Monday, January 23, 2012

Thank You.





Today I was able to officially announce that I am now a size 8. Previously I was in a size 10 but there was a couple months where I probably should have been in a 12. Now I've been able to wear a size 8 from time to time in the past couple of months and even got into a couple size sixes, but it was never consistent or the pants were still a little too tight. This weekend though, I went shopping and purchased 3 pairs of work pants, all in a size 8 and all but one fit wonderfully. That last pair is going to be exchanged for a size 6, I'm convinced that the pants just run big. Regardless today was a huge milestone for me, I've been working at losing this weight for months and have yet to be at a consistent weight. Today I finally feel like I've got something to show for it. (aside from the feeling I get when I check myself out or the increase in energy) But I cannot, and will not, take credit for this milestone on my own. I could not have done this without the support of the people in my life. I'd like to take today's blog posting to ramble my thank you's to those people, who honestly, have never read my blog before in their lives but they will once I post this. (I hope) 


Nicholas - When I first started waking up at 4:30am, 3 times a week, alone, it was really hard to keep it up. But Nick did everything in his power to keep me moving and helped to make my mornings easier. He took care of the dogs, dealt with me waking up so early, packed my lunches the night before, and even packed my car for me every night. He listened to be bitch about the class and took me to my 5k's to watch me cross the finish-line. He put up with me being cranky or so sore that I couldn't do a thing once I got home for the evening. He has been my #1 fan, cheerleader, and support. 


Mary - After talking about wanting to join a bootcamp for months on end, I pretty much resigned that I wouldn't find one for awhile. Then one day while out scouting for work I happened to see Body Evolution and that was pretty much all she wrote. Without Mary pushing me to work harder, lift more weights, run faster sprints, and teach me that there is no can't. Since starting bootcamp I have run two 5ks, the first one I shaved 3 minutes off of my only race time previous to that and the second one I achieved my PR of 28:something. I've also taken my 1.5 mile time down to 13:00 flat, done 18 pushups and 22 assisted pushups in a minute, and increased my strength overall. She lights a fire in me every day and I love every moment of it. (she also wants me to do a figure competition, it is now officially on my bucketlist, but do not see it happening this year) 


Rachel & Jessie - I know it seems silly but I have a great internet relationship with both of these girls. I know both of these girls from college but I can't honestly say that they were girls I spent a ton of time with while in college. We knew a lot of the same people but rarely hung out but thanks to the wonderful world of Facebook we somehow connected on the exercise front. Through this relationship we have committed to keeping each other updated on what we're doing with our fitness and it always seems that one of the girls sends me an email when I've been struggling with keeping myself in check. It's just been so nice to have them to cheer me on and to be able to cheer them on as well, they're great motivators when the girls are moving and I'm not. Plus it's really hard to type excuses out and to make them sound legit. 


My Body Evolution Babes - Eva, Jill, Tonya, Lisa... I hope I'm not forgetting anyone!! I live for these girls some days. Tonya, Tonya, Tonya... Tonya was the first BEB to push me. I don't know what day it was or what we were doing but there was one day where she just called me out when I paused. She pushed me to finish more sets than I thought I could and then to end the day she threw the SHIT out of my legs. I loved it. I loved that she challenged me, she called me out, and basically just told me to suck it up and get it done. How can I argue with that? Eva... Pushes me so much. I feel like I have a similar body type to her and I feel like I have a healthy competition with her. If I'm not sprinting fast enough, she's calling me on it. If I'm using 10's instead of 12's or 15's, she's calling me on it. If I'm tired and resting, she's calling me on it. The best part though is that she's calling me on it and saying c'mon, let's do this. Jill & Lisa - These two are pretty much a package deal. They train with Mary and come to bootcamp, they sometimes do legs two days in a row, which I wouldn't wish on worst enemy. But these ladies do it and then come to bootcamp. Lisa knows how to make sure that I'm not slacking, she's so sly about it too. "You sure that's enough weight?" as Mary walks by... Damnit Lisa! :) Then Jill, she just tells me what to pick up, I don't even get a chance to try to go to lighter weight. I guess you can call these girls my fantastic four. Between the four of these ladies I couldn't get away with anything less than 100% and I wouldn't change a single thing about it. 
I don't want the other BEB to think that I'm not great-full for them either because I truly am, each and every person at BE has influenced me to be better and to do greater. 


My Family - My family has watched me go from healthy, to unhealthy, to healthy, and back to unhealthy, yet no one has made me feel any less loved for it. But let me tell you, the moment I started losing weight, they were the first to notice (Minus Nicholas) and the biggest cheerleaders (Minus Nicholas) of my progress. Even when I went home and felt super fat, they were all "you look so great". My family keeps me grounded and I would not be who I am today without each and every one of them in my life. My favorite part of it all is that they will all be there on our wedding day to see the results of all of my hard work. 




