February 20, 2013 – Still going strong!

Hi everyone! Kelly is back! I had my first workout with her this morning since last week. Don’t worry it wasn’t my first workout since she’s been gone. I was able to get up in the morning and go power walking and work out in the evenings as well. There were a few days that it was raining, or was just too cold to be up in the morning working out. I’m sorry but running in 40 degree weather in South Florida isn’t something that I like to do. I didn’t want to get sick. See here in South Florida you’ll have it really cold for a day or two and then it will warm back up to 80 degrees.  I’ll admit I do love our winters but this past week was a little too cold for me. ;)

Afterwork out with Diva!

 

We weighted this morning and I was right where I was last week :) So that’s good with me no gains or losses, but more importantly no gains ;) Boy what a workout this morning! But before I get there let me talk about last nights. Last night I ran for the longest with my dog Diva. She loved it! She use to go running with my sister all the time. I however have not been a runner in the past until this year so it’s a new experience for us. I mean Diva and I would go for walks all the time but running is something entirely different. As I was getting ready changing into my workout clothes I asked her if she wanted to go running with me, she got the biggest smile on her face and started wagging her tail. I told her to go see her Grandpa so she could be harnessed up. We all took off at the same time and I took the lead, leaving Diva walking behind me with her Grandpa. I’m almost to the end of the block when I hear my parents yelling behind me. I turn around and there is Diva at the end of her leash trying to catch me with a big smile on her face. Saying Mom I thought we were going to go run?! I walk back to her and take the leash from my Dad. I turn around and ask her if she’s ready, she starts to take off as if saying “Yes let’s go!”  We get around the corner, and by this time she’s done doing her business so I ask her are you ready, are you ready to start the run? So I start off with a good pace and she’s right there with me keeping stride. She was so happy running with a smile on her face and her tail wagging. Like she’s been waiting to go on a run for a long time with me J Diva and I made it around our whole neighborhood without stopping! We did another lap of power walking to cool down. I didn’t want my muscles to tighten up after keeping such a good pace going. We caught up with my parents on our second lap around and finished our workout with them.  This morning with Kelly we focused on doing small muscle groups, I warmed up first on the bike and then did bicep curls and presses followed by some chest flies. After which I took the bar with 20 more pounds on it and would pick it up and then bend over to just my knees and back up again working my gluts without putting a lot of strain on my knees for a set of 20. Then she had me squat and bend under the bar on the weight machine for a set of 10. After all that she’s like I want you to do burppes. I look at her and say excuse me, she goes I want you to do burpees I’ve never made you do those before. I told her no she hasn’t but from what I hear burpees suck! For those of you that have never done or seen a burpee those things are HARD! Kelly gets up and shows me one, you squat down with your hands on the floor then pop out to your toes so you are now in a plank position then pop your feet back up under you and stand up then jump and go back down again. Kelly says they are a total body workout. Yeah so much fun! ;) I did 10. Then she made me stay on the ground and hold the plank position for 20 seconds. That took a while for me to hold it for 20 seconds, but I did it! I finished the workout riding on the bike for 10 minutes keeping my heart rate over 149. J Kelly was super proud of me with doing the burpees and the planks. I burned a total of 310 calories and will try and burn another 300 tonight. J Tomorrow Kelly told me we are going out for a run…I can’t wait! ;)

So until next time remember to stay focused and stay motivated!

-The Dish

February 13, 2013 – Keeping a positive attitude!

Hi everyone! To curtail off of lasts week post I was right about not losing any weight. And like I said before that it was ok, I had prepared myself and continued to work hard! Kelly left today to be gone for a week so I asked her if I could weight in since she won’t be here on Friday. Kelly thought that was a great idea, and boy am I glad we did! ;) I am down 3 pounds since Friday! That brings me to 286lbs! Since just Friday I have lost 3lbs! :D I can’t wait to see what the scale says when she returns next week!

After cutting the grass and power walking!

