March’s Goal – Exercise with Turbulance Training

So, each month I try to pick a new goal to work on. January was the 30 Day Fat Loss Quickie program. February was all about re-vamping our nutrition and cutting out the diet soda. And March is back to excercise. Think of it as “Move It March!”

Specifically, my goal for March is to do the 4 week Turbulance Training Beginner Total Torso Training program.  This is a beginner bodyweight program from fitness trainer Craig Ballantyne that really works on strengthing your abs and core muscles.  Which for me, with my back issues, is essential to keeping my back pain at bay.

I’ve followed Craig for a couple years now, and really like his approach, so I’m going to commit to this 4 week program.  The program is supposed to be followed three days a week, in this pattern:

Day 1 – Workout A

Day 2 – light exercise day

Day 3 – Workout B

Day 4 – Light exercise day

Day 5 – Workout C plus interval cardio

Day 6 – light exercise

Day 7 – light exercise plus Grocery planning, shopping, and prep.

Each workout is supposed to be about 45 minutes, so not too bad time wise.

Equipment wise, the TT Beginner Total Torso Training program only needs a exercise/stability ball, some dumbells, and a bench, or something to use as a bench. So I’ve got all that covered, and all ready to go.

For my light exercise days, I just plan on doing fun activities with the kids, taking walks, playing tennis, gardening, and if I can get my bike fixed or replaced, heading out on some neighborhood bike rides.  One of my big motivators is to just get out and have fun with the kids, so I’m working that in.

Also, baseball season started for my 10 yo son, which means I’m spending 2 hours at a time at a baseball practice waiting. So I like to use that time to walk  around the fields and listen to audio books or podcasts on my iPod. So more built-in opportunities to Move It!

So, I’m starting the Turbulance Training program on Friday, March 5th, just because schedule wise that makes it work for me. So, so my workout days will be Fridays, Sundays, and Tuesdays. And my plan and prepare days are Thursday, which is a day I’m usually home all day and the day before pay day and my grocery shopping time. So that should work out. It’s already on the schedule

Thank you as always for your support!  Please let me know how I can support your weight loss or fitness goals for March.

…Shannon

Losing 100+ pounds – Weekly Update – Week 17

Well another week has gone by, and it’s a new month. It’s been rather frustrating the last few months with the same 3 pounds being lost and gained. But I’m determined to break through this barrier and get the job done.

Scale wise…I was back to 288.4 again.

I headed to the doctor this week, to investigate if there’s other issues that are affecting my metabolism and ability to lose this weight.  It may just be that the changes are still internal and not reflecting in weight loss yet, but just in case, I wanted to get some medical testing done.

So I’ve given a few vials of blood and we’ll see how that comes back. The doctor also suggested we change my thyroid medication to brand specific, instead of generic, and a slightly higher dosage. Apparently generic thyroid meds are only 80% effective over brand. So we’ll give that a try also.

If the med tests come back normal, then it’ll just be looking more at implementing more of the changes Isabel De Los Rios recommends, keep watching how and when I’m eating, and of course exercising more.

The weather has turned warmer here (about 60 degrees during the day) and the kids are out with their bikes. Makes me wish my bike was fixed. I have  trouble with it staying rideable because the tires and chain can’t seem to sustain the pressure of my weight.  Really need to get a new bike that is built to sustain a higher weight limit.  Would be nice to go riding with the kids.

Now that my February goal to be free of all types of soda is met, I am now ready to start in on my March goal, which is back to exercise again.

Thanks for staying with me and keeping me motivated to get this done! Please let me know how I can support you in your goals too.

….Shannon

Are Artificial Sweetners Making You Fat?

As I mentioned earlier, I was finally convinced that drinking diet soda was hindering my weight loss, so I’ve cut it off. No more soda of any kind for me.  If you have a copy of Craving Secrets, I recommend reading through the sections on soda, caffiene, and artificial sweetners. 

But even then I wasn’t fully ready to give up my habit – until I listened to Isabel De Los Rio’s explanation of what’s happening biologically – How I was sabatoging my efforts by drinking diet soda (and eating foods with  artificial sweetners) .