I hope that each and every one of you know how much I value our relationship, whatever type it may be. Without you in my life I don't know that I'd still be on the path that I am on. Yea sure, I did this, it's my hard work and commitment to myself but honestly, we all know that I'd be eating candy and sleeping in if I didn't have everyone to keep me in check. Please do not stop keeping me in check. I could not do any of this without each of you and hope that one day I can repay you for helping me get my health back. Oh and a slammin body as well. 

Friday, January 20, 2012

You Get Better

This is true. Truer than it's ever been. This week has been extremely challenging for me. Work has been insane, completely stressful and crazy, its awesome but draining. On top of that last weekend I got a horrible cold, couldn't shake it all week and now I've got bronchitis. So on Monday I did not workout because I was sick. Tuesday I did not workout because I was sick. I went to bootcamp on Wednesday. Started out with a nice and cold mile run, I'm pretty sure I ran it in like 10+ minutes, not my best showing. Luckily we did the remainder of the workout inside and luckily is a very loose term. It was leg day, which is tough to begin with, but Mary is trying this new method, which is great minus it's toughness. We did a rotation of cardio legs and stationary legs. I slept in on Thursday instead of working out. I wasn't too sore either, mostly because I didn't push myself because I was still sick and finally decided to go see a doctor. I did go to bootcamp this morning and I can tell that my body still needs to rest. Just about any running killed me and most of my strength was just missing. 
So I made the executive decision to take the remainder of the weekend off from working out. Tonight I did some laundry, cleaned the bathroom, and am now resting for the evening and planning on a bedtime here shortly. I plan on cleaning the entire house tomorrow and then Sunday just finishing up laundry if anything. My hope is feel healthy come Monday morning so I can get back to life. I can't wait for it to be warm again though. I've decided that I'm going walk my dogs in the mornings on Tuesday and Thursday instead of going to the gym, I'll still make sure I am doing incline walks on the treadmill at least once a week. 
I'm also pretty proud of my will power this week. I am really trying to remember how bad I felt about myself when we got back from Michigan. I mean I put on a good chunk of weight in the month of December and I just let it happen, I didn't even really fight back, it was awful. I never want to feel like that again. This is the promise I'm completely okay with making with myself. 




Happy Weekend. 

Monday, January 16, 2012

I Hate Vacation



Okay, so I don't really hate vacation but I hate what happens when you go on vacation. Well it might not happen to everyone but it happens to me... I get lazy! Like not just a little bit lazy, but a LOT lazy. We started vacation on Christmas Eve and finished shortly after New Years, this is far too long of a vacation. I went for a run the first day we were home, it was not that awesome and that was the end of that. Pathetic is right! 
I'm sure you're thinking, oh well that's not that bad, well you're wrong. It was that bad. I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. It's like once I break on something, the whole freaking damn breaks. 
Well I've been home for almost 2 weeks now and I've only made it through 3 of the 7 bootcamps that have been available for me. The first day back was the day after we got back from Michigan, so that was understandable. That Friday, I was sick, yay traveling, so I did not make it to that boot camp. I did make it to every boot camp last week and worked out on Thursday as well, with intentions of working out on Saturday as well. Then Friday showed her ugly mug, not all Friday's are ugly but this particular one was, she brought on the crud. By 3pm on Friday I knew that it was already too late, there was nothing left to do but wait for it. That night I had some rough sleep, with a fever capping 100. So I resigned to the couch and my bed for the weekend, vying to rest enough to be back to normal on Monday and I was right on course too. Sunday night I picked out my outfit, packed up my gym bag, picked out my workout outfit, and had everything in the bathroom, just waiting for the 4:30am alarm clock. Well around 1am my internal stomach alarm clock woke me up and kept me up for some time. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep about 20 minutes before the actual alarm clock went off. Now I'm hardcore, but I'm just barely getting better so today I deferred to better judgement and stayed home to sleep. 
So here we are, it is today, the last day of lazy. And tomorrow is the first day to reaching my goals. 
Goals you ask? Why yes, I have goals, they are as follows... 

  1. Get down to my goal weight (135) by the end of March 
  2. Workout 5 days a week
  3. Get my 1.5 mile time down to 12:00 by the end of March
  4. Have clearly defined calf muscles & triceps
  5. Pass the Air Force Physical Fitness Test (I just want to know I can do it, I don't want to join)
  6. No back bulge in my wedding dress
How am I going to do this you ask? By not being EASY!
It's time to start taking responsibility for my actions and working harder. One day at a time. 


Tomorrow's Plan of Attack
-Breakfast, Eggs over easy and coffee
-Snack, Fruit & Maple Oatmeal
-Lunch, Salad 
-Dinner, Pork Chops
-Snack if needed, SF Jello


I am hoping to update this daily or at least every other day.