Jenn... Real, Raw and “Naked”

Okay, not literally naked cuz you really wouldn't want to see that at the moment... but naked in the sense that I am going to bear all. I am going to tell my tale and let you in on how shameful I feel about my body. I had an ah ha moment the other day in which I realized I will never loose my weight if I hide. I need to be real and honest with myself. I need to be sincere. I need to quit hiding behind behind layers of guilt and shame and put myself out there. Strip away all of the embarrassment, get over the emotions, deal with my medical issues and say here I am world, this is me!... Real, Raw and “Naked”.

As you can see I have not been participating in weigh ins. I have not been participating in blogging and I have not been participating in life for the past little while. This is partially due to the sudden weight gain I recently experienced as well as struggling with extremely low iron levels (currently at 5 with the low end of the range being 30), lack of energy and the emotional drain from legal battles.

In my get to know me post I mentioned that I have an unknown health condition that, unfortunately, includes sudden weight gain for no apparent reason. Since I last weighed in I have gain a significant amount of weight. It was gained within a matter of weeks while exercising and following my plan. I'd changed nothing, but the weight began to pile on. I went on a liquid diet high in protein and gained 10 pounds in 5 days. When all was said and done, when my weight had leveled out I weighed 202 lbs. This is the most I have ever weighed outside of my first pregnancy when my toxemia water weight sent me soaring from 140 into the 240's despite my strict life saving diet of no fat, sugar or salt.

As you can imagine I was absolutely devastated that all of the hard work I'd done to that point was for nothing. In the past I've learned to deal with my weight gain and wait for my body to decide to loose it and it does for no apparent reason. I have had to learn to be okay with it because it doesn't mater what I do the weight will not come off until it decides it wants to. It baffles the doctor's.

I have not been walking outside at all. I haven't been able to find the ambition to do it. However I have continued to walk on the elliptical to keep my stamina up. Today I woke up and weighed myself as always hoping for a miracle. Hoping the scale would somehow tell me something other than the 202 I've been looking at since the beginning of January. When the numbers appeared my heart skipped a beat. I stepped off the scale and back on, not once but 5 times before I believed what it read.

197.2!!! Overnight I'd lost 4.8lbs! I knew what this meant. It meant I wasn't looking at months and months of overweight hell, my body had decided it was time to shed the weight! This gave me hope! It gave me ambition and the will to continue on with my original plan to shed the pounds and become my active self again. I have a newly found determination to beat whatever is wrong with my body and show it who's in charge.

I realize I am starting over again with 25lbs more to loose than originally planned, but I will do it and I will succeed. I will run the Spartan in June. The real, raw and “naked” me wanted to post pics so you could see me at my heaviest, but my camera is being stubborn in letting me upload them tonight. When I look at them I thought to myself, how horribly just ewww...  That is when it suddenly dawned on me I needed to let the world be in on the body I am ashamed of so you can see my progress, cheer me on and watch as I shed the pounds to become the person on the outside that I am inside. For now the pics are stuck on my camera. I will post them with my next update so you can seem me real raw and “naked” (wearing spandex of course)

I WILL LOSE/SHED 10 LBS. OF FAT BY THE END OF DECEMBER.

During this time of blogging about how I want to lose weight I've realized I haven't been specific of how much I want to lose in a certain amount of time.

I started my overall journey of losing weight after I reached my max weight of 226 lbs. What a ridiculous weight I have let myself become. Granted I know there are people out there that say I wish I was only 226 lbs, well to you, I say do it.

Over the last little bit as I've been doing this blog and really checking in with different individuals who are going on this journey with me I've been able to stay under 212 lbs.  Which I've enjoyed since I haven't been putting weight back on but I've also gotten discouraged with myself since I haven't been able to see the weight loss that I desire.

I only have myself to blame. I haven't written out  S.M.A.R.T. Goals. If you are unfamiliar with SMART goals let me briefly go into a little more detail.

S = Specific.

A specific goal will answer the five "W" questions:
 - What: What do I want to accomplish?
 - Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
 - Who: Who is involved?
 - Where: Identify a location
 - Which: Identify requirements and constraints.

M = Measurable

A measurable goal will usually answer questions like:
 - How much?
 - How many?
 - How will I know when it is accomplished?

A = Attainalble

An attainable goal will usually answer the question:
 - How: How can the goal be accomplished

R = Relevant

A relevant goal can answer yes to these questions:
 - Does this seem worthwhile?
 - Is this the right time?
 - Does this match my other efforts/needs?

T = Time-Bound

A time-bound goal will usually answer the questions:
 - When?
 - What can I do 6 months from now?
 - What can I do 6 weeks from now?
 - What can I do today?

