Being Emerald...*Sparkles*

So I'm officially an Emerald Rank Coach...I have 2 coaches under me, one being my dear husband who is gonna kill it and be Emerald soon too.  I just know it!  He's even gone as far as creating his own group that we both will collectively help people with their fitness goals etc.  He wants everyone in the group to keep a blog/journal/etc so I guess I'm going to have to keep up with this one better.
TUESDAY 1/3/12 is our start date for Power 90.  I'm nervous, but I'm excited to start.  P90X was too hard to keep up with from a beginners standpoint and if Power 90 is anything like the express workout that comes with it...I'm going to be JUST FINE!  I'm really looking forward to some DRASTIC changes this go round...THEN once I get through 90 days of Power 90...I'm ordering Les Mill PUMP cuz that looks awesome.  MAYBE somewhere in there I can eek out enough to get Turbo Jam too...LOL  Guess who's addicted??
2012 is going to be epic.  NOT....KIDDING!

This is too hard you say?

Yes it is HARD to get healthy.  Nothing worth having is going to be easy. I decided to start a little list of things that I want to remind myself of when I start to think it's just TOO HARD.  Use these to help you out if you want.  Use them to help others if you feel you need to!  But never EVER give up!

BranDivah aka Me,
1.)You have started taking strides toward a healthier lifestyle, so notice the small changes! Notice that you can eat less now and feel full.  Notice that things you use to gorge yourself on now make you feel ill.  Notice that you are developing a better taste for veggies! Use these to reinforce your decisions!
2.) Don't make your WEIGHT loss your only thing you look forward to to fuel you to keep going!  Use your tools, aka your support group, to keep you going!  Think of how you inspire them when they are down.
3.)To be continued...

2nd Month!

When you complete a Beachbody Challenge and submit your after photos...you get a shirt for whatever program you do that says I EARNED IT on the back.  I want to deserve every bit of that shirt when I get it!
I climbed not 1 but 2 mountains this past Sunday...literally...*proud*
I lost 3lbs last week...I lost 6 inches last month...I...AM...EARNING...IT!!!
I have a long way to go, but I'm not letting the long road slow me down...this month is die hard month for me....I WILL EARN IT...
Who's with me??

Knockouts! P90X Week 1

WEEK 1 IS FINISHED!!!  PHEW!

I pretty much covered everything in the video! Feel free to comment, ask questions, whatever!
(Today is Day 2 of Week 2 btw...I made the video last night)

This gets me going

If you wanna know what motivates me when I work out....this is it. I...ADORE...BT and listen to his music every day! And this is by far my most favorite favorite favorite song of his right now. Godspeed will always be in my heart and Somnambulist won me over, but this song I cannot describe my feelings for...it literally is what I feel for it, if that makes any sense.

It makes my heart race and gets me excited and I love to listen to it over and over and over. It motivates me. And, while I know I can share and hope people will love it too, I know everyone is different and you might hear it and just go O_o? I don't mind, but have a listen. If you like it, love it whatever...I just have to share because I am just full of music. It moves me and I'm very passionate about it.

♥ ME

Finally a loss!

