Thank goodness for calipers!

I think I'm getting much more consistent with using my calipers... and either way if I'm doing it wrong at least I'm doing it wrong consistently :)  I'm losing a LOT more slowly than I have been this whole process but to be honest my caliper measurements did have me losing a little bit of lean mass for a bit.  I, being a slave to my scale, ignore that fact instead just happy to see my BIG number getting smaller.  So here are the screen shots of my body fat % calculations.

I'd have to look up the dates that correlate to these screen shots but if you'll notice I had actually lost 2 pounds of lean mass at the beginning of this month and I haven't lost a damn thing all month so far so I figured I really out to pull out my trusty calipers and take some measurements... so stinkin glad I did!!!  See??!  I was busy building up my lean mass!  I lost almost 2% of body fat even though my scale stayed the same  :)  

THIS is why the scale cannot be your only tool for measuring progress!  I'm so happy that I take these measurements  :)

Oh... and in case you're wondering on the consistency of those bottom two numbers... I can never remember which is subscapular or iliac so I just plug those into either because I've swapped them around and the calculator still comes up with the same numbers on top :) 

I would never have thought to do this if not for Nichole at www.revoltnowfitness.com !!!  If you want awesome support, great workouts, fabulous meal plans... join up!  I swear you'll love it!!!!

What a week.

So I had a bad week.  I went out with some girlfriends last Saturday night and although I had a fabulously fun night, I was out WAAAAY past my bedtime.  But of course moms don't get to take a "day off" and recoup so I was working with a sleep deficit already.  Monday, I slept till 7am instead of 5 so I had to send the big kids off to school before working out.  I found it really irritating trying to work out with the lil ones underfoot.  I had a bad sleep and slept till 7 again Tuesday morning!  Being in a bad mood I decided to skip that workout and make it up Wednesday (which is normally my rest day). 

Well, Tuesday night my hubby was working late.  I hadn't heard from him since early Tuesday morning and as the evening wore on, I became more and more worried.  By midnight I was feeling actually quite panicky.  His phone was going straight to machine and even logging into his "find my phone" app on the computer didn't turn up any hits on a map.  I tried to go to sleep and had a restless worried nap for a couple hours.  At that point I called the local hospital.... seriously I did.  At 3am sick of tossing and turning I thought maybe watching some tv would take my mind off my hubby.  Finally, at 4:30am my phone rang!  He was still an hour away but finally calling me!  Turns out that he was working on someone's septic system quite far away.  He didn't arrive until around 8pm and was working till around 11:30.  He had no cell signal in the area.  On the drive home he started falling asleep at the wheel so thought he'd pull over and nap for a bit.  Well he fell asleep till 4am!!!  

What a stressful beginning to my week.  I kinda "threw in the towel" with regards to workouts.  I got one more in on Thursday.  As for food, I was half and half.  I tried to eat on menu, but also made some reasonable substitutions and made some all out "bad" choices.  In the end, I maintained last week's weight!  Which I was super happy about since I had such a wonky week.

This week is starting off pretty good!  Had a relaxing weekend with my family, had a nice long talk with hubby about how other people have phones too.  The kids have the day off school today which is nice because I didn't quite get caught up on laundry.  The only bad thing is my baby girl seems to have come down with something so she is feverish, whiny and clingy  :( 

I did my workout already!  I didn't quite get up for 5, seems I'm really struggling to accomplish this.  I need to get to bed mega early tonight to see if I can sort myself out.  I'm excited to start a new week of new food... the menu looks really nummy!  I'm getting a little sick of booty month, feel like I'm losing all that nice muscle tone from my arms :(  Plus my legs are just killing me!  Well, I'm off to make a cup of coffee!

Day in the life of a Stay at Home Mom

Some days I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything.... and then I start listing off everything I've done today in my head and feel better.  Although you wouldn't know it to look around my house/yard I truly feel like I hardly stop doing stuff! 

Today I woke up late.  So I quickly made lunches, got the big kids up, fed, prodded them along to get dressed and out the door for school.  As they were leaving the lil ones awoke, so I fed myself and them breakfast and washed up all the dishes.  I began washing, folding and putting away laundry (a never-ending chore in this house).  I cleaned my bathtub and bathed the two lil ones.  I made lunch and put my wee one for a nap.  Now I'm still folding laundry and about to sit down and read the Wild Man a few stories.

