Be Patient: The Results Are Worth The Wait.

     In the words of Benjamin Franklin:  "He that can have patience can have what he will."

     I will admit, patience (with regards to myself that is...) is NOT my strong suit.  I like to think that when it comes to other people I have a great deal of patience.  However in my faith through Christ, I have learned that I cannot change others...I can only change myself.  So when I'm faced with a difficult person or a difficult situation, I remind myself that I cannot change the other party.  I can only determine my reaction to whatever the scenario is.  

     I have found with regards to my health and fitness, I am extremely impatient.  I often need to be reminded that losing weight, and becoming healthy takes time.  It doesn't happen overnight.  It has taken years to get into the shape that I'm in, and it will take time to change for the better.  I know when I started this blog I was very motivated.  I had a lot of excitement, and couldn't wait for the next time I got to weigh-in.  I wanted to see the magical number on the scale keep lowering.  The last few weeks though, my weight loss has definitely slowed.  I know that I've been doing what I'm supposed to.  I am eating right, working out a lot, drinking lots and lots of water, but yet I haven't been able to lose the weight like I did with the first challenge.  

     My trainer Justin Cox tells me that I needn't worry.  If I'm doing all those things like I say I am, then everything will be okay and results will show in the end.  Yet, hearing those words doesn't always put your mind at ease.  It's had me so worried that I have become practically neurotic when it comes to food.  Gaining weight is what has been on my mind 95% of the day. It wasn't until this past week that my mind has been put to ease.  On Thursday I was asking Justin what it is I'm doing wrong.  At that point in time, I was getting discouraged and was feeling really down about the whole thing.  I wanted to know what I could change.  Like I said before, I've come to understand that I cannot change others.  I have also fully well come to know that I CAN change me.  So, I wanted to know what was necessary for me to change.  

     All it took was one simple calculation.  He had me step on the scale, and unfortunately I had the same lousy results.  I had actually gained a pound since the last weigh-in.  This time though, he calculated my total body fat% too.  In the beginning of January when I had my measurements taken my body fat% was at 24%.  Which by-the-way isn't terrible.  That is completely within the healthy range.  On Thursday though when he calculated it,  while having gained 5 pounds over the month...I've lost 2% more of my body fat.  YAY!  I cannot explain how much of a relief that was.  

     So these last few days, I have really come to understand that I have to be patient.  I can obtain my goals, and I know I will.  If I keep doing what I know is right and helpful, there is absolutely no reason why I won't improve.  

With all that being said....I had mentioned in my very first blogpost that I would have pictures along the way to show my progress.  I took 2 pictures of myself before the challenge started in January.  Last Thursday after I got home from working out, I took another set.  Seeing numbers on a piece of paper really does help put the mind at ease.  Pictures though, are worth a thousand words.  Actually being able to see the results in color feels AMAZING!

Here's me the first week of January weighing in at 138 pounds.

And now the second week of February weighing in 5 pounds heavier!

Picture of my back in January

Picture of my back in February

     To some, this may not seem like a big difference.  To me though, I feel like a million bucks.  There's definite improvement, and seeing it has given me the motivation I've been looking for.  Today at the weigh-in we took measurements as well as weight.  I am happy to say that I'm back down to 140lbs.  Plus, I have lost 4" around my hips. These results came in just a little over a month.  I am super anxious to see what the difference will be in two more months.  Dare I say I am actually excited for bikini season!

     So to all those out there struggling along, please keep going.  I promise you, you will never regret doing a workout, or giving up that piece of cake.  I do promise you though, if in a year you still haven't tried...you will regret that.  

    

     According to Jim Rohn:

    "We must all suffer from one of two pains:  the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces, while regret weighs tons."

   Be patient, but don't let yourself regret not trying.

Always Have That Yearning For More Knowledge.

     I know after reading that title, one may ask yourself the question: What the h-e-double hockey sticks does this have to do with getting fit and becoming healthy?  In all honesty though, that one statement can cover so many aspects of everyday life, not just healthy living. 

