Thursday, March 31, 2011

Day 149: Fighting the good fight

I was down to 137 lbs the other day. With my crazy Crossfit workouts and my busy schedule, it's easy for me to combine meals with these GNC shakes and protein bars... which equals more calories. Yesterday, I had almost 2k calories in my day, which I didn't realize until I recorded it in MFP.

That's why this morning I saw I was back up to 140, and feel like it too! Yuck.So today, I'm aiming to have about a 1000 calorie deficit leftover to make up for yesterday and tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow I have a special day planned and am NOT worrying about this diet! =]

Every day is not a win, and every day is not a loss. Just have to keep consistent.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Day 146: Cont'd

Today's workout:

PACE active warm up 3 rounds of 20
10 min Concept 2 rowing machine
Wall squats, front squats, jumping squats 3 rounds of 10
walking lunges
back extensions, push ups 3 rounds of 20
70 sit ups
100 crunches
100 calories burned on the treadmill

I am totally exhausted. Just a few minutes ago, I completed my diary on Myfitnesspal.com and it read, 'If every day were today, you'd weigh 129 lbs in 5 weeks.' Just seeing that I'm actually so close to my goal of 125 after all these years makes me so happy!

Workout Tune of The Day

Day 146: 138

I did a double take on the scale this morning. After about six consecutive weigh-in's I saw 138.

So not only have I broken through my plateau, but now it's as if my weight loss is Full-On, triple rainbow awesomeness action.
Yes! I'm excited. It hasn't been easy. Waking up at 7 a.m. and doing Kipping Pull-Ups with Lenny is not normal. In fact, it's hardcore badass athleticism, coming from a girl who was less than five months ago, pushing obese, exhausted, and miserable.

For my entire life, I wanted to be an actress. Not just an actress, but a sci-fi chick. I wanted to be a Milla Jovovich or like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. I've just always been so far from actually being there physically.

I will be there. I can assure you. At the rate I'm training now, it's almost comparable to the celebrity 'bouncing back after pregnancy.' That's exactly how I feel. I feel like I've been carrying around this inner child that didn't want to grow up. I had doubted myself. I never actually gave that 110% it takes to earn that body. It's utterly insane to believe that anyone can just 'naturally' look that badass. No, these women train hard and eat clean to become movie-ready. This is why they get paid millions for their hard work!

I'm only 13 lbs away from my goal now. The day I hit that number on the scale, I'll feel like a superstar myself. I already do,

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Shake Weight For Men is so fabulous.




This is just awesome.

Workout Tune of The Day










Feed me Ft. Tasha Baxter - Cloudburn

Day 144: Cont'd




So I weighed-in. I'm only two pounds shy of breaking through my plateau weight.

CW 141

This is the eating plan I've followed this week. Since I stick to a 1200 calorie program, I omitted the grey (snack) option.
I must say, throughout the plan, I have been very satisfied. I have not felt deprived or weak at all and have still been eating real food amongst my 2X a day GNC Total Lean protein shakes.

The supplement pack is perfect. I must forewarn that it has to be taken along with food or you may feel nauseous. I do not feel jittery or anxious and have not experienced mood swings since I began this program. I do feel less bloated, although my carb intake on this program is an average of about 159-195 g per day. This is an incredible amount of carbohydrates, in comparison to my normal attempts at keeping below 50g regularly.

I'm eating more carbs and losing more weight. That's what it comes down to. I definitely need carbs because I'm working out so hard at the gym. Visit PACEPerformance.net to view my workouts, which are mostly modified versions of the Crossfit.com workout of the day.

Day 144: Day 4 GNC Total Lean


Ride the snake by mario0318


I remember watching SNL reruns in high school on Comedy Central around 5 in the morning. It was the only thing that was on. Every other channel was just marketing or 'off the air'. Yes, Jim Carey used to be on SNL and was amazing. I remember screaming 'Ride the snake!' to my friends in the locker lined hallways of West Babylon. Oh, beloved Ephedra. Those were the days. I wore a size 2 prom dress I bought from Delia's and weighed somewhere around 117 lbs at one point. Those were the mornings when I'd wake up at 6, do an entire Power 90 routine, take Ephedra by 7 (it used to be legal, you know), and then jump in an older degenerate friend's car for a ride to class.

