P90X Week 5 Day 32

And so I enter a new month….this is my first time doing most of these workouts and I like them! Tuesday I did Shoulders, Chest and Tris for the first time. Last night it was Back and Biceps for the first time.

I am loving Backs and Biceps! My arms are still sore! I did pretty good with all of the moves and competed the whole workout. With Shoulders, Chest and Tris, I did maybe half the workout, and that’s mainly because I had a bootcamp class earlier that day that wore out my muscles.

I am going to try and go heavy with all the moves that I can. My biceps are pretty string, but I was scary last night, still doing 10s. I do have an interchangeable hand weight set that was a 12.5 weight, so I may try using those.

Do I see results so far? Not really. I feel a bit stronger. Have lost a few pounds since the start of the year (actually I lost and gained and lost again which is bad). This month, if I stay focused and on, I hope to finally start seeing results!

I can’t believe I am a third done already! Sheesh!

Weight loss tips to push yourself

There are always more things we can do to really push ourselves to reach our weight los goals.  here are a few tips.

• There are enough unhealthy food temptations out in the world, don’t put them right under your nose in your kitchen
• You can adapt a workout to kick your booty no matter where you are or what you’re working with.
• Your training and meals should be designed to achieve your specific goals. There is no one size fits all.
• To help you burn fat through the night, stop eating 2 hours before bed.
• Studies show that when you have a buddy you are 7X more likely to stick to a fitness regime
• To make the most out of your workout, always ask yourself, “Can I go HARDER?”
• Check your weight before you start an exercise program and keep checking for changes but don’t expect radical change immediately.
• Cravings should be expected when your body is adjusting to a new eating/diet plan. Pushing through and ignoring those cravings, especially in the beginning of a diet plan, is 100% just a mental game.
• Don’t blow off exercise altogether when something comes up in your schedule. It doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing, push yourself every day to be active.

Just Lose It Challenge: Do you need a size goal?

#2 is still not a winner. So I need to go really hard for the last 3 weigh-ins. Here are the results:


1. Chris R. 13.953%

2. Me 12.025%

3. Tonya 9.422

Three more weigh-ins and I am really nervous. It gets harder to lose the last 10 pounds, so I have decided to go high raw AND kick up my workouts a notch. 2-3 hours, high intensity workouts. I want sweat on the floor! I am trying my darnest to get in a morning workout for the calorie burn power of it, but ummm….still a work in progress.

I have my eye on winning this and becoming the first woman to do so! Yes, I feel like a contestant on the Biggest Loser, but that makes it exciting. The prize is nice too, but I am loving feeling healthy and strong again. And wearing cute clothes!!

Over the weekend I went shopping in my closet. You know, where you have your smaller sized clothes you have not worn in awhile but now you can fit and look smoking hot!! I know I am not the only one with a large size range in their closet. Mine starts as small as 3-4 and all the way up to 12 on a bad day. Well, not many 12s, I gave them all away when I lost the weight the first time. But I had maybe 2-3 things I could not part with (and my sister thinks I should save since I yo-yo between sizes so much). Right now I would say I am comfortable in 6-8.

Yesterday I had on size 6 jeans and the fit fine, except the push up my muffin top. Today I have on 8s and they are falling off! So I’m going to say I’m officially back to my 6s, which I am very comfortable in, and if I can stay a size 6 forever, I’d be happy! But I have more weight to lose, and so I will probably be a 4 again. Don’t want to go any smaller than that (well, not really, but for Camp Do More next year, I would love to be a 2…just to meet Chalene and look my absolute best)

Not really thinking about a “size” per se, or even a weight goal, but I want to be toned and sleek, with rocking abs and chiseled arms. To do that, I need to drop my body fat really low, so I will be working on that next year. Weight lifting will be my obsession.

No matter what the size on that tag says, I say be healthy!

Just Lose It Challenge: Still Holding Strong

My standing as of last week’s weigh-in is me still holding strong in THIRD place!


