How Andrea got her groove back.

(Me with my graduation shirt! Took this as soon as I got home.
Silly picture, but I was really this happy!)

I did it! 30 long, hard, disciplined days in 100+ degree weather. But, I did it. I finished my first round of boot camp. I could not be happier.

I went from an out-of-shape mess to an in-much-better shape mess. I learned to look forward to the nightly torture and remember why I love fitness. I started the first night scared, left in tears, and slowly worked my way up from there.

I wrote down everything I ate for the month in my book (see below). Jotted notes about how I felt before/after workouts. Didn't cheat and enjoyed every splurge meal I was allowed.

(my sad little logbook after a month of living with me)

(sample pages of all of my logging)

We had our final PT test tonight. So happy with the results. Especially considering where I started just 29 days ago.

PT TEST: (each is timed for a minute)
PUSH-UPS (facilitated): First day, 14
Last day, 50 (whoa.)
TRICEP PRESSES: First day, 51;
Last day, 61
SIT-UPS: First day, 24;
Last day, 36
LONG RUN (1 mile): First day, 13:08 (I couldn't run the entire mile.)
Last day, 10:22 (ran in crazy humidity, but at least I ran.)

MEASUREMENTS & WEIGHT:
POUNDS LOST: 12
INCHES LOST: 7 (including 4 in my waist!)

GOALS FROM NIGHT ONE:
Attend every workout....yes!
Run entire mile....yes!
More energy...oh, yes!
Fit in summer wardrobe....might need a new, smaller one. ;-)

In summary: Am I where I want to be? No. But this past month has been a really great jump-start. And more importantly, it got me out of a funk that had been brewing for months. It was just what I needed, exactly when I needed it (although I wouldn't have been opposed to needing it in 70-degree weather). I am sad my month is over and wish I could do another....maybe in September. I WILL do this again at some point. It just works too well.

Here's to Jaimie and Susan who are trucking through their first month--and officially more than halfway finished. I'm so proud of them and can't wait to see them reach their goals. You can do it!

And one more thing--just to prove I have absolutely no shame--my horribly scary before and fairly decent after pictures. Please don't judge too harshly. Remember, this is a jump-start. I'm still on my way! (Although not bad for 4 weeks, right?!)

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Hoo-yah, people....hoo-yah! Boot camp--over and out.

Happy Father's Day!

We had an amazing, super-fun Father's Day this year! We loaded up all of the dads for a trip to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman. It was awesome to have everyone together and it will, without a doubt, go down as one of the best.

Thank you dad for always being supportive and wonderful and everything a dad should be. I am so lucky to have you and I love you.

You know who else is lucky to have a wonderful dad? Riley.

Kevin never ceases to blow me away with his dedication to fatherhood. He is attentive, fun, loving, and gentle. He is so much more than these things. He is just the best dad I could ever imagine for our child and Riley loves him so much. In a world where so many dads don't take their job as father seriously, Kevin makes it his #1. I love my husband and I am incredibly grateful he's ours. We are the luckiest.

Here are a few more fun shots from the day:

(Ethan, Andy & Jadyn)

(Me, dad & Andy. What is my hair doing?)


(The kids lift the biggest foot ever. So strong.)


(Jadyn during an attack)


(Ethan also falls victim to the deadly foot stomp)


(Cousins! Ethan, Riley & Jadyn)

Here are some pictures of Riley playing outside the museum. This resulted in a huge knot on his forehead and plenty of scratches to go along with them. Oh, the joys of being 19 months old!

Life moves pretty fast...

If you don't stop and look around every once in a while, you might miss it.

This is pretty much the story of our lives right now.

Between boot camp, house-selling, moving the restaurant, working, seeing friends, and trying to keep our son in one piece. Yep, we're beat. It's good though. Things are good. Thankful for that.

We're having a fun summer and the weekends are pretty much full until around, oh... August-something. Maybe beyond.

Last weekend included an awesome bouncy birthday party, Father's Day, and checking out a neighborhood where my mom plans to build a house (y-a-y!). Assignments are coming in like crazy so I've been working constantly (a good thing) and Kevin is going nuts trying to find a place to put the restaurant (after the first location we picked fell through this week). It's insanity, folks.

Perhaps our biggest news--and oh-my-god-I-can't-even-believe-I-haven't-posted-this-before-now (I blame Facebook), but WE GOT A CONTRACT ON THE HOUSE. Yippee! Well, kind of yippee. Don't get me wrong. This is good news. Great news in the big picture of everything. But, it isn't the most ideal of situations.

