Jen's a Wild Women...

Definitely felt much better today…Still not completely back to normal, but WAY better!!!

Jen ran her 'Wild Women' 8K today even though she was sick and did an amazing job! I was so proud of her…

Other than that I would say today was our first real’ free day’ as we did indulge in some bread, lot’s of cheese and I had two chocolate cookies…first real sugar stuff I’ve had in a while…I immediately felt pretty rough too! Anyway, back to the normal routine tomorrow and I think we should be pretty much over this whole sickness…I sure hope so anyway!

Be blessed!

~Rob

back in the game!

Today was much better…still congested and hacking like a runaway train, but we sucked it up and did a workout anyways!!! Man, it was HARD…felt like I was dying, but I just couldn’t stand not doing anything else for another day! We did 21-15-9 reps for time of: deadlifts/kettle bell swings and jump box…

Tomorrow morning Jen has her Wild Women 8K to run and I truly hope she feels better than this last week! Other than that today has been great…nutrition still going great…ate a few more carbs than I normally would have today and last night, but I think the extra calories/energy may help : )))

Till tomorrow!

~Rob

Almost better...I hope : )

Another sick day and bout over this being sick!!! Jen even had to take the last two days off from work! It’s been rough to say the least…the kids seem to be getting a little better…Nehemiah and Hadassah are still a little congested, but Joshua and Harvest are doing great now! I think/hope the worse was yesterday…felt like I had a fever some of the day today, but a lot of the congestion is going away!

Jen is running an 8K on Sunday so I really hope she is MUCH better by then!

Sooo, yeah still no workouts today, but still dropped over a pound over night…crazy : )

Sleep well!

~Rob

must get better...

Still sick and feel something awful!!!  

Hanging in there nutrition wise and actually losing quite a bit of weight…but no workouts!

Miserable : (

Till tomorrow!

~Rob

I hate being sick!

So today seems like the WHOLE family has a bit of a cold...Harvest seems much better, but the rest of us are congested and runny noses : ((( I normally don't get sick, even when the others do so I've started back on the wheatgrass cause that's the one thing I've been doing different.

I still did a chest workout today and ran a mile on the treadmill. Hopefully tomorrow we'll ALL feel better!!!

Sleep well!

~Rob

week one almost done...

Today was a little better…still didn’t get much sleep, but I think most of the kids are on their way to feeling better! Going to try and get some sleep now! Ran a 5K today @ 3 incline and Jennifer and Joshua did a WOD!

Till tomorrow!

~Rob

must have sleep...

Last night was one of the roughest nights we’ve had in a longggg time !!!

Nehemiah was a little under the weather congested and would NOT go to sleep…finally got him to fall asleep and Harvest woke up coughing again! Needles to say Jen and I both have been running on little to no sleep all day! Took Harvest to the Doctor today and she’s ok…just has a bit of a cold. I think we have her keytones under control and she has had a couple of lows, other than that she seems much better!  

Needles to say we both decided to take a rest day from working out and hopefully we can get a little more sleep tonight…I’m off to try : )

Till tomorrow!

~Rob

bring on the new week

Day 4 is almost in the books and it turned out to be a GREAT one!!! Harvest seems to be doing well…had a few key tones this morning, but has been negative the rest of the day. We went to Whole Foods and spent WAY too much money, as we normally do! But, we have lots of healthy food for the next week!

Jen also signed up to run an 8K next weekend so that should be fun : ) It’s a women’s only race so I’ll keep the kids and watch from the side line! Today was a rest day for me, but I did work on my cleans and squat cleans. I managed to get 135 lbs quite a few times which is a new record for me : )))))  Jen ran an 8K on the treadmill in preparation for next weekend…bought a jogger for the baby on craigslist and enjoyed the sunshine!

Ready for the week!!!

Blessings!

~Rob

Life with diabetes

Today Jen and I got in a great workout!!! We ended up a bit stressful as Jen had finals due tonight and Harvest, who has been a little sick, started showing key tones. She is better now, but was a rough go for a while. I REALLY stress when she gets sick…she’s not a normal child who can just get a cold…every time she gets sick it becomes a big ordeal due to her diabetes. I did a lot of praying and God healed her tonight for sure!!!

So…great morning - - -stressful night! That’s life though : ) Least my baby is feeling better!!!

Till tomorrow!

~Rob

off and running!!!

Today turned out to be an awesome day!!! Actually got plenty of sleep and had a GREAT workout : ) Eating is going as planned and this challenge is off to a GREAT start!!!

Jen was real tired as she is running on NO SLEEP having to go in early all week, but should be better tomorrow, I hope! Can’t wait for another amazing workout tomorrow and off to the Farmers Market on Sunday : ))))))

Sleep well!

