If you’re like me the Monday are the biggest struggle for you in your workout. With Sundays being my day day of complete rest sometimes (aka all the time) its gets hard to get back on the workout “horse” on Mondays. So that is where my idea for Monday motivation came from, and I figured if I’m motivating myself I might as well motivate you right along with me. So without further ado, here is your motivation for the day.
So there you have, now it’s up to you what you do with it.
*Disclaimer, this is a very long post and it is also very personal. This post details my past struggles with my health and weight. If you don’t care then don’t read it, but any negativity will be deleted*
A little background information on my life and health situation. I have never been a particularly healthy person. When I was a teen I was consistently pushing 180 lbs. I was never happy but I didn’t know how to deal with my weight issues healthily. So when I was 16 I began my long struggle with bulimia and anorexia. At first it just started as me severely cutting calories, then eventually I would skip meals all together and finally I started eating only one small snack a day. When I wasn’t getting the results I wanted I fell into a deep depression and went on an eating binge, almost immediately after I felt terrible and purged it all. The next day when I saw a slight drop in my weight I was ecstatic! This began my new eating style, bingeing in the evenings then purging immediately after. Eventually I realized that the results weren’t coming fast enough and I concocted a way that I thought would brilliantly end my weight problems, I started eating once a week and I only ate about 300-400 calories, then I would purge.
I lost a significant amount of weight but I did irreparable damage to my body. At that time I didn’t care, all I cared was that I still wasn’t skinny enough. I wore a size 3 jeans and still thought I was obese. It was at this time my parents started sending me to a therapist and I was diagnosed with body dismorphic disorder.
For those of you unaware body dismorphic disorder is when you have a vastly skewed self image of yourself. Many people with eating disorders suffer from this disorder but are unaware of it. Basically when I looked in the mirror I really saw someone who weighed 300lbs and was ugly. It didn’t matter that the scale told me that I was barely pushing 110 I honestly saw myself as an obese monster.
I started getting help for my disorders and started to feel better about myself, I went to group therapy sessions with other teens struggling with the same issues and together we flourished. But like I said, the damage had been done. Now my body had gotten so used to starving and being hungry that I never felt hunger pangs anymore. I could go a whole weekend without eating and not realize it. So even though I was truly trying to kick the not eating habit it was hard. I was having huge setbacks and eventually I started setting an alarm for myself to remind me to eat. This worked well for me and when I was 18 I met a man who I truly love and who I thought loved me.
Mr. Goose was in the military at the time and we had a hasty courtship and got married 7 months after we started dating. I moved to Texas to be with him, and my problems started all over again.
He slowly started cutting me off from my family to the point that eventually I never talked to them, I never left the house and I never met anyone outside of the group of people he brought home. I started getting depressed again and I slowly reverted to my old eating habits with no one there to be my support system.
Two months after we were married I ended up in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. I was lonely and in pain, when I got to leave the hospital things just continued to spiral out of control. Four months later I got the news I was pregnant. I immediately found myself a support group and started fighting the disorders all over again, I knew that if my baby was going to have a chance I needed the get my body back in order.
But let me repeat myself, the damage had already been done. I had a hard pregnancy and no one was there to help me. I was sick everyday and instead of gaining weight I continued to rapidly loose it. One night I started throwing up blood and could feel my heart palpitating. I rushed to the hospital and was admitted. They ran every test under the sun and could find nothing wrong with me except I was severely dehydrated. 2 IVs later they sent me home. The next day I returned to the hospital with excruciating pain in my lower back. Come to find out, my kidneys weren’t working properly. I spent the rest of my pregnancy in the hospital having all of my nutrients and fluids pumped into me by an IV. By the grace of God on June 25th 2011 I gave birth to a beautiful son.
After 3 days in the hospital we were both released to go home with all my kidney tests coming back clean.
Fast forward a month and see Mr. Goose, Baby Goose and myself on vacation, after 3 days of unending heartburn I went to a local urgent care who then ferried me to an emergency room. 2 hours later I find myself again having emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder which is leaking toxins and poisoning my body.
After some hasty planning we traveled back home within a day of my release from the hospital. This was my final wake up call, I had a baby to take care of and how was I supposed to do that if I was constantly in the hospital? Baby Goose was having some health issues of his own manifesting and he needed all of my attention. I enrolled in a nutrition program and started trying to learn everything I could about living a healthy life. But it seemed to be too little to late and I gave up.
