diet

Following Your Dreams…

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Image

Can Be Hard When You Start Doing It…

I haven’t been posting a lot in the past few months, or at all, because my life has been a bit hectic. My last semester at school was one of the worst I have had since graduating high school. All those doubts, worries, and stresses associated with my LDs (learning disabilities) seemed to rear their ugly head. It didn’t help that my health has also taken a dive. In the past few weeks we have a received a confirmation of Sleep Apnea from the doctor and next week I get to go in for my face mask so I get to go to bed looking and sounding a lot like Darth Vader. This is my first step to getting my health back in line including getting my weight off because it seems when you don’t go into REM, you don’t produce the hormones to control or produce a natural metabolism. Thankfully, I passed my classes… didn’t die in a car wreck due to falling asleep at the wheel… things are being done to make life better and the support I am receiving from my family has been lifesaving because I had reached the end of my rope with no idea where to turn.

At the time all this is happening, I finally decided its time to really start following my dream. No longer mess around with just writing for fun or for one day but to sit down and actually do it. So here I am, not blogging and spending as much as my very rare free time to try to write and finish a novel by the end of the summer. With everything going on this past semester I didn’t get to finish my other story, which wasn’t working in any way but is still there. I barely had time to write. BUT! At the end of the summer I am attending a Writers Conference where I may have a chance (slim, very very slim) to sit and pitch a book.

FOCUS!!!

I just finished my first edit on the first 10 chapters of my book. I am nervous but I liked what I have read. So often, with my other writings I have gone back and wondered what I was thinking when I typed those words. This time, it feels different. Part of me believes that it is because I am not trying to write something that isn’t me. I have tried many genres and it seems teenage angst is something I can write. Of course, this is probably because I was a total drama queen and experienced a lot of craziness when I was growing up. Seeming to find trouble even when I wasn’t searching for it. I do hope to go back to some of my other pieces and flesh them out when I have time to, heck there are more stories than I can count bouncing around in my head. You just need to focus to get it done.

My blog from here on out will probably be a lot more about my writings, health, weight loss than everyday life. Hopefully, I can remember to post more often. Please note that all my blogs are done in the free-writing format – I don’t worry about editing. Which is probably stupid for a person wanting to be a writer when they grow up but meh!

Healthy Kid Meals?

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I have been seeing this tread online lately: making healthy kid meals at home. This is an easy thing to do, for the most part, but I have been paying very close attention to the meals at restaurants for kids when I am out with my son and I am so disappointed. Even with the places that have “healthy meals” for them. This generally breaks down to switching fruit out for french fries. Fruit which is usually apple slices which yes are healthy but are still pretty sugary. As for drinks the only healthy drink is usually milk or water. Sometimes you can get an apple juice – which is even more sugar. Very rarely, if ever, you get a choice of vegetables – even carrot sticks. And I am not even talking about just fast food restaurants but also regular sit down places.

Now, there seems to be a basic idea of what kids eat at meals and this usually is: fried chicken nuggets, spaghetti (with tomato sauce no meat), grilled cheese, pizza, quesadillas, fried, fried, fried… and fried. Do we really need to look any further to why our kids become picky eaters? And only want to eat crap? Do we continue to have french fries available in kids meals, so we won’t feel guilty for eating them while our kid munches down on carrots or apples?

I can not say I am not guilty. The other day I was craving a burger from Wendy’s and my kid got one too but my husband got him fries. We try to be very careful with giving him crap food. We try not eating out as much because its such a temptation. And when we do, we try hard to be careful in his meal while we are out. We hit Quizno’s the other day on a quick meal out while running errands and I was a little surprised in a place that has a wide range of choices of meats, cheese and vegetables had such a crappy kids meal menu. Their choices: Flatbreads – 1 with three cheeses and the other with cheese & marinara then a meatball monster. Luckily they had a choice of build your own and I did just that… I got him a turkey, cheese with tomatoes, lettuce and avocado. While his only side choices were a cookie or chips… my husband and I got the baked chips and ate them ourselves. As for a drink… we had lemonade which I watered down.

