that was that.  No fit from her really.  Just stubborn defiance.  But I think she sensed that we really meant business today - I don't know if her hearing it from the doctor made a difference or what.

Tyler, on the other hand, threw a huge fit because he didn't want his meatball or asparagus.  He completely removed the asparagus from his plate to a napkin.  He was given umpteen chances to eat it.  I even gave him some ketchup in case the meatball could be more easily consumed covered in it.  He still refused, his plate was removed from the table and he was told he couldn't have a treat.  Then he screamed for about 30 minutes that he wanted his plate back so he could get a treat.  I finally distracted him with a bath and that's the only way we got out of that mess.

So, night #1 of not giving them PB&J or pepperonis for supper wasn't a COMPLETE disaster.  I was honestly expecting far worse.  I was expecting Lily to sit at the table for 90 minutes refusing to give in and try the food AND refusing to get up til she could have a treat.  I was expecting bed time to be a train wreck of Lily claiming that she's hungry followed by Tyler also claiming hunger and both of them screaming for grapes or pretzels for 45 minutes.  But none of that happened.  So, let's do this.  

Night #2 of giving them what we ate (pulled pork and salad) was a total success with Tyler.  He tried and/or ate everything.  He scored two treats (Hershey's kisses).  Lily on the other hand absolutely refused to taste the pulled pork.  But she did eat her salad - lettuce and orange tomatoes (tomatoes must be orange for her to eat them) - and everything else on her plate, so she scored one treat.  I would say this is a tiny, tiny victory with Lily.  I'll take it.

In addition to that advice from the doctor, Joel and I watched a free webinar last night on "Get Your Kids to Listen Without Yelling, Reminding and Nagging."  It was a pretty good seminar, and Joel and I laughed out loud several times because the speaker was describing our situation to a T.  But of course she only gave you this much advice >  < and a teaser to this much advice >                   < she has to offer if you are willing to pay $179 for the online course.  Joel, with his infinitely greater internet searching patience, is going to see what he can find for free before we spend any money.  But it's awfully tempting if what she says works.  Would be worth every penny.

Other current events:

For Fun Day last weekend, we went to Crackerbarrel for supper (breakfast for most of us).  Tyler had said several times during the day that this belly hurt and his appetite was a little suppressed but he was acting totally fine all day.  Two bites in to his pancakes, he hurls all over himself and his pancakes.  Stomach wise, he was totally fine after he did that but he was completely distraught over his wet clothes.  Of course we haven't carried an extra set of clothes in the diaper bag since Tyler was 12 months old.  But, alas!  We're at Crackerbarrel!  Where they have a "country store!"  I found this cute John Deere T-shirt on the clearance rack - but unfortunately no pants.  This bothered Tyler for a minute or two but then he got over it. 

I kinda like the tractor shirt / boots / no pants look.

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We paid a visit to Kids Commons last weekend too.    The kids had never been there before and they had a great time.  Particularly in the giant toilet.

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Fun with a wolf hat and a tea set.

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Saturday morning waffles while I was at the gym.  Lily using her knife very responsibly (the trick is convincing her you CAN NOT lick the peanut butter off the knife...it's a KNIFE....KNIVES CUT (disclaimer - it was a plastic knife, but still)).

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Tyler recently became more interested in Lily's tablet so we finally took his out of the box from Christmas.  These two have been playing with them side by side.  And, if you can believe this, STILL arguing over them.  Each one wanting whichever tablet the other kid has AND THEY ARE EXACTLY THE SAME.  Crazies.

Lily's 4 Year Stats.

After two reschedules from the doctor's office, we finally had Lily's 4 year check up today.  You ready for this?  She's 3'8" tall - that's 98th percentile (I'm convinced this is the highest that they go and no child is every deemed 99% or 100%).  Weighs 40.6 pounds (clothed) - that's 85th percentile.  The other day, she was comparing "tallness" in our family and when Daddy told her that pretty soon she would be taller than Mommy, she laughed and laughed.  At this rate, it's probably only like 3 years away.  