Those days didn't last long. I hadn't really been a fan of drinking until I was about 18. That's when my weight skyrocketed from that size 2 dress to size 14 Caffeine pants. RAVE DAYS. Yes, this hasn't been my first battle to drop from a size fourteen to skinny. This is my third.

Truth of the matter is, weight isn't a hill to conquer, it's a chain of mountains. It's not K2, it's the entire Himalayans. The most foolish thing you can do is believe that once you get there, the road stops and it's lean heaven. In the great words of Jim Carey, you must continue to 'Ride the snake.'

I'll weigh-in shortly...






In Living Color - Workout - Jim Carrey by harrison73

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Day 142: 142 lbs - Day 2 of GNC Total Lean

This morning, I woke up and felt better than I have since carb cutting, raw foods eating, and every other dietary lifestyle change I've tried.

Plus, I'm down 2 lbs! That's a major plus. Yesterday, I wasn't even hungry or feeling deprived because there was food to eat and shakes which filled me up in between. The vanilla shake isn't tasty...but it's do-able. With this program, it's necessary to get one of those water bottles which has a shaker built-in. Otherwise, you'll end up having a lumpy shake which is really unappetizing.

The supplements don't give me heart palpitations or jitters. I could probably drink tea or coffee with them. I definitely noticed more sweat throughout my workouts.

Through my PACE Performance workouts I have cut more inches off my waist and hips.

Now, my starting measurements for this GNC Total Lean program are as follows:

Bust 36
Waist 28.5
Hips: 36

That's an inch and a half off my waist and an inch off my hips! My goal is to reach a 24 inch waist. That's a classic waistline.
An example of 'Classic' would be Brooklyn Decker:



Her measurements according to her Wiki are: 34D, 24, 34.

That's inspiration! Or should I say, Thinspiration?

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Day 141: Plateau: Meet your demise.

Wow, am I feeling yesterday's workout.

My trainer Lenny, had recently bought some diet system from GNC called Total Lean. Every day for a week, I watched him weigh-in. While I had been gaining, he had been losing, substantially. It was as if the fat had melted off his belly and well, wherever he had it on him (not much, since he's ridiculously fit). In only a few short weeks, he went from 195 lbs to 170 lbs. When I saw the weigh-in yesterday, my jaw dropped. I mean every day I saw him, he was leaner than ever!





















So, I asked about the system he bought. It was one of those diet shake systems, which I had never tired before. Yesterday, I ditched out of class and went to GNC to get the system. I needed another day off from that class because it literally pains me to be there. Why? Oh, why, is it that my 'spring break' isn't until a week before the semester ends? I have so much work to do that my mind is utterly fried from writing all of these papers. I feel bad for our professors who have to grade them all!

So at GNC, I was advised to do the 7 day Fast Loss Kit, and then the 14 day Transformation. I know people are quick to bash cleanses and systems like this but I am an eye witness to someone who lost the most impossible fat to lose on the body during this program and FAST!























I mean look at me, I'm dribbling water all over mhy 'beater!


Between this and our PACE Performance modified Crossfit workouts...I might end up looking as sexy as that eastern Euro chick! Haha, well... I wish!

CW: 144
GW: 125

Don't forget to check out PacePerformance.net to see our daily workouts.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Day: 140 This morning.

Today we did the Crossfit workout of the day...

Check it out on Paceperformance.net.

I started my day at 9 a.m. doing 70 Burpees (modified).



Enjoy a demo of Burpees featuring this super gorgeous eastern European badass!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Coming Soon - PACE Performance on Ustream.tv

My trainer, Lenny PACE of PACE Performance, is starting his own fitness/health program on Usteam.tv!

This inspired me to launch my own channel! Here, I will be posting my broadcasting live and discussing weight loss, dieting, and all kinds of stuffs.




Streaming .TV shows by UstreamStay tuned!

Day 139: 145 lbs 'Life is sweet without wheat.' Yes, but not with a bag of peanut butter cookies!

