Week 3

This was my best week yet.  I ate well, slept well, and finally my metabolism seems to be increasing as I improve my healthy habits.  I am sure that this is happening for the most part because of the addition of the physical activity at the YMCA in my weekly routine.  Though I am currently able to only go one day a week, it is so positive, that I believe it has lasting effects for the whole week.

I am inspired by my exercise instructor, Natalie.  She has the most cheerful smile and is so encouraging.  You just can’t help but give your best and exercise to your fullest when you are in her class.

         

My 10 year old son and I have been taking her Tuesday Cardio classes and they are a mix of  dance and Zumba.  I so wish I could take the class more times during the week, but so far Tuesday evening is the only time our family schedule has worked out for me to do this.  I hope I can get my 12 year old son back to her class too.  He took it one time with me, but he has some issues with his flat feet and his ankles.  So bouncing around gives him severe “after pains” and it is best to not stress his feet and ankles.  But I think he could do a modified version of the movements in the class and not bounce on his feet if he didn’t want to.

Natalie is trained in Zumba, Dynamic Stretch, Dynamic Dance, Healthy Fitness Mentor , Orientation trainings, and more.  She has a degree in Sociology, but devotes her career to help others as a fitness trainer and helps hundreds of people each week.  She has truly touched my life.  She has encouraged me so much during class and in talking with me and my son after class.  She pushes us to give our best the full hour we are with her.  We are exhausted when the class is over.  Yet we feel encouraged and invigorated.  After a bathroom break and drinking some water, we are ready to take on our next challenge.

                                

After the cardio class, I walked 1 mile on the gym track, that is 18 laps around.  I tried to swing and pump my arms and walk as fast as I could.  I was really winded by lap 14 and the arches in my feet were burning, but I kept going until I finished the last lap.  It took me about 35 minutes to walk the mile today.  I am looking forward to improving this time as I get stronger.
 
         

Next, I played basketball with my son.  We dribbled and passed the ball back and forth.  Then we each got our own ball and challenged each other to get the ball into the basket.  Each time one person made a basket, it was full on for the other person to get their basket and keep up.  I had so much fun.  To push myself to be more physical, I did a lot of lay ups.  I have shot a few baskets in our hoop in the driveway at home, but I haven’t really got physical with it.  But it was a lot of fun to do this in the gym.
  
Finally, I spent some time SWEATING the easy way in the steam room.  This is a very cleansing experience.  The air is hot, and you can feel the heat on your skin and in your nose and in your throat.  The sweat poured out of everywhere on my body.  I just relaxed and breathed slowly and let the sweat flow.  For several days afterwards, my skin was exceptionally soft.  I felt rejuvenated.  I wish I could do this every day!

Progress on Fitness Goals:

To review our family fitness goals (physical activity and nutrition), please read previous posts about:  FIT and Goal Plan. To see our progress in our health habits, be sure to read all our Walk and Talk Wednesday posts.  I journaled my nutritional food and water intake, vitamins, and exercise activity last week.  It was a good tool to gage where I am at and what I need to work on.  I am sharing week 3 journal in this post too.   

Sunday 1/20
Breakfast
Egg x 1
Waffle x 1
Bacon
Coffee with milk and sugar
 
Lunch
Juice Feast 1 cup: apple, carrot, celery, orange, lime, cherry, spinach, Kevita fermented coconut water, apple cider.  (I made a large blender full of this and put it in pint jars and stored in the fridge).
 
Supper
Chicken club: chicken breast, bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo, bun
1/2 Coke (shared a coke with husband)
 
Vitamins & Supplements:
Multi Vitamin powder packet
1 tsp. Elderberry extract
1 probiotic 15 strains
2 psyllium fiber
B-complex
1-kelp capsule
2 – enzyme blend
 
Water: 4
 
Activity:
Hiked trail 1 hour through the James Lake State Park.  We had a great time as a family hiking the trail.  We all took turns pushing the baby in the stroller.  We seen a beautiful lake with several cliffs and mountains all around.  The water was deep everywhere we got close to the shore line so we had to keep the children a safe distance from the water.  They were able to get close on a dock that had railing.  The hiking trail goes through tall pine trees.  The only wildlife we saw were squirrels. We could hear several different birds, but could not see them high up in the pine trees.

