Oh, chocolate chips!

I ate too many chocolate chips! 

60% dark chocolate...Mmmm. 

You know when you're inundated with the task at hand, and you mindlessly keep reaching for the candy jar that you so conveniently place at an arms length? Or it's a jar of walnuts, or perhaps almonds, maybe cashews...or for most of us it's M&M's. 

Well, tonight I placed a tiny bowl of Ghirardelli bittersweet, dark chocolate chips in front of me. 

I was so focused on drawing and coloring that before I knew it, the bowl was completely devoured. Then I realized how badly my head was hurting. Bad idea. No more chocolate chips for me.

But I did complete 4 of Weston's alphabet flash cards! I have been putting these off. 

I have gotten A through G done, and 

tonight I finally did I through L. 

I still need to laminate I through L. But here's what they look like so far:

                                                                                                                        

Shoot! 

I just noticed I forgot to do H. Oh my....

Well, H will have to wait for another night. This lady is going to bed. 

G'night!

Body Fat %

Yesterday was my 2nd class of "Compete Like A Competitor" (TLAC). We worked our backs, while last week during the 1st class, we did Legs and Plyometrics. Our trainer, Juliana Uluave-Gould (Juliana's Facebook Page, if you want to stalk her or see AMAZING body building photos, check out the link) is a beautiful woman, inside and out. She originally planned to do  shoulders on the 1st week of class, but when I came to her and told her I needed to modify any shoulder work due to my flare up in my shoulder (shoulder day + shoulder flare up = No, no) she was completely empathetic and switched class from shoulders to legs.


Before the beginning of a kick a** BACK workout, we did a 9 point skin caliper test. This is where the skin folds are measured at 9 different sites on the body. These measurements are put into an equation that gives you your body fat percentage, lean body mass in pounds and your fat mass in pounds from your overall weight.


So, we all weighed ourselves in from of each other. There are 3 gals total in the class, a 45 y/o, another woman in her early 40's, and me: 26 y/o. I didn't mind being weighed in front of everyone, but I can only imagine that this scenario will only get a bit more uncomfortable as I get older.


I weighed in at 117lbs. After the 9 points were measured and entered into the equation I was told I had:

• BF (Body Fat)= 15 %
• FM (Fat Mass)= 17.55 lb
• LBM (Lean Body Mass)= 99.45 lb
• Weight= 117 lb

Kind of fun to know! This helps you keep track of the muscle being acquired and built, versus the weight gain we can experience, even though we are losing inches. Muscle weighs more than fat, yo!

Sometimes, if we can measure our success, we are more likely to succeed. If we have weight loss or muscle gaining goals, or "eating right" types of goals, it can be hard to feel like we are making progress. Unless we measure where our body is starting from and where it is going, it's hard to stay on track. I'd stay away from using a scale as the only source of keeping track of your progress. A scale can be so inaccurate of the true health we may or may not have. You know what I mean? 

Just because you weigh 100 lbs doesn't necessarily mean you're healthy...there are so many other factors that need to be taken into consideration. Just a few of those factors are the lean muscle mass you have versus the fat mass you have.

So just keep that in mind when step onto a scale :)

Here's a great article about the woe's of using the scale as the only source for measuring or keeping track of your progress. The Weighting Game. I found it on Robb Wolf's website, author of "The Paleo Solution".  

Cheers!

Tabata

Oh...Lord have mercy! I feel like I am about to throw up. I might have worked out a little bit harder than a beginner should. 


Last night I did a drill called Tabata. I did 20 seconds of as many of the exercise as possible, 100% full effort (keeping good form) and only a 10 second rest. You do 8 intervals of this without stopping. It takes about 4 minutes, but it's the hardest 4 minutes of your life. 
I did alternating lunges last night...and it wasn't that bad. My legs felt like jello-o but it felt GOOD. Here's a link for more info on the tabata drill. It will kick your booty! 
Tabata Protocol


Today I did the Tabata drill again, but I did burpees instead of lunges. Shoot me now. Those are HARD.

Demonstration!

1.Begin squatted, then jump backwards, both legs at the same time

2.This is coming into the squatted position, about to jump up

3.This is the jump at the end of the burpee

Here's a picture from offline, that breaks down a burpee as well:

I challenge you to try Tabata (with any exercise: jumping jacks, squats, burpees, planks etc.) 


Have fun!