At least I had the choice. I don’t have a choice in a lot of places when fried chicken nuggets (which, yes my son does enjoy) are the main choice. Why not bake them? Or do nuggets without the breading and grilled? My son loves grilled nuggets just as much as Fried. One of the few places that bakes their chicken nuggets: Target. They don’t have a fryer on hand just that giant rolling oven they make their flatbreads, pizzas and chicken strips in.

I read about how kids are fed in other countries, like France, where they do not have kids menus. Kids eat the exact same food as parents. These kids generally not only are less picky eaters but also have a greater appreciation for food as they grow up beyond just greasy yumminess that we all grow up on in the US.

I am trying to do this but it is hard when that $2.99 meal comes up and he needs to eat as well. I don’t mind sharing with my son but I am trying to break him from the habit of not eating his food so he can eat off my plate instead. At dinner, we make sure he has the same food we do. I make him the same breakfast I have on 5 out of 7 days. But when we are running errands and we have to stop for a quick meal we are generally not very lucky. One of the few places in the Denver area that has a reasonable kids menu is Ikea… they actually serve kids vegetables with their mac & cheese.

So, what do we do? For now, I am going to just start feeding him off of my plate again unless I see better meals for kids on the menus. It’s not like they don’t give us enough food on our plates.

Work Outs: 7-19-09 to 7-29-09

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Weird week and a half – workouts are really off due to my nephew visiting which means he is a priority. But here it is:

7-19-09, Sunday

Rest Day

7-20-09, Monday

Swimming:

600 – 50 free/50breast for each 100m
200 – kicking – 50free/50 breast for each 100m

Time: 35m
Cal Burn: 557

Would of gone longer but lighting storm came in and they closed the pool…

7-21-09, Tuesday

todays workout – got cut short due to a sick nephew.

Warm Up
5m – Running, Treadmill, 5.3, Incline 4
Stretching

Workout

4 x 15 @ 50# – Squats (5-half, all the way down then half way up/5-half, half way down then back up/5 – full squats)

4 x 12 @ 5# dumbbells – incline shoulder raises

4 x 1m – chest press, bar only

5 x 12 @ 15# dumbbell – incline 1 arm row, right
5 x 12 @ 15# dumbbell – incline 1 arm row, left

3 x 20 – incline crunches

5m – stretching

Est. Time 1h10m
Est. Cal Burn: 748

7-22-09, Wednesday

Warm Up
10m – Elliptical, Weight Loss Program, Resistance Level 5
Stretching

Workout

4 x 20 @ 15# – Chest Press w/ 20s rest between sets

4 x 15 @ 40# – lat pull/w 20s rest between sets

4 x 15 @ 20 (for 2) 25 (for 2) – Bicep Curls (superset with tricep dips)
4 x 15 @ 70 (for 2) 50 (for 2) – tricept dips

4 x 12 @ 50# – leg extensions

Stretching

Cool Down
15m – Elliptical, Hill Program, Resistance Level 5

Est. Time: 1h25m
Est. Cal Burn: 1,118

7-23-09, Thursday

Rest Day

7-24-09, Friday

todays workout – got cut short because the day care was closed and limited on what I could do with a 5 year old with me at the gym

Warm Up
10m – Intervals, 3.5mph – 5.5mph, Incline 4
Stretching

Workout

3 rounds
20 @ 22lb barbell – Side Step Ups on 16″ step (1 rep was twice over – go over right then back over left)
40 @ 22lb barbell – Step Up w/ Kickbacks on 16″ step
25 @ 8# med ball – jackknifes

Stretching

Time: 45m
Cal Burn…. no clue

Today was a cheat day – I spent the next 6 hours walking around at a large indoor arcade/play place for kids with an all you can eat buffet… ate both dinner and lunch there – ate as many veggies as possible with one of the “healthier” pastas… but had small servings of ice cream and apple cobbler one one slice of pizza. I was weak I know. But whatever, I don’t care – my main concern is that my nephew was happy and having a good time. Thought about going back to the gym but my knees are killing me from basically standing for about 5 hours.

