Falling off the Wagon

Yesterday was a disaster.

I had an early breakfast meeting so I got up and did a short

Zumba workout.  I was coming home and figured I would

get in my Insanity workout after work.

My food choices at breakfast were great.  Lots of protein,

not much fat or carbs.  Then four hours of sitting in another

meeting.  During the break I grabbed a protein bar.

Doing great so far.

Time to drive home.  I grabbed a big bottle of water because I hadn't

drank enough and ate a couple of high carb snacks I had.

(They were all I had left of the food I packed)

Macros (protein, carbs, and fat) weren't too bad but I was low in

the calorie department and I knew it was going to get worse

after my Insanity workout.

Made it back to work and finished out the day in the office.

No baseball practice for hubby because it had

decided to rain most of the day. 

I still planned to get my workout in and I had planned

out my food for the rest of the night to make sure I was pretty

close to the right macros.

Then I got home.  All motivation went right out the window.

Followed closely by my eating plan. 

I ate a high fat and high carb dinner with no extra workout.

Believe it not the world did not come to an end.

While I'm not happy with the choices I made, I'm not going

to beat myself up about it. 

It is what it is &

Tomorrow is another day

I got up this morning a little later than plan because I didn't

sleep as well as normal after that wonderful meal,

but I did workout and again have a workout planned for after work.

Tonight it will happen because I want it to 

not as punishment for yesterday.

Adjusting

Today is day three of my next round of P90x/Insanity.

I've made some adjustments this time around. 

I added some more cardio to the routine.

30 minutes (or close to it) of cardio after work.

It's a great stress relief.

I've also changed the way I'm eating.

This has been way more of a challenge than the extra cardio.

I am now trying to eat 50% of my calories from protein,

30% from carbs and 20% from fat.

As a pasta, rice and bread lover 50% of my calories

from protein cuts out a lot of my favorite foods. 

I had already cut out bread but still this is tough.

I also burn a lot of calories and that means sometimes

I am scrambling trying to figure out what to eat

to make sure I'm eating enough. 

(I'm sure you are all feeling extremely sorry for me right now)

Add traveling out of town for work to the mix

and right now I'm a little overwhelmed by food.

I'm trying to remember that this is a process but as I 

sit here at the computer stuffed because I had to eat more food,

I'm not sure it's working real well.

Tomorrow I'll be home and I think that will help me a bunch.

Round One in the Books

March 31st marked the end of my first round of P90x/Insanity. 

The results were ok but not as good as I had hoped. 

I know, I know

it takes time but I'm not really

good at being patient.

There was progress.  I have to remind myself where I came from. 

This was two years ago. 

This was taken last October.

(I need a more current picture but this will do for now)

There are some noticeable changes. 

Face is slimmer, my arms are showing,

signs of progress.

Another way I've been watching progress is measurements. 

These are the areas I measure.

While I would love to have the courage to put my measurements

out here for everyone to read, I'm not there yet.

But I will share some results.

Waist - down 4 inches

Hips - down 3 inches

Chest - down 5 inches

Thigh - up 1 1/4 inches

Upper Arm - up 1 inch

(muscle as far as I'm concerned)

They might be small changes but they are changes.

On to Round Two....

The Scale

I don't use the word hate very often

but I really hate the scale. 

It is an awful way to measure progress. 

For three weeks the numbers on that silly thing were going

in the downward direction. 

Just what you want to see.

Then I got the flu, one week with no energy,

no exercise and no work.

But the scale still showed a weight loss.

Week five, back to work and exercise.

I gained two pounds.

Ok, I can live with that. 

I'm sure once I'm back into my routine

the numbers will head downward again.

Week six -

I gained another six pounds.

Really??

Six pounds in one week.

I think not.

I may have exceeded my calories a day or two

but from what I've read

you have to eat 3,500 over what's needed

to gain a pound. 

That's a lot of extra calories.

If I did overeat that much, I don't remember it.

On a happier note....

I took my measurements week one and

checked them again at the end of week four.

I've lost 2.5 inches on my hips and

1 inch on my waist.

A few final thoughts:

The scale doesn't just reveal fat loss, a loss on the scale

can be from water depletion.

