The 15 Days Are Over

Disclaimer:  There are before and after pictures of me in this post.  Please don't judge me too harshly.

Well, I did it.  The 15 days are now over and I can say that the experience was a success.  I made sure to keep a log of my weight, food, and workout activity.  If you are struggling to lose some unwanted and unnecessary weight, this could work for you.  But only if you have the determination and drive to stick with it.  It's not fun, and it was a little harder than I expected it to be, but it was so worth it.  As I have mentioned before, I have already lost 50 pounds in the last 2 years.  During the 2 years, I have made it my personal goal to get back to my pre-wedding weight.  And because I worked really hard over these last 2 weeks, I was able to accomplish that goal.  After 2 long years, I have finally lost all of the weight I have set out to lose.

In 15 days I lost a total of 7.2 pounds.  (That's a grand total of almost 60 pounds since I started losing weight.)  My BMI went down 1.1 points.  And I lost a total of 6 inches from various body parts.  I am going to add in my journal to this post so if someone is interested in how I accomplished it you can see it all here.  There will also be pictures of before and after as well.  Just from over the 2 weeks.  I don't have a before before picture.  Although, I wish I did.  I am a little nervous and on the fence about doing this.  I still don't have the body that I would like, and no, it's not perfect.  So please don't judge me.  I definitely don't look like a model or a super skinny person, but the change that has happened with my body is crazy.  And I am trying this new thing of loving my new self and being proud of what I have accomplished.  So I am going to swallow my fear, and post pictures of my body for the world to see.  Oh boy.  Here goes nothing.

15 Day Challenge

Before:

After:

DAY 1

Weight: 142.4

BMI: 22.9

Hips: 42.0

Thighs: 24.0

Waist: 30.5

Throughout the process I took cold showers, wrote in my journal, always tried to get 8hrs of sleep, and only drinking water and nothing else. Good sleep was even more important than food.

During the 2 weeks, no salt, no dressing, and no sugar 

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and slices of apple
Lunch: Chicken salad.  I made my own dressing with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and Mrs. Dash.
Dinner: Baked chicken thigh and raw vegetables.  Tonight I had cauliflower and cabbage.

WORKOUT:
Planks - 90 secs
Turkish Get Ups - 4 on each side (10lb dumbbell)
Goblet squats - 12x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Triple crushers 10x3 (12.5lb dumbbell)
Double, clean, squat, press 10x3 (12.5lb dumbbell)
Kettlebell swings (12.5lbs dumbbell)- First set 50 swings, then 20, then 20
No cardio

Every day I timed myself how long the workouts took and tried to do it faster and faster. The first time took me 30 minutes.

DAY 2

Weight: 142.0

BMI: 22.9

Breakfast: Cucumber sandwich
Lunch: Chicken thigh and carrots.
Dinner: 3 hard boiled eggs and raw vegetables.  Tonight I had broccoli, carrots, and cabbage.

Snack: Cucumber sandwich

WORKOUT:
Planks - 90 secs
Turkish Get Ups - 4 on each side (10lb dumbbell)
Goblet squats - 12x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Triple crushers 10x3 (12.5lb dumbbell)
Double, clean, squat, press 10x3 (12.5lb dumbbell)
Kettlebell swings (12.5lbs dumbbell)- First set 50 swings, then 20, then 20
No cardio

DAY 3

Weight: 141.2

BMI: 22.8

Breakfast: Woke up late for church, so I didn’t have any time to eat breakfast.
Lunch: Tomato and avocado salad
Dinner: Roast beef and vegetables.  Tonight I had butternut squash, mushrooms, onions, and asparagus.

Snack: Cucumber sandwich

Since it was Sunday, I made it a rest day.

DAY 4

Weight:139.4

BMI: 22.5

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and celery
Lunch: Pork salad with cucumbers.
Dinner: Grilled chicken and veggies.  Tonight I had butternut squash, onion, carrots, and cabbage.

