What if I had givern up? Part 4 of 4

I'm calling this last part "Even if it takes a year". Because what if you knew it would take you a year to get in shape? Would you give up? Would you say that it wasn't worth it to only lose 12 pounds in a year? Gosh, that's only 1 pound a month. Why would I work so hard for only one pound a month? There are women around me on "insert fad diet here" losing 5 pounds a week. Really, how long does that weight stay gone? A year later do they still look good? And do they just look good in clothes but not in a bikini?
Here's why you should not give up, even if it takes a year. (not that old pic from sept again!!! hehehe)
Sept 2009:

Sept 2010:

Sept 2009:

Sept 2010:

So, what would you do?

Would you give up? One pound (on the scale) a month not worth it?  To me it was worth every single moment of hard work and clean eating. And honestly, you dont have to eat perfect. You should enjoy cheats here and there. With me when I have a good cheat like pizza or burgers and fries, or desserts it just revs my body up for more weight loss.

But you can't just do this with diet and cardio. If you want to get lean and have curves you MUST LIFT WEIGHTS. And you have to lift them heavy. Obviously starting out you want to be careful, but you need to challenge your muscles. As Michelle (BuffMother) always says - Challenge=Change. If you are not lifting heavy (for you) to challenge yourself you will NOT see change. You will just get a smaller skinny-fat body.

So get started! Grab your weights, clean up your diet, work hard, lift heavy, add in some cardio and get to it.

Even if it takes a year girls!!

What if I had given up? Part 3

I'm talking a bit about momentum today.If you don't work at it, you can't build it up and use it. It makes me think of power ups in games. You have to do certain combos and moves to get your power up, then you use it to do even better moves. Same thing - except you only get one life here in RL, and you can't defy gravity and jump 50 feet in the air, or be a half-elf, and slay monsters... Ok, rabbit trailing a bit. Anyway....  You workout and you eat right, you keep doing it until you see results, you gain more confidence in what you are doing and you do better, lift heavier, run faster/farther (further?), eat cleaner, and you see even more results! That's how it works.
So I didn't say "why bother". I have felt like "why bother" at times, but luckily those days pass by.
And so we move onto the next challenge! Yes, there's almost always a challenge going on in the BuffMother Rally Room, which is great to keep you on track. The next one was... Sexy in 70. 70 days to work hard and see what you can do. I was determined to make more progress this time around than back in the SSS2009 challenge.
You see, that momentum builds. If i had given up after the sss I'd still be struggling. But I kept at it, kept joining challenges, kept myself accountable to my fitness friends, which kept me building that momentum to succeed.
Ok, where did I start for sx70? Here it is. I was 125.6. That's good because it means I was losing between contests. Yay!  My goal was to get under 120. I really like being around 118 when I have a good amount of muscle. The more muscle, the more I get to eat!! :) And since I love to eat I have to build the muscle. I am really rambling off track today. Sorry!  I ended the sx70 at 119.2. Hurray, goal met!
Pics.  Let's go back to Sept 2009 again - we're all going to get tired of that pic, but hey, this is the way it goes, because everything relates back to not giving up at that point. I think I was 129 at start of sss2009. So this is now a 10 pound difference. (scale weight, body comp is much different)
Sept 2009:

June 2010:

Sept 2009:

June 2010:

I was quite happy with my results. But now a thought begins to tumble around in my mind.
Could I do a competition? So many of my friends are doing competitions. My dad mentions a customer doing competitions. Competition just seems to be everywhere. So I pray about it. And I make the decision to do it. And oh my gosh, I felt a physical weight just lift from me. I hadn't realized how oppressive the enemy had been until that moment. I felt free when I decided to go for it. And ya know, I'm only 3 days away and I'm not nervous at all. I'm really just excited. I think it is going to be fun. And after the competition is when the final blog of 'not giving up' is going to happen. Because you are going to see a total transformation from Sept 2009 to Sept 2010. And I hope it will motivate you to not give up!

What if I had given up? Part 2

Obviously my answer from the previous post - part 1 - is that I chose not to give up. I continued lifting more consistently and eating (a bit) better. I try not to go crazy about clean eats - just more good choices than bad. But I completely believe in moderation on my eating and I do enjoy the good (bad) stuff now and again.
Anyhow, when the next BuffMother RR challenge came around at the turn of the year I was ready to get at it. My weight was basically the same as the ending of SSS2009, mainly because of the holidays. So I started the 6 week Just Do It challenge at 129, and ended at 126.6.  Yay, progress finally! Well, scale progress. My body was making progress all along, it just hadn't shown up yet. Add in all of the holiday meals and treats and I was pretty happy to maintain those few months.
Do I give up yet? Well let's see.... from Sept to April I've only dropped 3.4 pounds. Is that even worth it?? That's not even a pound a month.
Pics-

End of SSS2009 - Front:

End of Just Do It - Front:

End of SSS2009 - Back:

End of Just Do It - Back:

Pics aren't showing much difference, not for over 6 months of work. Should I say "why bother?"

Check in tomorrow, I'll show you why you need to keep on going even when the going seems slow.

~Darcie

What if I had given up? Part 1

This is part 1 of a several part blog. I don't know how many yet LOL. But as I count down to the show (5 days) I have found myself thinking about what if I had given up last year.
I see people all of the time getting upset about not losing much weight after just 1 week of turning things around. I am one of those people at times as well. I'm hoping to not be one anymore. I want to take a look back over this past year to show that you can't (or shouldn't!) give up over a week of no visible progress. In fact, you can't (shouldn't!) give up even when a month goes by with no big scale drops or measurement changes. There's stuff going on INSIDE that's getting fixed too, and sometimes it takes a while to show up outside.
Today's blog I'm talking about last September when the BuffMother Rally Room contest "Super Star Success 2009" started. I have always done the RR contests, but for the almost 2 years prior to SSS2009 I hadn't been giving it my all. When this one came around I was ready to start trying again. I was tired of being fluffy, again.
So for 10 weeks I cleaned up my eating, was good about doing my workouts and my stellar results were.... 0.6 pounds. No way!! 10 weeks and only 0.6 pounds?
Here are the before and after pics.
Before Front:

After Front:

Before Back:

After Back:

Okay, so obviously that wasn't a great performance during the SSS2009. But I did give it all I could give. What are my choices now?
1. I can say "That's just the way my body is supposed to look at this age". I tried, but it didn't work. It isn't worth the time to keep trying and not see results.
2. I can say "That's 0.6 pounds down, if I keep it up I can lose more". Because if I give up now it isn't as if the pounds will magically fall away on their own. I will not be better off if I quit. I'm going to keep trying.

Hmmmm, which one did I choose?

1 Week Out!

Saturday 9/4/10:
Wow, I'm really struggling with the legs lately. I'm sure its the lower cals as we get closer. Only 1 week away!!! I'm so glad. I'm ready to eat a big piece of red velvet cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. That's on my list for after the show next Saturday. Yum!!!
Anyway, did wimpy legs today. Just 3 isolation exercises. I have to do legs again on Monday and I didn't want them sore for my last real leg workout before the show. On Monday I'll kill them with squats and deadlifts, but for Saturday it was just sets of Leg Ext's, Ham Curls & Calves. A bunch of sets with different weights and some single leg, some both legs. Too lazy to write it all out - nothing special LOL.
Tomorrow I start a much more strict diet, with no grains at all. No more oatmeal (cry). No brown rice. Just fruits for my starchy carbs this week. I'm doubling up on my oatmeal today since it's my last for a week. I hope the rest of the family survives my diet this week.
Since it's actually Sunday when I'm posting this - today is my day off. Yay! I am trying to rest and really be ready to go this week. Tomorrow is a bit off schedule because it's labor day and we'll all be gathered together - and there will be snacks everywhere. But it is going to be my butt up on that stage that is getting critiqued and I'm not sabotaging that with a few chips and dip. Clean, clean, clean eats this week.
Watched a bunch of npc figure clips on youtube last night. It was a great confidence builder. Those girls aren't perfect either. So I feel really good going into the show. By the time I'm dehydrated and prepped by Saturday morning I think I'm going to be shocked at myself. Can't wait to post some pics here!
Have a great holiday weekend.
~Darcie

Last of the Catch Up Posts!

8/30/10: Rested up and Ready to go!
I am ready to tackle the week. I had a good rest day on Sunday. I only did a little pilates and stretching when my back got tight from sitting at the computer gaming with Ted & Jake.

Saturday was hams/glutes and I focused on single leg exercises - so not very many. They take forever LOL.
warmup rbike 10

booty bulgarians - 20's x 6 x 4 ea
with RB Lat Raises - Blue x 10 x 4

Single Leg RDL's 20's x 6 x 4 ea
with RB Front Raises - Blue x 10 x 4

Ham Curls (single) 10 x 12 x 4 ea
with RB Bi Curls - Blue x 20 x 4

Stat. BB Lunges 45x8 ea - Knees said no more!

Then today was back/shoulders/bi's
warmup rbike 10 minutes

BOBBR- 45x10wu; 65x10; 75x8x2
with Mil BB Press 45x8x3

Cable Rows 75x10; 85x8x3
with Lat Raises 15's x 8 x 3

Lat Pulls Wide grip - 55x8x3
with Rev Flyes 15's x 8 x 3

Front Plate Raises 25x8x3
with Bi Curls 15's x 10 x 3

10 min rbike afterward, moderate speed. Pilates after that.
PM - Hill Sprints. Walked to hill, 6 sprints uphill, walked home. Total distance 2.5mi

And I was super-productive today. Only got 4 hours of sleep and thought for sure I'd be crashing after Jake was at school. But instead I continued packing up his old toys, rearranging stuff, cleaning out the toy room/storage room / everything goes here that we don't know where to put somewhere else room. I was going, going, going all day long.

