Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.
Last week weight:  140.0

Current weight: 138.2

Current loss:  -1.8
TOTAL LOSS: -38.2

So far going strong.  

Workouts have been on point (about to head to the gym after I post this to attack chest, shoulders and tris).  Nutrition has been better but there's still room for improvment.  I'm not sticking to my plan 100% like I should be, but kind of using it as a guide for my everyday eating.  So far it seems to be working and I really like it!  The hardest part about the plan:

too much food!!

Yup, I'm stuffed.  I'm used to eating 5 or 6 times a day, but because the plan calls for a lot of veggies throughout the day, I'm always full.  Never had this problem on a diet before.  =)

ENOUGH!

Alright, truth be told.

I haven't been around the blog much because things have been pretty bad on the health and fitness front for me.  No bitching or complaining, but long story short, I'm sitting about 10 lbs. heavier than my lowest weight of 128.

I can give you all the excuses in the world for why it happened, but instead I'm moving forward and doing something about it!

 

I had enough!

Workouts are still happening but not as often and intense as I would like.  Working with other personal trainers helps a ton because we'll usually pair up to workout (workout buddies!!) but I still find myself making excuses to why I can't do an extra 20 minutes of cardio or why I HAVE to go out to buy my lunch.

But no more!

I'm not making any promises about how often I'll be blogging but I AM making a promise that health and fitness are back to being my number one priorities.

To get my eating back on track, I'm following an awesome diet plan, made by an awesome woman, whose concept and ideas behind the plan are things I strongly believe in.  Fighter Diet.  If you don't know, educate yourself with the link!

So official re-starting stats:

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.
Last week weight:  ???

Current weight: 140.0

Current loss:  ???
TOTAL LOSS: -36.4

Weigh-in Wednesday: GAIN!

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  126.0

Current weight:  126.4

Current loss:  +0.4
TOTAL LOSS:  -50.0

TOUGH week lead to a weight-gain but no big deal.  I knew my eating was off track so it's just a matter of getting back to my regular schedule this week.

__________________________________________________

Yesterday I had my last certification exam to finalize everything I need to become a personal trainer. 


When I spoke to the gym manager yesterday, he was talking to me as if I already had the job.  We had talked a couple of weeks earlier so he was aware that I was going on a trip in two weeks, but this is what he said to me:

"Since you have all your certifications, submit a resume on-line and email me when you do it.  Then we can get all the hiring paperwork taken care of before you leave on your trip and when you get back you can start."

Umm... does that mean I have a job?!

Here's hoping!!

 (source)

Weigh-in Wednesday + goal update

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  126.4

Current weight:  126.0

Current loss: -0.4
TOTAL LOSS:  -50.4

Super surprised because it was a tough week!  No exercise with lots of high calorie days... maybe my body needed the rest and extra calories?

Weigh-in Wednesday: AHHHHH man!

First of all, I'm loving all the guesses on my exciting news (best guess: Olympic torch runner)!  Just a couple more hints:

• If everything works out, I'll need a whole new wardrobe (not weight-loss related)
• I'll be paying it forward
• And no, I'm not getting married.  Let's not rush into things, now.

On to the weigh-in...

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  127.0

Current weight:  126.4

Current loss:  -0.6
TOTAL LOSS:  -50.0

A regular happy face doesn't even cut it...

...even this one barley contains how I feel.

(source)

WOOT WOOT!!!  Hit the 50lbs. mark on the dot!!  I was so excited when I weighed in with Trainer L, that I actually started to choke up and got a little teary eyed.  Kinda weird for Trainer L to see me get like that since normally he's used to seeing my heavy squatting face:

(source)

My thoughts on hitting this tremendous milestone:

• This journey takes time.  I decided to lose the weight for good back in September of 2008... almost four years later and I'm down 50 lbs.  Many people can lose that amount of weight in less than a year, but this is MY journey and I did what worked for ME.
• Anyone who said losing weight is easy is a F*@$^% liar! Period!
• Every set back I had or mistake I made came with a valuable lesson learned.  Don't let these stand in your way of anything.
• Ice cream and pizza will always be a part of my life so it's just something I need to work around.  No big deal since I'm still moving in the right direction.
•  Reaching goals and milestones are AWESOME, but it doesn't end your journey.  You need to reevaluate where you are and strive to improve yourself for the rest of your life.  It's a lifestyle change... not an "only-till-I-lose-30-pounds" change.
• Health and fitness are no longer just things I do... it's now a part of who I am (another hint for my exciting news).
• I've still got a lot more work to do but I'm so excited about doing it!