This weekend, I binge ate. Probably because my school work is stressing me out. Each class I have has assigned these massive papers to write. I can't stand citing references and writing without bias.=] Okay, well the unbiased thing is becoming much easier for me now. Still, there isn't enough hours in my day. I have quite a few projects going on at once and it's hard to remain focused in this digital age. So what did I do? This weekend at Whole Foods, I bought one of those huge flatbread pizzas and ate too much of it. I'm not a dairy person, or a grease person. I definitely set myself back quite a bit.
I hate to waste food. It's such an American thing. I must throw out this bag of delicious peanut butter cookies. Plus my portion sizes are out of whack. Why is it that American grocery stores sell such massive amounts of packaged meats and things? It's difficult to buy for just two people, an appropriate amount of food. I feel very lucky to live in a country where we have choices like this but in Europe, I loved the way of life. I could eat 2x the amount in Europe and lose weight because the food there is different than in the U.S.


Today is a new week and I've decided to dust off the unused Turbofire program I bought last year. Last week at Synergy, I saw a friend from high school who was totally ripped! I was totally happy for him and he boasted about his P90X workouts. He's probably the 3rd person that week to recommend the program to me! Now, personally don't need P90X because my strength routines with PACE Performance have already given me great definition on my body. I just need to melt the fat so it will become VISIBLE!


On Myfitnesspal.com, I also keep hearing about Turbofire. It seems that a lot of ladies lose an intense amount of weight just doing Chalene Johnson's workouts. I know Beachbody is a totally marketed business thing... but I do recall being slim in high school and doing the Power 90 workouts before class. I can't believe that was nearly 10 years ago. The weight just doesn't come off like it used to! Being consistent is hard to do, but they say that weight loss is a journey.

On my website, Meridien Creative, I posted a few of my films/videos if you're interested! The other day, my friend Mike directed a music video for swedish singer Krister Linder here on Long Island. I hadn't seen Krister in awhile. When I arrived on set, he couldn't believe how much weight I had lost and complimented me. It feels great to even gain a few pounds and hear people nice things!

So now, I'm going to try and ditch the elliptical cardio and put my trust in Chalene's Turbofire. I told myself that by summer I'd reach 125 and it's already spring! This weight plateau has been so difficult to get past. My boyfriend insists that it's just a part of the weight-loss journey. Well, I feel like I've been stuck on a layover for weeks! I'm ready to fly into new lands and not sabotage myself because I had plateaued.

I'll do another official weigh-in later today and measure myself.. plus take another before for Turbofire!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Day 133: 144 lbs

This morning, I arrived at the gym at 9 am and did strength training until 11.

Stats:
CW: 144
GW: 125

1. Row machine: 10 minutes
2. PACE Performance Active Warm Up:
It begins as follows:
20 Lunges
20 Jumping Jacks
20 Squats
20 Seal Jumps
4 exercises on kneeling position.
4 belly down on the mat.
4 on your back.
3. Deadlifts, hang clean into front press
4. Holding dumbbells high in the air and jump into a back lunge.
5. Squat machine
6. Back extensions
7. Pull-ups
And so on...

Later, I'll return to the gym for at least 30 minutes of elliptical.

My goal for next Monday is to break through my plateau and reach 139 lbs.
After moving, I had gone out to dinner a few times and my weight had gained significantly. Now, I'm driven to push even harder to break through this rut.

Breakfast: Hardboiled Egg whites
Lunch: Almonds, Campbells healthy request italian wedding soup.
Dinner: Baked Chicken/Salad

PACE Performance has made such an impact on my life. I can't wait to reach my goal.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Day 132: 3 hours later...

Today, I tagged along with Lenny and kept up with his sick routines. I was at the gym for 3 whole hours!

PACE Active Warm Up
PACE Assessment
Dead lifts
Clean & Press
Abs
400 calories burned on the elliptical.

Food:

Breakfast: Clementine, banana, 3 cups of coffee
Lunch: Campbells healthy harvest italian wedding soup, 20 almonds, 1 baybel light cheese
Dinner: Spinach & basalmic dressing salad, 2 marinated italian chicken breasts

Today I weighed in at 148, but I know that's a lot of water weight...we shall see in the A.M. I'm so tired!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Hot Tip: The more you crave carbs, the more you should force Super Sprout Salad into your mouth.

Trust me on this one.