And now it's time for me to go game with the family :) Have a great Monday, the week is just starting and there's so much you can accomplish!

~Darcie

9/1/10: Try, try again
Yesterday was leg day. Was supposed to be leg day at least. I just could not get this workout going. I started in the AM and did a few sets of squats and leg ext's. But my back was so tweaked from some booty bulgarians the previous Saturday. So I ended up rolling it out on the tennis ball. Started mid back and ended up going all the way down my glute and into my hamstring. That whole area was a tight mess. But wow did it feel much better afterward. Had to head out, but tried to do the workout again in the PM and it just didn't happen. I ended up with: 10 min rbike wu. Squats 45x10, 95x10x4. Exts 90x8, x7, x8, x10. That was it. Needed to do some ss cardio but that was a no go too. I think Monday's super productive day caught up to me. So on Saturday when I do legs I will do it all instead of just hams/glutes.

Today was senior picture day at school so I was there all morning. I brought my food but just didn't have time to eat it. When I got home I thought I might be doing a workout, but no energy. Picked up Jake, came home and ate, still no energy. Decided I needed a nap, so had a nice 30 minute rest. And FINALLY got my workout in.

wu rbike 10

BP
45x10
65x10
75x8x2
80x6x2
85x4x2
90x1
75x6

Paired those with:
tri kickbacks 15's x 8 x 3
tri exts 15 x 20 x 3
flyes 15's x 10 x 3
db press 15's x 10

Intervals: rbike 20 minutes
Ab Boot Camp - 2 rounds

I felt better after I got it done. I had such a hard time getting motivated and getting started. Just had to push through it today. Tomorrow is long cardio day, some walking lunges, and calves.

Have a great evening!

~Darcie

9/3/10: Leaning out
I can tell I'm leaner than I've ever been, because well parts of me are just getting, smaller. LOL.

Today was back/shoulders/bi's.

wu rbike 10 min

BOBBR's 45x10, 65x10, 75x8, 85x6
with Mil BB Press 45x10, 65x6x2, 45x10

Single Arm Rows 45x6x3 ea
with Lat Raises 15's x 8, 20's x 5 (only got those halfway up), 15's x 8

Lat Pulls 55x8 wide, 65x6, 55x8 wide
with Bi Curls 20's x 8, 15's x 8 x 2

Rbike - 21 minutes with some intervals. I forgot I was doing intervals LOL. Was just going along doing SS when I realized I was supposed to do intervals.

Then Ab boot camp afterwards - 2 rounds.

Yesterday I went up to the park and rode my bike for an hour. That place is always windy. It can be still everywhere else but the wind there blows against you no matter which way you are going. Even when you swing around the loop its always against you.

Tomorrow is legs, ss cardio and abs. Looking forward to a nice long weekend. Hope you all have a fun one!

~Darcie

Wow, Still more stuff From August?? Yes!

8/23/10: Abs are looking great today!
Abs are looking awesome this morning. I love that!
Today was chest/tri's. yesterday was off day and I did 4 sets of booty lunges.

WU - rbike 10min
BP - 45x10wu; 65x8; 75x6; 85x2, 1; 75x6; 80x4
Tri Kicks - 15's x 12 x 3

Inc DB Flyes - 20's x 8 x 3
Dips 10, 10, 6

Inc DBBP - 20's x 10 x 3
Tri Pushdowns 25x10x3

Tonight is sprints. If it isn't raining. It rained all weekend. And I will do pilates and some extra abs after sprints. I was doing pilates in the AM, but I really like doing it after cardio.

I was very productive yesterday. I finished putting stones on my suit this weekend. Not a lot, just a nice amount I think. I caught up on all of the dishes, ran laundry, and even got to play some games with the family in between! It was nesting day :) .
School started today. Got a call at lunch saying Jake had forgotten his lunchbox in Ted's car. So we scrambled to find stuff there that would get him enough carbs. They are a private school and don't have a cafeteria (food is ordered and brought in for lunch each day) so it was quite a jumble of stuff LOL. But at least he ate :) Then I called Ted and he says he doesn't have the lunch box. So I called the school back and they found it up in his classroom. But both Jake and his teacher looked for it and couldn't find it. So either someone accidently grabbed it then brought it back, or it got shoved behind a backpack or something. But at least we know where it is. What a way to start! LOL.

Ok, I'm gonna clean up from my workout and veg out a little bit while I have the house to myself.

~Darcie

8/24/10: Not even a taste!
I made oatmeal raisin cookies today for Ted and Jake and I didn't even take one tiny taste. Not a nibble, not a lick of a spoon or finger, nothing! When we were at the grocery store the other night Ted was actually looking at boxes of cookies. I was like "are you kidding? store bought cookies?" That's just nasty. Those things are dry and disgusting. But since I've been on a pretty tight diet I haven't done as much baking as usual besides bread. So today I thought it would be nice for them to have a little treat around. And you know what? I'm just not even tempted. I SO thank Jesus for that. I know it is him who is giving me the strength and discipline to get through this training. I'm so thankful!!

Today was leg day. I got it done early today since I have things to do this afternoon. It's a bit hard adjusting to school year schedule, but it will get better after a few weeks. Still, with it being earlier than usual, and CD2, major cramps both tummy and back... I was proud to even get anything done today! LOL.

Warmup rbike 10

Squats 95x10; 135x6x3
w/ Ext's 90x10x3
w/ Calves - single leg bw - 10x3ea

Squats - feet together - 135x6x3
w/ Ext's - toes out - 90x10x3
w/ Calves - single leg bw - 10x3ea

Lying Side leg Raises- 25x20x3ea

Then 20 min ss on the rbike. Then pilates/abs.

And I'm done!! :)

I made those cauliflower "mashed potatoes" today that Kermane has in the recipe section. Well, without the butter, but they were still good!! Made me feel like I was getting some good carbs - mentally.

Now I'm off to vote in the primaries today. Then to go get Jake and we'll rent some movies for tonight. It's dark, rainy and stormy. Love that, but wish I could nap today and take advantage of the good nap weather. There's just no time today!

Have a terrific afternoon!

~Darcie

8/25/10: Back Day!
Had a blah workout this morning. I didn't really give it my all. Actually, I just didn't have much to give. I felt like I was getting an ear infection last night and I'm still a bit stuffy feeling on the left side today. It's STILL rainy and dreary out. And it's CD3. Put them all together and what do you get? Tired and run down. And back/shoulder/bi day always feels like it takes forever.

Back/Shoulder/Bi
wu 10 min rbike

BOBBR - 45x10, 65x8, 85x6x2, 65x8
w/ Lat Raises 15's x 8 x 3

One Arm Rows - 45x6x3ea
w/ DB Shoulder Press 15's x 12 x 3

Lat Pulls 55x8, 75x5x2 (actually these were negatives. this weight pulled me off the bench LOL)
w/ Rev Flyes 15's x 8 x 3

Front Plate Raises 25x8x3
w/ bi curls 15's x 10 x 3

15 min intervals on rbike
15 min pilates/abs

Then did some work. And I started packing away all of Jake's star wars toys. We were in his room the other day and I asked if he even played with it anymore and he said no and that I could pack it up. I can't tell you how much stuff there is in there. I've filled 4 big boxes and I'm not half way done. I hope Ted can find some more boxes to bring home today LOL. But it was kinda sad packing it all away too. Some things we haven't played with in years, but I can remember how much fun we had with them. Still, it is time to move on to a new stage. His room is going to be so empty though. He's actually excited to get one of the bookshelves free now so he has more places to put his books. He is like me in that way. We love books.

Weight was 119.6 today. i wasn't expecting that at all. I always sit at 120 forever so I was shocked to see something different. And I still haven't had a cookie :) Eats are good, but just the same old thing. You can't imagine how excited I am at my last meal of the day for my prot powder/pb mix LOL.

Gotta go pick up the kid. Catch you all later.

Oh, my sparkly clothes came. They are the best!

~Darcie

8/27/10: Another Tired Workout
Ugh, it was all I could do to get through the few exercises I had planned. Just so tired today. I went back to sleep this morning after Jake was at school. I didn't even get my first meal until noon - which is probably why I just feel weak and tired today. Anyway, here's what I did.

WU rbike 10 minutes

BP 45x10; 65x8; 75x6; 80x4
with Bench Dips 10x3

Inc BP 45x10; 65x6x3
with Tri Exts 15x10x3

Inc Flyes 20's x 6 x 3
with Tri pushdowns 25x10x3

Then just 12 minutes on the rbike with 4 intervals. I don't feel too bad about those. I did cardio every day this week.

Tonight I will do some resist band stuff for shoulders and maybe some light chest stuff. Tomorrow is leg day and I get more carbs, so that should help too. Then Sunday I'm totally off and I'm taking advantage of that and just resting. rest, rest, rest!

Alright, so I'm 2 weeks out! I'm getting really excited!!

~Darcie

Yep, More August Stuff!

8/17/10: Tuesday means LEG DAY.
I had to do legs early this morning so we could head over to Bok Tower Gardens for the afternoon. So here's how it went...

