ps. the scale said 131 today :)

Friday 25th

Breakfast:

• whole grain toast with peanut butter (if you can't tell, i really like this)
• clementine
• water

Lunch:

• home made pasta salad 
• veggie stix
• water

Dinner:

• 5 fish sticks 
• green beans 
• strawberries
• strawberry go-gurt 
• water

Snacks:

• 2 chocolate chip cookies (bad)
• nutrigrain bar 

Exercise:

• 25 minutes cardio 

I am going to have to have a really good workout tomorrow to make up for today... 

Thursday 24th

Breakfast:

• whole grain toast with peanut butter
• 1 banana (cut this up and put on the toast too) 
• 1/2 strawberry orange Fruit 2 Day... They're these smoothie drink things that I found at Kroger... they've got 2 servings of fruit in them and are pretty low in calories...
• water

Lunch:

• 5 chicken nuggets
• veggie stix chip things
• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• water

Dinner:

• 1 fish stick 
• 1 strawberry nutrigrain bar
• water

Exercise:

• 40 minutes cardio 
• squats 
• leg raises 
• push ups 
• arms 
• abs 
• a bunch of other thingssss

Wednesday 23rd

Breakfast:

• 1 slice whole grain toast with peanut butter
• 1/2 cup 2% milk (i should be drinking non fat) 
• water

Lunch:

• sandwich (whole grain bread) with ham and cucumber 
• apple
• orange juice 
• water

Dinner:

• 5 piece chicken nuggets from Wendy's
• sugar free red bull 
• cashews 
• water

Traci my dietitian would say I should be eating more vegetables and probably another fruit.  

Exercise:

• 65 minutes cardio
• lots of abs 
• lunges 
• push ups 
• more abs

Overall this was a pretty good day... 

this lady once asked me when my baby was due...... my baby bump is getting smaller!!

Pump It Up

 
OKAY so I totally forgot to upload this picture over the weekend.... When I am not at school or the pharmacy or working out I am "nannying." I look after two little boys and over the weekend we had birthday parties to go to. Saturday we went to Run Jump and Play and Sunday we went to Pump It Up. (Parents, Pump It Up is far superior and I highly recommend for birthday parties or even just a day out of the house with the kids) Anyway, you are probably wondering how the heck this relates to my blog.. I got SUCH a great cardio workout... Adults are totally allowed to run and jump around on these blow up things too... Twenty minutes of chasing after little kids and my legs were absolutely killing me. You have to work extra hard to run because the thing is so bouncy and its a great core workout too because you are constantly trying to keep your balance.... I think i'm gonna have my next bday party here.

on the elliptical browsing vicky secrets '11 bathing suit collection * motivation * 20 mins down, 40 to go . luckily for me theres lots of super cute bathing suits to look at . i predict a bikini buying problem in my near future .

i can't watch it

SOS

I’m calling out to my followers for some help. I need some more of the great advice you have been providing me with over the past month and a half. My problem isn’t that I’ve totally fallen off track but I have lost the intensity I began this journey with. It seems like the day I hit my one month mark I started to slack. I have been working out but for instance, instead of doing cardio for 30-60 minutes, 5-6 days of the week, I have only been doing 20-30 minute cardio workouts, only a couple of times a week… Also, as far as my eating goes, I’ve been a lot less strict about what / how much I eat and have even been eating things like cookies, which I didn’t have any desire for during my first month. I haven’t been keeping track of my daily nutrient/calorie intake which I said I was going to start doing again. It’s not like this is an extremely difficult thing for me to do as I have that app on my phone that I keep talking about. I need to start keeping track of my food again because it made me much more aware of exactly what I was eating and forced me to make better meal choices. When I don’t use my handy dandy app it is VERY easy for me to forget what I ate throughout the day and even easier for me to kind of pretend that I didn’t just eat something really bad. I haven’t been stuffing my face with junk food but I am definitely not on the same level of “good” eating that I was on last month.

I am really happy with the progress and changes I have made since the beginning of the year but I am nowhere near where I want to be yet. Slacking now is definitely not going to get me there! I’m hoping that writing this all down and addressing the problem at hand now will help me move forward with more intensity. I mean there really is nothing holding me back but myself. I think I need to take some time to look over my list of motivators, attempt to watch my bikini video, and really try to get focused on my goals again.

So here is my plan of action:

I just decided that I am going to post to my blog each day, everything I eat over the next 7 days.

I think it would be a good idea to do this for my workouts too. So for the next 7 days I will also post detailed info about my workouts.

I am going to watch my ENTIRE bikini video TONIGHT, when I get home from school.

