42 Day Challenge....Thanks and Tired...

Quick post....

As I said in another post I watch Joyce Meyer's show in the mornings now. I TiVo it and it is a great 30 min of motivation for my day. I had decided to take a break from the gym this morning.....that was, until I watched Joyce Meyer. She talked about how when you first start something new you may not feel like doing it every day (exercise, daily devotionals, etc). However, you have to press on and soon you will ENJOY this time and even look forward to it. She was right....so I got my gym clothes on and after dropping Tatum and Mateo off at school I went to the gym.

NOW, I am NO RUNNER....I have never been a runner, but always WANTED to be a runner. Growing up, I played sports, esp basketball, and could play a whole game no problem, but something about JUST running, I just can't do it...I have no endurance...I really think it is mental. All week I have been walking 2 miles on the treadmill and then doing weights. Anyway, I decided to try walking AND running on the treadmill today. It usually takes me about 35 min to walk 2 miles...my fastest was 33 minutes 30 seconds. Today I was determinted to 2 miles under 30 minutes.

I pushed myself hard and I did 2 miles in 29 minutes 35 seconds!!!! I know to some of you reading this, this is VERY slow, but for me (who has never been a runner) I felt great cause I accomplished what I wanted to!!!

Antonio got me a heartrate monitor for my birthday....my average heartrate today was 164 and my max heartrate was 199!!! I called and told Antonio and he asked me if I passed out when it hit 199...lol....I did not pass out, but I was tired when I finished. I also burned 517 calories in my 30 min on the treadmill. I rewarded myself (not with food) and didn't do weights today...lol

Oh, my motivational ipod music that I listened to today was Planetshakers....If you have never listened to them, you should look them up. We sing lots of their music at our church and I LOVE IT!!!!

Anyway, today is a good day. I hope that my 2 mile time will get even faster over the next few weeks, because I CAN do this!!

I Cheated!!

I woke up today and I was SO TIRED and SO SORE from working out the past 2 days. I threw on some clothes and planned to run Tatum and Mateo to school and then come back home and jump into bed.

I gave Mateo a bottle and got Tatum and Mateo dressed. Something came over me and decided to get my workout clothes on, suck it up, and go to the gym. So, I dropped Tatum and Mateo off and went to the gym. I really didn't want to, but I did it anyway.

After the gym, I used a cheat eat. I went to Chick-fil-A and got a chicken biscuit. I was good, but now I feel like I am going to get sick. I am not sure if that is because I feel bad for eating it and cheating or if it is hurting my tummy.

Anyway, I have worked out HARD everyday this week and I know that even if the scale doesn't go down any, I am pretty sure my body is taking a new form and that is fine by me!

I have decided that I am so sore because it is my body's way of saying THANK YOU FOR WORKING OUT AGAIN!

42 Day Challenge-Week 2

Today begins week 2 of the 6 week challenge. I have still been trucking along and doing great. I haven't cheated....even though I REALLY wanted to taste the chocolate birthday cake on Saturday at the party, I didn't. THAT was huge!

Oh, for those of you not doing the 42 day challenge, I will update you on how the group is doing.....after week one and 44 of the 50 ladies reporting in, as a group we lost 97.5 pounds!!!! And I think only 22 people used one of their cheat eats!

I did some deep cleaning on the house Sunday for 4 hours. I mopped, cleaned base boards, scrubbed tubs, etc. It was a great workout.

Mateo started daycare today. I took Tatum and Mateo both this morning and only one of us cried when I left....Tatum. I took Tatum to her class first and then took Mateo so I could talk to the teachers about Mateo's eating and sleeping patterns right now. When I was walking down the hall to leave, Tatum's class was going to the restroom. She saw me, ran and gave me a hug, and would NOT let go. Her teacher finally got her and tried to distract her so I could leave.

After daycare, I got to go to the gym and get my workout in. I must say it was a good one. Every time I wanted to just leave cause I was a little tired and sweaty, I would think of the other 49 beauties depending on me, so that made me do an extra 15 min on the treadmill as well as extra weights on the machines so I was really pushing myself.

After the gym, I came home, showered, and then headed out for some shopping. I am heading back to work next week and I still can't fit into most of my clothes....sigh I ended up hitting the jackpot with shopping. I HATE to shop! I like to go in and get what I want and be done. Today I had to stroll and try on, stroll some more, try on more, etc. I did this SEVERAL times because I don't even know what size i am anymore. Anyway, I ended up getting all that I need to make it at work. I got a suit, some dresses, dress pants, skirts, shirts, and shoes. I am so glad I am done with all of that!!

Anyway, that's it. this post is pretty random. I will post some pics later.

Good luck beauties!!

