Giveway from Dancing through Life!!!

Hi guys,

One of the blogs I'm following is doing a giveaway and you guys should check it out!!!

dancing through life: Gluten Free Goodness, Tea and an Awesome Giveaway Courtesy of Wild Earth Bakery

Read her blog at the same time... lots of great healthy food ideas!!!

Bootycamp in the rain

I am here on my bed, all clean and showered, warm and in my jammies. Well, I was in a complete opposite situation just a few hours ago.

Photo credit: here

It is bootycamp night and today, the weather network called for rain. Bootycamp has a hotline that you can call to know if your class is still ON based on the weather. They only cancel a class if there are thunderstorms. I probably called the hotline about 4 times just to check if I should go to class. And of course, the class was still on as scheduled. And I really didn't want to go!!!! It was freezing outside today (probably even colder now). It was 9 degrees Celcius (48 degrees Fahrenheit) around 8pm tonight. I seriously could not imagine working out in the freezing rain, in the dark!

What saved me from the cold and from being wet tonight (my top half) is a ski jacket! I don't have a rain jacket and I dug in my closet to see what kind of jacket or sweater I could use for a rainy bootycamp. I saw a ski jacket (that is actually my sister's that she only wore once) and thought it might work.

My jacket doesn't have the square patterns and it's a light brown, almost beige but similar style
Photo credit: here

It's a Orage jacket and it kept me from being cold and wet all night. After my body was warmed up from all the running and push ups and lunges, I zipped open the vents which open from the back of the arms all the way to the back side. I kept myself from overheating by just wearing a t-shirt and sports bra underneath. Now if there is a way to keep my bottom half warm and dry, that would be awesome. I use my Reebok runners that are mesh to ventilate your feet when working out, and man, my feet were soaked the minute we started running around the field. And of course my butt and my legs were completely soaked as well because I was just wearing my Lululemon yoga pants.

Photo credit: here

Photo credit: here

Here's a rundown of what we did last night:

• Lots of running, about maybe 4 huge laps around the park in total (other than the other runs stated below)
  
• Lunges and push-up drill (2 lunges, 2 push-ups until you reach the other end)
• A running and push-up drill, total of 90 push-ups
• Squats, plyo lunges, bicep curls, pop sqauts, tricep with bands for a minute each and running a lap in between.
  
• Partner table pose with dips (one person goes into table pose while the partner goes into a plank and puts their legs on the person doing the table pose)
• Plank, Side plank with variations, and lots more ab workouts

Oh and I have to tell you about my Yoga mat!!! I recently bought it from Lululemon a week ago and I wish I got it a long time ago. It's so awesome!!! It is non-slip, I mean it is so non-slip that in the soaking rain, I was able to stay on the mat and it gripped me no problem. I like it when I do yoga to because you can use the lines on the mat as guide for your alignment. Also, it costs just about 5 bucks more than the ones in Walmart so it is a pretty good deal. And the best thing of all, it's pink!!!


So basically that was my first night of cold and rainy bootycamp. I am also signed up for October so I guess this is just the taste of the cold weather to come.

How about you guys? Do you ever work out outdoors in the cold or in the rain? I am curious about those people who run in the winter... How do they do it?

Weekend Recap

Hi Friends,

My oh my what a busy weekend! The main highlights were going to our friend's wedding on Saturday and today, aside from church, my family reunited with a old close friend after not seeing each other for almost 7 years.

Needless to say, I haven't worked out! Although I did burn some calories on the dance floor at the wedding. Also, I did not indulge in the excessive amounts of delicious Italian food that was served to us. I basically chose veggies instead of seafood on the Antipasto buffet, ate only half of my pasta course, ate all my salad, ate half of the chicken breast, veal and potatoes and ask for extra veggies in the main course.

