Priscilla's Comments

For today's entry, I am going to borrow Priscilla's comment she wrote...it sums it up and makes so much sense. Things are going well. Going away on November 3 for my birthday so I would love to be looking leaner by then! So..words of wisdom from Pris:

Beth, hit those weights hard. No holding back when you are working out. Pick up the heavier weights and go for less reps. If you are doing lower body one day and upper body one day, then do 2 sets only of each exercise, and aim for 10 reps only. If you can get more than 10 reps easily, then you need to be grabbing a heavier weight! And give that body part a 2 day break before hitting it again. Rest and recovery is what builds, leaner, stronger muscles. And you want muscles. The more you have, the higher metabolism you will have. And as you know, we women will not bulk up because we do not have testosterone of a man to get big like a man (thank goodness)! But if you are choosing to do total body workouts, then do lower and upper all in one day, BUT do only one set per exercise. Yes, only one set. Give everything you've got to that one exercise and then move on to the next. There is no sense in working out and holding back (mentally & physically) because you know that you have a second or third set to do. Wasteful. Give it all to one set. Dig in, get it, and move on. 'NEXT!" You will be exhausted because total body takes alot of strength and endurance, but then remember that you can not train again until the 3rd day. Your total body nees a two day break to RE-BUILD those muscles that you just tore down. Now go hit your weights, eat plenty of protein to feed those torn down muscles, and drink your water, Madam! And good luck! Priscilla (www.starbodies.com) of course, you know.

Thanks, Priscilla!

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Happy July

Happy July! July is the month of my anniversary and also the month both of my kids were born.

I am thinking of becoming the Pink Power Ranger...I have seen each DVD 400 times and I am wondering if they are hiring. It is a cute little suit and imagine the fitness level achieved from saving the world from evil beings!!!

Like Beka and Martha I am on a Tony break. Don't get me wrong...the man is awesome. I am away for three weeks of this month and have changed my workouts a bit. I am doing a full body circuit three times a week and am finding that interval cardio is working for me (six minutes after workouts) I am also being realistic about my eating. Normally I fail in the summer. I attempt to eat clean and then say screw it...go off plan and then attempt to start again. This time I am taking a modified weight watchers approach combined with clean eating choices. Goes like this. Keeping points for everything I eat...whether it is clean or not. At the end of the day I will have consumed the correct number of calories and hopefully mostly clean calories. That way I can enjoy that beer or piece of cake. I know this will not create the body of a fitness model but it will allow me to move forward...lose a few pounds a week and not kill myself.

I am all about enjoying my family this summer. It is strange that for the first time in forever I am content to just be home, playing on the slip and slide, going to the pool or just dressing up as a power ranger :) Workouts have moved to the basement with free weights and a ball. The greatest thing is my daughter has joined me and it has allowed us to talk about making healthy choices...and being happy with our God given bodies. She is making better choices about the fuel she feeds her body, too.

My latest craze...endamame. steamed, lightly salted and the kids go wild for it.

Off to workout!

Nintendo Wii

Do you think that Tony would consider playing tennis on Nintendo Wii my extra cardio? Who dares me to ask??????

Fresh cut Grass and Memories of Long Ago

I love the smell of fresh cut grass. Not Florida grass but Michigan grass. It triggers summer memories from long ago being away at camp. Summer...no lunches to pack, not many places to go and way too many opportunities to have a glass of wine with friends.

My husband had a BIG birthday (he is ten years older than I) and I planned an amazing party for him. His two best friends from other states came in....it was a lot of work but a labor of love! My daughter sang a solo...it was amazing. I am posting a picture of before the party with my two kids...normally in running or riding clothes and a pony tail...this is not the normal look!  

A few things have happened that make my mind return to the past and that smell of fresh cut grass reminds me of a day, long ago... sitting on the balcony of this apartment where I used to live with my first husband.  I wanted nothing more than to be married to him. It was first love and young love. He never could conform to society demands and was really, really unique. I loved that about him. I also loved his family. We had the typical wedding, got our first jobs, bought a house and never built a life together. I don't think it failed for lack of love...just failed for lack of passion toward building a life together. Neither of us was happy. He bailed, I cried and then realized that he was right to bail. We both ended up remarried...to the right person or at least we both figured out how to build a life with someone we love...both have had children and basically never had any contact after the summer of 1994. Thirteen years later, a friend of mine stumbled across his blog. We exchanged some words of closure but that was it. I can never hate this man. I don't think you can hate someone that you once loved with every part of yourself. It was not the love I share with Don (my husband) it was young, immature, crazy lustful love. there.   It got me thinking about my past and my present.  I don't know if it is really a place to go-our pasts.  Aren't there people though that touch our lives...that are responsible for the person we have become?  He was one of them.   For that, I will always be grateful. I have decided to spend more time on this blog visiting my past...perhaps a place that some day Donny and Mackenzie can find out some things about life, me and my pursuit to be the best that I can be.