Legs & Shoulders/Bi's (didn't get my extra shoulders/bi's in last night)

Squats 95x10, 135x6x3
with
DB Shoulder Press 15's x 10 x 3
with
Abs 10x3

Squats Feet Together - 95x10, 135x6x3
with
Lat Raises 15's x 10 x 3
with
Abs 10 x 3

Deadlifts 135x6x2 (back started feeling tweaky after previous squats, so only 2 sets)
with
Front Raises 15's x 8 x 2
with
Abs 10 x 2

Leg Exts 90x10x3
with
Bi Curls 15's x 10 x 3
with
Abs 10x3

Then it was off to Bok. We were there for 2 hours, had lunch, walked the trail and grounds, hung out at the reflecting pond for a while. A nice relaxing afternoon. A photographer there took pics of Jake & I at the reflecting pond for a magazine he was doing a shoot for there. That'd be fun if they use them in the magazine. He said he'd send us a copy. That's the second time for us getting asked for photos. Last time we were at a park looking over a bridge to the river and a photographer from the local paper stopped us to take some photos for his story. I don't get the paper though so I don't know if we made it in there LOL.

Yesterday was back/shoulders/bi day. I did some compound stuff in the AM with plans to do isolation in the evening, but that didn't happen. A rainstorm rolled in and I got all lazy :) No sprints either. Gonna have to do those Wed. But what I did get in was:
BOBBR - 45x10x4
Lat Pulls 45x10x3
Cable Rows 45x10x4
Mil BB Press 45x10x4
BB Bi Curls 45x10x4
PM- Rev Flyes 15's x 10 x 2 - then the laziness kicked in.

I'm on low cardio this week. I talked to Michelle yesterday morning and she said I could keep building right now and not try to lose weight this week so yay! If you are going to do a competition you SO have to train with her. Even if you can write your own program, there's just a huge relief in knowing someone can guide you through all the way to the show, who knows what exactly to do and how to do it. And don't wait til the last minute to do it like I did :)

Last night I ordered some custom yoga pants, hoodie & tank top from a site called Custom Glam Girl. Oh my gosh! If you love sparkly stuff and rhinestones you'll love this. I had all of those items made with Team BuffMother on them. The hoodie is black with pink sparkly writing. The yoga pants and tank are black with the writing in rhinestones. I'm wearing them to the show. I think I'm going to be addicted to making my own stuff there. Hopefully they will be good items. I'll let you know.

Okay, gonna veg for the rest of the evening. Everyone keep up the great work on the 30 day challenge!

~Darcie

Oh, my suit came yesterday!

8/18/10:Rainy Day
I love rainy days, but they make me feel so lazy. After our errands this afternoon I came home and changed into my jammies to hang out and relax. I'll need to get some energy for sprints if it clears up. Only problem with sprints after rain is that the sidewalks that are under the trees out on the main road get slippery from mildew. I don't think it is going to let up though. That's my second day this week that sprints have been rained out. I guess I will at least need to do intervals tonight.

This morning was chest/tri's.
wu - rbike 10 min

BP - 45x10wu, 65x8, 75x6, 85x4x2
with Tri Kickbacks - 15's x 12 x 3
with Abs 10x4


Inc BP - 45x10, 65x8, 70x6x2
with Tri Exts - 20 x 12 x 3
with Abs 10x4

Flyes - 20's x 8 x 3
with Tri Pushdowns 25x10x3
with Abs 10x3

Weight is back down to 120.4. It keeps going up in down in a two pound range. I'm feeling good though and looking good so I'll ignore that for now. Of course my butt, hips and thighs are the most stubborn part and they don't seem to want to cooperate with the plans I have for them. Too bad! Compliance is not optional.

Eating is going great! I had my lindt truffle "cheat" today - ahhhh. I made it last a long time LOL.
M1 - oatmeal w/blueberries, eggs
M2 - salmon, green pepper
M3 - turkey, spinach, strawberries
lindt treat
M4 - tuna, brussel sprouts
M5 - some dessert-y type thing that isn't a REAL dessert but tastes like it LOL

I've been trying to come up with some creative bedtime snacks because I love sweet stuff at that time. Since I'm off bread and dairy for now the cottage cheese thing is out, and the yogurt thing is out. No cinnamon toast or pbj toast. The last 3 nights I've mixed canned pumpkin, prot powder, spices, 1/4 of a graham cracker and pecans together. Eh, it's okay. But I'm out of pumpkin now. I can probably do some applesauce thing. Peanut butter is calling my name though. Maybe some pb, pp & a little water to make it like brownie batter. & some peanuts. Well, i'll think of something.

Have a great evening. Oh, I think I see blue sky. Drat, sprints! LOL

~Darcie

8/20/10:Friday Already?
Wow this week flew by. Our last week of summer vacation. I am going to miss our lazy schedule. Now its back to school and packing lunch and snacks and getting clothes ready. Today I have to go pick up school supplies. LOL, I know, last minute huh? That's me. I do my best work last minute

So I just finished up my back/shoulders/bi's workout. I am currently boosting/buffing. Boosting my big moves, buffing the smaller ones, buffing eats, boosting cardio.

BOBBR's
65x10
85x6x3
with
DB Shoulder Press
15's x 12 x 4

Cable Rows
45x10
75x8
95x5x2
with
Front Raises
15's x 8 x 3

Lat Pulls
55x10
75x5x2
with
Lat Raises
15's x 8 x 3

Seated Calves
Single Leg -
45x10ea
90x10ea
Both Legs -
90x10
135x10
150x10
with
Seated Bi Curls
15's x 6 x 3

Donkey Calves, single leg
10x3ea
with
DB Curls
15's x 8 x 3
(saw my vein come up for a visit on these sets! )

How do calves fit into back/shoulders/bi's? LOL. They don't. But I they need some extra attention.

No sprints today. I'm not getting rained out this time, but my shins are sore from Wednesday's sprints. Normally I wouldn't do them that close together but the weather was uncooperative this week. Anyway, I'll do some intervals later and I'm going to do some pilates after since I skipped abs during the weights today.

Today's tasks are housework, school supply shopping and groceries. I need to restock. I'm getting to the point where I'm going to make bad choices since nothing sounds good.

Have a great weekend!

~Darcie

More August CatchUp

8/10/10: Legs, Legs, Legs
Got them done! I did my pilates this morning, but no extra am cardio today - yay! I'll do a little ss elliptical tonight.

Leg workout - PreExhaust SuperSets

Leg Ext's - 70x20x3
with
Squats (feet together) 115x10x3

Let Exts (toes out) - 70x20x3
with
Deadlifts - 135x8x3

Triple Burnout Circuit:
KB Swings 25x10
with
Step Ups 15's x 10
with
Walking Lunges 15's x 10
3 times through
Legs were TOAST!

Eats are great. I got to have my little lindt truffle cheat today - one a week! LOL. Lots of greens going down today.

I ordered a new comp suit. The other one was too small up top. I can't remember if I wrote this already? LOL. Anyway, it should be shipping out tomorrow, and is for my measurements instead of just guessing. I still got it through diva exchange for a great price. I'm only putting a few stones on it for a little extra bling, but not much.

Oh, and i ordered a GREAT video. If you are doing a comp for NPC and have never done one, I highly recommend it. It's called What Judges Are Looking For in Figure, Bikini, Women's Bodybuilding & Fitness, 2010. Lots of things like - don't try to flare out your arms on front pose - if you don't have the Vtaper they know it and you're not fooling them. And good stuff like that.

Ok, off to play some games and eat. It's a dreary rainy day. It's supposed to be that way the rest of the week. And I have to stay home for some package that's coming tomorrow, but only have to wait between the hours of 7am to 8pm - how nice of them to narrow it down like that. So convenient for me. LOL

Have a good one,

~Darcie

8/12/10: Summer Bowling Party
Today we had a summer party at the bowling alley. We invited all of Jake's class and about half could make it so that was fun. We did about 2 hours of that. Then we played some pool until all of the kids were picked up. It was a fun morning. I did not eat any of the pizza. I did however end up going a long time without food because I never had a chance to get out to the car to grab my salad. I was STARVING!!

I'm glad it was just cardio day because I didn't have to try to fit in a weight workout somewhere in there. Did 30 min on the rbike this morning and will do a walk through the neighborhood tonight. I keep pulling my groin muscle slightly every time we go bowling. I'm not sure why because I haven't changed my bowling style in 20 years. But I'm going to have to stay away for the next few weeks. i can't be down and out of commission at this time.

Yesterday was back/shoulders/bi's/cardio/some abs

AM - Pilates
40 min Ellip
Back:
BOBBR - 45x10, 65x10x3
Cable Rows - 45x12x3
Lat Pulls - 45x10, 55x10x2
Rev Flyes - 15's x 10 x 3
Single Arm Bent Over Rows - 25x6x3

PM -
Shoulders/Bi's:
DB Shoulder Press 20's x 8 x 4
Lat Raises 15's x 8 x 4
Front Raises 20 x 8 x 4
Bi Curls 20's x 5 then 15's x 5, 3 sets
RB Lat Raises Blue x 8, 10, 12
Ellip 30 min

Looks like alot, but just because I split it up. I like to split it so I can do some stuff quick in the AM, then we can go do stuff, then later at night I can finish up. I usually do big muscle moves in the AM and hit the auxillary stuff in the evening. Except that yesterday we didn't go anywhere at all LOL. We had to stay home and wait for that mysterious important package that required a signature. You know, the one they dropped at the front door without even ringing our doorbell and left and the only reason we knew it was there was because we heard the truck. And it was so important - a free game from MicroSoft since Ted did some survey's. LOL.

