Day 169 - Mission 3 Phase 2 BEGINS!

Well it is finally here - the start of another SHRED! This will be my Mission 3 overtime since I did not fully realize all my goals from it yet, so I will continue on until I do so. The NY4 have decided to all shred together the next 8 weeks to get ready for summer, so we are unveiling the "New York Four Beach Body Shred" today, Day 1, which will run until Memorial Day weekend, Day 56, May 25, 2008. This shred will be my greatest ever, and will be successful because of the fabulous ladies I have have shredding along beside me: Debbie, Suzette, and Lilla. Check out their blogs and cheer them on!
My goals for this mission are outlined above, and I will reach or exceed all of them in the next 56 days NO MATTER WHAT! I will have two blog posts each day, one in the morning to lay out my plan for the day and post my daily pics, and one in the evening to show what I accomplished that day and post my daily accountability log. I also plan on doing some fun videos interspersed in there - at least one a week but hopefully more.
I will be using BFFM as my guidebook, as I always do, for all aspects of this mission, but also Precision Nutrition for the baseline nutrition and recipes, and Turbulence Training for the weights and HIIT.
So here's the scary part - I am committing to having my picture taken in a bikini with my car (aka The Shredder Mobile) at the end of the mission and posting the pics up here. That may sound weird since I already post pics of myself in a bikini up here every day, but this is different because the daily pics to me are more for documentation purposes, all business, and I routinely pick them apart viciously. These after pics will be fun and I will be happy with my body in them. That will be a change for me and makes me nervous, but in a motivating way. It's hard to explain, but I am going for something like this:



Only more muscular, not so skinny like they are - I couldn't find any with the right body and a car. My visualization picture for my body is this:

So, anyway, that's the big news that's been in the works lately. And here's my plan for the day, I get one point for completing it by the end of the day and none for not doing it, simple as that. I'll fill in the points in tonight's post:

DAY 1 OF 56	NOTES:	POINTS:
Meal #1?	6a - protein shake	0 or 1
Meal #2?	9a - omelet & oatmeal	0 or 1
Meal #3?	12p - grilled chix on salad	0 or 1
Meal #4?	3p - cottage cheese, carrots	0 or 1
Meal #5?	6p - chix & veggies	0 or 1
Meal #6?	9p - protein bar	0 or 1
Water?	96 oz - 16 oz/meal	0 or 1
Weights or Rest?	TT Intermediate A	0 or 1
Cardio or Rest?	TT Beginner Interval A	0 or 1
Sleep?	7-8 hrs	0 or 1
Accountability?	pics, blog, chart	0 or 1
Visualization?	1 hr AVP	0 or 1
	Daily Score:	0 of 12
	Cumulative:	0 of 672
	Compliance:	%

And here are today's pics:



*******UPDATE******
Oh, duh, forgot to put up my measurements!!
Starting fresh with these, no credit for previous loss allowed...

Weight: 149 lbs
Omron bf: 24.6%
Bicep: 11.25"
Chest: 35"
Waist: 28"
Stomach: 31"
Hips: 37"
Butt: 40.5"
Thigh: 24.5"

Day 163 - Let me first say thanks...

I have more to talk about later on today, but I wanted to start off by saying a HUGE HUGE THANKS to TOM VENUTO, author of BFFM and creator of the Burn the Fat Inner Circle, and to ADAM WATERS (shown here in his Men's Fitness debut), creator of Real Time Physique. It was such an honor and privilege to work out with you both and it means so much to me personally that you took the time to mentor all of the NY4 and continue to motivate us to reach every goal we have for ourselves. Without you, I would not be who I am today, not just healthier and looking better, but feeling better about myself and more able to reach for the things I want most in this lifetime. There are no words to be able to thank you for that inspiration but I hope that you see this and understand how much I appreciate your words of encouragement and look forward to opportunities in the future for further time together, on and off line. What you have done is so selfless and rare in this world that others tend to disbelieve that people like you still exist but I got to see it first hand and you both are the REAL DEAL!! So thank you from the bottom of my heart and if there's ever a time when I can do something to repay you even in a small part back what you have given to me please don't hesitate to ask. Everyone else out there who may be reading this, if you have fitness, weight loss, bodybuilding, or similar goals, or even other life goals that you are struggling to reach, read all that you can about and by these men and you will see how dedication, perseverance, honesty, and accountability REALLY work. Those of us who walk the paths that you have cleared for us are eternally grateful.
I also want to say thanks to the rest of the NY4 who traveled from far and wide to be a part of ECSS - it was great to meet you all and get further insight into your lives. Being able to share this journey with you, and looking forward to the many great journeys we have ahead of us, was and will be such a joy. Your stories have inspired and motivated me in so many ways and I appreciate you having the courage to put yourselves out there for the world to see, not knowing if you would succeed or fail, but following through on your commitment and becoming examples for others to follow in the process. Let what you have done so far stand as a testament to the triumph of human tenacity and let what we will do together in the future inspire many more to become as successful as you have and will continue to be. If anyone does not know who these impressive women are, please visit their blogs and get an education in inspiration.
Suzette, Debbie, and Lilla THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!

All of you at ECSS, thanks for the wonderful memories and I look forward to many more. See you soon!

Day 125 - Going Massive!

