Awesome night at the gym!!

Guess what I did at the gym tonight???? I'm so proud of myself!!! Drum roll please.....



I benched with these....



I still have to work up to doing all of my sets with 25's but I was able to do some and I wasn't even embarrassed when I couldn't re-rack the last rep and some strange guy had to help me get it off my chest. Bwahahaha!!! I was in the process of rolling it down to the floor when he stepped in so what the heck, I let him be the big strong guy saving the damsel in distress. Tonight was on of the best workouts I've ever had. My motivation is



I seriously wanted to do this after I was done.



I am so stoked right now!!!

FaceBook

I had an interesting discussion on Facebook tonight. It all started with my status update which said:

"Seriously, is there no limit to the number of lies Amy Perez can tell? Is her name even Amy Perez? I swear I'm not even sure of that anymore."

the following exchanges ensued. I'm blocking out the names of some people who may not want to be listed.

CR: Oh man. What now?

MB: :popcorn:

Lyn: I give her credit, she had me fooled. I bet she's had to tell some doozies to cover her ass with Prince Chippendale von Absolut. I'd love to know what she's said about me other than the ones I already know about. I'd love to get her butt on a conference call with PCvA, Mrs. PCvA, her current bffs, and others and see what she comes up with. That would be a dark day for the kingdom.

Facebook Friend (FF): Well if she's being influenced by you know who....I'm sure it's limitless....;)

Lyn: Nah, these are lies so she can have "you know who" all to herself. The funny thing is, she trashed him to me for the entire 1.5 yrs that we were supposedly "friends".

(FF): am so seriously out of the loop...lol...huh?

Lyn: Hahaha!! You stay out of the loop. Not that that's a bad thing.

(FF): wow..I am out of the loop too....

AH:Like i've said that woman is a pure waste of space on this earth. Absolute 100% trash scum of the earth.

FF: Oh lawdy.. now what?? There's MORE????? Was it she that gave him "Chippendale von Absolut"??? Few years back she called him Eyore to me.. you know.. " Poor me..nobody likes me"

Lyn: Nah, Chip was my name. Hahahaha! She used to refer to him as Eeyore to me too!!! It does fit though.

Thought for the Day

If one has the desire to punch someone in the face, does it mean that the puncher has anger management issues or does it mean that there are simply people out there who go through life needing a good punch in the face but just haven’t gotten it yet?

Hmmm..I’m gonna go with the latter. Hahahahaha!!!

Quote for the Day

"Don't Major in the Minors"

Sports Bra Hell

Well I guess I’m done with my catharsis regarding Amy Perez and Erik Ledin. May they live happily ever after or until Erik dumps her for his new flavor- o-the –month. Actually, most of my vitriol was directed towards Amy. She does have the dubious distinction of being the first female I have openly called Cuntface and believe me, it fits. Anyway, it was cathartic to get all of that out of my system and really say what I wanted to say. Honestly, I didn’t say EVERYTHING I wanted to say, (gotta save something just in case it’s needed in the future) but it was nice to be able to vent in my own little space. I’m sure several found it entertaining, but for me it was cathartic to finally be able to say a lot of what others have thought but never had the opportunity to say. So before I get branded a psycho or some other name that CF likes to label people whom she has shit upon, let me move on to what’s going on in Lyn’s world.

Arrgh, sports bras for anyone over a D–cup are the debil. My favorite bra, the Enell is ugly as hell, but I love it. It’ holds the girls right where they need to be. What I don’t love is the $60+ price tag that it comes with. The first one I bought I was able to find on Ebay for about half the price; this time, no such luck. Oh yeah, Ebay had the Enell’s for $37 or 2/$70 but of course in every size but mine. I swear these things must be made of some space age material because they fit women anywhere from a 32C to a 52F!!! I first saw them on an Oprah “Favorite Things” episode and they truly are great. If anyone needs a strong supportive bra and can get over the ugliness of the thing, this is the bra for you.






Anyway, since I didn’t want to pay retail and since Ebay didn’t have my size, I went with one from Lily of France. It’s a little more attractive but doesn’t offer the same amount of support but at $17.99 on sale at Kohl’s, it will be fine for lifting days and I can save my beloved Enell for HIIT days until I can find one on sale.





