Well, I'm a bit tardy on reporting my final results of the 12 week Body for Life program but I do feel very successful. My results were very satisfactory and here they are:
Body Fat reduced by 3.6% - AWESOME!
Measurements: Arms - .625 inches lost
Belly - 3.5 inches lost
Hips - 2 inches lost
Bust - 2.75 inches lost
Thigh - 1 inch lost
The scale was not as kind as I only lost 7 pounds total from beginning to end but as I always say, the scale is deceiving. Not to make excuses but my doctor took me off of all my medicines two weeks before the end of the competition which could have easily contributed to the weight gain (water weight due to hypertension pills). It was a big milestone to eliminate high blood pressure meds and high cholesterol meds from my daily regimin so I'll take a little water weight any day giving I had lost so many inches and body fat.
My journey doesn't end here. I've continued to eat the Body for Life way. I don't count calories and continue to eat as healthy as I can. I have continued with my exercise plans and even bumped up an additional day of jogging a week while the weather is so nice so I'm exercising 7 days a week now but still don't feel like I'm over doing it. I will continue to use the pyramiding technique to my weight lifting and continue to strive to hit that "high point" each time I exercise. I've enjoyed teaching weight lifting classes at the gym and continue to share my experiences with others in a quest to help others just get healthy! Keep in touch and I will as well as I continue to reach my goals! Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Week 12
Why oh why did the labor day holiday fall on the last week of the challenge for me? I have to admit, I fell off the good eating wagon this past weekend. I think a combination of stress in my personal life and holiday cheer got to me. It is bound to happen to the best of us. I continue to do well on my exercise but I had 4 days of out of control eating! Yikes! I refuse to get on the scale until the bitter end this Saturday but I may have done some damage. Oh well, it was bound to happen and is all I can do is look ahead to doing better today! I ran a 5K run on Labor day and my goal was to complete it in under 35 minutes and run the entire way. I'm happy to say that I accomplished both! My time was 34 minutes and change and I ran the entire way. I'm not going to win any speed contests with this time but it was a heck of lot better than my time last year. I've decided that I need to keep improving my running and ran a full 10 laps around the track by the gym today. It felt good. That first mile or so is hard as your lungs expand and take in the air but after that, it seems a lot easier and then it's concentration on putting one foot in front of the other. I want to start doing some sprinting and walking in more interval fashion as that is also a great way to do more in less time. Many argue that this is a better workout for those of us not interested in duration or marathon training but focused on burning fat. I'll keep you posted if that makes a difference! I'm happy that I'm in my last week of the challenge but know that this is not the end for me. I will continue to use the body for life method of training and eating and hope to be at my goal by the end of the year. Wow, that's not very far away. Just think, if you started now, you too could be at your goal. It all starts with your mind and your body will follow. I will post my final results at the end of the week and keep the diary going as I continue to strive for my ideal fitness!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Completing Week 10
I'm now rounding the corner of week 10 with only 2 more weeks to go. Hard to believe that this much time has passed. As I preach to others, the scale is not aways kind to your progress and I'm no exception. There's nothing reflected on the scale this week but I won't be discouraged because I decided to do a body fat measurement instead to boost my enthusiasm this week and low and behold, after 9 1/2 weeks of hard work, there is progress. Visible progress that doesn't always show on the scale but everyone has complimented me on how I look thinner and isn't that what counts? I officially have gone down in a pant size and have lost an average of 1.8 inches across my entire body or a total of 10.75 inches and 2.6% body fat. Just think what you can do if you set your mind to focusing on a daily routine of eating right and exercise. Of course this isn't something that I plan on doing for a short term committment. This is a lifelong committment that requires a daily focus. For as hard as it is to take the weight and fat off of my body, it isn't something that I want to ever repeat doing. Maintenance is s a breeze but still requires a focus on making good choices every day. At my current rate, I should be at my goal by the end of 2008! Wow, that's not very far away at all! Wouldn't you like to be at your goal? What's stopping you?
