Healthiest Life 4 Me

As I sat and watched Biggest Loser last night it took me back to the thoughts of starting my journey from the FAT and unhealthy me I was to the much thinner, more muscular, and healthier me I am today.  As much as the starting weights make me want to cry for them, it’s not about the starting weight…it is what it is!  But at some point you have to just DECIDE to TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE!!  There are too many resources out there to use to help you get to the point you want to be at. 

It is encouraging and inspiring to watch these people go through such a real event.  Morbidly obese, bearing their all.  It is sad to see their size and hear their stories.  It is scary to think that it could happen to you…so DON’T LET IT!! 

I know…it is so scary to start out.  You are thinking, “Where do I start?”  “How will I do it?”  “Where do I go for information?” Here are the steps I took to start out:

1)  Firmly decided that I WAS going to lose 30 pounds!  You need to pick a number…it needs to be realistic.  I just set a number, but not an amount of time. You need to tell people and you need to keep it in your mind at all times!

2)  Found a friend that was already working out and had her help me at the gym.  I didn’t pay her, but I went when she was going to go.  I made her schedule my schedule…after all, it was me who needed the help.  Although she was trim and fit, I was help to her to.  Of course, I lost more weight…I had more to lose.  But it encouraged her to work hard.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a partner.  It keeps you accountable and encourages you.  It also makes you have to explain to someone else why you are backing out on a particular day…so you really go more often.

3)  I took a look at my diet.  However, I just cut calories at first.  NOT THE RIGHT WAY!!  I wish I knew then what I know now about nutrition.  This is the area I suggest you seek help.  Because if you do it right, you can maximize your workouts and weight loss CAN and WILL be achieved with diet.  After all, it’s 80% of the equation!

4)  I made an effort to do active things with my kids and husband when we had time to do things together.  Instead of going to the movies, we took our bikes to the beach, walked the shore at the tide pools, etc.  We moved and shared our time together.  We even took evening walks together now and then to “get the dog active” was always what I told the kids. 

5) Re-evaluate your goal and make sure you are doing what is necessary to stay on track.  AND don’t be discouraged by a bad day…just wake up the next day and start fresh and new!  Always believe you ARE GOING TO REACH YOUR GOAL!

I didn’t do this, but I do it now and I wish I knew about it then…find an online community of people like you to use as support.  It is truly inspiring and uplifting to discuss goals, obstacles, and everything else you can think of!  My suggestion is to learn to Twitter…it’s a great place to share with like minded people.  There are lots of websites for women exclusively or both sexes to join and gain support.  Just beware on all of these places people can post whatever they want…it doesn’t have to be true.  So build relationships and learn and research for yourself.  It is only YOU that can make it happen for YOU!!

6) Journaling your food and your workouts can help a lot.  Food wise, it’ll help you see what you are putting into your mouth each day and help you decide what can get cut out. Workout journaling will help you become motivated by your progress. 

Over the next few months, I will help you achieve your goals.  Drop me a note and let me know what I can do.  I will do my best, but the work is up to you!!

Gotta hear this amazing man talk about Genesis and the science of it.

I have many friends that ask about my diet and how I do what I do.  I usually have the same answer and I am not sure it sets very well.  I tell them I pay big $$ for my plan and that it is set up specific to me.  It takes into consideration my workout, the calories I burn at a resting rate, and my likes and dislikes. I spend time working out much harder than all of my friends, therefore giving them my diet won’t help them lose weight because I burn a ton more calories during my workout.  I also notice that when I try to explain the basics of eating right, they are uninterested because it takes a lot of work.  So I thought I’d try my best to break it down a bit and let people figure out how they could fit it best into their lives.

To begin with, you will need a piece of paper to do the calculations.  Here is the info for fat loss:

• Total Daily Calories = Bodyweight times 12

this may need to be dropped to x11 or x10 if no progress after a few weeks

• Protein = 1g per lb of Body Weight

(4 calories per gram)
can go up to 1.5g if desired

• Fat = .4-.5g per lb Body Weight

(9 calories per gram)
yes, you read that right, healthy fats are important for fat loss (you can’t burn fat if you don’t eat fat!! STAY AWAY FROM FAT FREE PRODUCTS)

• Carbs = whatever remains to meet your calorie total

(4 calories per gram)

After this, you will break it all up between 5-6 meals with the last meal being only protein right before bed.  Your meals should be spaced out every 3 hours. 

Hope this helps out!  Good luck and post your results!  It will be fun to see everyone’s progress!!

