luxe skinny

I’m back!  Here’s the deal.

We have 2 new roommates living with us for a while and we’re all on the same page to wanting to lead a better & healthier lifestyle. In order to make that happen…we have decided on our goals so we can support each other. Believe it or not… but I’m good at supporting & motivating others but not myself unfortunately, haha.

We have decided that we’ll be working out on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays after we get home from work. We created a schedule on a poster board and goals on another one. This main goal of mine right now is clearly to get back into the gym and become active again.

Since we are trying to cut back on our grocery budget and save money, we have agreed to use up of what we have left in our pantry & refrigerator before we stock up with more food. Once we finish that, we will focus 100% on eating healthier.

I have also decided I’m going to do the P.F. Chang’s 1/2 marathon in January. I’m going to start the C25K program which I have downloaded on my iPhone and also research online to see if there are any other training programs I could maybe follow in order to do the 1/2 marathon.

I’m ready to make changes and I am determined to become active and do things I wouldn’t do now like rock climbing and other things. I realize that I can’t do it all by myself. Right now I need support from my husband, family & the roommates. They’re all on board. Some day I hope to be able to do it on my own and love it enough that I’d rather go to the gym than watch TV on the couch.

So ladies & gents…. I’m holding you all (including myself) accountable!

This morning I came to the conclusion that I obviously know how to gain weight and do a very good job at it…. and now I recently have discovered I’m good at maintaining my weight too. But I’m having problems with losing weight!!

At least I have lost 18 pounds and still managed to keep it off. Now it’s time to keep burning the pounds off. I’ll save the maintaining skills for after I lose all the pounds I need to lose first.

There really is no point of having a treadmill at home. I have no desire or motivation to work out in the house. I realized I like being around others who are exercising too. If I decided to run on the treadmill at home… I probably would only do 5 minutes then get distracted with something else. With that said, it’s time to get back in the gym and start being a gym rat.

If you’re looking for support, let me know and we can be email/text buddies!

I’m still here! I haven’t fell off the wagon if that’s what you all think. I’ve been extremely busy with work lately since a co-worker is out on vacation. Also we’ve been getting ready for our week trip to Portland/Seattle to see our family.

So basically I’m taking a little hiatus and will be back after June 6 and ready to go full-force back into the gym.

P.S. Watch the Biggest Loser finale tomorrow (Tuesday) night. It’s such an inspiring show and I can’t wait to see how awesome everyone looks!

Doing those friggin’ leg scissors were killing me the other night. I made Tyler count with the group so I knew when the pain was almost over! Funny how when the trainer leaves for a few minutes we all kind of slack around until he comes back. Wednesday night my face was pouring with sweat especially when we did the bear crawl with weights.

Yes, I always hold on for dear life. I can’t do that yet without acting like I’m dying. At least I’m getting better!!

I’ve been running at the high school track lately with Tyler and my parents. My mom is not a runner at all so it was interesting to see her try. She ended up hurting her knees, ouch. Dad was the only one that ran a full mile without stopping. I noticed I’m getting better at it if I keep going running.

I have been starting to feel a difference in my legs and love handles. Those stupid love handles have got to go first! Because of how different I feel, it is actually boosting my motivation to lose weight more and not give up.

I recently had to make a difficult decision….to cancel my membership at SWEAT. I don’t want to. I absolutely love it there and everyone is so nice and friendly. I have to though… it’s so expensive. I’ve been paying weekly and it’s a large amount of money. I have other priorities that my money needs to go to.

I’ve already informed SWEAT of my situation and so I have 7 more work out sessions left before I’m done. I’m definitely going to come back to SWEAT when I can some day and Tyler wants to do it too.

So after I’m done with SWEAT, my dad has volunteered to be my personal trainer. Tyler too when my Dad can’t. I’ve learned so many new work outs and now I can do it just as long as someone is next to me telling me not to give up.

This is not me giving up… just changing the direction of my journey.

It turns out I haven’t been going to boot camp the last few weeks. I thought I was able to sign up for any time I wanted on the weekend so I have been going at 9AM. The sign up sheet for boot camp was on another wall that I didn’t see. It’s only at 7AM.