For those of you who keep procrastinating on "getting started", look how fast 10 weeks passes by and even if you don't quite have the focus needed to make the most progress possible, a little step forward is better than not taking a step at all. Any progress forward is worth the effort and thinking about it too long will never create momentum. What are you afraid of? Take the challenge and start making your dreams come true to live a long and healthy life! Need help? We can and want to help you! Nothing is more rewarding than seeing someone begin a transformation and stay with it regardless of setbacks. Setbacks are part of the process and they make us stronger so no more excusses, get off that computer and quit reading about it, JUST DO IT!
For those of you who keep procrastinating on "getting started", look how fast 10 weeks passes by and even if you don't quite have the focus needed to make the most progress possible, a little step forward is better than not taking a step at all. Any progress forward is worth the effort and thinking about it too long will never create momentum. What are you afraid of? Take the challenge and start making your dreams come true to live a long and healthy life! Need help? We can and want to help you! Nothing is more rewarding than seeing someone begin a transformation and stay with it regardless of setbacks. Setbacks are part of the process and they make us stronger so no more excusses, get off that computer and quit reading about it, JUST DO IT!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Week 9????
Wow, time sure does fly. Can it be true that I am nine weeks into the program with only 3 full weeks left? I jumped on the scale yesterday and I'm a total of 14 pounds lighter since the start of this journey. Staying on track is really easy at this point and it just take a routine of making my snacks and lunch the night before or in the mornings each day. I avoid eating out and when I do, I try to make the best choices on the menu as I can and just not eat everything served as they are way beyond what is reasonable for a person to eat and stay healthy. I must confess that I had dessert the other night as it was my 30th wedding anniversary and while my husband enjoyed drinking his beer, I enjoyed sharing a dessert with my daughter. I had a salad for supper so what's the harm in a little endulgence on a special occasion. Obviously nothing if the scale reflected an additional 2 pounds lost from the week before. So there you have it, you can have your cake and eat it too! Just in extreme moderation.
I'm still having trouble reaching my "high point" with my lower body and am now doing all my lower body work on the Smith machine at the gym where I can really load up the weights for deadlifts, squats, etc. I'm usually packing on around 80 pounds but I think I can do more so I'll just have to keep experimenting until I get it at my max without injuring myself. I've incorporated jumping squats that I think are awesome. I think the most effective exercises for me are: Jumping squats, squats, deadlifts, swiss ball extenstions, step up's with weights, and I always like the leg press machine. Upper body, I really like bench dips, hammer curls, pec deck, bench press, and lat pulldowns. Really anything with my upper body, I can achieve my high point. I usually do a variety of ab routines and super set them so I can get the most out my ab workouts. I still run at least 3-4 times a week and incorporate a few group fitness classes as well.
While the workouts are wonderful and I can see wonderful muscle tone in my body, the key to success is a healthy diet. I really adhere to the 5-6 meals a day with a carb and a protein at each meal and then incorporate a veggie at two of the meals. I believe that drinking 8 glasses of water a day is a key element as well as I think it is a great cleansing mechanism and is crutial to losing weight. I've tried losing weight before while being a diet pepsi addict and I can tell you, it never worked. Even though the calories were absent it had so many bad attributes that it sabotages your good eating efforts. I eat really poorly on Sunday's as that is my free day but I've learned to eat "less poorly" so I don't feel so bad on Monday morning but Monday roles right back around and I'm back to my routine. It takes will power and alot of diversion around the house when I think I just want to munch I just go do something else.
1.5 pounds a week is what I'm averaging and I plan on continuing down this path until I lose all the weight I had set out to lose. I have 28 more pounds to lose and that is a managable number from where I started several years ago. While this may not seem like a lot a week, I know it is the only way to lose weight and therefore I take each loss as a huge win and never get discouraged when the scale stays the same. Afterall, it isn't about the scale, it's about how you feel, and I FEEL GREAT!