While Kelly is gone I am going to continue with my workout routine. I won’t be waking up quite as early to make our 6am workouts but I will still be getting up to workout in my neighborhood at 6am instead. I’ll do jogging and power walking in the morning and if I still need to reach my calories burned I’ll power walk in the evenings. I’ve been maintaining my workouts and trying to improve with each session and I don’t want to lose the momentum just because Kelly won’t be in town.  So I enlisted my friend JD to make sure that I’m getting my workouts done in the morning before work and working out in the evening if necessary. I know JD will keep me on point ;) I know I’m going to have to dig deep within myself to get out of bed in the morning knowing that I don’t have Kelly waiting on me. And in the back of my mind thinking I could just stay in bed and sleep in. Luckily I only have 4 days like that to make it without her. So I’ll stay focused and make sure to drag my big butt out of my warm bed.

After last nights power walk! :)

So keeping a positive attitude…I try very hard to stay positive about my journey. Do I get deterred sometimes and aggravated, yes I do. But then I look at how far I’ve come and know if I’ve made it this far I can keep going! I know I usually look happy in my post workout photos, but if you could see the pain on my face during it, it wouldn’t be pretty ;) What keeps me going and having a positive attitude is the support from everyone around me! Seeing you like my photo on Instagram or my status update on Facebook. Leaving a comment of how proud you are of me, or messaging me and telling me what an inspiration I am (JR :D). That is what helps to keep me going and knowing that I can do this! Last week I said losing weight and working out is mental and it is, but in order to be successful you have to surround yourself with a great support team! Also writing this blog helps ;) I’m able to get my feelings out in the open. Even if I may appear happy with a smile on my face from day to day, don’t worry I am happy most of the time, unless you catch me of the end of a hard workout with Kelly in the morning. Yea not so pretty then haha I guess it’s like the saying “can’t see the forest for the trees”. I’m in this and not looking at it from the outside, I see my same reflection day in and day out. Do I notice the change? I see a few a little here and there, but my best mirror is you all! Hearing from people how skinny I look or that they had to do a double take because they didn’t recognize that it was me. I guess what I’m trying to say is yes I’m positive but I’m also human and have my bad days as well as good. But I’ve always been the type to try and look at the bright side of things. So if you’re trying also to lose the weight DON’T give up! Just keep working hard and you’ll see the results.

Well that’s all for now so until next time remember to stay focused and stay motivated!

-The Dish

February 6, 2013 - Training HARD!

Hi everyone! Hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the always entertaining Super Bowl (Go Ravens!)

Well like my title says today I’m training hard. Kelly has me training 6 days a week now. I work out with her in the morning Monday thru Friday and I power walk on Saturday in my neighborhood. This week alone I’ve done two a day’s both on Monday and Tuesday. I bought the Polar FT4 this past weekend. It monitors your heart rate and will tell you how many calories you are burning. It lets me know if I’m working in my target heart range, if I drop below it starts to beep at me. Kelly wants me to burn 500 calories during my workout, so if I don’t reach that number with her then I have to work out at night too, hence why I’ve had two a days this week. I like being able to see while I’m working out what my heart rate is and how many calories I’ve already burned J It’s a great motivator!

 

I love getting gold stars from Kelly! :)

 

Last week at weight-in I lost 3 pounds! I’m now at 289. From those of you that have been keeping up I’ve put on some weight since November. But no fear I am back on track after getting through the holidays. I can’t wait to see what Friday’s weight-in has in store! Between eating right and training really hard I’m hoping to see some good results! If not well then I know I just have to stick with it and next week will really show the progress that I’m making.

I’m still running 3 days a week and weight lifting the other two. I’m up to running 2 miles and it’s starting to get a little easier. And by little I mean little ;) I’ve come to realize that weight loss is mainly mental. You have to make the right decisions to eat right and not cave when you have bad food around you. I have to keep pushing myself to keep running even thou my legs are screaming at me to stop! That I know as long as I focus on my breathing and stride the burning will eventually stop. It’s just me and the road no one else, I have to push myself to keep going. I look at these other people and see how many miles they run and I think ugh how you can do that. They make it look so easy! But I have to remain positive and know that I will eventually get there. It’s not always easy to be positive with your legs are burning and your head is pounding, but if you stick with it you feel so much better in the end. Now don’t get me wrong when Kelly asks me at the end of my run don’t I feel great, at that exact point no I don’t, I’m tired and I hurt but after I cool off I do feel better! I’m proud of myself that I even ran as far as I did. I never thought that one day I’d be a runner and look at me now! J It really goes to show that if you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything and this year I’m going to lose 120lbs! ;)

So until next time remember to stay focused and stay motivated!