So what is the next step? Well I need to answer each one of these questions and so do you if you really want to make things change in your life.

I've shared my what and by when.  What is going to be lose 10 lbs of fat because it will be healthier for me and help build more self esteem. My When is going to be by December 31st. It is attainable I have 2 weeks and 5 days to accomplish it which ends up being 19 days for an average of 1/2 of weight loss per day. It is relevant and worthwhile because it will be beneficial to not only my health but my happyness (<- yes that was intentional).

CHRISTINE IN THE HOUSE #P90X STYLE

So a little about me, I'm 24 , just under 6 feet tall and weigh 190 pounds. I have always considered myself an active person but haven't really been healthy four around five years. I was at my heaviest a little while after my daughter was born, weighing around 215. I was pretty depressed and didn't know how to start getting back into shape. I got invited to play some coed volleyball once a week and it quickly became one of my favorite nights of the week.

Now its been a few years and I am back to a fairly active lifestyle, still playing volleyball once a week, but still not where I'd like to be. I guess it really hit me, that I wasn't very fit, when I needed to have surgery earlier this year. I found out I had stage 1 carcinoid cancer. They found a malignant tumor in my appendix. Two surgeries, around a foot and a half of my intestines and ten lymph nodes later they pronounced me cancer free and told me to keep an eye out for symptoms of new tumors. The surgeries kicked my butt and with the possibility of facing this again I know my health and fitness will play a very crucial roll in my recovery.

So some of my weaknesses and excuses have been: "I don't have enough time or energy"  "I'll start tomorrow" or "I don't have the money to join a gym or buy all the health foods". Candy and fast food are probably my biggest problems right now... I gave up soda about a year ago and saw huge improvements in my health and weight but I still drink energy drinks way more often than I should... Gotta work on that.
So my first goals are I'm gonna give up my energy drinks, and I'm gonna try to sleep better (oh yeah I'm an insomniac...its not good for my health) so those two kinda go hand in hand, if I'm not so tired I can't justify buying an energy drink. Longer term goal is the Spartan race with Jenn next year! And I don't want to just suffer through it, I want to freakin rock it! Heck yes!

My goal weight is kinda floating around between 170 and 175, I guess ill know when I get there but my main focus is muscle tone and flexibility... I want my body to be able to do whatever I ask of it.
When I reach that point of knowing my body is ready to take on anything and everything, I'm going to feel like the world is mine for the taking... I will do things I want to do without wondering if I physically can.
I wanted to be part of this group because I need people to push me, to workout with me and keep me motivated. And this group is made up of awesome people that I honestly want to succeed with and spend time with so, yes this is awesome!
Wish me luck! :) 

A weak Moment. More like Evening

It started off with a couple of spoon fulls of waffle cone ice cream. :(

Just went down from there. I started finding little pieces of chocolate that my wife "hides" so that she can have her guilty pleasures fulfilled. I tried to take away some of the guilt I was having by bringing her one of the pieces I had found.

I just kept eating and eating and didn't know why.  It wasn't until this morning visiting with my brother when he said it happens to him late at night. He starts to eat to try to stay awake and watch TV.

So from now on. I will be going to bed if I don't have a project to work  on and you can't eat while sleeping. Unless of course you are a sleep eater. HMMM

What do you do to control what you eat in the evening? Or anytime for that matter?

GOT A CALL FROM A MAN WHO WANTS TO PINCH ME

My initial thought was. I don't get that call every day from men, or women for that matter. I guess people in general don't start off a conversation with that.  This was no ordinary call though.

Last night I was over at this gentleman's house discussing future events and knowing that he had a background in physical fitness I asked him if he had a fat body percentage machine. After searching for it he found some calipers.

I was informed that the machine he had where you just held it was not available and that he would call me to tell me when to come over.

Well that is going to happen today. I will be sure to write in the next couple of days what the results were and have a better understanding of what I need to do next with this journey.

I've figured out that if you ask people who are in the same situation that you are in right now how to get out of where you are. You will end up right back there with them in the same place you are right now.  So that is the main reason for trying to associate myself with people who are where they want to be. In any aspect of life.

Think about it. If you are asking someone how to get somewhere that they themselves can't get to, where are you going to end up if you listen to their advice?  

I guess what I'm getting at. Is why are you reading this post if you are interested in getting in shape? I don't have the answers right now. google - fit2fat2fit - Take his advice and live it.

Watch this video daily to stay motivated

Wise Words From Drew Fit2Fat2Fit

I've been following Drew for some time now. I remember him first appearing on the late show and being surprised that he lived near me. Anyway this guy knows what he is talking about Here is is post.