                                 

     Whether it be buying a house, choosing a church to become a part of, or deciding what to buy for groceries, knowledge can only be a good thing.  When you are considering buying a house, it wouldn't be wise to buy based upon pretty photos on a realtors website.  While pretty is good, finding out your drywall is covered in black mold isn't something you want to find out after-the-fact.  When you decide to look into a church for the home of your spiritual needs, you may want to learn a bit about their beliefs.  If you yourself believe in Jesus Christ, you probably don't want to join a congregation and pledge your committment if they believe in voodoo.  Finally if you are new in town, you may not want to buy all your groceries without shopping around and finding the best product and value.  In all of these situations, having more knowledge can only help you.  With all that being said, why would this not be the case when losing weight or becoming fit and healthy?

     When taking such a GIANT leap in life,(That's exactly what weight loss is!) the idea that people can take fad diets, or simple approaches to getting rid of the excess pounds, is absolutely ubsurd to me.  After all, it took years for you to get your body into the shape it is in.  Why then, would it not take years, hard work, and knowledge about the best approach to lose the weight?  Sure one can go to the doctor and get gastric bypass, or a lap band put in. (BTW don't take my word on this, I'm sure in some certain situations those medical procedures are necessary.  I have only known 1 person who underwent gastric bypass to actually need it though. The others I never saw try to really diet or exercise to shed the pounds.) The problem with all of these things are, the real problem isn't being 'treated' or fixed.  You might have a miracle cure for now, but its likely that your habits which got you in this place haven't changed, which in turn will lead you back to this place.

     Here's the thing with these fad diets, much like most everything we American's buy into, fad diets are what's being advertised.  It's the shiny new toy that every kid wants for Christmas, but by next year...you parents out there know, those toys have long since been forgotten, lost, or shoved into a closet.  Onto the next! That's what we are all about.  I've worked in fast food for the better part of a decade.  It never fails, what is being advertised is what sells.  We can have one product literally for 3 years, but as soon its advertised if front of the consumers face....that's what the consumer wants.  The same goes with those diets.  Every year, there is a new diet pill out there, a new diet where if you starve yourself of certain nutrients that you need, the weight disappears.  There's always a new exercise that you can do once a day for 2 minutes, and magically your keg that your carrying around your waistline, will turn into a 6-pack.  Seriously, people actually believe this crap???????  It's apparently so, because the diet industry is worth around 42 BILLION dollars a year.  Yet somehow, there are still 70 MILLION obese people in the U.S. alone!  How can this be you may ask?  Well, because the majority of diets advertised out there are a farce. They have taken one piece out of a puzzle and claimed it to be the key to success.  People feed off this, because what is in front of their face has to be what's true.  In this day and age accountability has flown out the window.  Why would you ever do any research for yourself, commercials tell the truth...they don't lie right? If you are saying that right now, you should just stop reading this very moment...this blog has nothing for you.  Continue on stalking people on facebook, you'll get more out of that.  Anywho, I digress.  With such resources out there like google, wikipedia, blogs, youtube...you name it, its information is at our fingertips.  Technology and information are everywhere, from computers, to game consoles, televisions with internet capabilities, ipods, and cell phones, the excuse of ignorance should no longer be tolerated.

     When the drug phen-phen came out, everyone was amazed that you could actually be skinny and all you had to do was pop a pill everyday.  Little did they know, that taking the drug would also get them pulmonary hypertension and/or valvular heart disease, and/or death.  Had they known this, they certainly wouldn't have taken it right?  Now, looking back on that period of history people have learned a few lessons.  Firstly, I think for the most part the majority of the public knows that diet pills are a scam and in no way good for you.  Even if they haven't learned that, the FDA is far more weary about letting such destructive substances be sold to our ignorant society.  A few of you may remember when the Atkins diet became huge a few years ago...(or 10 actually.)  This diet swore that if you cut out your carbohydrates would be your answer.  There's also Weight-Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, South Beach...The list goes on and on. Some can show great success, while those same ones can show great failure. With all the different diet plans out there, it is easy to become overwhelmed.  You could literally get lost in all of them and not remember which diet you are focusing on.  You may not understand why one is working for you and then may stop.  I have been in the same position.  When I first decided I would lose weight, it was hard to know where to even begin.  Its hard to even know what to believe and who to trust with this sort of thing. $42,000,000,000 is more money than I can even begin to dream about.  Every company out there wants a piece of that pie.  So who's genuinely there to help, and who just wants your money.

