New and first time focusing on myself!

[jenniepea]

Hey ladies..

Quick background (maybe not so quick) - I live life in fast-forward. My husband and I are high school sweet hearts. We moved in together when he was in his second year of college and I had just graduated high school. We had our first baby, our son Cohen a year and a half later, and our daughter Mya 4 and a half years after that. We've moved from a small town to a big(ish) city. We both work full time and have our kids in multiple after-school activities. I'm in sales and spend 99% of my work day sitting at a desk.

I'm 5'4" and was 128lbs before I had my son. I LOVED my body! I've always had a very full bra size but yet the rest of my body was almost athletic (defined arms, the outline of a six-pack, legs that made me confident to wear shorts). I went up to 172 with my first pregnancy and got down to 145 a year later. I hovered around there (went down to 140, and up to 150) for 4 years until I was pregnant with my daughter. I went up to 170 with my second pregnancy and again got down to 145, but within 6 months. My daughter is now 3 and a year ago I changed jobs and gained 10lbs. I am currently about 155.

Over the past few years I have made changes to my "diet". I, of course want my children to eat healthy so I in turn eat healthier than I did before. I don't drink pop or juice or diet anything. Mostly just water with a coffee or tea in the morning. My problem has been lack of movement and "convenience" foods the nights the kids have activities. If we get take-out, we'll choose the healthier options (a grilled chicken wrap at McDonalds as opposed to a big mac), but that still takes it's tole.

Fast forward to today!!

A week ago I got a gym membership to Gold's Gym and have some personal training sessions with an awesome girl who competes. I realize if I'm going to do this, there's no point in half-assing it! I've been keeping track of my food on Fit Day and joined this website to track my progress and keep motivated! My sister-in-law (pigleywigley1) is an awesome source of motivation, but sometimes I feel like we can't relate... she's younger, no kids, lives at home, works from home, etc. I'd like to hopefully hear from some working moms who manage to juggle like me.

So far I joined on a Thursday and did 40 minutes on the elliptical. The following Monday I had my consult with the trainer, did 20 minutes on the elliptical before hand and a light workout with her (she was just testing my abilities at this point). Our first training session last Wednesday, then I went on my own Friday... did 15 minutes on the elliptical, 15 minutes on the treadmill (15% incline @ 3 mph), then some core/upper body stuff.

Tonight's drink night with my man and I'm pumped to switch my regular beer or Rye & Ginger for some vodka, water and fresh lemon and lime juice!

I'm sure I'll get lots of tips from my trainer as things move along, but I'd be happy to hear some tips from anyone else who's been in my shoes! My embarrassing starting pics are on my BodySpace...

My first check-in point will be in a couple of weeks. I'm heading to San Francisco for work and I'd like to feel confident while I'm there. Again, if anyone has any tips on ways to increase my progress over the next couple of weeks, I'll be glad to hear them...

If you made it this far, thanks!

Stay tuned...

[jenniepea]

I have my second training session tomorrow night, but I was feeling really motivated and went to the gym this morning. I hope I don't end up too sore after tomorrow!!

I didn't give it too hard though, I don't think...

20 minutes on the treadmill - 15% incline 3mph
4/15 sit ups with a 15lb medicine ball
4/12 with a bicep machine (I have no idea what it's called) @ 50lbs
4/12 crunch machine @ 50lbs
lunges with 10lb weights in each hand
5 more minutes on teh treadmill - 15% incline 3mph
And then took my daughter in the pool. I tried to stay in a squat position the whole time as I helped her along (she can't touch) and was there for 20-25 minutes.

I started the day off with 1 egg + 2 egg whites and salsa, a yogurt, and a visalus shake before heading to the Gym. When I came home I had an other shake and a small portion of left over red curry chicken. I did some work from home for a few hours and I had a major a craving for chocolate so I grabbed a piece of 80% dark thinking that would tide me over but half an hour later I made a coffee and turned it into a cafe mocha... I was feeling guilty for that so I went easy on my service size for dinner, but we had stirfry with no rice!

I'm jumping into this so I hope it's not too hard, but my daughter can't have gluten or lactose so making meals big enough for the family that she can tolerate will be healthier for all of us and that should help!!

I read a bit about meal planning and prepping on Sunday and that sounds like it would really help save me some time so I'd like to look more into that! I think that would help too!

Next Thursday will be two weeks since I started, but the following Monday will be two weeks from my measurements. I'll hop on the scale again one of those two days and make my first "Progress" post!!




