Fitness Friday:Week 4 #shapelygirl Fitness Recap

WEEK 4 ShapelyGirl RECAP!

If you missed the last few weeks you can start HERE.

I was chosen from the Christian Women Affiliate reviewers to join 26 other amazing women to review several of the ShapelyGirl Fitness DVD's for the month of October. Each week we have been checking in and cheering each other on. There's even a blog hop where you can follow along and read other ladies' challenges, struggles as well as breakthroughs and accomplishments!

I started this week with church on Sunday. It was a great sermon from our former pastor talking about renewing our minds. He asked us if anyone remembered cassette tapes. He compared old cassette tapes and how we could just record over them when we wanted to change what was on it to renewing our minds.

 We are who we are today because of how we think. When we think about things that are lovely and pure we can in a sense, record over bad thoughts and renew our minds. If we want to make changes, we have to change how we THINK. My thought for the week can be summed up with this great photo from Time Warp Wife.

This is also a great reminder!

With that said, I have left the idea of "dieting" behind and have made the conscious effort to make SMALL changes over the last few months. I've been on a road to getting healthier since having my 6th baby. I'm TIRED of carrying around extra weight on my body. I try to remember how much more energized I feel after I exercise!
I can hardly believe this is the 4th week of trying the ShapelyGirl Fitness DVD, "Let's Get Stepping".
I am trying to work through the entire DVD including the bonus toning with weights. It takes A LONG time, I plan for at least 1 1/2 hours to get the whole workout in, then I still have to shower! It's worth it though, I'm noticing results. I'll be posting my results as well as thoughts in my final post! I also have something special to share as well!

Don't forget to check out these other blogs. They are a tremendous source of inspiration!
God bless!

 I received a free copy of this DVD to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.

3-Ring Binder Fairy Dollhouse

Homeschoolers LOVE binders! They are the heart of homeschooling and keeping track of our kids' work. But this is one of my favorite uses for a 3-ring binder yet!

My almost 5 year-old daughter was recently invited to a birthday party for her friend. My daughter bought a little fairy doll from the dollar store (with her own money) and I made a fairy binder dollhouse for the fairy doll!

I first got the idea for this binder dollhouse from Southern Disposition. Click on over there for the whole tutorial on how to make this. I will show you what I came up with though.

I started with a plain white 1 inch binder from Wal-mart.

Next I glued some green colored scrap booking paper right into the binder using my hot glue gun.

This is to cover the 3-ring binder and hide the rings from view.

(My last binder dollhouse I used fabric to cover the rings. I thought I would try paper this time and I thought it worked just fine.)

Here is a photo of one side glued down.

Here is what the front of the 3-ring binder dollhouse looks like personalized!

I let my daughter help place the letters for her friend's name as well as add some stickers.

I finished the binder cover by adding marker outlining and labeling.

Then I just placed the 8 1/2" by 11" paper inside the front binder pocket!

For the back I used some scraps of scrap booking paper and a photo of a fairy tree house just for fun!

And now the view of the inside....

"Fairy F'ee" now has a lovely home!

On the left is her bedroom made from a "bird's nest". I used scrap booking paper that looked like hay layered underneath sheets of colored tissue paper I cut into leaf shapes and glued on. A scrap booking "stamp" makes a nice wall hanging and another scrap booking paper makes a nice "clock".

A friendly bird (another sticker) watches over the nest. An acorn makes a nice pillow for Fairy F'ee and a leaf is a great blanket!

On the right is Fairy F'ee's dining room as she looks out onto the open meadow through her fairy tree home! I made a table out of a postcard and chairs out of keys and button scrap booking stickers. Some other fun stickers for silverware and other natural elements to decorate the rest of the room and the fairy dollhouse binder is complete!

If you missed my other post on 3-ring binder dollhouses, you can read here my first attempt!

Let me know if you try this, I'd love to see how others use their binders to make dollhouses!

Fitness Friday #shapelygirl Week 3 Recap

I can't believe I am wrapping up week three of the ShapelyGirl fitness challenge already!(If you missed my beginning  posts you can start here.) I'm still using Debra Mazda's "Let's Get Stepping!" DVD and I'm really loving it. (Full review to follow at the end of the month-so check back!) The month is flying right by and this has been an incredibly long and busy week! I started out the week on Sunday determined to make this week even better than last week. I worked out on Sunday and then turned right around and worked out on Monday! I was so excited I was taking time for me and fitting my workouts in...then the rest of my week went horribly and I haven't had one more chance to work out since Monday. Unless I want to squeeze my workout in after 9 p.m. but I'm way too tired and my teenagers aren't available to babysit if the baby wakes up crying (which he often does) at that hour.
With that said, I still have seen progress. When I am climbing stairs, I feel like I have extra energy. Last night walking across the soccer field leaving my sons' game I felt stronger in my legs, more energetic, like I could just burst out and run the rest of the way to my car!
I told my husband, "I can feel it in the back of my thighs." My pants are fitting loser, my thighs are looking slimmer. Here are this week's achievements, which by the way I was shocked because even though I did work out twice, I feel like I've been a slug all week, but apparently the two days I managed to work out were very effective because in addition to losing a pound, I also lost:

3/4" around my waist

1/2" around my hips

1/4 " around my thigh

no change around my arms or calves though

So there you have it!

On to week Four!

And don't forget...this is a blog hop! Hop on over to see how my other CWA Review Crew members are doing with their #shapelygirl fitness challenge too and be inspired to get moving!

I received a free copy of this DVD to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.

Fitness Friday: ShapelyGirl Fitness: Week 2 Recap

 We are coming to the end of week 2 of ShapelyGirl Fitness reviews with the CWA Review Crew. I will share a few thoughts on my progress so far!

