Thursday, January 29, 2009

Whomp Here it Is! Diet, fat loss, body composition, lifestyle change

This is me, working through what is actually happening in my journey to a fit healthy body. Perhaps my musings will help you along your way as well.

Here I am on my weigh in day for this week. I know for a fact that I haven’t been overeating. Well one day I spiked my calories up to around 2500. One day out of 7. The 2500 is an estimate and on the high side. My calorie consumption has actually been more on the low side.

This is the part that throws so many people off their fitness plans. Notice I didn’t say diet plan. Improving overall health and fitness involves more than starving yourself thin. That is just as unhealthy as being obese. It entails muscle degeneration, heart attacks, weakness, overall health deterioration.



So what am I on about? My nutritional consumption has been decent. Not perfect I’m sure but decent. I’ve been working out. Between working with the kennel/ranch some days have been moderate and others heavy. Heavy as in pushing it to the max of what my body will take to get livestock taken care of. When I get back into the house and peel off my outer ware I am soaked through my inner layers. Not because snow is soaking through my coveralls, but because I’m working hard enough that I am sweating heavily enough to soak my clothes. No it’s not because it’s hot, it’s been near or below zero. In cold temps like that it takes more care to keep the animals in good stead.

I’ve been working out to Hip Hop Abs; as well as doing physical ranch work. Been doing a bit on my elliptical as well. In any of my indoor workouts I’ve been putting forth the effort so I’ve been soaking my clothes there too.


So yay rah, I’m sweating up my clothes. Makes for a good bit of laundry but what does it have to do with my weight loss, or lack there of. That’s right I stayed the same this week, for the second week running. What does all this going on about working out and sweat have to do with that? You’d think that I would have dropped 5 or 6 pounds between the appropriate food consumption and exercise.

That didn’t happen. So what did happen? Oh, I can’t lose weight freak out. No, that’s not happening either. Here it is. Here is what is happening. I am changing my body’s composition. I can feel it and I can see it. I can feel it in my arms, my legs, butt, back, sides, abs, neck, hands, even in my face.

I am losing fat and gaining muscle. How long is this going to go on? I have no idea. The change in body composition is going to be going on for the long haul. How long will the muscle build outweigh the fat loss? No idea. Muscle is 5 times denser than fat. It will go along this way until it doesn’t. What I mean is my weight will stay static or fluctuate, then boom drop again.



In the past this has driven me a bit batty. Freak out and eat everything in sight lamenting the fruitlessness of dieting. The difference is I am not dieting. OMG! What did I say? I am not dieting. Nope not on a diet. Pointless starvation things.

What is happening in my life is not a diet, it is a lifestyle change. A major change in mindset. I do not feel guilty about food. I enjoy the taste, smell and texture of what I eat. I eat to live; I do not live to eat. Nor do I eat to dull my emotions.

For the first time since I was a child I can actually enjoy a meal. I seriously dislike the feeling of eating too much, of being overfull, so I don’t overeat. The compulsion to eat and eat without knowing why is gone. I eat when my body is hungry, not when I’m bored or pissed, or depressed, or whatever.

Yes I am still over fat. One day one step at a time, that is changing. This time around I am enjoying the process.

Life is a journey, enjoy the trip.
Live life now: appreciate each moment as it happens.
Mary E. Robbins & the Hairballs
Robbins Run Ranch: Living the Dream With Our Pomeranians
Team Beachbody Coach
Turn Weight Loss into Profit: Learn How to Become a Beachbody Coach
307.788.0202

Now I am going to log into my online gym and go workout. Hip Hop Abs here I come…killer six pack abs here I come.


Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Ten Pounds Down, 140 to Go





WOWY exercise log: late night jan 27th, 2009. stomach was pretty icky so i went with the elliptical, just in case I had to run for the bathroom again. 8.4 kms managed to get up over 50 rpm but couldn't keep it there yet.