Wow, what an exciting life I lead, almost a whole entry devoted to my quest for a sports bra. Hahahaha!! Oh well, that’s OK, because that’s what this blog is for, to write about everything that I encounter along my path and who wants to go down their path of improvement with unsupported boobs. Oh that reminds me of something else. The” boobs and belly” account that I started a month or so ago with ING is steadily growing. I swear its addictive making those deposits. I’m pretty sure that unless I win the lottery, I will reach my target weight before I have the money for the surgery, but I’m fine with that. I will be more than happy looking fabulous in my clothes until I can look great in AND out of my clothes. Hehehehehe!!!

Happy Monday!!

Wow!! I can’t believe its Monday morning yet again!!! Where did the weekend go? I swear I was just sitting at this desk yesterday. Ahhh, the life of a cubicle jockey. I’m on this mission to find out what my true passion or calling is in life. While I am very grateful to have a job, it is just that, a job. I want a career, something more that just something that pays the bills. I want to be excited every morning when I wake up, not just excited because it’s almost Friday.

Anyway, I digress. On Friday, I did the following training:

Full Squats 3 x 5
Barbell Rows 3 x 5
Romanian Deadlifts (my favorite exercise) 3 x 5
Flat Bench Press (my weakest exercise) 3 x 5
*Followed by one set of the BW exercises I posted last week

Saturday was HIIT intervals

Sunday was my latest infomercial inspired purchase “Yoga Booty Ballet” I found this last week on clearance at Target for $20.00. I’ve been curious about it since I saw it on a late night informercial but at the time it was $40 + S/H so I’m glad I was patient and waited.

Today’s training will be:

Dumbbell Split Squats – 3 x 12 each side
Close grip Lat Pulldowns (my favorite upper body exercise) 3 x 8
Cable Pull throughs – 3 x 12
Seated Dumbbell press – 3 x 10
Standing Calf Raise – 3 x 20
Tricep Pushowns – 3 x 10
Dumbbell Laterals – 3 x 10
Planks – 3 x 30s

Now I believe in giving credit where credit is due so just want to say that the above program as well as what I posted last week were created by Erik Ledin of Lean Bodies Consulting. I was a client of his from Jan. 2007 – Jan. of 2008. I have about 12 of these babies that I will be posting throughout my blog whenever I decide to change up my training and whenever my diet needs to be tweaked. Now as much as I loathe Erik Ledin aka Thunder and KNOW that he is a lying, cheating, “I’m a Christian when it gets me the ladies”, “Eatin Ain’t Cheatin, suck your lips off when he kisses you (thanks Amy for the visual) douchebag and hate his current flavor-of-the month Amy “ Lying Cuntface, Erik tried to force himself on me and I was scared, but I still love him and went back for seconds” Perez, I’m no dummy. I’m not one to cut my nose off to spite my face. Douchebag’s programs do work and Cuntface’s Pick and Choose is a good option to have.

Well back to work. Another day another dollar.

Word Association

I was just thinking on my drive into work this morning how funny or irritating (whatever the case may be) it is that certain words, phrases, smells etc. will immediately take you to a certain place. What I was mainly thinking about is how unfortunate it is people can ruin perfectly good words or things because you hear them a lot or because you have particularly bad memories associated with the person who originated them. I was making a mental list of such words and things and so far I’ve decided that the following words and items have made the short list:

Protocol – when used in reference to training.

Reach out – My company loves this one. “Lyn, please reach out to Bob for help with this project” Whenever I reach out it’s usually because I want to smack someone.

Detail Oriented and Forward thinking – I’m convinced that everyone has this on their resume.

Touch base/taking it to the next level/thinking outside the box – tired, worn out corporate clichés that make me want to vomit.

Thunder/Erik – enough said, although I now use this word and the word douchebag interchangeably.