THANKSGIVING DAY RULES!

They say that hindsight is 20/20.  And as I glanced down at the calendar, plotting out the rest of my Fat2Fit journey, that reality hit me.  This was my journey, my schedule.  And somehow, I arranged to have my Fit2Fat portion of the journey end about 3 weeks before the holiday season began.  So let’s hit the first holiday directly – no use hiding from what could be the biggest “food” day of the year. Thanksgiving (a traditional American holiday) dates back to early settlers (Pilgrims) giving thanks for their blessings.  Granted, I doubt we share the same blessings today as they did, but here in America it is a great day generally filled with the four "F's": Family, Friends, Football, and yes, large quantities of FOOD.  And this reality leads to other established traditions.  Some of us won't eat anything all day until Thanksgiving dinner is ready, just so that we can fit a bit more in, and accentuate our "turkey coma".  Others sit overly-stuffed and watch football, using halftime as their own timed food challenge while we attack the pies and desserts.  In fact, it is the only holiday that I can think of where the entire point is a meal.  Sure, meals are important but what other holidays would be tossed aside without a 7-course feast?

The purpose of this post isn’t to make you drool or salivate just days before the extravaganza begins, but instead is to answer the thousands of questions of what are we (#teamdrew) going to eat on the upcoming holiday.  So I present the official Fat2Fit guidelines that I will follow come Thanksgiving.  Will I eat the delicious foods that my wife's grandparents will be preparing for everyone, or will I sit and sip on a spinach shake while everyone eats the pumpkin pie, turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and stuffing?  The answer is yes, I will partake in some of the delicious foods and no I won't bring my spinach shake to sip on.  And for the cynical ones, its not because I’m going to the in-laws!

Here are the basic guidelines I will follow for Thanksgiving (and all holidays in general):

Rule #1:  This is Thanksgiving dinner, not Thanksgiving Week, Month, and Year Make sure and stick to your meal plans for the rest of the day, and for the rest of the week.  Thanksgiving dinner is 1 meal out of 5 this Thursday.  And it’s only 1 of 25 for the entire week.  Stick to your other meals throughout the day. Why?  You won't over-stuff yourself on one unhealthy meal (and you’ll keep your metabolism up!).

Rule #2: You don’t get bonus points for only having one meal Don't starve yourself and skip other meals just so that you'll "have more room" to eat more Turkey.  Obviously if you follow Rule #1 you'll have no problem with this one, but being overweight, I am starting to see how various “bend the rules” ideas pop up.  They do for me too.  Resist the urge.

Rule #3:  Stick to a realistic definition of a “portion” When you are at the dinner table, eat smaller portions of the good stuff.  If you know you'll be eating some of your favorite Thanksgiving foods, limit yourself to smaller portions (fist size - and this isn't an Andre The Giant fist, people!).  If you follow this rule, you’ll be able to comfortably enjoy all of your favorites, and avoid heading back for seconds, thirds, or twelfths.

Rule #4: One dessert.  Wait let me be more specific.  One portion of one dessert! Yes, I said one (I’m suddenly glad so few of you know where I live.  I feel a Thanksgiving mutiny coming on!).  No need to have a slice of every pie that's there.  Coming back to random Andre The Giant references, a slice is a regular, moderate slice.  And if you don’t cut the pie, it doesn't mean the entire pie is now a slice!).  Every holiday or birthday party I attend, I have a small piece of dessert.  I just do it in moderation.  Eat it slower too – you’ll enjoy it more!

Rule #5: Enjoy yourself! This is NOT a fad diet. This is a lifestyle Like I said on Dr. Oz, I would splurge a bit on the weekends and holidays while sticking to the rules above.  This way you always still enjoy yourself at parties or on holidays and yet you don't throw away all your results from the week by consuming 10,000 calories in just one sitting. In addition to the above, we will be sharing some healthy alternatives that you are welcome to try on Thanksgiving Day. For example, instead of a traditional cheese ball and crackers, my wife is making homemade almond and cashew butter to dip fresh fruits and veggies into. We will be posting some healthy alternatives on our site on or around Tuesday of next week. Hindsight is always 20/20.  And yes, I know that I could lay waste to the entire turkey if I was still on an unrestricted diet.  But circumstances have changed, and the test is before you.  Follow these rules, and you’ll be on your way.  Remember when we were getting ready to launch the fat2fit stage, and I told you to “commit to a better you, regardless of circumstance”?  Welcome, to your new circumstance.  Continue to commit to a better you. Happy Thanksgiving.

You can Follow his blog and posts here.