DietBet Challenge

So it's been over a month and I have been watching my calories more or less. I have lost about 16 pounds and I am glad about that. I look better this week than last week. Now I am to the point that IN THE MORNING PRIOR TO EATING, I can look acceptable in a 2 piece bathing suit without sucking it in. Ha.... I will take that.

So I won my online dietbet challenge. I don't remember if I mentioned the dietbet in my last blog...and I am too lazy to look, so forgive me if this is repetitive info...but, what dietbet is is an online challenge where you put money in and with this dietbet challenge  if you lose 4% of your body weight in 28 days you win. They don't care what type of weight you lose...it's based on the scale. They have this process where they send you a code word that you have to place next to scale as you weigh in and out. It has to be a digital scale and you must weigh in on same scale at end of the game. You also have to include a full body shot standing on the scale with that code name. I jumped into that game 2 weeks late cuz I know how to lose 7 pounds of weight in a week let alone 2 weeks. Now...3 pounds of that weight was just pure water weight, but I did managed to lose 4 pounds of bodyfat in 2 weeks. So, the pot was $37,500 bucks and I put in $25 dollars. There were over 1500 players. By the end of the game, I nearly doubled my money...$49.00. So score!  So this is how I reward myself at the end of the month. I ended up spending the money on some makeup that I wanted.

I am going to enter another game tonite and do the same thing again. I will keep doing this until I get to the weight that I want to be. So...I think I will need 2 more games to reach my goal weight of between 140-145 pounds. I will have noticeable abs at 145 pounds. At 140 I will be LEAN!!!! So, we will see. Depends on what I look like. I don't want to be too lean where I lose all my curves. And at age 50, I need to watch the leanness in my face. I get super lean in my face....naturally, and I frankly don't know how my skin will look at the super lean state. I don't want any saggy skin!!!! So I will keep an eye on that. I know for a fact that I look younger with a fuller face. I refuse to have a smokin' body and a jacked up face...lol. So, we will see what weight I look the best at. Unfortunately, I am no spring chicken anymore. 

Hey....exciting news!!!! Toledo has an Apple Store in our main mall. I am in heaven. Now I have another place other than Sephora to hang out at :) I admit, I am one of the apple junkies...yup, for sure. 

I also want to share pics of 2 new additions to my family. My mom got 2 Shih Tzu's. The brown one is Snoop and the black one is Romeo. They are the cutest....and a handful. They are around 14 weeks....born November 1st last year.

 

I had some awesomeness happen. I received a refund on some work I had done on my car...that cost me a pretty penny. Found out they recalled a piece in the power steering. Mine went down a while ago. Well, they refunded my money, so I had extra money that I was not counting on, so I went shopping and got all the things that I had on my Wishlist for my makeup and skin care. See, I am on a "low" buy because I don't need all the stuff that I buy. But I get such a high and INTENSE enjoyment buying things that I love...like makeup, skin care, and techie gadgets. Of course the stuff I want is high end and costs way too much money. So...yesterday I went shopping and it was AWESOME!!! I think I have everything I want for a while. I am good til spring time.

So for my training, I am mixing things up a bit. Instead of 4 sessions of strength training a week where I end up having to upper body days and 2 lower body days, I am going to have 3 full body session a week M,W,F and the days between I will do some moderate cardio...stair master or something like that for 30 minutes. That's the only thing I will change.

My eating, I will eat relatively clean and continue to have 1 cheat meal a week. 

Since I am adding the cardio...I am allotting myself one 3 Muskateer bar a day....hehehe. We will see if I continue to lose doing that. If not, I will cut them out. I am going to try it this week haha.

I'm just sayin'.....

        
I had a bit of a challenge remembering how to get to my blog it's been so long. Well I thought I would quickly do a blog to share with all the people who take the time to read my little blog to know what's been up with me.

I have been super busy with work....learning the ropes of a new position. I have been in Clinical IT for 3 years and supporting electronic medical records as a Clinical Lead for 3 of our System's 11 hospitals. Then in May, I got reassigned to another clinical application...The application that support our  Cancer Center's in our System and my role kept evolving to the point that now I am the Application Owner the application. New job, new responsibilities, and the only experience I had was all my years of leadership in Nursing positions...and the clinical IT lead role. But this job was altogether DIFFERENT. I went from dealing with clinicians (something that I am very familiar with and comfortable doing) to the technical aspects of IT. I had no clue about the infrastructure that made our clinical applications work. So, I had a humongous learning curve and had to network with a bunch of tech guys and vendors to keep my application running smoothly. There's the citrix guys, server guys, interface guys, network engineers, database guys, storage guys...and it goes on. And my application requires all of them to function optimally. So I had to learn really quick how to problem solve when my application requires support. Is it a citrix issue, server problem, SQL issue....on and on. I QUICKLY made friends with some key people in each role and Google and YouTube became my best friend.