Re-Cleanse

So...I started over with day one today :( I had a bit of a mishap yesterday and decided to begin again and look at the first three days as the pre-cleanse (as Tony told me I should do) Why is he always right??? Adding the electrolyte to the Cleanse drink and some lemon actually makes it ok. Eating some organic celery. Oh...my big splurge...I am getting Great Lengths hair extensions today. I will post before and after photos tonight. I don't know why I want these things but I do!

Down four More or Less

Day one and I am down four pounds. Before any of you start cheering remember I was up four from the wedding so really I am back at my starting point. Today I am doing well. I had a graham cracker for fear that I was going to throw up after I took some medication. I find the cleanse drink nasty but I have been choking it down. Tomorrow...FOOD!!!

Starving

Help...I am starving! Day one of the CLEANSE consists of four drinks. I am trying to figure how I am going to make it through tomorrow, too. Good news I get some food on TUESDAY!!!! Weighed in this AM and I was up FOUR pounds from the day before due to wedding drinking and salty foods. Should be off by tomorrow .

I could never be anorexic...I like food way too much!!!

Pre Cleanse Mentality

I am a little laid back on my eating since the CLEANSE begins on Sunday and we go to a wedding tomorrow. Tony says it will kick start my program. I can do anything for nine days, right? There is a great blog that I stumbled upon called www.scalewhore.com Search isagenix on her blog and you will see a link to this chick that took a you tube of her butt before and after. It is pretty motivating. No worries...I will not be shooting any butt shots before during or after!!!

My heart is breaking for my sweet daughter. She dressed up as Goldilocks for Fairy Tale day and the mean, nasty girls made fun of her "baby" dress. Big tears...and my heavy heart knows that this is just the start of it all. How do you explain to a young girl that girls can rip your heart to shreds a million times before you hit 18? Maybe we should rent mean girls...

Packing up to leave for Michigan for the summer. It is HOOOT in FL this time of year and I cannot wait to see my family and old friends..

The Cleanse

Any day now the CLEANSE from T should arrive. Reading Stacey's blog scares me. She has more willpower than the whole state of Texas and she said it was HARD. I need to prove to myself that I can do something for nine days. I am going to start on Sunday and I hope to get the heck out of the 150's. I am a size 4/6 at 135. 135 is where I hope to be by July 18.

My mood is way better...haven't bit the heads off of my darling children in two days and haven't contemplated punching my DH in the nose for awhile :) Season Finale of Grey's Anantomy tonight..how can you not smile.

I work out alone and it makes me miss Mary Ann. 11 years ago when we lived in Michigan she asked me to go for a run. She became my early morning workout partner and is one of the closest people to me in this universe. We started lifting weights together, yoga, tennis...and when I had my daughter she was my rock. We moved away...her kids went to college....she opened a store and I am the human car pool. We touch base once a week or so but she was such a big part of my life for so many years I find myself really missing her. I think I will let her know.

Feeling better?

A great workout with afterburns from T + cleaning lady coming today = less moody Beth!

Moody Mama

I am going to post on a regular basis...I check all of the diva blogs daily and I need to stay on top of my own. All I can say is ugghhh...for the last two weeks or so I have been in the worst mood. I am emotional, short tempered and worst of all impatient with my kids. I am far past blaming it on PMS but I need to figure out what is going on with me before my whole family packs up and leaves me in an empty house. Everything and everyone are on my nerves. I just can't explain it but I am not myself.

The Workout

Some days when you print off Tony's workout...do you think...it doesn't look so bad...and then...OMG!!! That is what happened with LEGS today. The olympic bar lunges and squats were a killer. I am loving Stacey's list of Tony's Divas. I need to figure out how to add it to my blog (I know, I am a moron!)

Unofficial weigh in today...Tony knows I have huge accountability issues if I don't weigh in weekly so today I was down .8. That is a total of 6.6 pounds in just under a month. 16.2 to go to meet Tony's informal goal weight of where he thinks we should be heading.

I will post photos at week six. For now, here I am as Cher at a Halloween party. The cute one on the pony is my little diva!!!

April motivated me to check in quickly this morning! Believe it or not I am still on track. Need to eat more often but weighed in this am and I am down another 2 pounds from last week which brings the grand total to 5.8 Hurray!

