Shred Count Down

   Since the minute Mia bought her plane ticket to her friend's wedding the first weekend in May, and then we decided that on the Friday that I pick her up from the airport we will spend the day at Universal's Volcano Bay water park, I started doing the 30 Day Shred. That began about a week before our cabin trip/ Emma's first vacation! So I will estimate starting on March 17th? However I only did it for three days, then I didn't start again until after our trip. On Wednesday, when my countdown to seeing Mia hit 30 days, I decided I was going to make a complete challenge by finishing the whole program. For the first time ever!! I have had the DVD for at least six years, but had only done about seven days of it before! All those other times my starting weight was 113 or less, and after our recent vacation I was still 122 pounds. (And that was after losing 8 pounds again since mid January, ugh.)
   I'm 119 now though ~ finally out of the 120's again. Hooray!

 My goal/ plan is to keep doing the 30 Day Shred almost every day. (I even did an extra work out yesterday ~ Jillian Michaels' Cardio Kickstart, Level 1. Oh man, I was so sweaty!) I knew I'd have to set a couple days aside for when Michael's family is visiting next week (parents, older brother & his wife) and they usually stay at our house until later, so on the days I get home from work at 7pm they will probably be there -which is fine and I do want to see them as much as possible- but that means I can't Shred like I have been doing after work, then shower while Michael does Emma's lung treatments and we do her trach care together before bed. Especially on the 17th after work when I have to get up at 5:20am the next day for another 12 hours shift at work. I'm planning to do a Tabata work out those nights since it's only 10 minutes long, but still a really good one.
   When I finish the 30 Day Shred and am completely "shredded", as Jillian Michaels says at the end of each level, then I will have four days off before Mia flies in, so those days will be for juicing, eating only fruits and veggies with hummus, (no meat, wheat carbs, or dairy) going for walks, more Tabata or other short work outs. That is partly to detox my system, be extra healthy, and also to hopefully lose an extra pound or two! I thought of this idea because Michael recently started juicing after his BFF Brian did it and lost eight pounds in the first week! He says he hasn't lost any weight yet (today is the last day of the first week) but, *whispers* that's because I don't think he was following the rules correctly. He's been eating breaded chicken with bacon and potatoes during the week, when the "rule" is to only eat real foods on the weekends and stick to the juices during the week days. If he needed to eat something during the week it would just be fruits and raw veggies. Any chicken is supposed to be plain, no red meats (like bacon), no big carbs like potatoes, etc. I think he hasn't lost weight because now he's getting the calories of the regular food plus the juice calories, so he's actually consuming more calories some days than he was before he started juicing. Still, I'm proud of him for doing it at all and sticking with it, and it is saving us a little bit of money on groceries. He's picking up his second week of juices from Brian tonight. He is giving Brian money for the juicing ingredients and his labor/time to make them.

    I have gotten the Detox juice twice from Tru Nature recently. I get the biggest one (32oz) because it is the best deal. Only $2 more than the 16oz, plus I make them last. I was drinking a little bit of it each day, but yesterday had about half of it for breakfast (drinking it over 3 hours), then waited another hour before having lunch. The Detox juice has lemon, ginger, carrot, cucumber, and apple, but during my four days before Volcano Bay I want to try their Go Green and Super C. I thought about getting a smoothie bowl too during that time, but probably won't because of the granola. And I don't know if they would be able to put my scoop of granola on the side for later? Worth asking about..

"Is it behind the bunny?... No. It is the bunny!"

   This salad has been my super favorite recently since we got the salad bar from Ingles a few times while on our cabin trip. It has sweet butter lettuce, cilantro avocado yogurt dressing (40 calories per serving, compared to about 200 calories in Ranch!!), tomatoes, cottage cheese, feta cheese, pepita seeds, and croutons. Sometimes I also add in pieces of chicken if we have that, but usually make it without. It is so good and I'm wondering when I will get tired of it, haha.
  Below is another version of it, adding quinoa. I wouldn't put the cottage cheese, feta cheese, or croutons in with the quinoa. Gotta mix them up so my tastebuds don't get bored. They haven't yet! :)

   I love going on family walks, so I definitely ask Michael about that on days when it is not so hot in the evenings. It has to be in the 60's or low 70's for Michael and Emma to comfortably be outside with me. But it's always good and we usually get in at least two miles.

   Purple hydrangeas growing in our front yard right now, as well as pink and blue ones! Here are a few older pictures from mid March that I put in my "next healthy blog" folder. We love this thick meat (but nothing compares to the chicken slices at Panera!) but I was bummed that it was almost five dollars at Publix. Luckily, I found chicken chunks at Aldi for half the price in the same size container. That's what I use if I put chicken in my salads.

The chicken I mentioned & other great Aldi deals. 

 3 mile walk with Jackie on March 18th before Emma's doctor appointment.
   Yesterday at Target I saw these chocolate vitamins! They look like a bite-size Snickers, but apparently have lots of vitamins. I was looking at them for about five minutes, comparing the different kinds, but decided not to get them because I was thinking it would make me crave more chocolate. Maybe I'll get them after Volcano Bay when I weigh less and start doing a different DVD program, 30 Day Fast Start with Jackie (another exercise trainer, not the friend I was walking with, haha) that way I'll look even more ripped by my birthday! I'll be 32 years old in June this year.
   Last night I was talking to Ashley when she came over about doing all my exercises and how we need to plan to go to the beach in June that way I stay motivated to keep being healthy and getting in even better shape!

The omelet that Michael made for me this morning ~
2 eggs,  1 chicken sausage link,  3 tomatoes, frozen spinach, and cheese.

    I'm getting pretty tired of yogurt at the moment, but bought raspberries to mix in with the last two greek cups I have. Hopefully I'll eat those tomorrow and the next day at work, then not buy any more yogurt for a while probably. I wish they made containers of strawberries that only had about 10 strawberries instead of 30 because I don't use many and end up having to throw them out after a few days because they get moldy too fast.
   I am training someone at work next week (as well as the last week of April) so I was trying to buy things that I can eat quickly and don't take time to make, like how my Triscuit and deli meat crackers do. I got Arden's Garden drinks with spirulina, blue-green algae, chorella (a bunch of super foods), plus two salad bowls. Bananas are always a great, easy thing to grab or I'll bring one if I'm running errands and will be gone for a couple hours. However, yesterday we didn't have any bananas so I took an organic Cranberry Almond Chia bar. It was better than I remembered and healthier than a granola bar! I have been very proud of myself for all of my healthy choices lately, even if my arm and shoulder muscles feel like they are ripping apart during Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred! ;)