Last week we had about 4 or 5 showings within 3 days. It was nuts. And I mentioned it to maybe one person. We were at that point. Done. Done. Done. And it didn't really matter if I mentioned showings because after 5 months I had lost all hope anyone would buy our house--ever. But, the bright side of those showings were that two of them were second showings. As in, they liked it here. They might even like it enough to...buy it.

After the second showings, we found out that one set of people passed. We were top three for them. We lost. Boo. The other set liked it. Alot. They were checking out comps and deciding what to do. What they decided to do was submit an offer.

A less-than-stellar offer.

Two rounds of negotiating later, we came to an agreement. With a few catches. One catch? Our agent cut her commission to practically nothing. (A bonus of using her for 8 transactions in 5 years.) Second catch? We'll actually be losing a little bit of money to make this happen. (I feel like we'll gain it back in no time w/ smaller mortgage payments, less interest, etc. Kevin? Not so pleased.). Third catch? They have a house to sell in Tulsa. Boo. No other way around that one. Just boo.

So, we have a contract and a closing date is set for mid-August. But, until they have a contract on their house, we continue to market and try to get another contract. So, although we're finished--we aren't.

Never-ending much? It's okay. We've made it this far. I call this home stretch. We'll be headed out later this week to check out some houses. Maybe we'll find something amazing. And maybe it will all work out after all. And even if it doesn't (god forbid and knock-on-wood), I hope we can slow down just enough to watch it all happen.

Boot scootin'

Dude! Has it seriously been more than a week since I've written about my beloved nightly torture? It has. Crazy how time flies. So many things going on in our household right now. I'll save that for the next post. For now, a quick bootcamp update.

Here's the deal: I only have 6 days left--and that includes this weekend. Only 3 real days of guided workouts. Friday is our graduation party (pizza and beer--woot woo!), then we have the weekend on our own. Monday is our final meeting. The first day of the next class and the day that we see how far we've come--our final PT test. Is it insane that it went by so fast? And after all that dread?

So, how are things coming? Damn good. There's no other way to put it. Yes, it's blazing hot out there and no, they aren't taking it easy on us.

Maybe I really am getting better at this thing? I think yes.

Last weekend I headed out to the park and set out to practice my mile run. Let's just say my final PT test will be much different than my first. I will say I've almost passed out a couple of these hot nights. It was literally 96 degrees when we started this evening--and we voted to start a half-hour later for this last week. It's just hot and there's no way around it.

BUT, I feel stronger. I feel GOOD. I feel great, actually. I can do more. I can feel muscles that have been hibernating and clothes are getting loose. I love it.

In fact, I love it so much I'm dreading the end. Yes, I'll actually be sad to see this month end. And I'm already wondering when I'll sign on for the next round (I'm thinking fall...). I know that I won't give up on my reunion with fitness, but I also know that I will never be able to keep up the boot camp intensity on my own. And although I can't wait to see how much weight I've lost and inches, and all that good stuff, I also know I still have awhile to go to reach my goals.

And that's where I am with things. Trying to figure out how I will parlay this month of amazing success into my "normal" non-boot camp life. Here's hoping my newly toned arms find a way.

Food is for the weak.

(one of my favorite meals. Egg-white omelette, veggies, cheese &
a Morning Star veggie pattie. Soo, delish. I feel like it should be really bad for me. I love it.)

I know, I know. Every post about boot camp. Bear with me. Like I said before, I'm cracked out right now. So, food. A huge part of our program is an eating plan that we have to follow for the 30-day program. It's not a 'diet' so much (In fact, I feel like I'm eating all of the time), but it's a definite switch from everyday eating.

We eat six times a day. Basic good-for-you foods in small quantities.

Small as in, serving sizes are:

Size of your palm (no fingers, palm only) = MEAT
1/2 of a fist = CARB
Cupped handful = VEGGIES/FRUIT

I have done amazingly well on eating and I thought it would be the hardest part for me. We get one splurge meal a week and that meal was the only time we've eaten out in the last two weeks. That has to be some kind of record.

I think the only thing that made this possible for me was a LOT of preparation. One of the biggest ways to fail on diets is not having things ready to go. Ready to grab. Ready to devour at a moment's notice.

