Life as a McClellan

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Refocused

I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that I have been eating a lot of sugar and that I needed to nip that in the bud. Well that'd be an understatement. I have been eating a TON of sugar. Almost every day, whether it be ice cream or a shake or frozen yogurt or a piece of cake or a brownie or whatever. I've also been eating out a lot more - and not making as many healthy choices as I used to. Problem has been identified. I do AWESOME during the week but really "splurge" on the weekends. And it's time to stop.

I work pretty dang hard during the week - waking up at 5:30 AM 5 days a week so that I can workout is no easy task. I didn't use to be a morning person, and I don't think I will ever truly love waking up before the sun, but I can't think of a better way to start my day. I work really hard during my workout - I am LOVING ChaLean Extreme and really noticing a change in my muscle definition. Still love Turbo, and I am so excited for my half marathon in 13 days. And then the weekend comes and I totally blow it. Like I said, eating out has become AWFUL for me - I know what healthy options are available at all the places we go, and I haven't been choosing to eat those things. Until today.

As of today, I am recommitting to my goal. I have had a mindset of thinking I am done and time to just maintain - I am 16 pounds from goal and that is pretty dang close. Lost 114 pounds overall. But I am not at goal weight. Or goal pant size. I am close, and I have come SO far and I am NOT going to quit now. I want to lose another 16 pounds. If I lose more, great. And that is going to happen by Christmas Day. Originally I had wanted to be at goal by the end of this month, but I am pushing that back a little bit. Partially because losing the "last" little bit can be harder, partially because I have been slacking and partially because I am gaining muscle and the scale is slowing down as a result.

I am not going to let 16 pounds disappoint me. I have lost 114. 16 is nothing. I can totally do this. Between my half marathon training wrap up and Turbo Fire, I know I can do this. And for the first time in my life, I will not make a New Years Resolution to lose weight. I will have a New Years Resolution to tone, or to maintain, but not to lose. Because I will have lost all the weight I want to lose.

To make that happen, I need to do a few things. I need to rededicate my efforts in my nutrition on the weekends. I am totally fine with "relaxing" a little one day a week, but I have been completely falling off the bus lately and my body can feel it so time to just "relax". Saturday is the hard day for me, but knowing I will let myself splurge a little bit should help me control myself the rest of the week. That means NO eating out, except on Saturday night {if we decide to}. And I need to decided whether I want to "splurge" on dinner, or dessert. But not both. One or the other. That will also help our finances but it will definitely help my nutritional goals. Workouts have to happen on Saturday. Period. I LOVE my strength training routines I am doing, so I will let Saturday be "just" a strength training day. No cardio, unless I want to. But I HAVE to lift on Saturdays. Except next Saturday, since its half marathon day. I won't lift that day haha.

And the biggest thing I needed to do was tell YOU about this - if I don't tell someone, put it on the blog, make myself accountable, it won't happen. So here it is. For anyone to read. I am GOING to lose 16 pounds over the next 2 months and 10 days. That will be my ultimate Christmas present to myself - weighing 160 pounds is something I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to say and this year, it's gonna happen!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Out with the old...

Three and a half years ago, this amazing guy named Jake asked me if I would marry him. And I, of course, said yes. We had bought my engagement ring the day before at Kay Jewelers and I was so happy to get to wear it now that we were offically engaged!

Jake taking a picture the day after we got engaged to send to my Aunt

My gorgeous ring after I got my nails done!

Our rings together the day we got engaged

Close up of our rings - tungsten for Jake and pink sapphire for me

Over time, my ring started to lose its "sparkle". I realized it was only SUPER sparkly right after I got it cleaned, and I don't live close enough to a mall to get it cleaned everyday. Around the time we got married, I started thinking I wanted to add a wedding band underneath my ring when we got sealed, and one for our 5 year annivsary on the top. We ended up not waiting until we got sealed before we bought a band for underneath, but I returned it the next day - it was WAY too sparkly compared to the rest of my ring, and made my ring look really dull and boring compared to the super thin band underneath it. It took away from the focus of the ring and I didn't like that, so the band went back and I decided I would just deal with not having a super sparkly ring.

And then I started losing weight. And I kinda told myself, if I really do lose as much weight as I want to, I want to get myself a FREAKING awesome present. And the first thing that came to my mind was a new wedding ring. Well, a new wedding band, but keep my same stone. I looked at bands for a while, to get an idea of what I liked and what I wanted and then would stop looking - I mean this is my wedding ring we are talking about! Jake gave that to me, I put it on on our wedding day as a symbol of our marriage and now I want to replace it?! Every few months though, I would start looking again and the cycle would continue - feeling guilty for wanting one, finding a new band, feeling guilty for wanting one, stop looking. You get the picture.

