All the Sun For You

A mom, two boys, a husband, and a whole lot of adventure!


by 4 Comments

Fitness Stat-urday – Week 2

Starting Statistics on 08/30/2014

  • Weight:  155 Pounds (took 0.6 pounds off during my stabilizing week)
  • Body Fat %:  25.1% (took 0.7% off during my stabilizing week)
  • BMI:  24.3
  • Predicted Weight from MyFit.nessP.al:  140 Pounds (targeting 1.5 pounds per week)

Goals for the Next 10 Weeks (Ending 11/08/2014)

  • Weight:  142.6 Pounds
  • Body Fat %:  22.1%
  • BMI:  22.3
  • Push-ups:  90
  • Sit-ups:  53
  • Mile Run Time:  7:26

Week Ending 09/11/2014 (the week ended early due to vacation)

  • Week 2 Statistics
    • Weight: 153.6 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained:  1.4 Pounds Lost
    • Body Fat %:  24.6%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained:  0.1% Lost
    • BMI: 24
    • Workout Days (goal is 6 days):  7 Days
    • Time Spent Being Active:  8 Hours 15 Minutes
    • Average Number of Steps Per Day:  17,328 Steps
  • Food:  This week was tricky since we headed out of town (sans kids!) on Thursday.  Dinner reservations were made without concern to the menu and being Paleo.  We were hoping to do lots of walking, to hopefully balance everything out in the end.
    • Sunday – Soccer night = easy dinner = pizza out (thin crust veggie)
    • Monday – Dinner out consisting of a fabulous Paleo salad
    • Tuesday – Pear and Ground Pork Stuffed Winter Squash
    • Wednesday – Meatballs and Carrots
    • Thursday – VACATION
    • Friday – VACATION
    • Saturday – VACATION
  • Exercise/Activity: I have found some group fitness classes at our resort in Teluride that I plan to attend (and drag Hottie to with me).  We solely depended on lots of walking to keep us active, but as expected, these numbers did go down this week (except for the amount of steps!).
    • Sunday – Mowing the lawn and some yard work (40 minutes) – 10,800 Steps
    • Monday – Morning run (43 minutes), strength training (42 minutes) – 18,100 Steps
    • Tuesday – Morning run (44 minutes), INSANITY (37 minutes), walking (11 minutes) – 22,000 Steps
    • Wednesday- Morning run (52 minutes) – 19,000 Steps
    • Thursday- Morning run (46 minutes) – 16,000 Steps
    • Friday- Hours of walking (90 minutes) – 18,200 Steps
    • Saturday- Hours of walking (90 minutes) – 17,200 Steps
  • Notes and findings: 
    • So I’m running in the mornings now.  I really enjoy it!  Bryson and I go out as the sun comes up and get 3+ miles in whenever the weather cooperates.  I don’t have a set running schedule, and I’m not trying to become a fast runner.  I just want to get out there and do it!
    • Because we’re heading out of town without the kids on Thursday, I don’t want to drag them to the Y every day.  They need time with Mom and Dad before the big departure.  I’m counting on my running, one class at the Y, walking with Bryson while Matthew’s in school, resistance bands at home, and our KB bag to keep me active and productive!
    • We ate dinner before INSANITY on Tuesday and that was a mistake.  Tuesday is now soup night and we’ll eat after class.
    • All stats are from Thursday, 09/11/2014, because I didn’t have access to scales or body fat measurements while in Telluride
    • I did weigh myself after coming home and vacation cost me only 1.8 pounds – not awful!
    • I am adding a week to this little challenge of mine to give myself next week to recover and bounce back from vacation – next week’s post will be considered Week 2+1

Previous Week

Next Week


by 10 Comments

So… We’re Going

Something big is happening tomorrow.  It’s something I’ve avoided for a VERY long time.  It’s something I’ve come up with every excuse in the book to avoid.  It’s something that has made me feel very uncomfortable just thinking about.

We’re leaving the boys for the first time EVER to go on a trip out-of-town together (I specify “out-of-town” because we did a practice night three weeks ago and we stayed in a hotel downtown).

We need this trip – we’ve needed it since Matthew was probably a year old.  Hell, his pediatrician told us that we had to leave him for an overnight trip for at least 2 nights before he turned 1.  We didn’t listen.  He wasn’t sleeping through the night, he wasn’t weaned, he needed me too much.  Now, Bryson is JUST sleeping through the night, he isn’t weaned, and he needs me too much.

Someone is always going to be having problems sleeping, and someone is always going to need me too much (or so I think).

So… we’re going.

We’re even getting on a plane – two of them, in fact, to get there and then back again.  I used to be a nervous flyer but I’m not so much after living in Chicago for 4 years and having no car to get from Illinois back to Iowa to see my family.  I flew all the time and it took the edge off, because it just had to.  But now with kids – kids I’m leaving behind in the care of their grandparents – I’m a little nervous.