Diet Log: toasted bagel (140 cal) with 2 tsp cream cheese and coffee with tsp creamer (10 cal) for breakfast
lunch was ham and split pea soup- progresso from the can, around 6 saltine crackers give or take

dinner was spagetti w/ home made sauce.. later snack spagetti with home made sauce and a glass of 2% milk

unfortunately my stomach blew up ... ugh

General: Truthfully I’ve had a bit of a crappy attitude ever since the weather shifted into full blown cold winter. It was 10 below zero on my window thermometer between 5 and 6 this morning. Ugh. Frankly that is too bloody cold. We have around a foot of snow on the ground. I fed the dogs a hot food today. Everyone seems to be doing ok. Bloody braker tripped to the whelping house. The hairballs in there aren't used to the cold like the others are. Fortunately it didn't trip last night; it had to be sometime this afternoon. I know this because their water wasn't frozen solid. It did get down to freezing before I caught it. Its back on now, I am going to check it again before I go to bed, and when I get up in the night to stoke the wood stove.

Frankly I'm glad I don't have any puppies in there. Some seniors, and some young dogs and one teenager, so to speak. He is such a trip. They are all pissed because I won't let them out in the play yards to play. Since they aren't acclimated it is too cold.

The big dogs that are outside are doing fine; they really like that hot food. I need to tweak my recipe a bit but it is doing the trick now. I've been taking my recipe and mixing it in with dry dog food and pouring very hot water over it. Makes hot rich gravy. Don't want to use too much of the recipe, it would be too rich. Seems to be working pretty well with the dry food as a base though. I'll really have to watch it if I continue it over the summer. Serve just enough so they will clean it up quickly. Don't want spoilage.

I am going to be so glad when we get our house built, and I can convert this one completely into the kennel office and kennels. That will be so nice.

I’m getting pretty excited about Team Beachbody. As far as getting in shape, I couldn’t ask for more. Excellent workouts, fitness tips, diet information, nutrition products, message board support, excellent across the board. They even have a program that deals with type II diabetes. No I am not diabetic, but someone I love very much is. On the business side, wow!

Excellent product line, excellent product support, top notch business support, excellent pay plan. Hit’s the high points on everything I was looking for. Lord knows I’ve been looking and looking. Frankly I was seriously surprised to find this opportunity.

I kind of stumbled across it when I was looking for somewhere for fitness and weight loss support. I looked at weight watchers, I looked at Ivillage, I looked at ediets, I looked at T.O.P.S., I looked at overeaters anonymous, and I considered bariatric surgery. There’s a few fitness centers/gym’s within a 50 mile radius of where I live. But frankly its nuts to try to get there in the winter when the storms roll in. Between working on line and working with my kennels taking out hours to go to a gym just isn’t happening. I live to far out for it to be practical time wise, not to mention the fuel usage.

So I started looking for workout DVDs. Team Beachbody has some primo workouts. Effective and fun. As in not boring. Hip Hop Abs, P90 X, Slim in 6, Turbo Jam just to name a few. Wow and how.

I found what I was looking for. 10 pounds down so far. 140 to go.

I was worried about having flab hanging as I lost weight. I don’t think I am going to have much of a problem with that with the workouts. It is going to be such a relief to only be carrying the weight of one person around, instead of 2. I can already feel the difference in my abs and the muscles up my back. Frankly it’s great to be rebuilding my strength too.

Gotta get some zzzzs

Life is a journey, enjoy the trip.
Mary E. Robbins & the Hairballs
Robbins Run Ranch: Living the Dream With Our Pomeranians
Team Beachbody
Turn Weight loss into Profit: Learn How to Become a Beachbody Coach
307.788.0202 call me, I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.


Sunday, January 25, 2009

New Year, from fat body to beach body







Ok, here is where I am starting. Measurements and pics.

Here’s the measurements:
Age: 48 (49 on feb 5th 2009)
Program: hip hop abs-but will be doing others after complete this one
Height: 5 ft 7 in
Weight: 289 (was at 299)
R Arm: 15.5
L Arm: 15.5
Chest: 50
Waist: 41.5
Hips: 58.5
R Thigh: 36
L Thigh: 36
Goal Weight: 149 -i'd actually like to go down to 145 but can't get my mind past losing 150 pounds just yet 299-150=149

I was 299 in December, 295 jan 1st, 293, jan 8th, 289 jan 15, 289 jan 22nd. That leaves me with 10 pounds down, 140 pounds to go.

I live on a ranch in south eastern Wyoming; about 200 miles northeast of Denver Co. it’s been pretty nice for a few weeks, then the weather turned cold again. It’s 7 degrees. Could be colder, thankfully it is not below zero right now. Frankly I had enough of that last year. So did my animals. The warm then cold is tough on them, they all have shelter but it’s still cold. My attitude is a bit cruddy today. I have a real case of spring fever this year. So want it to warm back up and stay warm for a while. Before it gets hot.

