#35!!

Jessica Lyn

Thanks again to N-Fini for hosting this generous giveaway!!

We spend one to two day every year cross country skiing.  I love it and I love how easy it is for my kids to just get on their skis and go–very little skill involved.  Rim Nordic is our one and only cross country ski resort local to us.  There are about 6 miles of trails to ski on, all groomed, with levels of difficulty ranging from very easy to hard.  This is the same location that hosts mountain bike events in the summer.

Best parts of skiing for us are the ability to get outdoors with our kids and do something together as a family.  They are now **cough cough** almost 4 and 6!  Seems like just yesterday I was snow shoeing with Benjamin in a baby bjorn!

Even for guys as young as mine, you can rent all the equipment right there on site.  We put Ryan on skiis when he was 2!

There goes daddy with Ryan.  Who’s a natural for about 45 minutes! And then, he just sits down and says he’s tired.

Moms don’t need poles!  I’ve found it’s far easier to ski without so that you’re hands are free to put  my youngest between my legs on the downhills.

In the end, the most important thing is that they have fun.  My youngest and I completed the 1 mile loop together and then he was done.  And Daddy spent over an hour skiing with Benjamin!  That is a LOT of exercise for little kids.

My husband and I each had time for a little 30 minute solo ski at the end of the day and that was great as well.

The children were thrilled to just play in the snow as well!

Ok, folks, I’ve tried to NOT puke Cross Fit on you daily, but, I got a lot of questions about it, so, here is the latest news for me…I can do 75 kipping pull-ups with NO BANDS!!!

WHOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Yesterday, was technically a “make-up” day.  Either we could choose the 10 minute Handstand Push-up workout (which we had done the day before) or could choose to do Cindy.  Cindy is another very simple Cross Fit classic.  It’s so simple that it’s crazy I’d never heard of it before now.  For twenty minutes do repeats of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats.  When I heard that was the workout, I knew I could do FIVE kipping pull-ups.  What I didn’t know was how many sets of FIVE I could do.  I just figured I would try the first few without the bands and just try it out….The good news is that I MADE IT.  All sets of pull-ups with no bands.  At the end I was doing only 2 or 3 at a time, but, I did them all!

The Results for Me are 15 Rounds in 20 minutes.  That is with lots of breathing breaks and stops at the end for skin removal.  Unfortunately, I had been neglecting my callouses and with this high number of pull-ups and I lost some skin.  Yikes.  But at the time, I was too stoked to be bummed about it.  Lesson learned…soften callouses with pumice stone and very likely wear gloves!

So, YES, I am proud, skin tears and all.  Just planning on preventing that in the future!

Anybody want to suggest products for my skin repair?

Yes! One more perfect sports bra to add to the collection! This one is called the N-Fini Sports Bra and I love it. It’s soft, long in length -could be a top by itself, straps are comfortable, and it is a well priced bra in the under $25 category! I’ve been wearing this bra regularly for the last month and have found it to be a great asset to my sports bra collection- now I have two (Handful, Inc or N-Fini) to chose from!! The only thing I’d do different with this bra is make it a full top- it’s that comfortable and easy to wear.

N-Fini has generously offered one of you a $50 giftcard for any N-Fini products! Simply click over, check the website out and come back and comment on what you’d purchase if you won.

Also, I have a 10% off coupon code: SAVE10 on any purchases made before March 10th.

Winner will be chosen at Random on Sunday, February 7th at 9pm. PST.

This product was received for the purposes of review and I would absolutely repurchase!

The winner of the Handful, Inc bra is number 44!  Congratulations!

Stay tuned, I have another sports bra to giveaway!

The ZONE diet is a completely new way of eating for me.  So instead of nice little paragraphs, I’m going to use bullet points.  I should state a few things that were interesting to me, first though.  There are some Big Time Athletes who follow the ZONE…people whom I respect like Christian Vande Velde, Dean Karnazes, Lisa Bentley and many more triathletes, hockey players and golfers.

Nothing is off limits- just “best” choice and “poor” choices.  Bread, rice and pasta are all there on the lists of grains- except you get 1/5 of a cup of rice for one carbohydrate block.  Or 1/4 cup of pasta for one carb block……versus 1/2 an apple or 1/4 hummus or 1/4 cup of sweet potato.  As for the fat, it’s simply eating the good fats in small quantities- avocado, olives, nuts, olive oil, almond butter all foods that are my favorites!

It means eating a 3 block breakfast before work.  That translates to 3 slices of turkey bacon, 1/2 cup eggs cooked with 1 pepper, onions and spinach, a sprinkle of cheese, and 3 Tablespoons of Avocado and a half an apple!!  That is a lot of FOOD, people.