After several months I have learned a ton...lol. I have an admiration for all the tech geeks (I say that affectionately) out there...and I am a geek wannabe now :).  I love my job and I have made some great geek tech friends. It took some time to earn the trust of some of them...especially after I made a few bad calls. I used to blame all evil on our citrix environment....poor guys, but now I see things better. The citrix guys rock....my favs.

Well, while I was filling my head with all this tech knowledge, I was also filling my mouth with all the free catered food that came in as I was learning the application through leading a new physician office start up with the application. Long hours, mental fatigue, long drive, and all kinds of sweets caused me to add 15 pounds of fat on my body. I continued to train, but despite that, calories in far exceeded calories out and I just kept getting more curvy as time passed. Ha...I like the term curvy versus fat lol. Whenever I have boobies....I am way overweight.  After all of that hard work I went to New Orleans and on a cruise....and gained 7 more pounds. When it was all said and done the scale said it all. 174 pounds!!!!! Yikes.

169 pounds here with my mom and sis

New Orleans with my bro, mom, sis-in-law and hubby

So on January 2nd,  I started eating right and acting like I have some sense and I have lost over 15 pounds and am down in my 150's. I am still heavy as my ideal weight is around 145....but I look presentable. Believe it or not I did not have to buy new clothes, but I looked like shit in my clothes....muffin top and some back fat and some of my sweaters...well I could not button them all they way up. But, I refused to buy new clothes. I fit them much better now, but still have a ways to go. I am finally to the point that if I suck it in I can wear a 2 piece bathing suit without gagging when I look in the mirror. But I still have to suck it in to look somewhat presentable.

I will post pictures this month sometime....promise. Markus has been so awesome. As I continued to get more curvy, he never made me feel bad about it. Always encouraging and helpful, he continues to be my dude. (That means my coach......in Annette speak). I don't want his wife hunting me down...lol.

I am training in the morning and my diet is simple....very simple. Protein oatmeal, a couple pieces of fruit, a protein shake here or there if I don't eat enough protein in chicken, fish, or occasional beef. I eat a ton of green veggies and only do 1 cheat MEAL a week. I can't wait til I can go back to my cheat DAY.

For the girls in my audience...my skin is looking great. I have been taking great care of it...a goal I had made for myself last year. I am using Paula Choice products and  what has made the biggest change in my complexion is adding a 20% Vitamin C + E Ferulic Acid serum from a brand called Timeless Skin Care. This product has brightened my complexion and has given me an overall more youthful appearance. I don't think I look 50 years old. This  stuff has taken at least 10 years off of my appearance. I have been blessed with good genetics in regards to minimal wrinkles, but I did suffer from hyperpigmentation which can make me look older.

And I am still in love with makeup. I love it, buy too much of it and it just makes me giddy. Little makes me more excited then seeing the UPS or Fedex guy dropping off a package of makeup goodies that I have ordered.....hahaha!!!!

New eyeshadow, mascara, and nude lipstick :)

My kids and grands.....the joy of my life. 

My son Nick

My Girls

My baby is a senior!!

Daughter and my funny grandson...he always is crazy like this

My daughter and oldest grandchild

Me and my grandson from other daughter

My cutie grandaughter

My daughters are beautiful!!!

Another Day

Training

Lower Body Day

Single Leg Press

100 x 10

120 x 10

135 x 10

SLDL

90 x 10

115 x 10

115 x 10

Standing Calf Raise (being lazy)

110 x 10

110 x 10

110 x 10

Bulgarian Split Squats holding 10# DBs

3 sets of 10 reps

My glutes are sore. I need to start wearing gloves as the weights increase. I struggled a bit with barbell grip with the SLDLs. I have no clue where my straps are. It has been a few years since I lifted heavy enough to use straps. 

I was so tired yesterday. I was out like a light by 9:30pm and did not stir until 5 am.

Nutrition

Nothing special... Not watching my carbs  like I should. Lots happening at work that has my stress up a bit, so if I can maintain a lower calorie intake, I will lose fat slowly. 

I bought a few more shadows.... Woohoo... Pure Joy at a bargain. I received several compliments on my eyes  today. Yeah baby....sporting my bargain lashes that I talked about a few blogs back. I added more shadows yesterday. Check out the beautiful colors!!!

Time for bed....

Tired

Training...

