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.

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.

Eat to Live or Live to Eat, The choice is Yours!

Ok it's true, when you are getting in condition; Changing your body composition, building muscle, losing fat, getting healthy, sometimes your actual weight increases.

No that's not an excuse to go binge, stuff your face or whatever. Muscle weighs more than fat does. Fat takes up 5 times the space muscle does. Fat burns much fewer calories than muscle does.

As I said, sometimes your actual weight increases. Keep on working out and your fat content will decrease. Your weight will decrease as well; that is if you have more fat to lose. Ok now that's not an excuse either.

The most important thing in losing weight, becoming healthy, any kind of training or life changes is (drum roll please) your mindset.

I used to Live to Eat, now I Eat to Live. Understand the difference? Yes? No? I can’t answer that question for you, only you can. When you understand the difference losing weight is no longer an issue.

No I don’t mean you will become healthy overnight. What I do mean is that when you understand that food is fuel for your body so you can live, not a coping mechanism to bury your emotions, or a place to hide. Or any number of other things, the list could go on and on.

You can actually enjoy what you eat, you are not limited in your selections.

You don’t have to use The Forte Diet to lose weight. Wow did I say that? Yes I did. Yes I market The Forte Diet. That said yes I use it. I like it. It makes for a quick and easy meal for me. I tastes good, is full of vitamins and minerals, keeps my energy levels at a good level, and my body feels good when I drink it for a quick meal.

That said, no it’s not the only thing I eat. I enjoy a good grilled steak too. Actually I enjoy meals now. No guilt over whatever I happen to eat. Woo Hoo! I used to freak over every bite. I eat to live now. I also listen to my body. Listen, your body will tell you when it’s had enough.

Yes you can ignore it and keep eating. You know that already, all you have to do is look around at all the obese people eating themselves to death to see that.

On the flip side-folks: starving yourself to death is not any healthier than eating yourself into size of a bloated walrus. Neither extreme is healthy!

I weighed in this morning. I gained 2 pounds. I knew I was going to gain, I’ve been lifting very heavy, working my muscles to exhaustion. No not in a gym, I’ve been working on the kennel getting it winterized. That involves lifting 13 foot sheets of tin, bales of straw, tires, posts, 2 by 4’s, and so on. At this point the Robbins Run Ranch: Pomeranian Kennel workout is all I can handle. Woof baby.

I can feel and see the difference in my body. It’s a good thing I have some suspenders or my jeans would be falling off. They look like baggy clown pants as it is. Lol.

Truth be told I’m looking forward to a new wardrobe as my size continues to drop. I’m also looking forward to being able to walk the Medicine Bow Half Marathon (13.1 miles) Sunday, May 25th, 2008.

It’s been a long journey from extreme illness to this point. It feels good being able to pick up a 13 foot sheet of tin, or a post driver. After surgery I couldn’t even lift a coffee pot. Forget picking up my Pomeranians. That was sheer torture.

My abs have healed back together, they were cut from my navel to bikini line. Now my body is getting stronger, and stronger. The fat is coming off my waist. I’m on my way to six pack abs.

It will take at least a year to work the fat off. I don’t want to take it off really fast, because I do not want my skin to be hanging all over the place. The goal is to lose fat at a steady healthy pace.

That said hopefully my skin will tighten up so I will not have to have it surgically removed. That said: if I have to have some removed, then so be it. But, I am going to do whatever I can to make that unnecessary, and still reduce my body size.

Life is a journey… enjoy the trip
Mary E. Robbins & the Hairballs
307.788.0202

Whoo Hoo... I lost 3 lbs... that makes 21 lbs down!

I am a happy camper! Yes it's true... losing another 3 pounds puts a smile on my face...lol... 21 pounds lost so far. Yeah ok, I’m excited. I hadn’t been on the scale in a bit and I was concerned that I had gained. Happily I did not.

The process of moving the rescue dogs to our property has been an extremely stressful one. Unfortunately I allowed my state of mind to bounce all over the place. Bottom line, Mindset is the most important thing in getting healthy, losing weight, anything you attempt to do.

I am using the forte’ diet to help things along. It tastes great and is a quick meal replacement. My energy level is staying pretty high as well. This is a good thing since there is much to do…

Check it out… If I can lose weight using this so can you!

It's pretty exciting to me watching the pounds roll off. Feeling good while losing weight is a much appreciated added bonus!

For those of you with business on your minds. This is an excellent business opportunity! Take a look, it can add an additional stream of income to your business portfolio. Or if you are just starting in the home business arena it is an excellent opportunity to launch yourself into financial freedom!

Life is a journey... enjoy the trip... Mary E. Robbins & the Hairballs

307.788.0202 USA MT