P90X - Day 2

P90X - Day 2

February 14, 2012

     Todays workout was Plyometrics, also known as "jump training". Lets just say that if seeing your own before pictures is not enough to convince you that your should lose weight, this workout will! Jumping jacks, squats, lunges, knee lifts...etc. Doing all these things while every muscle in your upper body is screaming at you is hard enough but while also carrying around an extra 100 lbs is NOT FUN!! 

     Before I'd even put the DVD in the player I was already hearing myself make excuses why I was going to need to "hold back" some of my effort, make short cuts and take extra breaks. As the video was loading it dawned on my that I had to decide RIGHT NOW that I was going to do every excersize to the best of my ability or I was just quitting before I'd even gotten started. Isn't that how I had gotten this fat to begin with???
   So Plyo is done and my butt, quads and calves hurt all over but I DID EVERY EXCERSIZE! It was ugly and slow but I did not quit!!

~laura~





P90X - Day 1

P90X -Day 1

February 13, 2012

     As you may have seen in my previous post you will know that recently life has changed quite a bit for our family. What I have not yet mentioned is that our family life has changed in more ways than one. On June 1st, 2011... just 8 months ago we were blessed with a new little special needs baby. WAIT...before you have a pity party for me and my failure to reproduce properly, let me qualify this with the fact that we are foster/adopt parents and actually agreed to this new little bundle of challenges ;-) As crazy as raising ONE severly developmentally delayed and medically fragile child has been, we felt such a strong pull twords our little Aiden that we could not say no! Now life begins anew with struggling with the grief of losing our only daughter and dealing with Aidens physical / developmental / medical needs.

 

     I must say that after having your child pass away, you often find yourself in a state of reflecting. It's like new years resolutions on steriods! Often several times throughout my day I will begin to look at my life and start catagorizing. What things am I happy with, What things do I wish I had done different, What do I want to do with my life now, What would I like to change and HOW am I going to make that happen???? My health has become increasingly higher on the priority list and has risen to the top since Kya's passing and Aidens prognosis has worsened. It is time for me to take care of myself, so I can continue to care for my family and have the life that I will be happy with in the end...

 

     I purchased the P90X videos over 5 years ago and they have done nothing but collect dust. Originaly they were bought with my husband in mind, he had been resonably fit but was starting to develope a "Rootbeer Belly" and we thought that this would be perfect for him... NOT! From the very begining he complained that the videos were too long to fit into his busy schedule, the eating plan was too strict and my personal favorite was that he could never get that muscular because he is a natural bean pole :-) Five years later NOTHING has improved about our health as a matter of fact both of our waist sizes have continued to increase yearly. THIS HAS GOT TO CHANGE AND NOW!!!!

Measurements:

Weight:   236.0

Waist:     46.5

Hips:       49.0

Bust:       46.5

Ribs:       40

Upper Thigh:   29.5

Upper Bicep:   14.5

Before Photos:

     

     I have been on the weight loss roller coaster long enough that I know that this program will work if do what is required!  P90X only asks a few thing from you...

• Eat a "Clean Diet" - full of lean meats, whole grains, fruits and veggies
• Excersize 6 days a week - alternating muscle building with fat burning days.
• "BRING IT" - put forth ALL of your effort during each days workout. Often Tony says "do your best and forget the rest"

So here is my heart on my sleeve, the begining of the new me. Please feel free to check-up on me and send me a message if you think I'm slacking! I could use all the help I can get :-)

~Laura~

P.S. Todays workout was chest & back... UHG pull-up/push-up crazyness. I modified everything, but did as many reps as I could throughout. Definatley gonna be sore tommorow!


 

My Greatest Loss...

For 12 years my life has been.........complex.

With the birth of our beautiful daughter our family was blessed with one of lifes most challenging children, but also the easiest you'll ever have. Every day has been filled with laughter, joy and unconditional love, but also an underlining loneliness. On a daily basis we never knew what GOD had planned for us that day, sometimes is was peaceful and serene but often it could be timultulous, stressful and even heartbreaking.

She came to us in a package that was broken but she was perfect in every way and finally after 12 years of "complex", life became simple again. No more wondering, waiting and worring... only faith that she is finally free!

February 1, 1999 - November 13, 2011

Starting Today

       You may have noticed some BIG changes on my blog. Let me take a minute to explain what is going on around here

        I have removed ALL except for one of the previous posts for the last 2 years. During the last 12 months I have REALLY been struggling with even caring about my weight, let alone blogging about my struggles. Bringing home Kya last August on a ventilator has been more challenging than I ever believed it would be. Physically I do fine, but there is hardly anything left inside me emotionally after a long day, and the last thing I feel like doing is pushing myself to be healthy (because it is a constant struggle!). 

       Every time I logged on to begin typing about an experience or challenge, I would find myself reading old posts and feeling HORRIBLE about all the effort I had gone through in order to be successful in my weight loss, only to have it all gone by the wayside. I can honestly say that it was killing me inside to face my failures. I was so disgusted with myself for giving up after all that hard work.

       So today was about clearing out all my regrets. I'm sorry to those of you who have enjoyed seeing the back-log of events, but I needed a clean slate. 

Starting today  - I am beginning my journey anew!

Starting today - I am not going to let the failures of the past haunt me anymore!

Starting today - I am going to make my well being a PRIORITY in my life!

Starting today - I will love the feel of the wind in my hair as I run and I will live for the sweat of brow! 

Enjoy the ride,

Laura

My Before Pictures (Scary!)

Okay so here is more of me than anyone ever needed to see! I think it will be very important to have accountability when trying to loose weight, so I am letting you all see my before pictures. All I can say is, "Thank heavens," for a great push-up bra!