Upper body training today. I was tired but I put forth good effort

Day 2, upper body

lat pull-down 

85 x 10

90 x 10

100 x 10

barbell bench press

45 x 10

65 x 10

85 x 7

85 x 5

95 x 3

cable face pull w/external rotation

30 x 10

35 x 10

40 x 10

shrug dumbbell ( being lazy because I hate to rack heavy dumbbells)

35 x 10

35 x 10

35 x 10

dumbbell curl

20 x 10

20 x 10

25 x 10 

                                         

Nutrition

I ate Chipoltle today for lunch.for dinner Imade myself a huge salad with 200g salmon, fresh blue berries, strawberries, French dressing, and dried cranberries. I don't count calories for leafy greens or fresh mushrooms. Yeah...I had diet pop and about 6 cups black coffee. I only had 16 oz of water...boo me. On the drive home I enjoyed a jolly rancher sucker

.

 

Other

I was really tired today. A lot going on at work which has my stress level higher than normal. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel more rested. We will see....

Seven Weeks Of Training!!!!

Loving my purple eye makeup

The Training

It has been 7 weeks since I made a commitment to myself to get back in the habit of strength training consistently. I have been going strong. I have not missed a workout the entire time and I am getting stronger and stronger. To accomplish this, I have to be at the YMCA around 5am every morning. I have found that I am too tired after work to have the desire to train, so I must start the day off right. The added benefit to working out early in the morning is having increased energy during the day.

Today was leg day and I am stoked to report that I have finally reached the point of 115 pounds on the bar......ass to the grass squats...set 3 of 10 reps. My goal is to make it back up to 135 pounds for at least 2 sets of 10. I wanted to do my normal Annette cheer and jump around the gym like a maniac, clapping my hands for myself....but I didn't because I did not want to disrupt the training of 4 dudes that train super hard. Of course I am the only girl in the gym and I did not want to be acting all girlie and stuff in front of the guys...so I waited until I got in the shower room and did an Annette dance in front of the mirrors....GO ANNETTE!! Just to add some perspective to my glee...six weeks ago I was only squatting 65 measly pounds and now I am up to 115!!!! YOU GO GIRL!!!!!! All my other lifts are increasing as well. 

I have been doing a 4 day split between upper and lower body workouts. My workout takes me around 35-40 minutes....closer to 40 minutes because I no longer count my warmup set as one of my sets of 3 sets...haha. Pretty consistently, I do 2 days of moderate cardio on Friday and Saturday schedule permitting, but if I do not get the cardio in, I don't care. Cardio is just a filler for me...gets me to the gym anti more, you know, icing on the cake.

The Nutrition 

My nutrition has been on and off depending on my day/week. Some weeks I was more on point than off, and then I had a few weeks that I was off point more than on point. Last week, I was just off plan the entire time. 

I am down 3 pounds in 7 weeks....haha, so that tells me a few things....

#1. I am gaining precious muscle (yay) 

#2. I am not eating clean enough (boo)

When I look in the mirror I definitely see a difference, even though the scale says otherwise. I am leaning out even though my diet is not perfect. 

The Job

My job has been a bit on the stressful side, more responsibility with less resources. I am in the process of learning an entirely different role as a system administrator for our system outpatient cancer centers in addition to maintaining my current role supporting the inpatient clinical electronic applications. I was hoping to be selected as part of the build team for a new application that ProMedica will be moving to in 18 months, but I was asked to remain supporting the current product and then I would move forward to support the EPIC product once it is built. I really wanted to get the build experience since I have 2 years of supporting an application, but God has something else in mind for me. Things happen for a reason and so I am ok with it most days. A few weeks back, I was asked to add the system administrator role to my duties and so now I have an entirely different focus for a bit. This will be challenging. 

Fun News

This weekend my youngest daughter went to prom. I had fun doing her makeup and helping with her hair. She looked stunning!

 JOY JOY JOY

I love, love, love makeup and I found an amazing buy. I was at the beauty supply store and I saw these individual eyeshadows that looked stunning. I only bought 3 because I figured they would be poor quality since they were only a buck per shadow. Is swatched them when I got home and found that the quality matched the quality of some of my high end shadows which can run between $15-30 a shadow. 

The next day I went back to the store and bought several more shadows along with the $2.99 palette quads to house the shadows. What a steal!!!!

I still have not purchased a camera, so no progress pictures to post. I need to get a camera!! The only reason I am not posting pics is because I need a new camera!  I think  that I would work harder on my diet if I were posting progress pictures. I need to get a camera!!!!