I'm still having trouble reaching my "high point" with my lower body and am now doing all my lower body work on the Smith machine at the gym where I can really load up the weights for deadlifts, squats, etc. I'm usually packing on around 80 pounds but I think I can do more so I'll just have to keep experimenting until I get it at my max without injuring myself. I've incorporated jumping squats that I think are awesome. I think the most effective exercises for me are: Jumping squats, squats, deadlifts, swiss ball extenstions, step up's with weights, and I always like the leg press machine. Upper body, I really like bench dips, hammer curls, pec deck, bench press, and lat pulldowns. Really anything with my upper body, I can achieve my high point. I usually do a variety of ab routines and super set them so I can get the most out my ab workouts. I still run at least 3-4 times a week and incorporate a few group fitness classes as well.
While the workouts are wonderful and I can see wonderful muscle tone in my body, the key to success is a healthy diet. I really adhere to the 5-6 meals a day with a carb and a protein at each meal and then incorporate a veggie at two of the meals. I believe that drinking 8 glasses of water a day is a key element as well as I think it is a great cleansing mechanism and is crutial to losing weight. I've tried losing weight before while being a diet pepsi addict and I can tell you, it never worked. Even though the calories were absent it had so many bad attributes that it sabotages your good eating efforts. I eat really poorly on Sunday's as that is my free day but I've learned to eat "less poorly" so I don't feel so bad on Monday morning but Monday roles right back around and I'm back to my routine. It takes will power and alot of diversion around the house when I think I just want to munch I just go do something else.
1.5 pounds a week is what I'm averaging and I plan on continuing down this path until I lose all the weight I had set out to lose. I have 28 more pounds to lose and that is a managable number from where I started several years ago. While this may not seem like a lot a week, I know it is the only way to lose weight and therefore I take each loss as a huge win and never get discouraged when the scale stays the same. Afterall, it isn't about the scale, it's about how you feel, and I FEEL GREAT!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Starting Week 8
I only have 5 weeks left of the 12 week program but a lifetime of tweaking my diet and exercise beyond that. This continues to be a great program to help me learn some of the fine tuning needed to lose weight. My last two weeks haven't been extremely productive on the scale but I still feel like I'm making progress. I've lost a total of 10 pounds and find that I have to control my "free day" to moderate lapses in judgement when it comes to food. I still feel like I'm winning as I've gotten off of my plateau that had me stymied for about 6 months. I do tend to enduldge in too many sweets on my free day and then I feel sick for the next day until I get my body re-metabolized for the week and by the end of the week I'm feeling great again. I'm just like everyone else and fall into the weaknesses of my cravings. I'm hoping that by the end of the 12 weeks I won't feel that need to give in to cravings as they are all phycological at this point and not metobolic. I did better yesterday as I bypassed my favorite food in the grocery store (peanut butter M&M's - the devil's candy) and held my sugar intake to a moderate amount for the day. I'm having trouble getting to my high point on my lower body and have modified my routine to do more on the Smith Machine at the gym where I can add more weight to my deadlifts, squats, etc. If I'm not sore the next day, I know I didn't reach my high point. My arms are getting stronger as I have noticed that I can pyramid hammer curls and end 6 reps with two 20 pound weights successfully whereas when I first started, I couldn't finish the hammer curls with that level of weight after having already done 3 other sets of reps with lighter weights. Yippee! I can definately see more muscle tone in my arms and am loving the definition. I'm hoping with the change in my lower body routine, I can get even more definition in my legs and with the trainers help and encouragement, I know it will work!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Week 6 ending?
