BeautifulBeast

Hello there. After a many years break in which I conquered many epic quests including getting married, competing in powerlifting, bodybuilding and half marathons, buying a home in the country and starting to homestead, and of course adding 2 more to our brood (which brings the total to 4!) I am back looking to reignite the lost spark I once had for that fitness life. I 'retired' from group fitness two years ago and I havent competed or been 'on track' since. Granted, half of that was us trying for baby #4 and then dealing with miscarriage and finally a sticky pregnancy, but one filled with activity restrictions, global pandemics, and a whole lot of hip issues thanks to the toddler sized newborn I would one day birth. Now I'm over here, beaten, not sure where to go next. I am 6 months post partum, still rehabbing my core and taking it slow WHICH IS AWFUL. I'm also back at pre-baby weight but trying to come to terms with my post baby shape, and mayhaps lose 5-10ishlbs before starting to cycle maintenance and growth periods? I dont know man, I don't know. I will be posting a mini log for myself since the current challenge is over soon, hopefully I can find the 'spark' again for something that two years ago defined me.

In the dark underbelly of a quiet forest, a warrior has slumbered for many moons. Undergoing a magnificent transformation, the half - orc woman has slept in a glass box, hidden from the eyes of the man who would see her in ruins. The last time our heroine was seen in this world, she was bloodied and beaten, a shell of a person and barely alive. After having expended nearly all of her life force running from the cruel master she had served, the woman escaped to this magical woods where she drank the potion that held her captive in her dreams now, and would continue to do so until she was ready to emerge and begin rebuilding. While in her slumber the warrior is healing her mind, body, and soul. But more than that she is connecting with the spirits of long gone warriors and absorbing their experiences and knowledge. Unfortunately, such things never go as planned. A call has gone out to all of the warriors of this world, including the beautiful sleeping beast. A darkness is spreading across the land and only a true hero- one with the courage and strength that surpasses all others- can heed the call and defeat this unknown curse. But first, the warriors must be tested and prove themselves worthy of defending the realm. A great tournament has been put together in three months time, and all warriors are required to attend. The call is heard, and in answer our hero's eyes flicker open. She looks around in panic, knowing she isn't ready to re join the world. Knowing she has awoken too soon. She removes the lid of her living coffin, and takes a tentative few steps forward. "Aww hell, here we go again." ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** MAIN QUEST: Prepare and compete in my second meet in March. I want a total of 675 this time, in November I hit 666 (har har). I also want to compete at least at 165, if not 148. However, I gained 15lbs from November till now....so I might be stuck in 165 lol. The important part.....and what I plan to track.... is DIET. Ugh, I hate that word!! I'm going to go into cut mode from here until the competition by following an RP template I purchased for the first comp I did in November. I'm going to give myself +100 points if I follow it 100%. I'll keep track and do math at the end to figure out how many points I get at the end. ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* SIDE QUEST 1 The warrior looks about the small clearing that has served as her resting spot the last two years and finds it lacking. For now, a priority will be to create a suitable place to live and train. ********* 30 day declutter-ing spree. I do these periodically but I haven't done one since we moved in last April. So, it's over due. At least 15 minutes a day- but preferably one area a day. ******** +25 XP ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** SIDE QUEST 2 After building a small shanty that could serve as a temporary shelter the warrior starts to plan her training. With the knowledge she has been acquiring, she knows she must build a tribe. A group of other woman who will train with her and stand by her side on this journey. **********One big goal of 2018 for me is to form an all female bar bell club locally to me. I will have to take sometime to think through what this will involve in order to count towards my quest, so this is mostly a place holder for the time being. ****** ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* SIDE QUEST 3 After several nights tossing and turning on the cold ground of her shanty, the warrior finally realizes the root of her deep pain. Loneliness. After being asleep for so long she has lost touch with those that once were closest to her. The warrior decides to find her loved ones once more. ******** 20 months ago I had my 3rd child. He is a gorgeous, loving monster who demands ALL of my time when we are at home. Because of this my hubby and I have lost a lot of our connection. I want to focus more on us and try to regain the deep connection we once had. +25 XP. Spend time daily with hubby. Bonus +5: Read Love and Logic and put ideas into practice to become a kinder, more connected, parent. **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Last month I started at the respawn point. It's been a long year, but the end is in sight and I'm ready to return to the land of the rangers....within reason. I have a big ole belly that is preventing me from doing all the things, but I am still working on leveling up! My biggest issue is I am being split 5 billion ways. I need to turn my focus onto one or two things, not seven. Since my hopes of house hunting this month and next have been put aside for the moment, I can focus on my career for the time being. My main focus needs to be my coaching business since adding more classes and working on building my in gym career is pointless right now. Adding more classes needs to be set aside until after the baby is born and I am able to return from maternity leave. Being pulled in a million directions is made worse by the fact that I'm currently struggling with a bout of depression for no good dang reason. It's harder somehow, since I was really, truly happy before this wave hit. I've never been happy when depression decided to pop up before. So now I'm struggling, but I'm hanging in there :-/ My goals this month are: Goal 1: Power Hour every day, no excuses. Replace "I don't have time" with "It's not a priority" Goal 2: Eat vegetables. At least two servings a day. It's been a struggle to do even that during this pregnancy. I also need to eat more protein, but I can work on that next month! Goal 3: Run streak. I've been at it for 7 days now. Run (or walk...or run/walk) one mile every day. From now until the baby is born That's it for now.

