20 Weeks To A Healthier Me - 19 To Go

So, let's start from the beginning.

As most of you know, I have been on a journey to lose weight since the beginning of the year. As you can also tell, I have not posted in quite some time. Not because of this particular journey, but because life keeps getting in the way. Better yet, I keep getting in the way.

Anyway, back to the point. The journey to lose has not been very successful. I have tried several things:

• A Personal Trainer - Too much money and very little progress
• Weight Watchers - Too much counting and measuring. I only lost 10 pounds. Then I tried exercise at a gym. The hours of the gym were poor and not enough motivation to keep going.

Feeling defeated and my self-esteem shot, I finally just gave up.

Then, I decided to tackle this weight loss battle one more time. After much research, I found UB gym. Now this is no ordinary workout place. This is an extreme "get your tail in gear or stop waisting my time" kind of place.

Needless to say, after signing up for this 20 week boot camp, I totally wanted to call back and chicken out. Why? Because i didn't believe in myself. I had tried so much and failed that i totally thought I would not make it past the 1st day, let alone a week. But you know what? I rocked it, or let's just say I made it through WEEK #1, also known as Hell Week for newbies.

Let me share a couple of things about my first week on this program.

Day #1: Met with Trainer #1 - Corey. He skipped my meal plan for the day because I did not go to orientation held during the previous weekend due to previous plans. We did weights (upper body)

Day #2: Woke up totally sore and stiff to go meet with trainer #2 - Zack, whom I totally dislike to the utmost until this weekend. Still not my fav, but he will do. This was a cardio day. A total butt kicking!! I totally sucked at running and I was soaking wet 10 minutes into the outdoor workout. He so punked me and said really stupid things to women with an attitude. Too much running.

Day #3: Almost thought it was too much for me, but I was more than 50% done with the week; may as well complete it. I got fussed at fore eating Baked Lays as I could not explain why I thought they were healthy. This was a weight day (lower body). I didn't think I could make it because I was so tired from the day before.

Day #4: Zack super sucks. Totally a jerk. made me really want to quit, but if I did he wins and I am one more crazy chick. I try not to let anyone win. More cardio = Running, Running and More Running. Oh yeah, I forgot to say that cardio days are also Abs days as well.

Day #5: Didn't push hard because of a crappy Thursday. Gave up too easy and didn't complete my reps. Never will I let anyone get into my head again. NO ONE!

So I decided I would do a Day #6. It is optional, but I need the extra cardio. Fun, but way too hot.

Now, this was the week of crazy emotions. I must say i am proud of myself for not giving up because usually, if someone says "I can't", I believe them and I stop. Not this time.

As I live and breathe I will finish this 20 week program in better shape that I am today. I will keep you updated every day and therefore, my posts will not be as long as this one. I will also post my weight, stats and pictures really soon.

Tomorrow, I will give you the lowdown of the day; meal plans and the rules I have to follow.

I leave you with a very inspiring quote on my journal by Molly Barker.

"The only requirement of having a DREAM is believing in it."

Goodnight. Have to get up for my 5:30AM butt whooping tomorrow.

Personal Training, Take 1

So yesterday was my first session with my trainer. Can you say, a pain in the butt, literally! I am so sore. He decided that he would see just how far he could push me and like the silly, willie I am I said "Bring it ON!" Needless to say I am paying the price for it today.

The sessions is an hour long and at one point I thought he and run out to things for me to do, but I was not that lucky. Such a bummer. I tried to skip out early when hubs text me, but at $69 a pop, I was for surely going to get my money's worth. So even though there was pain I stuck with it.

There was lots of cable work and even some balancing on the ball. The hardest part was when he combined the two. I am so weak, that after my second set of reps, my arm felt as if they were going to fall off. 20lb is much tougher than I thought. My trainer, Matt was very encouraging and even felt that I could possibly do more. We shall see..............................Maybe!

My next appointment is Saturday and to be honest, I am looking forward to the TORTURE! This time he is going to either increase the weights or reps. I will definitely pushing for the reps. I think 20lb is enough weight for me right now.

I have to admit he is tougher than my last trainer and he is even funny, so it makes time go by really fast. Wish me well and I hope this soreness will not last forever.

Monday's Dinner

Pork Chop Casserole....or what I called too much Tomato Casserole. Ingredients:

1 cup Uncooked Rice

1 qt Stewed Tomatoes

4 Pork Chops

2 Onions

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Grease bottom of a 8 1/2 to 9 inch baking dish. Spread uncooked rice around the bottom of dish, then pour tomatoes over rice. Place cut up onion over the top, followed by the pork chops. Salt & Pepper to taste. Cover with aluminum foil, place in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour. After the hour, remove foil and bake for additional 10 minutes before serving.

My take on the dish: Cooking the pork chop for an hour is fine, taking off the foil and cooking it for an additional 10 without it made it a bit dry. Also the tomatoes, over powered the dish. So next time I will use only 3/4 of the tomatoes that it calls for and see. Also the meat does not reheat very well so if you plan on making this dish eat it the same night. Overall it was different taste and a new addition to our recipe collection.