A week ago, I decided I really did want a new one. I would keep my stone, but I really do want a new one. So I bought one this past weekend!

On Saturday, in between session of conference, I went to Shane Co. in Midvale. We looked there for our ring before we found my ring at Kay and we were VERY impressed with them, we just ended up going with my ring at Kay instead because the ring at Kay was larger and less expensive. Because it is lab created. Yes, my old ring was "fake". So naturally, when I decided I wanted a new band, the first place I wanted to look for a new band was at Shane Co.

Getting ready to turn into the parking lot!

My ring on Saturday after 3 years of wear and tear and losing its sparkle

It took a few minutes before anyone was able to help me - they were SUPER busy but I had the most amazing salesman EVER help my look at rings. I went in with the intention to get a halo style ring, but ended up liking cathedral style too.

Top is a halo, middle and lower are cathedral and the pink is my current ring

I ended up going with a square shaped cathedral!

Seriously, I was dying. I could not stop looking at my hand. It was EXACTLY what I wanted!

I found a similar ring to this one when we VERY first started talking about getting engaged at Schubach. It was WAY too much though so we didn't get it. So finding the same style ring at Shane Co for less was AWESOME!

Close up of my new ring above my old ring

They told me it would be ready for pick up on Tuesday, but it ended up being ready Monday. Since it was Columbas Day, the bank was closed so I was able to drive up and get it as soon as it was ready! To say I love it would be a GROSS UNDERSTATEMENT!!

LOVE it!

I got home and showed Jake, who couldn't stop laughing at how I couldn't seem to take my eyes off my hand. Then I took some side by side pictures of the new ring next to the old ring!

The diamonds are quite a bit bigger, so it definitely sparkles!!

My old ring has a big chunk out of it - makes me kinda sad, but I love the new one so much that it makes it ok!

I am still getting used to having a different ring on my hand when I look down, and I imagine that will take some getting used to. The salesman, for a brief second, tried to talk me into getting a new sapphire too and I am SO glad I didn't do that, from an emotional stand point. Yes, it is a new band. No, it's not the same ring as before. But the stone is the same. Like our marriage - things have changed since we got married {almost entirely for the better, thank heavens!} but the person I am married to is the same. I am really glad I kept my same stone - it helps me remember where I was and where I am now :)

Old ring on the left, new ring on the right

I am incredibly grateful that I was able to get my new ring - and I love that I can't seem to take my eyes off of it. I don't mean to sound vain - hopefully that doesn't come across that way! I am grateful for the ring Jake got me before, but our financial situation is ENTIRELY different now than it was then. We can afford to buy me a ring with real diamonds in it! Either way, I still feel guilty about it. I hope that goes away - I don't want to feel guilty about this, especially now that it is too late and I wouldn't be able to put my stone back in my old ring even if I wanted to. I'll make sure to post how I am feeling about all of this in a week or so, when I can weigh out if it's guilt over replacing my ring or guilt for the price tag ;)

On a side note, I have lost an entire size in my finger! I went from a size 7 ring to a size 6! Awesome huh??

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

A Trip to Wood Connection...

A few months ago I went to Wood Connection and bought some new crafts. I scored price wise, so I didn't feel too bad that I bought 10 or so crafts. I had a coupon for 2 of the things and then everything else pretty much was on sale. All the stuff on sale was 4th of July and I did that stuff first, even though it was after 4th of July haha. I love how it looks and can't wait for next summer so that I can hang it up!

I also got a big letter "M" for the front door to use as a wreath but I can't decide what to decorate it with, so it is up in my bonus room waiting for me to make up my mind on what to do with it. Someday, I will do something with it and then show it to the blogging world.

But the main thing I want to tell you about is the letters I got - I got the letters "A", "J" and an "&" sign to put in our bedroom! Yay for making our bedroom even better - it has become my favorite room to decorate!! They had the exact same letters on display and I LOVED it, so of course I bought it. I got it done pretty quick, but needed to paint the shelf so that I could hang them up. The shelf that we have was from our neighbors in Lehi - free! Heck yes! It was an.... awesome.... shade of gold. Yeah I didn't love it so I finally got around to painting it black about a month ago, and last night I FINALLY hung it up while Jake was at Young Men's!