Day 131: #Waystopissoffafatperson























This morning, I awakened to a delightful trend on Twitter, #waystopissoffafatperson. Naturally, I used this opportunity to cite #32 ways to piss off a fat person, one for every pound I have lost since I started this journey in November.

Today, my weigh-in came up as +6 lbs since my lowest weigh-in. I'm not letting that deter my ambition because:

Yesterday's Stats:

10 min Rowing machine
PACE Performance Active Warm-up
Cable cross, cable pulls, abs galore
Suicide sprints
Crab walks

AND, I had cut out carbs...but had some salty food. I'm retaining water... a lot of it. So today, I'm chugging as much water as possible and going back to the gym in a few hours to work out with Lenny.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Official PACE Performance Material

Day 130: 145 lbs - I committed ze Carbicide.


Carbicide.What a nicht-nicht. Since I moved, I had an entire week of muffin eating, burger bun narching, and I'm still hungry!

As we all know, I'm addicted to Starbucks. I was determined to stop my vicious carb bender when I pulled up for my daily afternoon dose of Venti sugar-free hazelnut coffee when...FREE PASTRIES were offered with every drink purchase. NEIN! Oder, ja okay un bisschen. I took ze little carrot muffin with stuffs on top and ate it. So what?

So what? I plopped my feet on my new $60 Bed Bath & Beyond body fat scale and I have gained 5 lbs!

So today, I had a banana and a clementine. That's all the carbs for today. The rest.. will be dark greens and meaty things.

Why God? Why? WHY 5 lbs? I almost broke through to the 130's and now... I have to go back to the gym for the 4x this week and lunge away my poor decisions.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tried it! WeightMirror - Weight Loss Simulation Tool

This was my result to display what I would look like if I lost another -21 pounds. I don't think I look very much like 119 lbs in this photo. Looks more like a blurry version of my webcam pict shot from the other day. What do you think?

Moving

These last few days I've been without internet, without a scale, and without fitness/dieting. Yesterday, I tried really hard to keep up with Lenny and his workouts, but the cheeseburger and fries I had was literally weighing me down.

At the gym, the scale read 139...although it is a different scale than I usually weigh-in with...


Could it mean that I have officially broken through to the 130's?

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Measurements

Now I can finally dare to measure:

36'
30'
37'

What a difference.

Day 121: 140 lbs

My PACE Performance routine is at the point where I can pretty much do a full hour of training on my own now. Yesterday, I did forty minutes of cardio and burned 500 calories on a resistance 8/9. Then later that day, I returned for a training session and did
30 modified burpees, squats, lunges, back lunges, abs, and for the first time in my life: I attempted a pull-up.

I feel like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. Everyone who has seen me is blown away from my progress since November. It's a little hard to accept compliments but it's something I'm learning to do.

Today, I stepped on the scale which initially read 139 for a split-second and then stopped at 140. I want to break through to the 130's so badly.

I'm a little worried about some of the loose skin I'm seeing around my stomach area. I only really see it when I push it together. I'm probably just being paranoid about it.

This hasn't just been about losing weight, it's about a complete lifestyle change. I went from sleeping until 11 a.m. to being wide awake and active by 7 a.m. Fast foods, appetizers, and alcoholic beverages are a thing of the past. In replacement, healthy foods, very small snacks, and water has really changed my overall lifestyle.

The supplements I'm taking really help as well. Fish oil, African mango, and a great organic Multivitamin keeps me running smoothly.

Later today, I'm going back to the gym for another round of strength/cardio. I routinely work out at least 5x a week and put lots of effort into each trip.

With my weight loss, I see lots of opportunities and doors opening before me. I'm still technically 15 lbs away from my goal and am determined to get there.

For anyone starting on their own journey and reading this, know that complete and utter surrender is necessary in order for real change to occur. That cliché saying is true, you get what you pay for. Pay your dues and success follows. Fight through the times where you feel like you might pass out or feel like strangling your trainer for making you push harder.

Now that I've become so dedicated to changing my body and life, I'm even becoming involved with helping PACE Performance launch their new web site. Opportunities like this show that if you become completely immersed in change, it will sweep you into new territories you could have never dreamed of.

If you told me back in November that I'd become this dedicated to fitness and health, I'd probably laugh. All that matters is that I'm here now.