Wow, I'm halfway through the program and continue to feel great and continue to see improvements. Not much happening on the scale this week but continuing to feel "skinny" and seeing differences in my body shape. The fat that is hanging on continues to get looser and looser which is a good sign. Not feeling overly motivated this week but still sticking with it. Not only am I sticking with it but even more importantly, my daughter is! Mallory's body is really responding well to the workouts and even though she might not be as dedicated on the eating side, she sure is making a difference with her workout routines. I love the fact that I'm making a difference in, not only my life, but my daughters as well. I pray for her to maintain a healthy lifestyle her entire life so she doesn't battle this later in life like I've had to. It isn't easy to lose weight and get fit and much easier to stay in shape. I wish I could stand at the top of the mountain and reach everyone early in life as to how much of a difference it will make. It's so easy to stay in shape....just 20 minutes or so 3-5 days a week! As opposed to dropping weight and getting your shape back....30-40 minutes a day 6 days a week and maintaining a strict diet with no indiscretions while working on the weight loss. EVERYTHING you put in your mouth counts and it is easy to slip in a bite of this or that thinking it's only 50 calories here or there. When you're maintaining weight and working out, it isn't a big deal but when you are losing weight it matters! Again, I don't believe in counting calories but I do believe in eating clean and eating completely clean can be hard some days! Looking forward to reaching my goal and nothing is going to get in the way no matter how long it takes. RAGRAI is going on this week and one of my friends is making a few of the days trip. I'm totally inspired to start training to do it next year. I should be at my goal by then and in great physical shape. Hopefully, you'll be hearing from me in a year on how I made the Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa! 500+ miles of pure fun!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Rounding into Week 6
I'm just completing week 5 and feeling great! I weighed myself earlier this week and had lost a total of 9 pounds since I've started this new journey and I feel great. Today was my upper body workout day and I really tried to push myself to that ultimate "10" highpoint for each exercise I did. Bench presses, inclined dumbbell bench presses, dumbbell presses, bentover dumbbell raises, dumbbell bench pullovers, inclined dumbbell bench rows, bench dips, kickbacks, standing barbell curls, and inclined dumbbell curls are all part of my upper body routine right now. I always include some ab work when I do a routine at the very end to ensure I pay attention to my core strength as well. I decided I was officially tired of salmon though. I've had it for 4 meals this week because I made it one night for supper and seems that I had plenty left for lunches this week. You can OD on salmon so I think I'll skip it next week. I usually try to make it once a week for a meal but 4 times in the week was a bit much!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Week 5 - New milestones
I'm in to week 5 now and it really is very easy to stay focused now that I have a rhythm down. I'm avoiding the scale but my pants are definately loser than before. I went to the mall over the weekend and discovered that I have achieved another loss in pants size. I was so happy! I told my husband the next day and decided to slip on his jeans lying on the bedroom floor to see if they fit yet! That has been a goal of mine for some time now, get smaller than my hubby and fit in his pants. That hasn't happened in 25 years so with a great amount of trepidation, I put one leg in and then the other. Pulled the jeans up and low and behold....THEY FIT! The zipper went up without any problems and THEY FIT! I heard him grunt as I pranced around and had to show my daughter as well. She was beeming with pride in her old mom's accomplishment and it was a testimate to what I've accomplished so far!
Friday, July 11, 2008
The first 4 weeks
Like I said, I started this journey 4 weeks ago and I have been keeping a diary that I would like to share with you so far. I'd like to keep posting my journey so hopefully you will be inspired or reach out to me to help you get started. My goal is to help be a catalyst to as many women as I can to take control of their lives. There is no tomorrow so start today with your journey. The fork in the road is just a mental image away! YOU CAN DO IT!
June 16 Day 1 was pretty hard to control eating in the evening since that is my weak time of the day. I am really determined to lose this last 40 pounds though and I can’t do it under the methods I’ve been using so far. While it has served me well over the past several years to get to this point, I need to get over a nasty hump that has kept me at the same basic weight since February. I’ve spent over 3 years trying to lose weight and had been successful with changing my eating and exercising over the past year. But this hump is beyond my reach without some expert advice and I know I haven’t reached the perfect equation that will take me down the home stretch. I did well with my eating all day. There was a plan and followed the plan. Not real fond of planning meals but perhaps it is what will make the difference rather than eating when hungry.
