flashback friday round thirteen.

friday! finally.  i know i tend to say “this week was really long” a lot of times.. but this time i really mean it when i say this week was reeeaalllly long! i logged all my hours for the pay period by the end of my day wednesday.. too bad i couldn’t take thursday and today off, eh? ;)

well i didn’t post last night~keeping up with my schedule to skip thursday nights and post earlier in the day friday. i like it, hope you do too.

in addition to flashback friday, i have a few other things i want to talk about so i will give you a brief rundown of thursday’s meals & moves and also what i have shoved my face with today!

thursday.

meal 1: protein oatmeal @ 9:30 AM

wow, i hadn’t had oatmeal in ages.  i have been relying on greek yogurt messes every morning lately so it was nice to have a warm breakfast for a change.  i made it my usual way.. on the stovetop and then added a scoop of vanilla protein powder and ridiculous amounts of cinnamon in at the end.. topped with a spoonful of mighty maple.

meal 2: leftovers! @ 1:00 PM

pumpkin chili & golden corn vitatop. what is it about chili that makes the leftovers taste even better than the first time?  maybe all the flavors have more time to meld together.. this was incredible.  i made a lot in my slow cooker the other day, but my roomie and boyf have been eating it so this is the only leftovers i got from the batch! i will have to make another soon. i am thinking a white bean chili would win at life.

meal 3: protein mocha @ 5:00 PM

i drank this protein shake as i was leaving work and heading to the gym for my weight sesh.

upper body workout!

• 5 min warmup on elliptical
• incline dumbbell chest press: 12 @ 25#, 10 @ 30#, 8 @ 35#, 6 @ 40# (50 ball crunches between sets~total 200 crunches), 12 @ 30# no rest:
• incline dumbbell flyes: 12 @ 20#
• overhead cable tricep extension: 12 @ 30#, 10 @ 35#, 8 @ 40#, 6 @ 45# (30 seconds of jumping jacks between sets~total 2 minutes), 12 @ 35# no rest:
• tricep cable pulldowns: 12 @ 20#
• single arm dumbbell rows: (each arm): 12 @ 17.5# 10 @ 20#, 8 @ 22.5#, 6 @ 25# (20 bench tuck crunches between sets~total 80 tuck crunches), 12 @ 17.5# no rest:
• reverse flyes w/ dumbbells: 12 @ 20#
• seated overhead dumbbell press: 12 @ 20#, 10 @ 30#, 8 @ 35#, 6 @ 40#<—hard! (20 10# weighted oblique twist crunches on ball between sets~total 80 crunches), 12 @ 20# no rest:
• standing upright dumbbell rows: 12 @ 20#
• bicep cable curls: 12 @ 25#, 10 @ 30#, 8 @ 35#, 6 @ 40# (10 dumbbell butterflies w/ 16# between sets, total 40 reps), 12 @ 30# no rest:
• dumbbell hammer curls: 12 @ 16#
• YTWLs: 5 sets of each letter holding 3# dumbbell in each hand

the end!

i wasn’t too hungry last night for some reason so i kept dinner on the lighter side.

meal 4: TJ’s nut mix & greek yogurt mess @ 8:30 PM

i am i love with this nut mix. danica was the first to send it to me and now i purchase it every time i am in california at a TJs!

for my yogurt mess i used some swag from the foodbuzz fest~ frog hollow farm granola, and some oikos.. my very favorite brand of greek yogurt!

i also drizzled some of the bulgarian peanut butter that tina sent me on top… this peanut butter is DELICIOUS! thanks again tina <3

crappy photo, my apologies!

mmmmk so moving on.. to today!

friday.

breakfast was on the go because my boss had errands to run and needed me to tag along.. i did manage to get a REALLY fantastic new gadget.. i am picking it up tomorrow, stay tuned! i am so excited!!

meal 1: protein shake @ 9:00 AM

we were running around for a few hours and this did NOT hold me over long enough. by the time i was back to the office i immediately made lunch!

meal 2: egg+turkey+laughing cow sandwich @ 12:30 PM

don’t let the looks fool you. this was delectable.  on the left i had 2 cage free egg whites+1 whole egg scrambled with 1 wedge of laughing cow cheese atop a slice of nature’s path 100% whole wheat bread.  on the right i had another slice of the whole wheat bread with 3 slices of all natural turkey and annie’s organic ketchup. yep, yum.

have NOT drank enough water today.. hold please, while i go fill up the old water bottle!

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ok i am back! time for flashback friday! soo.. a year ago (tomorrow) my mom and i went to have our final photos taken for our body for life challenge~i actually have a whole page about this, you can see it here.

a friend of mine was gracious enough to offer to do some professional photos for us in his home.  penelope was brand new and so i took her along and she ended up posing for a few photos with us as well :)

i have mixed feelings about this flashback friday.  on one hand i am thrilled and proud of my mom and i for kicking so much butt this time last year.  on the other hand, i am mad at myself for letting myself go at the beginning of 2009.  so, while i feel a sense of accomplishment when looking back at these photos, i still feel a tinge of disappointment when i see them.