Ha, it has been a long time since I posted a blog. It feels good to post again :)

Re-inventing myself Week 2

I am just getting over my EXTREME disappointment that my 49ers failed to make the Super Bowl this year. Sooo sad. I was ready to order my 49er Super Bowl gear...set aside a couple hundred bucks to indulge. And to make things worse…I was being taunted by my girlfriends, my ex, and my brother on Facebook. Hawk Fans. Agh!!!! I HATE TO LOSE!! I thought my head was going to explode after that game because I think I was holding back my tears. I could not believe that I wanted to cry over a game! So stupid!! But again, I hate to lose!!!!!!! Oh well....maybe next year. In the mean time....GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!

Sporting my 49er tee-shirt for the game Sunday

 So life is not always a bowl of chocolate. Other than that game, life is good. 

Training…

Last week I trained twice and got some cardio in. I was 50% clean on my diet. I was pretty happy with that considering I was coming off a 6 week splurge. 

This week I plan to do 2 full body workouts and some mild/moderate cardio on 2-4 days. I need to be on task 80% of the time for me to consider this week successful in regards to my diet. Tonight, I trained. I did the following full body workout (Sets X Reps):

• Squats 3 X10
• Lat Pulldowns 3 X10
• Lying Leg Curls 3 X 10
• Flat Bench Press 3 X 10
• Lunges 3 X 10
• Cable Face Pull w/external rotation 3 X 10
• Standing Calf Raise 3 X 10
• Shrugs 3 X 10
• Pallof Press 3 X 10
• Dumbbell Curls 3 X 10

Exhausting workout indeed!! My next Training will hopefully be Friday. I will do same kind of compound movements but different exercises. 

My nutrition plan is simple….try to keep calories 1500 or below with protein at 100grams. I am not going to monitor my carbs and fat. They will take care of themselves if I hit my protein grams and stick to no more than 1500 calories…even on my training days. 

I will post progress pictures last week in Feb. I am thinking that my goal weight will be around 140 pounds. Last week I was 152 pounds. I did not weigh myself this week…and don't plan to weigh myself at all until progress pic time. My goal is to look great in my bathing suit while retaining some of my curves. If I lose more than 12 pounds of fat, I will lose my breasts and I don't want to lose all of them. I will lose a lot, but I want to have a little left. In addition to that, when I get too lean, my face starts to look gaunt and old. So at 140 pounds, I won't have a 6 pack, but my abs should be flat and I should not have any back fat or muffin top fat spilling over my jeans. Heck…I am almost 50 years old. Haha..I turned 49 earlier this month. I told my coach that my goal is to simply look as good as I can for my age. 

My daughter and her family

My Grands

2014...

 Ah….2014 is here. Exciting stuff. A start of a New Year….all the New Year resolutions people are making….you know, all that good stuff planning for the year to come.

Well I am starting this year at 151 pounds!!! Haha…yeah, I enjoyed the holidays a bit too much and I am back to my chunky monkey self. As you can see I have a full face, kinda fat neck, boobs…which melt away when I am leaner, and if I where my jeans…a definite muffin top. Oh yeah, did I mention a little back fat?  Lol. Old habits die hard. I frequently get heavier over the holidays and then I slim back down. Same old thing….same old Annette. But what is different about me from previous years is this…..So what if I am chunky!!! No sweat!!! I will lean out to what I feel is optimal for me….hopefully by the summer. Minus 11 pounds of fat…and some heavy duty weight training should make me all better.

My goals are simple this year…

1. Relax
2. Log my calories (I eat less when I log my intake)
3. Train 3-4 times a week
4. Actively be a part of 3 bodybuilding Forums (Check in minimally weekly) all year

That is all. If I am consistent at doing all 4 things, I will be lean enough to look good :)

Birthday…..

I turned 49 a few days ago. My Motto for this year for myself is Forty-nine & Fine….haha…I can be that.

Coach…..

I will continue to retain my current coach through 2014….he is the best. Well actually, I plan to have him as long as I have my health and can financially afford him. The question is…will he continue to to retain me as a client since his goal is to get his clients to the point that they don't need his services anymore. 

Hmmmm…..I will need him forever because…I just do. I know how to train, I know how to eat, I am self motivated. But, in life we all need coaches. We never arrive at that destination where we know it all. I have learned a ton from my coach.

My Facial Journey….