• My fridge is completely FULL of cut vegetables, bags of grapes and tomatoes and lunches made.
• Supposedly, I should be able to go 4-6 hours on one meal.   And, plan to have 2 snacks at some point during the day.
• Each meal (3) and snack (1-2) requires that number of  blocks of protein, carbohydrates and fat.  It’s based on the number of grams in each one.  For example, 2 egg whites is one block, 1 cup of raspberries and 1 Macademia Nut could be a one block snack.
• It means that I need a really cool digital scale and a measuring cup!
• The meals are completely reasonable and normal!  Ex. 1 corn tortilla to make a quesadilla with salsa, jalapeno’s, and an orange.

I’m already liking this plan of eating.  In comparison to Weight Watchers (which I did years ago), it’s about planning your food! Not something I’ve done in the past.

You can read more about the ZONE diet here. How am I going to keep it all straight?!?!? I have a list of all the foods and their block quantities that I carry around everywhere!

Questions, comments, concerns?! Let it rip here.  Today was a no sugar day and I’m still alive!

(This is not a paid endorsement!)

As you read this, I will officially be on DAY 1 of the Zone Diet.  For the last two weeks, I have fiddled around with it, but, tomorrow is my official start date.  I bet you are all wondering WHY would I be starting any kind of diet whatsoever, right??? I eat healthy, or so I think, and yet, I am still carrying around excess fat.  Seriously.

I started cross fit workouts back in November and since then have already seen a large loss of body fat.  I don’t have any numbers for you but, I can tell you I dropped at least one dress size without changing my diet at all- and that includes wine, dark chocolate and iced americano’s regularly!!

Cross Fit, across the board recommends a diet high in protein, vegetables, nuts, some fruits and no sugar, and, depending on the affiliate, will depend on what diet they recommend.  To my knowledge there are only two- the Paleo Diet and the Zone Diet.  Yesterday, I was lucky enough to hear a lecture given by my trainers on the ZONE diet and that was the final icing on the cake for me.

Most importantly, I heard that for every 3 workouts, you drop 1 (like in the trash) if your diet sucks.

Number 2, the ZONE diet’s function is primarily to reduce inflammation in the body.  (Like for example, the chronic diseases that are associated with inflammation- heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer, asthma, allergies, and anything that ends in -itis- TENDENITIS {me!!!}

Number 3, My trainers are my hero’s! Both of them.  And, so, it’s kind of like if they are doing it and are successful and completely ripped, then, I can do it too.

I also wrote to the PR person for the ZONE Diet and they were excited to provide me with samples of a few of the books and bars that the ZONE diet offers.  I will discuss this more in detail later, but, I wanted you to know that I am READING all the material I can get my hands on and honestly, the only thing that’s hard to figure out is how much food I am expected to eat DAILY!?!?!?!

Questions/Comments/Concerns…let us hear them below.

As you many know, I do love sugar.  There I said it. I like raw sugar in my coffee drinks and I like sugar in cookies and most especially in dark chocolate.  I used to think that just “a little bit” was ok.  But, really, my “little bit” adds up to A LOT.  One iced Americano with two raw sugars equals 40 calories and 10 grams of carbohydrates!!! Not to mention the cream I put in it…could be equivalent to 3 grams of fat.  Gee, you think it’s time to change my order?!  So, in essence, I am drinking in relationship to food, 1 cup of blueberries and 1 Macadamia nut.

How many of you drink your calories and still eat the same amounts of food looking for results from lots and lots of sweat?

According to Nancy Appleton, Ph. D., there are 146 Reasons Sugar Can Ruin Your Health!

Below are just a few of the 146 that struck a chord with me.

1.  Sugar suppress the immune system.  (would that be why I am prone to sinus infections?)

2. Sugar can cause anxiety, hyperactivity, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.

3.  Sugar causes a loss of elasticity and function.  The more sugar you eat, the more you lose.

4.  Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.

5.  It can be intoxicating similiar to alcohol.

6. It can increase the amount of food you eat.

One quote from Hammer Nutrition that I love; “The quality of the calories always matters.”

So, Yes, I think sugar does effect my performance.  Namely in the fact that I am still carrying around a little belly- where all that excess food I eat goes.

This week, I will be starting a new diet and I hope to have YOU, my readers, help me stay accountable.  Please email me to check up on me!  fitnessformommies (at) gmail (com).  Stay tuned for more information in the next few days.

Yes, I’m so excited about this giveaway! I absolutely adore my Handful bras. Last year, I reviewed this bra and since then I have purchased 3 more. It’s perfect for those of us who are small chested because it comes with pads! These pads are removable and very easy to put back in the bra. I use two of my bras for daily living (with pads) and the other two, I use for workouts (without pads). Wonderful.

If you’d like to win this bra, please take a minute and check out Handful’s bra and come back and comment on which size and color you’d like!

Winner will be chosen at Random on February 1 at 9pm.

This story gave me goosebumps!  Joy didn’t start running until  her late 50’s and is now running 3 marathons a year including the New York City marathon and is winning her age group!

Inspirational!