Sunday's Dinner

This week we decided that we would try at least 2 new dishes, however we ended up with six different meals. So on Sunday we tried our very first meal....

Shrimp & Rice
Ingredients:

1lb Shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 1/2 cup of Minute Rice
2 cups Fat Free Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Frozen Peas
1tbsp Butter
2 tsp, plus 1tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese
1tbsp Chopped Parsley
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

In a medium size heavy pan melt butter. Add rice and saute about 1 minute. Add chicken broth and peas, bring to a boil. When most of the liquid is absorbed reduce heat to low and cover. Cook on low for about 15 minutes, until rice is cooked though. In a 2nd large skillet, heat 2tsp olive oil over medium heat. Season shrimp with salt & pepper and add to hot pan. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, until shrimp is cooked through. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside. Add 1tbsp olive oil to skillet and pour in rice mixture. Add grated cheese and shrimp and parsley. Saute for another minute.

Note: 1/2lb of shrimp may be enough, instead of 1lb if you use large shrimp as we did. It kind of took over the dish, but it was cool to get a bite of shrimp with each scoop. So it is really up to you as to how much meat you really like in a dish. Also the cheese was kind of hard to find. We found it at Whole Food, but even there we had to really search for it.

Tomorrow I will come back with Monday's meal.

TTFN (Ta-ta for now)

Wednesday's Weekly Weigh In

So I have to put myself on blast or else I will not make any changes. So here you have it my first weigh in. Well technically this is my second, I did one Sunday to get the picture setting right, but that was not counted because it was late in the evening after all sorts of food. So I decided that I would make Wednesday's my weigh in day's because it is the middle of the week and I know if I have to change something for the remainder of the week. So here it goes....
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I will be back on here today uploading my food and my work out schedule. So here is to my first official week. Oh yea we tried 4 new recipes (3 dinners and 1 breakfast) so far and have 2 more to go, I will upload them, show pictures and what I thought about them.

Harder Than I Thought

Man it is harder than I thought to keep a photo food journal. Sense everyone, except me have been sick I have not been cooking very much, so I have no pictures. But I will tell you that I have been keeping a log, but even eating good does not effect my mood to make me want to exercise.

Call it lazy, call it no motivation, call it whatever you like, but this will be the last week that I am not in the gym! I have my personal trainer set up for next Tuesday and Wednesday. I have to admit, I am afraid. My last trainer was easy, almost to easy for me and this new guy seem really stern. Kind of scary almost. He seems really all about business. We shall see if it produce results.

I weighed in Sunday: 213lb, down a whole pound. Don't know what I did to get there, maybe it was just the time of day. Who knows. This weekend I will be taking my before pictures and measurement and posting them and that is when I will be starting the pictures. Everyone should be 100% by then and I should be back to normal on my cooking schedule. So for the next few days I will just list what I have eaten without the pic's.

Wish me well on this journey.

Tess

Reason....Pt 2

60lb in 3 months was more than I could handle. The crazy thing was I was going the the gym and doing Weight Watcher. I was on top of my game and then I realize that each time I weighed in I had gain a pound or 2. I could not believe this. I attributed it to the medication, but I didn't have anything to back it up. However, I called my doc and told him we needed to have a talk. That is when he told me that "Yes it does cause weight gain, but the benefit far out weigh it." You have to be kidding me.

So you are telling me my mental state is more important than my overall health? "I don't think so!" Changed my meds that day and hit the gym again. But some where along the line I got lazy, sick and tried of getting up in the morning and heading to the gym. So I was out of commission for a few months. Lets just say I was very depressed.

So in 2007, I decided to try again to lose the wight, but in the month of February, I fail out of a rolling chair and broke my ankle and leg. So when that was all said and done I did not want to do anything else. So I was down for a the rest of the year. Lets just called that as it really is LAZY!

So last year, I went back at it. For a while anyway. I was taking a team fitness class and personal training. Did good until Zyprexia. Just like Seroquel it is a weight gaining medication. I gained over 22lb in 4 months taking me to my all time high of 219lb. I could not believe this. how could I let myself go. I was so ashamed.

So now it is 2010, I am on a new medication that has been really good to me in the weight loss department. SO I am back in the gym with personal trying, a different mind set and a husband who is willing to keep me in check. Hence the reason for this site.

I am starting this site to keep me accountable. I am going on a journey for as long as I can, so I can get down to a healthy weight, so I will be able to have more children and set positive example for them. 2010 has to be a better year for me in the weight loss category. So let me give you the break down of what this site will contain:

1. Photo's of the things I put in my mouth. Yelp you got it everything I eat will be noted.

2. Photo's of what I look like now and what I will look like each following weeks as I go down this road. Hopefully we will see progress with each week that comes.

3. My personal thought about this journey and how it effects me.

4. Photo's and reviews of recipes that I try each and every day of the week.

5. My exercise routine.

So this may not be the blog that you want to read, but it will be my personal little diary of the days ahead. Wish me well.

Tess