Snack: Cucumber sandwich

WORKOUT:
Planks - 90 secs
Turkish Get Ups - 4 on each side (10lb dumbbell)
Goblet squats - 12x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Triple crushers 10x3 (12.5lb dumbbell)
Double, clean, squat, press 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Kettlebell swings (12.5lbs dumbbell)- First set 50 swings, then 20, then 20
No cardio

DAY 5

Weight: 139.4

BMI: 22.5

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and celery
Lunch: Pork salad with cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, and celery.
Dinner: Blitzen with mushroom and asparagus sauce.  Butternut squash, pineapple, and raspberries.  (I had dinner at my in-laws tonight.  I didn’t want to tell them about my diet, because I didn’t want them to cater the meal to me.  I just ate a lot of things that I could, and only a small portion of the things that are not on this diet plan.)

Snack: Cucumber sandwich

WORKOUT:
Planks - 90 secs
Turkish Get Ups - 4 on each side (10lb dumbbell)
Goblet squats - 12x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Triple crushers 10x3 (12.5lb dumbbell)
Double, clean, squat, press 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Kettlebell swings (12.5lbs dumbbell)- First set 50 swings, then 20, then 20

DAY 6

Weight: 138.6

BMI: 22.4

Breakfast: I felt sick this morning so I didn’t have breakfast.
Lunch: Grilled chicken and butternut squash.
Dinner: What Chris and I call bean dip and a chicken thigh.

WORKOUT:
Planks - 90 secs
Turkish Get Ups - 4 on each side (12.5lb dumbbell)
Goblet squats - 12x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Triple crushers 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Double, clean, squat, press 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Kettlebell swings (12.5lbs dumbbell)- Trying to do all 90 at once now.  I haven’t been able to yet, but I am getting close.

DAY 7

Weight: 138.6

BMI: 22.4

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and celery.
Lunch: Cucumber sandwich.
Dinner: Pork roast and roasted veggies

WORKOUT:
Planks - 90 secs
Turkish Get Ups - 4 on each side (12.5lb dumbbell)
Goblet squats - 12x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Triple crushers 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Double, clean, squat, press 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Kettlebell swings (12.5lbs dumbbell)- Trying to do all 90 at once now.  I haven’t been able to yet, but I am getting close.

DAY 8

Weight: 138.6

BMI: 22.4

Breakfast: Chris slept on the couch, so I didn’t want to wake him up by making breakfast.
Lunch: My mom came to visit, and I didn’t want to eat out.
Dinner: My mom took us to the Mongolian Grill for Chris’ birthday dinner.  Pork, chicken, and veggies.

WORKOUT:
Planks - 90 secs
Turkish Get Ups - 4 on each side (12.5lb dumbbell)
Goblet squats - 12x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Triple crushers 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Double, clean, squat, press 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Kettlebell swings (12.5lbs dumbbell)- Trying to do all 90 at once now.  I haven’t been able to yet, but I am getting close.

DAY 9

Weight: 138.2

BMI: 22.3

Breakfast: Chris slept on the couch, so I didn’t want to wake him up by making breakfast.
Lunch: Tomato and avocado salad with grilled chicken.
Dinner: Broccoli, mushroom, and onion frittata.

WORKOUT:

Stairs – Ran the stairs 4 times x4
Planks - 90 secs
Turkish Get Ups - 4 on each side (12.5lb dumbbell)
Goblet squats - 12x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Triple crushers 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Double, clean, squat, press 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Kettlebell swings (12.5lbs dumbbell)- Trying to do all 90 at once now.  I haven’t been able to yet, but I am getting close.

DAY 10

Weight: 138.2

BMI: 22.3

Breakfast: Leftover broccoli, mushroom, and onion frittata.
Lunch: Tomato and avocado salad with grilled chicken.
Dinner: Hawaiian haystacks with no dressing and very little rice.

Since it was Sunday, I made it a rest day.

DAY 11

Started my period today, so I am not going to weigh in until it is done.

Breakfast: Felt sick, so I didn’t have breakfast.
Lunch: Cucumber sandwich.
Dinner: Pork Roast and butternut squash.

