Ism's

How's this picture for something fun to do on Halloween??!! AND I must say that Demon Pixie was at her Demon Pixiest!!! Jeesh, pull-ups, planks, squats, the stepper, and that's just a small portion of it. Sound fun?!

Okay, really it is pretty fun (in an ouch sort of way). Jessica (Pixie mentioned above and featured in the picture) is a very good motivator. If you ever get the chance work with a trainer, it makes a HUGE difference. I owe how far I have come in big part to her. Thanks Jess.

So, the title.

There have been a couple of "ism"s that the trainers use that I stick with and really seem to help. So, in an effort to share -

One of Demon Pixie's is "shoulders back, engage your abs!". She says that to me often. Sucky posture, years of sucky posture. So anyway, wherever I am whenever I think of it I push back and engage. It's like an ab workout all through the day.

Something that Tracy (another trainer here) likes to say is that "every meal is not going to be scrumdelyicious people". So true. Sometimes we just have to eat to fuel the machine and not worry so much about every morsel being a tastebud smorgasbord. Now, I know you can eat healthy with flavor and variety and so on. But sometimes, you just have to eat. Know what I mean? For some reason her mantra helps me - especially when I am trying to choke down salad (which I am "off" right now - can't stand the sight of it, but eat it anyway).

Off for some Halloween merriment.

How are your exercise goals going?

Updates

Hello there!
VERY naughty of me to start out this blog and then promptly abandon it doncha think?!
So here I am back again.
Still working out, still losing weight, still very connected to my "Loser" family.
Since it is hard to blog backwards... I'm just going to do a quick catch up and then move on from here okay?

So... it seems like I am closing in on 45 pounds lost (as of March of '08)!
Can you believe it?
At this time last year I was 45 pounds heavier. That's heavier then Ethan for goodness sake!
Wow, just wow.
It seems pretty surreal when I put it down in words you know.
I have a horrible tendency to concentrate on how far I still have to go, to concentrate on my failings instead of my successes, to spend too much time looking backward and berating myself for my errors. WAY bad habits. Every one of them. Anyone else do that nonsense? If so, it's time to commit to STOP. This is going to be a common theme here at the diary - so prepare yourself for some motivational "stuff" coming soon.

I've been asked lately how I am doing it.
Well - there's the obvious one... eat less, move more.
That does in many ways sum it all up you know.
Still, along the way I have improved on some other habits. The biggest part of my success is working out. By far. Just. Do. It. Move! Make yourself. Every day.

Some other things working for me:
I drink 64oz + of water. I put it in this old apple juice bottle to measure that I meet the minimum. According to some of the trainers at SWAT based on my weight I should drink 100oz a day. I don't always make it to 100.... but most days am well over 64oz.

Ever since March (and before Loser began - or was even a dream) I have made every attempt to give up these two things. So much so that when I eat anything even mildly salty I go into major YICK mode. Now, I am not perfect by any stretch. I don't go totally mental and even switch my toothpaste or anything. BUT I try to be very mindful of both salt and sugar. Salt will keep you retaining water, not the best thing for weight loss. Finally I am a big fan of the protein drink. I don't use it as a meal substitute, but as an addition to my diet. Here I am modelling the lovely "chocolate mint" version. You can buy protein powder in any store. Walmart and Sams have good prices on it. You can add the powder to anything to boost the nutrition and the calorie burn needed to digest it. More on that later, but I recommend it. Just watch out for the calories, you do need to "count" them even if you are drinking them.So, that's it for today.

Any of this stuff helpful to you? Motivating perhaps? I hope so. I'd hate to bore you all. Oh, and if you follow my other blog too and the loss of my camera you will see in the above pic that it is finally replaced. Whoo hoooo!!!

Happy almost Friday.
Leave a comment and let me know you stopped by. :)

Saturday Challenge #2

Today we played soccer!
It was indoor soccer, 3 v. 3. Pretty fun!!!

I watch so much soccer, it was a nice change to be able to participate in it.

Sadly though, for various reasons (some female related - but also because I lost so much last week) this week I only lost .2lbs and had to be eliminated.

Yep.
Depressing.
There is a chance though to still get back into the competition on week 10 (i think it's week 10, I need to double check) and believe me after I am done being sad (I give myself one day for self pity) then I will rock it and do my best to be back in then and sneak up and WIN. Wouldn't that be the coolest!!! AND the really great thing is even if I don't win the competition, I will have won for trying.

So - it's all good!

But - today I am bummed. :(

First Challenge

First of all, I am posting this from Jeff's office so... I have a picture at home that I'm going to add later tonight or tomorrow. It's a pretty funny picture. edited: i'm home now and added the picture. jeff found it hilarious because i was so wet, and even muddy in it. I however do not love this picture so not sure how long it will stay here.....