Muscle is more dense than fat.  If you are working out

and building muscle you might not see the number on the

scale change much.

"Train for a look, not a number on the scale"

~Chris Shugart

From now on I'm ignoring the scale and will

use a tape measure as my new "scale"

Confession is Good for the Soul

Confession No. 1

I am a horrible blogger.  I admit it. 

I go months without posting anything and

when I do get around to posting something I wonder if it is worth it. 

I wonder why someone would take precious time from their day to read my rambling posts.

Confession No. 2

I downloaded an app for the Ipad to help me with

time management and goals.

I love it. 

I've planned out three months and

am working on the rest of the year.

Confession No. 3

I started a new exercise routine December 31st.

P90x three days a week

Insanity three days a week

It's a three month routine and

Another thing I love. 

Confession No. 4

At the end of my P90x/Insanity routine,

I'm going to do it again

but add in some time on the elliptical

I'm not sure this will be something I love

Confession No. 5

In order to get my workout in every day

I get up at 4:15 am.

In order to get up at 4:15 am I have to go to bed at 8:00 pm

Now you know how wild and crazy I am

Confession No. 6

I've set a goal to read the Standard Works in one year.

I'm in Leviticus now. 

So far so good.

Confession No. 7

I'm more excited about decorating my exercise room

than I've been about any other room in the house.

I'm not sure what that says about me.

Confession No. 8

I set a goal to pay off all our debt

(except the house) in 2 years.

Now we just have to stick with the plan.

Confession No. 9

In February Bob and I will celebrate our

25th wedding anniversary.

Hard to believe it's been that long.

I guess time flies when you are having fun.

Confession No. 10

I've added one more goal to my list.

I plan to blog at least once a week.

Hopefully no one will get tired of my ramblings.

Now you know more about me than you probably ever wanted to know, but it feels good to share.

I guess the saying is right....

Confession is Good for the Soul.

Anyone else want to join me?

     

Day 29

Today is day 29 of the 90 day P90x routine.  It's been rough, it feels a lot like when I first started.  Well maybe not exactly like that.  I can get through the entire dvd which I couldn't the first time. 

I'm just frustrated that I have lost so much.  The definition I had in my muscles in June is almost all gone.  I'm thinking that I may need to add some more cardio.  I'm not ready to go back to doing the doubles routine, but maybe I'll try to ride the elliptical three or four times during the week. We'll see.  I really just want to get back to where I was.

Diet has been a struggle.  According to the P90x diet I should be eating around 2,400 calories a day.  I'm sure I do that sometimes, like when we are traveling and we eat out a bunch.  Most days though probably not.  Today I've decided to try to hit no less than 1,800 calories and actually track what I eat.  I've been very slack in watching what I'm eating.  Time to get focused. 

Water needs to became a bigger part of my day.  I'm trying hard to make sure I drink water all day but it's so much easier to grab a can of Diet Coke.  I know it's not good for me but it's my downfall.  I'm working on drinking more water and less Coke but it's a work in progress. 

"Enjoy the journey as much as the destination."

I'm trying to remember this as I keep pushing play each morning.  Frustration gets the best of me at times but I know that I'm in the best shape of my life.  I guess I just can't be satisfied with that.  Now I want lean, defined muscles.  I guess there are are worse things to obsess about.  At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Back At It

This week has been brutal.  Last Friday we left home and flew to New York to take our son Eric to school.  Monday we flew home.  Quick, emotional, stressful trip. 

Monday also marked day one of my return to P90x.  I took about three months off because I knew we would be very busy and I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to stick with a schedule that was one hour a day, six days a week.  Boy am I paying for it now.

I am so tired and sore.  The tired part comes from the fact that Monday we got up at 2:30 am (our time) to get ready and leave for the airport.  We got home, shopped and came home.  That put my workout time at 5:30 pm.  Very, very long day.   Tuesday I was up at 4:00 am to work out and then we didn't get home till around 11:30 pm that night.  I did get some sleep in the car but it was still a long day.  Wednesday I just couldn't get up early and so I ended up working out at 7:30 pm.  But I was up this morning at 4:30 am to work out.  I am running on fumes. 