Just wanted to check in reeeeeaaal quick. I'm still alive. I'm hoping next month I have more time to interact and be a part of the challenge. But we'll see how that goes. I have a million things on my brain. Really, that section of my to-do list has a lot filled in it lol! And hey, big dreams never sleep....or slack off!! But anyway. As of the 1st I will be an instructor at a gym that I have wanted to teach at FOREVER. Like 4 years, at least. It's a format I've never taught before, so waaaay out of my comfort zone. But at this point, I kind of feel like my entire life is outside of my comfort zone. I keep thinking I will eventually find the plateau where I reach a level of homeostasis for a period of time but that doesn't seem like that's going to happen. At least not anytime soon. I'm kind of okay with this I survived my two week stint as a yoga instructor. I survived my 8 hour cert class for POUND- which was AMAZING. Seriously guys, go check out Pound fitness and if there is a class in your area go try it. It's so much fun. And it hurts. So good. So now I can start making that class to start teaching somewhere as well I also have had some flu like bug for the last 10 days. On Thursday it was bad enough and I was dehydrated enough that I was in the hospital all day for some IV fluids and to be monitored to make sure baby was staying put. Baby beast and I are better now though, I'm still a bit nauseous and I can tell I'm not feeling 100% but I'm still moving forward one step at a time. House buying looks like it will be waiting a while. I'm still trying my best to be hopeful but I'm also being realistic that we have 2 months to get eeeeeverything in order. And there's a lot that needs to be in order before we can move. It just seems...unlikely. But if it doesn't happen now, I'm hoping we can get a 6 month lease somewhere and then just move twice with a newborn. Yay! LOL! Nutrition I'm doing the best I can. Some days have been fantastic! And others have been applesauce and toast. And then this weekend was donuts and all you can eat meat, because Chicago. But I can't eat more than a couple of bites at a time right now anyway, so I'm not sure that matters haha. I have been drinking Shakeology everyday, or at least the days I haven't been throwing up haha. It helps so much with my everything. My digestive system is so much happier and I have ENERGY again. But, keeping it down has been tricky with this flu. So...pretty hit and miss on that one. I'm running when I can, but I'm taking it easy on non necessary workouts. Which sounds funny I'm sure, but I seriously workout for a living guys. I have to be choosey sometimes. I've been taking other classes to make sure I like them before taking them on at the new gym. As well as having to rehearse and work on my own classes. Plus the classes I already teach. And now starting to work on POUND. ....It's a lot. So I'm working out daily, but not following a plan currently. Just trying to not over do it. And then there's coaching. Ha! I've been slacking here. Unfortunately, something has to give right? I've been using being busy as an excuse but I know I can be talking to like 5 people a day. It's not like it's that hard. So I'm going to tweak this a little to be message 5 people a day. Just do it.