I’m really not that nervous… I’m more nervous about Bryson not being weaned and the hell my mother-in-law will pay for that.  And I’m more nervous that Matthew will get over-excited and they’ll never want to watch the kids again for us.  And I’m more nervous that I’ll come home to a messy house like when Bryson was born (MIL does not pick up the things she gets out) that will need at least 5 hours of my time to get back to normal.  And I’m more nervous that the milk cups and straws won’t get washed well enough each night before being used again.  And I’m more nervous that Bryson’s sleep is going to go to complete and total shit.  But with all that said, I’m still a little nervous about flying without the kids.

****

We got our wills done.  They’re written, signed, notarized, and on their way to the safe deposit box tomorrow morning.  We selected guardians when Matthew was born but just never got around to asking my dad to do the formal wills.  They’re done now, and that brings me much peace.  My dad is a very responsible attorney who has our affairs in perfect order, so I know that if something would happen, the kids are going to be taken care of and swiftly.  There would be no, “we’re not sure what to do’s” because the man does this for his clients all the time.  The only issue is that he’s not thrilled with our guardian selection, because they’re staunch democrats.  HA!

****

All of this travel and will talk makes me think about life insurance, and the fact that we need more on Hottie, specifically, now that Bryson is here.  That’s now on my list for the fall.  But we may be having a third baby if all works out, so maybe we should shelve that for the spring/summer.

No… this fall.

****

Everything is going to be fine.  Matthew is going to have a great time and he’ll be an angel (or a devil disguised as one).  Bryson is going to sleep well because no one in the house will be able to assist him with boobs.  Both boys will eat well because I’ve got all three nights of meals and leftovers for lunch mapped out.  We will be fine because, as we all know, our chances of dying in a plane crash are nothing compared to driving on the road.  My in-laws are probably the ones who are going to suffer in this whole situation… but they signed up for this and they know what they’re possibly getting into.  And the fact that we have notarized wills almost ensures that everything will be OK – because the universe messes with the people who don’t plan ahead – and I’m not one of them!

 


by 5 Comments

Fitness Stat-urday – Week 1

Starting Statistics on 08/30/2014

  • Weight:  155 Pounds (took 0.6 pounds off during my stabilizing week)
  • Body Fat %:  25.1% (took 0.7% off during my stabilizing week)
  • BMI:  24.3
  • Predicted Weight from MyFit.nessP.al:  140 Pounds (targeting 1.5 pounds per week)

Goals for the Next 10 Weeks (Ending 11/08/2014)

  • Weight:  142.6 Pounds
  • Body Fat %:  22.1%
  • BMI:  22.3
  • Push-ups:  90
  • Sit-ups:  53
  • Mile Run Time:  7:26

 

Week Ending 09/06/2014

  • Week 1 Statistics
    • Weight:  155 Pounds
    • Pounds Lost or Gained:  +-0 Pounds
    • Body Fat %:  24.7%
    • Body Fat % Lost or Gained:  0.4% Lost
    • BMI: 24.3
    • Workout Days (goal is 6 days):  7 Days
    • Time Spent Being Active:  12 Hours 17 Minutes
    • Average Number of Steps Per Day: 15,685
  • Food:  We started the week off pretty well, back to our Paleo lifestyle (with the exception of breakfast on Sunday because, well, it was Sunday breakfast!).  I’ve had a strange desire for chai lattes lately and really need to kick that habit (330 calories each with TONS of sugar = NOT OK).  They’re just so good!  Back to cooking on Monday and holy hell did I miss that.  I’m serious!  We kicked the week off with one of our favorite recipes and it was, once again, terrific!
    • Sunday – Fiesta Chicken Soup
    • Monday – Curry Bison Sliders and Curry Cauliflower
    • Tuesday – Shrimp in Horseradish Mustard Sauce and Peas
    • Wednesday – Pork and Apple Sliders with Maple-Buttered Brussels Sprouts
    • Thursday – Greek Chicken with Roasted Carrots
    • Friday – Pan.era Caesar Salad and French Onion Soup
    • Saturday – Date Night!
  • Exercise/Activity:
    • Sunday – Lots of yard work – mowing, trimming, bagging (95 minutes) – 12,600 Steps
    • Monday – Family bike ride (60 minutes), weight lifting and abs (20 minutes), yard work (80 minutes) – 12,600 Steps
    • Tuesday – INSANITY class (40 minutes), walking (10 minutes) – 13,700 Steps
    • Wednesday – Bodypump class (43 minutes), walking (73 minutes) – 19,000 Steps
    • Thursday – Jogged 3.4 miles (41 minutes), yard work (25 minutes) – 18,000 Steps
    • Friday – KB Bags (46 minutes), walking (57 minutes), weights (10 minutes) – 17,800 Steps
    • Saturday – Adventure Triathlon (kayaking 37 minutes, biking 68 minutes, running 43 minutes) – 16,100 Steps
  • Notes and findings: 
    • I am so happy to be cooking again!  When Hottie is out of town, there really is no reason for me to slave over a meal that only I’ll truly enjoy, so we eat out a lot.  I was so relaxed chopping veggies, shopping for the week, and preparing fun meals once again.
    • I’m finding that the lattes are killing me – and they have to go.  When you add them up, they’re totaling 1200-1500 calories a week and that’s just not OK.  Those are calories that I wouldn’t consume otherwise, so they really make no sense.  I didn’t have a coffee drink of any kind on Thursday and I felt great about it!
    • I can feel myself getting stronger and stronger, and my weight isn’t changing and that’s being reflected in my body fat % loss this week – 0.4%.
    • I switched the body fat monitor to athlete mode given my level of activity for the last 12 weeks.  I had the dip in body fat in both modes (normal and athlete) because I corrected how I’m holding the body fat monitor (I knew they were doing it wrong at the gym, but I changed how I did it so it would reflect the same numbers that they had.  I’m back to doing it correctly).  Holding it correctly and switching to athlete mode got the same result as normal mode being held wrong.  It’s a wash!