Weigh-in Wednesday + progress stats

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  127.4

Current weight:  127.0

Current loss:  -0.4
TOTAL LOSS:  -49.4

Really thought I was going to hit the 50-lbs. milestone but it'll have to wait for another weigh-in.

Progress starts from April to May:

And overall progress stats since I started the LiveFit program on March 1:

I'm pretty stoked about my results (even if they seem so little bit) so far and can't imagine what they REALLY could have been if I stuck to the nutrition plan, too.  I'm in the last month/phase of LiveFit and plan to be a little tighter about where my calories come from.

NOTE:  These are inches lost due to heavy weight training... not hours on a cardio machine.  Pick up them weights NOW!!!


After this last month is over, I'm not sure what I'll be doing next... thinking about doing the program again or moving on to another program I saw at bodybuilding.com.  It's basically the guy version of LiveFit but I know several girls who got AWESOME results from it.  It's called Kris Gethin's Hardcore Trainer.  We'll see where I'm at after the next four weeks.

Weigh-in Wednesday: It's official

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  128.4 (4/18/12)

Current weight:  127.4

Current loss:  -1.0
TOTAL LOSS:  -49.0

Two weeks and down one pound... I'll take it!  In fact, now days I'm happy with any weight-loss week to week since I'm in a muscle building phase.  

Speaking of building muscle, it's official...

I've changed my fitness goals to bodybuilding!

(source)

Just kidding about the picture!  Not that there's anything wrong with a female body like that... it's just not what I want to look like.

Bodybuilding, in it's simplest form, is basically reshaping the body with muscle.  In other words, it's now my goal to not only be strong, but to LOOK strong, too, because I think muscle definition looks good on both men and women.

(source)

Erin Stern = AMAZING!!!

I realize I have a W-A-Y-S to go, but after discussing this with my trainer, he and I both came to the conclusion that I have a really good starting point since I've been lifting consistently for over three years.  We're already able to see good muscle definition in certain areas, so it's now time to "even out" the weaker areas and build them up to give me a more balanced look.

I don't plan on competing - no way! - but I'm totally excited to see what I can do.

Of course, this now means nutrition has to, has to, has to, be a lot stricter so my body can shed the fat but still build muscle.  This equals to clean eating on the higher end of the scale (1600 - 1800 calories).

Measurements get taken with my trainer next week, so I'll be able to see if I truly am building muscle AND losing weight (like last month!).

Weigh-in Wednesday:

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  128.4

Current weight:  128.4

Current loss:  0.0
TOTAL LOSS:  -48.0

 

So.close.to.the.50,pound.mark!!   Determined to get there SOON!  Upping my motivation and reworking my goals!
Speaking of goals...

(click to enlarge calendar)

With three days off last week (reason found here), there wasn't any way I was gonna hit my weight-training and cardio goals.  Calories still need to be brought under control and I'm not gonna lie... it's gonna be T.O.U.G.H.  This weekend I have a birthday party to attend and next week I have a dinner on Tuesday and another party on Saturday.  Time to practice my "no thank you" muscle.

Looking back at my calendar goals for the last several months, I've noticed that I'm a little backwards.  Instead of getting pumped and excited that it's the beginning of a new month, I kinda just do my thing.  

When half the month passes and I realize I didn't do a good job at doing my thing, I go all out for the last half of the month and end the month AWESOME (sometimes...).

So here's hoping that the last two weeks of April on my calendar have a little less red on them.

Weigh-in Wednesday + Progress(!) stats

First of all, thank you guys so much for all the support and kind words on my last post.  Your comments put a lot of things into perspective and really got me motivated to continue strong on this journey.