Eats are awesome! I am not tempted to eat the good (bad) stuff. I haven't completely eliminated everything yet because I'm still losing weight. Well, I'm not losing fast, and some days I am a slight bit higher, then drop again, but i'm leaner so who cares what the scale says. Anyway, this weekend I will probably cut my dairy down a bit....just a bit :) I'm slowly weaning off some things so it's not all at once. And I had to do a nice high cal day on leg day because I needed a jump start.

Alright, that's it for me. We've been having a Harry Potter movie marathon this week. I think the last one I had seen was number 3, so that's 3 new movies for me to watch (3 new movies to keep me occupied while I do the elliptical!)

~Darcie

8/15/10: Weekend Stuff
Let's see, last post was Thursday night so catching up...

Friday was chest/tri's. Just did a regular style workout, no supersets that day. I just wasn't up to it.
Did
bench 45x10, 65x10x3,
incline bench 45x10x3,
incline flyes 15's x 10 x 3,
resist band flyes blue & yellow x 10 x 3,
tri pushdowns 25x10x3,
tri exts 20x10x3
& bench dips 10x3.
Did I do cardio? I must have. Oh, yes right after lifting I went out and did sprints. 8 sprints in the hot FL afternoon. They felt a bit wimpy but I gave what I had. Did 2 miles total with the walking part between sprints.

Saturday was hams/glutes. I kept putting it off ALL DAY until about 7:30pm. Things just kept popping up - grocery shopping, playing computer games with Jake LOL. Anyway, I only got in 4 major exercises.

Sumo Squats 95x10x3
SLDL's 95x10x3
Booty Bulgarians 15's x 10 x 3 ea leg
Cable Pull Thru's 25x10x3
Calves between each set.

I don't know what it was - maybe because it was so late in the day or something - but after the booty bulgarians I was shaking. Not just my glutes and legs, but my arms too. It was like they got my whole nervous system. We went for a walk after my workout and I was so slow and sore already. I've done them with heavier weight so I'm not sure what was going on. My glutes are killing me today. Tried to do my booty lunges today and only got in 2 sets of 10 with the 15's.

Today was an off day. No cardio or weights (besides the lunges). It's also my day to drop bread and dairy for the next 4 weeks. I think I'll be fine. I've been weaning off them all week. And yesterday I had my high cal day, and some toast and milk for my last hurrah LOL. Eats are going great! Today I ended up with all greens and fruit for my carbs, weird.

Weight only dropped .4 pounds this week. All that extra cardio and stuff??? Bah. Whatever

Played with the tanner Friday night and it looked bad. Not sure if there was still some leftover of the spray stuff on me, but some areas would NOT accept the tanner at all and just rubbed off. Very blotchy looking too. And I've been exfoliating for 2 weeks now. Just not sure why it is being so stubborn, but I need to get it figured out soon. At this point I like the ultra 1 better than the hi-def, but I think I'd put on 2 coats of it. It sure covered way better. New suit shipped out yesterday so will get a few stones for it this week.

Ok, that's all that is going on here. Well besides a little "freak out" that I'm not going to be ready in time that hit me on Friday. Michelle reassured me I would be. I needed that.

Catch ya later.

~Darcie

So Far Behind!!!

Wow, I'm almost a month behind in posting my blogs here. Ok, well these next few posts will be more catch up posts.

8/6/10: All carb'd up, nowhere to go
That was me yesterday. I ate most of my carbs that morning knowing I'd be doing a longer cardio session, then we changed our plans for the day. So instead of 60 minutes of cardio it was to the bank; to the school; to the movies (Sorcerer's apprentice, fun!); to wal-mart; to the grocery store; to the video store. Too many errands!
So later yesterday evening I did 60 min elliptical while we watched a movie.
Today was back/shoulders/bi's. I did back this morning: Pre-exhaust supersets
warmup rbike 10 min
Bent over rev flyes 15's x 10
then resist band rev flyes blue x 10
w/ BOBBR's 50x10x3
w/ abs 10x3

Cable Rows 25x20; 35x20x2
w/ Lat Pulls 35x10, 55x10x2
w/ abs 10x3

Single Arm Rows
25x15, 12, 10
w/ abs 10x3

Then it was off to do sprints. I did 4 good sprints before I started feeling bad in my right foot. It was the feeling that said "you're about to get an avulsion fracture of the 5th metatarsal if you do one more sprint and you will be off your feet for almost 2 weeks" (yes my feelings are quite lengthy and wordy). So I walked the rest of the way home, which then took forever because I couldn't run LOL. And it is hot out there at noon!
Next I went out and weeded the garden for 10 minutes (did I mention the heat?)
Then it was off to pretend I was getting ready on comp morning so that took me a little over two hours to shower, shave, tan, hair, makeup, play with the bikini bite, pose for a while, etc.
Now I'm all pretty and tan and don't want to do the rest of my workout LOL. But it needs to be done. So I'll be heading off to do shoulders/bi's/(intervals -to make up for quitting earlier):
pre-exhaust shoulders
Lat raises __ x 20 x 3
w/ Mil BB Press 45x10x3

Front Raises ___ x 20 x 3
w/ DB Press 20's x 10 x 3

Bi Curls 15's x 10 x 3
Hammer Curls 15's x 10 x 3
Some extra bicep stuff with resistance bands.

Intervals on rbike.

OH, and JanTana FTW! The protan stuff sucked. I was barely tan, it splattered and ran down my body. The JanTana Ultra1 that you put on the morning of comp - it rocks. I am actually DARK right now. :)


8/7/10: No rest for the booty
My poor glutes have been sore since last Saturday! They just can't catch a break. Last Saturday was glutes/hams, then Monday they got killed with sprints, Tuesday was quads but squats always work those glutes, Thursday was walking lunges with a glute focus, and just when they thought they might recover it was more sprints on Friday, and today was hams/glutes again.

So, I worked my posterior chain today - I can already feel it so will I be mobile tomorrow? Lower back got some great work in too during the good mornings and cable pull throughs.

More pre-exhaust supersets: Glutes/Hams

Leg Curls 15 x 20 x 3
w/ Good Mornings 95x10x3
w/ Calves 20x3
w/ Abs 10x3

Cable Pull Thru's - 25x20x3
w/ RDL's 95x10x3
w/ Calves 20x3
w/ Abs 10x3

Booty Bulgarians - 15's x 5 x 3 ea leg
w/ Calves 20x3
w/ Abs 10x3


Yesterday I did not get in my other set of intervals to makeup for my lack of full sprints. And this morning I forgot to do my fasted cardio. Oops! Although I have been doing my pilates every morning. So tonight I'm thinking some intervals, then add some SS. But I'm feeling SO super lazy I can't make any promises on that.

Today was domestic day- laundry, dishes, Jake made yogurt, I made bread.

Eats are good! They've been good all week. Since today was legs it is my favorite day because... more carbs! That way I was actually able to eat a piece of the bread I made :)

Weight is good. I started the week Monday at 123.0 and today I was 121.6. Not sure how I'll end the week tomorrow because I tend to weigh a bit more after leg day. So I might go up. But it will drop right back down so it's all good.

Ok, was going to list eats this week but this post is getting long. Have a great evening!

~Darcie

8/9/10: RR is on fire today!
Wow, it is crazy busy in here today - lots of fun!

I am in the contest, but have a different workout schedule setup, so I'll be following along to my own little tune LOL.

Starting the week off GREAT! Today was chest/tri's/cardio/abs. I'm working twice as hard this week so lets hope I make it to Sunday :) . Weight is 122.0, looking to be in the 120.x range by Sunday.

AM fasted -
Pilates 20 min
Rbike 40 minutes, easy pace

Later AM - PreExhaust Supersets

DB Flyes - 15's x 20 x 3
w/ BP - 55x10x3

Resist Band Flyes - Blue & Yellow x 20 x3
w/ DBBP - 20's x 10 x 3

Around the Worlds - 5's x 10 x 3
w/ Pullovers 10 x 10 x 3

Then this evening I finished up with:

Tri Pushdowns - 25x10x3
w/ abs 10x3

Tri Exts - 20 x 10 x 3
w/ abs 10x3

Tri Kickbacks 15's x 10 x 3
w/ abs 10x3

Light Lat Raises - bluex10x2

And sprints outside. 8 sprints, total distance 2miles.

Eats were great at dinner out last night. Salad w/chicken, very little dressing. Saved up my carbs so I could have the croissant that comes with it :) . There must have been about 10 cups of mixed greens in that salad. I had the 2nd half at home as late night snack. Totally passed up the cake and appetizers. Today is great also. In fact it has been a perfect week of eats.

Hope you all are having a spectacular start to your week!

~Darcie

The BuffMother "30 Day Get Buff" Contest

The 30 Day Get Buff Contest Starts today! Head on over to the BuffMother website and sign up there. The contest takes place in the paid only portion of the Rally Room, but there is a 30 day free trial - perfect for this challenge!

Basic Contest INFO-

This contest is FREE!!!

TEAM start date Aug 9th, 2010 (you can start late- just sign up and follow the plan on your own)

Location of the Contest is in our "Women Only" Team Buffmother! Rally Room- you can join FREE using the "30 day free trial" option

Daily workout plan- a link will be e-mailed to you daily, however, you can opt to do your own alternate workouts

Support, info, instruction, videos and downloads will be available to contestants via the Rally Room.