42 Day Challenge Day 6

Before I do an update for the challenge I want to ask everyone to click on Gavin's link to the right of my page and please pray for him. He is right around Tatum's age. Gavin just had another MAJOR heart surgery and is doing pretty well, but still needs prayers.

Today is weigh in day. I will keep this quick since we have a busy day planned for today.

~I am down 3 pounds since Monday.
~I have not cheated this week (no sweets and no fried foods). I have had 1-12 oz can of DDP and 1/2 a 20 oz of DDP, so about 22 oz of DDP for the WHOLE WEEK!!
~I only exercised Monday and Tuesday since I had a car wreck on the way to the gym on Wednesday. I am still recovering a bit, but plan to be back in the gym in the next day or 2. It will be a few more days before I can do any weights with my arms because my left shoulder is still hurting, but my legs are 100% so there isn't really a good excuse to stay out of the gym at this point.

I sure hope to keep up this pace. I plan to hit it hard in the gym next week since Mateo will be starting daycare Monday. I only have 1 more week before I return to work! I have lots of stuff to catch up on for work next week, but the gym is #1 plan for everyday!!

Today, we are taking Tatum to a Princess birthday party. Everyone has to come dressed up. HUGE thanks to Laurie (Mckayla and Mya too but I doubt they know) for letting Tatum borrow a princess outfit. Tatum has dress up clothes, but not a true princess outfit. Anyway, I will be sure to take pics.

After the party, we hope to have a mini naptime for Tatum and then go to church.

Have a great Saturday!!

42 Day Challenge-Day 4

Today is already day 4 of the 42 day challenge. I am still doing great with the diet. I did have a 12oz can of Diet Dr. Pepper with my supper tonight, but that is still less than the allowed amount. In the past, I would drink 4-5 cans of DDP a DAY!!! So drinking about 2 - 12oz DDPs in 4 days is awesome for me!!

As expected, I was sore today from the car wreck so I had to skip working out. I was trying to figure out how I could fit one in, but I knew it would be better for me to wait a little longer before I hit the gym again. I am hoping to go tomorrow morning even if it is just to do the treadmill.

I have this crazy habit of weighing myself on the scale WAY too often! I don't know why I do it, but I do. I decided with this challenge I would only weigh in on Saturday mornings so I can report any changes. However, I caved today and stepped on the scale. I won't report just yet what I saw, but I will say that it has changed!

My motivational thought for this challenge.....

"Nothing tastes as good as thin feels!!!"

42 Day Challenge-Day 3

Today was a rough day. Mateo didn't sleep well at all last night, so I was up with him from about 1:30am-3:30am. We finally got back to sleep and slept til about 7am. When I woke up, my arms were SO SORE from working out the past 2 days. I REALLY didn't want to go workout, but I didn't want to start skipping workouts already. I was planning to only do the treadmill and then do my legs, so my arms didn't matter.

Alright, I fed Mateo at 10:30am and left for the gym. Mateo and I were driving along on this beautiful day in Memphis. I come up on an intersection and BAM....I got hit by a car. At this time, I knew that I had a green light, so this lady had to run the red light and ended up T-Boning me on the driver's side of my car. As soon as my car stopped rolling, Mateo started crying so I tried to open my door, but it was jammed. I was finally able to push my door open and got out. I had to run around to the passenger side of my car to get Mateo out of his carseat and make sure he was okay. While I was getting out I can here some guy YELLING. I thought he was yelling at me and I got scared for a minute, BUT he was yelling at the lady that hit me. Immediately I tuned in to see why HE would be yelling at HER. Turns out this lady who hit me was chasing her "baby daddy"(the guy that was yelling) down the road. Apparently he made it through the light but she didn't so she swerved around some other cars sitting at the intersection and ran the red light to catch up with him, but hit me instead. She had 2 kids in the car...WHAT AN IDIOT!!!

I am very thankful that there was a car with 2 guys in it sitting at the intersection and they saw everything. They were so nice and stayed with me to tell the police what they saw. Then they let me sit in their car until Antonio got there. I got their information just in case I need them for anything. The main police officer that was in charge of the accident told me that the lady that hit me said her breaks went out and she couldn't stop. EERRRR.....These 2 guys that stuck around heard the man yelling at the woman too, so all 3 of our stories matched up.

My car had to be towed because my back wheel was damaged. I had Antonio take me to the ER because my left shoulder, arm, and knee were all hurting. We were there for 4 hours. We waited for about an hour and I finally broke down and bought a Diet Dr. Pepper so I could take some tylenol. I had some x-rays done and I have 'a contusion of my shoulder'. According to my paperwork from the ER "this causes local pain, swelling and sometimes bruising. There are no broken bones. This injry takes a few days to a few weeks to heal."

