Quote of the Day

You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance. Lee Iacocca

Do you want it bad enough?  I know I do! I finally got to a point in my life that enough was enough. I was done being the fat girl. I was done being frustrated with the simple things I couldn't do. I was done not looking cute in my clothes. I was done being unhealthy. Every day I choose to get up and do the best I can to make my body better and live my life to the fullest. 

I slacked off for a few months because I stopped seeing results. I was at the evil plateau that everyone reaches at some point in their weight loss journey. Instead of keeping on going I just stopped. I let life get in the way. Thankfully I was able to not GAIN weight but that's not the case for everyone. Looking back now. I wish I had never stopped, that I had never given up on myself. Now I'm stubborn LOL I know I can do anything. It maybe hard and it may be painful but until your body can't move anymore.. it can do way more than we give it credit for. The other day was proof of that. It takes such little time for your body to get used to these new things you are doing. When I started up with my trainer again in March I could barely do 5 mins on the stair climber and I wanted to DIE! On weds just 2 small months later I did 7 minutes and was talking (while breathing heavy, it wasn't THAT easy)! In March I could barely do 5 prison push ups (which are evil by the way). On Weds, again 2 mths later, I did 15. Your body knows what it's built to do. We just have to retrain it. Thankfully for us it's a quick learner ;)

Today is Day 1...

of my next goal!!! Today I met my goal of losing 45 lbs!!! I'm SO thrilled and I can't wait to lose more!  My next small goal is a little intimidating to me but I know I can do it. I want to get to 200lbs. eep! That's 30 more lbs to go. I hope it won't take as long as the first 45 but I know I will get there. I will still have at least 25-30 more lbs to go after that but baby steps. 1lb at a time!

this made me laugh!

A friend posted it on facebook and it made me giggle.

What do I eat?

I've had several people ask what I'm eating. Pre bootcamp I just followed portion control and watching what I eat and how much. I am a super picky eater and honestly most healthy foods make me want to gag LOL Now I try my best to follow our meal plan, but I still add in different things I like better but are still in calorie range and category.  I eat 6 meals a day. It seems like a lot but my body is getting used to eating that often and every 3 hrs I am starving! Here's a sample of what I eat in a typical good day.

Breakfast:

Carb       toast, cereal or a english muffin
Fruit        apple, peaches or mandarin oranges
Milk        sometimes if I don't want milk I combine it with fruit and have yogurt (dannon lite and fit is yummers and only 80 calories!)

Calories: 250-300

Snack 1
carb                  usually wheat thins, not big on rice cakes
protein              usually a cheese stick
fruit/vegetable   applesauce

Calories: 150 give or take a few

Lunch:

Carb                  whole wheat bread
Lean protein       usually turkey (on occasion I have ham, it's only 10 calories more and I never eat a full serving that's just too much meat for me!)
vegetable           lettuce (any kind will work)
Free foods         low fat mayo, mustard and salsa (not on the sandwich)
Carb                 baked tortilla chips

Calories: about 350

Snack 2:

Fruit:               fruit leather
lean protein     pb crackers or cottage cheese/cheese stick

Calories 100-200 depending on the day

Dinner:

Lean protein    baked chicken  (trust me I get chickened out!)
Carb               baked potato (or yam if you choose)     I can't believe it's not butter spray ROCKS! It's only 5 calories for 5 squirts
Veggie            suggested is broccoli, but if you're like me I don't do broccoli so I eat a salad (not just iceberg) or green beans. Any dark green veggie will do.

Calories: 370 ish

Snack 3

This varies from a cup of yogurt, a low fat pudding cup, a skinny cow ice cream sandwich, or a protein bar.

Calories: 80-150


Total Calories for the day 1400-1600

Hopefully this helps some of you who, like me, struggle with what to eat. It's a daily battle for me but I do my best! I drink water most of the day to avoid those extra calories from juice, milk and soda. Once you figure out the foods you like you can adjust the meals to fit you and still stay in calorie range. Sometimes it just means eating just 12 wheat thins and not the whole box ;)

Two things I learned today

1) Eat protein with everything. If you eat.. have some protein! Whether it's an egg with breakfast, a cheese stick, a handful of nuts or some chicken or turkey!

2) when doing intense cardio training do NOT eat after training for at least an hour. When you are doing working out your body is STILL working burning calories (even while sitting in the comfiest chair trying not to move). As soon as you eat it turns that extra burning session OFF. When you do eat at the one hour mark, make it light and don't forget the protein to feed those muscles!

week 5- Time to kick it up a notch!