The dessert was so delicious that I just had to indulge. It was a truffle ice cream ball served in a waffle bowl topped with berries and strawberry syrup. And afterwards, I just completely avoided the wedding cake, roasted pig and pizza that was served at midnight. My night was capped off with some fresh fruits from the dessert buffet table (where they had like 6 different types of cake and tons of pastries!). Overall, I'm proud of myself for not overeating at the wedding.

This is the dress I'm wearing that I mentioned in my previous post BTW

Today, I was just dead tired!!! We came home at about 2 in the morning the night before and I barely got any sleep since I woke up just 5 hours later. My daughter was already lively and awake so I had no choice but to get up. We eventually went to church around 10am and after the service, my family stopped to the cemetery to visit our Late friend.

After lunch, we had to jet out again to see my Tita Heidi (she's like an aunt to me) whom I haven't seen in a long while! She came to immigrate here from the Philippines along with her son, Ali. It was so nice to see her again and I look forward for her starting anew and living here so close to us.

During our visit we had more food and tons of it. We had some grilled chicken and pork, pizza, different kinds of Filipino food and a huge batch of brownies topped with caramel sauce for dessert. Seriously, my sweet tooth is getting me into trouble lately because I couldn't resist myself eating at least a small square. So I did, and now I feel oh so guilty.

Photo credits: here

I can't really imagine myself not having any treats if I am surrounded with it. How do you guys keep yourselves disciplined with food? Weekends are totally my weakest times in terms of giving in to temptations. When I get so busy and I don't have that homemade food option, I totally crack. It'll be cool if I could hear out some of your suggestions.

Well I bid you goodnight, I need my beauty rest.

Wedding

Nope, not mine... already did that crazy huballoo 2 years ago. My hubby's good friend (who also became my friend) is getting married to the man of her dreams this saturday!!! I am excited not only for that reason, but I love weddings in general. All the love, family, food and even the chicken dance are AWESOME!!!

I will be wearing a dress that I haven't worn for about a year and a half now and have only worn once. It is still pretty and not outdated, so I figured, I might as well save me some money and wear it again. Now, the last time I wore it I was already 4 months pregnant but barely showing. So I could safely say, about roughly 15 to 20 lbs lighter than I am now.



It bares a lot of arms and has a low back, so I'm pretty scared wearing it again now that I have gained weight. Going to bootycamp has worked my arms a lot so far so I THINK they look ok (trust me I had some crazy chicken wings going on before).

On another note, I also recently changed my hair color. It was a medium brown before (just like in my profile pic ---> ) and now I have gone back to my roots, BLACK. But it is even a darker and almost bluish than my natural black. I like the contrast against my skin but everytime I look in the mirror, I feel like it's not me!!! I am hoping I will get used to it in a few days.


Anyway, I am hoping for a wonderful weekend and I'm pretty sure it will be. It's bootycamp night and I will go work my butt off in a few hours. I want to look my best in that dress!!!

Tough day

Hi Friends,

Yesterday was not a good day for me. I was feeling really down and I had no energy for anything! I promised myself to sweat once a day and yesterday that phrase kept creeping up in my mind. But when my spirit is low it is hard to recharge with activity. Because no matter how great you might feel after that adrenaline rush, that burden is still gonna come back in your heart quite instantly.

So yesterday I DID NOT SWEAT.


My hubby sensed my lack of enthusiasm and he took me out to a nearby coffee shop to talk (My baby was already fast asleep and my mom was home with her, in case your wondering). We got ourselves a cup of tea each and sat down. It was hard to even say out loud how I felt. But he encouraged me and listened intently to even the littlest things I said. And after an hour or so, I was relieved. I cannot even thank God enough that I have my hubby. Without him, a day like yesterday would drive me off the wall. And today, he sent me a message through Facebook quoting a scripture from Matthew 6:24. I read that before countless times, but today, I found it's meaning and I would like to share it with you.

Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

photo credits: here
27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

photo credits: here

30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own

photo credits: here

Yesterday, my mind was too occupied with the now and of things I think I needed. Now, this verses refreshed my spirit and I know that God always takes care of me.