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  130.2

Current weight:  128.4

Current loss:  -1.8
TOTAL LOSS:  -48.0

Today's weight almost puts me back at my lowest March weigh-in two weeks ago, and even though I was hoping to be lower than that, I'm totally happy with it.  Lots of food was consumed this past weekend during Easter so I was expecting the weight to be about the same as last week... but that's not the case.  =)

Moving on to my stats.  I had measurments done with Trainer L at the gym yesterday and here are the results:

One month difference.

So why the exclamation mark in the post title?  Because according to the body fat %, I GAINED some muscle!

130.0 lbs. x 31.2% body fat = 40.56 lbs. of fat and 89.44 lbs. of lean mass
128.4 lbs. x 29.8% body fat = 38.26 lbs. of fat and 90.14 lbs. of lean mass

Heck, it's only 0.7 lbs. but it's still 0.7 lbs.  

All the other times I've been measured (roughly every month by Trainer L for the past two years!) the pounds of fat and lean mass decrease together so this is the first time EVER I've shown a muscle gain (thank you, LiveFit program)!!!

Huge, huge, huge NSV!

(And it came at the perfect time after my pity post.)

Weigh-in Wednesday: WOW

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  128.2 

Current weight:  130.2

Current loss: +2
TOTAL LOSS:  -46.2

Yup, I blame it on Spring Break last week.  And yummy food this Saturday... garlic fries, bbq meat, fried pork chops, fried rice, Korean chicken, ice cream, chocolate covered pretzels.  Not the best choices for weight-loss BUT I expected it from last week so got in extra workouts.  This week will be WAY better!

__________________________________________________ 

PR hit in back squats:  160 lbs. x 8 reps

PR hit in military press:  70 lbs. x 7 reps

 

PR hit in barbell row:  85 lbs. x 8 reps (could have gone heavier but I was on my 6th set.  Next week?)

 

Weigh-in Wednesday + weekend hike

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  129.4

Current weight: 128.2

Current loss:  -1.2
TOTAL LOSS:  -48.2

PR hit in barbell bench press:  85 lbs. x 8 reps
Still have a WAYS to go with my bench press but hitting PR's (personal records) means improvement, right?   =)

__________________________________________________ 

This past weekend I hit up a new-to-me hiking trail with my mom and some of her co-workers.  It was muddy... it was rainy... it was long... it was FUN!  For more details about the hike, see my post here.

Weigh-in Wednesday + Paleo recipe

Starting weight: 176.4 

Last week weight: 128.6
Current weight:  129.4

Current loss:  +0.8
TOTAL LOSS:  -47.0

Not disappointed at all.  Inches are still going down and since I'm in a muscle building workout program, the number on the scale will fluctuate.

Speaking of workouts...

PR hit in back squat:  155 lbs.  
That puts me between "intermediate" and "advance" according to these standards.  Not bad if my body weight keeps dropping and the barbel weight keeps increasing.

__________________________________________________ 

Protein Cinnamon Swirl "Bread"

For this yumminess, I  followed this recipe by Jamie Eason but switched out the oat flour for almond flour and tweaked a little bit of the directions.  The end result was really good, but a little too sweet for me so next time I'm cutting the stevia in half.

Nutrition facts: Makes 16 squares

1 square = 55 calories, 1g fat, 8g carbs, 5g protein

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup stevia

1.5 cup almond flour

2 scoops vanilla protein powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 egg whites

1c unsweetened almond milk

1 4-oz jar baby food applesauce (or no sugar added applesauce)

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 pan with olive oil.

2.) In a large bowl, combine stevia, almond flour, protein powder, baking powder, and salt and mix well.

3.) In a medium bowl, combine egg whites, almond milk, and applesauce.  Combine with dry ingredients and fold together until incorporated.

4.) In a small bowl, scoop out about 1/2c of batter and combine with cinnamon.  Set aside.

5.) Pour batter from large bowl into pan, then drizzle batter + cinnamon (from step 4) into pan.

6.) Bake 25 minutes.

Weigh-in Wednesday: In a new decade?