It's been a fantastic month so far!! I will go into detail when I am on a computer and have the chance to sit for 10 minutes and catch up! Things are going really well though, Even if I havent stopped moving since Jan 1st!

Thanks guys!! It's good to know I didn't completely slip through the cracks in the internet It has been a very bullshitty year, but I'm grateful for it. I've grown so much as a person and I know more now about who I am, the strength I possess and what my purpose in life is. Now after these two weeks of subbing a billion classes are up and I can breathe again, I'll be good to conquer the shit out of this year lol!

I think most people wont remember me from these boards It's been almost a year since I was on here and even longer than that since I last was super active and present on here. 2015 was a ROUGH year for me. Like really. A quick recap. This time last year I was hanging on by a thread to my marriage. My husband was abusive towards me, physically, emotionally, and intimately. We were 'poly' which basically meant he wanted to go out and be with other people but wanted me to stay commited comlpletely to him. We had met someone in late summer 2014 and the three of us hit it off. He moved in with us, and things were going so amazingly, until they weren't. My husband got more abusive after the attention he was recieving in the poly community started to wear off. Things went really bad, really fast. Everytime we were around he would pick fights over ridiculous things, make fun of me and anytime we were intimate...it was without my consent. He cheated on my multiple times and then betrayed me horribly on my birthday and I made the decision that I was done. I left by April, our partner who had witnessed all of these events but kept silent through most of it in order to keep the peace and not make things worse and who also had started to be on the recieving end of hubby's controlling and manipulative ways, came with me. A viscious custody battle soon unfolded while hubby tried to use the kids as a way to control me and threatned me into silence. He proceeded to spread terrible lies about me and our life together, playing the victim like most abusers evenutally do. It took a pretty big toll on my spirit to have people I considered friends turn their backs on me. But those who matter most know the truth. And even some of those people that turned their backs, have realized what was really going on. Through stuff like seeing how he treats our dog that I had to leave behind Anyway.... our BF and I moved out and moved on, eventually finding out in September that we were going to have a surprise baby despite all the steps we took to avoid that happening lol!! We are planning to get married, possibly later this month, buy a house and put all that we went through behind us. And I am looking to get my butt back in gear and find me again. Because she got burried in depression, guilt, pain, hatred and anger over the last year. It's a new year and I'm not going to let this year start the same way the last one did! Alright. Now for the good stuff! Goals and challenges and quests! I have three major quests for 2016: 1. Buy a house. 2. Get a job as a personal trainer, teach 15 classes in the area and reach 2 star diamond coach status. 3. Run a half marathon and compete in festivus games in the fall. Some of the things that I need to accomplish to meet those goals are consistency, marriage (I have the credit to get us a house, but he has the income and because we want to use his VA loan... we have to be married. So that is now a priority for us!), and focus. I need to focus on my nutrition right now, and then later my fitness goals. I can't do much weight loss style, I'm more preventing weight gain right now. But I have so many more important goals that my health and fitness goals are just simmering on the back burner right now. I've been doing just enough to keep up with it, not enough to progress. Which is fine for now!! So my goals for this time around? Fitness and Health: 1.) Nutrition- Eat a vegetable with every meal. I kind of stopped eating meat and vegetables completely for a while. I had some serious food aversions for the first trimester. I need to get back to eating my veggies, meat has gradually made its way back already. 2. Nutrition- Drink my Shakeology every day. I feel like this is the easiest thing to do but somehow I manage to not do it most days. I am using Shakeology as my prenatal vitamin (with the blessing of my doctor, of course) and (TMI ALERT!!!) It's the only thing that makes me poop LOL! Ask any pregnant lady, or don't because you'll get punched, but the struggle is real. And I already have problems as it is. Shakeo is the only thing I've ever found to help regulate my system. So why am I not doing this everyday? I can't stomach it in the morning, I can just about only stomach oatmeal in the morning, by lunch I want all the food and then in the evening I have heartburn so badly I can barely drink water. So it doesn't get done daily. That will change, starting now. 3.) Fitness- Consistency I am a creature of habit. I used to wake up every. single. morning. I'd run most days and lift everyday. Now I am all over the place. My schedule doesn't help because I never have the same day twice. But I never (well...hardly ever) have to be anywhere at 5am, so I plan to utilize that time to get my shit together. Wake up at 4:30, run a mile at 5 and then do my lifting workout. Shower by 6 and on with my day. Wham, bam, thank you mam. Consistency. Doing things I love daily. I can handle that. Level up Your Life Quest Here we hit a snag. I have so many things I want to accomplish this year, it's hard to narrow down ONE to focus on. So I'm going to let myself have three, crazy rebel that I am!! 1.) Buying a home I get that buying a house isn't going to happen this month, but I need to start setting things in motion. Step 1, get married. The big one! But I also need to get in contact with the loan officer I was refered and see what our options are. I'm pretty set on us buying a house this year, so no option isn't an option.... if that makes sense. I've also read in one of the many personal development books I've read this last year that while you are working towards your goals, live in the now as if they've been accomplished. I hardly ever clean the apartment...because I hate the apartment. So I'm going to start doing one chore a day. Just one. Recap steps in this goal: Get married. Talk to loan officer. Daily chore. Check, check and check. 2.) Group teaching I have two oppurtunites to further myself this month with group instuction. One, I'm subbing a YOGA class for the next two weeks. Say what?!! I plan to rock it. I wont let fear take over. I wont. wont. wont. I also am attending a specialty class for POUND, which is an awesomely fun class. Same, no fear. We got this. So a goal for this will be to make it through both of those huge ordeals. And in addition, I want to research and plan on my next steps, what specialty courses to take in the next year, etc. 3.) Coaching Here again is where consistency comes into play. Power hour, everyday. Non-negotiable. Every. Single. Day. No excuses. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So that's a lot for this month, but it's no more than I've had on my plate for the last year. So I'm pretty confident with it all. I have so many other goals I want to tackle but, I will get there. Blogging. Personal development. Being a leader. A non yeller. Specific nutrition goals. Get more sleep. Take days off to recover my brain. Journal. Love and forgive myslef. Meditate. I'll get there. So glad to be back