I am going to start posting pictures of my bod at least once a week from now on so that I can be motivated by my embarrassment again. I guess six months from now it will be cool to look back and see the gradual changes in my body over time.

ANYWAYYY. I would really appreciate any suggestions  or comments or anythinggg; I really couldn’t be doing this without all of you!

Oh, and on a totally different note, I only have THREE more training sessions with Ashlee left and I am freaking out!! I don’t think I am ready to do this on my own yet!!   

its workout timeeeee

I'm craving pizzzaaaaa. Pizza. Pizza. Pizzzzaaaaa

oh and guess what ! the scale said 132 this morning!!! the bad food binge i went on over the weekend didn't do too much damage :) hope everyone has a great day!

im walking out of kroger with bananas and light multi-grain english muffins . this is a first .

I know I shouldn't be super worried about the number on the scale but I'm afraid to see what it is going to say tomorrow morning. I haven't weighed myself in nearly a week.......

Goooood morning!!

I had a GREAT workout with Ashlee this morning! I can safely say that I have NEVER, EVER, got up to work out so early in the morning before. I set my alarm for 4:45 and was actually out of bed by 5. It’s a miracle. I did cardio from 6:30-7:30 and then trained with Ashlee from 7:30-8:30. This morning was definitely some good motivation; I think I am back on track now. Thanks Ashlee!

Now that I am working out on a regular basis, I have started to really tell a difference in the way I feel on days that I do workout and days that I don’t. On days that I don’t work out (such as over this past weekend) I feel kind of blaaah, whereas when I do workout I definitely have a lot more energy, am more focused, and am much more productive.

Anyway… Just a quick update… Now I need to actually focus this energy on being productive and writing a 5 page paper.

I hope everyone has a good day/workout today!

PS. If I put some money towards it, can we get different/brighter lights in the girls locker room above the mirror with the hair dryers. The lighting is really not practical for applying makeup. No matter how careful I try to be, I always seem to walk out of the rec looking like an oompa loompa.  

Sunday Confessions.

So… I’m not an extremely religious person, nor do I typically confess on Sundays however, today I am making an exception… I have a confession to make to everyone. Actually I have several. I haven’t worked out since my training session with Ashlee Thursday morning…  Not only have I been flipping lazy, but I ate horrrribly this weekend. Yesterday I spent the whole day with my best friend and we ate sooo much food. I started the day off well, I had toast with peanut butter on, but the rest of the day just went downhill. I had a 5-piece chicken nugget from Wendy’s, with a baked potato (yep, with butter & sour cream) and a mandarin orange cup. Later on during the day I killed a plate of ribs, onion straws and garlic bread then downed it all with numerous, really bad for you, high calorie, beverages. To top last night off, I raided my little sisters chocolate stash while she was asleep and stole a 10oz bag of Cadbury mini eggs which I proceeded to do some serious work on too. Actually I’m munching on some right now as I type this blog…. Today I ate like three cookies worth of toll house cookie dough andddddddd for dinner I had fried rice, sesame chicken anddd moo goo gai pan from my neighborhood Chinese takeout. I’m disappointed in myself. smh

i've lost 12 lbs & 12 inches

	January 4th 2011	February 10th, 2011
Weight	145 lbs	133 lbs
Fat Mass	46.3	38.2
Fat %	32%	28.2%
BMI	25.7	23.8
Sit & Reach	20 & ½”	21 & 1/4"
Forearm	8 & ½”	8 & ½”
Biceps	11 & ¾”	10 & ½”
Chest	35 & ½”	34” :(
Waist	29 & ¾”	28”
Tummy	34 & ½”	30 & ½":)
Hips	41 & ½”	40 & ½”
Thighs	24”	21 & ½"

Balancing, Not Depriving.

I didn’t do an exceptional job at explaining in my video what I learned during the meeting with my nutritionist so I’ve decided to dedicate a blog to it. I think a huge factor as to why so many people are overweight is because they know very little about the food and beverages they are consuming every day. During my meeting with Traci I realized I was absolutely clueless.

The first thing Traci and I did was review my food diary. We discussed what was good about it as well as what needed to be changed or improved. One of the first things she pointed out was that I wasn’t eating enough. Immediately what popped into my head was, are you kidding me? You want me to eat MORE? Traci went on to tell me something that quite surprised me, “You’re eating less than a toddlers energy needs!”

There have been a number of times throughout my life where I have severely limited my calorie intake for periods of time in hopes of some type of weight loss. My general thought process was if food is not going into my mouth then my body will eat the fat off my body and ill lose weight, be skinny and live happily ever after, end of story. I couldn’t have been more wrong... 