-The Dish

January 30, 2013 - I'M BACK!

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted and I’m sorry. I had a few post written I just didn’t get around to posting them so let me share them with you now J Then we can catch up…

October 17, 2012 – Plateau, oh how I don’t like you! :p

So to set the stage here is the definition of Plateau:

World English Dictionary

plateau  (ˈplætəʊ)
— n  , pl -eaus , -eaux
1.	a wide mainly level area of elevated land
2.	a relatively long period of stability; levelling off: the rising prices reached a plateau
— vb
3.	to remain at a stable level for a relatively long period
[C18: from French, from Old French platel  something flat, from plat  flat; see plate ]

Well as you can guess I’ve reached a plateau. Last Saturday at weight-in I was the same weight 285. I was beyond frustrated. All last week I was on a strict no carbs or red meat diet. Needless to say I ate A LOT of salads last week under 600 calories J I was very disappointed to see all the hard work that I’ve done and I didn’t lose a pound! But Kelly encouraged me and told me that I’m right on track that I just need to keep up the good work this week and I’ll have a big drop at weight-in.  So fingers crossed that when I see Kelly again and have weight-in that I’ll have a big drop in weight, I’m hoping to hit the 5 pound mark that would mean that I would have lost a total of 51 pounds! There’s just one small tiny problem…Kelly had to have surgery yesterday so she’s out for a week at least. That means that I have to be strict on myself and keep myself motivated. Which has been going ok so far… ;)

November 28, 2012 – I’ve overcome the Plateau!!!

Hi everyone, first off let me wish everyone a Happy Holiday, and I hope you all didn’t get too stuffed on Turkey day. I know I didn’t. Also I want to apologize for not posting lately. (Thanks TB for asking if I was still blogging the other day, it’s nice to know that you all like to keep up with my journey) It’s been very hectic with vacation, getting a cold and Thanksgiving also I was really bummed out while I was going through the plateau. 

So this plateau thing really sucked for lack of a better word! I did NOT like it!! I was getting so frustrated; I’d be great with my diet, working out twice as hard and not shedding a pound! Kelly kept me motivated and we changed my diet around a little bit to two small meals a day and one shake. Well then I went out of town to the big City. This time New York and I had a love/love relationship. I came back with NO blisters or strained Achilles heels. I did however catch a cold  :-/ But I loved it! I walked a lot too! Found my way around the subway and bus system; almost felt like a local ;) My friend KSM told me when I got back that looking at my pictures I looked like I belong in the City. I told her hum maybe one day I’ll live there. They always say if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere ;) Oh and the leaves in Central Park, so beautiful! I also had a great visit with my sister J And this time walking around I was able to keep up with her and not feel like a grandma slowing her down haha

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

Sissy and I in Central Park

Then a week later Turkey day rolled around. I went to visit family for a few days so I was eating out more often and trying to make conscience decisions about what I chose to eat. For the most part I didn’t do too bad. ;) I did have a few glasses of wine on Turkey day and a couple of beers during the last game of the season. So when I got on the scale yesterday I was pleasantly surprised!

I knew what I’ve eaten (with going on vacation, having a cold and not working out for a week, then having Turkey day and only working out two days last week) so in my mind I had a feeling that the scale might not be what I’d like to see. I was worried to say the least. :-/ Kelly had me get on three times like she always does, then asks what was I before when we weight the last time. I told her I was at 285, she said well you lost 5 pounds you are exactly at 280! :D I couldn’t believe it!! I quickly calculated that with my new weight I have lost a total of 51 pounds! I can’t believe that I am FINALLY over the 50 mark! :D I won’t be near my goal of 250 by December 2^nd but that’s ok. I plan on redoing my goals for the next month and Kelly would like me to get down to 270 by New Years. So I’ve started the week out right with working out with Kelly in the morning and having more protein and vegetables and less carbs J Here’s to a new goal of 270 by New Years!