4 Simple steps to enter and WIN:

1. Take your starting stats (pictures optional)

2. Blog in the Rally Room at least 3 times during the duration of the Challenge

3. Take your ending stats

4. Submit your entry to michelle@buffmother.com by Sept 25th- Entry= starting stats, final stats, a written paragraph sharing your thought about the contest, and at least photo of yourself.

Chest/Tri's & Grapes

I didn't sleep very much last night. Ted was the on call tech and so calls were coming in quite a bit. When I woke up I did not want to do my pilates. I was tired!! But I did it anyway. It's a great relaxed pilates workout dvd - Caribbean Workout. I love the music in the background.

Then we went grape picking. The ones that we ended up liking weren't quite ripe yet so we'll have to go back in a few weeks. But it was fun to walk through and taste them, even if I did get covered in spider lines that were going across from one set of vines to the other.

After that we went swimming. It felt really good after walking around in the heat.

Came home, took a nice nap, then onto the workout.

Chest/Tri's, Pre-exhaust supersets
+ Abs, & SS cardio

warmup rbike 10 min

DB Flyes - 15's x 20 x 3
w/ BP - 45x10x3
w/ Abs 10x3

RB Flyes - Blue & Yellow x 20 x 3
w/ DBBP - 20's x 10 x 3
w/ abs

Pushups 10x3 (knees)
w/ Abs 10x3

Tri Pushdowns - 25x10x3
w/ abs 10x3

Tri Kickbacks - 15's x 10 x 3
w/ abs 10x3

Elliptical 30 minutes

Walk dog 20 minutes

Eats were good. A little low on greens, but all still in line with the numbers I'm looking for. Yay!

Have a great night :)

~Darcie

Leg Day & Lazy Day

Got most of my leg workout done this morning. Going to finish up tonight with some calves, also a teeny tiny bit of shoulder work, and ss cardio. I also realized today that is has been FOREVER since I did pilates and I miss it. So starting tomorrow I am doing pilates first thing in the morning. It will be a great start to my days.
Today was quad work. PreExhaust supersets.
Leg exts - 65x20x3
w/ Squats - 95x10x3
w/abs after each superset

Leg Exts (toes out) 65x20x3
w/ Squats (feet together) 95x10x3
w/abs after each superset

Walking Lunges - 20's x 10 x 3
w/ KB Swings - 25x10x3
w/abs after each superset

These supersets are really working me hard. Both the pre-exhaust and the post-exhaust.

Jake wanted to be lazy today. That's too many days in a row.  He's really into working in PhotoShop and making avatars and signatures for the Wizard101 Central forums. So he's been totally focused on that for days. I've at least challenged him to some Wii competition this afternoon :)

Tomorrow we're going grape picking! That is going to be so much fun. I've gone orange, grapefruit, blackberry, blueberry, and strawberry picking, but this will be a first time for grapes. They have 40 different varieties!! Can't wait to taste test :)  Then some swimming probably after since it will be hot. And later in the week some bowling, to the movies, and maybe to the park.

I made my bracelet for the competition. I'm still undecided how I want to go with the earring design. Here's a pic of my bracelet, and my itty bitty suit. :) You don't realize how tiny they are until you put one on and you're hanging out all over the place hahaha.  Pic doesn't show how sparkly the bracelet really is though.

Workout Stuff :)

Wed 7/28
This morning was back/shoulders/bi's. I'm a little shaky right now so typing is taking forever since I have to fix typos.

Post Exhaust Supersets

BOBBR
45x10wu
65x8
75x6x3
with
RB Rev Flyes
Blue x 20 x 3

Lat Pulls
55x8x3
with
Cable Rows
35x20x3

Mil BB Press
45x10x3
with
RB Lat Raises
Blue x 20 x 3

BB Bi Curls
45x8x2
with
Bi Curls
10's x 20 x 2 (various styles)

My legs are toast today after yesterday's workout. I can't believe I'm feeling it so much in my inner thighs and glutes. I was trying to work quads! LOL. I guess the high rep exts really took it out of me and I had to use those other muscles during my squats and deadlifts. Anyhow, its all good.

The beginner line at the wakeboarding place was broken so we didn't get to do that yesteday. We'll try again next week. Came back and swam a little, then a bit of a walk last night. It felt good to stretch out my legs because they were already sore. I didn't finish my part 2 of my workout. Today I need to remember my glutamine!

Thanks again for all of the support you all gave in my blog yesterday. You can't begin to know how much it means to me.



~Darcie

~*~*~*~*~*~
Friday 7/30
Yesterday was cardio only day. It was actually "off" day all around, but around 9pm I decided to get some cardio in. 40 min on the elliptical.

Today was chest/tri's & cardio. CD2 so I skipped abs and will get them maybe tomorrow. Started buffing today, a few days early.
Pre-exhaust supersets
RB Flyes - blue/yellow x 20 x 3
BP - 55x10x3

RB Single Arm Fly
Yellow x 15 x 3 ea arm
DB Press - 20's x 10 x 3

Tri Pushdowns 25x10x3

Tri Kickbacks 15's x 10 x 3

Ellip 30 min ss

I also got a massage this morning which felt great. It is nice to be able to turn my neck a bit again LOL. After the workout I got some weeding done in the garden. It needs it bad.

Tonight I'm practicing with some tanner. It looks terrible right now, we'll see how it is in the morning. The directionsn stated it didn't run or streak but it slid right down my body immediately and did every time Ted stopped the sprayer then started up again. We'll see tomorrow.

Ok, gonna go post eats - they were good. Down 1.2 pounds this week even though I was trying to boost and gain. Just vacation junk weight though.

~*~*~*~*~*
Monday 8/2/10
Hoping to make the most of this coming week. It's great that every day is new to make good choices.

I did super over the weekend. No cheats or treats. The eats challenge was so good for me to do. It really helped me stay focused.

Today was Back/Shoulders/Bi's & Intervals. Oops, I just realized I totally spaced doing abs.
Pre-Exhaust supersets - AM

Rev Flyes - Blue x 20 x 3
w/ BOBBR - 55x10x3

DB Rows - 15's x 15 x 3
w/ Lat Pulls 45x10x3

RB Lat Raises - Blue x 10, then set of RB bi curls blue x 10, then 5 more Lat Raises.
w/ DB Shoulder Press - 15's x 10 x 3

Then in the evening.
Run/walk Intervals. 8 sprints, total distance of 2 miles.

When I got home did:
Bi Curls - 15's x 10 x 3
w/ RB Bi - Curls Blue x 10 x 3

Hammer Curls - 15's x 8 x 3
w/ RB Front Raises - Blue x 8 x 3

Since I forgot abs I'll do some vacuums, supermans and cats. I'm already showered so I don't want to do anything sweaty.

Saturday I did legs - hams/glutes. And some ss cardio.

Today I let myself have a lindt for doing so good and that will be my treat for the week. Otherwise it is clean and low cals for me.

Did some more weeding of the jungle (garden). I found some carrots growing in Jake's box LOL. And I got a bit of grocery shopping done. Otherwise it was mostly work and researching the search problem we've been having for....oh about a year LOL. I might have a solution, we'll see what else I can find. And working on a bit of jewelry too.

Have a super evening and a great week ahead!

~Darcie

Legs Part 1, Done!

Ah, another leg day today! I will say I don't like the bands much for quad work so didn't use them in my workout. I think they are great for glute stuff (kickbacks, ad/ab stuff) and will incorporate them on Saturday's leg day.

Today I did more post-exhaust supersets and I was so shaky by my 3rd set of exercises that I had to finish up for the time being.

Squats
95x10wu
115x10wu
135x6x3
wtih
Leg Exts
45x20x3

Squats - feet together
135x6x3
with
Leg Exts - toes out
45x20x3

Deadlifts
135x6x3
with
Step Ups
BW x 10 x 3

I could barely step up on the bench LOL. So later I will finish Part 2 with:
Walking Lunges
Calves

I'm getting ready to take Jake Wakeboarding today, and maybe try it myself. It depends on how busy they are. I think it will be fun though and hope they aren't busy so I can try it.

Ok, so last year I wrote a blog about working on not being afraid to fail. And I've moved forward slowly. But I really don't like failure. Really afraid of having to admit I failed and look like a loser. So I've been keeping this thing to myself, and I feel that I need to share it, get it out there and be able to face it. So here goes. I'm doing a comp on Sept 11th. My biggest fear is NOT that I won't place. My biggest fear is that everyone here will know I'm competing and I have to come back and say that I didn't place and feel like a total failure. There it is. Its out there now. I'm not going to be talking about it in any more blogs and I'll let you know how I did after the show.
I really don't want to push the save button.....

~Darcie

Back from the beach!

7/24/10
We had a great time!!! The weather was gorgeous and the house we stayed at this year was so nice. Yesterday was our only rainy day, which was actually a nice way to end the week. Our schedule every day was the same:
AM - Beach
Noon - up for lunch and swim in the pool
Afternoon - play games - wii, billiards, air hockey, cards, puzzles, nap
5pm - out to dinner
Evening - back to the beach to swim and play frisbee
PM - back to the house to play dominoes, watch movies, eat dessert
Sleep
Repeat every day!!

We had some really great food again this year. I ate, and ate, and ate.... LOL. I left at 122 and came back at 126. :) Crab bisque; duck; chicken marsala; some yummy salmon topped with peas, sundried tomatoes and bacon in a cream sauce; shrimp; brie baked in a pastry with walnuts and apricot sauce; great salads and tons of different types of breads; choc mousse dessert (twice!); seduction by chocolate cake; lots of ice cream... See, I ATE. LOL. Good stuff. We really enjoy our dinners out on vacation and it is fun to try so many different things.