I could hardly move this morning.  Yoga only lasted about 45 minutes and there were some moves I couldn't do because my arms or legs were shaking.  All I can hope for is that next week will be better.

Some lessons are learned the hard way and this was one of them.  Next time I know my schedule will be extremely busy I will modify my workout routine so that I can continue my weight lifting.  The cardio hasn't been that tough but I also rode the elliptical off and on over these last three months.  Proof that doing something is always better than doing nothing at all.

I've set my calories to 2,000 which seems really high to me but so far I haven't had any trouble meeting the goal.  I can thank Costco and their muffins for helping me with that one.  Hopefully next week will be better for my eating habits as well as my exercise routine.

Making Some Changes

As you can see I've made some changes to my blog.  Why?  Well first of all I would like to post more consistantly.  I like to blog but lately I just haven't felt like posting any of my baking projects.  Which brings me to the other reason I made changes to my blog.  I would like to finish out 2012 focused more on diet and exercise than my baking.

I haven't stopped baking.  Now that we are settled I probably bake something once a week but it's just typical baking.  Breads, cookies, pies.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  I will have a cake to make in the near future and when I do projects like that pictures will be posted.  But since those projects are so spread out I end up not blogging for months at a time.

Exercise on the other hand is something I try to do at least three times a week.  Beginning October 1 it will be six days a week because I'm starting my third round of P90x.  That is something I can post about daily.

Diet, now this is a struggle.  I'm not always very hungry which isn't a really good thing if you are exercising regularly.  You need food to give you the energy to get through a workout.  So I have two goals over the next few months.  One is to eat enough good food.  Not just eating because I'm supposed to but eating food that is good fuel for my workouts.  Second is cooking smaller amounts of food.  Very shortly our household will be back to two people.  I still haven't quite gotten used to cooking for less but it's time to cut that back.

I hope you all will share with me your diet and exercise tips and recipes you enjoy.  I'll make sure to do the same. 

Remember:

It's not a diet.  It's a Lifestyle.

Make Exercise Part of Your Routine.

Like brushing your teeth or taking a shower.

Don't even think about doing it.

Just Do It!

Anniversary Present

Our anniversary is in February and this year I was quite proud of the present I bought for Bob. It was two tickets to six Seattle Mariners baseball games. We aren't sneaky about presents. I asked him if the tickets were something he would like (dumb question I know) and he thought it was great. He picked the teams he wanted to see the Mariners play and I bought the tickets.

In return Bob asked me what I wanted and I couldn't come up with anything. I thought about getting a new set of workout videos, like P90X2 or Insanity but I really want to go through P90x a few times before I change my workout. No great ideas so I let it drop. Bob would bring it up every once in a while but I was still at a loss so I just ignored him. 

Then last week I got an idea. I added an app to my iPhone so I could count my calories.  I've lost my appetite over the last few months and haven't been eating very well.  The app was suppose to help me make sure I was eating enough.  One of the products the app syncs with is a FitBit.  It tracks steps, calories burned etc. and then the information can be uploaded in to the calorie counter.  That got me thinking and I started researching heart monitors.  They talk a lot about wearing heart monitors when you do some of the cardio in P90x and I have always wanted to know how many calories I actually burned when I work out.

I found a heart monitor that you can use with your iPhone or iPad that will record your heart rate and also your calories burned.  I decided that this is what I wanted for my anniversary present.  It arrived last Wednesday while we were gone taking Nick to the airport so I couldn't use it until Thursday. 

It works great!!!!  I really love it.  I found that my estimates for calories burned during some of my workouts were right on.  Others I was really under estimating.  Now I'm looking forward to my workouts even more than I did before.  Plus I find that I'm pushing myself more now that I can see the number of calories I'm burning.  In the last two days I've burned over 1,000 calories.  There's no way I would have estimated that. 

Such an awesome anniversary gift!!!  Good Job Bob!! :)

8 hour Eagle Scout Cake

Friday night was spent making an eagle scout cake for a young man in our Church.  I agreed to do the cake a few weeks ago and then managed to plan a trip to Portland the first two days of the week.  Not a problem except that I had to be in Portland Wednesday and Thursday as well.  I got home on Thursday afternoon exhausted which meant I only managed to make a few batches of fondant before falling into bed. 

