Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method Day 2

So I weighed myself this morning and I lost 1 pound after one day. YAY!!!! I realize this is probably water weight, but it is still motivating. Despite this day 2 was really hard for me. I am struggling with extreme hunger. I tell my self that this will probably be gone next me once my stomach shrinks. However, all I think about is food, real food not Tracy Anderson food.

Food Portion

As mentioned in an earlier post I am switching some of the days around menu wise. Today I had the mango smoothie for breakfast X 2, puree of broccoli soup, and minestrone soup from a resteraunt. I'm getting tired of the amount of prep and cooking time required to eat on this diet. There aren't any tips (at least that I saw) for when you have to eat out.

Mango Smoothie - was soooo not my favorite. The kefir yogurt made it taste like buttermilk. As I was STARVING, I slurpped it down despite thinking it was gross.

                                                           Breakfast:  Mango Smoothie

Puree of Broccoli Soup - this was my lunch today. Not bad at all. I wish the serving was larger that one cup.

                                                        Lunch:  Puree of Broccoli Soup

                                                            Snack: Mango Smoothie

                                                Dinner:  Minestrone Soup (Dinner Out) 

Exercise Portion

I did the complete exercise regimen today including Tracy's cardio dance. I was able to complete 30 reps (yay me) and plan to increase my reps to 40 tomorrow. The cardio portion was a bit confusing to me. I am so not a dancer (in this life or past ones) so I stumbled through the steps. I'm pretty sure that this improves I continue this boot camp. Only 28 days more to go! (LOL)

Tracy Anderson' 30 Day Method Day 1

I completed day one of the Tracy Anderson method. Well, mostly. I completed the diet with no cheating (which is amazing in itself) and the muscle design sequences. The only variation I did was I jogged as opposed to do her dance sequence cardio. This is forbidden as Tracy says in her book "it's my way or the highway". She says that you must not jog and most only do her cardio during the 30 day boot camp period because jogging can result in bulking. I debated along time about whether to only do her cardio, but I had spent the previous weeks doing the couch to 5K program. Basically I am afraid that if I totally stopped I would lose all of the progress I have made. My compromise is to jog (using couch to 5K) three days a week and using her cardio dance program the remaining days.

The other main change I have made this week in the program is to change around the order of the menu. Tracy forbids making any changes in the food options day to day. However, it seemed wasteful as the recipes often make two portions and the repeat day isn't until several weeks later. As such, I am strictly keeping with the whole menu for a certain day but am changing around the daily menus as I see fit. For example, I am repeating the same daily menus twice this week to save on cooking and food prep time. So Monday and Wednesday I am having the same foods. Likewise for Tuesday and Thursday.

So far this biggest challenge has been hunger. I am STARVING!!!! This morning I had strawberry mint salad which was easy to prepare (thank God!). This was pretty good but not filling enough for me. For lunch it was tomato minestrone soup. This was pretty good tasting, but not the 8 oz serving just wasnt enough. I had choco chestnut pudding for snack and poached cod with asparagus for dinner. The choco chestnut pudding was soooo good despite me not putting any chestnuts in it. At my local store chestnuts are seasonal and won't be in until for a few weeks. The fish was what you would expect with out any added fat.

Today's Menu:

                                                    Breakfast: Strawberry Mint Salad

                                                        Lunch:  Tomato Minestrone Soup

                            Snack: Choco Chestnut Pudding (without chestnuts b/c couldn't find em)

                                              Dinner: Poached Cod and Roasted Asparagus

Tracy Anderson 30 Day Method

After reading rave reviews about Tracy Anderson's 30 Day Method I bought the book and am starting dat one tomorrow. unlike most workout and diet regimens this plan offers no flexibility. Tracy says that to get the guaranteed results you must exactly follow her menu plan, muscle work, and cardio seven days a week. I'm going to try my best to stick with the plan. My goal is to get the lean body she is known for! Wish me luck.

Trying to Get Into School

As part of my quest to find a recession proof job I have started to think seriously about going back to school. I have applied for PA school and nursing school. As part of the application process of getting into the accelerated BSN program you must take the TEAS test. I just did this yesterday and already have my results. Of course they are as clear as mud. I got a score of 81.3. According to the test this is in the 90% percentile for the nation. However the average of the students accepted was a 84. I definitely didn't hit it out of the park but at least I'm in the ballpark.

Unemployment Brings Unwanted Side-Effects

As you can probably tell from my previous postings, like most American women I am obsessed with my weight. Despite my best (or not best) attempts I seem to hover around the same weight which is 15 pounds more than I would like to weigh. This problem has only become worse not that I have joined the ranks of the jobless.