Puppy Chow/Magic Powder/Bootcamp/Amy – have all been ruined by the person whom I now lovingly refer to as “C*ntFace. The * = the letter “u” It’s nice to know that whenever I remove hair from my cooter she will always be there. Also when I eat my favorite protein pancake (recipe posted below), I have to put it out of my mind where it originated or else I will surely gag.


Almost Carb-Less Protein Pancake
Ingredients
20g protein powder (your choice)
2 egg whites
1-2 Tbsp Davinci’s Sugar Free Syrup
2g SF pudding mix (optional)
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together and pour onto hot skillet. Flip and serve.
Nutritional Information:
Calories: 122 Fat: 1.4 g Carbohydrate: 4.5 g Protein: 22.2 g


Changing gears, I’m looking forward to the weekend. I’m headed to Charleston, SC so see Jenny Hendershott’s first NPC show. It should be exciting. I love going to competitions. I’ll also be riding shotgun with a stuffed whale named Orca who needs to be returned to its natural habitat. Should be an interesting weekend. I’m going to try and borrow my friend’s laptop so I can post pics. If not, I’ll update on Monday.

A Day in the Life...

Yawnnnn. Man I'm so sleepy today for some reason. I went to bed early last night and actually overslept this morning, so you'd think I'd be well rested. Hahaha, there's nothing like waking at 7:53am when you have to be at work by 8. Luckily I had packed my cooler last night night or I'd really be in trouble. It's those times when I'm unprepared that I really slip up because you have to just eat what's available, which here at work is vending machine fare. I really must have had it in high gear because I made it to work by 8:40am (my commute is less than 15 mins). That's not to say that I look fabulous but at least I'm here. I'm debating whether to stay over and make up the time or just take a 30 min lunch and leave at regular time. I'll probably do the 30 min lunch because the ealier I can leave in the afternoon, the less traffic I have to deal with. I'm starting to get excited about the weekend. I'm only working a half day tomorrow. I have a little road trip planned with one of my girlfriends. I love roadtrips and this one should be especially interesting.

Getting Back on Track after The CheeseCake Factory

Usually after a big cheat (birthday/girl nite), it's always been really hard for me mentally to get back on target. I love food!! So I'm happy to report that so this far this week diet and training have been 100% Woohoo!! How's that for me not being committed and not wanting it bad enough?!?! Like I said in a previous post, I’m back on my own these days, and focusing more on being accountable to myself vs. someone else. So far its working good, but I’ve still got lots of work to do and a long road ahead of me so it’s important to do whatever I need to do to keep my momentum going. Ths is the plan I'm doing right now.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday’s (Training Days) my diet will pretty much look like this:

Meal 1: 1 scoop pp – 1/3 c. oatmeal – 1 serv. Yogurt or 1 serv.fruit
Meal 2: 4 oz chicken – 1.5 c. rice – fibrous veggies
Meal 3: 1 can of tuna or 5 oz white fish – 2 tsp. EVOO – 3 fish oils – fibrous veggies
PWO: 1.5 scoops pp and carbs = 200 cals/42g’s
Meal 5: 4 oz chicken- 2tsp EVOO – 3 fish oils – fibrous veggies
Meal 6: 1 whole egg – ¾ c. egg whites – ½ hard cheese – 3 fish oils – fibrous veggies

Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday (Non-Training Days):

Meal 1: 1.5 scoops protein (made into a protein pancake) – 15 g. peanut butter
Meal 2: 4 oz chicken – 15 g. peanut butter – fibrous veggies
Meal 3: 3 oz extra lean ground beef – 1 oz hard cheddar cheese – fibrous veggies
Meal 4: 1.5 scoops protein – 15 g. peanut butter – 3 fish oils
Meal 5: 4 oz chicken – 2 tsp. EVOO – 3 fish oils – fibrous veggies
Meal 6: 1 whole egg – ¾ c. egg whites – 1 oz cheddar cheese – 3 fish oils

Sunday:
Meal 1: 1.5 scoops protein (made into a pancake) – 1 fish oil
Meal 2: 4 oz chicken – 1 fish oil – fibrous veggies
Meal 3: 3 oz extra lean ground beef – 1 fish oil – fibrous veggies
Meal 4: 1.5 scoops protein – 1 fish oil
Meal 5: 4 oz chicken – 1 fish oil – fibrous veggies
Meal 6: ¾ c. egg whites – 1 fish oil – fibrous veggies