That meant I had to make the cake, cool it, frost, cover and decorate it after work on Friday.

I left work just a bit early, went to the store and came home to get started.

The cake was red velvet and the frosting was cream cheese.  Very traditional.  The only problem is that traditional red velvet cake isn't as movable as a sponge cake.  Sponge gives some as you move it.  The red velvet did not.  It was a challenge.  Bob had to help me stack it and it was still pretty scary.  

But it worked.  

While the cakes were baking (I made three layers) I made two batches of the cream cheese frosting.  I figured I'd have a bunch left over but I didn't want to take any chances.  Good thing because I used it all.  It was a big cake.  Then I had to finish the fondant, roll it out and cut out the design. Bob helped make sure the design was scaled correctly and had the necessary details.  Nick helped as I rolled out the fondant to cover the cake.  It was a lot and it took all I had to get it rolled out.  

We finished up around 11:30 pm just in time to take it up to the Church so it would be there for the celebration on Saturday.  (There was a baseball game on Saturday and we had to leave town around 6:30 am so it had to be there before we left town).  Next time I will make sure I don't leave town the majority of the week I'm making a cake.  I didn't like the feeling of being rushed.

Side view before we added the border

 Not to bad for an 8 hour cake.

90 days complete...90 more to go

I never thought I would be able to say I completed 90 days of P90x but I did. We bought the DVD's last summer and I made it through maybe 30 days but I don't think it was that long. Away they went to the shelf where I sort of forgot about them. I did have a reminder though, a pull up bar in the doorway to my kitchen. Didn't motivate me to exercise, it was just there.

Fast forward to December. For some reason I decided I wanted to get into better shape. I think it was because my entire arm waved when I waved goodbye to someone. I'm not sure if that was really the reason, but I took the plunge and bought; yes paid money for, an app to track my P90x workouts. That became my big motivator. I wasn't going to spend money on an app and not use it. I really can't tell you why the dollars I spent on P90x wasn't enough to motivate me.

Last Saturday marked day 90. I only chose to workout 6 days a week and missed only 4 workouts over the 90 days. I take that as a good start. If I were a braver person I would post some pictures but I'm not so all you get are some words that describe my results.

I lost 6 pounds which isn't huge but since I didn't start this for weight loss I'm ok with it. I lost three inches in my waist and hips and two inches in my chest. My arm and leg measurements stayed the same but they are more toned than before so that's ok too.

Monday I began my second time through the system but this time I plan to follow the doubles workout plan. I've also started really watching the nutrition piece as well which I hope gives me better results than round one. Maybe then I'll be ready to post pictures.

Baby Shower Cake

I've been looking forward to making this cake ever since I was asked to do it.

There are some really cute baby shower cakes out there and there was one in particular that I wanted to make, but unless you have a baby shower to make it for you're out of luck. So, I filed it away as something to try if the opportunity arose. Well, the opportunity presented itself!!

The cake was vanilla sponge with strawberry mousse filling and vanilla butter cream frosting. I thought it tasted pretty good and got the thumbs up from the party goers so I think it was a hit. Here's pictures of the finished product.

The base was three layers. I wanted to make sure there was enough cake for everyone to have a decent size piece. I was happy to be working with fondant again. It turned out pretty good this time. That was nice, no fighting with getting the cakes covered.



The pregnant belly wasn't filled with mousse because I was afraid to cut it, fill it and try to get it stacked back like it should be so I just covered it with strawberry butter cream.

This was such a fun cake to make, I did stay up pretty late Friday night to get most of it done, but that's because we are in the middle of baseball season and my Saturday's are pretty much booked until May. Short of leveling the cake, I did this one all by myself. I don't think Bob's too upset about missing out on the fun.

Next 90 Days

This morning's workout marked day 81 of my P90x program. Just 9 more days and I'll have finished my first time through. So far I've only missed three workouts. Next go around I don't plan to miss any. It's been a challenge with the traveling I do, but I've figured out how to adapt and make my workouts a priority.