At first I thought exercise would be my ticket to finally making it to my ideal weight. Ha! I exercise five days a week most weeks and have not lost an ounce. In fact, I have gained weight. It turns out that having all of this extra time to exercise means that I also have lots of time to eat. And boy do I eat! Junk, junk, and more junk. Hey, I have a 3 year old and the kid food that comes with them. I just happen to have a very unsophisticated palate which means that I like processed foods.

What's the solution? I have no fricking idea! It has been suggested by those who know more than me that my new found love affair with all things packaged stems from the sudden lack of structure in my day. Logically this makes since so my goal is to instill more scheduling my day and to sit down for meals. This means I must say farewell to eating while watching my DVRed shows. Hopefully I can soon say I have the exercise AND the healthful eating down and am on my way to being a skinnier me.

Diet frustrations!

I realize that my attempt to exercise or diet have been a large part of my past blogs. I think this proves that I am a typical American gal. I seem to lose a few, gain a few, and then gain extra! Very frustrating. Tonight was date night and we went to Alamo drafthouse, which is a movie theater that has a resteraunt. I went with all intentions of ordering something reasonable. However, it was not to be. There were no sensible options on the menu,not exaggerating. I ended up getting a pizza and list of guilt. But as Scarlett O'hara says "tomorrow is another day!"

Big Furniture in a Little Room

Although we have been in our apartment for 3 (count 'em) months I have only now become motivated to make this tiny space more homey. First step is rearranging our living/dining room combo. When we saw the model it looked so spacious. Considering we had put the majority of the stuff from our 2856 square foot house in storage we could makes this work!

Ha! My husband and I apparently have no concept of scale because our monster couch is currently taking up 2/3 of the dining room/ living area. To get this monster into our apartment the movers had to hoist up over the balcony. The smallest of our two tables ( which seats 6) is Against one wall.

The plan is to swap the furniture into the two areas. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this works because not tripping over the coach will definitely go along way to making the next six months more bearable.

Completed Week 2 of P90X

Vanity is a good motivator for me. That and shame of course. Because of these two factors I have actually dragged out the ole' P90X workout for a crash-get-in-shape extravaganza. My family is going on a cruise next week so I no that I had to do something drastic or be forever shamed by the super fit people that seem to cruise on the same ship as I.

So far I have mostly stuck with it with the exception of yoga X, my least favorite workout. I just can't stand working out for 1 hour and 45 minutes. I honestly don't know how others do it. So I skipped that this week. As this coming week is my last before the cruise I am pulling out all of the stops and will do the vegan diet low fat diet (Ornish diet), P90X, and Sassy water (flat belly diet). This is especially necessary considering the bargain $17 dress I bought on clearance from Dillards. This bad-boy shows every curve (and incidentally chub roll) and is not forgiving. I will definitely need the spanx and my super sonic crash diet workout plan. With any luck I will triumph.

Trying to Get Used to Being Unemployed

Now that I am no longer taking my summer college classes I am trying to get in the habit of being a stay at home mom/trophy wife. This has been really hard for me because I have essentially worked everyday of my life since I was 17 years old and now I'm not. Let me make this clear, it is not easier to stay at home. In some regards it is harder because I take my child to and from pre-school which is 45 minutes each way and it is still summer. I will find out next week how  much more trafficky it gets when school actually starts. In addition I am doing P90X. Essentially once I finish this and eat lunch it is almost time to pick up my kid.

My hope is that once I get in the hang up stuff I can come up with a more efficient schedule so that I am able to accomplish more. It seems like I got more done when I had a job. Probably because I knew that I had no margin for error and really kept a tight schedule. Hopefully this phase in my life will  come together and I am able to make it all work: housework, shopping, errands, exercise, and child transportation. Millions of moms do this so there is just some missing ingredient that I haven't figured out yet. But, I know I will triumph!

Had An Interview Where They Interviewed Two of Us

As I have mentioned, I am currently unemployed and have been looking for jobs and applying to schools. On Friday I had a job interview which was a bit unorthodox in my opinion. When I showed up and was waiting to be called the other person in the waiting room leaned over towards me and said, "Oh you must be the other girl I'm interviewing with?" My  expression must have told her that I had no idea what is Hades she was talking about because she then explained to me that she had been told this was an interview where they were interviewing two candidates at the same time. Is this normally done? I have never had this experience before and thought it was soooo not kosher. Beyond awkward. What really made me mad is that I had to move mountains to get to this interview, dressed up, filled out another application, and brought my brag book. Would it have been too hard to grant me the courtesy of giving me my own time slot? Moreover, why was this other chick informed about the dual interview while I was not? We will see if they consider me I tried to go with it but I definitely but the top of the salary listing as the lowest I would take so I'm assuming they will go for the less experienced but more flexible gal who isn't me. I want to be compensated for my work. OF course this is still the early stages. In a few months when I get desperate I may have much lower standards.

