2531713440 207a191589 Losing the Baby Weight Series (Week 11): The Chance Of a Lifetime

This was an important week for me.  On Monday I received a phone call that would change the course of my entire week.  I was assigned a huge project – so huge that the results of it could literally change my life.  Because of the impact I knew this could have, I dropped everything that I had to do that week to focus on that.  That, of course, included exercise.  As soon as I got off of the phone on Monday, I went to work.  And I researched, studied, and put together my project because I had only one week to get it done.  This type of project could easily take at least one month, but I had to do it in seven days.

One of the most immediate and lasting side effects of working on this project was that I hardly slept.  I did not have time to sleep!  This needed to get done, so the majority of nights I got less than four hours of sleep.  There were a couple of nights where I only slept two hours.  If this had happened as a result of any other circumstances, I could have easily had a nervous breakdown.  But the fact that something really good could come out of this was the driving force behind the determination I had to get this done.

Now that I am finished, I have to endure the agony of waiting to hear back from the team I had to turn my project into.  If things go in my favor, it will be a huge blessing.  If they don’t, it will certainly sting.  As for going a whole week with hardly any sleep, you can bet that that affected my ability to take care of myself.  I was sometimes so busy that I did not eat like I should have, and the lack of sleep made having to tend to my responsibilities unbearable at times.  By Sunday night, I was starting to experience mild hallucinations.  On two separate occasions, I saw a rat scurrying along the floor and about had a heart attack.  Only there was no rat.  I knew then that my sleep deprivation was finally starting to catch up with me, but I was going to use whatever time I had left to work on my project, so I kept at it until 4:30am this morning and had to be up by 6:30am!

Needless to say, I am walking around like a zombie right now.  But with a house full of kids and chores awaiting me, I cannot just sink my head into a blissful pillow and let my blankets cover me with their soothing warmth.  No, I must get through my day and count down the hours when I will get to sleep again.

Don’t miss out on this series! You can read all of the posts in Losing the Baby Weight right here.

Recommended Reading:

Too Tired to Exercise – let’s face it:  we’ve all been there.  Here I share my fears after I had my fourth baby.

My Most Suspenseful Post Yet – If I told you what this post was about, it would cease to be suspenseful!  Therefore, you will just have to read it to find out.

Photo Credit

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Win a Year’s Supply of Zone Perfect Bars!

by Vanessa on July 29, 2011

in Diet

win a years supply contest Win a Years Supply of Zone Perfect Bars!

Snacking on protein bars is a great way to start shedding those pesky pounds. One of my favorite brands, Zone Perfect, is giving away a year’s supply of bars!  These high-protein treats are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth while helping you lose weight.  I buy these regularly!  One of the things I love about them is that they follow a 40:30:30 eating plan.  That is, 40% of the calories come from carbohydrates, 30% come from protein, and the remaining 30% come from fat.  You need all three of these components to lose weight – and research has shown the 40:30:30 ratio to be very effective.

Now you have a chance to win a year’s supply!  Here’s how:

  • Enter the contest here.  If you do not have an account, you will need to register.  The process is really pretty painless.  Since I already had an account, I just signed in on the page I gave you, and voila!  I was entered to win!  The winner will be notified by email and will have 10 days to respond or forfeit their prize.

Wait ’till you hear what they consider a year’s supply!  The winner will receive three boxes of bars – you choose the flavors.  How many bars are in each box?  144.  You heard me right.  144!  That quantity carries a value of nearly $186.  But you’ll get three boxes totaling 432 bars, at a value of more than $555!  If you actually consumed all of them in a single year, you would get to eat 36 bars per month.  So there would be a few days in the month where you could have more than one bar per day.

I thought a grand prize of 432 bars sounded too good to be true, so I called them to confirm what was stated in the Official Rules.  A totally cool guy answered the phone and assured me that my eyesight was right on.  So now that we have a confirmation, head on over there for your chance to win!

There are two sweepstakes periods left in this contest.  Only one entry per person is allowed per sweepstakes.  So if you enter the current sweepstakes and do not win, you are free to enter the next one.

