It's My Birthday!!

Well, today is my birthday and I am 25 years old - 1/4 of a century! I may even be considered an "antique" I think! lol.

Anywho, last night I worked out pretty hard, ran/jogged for about 20 minutes and did some resistance training (mostly leg work, I did 100 Hip Abductions with 100lbs of resistance!!), then, came home and made Lemon Peper Balsamic Pork Chops and Asparagus. It was very tasty! But my legs hurt like a mofo.

I got on the scale this morning and I'm back at 202... I know I'll be back up though after tonight! We're going to dinner at Root 246 in Solvang for my birthday, and I may splurge juuuuussst a little bit :D You only turn 25 once right???

Anywho, I hope everyone is having a great day! Thanks for following ShapeUP!

Wow... PLUS Ideas for Dinner

Ok, so the first week of success was SUPER fun! I lost 8lbs, I was feeling great, and having a blast dieting and going to the gym.

NoOoOoOwWwWw... I've gained almost all of my weight back (206 on the scale today) and I'm dreading our gym day tomorrow. I was sure that I would have lost weight this morning as we walked all over State St. in Santa Barbara yesterday. But no, body decided to gain like 4lbs overnight instead. Hoping it's water weight and not to have TMI, but I have been experiencing "that time of the month" so hopefully that's mostly it... diet hasn't change very much so I just don't know what's going on.

If you want some GREAT ideas for some healthy dinner meals, go here: http://www.momswhothink.com/healthy-recipes/healthy-dinner-recipes.html each recipe is pretty quick to cook, and you can see the nutrition facts for each one as well! I love it! Hope it helps you out too!

Ouch!

Last night, my trainer worked out my arms... yeah, OUCH! They are sooo sore, but I know it will help. Still 203 this morning... not excited about that. But, we did have Carl's Jr. last night too just because neither one of us wanted to do anything that had to involve our arms - including cooking. We looked online at our calorie consumption from there... let's not talk about it.

We realized that it would have been nothing for us to usually just go out and grab something like that 2-5 times a week - maybe even more! No wonder we were so out of shape and had no energy! It's amazing how once you cut something that's bad for you out - how much you want it. We definitely have food addiction going on in our house. It's hard, but we'll get through it.

Going to Santa Barbara with the parental units today - that should be fun. The little man loves going down there and walking around. I love it there.

Please Keep Your Arms, Legs, Fingers and Toes inside the Cart at All Times...

Oye Vye.

Here I am back up to 203 this morning after being 201 yesterday. I love how my body loves playing tricks on me and sending me on a roller coaster ride! NOT.

It was so nice loosing that first 5lbs in one week, now, I can't seem to budge past that little hill that I need to get through to get under 200. We are on diet day 20... I'm just about sick of having nothing but baked chicken and spinach salad, and not seeing any results! I'm still going to stick to my guns though. I'm hoping that it's just my body's adjustment period and that maybe next week or the week after I'll see the pounds start melting off again.

It's really hard that most people can eat whatever they want and not feel guilty about it and can maintain a healthy weight... I've been eating nothing but healthiness, working out more than I have in YEARS, and I'm just stuck. My body hates me.

With that being said - I feel that I may need some encouragement and motivation today as I forgot my lunch at home, and now I'm left without any snacks/food to eat for the day. If I don't go pick something up, I'll probably be STARVING before the gym and then binge. I don't want to do that, but it's something that I tend to do if I don't eat all day. Self-Control Jenny... Self-Control.

Working Out - Trainer Style!

So last night, Anthony and I worked out with our Trainers. I did awkward, yet, I'm sure rewarding exercises (working my lower body). I know they were working me out because not only was I pouring sweat, but my legs were shaking beyond belief - not to mention that I had to come straight home and make dinner afterward :P

I want to go ahead and share some of what I did with you so that maybe it will help you out as well! P.S. I have no idea what any of the exercises are called... I'll just make up a name that seems fitting :D

1. Step-Ups. Take an aerobic step-up bar and raise it to level three. Do 15 step-ups (lifting your knee as high as you can every time you step up). Also, you'll want to alternate between sides when doing it.

2. Lunging Squats. Put a BOSU ball (it looks like half of a bouncy ball), against the wall. Stand in front of it facing away from the wall and the ball. Get in a lunge with one foot in front and one foot on the ball. Squat up and down bending both knees as you go down 15 times and then change sides.

(Repeat these two exercises)

3. Toe Touches. Keep the BOSU ball in it's place and then touch each toe to the ball as quick as you can. You'll will end up touching each toe to the ball 15 times = 30 toe touches.

4. Squats. Place an exercise ball behind your back and against a wall, hold 5lbs hand weights to your sides. Lean into it as you lower your body. Squat 5 times. On the 5th squat, put your weights and arms together, straight out in front of you. Open your arms all the way (big bear hug!!) 3 times. Come back up and start again. Do this 5 times.