This recent Saturday my Mom went with me for the first time since she was interested in maybe joining. She picked the wrong day to come and observe. Boot camp was HARD! The whole hour we mainly did:

- 100 sit ups (repeat 3 times)
- 100 leg scissors (repeat 3 times)
- 100 big 40s (repeat 3 times)
- Run forward & backwards outside

You get the idea. My mom was actually in my face telling me to keep going… like it was easy! It may have looked easy but 100 each time!? My lower abs were just about killing me!

On Sunday, Tyler and I headed over to the high school track field and ran 1 mile. I could barely run because my calves were so sore. At least I made the effort! I know that if I keep going then it will become easier.

Seriously my calves are on fire. Tonight my calves felt like they were about to explode while working out. I wish my calves were balloons so I could just pop them right now. I’m grateful that I haven’t cramped up especially in the middle of the night. It helps that I drink a lot of water & eat fruits.

After tonight’s work out I felt confident I’d lose maybe 2-3 pounds since that’s what my scale at home says. I only lost .8 pounds. I’ve learned to take it and accept it.

As I was leaving I saw a paper taped to the wall that had a list of people who have lost weight. It turns out I’m #1 on the list! After seeing that I’m actually motivated to do even better this week so I can still be #1.

I had a hard time drinking the shakes because I hated the taste of it even though I added strawberries in. Today I decided to add Crystal Light (Strawberry-Kiwi) mix and it tastes good now! Now I can drink it now without making faces.

Eating out is challenging! It’s hard to just eat what’s on my place and not steal fries or a sip of Shirley Temple from my sister. I guess I can’t sit next to her anymore or maybe I shouldn’t even eat out anymore. It’s just so much easier to prepare your own food at home.

I still have a problem with thinking it’s okay to eat some certain kind of food just because another skinny person is eating it. When Tyler and I went grocery shopping I saw a skinny guy in his early 20′s checking out with Oreos, pop, and Pringles! I’m jealous of those who can eat whatever they want and not gain weight. I know the food is bad for them anyways but still it’s kind of a slap in the face that I’ll never get to live like that if I want to be healthy and fit.

I just wish my tongue had a “reset” button so I can stop loving the bad food I love and start liking new food. It would be easier to just not even try the bad food because I wouldn’t know how good it tastes. I’m working on it though and trying new vegetables/fruits when I can.

Tonight I weigh in and I don’t think I lost any more than 1 or 2 pounds. Last week wasn’t really a good week for me anyways. This morning I woke up telling myself that I have this week in control!

Me doing lady push ups!

I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks without Diet Coke! It’s amazing how much different I feel ever since I stopped drinking. My face is more clear now, I don’t get that many headaches as I used to, and I can sleep better at night FINALLY!

I’m not that sore anymore this week compared to the first 2 weeks. Maybe I’m used to dealing with the pain that it doesn’t bother me that much anymore. I still sweat A LOT even less than 5 minutes into the work out. Sometimes I find myself needing wipers because there’s so much sweat coming down my face all the time.

I should take it as a compliment that the personal trainers think I am capable of doing more so they make me work harder. But at the same time it’s too much for me sometimes! I always hold on for dear life when running on the treadmill sideways… hopefully later on I’ll be able to do it without losing my balance.

I can’t decide which one I hate doing the most… the StairMaster or Jacob’s Ladder. These two machines make my legs scream in pain! I’m really hoping my personal trainer didn’t find my blog and will make me do this at boot camp on Saturday.

This gym has really set my standards high that I don’t want to go back to my regular gym. I’m seriously looking into continuing my journey at this gym after my challenge is up and switch over to the personal training program. Maybe if we have extra money Tyler can join. It would be fun to see the personal trainers sweat him out!

Oh and don’t ask me how the meal replacement shakes are going. I still hate that stuff! (Mom, no more lectures please!) I recently bought some Crystal Light flavors to add in with the shakes. Hopefully it’ll taste better then I can stop eating dry cereal for breakfast.

“Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting their own battle. Be it sickness, substance, or inner demon…all deserve to be loved for WHO they are.” – Unknown

It’s been 1 week since I had Diet Coke. I was worried I would give up and have a drink but I haven’t felt the urge to. Sure, I have thought about it a few times but after a few conversations with myself and my head I managed not to have a drink. It helps that Tyler is not drinking Diet Coke anymore too.