OK!  Today I finally have seen a loss of making sure I didn't eat anything too crazy yesterday!  I weigh myself in on my Wii Fit because it gives BMI and all that.  Now, technically when I weighed in yesterday, it said I gained .9lb.  So, I turned off the Wii before it saved the weight because I want to see a loss from the point I started at, which was 254.  So this morning I weigh in; a loss of 1.3lb!  So in all actuality, I lost 2.2lbs since yesterday by just changing my diet that little bit and I also was finally able to add another 15 minutes to my cardio.  I also drank a LOT more water yesterday.  I've drank about twice as much water today than I did yesterday and have kept my meals small and calorie conscious. It's definitely hard because my body is starving for food and it takes everything I have to NOT go and just binge eat.  I seriously have a headache right now from the lack of food in my diet today.  Crazy, because I feel like I've been eating all damn day!
I did make DH a pretty interesting meal tonight though.  I bought some couscous the other day, so I cooked that right up in about 5 minutes (super easy and a MUCH better alternative than white rice).  We're always eating white rice here, so trying to cut it out is going to be easier because couscous has almost the same consistency as rice and is better for you.  I'm also going to look for some quinoa(pronouced ken-wah for those of you who don't know) next time I go shopping.  It's similar to couscous and I've heard its pretty good as well.  These are great alternatives to white rice (because white rice is just bleached brown rice...and when they bleach it out it takes out all the "good stuff") or even pasta!  And you can pretty much do anything with it.
  I made my couscous tonight with a little bit of unsalted butter, a little black pepper and some Mrs Dash (I LOVE THIS STUFF...and it's salt free!) Garlic & Herb Flavor.  It came out REALLY GOOD.  Then, I baked some Asparagus Parmesan. Pretty much, you just toss fresh asparagus in some olive oil, arrange it on a baking sheet, sprinkle it with some parmesan and some bread crumbs (i used reduced fat parm and just a LITTLE tiny bit of Italian Herb Bread Crumbs), a little black pepper and again...the Mrs Dash Garlic & Herb.  Bake at 450 for 15 mins or until the asparagus is tender.  It was pretty dang good.  DH also opted to cook up a couple Boca burgers (meatless...pretty much made of tofu...taste like burgers you had from the cafeteria in grade school) to go along with it.  I also had some pineapple tidbits and a half cup of applesauce after dinner.  Which helped with the sweet tooth.
I don't know about other people, but sometimes it's hard for me to get my water intake because water is just soooooo boring to drink.  Granted, during workouts I'm chugging it, but during the day...B-o-r-i-n-g!  I found these Hawaiian Punch singles not too long ago.  They are sugar free and only have maybe 10 calories, so I just dump one of those in a cup (I actually use a big beer mug) and fill it up with water and voila!  I have a sweet drink that is helping me get my water in!  They have lots of flavors and I usually find them at Walmart (Kroger here never has them and I have no idea if Publix has them or not because they are just too expensive for me).
SO, bout to head off to the gym and kick some butt!  Gonna do some more cardio cardio cardio and some ab exercises!  It feels awesome to be active again and I can't wait for this weight to keep coming off!!
Later for now

First day of week 4!

Today was the first day of my fourth week at the gym!  I'm honestly quite proud of myself for not giving up!  Of course, it's been so nice to be able to have my DH there with me.  He's great support and I've pretty much given in to whatever he tells me to do.  I can't be a whiner anymore.  Not if I want to get to this lofty goal!
OK so here's a quick break down...
My plan isn't really WEIGHT oriented, although I DO have a goal in my head of losing 3lbs a week.  Granted since I started working out I've lost only 4lbs.  That plan isn't sticking the way I would like it to, but DH insists that it is just my body working against me and I WILL start seeing some results soon.  I'm just trying to wrap my brain around small successes and quit focusing so much on the weight aspect of it.  So far:
1.)Cardio is getting easier (although my feet are causing a problem here lately going numb 20 minutes into it)
2.)My stamina is SO much better
3.)I've been doing a lot of AB workouts and honestly...it's subtle, but I'm noticing a difference around my waistline.  Not necessarily my stomach, but above my hips.  It seems slimmer already.  I want to go back and compare it but all I have to go by is video.  I might try to do a screen capture of the video so I can have a beginning picture to compare to.
ANYWHO
Had my body stuck to my 3lbs plan, it would have worked out PERFECTLY that I would be at my goal weight on New Years Eve!  Still, I'll take what I can get for now and I'm happy I've lost those 4lbs so far!
Also, I suggested to friends today that I might do a weekly video blog update, which would be fun.  Then I could have a weekly view of my changes.  So, I will work on that this week and see how it comes out!
I also joined thebiggestloserclub.com last week after rave reviews about it from my BFF.  I am trying my damnedest to stick to the diet plan this week.  I took the first week to learn the site, get familiar with the fitness plan and get motivated.  AND they even sent me 3 books for free!  How awesome is that?

So, please...follow me if you are interested!  I always appreciate comments and suggestions.  I sometimes have a hard time thinking of things to write about, so don't hesitate to ask questions about what I'm doing, what I'm eating, whatever!  Stay tuned for those video blogs!