I also worked out EVERY DAY. Yep. I brought my resistance bands along and I have to say I LOVE them. I could totally feel I worked out even though I only had 45lbs resistance with them. I will be incorporating them into my workouts at the end because I love the pump they give. My schedule was:
Sun - Chest/Tri's
Mon - Legs
Tues - Back/Shoulder/Bi
Wed - Chest/Tri
Thurs - Legs
Fri - Back/Shoulder/Bi

For cardio I didn't do much. I brought all of my workout clothes but forgot my shoes! Oops. Two days I rented one of those long paddle boards that you stand on and did that for 30-45 minutes. Jake loved it too. He took it out, but got tired coming in. My dad and Ted swam out to see if he was low blood sugar, but he was just tired. As they were coming back in a manatee swam up to check them out. It brought its nose out of the water right in my dad's face like it was giving him a kiss, and then swam to Ted and he was able to pet it. (Alright. so it is illegal to pet manatees, but I think if THEY come touch you its okay :) ). So that was cool. Anyway, back to cardio. I also ran sets of stairs and did sprints on the beach with Jake (he beat me every time). Oh! And I got a compliment on my arms from the guy I rented the paddleboard from. That made me feel great because they are such a hard part for me to build and they never look buff. But I guess they are getting better!

And that sums up our week on the beach! We got home last night just after midnight and it was great to sleep in our own bed. I'm off workouts today and tomorrow, then Monday I boost for another week, then I'm on fire buffing!! Can't wait to get some of this vacation weight off in the next few days as my meals go back to normal. Gonna take advantage of it and build while I can though :) . Well I'm off to do all of the fun stuff that has to be done when you get back from vacation - unpacking and laundry!!!

Have a great weekend!

~Darcie

~*~*~*~*~*
7/26/10
Just finished my workout and I'm off to a great start to this week! Feeling good and raring to go, which is strange since it is CD 24, but I guess that's what vacation does to me. Gets me re-energized and ready to tackle it all. Let's hope this feeling lasts. For now, I'll take it for today and deal with tomorrow when it gets here!

Workout this morning was chest/tri's. I did post-exhaust supersets like in the article I read the week before last. So it was a low rep heavy compound set paired with a high rep lighter isolation set. I feel totally worked over.

Warmup rbike 10 min

BP
45x10wu
70x10x3
with
Resistance Band (RB) Flyes
Blue & Yellow x 20 x 3

DBBP
20's x 10 x 3
with
RB Chest Press, single arm
Blue & Yellow x 10 x 3 ea

Inc BP
55x10
65x6x2
with
RB Single Arm Flyes
Yellow x 15 x 2
Blue x 15

Then a tri circuit:
Tri Kickbacks 15's x 10
w/abs x10
w/ Tri Ext's 15x10
w/abs x 10
w/ Tri Pushdowns 25x10
w/ abs x 10
Three times through.

And I'm done! Now to eat some yummy salmon and salad. I finally got the grocery shopping done yesterday. Our fridge was EMPTY when we got home. Saturday night we had pizza and cinnapie - too much! I totally pigged out. Sunday was clean though and weight has dropped almost a pound since getting back from vacation, even with Saturday night's eats. My goal this week is to build that muscle!

Will probably go bowling this afternoon so that should be fun. Hope we haven't lost our touch over the last week off :)

Have a great day!

~Darcie

More Catchup...

7/13/10:
The hormones are after me! It started yesterday afternoon - frustration, brain fog, fatigue, doubts about my ability to succeed in the goals I set before myself, desire to just QUIT and give up. I prayed through it. My brain really wanted me to compromise and just tell it I would give up so that it would quiet down. But NO. Prayer is awesome. I accepted the peace God sent my way. I'm still a little tired today, but am NOT giving up. Its a bit unusual for me to have mid-cycle symptoms, but every once in a while they head my way.

So yesterday wa Chest/Tri's/Abs, Cardio
DB Flyes 15's x 10 x 3
w/ Tri Exts 15x10x3 ea
w/ abs 10x3

BP 65x10x3
w/ Tri pushdowns 25x10x3
w/ abs 10x3

DBBP, Incline - 20's x 10 x 3
w/ Bench Dips 10x3
w/ abs 10x3

Did 30 min fasted rbike upon waking. Then did about 15 min bellydance drills to wu before wo. Then last night was cardio #2 - run/walk intervals for 30 minutes, then a 30 min walk afterward.



Today was Leg day. I was bad this morning and skipped my AM cardio session. So onto the workout:

wu 10 min rbike

Mini Circuit of the following: All the way through, then repeat 2 more times.
Squats 95x10
KB Swings 25x10
SLDL's on step 102x10
Leg Exts 90x10
Cable Leg Curls 15x10

Set those up in different rooms and then did walking lunges back and forth to equipment.
Walking Lunges 15's x 10 x 12
Abs After Lunges, + after last exercise 10x15
Calves After Abs 15's x 30 x 5, 15's x 20 x 5, 15's x 10 x 5

Tonight is elliptical while watching Jillian. Looks like a good one - where the lady doesn't even want her there and cries about it, and the guy won't finish his lifting sets and Jillian catches the lady smoking. I think she's going to have fun yelling at people tonight LOL.

On the countdown to the beach! Weight didn't drop today but not gonna stress it. It is what it is :) Have a great afternoon. Keep pushing through anything trying to get in your way!

~Darcie
~*~*~*~*~*~
7/15/10
We're halfway through the week! I still have so much to prepare, but I don't want to do any of it LOL. Stuff to pack and sort, etc., and it all seems overwhelming. So I end up sitting here at my computer goofing off instead. Totally having hormone issues this week.

My scale has not been nice to me, so I have decided that I will not grace it with my presence until Saturday morning. It can stay all lonely and we'll see if it has anything nice to say after a 2 day time out. I will just continue to eat good and work hard, and whatever it says on Saturday... well I'll have done my best. And you really just can't do better than that, can ya.

Today was Back/Shoulders/Bi's & Tri's day. I split it up, so I've kinda been working out all day.

6:30AM - fasted cardio 30 min rbike

8-10:30 - crashed on the couch LOL

11:00AM - Back - preexhaust supersets
Bent Over DB Rows 20's x 15, x10, x12
w/ Shrugs 95x10x3

Reverse Flyes 15's x 10 x 3
w/ BOBBR's 45x10x3

Seated Rows 55x10, 45x10x2
w/ Lat Pulls 45x10x3

Super quick workout - only took about 15 minutes but I hit all the big stuff.

Bowling this afternoon - 145, 113, 151. Obnoxious family with NO bowling etiquette next to us. Made me cranky. Rephrase that - increased my natural hormonal attitude today in a downward direction.

5:00PM - Shoulders/Bi's & Tri's -
preexhaust supersets

Lat Raises - 15's x 10 x 3
w/ Mil BB Press 45x10x3

Front Raises 15's x 10, 10's x 10 x 2
w/ DB Shoulder Press 15's x 10 x 3

antagonistic supersets
Tri Kickbacks 15's x 10 x 3
w/ Bi Curls 15's x 10 x 3

Tri Pushdowns 25x10x3
w/ BB Bi Curls 45x10x3

My arms are FRIED! I got this email article from tom venuto yesterday and it was all about supersets and working specifically for hypertrophy. I really loved all of the different types of supersets so I'm going to work those into my workouts quite often. The idea of post-exhaust sets for strength and size - good for boosting.

So all that is left is PM cardio. It just finished raining, so not sure if I'll do any running. Plus I ran Monday and today might be too close together as far as my shins and knees are concerned. I'm thinking of challenging Jake to an hour of Outdoor challenge on the Wii. That is a sweaty workout. Ok, good he just accepted my challenge. 60 min competition it is, 9pm.

Alrighty. I guess that's it for the day. I should be doing something. I'll start with something small. Gonna go get Jake dinner and wash 10 dishes. Then maybe make some jewelry for my sis for her bday this weekend.

Have a super day! Have a better mental day than I'm having LOL.

~Darcie

~*~*~*~*~
7/16/10
Off to the beach. Cya in a week!!

Oops, Sorry! Falling Behind Again

Sorry about that. For all of you folks who aren't even reading this blog LOL.  Doesn't matter, I'm posting anyway.  Here's 7/8 through 7/12
7/8/10:
I am worn out today. It's those Tired Thursdays sneaking up on me again.

Workouts....
Monday I did get in my running intervals outside while Jake and Ted did a longer ss run. My shins were still sore yesterday, but not hurting like shin splints.
Tuesday was legs (quads) and abs. My abs were really sore from my sprints too. I also did ss elliptical while watching Losing it with Jillian and some calves and lunges.
Wednesday was chest/tri's, nice quick circuits. SS cardio 4 miles - 2 miles up to the ice cream place and 2 miles back. No I didn't get one. Jake and Ted were the lucky ones :) They each gave me a teeny tiny bite of theirs. It was almost 11pm by the time we got home. We had to time it around Jake's bedtime snack.
Today is double cardio day. Did 45 min rbike this morning and will either do more rbike or elliptical in about an hour. Probably ellip since I'm bored with the bike.