Okay, so after careful consideration of my goals (listed at top of page), upcoming events, schedule, and the comments of my fellow shredders, I have decided to go all-out with a full Metabolic Surge Shred starting tomorrow.
I feel that I have healed enough from my pinched sciatic (or whatever it is) to start full workouts again plus I just can't wait any longer, not working out makes me feel like such a slug. The final thing I am doing is getting a massage today to work out the last of the problem, but even if it isn't 100%, I am confident that I will be able to do what I need to do in my training. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, I appreciate the comments and advice in the past week.
And so the decision has been made for MS. I was really on the fence for a while, because, as Debbie said, it is a challenge to do the all protein and all fruit days (the worst parts) and the program is pretty rigorous, not a lifestyle type of thing but for sure a short-term solution. However, after reading through the program again, I believe that everything recommended in it is necessary for the kind of transformation that I am looking for over the next 36 days. And, as several of you mentioned, the workouts are excellent. Actually I never stopped doing the workouts while I have been on BFFM, just was a little less organized about them, because they are great and you never have to worry about adaption with them since they are all so different. I think that I can do the short-term sacrifice of harder nutrition compliance over 5 weeks for the long term gain of less fat and more muscle. Yeah, not much of a contest when I think about it that way.
If I really want what I say I want, I have to be willing to go all-out for it and I have been kind of half-hearted about it lately, thus the slowing of results. What was good about the last month was that I found out how to make this a lifestyle once I am at the goal that I have set for myself. And that's really a challenge for a lot of people, so I don't have to worry about that now, it's just that I was doing it a little prematurely.
So I am going for 100% compliance to the MS program, along with some added steady-state cardio as recommended in BFFM, for the next 36 days. That is the three full rounds outlined in MS before a 10 day rest/recovery period that I will take after ECSS. I am actually really excited about this, I feel like I have learned so much in this journey so far and I can really apply it to this mini-mission to end Mission 3 on the best note possible. This will all coincide nicely with the (semi-secret) things that Adam has planned for us to do on our blogs and his for this last push leading up to his big Day 500 and our ECSS. More on that to come soon.
For now, I am going to finish up my planning today and start with Day 1 tomorrow. What I have done is convert the MS pdf workouts to an Excel spreadsheet so I can make a few tweaks here and there that I have learned from my previous rounds, add in my SS cardio, and log the amount of weight that I am using for each type of exercise.
If you are unfamiliar with MS, you do different types of exercises, numbers of sets, reps, and times between sets each day, so you have several different amounts of weight that you can do depending on these factors. It's not like you just up the amount of weight you do for a particular exercise each time, it's all over the place, thus the need for more careful documentation. You only repeat a certain type of exercise every 12 days, when the next round begins, so there's a lot of flipping back and forth between pages to find your last weight, too if you don't organize yourself well enough. So that's why I made the spreadsheet for this time.
Also, the last time I did MS I did not plan my meals, I just knew what I my limits were for each day and kept it in my head. I know that I did well enough with that, because I had good results, but for this time, to both up the results and ensure compliance, I am planning my meals for a period of 12 days and repeating that for each round. That way there's no surprises and I won't get caught without the food I need for a particular day. This is where I have had trouble in the past, as far as sticking to the plan goes, but I know if I just commit to it and have it planned in advance I will do much better than spending time each day planning which is what I have done in the past. That takes too much time. So I will be planning up to my reward meal and then starting over again. With 12 days of meals, I know I won't get bored, plus the macronutrient rotation helps with that as well. I just have to remember that it's all short term and I can get through the hard parts.
The other issue that I have been dealing with is the fact that my husband is on BFFM with me and one of the big reasons I switched off of MS in the first place was so that both of us would be on the same eating schedule, but, again, this is only short term, and he is not willing to do MS with me (also afraid of the nutrient isolation days plus he's not good with low carb) so I will just make it work for the time that I will be on it. It's not long and it's not like I have to do something totally different, I just won't eat certain things I fix for him or add something to what I am having to satisfy the requirements of the day I am on.
Another reason I am going with MS is, as Adam said, the 12 day cycle really helps me from "taking off" on the weekends. Both nutrition and training-wise, I tend to give myself too much leeway on the weekends and it keeps me from getting the results I want. So the 12 day cycle really makes each part of the phase important, not related to which day of the week it is. With BFFM, we have been having our reward meal every Friday afternoon, and from then on it seems like things slide until Monday rolls around. This way, my reward meal will be every 12th day, whenever that may be, and when I go out to lunch with Jeff on Fridays it will force me to make smart decisions that are still on plan since it will not be my reward meal (most likely - haven't looked at all that dates yet). Also, having my reward meal in the middle of the day kind of gives me that mindset I was talking about avoiding in my earlier post about the "airplane principle" - that is, I tend to feel like the whole day is shot because I had my reward meal and just give up on it for the rest of the meals that day. Not a good thing to do, but sometimes I just can't help it. So putting my reward meal back on the evening of the 12th day like it was before will help with that since it will be almost the last thing I eat that day (planning on having a protein shake for an evening snack most days) and it won't be the flood gate opening for a weekend binge session. Amen to that.
The other little things (that aren't so little) that I am changing, or at least tracking better from the last time around are:
1) my protein intake - before I was not very strict with making sure I loaded protein during phase 3, so I will be watching that closely this time to have my 150g/day
2) pre- and post-workout nutrition - before I was doing my weight training fasted in the morning because that's just how I have been able to fit it in. I now realize that I will be more likely to burn muscle by working out without the proper building blocks in my body before and after, which will hurt my results. I will either do cardio in the morning if I am doing something fasted, or I will change my schedule around to allow myself to get in the proper nutrition before I train.
3) trying glutamine - I want to see if this does anything for me, I am not going to do the creatine because that is more of a weight-gain supplement, and I am not looking for that, but the glutamine is supposed to promote fat loss, so I want to give it a try.
4) tracking calories - this is something that I really loved about MS the first time, not having to track, and it is not really necessary if you are eating the right foods because it is tough to go over the calorie levels, but, like I said before, I am going all-out this time, so I want to keep my calorie count in mind when I am doing my meal planning to be sure that I don't accidentally go over. And, again, it won't be the drag that I have perceived it to be in the past because I will only be doing it once during planning and then just sticking to the plan (hmm, think I've heard this from Tom V?).
5) more intense HIIT - that sounds weird, I know, but I think I was really giving myself kind of a break on HIIT since I don't have any cardio equipment to gauge how hard I was working. On days when I didn't feel as well, I am sure that I was not where you are supposed to be whether it's maximal, sub-max, or near-max. So I recalculated my MHR and found the values where I think I should be depending on which type of cardio I am doing, and I will wear a heart rate monitor to make sure that I am not cheating on this. That's the only way I can think of to ensure a hard enough workout when I am just running in place, doing jumping jacks, using the punching bag, etc (the kinds of cardio I do at home since I have no equipment and I only have to sustain them for 1 min or less). Then for SS cardio I will be doing the Tae-Bo DVDs I have which are less intense so they can be done for longer amounts of time (30-45 min).
Okay, well I think that's everything. It's a detailed and optimistic plan, I know, but I feel very confident that I can do it given what is at stake here and the excellent accountability that you all in the ShredderSphere offer. Thank you all for giving me the confidence to feel that I can attain such a massive goal and giving me a reason and deadline to achieve it in (shout out to the NY4!). Keep on me guys, I am committing to posting every day so give me hell if you don't see me. Especially on the weekends, that's a tough time for me, so don't give me any slack! Talk to you all soon!
P.S. Here are yesterday's pics...