This is the before picture. I am standing against the east wall of the bedroom {Jake's side of the bed}

After!!! I moved the curtains so that the picture would show better, and ripped one of them off the wall in the process. Whoops! The glare is from the light in the bedroom, but I wanted to show how the letters overlapped the frame... Wasn't sure if I liked that or not.

View with the light off {sorry it's dark} - it is REALLY high on the wall

So I moved it down - I like it SO much better!!

After I finished, I hurried and made me some dinner. While I was waiting for it to cook, I kept debating whether or not to eat one of the donuts sitting on my kitchen counter. My husband likes to test my will power haha. Good thing I don't like donuts or this would be REALLY difficult {said in an Emperor Kuzco voice, when talking about Pacha being a big fat guy}.

I resisted the donuts but had a few chips ahoy cookies Jake brought home from Young Men's. I have been eating WAY more sugar lately - gotta nip that in the bud before my stomach freaks out at me!

September Results

Another month has come and gone! It amazes me how fast time flies when I break months down in my head for weight loss. I did awesome with workouts - I worked out at least 5 days a week the whole month. One of the weeks I worked out 6 times. In my August post {click here to read that one} I talked about the goals I had for the month of September so here is a breakdown on how I did!

I finished the first month of ChaLean Extreme and I LOVE IT! Seriously wish I had started it a long time ago. I am getting some awesome definition in my shoulders and arms. Still working on my triceps, but making progress for sure! This month, phase 1, I was using resistance bands, which works for sure, but I would rather use weights so I ordered knock off select tech weights to use as I get into phase 2. Bowflex select tech weights are around $300 for a set, but the Gold's Gym ones I got at Wal Mart were just over $100 for the set! The downside is that Bowflex goes up to 52 pounds each and the Gold's Gym ones go up to 25 pounds each. But I think that will be plenty of weight. For a while anyway - with ChaLean Extreme, you lift REALLY heavy weights so I might just outgrow this set as I get ripped haha. I am supposed to pick up my new weights either today or tomorrow!

I stopped running throughout the week and started only running on Saturdays. Best decision EVER. I do NOT like to run, and running in the dark is not my favorite thing ever. And I just dread it because I hate it. Until now. Running on Saturdays has become long run day. I have been running somewhere and then stopping there rather than running to somewhere and then turning around to come home. Makes a WORLD of difference. And I get kind of an adrenaline rush the night before knowing what I am about to accomplish and that is awesome. Less than 3 weeks until my half marathon!! I had been thinking all along that as soon as I was done, I would NEVER do this again but now I am thinking I just might do another one. We'll see!

Turbo is still as awesome as ever. I just love Turbo. There is a reason it's my soulmate workout. I am hoping to get certified to be a Turbo Instructor before the end of the year! The only thing that has really changed this month with Turbo is that Brynne won't be teaching at XSI 3 days a week anymore. She has a lot going on with school and isn't making it to school on time after class on Mondays and Wednesdays. So that means no more Turbo with her on Monday and no more Hustle on Wednesday. I will still do Turbo on Friday's with her though!

I got close to meeting my goal of Hustle but I missed it by two weeks. I did do Zumba, so that made a little bit of a difference but still didn't completely make up for it. I am really going to miss Hustle though - I LOVE it because it doesn't feel like a workout - it is just so fun! For the same reason I dislike it - it doesn't feel like a workout and I end up feeling guilty for only doing that in a day.

Ab workouts went really great - I lost track of how many I did but I got quite a few workouts in and my abs were definitely feeling it. I need to take progress pictures once a month of my abs so that I can better track my results.

I stopped counting my HIIT workouts last month but I know I met my goal. This month I am going for 2 HIIT's a week!

Eating healthy is still going great, except I have got a little bit into the mindset that because I am almost at goal, it's ok to cheat a little bit more and my body hated me for it. Eating that much sugar, even though it was nothing compared to how I ate a year ago, was still more than my body could handle and made me feel a little sick. I am back on track this month though!!

And last but not least, I am getting my scale back. I won't be weighing myself everyday like I was before, but I do want to see how my weight fluctuates. I am still hoping to be at goal by my half marathon, but it may be closer to Thanksgiving since I have gained muscle. We'll just have to wait and see!

Ok enough talking - here are some pictures!

Beginning of the month!

The day before I cut my hair

After I cut my hair!

Adjusting to my hair cut - don't love my hair in this pic but I sure like my arms and waist ;)

After a HIIT workout!

