Running On Empty...

...or so it feels that way.
My 8 month old son, Mason, has a "virus" which has had him running a fever therefore not sleeping...it's terrible. I say "virus" because I am convinced that's the doctors way of telling you that they don't have a clue what's wrong with your kid....it's so frustrating.  I am so spoiled (blessed/lucky) because Mason (who is my first, and probably only) is such a good baby.  He is happy all the time, almost never cries, and has always slept really well.  So this whole unhappy, crying, non-sleeping baby thing is new to me...and I must admit, I have not been handling it well at all.

His "virus" is such bad timing because yesterday was such an amazing day!
It started off extremely nerve racking!  I could not believe that I was about to post pictures of myself in a bathing suit on the internet and that I was going to tell all my friends "Hey, I'm fat!"  I tagged Jamie Eason in the post because she had posted that "inspiration" album and I wanted all of my friends to be able to see the album too.  I was floored when I saw that Jamie mentioned me in her status update!  Then rolled in all the positive comments...then the friend requests...then more positive comments!  Yesterday was absolutely one of the greatest days of my life!  I was so pumped!  I ate good food all day, I went for a two hour walk with a friend, then hit up Planet Fitness and had a great work-out!
I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to Jamie for putting me out there like that...without her doing that, I never would have gotten the response that I did.  It was scary to put it out there, but the response and support that I now have made it all worth it!

A lot of people asked me about what my nutrition and fitness plans were and, honestly, until I "met" Tameka yesterday, I had no set plans at all!  But she sent me over a great nutrition plan that I started today.
The first three days are a "prep".  Basically, dark green veggies, protein, two eggs, two oranges, tons of water, and NO CARBS!  Sounds terrible, lol, but it's only three days!  I will be singing a different tune tomorrow when I am going through carb withdrawal with a headache craving a Rita's Gelati!  Lol.

Rita's Gelatis!!!

Tameka shared with me that she lost seven pounds and seven inches after just these three days, so I am pretty excited and I plan on telling myself that every time I want to shove bread in my mouth!
She also sent me over a plan for after these next three days.  Doesn't seem too hard...basically just balancing everything.  I will post more details about it once I get there.
(I can forward the exact meal plan that was sent to me, just ask!)

As for my fitness plans, I don't have a set schedule with that either.
I know that I want to be at the gym five days a week and I want to do yoga on the sixth day.  I plan on doing yoga at home watching Yoga X (from P90X).  When I am at the gym, I basically do one exercise for each muscle group. One set of ten with light weight to warm up.  Then I do three sets of ten (my third set with enough weight that I can barely get out ten).  I do the leg press, seated leg curls, chest, lat pull downs, seated rows, shoulder press, tricep press, bicep curls, and glutes.  I also do the ab machine but I do five sets of twenty.
Tomorrow when I am at the gym, I will write down how much weight I am using so I can be more detailed.

I really do enjoy my time at the gym.  I used to hate being there because I always felt so self conscious.  But something that Andy told me that really helps is "I am there because I want to make myself better which is what everyone else is doing there too...some are further along in the process than I am, some are newer than me, but we are all there trying to be better."
It also helps that my gym, Planet Fitness, is the "judgement free zone"!
Lol.


Now...time to recharge.  Hopefully Mason sleeps through the night!
Goodnight!

Ugh...here goes nothing.

I posted this on Facebook as a note. In this note, I tagged fitness model, Jamie Eason. She then posted about it and because of her, I have gotten an overwhelming amount of support. As the friend requests started rolling in, I thought it might be a good idea to make a blog.

I am obviously thrilled about doing this, as you can see by the title, but please, bare with me.

Let me start off with a little background:

It's no secret that I am not a skinny girl and I have always had a battle with my weight and body image. I have started dieting and working out countless times, and give up on the whole program before I get the results that I want. There have even been times when I start to get some great results, and I still give-up on it.

So yesterday, I was looking through a photo album called "inspiration" posted by a fitness model (that I love), Jamie Eason. She had fans send in photos of their transformations, some fat to skinny and some who just had no muscle/tone and who are now very muscular. All of these people got to a point in their lives where they were done living life in that body and wanted to change. I want to make those same changes but never could stick with it, and it made me think, am I not at that rock bottom yet? How much bigger do I need to get before I hit that? How can I make myself hit that right now?! I don't want to get any bigger before finally getting to rock bottom. I want to change NOW. But how do I make this time different than every other time before?

I found that answer in Andy (of course).

He said that if I want this time to be different, than I have to do things differently than I have done before because, obviously, nothing has worked. He suggested making my goals public. Last night, he said "post your weight on facebook every day". I walked out of the room! And I was thinking "No way! How embarassing!"

Then I started thinking...Andy used to be 190lbs (he's 6'5" and he was way to skinny and looked gross) and over the past 4 years, I have watched him take control of his body. He wanted to bulk up, he bulked up. He wanted to trim down, he trimmed down. Anything he puts his mind to, consider it done. I envy that about Andy and wish that I could be more like that.

Well, all that being said, I realized that I would be a fool to not take his advice. I know he wouldn't steer me wrong and that he has my best interest at heart. I trust him and I know he will support me through this...he would support me through anything.

So here it goes:

I will post notes everyday about my progress. Current weight, measurements, gym time, work-outs (and probably feelings because I am female and we can't help but to interject our feelings into everything!)

March 29, 2011

Weight: 170 lbs.

Measurements:

Waist: 42 in.

Hips: 44 in.

Thigh: 26 in.

Biceps: 14 in.

Neck: 14 in.

I am also attaching pictures. Ugh. Yes...pictures. A bathing suit that I have had for years that I want to be able to wear (and look good in) this summer.