June 17 Day 2 was a little easier than day one with eating. I’m actually sore from the upper body workout the day before which was a shock because I’ve been working out like a fiend for the past 6 months or more. Perhaps there is something to overdoing your workout routine. I did only 30 minutes of cardio today which is actually down from my usual 40 minutes. I couldn’t quite quit at 20 minutes like the program prescribes as I felt like that just wasn’t enough. My sweat meter wasn’t as high as normal so it made me feel a little guilty shutting down sooner than normal. I’m sure I’ll get over it! Mallory (my daughter) decided that she really needed some “chocolate” after supper tonight and rationalized that the snickers bars were low on the glycemic index (even though they are empty calories) so she coerced me into taking a bike ride to the local gas station to get a candy bar. I told her I didn’t want any part of it but went along to get a little more exercise in for the day. Now mind you, I live in the Loess Hills so a bike ride to the local gas station is around 2 miles one way with a plethora of hills to navigate. Riding there wasn’t too bad (a lot of down hill) and she purchased her candy bar and off we went to return home. The last hill home is a bear and I kept the peddles moving thinking, “I can’t make it, I can’t make it…” when all of a sudden, I thought, “I’m going to make it., I’m going to make it….” As I realized I was going to make that last hill with sweat dripping from my brow, I realized I hadn’t heard any peddling behind me. Oh my, where had Mallory gone? I couldn’t stop to check as I’m not overly confident on a bike anyway and knew that would be all she wrote if I stopped then so I trudged the last few peddles up the hill to the top and stopped there feeling like Rocky when he finally made it up those steps in Philadelphia. I looked behind and couldn’t see Mallory anywhere down the hill. Did she get hit by a car? I waited and soon I saw her cresting over one of the hills, walking her bike! Mind you, I’m 48 and I just beat a 19 year old! What a grand feeling! I raced home yelling “48 year old women rule”! Not sure my husband was as impressed with my small accomplishment but it was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had knowing that my hard work was paying off. What a great day!
June 18, 2008 Lower body workout today. Not too tough. My lower body is already pretty strong, as demonstrated the night before with my little bike ride victory. I decided to weigh myself again today for the giggles and my eyes were deceiving me….I had lost 4 pounds in 2 days? How is the possible? I never weigh myself this frequently and since I had done it Monday it was beyond my comprehension that I’d lost even and ounce in 2 days let alone 4 pounds. Could this be the breakthrough I needed? It definitely was the encouragement I needed to help me stay true to the eating plan! Notice, I never say diet. I figured out a few years ago when I started changing my diet (meaning what I was eating), that I’m not on a diet that will go away when I reach my goal, I’m changing my eating and changing it for life…..Until you reach that conclusion, you will always yo-yo and create unrealistic patterns in your eating that can’t be maintained for life. Nobody is on Jenny Craig for life and even though Weight Watchers has a lifetime membership, can you really count calories or points for the rest of your life. I suppose some can but I want to just know what I can eat and what I can’t and then apply it to my daily life. I don’t want to carry around a calorie counter or get caught up in a numbers game so if I want to eat a piece of cake that is x number of calories then I just starve my body of all the nutritious foods that I need because I already consumed those unhealthy calories. It’s better to eat nutritiously and if a piece of cake is what you want, then eat a bite or more likely you won’t even want it because you’ve already consumed everything your body needs by eating properly. It infuriates me that these weight loss programs are stealing the public blind with their gimmick programs and there is little education that will carry a person out into the real world. Ladies, you need to learn how to eat before you can become successful. It’s really simple once someone breaks it down for you. If you need additional help and support to make you accountable, go to a Holistic Life coach who will take you down the path of discovery towards what works for you. Forget the gimmick programs that are designed to take your money and keep you fat. Without a fat America, where would those businesses be? Learn how to eat for nutrition and not for pleasure and you are on your way.
June 27, 2008
Week 2 was a lot easier than week 1. I started getting into the habit of eating smaller more frequent meals and it was extremely satisfying. It helped thinking that I had a free day coming up and I dreamed of what goodie I was going to treat myself with on that day.
June 29, 2008
Free day! Yippee. Well, I really overdid it today. Same breakfast as usual, no morning stack, steak and baked potato and fruit for lunch and then I made chocolate chip cookies. What a mistake! I LOVE cookie dough and made myself sick eating dough and then had to sample the cookies too. What guilt! And boy did I feel sick and bloated afterwards. I had a hamburger with cheese for supper and more cookies. I don’t want to repeat that kind of free day again. I think this really isn’t how a free day should go so I think I’ll use more restraint the next time around.
