I'm "Working On" Working Out, Really I Am!

Grrr. There is a little thing called INSOMNIA that can really jack your plans up.

Saturday would have been my 3rd running day in a row - and I had plans to do 5 miles with my RB on the trail by my house. For whatever reason, my kids woke up in the middle of the night. Of course Monkey settled right back down fairly quickly but Buddha and I were up for 2 hours. I had dull headache pain, but I was tired and just thought if I could fall asleep it would go away.

Not.

I never really fell back into a deep sleep and it was time to run. I sent a text to my friend to let her know we had company. The Buddha-meister had to come with us so Chip and Monkey could continue sleeping. Usually when I run if I have a slight headache it goes away. For whatever reason, as we hit the trail, any time I tried to run my head would throb. Really bad.

So we did a lot of walking, and occasionally would try running again but it just wasn't working. I actually felt a little nauseous, and on our way back my little Buddha was getting irritable and tired of being in the stroller. Walking 5 miles takes a lot longer than running and I wasn't planning on having him cooped up that long.

This was no match - I had to use my prescription!

Turns out I had a vicious migraine that ate into most of my day. Anything else I had hoped to accomplish would have to wait til later. At least I walked 5+ miles!

Endless.

Since I had so much housework to catch up on from being largely unproductive on Saturday and a good couple weeks of  having "fun" and not staying on top of things, I was all over it yesterday. I did so much laundry, and put away ALL of the clean clothes which usually doesn't happen. Chip took the boys over to his mother's house so I had hours of time all to myself which I would have loved to spend flipping through magazines or reading my book. Instead, I cleaned my hardwood floors, aired the house out, buffed out scratches from our stainless steel refrigerator, dusted my bedroom, and cleaned the downstairs bathroom. And, the aforementioned mountain of laundry that was in dire need of attention. I would have loved to vacuum my entire upstairs which was on the agenda but that refrigerator took more time than I had expected. At least when the day was done, I knew I had accomplished a lot and I felt pretty good about myself.

So the plan was for me to get back to Ripped in 30! That's right, start the week off right! Uh, errr...FAIL. I was up last night from 1-3 a.m. No explanation. No child woke me up, nothing. I finished watching a Real Housewives of Orange County I had started earlier, and then easily went back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 6, instead of hitting snooze, I turned it off, because I was SO serious about my morning with Jillian. Well, I fell back to sleep and luckily woke up in time to get Monkey up for school. There goes my rest days...luckily I have the rest of the week ahead of me. I will do Ripped in 30 or Yoga Meltdown every day this week. I will, I will, I will!

Hope your week is off to a better start than mine!  What goals have you set for yourself this week?

Save Me, Jillian!

My latest fitness attempt!

Last week I went to Target and found Jillian Michaels' latest DVD Ripped in 30 for $10! I have done her Yoga Meltdown in the past, but got it through Netflix, and had to return it after I did the workout a couple times so I could get more movies. Yoga Meltdown was $9! I vow to do Ripped in 30 all this month, on the days I am not running. I am really hoping for some results. Summer is coming...which means pool season...boating, shorts, bathing suits and what not!

So I posted on Friday about Bad Office Food. It happened again. Yesterday was my bosses birthday, and we had Noah's bagels in the morning. I never go to work without eating at least a small breakfast, but I had no problem tearing into the bagels like it was my birthday. I had 1/2 a sesame, and 1/2 a blueberry bagel with cream cheese. My thought was, it's a treat. Carb overload.

Lunch time came and we ordered in from this awesome BBQ place. As you know, I usually bring my healthy lunch to work every day...so again, this was a treat! There were really no healthy options at this place, so I went for it - Prime Rib Dip sandwich - it was soo good. A little bit of slaw on the side and a few fries and 1 onion ring. Needless to say, I had food coma! We were celebrating someone's birthday after all, I couldn't be rude! I realize I have no one to blame but ME.

I really knew I had eaten too much when I wasn't even hungry for dinner last night. I did have a glass of wine, which was much needed after my gnarly commute home. Food-wise, it was a bad day. I admit it! I effed up! No self-control whatsoever.

This morning I did Ripped in 30, and loved it. Each week the work out changes, and gets progressively crazier and more intense. Bring it on! Just what the doctor ordered....with a side salad.

How do you change your fitness routine once summer is on the horizon, if at all? Hope your week is off to a great start!

Thrifty Mama Gym: Netflix

I've been getting the little red packets in the mail for about 6 years now. I love Netflix for many reasons. First, the "No Late Fees" pitch that got me hooked. Then I realized, I loved the convenience of having pre-chosen movies arrive in your mailbox, the variety of movies available, and the cost was very reasonable. It wasn't until I canceled my gym membership at the end of 2010 that I realized another fabulous benefit to using Netflix that I had never even thought of!

I had gone back to work full time and could no longer make it to the gym enough to make paying $80/mo. worthwhile. I could have gone to a 3 other less expensive gyms nearby, but that didn't really solve my problem. All I would end up doing is going 1-2x per week and wasting less money, but still wasting money.

I started to notice some of my running group friends on Facebook mention that they were getting workout DVD's from Netflix. I run pretty consistently but still needed something else for the purpose of cross-training and toning.  I had my Body By Bethenny DVD, which I just love, but sometimes my hamstrings would be so sore that my runs would suffer. So I decided to try Netflix, and I have had a blast trying out different DVD workouts! I only get one DVD at a time though, and I like to do the DVD's several times, so I have decided to select from the "Watch Instantly" section, so that I can stream workouts over the internet and still get films sent to me on Blu-Ray that I can watch on the weekends.

What I love about this - I can keep switching up my work out. I can try different things and if I don't like it, no sweat (no pun intended, really). I can choose different workouts of varying lengths depending on how much time I have. And, my muscles don't get complacent - I can keep them guessing. I have tried Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown, Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, Crunch Bootcamp, Pick Your Level Weight Loss Pilates, Crunch Fat Burning Pilates, and many others. If I find something I can't live without, then naturally I will buy it but for now this is fun and incredibly inexpensive. I can workout in the comfort of my own home, before my family even wakes up and I don't have to leave the house in the dark and the cold. Netflix really has been my sanity-saver this winter!

Do you have any favorite fitness DVD's? I'm always looking for suggestions.