Ok, so I'm back now, and will be using this blog as a place to talk about my journey into Better Health.  

A few things upfront:  

• I am a distributor for Advocare.  Great company, and some great products.  It's a fairly well-known company, especially with some of the Super Bowl ads that talked about Spark.    

You'll hear me talk about their products that I love.    

• I'm a distributor for Juice Plus.  It's not a juice that you drink, but rather freshly picked, organic, pesticide/herbicide-free fruit & veggies--they've been juiced and dehydrated and put in either capsule or gummy form.  They have their own patented way of dehydrating at a low temp so that the nutrients aren't damaged.  Sugar is removed and a bit of fiber has been added.  Each days' amount that you eat contains 15 fruit or veggies, and 2 grains.

This product has been through a lot of testing, and it really is what it says.  Some of the doctors that promote it:  Drs. William Sears, Susan Silberstein, Janet Roberto, Mitra Ray, Richard DuBois, Delia Garcia, among lots of others.  Oh, Jack Medina--he's an Olympic Gymnast/sports trainer.  Oh yeah, and we can't forget Bear Grylls.  (the TV show, Man vs Wild)

My boys and I have been taking Juice Plus for over 2 years and in that time, we *rarely* get sick.  

• I'm a Realtor, so you may hear me talk about that sometimes.  Not a lot since it really doesn't have to do with my health (just my stress level sometimes!)

So, other than that, who am I?  Why am I starting on this journey (again)?  What are my goals?  How will it fit in the lifestyle of a Mom going to school and working as a Realtor?  
I'm Christina, I've got two boys, and going to school for phlebotomy.  My oldest son will be in third grade next year, and my youngest will be in kindergarten.  
I've done Weight Watchers and I think it's a GREAT program!  It's especially great for those people that need to start off with the basics--and eating correctly is as basic as it can get.  Our nation has been bombarded with junk food and differing thought schools on nutrition.  What do we do as newbies trying to get healthy?  

What will I be doing?  I am currently in week three of a Body-for-LIFE challenge.  It's an easy to follow plan for working out and eating correctly.  For working out, it's 6 days of exercises.  
Week one
Day 1:  Upper Body Work Out (UBWO)--includes chest, shoulders, back, triceps, and biceps.  46 minutes long.  
Day 2:  CARDIO---High Intensity Interval Training.  20 minutes.  Each minute is a different "level" for each individual person.
Day 3:  Lower Body Work Out (LBWO)--includes quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and abdominals.  42 minutes long.
Day 4:  CARDIO
Day 5:  UBWO
Day 6:  CARDIO
Day 7:  FREE DAY!  No need to work out or eat on 'plan'.  This is a good thing--you can plan any dinners out, parties, etc.

Week two--basically, the reverse of week one
Day 1: LBWO
Day 2: Cardio
Day 3: UBWO
Day 4: Cardio
Day 5: LBWO
Day 6: Cardio
Day 7: Free day.  By this week, many people doing this challenge will opt to do a light cardio, not worrying about hitting their 'highs'.  And they will choose to eat well.  That first free day can seriously kick their butts by the next day.  There's a certain feeling from eating "clean" every day--the bodies work better!

Week 3-12---alternate the weeks, weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 are all the same, with the exception of alternating your exercises.  Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 are also the same.  You will have approximately 4-5 days in between your Upper and Lower body work outs.   

For each muscle group, you will choose two exercises.  I'll give you the example of my biceps:  there are 7 sets for each muscle group.  Set 1, 12 reps doing the bicep curl @ 5lbs.  Rest one min.  Set 2, 10 reps, increase weight to 7.5 lbs.  Rest one min.  Set 3, 8 reps, wt@10 lbs.  Rest one min.  Set 4, 6 reps @12.5 lbs.  Rest one min.  Set 5---12 reps at 7.5 lbs, immediately go to next set, 12 reps, 7.5 lbs, BUT, switch to hammer curls.  Rest 2 minutes and then go to the next muscle group.  
If you want more information, either check out the book "body for life" by Bill Phillips, at your library. 

http://www.amazon.com/Body-Life-Mental-Physical-Strength/dp/0060193395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277229037&sr=8-1

For my first challenge, I checked it out from the library and then bought it from Amazon.  One of my Xanga blogging buddies turned me on to the challenge and I gave it a whirl, summer of 2008.  For that challenge, I didn't miss a workout (pretty amazing in itself!), and overall, did pretty well.  I lost 13 lbs of FAT, gained 4 lbs of muscle and from all over, lost 18 inches.  5 from my waist, and 5 from my hips, and the rest in smaller increments from thigh, calf, bicep, chest, etc.
(total scale weight loss, 9 lbs)

This time around, even though I'm in week three, I haven't been eating correctly, so I'm a little behind my "schedule"... 
If I fail to plan, then I'd better plan to fail.  So I need to start planning my meals.  

And speaking of...I need to stop writing and get on my treadmill for my Cardio!   

(*oops...just reread and realized I forgot my goals-->  For this 12 week challenge, I'd like to lose 20 lbs of fat.  I've got 10 weeks left to work my booty off!)