It is great to have goals in life and to obtain and accomplish things. But sometimes, we need that break, to go back and do some soul searching, pray and be with the ones we love.

I hope that reading these verses would touch your heart and comfort your spirit as it did mine.

Sweat once a day

Hi friends!

I have decided about a week ago to take on one of Lululemon's manifesto as a challenge which is:

SWEAT ONCE A DAY

Photo credits: here

I kinda crazy thinking about it. How am i suppose to sneak in a workout everyday, when I have school, a part time job and a baby to take care of? Well, through my husband's constant encouragement, I was able to do it the past week. Check out my Calendar widget that I added below my page or check out this link.

I managed to go for two 5k runs and 1 hour Yoga sessions in between my bootycamps. You might be a bit curious when did I find time to do this all. It is so easy actually, when I thought of one thing I do that consumes and waste most of my time every evening, it came clear to me. TV!!!!

Yes folks, I don't watch TV anymore. Actually, I kicked that habit out of my life about 4 or 5 months ago. I admit, I was a terrible TV junkie before that. I blame it on being at home bored when I was pregnant with my daughter. I loved watching all CSIs, House, Fringe (I was totally addicted and obsessed with this one), So you think you can dance, Jon and Kate plus 8, ANTM, Law and Order SVU, oh man I can go on FOREVER!!!

But you know what, watching those shows, no matter how wonderful they are, consumed my whole evenings!!! I remember making dinner, having dinner then it's the TV until bedtime. That's like 3 or 4 hours of wasted time.

Photo credits: here

I started my TV detox when I had to go to school in the evenings after work, twice a week. I eventually forgot about all those shows I use to never miss an episode of. And during the nights when I am home, I just never bothered of turning the TV on, because of tons of school work or just plain being busy with other things.

Now, my nights consist of going to school twice a week till 9pm. And when there's no school, I go to bootycamp for an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and bible study on friday nights. So unless I am at school, I put my daughter to bed and do her whole bedtime ritual (bath, book, which goes on for a while because she likes to be read at least 3 books, then finally bed time kisses and goodnight). Then after she out for the night, I WORK OUT!!!! Although it can be very dark when I go for an outdoor run, my hubby runs with me and our neighborhood is pretty safe.

So, I pretty much amazed myself when I actually worked out every single day the past week. And I know, if I can do it, you guys and do it too. Just schedule your workouts as if it's an important appointment (because it is!). And most of all, you have to have a open heart and mind to dedicate some time to do your body some good.

I am daring all of you readers... go SWEAT ONCE A DAY!!!!! You guys can do it!

My sore back

Hi friends,

I have this dull pain in my back muscle specifically mid-back on the right side. This is the first time I'm feeling this muscle ever since I started working out. It is really terribly ANNOYING!!! I can't sit, stand or lie down comfortably and I haven't had a good night of sleep since I had it. I do have a mild scoliosis condition (only a curve of 18 degrees) and it is the only possible reason I could think of why I got this pain. But, why just now? I've been working out since April and haven't had any problems with my back.

Photo credits: here

Last Thursday's booty camp was nothing to different only we did a lot of arm and triceps workouts this time. Now that can't possibly hurt my back at all. The only other thing I could think of that could caused this is I have been doing a lot more core work. We do a lot of it in Bootycamp, a lot of planks and side planks with different variations. Also, I have been doing Power Yoga every other day which also involves your core (especially that dreaded CHATURANGA POSE!).

Photo credits: here

I am clueless how to stretch my back, specifically where it hurts. I will do some online research and hopefully I'll find that stretch that will work out my kink.

Do you guys have any suggestions? It's the muscle on my mid-back that's close to the spine on the right side. I will definitely try all kinds of back stretches out there, anything just to kill this pain!

Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Fun Run

Hey there!