July 2, 2008
I’m amazed, I stepped on the scale again today (really keep telling myself this is not what I should be doing) but I lost another 2 pounds. That a total of 5 pounds over 21/2 weeks. I’m thrilled and additional motivation mounts in my spirit. I looked up tummy tuck surgery information on the internet today to see if I could find out when it would be appropriate to lop off this extra fat/skin on my belly and butt. I was shocked and disgusted by the pictures I saw and what they did to you for a “lower body lift”. I’ve built tons of muscle over the past 1 ½ years but you just can’t see it over all the flab hanging around my middle. I swear I have the strongest abs of anyone in the gym; it’s just disguised under the loose flab hanging on my belly. How do I even measure my body fat anymore with the calipers? I don’t know what the grab and pinch to see what my true body fat really is anymore because it all just hangs. I’ll be honest though, I don’t know if I want a body lift as it looks gruesome. By some miracle, will my skin bounce back or will I have to face the inevitable….the knife! My butt looks like a little Shar Pei puppy and my stomach looks like a melting wax figure. There’s hard muscle under that skin and is it going to be worth it to me to remove the skin, knowing what they have to do to make that happen. Isn’t there any easier way? I should have been asking that before I got to this point, before I started gaining weight in my early 20s. Where was my head back then?
July 11, 2008
I’m just finishing my 4th week and I feel good. I’m amazed that I can still get sore after a workout after having lifted weights for more than a year. My muscles are getting more pronounced than ever before and my clothes are getting loose AGAIN! It’s a wonderful feeling and the scale has me at a 7 pound loss as of today. I’m very pleased as that is almost 2 pounds a week. That is remarkable and I feel great.
June 16 Day 1 was pretty hard to control eating in the evening since that is my weak time of the day. I am really determined to lose this last 40 pounds though and I can’t do it under the methods I’ve been using so far. While it has served me well over the past several years to get to this point, I need to get over a nasty hump that has kept me at the same basic weight since February. I’ve spent over 3 years trying to lose weight and had been successful with changing my eating and exercising over the past year. But this hump is beyond my reach without some expert advice and I know I haven’t reached the perfect equation that will take me down the home stretch. I did well with my eating all day. There was a plan and followed the plan. Not real fond of planning meals but perhaps it is what will make the difference rather than eating when hungry.
June 17 Day 2 was a little easier than day one with eating. I’m actually sore from the upper body workout the day before which was a shock because I’ve been working out like a fiend for the past 6 months or more. Perhaps there is something to overdoing your workout routine. I did only 30 minutes of cardio today which is actually down from my usual 40 minutes. I couldn’t quite quit at 20 minutes like the program prescribes as I felt like that just wasn’t enough. My sweat meter wasn’t as high as normal so it made me feel a little guilty shutting down sooner than normal. I’m sure I’ll get over it! Mallory (my daughter) decided that she really needed some “chocolate” after supper tonight and rationalized that the snickers bars were low on the glycemic index (even though they are empty calories) so she coerced me into taking a bike ride to the local gas station to get a candy bar. I told her I didn’t want any part of it but went along to get a little more exercise in for the day. Now mind you, I live in the Loess Hills so a bike ride to the local gas station is around 2 miles one way with a plethora of hills to navigate. Riding there wasn’t too bad (a lot of down hill) and she purchased her candy bar and off we went to return home. The last hill home is a bear and I kept the peddles moving thinking, “I can’t make it, I can’t make it…” when all of a sudden, I thought, “I’m going to make it., I’m going to make it….” As I realized I was going to make that last hill with sweat dripping from my brow, I realized I hadn’t heard any peddling behind me. Oh my, where had Mallory gone? I couldn’t stop to check as I’m not overly confident on a bike anyway and knew that would be all she wrote if I stopped then so I trudged the last few peddles up the hill to the top and stopped there feeling like Rocky when he finally made it up those steps in Philadelphia. I looked behind and couldn’t see Mallory anywhere down the hill. Did she get hit by a car? I waited and soon I saw her cresting over one of the hills, walking her bike! Mind you, I’m 48 and I just beat a 19 year old! What a grand feeling! I raced home yelling “48 year old women rule”! Not sure my husband was as impressed with my small accomplishment but it was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had knowing that my hard work was paying off. What a great day!
