Who DOESN'T want awesome abs?!

Right?! Ask anybody, pretty sure you won't hear very many people say, "No thanks. No awesome abs for me."

SO! Who wants an ab challenge? ME ME ME! Found this 6 week challenge and thought it looked doable and generally awesome :)

I'm going to go ahead and start on Tuesday and just skip the first day so I can just follow this as is, but like it says, you can adjust the days to your personal needs :)

So P90X is going GREAT! Just started Phase 2 yesterday, I can definitely feel myself getting stronger... I did some pull ups a couple weeks ago! Feet on the back of a chair, but still! I'm proud of that :) I also bought a jogging stroller and joined a running group on base. I haven't gone to a workout with the group yet because I am so NOT a runner... YET! I'm working on it on my own, and hope to join them in a workout very soon! I'm up to 1.5 miles now... which may not seem like a lot, but for me it's good! :)

Little man hydrating before a run ;)

Snack Attack!

Let me just start off by saying that 30 squats before every meal is kicking my butt... literally! ;)

So today's topic... SNACKS! I LOVE to snack, I would just eat snacks all day long if I could. One of my current goals is to clean up my snacking habits, so I thought in this post I would make a list of some of my favorite HEALTHY snack ideas :) Little tip before I go into the list, *snack size baggies*! They are the PERFECT size to portion out your snacks. And that way, you can grab a little snack size bag of tortilla chips instead of the entire bag. Portion control! Woo! Okay... so snacks!

-Rice cakes with peanut butter
-String cheese
-Raw almonds w/ dried cranberries
-Turkey roll ups (side note... I'm currently trying to get away from buying pre-packaged lunch meat turkey. So many additives!! I will either be finding an INEXPENSIVE organic brand, or I will be experimenting with roasting my own turkey breast...)
-Sliced peach with cottage cheese
-Tortilla chips with salsa
-Banana w/ peanut butter
-Pretzels (I'm on the lookout for the whole wheat kind)
-Veggie sticks w/ hummus
-Pita bread (whole wheat!) w/ melted cheese, hummus, or peanut butter
-Canned tuna or salmon
-Sliced avocado
-Blueberries dipped in honey flavored Greek yogurt and frozen
-Frozen grapes
-Grape tomatoes
-Strawberries
-Greek yogurt w/ granola or whole grain cereal
-Fruit smoothies
-Peanut butter, banana, oatmeal, almond smoothie
-Hard boiled eggs


I'm also starting to experiment with substitutions in baking. I've found some recipes that don't use butter, oil, eggs, or sugar, but plain Greek yogurt, applesauce, and bananas. My first try will be healthy chocolate muffins! Depending on how my little man is later this afternoon, I will be trying them today! If that doesn't work out, I'll make them tomorrow. I will post pictures and the recipe tomorrow! :)

Happy snacking!

Still here I promise!

I know it's been a while since my last post, but I have still been working out! Today starts week 3 of p90x and I am loving it! Sometimes it's a little hard to fit in, because there are a few workouts that are a little over an hour from start to finish, but with some re arranging I've been making it work for the most part! I took 'before' pictures, and at the end of the first 4 weeks I'll take pictures again and post :)

I figured just because I'm doing p90x doesn't mean I can't post some challenges on here right? Right :) Ok so how about this one!

Pretty self explanatory right? 30 squats before each meal! Earn it!

I find that I snack too much throughout the day, and not the healthiest of snacks all the time! So hopefully this squat challenge will make me think before eating each time, and TOMORROW's post will be all about healthy snack ideas! Woohoo!

Back on the Wagon p90x style!

Well... kinda lost some motivation there for a little while. Oops! Did really well leading up to my beach vacation, especially since I was able to hit the gym most morning for some good cardio, and even went on a few good runs (yes... runs! Bad ankle and all!) and do some good ab work while I was at the beach. Then I came home from vacation and... womp womp... lost motivation. I'm not going to dwell or feel too guilty about it though because I'm ready now! I'm ready to get back on the wagon!

My next goal? p90x!! I start today! Just as soon as I finish this post, and get dinner in the crockpot, I start DAY 1 of p90x. It's going to a bit more of a time commitment than the workouts I've been doing. Most of these take about an hour. Little man is now taking only 1 nap, but it lasts 2-3 hours, so I think I can devote just 1 of those hours to working out.

I want to continue to use this blog to track my fitness and to motivate others, but since I won't be posting daily workout links (for copyright reasons, actual p90x videos can't be linked for free), I need some new ideas! I'm going to take this week to get back into the swing of things workout-wise, and I will also be brainstorming other ways to utilize this blog :)

Enough stalling! It's Core Synergistics time!

Back from a break!

Took a little break while I went to visit my family for my brother's wedding. I squeezed in a few little workouts here and there. Some crunches, a couple push ups, or some Pilates when I had a spare few minutes. I got quite a few compliments while I was there! The first thing my mom said when I walked in the door was, "You look skinny!" and when I said, "I've been working out." she said, "Well you can really tell!" I heard similar things from a few other people over the weekend too! Now how's that for a confidence boost!!

Already been to the gym today, and I'm pleased to say that my little man didn't cry AT ALL! :) Makes me feel much better about my workouts! 25 minutes on the elliptical, followed by some ab work. Now onto today's bikini challenge... It's a balance board leg workout. I do not have a balance board, but apparently I can still do the workout without it and it will still be effective. So here we go!

All finished! After all the working out I've done today it's time to sttttttttretch!!!!!!!!

Craziness!

Very quick post today! My brother is getting married this weekend, and my little family was supposed to drive up north for it on Friday. Now however, our plans have changed, my husband isn't going to be able to go so little man and I will be driving up ourselves. Since we don't have to wait for hubby to get off work, we're going to hit the road tomorrow first thing in the AM so we can make it in time for the rehearsal dinner. Never done this 9 hour trip by myself before! Eek! Really hoping little man cooperates!

So anyway, things are kinda crazy right now, and they're only going to get crazier, but I'm squeezing in a workout right now between packing and cleaning. We're onto week 5 of the bikini body challenge now, and today's workout is my favorite muscle group... ABS!

I signed up little man for childcare at the gym and we've gone 2 days in a row now. Yesterday they took him from me right there at the door and he cried immediately :( Cried the whole 20 minutes I was on the elliptical. It made me so sad! :( Today I distracted him with some toys before leaving, and he did a lot better! I did 25 minutes on the elliptical, and then a few arm exercises (chest flies, tricep dips, deep swimmers presses, hammer curls, tricep kickbacks, shoulder presses, static bicep curls, tricep kickbacks with a wrist twist, and bicep curls) He was crying when I went in to get him, but had only started  a couple minutes before (I like that there's a big window and a tv so I can peek in on him!) Felt great to get in a good workout!

Ok! So here we go with today's ab workout!!

                                                               



                                                                         A little inspiration ;)

Skipping Around...

This week has been slightly crazy... (can we say cranky baby?!?!) so my workouts have been hit or miss... well... mostly miss :/ SO I'm just picking and choosing workouts today and tomorrow, taking Sunday off, and starting fresh on Monday! On Monday I'll be starting Week 5 of the bikini body challenge, even though week 4 was sporadic and won't be entirely completed. Week 5 starts a new string of workouts, so I'm hoping that will help motivate me to get back on track!

So anyway! Picking and choosing today... I'm going to do these ab exercises...

20 reps of each, and repeat!

THEN I want to do the Rock Those Guns workout from the bikini challenge. Little man is sleeping... so here we go!

Abs DONE. On to arms!

All finished :) Hoping to get in a walk with hubby and little man this evening as well, it's a gorgeous day!