You can read about why I joined this review crew HERE.

Progress:  I have done the "Let's Get Stepping" video five times now. I've gone through the entire video twice. I'm liking the extra weight training at the end. It is a bonus video that can be done after the stepping workout or at anytime I want to work on upper arm strength and toning. I have worked through the whole video now, it is quite a workout! It takes about an hour to get through all the stepping routines and longer for the weight lifting and toning exercises.

I saw this post today and thought it about sums up my thoughts of my week!

I can really feel the changes in my walking after using this exercise program. I feel like I'm standing taller and when I walk around the yard with my kids I realized there's still a little "pep" in my step even after a long day with my kids!

Struggles: Making time to fit my workouts in was a real struggle for me this week. I worked out on Monday and didn't plan to work out on Tuesday, but when Wednesday rolled around I had company over, then later homeschooling kept me busy, and it was also our grocery shopping day. I crawled to bed at 10 p.m. feeling kind of beaten down that I hadn't found time to make my work out happen. Some gals were very encouraging this week. One lovely lady sent a link to this video, "You are More". I love this song and it was such a reminder that through this ShapelyGirl video challenge, I am so much more than just a number on a scale! I think I may be down a pound, but not more. If you have never heard this song before please watch!

"You Are More" by Tenth Avenue North

Breakthroughs: Debra Mazda is a wonderful encourager! She reminded us ladies this week that these videos were to get us M O V I N G, that this wasn't about weight loss, but beginning a lifestyle change. She reminded us that weight loss is largely based on changing our eating habits and not focusing on exercises. She encouraged us to just get up and get moving, doing what we could, as we could. Remembering to drink water was an important lesson for me as I tend to be dehydrated nearly all the time because I am still nursing my 9 month-old son.

This was one of the reminders I found:

Photo credit

But back to my breakthrough!!!

I did take measurements and in just ONE WEEK....

I have lost...

1 inch around my arms

1  inch around my thighs

2 3/4 inches around my waist

AND

drum roll please.....

3 1/2 inches around my hips!!!!

I couldn't believe my measurements! But I knew I had lost inches since my pants were fitting better and I even had a friend NOTICE my pants were fitting better!

I'm looking forward to updating next week!

Don't forget to check out the other ladies' updates as well!

I received a free copy of this DVD to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.

Fitness Friday: ShapelyGirl Fitness Week 1

 I was chosen to be a part of a special crew from Christian Women Affiliate to form a group of 27 amazing ladies to encourage one another while we review Debra Mazda's ShapelyGirl Fitness Videos. You can read my introductory post here. For the month of October I will be checking in every Friday for my Fitness Friday link up post to let you know how I am doing. Be sure to check out the other gals on the fitness crew for their updates as well! I will post a final review on November 2, 2012, so be watching for that too! That's where I will share my thoughts about the entire month as a whole and what I think about the DVD, "Let's Get Stepping".

For now, here is my week 1 wrap up!

Debra Mazda recommends doing this video 3-4 times a week, so I thought I would begin on Monday and exercise Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The first day I took all my measurements. Now remember, Debra says, "Fitness comes in many sizes". 

Here is a photo of me just as I'm beginning to start my very first ShapelyGirl Fitness video! I am able to fit back into some size 10 pants but because of my hips and thighs, I still feel most comfortable in a size 12. I would like to be a size 8 or at least feel really comfortable in my size 10's. You can read about where I began my road to fitness here. 

I began Debra Mazda's DVD on Monday. For my first workout, my husband wanted to check it out, (he likes to work out with me), we watched the introduction but my husband was eager to get started as it was getting kind of late in the evening and the baby was fussing. So we gave the baby to our teenage son and began the workout and made it through about 20 minutes. My 4 year old daughter made it almost to the end, working really hard at the steps, marching it out with my husband when the steps got too confusing. She laid down at one point and asked, "Can this be the modified version?" I couldn't stop laughing, but I pressed on! I lost my stepping partner when Debra got to the "cha cha" and suggested swinging our hips to the music. I loved it, of course, it was a lot of fun, but my husband had had enough. He understood why this was called "ShapelyGirl", "this is for women for sure!" he commented. I made it most of the way through but the baby was fussing so I ended the workout with plenty of sweat, anxious to learn how much further I had to go to complete the workout.

Well, I found out on Thursday! I didn't workout on Tuesday (as planned) but I just couldn't get it together to work out on Wednesday. It had rained all day and I had totally lost all my motivation to m-o-v-e! So I picked the stepping video up again onThursday and made it through the entire stepping portion of the video. I did some of the stretching, but not the toning. 

Today, (Friday) was a pretty crazy day. We cleaned house and did some homeschooling, then had some wonderful friends over for a biology class and my husband headed off for work for the night shift. Getting my work out in today was looking pretty near impossible. I sat down on the couch at 7:30 to nurse the baby and I probably could have just gone to sleep right then and there...but I didn't! I got the baby settled down, changed diapers on my 9 month old and my 2 year old, made sure my kids had dinner, then handed the baby off to my teenage son. I completed a 30 minute portion of the video before my baby began crying and needed me. I was so proud of myself! I hit the shower then was finally able to sit down and snuggle the baby while I ate my dinner at 9:00 p.m. I know this is worth it, but today was really a struggle for me!

Now that I've been through most of the video a few times I'm looking forward to next week. I'm hoping working out will leave me more energized, but just thinking about fitting in a workout when I'd rather sleep makes me tired! Good night! :)

I received a free copy of this DVD to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA Review Crew.