Also – did my BFI today… 27.9%. Weight – exactly 210

7-25-09, Saturday

Rest Day/Study Day for Finals

7-26-09, Sunday

30m – Elliptical Crossramp, Weight Loss Trainer, Resistance level 5

Circuit

Tricep Push Down w/ V Bar
15 @ 25#
12 @ 35#
9 @ 45#
12 @ 35#
15 @ 25#

5 x 15 @ 30# – Low Row with lay back
5 x 15 @ 30# – Chest Press

Stretching

Est. Time 1 hour
Est. Cal Burn 764 (384 from elliptical/384 from circuit according to calorie count)

7-27-09, Monday

teaching swimming to my nephew for an hour… lots of treading and leisure time

45m – hard swimming, mix of breast and free. stopped when my shoulder started giving me problems.

Est. Time: 1h 45m
Est. Cal Burn: 1225 (yes I counted my teach my nephew – not easy work and burned about 500 cals )

7-28-09, Tuesday

Rest Day

7-29-09, Wednesday

Warm Up
10m – Elliptical, Crossramp, Glute Trainer, Resistance 9
Stretching

Toning – each grouping is a super set

4 x 15 @ 40# – Lat Pull Down with 1 hand reversed (switch hands each set)
4 x 12 @ 30# – cable tricep kickbacks

54 @ 40# – Seated Row (5 sets with random reps)
54 @ 10# (last with 20#) – arm straighting thing, the opposite of an arm curl, left arm
54 @ 10# (last with 20#) – arm straighting thing, the opposite of an arm curl, right arm

50 @ 10# + bar – deadlifts (heels on weights to lift them up and get some more focus on the whole back leg)

3 set @ 45# – seated calf burnouts… basically did as many as I could before my calves gave out (about 20 each set)

Cardio
20m – Treadmills, Incline 3, Intervals: 1m15s – walking (3.2) 1m – running (5.5 or 5.7)

32m – stationary bike, weight loss program, level 2

Est. Time: 2 hours
Est. Cal Burn: 1,363


How Far Have I Come?

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On this diet?

This is me at C4 a few years ago:

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this is me a few weeks ago

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That is the difference of 60# looks… not huge but its something

Spinach Breakfast Sandwich

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Made a really yummy breakfast this morning, thought I would share it with you:

Spinach Breakfast Sandwich

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Ingredients
1 – 7-Organic Sprouted 100% Whole Grain Flourless English Muffins – English Muffins (160cals)
1 – Wedge Light Swiss Original (35cal)
1 – large egg (70cal) – use the whole egg not just whites for the additional nutrients
1 – slice of smoked turkey breast (est 20cal)
few leafs of pre-steamed spinach (est 8cal)

Directions

slice and toast muffin, while this is toasting… cut or shred the slice of turkey breast and sautee slightly in pan with Pam. Crack one large egg into the pan and scramble (I don’t scramble in a bowl and then pour, cause I don’t like to add water or milk to my scrambled eggs). Once the egg is scrambled and cooked, place spinach (I used pre-steamed spinach because it helps with the next step) and place on top of your scrambled egg. Place a pot cover over the pan and turn off the heat. Allow the egg/spinach to heat up with the steam while you take your muffin out of the toaster over. Spead half of the cheese wedge on the bottom portion and the other half on the top portion. Take egg out of the pan and place on the muffin then finish with the top being put on.

Enjoy!

Its really yummy.

Nutritional information: Grade B+ on caloriecount.about.com

Est. Total Cals: 293
Fat – 26.2% (9 grams)
Protein – 26.5% (20 grams)
Carbohydrates – 47.3% (36 grams)
Sodium – 774 mg
Sugar – 1 grams
Cholesteral – 232 mg
S. Fat – 3 grams
Fiber – 7 grams

est. time to cook – 6 – 7mins

Workouts 5-3-09 to 5-9-09

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5-3-09, Sunday

Warm Up
20m – Treadmill, 3.8mph, Random Inclines

Workout
3 x 15 @ 90# – Seated Leg Press
3 x 15 @ 60# – Seated Calf Press

Hip Abductions/Adductions
15 @ 125#
12 @ 135#
10 @ 145#
10 @ 145#
15 @ 125#

10m – Treadmill, 3.6mph, Interval Inclines

3 x 25 – Stability Ball Crunch
5 x 6 (each side) – Floor wipers

10m – Stairstepper, Level 3, Fat Burner

That was it – not a huge amount but something. Had a great day so far today. Its been really relaxing.