Hopefully I don't get my ass kicked too bad tomorrow ;]

[jenniepea]

It's been a few days since I checked in. Monday the 29th I DID get my ass kicked with my trainer. I had actually gone a little too hard at the gym on my own on Friday and Sunday so Monday night my back was sore. She suggested we focus on legs. I always thought that legs were my strong point, but WOW! They were killing me for 3-4 days post-workout!! I also gave her my food journal from the previous 5 days so she could write up a meal plan.

Tuesday night I was too sore to go workout, Wednesday night was Halloween, and Thursday night is a write off as both kids have activities. I had an other training appointment on Friday. After my warm up, she had me using the pull up machine. That to me is one of the hardest exercises I have done yet! My upper body strength is not anywhere near what I thought it was! Even at 70% of my body weight, I was struggling with the last 5 reps each time. I really didn't think I was going to make it through the entire hour, but she kept switching things up and keeping it interesting and the hour actually flew by. She also gave me my food plan (I'll post that below).

I did stick to it all weekend, and had a rest day yesterday. I went back this morning and unfortunately she wasn't there. She called me afterwards and apologized feeling horrible. She is going to give me two free sessions, which is amazing. I repeated some of the exercises she has taught me, but mostly focused on legs today. I left feeling like I did well, but not as wiped out as I feel when I work out with her. It kind of bummed me out a bit. Maybe that's why I had a bit of a "cheat day". I still stayed within the calories of her meal plan, but I had some girlfriends over and one brought a cream-cheese epicure dip and nachos as well as salsa... then my husband brought pizza and wings. I had one piece of pizza (a very small piece) and two wings.

Now for the meal plan...

Meal 1:
1/2 c. oats
1 egg + 5 egg whites
1 Cup of berries


Meal 2:
1 scoop of whey protein powder
15 almonds or 1 tbsp. natural peanut or almond butter


Meal 3:
4 oz chicken or turkey or 6 oz lean white fish
2 slices ezekiel bread or 6oz sweet potatoe or 140g quinoa or 130g brown rice
2 cups vegetable (try to keep it to fibrous veggies; broc, green beans, kale, mush, spinach, etc.)


Meal 4:
2 rice cakes
1 tbsp all natural peanut or almond butter
1 gala apple


Post Workout Shake:
1 scoop whey protein
1 bananna


Meal 5:
1 cup green yogurt or 1 tbsp natural peanut or almond butter.



I stuck to that the rest of Friday and all day Saturday. Today, again - I f'd up, but I'm right back at it tomorrow :]

[jenniepea]

I forgot to mention, she also has me starting the day with a greens powdered drink, a multi vitamin, vitamin c, d and an omega 3-6-9, with Omega's 3x per day. OR roughly 1632 calories, 150 grams of protein, 172 grams of carbs, and 42 grams of fat. She's going to taper it down a bit in two weeks!! Wish me luck!!

[jenniepea]

After a few great days, I'm back!
I stuck to the meal plan 100% on Monday and again Tuesday, followed by some personal training! We did my first progress check - 2 weeks in. I am down 5lbs!! Woot, woot!! Somehow I only managed to lose inches in my chest (surprise, surprise), but the imbalance in my biceps is slowly being repaired (I started off with my left being 11" and my right being 12" - now my left is 11.5" and my right is 12.25"), the imbalance in my thighs is gone (was 17" and 18" now both 18").

I have a trip to California coming up next Tuesday for work, so I am planning to give it all I've got over the next little while. Starting with tonight! It's supposed to be a rest night, but after I get my house tidy'd up and my kids in bed, I'm going to do some work from home!! I'm thinking I'll warm up with a walk/jog around the block and come in and use some free weights and do some squats and lunges. I've never worked out at home so I'm hoping I do alright ;]

[jenniepea]

Well that never happened!

I've got a lot on the go right now... planning for my upcoming trip, a couple of side jobs, and I am a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and I have a big Christmas card making event the day after I return so I ended up prepping for that all night Wednesday. I did stick to the meal plan though both Wednesday and Thursday then went to the gym for some personal training on Thursday night. It was leg day. I now understand why I see on people's ******** status' "boo to leg day". My word! I really had to push through just about everything we did. 10 minutes into it I was sweating like crazy!!