So to the point of this post. What next? I want to go through another round of P90x before I try something different. I can't decide between P90x2 or Insanity but that's another post at a later date.

There are three options with the P90x system. Classic, which is what I'm doing now. Lean, which is mostly cardio with some muscle building and Doubles, which is a mix of muscle building with extra cardio. This is the workout I'm leaning towards but it would mean working out twice some days. (Explains the name) Most of the time I don't think it will be a problem because I get up early to exercise so I will have the evening to add the extra cardio. Traveling has me a little worried though. I could just skip the extra cardio but that defeats the purpose of doing the doubles option.

Of course I wait until the last minute to think about this. I have one more week of set workouts. I want to make a decision and get everything line out so I don't miss a day. I don't want to get out of my routine. I'm afraid if I stop I won't start again.

What to do, what to do?

Belated Pictures

I realized that there were several pictures I hadn't posted of projects I worked on between September and today.

This is a picture of some of the goodies I made for Christmas....

And the wedding cake we made for the Jackson's. It was vanilla sponge with mixed berry filling and cream cheese frosting.

And finally the birthday cake I made for my co-worker's daughter. This one was vanilla sponge to but with strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream frosting.





I made another cake but I didn't take any pictures of it because it wasn't covered in fondant, just frosted and I didn't like the way it looked so I didn't take pictures of it. It was lemon sponge with blueberry filling and lemon buttercream frosting. The taste was good, but I'm not a buttercream cake person. Give me fondant any day. I just couldn't get the buttercream smooth enough.

This weekend I'm making a baby shower cake. I'm pretty excited about the design. I'll post pictures when it's done. This one is vanilla sponge with strawberry mousse filling and vanilla buttercream.

I practiced using mousse this weekend. I made a chocolate sponge cake with peanut butter mousse on one half and oreo cookie mousse on the other half. I frosted the peanut butter side with peanut butter buttercream and the oreo half with chocolate buttercream. I over filled the cake with the mousse so it slid a little but I thought it tasted pretty good. I've added those recipes to my list of keepers.

Starting over

So it's been a while. Yes I know.

I don't like excuses so I'm not going to fill space with reasons why I haven't posted anything since September.

Today marks a new beginning. I've changed my blog some and I've decided to post more than just pictures of my baking projects. Those aren't going to stop though so don't worry.

(I'm pretty sure I heard some gasps, wait maybe that was me)

Over on my Facebook page I've been posting a lot about my exercise routine and the progress I'm making. I think that I'm going to start included those updates here in my blog since I have to exercise if I want to eat the stuff I bake.

I also need to be more consistent with my blog updates. So I'm putting it down in writing that I will update this blog no less than once a week. It's in print now so doesn't that make it gospel?

Join me on this baking/exercise journey. I'd love the company!!

I've been baking

I have been baking. Really I have I just haven't had much time to post lately.

We've been doing donuts on Saturday mornings for the football team. 4 dozen each week. We're getting better with the process. It takes us about 3 hours from start to finish. We end up with more than 4 dozen when it's all said and done, but we only have a set request from the football team so we share the rest with others. Others that live close, sorry for all you out of town friends. I wish we could share with you too.

I've also been making homemade pasta and pizza. I know it's not the same type of baking but I'm a big fan now of fresh pasta and my first attempt at pizza turned out pretty good. The crust was pretty thin so next time I'll double the recipe to get a thicker crust and fold over the edges after I put cheese in there. Next time I'll take a picture to share.

I made a batch of Kolatche's for a birthday here at work. They turned out really well. The dough was perfect. Bacon, Sausage, Egg and Cheese were the filling this time. I also made a peach cobbler. I tried a new recipe. It tasted OK but I didn't like the look. I will have to find a different recipe next time.

Last but not least we baked our third annual birthday cake in August. The pig and dog theme were used again. I think it was one of the better cakes we've done. Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. The idea for decorations came from Bob. I thought it was pretty clever and it was well received so I guess it was a good choice.

Where have you been?

No I did not fall off the face of the earth. I wish I had a good reason for not baking these last few months but really all I have is excuses.