Est. Cals Burned: 961 (time around 1.5 hours) I took it slow…

5-4-09, Monday

32m on treadmill, 3.0mph, incline 12. Slow and steady and stopped when I started to get lightheaded.

Started getting sick this day

5-5-09, Tuesday

Home sick

5-6-09, Wednesday

Home Sick

5-7-09, Thursday

today was the 1st day back at the gym and I did pretty crappy.

Warm Up
10m – Treadmill, 3.5mph, Incline 3
Stretching

Workout
15 @ 85# – Seated Leg Press
8 x 20sec @ 90# – Seated Leg Press
3 x 10 @ 10# dumbbells in both hands – lunges, both legs

2m – Treadmill, 3.2mph, Incline 4

then I got dizzy and lightheaded – so I stopped. I will be going back tomorrow. Hopefully I won’t be spending the day feeling like I am going to pass out.

5-8-09, Friday

Pushed myself today… I am beat! But I am very happy with it!

Warm Up
10m – Treadmill, 3.8mph, Interval Inclines
Stretching

Workout

Bicep Curl w/ ez bar
25# – 12
35# – 10
45# – 8
35# – 10
25# – 12

Tricep Push Down w/ v-bar
25# – 12
35# – 10
45# – 8
35# – 10
25# – 12

3 x 15 @ 70# – Seated Row
3 x 12 @ 30# – Chest Press

5m – Treadmill, 3.8mph, 6incline

Hip Abductions
135# – 12
145# – 10
155# – 8
165# – 8
135# – 15

Hip Adductions
125# – 12
135# – 10
145# – 8
155# – 8
125# – 15

3 x 15 @ 8# medicine ball – back extensions
3 x 10 – Roman Chair w/ straight leg

5m – Treadmill, Intervals, 3.8mph

2 x 10 @ 10# dumbbells – lat raises

3 x 10 @ 8# medicine ball – jackknifes
25 – Bridge

10m – Stair stepper

I think there is more but I can’t remember.

Time – 1h15m
Est. Cals Burn – 850

5-9-09, Saturday

Warm Up
10m – Elliptical Crossramp, Glute Trainer, Resistance 8
Stretching

Work Out – lots of super sets

3 x 12 @ 50# – Laying Leg Curls
3 x 12 @ 55# – Leg Extensions

2 laps down the hall in the gym about 50 yards each way – running

5 x 10 @ 70# – Smith Squats
4 x 10 – Incline Push Ups (on my knees of course)

2 laps down the hall in the gym about 50 yards each way – running

15 x 15secs – Wall Seat Press? (with 15sec rest in between) where you sit against the wall and hold urself up, can’t remember the exact name)

10 – Reverse Crunches
2 x 15 – Bridge w/ Stability Ball
2 x 10 – Russian Mason Twists w/ 6# medicine ball

2 laps down the hall in the gym about 50 yards each way – running

2 x 15 – Bridge w/ Stability Ball
2 x 10 – Russian Mason Twists w/ 6# medicine ball
10 – leg raises

30m – Random Inclines, Treadmill, 3.0mph, 0 – 10 incline

Cool Down
2m – Cool down, Treadmill, 2.1mph, Flat surface
5m – Stretching

Believe it or not – that workout took me 2hours to do… it doesn’t seem like a helluva a lot from here but that was with some breaks to catch my breath and not throw up. During the squats/push ups I was dying.

Est. Cal Burn: 1360

I think the forced rest I have had these past two weeks have done me some good. I am feeling great. Sore but great. I had a ton of fun at the gym today playing with different things I have been afraid to do in the past.

Please note – you can follow me during my workouts on my twitter account! Its not a full blown account but I do post while working out and comments et al… http://twitter.com/varza

Workouts and A Realization

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Weighed in this morning – a solid 218 – a total loss of .8 lbs since last week.

I’ve been looking at my calorie intake vs my burn and I am wondering if I am not eating enough.

According to a calculator I just did I can eat :

Quote:
If you exercise for 60 minutes each day, you will be able to reach your goal weight with 2444.3 calories per day.

And according to the online food journal I use…

You should consume about 2250 calories a day to reach your goal weight of 195 lbs.