Can't wait to see where I am in a month!! I am so proud of how I am constantly getting better and improving my health. And the next time I write a monthly post, I will have completed a half marathon!!!!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

General Relief Society Broadcast 2012

This past weekend was the General Relief Society Broadcast at the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake. My stake had a dinner and then would be showing the broadcast at the stake center, which is where I was planning on spending my Saturday night. Brynne mentioned that she had a ticket to go, but didn't want to go alone so she was going to come with me to the satellite broadcast at my stake center. Then I found out that Kathy Beltran in my ward had some extra tickets! I text her as soon as I found out and was able to snag one of the tickets! HAPPY DAY!

Brynne & I met at the parking lot of the Timpanogos Temple and drove to Salt Lake together. Traffic wasn't my favorite - I don't ever drive on the freeway anymore since my branch is so close to our house. It took us a long time to find a parking space and I was really worried we wouldn't make it inside before they closed the doors. But there was a TON of women still outside the conference center when we finally got to it, thank heavens! We went through security and found the area where we needed to sit with my ticket {my seat was better than hers, so we just showed the ushers my ticket haha}. We ended up getting to sit on the bottom level! I have never been that close to the stand before!

We were down in the bottom section, off to the right of the stand. The bottom section has two parts - really close to the front, and then behind that carpet area. We were behind the carpet, towards the back of THAT section. But still - we were on the floor, not the balcony or the terrace.

Quick picture before the broadcast started. LOVE my sister!!

The broadcast was amazing and we both really felt the Spirit. Afterwards, as President Thomas S. Monson {the current Prophet of the Latter Day Saints} walked out of the building, he was waving at those still in the stands and at those in the choir and EVERYONE waved back at him. It was amazing how one person can get such a reaction out of so many women chattering. I have never loved a prophet the way that I love President Monson. Part of that is becaue of his autobiography that I am STILL in the middle of reading - I got it for my birthday 2 or 3 years ago. But reading that book makes me feel like he is my grandpa. Seriously LOVE President Monson!

Isn't that the happiest smile you have ever seen??

We waited a few minutes before we walked out of the conference center, mostly because there were a BILLION people trying to get out all at once. Before we left for the car, we had someone take a picture of us :)

She is wearing heels and I am in flats - that's why we are the same height in this picture. I am 4 inches taller than her.

After we made it back to the car, we took an indirect route to Midvale where we picked up my dad for dinner. We went to Chili's and watched 3 or 4 different college football games at once, since they have so many TV's. We discussed BYU football and movies - the typical things to talk about with my dad haha. We took my dad back home and then drove back to the temple to Brynne's car. It was SO wonderful getting all that time in the car to talk. I don't know what I would do without my sister - she seriously is my best friend {other than Jake of course} and is someone I talk to about ABSOLUTELY everything!! I am so glad that we were able to go to the Relief Society Broadcast together!!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Not the Norm...

I feel like ever since I started exercising, I have been a pretty positive person. Well not today. I took too long making breakfast, which set me behind in getting ready for work, which made me a few minutes late for work and I just was stressed and feeling 10 minutes late all day long. I finally started feeling better and a little less stressed when I went to lunch around 1:30. And that's because I started thinking about how we are getting ready to have a baby!!

I have seriously been debating whether or not to talk about this on the blog, in case we end up not being able to get pregnant right away. But as of today, I decided to talk about it {you'll see why at the end}. We decided to go off birth control at the beginning of September, 9 months ahead of the "plan" of next summer. We were planning to do 2 or 3 months of condoms, to let me body adjust from going off birth control and then start trying. Through the temple dedication last week and praying about it, we decided to start trying right now. We talked about it last night and decided that as of last night, it's official - we are "trying" to have a baby!!

And then I got a phone call today that changed all that from my Dr. My white blood cell levels aren't where they should be. AGAIN. I talked about it in another post, click here to read it. But everything got better after I took that dumb medicine and then I went off the medicine and everything stayed fine but he wanted to check it one more time to be sure and my count is dropping again. So guess what that means? I get to go see a specialist on the 19th of this month to discuss surgery to remove my spleen. Which means I will need a flu shot, bare minimum, for the rest of my life every single year. I hate shots. I never get sick. And this will change ALL of that. And worst of all, it means NO trying to get pregnant anytime soon. Because giving birth causes lots of bleeding, there is a chance I could bleed out and die because of how low my blood count is. Awesome huh? That isn't a scary thought AT ALL. And now we have to wait to try to have a baby. SO FREAKING LAME!!

