Fit Linds

According to Chris Powell's book, Choose to Lose , he recommends the first two weeks doing the 3 days of shapers and 6 days a week of shredders. For the past week, I've been doing these like normal (doing the shapers and shredders after we get home from work), and adding some extra activity during the workday and on Saturdays. For the past 4 days I have been doing Chalene Johnson's Turbo Jam 20 minute workout and Shaun T's 5 minute Hip Hop Abs workouts on my lunch break. Then, last Saturday in addition to our workouts on the treadmill and elliptical, we went for a 3 1/2 mile walk around Universal. We were repeatedly climbing the stairs and everything at City Walk. It feels great to be active. It really does.

Well, life has gotten in the way of me blogging lately, however I have been keeping up with my meal plans and exercise. I'm down to 13.5 pounds lost now. I've been busy reading  Skinny Emmie's  blog. She is such an inspiring woman! I started from the beginning, and am only into mid-2011, so I still have a bit of catching up to do on her weight loss journey. Not only is she inspiring from a weight loss stand point, but also as a blogger. I may have Superman create my own website for me. A little fancier perhaps and personalized. Emmie has opened my eyes to a lot of issues I hadn't considered being an overweight/unfit person (issues with airlines - particularly Southwest Airlines - are something I've been thinking about lately). She talks about FitBloggin' - a convention she attended at least in 2011 - and how much she enjoyed going. I hope someday I will have blogged enough/have enough followers to attend something like that. I think it would be a great envir...

I found this to be a helpful bit of inspiration this morning. Ran across this on facebook.

Well folks, I am happy to announce that we did not stray from our meals when we were away from home. We even made the Spicy Turkey something or other for his family. It was really good! It had onions, red pepper, turkey, corn, and black beans all mixed together with salsa on top. I definitely plan on adding that to our rotation of meals from now on. Our official way in was this morning and my new total is -10 :D I'm making a promise this time though NOT to weigh myself till Saturday. Today was our free day where we could either have a high carb day or eat whatever we wanted. We didn't indulge too much. Tonight we also prepped our snacks and lunch for tomorrow, so we are all ready to get right back into it! Setting the alarm for 5 to get up and do our shapers before work. Our calves are so sore from all the exercise on Friday and Saturday that it has been painful to walk. Hopefully some of the pain is relieved by tomorrow morning - better yet tomorrow night for our shr...

Yesterday before we left I jumped on the scale. Another 1.5 lost. I know I shouldn't weigh myself in that often but I just couldn't help it. Plus, since we'll be at the House of El until tonight, I knew that we wouldn't be home for the Saturday morning weigh in. I promise I won't weigh myself again until one week from today. Anyway - total weight loss so far is 8.5!

Major score! Superman's sister purchased the entire Turbo Jam package a while ago. Never used it. It's still in its original packaging for the most part! You know what that means, I get to try it out! :D (Superman will probably get to try it out too haha) I need to find a schedule for it somewhere online.

Well, since we were going to Superman's parents' house today we were driving when we were normally doing our cardio shredders. (I'm not sure if you would call it the house of El or the Kents' house) By the time we got there it was dark out and we didn't want to get bit up by mosquitos, so we decided to forgo the jog and do Shaun T's Rocking Body video. We did the video with his sister as well. It was a lot of fun! I feel pretty bad that we didn't run. We'll have to push ourselves extra hard tomorrow! One thing to be happy about though is I did the entire video to its full extent. The jumping and everything. I'm pretty proud of myself!

After determining our meals for next week I put the ingredients we need into my handy app so Sunday morning will be a breeze!

Just made our meal schedule for next week. Yum!

I don't think I've ever posted a picture of myself. This picture was taken at dinner one night at Dragon*Con. Could be a good "before" picture? Hello!

Snoring. I know it's not pleasant for Superman. He's such a sweetheart and says that it doesn't bother him, but I'd rather be quiet for him while I'm sleeping since he's right next to me. I didn't snore when I weighed less. I can't wait until I'm thin enough to not snore anymore.

It looks like I've been slacking on posting about/pictures of my meals today, so here we go! Turkey Lettuce Taco Mix This was lunch yesterday. It was the same dish that we chose on our other low carb day. It is really simple to put together - lettuce, ground turkey (we premade a bunch of it Sunday night), fat free shredded cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, and salsa. Pretty good. Definitely one that will be in a weekly rotation. Even though we both enjoy salsa, I think Superman and I could get sick of it eventually. It seems like a lot of the meals that Chris recommends have salsa as a "flavor" to enhance blander foods. I understand the reasoning behind salsa - it's low calorie, made of vegetables, and generally delicious. The flavor could just get old, like anything else if eaten in abundance. I think that's one of the reasons I have failed at weight loss in the past. Eating the same things over and over again (just salads for lunch for example) with no ...