This is at a reasonable weight loss average of 1.5 lbs per week, which should be reached by July 05, 2009.

Remember that this estimate is based on your body weight, height, age, gender, and activity level. It may vary slightly depending on other factors.

I am averaging about 600 – 900 calorie burn per workout (avg of the course of the past 7 days), adding to my avg daily burning of 2790… that is about 3390 – 3690. I don’t even want to think about those days I burned 1500 cals during a workout and barely ate anything.

Intake wise… over the past 7 days I have avg about 1500 – 1900 calories per day.

Giving me a difference of 1790 – 1890 calories between my intake vs. burn. I have read that you should have more then 1200 calories difference?

I am wondering if I am not eating enough so when I have a cheat day all that extra is being held hostage by my body because it feels it is being starved? I think so. But we will see what happens. I will be talking to my trainer tonight and seeing what he thinks.

3-18-09 Workout

Warm Up
15mins – Treadmill 2.5mph incline intervals.
Stretching

Power Aerobics Class – basically:

Group Power is your hour of power! This 60 minute barbell program strengthens all your major muscles in an inspiring, motivating group environment with fantastic music and awesome instructors with simple, athletic movements such as squats, lunges, presses and curls, Group Power is for all ages and fitness levels. Discover results, discover Group Power!

3-19-09 Workout

20mins – Elliptical Crossramp, Resistance 7, Cross Training – lots of leg work.
3 x 15 @ 80# – Calf Machine
3mins – Intervals, Incline 5, 3.5 & 4.8 (this is when I realized I forgot to do my inhaler before workout and couldn’t breathe. d’oh!)
17mins – Treadmill, Incline 5, 3.5mph

Thats about it. My body is still really sore from the power workout. Today is my rest day. Back to the gym on Saturday for more fun and games!

Nothing much else, getting ready to set an appointment to get my hair done. I’ll post a pic of it when I get done being made pertty…

More Workouts and Fears…

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Okay, so I know I didn’t post my last few workouts but things have been a bit crazy health wise. Seems like my body is wanting for me to not complete this mission and I had a horrible disappointment when we did my body fat measurements and found out I went 0.8% in the last three months. I am suppose to be going DOWN not UP! So it will soon be time for a complete overhaul of my workouts…

Its even sadder since I have increased my cardio in the past few months even though there have been struggles with side stitches, cramps, pulled muscles, etc. So, obviously I am not getting the best workout I need to. And a complete and total frustration I might add. I did spend a good portion of my Wednesday even in tears and fighting my desire to just quit. I’m not going to but its hard not to. There is a very loud voice in my head that seems to want me to find reasons to fail and screaming very very loudly for me to to do just that.

I have been posting on my 300 boards about this and one of my wonderful friends over there linked me to an article about muscle catabolism… when you have more negative than positive agents working in your system. Seeing as I haven’t been sleeping well for the last few months and my stress levels are uber high with being constantly on the go… my brain is working against me in so many ways.

I spoke with my trainer – well texted cause I was crying and couldn’t talk. We will be sitting down and making a workout program for me to follow to get the best workout possible. I am tired of failing at things in life – seriously failing. I have failed in pretty much every way you can imagine but I do not want to fail in this one.

Its hard though because there are a lot of workouts I want to do but I don’t because I either don’t want to look foolish in front of complete strangers, am afraid to do them alone because I don’t know what I am doing or am unsure of myself. Next to my sense of failure this sense of just being unsure is excruciating. I don’t like asking for help and I should, I just don’t. This is something I have had to deal with my entire life. I just need to maybe write on something “Fortune Favors the Bold” and just realize, I’m not the only one out there feeling this way. Seriously, some workout magazine needs to do an article on overcoming your fears at the gym. Its hard.

