Some life Laws I need to be reminded of

My last blog was at week 51 and I stopped. I have been really struggling on why I have stopped writing and it's for many reasons. I didn't reach my 100 pounds in 1 year and it was a disappointment to myself. Took me a couple weeks to acknowledge why. Why didn't I reach my goal...why i gave up on myself. Started with making the excuses like I used to coming up with everything under the sun on why. I was working harder than ever with the training and cardio. Weight training 3 days a week and cardio on my own 2 days a week. I think my head said I am working so hard the weight should come off regardless of what i eat...How stupid am I. I started getting weighed in on Thursday's and guess what....Thursday was my free pass to eat and drink what i like and i did that until Sunday, then went back to eating great Mon, Tues & Wed....well I was gaining weight over the weekend only to break even by Thursday. Exhausting!

Who really was I trying to fool....my trainer, myself, the scale, God. I have to own it. I don't know if any of you are Dr. Phil fans but he has put together 10 life laws that I always have to go back to to be reminded of things we do and quite a few of his life laws are applying to my situation right now.

Life Law #2: You create your own experience.
Strategy: Acknowledge and accept accountability for your life. Understand your role in creating results.

You cannot dodge responsibility for how and why your life is the way it is. If you don't like your job, you are accountable. If you are overweight, you are accountable. If you are not happy, you are accountable. Don't play the role of victim, or use past events to build excuses. It guarantees you no progress, no healing, and no victory.

Life Law #3: People do what works.

Strategy: Identify the payoffs that drive your behavior and that of others.

Even the most destructive behaviors have a payoff. If you did not perceive the behavior in question to generate some value to you, you would not do it. If you want to stop behaving in a certain way, you've got to stop "paying yourself off" for doing it.

My payoff was "Hey lost half a pound and still went out to dinner twice adn ate adn drank what I wanted" when in reality if I ate right probably would have been 2 pounds.

Any most importantly in my situation that lead me back to reading his life laws is

Life Law #4: You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.
Strategy: Get real with yourself about life and everybody in it. Be truthful about what isn't working in your life. Stop making excuses and start making results.

If you're unwilling or unable to identify and consciously acknowledge your negative behaviors, characteristics or life patterns, then you will not change them. (In fact, they will only grow worse and become more entrenched in your life.) You've got to face it to replace it.

Acknowledgment means slapping yourself in the face with the brutal reality, admitting that you are getting payoffs for what you are doing, and giving yourself a no-kidding, bottom-line truthful confrontation. You cannot afford the luxury of lies, denial or defensiveness.

Last week before I got real with acknowledging my behavior I almost didn't go tot he gym for a weigh in. It would have been the first weigh in I would have missed in over a year. I knew it wasn't going to be good, i was PMSing and didn't want to disappoint Jon or myself. I made the call to cancel then changed my mind. I said I would be in. Had a long talk with a girlfriend to discuss why I have gone off track with my eating and she gave me the suggestion of getting weighed in on Mondays ( for a 4 week trial period) so I would be accountable all weekend (the hardest days for me to be good) and see if it made a difference.

Even though I didn't gain, I stayed the same I still was disappointed, but not giving up. I asked Jon if I could weigh in on Mondays and he agreed. Then he said "Instead of Mondays, I wasn't going to know what day he was going to weigh me in. Could be Monday, tues or Thurs...to always keeping me accountable, always ready for the scale. I am always good days prior to a weigh in day and up to now has always been the end of a week, easy to be good on week days, but if I get weighed in on Monday i would have to be good Sat & Sun. A slight relief. I was exhausted trying to beat the system which you never can. Now I just have to watch what I eat EVERYDAY. Keeping it at 4 weeks for now is what I can wrap my head around. After I see the results in 4 weeks I will reevaluate and I know what I will have to continue to do....

