Jumping on the Shred Wagon

I have absolutely no excuse now not to get in shape. Not working, kids old enough to not hurt themselves at least for the 20 minutes a day I hope to work out. I love the Wii Fit, but frankly it's not going to push me, so I've been sucked in by the twitter shredheads and bloggers. I can even do the 30 day shred level 1 and 2 free with Comcast OnDemand. Actually, there are a ton of workouts, and the kids and I tried a couple dance ones at their request, but they bored quickly and I was afraid I'd fall down.

I think I need to get my kids some of their own weights so they don't grab mine, but otherwise I'm set. I've done the 20 minutes set a total of about 5 times (over the course of 8 days), the first time with cans since I couldn't find my weights. What was really funny was I gave Donovan two small cans of mandarin oranges, and he spent the second 10 minutes asking me to "please open the can for him, please, it's okay to take a little break" after I told him Jillian said no breaks. He also keeps asking why the girls wear shirts "up to here."

I think this before picture still counts, doubt my body has changed at all since I started.

Ready, Set, Cleanse

Yes, I am ready to start a cleanse/diet/exercise plan of some sort. I am really tired, literally, of not being able to keep up with the athletes in my family. I've even been getting more sleep, not working late every night. I really hate dieting, a lot of it due to being the chubbiest one in the family, which my mom never let me forget. Ironically I am now the smallest, but while I want to fit better in my clothes and spend a new clothing gift certificate on stuff that doesn't look like maternity wear, my goal here really is more energy.

I've just entered my fourth decade, yikes, and I'm loving my hair, got new makeup, and am ready for the body to follow. Working with young pretty fashionable women just gives me that much more motivation. As one co-worker (the person you would totally want to shop with, honest without being mean) said - "you don't need to lose weight, just tone up." I cried for hours (not really) but she's half right.

So here's my plan, which I'm writing down to help me stick to it. 21 days of "cleansing", which I'm only slightly embarrassed to say was inspired by dooce's cleanse, in turn inspired by Oprah. I can't afford (and would probably not read) the book, so I'm making up my own. My last real diet was eliminating all sugar and sticking to a diabetic plan for about 5 months while pregnant, so I think I can do this.

For 21 days I'm going to do my best to eat vegan (which I've never, ever tried and doubt I would again), minimize white flour and rice (pretty much do that now), eliminate sugar (probably the hardest for me) and alcohol, but not caffeine. I'm not going to put my family on this, I mean they are outside running around pretty much every single day, but I am curious how many vegan meals I can serve before they notice. I figure, they can not eat garbanzo beans as easily as not eating chicken. I am also going to work out in some form 4-5 days a week. My goal is to find a yoga or kickboxing gym, but with a bank account at zero that's on hold and my company gym will have to do. I suck at pushing myself so eventually I'll need something else.

I'll try to post the best of the vegan recipes I make, but that may be few and far between. I tried cooking for a vegan once, made this fabulous stuffed artichoke with walnuts, eliminated the cheese for him, which made this dish oh so much better. I personally might cheat and buy soy cheese, which for some reason does not seem to be vegan.

Day 1:

Breakfast: Orange and coffee with soy milk

Lunch: Salad with lots of beans for protein

Ending with this photo for no apparent reason.