Baby Steps

Good news...weigh in today and I am down 3.6 pounds. Some of that weight was losing bloat from the cruise but still happy to see the numbers move and my clothes feeling better. I can't wait to tell you all that they are falling off of my body!

Cookie dough and Chocolate Bunnies

These are things that I am NOT going to have this weekend! I feel great to be back in the swing of things. It is amazing how it only takes a few days to lose that dreaded bloat. I took some photos but will only post them in one month when there will be a difference. Ok...borrowing an idea from Beka...101 reasons to stay faithful to Tony's Program
1. It sucks to put on a pair of pants and find out they are tight...
2. I am cranky and crabby to those I love when I am not happy with my body
3. I have been trying to obtain my "dream body" with tony for one year. I keep starting and stopping...he keeps pushing me to continue
No more negative talk..
4. Following the program makes me feel energized
5. I love seeing definition in my abs
6. I love to feel confident in my own skin
7. I love to be a role model to my daughter
8. I love to drink my protein shakes
We interrupt this message for an advertisement...I have found the BEST protein powder on the planet. It is from www.starbodies.com. Mocha Leano is sooooo delicious

Is it April Already???

Hello, I have been keeping up with many of you through your blogs. I am in awe of Beka!! How amazing. Well, after my last blog, I took a tumble off one of my four legged friends and needed to take three weeks off. Of course I feel like mush but Tony will have my butt kicked in no time, right? I already feel better and it has only been three days back on track! Shoulders, bis and tris today. I am going to try to love the cables like stacey!!! Off to a field trip with my six year old. (Torture!)

March 1...here I go again!

It is hard to believe I have spent another month just spinning my wheels. Well, actually I have accomplished a few things since I last wrote but on the getting lean and strong front not so much. So I know it's been told many times many ways...I will EAT CLEAN! I am following my girls with Tony and I have been left in the dust. Now worries...jump on board with me and give me my kick in the pants.

The photo above is what has been occupying my time when I am not with my family. We are amidst the biggest horseshow in the country... this is what I love. I wake up in the morning and run to the barn to get breakfast for my big babies before my human babies. I accomplished something last week...one of my biggest goals with my riding. I qualified and made it back to the second round of a huge class. My first round score was an 86. I know means nothing to the non equestrians but never, ever have I held it together when it really counts. That is why I am sure I can accomplish my other big goal. This goal of finally getting my body to be the machine it wants to be. I am tired of being a quitter.

My little ones have been sick and I am not rushing out the door. I figure sleep is healing. What will they do in the first hour of first grade that can be better than sleep, right? Of course my two year old would never decide to sleep in. We have been playing tractor for two hours. He loves garbage truck the best of all and I find myself following garbage trucks so he can watch the garbage pick up. I am sure the garbage man thinks I am stalking him....

My goals for the day: Drink my water

Complete my workout and put nothing down the hatch but Tony approved nutrients. I have 11 weeks until I return to Michigan for the summer and guess what dreambody friends??? I am going to be lean!

New Found Motivation

The wonderful thing about life is if we are very, very lucky...we wake up in the morning and with each morning...brings a new chance to get it right. I am so inspired by April, Stacey, Martha, Reese and Beka. Reading about your progress this last month makes me realize...I have missed the boat but it is never too late to hop on. Tony is so sick of my lame attempts! But nobody more sick of my lame attempts as me. So...this is it. Keeping accountable I will be listing my food journal on this blog nightly and also reporting weekly weigh ins. No more excuses...if not now??? When?????