Day 123 - I'm Back Baby!

Well, I'm kind of back, but I have got to get some progress, I am falling behind! First good news (and a sign that I need to get focused) is that I have been able to take pictures again! Just when I had given up hope of finding my memory card, who finds it but star of stage, screen, and all my videos, Jedi! He was digging in the back of the couch and when I yelled at him to stop, he ran off with something small and blue in his mouth. When I retrieved it from him (all it takes is a cookie, he's easy, and he doesn't chew, just steals things he knows aren't his and runs off) it was my trusty memory card! So it had my pics from days ago the last time I saw it and then I took pics today so yay! I don't think I'll bother to go back and add pics to my past posts just yet but at least I have them for progression videos and such.
Second thing was bad news, but still a sign that I need to get focused, and that was my pushup count today. I could only get in 37 when my PB is 41. Not good. I have to get back on top of that, it's one of my real motivators, so that's going to be a priority these next 5 weeks.
So what's been on my mind is how to really ramp things up and reach my goals that I have set for ECSS. I also want to explain ECSS to those of you who may not know what it is about if you are not following all the other blogs associated with mine. I don't have a lot of time to got through both of those things right now, but suffice it to say that I am thinking of going back on Metabolic Surge for one more round because if I start soon, I will be just through my 36 days by ECSS. I have been back and forth about it, but I feel that if I want a big change I need make some big changes, and BFFM has been mainly about maintenance for me so far. Not that I do not like it - I think it is ideal for the long haul, but for the short term results that I am looking for, I think that MS is the thing, then I can stick to that size with BFFM as a lifestyle. MS is in no way a lifestyle. And not that I have been compliant enough with BFFM to really see a big difference, but I think that I will be happier in the short term with MS for just these last weeks before the big day. Any thoughts on this? It is a difficult program to do, but I did get good results on it before, and if I am very high on compliance with it, even higher than in Mission 1, I think that I can still reach my goals I have set for myself. That would be ideal. So I'm still in the planning stage of this whole decision, will be for sure on it some time this weekend because I have to start by Monday to get all the time in, sooner if possible, so I'll be back with more info soon. Stay tuned! For now, here's my pics (finally!). I think that I may even have made some improvement since day 100, surprising to me since I haven't had much change in the numbers, but I think I can see some progress so I am for sure happy about that. More tomorrow - talk to you all soon!

Day 122- Sidelined!

So sorry I haven't been posting but there hasn't been much to talk about - after my great cardio workout on Friday apparently I irritated or somehow pinched my sciatic nerve and have not been able to work out since. It sucks! Less than 6 weeks until ECSS and I can't shred! AAAAAHHHHH! Anyway, I have been extra careful about my nutrition compliance so I hope to be staying somewhat on track but doing only calorie restriction and not working out just doesn't seem to do it for me. Anyway, hopefully I will be able to work out soon, the pain has eased but has not gone all together and I don't want to re-injure it and be back at square one. I think I will do an upper body workout first to get something in, and also to get back on track with the pushup challenge, but for now don't know when the lower body workout or the cardio will be able to continue. Even sitting I get twinges in my hip and leg all the time. And not a lot you can do about it as far as I know, my husband had something similar happen to him last year and all they did was give him muscle relaxers. So I didn't bother to go to a doctor and have just been taking ibuprofen occasionally. Anybody have any other advice on this? Crazy, it seems like every time I get things rolling in the right direction and on all 8 cylinders, something happens to mess it up. Well I'm trying not to let it get me down, or cause me to eat badly because that is the only thing I am in control of right now. Like I said in my last post, all I can do is control my reaction to the situation so I am just making the best of what I can and praying to be able to move on soon! Talk to you all later!
P.S. Still have not found my memory card for my camera - I have no idea how I lost it, but I am going to have to give in and get a new one I guess, so new pics soon!