Next Week


by 3 Comments

2:28.5

Hottie and I did our adventure tri today! 2.5 miles of kayaking, 11.5 miles of biking (9+ of which were gravel roads), and 3.5 miles of trail running. My step counter put the run at 4.6 miles – which it felt like. Ha! We finished together in 2:28.5. We’re quite pleased with that!

We didn’t finish last, which is always my fear, and we came in behind a pretty competitive dude just 2 minutes later. It was respectable!

Oh, and we won our division. We won before we started… We were the only coed team. It’s nice starting the race knowing you’ve already won! Our winnings were substantial – $100! We’ve never won prize money before. It was exciting!


by Leave a comment

No Excuses

Between the Y, running, and the new kickboxing bag in our garage… Well… I have no excuses when it comes to working out.

NONE.

I broke the bag in today with a 32 minute routine that I then started over for another 14 minutes. I bought an awesome interval timer that I programmed the other night for this particular routine, so I just hit the start button and worked down my list of exercises. It was like being at the KB studio. It was awesome!

I took Bryson for a nice run on Wednesday in the neighborhood and got 3.4 miles in. We don’t live in a big neighborhood and I can get 2.3 miles in without repeating anything, but then add an extra mile with the straight-away section of road (down and back). Again, no excuses.

NONE.

I feel fortunate to have so many fitness options and the gear to support them. Hottie’s work pays for our Y membership, so we’re able to justify things like the bag and various shoes (even Hottie agrees he needs different shoes for a specific class). We’re fortunate to get some decent inclines and mileage out of our little neighborhood. And I recognize that I’m lucky to have the time to devote to my fitness and health. Between early AM (6:00!) runs with Bryson, child watch at the Y so I can attend classes, and an hour of double nap (kickboxing) time in the afternoons – I can make time to do this. And I have no excuses.

NONE.


by 1 Comment

The Second 10 Weeks

I am starting my second 10 weeks of fitness tomorrow.  I did my weigh-in and other stats today, so I’m off and running (I only lost 0.6 pounds this past week during transition, but lost 0.7% body fat).  I’m going to log my progress here (which is also in my main menu) so that no one has to deal with this in their readers – but you can check in if you want.  I expect this to be rather boring for most, but I want to put it out there to keep myself accountable.

I’m happy to report that my “wall of motivation” is doing its job.  I did not want to run yesterday – I was looking for anything to do but run, but when I walked into my closet and saw my B&A photos and Hottie’s card, I immediately put on my running togs and hit the pavement.  A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Right!


by 2 Comments

The Little Brother

The little brother is so fun to watch – because he soaks up everything the big brother does.  Bryson does so much more, so much earlier than Matthew did at this age, and that’s because he has a fantastic big brother who likes to teach him and include him in (almost) everything he does.  They are best buddies, so it’s only natural that Bryson would be addicted to sports, balls, and music like Matthew is.

Matthew was napping well when Bryson woke up today, so I took him outside to play by himself.  I knew he’d go straight for the T-ball stuff.  But I didn’t know he’d first grab the ball and take it out to the grass, then return to the garage for the T, and then return a final time for the bat.  He set his game up all by himself, and then amazed me by putting the ball on the T, hitting it off, and doing that over and over again.  When it was time to go in, he returned each item to the garage, and into the T-ball tub, before grabbing my hand and heading for the door.

Big kid in a little kid’s body.  I love it!

130538408500653321


by 8 Comments

A Week of Transition

Next week, summer will officially be over in this house.

I’m sort of sad about it.