Yesterday, I decided to go for a run before heading out to school. My hubby and DD (Darling Daughter) tagged along with me. I just ran around our neighborhood approximately around 5k (You can use Mapmyrun.com to figure out your km or miles), while my little family headed straight to the park nearby.

Running to me is constant challenge. Each time is different, depending on my mood, how I feel and how hydrated I am to start with. I went on a running hiatus for about a week and a half just because of life events I couldn't control. And I must say yesterday's run was EXTRA challenging for me. I had a good pace but I barely could pick my feet up going up slopes (my neighborhood is hilly). So, I do admit that I did power walked once for about a minute. But hey, at least I ran again and kept on going until I finished the route. Hopefully, I will be going back to running regularly like 3 times a week before.

Check out what I did after my run yesterday:




Anyway, it was a really fun end to my little run. Honestly, I have to drag myself out there to get running. Why I am doing it then if I dislike it? CIBC Run for the Cure for Breast Cancer.
Yes, I am going to run a 5k for this cause along with the team "BOOTYCAMP"! It's going to be on Sunday morning, October 4, 2009, Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. I would appreciate any amount of support you give! Just visit my donation page to support to this wonderful cause.

And if I'm not clear enough.... it'll be SUPER AWESOME if you
DONATE!
DONATE!
DONATE!

Yoga + Bootycamp

Hi friends!

Last weekend I was stoked about doing my at home booty camp workout. Only to find out that I have misplaced my DVD!!! I search everywhere I could think of and still no luck. See, I wander around doing my workouts at home. Sometimes I play the DVD in the living room player with the flat screen, sometimes in the laptop and other times in my daughter's DVD player in her room (And I do have a very bad habit of not putting DVD's in their proper case). So long story short, I didn't get to do it last weekend.

Photo credits from here

What I did though was my yoga workout. I found this great website called yogadownload.com and it's super wonderful! I have a share of yoga DVDs that I barely use because I find it hard following poses when I'm trying to look up the screen at the same time. So with yogadownload.com, you can download a yoga session you listen to and a pose chart that you can print out. Turns out, they have a podcast available on iTunes and i got them there for FREE!!!! Yes folks, for free! Most sessions are 20 min. ones but there some that are longer. I did a Power Yoga session for an hour while my daughter napped and it was oh so wonderful.

Now, just a quick update of my bootycamp class last night:

• Lots more cardio this time around. We did Kickboxing, suicides and a run around the park. I held up pretty well and had a good pace without slowing down. YAY!
• Did some awesome glut work with resistance bands! It majorly hurt my bum especially holding the poses but I manage not to let go and did full sets.
• And it won't be a booty camp without lunges! So of course like every class we did tons of them. The killer one was holding a lunge pose while your back leg is on top of your partner who is doing a plank. It was painful in a good way and totally challenged my balance.

All in all, it was an awesome class!!! Looking forward to Thursday. Our instructor is going to check out our food blogs so it'll be an interesting night.

Ok, enough blogging, I promised myself I'm gonna run a 5k today to train for the upcoming Run for the Cure for breast cancer (more deets on a later post). Just gotta put on my runners and off I go! Hope you guys enjoy the rest of this gorgeous day!!!!

2 years of Wedding bliss...

Happy 2nd year Anniversary to my loving Husband!!!

Food, Food, Yummy Food

So last Thursday we were given a Food Log at Bootycamp. We were told to log 2 or 3 days worth of food that we ate to figure out what are weaknesses are (gasp!). I figured I can start logging over the weekend. What a bad idea! My weekend eating habits are totally different from the weekdays. Most of the times we are out and about so I don't eat as healthy as when I am home or at work or school when I pack lunch.

So this is how it looked like:

Saturday:
Breakfast: Omelet with 2 egg whites with tomatoes & mushrooms; 1 piece of brown toast (no butter!)
*** This one isn't bad at all, I made it from scratch and took the egg yolks out. We had a good harvest of organic tomatoes from our backyard so I put it in my omelet and it was delish!!!