The good news is that I am working full time at a job I love that keeps my brain occupied. And it is providing me with the chance to save, save, save in preparation for when we have a baby so that I can stay home and be a mom. And I can get insurance through my job, if we end up deciding its worth it, to help cover how expensive the next few months can be with my specialist visits and potential surgery. And I have an amazing husband and supportive family to help me get through this. It just sucks that I felt so strongly like it was time to start trying to have a baby, and then the NEXT DAY it all changes!!

The other good news is that we are going to be a little longer than I thought before we get sealed in the temple - closer to around 6 months. I wanted to be sealed before we get pregnant, but after how strongly I felt yesterday that it was time to get pregnant, we decided to start trying now and see what happens. So at least now, if I do have to have surgery, we will be sealed before we get pregnant because this is going to be a few months process. GAH so freaking lame. I am so mad. And I am trying to understand how the heck I got one answer yesterday and then the door slammed in my face today. But Heavenly Father has a plan and I just can't see it and I need to trust in Him because it will all work out the way that it is supposed to. I just want to have a baby right now!!!

As more things come up, I will be sure to keep the blog updated with my lovely blood count issue!

Half Marathon Practice

This past Saturday was my second "long run" in preparation for my half marathon. I went 7.2 miles on September 8th, but I hadn't done one since then. Jake had a guys weekend planned in Las Vegas with his dad and brother. They were supposed to meet at his dad's house Saturday morning. I didn't want to have to drive Jake over there, but I also didn't want to leave one of our cars there all weekend. Then it just hit me - I could "run" there from our house and then drive the car back!

When I went for my long run September 8th, I went to Westlake High School's Seminary building and then back to our house and I HATED it. Granted, part of that is because there was an incredibly steep hill involved. For the most part though, I hated going somewhere and then turning around to come back. I wanted to just run to a place and then be done with my run. So running to his mom & dad's would be PERFECT!

Jake was a little skeptical at first but when I told him it was less than 11 miles, he felt a little better about it. I think the main thing he was worried about was that I wouldn't be able to call him to come get me if something went wrong because he would be in the backseat of his dad's car on the way to Vegas. But he agreed to let me go, as long as I called his mom if something went wrong. Saturday morning, he woke up and packed and then left, and an hour or so later I got my running gear on to hit the pavement!

I promise I don't wear this BYU shirt everyday. Just on running days. Mentally it pushes me harder because I know people can see that I obviously am a BYU fan. It sounds lame but hey it works for me!

My new under armour knock off jacket over my running clothes. My half marathon will be really early in the morning, in the canyon, at the end of October so it will be cold and I need to get used to running with a jacket on.

I put on my headphones and had my phone strapped to my arm underneath my jacket, grabbed my sunglasses and I was off! As soon as I got out of the Highlands neighborhood and onto the jogging path, I set my fitbit and started jogging. For about 100 yards. My socks were sliding down, and that drives me CRAZY! So I stopped, yanked the back of my sock up and starting jogging again. For another 100 yards - my socks were sliding down again. So I stopped, took off my shoes, pulled off my socks and shoved them in my pocket, put my shoes back on and started running again. I slowed down and jogged in place at a few signals while I waited for my turn to cross, but other than that I made it to the Smith's at Crossroads {4 miles} without stopping!

As soon as I got through the signal at Smith's, I started a slow jog but didn't make it too far before my calf cramped up. Like SUPER bad. I stopped and stretched it for a second and tried to keep going but it hurt too bad. I stretched it again {right in front of Kneaders} and then walked a little bit. I started jogging after a few minutes, but because it was uphill and my calf hurt I didn't make it as far as I wanted before I needed to walk again. I only made it to the next signal - maybe 0.7 miles. I walked some more, up to the top of the hill until it was straight down from there. I hurried and ate my granola bar I had brought {it was approximately 5.5 miles total at this point} and then made my mental goal - run to the stop light at the corner of 2100 North & Redwood Road. It was all downhill, so I could totally do this - only maybe 0.5 miles and then I could walk again!

I ended up running almost 2 miles before I stopped. I had a series of awesome songs come on and it was downhill and I just was feeling it and had serious adrenaline pumping. When I stopped, it was probably around mile 8, maybe a little bit over. I walked for a quite a while - it was a slight uphill and my calf was on fire. As soon as I got to the freeway entrance to I15, I started to jog again until I turned into the neighborhood by Jake's parents house. I walked until I was probably 400 yards from their house, gathered up a little more energy and ran the rest of the way.

I was so freaking proud of myself when I finished, but also disappointed I had walked as much as I did. I had wanted to be close to jogging the entire thing. But this is my first half marathon and I need to cut myself a little slack. And I ran without water, because I don't want to carry it. And I didn't have socks on.