Day 117 - The Airplane Principle and E+R=O

Hey sorry I have been kind of scarce lately - things are actually going really well but I have been accomplishing so much that I haven't been on the computer much. Funny how that goes hand in hand :) Anyway, just wanted to do a quick update to say that I am feeling good, getting my cardio in and had Jujitsu twice this week so my workouts have been great, and have been eating well since I am planning more ahead for things. Still working on tweaking all of that so it works just right, but definitely making progress.
I have been in major de-clutter mode lately, and it was funny because Oprah had a thing on yesterday about how the clutter in your house can make you fat and I thought hey, I'm already improving on both those counts. But it was interesting, the point was that there is an underlying reason if you have a really messy house and it transfers to a really messy (i.e. FAT, UNHEALTHY) body because you are not dealing with the core issue and you are not taking care of the things you own or yourself. So I don't really know what the underlying issue is for me, but I am cleaning both up and I am feeling spectacular! :) Having a room in my house clean, neat, and orderly is much like stepping on the scale and having the number be lower. I just get excited and feel so much better about everything. So I don't know if the two are necessarily the reason for each other, but they are definitely related.
Anyway, I am just feeling really TOGETHER for the first time in a while and it is the combination of taking control of my health, my schedule, and my home. I had really just let everything go because for some reason I felt like if one area was messed up, I might as well just let everything else go. Not consciously, of course, but certainly subconsciously. It's like that damn voice in your head that tells you the whole day is blown because you had one wrong food or even one wrong meal, so you might as well just go buck wild and start over the next day. Or next week. Or quit. I still fight that voice some days, especially when I am tired or not feeling well. But it is such a lie. Every minute is a chance to start over again, so when one thing goes to crap, because things will, it is not an excuse to throw your hands up and give up on the whole day, week, plan, whatever. Just stop, forgive yourself for the issue (if it was you that did it in the first place - of course sometimes it is out of your control) and start fresh RIGHT THEN. And I'm talking about mainly the little things - there are major things that can really throw you off track and there's nothing you can do about that, just get back when you can, but I'm talking about the daily life that we let get in the way of our goals and dreams. That kind of stuff will just keep coming up, stealing our destiny, if we let it.
So I guess what I've learned is that small corrections along the way are easier than having to make that big change later on down the road when you wake up and realize you are WAY OFF TRACK. I guess I'm just thankful that I am realizing it in many things, not just in denial like I was before. The weight loss was the first thing, then the house, and next is my business. So I am excited about the future. Because this knowledge of the past mistakes I've made will only help me the next time I find myself facing one of those "give up" moments. Because when you find yourself making changes, any progress you have is better than where you were before.
Once I heard an analogy concerning this about an airplane. You get on a plane with a flight plan for a specific destination, say Las Vegas, and as as soon as you get going, the plane is pointed more toward Denver because things happen to push you off the most direct course to get you there: wind, weather, air traffic restrictions, whatever...you never fly in an exact straight line from point A to point B. So when you get up there and get off course, do the pilots say "well we aren't pointed directly toward Las Vegas, I guess we have to give up on this flight, turn around and go back" or "we better land here in Dallas because everything is against us today to make it there in a direct line, we'll have to wait for a day when the conditions are perfect" or even "we're headed toward someplace else now, so I guess we are going to go to Denver now instead of Las Vegas, even though everyone here wants to go to Las Vegas." No, they don't say any of those things, they make small corrections during the flight to ultimately get the plane to Las Vegas. There may be times when they have to go WAY off course, if there is a severe problem, but eventually they make it to Las Vegas because that's where everyone said they wanted to go. The path they took to get there may have changed, and maybe even the time frame, but the goal never changed, and they kept toward that goal in some way with every move they made.
So when you have your goal and you have your plan, don't be a slave to the plan and lose focus of the ultimate goal. Changing a part of the plan doesn't negate the reasons for making the goal in the first place. You won't be happier going to another or lesser goal if you really wanted to reach that original goal in the first place. Giving up and going back should never be an option. Stopping and waiting for the perfect set of circumstances in order to start again is just an excuse, because perfection will never arrive. You have to make it happen. No matter what you do in the process that's not in the plan, no matter how lost you get on the way, no matter how long it takes you, no matter what anyone else says about your goal, you must be determined to get there NO MATTER WHAT. That must be where that phrase comes from: no matter what...(fill in the blank)...because there will always be something standing between you and your goal. If there wasn't, you would already have achieved it. It might be mental, physical, spiritual, financial, social, personal, any number of things. But if you really want what you have visualized your future to be, if that dream is in your heart, it is there for a reason. We were not meant to dream big dreams and struggle all our lives, never to have reached them. We were given big dreams to fight for our right to have them, celebrate when we get them, and then dream another big dream to go after.
We are the only creatures on earth who have the capacity to set goals for ourselves. Every other living thing acts on stimulus/response and instinct. We alone were made to be more, to rise above instinct and reactions and choose our destiny. There is a formula that Jack Canfield writes about in "The Success Principles" that is simply E+R=O. What that stands for is Event+Response=Outcome. Events happen to us. We do not have control over them. All that we can control is our Response to them. And that is what will determine the Outcome. We alone in this world are able to change our Response to the Events around us and get a different Outcome. If I get sick, I cannot control that, it is and Event. If I CHOOSE to Respond to it by being negative and deciding that I will give up on my weight loss plan because I am unable to exercise for a few days, my Outcome is obvious: failure to reach my goal. True, you can't help how you feel when you are sick, and if you really can't work out then you should not. Notice that I was talking about your attitude regarding that fact that you missed some workouts or didn't eat right. If you can control your Response enough even to know when you are really sick enough to not workout or eat something different versus just giving up because you are not feeling 100%, that's the first type of Response I am talking about. But the second is also important: after that Event has passed, or even during it, what is your attitude? Do you see it as a reason to stop? Or do you determine to pick right back up where you left off and keep a positive attitude the whole way through, much improving your situation? Your Response could be to ride out those days that you are truly sick enough to take a few days off, then get right back at it, and your Outcome will still be the eventual achievement of your goal. The time line may get pushed back a little, but in the grand scheme of things, does anyone really notice that you made your goals a week or month later than you said you would? And for larger goals, even being off by a few years, once you are there, I think the only person who notices you weren't there last year is you. Anyone else who is truly looking out for your best interests doesn't care WHEN you do it, just that you DO IT.
All of this makes me think of Christy, who had a series of bad Events happen to her, but her Response to all of that was very different than most people would have taken. She has chosen to work through all of the excuses she could have, and that most people would really grant her to use, and instead be positive, active, and in control of her Outcome. She is a perfect example of what I am talking about. Has she had setbacks? Of course. But she has not allowed them to interfere with her ultimate goal, and has adjusted as things have come up along the way. That is what makes her so inspiring, and why I think people are usually so in awe of most of those kind of "overcomer" stories they may hear about. Whether it's someone who was told they would never walk again, or die of cancer, or anything, and they beat the odds, it's for sure because they decided that although they cannot control the Event, they were going to control the only thing they could, their Response, and thereby trigger a much better Outcome. Is it always the Outcome we desire? Nope. That's how life is. But often our plans have flaws that we do not see, and the unexpected Outcome is as result of this, but for sure the Outcome we get by having a good Response is better than the Outcome of a bad Response. And the unexpected Outcome we may get can turn out to be even better than we had hoped for, because we cannot even imagine all of the forces that come together to shape our destiny.
What we want in life is out there. For all of us. I don't care what your past has been like or your circumstances are right now, you can change your Response and get a better Outcome. And by doing that over and over with each Event that occurs and each goal we have for our life, we will slowly work our way out of the situations that have a hold of us or the past that haunts us, turn our back on all of that, and face forward to our best days yet. Just hold on, keep pushing, stay positive, and don't ever ever EVER give up.