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Well, it was a long week.  Full of stress and craziness.  I was worried how my check in would go.  I took myself to urgent care with a fever and a sinus infection on Friday night.  Really excited to get an antibiotic, the Z Pack and a three day weekend!!! I was feeling a bit better in the morning, but still really tired.  I slept through a few meals on Saturday and then ate dinner I shouldn’t have (and even dessert..shhhhh, don’t tell!)  Then twice this week while teaching, I got so busy that I forgot to eat my 930 am snack and once was so tired I went to bed without my last meal.all these things made me very nervous.  Although, I have started working out with a partner that pushes me really hard, so every workout I get is AWESOME and a little painful! 

So, I really wasn’t sure how the check in would go on Friday.  When I got there, of course my nutritionist wanted to know how I was doing with the plan.  I asked him to do the measurements and said we’d chat about my troubles and thoughts after.  When he measured me, I still lost body fat!! I was 2 pounds lighter according to the scale and was down to 27.12% body fat, down a total of 2.43% total body fat in 3 weeks.  I also put on .92 lbs of muscle.  I have to say, I was very excited and he was quite impressed after telling him about my week (not the ice cream on Saturday, though.shhhhh!). 

So, here I go, starting week 4 and ready to kick butt.  Have a lot going on still, but plan to have a PERFECT week with my diet and exercise!!!  Thanks for keeping up with me and helping me stay accountable!!! Check it out next week to see how it went for me!!

Friday marked the 2 week mark of my progress towards the new me and finally reaching my goal.  I had a busy week and was able to be perfect on my plan again, until Thursday night.  I wasn’t feeling well and my nutritionist said I could have a cheat meal once a week.  So, I took it.  I had a protein shake and 2 slices of pizza.  So.failed at the 30 day sugar free diet.but still quite on track for the actual goal!  I was worried about a cheat meal the night before my weigh in would be horrible, but it wasn’t. 

So the results of my check in went well!! Last week I weighed 138.8 and this week 138.6 and although I was depressed about that when I got on the scale that morning, getting my measurements was quite exciting!  I am down to 27.74% body fat!  That is down just a smidge under 3% body fat in 2 weeks!  I was very excited about that! 

So, now onto week 3!  Rough start on my weekend, but planning on making the rest really count.  I have a head cold which is making the gym hard to accomplish, but I do plan on toughing it out!

Thanks for keeping up on my progress and supporting me through this journey.  I will post on my progress weekly!

Friday was the end of my first week of my new meal plan and 30 day sugar free diet.  AND I’d like to say that I made it one complete week with a perfect diet and NO SUGAR or foods that act like sugar in my body!  I can’t believe it.  It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.however I worked all 5 days and ran around like a crazy woman.  It made it a lot easier to keep the bad stuff out of my mouth by not being at home much. 

So at last week’s beginning I weighed 140 lbs and had a body fat percentage of 29.55.  Now my goal is 120 lbs and 16% body fat. 

My meals are planned at 3 hours apart with 6 total during the day.  My nutritionist charges for this advice, so all I can say is that I am trying a new type of plan this time and LOVE IT!  I haven’t been starved between meals, nor am I too full to finish my food.  I feel energetic all day and feel like there are less mood swings related to hunger and insulin spikes/dips in my body.

My workouts are back on track.  I feel crazy trying to fit them in, but they are all fitting somewhere.  One day this week I was able to get up and do 15 minutes of cardio before getting ready for work.  I fit 4 workouts in this week before checking in and 4 and a half hours of total cardio. 

And after all that work my results on Friday were.

.well.

.they.

.were.

.not.

BAD!!!

I weighed in at 138.8, which of course made me sad.  But after measurements of fat, I dropped to 28.28% body fat.  So, I gained just shy of one pound of muscle and lost just over 2 pounds of fat.  VERY EXCITING!!!  Can’t wait until next week. 

Thanks for following my journey and come back to see what kind of results this week will bring!

Well, I was supposed to start this workout yesterday, but due to orientation for the substitute teaching position that I desperately need, I was gone all day.  So I started today.  And I figured I would do chest today too to make it that much more difficult! HAHA  So here is what today’s workout looked like:

Incline Dumbbell Press

30 lbs. 1 set of 12, 2 sets of 10 with 20 jumping jacks between sets

Barbell Bench Press

30 lbs. 1 set of 15, 50 lbs. 2 sets of 12

Incline Chest Fly

15 lbs. 3 sets of 10

Pushups

set 1   14

set 2   18

set 3   14

set 4   14

set 5   21

WHEW!! Those last 2 sets were hard.but got them all in!  More to come on tomorrow. 