Traci couldn’t emphasize enough how smart our body is. Think about this for a minute, she is right! Our bodies are really flipping smart actually. She went on to explain what happens to our bodies when we don’t eat enough. One thing that she stressed is that our bodies know very well when we are not eating enough and so it goes into “oh no I’m not getting enough food mode.” While referencing cavepeople, Traci explained that basically what happens is our body starts preparing itself for continued lack of food. Our metabolism (which burns calories) slows right down in an attempt to preserve what energy and nutrients it has. Another thing Traci said was that when we restrict our calorie intake our body starts to eat our muscles. Muscles, if you didn’t know, burn a lot more calories than fat. So not only are you slowing your metabolism down by not eating but you are also losing the muscle that burns calories too! Not good! In addition to these points, I learned that stored fat is one of the last places that your body goes to get energy during “oh no I’m not getting enough food mode.” Cellulite and I have been at war for as long as I can remember. My thighs have loads of it and I HATE IT. It is the main reason why I don’t wear bathing suits or shorts in front of people and why I insist that the lights stay off while the magic (or lack of magic) happens. Learning this about stored fat immediately whipped my eating habits into better shape.   

    

Due to the results from an analysis of my food diary, the primary focus of my first meeting with Traci became nutrients; what they are, why we need them, where to find them as well as how the body reacts without them. I have to say that prior to meeting with Traci, the only part of the nutrition label I ever looked at was the calorie part. I really didn’t know or care what the rest of it said. This is another habit of mine that has totally changed. I look at the entire nutrition label these days, including the list of ingredients. I have learned that, fats (especially saturated and trans fat), cholesterol and sodium should be limited, and daily intake of fiber and vitamins should be watched to ensure that we are getting enough of them. A dietitian would be able to tell you what amount of each you should aim for for your particular body type. I will say though, that the free app I discussed a while ago, “myfitnesspro.com,” presents quite an accurate list of nutrient goals once you have entered in all of your personal information (such as weight, height, age, activity levels etc.)

Other useful info from Traci (I hope it’s okay for me to post all of this!!!): 

Saturated fats (bad) are linked to coronary heart disease and raise cholesterol. They are found in things such as egg yolks (which I don’t eat anymore!), fried foods, and many snack and fast foods. 

Monounsaturated fat is the most desirable type of fat and can help lower cholesterol. This type of fat can be found in things such as peanut butter (a new favorite of mine is peanut butter on toast for breakfast), avocados, and olive oil.

Healthy carbs (whole grains) provide cells of your body with energy.

Healthy fat (yes fat can be healthy!) protects your organs, keeps you warm (insulation), is a long lasting fuel source and helps you absorb fat-soluble vitamins.

Lean Protein is needed to build muscle and supply enzymes that regulate bodily functions. 

One last thing that Traci stressed is that completely cutting certain foods from your diet is NOT good and this should not be done. Changes you make in your diet need to be ones that you can stick to for the rest of your life. There is no way I would be able to part ways with Ferrero Rochers for the rest of my life. As the title of this blog says, the key is balancing, not depriving. Instead of avoiding foods, limit the amount. 

It took a few days for all that I had learned from Traci to sink in but I can honestly say that I finally understand the importance of watching the types and portion sizes of the foods I eat. I now understand why processed foods are bad for us; they don’t provide our bodies with the proper nutrients that it NEEDS. 

Over the past few weeks I have made many changes; one of the best that I have made is a change from wanting to be really thin to desiring health. I don’t want to suffer from medical conditions later in life, I don’t want to be immobile in my elderly years, what I do want is to lose weight in a healthy way and to be able to keep it off.

Celluliteeeeeeeeeeee

So of course, I somehow managed to record my video upside down AGAIN. I’m working on improving my video blogs; I think this one is a littttle bit better than the first one.  Any suggestions (besides posting videos more often) would be appreciated!! Haha :) Next time I’m not going to sit on an exercise ball! I like bouncing up and down on it too much (this is why I’m not sat still at all during the video). I think I’m going to have to recruit my best friend to help me record them from now on…

Why do I always pick the machine that makes the most noise?? ... Yes, I'm doing cardio @ the rec while blogging... I'm also watching this football trainer train this girl ... all I'm going to say is I'm really glad I'm not a football player.

heading to CRC . stretch & strength @ 1:15 then hardcore abs from 2:15-3 . ashlee is teaching them today!

"If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place." Nora Roberts

nnoooooooooooo

no no no no no no no the scale says I gained a pound overnight . 135 this morning :( getting on the treadmill pronto.