I have gone from a night person to morning person. We’re always in bed way before midnight and I feel great in the mornings. On the weekends we usually don’t wake up until 10-11AM but this recent weekend we woke up around 8AM. It felt great to finish boot camp & some other things all before noon. Sunday morning Tyler and I went on a bike ride to my parents’ house (around 4 miles). Smelling all those flowers on the way was breathtaking… even smelled food cooking from people’s houses!

I’m always sore! I just might as well as get used to being sore because it’s not going to get any better. Thankfully I have been drinking a lot of water so I haven’t cramped up in my legs from all the new muscles that are developing. Oh, and I hate lunges!

Last night was my first official weigh-in for week 1. I lost 8 pounds but I swear it was 11 pounds from my home scale in the morning. I don’t like how they weigh us after an hour of working out and drinking tons of water. I’m still proud of myself for losing 8 pounds anyways!

This week I’ll be able to add in protein (chicken, eggs, etc) to my diet. I’m so looking forward to this! I’ll have to share some recipes later on.

I almost cried when I drank my last can of Diet Coke on Sunday night. It feels so weird not having pop (it’s not soda!) in the house anymore.

This morning the meal replacement shake did not taste good at all! I’d rather drink Slim-Fast. In my little journal that they gave me has some recipes where we can mix in some fruits to give it more flavor. I’ll try that next week.

This afternoon I got really excited when I finally could chew on something – sugar free gum! Sounds depressing… I know.

Warming up!

Tonight was my first work out which was probably the longest hour ever. I don’t know how The Biggest Loser does it ALL day long. I’m grateful for Tyler coming to interpret for me…what an amazing husband he is! I warmed up on the treadmill before our trainer, Mark, grabbed around 8 of us to do some arm work out with weights, push ups, then sit ups on the exercise ball. We also had to do lunges around the gym.

When we were doing sit ups with weights on the exercise ball… I just about died and had to go to the bathroom to hug the toilet. A woman from the group was really nice and came in to check on me. She complimented me for doing a great job for it being my 1st day. I quickly felt comfortable there but did not feel any better physically. Mark, the trainer, put me on the treadmill for 5 minutes and then put me on the StairMaster for 3 minutes at level 5. I thought I could do it but I could only do it for 1 minute & half. A well-fit guy next to me asked me if it was my first day and I said, “Obviously!” and he said I was doing a great job and even finger spelled that it’s not easy! The people are really great!!

13 times I said I can’t do it.
4 times I said I wanted to quit.
2 times I said I’m going to die…. to Tyler all in 1 hour.

I was so nervous for my orientation with Gina, a personal trainer, on Monday night. A few hours before the meeting, she e-mailed me reminding me I had to wear a sports bra and shorts for my before picture. My stomach felt uneasy, I knew this was coming but I guess I wasn’t ready to face it.

Tyler came with me to interpret for me if I didn’t understand something. We pulled in the parking lot and I took a deep breath before walking in. I glanced around and saw a lot of people sweating. After all it’s called SWEAT and the trainers are doing a great job living up to its name.

We went to the office and went over things I should expect and know before starting the challenge. Gina gave me a journal that I will need to document everything I eat, drink, and work outs. I’ll have to turn it in weekly for them to go over and write down notes.

This makes me not want to eat a candy bar and have them write in bold red, “YOU ARE GOING TO GET 100 PUSH UPS FOR THE CANDY!”  Um, yeah.. I hate push ups.

Basically I will be drinking a meal replacement shake 3 times a day with no food AT ALL* for the 1st week. The 2nd week will be the same but we’ll add in snacks (fruits & veggies) as we go.

Gina took my measurements and of course I’m not surprised that my measurements are way off the chart. After some math involved, she gave me my target goal of losing 50 pounds in 12 weeks. I AM UP FOR THE CHALLENGE!

I already mentally prepared myself for the challenge to start on April 5th. Gina asked if I wanted to start this week!? I was so not prepared for that so I’m starting next week instead. I’ll be going to the SWEAT on Monday, Wednesday & Thursdays then boot camp on Saturday or Sunday.

I’ll have Tyler take a before and after work out photo on Monday.

*Before I receive comments saying that this isn’t the best diet. I know and am aware of that.  SWEAT is not only going to make me drink shakes and just give me a brutal work out. I chose to do this challenge to get a head start on my weight loss journey and it will motivate me to continue to lead a better healthier lifestyle after seeing the pounds come off.