My body was already sore from working out and now I am going to be sore from this too. The dr. gave me a few pain meds to help with all the soreness. I hope I will be feeling better by Friday or so.

Anyway, THIS is my excuse for not working out today. I think it is a pretty good one. Even though I didn't work out, I still stuck to my diet. I REALLY wanted to just grab a candy bar or something while we were at the ER because we got there at 11:30 and didn't leave til 3:30 (aka lunchtime). But I didn't. I just drank 1/2 my DDP, chewed some gum, and just sat there.

Here are the only pics that we got of my car. Antonio took them on his phone, so they aren't really great. I would have taken some, but I was more worried about Mateo and keeping him happy.

I haven't had the best luck with my company car(s). I started my job in March 2007. Jan 9, 2008 I got hit by a drunk driver at 9am on a Wednesday morning. The lady was doing a scratch off lottery ticket while driving drunk. My car was totalled, so I got to order a new one. Got my new one in May 2008.

Dec. 27, 2008 (2 days before I was to be induced and have Mateo), my car got stolen out of our driveway. Thanks to OnStar, my car was found by the police later that day. However, the people that stole my car took it joy riding and wrecked it a couple of times. They also stole my hospital bag...errr After about 2 months in a body shop, I finally got my car back.

And now, this wreck. Most people would be mad and negative. I have had these thoughts too (I'm human). HOwever things could have been MUCH WORSE. I have walked away from both wrecks pretty much without a scratch even though I was told in both of them that I should have been hurt much worse. Tatum was with me in the first wreck and was not hurt at all. Mateo was not hurt at all in this wreck today. I mean, I definitely have some angels out there looking out for my family.

I watch Joyce Meyer at 5am every morning (or TiVo her if I miss it). Just yesterday she said something that i liked and even posted it as my facebook status. She said "if the devil isn't bothering you, then you probably aren't bothering him!" Well, I guess I am bothering him alright!

42 Day Challenge-Day 2

Day 2 is about to wrap up at my house and I must say I think I am doing quiet well at this challenge (so far). I haven't had any sweets, no sodas, no fried foods, I am drinking my water, and I have kicked my butt at the gym the past 2 days. I have only had a little trouble with the Diet Dr. Pepper. I know we are allowed 20 ounces a day, but I decided to see how long I could go without ANY DDP. So far so good.

Before I got pregnant with Mateo (about a yr ago now), I was going to the gym 4-5 times a week. Monday, Wed, and Friday I would do strength training at the gym and Tuesday and Thursdays I would take a Jazzercise class for my cardio. SO, I decided to pick up that routine again. Yesterday I went and did 30 min on the treadmill and then worked my arms with weights. Last night and all day today my arms have been so sore! WELL, tonight in Jazzercise we focussed on our arms at the end of class....can we say OUCH!!! But instead of taking it easy and using the excuse that I had worked arms yesterday, I channeled my "INNER BEAST" (aka Tanna) and pushed through it! I may not be able to move or pick up Mateo tomorrow, but I am pretty proud that I kept going through it all.

I plan to go to the gym tomorrow morning again to work my legs...if I can move at all. So far so good!

Birthday Fun

I figured I would post about my birthday quickly before I get into bed. I had a great day and it was pretty uneventful (which I liked).

My BFF, Jennifer, took me to breakfast this morning. She took the day off from work for some dr's appts, so we got plenty of time to just sit and visit.

After breakfast, Mateo and I headed straight to the gym....no stopping by the house or else I may not have gone to the gym. I got a great workout in, Mateo did great in the nursery at the gym, and then we headed home.

Mateo didn't sleep well last night (aka Mommy didn't sleep well either), so we hung out and napped on the couch for over 2 HOURS!!

We had planned to go to dinner tonight, but nothing sounded good to eat and I really didnt want to get ready and go out and have to make Tatum sit down in a restaurant and wait for dinner, so I told Antonio I would rather grill out at home. SO, we went and picked up some YUMMY steaks before we picked up Tatum from school.

Antonio made dinner tonight and it was PERFECT! Here is a picture from my phone. We had steak and salad....

Since I am doing the 42 day challenge and today is the first day of it, I didn't want to cheat on my first day by having sweets, so I didn't eat any of the birthday cake leftover from last night. However, we did let Tatum enjoy a little of it. Here she is getting cleaned up. She definitely enjoyed it! Finally, here is a video of Tatum singing "Happy Birthday" to me. Please excuse the fact that her mouth is a little full....she didn't want to take a break from eating her cake.


My birthday was perfect. I love being able to relax and just hang out with the family. I only have 2 more weeks before I have to return to work, so I am trying to enjoy each and every minute!