Saturday 1/19
Breakfast
Eggs x 2
Spinach
Turkey Sausage x 2
OJ
 
Lunch
Juice Feast 1 pint : apple, carrot, celery, orange, lime, cherry, spinach, Kevita fermented coconut water, apple cider. (I made a large blender full of this and put it in pint jars and stored in the fridge).

Snack
Vanilla Cream Cookies
 
Supper
Egg Scramble: eggs x 2, spinach, leftover burger pattie with vegetables
Water
 
Vitamins & Supplements:
Multi Vitamin powder packet
1 tsp. Elderberry extract
1 probiotic 15 strains
2 psyllium fiber
B-complex
1-kelp capsule
2 – enzyme blend
 
Water: 4
 
Activity:

Friday 1/18
Breakfast
Eggs x 2
Spinach
Hashbrowns

Lunch
Juice Feast 1 pint: apple, carrot, celery, orange, lime, cherry, spinach, Kevita fermented coconut water, apple cider. (I made a large blender full of this and put it in pint jars and stored in the fridge).

Supper 
1 slice pizza
salad
Water

Snack:
Warm milk with honey

Vitamins & Supplements:
Multi Vitamin powder packet
1 tsp. Elderberry extract
1 probiotic 15 strains
2 psyllium fiber
B-complex
1-kelp capsule
2 – enzyme blend

Water: 4

Activity:
Kids helped dad dig holes and plant bushes in the yard that he was given today.  He is building a car dealership at work and they were doing demolition and had to move some plants and they gave three beautiful bushes to my husband.  It was a muddy mess to did the holes, but the plants went right in and look great.  Then the kids rode their bikes for a while.

Thursday 1/17
Breakfast
Eggs  x 2
Juice Feast 1 pint: apple, carrot, celery, orange, lime, cherry, spinach, Kevita fermented coconut water, apple cider. (I made a large blender full of this and put it in pint jars and stored in the fridge).
 
Lunch
Spaghetti (leftovers)
Green beans
Salad and ranch dressing
 
Snack
Cookies
 
Supper
Beef and veggie burger with mayo, tomato, bread and butter pickles, swiss cheese bun
Sweat potato chips
 
Vitamins & Supplements:
Multi Vitamin powder packet
1 tsp. Elderberry extract
1 probiotic 15 strains
2 psyllium fiber
B-complex
1-kelp capsule
2 – enzyme blend
 
Water: 4
 
Activity: Not much we can do the past few days as it has been very rainy and everything is soaked.  We did some dancing in the living room, but the wet weather has us kind of bummed.

Wednesday 1/16
Breakfast
Eggs x 2
Green smoothie: Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness
 
Lunch
Hashbrowns
Water
 
Snack
Sweet potato chips
Vanilla cookies
 
Supper
Spaghetti
Green beans
Romaine lettuce salad with ranch dressing
Vitamins & Supplements:
Multi Vitamin powder packet
1 tsp. Elderberry extract
1 probiotic 15 strains
2 psyllium fiber
B-complex
1-kelp capsule
2 – enzyme blend
 
Water: 4
 
Activity:

Tuesday 1/15
Breakfast:
2 Eggs
 
Lunch
Sloppy joe sandwich
Crackers
Cupcakes
Juice
 
Snack
Ice cream bar
 
Supper
Sloppy joe sandwich (leftovers)
Sweet potato chips
 
Vitamins & Supplements:
Multi Vitamin powder packet
1 tsp. Elderberry extract
1 probiotic 15 strains
2 psyllium fiber
B-complex
1-kelp capsule
2 – enzyme blend

Water: 4

Activity: 
4H class.  This gets me out of the house and on my feet for several hours.
I loaded the van with supplies, unloaded at the building.  We helped set up the tables and chairs, and took down tables and chairs and cleaned the room up after the meeting.  I organizing the 4H meeting and the whole process is a physically demanding time.  The actual meeting is from 9 to 11:30 but I am on my feet from 6am until about 1pm and sometimes much later depending on how long it takes to clean up and what our family is doing after the meeting.
 