Eating 6 X a day can take a lot of time if those meals aren't easy. I spent about one-and-a-half hours at the beginning of week one preparing my meals for this week. I cut up fruit, veggies, made my own trail mix portioned out servings My fridge and freezer were (and are) completely packed with serving sizes of lots of healthy, approved food. If I can open the fridge and grab it, it makes following the plan pretty simple.

(I should also note that I worked out-of-the-house three days this week and still managed to follow this no problem. I took a insulated bag to work with tons of snacks and meals and just noshed the day away. Having things already divided up made this so much better.)


If you know me at all you know that I don't put things on the fridge. It's one of my OC ticks. I can't help it. But, for this one month. I'm making an exception. Now I have these three things on my fridge, always:

• Category list. What qualifies as proteins, carbs, etc. This gives me suggestions if I'm trying to piece together a meal from all of my options.

• Snack list. Again, suggestions of what I can grab. Some of my favorites: yogurt with trail mix and fruit; string cheese, wheat crackers and raw veggies; cottage cheese, cherry tomatoes & crackers. I could go on. I really do like so much of this stuff. (Riley added his own artistic touch to my list!)
  

• A shopping list. This starts out as just a piece of paper. I add things as I run out so when it's time for the weekly shopping trip, I'm ahead of the game. (Can't actually "see" the list here, but it's there--trust.)
  

I'd also suggest avoiding restaurants. Even most of the "healthy" stuff is really bad for you. And wear out your freezer. Work it. Make it earn its keep. Our freezer is STOCKED with berries, fruit, veggies, trail mix. Anything and everything. Then, when my fridge stock is done, I can transfer some over. This really extends the life of the fruit/veggies I buy and I don't have to head to the store as much.

I don't consider myself an expert by any means. These are really just my tips from my last two weeks. Things that have made turning my diet completely around a little bit easier.

I'm sure I have more, but this is much longer than I thought it would be and if you aren't actually interested in this kind of info, you're probably asleep by now. I promise if anything else blog worthy pops up, you'll be the first to know.

Hoo-yaaaah

It's official. I'm totally addicted to bootcamp. Every day I'm less anxious to go and more excited. And every night when it's over, I'm less tired and more impressed by my abilities. I can already do so much more than I could less than two weeks ago. I'm running better, doing more, less sore in the mornings. Clothes are getting loose. I can feel my muscles. I'm eating fantastically well (haven't cheated once!) and the energy is kicking in big time.

It's pretty. freakin'. awesome.

I mean, I even kicked a homerun in our final kickball game (which was an hour after that night's bootcamp session). I almost died of happiness right there on the field.

In fact, I'm now experiencing a different kind of scared. I'm scared about what the heck I will do once this month is over. How will I keep this intensity up on my own? I'm finding myself thinking about how I could possibly do another month, both financially and time-wise. I'll see how I'm feeling at the end of next week and the final week. Maybe that need to continue this insanity will wane.... For now, bootcamp is my crack and I love the high.

So, next week brings Jaimie and Susan into the mix as they begin their 5:30 A.M. class of the same program. I cannot wait to have two fellow "soilders." I can't wait to hear about how the first class goes and if they feel like I did. I want to know what they did and how many people were there and all of those obsessed questions that crackheads need answered.

Next week also brings buddy night on Thursday. That's the night that friends/family can come experience a night of our workouts. Kevin is sooooo going to be there. Is it horrible that I hope it kicks his butt?

On the wagon.

Here I am, at the end of week one--or the beginning of week two. I can't believe I already have a week under my belt! Wait, who am I kidding. I totally can. It was a loooong, haaaard week. It's been good though. And there are no signs of me jumping ship yet. Not even when I read this in an email from my instructor. (Did I mention we get daily emails? They rule.)

So, anyway. On Saturday morning, this is the lead sentence of our email:

Today’s Mission: As we move into the weekend remember we ask that you remove the alcohol you drink. You will not know how alcohol affects you unless you remove it for any length of time, like 30 days. Alcohol is metabolized like fat in the body, it very calorie dense and can affect your athletic performance for up to five days not to mention it dehydrates you, makes you feel terrible the next day and makes you crave fatty foods. YIKES!

To be clear, I have studied nutrition and fitness in grad school and these are all things I know. But, if I could follow the advice I know to be true, why would I be in a $300 a month boot camp?

Furthermore, I am no lush.