Well that’s all for now! Remember to stay focused and stay motivated! Even if I have to remind myself too on a daily basis ;)

-The Dish

And now to the present! So I took a week off from work over Christmas and New Years, don’t worry I still got up every day and worked out with Kelly. I even had my sister who was in town join us J It was nice to be able to spend so much time with her, I miss having her around. I will say that my diet was not too great. I enjoyed the occasional drink and probably too much fried food.  Kelly made sure that after New Years that we’d get back on point and we did. Until I got an upper repertory infection that I didn’t get to work out for two weeks! Infection is now gone and I’m feeling great! I’m a little sore but great. Kelly and I worked out last Wednesday for the first time in two weeks. She took it easy on me since I still wasn’t done with my antibiotics but she said you better be ready come Monday we’re going to get down to business. Well let me tell you she wasn’t kidding! She has me taking pictures and texting what I eat! I’ll tell you this it keeps me on point that’s for sure! ;) You can’t lie what you’re eating with a picture. And to add to that, we are now running! Yes you read correct I said RUNNING! I ran for the first time on Monday with Kelly, we did a mile and a half! Our new workout routine will be running three days a week and lifting weights two days a week. Yesterday we did some light upper body, still trying to get back with it after being gone for two weeks. And this morning….drum roll please…I ran for 2 MILES!!!! I couldn’t believe that I did that or that I had it in me! By the end of the mile and a half I was ready to quit, but Kelly pushed me and I finished running the remaining half and completed two miles! Trust me the last half wasn’t without some tears ;) I really had to focus on my breathing and just reminding myself left right, left right, left right. I could see the end but I really felt like I couldn’t get there. Kelly was beyond ecstatic that I did 2 miles today! She asks me how I feel. I said I hurt, she’s like no, doesn’t your body feel great?! I looked at her and said no my body hates me right now and its hurting. She goes that’s just in your head Tiff, your body right now is saying oh yeah, it’s about time!!! Well that’s what she thinks my body is saying I however beg to differ :p So of course she’s on a roll and supper happy that I ran for two miles, she says we need to sign you up for a 5k! I look at her still trying to catch my breath with the you’ve got to be kidding me eyes, she goes we’ll sign you up next month. Still staring at her, she’s like ok ok after spring break then, I tell her I’m already signing up for the Color Run in May! She goes that’s fine you can do one after spring break, it’s only one more mile Tiff you can do it! Then to add to that she says by December I want you to run a half! I stare at her with the deer in the head lights look like this woman has got to be kidding me. I just finished running 2 miles for the first time and she’s ready for me to take off, I’m just trying to focus on catching my breath. For those of you that don’t know how many miles a half marathon is its 13.1! Needless to say I had a lot to take in after my 2 mile run.

Before dropping Sissy off at the airport...

 

Running 2 miles and after!

Sometimes I need to look at a side by side to realize how far I've come!

Did I mention that she wants me to lose 120lbs this year, to get down to 160!? Yeah so this year we mean business, I’m going to continue to work on the new me in the New Year! Wish me luck on this journey that I am continuing on ;) Kelly and I have big goals to accomplish and a lot of hard work ahead of us, but I know if I can come this far then I can surly finish till the end J

So until next time remember to stay focused and stay motivated!

-The Dish

 

October 3, 2012 - What is it about new jeans?

Hi everyone! Happy Hump Day! :) We've made it half way through the week and now we are on the downward slop. Hope everyone is doing good this week.

So last week at weight in I lost one pound! I was very happy with that result because now I am down a total of 45 pounds from 331 to 286! Like I posted on Facebook one pound is still a pound in the right direction.