I’ll be back in later to fill in the weights but today my training will be the following:

Dumbbell squats – 3 x 12
Seated Cable rows (overhand) 3 x 15
SHELC – 3 x 8
Incline DB Press – 3 x 12
Lunges – 3 x 15 each leg
Incline DB curls – 3 x 10
Step ups- 3 x 15 each leg
Stability ball crunch – 3 x 10

After my workout, I will also do one set of the following:

Bodyweight squats x 20 reps
Bodyweight lunges x 20 reps (10 each leg)
Bodyweight split squats x 20 reps (10 each leg)
Kneeling push ups x max reps

Man, I wish I could hit the gym now instead of sitting in this cubicle for the next 5 hours. Jobs.Are.For.Punks!!!!

On a side note: Grrr….the new gym that I joined back in April has still not opened. It was supposed to open on June 25th and it’s still under construction. I got a great deal on a membership ($10/mth no contract) and it’s less than 10 mins from work, even during the 5pm work traffic, but it needs to open already. I’ve pretty much decided to keep my LA Fitness membership as well. It’s $35/mth and it’s close to home so I won’t have to travel as far on the weekends, plus it’s open on Sundays, as the other gym is not. So basically for an extra $10 a month, I’m getting a shorter gym commute during the week plus a 5 min. drive on Sat. and Sun, can’t beat that!!! Whatever it takes to do what I need to do.

Recap of My Birthday Celebration/Girl's Nite!!

As mentioned earlier, I'm back with an update and pictures from my birthday celebration/girl's night Friday night at the Cheesecake Factory. What a great night!! It's always fun to get together with the "Atlanta Crew", Cindy, Ileen, Elizabeth and Noel.

The laughs and conversation began with a round of strawberry martinis for a few of us….yum, yum, yum..those suckers were STRONG!! One was plenty for me. After dinner (chicken broccoli pasta alfredo for me), I had to endure the “Happy Birthday” song from the staff. I don’t know how the ladies got that one past me. I was doing my best to keep an eye on things (I’m nosy like that or so I’ve been told :P ). Anyway, they some how got word to our server; thank goodness I didn’t have to wear a stupid hat or I would have needed another drink. After more conversation, (no more drinks for me), it was time for gift opening. Let me say up front that I have some incredibly generous and “creative” friends.

Noel always remembers how much I love, love, love her mom’s oatmeal raisin cookies. From what I understand, these are a booger to make, but Noel always takes the time to make sure I have them a few times a year. This time Noel got creative in the kitchen and we all got to try her newest creation “Crack-Chow” or “Crack-Buddies”. We might be renaming the Puppy Chow due to its unfortunate distasteful origins. Crappy origins aside, this creation will give you cavities just from looking at it. I’m sure there are several dentists out there who will greatly appreciate this concoction. Basically, Noel took the recipe for Muddy Buddies/PuppyChow and added the toffee topping and topped with melted chocolate (thanks for leaving off the nuts, bleech). It was fabulous and of course way, way, way too sweet for Ileen, but I give her props for trying it. Also from Noel, I got a spy kit to help me take my nosiness and gossip mongering to another level, some lip shaped lip gloss to prevent those irritating chapped lips from all of the ass kissing and crawling up asses that I do, a new scrapbook to house all of the pictures of my friends since the last one got tainted and has since been tossed, and some new Tupperware and a water bottle in hopes that some new stuff might make me “want it bad enough and to stay focused” since obviously according to my last trainer, I lacked in that area.

Elizabeth brought me back a beautiful purse from her recent trip to NYC. I love it!! I thought it was very thoughtful of her to think of me while she was vacationing with her family. Elizabeth and I have a great love for bargain shopping in the city. We will go down every road and in every back room to find a deal. Unfortunately Cindy let us know with a quickness that my and Elizabeth’s brand of shopping wasn’t for her…snob. LOL!!