So, I will no longer be doing 15 reps but more sets at 12 reps each, and 3 or 2 sets where I need to. Here are my workouts from the last few days (please not that the use of a number w m behind it is minutes, not miles and my way of recording is 2 x 12 @ 60# – is 2 sets of 12 reps at 60 pounds. If I adjust the weight during my sets I don’t put a # there at all…)

3.10.09 Workout:
16m – intervals, 1m walk, 1m run
had to stop and stretch my hip, it killing me like crazy right now. As is my knee.
15m – walking, 3.5, incline 3

3.11.09 Workout:

Warm Up
12m – Elliptical Crossramp, Crosttrainer, Resistance 6
Stretching

Workout
20 @ 40 – ISO Lat Chest Press
10 @ 60 – ISO Lat Chest Press
12 @ 50 – ISO Lat Chest Press
15 @ 40 – ISO Lat Chest Press
20 @ 30 – ISO Lat Chest Press
2 x 12 – Kettle bell raise with dumbbell, right arm
2 x 12 – Kettle bell raise with dumbbell, left arm
15 – push ups on knees at incline
10 – push ups on knees on floor
3 x 12 @ 15 – bicep curls
3 x 12 @ 30 – tricep curls
1 x 15 @ 10 – bicep curl
1 x 15 @ 15 – bicep curl
2 x 20 – Jack knives with 5# medicine ball

that was it… my shoulder gave on me during the push ups on the floor. no cardio either because my hip, knees and calves were still hurting from yesterday.

3.12.09 Workout:

Warm Up
11m – Elliptical Crossramp, Interval, Resistance 8
lots and lots and lots and lots of stretching

Toning – each pair I went back and forth with one set with one then a set on the other, back and forth
4x 12 @ 60# – Seated Row
4 x 12 @ 35# – Chest Press

3 x 12 @ 70# – Lat Pulls
2 x 12 @ 25# – Lat Raises

25 – Stability Ball Crunches

4 x 12 @ 95/100/95/90 – Seated Leg Press, Feet placed high to get a more back of the leg workout
3 x 12 @ 75/80/75/70 – Seated Calf Press (this one hurt like the dickens but I wanted to get SOME leg work in today)

75 – Stability Ball Crunches (15 w/ 5# medicine ball)

20 – Incline Mason Twists w/ 5# Medicine Ball

That is it. It is Friday and Fridays are my days off from working out. I am going out for the evening and hope to relax some before heading into work tomorrow morning.

And it keeps going and going…

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… and going. Its been awhile since my last post about my weight loss. With all my emotional crap with being single and all that other fun crap, its hard to remember that part of why I started this blog was to talk about my weight loss.

So, basically, it is still going. I have lost around 40 some lbs and while I have about 80 more to go, I am pretty happy. Frustrated because it isn’t going fast enough but happy that it is going.

My problem has basically been – I start to loose the weigh, go down a few lbs then spend several weeks swinging back up a few lbs then back down then back up and back down and then loose a few more then start all over again.

Its mainly my diet. I haven’t been as good as I probably should for months now. I am tired of it, a bit, but the big thing is late night snacking. I get extremely lonely at night with no one to talk to and I get bored. I get bored – I eat like crazy. I have been trying to not eat but its hard.  I am not sure what to do… and in truth, I don’t want to workout at 11pm right before I go to bed. And I can only eat so much fruits and veggies without turning my stomach contents into liquid.

I don’t have the time I want to be able to make the yummy smoothie-protein shakes I used to. Plus all that fruit costs an arm and a leg. Money is an option, and I would rather pay my bills then not and buy a truck load of fruits.

At the moment, a friend and I are looking at my workouts and trying to reorganize them into something more. Something more then just a basic workout where I can get the best possible response from my body. Its not easy because I want to tone and loose fat. So I have to make sure I don’t over do it on the weight machines.

I am finding help from some magazines, my trainer and an on-line workout/costuming group. The magazine I am recommending is “Oxygen“. I have read quite a few different ones but this one seems to be really about getting healthy and working out. Women’s Health has relationship, fashion and sex advice. Oxygen is all about the workout and nutrition. Plus, it is really nice that on their covers are professional athletes not an actress who has great abs. While I am sure their workouts are great – I would rather see someone who does it for a living giving me their advice. Personally, i don’t want to read about the personal lives of a celebrity – that isn’t what I want out of my fitness magazine.  But maybe its just me?

So after almost a year of doing this, its time to look at my past workouts and reevaluate – and set a new goal. And not just a weight loss goal but something that will be a goal I have to focus on to gain a change. I have one in mind but I am superstitious and don’t want to talk about it just yet.