Day 114 - Wrap up of the day and AL

So I don't know why I am having such trouble keeping up with tracking this, but I'm going to just keep trying until I get it right. Today felt good for exercise but not so much on the accomplishing side of things. I have decided that, in order to get in my SS cardio, I am going to do that for my morning workout and do my weights in the afternoon. I hope that this will work better than trying to do it the other way around because that was just not happening. One of the reasons was because once I am ready for the day, I don't like to get that sweaty again (I know, I'm such a prissy girl...) but if I do the weights later on, it isn't as bad as cardio. Also, I think that sometimes my weight workout suffers because I do it fasted in the morning and I need more protein to be able to lift more so I'm moving to a better spot in the day since fasted cardio is usually good. All things I was reminded of by Adam, so thanks! So I will be doing my weight workouts Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through Sunday and then Jujitsu as my second workout on Tuesday and Thursday. That should get me a lot closer to my goals as well as if I am able to better plan my meals. Those are my two biggest goals right now as far as my mission goes. Anyway, here's what the AL says:
1) Sleep: Target (2) I'm giving myself a target even though I got up at 6:30 because I have been helping Jeff in the mornings anyway and I went to bed last night at 10, so that's still good.
2) AVP: Minimum (1) Still working on getting this in more often - I can definitely tell a difference when I do it more often.
3) Nutrition: Target (2) I had 5 meals and I didn't actually track the calories and ratios but I know that I was not over, however I need to plan ahead more often so I don't run into the problem of not knowing for sure.
4) Workout: Outrageous (3) I finally started SS cardio today!! Yay me!! And I had my first Jujitsu class since the middle of December so that counts as a double workout and even though I didn't do the pushup challenge today I am giving myself a 3 for the day.
5) Prospect: None (0) Getting to this...eventually...I know, I know...
6) IPAs: Target (2) I dropped off one order for $50+ and got another order for $40+ so I'm calling that enough earnings to make my target.
7) Vitamins: Minimum (1) Only vitamins today.
8) Water: None (0) Got in less that 32 oz.
9) Project: Target (2) Mom came again today to help me out and we worked on finishing up the kitchen. Next it's on to my computer room/first office so I am looking forward to getting that done!
10) Accountability: Minimum (1) Only giving myself a 1 for the day because even though I did two postings I didn't get up my pictures and didn't read anyone else's entries.
Total for today = 14
GRAND TOTAL = 36

Tomorrow I have jury duty again so we'll see if the day is productive at all but I'll be checking in hopefully by the afternoon. See ya!

Day 114 - Good news & bad news

Okay, well this is interesting...

Weight: 151 lbs (loss of 0# this week, 1# in M3, 15# overall)
Omron bf: 24.7% (loss of 0% this week, 0.4% in M3)
MS bf: 18.6% (loss of 0.2% in M3, 4.5% overall)

Bicep: 11.5" (GAIN of .5" this week, GAIN of .5" in M3, LOSS of 1" overall)
Chest: 35" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 1.5" overall)
Waist: 28.25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 2.75" overall)
Stomach: 31" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 3.5" overall)
Hips: 37.5" (loss of 0" this week, .25" in M3, 3.5" overall)
Butt: 41" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 2.5" overall)
Thigh: 25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M2, 3" overall)
Total inches: GAIN of .5" this week, GAIN of .25" in M3, LOSS of 17.75" overall

If you'll notice all of my measurements were the same with the exception of my biceps. I guess I am happy with that because I know I really was off plan for about 4 days of the week and still I did not gain so I have to be glad for that. My progress has really ground to a halt, though, so I have to be more disciplined about everything and get that SS cardio in so I will get back on track for ECSS. Then there's the arms, which are not bigger because of fat but because of muscle. I can tell by looking at them. All of those pushups must be helping them or something so yay for that. If you check out my video from yesterday I think you can see what I am talking about. I watched it when I was editing it and I was like HEY are those my arms? :) It's funny how when you are losing weight you don't want to see the measurements go up but in this case I am happy. So that's it for this morning, doing Tae Bo for my SS cardio workout today and see how I do with that. Still need to find my heart monitor but I'll just do it the old fashioned way for today. See ya!

Day 113 - Video!

Well I thought I would do a video today because I was pressed for time so here you go...I have mysteriously lost my camera's memory card with my daily pics for the last few days on it so I don't have them for now but I'll find it tomorrow hopefully. Have a great day!!