I think I just set up Blogger on my phone. Its weird though. You send texts to your blog ....? Hopefully this works though! If it does, I'm about to have soo many blog posts haha

Its 9am on a Sunday morning. Its also my first day off in ages!! First of all, I am awake. Second, I set my alarm last night to wake me up early today. Third, I am laying in bed thinking about getting up and doing some cardio. Who is this person???? Before this journey started, if I had a day off, my butt would be sleeping in 'til at least lunch time and the very last thing on my mind would be working out.  

Progress.

Ashlee decided to check my "numbers" today to see what type of progress I have made over the past month. It is really crazy for me to think that it has already been a whole month!!!

Here are the results:

Weight:
Started at 145 lbs
Today: 134 lbs

Fat mass:
Started at 46.3 lbs
Today: 38.2 lbs


Body Fat:
Started at 32%
Today: 28.2%

I have a love / hate relationship with the BOSU.

The BOSU makes me shake and want to cry sometimes, it has even been close to knocking me to the ground on a few occasions. Yet, despite the fact that it leaves me in pain every time we come in contact, I am falling in love with it. It takes my breath away. 

hahaha

ohmygoodness!!

Guess whatttt!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got on the scale and it says 134!!! 134 !! 134!!! (well the scale didn't flash up exclamation points...)

My very first weigh in with Ashlee was either the 4th or the 6th of January... Which means I have officially lost 11 lbs in one month. Woohooo. Feels so awesome :)

I am sooo sleepy today but am about to get ready to go workout with Ashlee.

I hope everyone has a great day (& that everybody has a great workout too)!

Ehh hemm, excuse me! Attention! Please read this! :)

UC's Rec Center has helped me lose NINE pounds in less than a month. Prior to getting help from the Rec Center I had tried for eight months to lose weight and failed at even losing a single pound. Although I could sit here and list off all the reasons why UC's Rec Center and its staff are so great, I think my weight loss so far says enough about CRC being the best fitness and recreation center around. I want everyone to know what an excellent facility The University of Cincinnati's Rec Center is, so please help me by voting for them in this years 15th annual Best of Cincinnati Readers Poll. I promise it doesn't take long to do, you don't even have to vote in every category (if you dont vote in other categories, make sure you go through all six sections hitting "save" in each one, you have to do this in order for your ballot to count). UC Rec Center is located in the "Goods & Services" category under "Health/workout club" which is about half way down the list... The Rec Center is changing my life, it can changes everyone elses too! Take a second and follow the link below and vote!! Thanks!! :)

http://citybeat-survey.wehaaserver.com/survey-2-best_of_cincinnati_2011.html

HEYYYY EVERYBODY!!!!!!

OKAY, SO, first of all I need to apologize to everyone for slacking on my updates this past week!! I can't believe that its actually been a whole week! Time is flying. Exams and papers have been kicking my butt the past couple of days. My main goal for today (and yesterday, and the day before) was to get my new video blog uploaded. And here I am at 9 PM and its still not up yet. I am working on it I promise!!!

I have so much to fill everybody in on! In my video blog (I promiseee it will be up soon!!) I am finally releasing all of the juicy details on my meeting last week with Traci, my nutritionist (I am meeting with her again on Tuesday - I cant wait!).

Ashlee and I haven't met in a week (thank gawd we are meeting tomorrow morning, bright and early, 7:30am) because if I am totally honest, I really haven't been working out as hard on my own at the gym as I should be... I guess this is why I have only lost one pound since my last blog post :( The scale is reading 136 lbs. I'm kind of bummed that I didn't lose any more than that but I suppose that it's better than gaining a pound! One more pound to go and I will be down TEN pounds. This is crazy. In an awesome way! Although I don't see a huge difference in the way my body looks with my clothes OFF, all of my clothes are definitely fitting and looking a lot better on me. In factttt, I only have one pair of jeans that fit me now!!!! And I couldn't be happier about this!! Usually I'm super bummed out when none of my clothes fit haha. I had thought about packing all my jeans away, just in case I would ever need them again, and then I realized, uh, no!!! If I don't have any "fat clothes" to fit into then I won't be able to allow myself to gain back any weight again in the future! And so, I have decided to give all my clothes away. I don't know to who yet... but i'm definitely not keeping them.
I've caught myself checking myself out a lot more often haha I'm not content with where my body is at yet (nowhere close actually) but I am liking what I see in the mirror more and more (at least when I have clothes on). I've noticed whenever I walk past a reflective surface I start checking my hips out. I do think that they are looking a bit smaller!

Ill put updated pics up asap! Along with this video blog!!!!!!