This week starts our shredding! I'm so excited to blast the fat right out of my body!! I can do things now that I never thought I could or WOULD be doing a year and a half ago and I still have SO far to go! Our bodies are amazing things!

This week's stats:

Weight: 231
Arm: 11.5
Chest: 40
Waist: 37
Abs: 42
Hips 45
Thigh: 20
Upper Thigh: 15
Body fat: 33%

Total lost this week: 3lbs, 1.25 inches and 1% body fat
Total lost in 5 weeks: 10lbs, 19.25 inches and 3% body fat!!!!!!

I am .2lbs from my first goal. SO close! Next week I plan on not only meeting that goal but surpassing it!

What do YOU want to know?

Alright since I'm still new at this I want to know what you guys want to know about. Whether it's food, workout, whatever. That way when I don't know what to blog about I can answer your questions or talk about something you guys are interested in.

Post your questions, comments or interests in the comments :)


BTW: 1lb from goal!!! WEE! I can totally get used to buying size 18 pants (or smaller!)

I'd like to curl up in a ball and sleep for 3 days!

I am SO tired and even more sore! Today's workout was very difficult to complete after my kettle bell beating.. I mean workout yesterday! This is our last week of heavy lifting the next 8 weeks we will be working on toning up (lower weights but more reps) and shredding (cardio). I'm SO looking forward to the shredding cause I have lots of fat I'd like to drop!!

My most exciting thing to share today. I went to Walmart to get a script for Gman and decided to pick out a new summer outfit like I did last year. I took in several 20's and a few 18's. I was not expecting much. I went in and tried the 18 shorts on first, just to be daring. They fit! I almost shrieked in joy right there in the dressing room LOL I also fit nicely into a 1x top. Still need some toning up top but seeing as I started over a year ago in a border line size 24 pants and a 3x top. I'm beyond thrilled!!! I thought I'd never see a size 18 so quickly!

Stats for this week's weigh in:

Weight: 234
Upper Arm: Still 11.75
Chest 41
Waist 37
Abs 42
Hips 45
Thigh 20
Lower Thigh 15
Body Fat  34%

Total lost this week: 5.5 inches and +1lbs. Down 1.5% body fat

Total lost since bootcamp: 7lbs and 18.25 inches

I'm surprised...

I didn't fall on my face, pass out or throw up today! If you ever want a challenging, difficult and awesome workout. Kettlebells is all I need to say. Holy crap! I really thought I wasn't going to make it through it LOL. I'm pretty sure my trainer was enjoying the torture today. I even told her that today (and maybe tomorrow) I don't really like her LOL That is how difficult they were.

We did circuit training with them which means no breaks. I did figure 8's between the legs,  double chest rows, shoulder presses, the basic kettlebell swing, squats,  uneven rows, and one leg dead lifts. OY! The Kettlebell swing burns about 400 calories  just in the 20 reps you do. The uneven rows were so hard! It's basically in push up form but you LIFT one hand at a time! The one leg dead lifts are similar but you stand and lift one leg behind you as you bend over. I'm really surprsied I didn't land on my face.

I just added this training to my sparkpeople tracker and in 50 mins I burned 1000 calories!!! It's definitely a killer work out!

food.. love it and hate it!

I have a major love hate relationship with food. I LOVE food. Unfortunately it's not always the healthy foods that I love.  That's where the hate comes in, portion control, not always eating what I want whenever I want. But I just have to remind myself  how I got to 275.  I got there by eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and as much as I wanted.

Marianna provides us a weekly menu for bootcamp that makes eating simple. Except for the fact that I want to gag at the thought of eating broccoli and I won't touch fish with a 10ft pole LOL. Eating is my challenge. I could work out for an hour or more every single day and love every minute of it. It's addicting to me and it's something I enjoy! But watching what I eat? OY! I hate it! What's worse? I work in a convenience store. It's a battle every day not to eat a chocolate dunford donut. It's challenge not to grab a snickers bar or a bag of chips. I do my best to bring my lunch/dinner and occasionally breakfast with me. But sometimes life goes so fast I run out of time. Thankfully there are some healthy options and we seem to get more all the time but it's definitely something I really have to think about. I'm pretty sure I tell myself 500 times a day. You don't really need a 500 calorie donut. 99% of the time it works. Thank goodness I get 2 cheat days a week for that other 1%!

What is your food challenge and  how do you overcome it?

Zumba!