On my list of still to do. Do my workout.  Take a shower.  Wash up lunch dishes.  Clean up the carrots the neighbor dropped off.  Sweep and mop all my floors.  Vacuum the 2 carpeted rooms.  Continue with the laundry folding and putting away (seriously, I never see the end of it!) And hopefully I can find some time to leave the house and pick  up some milk, eggs and other essentials that are running low.

On my great big list that I never seem to get to because the daily tasks never even get finished.... Clean my oven, move my stove and clean beneath it.  De-clutter the tops of all the surfaces where junk collects.  Sort out all my cupboards and get rid of some stuff that I never use, wash out all the cupboards while I'm in there.  Sort out the shoe shelf in the porch.  Haul all the unused stuff to my fav 2nd hand store. 

Well, I'm tired just looking at all that I've typed and I finished my coffee.  Back to work!

Size 10 baby!!!!

Its a tight fit.... but this is the FIRST time I've worn this size since I was probably 16 years old!!!!  I'm just so freakin excited I can't even tell you!  Now, these might very well be a "large" 10 or whatever but the tag says 10, so I'm gonna jump for joy!  Here's some pics with my webcam  :)

So I am definitely losing numbers a lot slower than at the beginning.  But I seem to be continuing to lose 1 pound a week... which is nothing to feel bad about!  Its a bit of an adjustment to not see drastic results anymore but I keep looking to the fit of my clothes to remind me just how awesome I'm doing!!! 

I still LOVE doing this program by the way!  You would think that by the 14th week I'd be sick of it but I'm really not!  I sometimes lack the motivation to do my workouts but I push myself to it and when I'm done I feel like a SUPERSTAR!  I sometimes wanna eat junk but I choose to eat my prepped food instead and feel PROUD! 

Once again.... www.revoltnowfitness.com  NICHOLE HUNTSMAN.... I totally LOVE you!!!!

That hot pink bikini!

When I started Revolt I took before pictures wearing this hot pink bikini that I've NEVER worn outside my house.  As I mentioned the other day, my starting weight at that point was 185.  So in 12 weeks I lost 20 pounds!  I'm really really happy with my results so far on this program!  I'm definitely committed to follow it for another 12 weeks for sure as I want to see my body fat % come down a bit more.  I think today seems like a great day to look at ALL my progress!  I started at 240 pounds and currently weigh 165 pounds!  That means that over the last 2 years I've lost a whopping 75 pounds!!!  And 55 of those pounds came off since January 2013 which was only 9 months ago.

My heaviest weight.  240 pounds.

In January, I started running at the gym with a friend.  I was just trying to eat reasonably well, mostly counting calories while trying to avoid "junk" food.  From Jan - Mar I lost 35 pounds!

 

 Here the fabulous hot pink bikini pic where I let it all hang out!  On the left is my "before" start of revolt.  On the right is 12 weeks later!  Taken last Friday at 165 pounds!  I feel really proud of all my progress!

 

So here are some of the more recent pictures of me, clothed.  because lets face it, I still look MUCH better with clothes on than in my hot pink bikini!

 

Kind of a blurry selfie but check out my legs in these size 12 shorts!

 

Taken this morning, no makeup, bla clothes and I'm still proud to post it!

And of course... this is what Revolt is doing for my muscle tone!  I never had muscle tone to speak of before this!

 I did lose a lot of my weight before starting Revolt, but it was always a struggle and I always felt hungry and deprived.  Now that I'm doing this, I feel stronger, happier and less hungry!!!  Here is more of what I love about this program!

 

1.  Someone else did all the work in putting together a balanced meal plan and thorough muscle-building fat-burning workout plan for me.  I just do what I'm told!

2. Although we eat the same meals for 1 week, the meals vary throughout the months so I've rarely made the same recipe twice since starting this 12 weeks ago!  I actually find I'm getting a LOT of variety!

3.  The online support and availability of this program's creator plus all the other people doing the same as me is indispensable!   

