Hey guys! It's been a while since I've posted anything. Last time I did, I mentioned how we in Western North Carolina have been completely devastated by Hurricane Helene. The recovery has been going ok. It's very slow but we are strong out here in WNC. It may take us years, but we will rebuild and it will be ok. The time I posted before that I mentioned that I had to take an extended break from working out because my time became very limited. Well, we made some changes to our families extracurricular activities and we joined our local family YMCA! I'll he able to start working out again, which makes me pretty happy!

Hey guys. I just wanted to take a minute and ask you guys to send up prayers, good vibes, luck or whatever to all of us here in Western North Carolina. We were hit hard by the remnants of Hurricane Helene. It completely devastated Asheville and Chimney Rock. I live about a half an hour from both places and we are without running water, power, and internet. Yesterday we were struggling to find water to drink and just get necessary supplies. We are rationing everything we have just in case. They don't expect to have power restored here until at least Friday. I absolutely can not believe the devastation here. I don't even know what else to say. We're suffering. Several friends of mine are now without a home due to trees crashing through them. We are staying with friends because they have a generator and simply having power right now is a luxury. Yesterday, I was able to take my first hot shower in days because of their hospitality. I have no idea how or when we will recover from this.

Hey guys. Lately, I haven't been able to work out for two reasons. I don't have much time anymore. With work, and all of our extra curriculars (choir for me, my husband's drug/alcohol recovery meetings, karate for both kids and ballet for our daughter) it all leaves little time for me to get workouts in. I have three days a week where I can and I have, until recently. My new job at Panera Bread is crazy. I worked for them before at a different location in a different city. Working at this Panera Bread, I'm learning that the managers at the one I worked at before ran a very tight ship. The one I work at now is so understaffed, which means that we don't get breaks. Which means I haven't been eating much during the day because I simply can't. I see other employees eating in the back, which is not only a sanitation violation, but also, I'm not exactly sure they're paying for the food they're eating, so it could also be the managers letting the people get away with stealing. Anyway, not eating has led to me losing weight that my body can't afford to lose if I'm not eating to maintain my weight and with my hypothyroidism, well, losing that weight has made my thyroid hormone levels go out of wack. I went from my healthy average of 110 pounds to 104.2. My managers know about my health issues and they still won't let me take a break. There are so many things this Panera Bread location is violating. I feel like I need to make an HR complaint, but I also want to remain completely anonymous. I'm not sure I trust that that can happen. I also don't want to quit because I am autistic and going through the job seeking and interviewing process is stress I almost can't handle without having mental breakdowns. I feel trapped in my job. I'm starving every day, working my butt off covering for the pathetic people who call out of work every other day and never get fired for it. Why is it that the hardworking, honest people in American society always get screwed over the most? We are the ones who truly deserve more, yet we're not getting it. I'm making only $14 an hour. This is straight bullsh*t.

Anyway, so these have been my struggles lately and the reasons I can't afford to be burning calories. I'll start exercising again when this all gets resolved.

In my last post, I mentioned that my parents were in town and workouts would be few and far between. My parents have come and gone. The visit went pretty well except for the fact that we all got sick with a nasty cold. My whole family seems to be better except for me. This hit me like a freight train and, considering that the last time I was sick I ended up in the hospital due to heart issues, I've decided to take it easy for the next few days. By the time I get to work out again, it will be close to two weeks since I've done a workout. My body needs the rest, though. I'll be back when I feel better. Can't wait til I can do thr thing again!

Being able to work out lately has been tough. We traveled for the 4th of July, which was so chaotic, I had to forego a workout. Now my parents are coming into town from my home state of Utah and we will be doing some traveling with them out to Pigeon Forge. While I could bring my jump rope mat and ropes, I'm going to leave them at home because I have to help wrangle an over active five year old every morning and I just know the activities planned are going to run me ragged. I'm just hoping smart food choices and a lot of walking will help me not lose too much progress I've made. I'm going to do a workout this morning. My parents had a terrible flight and had to spend the night in the airport because they missed their connection, so I'm gonna have to deal with upset and contentious parents. My mom's crucial medications were in her checked bag and no food places were open. She's diabetic and it got bad. We got into an argument last night. At least I'll have this workout to help me de-stress this morning before having to deal with angry parents. Wish me luck.