Breastfeeding in Public?

Normally I wouldn't admit to feeling scared, or judged...normally I brave the world with confidence or I try to 'pretend' I have courage. Sometimes by faking it, we end up truly feeling fearless. But today, I tried to pretend and it didn't work; instead I felt more insecure and nervous than ever.


I am a believer in breastfeeding in public. It is something so beautiful between a mother and her child, and I feel so honored to have known this bond and special relationship with my son. I claim to be an advocate of standing up for yourself, even when others do not agree. When I see other women nursing their little ones in public, I have a GIGANTIC grin beaming in every ounce of my body. I want to shout out, "Good for you!" or give her a thumbs-up so she will continue to have courage to brave this taboo culture we live in with regards to breastfeeding in public.


Awe, but today. Today I was beside myself. I have breastfed Weston in public on a number of occasions, namely restaurants. And I am always accompanied by someone else who gives me the triple shot of "Go For It" boost that, apparently, I need. So, it never occurred to me that I am actually a basket-case when it comes to nursing in public, until I had to do it...alone. I guess there really is strength in numbers.


Weston and I had been running errands all morning, taking Griz to get his hair trimmed, stopping by Bed Bath and Beyond to look for curtains and then a quick stop at Fred Meyer for some Vitamin D drops for little babes, some coconut oil and a lint roller. Weston was certainly due for a nursing session, but for some reason I insisted we run into Freddy's first...then I'd feed him in the car afterwards. Even though this pit stop at Freddy's should have only taken 7-10 minutes to accomplish, Weston did not care. He was hungry now. I tried to explain to him we'd be done in 5 minutes, but how do you reason with a 12 month old? He was fussing throughout the entire store, and usually he's a champ when it comes to grocery shopping. 


"Ok, so here we go" I thought, "I'll feed you in the baby aisle...that makes sense, right? If anyone comes down this aisle, it'd only be natural that a mom would be nursing her kid...RIGHT? No.. not the baby aisle, I'll go hide somewhere so I'm not in the main crowd" I told myself.


Ha, ha so where do I go? The Home Department. It was vacant and near the end of the store and not much foot traffic. Perfect spot. I "pretend" to look at dishes and coffee mugs and the like, all the while I'm feeding Weston. No one knows. No one can see...and yet, my heart is pounding out of my little chest and I'm frightened. I feel like a criminal. It may have been one of the worst moments of feeling so small and intimidated by... who? I was paralyzed at the thought of catching someone's eye and reading the thought "GROSS" come across their mind. Was I feeling ashamed? Judged? 


I read an incredible book a couple of months ago called "The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brene Brown. She spent a decade studying and researching shame and fear and how those universal experiences affect us. She writes in her book about "wholeheartedness"...how practicing resilience everyday can change how we love, parent, play and work. Even though I've read her book, and I agree with her research... it's damn hard to face my vulnerabilities and accept that I am good enough, that I am worthy of love.. and that no matter what I've done (or not done) today, that I am ENOUGH. 


So...as I am timidly, (but "pretending" to be non-chalant) nursing my son in Fred Meyer, Brene Brown's book is racing through my mind. I'm trying to find the courage to let go of what other people will think of me in this moment. Finding courage...is so much easier to READ about and TALK about than actually DO.


So, although I totally lacked the courage to FEEL brave, I still ACTED brave. I did indeed feed Weston at Fred Meyer. Although my heart raced like a Nascar driver in the Indy-500, I still fed my son, filled his belly with goodness and he became a happy, talkative little companion for the remainder of trip.


Let me leave you with this quote by Mary Daly, a theologian (from the book, "The Gifts of Imperfection")...

Courage is like--it's a habitus, a habit, a virtue: You get it by courageous acts. It's like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging."

So friggin' awesome. I highly recommend this book to everyone.


Here's to COURAGE :)

Warm Up - Day 1

   I grew up playing sports: namely soccer and running track & field, and then dabbling in dance for my high school's dance team.  Dance seemed to carry the most weight, as I later went on to dance for the 1st Season of my local Bellingham semi-pro basketball team, known as the "Bellingham Slam!", and then I tried out for WWU's Hip Hop team at Western Washington University and danced there for 3 quarters. I have always been active and usually in pretty good shape. When my name comes up in conversation, usually the words "buff" or "glutes" (see picture below) get tossed around. It's pretty comical actually.

