Thursday, April 28, 2011

Progression on a day to day basis matters more

It's been 1 1/2 weeks since I've been back on my program. I know it's not a long time, but every day counts. I like to look at the accomplishment this way, because otherwise it would be too daunting to say "well...I have 4 months to go." I much prefer to be in the moment with my accomplishments.

Yesterday I was thinking about this same idea. I realized that I really like the challenge and the day to day process of "getting there" almost more than the meeting the final goal. Don't get me wrong, I will be thrilled to see if I can get back in competition shape. However, in the meantime, it's quite an enjoyable process staying on track, feeling good about my blood sugars being stable, feeling mostly happy, and getting more done on a day to day basis, then when I don't eat or exercise regularly.

I can feel small changes daily occurring in my body and mind, but I probably won't notice a huge change until at least until 1 month has gone by.

Tonight's Exercise:
I went to Paul Daniel's Kettlebell class tonight from 6:15-7pm. As always I'm always wiped out at the end of class, but definitely refreshed.

Eats Today:
same old protein powder, 1 banana, 1 tablespoon peanut butter , and water blended into a smoothie.
snack: 1 pear, 1 hard boiled egg
lunch: approx 3-4 oz ground lean turkey with seasoning, 3/4 cup black bean salsa
snack:: 1 chocolate promax protein bar
dinner: 1/2 cup black bean salsa and 2 fat free turkey hot dogs. 1/2 teaspoon mustard.

Learning to enjoy the process has been a very important step in being able to accomplish my goals, not just with a body transformation, but in every area of my life. The end point is simply a result that in itself is an accomplishment, but sustains no real pleasure, unless there is another way to challenge myself once again.

RsmKettleGirl@gmail.com

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

New Foods that Taste Great

This morning I finished making the rest of the black bean salsa. It's awesome! I don't have the recipe in front of me, but it was pretty easy. First, I took 1 package of dried black beans and rinsed them. I put them in a crock pot, at a low temperature all day, with lots of water. When they were done, I drained the water and put them in a big bowl. Next, I finely cut up 6-8 tomatoes, chopped 1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped 4-5 green onions, 2 Persian cucumbers (seeded and peeled them first), and mixed them together with a few teaspoons or more of cumin, slightly less cayenne pepper, salt to taste, transferred and mixed these ingredients into the black beans. YUM! So good, so healthy. I combine this black bean salsa with chicken or turkey for a complete meal.

The other night my husband made an Asian chicken salad. It was also divine. I'll right down the recipe tomorrow. The only fat came from no salt peanuts. Otherwise, everything was healthy in it. It was a very good dinner and lunch (the next day).

Right now in my refrigerator I have a large Tupperware full of homemade salsa, black bean salsa, and brown rice. All I have to do each day is find my protein I want to use and combine it with any of these good carbs.
I love spicy foods, so these carb compliments really make a difference in satisfaction.

So far so good on staying on track with my nutrition and exercise. I haven't had any cravings or frustrations.I'm glad. Those times are always hard to go through.

Workout Tonight: kettlebell class

RsmKettleGirl@gmail.com

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Have you ever been in love....with yourself?

I know this sounds crazy, but last night when I was working out I was just so happy. I was ecstatic happy. I just felt so in love with myself. Maybe a better word would be to say I was very satisfied with myself. I don't know. Whatever that feeling is I know it comes from being on track with my nutrition, exercise, homeschooling, and family, and learning and practicing how to get things right without giving up. It's not that everything is la di da perfect all the time, but I am in a place where I can handle pretty much anything. The challenge of getting back into competition form will be hard. But knowing that I've gone through it once before does make it easier, because what was achieved in the beginning was much more than just a body transformation. I learned how to move through fear, move through the pain, and move past the barriers.

If you  have never taken yourself to a place where you know you want to go it's worth the time and effort.
All the daily crazies in life are so much easier to handle when the fear of pain, the fear of the unknown, and the fear of the "what ifs" are just less of an issue to work with.

There is so much more to say on this subject. However, the main point is that I found myself feeling so happy with myself, because even at this state of being (with having far to go to get back into competition shape) I just  know I can handle the challenge.

Let yourself do it too!
RsmKettleGirl@gmail.com

Friday, April 22, 2011

Appreciating Everything

It's been a while since I have been able to slow down and just appreciate everything that is. It is certainly nice when I feel calm, centered, and excited. I am so excited that I have found that place of calm with homeschooling. I have spent so much time researching, practicing how to do it, and learning so much from other homeschoolers. It's exciting to see how much the children enjoy being home with their family and learning and studying and playing so much more than I ever thought. I love it when they just cannot get enough of science projects or historical information or reading or being read to. Their bouncy and happy and THAT is the place I've been wanting to get to that makes me feel that the time sacrificed for them has been worth it. And the other fantastic part about the whole thing is that homeschooling is not as stressful as being the chauffeur back and forth to school, to classes, to this, and that, only to spend an hour together each day at night, before it all starts all over again the next morning.