5. Lunging Squats #2. Stand straight up. With your feet together. Pop one of your toes, hold until you can focus on something, then send that leg to the back and squeeze into a lunge. Come back up and do the other side. Do 15 on each side.

(Repeat these three exercises)

I did more, but I won't go into those as they were with equipment - and I have no idea how to explain what I was doing. But I figure that the above exercises are things that you can do at home if you're a busy working mom like myself.

I did however, get on the scale this morning and was welcomed back to 201! I'm hoping that Friday's session allows me to kick off the 200s and get's me into 199??? *Finger's Crossed*

(Oh, and you DO NOT want to know what Anthony's workout was like... let's just say that at one point he was running on the treadmill at 9.5 MPH!!! I can't even do 6!!!! AHHH)

A Personal Trainer Might Help...

So yesterday, Anthony and I met with our Personal Trainer, Katie. She seems cool - but tough enough to get the job done. I'm pretty excited for our next meeting on Wednesday that's actually going to be a workout, not just a consultation and measurement sesh. I'm hoping that she can find some exercises that will help me burn calories as well as gain muscle and perhaps help with my diet. I'm sure it's going to be great! We have her for about 9 months, so I'm praying that in that time, I can loose the 40 that I want to and look and feel FaBuLoUs! Who knows, maybe I'll get down below that... guess time will tell.

We're still going hard on our diet... except that working through lunch yesterday caused my boss, Heidi to suggest ordering Paninos (a Really REALLY good sandwich shop in Solvang) and I just couldn't help but say yes when offered. Although, I only got 1/2 a sandwich on whole wheat. It was chicken breast, sundried tomatoes, basil, feta cheese and pine nuts... SO GOOD.

BUT I'm still at 204 this morning which bummed me out. I know that I need to drink more water for sure. I don't think I had any except at the gym yesterday! My goal today? Drink at LEAST 64oz of water. Wish me luck!

EPIC Fail.

So, I can definitely say that I'm not extremely proud of my choices this weekend...

Friday, we went out for sushi as 1 of 2 of our weekly cheat meals... we did pretty good Saturday as we went to the gym in the morning, worked out nice and hard, cleaned the house and ate pretty light...

But then, Sunday came. We decided to have Pizza for our #2 cheat meal of the week during lunch. We both had two slices and ok... we also got an order of DUN DUN DUN..... hot wings. I had 3. We did get so full that we didn't eat until dinner - and actually had a pretty well rounded dinner with baked chicken, spinach salad and some beans.

However, I got on the scale this morning... I was 201 on Friday and now, I'm sitting here back at 204!!!! RrRrRrrRrdflaksjfd;aodsjfia;

Luckily, I have a meeting with my trainer tonight. Hopefully, I'll get a nice workout. I wanted to walk at lunch today but not only did I forget my walking clothes at home, but it doesn't look like I'm going to really get the chance to take a lunch - more busy-ness for HOOZA.

Healthy Recipes Are Hard to Find

So, every week, I make a daily dinner menu for Anthony and I. I know exactly what we're having for dinner Sunday-Saturday. Since we began our diet at the beginning of this year, I've realized that EvErYtHiNg that we've been eating is high in carbs, fat and all of that other "good" stuff that I love soooo much. But, we realize now that we can't have these things if we're going to start fighting our weight battles.

However, we've also come to realize that it is about 75% more difficult to find recipes that we're actually interested in trying. I don't mind vegetarian dinners - Anthony is 100% against them. Anthony doesn't mind fish/seafood dinners - I am 100% against them. It seems like all of the healthy menus I look for have at least one night with variations of these types. Fish... I just can't do it. I wish, in all honesty, that I could but it's just impossible - even the slightest smell of it makes me gag. (ok, I think you get the point - I just don't like food from the sea.) So here I am, home from the gym, trying to plan out our weekly menu so that I can go grocery shopping... and I've got NOTHING.

What are some of your suggestions for healthy low-carb meals?

Late Work Night = No Gym

Last night, I had to work later than usual because we had to hit a deadline. I work in Solvang - about 35 minutes away from home, so I have a bit of a commute, but I don't complain about it... But when it's dark out when I come home, I have to admit that it makes me nervous - the whole drive is basically through wilderness and vineyards and I'm so scared that I'm going to hit some kind of animal and crash :P

Anywho, I had to stay late because my workplace is creating a new Website Builder - HOOZA! We had to get the programmers some design visuals and a site map - needless to say it took a while to complete. I am very proud of this project and I really hope that it's going to be a success - I have designed the whole thing so far including the logo and back-end builder (the back-end builder was what I was working on late last night).