Periodic Sweepstakes Start Date (on or about) 12:00 AM Eastern Time End Date as of 11:59 PM Eastern Time Drawing Date (on or about) Notification Date (on or about)
#3 07-20-11 10-21-11 10-28-11 11-10-11
#4 11-10-11 01-20-12 01-27-12 02-09-12

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kickbox bootcamp Losing the Baby Weight Series (Week 10): How a Broom Can Be a Substitute For Workout Gear

After last week’s shocking revelation, I made exercise a priority this week.  And it was hard to do that.  The time I spent exercising was time I could have used to organize my coupons, so I got behind in that area.  I think the best thing for me to do would be to workout first thing in the morning – even really early in the day – just to get it out of the way.  At least that way, I would get exercise accomplished first thing and would not have to worry about it the rest of the day.  The problem though, is that I am not a morning person, and I tend to go to bed late as it is.  So I’ll see what I can do to start adjusting my schedule.

The workouts I did this week came from Netflix.  Overall, I felt I had a pretty productive week.  Here is what I did:

Day 1 – Strength Training

It might have actually done me some good that I went a whole week without exercising.  My body had plenty of time to recover.  The past few weeks I have been exercising my body has been fatigued to the point where I am not giving the workout my all.  But this week, I started off with a bang, and was able to give this workout 100 percent.  I picked one that looked hard.  Trainer’s Edge – Killer Abs and Back  Losing the Baby Weight Series (Week 10): How a Broom Can Be a Substitute For Workout Gear with Michael Olajide was a fantastic workout!

This definitely pushed me.  But I was able to get through the dozens and dozens of ab exercises (mostly) just fine.  I could tell that my abdominal muscles have gotten stronger, as I was able to put more effort into these exercises than I have in the past.  Michael uses two things I did not have: a body bar Losing the Baby Weight Series (Week 10): How a Broom Can Be a Substitute For Workout Gear and jump rope.  Instead of a body bar, I used a broom.  This worked out great, because he only has you use the body bar for balance while you do standing oblique crunches.  As for the jump rope – that segment kicked my butt, and I doubt I actually would have been able to get through it had I used a jump rope.

Day 2 – Strength Training

Anytime I see the word “Bootcamp” I get excited.  The word carries with it the connotation that you’ll be drilled like you are training to be a Navy Seal.  Or you’ll undergo top-secret training routines to prepare you for your Bourne Identity mission.  This workout did not teach me how to dodge bullets or exterminate my opponent with a single move using only my hand, but it did make me work.

10 Minute Solution – Kickbox Bootcamp Losing the Baby Weight Series (Week 10): How a Broom Can Be a Substitute For Workout Gear featured five 10-minute workouts with Keli Roberts, each one targeting a specific area.  I did all of them.  This is the first time I have seen a workout video that featured only the instructor.  There were no backup exercisers, where there is usually at least one that does a modified version of every exercise.  Keli never gives you that option.  Perhaps that is so you get the complete exposure to what a bootcamp would be like.

Day 3 – Cardio

I nearly skipped doing a workout because I had so much going on.  With grocery shopping to do and dinner to prepare, I opted for a really short workout.  Dance Off the Inches – 15 Minute Express Losing the Baby Weight Series (Week 10): How a Broom Can Be a Substitute For Workout Gear was a short workout indeed.  I hardly felt like I did anything.  Some of the dance moves had me lost – I was unable to keep up with them because there were times when the instructor moved really fast.  As with every dance workout video I have done thus far, the music was non-motivating and totally not worth dancing to.

Day 4 – Strength Training

This was a fun family outing and a workout all in one.  We went swimming!  Once I played in the water with the kids for awhile, I started doing some laps.  Back and forth I went, really working on my form to make it look like I was a pro.  Of course, I did not look like one, but I was able to do the front crawl and backstroke using relatively decent form.  I could feel my arms and core working, and I kept going until I was out of breath.  Then I did it again.  And again.  I made use of the water, that’s for sure.  And it felt so great.  It was a perfect way to exercise in this sweltering heat!

I consider this week a success.  I felt stronger during the workouts I did, so I felt like I got more out of them because I was using more strength and better form to do them.  I also was not embarrassed to put my bathing suit on, because after the last time I tried it on, I started working extra hard on my abdominals and increasing my protein intake.  I am going to give you an update soon on how my weight has progressed since I started this series.  I just have to figure out how I am going to do that because Zachary dripped water all over the camera when we went swimming and now it does not work!

