Christmas with the Elwoods

I was going to post this yesterday, but I had a MEAN case of food poisoning, involving issues at both ends of my food chain, so instead of blogging, I spent much time lying in bed or worshiping the toilet.  Definitely not how I planned to spend Tim's day off or the day after Christmas.

However, Christmas this year was awesome.  Tim and I spent Christmas Eve with my parents, and brothers and their families.  We ate appetizers and played games and I watched the Sound of Music with Cole.

Christmas morning, I woke up early, like I always do and got ready for church.  Because I sang in the choir this year, I had to be their early.  Unfortunately, that also meant that Tim got to come to church and sit by himself.  I love having Christmas on Sunday.  I love being able to start the day off feeling the spirit and really focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.  The program at church this year was fantastic and it definitely set the tone for the rest of the day.

After church, Tim and I headed over to my parents with Kona to have gingerbread waffles.  We love them but they are SO rich that I'm glad we have them only once a year...except that Tim and I made them for the kids yesterday too.  We got to watch Cole play with his new kitchen that my parents made for him.  He loved it and when Karen asked him how much he said, "46."  I have no idea what that means, but it was cute.

We came home and I sort of took a nap while Tim played a game on the Xbox.  The kids arrived around 2pm and we had Christmas at our house.

Kona even got to join in the fun and opened some presents and even shredded a box...his favorite thing to do!

Rylan LOVED his Pittsburgh Steelers tshirt!  In fact, I'm pretty sure he's been wearing it since he put it on Sunday afternoon.  I'm really hoping I can talk him into taking it off today so I can wash it.

Tim got a couple of new hoodies, a tool bag, a flashlight, and a few other things.  The only thing I was able to surprise him with this year was the 12 days of Christmas.

The demon dog made a few appearances.

Kyra got a new snowboard and some snowboard boots so she's all set for snowboarding this season...if we ever get some snow.

I got some super duper huge cookie sheets (Tim wants me to bake more...), as well as some other baking stuff, Sister Dalton's new book, and my personal favorite, a pair of super cute cowboy boots.  I don't have a picture of the boots yet, but I love them!  Tim said that we're turning into "cow" people, but I have no idea what that means.

After presents, we headed back to my parents for dinner.  My Dad made a delicious stuffed pork tenderloin and we had salad and baked potatoes and it was so fun.  Then we played games and it was time to go home. 

We decided to watch "A Christmas Story" and that went pretty well.  I ate some leftover 7 layer dip (hence the food poisoning) while Tim and the kids had candy and popcorn.  Apparently, I should have skipped the dip and eaten the candy.

Anyways, we had a WONDERFUL Christmas and I'm sad that it's all over.  I guess now it's time to move on to the next thing!

December Goals and Workouts

In an effort to be more accountable to myself, I've decided to post my fitness goals for the month of December.  I'm also planning on posting all of my workouts.  Now, this will be oh so NOT exciting to read, but it's just a way for me to keep track of myself and my goals.  Feel free to check back in and see how I'm doing.

Goals

1.  Journal ALL food, EVERY day!

2.  Workout EVERY day...I should qualify that by saying I've planned Sundays as my rest day, but I'm also planning to stretch and go for a walk on those days...just to stay on my streak.

3.  Focus on the positive.  Lately, it's been SO discouraging to get on the scale and see nothing happening.  I weighed and measured this morning and the scale will disappear until January 1, 2012.  In the meantime, I'm hoping to enjoy my workouts and pay attention to my eating and also to just enjoy the Holiday Season.  I'm also secretly hoping to see the scale go down, but I'm not going to worry about that until January 1.

So, those are my goals.  I'll be adding to this post throughout the month with all of my workouts, as well as a yes, I journaled my food today.  Here's hoping this works!

Workouts

December 1 ~

Complete Aerobics and Weight Training - burned 489 calories...used 5,8, 10, 15, 20 lb dumbbells

Endurance Core Beginner Core Circuit - burned 30 calories

I was planning on running today, but with everything we've got going on today and this weekend, I decided to take advantage of some time at home and get a workout done.  Hopefully, I'll have time to run tomorrow. I did journal my food today...even the peanut butter bar from Great Harvest.


December 2 ~
Jari Love Get Ripped Slim and Lean - burned 416 calories...used 5, 8, 10 lb dumbbells.
Ab Sculpt - burned 90 calories
Because Tim took the kids to school this morning, I had the house to myself, so I decided to do a lifting workout instead of running because I can run tomorrow morning while everyone is sleeping.  If you've ever done a Jari Love workout, you know that she does about a million reps for every exercise, so I can't lift as heavy was I would otherwise.  Since I'm trying to burn 500 calories per day, i added the ab workout on, just to make up the difference.  I journaled all of my food today, but did not drink enough water.