Ileen and Cindy tried to be cute in giving me a package of Depends, a denture cleaning kit, and a magazine with quilting patterns. All that was missing was the tube of Ben-Gay and a stray cat. Obviously they haven’t heard that 40 is the new 30. Honestly, if I can look half as good as they do, I’ll be more than happy to take my place in the 40’s. Cindy and Ileen had another surprise up their sleeves though. Remember the gym bag I posted about a few weeks ago, the one my boss has that I’ve been coveting since she showed it to me? Well, Cindy and Ileen GOT ME THE GYM BAG!!! How awesome is that?!?! I was so surprised!!! I don’t have a picture of me with the actual bag yet. Eagle-Eye Ileen noticed that mine was damaged so hopefully my new one will be here within a few days. It’s the one posted below.

So as I stated previously, it was a fantabulous night. I am so lucky to have such amazing friends.

Here are a few pictures from the evening:



Me after a long week of dealing with yahoos.




Ileen. Check out those arms ya'll!! Wowza




Noel:




Elizabeth




Cindy :lol:




Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and Noel's New Crack Variation:




My purse from Elizabeth


My new gym bag that's on the way!!!

In the Closet

Just rediscovered this video. I remember when it came out I liked it a lot and loved the use of sepia tones. I also loved the sensuality of the video. I never really paid much attention to the words (especially Naomi's) until watching it again. I've added it to my IPOD. Maybe it should be the kindgom's new national anthem. :hehe:

Quote of the Day.

The greatest pleasure in life, is doing what others say you cannot do.

Friday, July 10, 2009

I had a fabulous time with my girlfriends last night. We celebrated my birthday which was July 1. As usual, we pretty much shut the place down. I haven't laughed so much and so hard in a long time; great company, great food and great conversation. Details and pictures coming soon.

Since the other entry was so long and so detailed, I decided to delete all of the specifics and just repost the following summary for the sake of brevity.

So boys and girls, here's the the end of this very sad but very true story of two people's lies and deception...................... after unceremoniously dumping all of her friends without as much as a wave adieu, a flip of the curls, or a text goodbye, the fair Princess Magic Powder and the handsome Prince Chippendale von Absolut blackberry messaged off into the sunset together and lived happily ever after….err….lived happily for the next 6 months until the handsome Prince Chippendale von Absolut discovered that his curly locked Princess Magic Powder had shared all of their deepest and darkest secrets with others throughout the kingdom and banished the fair Princess Magic Powder from his land and crowned the brand new shiny Lady-in-Waiting, who had been patiently waiting and dutifully fulfilling her role as the prince's gatherer and presenter of information from kingdoms that were outside of the prince's span. So let this be a lesson to you boys and girls, always remember, "People may forget what you said, people may forget what you did, But people will NEVER forget how you made them feel."...Maya Angelou

So in the words of the late great Mr. Paul Harvey, “and that my friends, is the rest of the story.”

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive”

Originally I had planned to keep this journal strictly about my fitness journey, but the journey to become an overall better person can take you down many paths and include many things. I posted a day or so ago about changing my training and my overall attitude due to some personal changes that were going on. These changes have affected both my physical and my emotional well-being, so I do feel as though I need to include as many details as possible so that when I do reach the end of this journey i can look back and reflect upon everything that has gone into shaping that person whom I long to become.

Much more on this tomorrow.

I took a long vacation from my job and from life in general a few days ago. For the most part it was fantastic, had a few bumps along the way, but things happen for whatever reason I guess. I celebrated my 40th birthday while I was out, visited family and friends and most of all took a nice long mental break to just relax, regroup, get organized and just think about things. I took a lot of time to reflect on who I am as person, where I've been and most importantly where I'm heading. In the process I was forced to re-evalute long standing friendships and the people I have/had in my life. It was and continues to be quite eye opening to say the least. I'm not sure what the lesson learned in all of this is, but I have no doubt it will reveal itself to me at some point. The important thing with all obstacles, mistakes, failures, etc. is to not be bitter but use it as a learning experience and move on. One thing that I will need to readjust is my diet and training. Unfortunately in this latest transition process, I lost a person who was both one of my closest friends as well as my trainer. Well, let me rephrase, I will need to believe in myself and adjust my accountability and make myself accountable to me vs. someone else. Personal accountability is definitely the key because regardless of who tells you or acts as if they believe in you and want you to succeed, you have to believe it yourself in order for it to work. Situations and people may change, but if you have a strong foundational belief in yourself (which continues to be a work in progress with me) changes will not shake you, rattle you or move you away from your goal.