I didn’t get any cardio in because I didn’t have time today.  Working on my new schedule.it may take a few weeks to work the kinks out.

While hanging out on Twitter one night, I saw a blurb about being able to do push-ups.  My curiosity took over and I asked why she was so focused on the amount of push-ups she could do and how many weeks she had to do it in.  @Kelownagurl responded to me with a website with this 100 Push-up Challenge. 

I have become quite impressed with my strength in the past few months.  And although I am struggling with my diet again, I am fully focused on my training.  So, I inquired at 100 Push-up Challenge to see what all this fuss was about.  And now have committed to this challenge.  The program can be as long as 6 weeks depending upon how many push-ups you can currently do. 

Here is how the program works:

1. Take an assessment of how many pushups you can do in one sitting.  Do the push-ups correctly and don’t cheat if you want the program to work. 

2.  Go to the website 100 Push-up Challenge and email Steve and let him know that you are taking the challenge and he will add you to the list.  Admitting to someone that you are taking the challenge will keep you accountable.  Recruit a physical partner if you’d like to report to someone physically each week.  Feel free to comment here each week if you want to have encouragement from me.

3.  Print up each week and follow the directions.  You do push-ups 3 times a week and depending upon the week you are told to start in and the amount you are capable of will determine how your workout will look each day.

4.  Follow each week without cheating.

5.  When you complete week 6, you will rest for 2 days and then you will try to do a set of 100 push-ups!

It may seem weird to have the need to do 100 push-ups, but the push-up is the most comprehensive upper body exercise that you can do.  And most importantly.it can be done ANYWHERE!!  You don’t need any special equipment or special facilities to do it in.  When executing a  regular push-up you are pushing 60% of your body weight.  When you elevate your feet and do decline push-ups you push 80% of your body weight.  Talk about upper body strength training. 

So let’s get started on this journey together.  And just because I am starting my program next week, doesn’t mean you can’t start yours anytime.  You will be so proud of yourself for the accomplishment and even with the way your arms take shape!

I am relatively new to this blogging thing, but having so much fun doing it.  And although most of my friends (the ones that don’t live here in my computer) are supportive, I am not sure they understand fully the joy that I find in my friends (that live in my computer) and the things they do and say.  Most of my “real life” friends have NO clue what twitter is, nor do they care.  I myself just happened upon it and of course am hooked.  Most of my “real life” friends don’t search blogs of other moms or people for that matter.  Most of my “real life” friends only know about social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook, but don’t understand the pure joy you can get from making friends with total strangers, sharing thoughts and ideas, trials and triumphs, joys and pains, ups and downs, and most of all RANDOM THOUGHTS!  I have been lucky enough to find a few women online that have made a huge difference in my life.  I love reading their blogs.  I enjoy their 140 character thoughts.  And most of all they are “my friends that LIVE in my computer.” 

One of the wonderful women I met online not only helped me start blogging, but as I have said before, she and her husband are the reason that the dream became a reality. They are the Brains behind this whole opperation.haha.  And she TAGGED ME!  While it has taken me a while to find some blogs to tag back, I think I have finally accomplished that.

The idea behind this game of Tag You’re It online is to pay it forward so to speak.  It is to help each other get new traffic at our blogs by then tagging other blogs and linking to the one that tagged you.  So, Erin at REAL TECH MOM, thank you for your unending kindness.  Hope that my readers join you on yours. 

The idea is to:

1. Link to the person who sent this to you
2. Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and link to them
4. Share the good news with those people

7 Random/Weird Facts About Me

1. I don’t like coffee, not even the smell.  My husband is the only one who uses the coffee pot and he is responsible for cleaning it.the smell makes my stomach upset. 
2. I love movies geared towards teenagers.Clueless and Legally Blond are my favorites!
3. I am not very impulsive.  I have trouble loosening up.  But when I do, watch out world.here I come!
4. I love shoes.especially 4″ heals.  My red suede Steve Madden’s are my all time FAVS!
5. I am the world’s worst HOUSEWIFE.I hate to clean.but I am a ROCKIN’ mom!
6. I wish I had the time and money to take dance classes again for fitness, not to compete or anything.
7. I am ADDICTED to fitness.I can’t help it!!

Here are the Bloggers I would like to Pay It Forward to:

TLC Photography by Geanette

Liz Rosenbaum’s Fitness

Food and Water

Workout Mommy

The Body Sculpting Bible Blog

Merlot Mom

Fit Yummy Mummy

IT IS YOUR TURN TO PAY IT FORWARD!

Check out these great blogs!  You’ll be glad you did!