So.... the first challenge was to play flag football!
Yes, you read that correctly. {{And right now if you are snorting diet coke out your nose from the visual of me doing that...... sorry. Next time I'll warn you. ;) }}
Did I mention it was POURING rain and had been for two days???
It was pretty interesting - I'll say that!

Truth be told it was fun! I can't say that it's going to be a new side hobby for me or anything, and I'm not sure I added too much to the team, but it was fun! We were drenched, muddy, and up against a team with 3 or 4 guys on it (I forget at the moment). Our team was 6 women. We did pretty well honestly! We didn't win... but we tried. OH and one time I did get a flag off Wes when he had the ball. So that was a good thing!

As to the loss...

My whole team made it through! Whoo hoooooo!!!
Personally I lost 8 pounds (my gosh!) and was like 14th (of 30). I don't remember my exact percentage and it's not posted yet so I can't check but I think it was something like 4%. This is extra amazing to me personally since last week as of Wednesday (9/3) i had gained 2 pounds. So my gosh! That's technically 10 down!!!

Okay, the kids are going bonkers in Jeff's office so I need to turn the computer back over to them. More later ~

Mind Set

Two for one posting on Saturday I guess!
The reason for this one... the other day at 5:30am Jessica was having a discussion about positive affirmations. Well, yes {thought I} positive affirmations are good. Usually I think I am a pretty positive person and optimistic. Easy pacheezy.
Then I started thinking about it.
How often I make fun of myself to hide uncomfortable feelings.
Say, "just squeezing my fat a** by" and things like that.
Most often trying to be funny.... but at my expense.
It seems like I am either trying to be funny - or trying to hide (oh and right there I almost added a joke about how hard that is at my current size - see it's a habit now).

I'm thinking that's not such a good idea.

I'm thinking that for too long I have concentrated on the barriers and not the opportunities.

I'm thinking that's its too easy to say I can't:
"I can't or I'll hurt my knee...."
"I can't I have weak arms..."
"I can't I have no balance..."
Or the big one that everyone uses:
"I can't because I have no time..."
etc.

Time to focus on what I CAN do.
I can do pretty darn good following choreography in classes.
I like to walk and jog.
I can turn myself into a runner. Knee or no knee.
I can continue to improve.

What are your goals?
Writing them down makes them real.
Tell us... where do you want to see yourself fitness/health wise in the next month, 3 months, year?

I believe in you - you'll get there!
I will too!!! :)

Have a nice weekend!
Jenny

The Brady Bunch

Well, here we are in all our "before" picture glory!Let me tell you it was not easy to post a picture like this! Really typically I try to hide the muffin top a little better then that!!! That said, it is a "before" and I wanted to really see how it was. So now you get to see too. Do you feel ever so lucky or what?!

My teammates - left to right in the picture - Jen, Jessica {our trainer in case you couldn't tell!}, Talana and Me. Our mentor Jerry was a contestant last time and he's not in the team picture but you can meet him by going here (go to the after pictures of the royal blue team - there's Jerry!). It is so fantastic to have the contestants from last year around to help us! Takes away some of the intimidation factor.

Our first challenge is the day after my birthday, September 13th. Wish us luck!!

GO ROYAL BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the Beginning

Well, I am finally getting this blog up and going.
Knowing where to begin - well that is a bit of a predicament.

Because, let's face it, I've been trying to "lose" forever.
Every diet out there - it feels like I've tried it.
Tried Weight Watchers so many times I think I should have stock in the company.
It all works, a bit, for a bit.

THIS time I'm trying something sort of novel.
I'm in the "Biggest Loser" contest at SWAT gym (local to me).
Now along with my low GI (glycemic index) diet and counting calories a bit for now I am exercising like a fiend. Or, I suppose, like a healthy person!

So, this is the beginning.
The contest officially started (working with the trainers) on August 31st and I started working out at the gym on August 28th.
My knees and legs hurt a bit lately - I jogged/ran/walked for over an hour yesterday (ouch) so I suppose that's to be expected. Other then that I have discovered that I H-A-T-E push ups. YICK, YUCK, and EWWW! Unfortunately it seems like they are the exercise of choice for many reasons, so I will be sucking it up (but I can't promise I will do so without complaint...).

I am going to leave you with a quote that really hit home for me:

"Most people lose lean mass (mostly muscle and water) as well as fat when they lose weight. This is especially true if they diet by cutting calories without exercising. When the weight comes back, most of it is fat. With each loss/gain cycle, the percentage of lean mass decreases and percentage of fat increases, all of which slows your metabolism. For every pound of fat you gain, your body burns a mere 2 calories a day, compared to an average of 50 calories for each pound of muscle you put on. So, if you lost 5 pounds of muscle by overly restricting calories and not exercising, you're burning about 250 fewer calories a day." (from "The Biggest Loser Fitness Program")

Yipe.

I always knew the yo-yo thing was bad, but never had it explained to me in quite that way.

Let's hope I can turn things around.

I hope, if it's your desire to do so - you can too.