That’s awesome when you look at about 400 that signed up (though I am sure many have dropped out). What’s really great is I don’t have as much to lose, but I am pushing very, very hard to lose what I can each week and stay in contention. It’s getting harder and harder!

I had sushi and Tempura last Monday! I had a foot-long sub another day. It didn’t seem to mess up this week’s weigh-in, but could I have done better?

There’s always that question, and I say YES! No one is, nor should be perfect at this healthy lifestyle. You stumble along the way. You take a nibble here or there of the forbidden food, you skip a workout (never me, just saying), or you know you did not push yourself to really do more, you just went through the motion. I always think, if I am going to workout, I better sweat buckets and burn like 1,000 calories each time. You can do the same workout and burn 500, but if I know how to amp it up and burn more, then I’m going for it.
But the workouts are never my stumbling point….it’s the eating. I like food. I like a LOT of food!! I like good tasty food. But for this challenge, I am trying to stay as strict as I possibly can. To lose the most weight in 12 weeks and to WIN, you gotta do what you gotta do. So that said….no, my eating is far from perfect. I could do way better and my results would be even better.
Each week I try and do better. I’ve been doing just enough to keep me in top 10, but now I need to gun for the #1 spot!

Just Lose It Challenge: Go all in!

I will start a 12 week challenge starting tomorrow. I am going all in! The last few weeks I have been lax with my healthy lifestyle. Been eating frozen entrees, eating way too many not so good for me protein bars, snacking on pretzels a few of my kids tata tots and fries here and there….yes, you get the picture.

Although my workouts are always full out, my eating needs a lot of help. A LOT! I don’t have a whole lot to lose, but what I do have to lose is even harder to get off than someone who has to lose 100 pounds. The only way I know I can be successful is to eat totally clean, totally unprocessed foods.

I will drink 12+ cups of water a day. Twelve is my magic number. Anything less than that I am dehydrated. Most days I try and aim for 16, but on average 14 most days. I will *try* and stick to plain water, but I am addicted to Crystal Light and will add that to maybe half of it. Also, my first cup of the day will be warm water with juice of about one lemon in it. This is MAGIC to the body! Trust me, you have to make this a daily habit.

NO ADDED SALT! Very, very, very hard for me! I am a salt addict, forget the sugar, I’ll pick salt over it anyway. By eating more unprocessed foods, that will eliminate added salt to foods. When I cook my veggies…no added salt. When I eat my chicken, fish, even eggs….no salt. No boxed foods, no foods from a bag, no frozen entrees, all loaded with salt.

No sugar! I don’t add much sugar to things, but I will be cutting out any kinds of breads, cereal, sweet treats, cookies and candy. Which brings me to….

LIMITED CARBS! Cutting out all the bad culprit carbs, but keeping the good ones. Jeannette Jenkins thinks oatmeal should be the only carb for the day. Well, I’ll try and add that and a bit of quinoa and maybe Ezekiel bread. Everything else, I’m cutting completely out, at least for the next 12 weeks.
No cheese. Bad for my belly because I am lactose intolerant, plus, I like all the fatty cheeses! And I always overeat it! Two, it bloats you like crazy anyway.

I think doing all these things will help get me back to my goal weight in the quickest amount of time.

100-Day Exercise Challenge Day 17: Same old same old

I have been doing Wii since Saturday so no real new workouts to report.  I like it because it is fast, fun and not like a workout.  I am not burning as many calories as I would like, BUT I am burning more calories than if I do nothing.

Tomorrow will be another long day and time will be limited.  To do something different, maybe I will get on the bike for 30 minutes. 

Just get it done!

100-Day Exercise Challenge Day 10: 3-Week Boot Camp

I know I missed my blog on Day 9, but I did get in a "light" workout.  So today I did one of my new workouts, Denise Austin's 3-Week Boot Camp.  It's a cardio and strength training program and I like that.  I will be doing this for 3 weeks so that I can reap the results the workout claims "Trim inches and lose up to 2 dress sizes."