June 18, 2008 Lower body workout today. Not too tough. My lower body is already pretty strong, as demonstrated the night before with my little bike ride victory. I decided to weigh myself again today for the giggles and my eyes were deceiving me….I had lost 4 pounds in 2 days? How is the possible? I never weigh myself this frequently and since I had done it Monday it was beyond my comprehension that I’d lost even and ounce in 2 days let alone 4 pounds. Could this be the breakthrough I needed? It definitely was the encouragement I needed to help me stay true to the eating plan! Notice, I never say diet. I figured out a few years ago when I started changing my diet (meaning what I was eating), that I’m not on a diet that will go away when I reach my goal, I’m changing my eating and changing it for life…..Until you reach that conclusion, you will always yo-yo and create unrealistic patterns in your eating that can’t be maintained for life. Nobody is on Jenny Craig for life and even though Weight Watchers has a lifetime membership, can you really count calories or points for the rest of your life. I suppose some can but I want to just know what I can eat and what I can’t and then apply it to my daily life. I don’t want to carry around a calorie counter or get caught up in a numbers game so if I want to eat a piece of cake that is x number of calories then I just starve my body of all the nutritious foods that I need because I already consumed those unhealthy calories. It’s better to eat nutritiously and if a piece of cake is what you want, then eat a bite or more likely you won’t even want it because you’ve already consumed everything your body needs by eating properly. It infuriates me that these weight loss programs are stealing the public blind with their gimmick programs and there is little education that will carry a person out into the real world. Ladies, you need to learn how to eat before you can become successful. It’s really simple once someone breaks it down for you. If you need additional help and support to make you accountable, go to a Holistic Life coach who will take you down the path of discovery towards what works for you. Forget the gimmick programs that are designed to take your money and keep you fat. Without a fat America, where would those businesses be? Learn how to eat for nutrition and not for pleasure and you are on your way.
June 27, 2008
Week 2 was a lot easier than week 1. I started getting into the habit of eating smaller more frequent meals and it was extremely satisfying. It helped thinking that I had a free day coming up and I dreamed of what goodie I was going to treat myself with on that day.
June 29, 2008
Free day! Yippee. Well, I really overdid it today. Same breakfast as usual, no morning stack, steak and baked potato and fruit for lunch and then I made chocolate chip cookies. What a mistake! I LOVE cookie dough and made myself sick eating dough and then had to sample the cookies too. What guilt! And boy did I feel sick and bloated afterwards. I had a hamburger with cheese for supper and more cookies. I don’t want to repeat that kind of free day again. I think this really isn’t how a free day should go so I think I’ll use more restraint the next time around.
July 2, 2008
I’m amazed, I stepped on the scale again today (really keep telling myself this is not what I should be doing) but I lost another 2 pounds. That a total of 5 pounds over 21/2 weeks. I’m thrilled and additional motivation mounts in my spirit. I looked up tummy tuck surgery information on the internet today to see if I could find out when it would be appropriate to lop off this extra fat/skin on my belly and butt. I was shocked and disgusted by the pictures I saw and what they did to you for a “lower body lift”. I’ve built tons of muscle over the past 1 ½ years but you just can’t see it over all the flab hanging around my middle. I swear I have the strongest abs of anyone in the gym; it’s just disguised under the loose flab hanging on my belly. How do I even measure my body fat anymore with the calipers? I don’t know what the grab and pinch to see what my true body fat really is anymore because it all just hangs. I’ll be honest though, I don’t know if I want a body lift as it looks gruesome. By some miracle, will my skin bounce back or will I have to face the inevitable….the knife! My butt looks like a little Shar Pei puppy and my stomach looks like a melting wax figure. There’s hard muscle under that skin and is it going to be worth it to me to remove the skin, knowing what they have to do to make that happen. Isn’t there any easier way? I should have been asking that before I got to this point, before I started gaining weight in my early 20s. Where was my head back then?