WORKOUT:

AM Stationary Bike – 20 minutes

PM Stairs – Ran the stairs 4 times x4

DAY 12

Didn’t weigh in.

Breakfast: Felt sick, so I didn’t have breakfast.
Lunch: Mother-in-law took us to lunch, so I did the best that I could given the circumstances. 1 beef taco.

Dinner: Tuesday nights we have dinner at the in-laws.  So again, I did the best that I could given the circumstances.  4 mushroom ravioli, 2 meatballs, and a giant salad.

WORKOUT:

AM Stationary Bike – 20 minutes

PM Stairs – Ran the stairs 4 times x4

DAY 13

Weight: 138.2

BMI: 22.3

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs.
Lunch: 2 cups of homemade granola.

Dinner: Roasted veggies.  Cabbage, broccoli, butternut squash, carrots, mushrooms, and onions.

WORKOUT:

AM Stationary Bike – 20 minutes

Stairs – Ran the stairs 4 times x4

PM Planks - 90 secs
Turkish Get Ups - 4 on each side (12.5lb dumbbell)
Goblet squats - 12x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Triple crushers 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Double, clean, squat, press 10x3 (15lb dumbbell)
Kettlebell swings (12.5lbs dumbbell)- Trying to do all 90 at once now.  I haven’t been able to yet, but I am getting close.

DAY 14

Weight: 137.0

BMI: 22.1

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs.
Lunch: Was baby sitting a friend’s kids so I didn’t get a lunch in.

Dinner: 2 cups of homemade granola.

WORKOUT:

AM Stationary Bike – 20 minutes

Stairs – Ran the stairs 4 times x4

Plank 90 sec

DAY 15

Weight: 135.4

BMI: 21.9

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs.
Lunch: 2 cups of homemade granola.

Dinner: Hard boiled eggs.

WORKOUT:

AM Stationary Bike – 20 minutes

Stairs – Ran the stairs 4 times x4

Plank 90 sec

DAY 16

Final weigh in:

Weight: 135.2

BMI: 21.8

Waist: 28.5

Hips: 41.0

Thighs: 22.5

Moms, Crafts, and Mongolian

Last Saturday my wonderful mom decided that she wanted to come to Springville and spend the day with us.  I am so glad that she did.  We had a wonderful time together.  We chose to do some crafting as our activity.  Before hand my mom had me look up some ideas on (you guessed it) Pinterest, and then we would chose once she got to my house.  She doesn't get the opportunity to spend money on herself very often, so this was the perfect activity for her to give herself some much needed attention.  We went to Hobby Lobby to take care of all of our crafting needs, and came out an hour and a half later.  We spent a lot of time in the store going back and forth on ideas, materials, and price.  But everything festive and Christmasy was half off, so the price wasn't actually that bad.  Once we got back to my house the crafting began.  Here is what we came up with;

Drum basket and Peppermints

I did a very quick craft which consisted of a basket, peppermints that you would stick on your Christmas tree, and tissue paper.  It was very easy.

Thank you Pinterest!

This was my favorite craft that we have done.  My mom's is JOY and mine is NOEL.  We got wooden craft letters, scrap paper, and things to cover our wreaths.  It was a really fun project.  I can't wait to hang it on our walls and start being festive.

After we were done crafting my mom wanted to take Chris out for his birthday dinner.  His birthday was on October 28 (He turned 28 on 28.  It was his Golden Birthday.), but my mom still wanted to celebrate it with us.  We decided to try a new place.  It's a little place here in Springville called the Mongolian Grill.  It was actually quite good.  And a killer price.  You get all you can eat Mongolian, rice, an appetizer, and soup for $9.95.  So we will definitely be going back.  Once dinner was over, we got distracted my the bread place and another little shop called Rod Works in the complex.  We headed into Rod Works just to see what kind of things they had.  If I had a lot of money, it would have been spent in there.  It was really cute.  I didn't get anything, but my mom did.

They are great!