What To Do With Too Much Shampoo....

Now that I am officially a trophy wife (unemployed) I have taken up couponing as my hobby. I'm not really sure if I am saving money or spending money on a stockpile that will last us for quite a bit. For instance, the most common deals I see are on deodorant, body wash, shampoo, and other personal care items. So I have faithfully clipping my coupons and matching them specials. The result is a stockpile (horde) of these items. It has come to the point that my husband is starting to nicely question whether or not I should buy him any more deodorant, body wash, or shampoo. Surely, a years supply is enough. And of course there is my own stock which includes various brands of shampoo, conditioners, razors, and shaving cream. I have enough shaving cream to last me over a year. And shampoo....I hope I end up like pantene because I have a shelf full which bring up my question...what do you with too much shampoo. To I wash my hair twice daily? But then that would jack with my color which I bought with a $2 off coupon. Or as my hubby suggest donate to charity? And what about the specials that inevitably keep coming up. Its hard to pass on 25 cent shaving cream or 50 cent Pantene but then again I really have more than I can use.

What Do I Want to Do When I Grow Up?

Normally this wouldn't be a strange question until you take in the fact that I'm 34 years old, have a BS, and an MS. When I mention my situation most just look at me like I'm crazy. And to be honest, I'm use to people thinking this. Most common comments include "so what why all the schooling if you weren't sure", "don't worry you'll figure it out", and my favorite "does it matter". If I'm honest with myself there is truth to all of these statements. Why spend so many years in school to decide to try something else? The answer is very complicated. I luv me some Biotechnology, but I don't like working with carcinogens and getting paid really low wages. And for those who think I'm being a snob let me give you an example. I was looking at research jobs in San Antonio. The position I held 11 years ago has the exact same pay listed. Moreover, this pay ends up being around $23,000 per year. Mind you this is a position that requires a degree (preferably a master's degree) and many technical skills.

Right now the best option is to go back to school. Could I make a living as a career student? I have seriously been in school almost continuously my whole life. The longest sabbatical has been the last four years. And yet, here I am again. I'm thinking of going into applying for Nursing School or PA school. Originally I thought PT school. However, I'm currently shadowing PTs right now and I'm not 100% sure. At this stage in the game I think I need only proceed if I'm really sure about this. Unless I want to be a 38 year old who still doesn't know what she wants to do when she grows up.

Good Ole' Coupon Clippin' Katy

Now that I am unemployed I have decided to try out the whole coupon thing. I have always refered to myself as coupon clippin' Katy because I am known to love a deal. And yet, I'm also known for having very expensive taste in handbags. "They" say frivelous. I say fashion investment. Let's just say I have had the same Louis Vuitton for 4.5 years (and probably will for quite a while). But I digress as this has nothing to do with coupons! OK back on subject. So in an effort to save money I have decided to try the whole coupon thing.

Now for the kids at home, it is not possible to get the values and savings seen on A&E's Extreme Coupons. We have essentially one major grocery store chain, HEB, and Super Walmart and Super Target. HEB does not have member cards and do not double or triple coupon values. So my dreams of getting $500 of groceries for $50 is unattainable. So what I have decided to do is try to stick to shopping list and use coupons when I can.

Today I ventured into CVS and used their Extra Care card. I also got some Extra Care bucks. Still unsure if results in true savings because the Extra Care bucks pretty much ensures that you will come back into CVS. Still undecided.

I'm Sooo Realities Bitch!

Being unemployed has its own challenges. I'm trying to be positive here. In terms of timing it really sucked. And yes I know that there isn't ever a wonderful time to get fired, I'm mean laid off. (I put this in because everyone tells me it is sooo much better to have been laid off than fired. Ummm not to my ego. I do get unemployment a wopping $415 a week with a max of $10K. and of course I can tell everyone I interview with that I wasn't fired, I was downsized, but I digress). We had literally just sold our house and had passed the opt out period. Originally we were going to sell our house, rent an apartment, and build our dream house. We are still proceeding with the plan. However, much more frugally. And apartment searching in San Antonio Texas is sooo not fun. First off every single apartment complex we have looked at are 99% occupied. For the kids at home this means that if you don't sign while you are there and come back a few hours later the one apartment in the worst location in the whole entire complex is gone. And no I'm not exaggerating. Trust me, I wish I was. Add to this the 106 degree Texas heat, again no malarkey here, and a 2 1/2 year old who is hot, tired, and constantly hungry. Not to mention long waits to even get to see the model. Basically we still don't have an apartment and a closing date of July 14th (we think). WTF? I'm trying to think that everything will work out and they by Christmas we will so be laughing at all of our "adventures" (read tantrums, crying, fights, panic attacks, and bad language (from me of course)). Let's hope it does. We went to church today to get some inspiration that God takes care of us. Right now I really need to believe this because I feel like my world is coming apart at the seems.