Starting weight:  176.4 

Last week weight:  130.0

Current weight:  128.6

Current loss:  -1.4
TOTAL LOSS:  -47.8

I want to remind people that 128 lbs. for my height is still considered overweight.  I have a body fat percentage of 33% (per my last Trainer L visit) which is considered overweight for my age.  128 may seem low, but I have visible, squishy fat everywhere... and I'm not talking about a "need to lose the last 10 pounds" sort of vanity fat... it's fat fat!

For my height and with a muscular build (what I'm going for) I should be around 115 lbs. at MAX.  Without the muscular build, around 108 lbs.  My goal weight is 120.  


Still overweight for my height, but much healthier than 176 lbs. 3 years ago!  Hope I'm in this new decade for good!!

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Click the above picture to join me in the Challenge.  

Starts March 26!

Progress measurements

Two month difference.

Can't complain about any of it... especially because I'm still losing in the right places - arms and waist - and not losing in the wrong places - chest!!

Hips and thighs didn't change but I'm okay with that.  The barbell squats/lunges and killer leg days I'm doing with the LiveFit program are already changing the physical appearance of my legs.  Definitely not complaining about that. 

My workouts always tend to give more attention to my lower body because that's the first place I see definition so I've decided to do higher reps (12 - 15 reps) instead of the standard 8 - 12 that I normally do.  Will keep the upper body workouts in the 8 - 12 rep range.

Weekend plans
Tomorrow I'm checking out a new training facility - sshhh... don't tell my trainer - and will be getting a free personal training session, get this, with a guy that used to be a trainer with my current trainer.  Although he doesn't work at a gym (which is why I said training facility), his prices would make it worth it to sign up with him AND keep my gym membership.

Picture from EC Fitness Oahu.

Very Cross Fit style training areas... I'm super excited about it!!

What are your weekend plans to stay on track?

Weigh-in Wednesday and creatine

Starting weight: 176.4 

Last week weight: 129.6

Current weight:  130.0

Current loss:  +0.4
TOTAL LOSS:  -46.4

I'm not making excuses (cause my workouts and nutrition have been on point - see below), but there are a couple of things that contributed to this gain:

1. My cheat meal on Sunday night.
2. A new supplement I started taking: creatine. 

Sunday night, Anthony and I went out with my friend and her husband who we haven't seen in forever.  We met at a local bar, and before we got there, I already decided to make it my cheat meal.  Fire-baked pizza and burgers... so yummy!  Plus, I did a KILLER workout on Saturday, so it was well deserved.

And about that new supplement I'm taking... 

I get the feeling a lot of females get nervous about creatine because it's usually associated with guys who use it to get HUGE in the weight room, but that's not the case.  In my non-scientific, non-professional understanding, creatine helps boost your performance in high-intensity, short workouts (like HIIT, weight lifting, sprinting) by allowing your body to push more than it could without the supplement.  

Creatine does cause some water retention - anywhere from 1 - 5 lbs. - in your skeletal muscles (not like the joyous monthly bloating of TOM), so this is where part of the gain might be coming from, too.  No big deal to me because you lose that water weight when you stop taking creatine (which I'll do in about a month or two).

Other than that, exercise and clean eating are going AWESOME!!!  Measurements coming tomorrow.

Weigh-in Wednesday and total randomness

Starting weight:  176.4

Last week month weight:  133.0

Current weight:  129.6

Current loss:  -3.4

TOTAL LOSS:  -46.8 lbs.

LowestWeightSinceHighSchool!!!!!  LowestWeightOnThisJourney!!!!

Between my trip earlier this month, Valentine's Day, the GAR, and not seeing my trainer for over three weeks, I'm super happy with that!  

I've stayed away from the scale at home as much as possible because I knew I was eating all kinds of crazy over the last several weeks, but had to face it today… just out of curiosity.  My mindset has been "eye on the prize" since last week so I knew the scale wouldn't dictate my emotions no matter what it said.

After fighting pretty damn hard - intense trainings, HIIT, started powerlifting, race trainings, and dieting - for the last several months, I was tired.  Physically.  Mentally.  And emotionally.  I needed a break and my body knew it, so over the last three weeks, I did just that.  

I had a chance to reevaluate why I'm on this journey and where I want it to go.  

So last week, after the GAR race (and after my legs healed from being sore), I got right back into the swing of things.