Back in November…November 2nd to be exact, I started a new facial journey. I eliminated some of my super expensive facial products and started using African Black Soap. At first it was a rocky start. My face burned when I used it and was irritated, but I stayed the course. So 2 months later, my skin is doing fantastic! It is tons smoother and the breakouts are greatly reduced…and I wear makeup daily. I am PROUD of my improvement in my skin! In the picture below, I do have makeup on…foundation, some concealer here and there…but I need a lot less of it. Even my hyper pigmentation is diminishing nicely. I have added a new product in the mix. I added a mens facial cleanser called Anthony Glycolic Facial Wash. I got a free sample of this at Sephora…I may have blogged about this previously…don't remember…but anyway, I loved the way it made my skin feel after I used it. So my new routine is as follows:

1. Remove makeup with makeup wipes and makeup remover
2. Use a mild cleanser to remove excess makeup- I use Purity for that
3. Change wash cloth and lather my face with the African Black Soap and rinse
4. Lather up with the Anthony Glycolic face wash and rinse
5. Use my Peter Thomas Roth Resurfacing serums for my eyes and face.

In the mornings 3-4 times a week I use another Peter Thomas Roth product called Firm X Peeling Gel. It gently exfoliates my face.

1-2 times a week I will use my Mary Kay version of the Clarisonic brush on my face. I use it on a day that I don't use the Firm X. 

Sounds like a lot, but it is not bad. I spend about 5 minutes washing my face in the morning, and about 10 minutes at night. Every now and then I throw in a Tea Tree Mask or some other mask. It is worth the time because my skin looks great for the most part….and I think the African Black Soap has ALOT to do with it.

Clear Complexion :)

My Hair 2014….

My hair…my goal for 2015 is to go 100 percent natural kinky beautiful big hair. I have A TON of kinky hair that is long and WILD up under this weave. When my hair reaches the middle of my back in its kinky state, then I will sport my natural hair all the time. If you pull my curls down it already is that long, but when it gets to the middle of my back in its kinky state….then it will be super long.  I think I will reach that mark by the end of this year. No more relaxers….ever. I am getting too old for all the upkeep, but I like long hair…and long kinky natural hair is…the bomb and I am bold enough to rock it.  The one thing that I hate is….the gray hair!!! I can't keep up with it. The minute I color it, my hair decides to show it's growth at the roots. AGH!!!! I don't mind getting old, but the one thing I HATE is the gray hair and I have a ton of it!! But then…seriously…I AM ALMOST 50!!!!!!

When I decide to change my weave, I will take a picture of my natural, untamed kinky locks! Remember Scary Spice from the Spice Girls?

Well that is EXACTLY what my hair looks like today.  When it gets about 4 inches longer, the length of my hair will make it look LESS SCARY…and I will be able to put it in eloborate buns when I don't feel like the lions mane.  

So that's the plan/goal for the hair…..Au Natural!!!!

Makeup…

I plan to cut back considerably on the makeup purchases this year. I don't need another eye palette. I have enough palettes to last me a life time. And foundations…same thing. And mascaras…..same thing. I am not big into the lip sticks…so I don't have tons of them, and I don't own 1 nail polish…lol. But everything else…I have a ton!!

Makeup Brushes….

Ummm….I plan to cut back on my brushes with the exception of 3 brushes that I have been yearning for a YEAR. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want these 3 brushes…and then after that I will be satisfied. Forget the new car, or even the iPad Air. I want 3 SUQQU BRUSHES…..that's all…3 brushes.

The Face Brush $265 and the Cheek Brush $178

This eye brush only costs $80

Unfortunately, these brushes aren't sold in the USA. They are made and sold in Japan. They are also sold in England at a better price. I can purchase them at Selfridges but I have to pay crazy shipping on these brushes…b/w $40-60 bucks at a pop. So, when I decide to buy these brushes….this year…haha…I will buy them all at once when my hubby is far, far, away out of town.

Speaking of hubby, he was sweet enough to buy me this travel brush set for my birthday…and they were not cheap at all. He bought them out of love…haha. He could not believe the price for "travel" brushes…but he bought them and I SO LOVE THEM. Now I can keep my expensive regular brushes at home instead of carrying some of them in a case in my book bag. They are way too expensive to be carrying around just in case I get stranded and need my makeup and my makeup brushes. Haha…yup, In my book bag, I have an entire stash of "just in case I get stranded" makeup and brushes.

Aren't they AMAZING!!!!

Can't keep my hands off of them :)

Family Pics!!!

My sis, my sister-in-law, and me at Christmas

My Favorite Barbie Tee!!

My sis, me and my bro!!

Youngest Grand Child..just turned 1

Oldest Grandchild. He will be 4 in March

Karmen and Karmello..my 2 middle grands age 1 and 2

I bought Karmen this Hello Kitty Set for Christmas

My 17 year old and Me..she's the baby and only one left at home :(

Cheers and Happy New Year All!!!!