Isabel  has such a good way of explaining the why artificial sweetners hinder our fat loss, so I’ll leave it to her to explain.

How Artificial Sweeteners Are Making You Fat

By Isabel De Los Rios, The Diet Solution

In my practice as a nutritionist and personal trainer, new clients are always coming to me telling me they are doing everything they are “supposed” to be doing, but still, do not lose weight. Of course, this is frustrating. Losing weight is hard enough, and to change your eating habits and still see no results, that’s even more frustrating.

 Why do these people not lose weight? If I had to pick the most common reason why most people’s efforts have proved no results, I would say it is the deception of artificial sweeteners and processed diet foods. Yes, you heard right. It is the diet coke, diet snacks, processed foods and artificial sweetener in your coffee that is keeping you fat.

How is this so?
Read more…

Losing 100+ pounds – Weekly Update – Week 16

Yeah – the scale is moving again!  Today’s number was 287.6, which is 2.4 pounds lost.  So this week the scale is my friend – and I’m working hard to  keep it that way!

But I do have to admit that since I’ve slacked off on my strength training, I’ve noticed some of my muscle tone that I developed during the 30 day Fat Loss Quickie program is going… so I’m getting pretty motivated to start another strength training program.

I am walking nearly every day, even if it is only 15 minutes on my treadmill while the kid watch PBS Kids. 

We got cable again a week or so ago so, the TV in the game room now has reception again. And that works great for me, because the treadmill is in the game room, facing the TV. So something to engage my brain, I can supervise the kids’ tv watching, and can get a walk in as well

My last two walks have been much faster, so I’m gaining strength and endurance there.

Now I’m looking for a Yoga program that my 12 yo and 10 yo can do with me. They’ve both asked for Yoga classes, but since I can’t do that right now, I suggested we do a family Yoga time, and they loved the idea! 

So if you have any suggestions for a good beginners Yoga program (preferably without being heavy in Eastern philosophy), please let me know.

The biggest change this last week has been to what I’m drinking.  After Angie and I’s cross-blog conversation about Diet Soda, and repeatedly reading what Craving Secrets says about the harms of Diet Soda, I’ve been seriously considering giving it up again.

Well… after reading through Isabel De Los Rios’ Diet Solution Program, I am convinced that drinking diet soda is hindering my weight loss. And quite frankly I want anything hindering my weight loss out of my way. So I’m happy to say I have been entirely soda free for over a week!

So, that’s pretty much this week. There’s more, but I’ll save that for other posts.  I hope you are having a great week and that you are reaching for your goals!

Losing 100+ pounds – Weekly Update – Week 15

Another week has passed, and again I’m on this lovely yo-yo with the scale. Gained one pound over last week.  But I still have 45 weeks to go to meet my goal, and I can still lose 100 pounds this year, as long as I keep my focus and make the smart choices.

While I’ve been quiet here on the blog, I have been working diligently here, mostly on nutrition and food patterns.  Craig Ballentyne (of Turbulance Training) has this saying, “You can’t out exercise a bad diet”. And I’ve been really working through any issues I have in my diet and my family’s diet here.

When I plan and have good choices on hand, I eat very very healthy. Have since I was a teenager. But, when things aren’t planned, prepared, and on hand, then it’s whatever junk is around…

So, I’ve really been working on formulating a new meal plan (that we can afford), with scheduled times for eating based on what we’ve learned so far.

For the last four weeks we’ve been following a carb-rotation (or carb-cycling) meal plan developed by Jayson Hunter, which came as a bonus with the Fat Loss Quickie program. And we’ve learned a lot about how eating times and food blends make us feel.

So based on that and a bunch of research I’ve been doing we’ve made more changes – to when we eat, how frequently, and what combinations of foods we are eating when.

Also, now that I’m done with the 30 day Fat Loss Quickie program, I’ve also been researching a bit of what I’m going to try next. In the mean time, we’ve just been having fun together. I’m walking more again, and the kids and I are just doing more fun, physical things together.

So, still chugging along. Analyzing what’s working, what’s not, and keeping choices healthy and active, as much as possible.

How’s your week going?