This is one of my favorite classes to take for cardio! For anyone that does not know what Zumba is it's an aerobic type dance class to Latin music. It includes cha cha, meringue, salsa, etc along with Reaggaton and hip hop too. It is SO fun that other than all the sweat you'd never know you were burning tons of calories! According to www.sparkpeople.com 1 hr of Zumba burns almost 700 calories!! I love it!

Last night was my first time going in awhile due to boot camp but it was a blast as always and the class was packed! If you ever get a chance to try it you should go at least once! The biggest thing with Zumba is to not worry about what everyone else is doing. Don't worry about who's watching. Let all your inhibitions go and just enjoy the music. It's Latin music.. there is some booty shaking and  hip shaking and body pumps. But they are fab for the core! You will work your abs just shaking those hips!!

Here's a video of one of the dances. They are very repetitive so if you don't pick it up right away don't worry just keep moving and try again the next time it comes around.

They say you should rest for a reason

After doing full body strength training you should always take a day off for your body to heal and to build stronger muscles. Unfortunately I have to work tomorrow so I had to do my bootcamp this morning 2 days in a row. yipes! My muscles were still tired from yesterday which made for even more challenging work out.

Today we used a combination of the bar, a step, free weights and the resistance band.

For those of you without a gym membership.. I am learning every day how many things you can do and get a GREAT work out with resistance bands! If all you invest in is those, some dumb bells and a stability ball for at home, you will be set to work out the entire body! Today we used them primarily to work the booty and inner thigh. You can make your own thigh master in just seconds with one of these. Sitting on the ground or a step..take your band and place under your lower thigh (just above the knee) and loop on handle through the other to make a circle. Wrap the "tail" around underneath and hold on to each side of the bands to avoid bruising.  Open and close your legs adjusting the band as necessary and you now have a thigh master! To change the muscles you use move your feet to lay on the sides and repeat the process.   Next lay on your back and move the band up to your calves and place legs in the air in a v and scissor them open and close. Adjust the resistance by pulling the "loop" tighter by the tail.  Just remember when  buying them.. each color has a different resistance and is harder/easier than another. So don't buy your favorite color ;)

After all this we did bench presses on the floor for what felt like forever. I'm surprised I didn't drop the bar on my head. Single hand chest flys and tricep extensions from chest to straight in the air (make sure just your elbow is bending). Then more killer crunches laying half way off the step so your hips are in the air.   Who needs buns or abs of steel when you have Marianne to push you til you can't move off the floor.

Thought of the Day

My friend posted this on her facebook and it's so true I had to share it!! It took me YEARS to feel like I really deserved all of this!

"You can BE, DO & HAVE anything you want, you just have to believe you will & that you DESERVE it!"

Now that we're caught up.. Week 3 Tues

 Alright we're caught up now and I hope to be able to blog daily so it is fresh in my memory.

Yesterday was a non workout day due to late start Mondays which interfere with kickboxing. So I just took the day off.

Today was a brand new day and a brand new butt kicking! We did more weight training but in new form. We did a few bicep curls with a normal hold and a wide grip. Then we did a circuit training (x2). Circuit training is quick but SO not easy! I got the easiest one to start with and then progressively got harder. Others started hard and went to easy (even though it wasn't easy when your arms are tired!).

Circuit one was a line of dumbbells ranging in size from 8lbs-25lbs. When you start (I started on 8) we did bent rows until  it was time to switch (about a minute). Then you moved to the next lighter weight or in my case.. the next station. Wall squats.. but not moving.. just sitting on the wall in squat form... for 3 rounds. OY! I'm surprised I could still stand up! The 3rd station was leg extensions. Yes after the squats then on to more bent rows. That was round 1. Then we did it again but of course we have to work out the left arm too!

Last part of the work out was the ball. I love the stability ball. I really do but man do my abs HURT! If you want a killer core work out use a ball! We worked every section of abs with a simple ball. Even the butt!

The best thing I can do is show you this video. It's similar to what we did.



To get the tops of those abs which can be difficult. Place one leg on the ball and one foot bent at the knee on the floor. Now take the hand opposite the leg on the ball and do a crunch up. touch the extended leg the other leg and down. The circular motion will really work those abs!!


This week's weigh in:
Weight: 233 4 more lbs gone!! 3lbs from my first goal

Measurements:

Upper Arms: 11.75
Chest: 42
Waist: 38
Abs: 44
Hips: 45
Thigh: 21
Lower Thigh: 15.5
Body Fat: 35.5%

Total inches lost. 6.5 inches and 1% body fat!

