My improved Legs!

Thanks to my amazing Irish fare skin and my Chia Pet, Italian black hair (on top of my freekishly thick cankles), and my road map of veins, my legs are not my favorite part of my body. Surprised? Didn't think so. :) My husband, however, loves every part of me and I am so thankful for that. He sees my struggle with trying to overcome my insecurities when buying clothes or shoes. He notices that I wear pants year round so I will feel confident  out in public. He also observes me squeezing into tan shaded or black nylons if I feel brave enough to wear a skirt. He is very supportive and wants to help me in any way that he can. Last Christmas he surprised me with 2 years worth of Laser Hair Removal treatments at Simplicity Laser. It has been working fabulously! Instead of shaving twice a day to have smooth legs, I shave every 3-4 days now. (No exaggeration) AND JUST NOW he bought me 2 treatments for sclerotherapy. That's where they get rid of your spider and varicose veins! Woot woot!! I am so stoked! Maybe I can start loving the way my legs look. I am very thankful for my legs. They are very strong and they work! I am positive that my body style was specifically designed by God to take care of Stephen, I would just like them to be more attractive for Stephen to look at and touch. :) Combined with my workouts, I just might have the legs I have always wanted! Yay! Might I add that there is lots of pain for me in doing these procedures, but the results are worth the tears! Thanks Stephen! I love you! Here's a picture of an example, I found on Google Images.

ZUMBA!!!!

I have been trying out the different exercise classes at Luke Air Force Base. So far, I have enjoyed going to Yoga, Pilates, and ZUMBA!!!! Holy cardio! Today my heart rate got up to 193! My monitor stopped working for some reason today, so I didn't get to see how many calories I burned. Last Wednesday, however, I burned 743 calories in 1 HOUR! Love this! I don't know how good I look doing it, but I am certainly going to look good after I drop a few pounds. Yay!

Helpful Tips from my Dry Cleaners

Oh...hi there. Stephen and I just got back from our northwest adventure a week or so ago. Staying on my eating plan and workout plan turned out to be more difficult than I thought. However, I did manage to only gain 2 pounds back. Yay me! I was filling pretty good about myself. We began getting back into the groove of things immediately when we arrived home. That included the familiar trip to the dry cleaners. Everytime I go in there, they rant and rave at my "transformation." "Oh! Ms. Willoby! You lose more weight? You're looking better. Cause you were BIG! Yeah Big! Your legs, still big. And your butt. But better."

Gee thanks guys. :(

For those of you who do not know what cankles look like. I will educate you with a recent picture from my friend's wedding.

I am the one with the cankles on the far left. Blah! They will be gone soon, hopefully!

Healthy Hobbies!

Ever since we moved into our home October 31st 2008, I have dreamed of having my own garden! I love the thought of having fresh veggies, herbs, and flowers growing at home. I have been working on becoming better and better at having lush plants in the Arizona desert. I am getting very close at accomplishing that goal. I found out that the key is water. Go figure! A drip system saved my sanity and my husband's faith in my gardening "skills." So, last year was really the kick off. Around Christmas time we had a tomato plant that took over and produced amazing tomatoes.

My aunt Kristi is holding her first successful pepper and if you look at the plant you will see all of the green tomatoes. Here is what they looked like when I picked them. (A lot were frost bitten. These are the survivors.)

This year I have yellow onions and various peppers growing.

 Strawberries and, of course, more tomatoes.

I can't take all the credit. I do have some "helpers" who keep me on my toes.

Talon, Mouse, Stitch, and Sienna definitely bring life to a still garden. :)

Gardening is just another form of art, to me. It is only natural for me to incorporate art into the garden. Taking photographs of it is another guilty pleasure of mine. I find it very hard to leave the house now. I can spend hours outside watching the birds and just taking it all in.

I have playing with the idea of  gardening from the window. In each room of my house I want to look out the window and see living art. I want to see a beautiful scene that will change with the seasons. This is my first go at it. My husband, Stephen, sits and works in our front room most of the day. I realized that all he saw was a cinder block wall out the window all day every day. Kristi said that we could invite birds, hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and geckos with a handful of elements. Right now it is in it's baby stage, but when it is full grown it will be a sight to see. The Arabian Jasmin will be as tall as the door and sprinkled with fragrant whit flowers next to the deep red poinsettia that I have had since last Christmas. Already he finds himself watching the birds playing in the water and throwing seeds everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if sunflowers started growing from that.

This is my work station.

I saw this idea in a magazine recently. I love succulants and this was such an easy, fun, and beautiful garden art piece to make.

 

My brother, Tyler, is my partner in crime. We have put this backyard heaven together together. :) He built this amazing window table for me and helped me put the flower bed together. More pics will come of the paver slab he layed and pond he's constructing. He has been a huge part of creating all of this.

The centerpiece is my reminder of Washington state and my sister, Danielle, and her family. :)

This is the only wind chime Stephen likes. It doesn't make that much noise and it's stunning to look at.