We had a really great, busy summer – the type of summer I always envisioned with kids.  Weekend trips away, full weeks of summer camps, swimming lessons, trips to the parks and zoo, and a bunch of other random things thrown in there.  Bryson changed leaps and bounds and turned into a bona fide toddler – walking, more talking, stacking blocks, holding his own with his brother, and turning into quite the comedian.  Matthew turned into a big kid overnight – learning to be confident in the water, becoming an excellent talker (you’d never know there was ever a delay there!), mastering how to introduce himself to strangers and soliciting their names in return, and deciding that “I’ll do it myself!” is his preferred way to do EVERYTHING.  Hottie and I somehow found our way out of a rather concerning slump and ended the summer completely in love with one another once again.

So yeah – a little sad to see it end.

But with this seasonal change, our routine is changing too and that’s a great thing!  Matthew starts school again on Tuesday and will be going three half-days a week this year.  I’m going to be his “room mother” – something I’ve wanted to do since we started talking about school but knew it would be too much last year with a new Bryson in the mix.  Hottie’s role is changing a bit at work and he’s looking forward to the change, even if it means a loftier quota goal.  He’s always up for the biggest challenges, and never fails.  We’ll see how this year goes, but I have high hopes for him!  I’m full-on back into my own health and fitness and have a lot of goals of my own in that department, as well as goals to not make things all about me, me, me while sticking to my health goals.  I am a mother, first and foremost, after all!  If I can find time to go to the gym every day, I can find time and ways to keep my kids engaged and soaking up the good stuff that life has to offer!

So this past week has been about transition.

Hottie had to take a work trip to NYC to better engage one of his clients, all while taking part in this fiscal year’s planning meetings remotely.  The timing wasn’t great for him or his partner, but they made it work well enough.  Kicking off the fiscal year is always a time of stress and extra work for Hottie and all of his coworkers – but it’s also a time of intense energy and optimism!

Matthew had his sneak-a-peak at school on Wednesday and was very excited to meet his new teacher (and sad to finally realize that he’s not going to see Mrs. E and Mrs. Y every day – he loved his teachers last year!).  He did great meeting Mrs. S and Mrs. M and introduced himself to them like a pro!  His new classroom is twice as large as last year’s, and I’m excited for him to have more space to explore.  He’s already talking about going to Mrs. S’s “house” next week (everything is a house – the pork house, the chicken house, the yogurt house, Katie’s house (our hair stylist), etc.) and is super excited to play with his new friends!

Bryson is getting more comfortable with his mobility and is making me very aware that parenting him is going to be an entirely different experience than was parenting Matthew.  He is so adventurous and always trusts that he’ll land on his feet (I hope he always does, literally and figuratively).  He is so hilarious, even though he only has 10 words.  He’s going to keep me very entertained when Matthew is in school!  Bryson is still needing two naps a day, but sometimes he takes just one.  Poor kid – he’s always in the car!  This fall is going to be one of big-time effort kicking that one night-time feeding and probably weaning him.  I just don’t think he’ll sleep through the night until he’s weaned.  He likes to have a visit from mama (and her boobs).

I’ve spent the last week fine-tuning my fitness plan and finally have it worked out to not interfere with school and to maximize my one-on-one time with Bryson while Matthew’s in school.  We bought a punching bag for the garage and I started running this week, so I’ll do those things on strength days and then serious cardio 3-4 days a week at the Y.  I’ll still be going to the Y probably 6 days a week, but at times that work better for the boys.  I’ve also taken a step back from a friendship this week that was becoming a bit toxic.  I need to write a post all about that, just to get it out, but it’s worth a mention because I’ve been trying to find a way to step back for months but finally found a way yesterday – during transition week.

Like I mentioned earlier, Hottie and I have really found our ways back to one another.  We left the boys overnight for the first time ever last Saturday in preparation for our trip to Colorado without them in two weeks.  We plan to leave them again later in the fall for a weekend.  We’ve been going out on more dates and have been really making each other a priority – and it feels great!  We’re getting back into fitness together – the entire reason we met in the first place – and are working out together whenever we can.  When I finished my 10 week fitness program on Saturday, Hottie and I went out for our night without the boys and he had a card for me that was so nice and so thoughtful – that I cried.  He texted me last night after the frustrating exchange with my friend and told me that I’m a great mom and “AWESOME wife” – something I’m not sure he’s said much in the last couple of years (man, having young kids is hard on relationships, isn’t it?  How do we forget to care properly for one another?).  I know I’m riding on a high here, but it feels like a great transition that we desperately needed.

Change is good.  Change is necessary.  Change is the name of the game.  I’m just glad we took a week to really focus on the transition and embrace what the changes mean.  So often, things change without us noticing, but I knew back on 8/1 that this week would be one of reflection and transition – and it’s been good!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.