Transformation Challenge - Week Six

I feel really good. I mean that. I feel really, really good. I have been noticing a lot of my habits these days have changed. I enjoy working out, and eating healthy. Don’t get me wrong, there are still moments in the wee hours of the morning where I would rather roll over and go back to bed then go to bootcamp, but I know that it’s worth it. I have been working really hard, and making sure that I take full advantage of this challenge. I am a changed woman.

I have been thinking a lot about attitude this week. My attitude toward food and life has changed. I no longer deal with my stress with cookies and ice-cream. To tell you the truth, blog-reader, I feel less stressed, and I sleep better at night too. Last week I stepped on the scale and found that I had gained two pounds after a really hard week of working out. This was devastating to my self esteem. Even when I said out loud that it didn’t bother me that I had gained weight, it really did. Working out in the beginning of the week seemed like extra pressure. Finally, mid-week, I decided that I can’t dwell on this number anymore. I know that I feel great, my clothes fit better (I fit into pants that I haven’t worn in a year!); and I have the energy to do whatever I want. After being able to get past the numbers, I am really able to fully commit myself to being healthy. So with this new positive attitude I stepped on the scale this Monday to find that I had lost 6 pounds (a total of 7 pounds). 7 pounds lost in 6 weeks may not sound like a huge number, but I can only think about how easy it would be to gain 7 more pounds. It is SO much harder to lose weight than gain it, and I am really proud of myself.

When I look the mirror, I don’t think I look that different to me. I guess I am just me and I see myself all the time. I have been getting tons of positive feedback from friends, and family. I have been noticing HUGE changes in all the ladies in the Transformation Challenge. I see the physical changes in appearance, and I also notice a huge attitude change attitude with everyone. You look great ladies, keep up the good work!

We are halfway through this Challenge. 6 weeks down, 6 weeks to go!

Transformation Challenge - Week Five

Today might not be the most inspiring day to write this blog, blog-reader. This has been a hard week for me physically and even more challenging waking up feeling under the weather this morning. I think that is probably one of the hardest things about doing this challenge…waking up, dragging yourself out of bed even when you feel like you should turn the alarm off, roll over and sleep ALL day. Even after feeling that way this morning, I still, unhappily, rolled out of bed and drove myself in the dark to bootcamp.

Part of this morning’s motivation came from our guest speaker on Saturday, Jeff Troesch, a sports psychologist. I think everyone found a little something different to take away from the presentation, but what really stuck with me is taking it one day at a time. I, myself, am an instant gratification type person with a tendency to look into the future too much, so this is a hard task for me, but it helps! I am setting my goal to get one day better every day. You can only get one day better in one day, right? So every day I push myself a little bit harder because I know I can do it. There are going to be days where you get a little side-tracked from your goal. You might not feel like working out, or maybe you have some cake to celebrate a birthday. Don’t keep kicking yourself! Wake up the next day and get back on track. For me in the past this has been a huge part of it. I ruin one day by having something deliciously fried, or delectably chocolate and I can’t get myself back in the mode. Jeff’s talk really made me realize that, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

I do have to say as challenging things have been in the gym and in life these past five weeks; I have not once cheated myself. Every time I go to work out, I go as hard as I can, even if I feel like I’m going to die. As far as eating goes, it gets easier with time. I know you can’t imagine not having that bowl of icecream after dinner, but I stopped even craving it. I stopped letting food control my life.

I am starting to see a change in myself both mentally and physically. I don’t think I have ever felt this good (not today, feeling under the weather) in my whole life. I never thought that I would be a person that enjoys going to the gym. I always told myself that I don’t have enough energy to work out, but I have more now. I can only tell you about my experience, and hope that it inspires you to take control of your life. Stop making excuses; I know you can do it!

Transformation Challenge ladies, you are looking great and I can’t imagine doing this without you. You inspire me most of all. Keep up the good work! 5 weeks down, 7 to go!

Transformation Challenge - Week Four

Let me start off by saying that I lost 3 pounds this week! 3 pounds for me is HUGE! Really, I can’t write enough sentences with exclamation points! In addition to weighing less, I actually feel lighter on my feet if that’s possible. I can feel muscle in my arms and legs where I have never felt muscle before. I am stronger than I have ever been before. And even though “plank” is my new least favorite word, I know it has a lot to do with those and push-ups. I often feel like if I have to do one more push-up my arms are going to fall off, but they don’t and I am able to do get a little further down every time.

Not only is exercising getting better, but eating healthy is getting easier too. I no longer feel like I want to make-out with everyone that sticks anything sugary in their mouth. I don’t even feel like I want to over-eat at dinner time. These are two very big accomplishments for me. Every week it gets easier to wake up and go to work out and make good food choices. I am also happy to say that I have tried three new classes; Body Flow, Body Step, and Abs. While Body Step and Abs may not be for me, I’m glad that I tried them. I really like Body Flow. For anyone that is feeling like their life is a little chaotic, this is a perfect class for you. This is one of the many reasons that I feel less stressed and therefore feel like I need to stress eat less. I even attended a 11 year old’s birthday party with pizza, chips, dip, and cake and was able to limit myself to very small portions. If you try to deprive yourself you will end up going over the edge, allow yourself a little treat every now and again.

I have been working harder than ever before, and with the support of my team I know that I will be able to meet my goals. I have already made it through one month. If you had asked me one month ago if I thought I would be able to exercise five days a week and eat healthy foods, I would have answered “no”. Now I am doing both of these things with ease. Dare I say, I actually look forward to going to the gym and working out now.