Eats....
My meals have been super duper clean all week. I'm really proud of the things I've turned down and for getting this far without my bread or glass of milk (not even a swig from the carton).
I have had 2 "cheats" that I really don't even consider cheats. The teaspoon of ice cream I tasted last night - and saying a teaspoon is being generous, it was hardly any. And today I had a forkful of mac n cheese. That is it. So I'm giving myself a 99.9999999% for clean eats this week :) .
I'm fairly close to my carb ratios each day. I've yet to actually make it to all the way down to 50, but not over 60 on those days either. On my leg days, which are 100 carb days, I've stayed below 120. That is good for me because typically a low carb day for me is about 120 and my normal carb days are near 200.
Unfortunately I'm not dropping my weight at a quicker rate on these low carbs, nor am I looking much leaner. But I do plan to stick it out the whole two weeks to see if I can get a better overall picture of how it is working.

Current weight is 121.8. I thought I'd be in the 120.x range by today so I'm a little annoyed with that. I still think I will see 120.x by Sunday.

I had a little nap this afternoon which helped a bit. Some crazy cat was meowing right outside my window though and woke me up, so it was a short nap.

Ok, I'll catch you all tomorrow. Have a good evening :)

!*!*!*!*!
7/9/10
Short week. I was so confused all week as to what day it was LOL. And now I find it is Friday. It's almost 3pm and I really haven't accomplished much yet. I didn't wake up until about 10:30 so my day has been short too. I will need to kick things up a bit to get everything done that needs doing today. I DID however get in my workout :) Didn't want to but I did it.

Tri Circuits:
Warm up - rbike 11min

Single Arm Rows 25x10x3ea
w/ Lat Raises 15's x 10 x 3
w/ Hammer Curls 15's x 5 x 3 ea

BOBBR's 45x10x3
w/ Shrugs 45x10x3
w/ BB Bi Curls 45x8x3

Seated Row 60x10x3
w/ Mil BB Press 45x10x3
w/ DB Bi Curls 20'x 8, 20's x 6, 20's x 3 & 15's x 3

Lat Pulls 60x10x3
w/ Front Raises 15's x 8 x 3
w/ Conc Curls 20x5 ea, 15x5x2 ea

Ellip Intervals 20 min

DONE DONE DONE!! Yesterday I did a walk to my parents and a swim for my evening cardio. So got in my 2. Weight was 121.2 this morning. Still on track for being in the 120.x zone on Sunday morning.

I'm off to eat something - a bit hungry today! Have a great weekend.

~Darcie

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
7/12/10
I finished up a week of low carb, no dairy and no bread stuff. I was going to do two weeks but have decided it just isn't working out for me. Not because I can't do it but because it isn't giving me the results I am looking for.
Some of my expectations going into this were:

1.*Faster weight loss
2.*Breaking the 120 barrier that I tend to get stuck at
3.*Leaning out more
But I did not experience those things. My cals were 1100-1300, carbs below 60 most days and just around 100 on leg days.
My results were:

1.I struggled this week to lose any weight at all. Sunday,7/4, I was 121.8. I had a cheat day that day which brought Monday to 123. I should have started dropping rapidly after that day but instead I went three days without a drop at all. By the following Sunday I was 121.2. That is only a total drop of half a pound. If I want to lose half a pound I can do that on 2500 cals and 200+ carbs thank you very much.
2.I couldn't even get into the 120x zone, much less under it, which really made me mad. I should have hit it by Friday. I totally expected to be under 120 by Sunday. Instead - 121.2. Didn't like it. Didn't like working my butt off and no carbs for mediocre results.
3.I got bloated. The thing is I KNOW this. I have done this experiment before with the same results. When I get my protein ratio too much higher than my carbs I get bloated. I really do much better with my carbs even to my protein, or just a bit higher. I especially should have leaned up due to my cycle days, and ending my period, but I didn't.
It wasn't a failed experiment though. It basically reinforced what I know about my body - low carb is not beneficial to me. The removal of dairy and wheat is not a change for the better for me. I'm glad I tried it again, just to be certain. I did succeed in doing it the whole week. I didn't complain or whine about missing it. I kept up a good attitude until Saturday when I realized I wouldn't be making my goal. I got kinda grouchy then. The worst part was that I was completely without energy and tired for most of the week. I still pushed hard through my workouts but then I was drained.

Sunday I pushed the RESET button (ie: high carb/high cal cheat day). This week I am still on the lower cals, but my ratios are back to normal. Workouts for the week are M-chest,T-legs,W-back, F-full body. Thursday is off except for cardio. I'm on 2-a-days this week going into the final 5 days before vacation. AM ss, PM mix of intervals and ss. Lots of water as always. I'm hoping I can reach 120 or less by Saturday morning. No, I'm expecting and planning to be 120 or less. :)

Friday 7/2:
I am READY to have 2 successful weeks leading up to vacation. Or like my friend Liz says, to be Victorious! I feel very good about the upcoming weeks.

Some ways I have been successful so far:

Yesterday's cals fell right in mid range - 1411. Carbs were a little higher than I had planned out, but still only comprised 20% of my diet so I feel victorious about that.

This morning on the scale - 123.4. I defnitely revved up my metabolism the past 2 weeks.

Got my chest workout in and my intervals this morning. These are my first intervals since before the SX70 ended - its been a while!

My attitude. It might be CD1 today, if not it will be tomorrow for certain, but I am focused on keeping a positive attitude.

No bread, no milk yesterday and none today either. That is big for me :) Will keep that up until vacation.

I have already cleaned the master bath, master bedroom, family room and dining area, plus a couple of loads of laundry - getting things done!

So when I am feeling down or frustrated I will come back to this post and see the success I had and know it is possible and I can keep on going.

Let's see. I do still have to finish up my tri's this evening. I'm really loving splitting the workouts up when I have a day that just doesn't allow it all at once. I do the hard stuff in the AM, the big compound moves and sweaty stuff. Then in the PM the isolation and smaller moves. Like today, chest & intervals in the am, and tri's in the pm.

AM:

10min wu

DB Flyes 15's x 10 x 3

BP 65x10x3

DBBP 20's x 10 x 3

Tri Pushdowns 35x10x2, 25x10

Between sets did abs, calves, lunges.

Intervals - 22 min rbike

PM: will be...

Bench Dips

Tri Kickbacks

And some light shoulder stuff.

Yesterday we had fun at the trampoline place, but Jake ended up feeling really sick. He was jumping without much of a break for about 45 minutes. It was fun to run and jump into the walls and do flips and roundoffs and stuff. I was the only adult in there, besides a few in their late teens (18/19ish maybe). Jake had abandoned me for the dodgeball game and I felt kinda dumb on my own LOL. But I jumped anyway. I don't think we'd go again unless it was someone's party though.
Ok, I'm off to clean house. Have a wonderful afternoon. Plan for success this weekend!

~Darcie

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Monday 7/5:
My body is burning through the fat, fast. On Wed after boosting I was 124.2. I ate super clean and strict on Thurs, Fri & Sat and by yesterday (Sunday) I was already down to 121.8. Of course, it was the 4th of July and was my last real cheat day before vacation so I lived it up! But, I'm only 123.0 today which is still 1.2 pounds down from Wednesday despite my cheat day. I fully expect to be 120 by the end of this week. So I know I will reach my beach goal by the 17th. I'm always excited to see how my body reacts to things and this last experiment with lots of food and heavy lifting was NOT a disappointment.


Todays workout was back/shoulders/bi's. I still have a set of hammer curls to finish later, and some running intervals.
BOBBR's - 45x10x3

Cable Rows - 55x10x3

Lat Pulls - 55x10x3

Rev Flyes 15's x 10 x 3

DB Shoulder Press 15's x 10 x 3

Lat Raises 15's x 8 x 3

Front Raises 15's x 8 x 3

Bi Curls 15's x 10 x 3

Hammer Curls 15's x 10 x 3

Running Intervals

Food is on today. 1100-1300 cals, low carb, no dairy or bread-y type stuff. I'm really full though so getting in all 1300 cals is going to be tough today. The rest of the week will look like my previous two weeks as far as the lifting goes, with intervals and ss added in.

Ok, I'm planning for a successful week! I hope you are too :) . And hoping for some NICE weather because we haven't seen the sun in almost a week - rain, rain, rain and clouds.I need a tan!!!

~Darcie

Caught up!! Wooohoo!

This is actually today's real post. I will do better about staying caught up too. :)
Ok, so I didn't make my weight goal this week. I thought I'd get to 125-126 but only made it to 124.2. That's what I weighed on Sunday so I didn't gain an ounce Mon - Wed. I dropped cardio to just once this week and I did pretty good with cals (averaging 2500/day), but couldn't get there. Oh well, it isn't TOO BAD because now I'm closer to my losing goal for vacation LOL. And I feel really good about my progress during boosting. For one thing I went all out and didn't try to keep my cals a bit lower for fear of gaining. I know that was my goal, but you all know how hard it is mentally to accept the weight going up on the scale! So sometimes I end up eating less out of that fear. I am happy that I didn't do that and proud of myself for following through. I believe that I worked out heavy and hard and all my cals went where they were supposed to go - to building muscle!

And now that I've gained, I'm ready to lose again. I started the morning with some fasted ss cardio, just 30 minutes. It felt great and is a good jumpstart to my next 2 weeks. I'm looking to be 120 or less by vacation. That's 4 pounds - totally doable. My workout schedule will be the same, but buffing style. Thursday "off" day will still have cardio. Sunday "off" day may just be active or complete rest.  4th of July is cheat day :) My only cheat day for the next 2 weeks. After the 4th I'm getting tight and strict.