I started a new 12 week weight-lifting program courtesy of my girl-crush Jamie Eason.

I found a virtual workout and accountability buddy in Tiff, from Miles in Murray.

I took two hours out of Sunday to prep all my meals for this week.

And my March goals are being finalized as you read this.

Woot woot!! 
__________________________________________________________

Total randomness.  Check out this little, totally legit, car.  Yup, car... not ATV or Power Wheels... actual car.  Well actually it's a type of electric car but still super cute.  It's modified to look like a Cadillac Escalade... PIMP!

Weigh-in Wednesday: Nope!

Starting weight: 176.4 

Last week weight: 132.5

Current weight: ????

Current loss: ???

TOTAL LOSS:  -43.9

I've put the scale away until next week because after a vacation weekend, I know the number is up and I don't wanna be discouraged or unmotivated by it.

It's funny how one month I can totally be on track and even if the scale moves down only a pound, I'm still super happy with myself.  But if I have several bad weekends in a row (for example my birthday the other weekend, Maui this past weekend, Valentine's dinner last night!), I feel super disappointed even if the scale moves down.  I guess it's the guilt over the lack of exercise and super poor nutrition.

Time to get back on that wagon and make this week amazing.

Btw, my 13K is less than a week away!  EEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!  I feel so unprepared...

__________________________________________________ 

Valentine's isn't that big of a deal for Anthony and I... usually he's working... and we don't really celebrate it.  We figure the holidays just finished, my birthday was less than a month ago, and next month is our anniversary... so we can skip it.

But this year we had a gift card to a fancy restaurant so decided to celebrate Valentine's (sorry for the junk picts).   It was a preset meal so didn't have much options to choose from.

Oyster with chili granita and sea salt.  I don't eat oysters so Anthony enjoyed both of ours.

For her: Ahi and shrimp pana cotta.

For him: Grilled shrimp herb salad

We both opted for the steak with Asian pesto sauce.

 For her: Almond strawberry trifle

For him: Chocolate crunch bars

How did you celebrate love day? 

Weigh-in Wednesday and vacation time!

Starting weight: 176.4 

Last week weight: 133.00

Current weight: 132.5

Current loss:  -0.5

TOTAL LOSS:  -43.9

I blame Superbowl.  It wasn't my fault at all, I swear!


Moving on!

__________________________________________________ 

Pretty well with the first week of February.  Hope I can keep it up this weekend when I'm in MAUI!

Yup, taking a long weekend to visit family on Maui, who I haven't seen in years.  Won't be on a computer much (if at all!) and I'm super excited to get away for several days.  I do have a couple of posts scheduled to run while I'm gone, mostly about random topics that I've been meaning to write about, so it won't really feel like I'm gone.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you next week with updates and pictures from my trip!

Weigh-in Wednesday: Wow!

Starting weight: 176.4 

Last week weight: 131.4

Current weight: 133.0

Current loss: +1.6

TOTAL LOSS:  -43.4

Not surprising considering my weekend of cheat days but it was what I expected.  Back to it this week since Super Bowl Sunday will put a small bump in the road, too.

__________________________________________________ 

Yesterday's trainer session was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. 

PR's hit in both squat and chest press: 140 lbs. and 85 lbs. respectively.

I also got introduced (and fell in love) with this:

(source)

If you don't know, education yourself about TRX suspension training.
So good our ARMY uses it to train.

SUPER excited to start using this with my personal trainer (PT) and even though it's not strength training like powerlifting, it's definitely something I want to continue with.

Weigh-in Wednesday: 129 lbs. by 1/29

Starting weight: 176.4 

Last week weight: 132.0

Current weight: 131.4

Current loss:   -0.6

TOTAL LOSS: -45.0

45-pound benchmark reached!!

Not too bad considering TOM is here and this motivates me even more.  I'll keep going in the right direction, whether or not the scale shows it won't get to me.  One more week to try and reach the 120's... 129 by 1/29... 129 by 1/29! 

__________________________________________________ 

Click pict to enlarge.

You see that?!  I finally hit all my weekly goals!  Third week into January but I did it!  There's only one more week left this month, have you met your January goals yet?