Our harvest of tomatoes, jalapenos and cherry peppers

Morning snack: small bowl of blueberries and 1 tangerine

Lunch: Cheesy chicken and mushrooms (half breast) with 1/2 cup of brown rice
*** I made this with low fat mozarella and sprayed PAM instead of butter which the recipe asks for.

Afternoon snack: 1 dark chocolate finger, 1 Reese's miniatures
*** Oh man, I had the serious case of munchies that afternoon. See, I don't buy chocolate at all but when it's around, I eat it! I can blame my Aunt for this. She brought it home coming from work.

Dinner: 1 huge pulled pork sandwich and a bottle of Corona light
*** This is what I am ashamed of!!! We went to visit our dear friends to hang out and there was a Rib festival in town that night. So we went there for dinner and of course the pulled pork sandwich was probably the healthiest food choice there. It goes down best with a bottle of good beer and at least I stopped myself from having another one. I never normally drink anyways and never have a desire to get drunk. But it took all my will power to resist the Poutine stand (Poutine is a french-canadian specialty. It's fries topped with gravy and cheese curds and it is oh so good) and the funnel cakes.

Sunday:

Breakfast: 1 blueberry pancake with syrup

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: 1 whole grain blueberry muffin from Tim Hortons's

Whole grain blueberry muffin on the Top left of the pic

Snack: 1 cup Apple juice

Dinner: 2 beef tacos (from the box, not authentic in anyway! LOL) topped with tomatoes, lettuce, salsa and cheese

***Ok so sunday isn't bad portion wise, I could have done better by eating fresh homemade food. The thing is we were out and about the whole day that we couldn't even have a proper lunch. So what do we do? Go to a Tim Horton's drive through. LOL. And when we finally got home around 6pm, I was so tired that I can't cook a real meal so we had tacos out of a box.

Oh and I have to tell you about what I had for dinner Friday night. We were at the Benny Hinn Conference downtown Toronto and It was dinner time so my mom and I decided to look for food. The prices at the convention center was RIDICULOUS!!! A hotdog was $4.50 and a muffin was $3.50. So there was no way we are going to spend that amount of money for some disgusting street meat. We ventured outside, just by the Lakeshore and the first thing we saw was a Pizza place called PANAGO.


We ordered a medium pizza called Primo Pollo. It's a pesto based instead of tomato sauce and it is topped with grilled chicken, fire-roasted tomatoes, red peppers, caramelized onions, roasted garlic and mozzarella. Sounds so delish right? And what I loved about the place is they make the pizza right in front of the customers. Not to mention their variety of $1 Organic juices!!! I had the Grapple (Grape and apple) one and it was awesome. We even had left overs to sneak in the convention center and give to my mom's BFF.
Anyway, I wish they had a Panago in our neighborhood. You can check them out at: http://www.panago.com/home.html

I guess what I figured out from this Food logging experience is, I definitely made some bad food choices when I'm not at home. I guess I can work on packing lunch so I always have fresh and healthy food handy.

How about you guys? What kinds of food do you guys indulge in? And most importantly, how do keep yourself away from junk/bad foods? I wanna know!!!! I would love to hear you guys out and maybe I would learn a thing or two... Till the next post!

In times of Loss and grief...

Hi friends,

I know I just started this blog about my goal to get back into my skinny jeans but I would like to take away the focus on that for a moment.
Last post, I spoke about healing because I had a loved one in mind who struggled with his battle with Liver Cancer. Unfortunately, he lost that battle yesterday around 9 pm at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, leaving his Wife and children in this world. My heart fell because somehow I thought God would perform a miracle in his life. We never could understand what God puts us through but I believe that even sickness and death can still be a part of his great plan for us.

I have comfort in knowing that Tito Fred had an intimacy with God when he was still alive. I believe that God's grace had saved him and he is now with our Lord free from earthly sufferings.