I am also coming up on the last few months of my golds gym membership and have to decide if I am going to stay there or move to another gym. I found out that Defined Fitness has a student discount membership – its still more expensive then Golds by about 17 bucks but there is the added advantage of their pool. Which would mean I won’t have to trek it on down to the local public pool where there are swim teams and kids jumping on me. Which is a total advantage. Now that it is warming up again and my old swim suit fits again – its time to head back and in truth, adding it up: Defined Fitness is cheaper then going to Golds and going to the public pool.

One draw back is that they are only in New Mexico – if I were to go somewhere else, I am stuck with no gym to go to. Meh, I will figure it out as we get closer to my close date.

But I wanted to give some of my latest stats –

Chest: original-52″,  now 44″
Neck: original-16″,  now 13.8″
Waist: original-49″, now 35″
Hips: original-53.5″, now 44″
Biceps: original-14.5″,15″, now (L)11.5″ ,(R)11.5″
Forearms: original-11″,12″,  now (L) 8.5″,(R) 8.75″
Thighs: original-30″,32,  now (L) 22.”,(R) 22.”
Calves: original-18″,18″,  now (L) 15″,(R) 15″

Like I said its a long process but I am working hard at it…

Finding Balance in My Diet

/ Varza / Leave a comment

With starting the process of loosing weight and at the same trying to get off of soda, its been a bit of a challenge with my diet add on the desire to quite intaking fake sugars I can’t even really talk about that. I don’t say diet as in – I am cutting this and that out to loose weight. I mean diet – as in what I am eating throughout the day. My first step was to stop drinking Diet Dr. Pepper. Now, I didn’t head straight to the Dr. Pepper rack but I did start buying Green Tea in a bottle. Bad choice – so much sugar in those its insane. So, trying to cut back on calories has been difficult because I have been loosing calories that I could use to eat healthier and the right amount to one single drink a day. And they are empty calories/carbs not good carbs like brown rice or natural sugars from fruit. Just icky sugar. And it was frustrating that at the end of the day I was going over the limit I set for myself because of a drink.

So, yesturday I started drinking (again) Cranergyfrom Oceanspray. While not completely giving up caffeine, which I can now go most of the day without, I am also drinking something much healthier for me. With a lot more natural sugars and less calories. I give myself 3 glass of juice a day before and now substituted some of that juice with this during the work day. Unfortunately it used Sucralose in it… which is a step back in that department but its hard to get everything. At least its a step forward in the calorie department.

Now, I am a full support of keeping carbs in your diet for mental/physical health reasons. Especially for women. Cutting all carbs out of your diet is insane. There is a reason why carbs are the largest food groups on the food pryamid even if we really don’t need that many breads in our daily diet. But like many things in life – its all about moderation. I was finding, after tracking each days food intake for the past few weeks that over 60% of my diet had been cards. I had decreased my caloric intake in many meals but my carbs were still really high. So, next step – decrease the portion sizes of my carbs. No more just spagetti for dinner – unless I am running a marathon the next day, which isn’t going to happen for more then a year from now – but make a larger salad and have a smaller plate of spagetti. I guess that means no more large bowl dinners of Spagetti and sausage. And also eating healthier carbs. Again spagetti – try to buy whole wheat instead of white flour based spagetti. And buy food with less preservatives.

So, is it working? I haven’t a clue but I will let you know. But on top of everything else my body is slowly showing change after 3 weeks of workouts. I have been focusing a little much on toning and not aerobic so this week I am upping the aerobic and balancing it with the strenght/toning. This morning I woke up for the first time, early enough to workout in the morning. I did the 10 minute Boot Camp DVD which allows you to choose between 5 different 10 minute sections to make your own workout or just do a single one. I did the Arm & Upper Body workout and then a Fat Blaster – which just about kicked my ass. But I will say, I am liking what I see in the mirror each morning and my clothes are fitting a slight better. I am just glad I haven’t lost the body that responds quickly to excercise yet. I was scared it had gone away. And the cherry on top – I am loving my life so much better now and just liking myself a little more. Its been a difficult few weeks but each day just gets better and better. Now to just loose those LBS.