"No one ever excused his way to success."~Dave Del Dotto

On that note, I want you to know that I will be baking again soon. I just got a new really cool book on bread baking.

Bread and I have a love/hate relationship. Sometimes my loaves of bread come out great, other times not so good. That will soon change. I plan to make bread until I figure it out. I'm not going to say that I'll be an expert, but I've come to realize that as you bake you start to notice things about your dough or batter that effect how your baked goods turn out. I want to gain that understanding with bread. At least then I'll know if my loaf is going to turn out the way I want it.

"When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work." ~George Bernard Shaw

If I make ten times more bread there will be loaves to share. Keep an eye out, I might be sending some your way.

Sticking To It

"This one step - choosing a goal and sticking to it - changes everything." ~Scott Reed

I love goals.  I could set 100 goals no problem.  My struggle is sticking to it.  There have been many times during baking projects that I have wanted to give up on my goal to open a bakery.  In fact I'm pretty sure that while we were working on the wedding cake a couple of weeks ago I decided to quit baking. 

It was late and I was tired and things were not going well.  I remember thinking "why am I doing this?"  Of course I couldn't quit right then I had a cake that needed to be finished and delivered so I decided that after it was finished and delivered, I was done baking.  I even told Bob this was it, I'm done after this cake.  He just looked at me and said nothing.

He knows me all too well.  Once the cake was done and I had gotten some sleep, the idea of quitting was gone.  We've had a lot of challenges over the last couple of years as we've decorated cakes, learned about donuts and worked to learn the "tricks of the trade." 

We've gone from our first cake:

To our most recent:

The best part is that I feel we've made some improvement and while there's still lots to learn and overcome, I plan to stick with it.

Wedding Cake

 I know it's been a while since I posted but I have been baking.  Mostly its been practicing for a wedding cake we made last weekend so there weren't really any pictures to share.  But now the cake is done and delivered so I can post some pictures of it.  I think it turned out pretty good but boy was it heavy.  I'm glad Bob was around to help me deliver it or they might not have gotten their cake. 

The bottom tier was vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream, the middle was lemon cake with white chocolate buttercream and the top was red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.  Everything was edible except for the ribbon.  I cheated and bought that.  

Bob made the stand the cake is sitting on so now I have something to put cakes on that I don't have to try to cover and make look nice.  One less thing to worry about.

Overall it went well but there are still lots of things to work on. 

Samples and Scouts

Since last Saturday I've baked 9 cakes.  Not huge cakes but still 9 cakes.  All for good reasons but that's a lot of cake. 

The first round - 4 cakes, were for my son and his fiance.  They wanted to pick out the flavor of their wedding cake.  I made red velvet, chocolate, vanilla and lemon.  I frosted the red velvet with cream cheese frosting.  I didn't do anything else cause I don't know of any other frosting that goes with red velvet, but the other three I cut in half to have more cake to frost.  I made chocolate with chocolate frosting and peanut butter frosting.  The vanilla cake was frosted with chocolate and strawberry icing.  The lemon with white chocolate and vanilla frosting.  I'm glad I didn't have to choose cause I liked them all. 

The next batch - 3 cakes was for another couple that I'm making a wedding cake for.  I had to make up a sample platter so it could be picked up and taken to the groom to be for his input.  I had a small amount of red velvet cake left so I included that too.  I made the same flavors as before. 

As I get better at this I want to try a few more "fancy" flavors.  Like cookies and cream (chocolate cake with Oreo frosting) or dreamsicle (orange cake with vanilla frosting).

The last two cakes were made for the blue and gold banquet.  Each year in February the cub scouts celebrate scouting.  I made a cake for them last year.  It was 100 years of scouting so I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to do for the cake.  This year I had no idea.  I searched the Internet for inspiration and with Bob's help decided on a camping scene.  Our cub scouts don't camp over night but still it was cute and was fun to make. 

  

 I still struggle with people, that's a work in progress but the cake covered pretty well.  Better than some of my other projects which was nice.  We just keep learning as we go.  I hope someday it will be as easy as it looks on TV.  That may be asking too much.