Now that I’ve reached my current state of unhealthiness I have decided that I need to take care of this once and for all. So this time I’m doing it right. This time I’ll be focusing on proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices. This time the change is for good.
Sorry this post has been so long but it has been very therapeutic to write this all out. If you stuck through it and made it to the end you deserve a cookie, or something. But here are my current stats:
CURRENT
Weight: 171
Neck: 13.5 inches
Waist: 34 inches
Hips: 41.5 inches
Body fat percentage: 38
Bra size: 36DD
GOAL
Weight: 140
Neck: 13.5 inches
Waist: 31 inches
Hips: 37 inches
Body fat percentage: 20
Bra size: 34C
I’m 5 foot 3 inches so I’m not tall by any means.
As a vegetarian and someone who leads a fairly active lifestyle I often struggle to find good tasting, high protein, low calorie, non meat dinner options. Another challenge I face is that I have to make dinners that my son can eat and on occasion Mr. Goose who both quite enjoy having a meat selection. So I wanted to share some of my favorite meals with any other vegetarian P90Xers or anyone looking for awesome healthy meal options to help spice up their recipe box.
Tonight I made lentil tacos. Lentils are an excellent substitute for ground beef in certain situations. Protein wise lentils have a little less than ground beef giving us approximately 20 grams from a cup compared to 26 grams in a cup of ground beef. I hate hate hate the soy ground beef crumbles you can get in the store! So when I discovered that lentils make a great substitute I was eager to try them in everything!!! There where some failures lentil burgers yuck >.< but there were some great success like lentil tacos.
I love any excuse to to put sour cream and guacamole on things so I was ecstatic to be able to indulge in tacos again.
Now don’t those look yummy? Trust me they taste better than they look. Delicious and simple to boot. Recipe is as follows:
Lentil Tacos-
1/2 lb (1 cup) lentils, any variety
1 package taco seasoning, or whatever you like to use for tacos
Taco shells or tortilla chips
All your favorite fixings
Put your lentils in a large pot on the stove with 4 cups water. Let simmer partially covered for 25-30 mins or until desired tenderness. Add 1/2 cup water and seasonings, let simmer uncovered stirring occasionally until thickened.
There you have it,
A delicious nutritious vegetarian meal. It even looks like taco meat! Stay tuned for more of my favorite meals.
Now for the post detailing my work out routine. Every morning I wake up and jog 2 miles, I go whatever pace feels right for me at the time and sometimes I walk the whole thing. For me this 2 miles is just a way to kickstart my metabolism after breakfast and it’s a great time to get out and wake up. Running is always a better wake up than coffee. I consider this morning run my first work-out of the day for those of you who read my supplement post I would have take all my breakfast pills plus a fish oil before I head out.
I then spend about 3 hours playing with Baby Goose which usually involves me sitting on his bedroom floor while he climbs all over me like his personal jungle gym.
When Baby Goose goes down for his first nap I do at least one P90X DVD depending on how long it takes. Then I have a homemade post work out protein bar and a light lunch.
Baby Goose gets up from his nap and I feed him lunch. At least twice a week we walk the 1/2 mile to the public library and spend an hour there reading and doing other activities. We head home and play until afternoon nap time.
While Baby Goose takes his afternoon nap I try to get the house all cleaned and then do Jillian Michaels Yoga Meltdown. I do not use the P90X Yoga X DVD, I personally like Jillian Michaels Yoga DVD better so I choose to do that instead.
After Mr. Goose gets home from work I go out for another 2 mile jog, this time I focus more on pace and trying to push myself harder than I did the day before. Next comes dinner than spending the rest of the evening relaxing depending on how things are going with Mr. Goose that day, on the days that we fight I do another 2 miles but I usually walk it.
Then it’s early to bed and start it all over the next day. I usually try to schedule Sundays as my recovery day, a day that I do 100% nothing and let my body recuperate.
So I know I promised this post last night but unfortunately Baby Goose doesn’t care what I want to do. We ended up spending all day at the mall and running errands to make sure we are ready for our vacation coming up on Thursday. But as promised here is a look and my equipment and supplements, better late than never.