I don't even really drink that often. Especially considering the amount I used to drink in my "prime." But lately, it seems that beer has been making a welcome appearance into some of my evenings and weekends.

A super-chilled bottle of Miller Lite and lime? A refreshing period on the sentence that is my day.

And now, to say goodbye to it. It saddens me. Not only that, but even after bootcamp, this short paragraph will haunt me. I will picture each drink permanently finding a home on my ass. Sad, indeed. I just don't know if I will ever view liquid carbs the same again.

This wasn't even what this post was supposed to be about. Depressing or funny? Can't decide. So, now that I've rambled about the booze. I leave to begin week two. Maybe tomorrow I can come and talk about what I actually meant to talk about tonight...and that subject was--and is--food.

Stay tuned my virtual sufferers. There is a lot more where this came from.

Give me death.

Night one is complete. To say it was harder than I expected--a slight understatement. Is this a testimony to the difficulty of the program or my extreme lack of fitness...who can say. What I can say is that it kicked me to the CURB. I returned to my car after an hour and cried a little. Just a little. And just for a minute. I think I didn't realize just how out-of-shape I really am!

We did our fitness test --a mile run, sit-ups, push-ups, tricep presses--and then some other calisthenics and stretching with running in between. (add in my sprint to find a bathroom when we started doing jumping jacks. baby=weak bladder.)

All I can say is, it can only get better from here!

My favorite part of the night was getting our log book that we have to write down our food in every meal and our goals, workouts, etc. It has lots of instructions and tips. For instance, no sweets, fried foods, or alcohol---period. Gulp. I was good until the last one. We eat six small meals a day which is actually fun. I feel like I'm constantly eating and the food is what I like to eat anyway. Restaurants are supposed to be avoided...

The best part of the guidebook are the statements we are supposed to use with family/friends to keep us on track. Although true, they are LAUGHABLE. Don't make me use them on you!

If someone does not honor your wishes, avoid them. Here are some talking points.

'Please don't ask me to blow off my workout to do something with you.'

'Please don't offer me anything to eat that I'm not supposed to have.'

'Please don't ask me to go somewhere where I'll be tempted to eat or drink the wrong things.'

'Please don't keep me out too late if I need the rest.'

'Please don't question the validity of what I'm doing or give me unsolicited advice.'


Consider yourself warned!!! (that part is mine...ha ha.)

Booty Call

Tomorrow is what I like to call a 'fresh start.' A 'new beginning' Or, the kick-off of a month of complete torture. Look at it however you like.

Let me be more specific.

Monday, June 1, 2009, is the start of a month. long. BOOTCAMP. (insert dramatic music here....) No, I did not enlist. And I can say with every confidence that my mind and body couldn't take the military. The military-esque experience upon which I am about to take part is putting me in a state of constant anxiety, tinged with a shred of fear, and a whole helluva lot of excitement and anticipation. So, I'm pretty sure the Army would cause hyperventilation and likely hospitalization.

I gave myself a good 18-months to be disciplined and get myself back in shape after Riley's birth. It just wasn't happening. And the result is a big, out-of-shape blob of a girl that looks something like someone I used to know. The girl I used to know had a great summer wardrobe because she FIT into her clothes. Yeah....not so much now.

I'm over it.

So, instead of a random Mother's Day gift, I asked Kevin if I could enroll in this bad-ass bootcamp class that I have been wanting to enroll in for over a year now.

The price ($275) held me back almost as much as the fear. Enough, however, is enough. I'm sick of being a gross representation of my former self.

Who is this person? Yuck.

I'm in a rut in a big way and I'm not taking it anymore!

Another big factor in my enrollment is my awesome sister-in-law Jaimie who decided to take the bootcamp plunge as well. Jaimie starts 2 weeks after me, in a different location, at a different time (5:45 am--holy crap), but the program is the same and I know both of us doing this will be even more motivation to do well and finish successfully.

The camp is every day for an hour. On the weekends, we have assignments to do on our own. No off-days, ever. It is supposedly pretty intense and the first rule is NO WHINING. Yikes. If you miss without letting someone know (AWOL), the entire group pays. Yikes, again. We have a food plan to follow and have to keep a food log for our instructors to review everyday.Simply put: these people are not messing around. Gulp.

So, yeah. I'm paying someone to kick my ass. If you know me at all, you know I commit to things in a big way. Which means, I'm expecting my money's worth out of this month--even if it kills me.