I did this! I applied to be a group instructor at another gym, one I already work at just as a childcare worker. It's a bigger gym than where I teach, so a scary leap for sure. Fingers crossed!

I am so. Tired. Week 1 was great! Until Saturday I followed 21 day fix well. Then I ate fair food for the whole of Saturday. Got back to it yesterday though. Had a 5k on Saturday as well, placed 3rd OA female. *self five* First time placing in an OA category! Also haven't missed a Strongman workout yet. I've been applying for jobs, including as a group instructor in one of the gyms I work at. I'm also going to apply for an admin position there later today. Plus I've been slowly working on building up my BB business. So that's something too, right?

Hey FIVE week challenge buddy!! I have Celiac's too. I was diagnosed....4 years ago? 5? Most days it's NBD and I'm actually a bit happy about. But some days I want to rip my hair out and eat a batch of fried cheese. Following you're post now, looking forward to doing the rest of the challenge together

I am just starting today too! This isn't my first challenge but I am a terrible guild jumper and havent had much luck making friends :-( sooo...Hi! Be my friend :-P

I wants one :-( I miss WoW!

Hahahaha!!! I know a few Kevins. Now I will call them Alpha- Kevin hahaha

So I'm starting 21 day fix tomorrow....I've totally binged on all the things this week in preperation. Ice cream, bacon and cheese covered potato ole's, pancakes....all the pancakes. You're not alone!! Lol!

I'd say drop the weight by 5%-10% for a couple of weeks. And then gradually going back up. It's helped me break plateus in the past!