I have been very fortunate in the past work with people/trainers who were and continue to be very knowledgeable in the fitness and nutrition arena. I have so many great plans that have worked in the past and since we as a society are moving to a "greener" world, why not use this knowledge to invest and improve upon myself? What's the slogan...."reduce, recycle, reuse" So many times we do not invest in and/or take advantage of the human capital and the resources that surround us. What I need to do more of is to expand my circle in the training and nutrition area, ask more questions, become more knowledgeable, and most importantly, take a more active role in my success instead of relying upon others to rally and cheer me on. Sometimes it's important in life to be your own cheerleader. Rah, rah, rah!!!

Super Dieter's Tea Update

Well, I followed the directions on the box and pretty much nothing happened. According to a friend of mine I didn't make it strong enough, so I will be trying it again at a later date. The directions said to pour 12-oz of boiling water over the tea bag and let it steep for 2 mins and then drink 6-oz of the tea and save the other half for the next day. I probably should have either let it steep longer or drank the whole thing because my results were dissappointing to say the least. I figure since I'm taking an all day cheat for my birthday tomorrow, tomorrow night will be a good time to try it again. I plan on leaving the tea bag in the cup and drinking the entire 12 oz. Tally-ho!!!

Most who know me know that I can't pass up a bargain whether I actually "need" the item or not. Well, I was at a Rite-Aid that was closing and their entire inventory was 50% off. I found some Laci Le Beau Super Dieter's Tea. I had read a few things about it on some of the boards I post on so I thought, "hey why not" and it's half off to boot. Luckily I'm on vacation this week, so this will be the perfect time to try it and not have to worry about being caught in Atlanta traffic if this stuff kicks in with a quickness and we all know what "kicking in" means. I'm not even sure why I'm intrigued by this stuff but I am. I don't have any expectations of dropping x number of pounds overnight with that stuff. The days of finding a miracle diet cure are long gone. Proper nutrition and training are the only things that work over the long haul, and I'm in it for the long haul, but hmmm..I guess a good "cleaning out" won't hurt me. So tonight I'm having my first cup and I'll be back tomorrow night with an update.

Randomness

I hate Jon and Kate Plus 8, but this picture does my heart good. This kid has needed this since 2005. That's right Kate, tear that little butt up.

Boobs and Belly Account

I started an ING Direct savings account a few days ago. I love ING because you can open an account with as little as $5 and it earns a lot more interest than traditional savings accounts at bricks and mortar banks. I named it my "Boobs and Belly" account. I know that once I get down to my desired weight, a few things will need to be "enhanced" One doesn't lug around an excess of 200lbs for several years without some type of "battle scars". I'm saving to get the "girls" put back up where they belong and the belly lifted and tightened too. Ideally, it would be wonderful to reach my desired weight at the same time as I make my last deposit, but I'd say knowing my income, expenses, and spending habits, I'll make weight quite a while before I reach the amount of $$ needed. I need a car too, so that will be coming out first as well. A friend recommended a clinic down in South Georgia. Her chimichangas look fabulous so I'm hoping mine will turn out that way too. I checked his website and I was very happy to see that he has done work on African-American patients. This is important because African-American skin tends to scar more easily and can develop keloids which are basically raised scars. My goal is to make the lift w/implants and tummy tuck my Christmas present to myself in Dec. of 2010. Having said that, I'm working right now on creating a budget for myself as well as bring in more income. I'm going to do as much as I can through ebay since it will allow me to work at home, but getting a part time job isn't out of the question as long as I don't allow it to affect my training time. I'm still working on all of those pieces of the puzzle. Maybe I can just strike it lucky and hit the Powerball lottery.