What's going on with her:

• She's a know-it-all AND she's stubborn.  
• Lily:  I got this uh-razor from Ava today.  It's a butterfly.
• Me:  Oh, you mean an eraser?
• Lily:  No.  It's an UH-RAZ-ER.  You uh-raze with it.  That's what Ava said.
• Me:  Honey, it's an eraser.  You erase with it.
• Lily:  No.  Mommy.  You're wrong.
• She learned how to tie knots.  (I wish she'd learn how to not tie them so tight.)  She's trying to figure out how to tie bows.  She's at least interested in learning, but just not coordinated enough to pull it off.  I see lace up shoes in her near future...
• She can be totally independent getting dressed but most often chooses not to be.  We are actively working on this.  She's not allowed to have breakfast or watch TV on a school day until she gets dressed.  Similar situation with bath - I wind up washing her because she's lazy and I'm tired of being in the bathroom.  Working on that one too.
• Her memory is outstanding.  Do not promise her something thinking she'll forget and you'll be off the hook.
• She can write most of her upper case letters.  She still struggles a little with Y (it's usually more like a very big, backwards lower case Y) but she's getting better.  
• She can count pretty good up to 29 on her own.  She gets a little tripped up with 30 but then can keep going until she reaches the next "10."
• She loves to sing.  She wants to know the name of every song on the radio.  She sings along to many songs and tells me when a song is her favorite (she has several favorites).  She also tells me when a song is my favorite (which she totally decides on her own without input from me - perhaps she bases it on what I sing the loudest??)  She asked me the other day, after the abandoned dance class, when she could take singing lessons.  Hmmm....
• She can still throw one hell of a tantrum, even though she insisted that once she turned four, she wasn't going to do that anymore.  LIAR!
• Her little brain tries to reason and rationalize everything.  It's fun to try to keep up with her.
• Lily:  Mommy, where did we buy Ellie?
• Me:  Ellie was a gift from a friend at Mommy's work.
• Lily:  When did we get it?
• Me:  I got it before you were born - when you were still in my belly.
• Lily:  Oh, so Ellie was yours before she was mine?  
• Me:  Well, I guess so!  But I gave her to you as soon as you came out of my belly.
• Lily:  Well, I couldn't play with her when I was in your belly anyway because I couldn't reach her.  So that's ok.  So Ellie was yours, and then mine, but I'm not giving her to Tyler. 

FXB Week 4

Four weeks done.  Boom!  Only one week to go before Week 5 testing.  Never been so excited for a test in my life!  I expect to nail it.  Just sayin'.

Not much new this week, honestly.  The feeling of utter exhaustion has subsided a little so that's good though can't say it's because my sleep has improved.  I think I'm just adjusting to this schedule a little better.

Though having said that, this week, for the first time since I started, I experienced the alarm clock going off and me feeling like I wanted roll over, say "to hell with it," and go back to sleep.  It was tempting....soooooo, tempting..... and then I had a little flash in my mind of the ab muscles that are starting to pop out and with that, my legs just started swinging out of the bed on their own.  Can't say I BOUNDED in to class with extreme exuberance that day but I was there and pushing myself.  Well, and Erika, my buddy, pushed me too.  She was working out behind me and she must have seen in the mirror the look on my face that said, "I don't think I can do even one more of these let alone 8.  I want to give up." and I was on the verge of dropping my band.  Then I heard, "You can do it, Kelly."  And I finished the set (it wasn't beautiful but I finished).

And THAT, my friends, is why this FXB thing is so great.  

And punching stuff.  That's great too.

I purchased a FitBit Surge and am loving it.  Still trying to figure out the optimal way to wear it on kickboxing days as it's a little bulky under my boxing glove.  But the stats that it produces are awesome and I love that it auto syncs to the phone app.  And it also syncs with my Virgin Pulse account for my work/health insurance stuff so I don't have to wear two pedometers any more!  AND, both my sisters have a FitBit so we are "FitBit Friends" which is to say my competitive bone is engaged when I can see their 7-day step counts and I try to beat them.  So far I am not winning!  Grr.  Anyone else wants to be my FitBit friend, let me know!  I will likely trash talk you so be warned.

We were introduced to Fun Friday this week as well.  I had no clue what "fun" meant in this context so I was a tad skeptical.  Turns out, it's AWESOME.  Best workout I've had so far and definitely the most fun I've had so far.  This week's "fun" was that the punching bags were set up in a line and you ran down the line punching, kicking, etc each bag per the instructor's direction.  When you got to the end of the line, you ran back to the beginning.  For 30 solid minutes.  Thanks to my new FitBit (this sounds like an infomercial - I should get paid), I could easily compare the intensity of my workouts.  The photo on the left is a "regular" kickboxing day (clearly I need to step it up - I'm a little embarrassed to post that).  The photo on the right is from fun Friday - where I had NO CHOICE but to step it up cause there was a line of people behind me waiting to punch and kick the bag I was standing at.  100 additional calories burned.  INSANE.  I.  LOVED.  IT.