Week 2

I've decided Marianne is ruthless. She does not let you slack. She lets you go at your own ablility but she expects you to do the best at your own ability! Pushes you to do just one more push up, or one more sit up. Monday was kickboxing again. Tues was hell.

Tuesday was more weight training. Marianne has us build muscle for the first 4 weeks with a lot of strength training to help burn more calories later on.

This weight training was stuff I had never done before. It is called slow resistance training. Instead of doing your reps as fast as you can you do them 4 counts up, 4 counts down, but few reps. Then you increase the time to 8 up/down, and 10 up/down. Brutal. I'm pretty sure I nearly dropped the bar a few times.

The difference is that the muscles are exhausted - brought to momentary muscle failure - in fewer repetitions (reps) - as low as 5 per set. The result - 50% more strength (muscle) built in 8-10 weeks.

Slow military push ups... torture. I got yelled at for not having enough weight on my bar during squats :| At this point in the game you want the MOST weight you can absolutely do in 4 or 5 reps. I started out at 25lbs and ended up doing 30lbs. Not a lot difference but I could totally tell the difference! I guess I'm stronger than I give myself credit for.

Next up was a killer core work out. I admit I'm not very good at working on my core because it's weak. This was done with partners. I feel bad for the lady I was with.. she was a least double my age and I'm pretty sure she hated me the next day LOL But I was impressed that she lasted just as long as me and worked just as hard. We passed weights back and forth, did sit ups together, and were ready to keel over dead after whittling our waists away.

Weds I had more strength training with my trainer at Gold's. This was thankfully not slow resistance and although difficult because I was sore was a great workout doing basic chest presses, seated rows, leg press, calf extensions and triceps extensions.

Thurs was more hell of slow resistance training and more core training and some band training. Basically Tues lather, rinse and repeat.

Friday was supposed to be my non work out day after 4 days straight. However, I got an unexpected 1 hr workout at work changing a pump nozzle and hose. That should be in the boot camp program! LOL

Tues weigh in: Weight 237 lbs 4lbs GONE!

Measurements
Upper Arm 11.75
Chest 42
Waist 39
Abs 46
Hips 46
Thigh 22
Lower Thigh 16
Body Fat 36.5%

Total inches lost: 7.25 inches!!!

Week 1 Training

I continued with my normal routine of kickboxing at Gold's Gym on Monday. Tues was the first day of Boot Camp. HOLY work out!! Tuesday was a fitness test. We did a series of approximately 15-20 different excercises of each major muscle group to see where we started so we have another form to measure at the end of 12 wks. I can't even begin to name every exercise we did. I'm pretty sure I have a mental block from the trauma LOL. Basically it was as many reps as you could in 1 minute, included bicep curls, chest presses, tricep extensions, push ups, sit ups, leg lifts, etc. Killer!

Weds I spent in the hot tub I was so sore!! I work out regularly... 3-4 times a week but man was I sore!

Thursday was a cardio fitness test. I was still sore from Tues! This was similar to Tues but in cardio form. We checked our heart rate after every 30 second exercise. I did pretty well but was dieing by the end. I have 2 bone spurs in my foot and this was a very painful day for it. I did get through the test though. This test included, jumping jacks, jumping squats, squats, lunges, more sit ups, and more that again I'm pretty sure I have a mental block on.

Thus ended the first week of a major butt whooping!

Day 1

Wellness BootCamp for You

This is where I won my free session. I'm doing a little back tracking since I'm starting this blog late.

April 17th was orientation. I was weighed in and measured.

I weighed in at 241 lbs. 35lbs lost since Jan 09.

Measurements:
Upper Arm 12
Chest 43
Waist 40
Abs 48
Hips 47
Thigh 23
Lower Thigh 17

Jan 1 2009

This is the day that I began my real weight loss journey. I have done it off and on before and then I quit and I gain it all back and then some. I finally got to a point in my life that it was too much and I couldn't do it any longer. On Jan 1 2009 I weighed in at 275 lbs.


In 1 yr I had lost 30lbs and had kept it off. A huge accomplishment, the keeping it off part, for me!! I have just recently restarted actively losing weight and getting closer to my goal each time. My first goal was to lose 45lbs.


In April I attended the healthy women's conference (where I got to meet Ali Vincent, Biggest Loser's 1st female winner!) and entered a drawing for a free bootcamp session knowing I would never win. Much to my surprise, the next morning I received a phone call that I had won! I won a 12 week bootcamp session for FREE! Such an amazing opportunity and that is where I am starting in my journey.