Success is dependent on effort. - Sophocles

It doesn't get any simpler than that. Your success is dependent on the effort you put in.

People have asked me over and over again, what are you doing, how are you losing weight? I don't have some unknown secret or a magic pill, I've just decided to put forth the effort. The effort being learning how to eat for health, making time to exercise, and learning why these things are better for me than my previous lifestyle. If you are struggling with your weight or just an unhealthy lifestyle, you have to ask yourself "what am I willing to do differently to get the results I want?" Are you willing to be uncomfortable? There were many, many times, and even sometimes still, where I was uncomfortable doing certain exercises. When I first began this journey back in November 2008, doing jumping jacks were challenging for me. Challenging because I hadn't done any cardiovascular exercise in quite a long time. But also challenging because for someone like me, with a lot of excess body fat, feeling that fat bounce up and down with every jump, was just awful. I was so self conscience of it. I felt as if it would never get better, it would never feel more comfortable. But I knew better. I kept at it, kept putting forth the effort. It didn't happen overnight, but now, jumping jacks don't even phase me. And forcing myself to be uncomfortable, feeling everything bounce, has contributed to a nearly 50 lb. weight loss. So, ask me, was it worth it? Absolutely! The point of this post today is that if you don't put forth the effort consistently, you will not find success. And each and every one of us deserves success.

To be tested is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist. -- Gail Sheehy

Sorry about my recent disappearance from my blog, but I am back. I was hitting some roadblocks and thought that because it's not positive I shouldn't write about it. After giving it some thought, this is the best place to share my challenges. So, here it goes. Every few weeks my weight kind of stands still for a little bit, and even though I know better I still get frustrated and wonder why, and so on. Then my stress eating kicks in, and I went ahead and ate 4 smores, and then I was eating cake icing out of the can! What? I went a little overboard but thankfully Justin was there to rip the can of chocolate icing out of my hand and tell me NO! I can't do that. What I learned is that every few weeks I have to stop and evaluate what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and is it working for me. If it isn't, I have to spend time thinking about what changes I have to make to get me back on track. So I am, back on track, and I've already lost 5 lbs. since my smore attack. Another thing I think was getting to me was that I didn't have specific goals set. When I started this journey back in November my goal was to lose weight. Not really a specific amount, I just wanted to get healthy. A few weeks ago someone asked me how much more I want to lose, and I answered with "I don't know." I guess the weight is becoming less important to me as opposed to concentrating on fat loss and muscle building. So, I asked my trainer (Jenn Nash, aka Fitness Jenn www.fitnessjenn.com, for those of you that didn't know) to help me set some goals, and here is what she came up with:

Performance Goals:
1) Plank Holds - 3 minutes
2) 30 push ups - military style
3) 9 minute mile

Body Goals:
1) Down 10lbs by July 18th (6 weeks from Saturday, June 6th)
2) Down 8 more total inches by July 18th

So here I go again, reset & refocused. Thanks for your help Jenn.

You Are What You Eat! Thank Goodness We Have Choices

I went to a party this past Saturday and I gave it some thought before hand about how I would eat there. Typically party food is not the best food for you, so planning ahead is always a good idea. I decided to eat a meal before going and pack a snack just in case there were no healthy options there and I got a little hungry. I made some Mahi Mahi and steamed broccoli which filled me up pretty good. I packed up my usual night time snack of fat free cottage cheese, strawberries, and walnuts, and off I went. My friends there haven't seen me in a while so it was nice when I arrived how they were commenting on my leaner figure. One of my friends showed me where to get some food and a drink and I wasn't feeling hungry so I declined the food, but had some crystal light to drink. Here's the funny part, as she showed me what was available to eat, she followed certain items up by "oh, you can't eat that... you can't eat that... and there's _______, but you can't eat that." So finally I stopped her, I looked at her and said "I can eat anything I want!" And so this brings me to the title of this post. The fact is we can all eat anything we want and in the past I have done that and paid the price for it. I feel so much more empowered now that I actually plan out what I'm going to eat, instead of just winging it. I stock up on good foods in my home, and when I go out, I plan ahead. I went out to dinner last week but before even deciding where to go, I jumped on line and looked up the menus of some of the local restaurants and went to the place that had the most healthy options. I planned ahead. Some people think this may be such a hassle, and frankly I used to have the same mind set, but the benefits of planning ahead offset any such hassle. When I look in the mirror I am reminded of my "why." There are reminders everywhere I look and when I am tempted to blow a few hundred calories on something with little to no nutritional value I ask myself, is this going to taste better than how it feels to be lean?? The answer is usually NO, and my decision is made. We are what we eat! So, eat to fuel and feel good that the choice is yours.