My husband (on the left) with Tito Fred Garcia (on the right) July 18, 2009
http://www.universalmma.ca/our-instructors/master-fred-garcia/

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
Nor will he harbor his anger for ever;
He does not treat us as our sins deserve
Or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is his love for those who fear him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
For he knows how we are formed,
He remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass,
He flourishes like a flower of the field;
The wind blows over it and it is gone,
And its place remembers it not more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
The Lord's love is with those who fear him.

Psalm 103: 8-17

So now, I grieve for his loss along with his family, church brothers and sisters, friends, colleagues and students. But I know that God is my rock in whom I take refuge.

I will see you in heaven someday Tito Fred... we will miss you.

Bootcamp + Weekend + God

It's Thursday night and I just got back from booty camp. It was great! There was more push-ups, more cardio kickboxing, and more lunges (I hate it, but I love it). Oh I almost forgot, we did a fitness test! It includes sprinting halfway across the park the 10 jumping jacks, 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups then sprinting back where we started. I did it in 50 seconds! AMAZING... I'm not actually sure if it is good compared to other people, but I am proud that I was able to do that in less than a minute.

Another note, this weekend is going to be pretty busy for me. Between events, hospital visits (that's another blog post in itself), homework and church, I just have to be creative fitting in my workout in the schedule. No, I'm not making excuses to skip it!

I will be attending a Christian conference tomorrow. Pastor Benny Hinn is in town and he preaching/teaching the word of God at the Toronto Metro Convention Center. For those of you who don't know him, he is a Pastor who does crusades and preaches all over the world to spread the news that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.



I want to share with you why I am a bit excited for tomorrow. Going to a Benny Hinn crusade was one of my fondest child memories. I was only 5 or 6 years old when I went and my family and I were still living in the Philippines. They had the crusade in a huge park and it was filled with tens of thousands of people. All I could remember was at that time, I was in and out of the hospital because of tonsilitis and infections. My Mom was a new christian then but she already had a strong faith in the Lord from what I could observe. I guess when we went to the crusade, my Mom was touched with what Benny Hinn was preaching and of course the presence of the Holy Spirit was definitely right there in that park. Even as a little child I could tell what was going around me spiritually, so I prayed along with the Pastor, my Mom and the mass of people. It was the only time I felt so weightless, comforted and overwhelmed with great emotions that I couldn't even understand. All I remebered next is opening my eyes after we prayed and worshiped and I was lying on the grass all along. I seriously thought I was floating in the air and presence was carrying me.

That's all I could remember from that experience, but according to my Mom, I never went back to the doctor for any complications of my recurrent infections after that. Now thinking back, I am certain it was God who healed me.

Proverbs 4:22 – For they (His Words) are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. (KJV)


May God always bless you...

Measurements

So I went to my first bootycamp last Tuesday. Courtney (our instructor) normally measures us at the start, the 4 week mark then at the last class of the 8th week to see how we progress. It was a huge class this time around but eventually we all got measured and went right down to workout. I did better than I thought I would. I didn't struggle with the push-ups at all. Although I did half of them on my knees because I didn't know how well I will survive all 60 of them, after not doing as much for a month. But overall, I felt great during the bootcamp class.
The next day though, my shoulders, arms, triceps and booty were a bit sore. I guess the plank, side planks and bridge got to me. But its a good pain, at least I know I worked hard.

Anyway, this blog is about my measurement so ok, here it goes!!! (hyperventilating as I type)

INCHES MEASUREMENTS:
Upper Arm (left) 10
Upper Arm (right) 10.1
Chest 34.6
Waist 31.1
Hips 37.6
Buttocks 41.9
Upper Thigh (left) 25
Upper Thigh (right) 24.8

CALIPER MEASUREMENTS (the horrible pinch test, I think this is in millimeters):
Tricep 23
Suprailium (Waist) 24
Thigh 32

Weight: 160 lbs.
Body Fat %: 29.6%
Fat Weight: 47.4
Lean Mass: 112.6

Oh my, now it's all out there for the whole world to read... Hopefully this post will embarrass me enough to workout hard and eat right! I definitely want these numbers to get better.
Now, all I ask of you who are reading this, please be nice and if you have unkind comments just please keep it to yourself...