Day 107 - Accountability for the day

Okay here's my AL as promised, though a little late...
1) Sleep: Minimum (1) I got up at 6:30 and went to bed last night at 11.
2) AVP: Minimum (1) Getting better on this... :)
3) Nutrition: Minimum (1) I had 3 meals because I was running around all day and didn't bring any snacks with me, and I went to my mother-in-laws for dinner and didn't have a choice as to what to eat there so dinner was not good but I had not eaten that much throughout the day so I think that the calories at least were not over. Not a good thing to do, though, I know...
4) Workout: None (0) Like I said above, I was running around all day but did not make time to do my workout in the evening once I was home so that's not good but I'll just take that as my rest day and skip the upcoming one.
5) Prospect: None (0) Getting to this...
6) IPAs: Minimum (1) No income yet, but I did talk to a customer about an order for later on this week so yay me!
7) Vitamins: Target (2) Had my protein shake and vitamins this morning.
8) Water: Minimum (1) Got in 64 oz or maybe a little less...still working up to this one.
9) Project: Outrageous (3) So like I said yesterday I am changing my plan on this one, need to get a hold of the chaos in my house before I can do the other things I was planning on, so I put that at the top of the priority list and got to work on it for 2 hrs! I have also enlisted the help of my mom who is a super organizer and cleaner so she's coming over tomorrow afternoon and we're putting in some more time and are going to keep working on it this week until done. Then hopefully I can finally concentrate on my business with all of this clutter out of my life. Also I finished my wedding picture collage I have been meaning to do for oh...3 years...so it felt good to finally get that DONE!
10) Accountability: Target (2) Pics are below although late but I'm giving myself 2 for it anyway!
Total for today = 10
GRAND TOTAL = 22

I improved on my total! That's a step in the right direction at least...here's my pics!

Day 107 - Morning measurements

Well I was excited when I weighed myself and did the Omron, but it went downhill from there...
Weight: 151 lbs (loss of 1# this week, 1# in M3, 15# overall)
Omron bf: 24.7% (loss of 0.4% this week, 0.4% in M3)
MS bf: 18.6% (GAIN of 0.2% in M3, 4.5% overall)

Bicep: 11.25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 1.5" overall)
Chest: 35" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 1.5" overall)
Waist: 28.25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 2.75" overall)
Stomach: 31" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 3.5" overall)
Hips: 37.5" (loss of .25" this week, .25" in M3, 3.5" overall)
Butt: 41" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M3, 2.5" overall)
Thigh: 25" (loss of 0" this week, 0" in M2, 3" overall)
Total inches: loss of .25" this week, .25" in M3, 18.25" overall

So I lost very little in the inches department and because of not losing any at my waist but losing a pound, the MS bf calculator says I gained body fat. But Omron says I lost so I am confused...
But it's only one week's worth of measurements so I won't get too caught up in it because the trend is still good.
My husband is starting to get a little discouraged because he has only lost 5# since the beginning of January but we haven't done his new measurements yet and he has been lifting 5 days a week so he has got to have lost inches and body fat. I hope so, I don't want him to give up.
Well that's the AM report, got places to go, people to see, things to do so I'll be back later with more of my inner monologue, my pics, and my evening AL. See ya!

Day 106 - Not waiting for perfection

Hello everyone! Today was an interesting day...I was so focused on getting my workout done I forgot to do my weigh and measure this morning! No idea where my head went, but I'll get it done tomorrow morning. I did do my pushups today, though, after not doing so well last week, but I didn't have time to video it. But I hope you believe me when I say that I did 40!! Yay me!! After I finished I wished I had made time to get it on video but no big deal, I'll have more next week and it will be even better! I am so glad that I decided to get in on this challenge with you other shredders - it has really given me a lot of confidence that I can improve quickly and visibly in an area. It's something that I have really needed lately.
Anyway, so I thought that although I am still not where I want to be preparation wise for a lot of things, I am going to start back up the accountability log because I have to just get started and improve from there. If I wait until things are perfect, I will never start, and that is something I am really struggling with so bombs away I am going for it now anyway even if I don't get any points in a day. But today I think was not too bad for not really even deciding to track it until right now. So here's that for today:
1) Sleep: Minimum (1) I got up at 6:30 and went to bed last night at 11.
2) AVP: None (0) HAVE TO DO THIS MORE!!!
3) Nutrition: Target (2) I had six meals within 5% of my ratios except I was under on calories but that's not bad I'm not hungry plus I wasn't exact so that's good...
4) Workout: Target (2) I did skip part one of my antagonistic supersets plus my Monday pushups.
5) Prospect: None (0) Still need to do much more of this but have a better plan in place instead of the beating myself up thing I have been doing...more on this later...
6) IPAs: Target (2) Worked my accounting consulting and made $100.
7) Vitamins: Target (2) Had my protein shake this morning and getting my vitamins now!
8) Water: Minimum (1) Got in 64 oz or maybe a little less...still working up to this one.
9) Project: None (0) Didn't work on the DVD at all, again have a better plan for this I'm rolling out tomorrow...
10) Accountability: Target (2) Posted today's and yesterday's pics and this is my AL but need to do the measurements for tomorrow. Didn't see everyone's blog but did some of them.
Total for today = 10
Starting over on the grand total but still have the same incentives in place. Need to do much better than 10, but I have to start somewhere so I'm just glad to be back keeping track of this.
Okay, gotta go, dog's having a fit, more info tomorrow, and here's today's pics:

Day 104 - Not much to say...

Well wanted to make a quick post to say that things are going well, had my reward meal tonight so feeling good! Have been working lately on getting my Jujitsu class a place to practice again so that's taken up a lot of my time and still trying to figure when I am going to work in my extra cardio. Actually I am behind anyway because I didn't do my workout today but really I'm not worried because I continue to feel good and make this a part of my life instead of a "program" so it's all good. I'll fit it in tomorrow and keep trucking along. I have pics to put up too but not right now, so I'll be back later...