I'm sure you're curious about my title this week. Well like I said in last weeks post I went down two pants size from a 22 to a 18 and ordered a new pair. On Friday they finally arrived! I had to wash them because of the dark die, so I finally got to wear them on Monday. And let me ask you, what is it about new jeans, AND new boots? Makes you feel sexy ;) Well I sure was strutting myself around the office that's for sure! The jeans looked amazing and I was wearing some new boots that I got for a trip to NYC next month! I wanted to break the boots in now and not be dealing with blisters when I'm in the City. :) The last time I went to the Big Apple I was not in the shape I am now and I paid dearly for it. Beginners mistake, wearing high heels to Time Square. I will not do that again. I ended up with blisters on the bottom of both my feet and felt like I was walking on fire for the rest of the trip. Needlessly to say NYC kicked my butt and I came back hurting. But this time NYC look out, I'm in the best shape and ready to take you on! If my readers have any suggestions of places to see let me know. :)

I haven't been able to get two a days in this week due to the weather. Its been storming here since Monday. I finally was able to see the Sun today. :) I've been watching what I eat and making smart choices. I even went to a baby shower on Saturday night, (yes I said night) they had an open bar and it was during the FSU/USF game, I was VERY good and drank only water ;) My Mom on the other hand was introduced to a drink called "Baby Guinness" (AB made me think of you, miss you from across the pond) she had two ;) I did taste it and it was very smooth. I mean you can never go wrong with Patron Cafe. ;) (Thank you CA for introducing that to me one Thanksgiving many moons ago) I hope to have some good results on Friday for weight in so I'll let you know how it goes.

Well that's all for now, hope everyone has a good rest of the week and weekend.  :)

Until next time remember to stay focused and stay motivated.

- The Dish

September 26, 2012 - What a successful week!

Whoo Hoo we’ve made it to Hump Day!! Hope all my followers out there are doing well J So this past week was very productive for The Dish. Let me share with you….

This past Thursday Kelly almost killed me, ok maybe not for real but she did for the first time make me cry and I couldn’t breathe. She pushed me to my limits. She kept chanting there’s the athlete in you I see her she’s coming out, keep pushing yourself. As I’m standing there crying saying I can’t breathe she says to go stand in front of the fan then she says there it is, that’s what I was wanting to see. I’m standing there thinking she wanted me to cry?! I’m sure she can read the expression on my face; she replies I wanted to push you to your breaking point so you know how far you can go. Well let me tell you I reached it and it was very instance getting there. Kelly informs me that we will be working out this hard three days a week. Can I tell you I wanted to slap her at that point thinking she’s insane! Ok maybe not really insane or slap her for that matter, but in that moment working out that hard was the farthest thing from my mind. Kelly kept telling me the rest of the day and the next morning that I kicked ass in that workout. That she was very proud of me!

Bicep Curls

Bicep Raises

I’ve been keeping up with the two a days. SR and I worked out twice on Saturday. I even made sure I got my workout in before the ‘Noles 8pm kick off against Clemson. Boy what a game that was to watch and to not be able to drink anything was very hard. Kelly suggested that I have water with lemon, I reply that I need something stronger she says ice tea with lemon, I tell her oh sure I’ll have Dragonfly Ice Tea with Lemon no problem. You see Kelly didn’t know what Dragonfly Ice Tea is. (For those of you wondering just the same it’s a brand of Sweet Tea Vodka) I tell her not to worry I’ll just stick to the water instead. Needlessly to say I ended up going to bed by 10:30pm when Clemson scored on us again, so when I woke up and saw that we won I was glad my Mom had DVR the game so I could to watch us kick Clemson’s butt! The next day on Sunday SR and I went shopping. I had tried on some old pair of pants in my closet the day before and I fit into some slacks that I use to wear in college. I was soo happy one for fitting into the pants and two for not having to buy any work slacks right now. All of my old jeans where too big so I knew going shopping on Sunday with SR I would have to buy some jeans. SR and I make our way into Lane Bryant; we head straight to the jeans. I go ahead and grab a 20. I was wearing a 22 before and I knew that I could put my arm down the inside of my pants like I do to my work slacks. SR and I go back to the changing rooms. I am able to slide the pants on with no problem, I walk out of the dressing room and SR says that those look great! I say yes they do but look, and I show her that I’m still able to put my arm down the inside of my pants. The clerk is standing there asking how everything fits and she says those look ok but I should try a smaller size, I nervously ask her to pull an 18 for me. She brings me back the 18 and I’m able to pull them up and over my butt (which many of you know is very large) and button them with no problem. I check to see if I can fit my arm inside my pants and no go. I step out for SR to see and her mouth drops! SR’s like those look so good on you, even your butt looks smaller! I’m jumping for joy I’m so happy to fit into the size 18 pants. I have to give a very proud shot out to SR who tried on pants with me; she was able to get into a size 16!!!!!!!!!! :D Way to go SR!! We’re doing it one step at a time ;)