I'm going to booty camp tonight and I plan to walk there since it's only about 3.5k from our house. It's a beautiful day and I want to enjoy the warm weather as much as I could. I live in Canada after all, it gets really unpleasantly cold here, for me at least.

ENJOY the rest of your week everyone!!!




*** I haven't decided yet if I will post the 'BEFORE' shot of myself... But I guess you'll just have to wait and see.

What the heck am I doing?

Little info about me....

I am a young mom of a beautiful 1 year old and I could not ask for anything more in my life because I am truly blessed except....

I want LOSE weight!!!

Pre-baby: I was around 135 lbs to 140 lbs (varies due stress, overeating and simply being lazy), which was pretty much a healthy weight for my 5'6 frame. Although I was not toned in any way and I still did have the dreaded 'love handles', I was comfortable with my body and I didn't hesitate to show it off.

Pregnancy: I was on track with my pregnancy weight gain even though I was pigging out. I worked out from time to time doing yoga and brisk walking depending on my mood. But when I was on my 8th month my weight just ballooned to a scary 180 lbs!!! I guess all those sweets caught up on me (I craved pies during my pregnancy). By the 9th month I was 185 lbs but I still had that notion that all women go back to their pre-pregnancy weight right after birth. Boy, was I so wrong!!!!

Post-baby: Right after birth I was disgusted with my weight of 175 lbs and my huge, ugly and distorted belly. I breast-fed for 4 months so that helped shrink the belly down but boy, I still had an appetite of a cow. I didn't really do anything to lose weight right away since I was busy adjusting to the new mom life that includes no sleep and never ending chores on top of taking care of my daughter (I didn't have a nanny nor my parents to help out and babysit!). When my daughter was about 7 months old, I decided I should really do something to lose the lbs. Here's what I have done so far:

• Did the horrible Cabbage Soup Diet. It was so disgusting and I was starving for real food! It worked though I lost 7 lbs in a week. In about 2 weeks after, I gained back 4 lbs. I guess it was all water weight.
  
• Pilates. As much as I loved the burning feeling of the workout, I never got motivated to stick with it. Lost 0 lbs :(
  
• Signed up for Booty Camp fitness. This really helped me lose weight and the inches. I did it twice a week for May, June and July. I was supposed to do a third at-home workout but that didn't really work out. I lost a total of 10 lbs during those 3 months and man did I get strong! I could barely do a knee push-up when I started then by the 6th week I was doing them on my toes like a man... AMAZING!!! BUT, I could have lost more weight if I ate better and did that 3rd home workout.
• Since there are no booty camp classes in August, I took the matter into my own hands. I had better food choices like lots of fruits and veggies, switching to brown rice and more importantly, consistently had smaller portions. I also signed up to a 5k run in October to motivate me and started training for it right away. I did about 2 5k runs and a 5k walk with my baby in a stroller every week. In between running I did Ab work specifically P90x's ab ripper. I like it coz it's short but it's hard, challenging and it works! I also did some resistance band training for my arms, more on my triceps. I lost a total of 4 lbs in one month!!!!

Now it's September, I'm back to booty camp. I really really want to take it seriously this time by doing my 3rd home workout and 5k runs in between. Now that I'm eating better, I SHOULD get great results!!!

My goal: Lose 10 lbs in 8 weeks and I am hoping more!!! For a long term goal, I am hoping to be 130 lbs and be more toned than I was pre-baby.

So here it goes, I'm putting everything out there with no discretion. I really hope that blogging about my journey back into my skinny jeans will really motivate me and have me accountable for my actions. Wish me luck everyone!!!

Next post... My measurements.. ick!