December 3 ~
Treadmill run - I ran 5 miles in 52:14 this morning on the treadmill.  I burned 652 calories.  My max HR was 182 and my average HR was 165.  This is what the workout looked like.
5 min warmup @ 11:30 min/mile
5 min @ 10:30 min/mile
5 min @ 11:30 min/mile
4 min @ 10 min/mile
4 min @ 11:30 min/mile
3 min @ 9:30 min/mile
3 min @ 11:30 min/mile
2 min @ 9 min/mile
2 min @ 11:30 min/mile
1 min @ 8 min/mile
1 min @ dry heaving off the side of the treadmill
2 min @ 11:30 min/mile
1 min @ 11:20 min/mile
1 min @ 11:07 min/mile
1 min @ 10:55 min/mile
1 min @ 10:43 min/mile
1 min @ 10:32 min/mile
1 min @ 10:21 min/mile
1 min @ 10:11 min/mile
1 min @ 10:00 min/mile
1 min @ 9:50 min/mile
1 min @ 9:41 min/mile
1 min @ 9:31 min/mile
2 min @ 10 min/mile
1 min @ 9:31 min/mile

This workout was killer, but I loved it!  I used lots of positive self-talk for the last 10 minutes.  In my head, I was saying, "Be tough," "You can do this," "Never ever give up," "You an do anything for 1 minute."  That definitely helped me get through and while I was dripping with sweat at the end of the workout, I felt phenomenal!  I love HARD workouts! Journaled all of my food today...but definitely didn't drink enough water.


December 4 ~ Performance Stretch - Recovery.  I didn't wear my HR monitor for this workout and Tim stretched with me.  It was a good 15 minute full body stretch.  I wrote down everything I ate and I avoided my favorite cinnamon santas at my parents house.

December 5 ~ Bootcamp Maximum Calorie Burn.  I used 8 lb dumbbells and burned 501 calories.  I always forget that this is a challenging workout.  I also did 15 minutes of Upper Body Sculpt.  I used 8 and 15 lb dumbbells and a 9 lb sculpting stick. I recorded all of my food.


December 6 ~ Get Ripped 100. I used an 8 lb dumbbell and burned 80 calories for the 12 min I worked out.  I was feeling like I was going to hurl, so I changed dvds and switched to Fat Blasting Cardio.  I made it through that one for 17 min and I burned 174 calories.  I'm never eating at Golden Corral before a workout again.  I ate way too much and its just sitting there waiting to come up.  I've definitely learned my lesson. I wrote down everything I ate (I think).


December 7 ~ Get Extremely Ripped Body Rock.  I have a POUNDING sinus headache, so I wasn't feeling much like working out.  I decided to do this workout because it's not too hard, but I did burn 537 calories, so I'll take it.  I used 10, 8, and 3lb dumbbells. Food wasn't pretty, but it was written down.

December 8 ~ Apparently, I'm getting a cold or sinus infection because my nose was running all day.  I did get my workout done though.  I did Hi Def Sculpt and used 10 lb dumbbells.  I only burned 328 calories so I added another workout to the plan.   I was hoping to do a 30 minute workout on Jari Love Get Extremely Ripped 1000 but after several interruptions, I only made it through 20 minutes.  I did burn 184 calories so at least I hit my 500 calories per day goal.  The food is journaled. 

December 9 ~ Hard Core Fusion. I burned 454 calories and used 5, 10, and 15 lb dumbbells.  I'm super sore from this workout.  I did write down all of my food.

December 10 ~ Today was tricky.  I woke up this morning a little later than I wanted to, so I ended up doing Cardio Dance Slimdown.  I only burned 271 calories and it definitely wasn't the workout I wanted to do today.  I also wrote down all of my food.


December 11 ~ Today was my rest day so I did 15 minutes of stretching.  I also journaled my food.


December 12 ~ Jari Love Get Extremely Ripped 1000 Interval 2.  I wasn't sure if a workout was going to happen today, but it did.  I burned 514 calories.  This is one of my favorite workouts.  I did write down my food today, but I'm guessing I will miss something since I did eat some of the neighbor treats.

December 13 ~ Jari Love Get Ripped to the Core.  I burned 558 calories and had a great workout.  I used heavier weights (5,8,10,15 lb dumbbells) and I'm sure I will pay for it tomorrow, but I feel good.  The food I ate was written down and I even skipped the cookies at the YW Christmas party. 


December 14 ~ Jari Love Body Rock.  I burned 513 calories and used 3,5,8,10 lb dumbbells.  I probably should use 15s next time I do this workout.  I also journaled my food.

December 15 ~ I'm not even sure I get to count a workout today.  I got dressed and had the dvd on and was working out, but Kona wouldn't stay off the step.  It's totally difficult to do step aerobics around a 120lb great dane.  Plus, Tim called and needed Christmas gift ideas for Kyra and then I needed to be done and showered to pick up Kyra from track practice.  So, I made it through the workout a whopping 8 minutes.  Yep...not sure if it counts.  Today has also been a crappy food choice day.  :(  Maybe I can fit in a short workout tonight before bed. 

December 19 ~ Complete Body Sculpting 46:42.  I burned 499 calories.  My max HR was 175 and my avg HR was 152.  I used 15 and 10 lb dumbbells.  Core Solutions Standing Abs 10:04.  I burned 107 calories.  My max HR was 165 and my avg HR was 152.  I used 8 lb weights.

December 28 ~ Jari Love Get Ripped 1000 1:02:38.  I burned 626 calories.  My max HR was 181 and my avg HR was 146.  I used 20, 15, 10, 8 lb dumbbells.  Oh and I got Rylan to do this workout with me.


Looking back on my goals for December...I did great until the middle of the month and then things got crazy busy and I didn't make my goals a personal priority.  I didn't lose any weight, but I also didn't gain any weight either.  I did lose inches in my hips, waist and thighs so I will take it.  Oh and I did try to stay positive and not beat myself up too much about missing workouts.  Now we'll have to see how January goes...