Elisa on the left, me on the right...in Barra De Navidad, Mexico for Liz's Wedding in March 2010. 

A friend of mine posed the question in 2006, "You should be a figure model, why don't you try it?" I didn't get it. "Figure, what?" Haha. Not until I worked at lululemon athletica, and met a REAL body builder, did I truly understand what Figure Competitions were about. And so, since 2009...my obsession with the IDEA of doing a Figure Competitions has strung along side me, unfulfilled, but full of hope.


It is SO incredibly easy to come up with a million excuses not to work out, or eat healthy, or to get enough sleep. TRUST me... I have a 12 month old. Nothing comes quicker than that midnight hour of hearing the faint cries of Weston, pleading for some 1 on 1 time to nurse.


So really, I get it. I get why it's so hard to stick to your guns and carry-out a fitness goal. The one excuse that is very real for me is my Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and bursitis. Click this link to check out what RA is: What is RA? It has hindered me in every area of my life to date. But I will say that if I eat clean: paleo, cave-man, primal, hunter-gather... whatever you want to call it, essentially no grains, gluten, legumes, dairy, night shades (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers: due to my RA) added sugar or vegetable oils (oh and stay away from HFCS, high fructose corn syrup)... this leaves me inflammation free! 


So the DO EATS are essentially:  lean meats, grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, berries and a whole-lotta coconut oil and olive oil. The key is to balance my omega-3:omega=6 ratios to about 1:2. I need OMEGA-3's to help combat my RA (rheumatoid arthritis). 


If you're interested in learning more about this life-style of eating, I highly recommend Robb Wolf's book, "Paleo Solution"( robbwolf.com ). This has changed my life! 


Anyway... enough excuses for me! I am finally registered for a class at Urban Fitness called "Train Like a Competitor". Here's a link to see a testimonial of the class: Train Like a Competitor! A few girls at work who have competed in figure or bikini, highly recommend the 12 week program. It's one day a week, every Sunday. It starts this Sunday, January 15th!


So in order to gear up for this, I decided to wait 'til the last minute :P 


I worked out today and did a mini-overall body preparation: 

• Jumped-rope for 3-5 minutes
• Side-to-side squats with a resistance band around my ankles
• Lunges with 10 lb. dumb bells
• Tricep pull downs
• Bicep curls with 10 lb. dumb bells
• Glute raises, on all 4's, placed 10 lb. dumb bell behind knee and lifted leg up, heel to ceiling
• Lat pull downs
• Stretched

This is a brief and quick overview of what I did. I did some things in reps and others only once. I just listened to my body. I wanted to get a little warm up in before I hit a harder work out tomorrow. 

Picture of my body the week before Train Like a Competitor Begins: ahh, this is scary to show. But I have to be vulnerable if I want to succeed! Weight: ~118 lb.

Front view  &                                                                              Left side view

Let the fun begin!

No shuteye

It's strangely early in the morning. I woke up at 1:30am to nurse my darling baby boy. He usually wakes up every 3-4 hours in the night. I typically have no trouble laying my head back on the pillow and falling sound asleep after our midnight feeding sessions, but tonight my eyelids didn't feel summoned to stay closed. I told myself that,  "...if 30 minutes go by, I'm going to get up and work out." Haaaa... but then I thought, now that would only get me rip-roaring ready for the day to start and I need to be falling asleep.


So, instead of working out, I did the next logical thing: created a blog!


I have been contemplating this for months now. I recently started following other peoples blogs and thought, why would anyone want to read what I have to say about life anyways?


Then I sat myself down and thought, even if no one but myself reads this, I will have gotten the "writing bug" within me going and I can expel some random thought for hopefully, a clearer mind.


Friends have told me all my life that I should write a memoir or a book about my life. I suppose my life has had some peculiar happenings, but don't most? And most recently, one of my closest friends suggested that I create a blog...she is planning to start a family with her husband later this summer, and wants to know all my little quirks and the details surrounding my newest adventure into motherhood.


Well here we are 2012. This is one of my many resolutions, coming into action. The more I write, the more free and gratifying I feel.


I can't wait to discuss my journey into training for a Figure Competition, creating a bit of independence as my son wrestles with the joy of solids and continues to breastfeed, and lastly my husband Jason is going back to school.


All I can say is...bring it on!

Here's a little family photo taken in December 2011. Thanks for letting me ramble. Until next time.