Day 102 - A pint low

So I gave blood this morning after my workout, had to time it right so I wasn't missing any workouts since I can't do strenuous activity for 24 hours. Last time I messed myself all up but it's good now. Tomorrow is HIIT only and reward meal day so it will work out well. As I said in my day 101 post, I have decided that I want to incorporate steady state cardio into my routine to get some better, faster results. After looking at what Tom V has to say about it, I decided that I want to shoot for 30-45 min 5-6 days a week. That might be negotiable depending on time and the way the HIIT workouts are scheduled in MS. As I have said in the past, I am a cardio hater, especially steady state, but I really think it is necessary for me to get as lean as I want to. Also, that is what I was doing when I got down to 17% bf before, so I know that it works for me. But then I had a gym to work out in, and I usually did elliptical, which is pretty much the only machine I can stand and still my feet fall asleep on that one. I don't know what it is but I don't like it. But I don't have an elliptical at home, won't be buying one either, so I am going to have to use my tae-bo DVDs and hope that will be interesting enough to keep me going. I think so. And they are pretty hard so I think that my heart rate will be high enough to qualify. Have to get a new battery for my heart rate monitor, though, because I like using it and then I can be sure that I am in my target zone and not wasting my time. The only thing left to decide is when I am going to fit that in. My weight training usually takes 45-60 min in the morning and that is usually the only time I have to work out. If I try to fit something in later on in the day, it doesn't usually happen. Plus in the evening I usually have something going on away from the house so I don't know what I can do about fitting it in, I just know that I need and want to do it to reach my goals. I'll have to take a look at my schedule and get back to you about the decision on that one. I also lowered my calorie levels because (DUH) I have lost weight and have not recalculated since the beginning so my TDEE was lower. So I have that fixed now. I don't think I was eating too much anyway because honestly I rarely hit my daily intake anyway, I was always under.
Still slowly but surely creeping toward putting my accountability log into action as well, I know it seems crazy that I have it all set up but I just am not in a place to do everything on it just yet. I am getting closer and I will be all-out when I do get it going, so that will be soon. Promise. I know I know, I should just start but I am somewhat of a perfectionist and I hate starting something before it's all set up, that's why I didn't get it going the first time I wrote about it, so I'm just going to allow myself to be that way for this for now and I will get it all going and then work on the perfectionism thing. One at a time :) So I don't think all of this makes much sense, but I am feeling a little fuzzy today anyway so maybe I'll be better tomorrow.
I also wanted to say thank you to all of you who have been commenting on my posts - I have not been too good about commenting back lately but I do appreciate and really look forward to hearing from all of you so THANKS! I'll be better at responding to them individually from now on. I can barely keep up with all of this, I have no idea how Adam does all he does...Anyway, off to check up on everyone now, talk to you soon! Here's my pics:

Day 101 - Mission 3 Pics

Just pics today...new goals are at the top of the page and I think I am going to start doing some steady state cardio because I was looking at everyone's discussion about it and at BFFM so I think I need to do it to reach my goals. More on that later. Oh, also here is my pushup video from this week - only did 35 so a little disappointed at that but still aiming for 70 by ECSS!! I am still also not going down as far as I would like to, I notice in the video and then it doesn't seem like I do it the rest of the week. Who knows, I'll work on it. Maybe I'm just a cheater! Those last few were pretty crappy. Oh, well I'm still working on it! My dog stars in this one, too, he was very interested in the camera...anyway, here's all of that...

Day 100 - Pictures!

Okay so here are my Mission 2 comparison pics next to my Total Mission pics over the 100 days. I have looked at them too much (feeling your pain Christy!) and I have got to stop so let me know what you all see because I am still disappointed in my lower body. My top half and my bottom half are like two different people! And still not seeing the muscle definition I would like to. Still a work in progress, obviously...

Day 100 - The journey continues...

Okay, here's the harsh truth:
Weight: 152 lbs (loss of 1# this week, loss of 4# in M2, 14# overall)
Omron bf: 25.1% (loss of 0% this week)
MS bf: 18.4% (loss of 1.3% in M2, 4.7% overall)
I am a little concerned about the body fat tests being the same as last week because I lost a pound but yesterday was all fruit so that probably has something to do with it...

Bicep: 11.25" (loss of 0" this week, .5" in M2, 1.5" overall)
Chest: 35" (loss of .25" this week, .5" in M2, 1.5" overall)
Waist: 28.25" (loss of 0" this week, .75" in M2, 2.75" overall)
Stomach: 31" (loss of .25" this week, 1.5" in M2, 3.5" overall)
Hips: 37.75" (loss of .25" this week, 1.25" in M2, 3.25" overall)
Butt: 41" (loss of 0" this week, .75" in M2, 2.5" overall)
Thigh: 25" (loss of 0" this week, .5" in M2, 3" overall)
Total inches: loss of .75" this week, 5.75" in M2, 18" overall

Here were my Mission 2 Goals:
1) Continue to treat myself well mentally and physically, focusing on the joy of the journey. I did alright on this one, got caught up in the numbers some and gave up a little some days, still having mental games so still needs work.
2) See muscle definition and fat loss difference in my photos from day 57-day 100. I'll let you guys be the judge of that when I put up my pics
3) Achieve weight of 140 pounds, putting my total loss at 26 lbs. Still have 12 lbs to go to this goal, so I was way under, but I did continue to lose and did not gain during the holidays so compared to other years it was great.
4) Lose 25 total inches anywhere on the body. Still have 7 inches to go on this one but, again, the numbers are going down, just slowly, and if I would have been totally focused it would have happened so I'll just keep it going at a better pace.
5) Achieve body fat of 17% or less. This one was a little ambitious to start with, I am 8% higher than that but when I get down to 140, I should be close.
6) Increase the amount of weight I can lift in all workouts of the MS program. I did do this one, though it's hard to track because of the number of different exercises and set/rep counts in the program, but I know I am stronger because of the pushups as well!
7) Fit into my 30" jeans and one of my size 6 dresses. Not there yet, gotta keep working at it, but I did fit into some of my size 6 pants the other day (they were stretchy so more forgiving) and I can remember when I was really bulging out of them so there's improvement, just not enough!

So basically, I have continued to lose a little at a time but I am a little frustrated at the slow pace. I know it is my own fault because of my on-and-off compliance, so I just have to realize that if I were to totally (or at least 95%) stick to my plan, I would probably see faster results. Right now, I see my two biggest issues as: I am taking too many rest days and I am not usually planning my food intake for the weekends. Although I still feel that I make good decisions, it is hard to tell when you aren't counting everything up so I need to do that instead of guessing.
I'll be back later with my goals for the next mission, my pushup video, and my pics so until then have a great day!