~Rob

return of the Smith's

So it’s been 21 days since my last post and it’s been a whirlwind ride to say the least : )After the ordeal with the Niacin I was so weak that I did relatively very little for a few days. I then woke up on about the 5^th or 6^th swollen with a rash all over my arms and back!

This lasted about 3 days and I still have no idea what caused it. Needless to say, I again did little activity, but eating was healthy.   

Fast forward to the 9^th and Jen took 2 weeks leave and we headed

to Florida to visit family, friends and to see my daughter, whom I had not seen for 9 years!!! We had a wonderful time…

Jen and I ran a 5K in Pensacola Beach and HAD a BLAST!!! It was the first time in 4-5 years that we actually had a babysitter…we took full advantage of the time : )

I had a great plan for our time there that included taking TONS of grass-fed beef-buffalo and fruit…I also brought the TRX, dumbbells and Ab matt. We stayed in an apartment on base right beside the Bay… the plan was to continue our challenge, eat healthy and exercise daily. Well, the plan failed and failed miserably : ) My daughter, Johnnie, who was the main reason we went to Florida stayed in a town about 40 minutes away with her Grandmother. We had to get up early just to go see her and then drive her back at night…It was definitely worth it, but did make it difficult when trying to find healthy food options.

The family with Johnnie

Me and Johnnie

By day 3 I had completely given-up on the plan and we all just decided to stop worrying about it and just enjoy our time!!!

That being said…I ended up gaining ALL my weight that I had lost back and Jen also…she didn’t do quite as bad as me, but still…

Anyway, if Body-for-Life gives an award for the most challenges started…we are going to win hands down : ))))) Andddd, yes WE ARE Starting a Brand new Challenge!!!

Today is my birthday and I turned 42 years old…I have tried several times (to say the least) to complete a BFL challenge with no success…THIS TIME, I WILL!!! Jen and I both have all the tools, knowledge and support needed to have a successful challenge and we actually spent a lot of time discussing the challenge on our trip. We are both on the same page, both completely motivated and both have clear, reachable goals. We also have a plan for the money that we plan on winning through the challenge…She has a family member who is really struggling financially and health wise…we have agreed to take a large portion of the prize money to help this person who is so dear to her heart! With that type of motivation…this is our challenge to lose!

So, the plan is in motion…we have some Myoplex, some EAS protein powder and lots of healthy food!

 

~Rob

Niacin not so friendlicin

So last night after we finished eating I took my normal vitamins which includes Niacin…the only difference was I was out of my normal brand and opened a new bottle that I had never tried. I took two (my normal) dose amount and sat down to update this blog. I wrote out the post and told Jen I was going to take a bath. As I was getting ready to take my bath I noticed in the mirror I looked a little flush. I knew that this was one of the side effects of the Niacin, but had never experienced it personally. I walked out to shoe Jen and the kids when all of a sudden I started burning all over…

The next 4 hours were a complete hell!!! My whole body turned a BEET RED and I couldn’t move without tingling pain all over. I took 2 Benadryl and laid down trying not to move. Jen was worried and wanted to take me to the emergency room…I told her to Google Niacin and sure enough, I was having a reaction that seems to be normal in some cases. I don’t know if I took too much or what…maybe the brand gets the niacin from a different source…I had already thrown my old bottle away so I’ll have to check later. Either way I woke up around 12:30am and all the pain and redness was gone, but then I couldn’t go back to sleep for two more hours! One miserable night to say the least…When I finally did get out of bed I was sooo sore and felt drained of ALL energy, not sure if that was from the Benadryl or the niacin…but needless to say I didn’t take any today : )

So yeah, today was a rest day and hopeful we’ll be hitting it hard again tomorrow!!! 

Beware if you decide to try Niacin…

~Rob

sweet, sweet sleep

Finally got some decent sleep…ran 6.5 miles this morning and even did a WOD this afternoon! Now, I’m totally exhausted! Jen ran 5 miles when she got home and we are still eating 95% or better PALEO and melting! : )

Trying to get to bed early and have a new class starting…

Till tomorrow!

~Rob

Must go to bedddd...

Last night proved to be the worse night yet sleep wise!!! Jen and I both ended up with about 4 hours each…I am totally exhausted and so ready for bed! Did a small WOD this afternoon just to keep up the momentum, but hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Best!

~Rob

sleepy, sooo sleepy

Rough night last night…very little sleep! Spealler, our new puppy decided he needed to go outside about 1:30am  so I had to take him out, which wasn’t too bad as I was just laying there reading anyways! Reading ‘The Paleo solution,’ by Robb Wolf and was having trouble putting it down. It’s an excellent book and really explains in simple terms the science behind the whole idea of the paleo diet.

