Burpees... Yowza

So as each day, week, month passes by I have more energy to do more workouts. For awhile I was doing one round of circuit and weight training. Then after awhile I added a second round circuit.  The second round was just five to six minutes of jumping jacks and or 100 more pushups.

Today I switched it up and did  burpees and 15lb kettle bell swings. That shit was intense and I loved it. I have a feeling that I am going to be sore as hell tomorrow. I tried doing burpees in the past and couldn't push myself back up. Lol!  This time around I had so much energy and adrenaline that I surprised myself.  I look forward to trying new workouts I couldn't do in the past!

stomach virus? no big deal!

So I've been having an issue with a weak stomach/ stomach virus since last week. I haven't been able to exercise properly since then and it has a bit frustrating.  I have, how ever been able to eat good.

I slipped back into eating not as healthy but staying within my calorie limit.  I switched back to eating clean and smaller portions. I feel better, and hopefully soon I will be well enough to get back into working out. I miss running and lifting.

But I am super close to my first private goal and my first over all goal!

And here's some food porn:

Cheeeeeeeese

So my work outs have been getting more and more hard core. I keep trying to push myself harder and motivate myself. I am trying to be strict with my eating habits. At this point I have cut out beef and am trying to cut out cheese. Cutting out cheese is not as easy as I hoped it would be. Cutting out sugar was easier than cutting out cheese. lol. Believe me, I am a Mac&Cheese type girl. My mantra as a child was “cheddar makes everything better”…. My favorite foods were grilled cheese sandwiches and cheese pizza. Saying good bye to cheese is the saddest thing I’ll ever do. Lol. I know I will eventually budge and allow myself something with cheese once in awhile. No one is perfect, we all have some type of weakness… lol mines is cheese. : (


Body image wise, it’s getting weirder and weirder each time I look at a full length mirror. Mentally, I still feel like I look like I did when I was 270lbs. I spend more than an hour getting ready for work, trying on different shirts and pants. By the time I get to work and am able to look at a full length mirror, I don’t really understand why I took so long to get dress. I feel like a completely new person. And I am slowly starting to embrace the change and feel more confident wearing cute tops. Sometimes I wish I had a shopping buddy, because I am completely clueless on what to wear. I have been wearing jeans and t-shirts for as long as I can remember. Trying to get myself to wear something i never could have worn before is really hard. I was shopping at Lane Bryant/Avenue and now I am wearing stuff from Old Navy/Gap. Things have changed a lot in over a year. Nothing is easy; this is going to take some serious adjustment.

The weight in my arms and stomach is slowly melting away. I lost weight faster in my legs, butt and back. I am starting to notice that I have saggy skin in my armpit area which I have no idea how to tone or get rid of. Lol. I know that skin is extremely elastic, but I am crossing my fingers over time that it will tighten up as I lose fat in that area. I guess that this is just one of those weird things you have to deal with. Anyone have tips out there? Feel free to send me an email or comment below. It’s always nice to talk to other people who have come across the same “problems”. lol

My Experience With Weight Training

I know when people think of weight training, they think of super huge body builders.  Weight training is the use of resistance methods like free weights, weight machines, resistance bands, or a person's own weight to build muscles and strength. Power lifting tends to focus on how much weight a person can lift at one time. Some women worry that they will bulk up if they start weight training. This is false, because women do not have enough testosterone in their body.  If you lift weights day after day for hours at a time then you'll start to bulk up.

I have been lifting a little bit of weights for 3 weeks already. So far my upper body has toned up pretty good. The body fat seems like it is starting to melt away. It’s pretty awesome. I have lost maybe two inches from each upper arm and maybe one inch from my chest area.  It really feels good to see that I am starting to notice a difference in my body.  Since I've been gaining muscle, i haven't lost any weight. I've been hovering around the same weight for 3 weeks now.

10 pound dumbbell

 The benefits for weight training are:

• ·         Strengthens bones in women
• ·         Helps you raise your metabolism
• ·         Helps you with your endurance and makes you stronger
• ·         The more muscle you have the more calories you burn
• ·         Increased lean muscle mass
• ·         Helps prevent injury
• ·         Improves your balance
• ·         Improves your coordination
• ·         Boosts your self-esteem
• ·         Decreased risk of coronary disease

What i use: Gold's gym curl bar with 25lbs and 2 10lbs dumbbells
 

42 pounds in 4 months

My journey for losing 42 pounds has been easy so far. I’ve completely changed my eating habits around.  But my first step to losing weight wasn’t from food, it came from soda. I was a coca cola junkie and I really don’t know where it came from. i always did everything in moderation, soda, fast food and sweets. But for some reason I really stopped caring and did whatever I wanted to do. Before you know it, not paying attention to what I was eating lead me to gain 50 pounds within a short period of time.  

Soda was my biggest problem. I would drink up to 3 20oz sodas a day, and then what ever I drank at a restaurant.  i would feel sick to my stomach if I drank to much coke, and I would feel sick to my stomach if I didn’t have a coke. I realized I had a problem when my mom would point it out.  I got on the scale to see how much I weighed, and it was waaaay to much. I freaked out. I don’t know how it got this bad.

Okay first step was to cut soda out. Oddly enough I had withdrawal symptoms. My head hurt so bad, I had violent stomach pains, and mood swings.  From the time I cut soda out to now, all I drink is water and from time to time coconut juice.  I lost 7 pounds just cutting soda out, within 2 weeks.

Second step was cutting out sugar, fast food, and other junk food. Again, I had a hard time cutting fast food out because it was just so addictive. After a week of not consuming fast food I started to feel a lot better and my complexion started to clear up. Giving up sugar had given me energy that I never had before. Again,  giving up sugar gave me bad withdrawal symptoms. Lost another 5 pounds giving junk food up.

Third step my husband convinced me to go gluten free. He had researched that gluten intolerance is linked to PCOS.   Going gluten free has helped me out with my most of my PCOS symptoms, cleared my complexion up even more, gave me more energy, and most of my digestive problems have gone away.  The gluten free substitutes can sometimes be expansive, so learning to live without bread was the route I had to go. However, Jason’s Deli has really awesome gluten free bread that is amazing! Whenever I get the chance I always get a turkey sandwich with hummus.  Going gluten free helped me lose another 5 pounds.  (for information on what gluten intolerance is, check out this website)

Fourth step was running everyday on my treadmill.  Giving up all this crazy junk food and going gluten free has given me all this energy and it was a lot easier to start working out this time.  The rest of my weight came off from exercise.  My legs are more toned than they used to be, and my confidence has gone up. Shopping for pants is a lot easier, and fun. 

I am working on step number five. It’s weight lifting. So far it has been an awesome experience, I just need more weights to continue going. I can already tell I have lost some fat in my upper arms and back, and have already gained some muscle weight. Muscle weight isn’t bad, but it’s kept me at the same weight for about 2 weeks now. Not a big deal for me, I like the idea of getting super toned.