So My Company Decided I Should Stay at Home and Become a Trophy Wife

Yep it's true. I have now officially joined the numbers of those who are currently unemployed. Technically I was laid-off and not fired. I assure that this is little comfort. Ultimately it means that I may get a reference, probably not, because I pointed out the inequality of who they chose to keep, and unemployment. I have hated this job for the last two years. What is super entertaining is that I actually quit this job two and half months ago and they refused to take my resignation. All things considered I guess I brought this on myself. But what I can't wrap my head around is that I'm actually hurt. When I quit I almost euphoric. Probably because I was in control of the siutation. Now my ego has taken a hit. So I have given myself until next Wednsday to mope around and grieve. After that I will have to start figuring out what I want to do when I grow up and start getting in shape. My last excuse, too much work, has been taken away from me. What is really weird is that I haven't not worked a day in my life since I was 17 years old. I am truly out of my element. Obviously this is supposed to be a learning experience I just pray that I don't have to hit bottom before I learn what it is.

Staying on track with weight watchers and exercise

So far I have able to follow my diet and exercise routine. I'm using the "one day at a time" approach. This werks weight loss was 0.8 lbs. I
One of my main goals is to get back my lost muscle tone. I have lost tone and have gained some chub which I will be happy to lose. Unfortunately at 34 getting toned and in shape takes much longer and requires more work. Tomorrow is zumba so I'm excited about that. Its really a fun way to burn some fat cells.

Zumba and Krav Maga

In order to further motivate my fitness and weight loss efforts (I'm talking about you 7 lbs gained during Christmas) I have signed up for 6 weeks of zumba and krav maga. Zumba, which I go to once a weak with my sister Kassy, is crazy fun and high energy. I definitely sweated more than I had in awhile. For those unfamiliar with zumba it's a dance based exercise class that combines several different dance types like samba and belly dancing. It's crazy fun. I'm actually looking forward to the next class. Krav maga, which I take with the hubs, is israeli self-defense. This class was also fun and you learn practical self defense skills. What really impressed me about krav maga is that you actually get to punch bags that your partner/opponent holds. This way one can get the feel for throwing a punch or a kick. Taking these classes is definitely a great motivation for me to consistently work out and will hopefully help me reach weight loss and fitness goals.

And for Tonights Entertainment: Hip Hop Abs

Today has been a fairly good day. This morning we took our daughter for her teacher visit for preschool. If you take out the kicking, screaming, and rock throwing the visit went without a hitch. Hopefully tomorrow, her actual first day of preschool, will go smoother. And this is for both if us. Although I know this is a good step for her, I'm also sad that my offspring is growing up. One positive aspect of school will be the structure it provides. As my daughter has all the sins of her mother (strong-will, stubborn, etc) maybe they can teach her what I can't.

Another great thing is that we hot an offer on our house. I should have prefaced by saying after 82 very long days. For this who have never had the joy ( lots of sarcasm there)of selling a home let's just say this is an experience that would try the patience of saints. For one, keeping you house immaculate 25/7 sucks. Secondly having to corral the pets and then leave the house for two hours is almost inhumane. Especially with 3 back to back showings at two hours a piece, a toddler, and a cranky me. Not fun! But god willing and the creek don't rise this contract will hold.

And tonight I did hip hops. I have decided to try to be more consistent with my workouts which is why i ordered hip hop abs. Let me start by saying that the first workout was super fun. In terms of cardio benefit, i'd say this is moderate. However, i'm trying to stop being so perfectionistic about working out. Any exercise is progress I say.

I wish i could quit you cupcakes

One of the truths that I have to except is that I am an emotional eater. There I said it! My name is Katy and I am an emotional eater! When times are good, let's go celebrate with food. When life turns difficult I say seek comfort in the yumminess of cupcakes or brownies. However, my ego can't take the shame of my increasing pant size. Truth be told, I refuse to buy a bigger size so I squeeze myself into my garments, bulging seams be damned.

Of course with work and home selling all of my usual comfort foods are singing their siren songs to me. And what's worse, is that half of the time I give into temptation. Hell I run to it with open arms. Of course I realize that my toxic live affair with junk must stop. I plan to be stricter in my food selection. I am also planning to track my ww points and weight

Here's to new beginnings.

Back to weight watchers

After much deliberation I have decided to go back to weight watchers. As much as I wanted to succeed with the slow carb diet my success was ver minimal. Maybe it's because I'm only 8 lbs from my goal weight. I don't know. I will not miss eggs or eating beans three times per day. I will miss cheat day. This just means I have to plan mesls differently and get back into the weight watchers mind set. Will keep updating my blog. On Saturday I will post new stats.