Don’t miss out on this series! You can read all of the posts in Losing the Baby Weight right here.

Recommended Reading:

No Time to Exercise?  Solution: The 5-Minute Workout – Shhh.  Don’t tell anyone I have worked out in a public bathroom.  Not a soul!  This is just between you and me.

How An Argument With Experts Shaped My Weight-Loss Attitude – Read the hilarious account of my altercation with dimwits experts and how that helped me drop seven sizes.

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Just For the Taste of It: A Diet Coke Review

by Vanessa on July 24, 2011

in Diet

Coca Cola Just For the Taste of It: A Diet Coke Review

When John Pemberton, a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia, created a concoction in 1886, he likely never imagined the enterprise that his drink would become.  Coca-Cola is now recognized all over the world, selling 1.7 billion beverages a day.  Coca-Cola even has its own museum, World of Coca-Cola, where you can sample over 60 different coke beverages from around the world and watch a thrilling 4-D movie featuring an eccentric scientist and his assistant on a quest to uncover the secret formula for Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola is most famous for Coke, but they have other beverages too – some of them specific to certain parts of the world.  I tried several of them, and they were… different… some in a this-is-tasty way; others in a where-can-I-spit-this-out way.  Oh, and guess who is at the museum ready to take a picture with you?  The famous Coca-Cola polar bear!  He is just too adorable for words!  Atlanta was definitely one of my more favorite places I went to in college, and visiting the World of Coca-Cola was a real treat.

I thought it would be good to look into their different diet drinks.  I did this mainly for your information, as I am not a diet drink kind of person.  Personally, I think diet drinks have an awful aftertaste – so they tend to get a stamp of disapproval in my book before I ever try them.   But just for you – and the fact that Dillons (Kroger) had 2-liter Coca-Cola drinks on sale for $0.88 each – I decided to taste them and let you know what I think.

I did not try all five drinks at once because I wanted to be able to distinguish the differences between them.  To ensure that my taste buds did not get confused, I divided my experiment into three days.

Day 1 – Cherry Coke and Cherry Coke Zero

Cherry Coke was fine, considering I have not had a soda in months.  When I get serious about losing weight, soda is one of the first things to go from my diet.  Every time I abstain from soda for awhile and then try it again, it actually does not taste that great.  In fact, it almost feels like it is burning my esophagus.  As a child I remember watching my uncle pour a can of Coke on a battery in his car as he explained that the acids in the Coke would clean the battery corrosion.  And we drink this stuff!

Cherry Coke Zero had a noticeably different taste.  You can still taste the cherry flavor but it has a distinct diet aftertaste.  It actually was not bad.  It seemed like it had more sugar in it, yet the nutrition label refutes that.  Still, if I had to choose between Cherry Coke and Cherry Coke Zero, Zero would stay on the store shelf – even if it was on sale.

Day 2 – Coke and Diet Coke

Coke used to be my favorite soda.  I even thought that Pepsi tasted terrible.  Then something changed all of that: my second pregnancy.   I do not have an explanation for how my pregnancy put an end to my Coke-loving days and replaced them with a drink I used to despise, but it did.  When I was pregnant with Zachary I craved Pepsi like you would not believe.  How could I crave something I did not like?  Now there’s a project for all of the would-be scientists!  During my fourth pregnancy, I craved Coke.  Weird.  While I like them both now, I have a strong gravitational pull towards Pepsi.

I have never liked Diet Coke.  It does not taste like coke, and the bad aftertaste that comes with it is so strong that it leaves me regretting the fact that I took a sip in the first place.  But I know there are some people who love it, and it certainly provides a great alternative to regular Coke, because it – like the rest of the diet Cola drinks – does not contain any calories.  Just a bunch of aspartame.

Day 3 – Coke and Coke Zero

After I took a sip of Coke, I tried Coke Zero.  To my surprise, Coke Zero was closer in taste to Coke than Diet Coke was and the aftertaste was not near as strong, but it sill has a distinct aftertaste that makes it different from Coke.  I wondered what the difference was between Diet Coke and Coke Zero, and thankfully, Coca-Cola provides the answer: Coke Zero is sweetened differently than Diet Coke and is meant to taste more like Coke.  That coincides with my findings!  Coca-Cola says that Diet Coke is sweetened with aspartame and Coke Zero has low-calorie sweeteners in it, but the ingredients listed on the Coke Zero bottle still include aspartame.