Equipment-
The main things I’ll be using for P90X will be my home door gym and dumbbells. Both are Golds Gym brand from Wal-Mart and I think I spent a total of $60 on the two of them. Not too bad for things I’m going to be able to use even after I finish my modified P90X. I love my home door gym because it is so versatile and you really get a lot of bang for your buck. You can use it for pull ups, chin ups, push ups, sit ups, triceps dips, and planks plus a bunch of other things that it shows you in the included work out guide.
The dumbbells I bought are just the basic set that go up to forty pounds. They’re nothing fancy but they get the job done and seem to be of good quality.
Some other equipment I’ll be using is my yoga mat, and my Gaiam All-Grip Yoga Block.
I love this thing! For those of you just trying out yoga for the first time and haven’t quite gotten your balance and flexibility down, or for those of you trying out progressively harder poses, this block is perfect. I’ve tried out many different Yoga blocks and this is the first one I’ve ever bought that has the grip hole and boy does that make a difference!
Supplements-
I am a firm believer in preventative medicine. That why I have a strict routine of supplements I take to make sure my body is in tip top shape and no injuries result from my exercising.
First things first, every morning with breakfast I take a prenatal vitamin, 1000 mg vitamin C, 600 mg/ 125 iu Calcium and vitamin D, an one 1,500 mg Glucosamine plus MSM. I take a prescription prenatal vitamin because honestly it is the best and most complete multi-vitamin I have seen. I started getting these from my doctor when I was pregnant and I never stopped taking them. Comparing these to all the women’s multi-vitamins I could find in stores, these came out on top with every brand I tried. I also take extra vitamin C because I naturally have a weak immune system and need the extra boost and calcium/vitamin D because I don’t drink milk so this is how I make sure I get my calcium. A word to the wise or anyone looking to take a calcium supplement, first always consult your doctor before taking anything for your health, and second calcium is absorbed much more efficiently when it is taken with vitamin D so make sure you get a vitamin with both! The last thing I take with breakfast is a Glucosamine/MSM compound for my joints. P90X is a high intensity work-out routine and since I also run 4 miles a day my joints take quite a beating so for me joint health is #1 when it comes to taking supplements.
I also take a Glucosamine/MSM with lunch and dinner and the last two things I take are Triple Strength Fish Oil +Krill and Turmeric Complex. I take the fish oil before my work-outs and the Turmeric after the morning work-out. These two together also promote healthy joints, the fish oil helps with inflammation in the joints especially the knees and the Turmeric is a powerful antioxidant. Since I’ve started taking these two I have zero joint soreness after any of my runs!
I know my supplement schedule may seem a little extreme but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of recuperation. If we do everything we can to prevent injury and keep healthy now then there is less chance of us getting hurt and having to take time off later! I’ll be putting up a post sometime in the near future of my recipe for homemade post work out protein bars.
Today is the day I start P90X! Well I’m not strictly following the P90X plan but I’m hoping to still get good results with my modifications. The biggest thing I can say to anyone who is looking to start an exercise program is, make sure you have the right motivation. I have tried many different plans and failed because I didn’t really care about what was supposed to be motivating me. So when I found this online I instantly knew that this is what was going to be keeping me going. I have this printed off and hanging up by my mirror so every time I get down on myself I can look at this and remember.
Later today I will write a post with my stats and before pictures. In that post I’ll also be putting up a more in depth look at the modifications I’ve made to the work out plan as well as the equipment I’m using/ supplements I’m taking.
Hello and welcome to Goose on the Loose! I’ll be using this blog as a way to chronicle the day to day lives of myself and Baby Goose. Some quick introductions, I am 21 and have been married for 2 1/2 years Baby Goose is my 1 year old son who was the inspiration for the name of this blog. You may occasionally read about Mr. Goose but he and I are currently going through a divorce so I’ll be trying to refrain from writing about him. This blog will also be used as a venue to hold me accountable as I start my journey on P90X and trying to get fit. I hope you will bear with me through all the craziness that will be coming through this blog. So please be patient as I try to figure this whole blogging thing out! If at anytime you want to contact me feel free to email me at gooseonthelooseblog@gmail.com.
Goose On The Loose 