My mom likes to decorate her house for the winter in snowmen.  She tried to get a new one every year, and this year she got 2.  Both while she was with me.  She got the snowman with the cardinal from Hobby Lobby.  And the snowman countdown from Rod Works.  She tried to convince herself that she didn't want or need it.  But as you can she, she didn't do a good job of that because it ended up going home with her.

It was great being able to see my mom.  It means a lot to me that she would take the time to come visit us.  I love her dearly and can't wait for the holiday season when I get to see her even more.

15 Days Is Nothing

I just realized that I forgot to post an update on my 30 Day Cross Fit Challenge.  I finished it on October 3.  It was tough.  I lost 4 pounds and about 3 inches total off of my whole body.  The biggest change was just in body shape though.  I like to lose weight in a weird way.  Sometimes I can work really really hard, but not weight comes off.  Instead my body just changes its shape and the way it looks.  For the better of course, but it's still frustrating sometimes to not see results on the scale.  Even thought I had a lot of progress with the 30 Day Challenge I am still not at a comfortable place to post the pictures online for all to see.

Starting today I am doing a new thing that I, of course, found on Pinterest.  It's a 15 day exercise and meal plan.  The girl who wrote it wrote down everything that she ate, the workout she did, and her progress along the way.  The food is pretty straight forward.  I will eat a lot of protein and veggies.  There's no salt, no sugar, essentially no flavor involved.  But the nice thing is that there is just no way to fail because she gives you everything you need to succeed.  So, I am going to try it.  It's only 15 days.  Anyone can do anything for 15 days.  And with the results that she saw with it, I have to give it a try.  I am also going to include the link to her journal.  Click HERE to see it.

Wish me luck.  It's going to be tough, but it's only 15 days.  I can do it.

Keeping Busy

Since I don't have a job I have had to find things to keep myself busy so I don't go crazy.  I have turned to crafting as a source of my entertainment.  The first thing that I did (with the help of my wonderful mother-in-law) was make a curtain to go in our bathroom window.

I am pretty proud of myself.

I am pretty impressed with the work that I did.  For not having touched a sewing machine since Home Ec in Jr. High, I think I did pretty good.

I finished my second project yesterday.  It is a fall burlap wreath.  (Once again, thank you Pinterest.) I love that one as well.  I was a little worried that Chris wasn't going to, but he thought it was cool.  His choice of words.  Now I just need to figure out how to hang it on our front door.

I think it's pretty amazing.

I am trying to figure out my next project now.  We'll see what I can find on Pinterest.  Since that's where I get all of my crafting ideas.

Bittersweet

Well, today is my last day of my job.  I am kind of sad about it.  If I had another job to go to I don't think that it would be as bad, but I am moving forward to unemployment.  I check Craigslist and KSL every day to make sure that I don't miss out on something.  It is a little defeating sometimes not to find anything though.  If there are any other job search options out there that I don't know of, please let me know.  I don't really want to stay unemployed.  I am hoping to find something before Christmas.  I know that there are not a ton of options out there, but I do need to be a little picky about what I find.  I don't want to get a job that I am going to hate after 3 weeks.  I need a job that will be a good thing long term.  I know that the right job is out there for me.  It just hasn't turned up yet.  I need to stay positive and I need to be patient.  And for those of you that know me, patience is not something I am very good at.  Maybe this is a good learning opportunity for me.

What I need to do is find things to fill my day.  I can't sit around the house bored for the foreseeable future.  New hobbies?  Or maybe mastering old ones?

• Our house is going to be super duper clean while I am not working.  Cleaning always keeps me pretty busy.  
• I can work on my personal weight loss goals.  I now have 24 a day to kill, I might as well get in shape. 
•  I am still teaching myself how to crochet, so I can learn a few new things there.  Maybe actually make something?  
• I also can do a little bit of crafting.   I want to make a fall burlap wreath for our front door.  That could be a fun project.  
• I can get caught up on my reading.  I have 3 books that I am working on.  I could get those read pretty quickly now with all of my free time.  