4.  PRICE!  This is the most reasonably priced program I've found yet.  I haven't looked at a lot, but I've looked at enough to know that I'm getting so so much and not having to spend a fortune!  I don't have to pay for new workouts, she just uploads them weekly for my use!  I get full access to the site (which includes the guide, the meal plans and the workouts) and to the support all with one fee!

5.  Its really working!

 

Its so worth it!  www.revoltnowfitness.com

 

Life's moments!

These are my big lil's off for their first day of School!  (Taken on Wednesday)  I feel the need to explain my darling daughter's do.  I've been struggling to get this girl to even BRUSH her hair and while browsing books at my fav second hand store "The Treasure Chest" I found a Barbie book all about doing hair!  She picked this hairdo out of the book and I couldn't say "no" cause she actually requested me to brush and style her hair!  haha!

So that's leaves me these 2 wee lils to care for during the day!  Don't let this sweet pose fool ya, these 2 love to scrap!  That lil man has that 'do to warn people that he is a wild little guy!  My baby girl is all sugar a spice, but watch out for the spice ;)

And my most recent moment to share!  I got me some new ink!  Years ago before I got married I hard some hard times come.  My mother spent a long time in hospital and we thought we were going to lose her.  Thankfully we didn't.  During that time I got into a horrific vehicle accident and I myself should have died.  After the dust settled, I wanted to get a new tattoo to commemorate that my mother and I were still alive.  I found that beautiful fairy and took the pic to an artist.  When he added the color, I was disappointed.  I never LOVED the art.  I felt that this tattoo needed something and for years I secretly (and occasionally openly) regretted the work.  I did not communicate well enough what I was looking for and felt the color on her body was too dark and she didn't look feminine enough for me.  So I've been plotting for the past 2 years to do SOMETHING with this piece.  Finally, I felt confident that she needed to be sitting on something and needed some more feminine art surrounding her to bring new life into this art!  I could have never imagined it would turn out this good!!!!  I LOVE my fairy now!  This beautiful cherry blossom branch and flowers makes this piece something to be proud of a show off!  I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!!!! 

Its my Birthday!!!

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me!  So, its been a fabulous week so far!  I've stuck to the detox diet pretty darn close (best I've done at it yet!) and I lost 3.5 pounds this week!  yippee!!!  164.5   Do you know what that means????  Only 14.5 pounds to lose to hit my goal weight!!!!!  Oh my goodness, its getting so close! 

Today, I am up crazy early again.  Eating breakfast, gonna go workout, shower, get dressed.  Then I get my big lil's up and send them off to school :)  Next I'll get my lil lil's up and take them to a babysitter for a couple hours and I'm getting a massage!!!!  Thanks so much to my bff from high school recently reunited through Facebook.

I'm feeling pretty darn awesome!  Revolt Now Fitness has given me all the tools I need to live healthy and you know what... I never feel like I'm starving anymore.  Seriously, the only "cravings" I really get are not due to hunger, its just due to mentally "missing" those foods.  I don't think I'll EVER quit Revolt!  I've even reset my goals.  I am SUPER excited to be nearing my LONG awaited 150 pound goal.  However, my new goal revolves around body fat % instead.  I really want to see myself in the "lean" category.  So I know that I'm going to keep doing this and watch for that percentage to come down.  It seems to come down about 1% per week.

Oh ya, a little confession.  A while back I posted that I have 25% bf.  I, sadly, was wrong.  I've been practicing and practicing with those stupid calipers and I think I finally got the hang of it.  So, that one SHOULD have been 32%, last week I was 31% and sure enough this week I've come down some more and I'm 30% !!!  So, we'll see how quickly I can make THAT number shrink.  I'd like to see it around 20%

Better go workout so I have time to shower!!!  Seriously, if you haven't checked out www.revoltnowfitness.com you MUST!  I love Nichole and I love this program.  I'm not just plugging her either, I'm a paying customer!  She lets you try it out for free by the way.  And after that her prices are UBER reasonable considering everything you get!

White hot august.... not so hot

I didn't do as well as I hoped i would this month.  I will post my before and after photos.... but I only lost 4 pounds and about an inch off every measurement.  Which is still a fabulous result!  But not enough to make a huge difference in before and after pics.