Well i also picked 4 weeks cause in 4 weeks I will be going to Florida for my sons graduation from college and having him happy with the weight I have lost is the best motivation ever. I want him as pound of me as I am of him. I will enjoy my vacation no doubt, but will get right back on track when I get back and set my next goal. Taking it day by day, week by week. This is going to be a lifelong battle I will always struggle with, I know, but in the long run my health and well being hard work will all pay off. And Life law number 7 is another to keep rereading

Life Law #7: Life is managed; it is not cured.
Strategy: Learn to take charge of your life and hold on. This is a long ride, and you are the driver every single day.

You are a life manager, and your objective is to actively manage your life in a way that generates high-quality results. You are your own most important resource for making your life work. Success is a moving target that must be tracked and continually pursued.

So thanx to everyone for support. I appreciate it.

Week 51 Sticking to Nutrition

Sat Mar 12 I did cardio, 1.43 Felt good. I like Saturday workouts. Took my niece out for the afternoon, then went to my close friends house who suffered a terrible loss of her sister.

Mon Mar 14th upper body(shoulders) ....off from work, but got up to go to gym. I never checked to see if i could make it later, but Jon said he had no other time anyway, so it worked out. Upper body shoulders. HARD.

Tues Mar 15 Upper body and abs, Killer. I am so tired on Tues and thurs nights between gym at 530, work a full day and then teaching, don't get home til 9:30.

Wed Mar 16, Cardio on my own beat my time again 1.44, went right from work. Love my Nano, couldn't get thru my workout with out blaring music...think I already said that. Been very tempted to eat at night. Must just go to bed when I get cravings!

Thurs mar 17 weigh in. 1.5 pounds 63 pounds lost total....don't want to go back up ever. Jon wanted more of a loss. Will def work harder next week on nutrition!!!!!!

My cardio workout as of 3/12/11

The benefits of interval training can be substantial. You will burn more calories during and after your workout, get faster and stronger, and increase overall cardiovascular fitness. Interval training also relieves the boredom sometimes associated with treadmill training. Every week or every 2 weeks I up some speeds just by 1 number to increses my distance. No rail holding.

Week 50 New weight training workout

I took my 2 half hour cardio's from Horizons and turned it into an extra hour of weight training. Jon is planning on concentrating on specific areas each of the 3 days. i will continue to do cardio on my own which is working out great. i am really doing well with the cardio.

Sat Mar 6th Cardio on my own. Made it to 1.42, my personal best on the treadmill so far. Very please with myself. Music helps soooo much, couldn't do it with out the music blaring in my ear with my new nano I won at Christmas. I wear it on my wrist, so so easy to switch up music if need be. I always end my last 4 minutes with REO Speedwagon's "Roll with the Changes" My last minute I am running at 5.6 mph

Mon Mar 7th. First day of new weight training. Done completely differently than the weight training done prior. I have to give him a gage number between each set 5 being really easy and 10 being I can't complete the set. We were working the whole time upper body (chest & shoulders) all with my numbers being 8, 9 or 10. I will be sore.

Tues Mar 8 More upper body and abs. My arms were already sore from day before. very tough, and intense. I bought a nutrition book to be accountable for all my food again and he will check it. I feel if he has to check it, i will think twice before eating or drinking anything bad for me.

Wed Mar 9 It hurts just to rub my hands together and wash them. Tonight brought my gym clothes to go right from work to get cardio in. Went did fantastic. Was planning on just reaching 1.42 again, but hit 1.43 in my final second...yeah. Kickin butt. Very tired.

Thurs Mar 10. weigh in gained 1/2 pd, but it was muscle. last day of weight training for the week lower body...was pretty nervous about this one. First exercise I had to be is perfect sitting position against wall, no hands on legs legs 90 degrees, 45 seconds 3 times...it sucked, I was soaked with sweat like I did a cardio after this lower body. My legs are already so sore I want to take the elevator at work just one floor. I feel I am so done for the week, but will do another cardio this weekend....and be extra good with the food. I am not going to work this hard and not watch the nutrition.

Week 49 Good week!

Didn't go to gym over weekend, planning on Mon & wed. Wanted to rest & get rid of cough.

