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