   The point to tonight's little rant:  BE KNOWLEDGEABLE.  Here's the thing about losing your weight, or even just obtaining your goals: THERE IS NOBODY LIKE YOU!  Not one diet out there is perfect for everybody.  Everyone had a long winding road to get them where they are today. Everyone's journey has been different.  The key to losing weight, gaining muscle, obtaining whatever goal you have is KNOWLEDGE.  Knowledge to know what your strengths and weaknesses are.  Knowledge to know what you need to work on. Knowledge to know what the heart of the problem is.  Knowledge to know what out there is best for you.  Knowledge to know who to turn to.  Knowledge to know what's best to eat, to buy, to invest your time, sweat, energy, money and life on. Knowledge to know what you want.  Knowledge to know what does and will make you happy. Knowledge to know yourself.  A certain co-worker of mine, (You know who you are...)likes to say: "Knowledge is Power." When he says it, it is in a very dorky, I watch too much late-night Cartoon Network kind of voice.  The point though, is still the same.  Knowledge IS power.  SO BE POWERFUL.



The Start of My New Life(This is a long one.)

 I used to be 175 lbs at my heaviest. Size 14 pants, and XL shirt.

Looking at these are embarrassing.

Here I was only 18!  That's me though...the fat, chubby girl in the middle.

I have no children, and no health problems.  I came to the conclusion then that I needed to change.  There was no excuse.   I was tired of looking at other girls and women and wanting to be like them.  I always wondered why God chose me to be born chubby and fat.  It wasn't until I finally had a revelation, that I realized that I AM THE PROBLEM.  I eat lousy food (a lot of it being fast food), I drink crappy soda, and I choose not to exercise. At 19 years old I completely changed my eating habits, and in the course of a year I lost 50lbs!  

At my smallest in that time I got down to 125. Size 6 pants, and size S shirt.  I loved all the praises I got from people.  It felt so nice to know that all my hard work had paid off, and that I COULD attain my goals.

Those last 2 pictures were taken in May 2010.  

      Now fast forward to August of 2011, I'm not sure what was happening.  I stopped paying attention to what I was eating at some point.  I started craving lots of sweets.  I got really busy with work, my house, and nothing...Those were the excuses.  I was busy.  I started noticing that a problem was occurring; my waistline was getting bigger. my pants were getting tighter, and the swim suits I had worn the summer before were not looking as appealing.  I was embarrassed by this.  I felt like a big fat failure all over again. 

      I knew that I had to diet all over again.  I had to put a stake in the ground, and decide to discipline myself.  Now came the next part: procrastination.  Its a killer.  I am terrible and fantastic at it all at the same time.  Every time I would stop at a gas station I would get that craving...CHOCOLATE, SUGAR...whatever was in front of me.  Somebody else around me would eat something crappy and unhealthy...and I would look at it and think, "boy, that looks good."  So, I would eat it, telling myself that it would be the last time. Or, Sunday will be my last day of crappy eating.  Monday will be the best day to start.  Beginning of a new week, and the beginning of my new life....RIGHT. Then it soon turned into, well next Monday, and then the next Monday, until I stopped into a local business that I had driven by a hundred times.  Bemidji Breeze. I knew what it was.  It was the sister nutrition shop to Bemidji Fusion.  They sell Herbalife products there.  I knew I liked going to Fusion, however their hours of operation did not coincide with my schedule.  Breeze however, was close to where I worked, and had better hours.  So I stopped in a couple times.  

      If any of you ever have the opportunity to stop in at either of these places, do it.  It is FABULOUS.  The smoothies, tea, and aloe are delicious. The people there though, they are what makes those places so great.  All the people that go there and work there have the same things in common.  They want a better, healthier life, and they want to help those that want to help themselves.  Everyone has been in the same place at some point or another, and they can relate to you.  They show you that you are not in the fight ALONE.  

     It was at Bemidji Breeze that I came to a turning point in my life.  One day they had a sign up sheet for a weight-loss challenge.  I thought, "why not?"  This is exactly what I need to do.  This will give me the motivation.  It will give me a goal and a timeline.  Also if I won, it would give me a little cash in my pocket as well. Heck, you really can't beat that.  Alongside the weight-loss sign up was a chance to enter into a drawing.  The drawing was for a free month at Elite Performance and Fitness.  