Wow, maybe I won't be that bored.  There are quite a few things on that list.  I guess writing down my thoughts and options helped out a lot.  Thanks blog!  As for the job hunt, I will keep you posted.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will find something before Christmas.  With a positive outlook, and now a lot of hobbies, I know that time will pass quickly and I will find something soon.  Goodbye Eye Physicians of Utah.  Time for you to make room for the unknown.

Now What?

Last week, the doctor I work for came into the office and informed me that he was going to close the practice.  I am not sure when my last day will actually be, but I am thinking roughly about 2 weeks from now.  Which means, I am out of a job.  I knew that it was coming, I just didn't think that it would happen so soon.  He has a lot of overhead and not enough income coming in.  So it was just a matter of time before he had to make that very hard decision.  I was pretty sad about it last week since I have to hunt for a new job. I hate job hunting.  It's not fun to send out resumes, not here back from some places, go to interviews, be turned down, and learn the ins and outs of a new job.  Job hunting is the worst!  But it needs to be done.  So if you know of anywhere that is hiring, let me know.

I am still a little sad, and a little worried about what I am going to do next, but I know that there is something out there that is new and better for me.  Even if the next job I am meant to find isn't necessarily better than the job I have now, it will be better for me at this time in my life.  As I have said before, I am a firm believer in everything happens for a reason.  This has happened for a reason.  This door in my life needs to close so that the next one will open.  It still doesn't make losing my job any easier.  But if I stay optimistic things will work out the way that they are supposed to.

Hey. . . Remember Me?

It has been a really long time since I have done a blog/life update.  We haven't done anything super interesting or exciting, but I decided that I should share something.  It will be a little bit of a mash-up.  "Our life over the last 30 days done with 4 pictures."Hey,

September 19, Chris and I celebrated our first date/first time meeting anniversary.  We have been together for 5 years now.  I know that celebrating something like that may sound strange to some of you out there, but it is a pretty big milestone in our relationship.  Since that's when the relationship started and without that day we wouldn't be married.  Plus I am a huge romantic sap for that kind of stuff.

One of the first pictures we ever took together

We celebrated low key by spending the day together.  Which was easy to do since I didn't have to work. We did decide to go to dinner.  So, I dressed up in my first date outfit, (Yes, I still remember what I wore that night.) and we went to Bombay House. That is where we went on our first date in Provo.  I would have like to go to where we had our first date, Roosters, but that is in Ogden we did the next best thing.  Again, I am a really big sap.

Also during my blog hiatus, I went to Moab.  The clinic I work for, Eye Physicians of Utah, has opened a satellite clinic there.  So I went down to help train new people so they know what they are doing.  I left about 8:30 on the morning of September 27.  The drive was okay, but lonesome since I went by myself.  I got to the clinic around 11:30, and to my surprise, there was no one else was there.  There were 2 girls that I was supposed to train and they decided not to show up that day.  That was a really big disappointment. I still needed to be there though since the doctor couldn't have handled doing the eye exams and selling glasses alone.  I worked for about 6 hours, and then drove back home.  I reached my final home destination around 9:30.  Needless to say, it was a long day.  I worked as much as I drove.  But that's okay.  The doctor needed help, so I was happy to do my part.  I have only been to Moab one other time, so I forgot how beautiful it is there.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

There is not really a story for this next picture. . .  I am just in love with it because it is so adorable.  Chris was really nice and decided to share his fruit drink with our nephew Jack.  And I just happened to snap a picture at the perfect time.

It's perfect!

This is such a fun time of year for Chris and I.  We have Halloween and Chris' birthday all within a few days of each other.  So October is a fun celebrating month for us.  Well, mostly for me because Chris doesn't do much festive celebrating.  But he was really nice and helped with my latest crafting endeavor.

The Monster on our door.

It was a super easy project, and yes, I did get the idea on Pinterest.  I would be a really boring person if Pinterest weren't in my life.  I can't think of these things on my own.

So there you have it.  Our life over the last 30 days in a quick blog post.  Like I said, we haven't really done anything too exciting.  I still thought that I should share though. . .  At least the highlights.