Mon Feb 28 cardio was trying to get past 1.39 but was unsuccessful. Will def do it Wed. I am determined. Went right from work. Feel better, just coughed a lot after the gym

Tues. Mar 1Upper body with Jon. He is scaring me talking about my new routine next week. that I will be begging for mercy. He will be concentrating in specific areas for the whole hour. Can you imagine doing squats and lunges and working just legs for a whole hour. I can't. I will be in pain. A good pain, but he is making me nervous. Asked him how to get past my 1.30 and he told me to just up my numbers by one and surely will do it

Wed. Mar 2 Cardio. I forgot my nano at home so couldn't go to gym straight from work. Still got there at a good time, but it was packed. Out of 17 available treadmills all were taken, had to wait about 10 minutes. I upped my numbers, pushed myself and made it. 1.41, my new number to beat. Very pleased with myself! Feel great. Weigh in tomorrow

Thurs Mar 3 Lower body weigh in lost 2 pounds, yeah!!!! Lost some lean muscle. Jon said that is all nutrition. Have to adjust my diet. Lower body was hard, the walking incline sucked and I said it loud and clear, and my punishment was he made me do it for .30. Note to self: Don't complain, he will make it worse ;) Have to remember that next week with new routine. He keeps telling me how hard its gonna be. All to get and stay healthy.

Week 48 Sick again

I have never been sick so many times in my life this winter. Insane. This went straight to my chest. Feel like crap.

Sat. Feb 19 went to gym, great cardio workout. Still at 1.39. Did all my erands first, then went to gym.

Tues Feb 22. Upper body. Almost didn't go in, feel aweful, but went, busy week at work, can't be sick, so had to get up anyway.

Wed. Feb 23. Cardio. Again almost didn't go, cough is bad. Asked if I can decide how I do cardio, since I don't feel good. I chose to walk/run instead of the incline. Did 10 minutes they way I do it in the other gym, then walked longer than normal, than ran last 4 minutes. Did more than I wanted. last week of cardio at Horizon. I can do it.

Thurs. Feb 24. Lower body.Jon has me walking on an incline as part of my lower body, for .25 miles and it totally sucks, sweating my butt off

Fri Feb 25. Cardio weigh in, stayed the same, surprised, cause I thought I lost. Did same cardio as Wed...my last day of cardio. Next week, I do 2 days of weight training then the week after I start my new routine of 3 days weight training, Mon, Tues & Thurs 5:30 am. Will do cardio weekends, Mon & Wed night.

Week 47 Great week

Sat Feb. 12th. Have an event in New Haven this morning. Danielle and I drove together. Topic was Sustainability in regards to graphic design at Yale, after we went to gym together. I did the treadmill but felt my breathing was labored......probably from the anti inflammatory. did 1.32 on treadmill. Disappointed myself took a break then got on the elliptical for 25 minutes...going 2 miles with avg heart rate between 161 and 164...so I made up for the lack in distance on treadmill. I really liked the elliptical, will do it again next time but do a set program they have on machine.

Tues Feb 15th. upper body very tough, Jon is pushing hard, but when does he not. I am looking forward to just doing weight trainings with him 3x a week and cardio on my own.

Wed. Feb 16, canceled morning cardio, had half day at work, went in early, went to other gym in afternoon after my appointment and was on fire. Did 1.39 on treadmill and did a program on elliptical. Great work out.

Thurs Feb 17 lower body....new lower body routine..YIKES lunges. killer. this new lower body is kickin my butt. Told Jon he would be so proud of me seeing me at the other gym, kickin butt doing cardio. Feel good for weigh in tomorrow

Fri Feb 18th weigh in. Lost 3 pounds.....and had lowest body fat % reading...yeah, and now the most weight lost...must keep going down, down down! Did a walking incline cardio with Jon, and it was brutal, holy cow, I was soaked with sweat. Going to go to other gym tomorrow with Danielle. Who would have EVER thought I would like to sweat my ass off. I certainly never did :)

Pinched nerve, "that time"

Feb 7th Went to other gym for my cardio right after work, felt great! Need to try more than just the treadmill my distance went to 1.37...yeah in 20 minutes

Feb 8 upper body I have a pinched nerve in my upper left side from chopping ice on back deck and shoveling it, so no position or exercise is easy. If doesn't get better have to call doctor.