Cranky and Crabby

I am so crabby right now I cannot even stand myself. I know it is TOM doing the talking but I am ready to punch a hole in the wall...everything and everyone is bugging me!!!! I am struggling in a huge way with a clean diet and I am wondering once again if it is for me right now. A little history about me...I have lifted weights for the last decade or so. In those ten years I have had two kids. With the first baby, I lost the baby weight by following WW and then after I lost the initial weight I leaned out with a clean diet. I am 15 pounds away from my pre pregnancy weight with baby number two. I had put on a few pounds before getting pregnant with him so really only ten away from there. Here is my issue. For 18 months I have made attempts to lose this extra weight by eating chicken, green beans, egg whites, protein shakes etc... for 18 months I have lost and gained, lost and gained. During this time I have had three close friends follow a WW plan and lose many more pounds than I need to lose...I get the building muscle, metabolism boosting...I get it all. What I don't get is myself and I end up eating too many calories in a day when I eat clean until four o'clock and then I eat five girl scout cookies etc... tony would like me to listen to mp3's and to talk about this until I am blue in the face. I am just tired of thinking about it ALL of the time. I am tired of feeling guilty ALL of the time and I am TIRED of feeling like I have failed ALL of the time. I know I can lose the last pounds if I follow the WW plan and I know I will lose some muscle. I guess this is where I am right now....the next ten week are the ten busiest of the year for me. We begin showing our horses on the winter circuit and between riding, working, being a mom, managing our barn of horses and being invited to endless food events I don't know if I can be the chicken eating fool I know I should be. I do know that since last April, I have woken up everyday with the intention of eating clean, with the intention of becoming so lean my abs would wow the world and since April I am exactly the same...I am emotional over this tonight because I am sick of the energy this is taking...I don't feel like I have the energy. I just want to lose ten pounds the way I have always succeeded. Maybe I will wake up tomorrow and try it that way. Maybe I will wake up tomorrow and have the motivation that Martha, Beka, Reese, April and Stacey have found. Maybe I will wake up tomorrow morning and this horrible mood will be gone and I can again be nice to my kids, my husband and my dogs.

Slave to Chicken

I am a slave to my diet. Tony has me eating smaller portions and every 1.5 hours. I am working out tonight after kiddos are in bed so let me tell you how excited I am about my MRP. It will be such a treat. I have found the most unbelievable protein. There is Chisel chocolate, mocha leano mmmmmm! check out Priscilla at www.starbodies.com. She is really unique, lean and a sweetheart. It is fun to be on her mailing list...she sends some pretty inspirational stuff. She has an interesting workout philosophy. She works full body, one set, really heavy, three times a week. She stays away from cardio except for intervals at the end of her workout. I am no advocating another workout plan (Since we are Dreambody Gals) however, I find it intersting to look at how others achieve "perfection." Hey, did anyone watch wife swap last night? One of the wives was a figure competitor and some of her obsessive behavior made me laugh. That show is so funny. Shoulders today...still on the agenda. The horseshow season is underway and that means by 3:00 I have ridden and ridden and it wipes me out!

ESP

I swear...Tony has e.s.p. I get an email this morning asking me, so what was it? Pizza? wine? He totally knows me and totally knows I gave in to the temptation. I need to prove I can have a perfect week. He has tweeked my eating to consuming smaller portions every 1.5 hours. I start tomorrow. OK my fellow tony friends...stay on my back. I am the only one that has not eaten clean. You have my permission to hound me! Today the kids are off so I am going to take them to the South Florida Fair. Lots of fair food...none for me. Don leaves for four days so I will be running like crazy since he helps so much as he works at home. I can eat clean, I want the lean body more than the crap, right? more later!!!

Staying Focused

Today my eating was not perfect...and it is 9:30 and I need to complete today's workout. I did not eat anything I wasn't supposed to, I just did not eat enough and at the right times. All of that comes from not having the food prepared and ready to go. This is usually where I start to get sloppy-but that is not going to happen this time, right? We are having perfect weather down here. It is in the 70's and cool. This makes up for the sweltering days of September when this midwestern girl was missing the changing leaves. The horses love it and there are thousands pulling into town for the Winter Equestrian Festival. It really is amazing. I am like a kid in a candy store. This is my favorite time of year. Thanks to all of my new Tony following friends..it is motivating to share this journey with you!!!

Throw the Scale out the Window

Why is it that getting on the scale in the morning can define your mood for the whole day? It really is ridiculous. Tony told me to go ahead and weigh myself. He finds that I am better with a lot of accountability so that is how weekly weigh ins have become a part of my plan. I was sure I would see a loss of at least 2 pounds...NO .8 to be exact. Oh well, it must mean that my body cannot let go of this hard earned excess baggage! The workouts are going awesome...my eating is right on track so something has to move here. As tony told me, it is just science! Leave it to my body to defy the rules of science!!!

The Crazy Quest For Fitness

Today is the first day of a lot of things...mostly the first day that I will become accountable to myself for my fitness goals. This blog is going to be just for that reason...I am finally going to get my hind end in gear and reach the end of the line! I am working with Tony from www.dreambodies.net and he has informed me that I MUST stay accountable with this attempt or I am to be fired!!! I am sick of being in a bad mood when my jeans are too tight...I am sick of starting over again and again only to end up where I started and most of all I need to keep my promises to myself. I want to be a better wife, mother and friend. It starts with me and how I feel about me...that is why I begin this journey. I am not sure if anyone will find this blog and read it but it will chart my progress...I will complete this journey that is a promise.