With all of our cardio that Superman and I have been doing we have decided to start trying to participate in 5Ks. A few weeks ago we signed up for this event called the  Reindeer Run .  A few months ago I was supposed to participate with Superman in another 5k through the Track Shack called the Corporate 5k. I ended up having class that night that I couldn't skip unfortunately. Really, who schedules a 5k on a Thursday night anyway? How freakin' cute would that be? Anyway, this 5k is going to be on Saturday, December 15 - we'll be running through SEA WORLD. They encourage holiday costumes; it sounds like a lot of fun! Maybe Superman and I will dress up like elves - or Mr. and Mrs. Claus (um, I think not, nevermind - not Mr. and Mrs. Kringle) - there are all kinds of fun and creative options. Maybe I will post pictures when the time comes. Any ideas on costumes? The event will be supporting The Walt Disney Pavilion at the Florida Hospital for Children. There will al...

Just got back home from our cardio/shredders (ate dinner too once we got home, etc.). Today I pushed myself harder than I ever have before. Normally for the first week Chris suggests doing 5 of the six minute shredders (I think I mentioned this in a post before, but a shredder for me is three minutes of walking, two minutes of walking faster, and one minute of jogging/running). Today we not only did that (and I wasn't all that out of breath like usual), but I surprised Superman by starting to run again two minutes after our last jog and then stopping. Then I further surprised him by running to this long flight of stairs and running up them (We also ran in the parking lot to the car, too. Probably not the safest idea in the world, but we really hauled it all the way to the car). Superman said that he has never seen so energetic before. That made me feel pretty good :) I think that maybe the extra energy may have had to do with today being a high carb day on the carb cycle. So toda...

I feel so domestic right now. As Superman and I discover different items we need to get at the grocery store this Sunday I've been recording them on this app. I'm super excited by this. You enter the name of the food, the amount you need, and the category and it groups it together. I'm normally pretty resistant to using my phone for lists. I like writing things down with pen and paper. This may change my mind as far as grocery shopping goes! I attached a screen shot of the app to the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

A few weeks ago Groupon was having a special for the "Deluxe" edition of Shaun T's Rocking Body workout DVDs. This "deluxe" edition also came with his Hip Hop Abs video. A regular package came with his entire program of Rocking Body, and then there was the deluxe one that also included the abs video, so I thought why not get the Deluxe one if it's the same price? (This is a whole other story, but a few days after I purchased the video Groupon sent me a message saying that sorry for the confusion but the Deluxe package DID NOT include the regular package - that it only included two of the Rocking Body videos along with the Abs video while the Deluxe video was nine workouts. Of course Groupon said that the other package was still available! That made me a little angry, but whatever - it was only $20 compared to how much it would have cost to buy it directly from BeachBody.) Today I finally tried out the Hip Hop Abs video. It was so much fun! I really enjoy...

7 pounds lost since Dragon*Con! Woohoo!

Have you ever wanted something so badly you feel like you'd do pretty much anything to get it? As days pass on this diet I very much feel that "you make your own destiny" - or however that quote goes.  How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is. - Karl Wilhelm von Humboldt  I kind of feel that way about my body and profession. I have to take the reins on both.

For a mid morning snack today we had 1 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup granola, and stevia to taste. At lunch time we had a chicken stir fry consisting of chicken, brown rice, mushrooms, broccoli, and green beans. It was quite delicious. Late afternoon snack was a tuna sandwich. (Today is a high carb day after all) When Superman and I got home we immediately went out and did our cardio. It seems like it's getting easier. Well, easier than last night anyway. Last night I was huffing and puffing in the middle of the third interval. For dinner we had a dish called Mediterranean Turkey. This consisted of ground turkey, tomatoes, mushrooms, brown rice, cauliflower and broccoli. This was seasoned with Mrs. Dash and a tablespoon of hummus. Delicious. I didn't manage to take a picture of it. I will next time. Off to watch Buffy! Have to get to bed pretty early for our morning exercise. Goodnight, world!

As I'm sitting here drinking my gallon of water all I can think of is if I am spending all this time drinking this water this morning I can surely stick to eating the meals and only the meals for the rest of the day - AND exercise later. My water jug! I feel like maybe I should decorate it. Maybe two more of my large Orlando Magic glasses left.... almost there! On a side note, Chris suggests in his book to take 10 gulps/sips of water at a time to ensure that you get all your water in, and breathing through your NOSE while doing so.