I am happy to report that I have not had any soda since I conducted my review.  Water is just tasting so good these days!  If you absolutely have to have soda in your diet, consider replacing a regular drink with a diet one.  One 12-ounce can of coke has 140 calories.  Replace that with a diet coke and you drop that down to zero calories.

I am curious to see which is your favorite Coca-Cola drink.  (If you are a huge Pepsi fan, you will get your own poll to participate in some day.  When I write a post about it, that is).  So enter your vote in and see how it compares with everyone else!

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This may come as a shock to you.  Therefore, I recommend you brace yourself for news that will leave you astonished, if not speechless.  And you must promise never to repeat what I am about to tell you.  Not because it is a secret, but because having a fitness blog means that I should be some sort of role model.  I try to do that.  And I love that I have successfully helped some of my friends shed their unwanted pounds.  But to go blabbing this week’s announcement would serve you no purpose other than to blab.  And it does not merit that much attention anyway, because this will be a first occurrence for me since I began this series.

So what is it anyway?  What on earth could be the cause of such great anticipation  (I know the suspense is eating away at you… I can see it!).  Can you wait just a little while longer before I tell you?  Be patient, if you can bare it.  If your insides are jumbling with suspense, then I suppose I will just have to put you out of your misery.  So here goes:  I did not…

Wait.  Before I tell you, I just want to share with you Fabi’s lovely birthday cake from her party this week:

Fabi front cake Losing the Baby Weight Series (Week 9): I May Regret Telling You This

Check out the back of the cake:

Fabi back cake Losing the Baby Weight Series (Week 9): I May Regret Telling You This

Now that I’ve shown you pictures of the cake, I know exactly what you’re thinking.  You think I ate enough cake to leave me bedridden for days, don’t you?  Hate to break it to you, but that is not true at all.  In fact, I didn’t even have a single piece.  The truth is, this cake is still sitting in our refrigerator untouched because I have not figured out how to cut into it.  I mean, do I slice off Barbie’s upper body, and traumatize Fabi in the process?  I’m not sure what to do on that.

I did, however, help myself to a slice of Curtis’ cake.  His birthday is just a few days away from Fabi’s, so they get to celebrate together every year.  Curtis loves to garden – thus the gardening theme.  And I am 100% responsible for picking out the candle.  It says, “30 – 18 with 12 years experience.”

Curtis cake Losing the Baby Weight Series (Week 9): I May Regret Telling You This

So this week I planned for two birthday parties in one, did so much “spring cleaning” that I seriously think the American Council on Exercise should consider cleaning a viable form of exercise, AND I was busy helping Lennon prepare for his performance that concluded his summer camp.

Are these excuses for why I did not exercise at all this week?  Far from it.  I longed to exercise.  I wanted to stop what I was doing and do a cardio or strength training workout.  I even fantasized about running on a trail at a nature center where I could see an eagle and an 150-year-old tortoise along the way.  But I did none of that.  I did not exercise!  (Please take a moment to get your bearings before continuing).

Why didn’t I exercise?  Well, I really was busy for one.  And I was tired.  And there were some moments where I just did not want to.  (I am pausing long enough for everyone to gasp).  ::PAUSE::  So there you have it.  Some role model I turned out to be.  But, if it makes you feel any better, my diet was fabulous this week.  I snacked on watermelon, made myself protein smoothies, and ate deliciously healthy meals.

In my experience, your diet plays a much bigger role in your body’s ability to lose weight and keep it off than exercise does.  So while I regret that I did not exercise this week, I don’t feel so bad about it because I know my diet was good.  As for a new week ahead of me, I hereby solemnly swear to at least attempt to exercise.

Don’t miss out on this series! You can read all of the posts in Losing the Baby Weight right here.

Recommended Reading:

Want to Have An Amazing Body?  See the workout I did by Ellen Barrett.

Feel Like Running With a Celebrity?  Then join Heidi Klum as she runs miles every day and blogs about it!

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