My Body:
The weight will come off, the exercising will just get better. And then, last night I was thinking during my kettlebell class how awesome it's going to be this time around when I reach my goal, because I am working out with a heavier kettlebell. So that was exciting, because it will be something different this time around.
I haven't had any struggles so far with working out or eating well. Tonight the family had pizza and I had homemade turkey meatballs I made last night and raw cauliflower. Then of course, my favorite, TEA!

Tonight is a running night, a good shower, some research, and off to bed.
RsmKettleGirl@gmail.com

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Stupid Excuses

It was hard for me to continue my process towards another competition, so I just gave up. My focus on homeschooling and my husband was training for the last 4 months towards his competition, and I found it too difficult to focus on myself. Even though I have gone back and forth with my efforts, I can still feel the desire inside to compete again. My husband finished his competition last Saturday, and Monday I started focusing on my nutrition and exercise plan. I thought it would be easier to train with my husband, but it wasn't. I don't think it  had as much to do with him as it had to do with my lack of focus. Although I'd like to think that my  lack of commitment had much to do with his 100% commitment to the process. Anyway, I have absolutely no idea when I would compete next. Right now, my focus is on staying consistent for 1 month, with daily goals of staying focused on nutrition and exercise.

Nutrition Change - Ups:
I've changed some of my nutrition. I can go a long time without changing too many things in my diet, but then all of a sudden I need to change things around. I'm eating brown rice, some whole grain rice cakes, instead of my broccoli or yogurts. I've been eating my protein bars at my 3rd meals, but I'm thinking of changing them once in a while to a rice cake with peanut butter instead. I really like the taste of whole foods more than supplements, eventhough the supplements are easy and convenient when I'm in a hurry or on the go.

Exercise:
I'll still do kettlebell 3x/week with Paul Daniels. He's an awesome coach for so many reasons and he knows how to get my body into competition condition. I'll run and do weight room training on the other days, but the weight room training is really going to be the most difficult for me, because I've been in a mode of just running on the off days from kettlebell.

Future goals:
My goal of getting into competition is very very far away, but it's really okay. I don't really have any regrets about starting from square one. I've learned so much about other things in my life during the last several months, that there is no way to regret when I've gained so much in other areas. Now, it will be the challenge of being able to get back into competition shape. Then after that is completed, I just want to maintain a low healthy body weight and excellent conditioning for 1 full year and practice the maintainence part.

RsmKettleGirl@gmail.com
"a rocky road provides lots of challenges for one's mind, body, and stamina"

Friday, April 8, 2011

Balancing My Life & Their Lives

It's sad but true, I can measure how balanced I am by how organized my closet is on a daily basis, by whether or not I fold and put away my clothes as well as I do for the rest of my family's, and how much prepared food I have in storage containers in the refrigerator. If all of these things are kept up in the way I like, then my life is balanced. Right now, it's not perfectly balanced....

But....

I did eat my 5 meals yesterday and today, and I did go to Paul Daniel's Kettlebell class last night, and I ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes tonight. I attempted 4 sets of pull-ups. However, I am now down to 1 pull up per set!

Good news...
I am working out more consistently with a heavier kettlebell. Paul's great about raising the expectations, which naturally forces a person to want to workout better.

Tonight our family went out to dinner to Mimi's Cafe. I was blown away that their menu listed calorie content for all the meals they serve. Wow! I have never seen that before in a sit-down restaurant. I ordered off the
light menu, a chicken and vegetable and brown rice stir fry for approx 550 calories. It was over the limit of what I normally have, but I could tell it didn't have much fat. I was okay with that and I think it was good for me to relax a little without being too strict with my calories right now.

More Later......

RsmKettleGirl@gmail.com

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Ups and Downs

Yes, it's been FOREVER since I blogged. I had a nice long conversation with Paul Daniels, my kettlebell coach, about why I'm struggling with getting in gear for the 2nd competition.

The bottom line is that I've put so much energy into homeschooling, trying to ge it all perfect, doing late night research about this and that curriculum, that I have failed to find my commitment to my fitness goal. Actually what has happened is that I have lost the motivation, because my priorities got wrapped up in this other part of my life.

I've been doing a lot of self reflecting and decided after lots of thought that I still want to compete. I hope to do it this year, but I cannot be more specific. My goal right now is to be CONSISTENT with kettlebell and running and my DIET.

Two days ago, I started my process. It's slow going. I have no idea where tomorrow will take me, but I will do my best to pull back on obsessing about homeschooling and focus a little more on my fitness goal.

what I find interesting about this process is that I would never have thought that my goal would be so largely interrupted by "homeschooling" and yet the truth is that anything could have distracted me.

So my job is to try to stay the course. Follow me on my turbulant journey. I'll probably blog 3 times a week. I won't commit to more, because I've already blown that out the window.

Today, inspite of feeling run down I got on the treadmill 30 minutes and did 1 set of crunches.
I ate well today...much like the blogs I have written about what I eat.

RsmKettleGirl@gmail.com