Still decided to do a long run today…ran for 60 minutes on the treadmill @ 3.5 incline. Had planned on doing a WOD too, but have been trying to finish up my final for this class…WORSE class EVER. I hate statistics!!! Anyway, Jen did a WOD and is just blowing me out of the water at how well and committed she is…I am so proud. Harvest BG readings are still remarkably better than ever and I am feeling better than I ever have…and that’s just 1 week on a ‘not even 100%’ paleo diet. I can only imagine how well we would all be and feel if we went 100% paleo…hummm!                      

Anyway, supper tired so going to finish up my work and hit the sack!

Sleep well!

~Rob                 

so much for 'free day'

So today was the end of our first week on the Body-for-Life challenge and we could not have asked for a better week! Jen, even with her injured elbow dropped a remarkable 8 pounds and I dropped 10!!! We didn’t make any mistakes on our new nutrition plans and we brought it when it came to the workouts!

ALL week we talked about how much cheese and bread we were going to eat today and then today came and we ate very little!!! I guess our stomachs have shrunk and going ‘grain’ and mostly dairy free has made a tremendous difference.

Anyway…updated pictures and ready for another GREAT week!!! We are planning a trip to Florida and also going to run a 5K while there so we are really going to bring it this week too!

Keep pushing!

~Rob

Toby Mac Attack

Joshua and I just got back for the Toby Mac concert and we had a BLAST!!! We also saw ‘House of Hero’s’ and ‘Brandon Heath’

Joshua has sooo much fun and I did too! House of Hero’s rocked the house and Brandon Heath was excellent, but Toby Mac brought the house down…he’s Joshua’s favorite artist and I surprised him with the tickets…it was our Father and Son time! Great night, Joshua is sooo much fun to hang with!!!

Jen and I both ran a 5K this morning for kind of a starting point to see where we are at time wise. We plan on running a 5K in Florida on the 12^th

of March if things work out. She ran it in 32:09 and I finished in 25:15

A bit tired tonight…did not get much sleep last night.

Good night!

~Rob

Here comes the sun...

Awesome day today!!! The sun was shining bright and though it was quite windy…still a beautiful day outside!

Jen did a great WOD tonight and added thrusters and kettle bell swings to her workout of running and squatting. Her elbow held up pretty good and so we are excited about her being able to do more upper body work!

Joshua and I did 5 rounds for time of: bench press-sit-ups and pull-ups!

Really late here trying to finish up school work, but ready to hit the sack : )

Sleep well!

~Rob  

Day 4 - Crazy WOD

Today I decided to do this crazy WOD, it’s kind of a different take on the ‘Filthy Fifty.’ We did 50 kettle bell swings/50 push press/ 50 jump box/ 50 thrusters/50 sit-ups/ 50 pull-ups!!! Thought I was going to DIE! Feel soooo good when it’s over though : ) Jen did 5 rounds for time of 400 meter run and 10 squats holding a 25lb bumper plate at the end of 5 rounds she did 100 sit-ups! She’s AMAZING! Joshua did the same WOD as me just scaled the weight.

Eating PALEO still going GREAT…really, really wanted coffee this morning, but didn’t give in, still not sure how long I’ll go without…Other than that I’ve had ZERON grains…very little dairy and only a bit of hummus. The rest has been LOTS of protein, vegetables and fruit!!!

Getting to bed a bit early tonight, YEAH!!!

Sleep well!

~Rob

Day 3 Paleo going GREAT

A beautiful Day outside today…a bit cold, but the sun was shining bright!

I woke up super early with Jen and then lay back down around 7:00am and got a little more well sleep. After waking I wasn’t very hungry, never really am, and so I decided to do some cardio on an empty stomach. I ran a 5K in 29:47 which wasn’t too bad since I wasn’t running all out for time, but just running. Decided to rest the rest of the day and finish up so school work. This is my last week in my Psychological statistics class and I am SOOOO glad!!! This has been the roughest class ever!

I am quite surprised and VERY happy with Harvest blood sugar readings since we’ve started eating more of a Palo style diet. Her numbers have been Outstanding….anddd she loves the food and the idea that we are all doing this for her! She calls it ‘her’ diet : ) Tonight we had fish and the kids had mini-burgers which consist of small grass-fed beef patties mixed with carrots/cilantro/garlic/onions and tomatoes/ after they are cooked I added a homemade Mango and cucumber salsa and homemade slaw…all on top of a pile of red leaf lettuce…ALL organic and the kids LOVED it!!! Jen and I had the same just fish on top instead of the ground beef. WAS delicious!

Jen and Joshua took a rest day from working out and we’ll ALL hit it hard tomorrow!!!

Be blessed!

~Rob