      Elite is run by a guy by the name of Justin Cox.  He is a personal trainer, and specializes in kettlebell classes.  I had heard of them and him before.  However, I didn't know his name at the time.  I knew him as 'the kettlebell guy.'  All of the things that I had heard of the kettlebell classes were good.  I heard that they were really tough, but that they gave you good results.  Anywho, I signed up for this 'free month' with Elite and never gave it a second thought.  I had forgotten completely about it, until I got a random phone call one afternoon.  Justin called to say that I had not won unfortunately, but that he would like to meet me anyways and see if he could help with whatever goals I may have.  Unsure as I was, I went in the next day to sit down and talk with him. I went in nervous, and skeptical.  I left however, with a renewed sense of motivation.  I loved everything that he had to say.  Justin doesn't just offer fitness classes like some I've taken at other local fitness places.  He coaches the fitness classes.  Small classes so you can actually learn.  He can actually help. He tracks all your progress individually, and he pushes you to always improve. YOU AREN'T JUST A NUMBER.  The only downside to his classes verses the other places in town is the price.  When he let me know what he charges, I will admit my stomach dropped.  There was no way I would be able to afford the amount of classes I wanted to take.  However, whenever one door closes...a window opens right?  I had a wonderful window of opportunity.  Since I signed up for the weight-loss challenge, everyone in the challenge got a FREE month at Elite.  WAHOO. 

During the weight-loss challenge,  Debbie Madsen (Herbalife distributor/weight-loss challenge coordinator) made us keep a record of all the food/beverages we took in everyday.  The food logs were a real eye opener.  When you actually write down what you are eating...and being absolutely honest when doing it, you really start seeing the reality of what you are consuming.  I implore everyone to try this, and be sure to be honest.  The only person you will be cheating is yourself, and if you are going to take the time to do it...what would be the point if you lie?  We also had a weekly weigh-in.  If we gained any weight we had to pay up $1 per pound  that we gained.  YIKES, thats motivation in itself.  

I tell you when you are with a number of people who are all going through the same thing,  it helps TREMENDOUSLY.  I guarantee you, when you step on that scale and the pounds are shedding, and when your measurements are taken, and you lose literally inches in a matter of weeks...there is no better feeling of accomplishment in the world!  It makes you want to work that much harder.  It makes you want to set new goals. Because you know, if you work hard enough, sweat enough, have enough self discipline...you can accomplish whatever you desire. The sky is truly the limit.  That in itself is liberating.  Nothing is holding you back anymore.  Soon, that crappy food isn't a weakness...but its a non-issue altogether.  You don't even think about it anymore.  You don't even want it. 

We started that weight-loss challenge in the beginning of October. That first meeting I weighed-in at a whopping 150 lbs.  ICK!

By the beginning of December, I had lost a total of 12lbs and a total of 19.75" on my body.  All in 9 weeks! YAY! This was good enough for 2nd Place(which is really kind of lame)...lol.  I did get $70 though, and since I lost the most overall inches, I also got to order whatever I wanted out of the Herbalife Catalog.  

Now, the second weight-loss challenge has begun.  I started at 140lbs for the first weigh-in.  I also am excited to say, since I am a member with Justin at Elite AND I'm doing the challenge..I get unlimited membership for the next 9 weeks.  OH BOY!!! 

     So for the next 9 weeks, I plan on doing a body transformation.  I have new goals.  I'd like to lose 15 more pounds, and I want to get into shape.  I have a goal to do a 5k.  I know to some, a 5k is child's play.  For this girl however, running just plain SUCKS.  Not easy, Not fun.  That's going to change.  Running will now be a big part of my life.  I am determined.  I started off with 1 mile yesterday.  I am happy to say, it wasn't that bad! Between kickboxing at Elite this week though, and that mile yesterday...My calves are KILLING me.  So, I'll run again tomorrow.  I don't relish the thought of injuring myself, so I'll use a little wisdom in that. 

This blog will be a journal.  It will be a way to share my progress.  I want to show people that they can do it.  Hopefully I can inspire others.  This is my only word of advice to people right now:  Discipline yourself, Stop making excuses, Be honest....YOU got you into the shape you are in, YOU are the person who has to change YOU.  Nobody else.  

Once people come to grips with this one fact, it is all downhill.