Day 99 - Prepare to celebrate

Well it's the last day of my big mission and of mission 2. Tomorrow I will do my final measure / weigh-in to see what my stats for the first 100 days are. I am both excited and nervous because I don't think I did as well as I could have. But as with everything, it's a work in progress. I haven't taken pictures for a few days so I could have a reveal tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. I have been doing well with my program with the exception of the fact that I worked my legs so hard two days ago that I have barely been able to walk since then. I tried to do my workout Saturday and could only get through part of it because I felt so dizzy and the since then I have been so sore it has been a struggle. But hey I guess that means I was really pushing myself, huh? Anyway, hopefully by tomorrow I will be able to work out. I need to do some cardio and that just hasn't been an option for a few days. Also, today was an all-fruit day so no workout to conserve muscle loss. I also skipped the pushup challenge because of this so I'll have that for tomorrow as well. I did well with the fruit except that I did have some salad for dinner but it was still all carbs, no protein and a tiny bit of fat in the dressing but otherwise fine. Man I hope my stats tomorrow are good. I didn't have that great of a weekend but I had hoped that the all-fruit today would balance that out. I guess I'll see then. Well, I'm going to check on everyone so I'll be back tomorrow with the breaking news!

Day 95 - STEAK!

We had a reward meal tonight for my father-in-law's birthday so I had steak for dinner. Yum yum. Ate too much, now feel like crap. That was dumb. But anyway, needed to get that out of the way for my last 5 days before the big milestone. Trying to decide if I should cover up for a few days until the "reveal" on day 100 like Adam does but don't know if it would make that much of a difference only 5 days away. Maybe, haven't decided yet.
In case you are wondering, I have kind of been off the accountability log (obviously) while trying to get some other things together in my life. I am still using it as a daily guideline, just not counting points as of yet but hopefully by the beginning of next week I'll be on daily checkups. Sorry I've been so flaky, just trying to work some things out.
Anyway, I'm going to just leave you with my pictures that will be the week 12 pics for the Group Shred as well so hope you all are impressed with them :). Talk to you soon!

Day 94 - Lots of life

We have this expression in Mary Kay that when something is going on with someone that is stressful or time consuming, they "have a lot of life going on", because really, we are always just going from one high stress or time intensive event to another, and those events are what makes up life. Granted, some things are worse than others of course, you can have "more life than usual", but overall, it's just a reminder that no matter what, we don't really have an excuse not to get going or continue on in our goals, because if we let events get in the way, life will pass by and we will run out of time to reach our full potential.
On the first of the year, I turned my daily calendar over to a quote that I have left up ever since. It says "Make every day count. Make every hour count. Make every minute count. And don't stop until you have exercised your full potential, realizing your impossible dream and fulfilling your total destiny to become the person that you, and only you, are capable of being." So this reminds me that, no matter what comes up, it isn't important enough to give up on, or even put a hold on, my dreams for, because every minute you let go by that is not in pursuit of your destiny is a minute of life exchanged for mediocrity and disappointment down the road.
So no more excuses, no more "treading water". The daily crises, to do lists, and wishy-washsy feelings that drag me away from my true desires are not important enough to exchange my life for. Evey day away from the pursuit of goals is a day wasted. Don't get me wrong, you have to have balance, but that simply means that your goal for the day is to rest or have fun, and you still are reaching your goal. I am talking about days where you get to the end and say "what in the world did I do all day?" I have had WAY too many of those lately, and over the past year really. I have told myself I'm "in a rut" but that's really an excuse for not getting my butt in gear. I don't know what happened and I'm tired or trying to figure it out. What's gone is gone and I have to start NOW making my life into what I want it to be.
I worked yesterday on my affirmations for all of my life goals and I am putting together pictures to represent each of them so I can look at them when I do my daily AVP (which I have not been doing well on, incidentally). I know I'm not always going to be 100% on making the day count but I have to try. Hell, I think I'd be happy with 50% right now because I'm at about -10% lately. I feel like every day I'm digging myself in a bigger hole, with the exception being my eating & fitness. It's the one bright spot that has kept me going, really, so I thank all of you out there supporting me because I probably would have given up a long time ago had it not been for this group and then who knows where I'd be? Unhappy and fat. At least I'm unhappy and thinner :) That's a joke, I'm not really unhappy in the overall sense of the word, I am just unhappy with my progress versus my potential. I know I can do so much more.
Is my life good now? Of course, I have a lot going for me. Could it be better? Exponentially. I really believe that. I know in my heart that life would be out of this world if I just applied myself and got into action on all my goals. I think that is the only way to measure ourselves anyway, by looking at what we COULD be doing, because everyone is different, and if you know that you are doing the best you can and it isn't as much as someone else, so what? You are being the best YOU that you can be, and that's all that matters. But if you know you have more inside you, why not use it, what are you saving it for? Life's too short for regrets and if I were to die tomorrow, I'd have tons of them.
I've always tried to live with no regrets, no questions about what if, because that's a terrible way to live, but I have gotten into this mode of being scared to take even a single step toward what I say I want. But thinking about it, I'd rather try, give it my best, and fail, than never try at all and never know if I could have succeeded. It's like that old "loved and lost" saying except for me it's better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. Plus you never really fail if you keep trying, and that's where I am now.
I don't consider myself a failure because I have not given up. I have learned a lot. I know what I should NOT do. So I just need to get to work on what I SHOULD do. I have to take one single step. That's all. I can't do it all at once - I can't even look at it all at once becuase it is really daunting, but one little step will get me ever so slightly closer to the goal. One step, one decision, one minute, one hour, one day at a time. Don't stop. Keep going. As the quote says on my desktop, "It's not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves."
Thanks for your patience during my rant. Have a great day everyone!
PS Pushup challenge was tough today becuase I already did my chest exercises but I made it!
PPS One week to go! Here's my pics for today and I finally got my other pics up from the last few days so scroll down to day 91 and later to check them out. Hilarious poses! Monday's pushup video also at end...