42 Day Challenge

I am starting a 42 day challenge today. A blogger that is a friend of a friend(yep, I am a blog stalker) started it and I decided to jump in and participate.

Here's the challenge...

GUIDELINES

1. No sweets.
2. Fried foods are out. (they are killers to your workouts)
3. No more than 20 ounces of coke/soda a day. That means NO larges. Even from Sonic. That means you gotta get the medium people.
4. 3-6 workouts a week. The more you do, the more results.
5. Drink at least 4 bottles of water a day.

That's it. If you follow this for 42 days, I KNOW you will see results.

Here is the good news:*You get 6 "cheat eats" in that 42 days. (Yes, I made that word up. It works though.) That is ONE per week. Because you can't give yourself nothing to look forward to. So if one day you NEED, and I mean need that snickers...then go for it. But that takes away one of your cheat eats. Or if everyone goes out for burgers and fries...then dig in. You need to give yourself rewards. But only 6. After that you will NOT see the results you would like to see.

I told Antonio about the challenge and he is going to do it with me which will make things much easier. We can keep each other on track.

We have really been cooking at home more and eating healthier. However, I still have some stubborn LBS that just WON'T go away, so a more agressive approach is necessary I guess.

Today is my birthday, but since the challenge starts today Antonio and Tatum made me a birthday cake yesterday and we had a little of it last night. I plan to throw the rest out if Antonio doesn't mind. I want to give Tatum a piece though before it goes in the trash.

Jennifer took me to breakfast this morning and I drank WATER WITH LEMON.....Anyone who knows me well knows I ALWAYS drink sodas. It's 4pm and I haven't had one ALL day....and haven't really WANTED one either!

I also went to the gym this morning and got in a great workout while Mateo went to the nursery. Antonio, Tatum, and Mateo got me a NICE heartrate monitor for my birthday and I was pumped to use it for the first time today. I got to the gym, got Mateo's gym card made(since it was his first time there), changed Mateo's diaper, and dropped him off in the nursery. I got to the gym and on the treadmill and realized that I had forgotten my ipod and heartrate monitor. Oh well, I will use it all tomorrow. Jazzercise is the workout plan for tomorrow.

I will post later about all my birthday fun...probably tomorrow. However, I wanted to post this so if you hang out with me you can keep me accountable! Or, you can do the challenge too!

Here's to getting my old body back!

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend...

Friday night, we grilled out and had steaks and salad. I have always said I am not much of a steak person, but Antonio does such a great job on them, that I am the one that always asks if we can have them.

Saturday, I got out and ran some errands which included a trip to the new Target....LOVE IT!

We decided to get ready for church about 30 min earlier so that we could take some pictures (we go to church on Saturday night).

Here are the pictures that we got...

I decided to take Mateo out while Tatum was still getting ready. I figured that getting a great picture of both of them together would be lots of work, so I wanted to be sure to get some good ones of Mateo 'cause he was in a great mood!

I got my hair done Friday and it is back to blonde. You can see the new 'do' in the pics below.

And our attempt at a FAMILY picture. Unfortunately, this is the best it got. However, considering Antonio was holding both kids and I was holding the camera, I think it is pretty good that we are all in the shot and we are all looking at the camera.

I thought this next pic was a pretty good one of me and Antonio. Mateo wasn't even in this pic and Tatum wasn't looking at the camer, so I cut them out.

This morning, we got to sleep in a little bit. Tatum got up before Mateo, so we went ahead and let her go through her goodies that the Easter Bunny brought her.

She loved her Aquadoodle.

When Mateo woke up, he went through his basket too and I think you can tell he liked his stuff too. THanks to Grandmommy for his actual Easter basket.

He also got these bongo drums.

Mateo is quiet fascinated with his feet these days...it is pretty funny to watch him looking at them and watching them move. I wish I knew what was going through his mind!

Sunday afternoon, we went over to my sister's house. My parents, grandmother, and my grandmother's friend all came too.

The girls did a mini Easter egg hunt inside the house...

Mateo hung out in his favorite place....my dad's arms!

My mom gave Mya and Tatum matching Dora hats. Both girls are BIG TIME Dora fans these days!

Ms. Ruth and Gran (my grandmother)

Tatum and Mckayla

My mom pushing down Tatum and laughing about it...not really, but it sure looks like it.

Mckayla will be SIX Tuesday, so she got some presents.

Mya was in the background being very sneaky....she was opening Mckayla's presents. My mom caught her and stopped her.

Mckayla got a Hannah Montana sleeping bag from my parents and she had to try it out...

Tatum decided to try it out with her...

Mya riding her tricycle

Tatum on her tricycle

DOUBLE TROUBLE!!!

As you can see, we had a great weekend. We got home about 4:30 or so today and just hung out the rest of the night.