Now I hardly believe that, but I do believe that it is an effective full body workouts.  It's broke down into 2 workouts, and I was all ready to do them both, but it is recommended that you start with the Cardio and Strength Interval (20 min) for the first week, the second week do Athletic Training (20 min) and the third week do both.  So, I decided, to heck, do 20 minutes and then do another workout for the rest of my time.

Not to compare, but this is an easy version of 30-Day Shred.  The cardio is easier and the ST is easier.  So I recommend this for the newbie of someone who wants to work their way up to Jillian's workout.  But there are lots of push-ups, and jumping jacks, squats and moves where a beginner may need to take it down a notch.  Denise did not have a person doing any of the modified moves, and I think EVERY workout DVD should do that.

There is also a bonus 6 min Ab Fat-Blaster.  Lots of the moves worked the core and I like that. There were punches and squats with oblique twists and i like working my core like crazy.  I gotta say, not a fan of Denise Austin. n After two years of Beachbody trainers Shaunt T, Chalene and Tony with their high energy, and Jillian Michaels with her take-no-nonsense demeanor, Denise sounds like a little elf telling me what to do.  Her voice is so soft and does not carry much and she doesn't motivate you to keep at it.  That aside, the workout is still a good one.

So after 20 minutes I popped in the Wii determined to put some high score on the bored.  Still trying to perfect my Kung Fu and did not get any better.  I like the adding game and did unlock the Expert portion.  The obstacle course, that my kids like to cal the Wipe-Out game, I actually made it to the third course, but man, they cheat!  Kept saying I was jumping on the board and would start me over at the very beginning.  I got tired of that,

I also did the cycling game which I didn't much like the first time, but it was cool and definitely a workout.  I did about 28 minutes, and now I am pooped.  That's a total of 48 minutes, but I want to try and do 60 every day, so I need to get better.

ASK THE TRAINER: Flat Abs

Q: What can I do to tone my tummy and get flat abs?

A: Please give me a dollar for every time someone asks me this question! I’d be very wealthy. Why is it that most women are obsessed with getting the tummy flat as possible? Second would be toned arms and slim legs, but abs rank number one for nearly every female I run across. Either they are already thin and have a problem middle section, or they have a few pounds to lose, but mostly care about the waist line.

I blogged about this before here. Flat abs is so much more than doing 100 crunches a day. Those are nice, and go ahead and do them if you like. Doesn’t mean you will have that six-pack abs. To get the abs flat, it’ll take overall weight loss. No spot training, that’s just not going to work. Adding in abs training with total body strength training and cardio exercise, and now we’re getting somewhere.

But that’s not all! Didn’t think it was that easy, did ya? Flat abs won’t show under a layer of flab if you are not eating properly. And this involves eating no processed foods, following a clean diet and limiting foods that bloat or cause water retention. Eating 5-6 meals a day, spaced out every 2-3 hours, versus the standard three helps a lot. And you have to stick with the eating and fitness plan if you are really dedicated to getting the stomach tighter.

One more thing, genetics plays a role in how flat your tummy will be and if you can actually achieve a six-pack look. I know you didn’t want to hear that, but it’s true. A flat tummy is yours for the taking, just stay dedicated to get there.

I’ll have a part two to this question later this week with tips on how to achieve a flat tummy.