Over the weekend Superman and I purchased Chris Powell's book Choose to Lose . Sunday while Superman was watching football I devoured it. I read that thing pretty much from front to back. We started yesterday morning on this new plan. In his book, Powell suggests Seven Day Carb-Cycling with one of the seven days being a free day (or a high carb day). He recommends drinking one (1) gallon of water per day, interval training cardio six days a week, and strength training (different variations of squats, sit ups, and push ups) three days a week. Also, instead of eating three meals a day, he says to eat five with smaller calorie portions (not large meals five times a day) to keep the metabolic furnace burning! Yesterday was our first low carb day. Sunday night we prepared our meals for the day.  Even though days rotate from being low carb to high carb, every morning is a higher-carb breakfast. Yesterday morning we had a breakfast sandwich. Breakfast Sandwich - and on a footba...

Sorry, haven't posted in a while. My recent trip to Atlanta for Dragon*Con had me a little off track. It was a great experience (especially since it was Superman's first time), so I don't regret getting a little off track. A little bit about that... We arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday night - ran into Richard Hatch at the Marriott bar - that was incredibly cool. Stayed until early Monday morning. Between those times we saw many panels... among them we saw Stan Lee, Adam West and Burt Ward, the actors from BSG, Warehouse 13, Firefly, Buffy/Angel, and Eureka. It was a great weekend. This was my fifth year that I attended and I don't think I've ever went to so many panels before except for maybe my first year which was 2008. I look forward to returning next year! On a side note, we stayed on the 8th floor of the Hilton and took the stairs up and down every time we went anywhere. My legs were killing me by Saturday afternoon.

Hello universe! Oops, I didn't mean this universe. I think you know what I meant. Well, today was day three of Slim in 6. I am not nearly as sore today, so if I need to chase down a villain I won't be hobbling along like I was yesterday. I feel like I have more energy than I did before. Normally when I get home from job (my undercover job to keep humanity fooled into thinking I'm anything but super) I'm ready to go to sleep, but tonight I made a delicious BBQ Chicken casserole from Hungry Girl (don't worry I'll get to that later in the post) and then did the HIIT 20 workout from Chalene Johnson's program, Turbofire, and the Slim and Limber video that came with Slim in 6.  Okay, to the main event  of the evening. HUNGRY GIRL'S BBQ CHICKEN CORNBREAD CASSEROLE IS AMAZING. Superman is actually eating his second helping right now and called it "awesome." Yep, that's it. Delicious. I ngredients: 1 lb. raw boneless ...

Ooh - he needs one of these! Last night that Superman-o-mine got home early before I did to grill these healthy burgers that we had been talking about making all day.  He tried and succeeded in having them finished by the time I got home so we would have to go out for a walk. We didn't walk very long since a storm was about to catch us, but it was nice to get my feet moving after sitting all day at work. On a side note we have been working on purchasing items for our future Disney-themed-amazing kitchen, so on our walk we purchased our first two items! I'm very content with our purchases. That's a Mickey Mouse whisk and pasta server. Anyway, this recipe we were so adamant about making in my opinion was delicious. We ended up changing it a little bit from the original on the Health.com website.  Here is a link to the original  burgers . These burgers were originally supposed to be chicken burgers, however we couldn't find ground chicken at o...

BAM! Check out those muscles - or guns I should say... (Ah ha - hopefully you've noticed the reflection) Today was officially day 2 of the first phase of Slim in 6 for me. Particularly my legs are S-O-R-E. So far I am loving the video even though I'm only on the "Start It Up!" one. My only issue is the lack of background music. I wish there was SOMETHING playing. At 5am at my house all is quiet except for the sounds of my knee cracking and the heavy breathing that comes along with an elevated heart rate.   Slim in 6 Infomercial I have tried multiple exercise videos over the years (most recently I have been doing Zumba occasionally) - the exercise community is so focused on overly intense workouts *coughs* P90X *coughs*. What about those of us that need to gain strength before attempting something so intense? There seems to be an attitude lately that you have to exercise until you throw up for it to be an effective workout. I hope tha...

Ready for the big reveal? Hello good citizens of earth. Or other places (Hello out there! Do you exist? I hope you do!). Anyway, I'm a 20-something living in Florida with my wonderful boyfriend (he's Superman in my opinion). I just graduated from a big university with a BA in English. Still trying to figure out where all those years of hard work will lead me... life is certainly an epic journey.  I love stories in all forms of media - books, comics, television, movies, videos games, etc. For the past five or so years I've been attending comic book / pop culture conventions. My favorite convention I attend religiously is Dragon*Con. I enjoy letting my "geek flag" fly.  Yep, Wonder Woman. My intent for this blog is to track my success of going from plain old (this will be my alias for purposes of keeping my  anonymity  on this blog for now) Elle to Wonder Woman.   Yes, that's right. Another weight loss / amazing transformation blog! Wh...