299 is the heaviest I’ve ever been. Time to get this stopped before it’s 399. I noticed I’ve been hiding in my fat. Took me quite a while to admit that to myself. I’ve spent the past several years dealing with illness-west nile virus, surgery that destroyed my abs and pelvic floor. The surgery was in September 2005. there’s been 3 surgeries over the past 10 years or so. The last one was a doozie. But I am still here. I’ve recovered some strength in my abs, but have a long way to go. My insides don’t feel like they are falling out if I lift moderately now. Before I got sick I could lift a railroad tie and walk of with it. I went from that to not being able to pick up my coffee pot. I freaked out and packed on the pounds, snarfing everything in sight.

Better now. Made a new years resolution that is making a difference: here it is:
The greatest year of my life.
Live life now, appreciate each moment as it happens.
Live in peace within myself.

I am living now, not waiting until I am at a certain weight. Eliminates the hiding in the fat bit. Wipes out excuses, and blaming myself for what should of could of or would have been if I was at such and such a weight and so on.

I made it, 30 minutes on my elliptical this morning. I've been working on hip hop abs. I am doing the moderated version at this point, because frankly that's all I have in me right now. I thought I’d add the elliptical then some time and do the hip hop abs too. My elliptical has the arm levers so I get the upper body, along with the ab and leg workout with it.



I can see the red bar on the WOWY timer from my elliptical, frankly last night and this morning that was a big part of what got me through it. Mentally and emotionally it really feels good to have started my day off with completing my first workout of the day.

I'm working on my first glass of water for the day. I know I’m not drinking enough h2o.

Here comes my starting photo. This is the same pic that is on my before pics on my beachbody profile.

Something I am really looking forward to is to be able to lie down on my bed. On my side, and not have my belly lie down beside me.

That and to have my thighs not rub when I walk. Although I wonder about that one. I rode horses a lot when I was a kid, bareback, and developed considerable muscle mass in my thighs. Guess I’ll just have to wait and see. At any rate it will be wonderful to not be carrying around that second person.

I remember looking in the mirror when I was I college and thinking I was obese. I weighed 145 pounds at the time. Well I made it happen; now I actually see myself. I’m not sure what to call the torture so many of us put ourselves through, rather than enjoying our lives. But that was then, this is now, what changed, my mindset is what changed.

A lot of binging, journaling, reading, and work later. I am 144 pounds heavier than I was then, 30 years older, and finally free.

Gee sounds like the fat should just float off, hmm anyone have a magic wand...no? Ok guess I'll have to work it off. I was a bit pissed when I got on the scale Thursday. It was irrational, but I was pissed that I stayed the same rather than losing weight. I know I’m building muscle, I know it was irrational, but I was still pissed.

It’s taken me a few days to get my attitude in check. Happily I did not binge after weighing. That is a major victory for me.

I started to do the 2day fast product team beachbody has yesterday. My attitude wasn't in the right place and that didn't workout out too well for me. Made it through 2 meals then had some celery and broth, ate supper with my husband last night. Steak and salad, and a slice of key lime pie.

Yes just a slice, not a whole pie.

Over the past 25 years I have yo-yoed up and down so many times. I just do not want to do it any more. I want to actually be able to enjoy moving around. Go to a dance and enjoy it rather than having my back and feet in constant pain from too much fat and not enough muscle support. Or just go to a movie without being worried that my butt won't fit in the seat. Or book a flight without cringing at the thought of people on both sides of me, flying cheek to cheek literally.

Getting rid of sleep apnea would be a good thing too. I was so excited to find a pair of insulated bib overalls big enough to go on over a pair of sweat pants. They are a size 52 in men’s. Thank God they had them. Makes it much less miserable to be out taking care of the animals in the cold. My thigh is bigger than what my waist was. On a high note, I don’t have a problem with my blood pressure being high. At least I didn’t as of my last checkup.

My dad is coming to visit in June this year if all goes well. I really want some pounds off and to be in much better condition before he gets here.

Guess I am a combination of hope, fear, and determination.

Take care of you

Life is a journey, One day one moment at a time… ok I rambled again.
Mary E. Robbins & the Hairballs