20 TIPS TO HELP YOU LOSE THE WEIGHT

1. Track everything you eat & keep within your calorie range.

2. Drink 8-10 glasses of water each day.

3. Veggies should always be the most abundant food on your dinner plate!

4. Use smaller plates at dinner time. Simple, but it works!

5. Measure & weigh everything & adhere to serving sizes for portion control.

6. Use spray butter instead of margarine.

7. Forgo the coffee creamer & drink the coffee black.

8. No sodas of any kind, including diet.

9. Exercise at least 30-60 minutes daily-7 days a week

10. Use a pedometer & walk a minimum of 10,000 steps daily!

11. Eat some type of fish twice a week & limit beef to 1-2 times a month.

12. Veggies, veggies, & more veggies! Raw, steamed, grilled, & sautéed!

13. Pack your lunch w/portable foods when you're out & about even on weekends!

14. Plan ahead when eating out...& take home 1/2 of your entrée.

15. Find a fitness buddy!

16. Keep bowls of fruits & vegetables on the counter & in frig. for easy access

17. Switch to turkey products for your burgers & sausages!

18. Use dabs of olive oil to sauté with & drizzle on veggies for grilling.

19. Focus on getting as many super foods into your diet as possible!

20. Use an all veggie soup to ward off hunger (no meat, legumes, or grains).

Weight Loss Journey in Numbers

I get so many people asking how much did I lose a week or how long did it take. I found my weight charts from years ago. Each month I would print out a chart, weigh daily (yes, not advised but so what), and jot it down. I would also make notes as to why the weight fluctuated (i.e., high sodium day, fast food day, TOM, feeling sick, or anything that may have factored a big change). By doing this, I could basically predict my weight after awhile.

I started in January 2008, but either I didn’t chart it or threw it away, but the first chart I found starts 9/27/08. I started at 161 in January and by September I was at 130. Here’s a weekly look at my numbers

9/27/08 130.0
10/4/08 130.0
10/11/08 129.0
10/18/08 131.2
10/25/08 127.6
11/01/08 128.2
11/08/08 127.2
11/15/08 124.0
11/22/08 125.6
11/29/08 125.2
12/06/08 125.0
12/13/08 124.2
12/20/08 127.2
12/27/08 126.4
01/03/09 126.0
01/10/09 123.2
01/17/09 124.2
01/24/09 123.4
01/31/09 122.0
02/07/09 123.8
02/14/09 122.8
02/21/09 123.6
02/28/09 120.0
03/07/09 118.8
03/14/09 118.8
03/21/09 119.0
03/28/09 117.6

So as you can see, lots of fluctuation. Lots of up and down. But look at the start and look at the end. From 130 to 117, but look how long it took to lose 12.4 pounds!! Imagine what the whole 43 looked like. I bolded the first weigh-in of the month just so you can see total monthly weight loss. Very small amounts.

But that’s just me and how I lose. But I got it DONE!! 10 pound losses a month are great, aim for that…but be realistic about it too. Don’t ever give up, because there is no finish line!

Set realistic goals

What I am finding that works for me, is not only do I have yearly goals (you may call them resolutions if you like) but also having monthly goals. You can break them down even further into weekly goals and daily goal (or also called To-Do list but more on that later.)

Let’s start with yearly goals, are as most of us would like to call it New Year’s resolutions. I think there is nothing wrong with making resolutions. It’s just your goals for the year. Most people want a significant amount of weight loss each year, financial status to be more stable, add in traveling that year, finish that project that has taken the back burner for years or something. A yearly goal/resolution will mean that you will achieve this SOMETIME in the year.

Monthly goals are where you can break it down even further. Want to lose 30 pounds? Break it down to 5 pounds a month here. You can also include how you will achieve this. No fast food for the month, pack your lunches every day, exercise, etc.

Weekly goal get even more detailed. For example, to lose 5 pounds a month, that’s about 1 pound a week, so set that as a weekly goal. Increasing your water intake to 8 glasses a day can be a weekly goal. Working out 45 minute every day is another weekly goal.

Daily goals, or what I like to call my “To-Do List” includes everything, even my non-lifestyle goals. I’ll put if I need to write a blog on my list (I have 4 different blogs), or that I need to write in my novel or screenplay, or that I need to go grocery shopping. I also put my exercise down, and if I know what I am doing I put what I will be doing.

Writing these goals down helps you to visualize it better, this leads you to actually achieving them. Go ahead, try it!

My Goals for October:
1. No late night snacking.
2. Total of at least 60 minute workout 6 days a week.
3. 14+ cups water a day.
4. Write something every day
5. Finish at least one ACE CEC this month.

If not at the gym, at home!