W1D2 of the Summer Shred Challenge DONE! I came back from a slight injury today and blew this workout out of the water! It was a very sweaty one. You can see my JRD glisten shine! Felt good to be back! I love jump rope!

I'm super bummed today. I've had a pinched nerve in my shoulder since yesterday. Just now, when I was doing my warm up jumping Jacks, I noticed the arm movement caused pain in my shoulder, so I stopped doing them. Before I moved on to anything else, I decided to test jumping rope. That hurt my shoulder too. I don't think it's a very good idea to do a workout if I'm in pain, so JRD90 Week 1 day 5 will be a no go for me. I hate doing that because I feel like it offsets everything. What do you guys do when something like this happens? I don't want to just skip week 1 day 5 completely, as every workout is important to build up the strength for what's coming in other workouts, but doing it on Monday next week will offset next week's workouts. What do I do? I'm so bummed!!

I'm only a week into the Jumprope + Dumbell program, which I'm really enjoying, and I'm gonna have to postpone it. One of my adjustable dumbells broke. I mean the thing completely fell apart. I'm not sure what I was expecting. These Dumbells of mine were cheap as far as adjustable dumbbells go. Still, for $90, I expected more from them. Hopefully I'll be able to afford a new, better set. Until then, what program should I do? Are there any other programs with videos that have Dan in them? I prefer those, but honestly, I just wanna do the thing, so I suppose anything will do. Comment with suggestions. Thanks!

Finished the Shredded Ninja program this morning. I can't say it was my favorite workout program I've ever done. I got bored with it a month and a half in but instead of giving up, I doubled down and did two workouts a day until I finished.
Over the last few months, I've been learning more about my body, particularly my feet. You would think that after 38 years of having this body of mine, I would know all about my feet and what shoes work best for me. My feet are very odd. I have very narrow heels, but the front half of my foot is very wide. Over the last six months of jumping rope, I have begun to develop a Taylor's bunion or bunionette (a bunion on the pinky toe side). This is a direct result of cramming my feet in shoes too narrow for my toes. I've been doing a lot of research about feet, bunions, and how to correct them. Unfortunately, to fully correct a bunion I would have to have surgery, however, there are steps I can take to reverse some of the damage. I am beginning to wear toe spacers every night, increasing the time I wear them by a half an hour. Eventually I should be able to wear them all the time without pain. Second, I will be working on strengthening the muscles in my feet. After a few months of doing that, I will transition to shoes with a larger toe box. This will fix most problems from the bunion. I'm just glad I caught it now instead of assuming it was just normal foot pain from exercising.
Years ago, narrow shoes were the style. It meant you were wealthy. Why? Because owning horses meant you were wealthy, and narrow shoes fit very well into sturups. Til this day, narrow shoes seem to be the style. Especially for women, which is why women are more prone to bunions than men are. We women are constantly stuffing out feet into narrow dress shoes. This results in shoe shaped feet. We should be wearing foot shaped shoes! Everyone, please take care of your feet! Wear shoes with a large toe box, especially if you're having foot pain! I can't stress this enough! Foot health is incredibly important because if our feet aren't in good condition, chances are, you've got bone structure problems from your toes to the top of your head. It all starts with the feet! Let's take care of them!

I've been doing the Shredded Ninja program. It's an alright program, but I find that I don't really like workout programs where I'm not skipping along with Dan. I'm getting a lot out of the program but I want to get it over with and move on to something else, so I've been doing two workouts a day. I've got six days of this left. What do you guys suggest I do next?