July 11, 2008
I’m just finishing my 4th week and I feel good. I’m amazed that I can still get sore after a workout after having lifted weights for more than a year. My muscles are getting more pronounced than ever before and my clothes are getting loose AGAIN! It’s a wonderful feeling and the scale has me at a 7 pound loss as of today. I’m very pleased as that is almost 2 pounds a week. That is remarkable and I feel great.
Getting Started with Body for Life
Welcome visitors to my inner most thoughts on the progress I'm making on the "Body for Life" approach to diet and exercise. I appologize up front if I get a little rabid in my personal comments related to the modern commercial weight loss and fitness programs. My blood gets boiling when I think about all the money spent on programs that are NOT designed for a lifetime of change. The commercial programs have good intensions but fail to make the connection with getting to the root of what it will take YOU to change your life for a lifetime. Prepackaged food will never teach you how to shop at the grocery store or show you how to read labels or help you figure out what really makes you have cravings in the first place. I've been on every diet imaginable and unless you eat and prepare food that you can buy anywhere, or know what to select at a restaurant, then you have just thrown away your money on a program that will fail long term. I won't bore you with my long liteny of arguments to get back to basics as I'm sure you'll get a sense of where I'm coming from after keeping up with my blog for some time.
A little background on myself and why I am an expert and what works and doesn't.....I've lived it. Yo-Yo dieting, morbid obesity and finally a current weight loss of 140 pounds with 35 more to go. Visit my blog at www.rockbrookwomensgym.blogspot.com to get the full story on my journey so far. This blog is exclusively for a decision I made 4 weeks ago to try the "Body for Life" program by Bill Phillips. I currently own a gym and one of the Personal Trainers that works here is a Body for Life Champion. You may have heard of her, Kelly Adair. Anyway, although I've owned the gym for 1.5 years I felt I didn't need the extra help from any program but I was over-exercising and still eating some of the wrong things. I used to believe calorie in/calories out and couldn't figure out why I plataued in February of 2008. I decided to start Body for Life to fine tune my understanding of how and what to eat. I only had 40 or so pounds to go and let me tell you, the last weight is the toughest to lose. It was sticking to me like glue no matter what I did. I was suffering from over-exercising and it still wasn't coming off. All of a sudden, I'm off my platau and I now feel I've reached the final "enlightenment". It isn't calories in/calories out, it's what and when you eat in combination with the RIGHT exercise.
This blog is dedicated to my final journey to be the best I can be!
A little background on myself and why I am an expert and what works and doesn't.....I've lived it. Yo-Yo dieting, morbid obesity and finally a current weight loss of 140 pounds with 35 more to go. Visit my blog at www.rockbrookwomensgym.blogspot.com to get the full story on my journey so far. This blog is exclusively for a decision I made 4 weeks ago to try the "Body for Life" program by Bill Phillips. I currently own a gym and one of the Personal Trainers that works here is a Body for Life Champion. You may have heard of her, Kelly Adair. Anyway, although I've owned the gym for 1.5 years I felt I didn't need the extra help from any program but I was over-exercising and still eating some of the wrong things. I used to believe calorie in/calories out and couldn't figure out why I plataued in February of 2008. I decided to start Body for Life to fine tune my understanding of how and what to eat. I only had 40 or so pounds to go and let me tell you, the last weight is the toughest to lose. It was sticking to me like glue no matter what I did. I was suffering from over-exercising and it still wasn't coming off. All of a sudden, I'm off my platau and I now feel I've reached the final "enlightenment". It isn't calories in/calories out, it's what and when you eat in combination with the RIGHT exercise.
This blog is dedicated to my final journey to be the best I can be!
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