Happy Saturday!  Hope you all are having a great start to the weekend!  I’m getting this post out a day late.  Flashback Friday is supposed to be Friday.  Ah well, what do ya do, life takes over sometimes!  I’m sure it doesn’t make much of a difference to you guys!

But I have been wanting to share a couple things!

I don’t have much food to report on this week, especially because I’ve gone crazy publishing new recipes.

Gingerbread Pancakes

Lemon Meringue Protein Bars

Peanut Butter Chicken

I’ve also been having a lot of yam this week, just been in the mood for it, as well as Turkey Meatloaf (a new version that will be part of Season 2 of the Busy But Healthy Show) SO GOOD!  Best one yet!

Sienna’s Picture of the Week

I’m sure most of you Mom’s (& Dad’s) can understand how hard it is to snap a good picture of a toddler, especially with their ‘busy’ lives.  Literally RUNNING around everywhere! So much to my surprise, I was happy to capture this.

 Parents – If you didn’t see last Thursday’s post.  Makes sure you register for the free webinar next Thursday (April 7th) with an amazing parenting expert (featured on the Today Show & Rachael Ray) and learn some tips on how to get your kids to listen without yelling, reminding or nagging!  I’d love for you to be in the webinar with me.  I’ll be there with bells on!  REGISTER HERE.   Oh and don’t worry, we won’t be able to hear you in the webinar (so if your kids are in the background, no one can hear!)  You can communicate in the webinar via text chat if you want, or else just listen to Amy and see her on live video!

Meeting a UFC Fighter

As I mentioned last Friday, we were planning on going to an event in our local town to meet a UFC Fighter.  Brent is a HUGE UFC fan, so he jumped on the opportunity to meet one in person!  Maurício ‘Shogun’ Rua had fought the weekend before.  Unfortunately, he had lost, but he’s done very well in the UFC thus far and had a championship title.

So here we are, getting a family photo! (Sienna not looking, of course!)

I must say, he was very nice!  His english isn’t the greatest as he’s brazilian, but he was super sweet and said Sienna was very cute and we had a beautiful family!  A lot of these fighters seem to have a very tough exterior, but he seemed like a genuine and nice person (when he’s not kicking someones butt!) HA!

BodyMedia Update

Ok, so onto the goods!  I’ve been officially using the BodyMedia for 2 weeks & 2 days.  Boy, have I learned a lot!

When I first started my Operation Lean Out plan on February 4th to lose only 5 lbs and a few inches, I didn’t expect my body to hit a plateau so quickly.  So of course, then it got me wondering.  Mind you, I have been eating very well and working out between 3-6 days a week for the last 2 years, with no long breaks.  This certainly is a formula for hitting a plateau, especially when I don’t have much to lose.  Its true when they say losing the last 5-10lbs is the toughest!  When you first start on a program, the results come more quickly, as there is the body shock, but if you’ve been doing it a long time already, its tougher.

Ok, so for review, here were my stats when I first started:

Feb 4/11

Weight 131.2 pounds
Waist: 27 inches
Abs: 31.5 inches
Upper Hip: 34.8 inches
Lower Hip: 37.5 inches
Thigh: 22.5 inches
Arm (bicep): 10.2 inches

Today…. April 1st

Weight 129 pounds
Waist: 26.8 inches
Abs: 30 inches
Upper Hip: 33.5 inches
Lower Hip: 37 inches
Thigh: 21.8 inches
Arm (bicep): 10.5 inches

GOAL

Weight: 125 pounds
Waist: 26.5 inches
Abs: 29 inches
Upper Hip: 33.5 inches
Lower Hip: 35.5 inches
Thigh: 21 inches
Arm: 10 inches (or larger!)

Based on my current numbers, I may actually hit the measurements I want being a higher weight!  That is a BIG win as it will mean I’m holding onto my muscle (muscle weighs more than fat), so I’ll actually look leaner at my goal stats!  Progress has been slow, but I’ve also been changing my food intake A LOT and playing around with my calories A LOT.  I was first eating around 1500/1600 calories.  For the last week, I’ve been eating between 1800/1900 calories, and last night had a treat meal and ate at maintenance (2500 cals). I actually am losing on the higher calories, so I think it may be the key to breaking the plateau!

I’m also going to be changing up my workouts a touch. I’ve been doing the same weight circuit style workouts for a long time. Which is doing a weight workout quicker so it keeps the heart rate up and doing plyo in between sets.  They are awesome, but I’m also going to incorporate different forms of cardio too, not just interval.  For some reason, my body really takes to jogging (I know this from the past).  Its the only form of exercise that gets my heart rate up HIGH and gets me red in the face!

My heartrate and METS stay really high at a 9 the entire workout.  You can also see when I did my back workout after, my heartrate dropped quite a bit.

So versus the circuit style which is more interval style, and at the highest point, I reach an 8.

One thing that I must stress, is that I do what works for MY body, doesn’t mean you should be doing the same.  If you are skinny-fat (like I was before) and wanting to get leaner, you really need to limit the cardio and hit the weights or you’ll never look lean.  To look lean, you need to have some muscle.  Many people (with a good muscle base) can stay lean by totally doing limited cardio, but then you typically have to be pretty tight with your diet.  I actually enjoy doing some cardio and for where I carry fat I seem to have to do some to lean out my lower body (hips and butt). Now that I actually have a good base of muscle down there, I can do some cardio and not undo my hard work.

ALSO NOTE: This all may seem really complicated to many people, and it sorta is.  Weight loss and muscle gaining is more simple.  I’m just more advanced, so I’m having fun playing with this new device and my calorie intake! If you’re new to working out and eating healthy, most of this won’t apply to you! My best tips for a newbie, is to get a rough idea of what your taking in, make healthy choices, refer to my Healthy Food List, and workout 3-5 days a week, combo of weight training and some moderate cardio.

So there you have it!  I’m just going with the flow, and not setting a date to when I will hit my goal.  I’m just going to keep my calories up, and see where things go, and have fun in the process!

Till Monday!