Feb 9, got out of bed in pain, got dressed for the gym but changed my mind. Canceled gym. Found some old anti-inflammatory going to take it. tonight had a 50th birthday dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant. I went off my nutrition tonight, I hope it doesn't effect the scale on Friday. Called doctor, he called something in for me. OMG can it have any more side effects.

Feb 10 Lower body. forced myself to eat something so i could take the pill, it was difficult, i never eat before the gym. I made it thru. Told Jon, I no longer want to run on their treadmill. Don't know whats different, it is a big difference from the other gym, he will make me walk the incline

Feb 11 Cardio Weigh in. I gained 2 pounds....All I will say is I have "cramps" and Thai food on Wednesday. The cramps is most likely the cause, next week will be better. We did the walking incline....brutal, it sucked, sweated my ass off. Tomorrow will go to other gym.

Week 45 Going to 2 gyms. Feeling great!

A coworker found the picture of me from last winter. I took a similar shot to see the difference

Sunday Jan 30th. Jeff and i went to meet a worker at cardio express who will show me how to program my 20 minutes of cardio....it was cool, to manually set it. Jeff jogged beside me the 20 minutes. It was really good. I actually signed up to try a spinnig class Monday 5:30 am. I have this idea I am going to love it,since I love riding bikes so much......that was what I thought, LOL.

Mon Jan 31 Spinning class 5:30. i get to the gym 5:10 am and couldn't;t believe how many people are there that early....I go into spinning room and there are only 2 other women in there. I find a bike. Immediately I go to sit and realize how hard the seat is and how uncomfortable it is to sit, to pedal, to do anything. The instructor comes (very, very nice) and adjust my seat to suit me perfectly....even after that the pain in my private area was just way too uncomfortable even for 5 minutes. I lasted 6 minutes. I went out to the floor and did my regular cardio on treadmill, felt great, was home by 6:30

Tues Feb 1, Upper body with jon. Good work out. Told him he would be impressed with me on the treadmill, all my myself, pushing the numbers. i canceled Wed cardio with Jon due to bad weather. Got out early from work, due to big storm. Tired of this weather.

Wed. Feb. 2 Iced in for the day....crazy. My poor daughter, I think is sick of sow days already. By wed afternoon after feeling like I ate all day stuck in house, i made dinner for Lauren, put on my gym clothes and went to do cardio on my own. I kicked butt, felt great.

Thurs Feb 3 Lower body. Tough workout. squats and lunges are the best for legs, even though they are hard as hell, I feel it for days after.

Fri. Feb 4 Cardio with Jon, weigh in lost 2 pounds! yeah. Did cardio without my security cover since i did it on my own 3 times this week. I succeeded. I look forward to going to the gym again this weekend. Feel great!

Week 44 Crazy Weather, setting new goal

Tues Jan 25th. working on a new lower body still, squats which really kill days after. My right knee is not cooperating at time..makes a squeaking noise when bending...very strange. I made the decision not to go wed & thursday due to weather predictions.

Wed. Jan 26th. Weather was ok, should have not canceled. I decided to still get a cardio in, so I went to Cardio Express for a day pass to do cardio. It was fine. I did it, I was unclear how to work the touch screen, which prevented me form changing every minute, but the girl told me I can preprogram every minute and she would show me on Sunday if I came back. I did some upper arms weights after the treadmill, since I wasn't going thurs.

