A New Adventure, A New Challenge!

So, I have debated back and forth if I should post this here. I have decided to go ahead and post it with the hopes that it will keep me accountable with my workouts/diet and hopefully encourage those of you wanting to get fitter and healthier!!

I have decided to start training for a figure competition!! (Click on it for a definition) EEK! There, I said it!! A couple of friends of mine have competed, or will be competing in shows in the coming months, and I thought "Hey! I could do that!" So here I am. After years of working out and 2 1/2 years of teaching group fitness, I am ready for a new challenge!! The show I am looking at is in April 2009, so I have plenty of time to prepare.

I wanted to start this whole journey out right, so I got a personal trainer at our gym for a few sessions. I wanted someone to help me get a plan together. So, we did the whole measurements, body fat testing, etc... In the next few months we are focusing on building lean muscle, which means pushing as much weight as possible in less reps. We started yesterday (Monday), and BOY AM I SORE!! I pushed a lot of weight yesterday, and yikes I am feelin' it today! This is gonna be good, I can tell! :)

Building muscle also means increasing my calorie intake, which is really hard to do-especially when I need to try and push my calories over 2000 a day! Really closer to 2500-3000, but we are starting out with just a small increase over my normal maintenance calories right now to see how my body responds to the new program. And we are not talking junk food, empty calories. Real, clean eating food. Luckly in this phase, I can still have a few cheat foods though. :)

So here is where I am right now:

-Weight training 3 days a week-different body parts each day. (I'll post my routine later)
-Cardio is weird, because I still am teaching 3 classes a week (which is probably more cardio than I need to do when trying to build muscle), on days I don't teach I am doing fat burn cardio, meaning keeping the heart rate low so I don't burn into muscle.
-Protein: at least 1 g. per pound of body weight
-Carbs: Minimum is 156 g. just for normal brain function, so above this to compensate for training.
-Calories: Eat more! hahaha
-Water: A gallon/day (128 oz)
-Suppliments: WheyBolic Extreme 60 protein shakes and a multivitamin. Adding creatine once I am done nursing Cooper!


So what do you think? Am I crazy???

Heeeere Comes TROUBLE! Exibit B:

Meet my arch nemesis, and apparently Cooper's BFF. I swear to you he heads for the darned ol' plant stand 1,000 times a day because he wants to pull up on it-and he laughs when I say no. Nice. I'm in trouble, y'all....

Heeeere Comes TROUBLE! Exibit A:

I wonder who did this??


Who me?? (Check out his collar-hahaha)


Stay tuned for "Exibit B"

Breakfast Idea for Baby

This is for those of you reading with babies! This past week I started making smoothies every morning for Cooper's breakfast. I add baby cereal to them to thicken them up so I can feed them to him by spoon.

Put the following in a Magic Bullet blender or something similar:

1/3 container of plain or vanilla organic yogurt
Small amount of banana
Small amount(s) of other fruit. So far we have tried blueberry, strawberry and peach
Blend it up!!
Add in baby cereal to thicken and some ground flax seed for a DHA boost!

Cooper LOOOOOOVES this!!!

For older kids, just leave out the baby cereal and they can drink it through a straw. Yummy!

Blog Hiatus

Until I can free up space on my hard drive, and actually load more pictures onto my computer, there won't be any more posts! :( So, stay tuned.....

Cooper's 9 Month Stats

Cooper had his 9 month well-baby check today, and it went great! We saw Lauren, the Nurse Practitioner, and she said she loved his rolls, and she commented on how happy he was. He definitely is our happy guy! He kept on trying to grab her stethescope and the tongue depressor-it was really funny. :) He weighed in at 20 lbs. 12 oz. and measured at 28 inches long. He is doing soooo well, and is very healthy!

"Enchanted" at The Fox

Today Ella and I went with my sister Kelly to see "Enchanted" at The Fox theater in downtown Atlanta. It was so fun! I highly recommend seeing a movie at The Fox-such a fun experience!! Kelly has a checklist of things she wants to do in Atlanta in 2008, so we thought we would help her with one thing off her checklist. Of course we had to do it up right since it was a checklist item after all, so we got Diet Cokes, Popcorn and Milk Duds :) Here are a couple of pictures that I stole from her blog since I totally forgot my camera.

Beach Pictures 2008-Sneak Preview!

I just loaded these on the computer, and couldn't wait to share just a few....

9 Months!

Yes, I am still here! We are vacationing in Florida, hence the blog lull, but I couldn't let today go by without posting a "9 Month Birthday" post for Cooper. I've got lots to post and lots of pictures for when we get back.

Cooper is 9 months old today! Lots has happened in the past month. He is now officially crawling, and he is alllllll over the place! He has also started pulling up on things. Let me just say that I am going to be in trouble once he starts walking, because he is already into everything! This morning he was crawling all over and dumping out all the garbage cans....nice! :) Now that he can crawl, he will just play by himself and explore all over the place for the longest time! He is a pretty easy going guy!

He also has 2 teeth on the bottom. No signs of any others coming in yet. He is still nursing 4-5 times a day, and eating 3 solid meals. Just last week we dropped the baby cereal for breakfast, and he now feeds himself his breakfast! Most of the time consisting of banana chunks, a baby cereal bar and some cheerios. He also likes toast with a little bit of butter. He is doing great with table foods, so after the baby food portion of his meal, we give him bits of what we are eating, or his top favorite Gerber Yogurt Melts...yummy!

We are having so much fun with little Cooper! He cracks us up everyday with his little antics. He is such a happy little dude, and we are soaking up every minute!

Posting Lull...

Sorry for the lack of posts. We've been busy around here with company and getting ready to leave town. I promise I will post soon though....