Yesterday's workout - last boosting wo. Back/Shoulders/Bi's. I split it up to do back in the AM (which ended up being 1pm LOL) and Shoulder's/Bi's in the PM (about 8pm)

AM: Back:
Single Arm Rows
25x10x3 ea, for wu

Seated Rows
55x10
65x10
75x8
85x6
95x6

Lat Pulls
55x10
65x8
75x4 - neck/shoulder felt fine again - doing good!

BOBBR
65x10
75x8
85x6

Inverted Rows (feet on bench)
6x3

PM: Shoulders/Bi's
Mil BB Press
45x10
55x8
65x6

DB Shoulder Press
20's x 6 x 3

Lat Raises
15's x 10
20's x 6 x 2

Front Raises
15's x 8 x 2
20's x 6

BB Bi Curl
45x10
55x6
65x4

DB Curls
15's x 10
20's x 8 x 2

Preacher Curls
32x4x2 - my short little arms couldn't reach the stupid bar on the preacher bench. hated these. Guess that's why the preacher attachment's been sitting in the corner for a year LOL

Jake and I went for a walk in the rain in the afternoon at the park, 2 miles.

Cals for yesterday: 2495. F-89, C-245, fiber 19 (too low), P-178.

Meeting a friend of Jake's at a fun play place this afternoon - 11000 sf of trampolines - should be a blast!
Have a great day!!

~Darcie

Dragging!

6/29/10
Wow, I am so drained today. From the moment I woke up and all through the day. Totally tired this month leading up to CD 1. I had originally thought maybe we would go tubing over toward Orlando today, but the thought of the drive, and the morning traffic, and dealing with all of the people on the river - exhausting! I know, floating down a river is exhausting? LOL. It sounded like it today. Saw the rain forecast and it said we'd get storms around noon through the rest of the day - um, no, never happened. So we lazed around all day waiting for the rain LOL. We finished up some of our gaming marathon, and did get a little swim in this evening before Losing it with Jillian (which was an excellent one tonight).

I did get in my workout. It was leg day. I woke up with a twinge in my back so I elminated any sort of deadlfit or lunges this morning. So I started out with:

Squats, normal
95x10; 115x10; 135x8; 155x6
Squats, feet together
95x10; 115x10x3
Leg Exts
45x10wu - knee started to hurt so I ended the workout at this point. Twingey back and sore knee too? No thanks.
Ate and rested and then during Losing It I finished up because my knee felt better
Leg Exts
90x10x2; 135x8x2;
Leg Exts toes out
90x10x3
Single Leg Exts (left only)45x15x3
Calf Raises
90x15x3 (in, out, straight)
Lunges - front
40
Lunges - back
40

Yesterday was chest/tri's
DB flyes
15's x 10; 20's x 8 x 3
DB Bench
20's x 10 x 2
BP
75x6, 85x5assist, 95x1 hurt, 65x10
Tri Pushdowns
25x10, 35x6, 45x6
Tri Kickbacks
15's x 10 x 3

Tomorrow is my last day of stuffing my face! yeah! I managed to get in 2293 cals Sunday, 2362 Monday and 2482 today. Tomorrow will be about the same and then I get to buff. SOOOOO ready to buff. But a bit of a cheat day on the 4th. Otherwise it is super buffing all the way to vacation on the 17th. Ahhh, the beach for a week!!

Alright, I definitely need to get out and do something tomorrow. Something active and fun!! Because CD1 is coming up quick and I'll want to veg that day for sure.

Have a good evening. Catch ya tomorrow!

~Darcie

Sneak Peek

6/23/10- Took a sneak peek at the scale
I generally don't weigh in much during boosting. I just like to enjoy it, so I usually weigh in on Sundays only. But, I really wanted to see if I was gaining at a good rate. My goals were to hit 2000 cals a day but I've been hitting about 2500 each day instead for the past 3 days since I started. Goal is to gain 3 - 4 pounds by July 5th. So far I've lost half a pound. Seriously. Ok, so my goal was also that by this Sunday I'd be losing weight on 2000 cals and I'd have to increase. But instead I'm losing already on 2500. I'll stay at 2500 for now and will reassess when Sunday comes around. Next week may be a 3000 cal week and let me tell you that is HARD. I mean it, it sucks trying to eat 3000 clean cals - you feel so sickeningly full.

Workouts have been ON. Heavy (for me) and intense, lots of rest between sets. Slow cardio for 30-45 min a day, just simple things like a walk around the neighborhood or climbing hills and trees at the park. So far I'd say I'm right on track, except for the fact that I'm losing. It is possible I'll gain though by the time Sunday comes around. Looking to really rev up this metabolism prior to next buffing session.

Today was chest/tri's. I ended up splitting the workout up so we could meet a friend of Jake's at the park. We had fun there and his friends mom and I are pretty alike in things we enjoy doing. She has 4 boys so she deserves a medal :) We spent 90 minutes playing there, fun!

AM -
DB Flyes
15's x 10
20's x 6 x 3

BP
65x10
75x8
85x3 ?? was supposed to be six. I couldn't get it today though. I felt strong going into it, but nothing.

PM -
Inc Bench
45x10
65x8
65x6

DB Bench
15's x 10
20's x 8 x 2

Tri Pushdowns
25x10
35x6x2

SkullCrushers
20x8x3

Bench Dips
15, 20, 25

Light Calves (in, out, straight)
20's x 30
bw x 45
20's x 60

Some light lat and front raises too. Forgot about booty extras today. Climbing the hills should count! Might throw in a few kicksbacks and stuff tonight since those don't require much time.

Oh, and while I'm thinking of it. I did half supermans ON the ball yesterday. Kneeling on ball, just practicing the arm portion. I did a few of those. I did balance doing a full superman on the ball for all of 2 seconds but couldn't switch :)

That's all. I'm almost done shoveling down food for the day. Just a little yogurt & protein powder later (tastes like choc mousse!). Oh, I'll put a yummy cold bean salad in the recipe section. Made it yesterday and it is awesome! Eats today:
cinnamon toast (2) & milk
kashi w/milk & blueberries
bean salad over lettuce
prot shake & banana @ park
ww spaghetti w/ground beef, tomato sauce
ice cream - southern blackberry cobbler flavor, yum!
yogurt w/prot powder
sunflower seeds - snack on these throughout the day
Cals - 2340, fat 65 (25%), carbs 306(46%), fiber 53, protein 162 (29%)

Have a great one!

~Darcie

!*!*!*!*!*!*!
6/24/10 - too tired for a title
Today was back/shoulders/bi day. I'm very tired today (and yesterday). Might just be the heat - it is so hot here!

Single Arm Rows 25x10x3 ea
Cable Rows 55x10, 65x8, 75x6, 85x4
Lat Pulls 55x10, 65x6x3 - really happy with this. No neck pain again
BOBBR's 65x8x2, 75x8, 45x10 rev grip
Lat Raises 15's x 8, 20's x 6 x 2, 15's x 8
DB Press 15's x 10, 20's x 8 x 2
BB Bi curls 45x8, 50x7, 55x6, 60x4, 45x8
DB Bi Curls 15's x 10, 20's x 6 x 2
Walk, 30 minutes

Yesterday was an off day. Just an hour walking the dog last night. It was nice out.

Food is still good. 2404 cals yesterday, 2672 today. A little ice cream both nights and some lindt truffles that fell in my mouth. But other than those 2 things it was all good. Legs tomorrow. My hams just recovered from last Saturday's workout so hopefully they'll recover more quickly this week.

I'm thinking of cutting my heavy eating short by just a few days. I was schedule to end on July 4th and I'm not sure I want to feel that big and full running around in my bikini all day. I might finish out each body part lifting heavy one more time and start buffing 2 days prior, to just give my body a bit of time to not look so stuffed. I'll see how its going thorugh midweek next week. If I'm still looking lean I'll keep putting down the food.

We're about to watch Book of Eli so I gotta get going. Have a great weekend. I'm a little anti social today too. Maybe the tiredness?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
6/27/10 - pizza day!
Ahhh. Sundays are my day to have a real cheat meal. Today I am having some pizza! Its been a while since we have ordered a pizza, not even sure when the last time was. Anyway, the plan is to savor my yummy meal and hold out for next Sunday LOL. I should be able to hit my cals no problem today :) .
Speaking of that... I weighed in this morning at 124.2. That's 1.2 pounds for the week so I'm feeling good about that. By Thursday I think I will be 125.6. That's my goal at least. And then it will already be time to start buffing. The beach is in 3 weeks and I am confident I will be where I want to be by then. Not as low as I planned at the end of SX70, but i decided to build and I think it will be worth it.
Yesterday was hams/glutes:

Warmed up with ball curls, 10x3
SLDL's on step
95x10; 135x8; 155x6; 95x10
Sumo Squats
95x10; 115x8; 135x6; 95x10
Booty Bulgarians (ea leg)
15's x 8; 20's x 6 x 3
Leg Curls
10x10, 20x10; 30x8; 40x4
Side Lying Leg Lifts
25#plate x 10 x 4 (ea leg) Loved these with the plate. I usually use a db but the plate feels so much better - doesn't push into my it band.
Was supposed to do calf raises but ran out of time. So today I will do some weighted calf stuff. Standing, seated and donkeys.

I'm definitely feeling it today, but not as bad as last week. So that's good.

Alrighty, Ted should be back with the pizza soon. I'm STARVING. And I feel ill. The guy in front of me in church had so much cologne on that my eyes watered and I felt nauseas. Combine that with an empty stomach and its not a good thing. So i'm off to eat and then make good use of it with my calf workout. :)

Have a great day!

~Darcie