Friday Jan 28th cardio Yeah finally made it thru the last minute of cardio not holding onto railings...felt great. Jon set a new realistic goal for me. 75 pounds by March 24....even more reason to kick it up a notch and go to gym on weekends. I told Jon how I did enjoy going to the gym, I wasn't intimidated with the cardio, I pushed myself, but I was a little lost when it comes to weights...too many to choose from, don't know what weight to use. I like Jon knowing all of that...I just want to do it, increase weight and have him keep track....but I really enjoyed going there...we will see how the pre-programmed 20 minutes will be on Sunday. Jeff said he will come with me...yeah!

Week 42 and week 43

I haven't written in awhile. Probably the winter freezing cold blues. Its not that I am not working hard.... I think I am writing for the week Jan 11-14 and Jan 18- 21.

I know the gym was closed Jan 12 due to the huge snowstorm we had and I remember cause I was dog sitting thru the 17th. Weight wise I may have gained just alittle...'that time"

Jan 18-21 Back to 4 days a week. one cardio days I have almost made it thru the whole 20 minutes only to in the Last minute or 30 seconds held onto railings. I will get there. On the 21st I went in at 7:30 since I was working from home. I had someone next to me doing their own Cardio. It was fine. I listen to my nano now so I have music cranked up and it has been really helping me get thru it. Been getting the itch to exercise on weekends. Either I go with Sally or I pay for a day pass....just $10.

Week 41...Kickin butt...Finally out of the 50's

First week of new year...the whole world is motivated to lose weight....I haven't stopped, but i will say the holidays have been tough and glad they are over. I signed up for the "Biggest Loser" at work....16 weeks, $3 wk...weigh in every other week on a MONDAY...This, at first i was thinkin Mondays suck to get weighed in, but actually it a way to keep my weekend in check. Forget about me trying to eat what I want on weekends...focused 7 days a week give and take a night out on the weekends. I have my. This was a hard ass week. I started a new lower body, and I had to hold something for 2 days to sit down or stand up, I was so sore.

Tuesday Jan 4, New lower body...squats, squats an more squats...haven't done squats since May...boy my legs hurt soooo friggin bad.....of course a good pain, but pain no less.

Wed. Jan 5 Cardio...very difficult, held the railing pretty much starting after the 10 minute mark after the running, and in the final minutes....very tough to get thru....on top of being soooo sore from lower body day before.

Thurs Jan 6 upper body. 6 of 6. Jon pushed the weights to limit. Looking forward to a new routine. Bicep curls have been a killer. Next routine could be worse who knows.

Friday Jan 7 cardio weigh in...Finally made it past 60 pounds 60.5 to be exact....FINALLY! never to go back to the 50's, but be real good this week, cause gaining 1 pound could put me back in the 50's. On my way to 100 pounds by March 29 ;) Jon made me run after I thought I was going to walk the incline.....i made it thru over 18.5 minutes before holding the railing...I understand his point I do need to get my stamina back with the running...did much better than wed.

Week 40..week between xmas and new years

Now officially engaged. Jeff proposed Christmas eve on the beach at Wateredge....the beach our favorite place. It was sunny and no wind and it was perfect. Jeff has been nothing but supportive thru my weightloss journey, loves me for who I am no matter what. We are very lucky to have each other....been thru a lot together. I have never been happier

This has been a crazy week. Monday home from work with the blizzard.... with a wake at night for Jeff's uncle.... Tues funeral back to work Wed & Thursday..all tough days, tough, to workout, tough to work and tough having a full house of children where I am tempted with all the food I am cooking for them. Just being stuck in house after the blizzard & getting thru xmas, is just tiring

Tues. Dec. 28th lower body. Good workout....funeral then getting back to work after the blizzard

Tues night. lauren had car accident so no sleep for me. Thank God she is ok. But a scare for all of us

Wed Dec 29th cardio...totally exhausted...walked the incline instead....just as hard, but with no anxiety from me.

Thurs. Dec 30th Upper body weigh in...Lost a pound...yeah, and lost fat and gained lean muscle mass...yeah.....still haven't hi sixty pounds, almost there, maybe next week.

Fri, No work out. New Years eve.