BUT.. for the most part, i am proud.  if you asked me that a few months ago, i would say the photos just made me miserable to look at.  since then, i have gotten back on track and am close to looking like i do in these photos.  that makes me smile.

what else makes me smile is realizing the lesson i’ve learned this past year.  maintaining takes work.

here is what happened.. august 2008 my mom and i started body for life. we got our body fat tested and were a tad discouraged with the results.

we were strict, by the book, only one or two cheats maybe.. if that. we checked out body fat again halfway through the challenge.  the numbers were changing.  the fat was going down and the lean muscle was going up. it was working :)

november 2008 we couldn’t believe our success when we got our final body fat composition testing done.  like.. WOW.. we did it! and it was not hard.  we ate 6 times a day.. were ALWAYS full, never hungry, we were happy and healthy.. loved every day of the challenge and loved every bit of success.

it is safe to say i had never felt better about myself than i did in these photos. ever. i was finally comfortable in my own skin.

then the holidays hit. “we will take the holidays off and start a new challenge january 5th”  we said. hmm.. yeah, we did start a new challenge, but we were definitely not as hell bent or hardcore about it.  we had already achieved our “goal weight” and so we were lenient—maybe TOO lenient—with the second body for life challenge.

well, then i got food poisoning. then i got sick. then i went to california. then i got sick again. then i went to mexico. then i got my tonsils out. then summer came. then this, then that.. point being, i was not watching what i ate close enough.. sure, i was eating healthy.  but i was taking too many free meals and eating too large of portions.. sure, healthy food is good for you, but too much of a good thing WILL lead to weight gain.  and so will lack of working out.

if you’ve been a long time reader you will remember when i had a few breakdowns about my weight gain. why could i not just FOCUS?  why could i not have the diligence and determination that i had the first time around?  i still cannot answer that question.

but i will say this: you can either slowly work toward your goal or you can slowly work away from it. sometime around august of this year i put my foot down and reversed my direction.  for nearly nine months i was getting further and further from my goal weight.. and i was getting heavier and more unhappy as time ticked by.  since august, i have slowly worked toward becoming comfortable in my own skin once again.  no, it has not happened in 12 short weeks like it did in 2008.  but i have been gaining muscle and losing fat at a steady pace.  my “skinny” jeans fit again and i am almost to the point where i can wear a bikini and feel confident.

i have a little over two months before i hit the beaches in jamaica.  and i can promise you this: i will be back to my happy weight.

i now use these photos as motivators.. i know i can do it, ive been there before. all it takes is some self control and hard work.  i am my own worst enemy but i am also my own biggest fan.  i just am glad i have the right mind set and am not criticizing myself when i see these photos now.. instead, i am reassuring myself that this will be me again come february!

aside from the whole body weight issue talk above, i also think of something else every time i see these photos. i love my mom.  she is my hero and my best friend.  she is a busy lady and she stuck to the challenge day in and day out. she was by my side the whole time, we were constantly on the phone supporting each other.  i know i could not have done this without her.

side note: my mom posted a really rad guest post HERE. she did not fall off the wagon like i did.. and kept her weight down the whole time.. and now does not have the same issues as i do. good job mom!

looking at these photos reminds me of how much fun i had with my mom while doing this challenge.  we always have fun together but this time we were getting healthier and doing ourselves a favor~it made it so fantastic!!

i know i rave about my mom a lot.. but i am not exaggerating when i say i would die without her!!!

we got a little goofy in these ones.. but it was a lot of fun and we felt so happy to be done with our challenge.. we were all smiles!

here are a few more randoms, sorry if it is photo overload but there were like 200 to pick from!~

it is strange.. some people get motivation from looking at other people. at actresses or fitness models. maybe from other women at the gym.  not me.

i get motivation from where i once was.. because i know it is physically possible for me to be there again.  no reason for me to pull motivation from the superstar bods i see in oxygen magazine because everyone is different and i will never have long, lean legs.  i will always have a bumpy abdomen. i won’t ever be able to achieve certain features because it is just not in the cards for my body type.  and i have realized this and i don’t get envious or jealous of other women like i used to.  i have come to terms with my body type and now i just strive to be the best janetha i can be.  and so, obviously, my motivation comes from looking at photos of me when i was at my best.

i highly suggest this method.  it helped me with jealousy issues i once had when i was younger.  i now know there is no point in jealousy, it only makes you miserable.  and when you get motivation from your former self instead of from looking at other people, you definitely do NOT feel jealous (how can you be jealous of yourself? you can’t.) instead, you feel empowered.. motivated.. inspired.

so there you have it. my motivation. and my two cents. thanks for reading!

did you participate in flashback friday? let me know and i will link back to your post!

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so.. that ended up a lot longer than i expected! i will save my other cool stuff to talk about for my next post.  right now, i have to go meet the exterminator! he is going to tell those spiders in my bedroom who is boss :D

i hope you all have a glorious weekend.  relax, eat some yummy food and pray for snow!!!!

Qs~

1. what foods do you think taste better as leftovers? in addition to my chili, i also think any italian, thai and chinese foods taste really good leftover!! hmm basically any type of noodle dish come to think of it…

2. what is on your agenda this weekend? tell me, i really want to hear your plans! i am going to attempt a compound workout saturday and go snowboarding sunday :)

xo. janetha b.