Well, since the gym child care closes at 8pm, and I got home around 7, and our workouts usually last about 1.25-1.5 hours, we decided that we'd save the gym for this morning so that we wouldn't have to cut it short. We did decide to use 1 of 2 or our weekly cheat meals last night though. I had a bean, cheese and rice burrito from Taco Loco - I ate till I was stuffed, but didn't finish the whole thing. I was sure that I would gain at least a couple of pounds back from eating it though. BUT, I stepped on the scale this morning and 1 more pound is gone! Down to 201 this morning... man, I can't believe that I'm finally going to be out of the 200's soon! *tears of joy*

Today's schedule is a pretty busy one - photo editing, gym, drive to Santa Maria, go to Costco, engagement shoot with Stephanie and Jon, then movies with David, Chris and Kristin. By the way, I have to give a shout out to my brother-in-law Chris - he was sworn into the Air Force this last week! Congratulations brother!

Welcome to my ShapeUP Blog!

Well, for those of you who don't know, my name is Jenny Espino. I am a 24 year old mother and wife to two very handsome men and 2 adorable puppies. I must say that all 4 of my boys and I make a great team and we're loving life in our little home. I have a HUGE in-town family, and even bigger extended family all over the country. I won't go into details about that, or my blog would be called "Family Tumble Weed" instead of "ShapeUP"...

This blog is about my journey in pursuing ways to loose weight 10 months after my son was born. After having Gastric Bypass in 2006, I was sure that my body would bounce back after having him, but boy was I wrong!

First, I want to go into a little detail about my Gastric Bypass history. I went in to the hospital for surgery at 277lbs. I was 20 years old, and confident, but knew that I wasn't living the life of a normal 20 year old. After watching my mother's progress after having the surgery, I knew that I wanted it as well. So, July 5, 2006 I went in and had it done. Hands down, one of the BEST decisions of my life! I lived a life of on and off dieting and living in gyms and the pool, but nothing seemed to work out for me. Surgery did. I lost over 100lbs with my lowest weight being 165lbs in September 2007. Now, you may think that 165 is still a high number, but I hadn't been that weight since I was in 6th grade so... you could imagine my happiness. I was in single digit clothes for the first time that I could remember (I was a size 10 in 5th grade...). Things were going great for me - I was living it up as a college student in Long Beach and having the time of my life. I even fell back in love with a former fling exactly one year after surgery - who is now my AMAZING husband Anthony.

Only 6 months after we got married - you guessed it - we got pregnant! I made the mistake of stopping my daily workout routine.
TO ALL YOU MOTHERS-TO-BE OUT THERE: Don't stop your workouts just because you're pregnant... take to the internet and look for some pregnancy workout routines. You will not want to be in the position that I am in now, and I firmly believe that if I continued to workout while being pregnant, I would have bounced back a lot faster.
Anywho, back to where I began, I stopped my workouts and wouldn't you know it, the day I was in labor, I weighed in at 244lbs. Seeing that I started being pregnant at around 190, I gained almost 60lbs being pregnant. LuCkiLy, most of it was water retention and I lost about 30 of that right out of the hospital. I came home right about 221, and after breastfeeding, continued to loose about 10 of that.

Then, the struggle began. I was stuck - simply stuck at 210. OK... so I wasn't really doing anything to help my case. My baby boy as well as work and hubby took up all of my free time... as well as the photography and graphic design that I do through www.vibrantimagery.net. My schedule consists of getting up, taking a shower, getting the baby fed and bathed, making lunch for my hubby and I, making coffee, getting hair and make up done with a baby in my lap, going to work, coming home, making dinner, playing with the baby, feeding the baby, putting the baby down for bed, hanging out with husband and going to bed. Seriously? How could I ever even think about working out?

Finally, 2011 was approaching. Baby was 10 months old and becoming more and more active while Mommy and Daddy were getting more and more lazy. Something had to be done. We went over to the gym and signed up for a membership. Although it was New Year's Eve, we are determined to not be one of the "New Year's Resolution" types who go to the gym for a month and then say... "eh nevermind". And that's why I'm here writing this blog. It's intended to keep me focused and to provide you with positive updates on myself - as well as share my experiences and tips on what is working for me - and maybe it will work for you too.

My goal is to be back at 165. It may take me a while, but I'm super determined to get back there - maybe even lower. I mean, who wouldn't want to be a perfect size 6 right?? Typing this today, I've already lost 7LBS in just about 2 weeks (started out at the gym at 209lbs). I've simply cut out carbs and sugars and gone to the gym 3 times a week. My two week goal was 5lbs, so I've surpassed that already! *Pat on the Back for Me!!!* My one month goal is 10lbs, so I think I might be able to reach that. If I do, I'll be out of the 200's. I'm already happy that I'm the lowest I've been since Carter was born, but I still have 12lbs to go to get to pre-pregnancy weight.

OK, just so you know, I won't be writing this much ALL the time! I just wanted to introduce myself and where I'm coming from in starting this blog. From now on, I'm only going to post on things happening in my diet, workouts, progresses, and I may share a couple of girly things a long the way - maybe when I get thinner I can post up new outfits that I've gotten and I may even do some makeup tips... We'll see where the road takes us! Fasten your seatbelts everyone - it's time to ShapeUP!