But just workout!! Why is it so hard for some people to workout? Why do we (me included) come up with some of the LAMEST excuses?

For the most part, I exercise daily. But then there are those days I come up with crazy excuses.
“Well, I ate good today, so I can skip my workout.”

“Well, I ate so bad today, why even bother.”

RIGHT!! I’ll admit it if you will!

When I belonged to a gym, I was obsessed with getting there EVERY DAY!! If I missed a day, I did not work out at all. So you know when that weather got bad, many workouts were missed. What a waste when I have oodles of workouts at home.

Actually, I really prefer workouts at home and have given up on joining gyms (well, not given up, but it’s not feasible now.) But I can get any great workout at home! Through DVD workouts, designing my own, dancing for 30 minutes, going walking in the park, and if I ever put it together, riding my stationary bike.

I get many people asking me which is better, the gym or at home. Only you can answer that. I like both and can get great workouts at either, but I PREFER home. Some people don’t feel motivated enough at home, they need the accountability of showing up at a class, or they need to make the rounds at the weight station. Do whatever works for you.

If you are a do-it-at-home type of person, make sure you have a variety of workouts that include strength training. Make sure you have several sizes of weight and increase the weights as you progress. Resistance tubing, weighted bars, gloves, barbells, and a bench are also nice to have for strength training. Other equipment to use at home is: stability ball, jump rope, step, resistance tube door straps, medicine ball and a mat.

All you need are a few DVDs in your collection to have a nice rotation. My faves are: Hip Hop Abs, Turbo Jam, Tae Bo, The Firm and P90X. But there are so many workouts out there, find something you enjoy and just do it!

Getting the weight off once and for good

"I'm a yo-yo dieter."

The bad term there is "diet." Most fitness professionals don't use the term, and I am one of those. Call it anything else but a "diet." I prefer "lifestyle change." The change part means, you are making some adjustments to your current lifestyle. You are watching your food intake, cutting calories, adding exercise, or whatever it is you need to do to lose the weight. The lifestyle part is simply what it says, this is not a fad or one time thing, this is something you will be doing FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!

Most people don't get this. They want the quick fix. They want that special occasion, "How can I lose 10 pounds for my (insert--reunion, birthday, anniversary, holiday, special occasion)."

Okay, fine, I can HELP you, but then what? Will you stop having a healthy lifestyle and continue eating what you ate before, and thus gaining it all back and then some? This is the "yo-yo dieter." They are doing temporary "diets" that really don't work. Anyone can lose 10 pounds quickly by doing one of those fad diets (if they stick to it by the letter), but after that period of time is over, have they learned how to stay healthy and at their ideal weight?

You want the weight off once and for good? Make it a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE. Don't cut out carbs in your lifestyle change if you know you can't permanently give it up. Cut back on it, eat whole wheat, watch your portion sizes. But whatever you do, don't cut out something that you know will be hard to give up. Moderation is the key.

Same with sugar, chocolate, salt, fast food, French fries (my weakness) and other foods that you crave. For me, I have French fries on special occasions, which is not that often, maybe once every two months or so (if that). Instead, I make a healthy baked fry, sometimes with sweet potatoes, and I don't miss the fried kind at all. Still have to watch my intake of those, but at least I don't feel too guilty about it.

Whatever your weakness is, find a healthier version, and keep it down to a low moderation. A health lifestyle does not mean you can't enjoy pizza once in awhile. It does not mean you can't go out and be social with your friends and have a drink. It does not mean celery sticks and bland foods either. Everyone's healthy lifestyle will be different from another, so don't try and copy what others do.

Do YOU, and I'll do ME!!

Before and Afters

This is probably the most important thing you ever will do. Take some pictures!! I took some that I thought I would never show another person. I mean, there were fat rolls and everything. Pretty gross. But guess what? Looking back, I am not that person anymore so they do not scare me. Well, in a way they do. They scare me to NOT ever go back there. Here is one of my befores....

Now here is my after. See what I am talking about. Take those pics and then post them proudly.