We were also introduced to "Sally Squats" this week.  Which totally sucked and was totally awesome all at the same time.  If you can reconcile that.  There's nothing special to the "squat" part of this move.  It's just regular squats - but you do them to the Moby song, "Flower," which essentially just says "Bring Sally up" and "Bring Sally down" over and over again.  So you can guess what you do when each line is sung...here's an example on YouTube in case you want to know what it looks like - except we use bands during our squats.  I hear "Sally Pushups" are coming.  I survived Sally squats - barely - the thought of Sally pushups makes me want to puke!

And here's Wacky Sock Wednesday - Week 4.  I have to say that we 5am'ers are WEAK and UNIMAGINATIVE when it comes to our pose.  I think most of us are barely awake.  I blame that.  Also, you can see that my pondering on whether St Pat's Day socks constitute "wacky" did not have an impact to my sock wardrobe.  Still sportin' the shamrocks.

It might be premature to say this and I should probably save it until my Week 10 post, but I'm going to say it now anyway.  My life is changed.  I thought my life was changed before with the weight loss.  And it was.  Totally was.  But this exercise thing brings it to a whole new level of "changed."  I feel compelled to write this down.  I have to document this feeling of pride and strength and confidence because I have a long life ahead of me of trying to be healthy, eat right and exercise.  There is so much potential to slip at some time in the future and go backwards.  If that ever happens, I need to be able to read these posts and remind myself of this feeling so I'll be motivated to get back here.  This blog is a piece of my accountability. 

Say CHEEEEEEEESE.  Ha!

(speaking of reminders...I created a separate page on my blog with links to all my weight loss related posts so I can find them easier now...in case you want to binge read about my journey, here it is.)

Brown Snakes

Lovin for Meme a few weeks ago.

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Round two of teaching Whitney to knit.  She picked it right back up and is really, really good!

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Tantrums and snot bubbles.   We have a lot of both in our house.

 

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When I purchased this couch, I never thought of it as a house or a truck.  But it is according to these kiddos.  A LOT of time is spent in this corner of the couch, surrounded by pillows.  Sometimes they are in there whispering and conspiring and I LOVE IT.  Even when it has disastrous or messy consequences.  That's what being siblings is all about.

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There might be a slight obsession with "Whitney Poses" in our house these days.  Lily is clearly very impressionable.

I'm ready to ask Whitney to move in with us.  She is SO GOOD with the kids.  Just her mere presence in the room alters their personalities.

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Isn't this the most adorable thing you've ever seen?  At least for today, surely?

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Josh and Marie kept the kids last weekend so Joel and I could shoot for a full night's sleep.  The kids did great and had a super time.  Whitney, the toddler whisperer, took great care of them including getting up with them at the obscenely early hour of 4am.  

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This little girl did her own birthday thank you cards.  Teaching them young to be grateful.  (So if you were expecting a handwritten note from "Lily" detailing all that she is thankful for, I'm sorry to disappoint you.  Instead, you have her priceless, genuine autograph.)

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Why is it that we are having so much trouble getting this little guy to sleep all night but he will randomly fall asleep playing?

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Joel is such a patient Daddy.  Lily decorated his hair with ponytails.  

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Lily's dance career is officially on hiatus.  There was a two week break over the holidays and ever since we started back in January, this is what happens when we get to the class.  For the days, hours, minutes, seconds leading up to the class, she is excited and wants to go.  But when it's time to officially start, she clams up, gets upset and asks to go home.  We tried 4 weeks in a row with the same result so I finally gave up.  I'm not paying $55 a month to spend 30 minutes a week trying to convince her to dance.  We might try again later this year (or never - whatever).

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Tyler:  Need to go potty, Daddy.

Joel:  Ok.  (or something like that - I'm taking editorial liberties here - this part doesn't matter...)

Tyler:  Gonna make a brown snake

Joel:  Huh?

Tyler:  In the potty.

Joel:  Huh?

Tyler:  Got to make a brown snake in the potty, Daddy!

No clue how Tyler came to call pooping in the potty "making a brown snake" and I don't really much care cause he, in fact, DID make a brown snake in the potty!