Trying on and then buying my size 18 jeans :)

On Monday after my workout with Kelly I tell her that I need to take my measurements to add to the Isabody challenge. She says let’s take pictures since you have on the same outfit from the first set. Kelly takes the front side to side and back. I couldn’t believe the difference from the first pictures we took until now. It’s hard for me to see the 44 pounds that I lost until I look at pictures like these. I see myself every day and I still see my rolls, but after seeing the difference it just motivates me more to continue to reach my goals! Here are some side by side pictures to see the difference.

Front

Back

Right Side

Left Side

Well I hope everyone has a great rest of the week. And remember to stay focused and stay motivated!

-The Dish

September 20, 2012 - Gaining Momentum

Hi everyone! We are over the hump and have made it half way through the week. It started out a little rough but its shaping up nicely now. J Ok so I’m sure you all want to know what I did on the scales last week…

Drum roll please! I lost another 5 pounds for a total of 42 pounds! I am down from 331 to 289! I cannot believe that I am under the 290 mark! I am 5 pounds closer to my goal of 250 by December 2^nd.  I know I can make it as long as I stay focused and keep my eye on the prize. For those of you that are friends with me on Facebook, thanks for all the love on Friday for my post about losing the 5 pounds. J Its nice to know I have so many people supporting me on this journey!

This past weekend I hosted a nutritional cleanse tasting party. Thank you for those of you that attended. It was nice to see Kelly outside of the gym dressed up with her hair and makeup done. We usually see each other at 6:00am looking like we both rolled out of bed.  I know it’s not usually my best look ;) I think everyone had a nice time and learned a lot of the program that I have been on since Memorial Day. If you have questions about it please let me know J

Like my friends and I say it’s not a diet it’s a life style change. I have changed the way I eat and look at food. I know on Sunday for dinner we had Carolina BBQ and some fried chicken strips from KFC. I had the BBQ and just one small strip from KFC. Halfway through my stomach was hurting and I was thinking why did I eat that?! One it didn’t taste good and two now I don’t feel good. Today for instance at work my coworker offers me a cheese Danish. I look at her like are you serious, and she says no I can’t let you have any. I say thank you, now can you please hide those before I come up here. She says yes no problem. I come to her desk and what is out, the cheese Danish. I go are you trying to kill me. She says no and puts them in the cabinet. I tell her I saw where you put them, but its ok I’ll sit here and enjoy my dark chocolate and 6 organic almonds. She laughs, but says she’s proud of me for sticking to my program. Let me just say that the chocolate and almonds tasted so good ;)

So my girl SR got on me yesterday about my pants. I was wearing jeans that I can fit my whole arm down the side like my work slacks. She said you look like you have a well I won’t say it but you know what I mean between your legs. I go I know all my pants do that. “/ SR said girl its time, you need to buy at least one pair of pants. So I made her a deal, I said if you go shopping with me this weekend I’ll buy one pair of jeans and one pair of slacks. So I’ll let you know how the shopping experience goes next week. I also saw that I have smaller jeans in my closet. I’ll have to get up my nerves to try them on and let you know how they fit. Maybe I will only have to buy one pair of slacks. ;)



Pre-workout picture! This is before we did Cardio and left glistening. ;)

How we looked after our workout.

Kelly has been kicking my workouts up a notch, doing intense circuit training. I also am trying to do 45 minutes of power walking at night, even on the weekends. I know from the squats, lunges, and sumo squats we did this morning I’m aching. But I know in the end it will all pay off. I will look and feel fantastic! I can’t be overwhelmed by the big picture of reaching 180 pounds, I have to focus on the small goals and take one step at a time. I know I will reach 180 and eventually get down to 150. It is hard for me though to picture myself at that weight but I know I can do it. :D

Taken this morning before Kelly pushed me to my limits.
I'm all smiles now but afterwards I wanted to die.

So until next time stay focused and stay motivated.

- The Dish