My next personal training session isn't until Sunday night, but again I leave Tuesday. My son has testing at Tae Kwon Do on Monday night so I doubt I'll be able to make it into the gym before I leave so my plan is to head there both tonight and Saturday. If I bring the kids, they can go to the kids gym and we can go in the pool/hot tub afterwards. They love the kids gym so if I tell them we're going... we HAVE TO GO!! They'll never let me hear the end of it. That's one way to make me accountable!!

I'm pretty nervous about my trip. I'm afraid it's going to be way too easy to fall off the wagon. I made sure my hotel has a gym, but it's a working trip so I don't have a lot of time. I'm in the east coast, and going to San Francisco so there's a chance I'll wake up each morning at 5 thinking it's 8... of course I can head to the gym then... but the wining and dining that I'm certain will be happening is what's gotten me worried. I guess I just have to try to make sure everything I eat is in moderation, try to eat at least every 3 hours and if I do go overboard, make sure that I hit the gym as much as possible!!

[jenniepea]

Well, I haven't been in this thread in a while, so I think it's about time I provide an update.

Life's been crazy busy, as it is with most of us. We recently switched my son from Taekwondo a few blocks from us, to Jujitzu at the Gym I go to. That has made the world of a difference! Saves so much time and I can workout while he's there. My husband has also recently joined the gym as well. Our daughter goes to the kids gym, which she loves, so we have totally taken on "the lifestyle". With my daughter being lactose and gluten intolerant, it's easy for us to stick to a meal plan... the kids just get extra snacks!

My personal training sessions are coming to an end. Tonight I have the first of my last three. I decided to order some supplements, I thought it would be a good way to kick things up a notch before I finish off with her. I ordered CLA, L-Carnitine, a pre-workout shake & glutamine. I actually just tracked it and I'll be able to pick my package up when I get home :] I guess I'll have to figure out how to time everything.

I joined one of the motivational threads on here.. February 1 - May 1st in fat loss. I'm hoping that will help me stay accountable when my training is all finished up!!

Still lurking on other people's journals - feel free to cast a shout out if you're doing the same ;]

[jenniepea]

WOW! It's been AGES since I've made a journal entry!

I actually hadn't used this site much as there were some pretty crazy things happening in my family's life! My husband got a new job all the way across the country and commuted. This left me alone with the kids 20 days out of the month. I continued to hit the gym 4-5 days a week and eat very well. After about a year of that, we decided to pack us all up and make the move from southern Ontario to northern Alberta! CRAZY!!!

We're now living near the oil sands. Being a working town, it is predominately male populated. This intimidated me initially. I stopped going to the gym - completely! It was a huge shock to my system. After about 3-4 months, I purchased the Body Beast videos by team beach body and started to do them from home. About 3-4 months after that, I found a workout buddy and got a membership at our local YMCA.

I've been in touch with my trainer from back home, the one who competes, and decided back in December that I am going to do my first competition!!

I've officially been in "contest-prep" since January 2nd.

It's going amazing!! As you can see from my bodyspace, I've been updating and having some pretty stellar results. I'm at the gym 6 days a week. 5 of those days are weight training, 1 day is only cardio, and my 3 upper body days have cardio as well. I'm on a very restrictive meal plan. That is the hard part!! I've had about 4 cheats since I started. Two of them were impulse chicken wing binges. I ate 4 each time. I told my husband recently he can't have chicken wings in the house anymore lol. The other two times I substituted a chicken portion for once crab, and once steak. Ok, ok, so I cheated 5 times... the 5th was just a couple of days ago... on valentine's day I had 2 Reese Peanut Butter Hearts! UGH! Cheating during contest prep is sooo not worth it. I know this! I'm 13 weeks out right now so I know I can't do it again!

In two weeks we are going to Florida to meet up with my husband's entire family for a week. I'm petrified! Food is a big deal to them. Every time we're all together (which isn't often), it's always a big binge-fest. I CAN NOT cheat and I absolutely HAVE to go to the gym every day! If anyone has any advice on how to deal with this, please, please pass it along. I know to meal prep and drink lots of water to keep the cravings at bay, but it's the offerings that I'm afraid of. The having to repeat myself over and over and over that no I can't even have just that certain thing, even if it is an otherwise healthy food, even if it is only a tiny portion, even if I do an extra 10 minutes of cardio. It's going to be mentally draining and it's starting to make me dread an otherwise super exciting trip :[

On an other note...

The 200K Transformation challenge just so happened to coincide with my contest prep, so I've also registered for that! So far I'm down about 13lbs and 15+ inches... hopefully I'll keep it up and be considered in the end!!!

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned!!