Worked out at the YMCA:
1 hour exercise class, 35 minute walked 1 mile on track, 30 minutes basket ball challenge, 10 minutes climbing stairs 4 reps of 29 stairs, 20 minutes steam room.
 

Monday 1/14
Breakfast
2 Eggs

Lunch
Juice Feast 1 pint: apple, carrot, celery, orange, lime, cherry, spinach, Kevita fermented coconut water, apple cider. (I made a large blender full of this and put it in pint jars and stored in the fridge).

Supper

Vitamins & Supplements:
Multi Vitamin powder packet
1 tsp. Elderberry extract
1 probiotic 15 strains
2 psyllium fiber
B-complex
1-kelp capsule
2 – enzyme blend

Water: 4

Activity:
Grocery shopping with all six kids. Yikes! Two hours of walking around the store.
 

Summary

I am pleased with my overall progress this week.  I lost a pound during my workout on Tuesday, and another pound during the night as my metabolism kept on burning.  Then I maintained that for the rest of the week.  I wish I could go to the Y more than one time a week, but it is a start and I am excited that I seen progress this week.  This next week I hope to add T-tapp to my schedule and see if I can boost my metabolism even more beyond the Tuesday workout.  Also if the weather turns warmer and stays nice we will go to the park and enjoy some fun there too.

I am pleased with my food intake this week.  I stayed away from grains at breakfast most of the week and I think this helped me overcome sugar highs and lows.  I read a post about raising your metabolism by eating things such as hashbrowns and I wanted to give it a try.  Hashbrowns were a delicious addition to my breakfast routine this week.  I also added in spinach to my daily diet this week.  I feel like I have more energy this week than I have had this entire past year.  That is saying a lot!  I think it may be the Juice Feasts that are giving me more energy.  I am looking forward to adding in more Juice Feasts next week.  I would like to increase my intake to two pints a day and experiment with more flavor combinations.  I love the taste of the frozen cherries.  I want to make one with strawberries and I want to add in more variety of produce. 
 
I still need to drink more water, though I am not convinced that I need 8 glasses a day.  I think I feel good around 5 to 6 glasses max, unless I am working out and then I need a little more. I want to be sure to drink a glass of raw / fermented vegetable / fruit juice each day.   I also want to be sure I am drinking a glass of raw milk each day.  I always give the kids 1 to 2 glasses a day. 

I am pleased with my vitamin and supplement regime, but I want to get some iodine, magnesium, borage oil current oil (GLA) blend, and codliver oil soon.  I used to take the oil blend and the cod liver oil for years and it always helped me feel healthy.  I quit taking it about four years ago when I could not financially afford the supplements anymore.  But I know it was good for me and I want to find a way to get the supplements I need and put them into my routine.  I would also like to increase my intake of some herbal tea.  I drink it from time to time, but lately I haven’t had any and I want to put this back into my daily routine.

This post will be linked up with
Domestically Divine
Rasing Homemakers
Sharing Time
Health Habits

Link Up with Walk and Talk Wednesday

Please Link Up your fitness stories (personal or family fitness) in our January Walk and Talk Wednesday Link Up.    This link will be open all month. We will have a new link up each month for you to share your continuing progress in reaching your goals.  Please include a link in your story so that readers can come back to this link up and find more inspiration and encouragement from others who have left their links here too.  Thank you.