Finally, this plant is called Firestick. It is so cool. When the temperature gets cooler it starts to turn orange and even to red. When it's hot outside it is green. Crazy, right? It also has very dangerous sap, so I have to be careful when I cut it back. Don't get in your eyes or it will blind you. Yikes! I am thankful that my animals have not tried to eat it. They know very few commands, but they know "Leave it!" And they do.  So, that's it for now. I have burned thousands of calories putting this yard together. Maintaing it is calming and very good for me. Stephen enjoys it almost as much as I do. I think he is just happy that I am happy. :) More to come! This was only one side of the yard!



Pilates!

Holy Moly! Pilates is no joke. I used muscles that I didn't even know I had. I am sure I will feel it tomorrow, but I felt a lot already. I feel like my insides were rung out! Seriously, without being gross, I feel lighter already. If you have any intestine problems, I bet Pilates will fix it in an hour. Hahaha! Other than that, I think I am going to enjoy this new plan. I will let you know how spin goes tomorrow.

Starting all over!

Well, I have officially stopped working out over at LA Fitness. I am now moving to the beat of my own drum. I admit that it has been lonely and difficult being self motivated. I am not a quitter or a wimp. I am resourceful and a problem solver, so I am applying a new schedule. Here it is:

MONDAY: 10 am YOGA
TUESDAY: 10am PILATES and 1pm AQUA THERAPY with Stephen
WEDNESDAY: 11am SPIN CYCLE
THURSDAY: 11am KICKBOXING and 1pm SWIM with Stephen
FRIDAY: 10am ZUMBA
SATURDAY: 10am STEP & SCULPT

I am very excited about this plan because I have everything I want out of it. The times are perfect, it is an appointment, so I will make sure I am on time, it's on base and free, and I will get to meet lots of new people. All while I will be getting in shape and having fun. I am even scheduling quality time with Stephen.


He just got his results back from Inherent Health! We are so excited to get serious together about getting healthy. His percentages are similar to mine, so it will be easy to make meals for us and not have to worry about 2 different diets. Also, I am excited that we will be able to spread out the meat we buy throughout the month since we both need more carbs than protein. I don't know about you, but it makes me happy to have a stocked fridge, freezer, and pantry at all times. When you go through it quickly, like we have been, it makes me sad to see it bare. Haha. We are planning our meals for the week and planning ahead for our calories. We want to do what it takes to look our best and feel our best!

I am sad to say that I haven't lost anymore weight, due to my lack of discipline. I am happy to say, however, that I have not gained any! Yay me? :/ lol.

I'm still here.

It has been a while since I posted last, I know. I'm sorry. I feel like I need something amazing and new to say each time, but an update is an update. So, since my last entry I have continued to work out with the Fab 4 out in Laveen at LA Fitness. Chelle and Dani have amped it up a bit, so the routine has become more intense and more interesting. I haven't lost anymore weight as of yet due to the wonderful inconvenient holidays and recent travelling we've done. When I am home and on an even keel I do really well with my eating, calorie counting, and calorie burning. When I have any "special" reason to eat whatever I want, I go WAY overboard. Today we just got back from Lake Havasu City and I couldn't wait to get back on track with things at home. I can't wait to go to the gym in the morning!
Sad thing is that my last day with the Fab 4 is June 10th. Remember the original plan? I was only supposed to work out over there to get training. I feel as though I am ready to do this on my own, especially by then, but I am sad to not have my girls with me. :(
To make it less sad, Stephen and I have been working out together on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the lap pool. I only go to Laveen 3 days a week now, so I am transitioning.
Stephen is Superman! A couple weeks ago Stephen began his SCUBA certification. The news was there and everything! I went with him and started the process as well. We both enjoyed it, so we decided that was our new thing. We have been going to the pool and working on stamina and he swam 500 meters last time. That's right...500! I will post pics when we get them from the instructor. Now we just have a couple more sessions to do and then we will be official SCUBA Divers. I am a little nervous though. We haven't gone out into the ocean yet. I am so afraid of the ocean. BLAH! It'll be like therapy, right?
Our plan now is to dive at ALL of the premo diving spots all over the world before we die.
My focus now, is to really get disciplined with my eating. I allow myself too much wiggle room with special occasions. When I work out I burn plenty of calories to eat a good amount for that day. If I miss, I freak out about 1035 calories. I think I will die or something and mess up my meals with snacking. Before I know it, I have consumed all 1000 before 4pm. NOT GOOD. I figure I have screwed up already, might as well go all out. I need to change my thinking, or make a point to burn at least 600 calories a day, every day. I also feel that after June 10th, it will be easier for me because I will be fitting it in to our schedule. I am a guest in Chelle's schedule and appreciate it immensely, but it is not my ideal time frame to workout. I need prayer and someone to smack my hand throughout the day. Stephen is good at that, but sometimes I don't want that coming from my husband. I need to do it myself, so to speak, the smacking I mean. I will take all the prayer in the world! :) Well, that's it really. Soon I will be posting about my garden. I am fascinated with growing my own food, but I am still learning. I also want to post about some research that I have done about food allergies. I would love as many comments about these topics as possible and questions, too. We can all learn together!