In The Fridge: I didn't plan on posting this picture of my refrigerator, but after thinking about what picture would go along with this post I could think of nothing better. Here's what you see:

-Salsa

-Natural Peanut Butter (ingredients: peanuts)

-Non-Fat Cottage Cheese

-Fat Free Sour Cream

-Chobani Yogurt 0% fat

-Light salad dressing

-Bison meat (leaner than chicken, but tastes like beef)

-Chicken (going to cook that up today)

-Brown rice (leftover)

-Eggs & egg substitute

-Strawberries

-Whole grain wraps

-Fat Free Shredded cheeses

-And an abundance of GREENS!!- 2 big bowls of salad, mixed salad greens, spinach, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, peppers, broccoli, celery, green onions.

It's Time to Dig Deeper!

I woke up this morning and weighed in 40 lbs. less than what I weighed just 6 months ago. That feels fabulous, but I'm not done. The number on that scale was just the fuel I needed to decide to dig deep into my gut and find out what's really inside of me. What can I really accomplish? Yesterday, I ran 5 miles outside and it felt great to be off of the treadmill running on solid ground. Running outside is good because you can really see how well you can do without a belt moving beneath your feet. It took 1 hour to run that 5 miles, and I think I did pretty good... but, I can do better, and I will. Honestly, that run took a lot out of me, and I did a hell of a lot of self talk through it, but I will be back, and I will be better. My goal over the next 2 weeks is to hit everything harder than I have been. I'm going to lift heavier, run faster, and longer. I'm going to push my body like I haven't pushed before. And you know what? I'm damn excited about it!

"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it." ~ Margaret Thatcher

OK, so here is the workout I attempted last night:

Jog/Walk Treadmill Hill Ladder

Warm up walk on flat for 5 mins then:

Incline 1 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 2 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 3 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 4 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 5 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 6 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 7 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 8 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 9 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 10 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 11 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline1 2 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 13 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 14 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 15 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 14 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 13 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 12 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 11 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 10 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 9 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 8 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 7 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 6 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 5 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 4 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 3 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 2 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 1 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

Incline 0 1 Min 4.0, 1 Min 5.0

And here is how I did:

I followed the workout until the first incline at 10, I did 1 min. at 4.0, and 1 min. at 4.5. Then, I brought the incline back down from 10 (instead of going to 15) at speeds of 3.5 for 1 min., then 4.5 for 1 min., until incline 7. From incline 6 back down to 0, I brought the speed back up to 4.0 for 1 min., and 5.0 for 1 min. After finishing that, I did a 1 minute sprint at a speed of 9.0, then went into my cool down.

Not bad for my 1st attempt. I'll definitely keep at this one, I'm determined to complete it. Thursday night is a night I look forward to because I take 3 classes back to back from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. First it's CORE, then Kickboxing, and last but probably most intense is Boot Camp. Can't wait to feel the burn!!

High Speed, Low Drag

That's the only way to explain it. I'm on high speed and loving it. My body is changing every day and it feels phenomenal. I'm working out 6 days a week, and my intensity level is up, up, up. I love pushing myself to see how far I can go, because usually I surprise myself. Like last night, I surprised myself when I shoulder pressed 20 lb. dumbbells. And, last week, the awesome leg workout, I definitely surprised myself then. I wanted to quit so bad, but on the other had, I knew I could push through the pain, and I did! And boy did that feel great!

PAIN IS FEAR LEAVING THE BODY!!

When I was in the police academy several years ago I first heard this phrase. I love letting that fear go. For me, working out this intensely requires some self talk. I talk to myself throughout most of my workouts, most of the time internally, but sometimes I just have to blurt something out. Like "that rocked" or "holy shit," whatever I'm feeling at the moment. Or I engage in an internal conversation consisting of "it's only 30 more seconds, I can do 30 more seconds, this is going to feel so good when I'm done, and then I can say I did it, and my body is gonna rock from doing this"... you get the picture. Anything to keep me going when my body doesn't want to. Does anyone else do this? I'm sure I couldn't be the only one out there.

I'm going now to hit the gym and do the treadmill hill ladder that Jenn posted a few weeks ago. Gonna be a lot of self talk going on there, I'll post the workout and how I did, later.

This is Where I Want To Be

I had an awesome leg workout last night which left my hamstrings and glutes on fire. As it became later in the day today, my soreness really set in. So, I hit the treadmill for a 45 minute interval workout and it felt good to get the blood flowing through my sore muscles. My body is going through some pretty cool changes. I love feeling new curves in my arms and legs, or muscles I hadn't noticed before. It's exciting, and it keeps me anxious for more. I am enjoying the learning process of doing exercises properly and maintaining proper nutrition. Last week I began my certification course from ISSA to become a certified fitness trainer, and I am intrigued by all the information I'm absorbing. It's one thing to loose weight and get fit, but learning about how it all happens is pretty cool. I look forward to getting to a point where I have the knowledge and can share both that, and my experience with others. That will really rock! And so will my butt when it looks like this.