After one month I have also lost 5 ½ inches collectively from my waist, thighs, hips, and calves. My clothes fit so much better, and I am feeling confident and strong. Feeling this way makes me want to inspire everyone old, young and in between to work out and take care of themselves. You only have one body, treat it right. Trust me; I am surprised these words are coming out of my mouth as well.

I know you can do this ladies! 4 weeks down, 8 weeks to go!

Transformation Challenge - Week 3

Let me start out by saying how good I feel this week. I can tell that I am getting stronger, and have a lot more energy than I used to. I was a little disappointed to step on the scale on Monday morning and see a one-pound loss staring back at me. I stopped for a moment and thought to myself…I can let this one-pound weight loss discourage me and I can keep feeling sorry for myself or I can push myself even harder this week. I opted for the later. Working out, for a person like me who hasn’t worked out in 10 years, is really hard! I can’t even tell you how many times that I have thought about hitting that alarm clock at 5:30am and going back to sleep. Getting in shape is hard, and that’s why many of us give up after the first couple of weeks. But by this, the third week I feel like I can do this. I hope this inspires you to push to that third week.

Something else I would like to mention is that I have been thinking a lot about my nutrition these past three weeks. We journal everything, and have Shelley, our EQ nutritionist, look them over and give us feedback. I know that if I don’t write everything down that I am only cheating myself. It has made me VERY aware of what I stick in my mouth, and now every food item that I see has a little calorie count over it. I also find that with eating healthier I have to eat more and more often. I stock up on a lot of fruits and veggies that I can eat for a snack and try to include them with every meal. I also drink a TON of water. Both of these things; watching what you eat and drinking water are vital for becoming more fit. There are so many diet programs that would have us believe that if we eat less we will lose more. Now, that may be true in the short term. I have dieted before, lost a little weight and then given up. Before I can blink all that weight is right back on. Eat smart, give your body the nutrition and energy that it needs. Take my advice; it makes a world of difference.
On the note of nutrition, it’s not easy to eat healthy foods, when everyone around you is not. I currently live with my family, and while they are supportive of my transformation challenge goals they are not really looking to change their habits. I watch them eat their french toast (covered in butter and syrup) and bacon, and I am jealous. This is just one of the hurdles that I am jumping to change my lifestyle. Eventually I will allow myself to have french toast and bacon again, but just learn to control the quantity. Quantity is key. Portion control!

I am learning so much about myself and about how I can be a healthier person. All the ladies are doing so great in the program. You are really starting to be able to see the results. I’m so proud of myself and everyone in this program. I’m also proud of anyone that has found the motivation to lead themselves down a path to a healthier life. 3 weeks down, 9 more to go!

Transformation Challenge - Week Two

Week 2 started off with a bang as we all met at The Custom House, in Avila Beach for a nutrition talk and cooking demonstration. There was a lot of information about food that I didn’t know. I learned a couple tips about successful grocery shopping, the science behind some food we eat, and how we can make good choices when we go out. One of the chefs from the Custom House cooked us up some delicious healthy options and the bad options too just to show us how much oil (and other bad, but delicious foods) are used behind the scene. I think a lot of people were surprised at how good healthy food can taste.

Honestly, blog-reader, week 2 was harder than week 1 for me. Life is handing me lemons, and I want to make lemon-chiffon cake and then eat it all. First weigh in was on Monday, and I gained a pound. I am trying not to feel too discouraged by it, but after last week of working out more than I ever have before, and eating less food than I’m used to, I guess I expected more. This is the hard part for me. I am an instant gratification girl, and when I don’t see results right away I want to give up. This is the part where I would have usually consoled myself with a brownie sundae, but I fought the urge. I talked to a couple of the trainers and they encouraged me to keep it up, and try not to focus so much on the scale.

Bootcamp kicked my butt this week, in the good way. I am really sore after my workouts, but to me, it’s satisfying knowing that I must have done something right, because I am feeling it. I can already tell that I have more energy during the day, and I feel stronger.

I really want to mention something that has encouraged me the most in this challenging process, my team. The 5 other wonderful women that I have teamed up with have given me a phenomenal amount of support these past two weeks, and I know I would have given up without them. We write a lot of emails to each other to talk about our successes of the day, and our challenges. We vent about our issues, and encourage each other to keep doing what we’re doing, and to “put down that cookie!”. I hope that every team is finding this as much of a bonding experience as I am.

Week 3 is right around the corner, and I know I can do this! I wish you could see the determination on these women’s faces every week. Keep pushing yourself ladies, I know you can do it! 2 weeks down, 10 more to go!

Transformation Challenge - Week One

Saturday morning, bright and early (well early for Saturday anyway); we all met to find out just what we had in store for us in these next twelve weeks. Honestly, my first reaction to some of this information was…I don’t think I can do this. We were separated into teams, and got to meet the other women who would stand by our side, our support systems. Then off to the grocery store we went to learn about food. Kristen, a Cal Poly nutrition student, was so friendly and informative. She patiently walked through the grocery store with us, talking about the good and the not so good, and answering all our questions about how you can turn bad food into good food by modification. Choose a whole bun for your hamburger, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and limit your sugar. I always thought that losing weight meant eating like a little bird, but really it’s half what you eat, and the other half is portion control. I guess it sunk in, and so far it stuck.


6:30am (yes, there is one of those in the morning too) was our first bootcamp on Monday morning. Yes, that’s right…I said the words “bootcamp” and “6:30am”. I don’t think I would have made it through all the squats, push-ups, and crunches without my team. I wanted to give up a couple times, okay, let’s be honest…I wanted to give up most of the time. I pushed myself as much as I could. I woke up sore every day this week. This is not an easy program; I guess that’s why they call it a “challenge”. Every trainer at the gym has been so phenomenal in help keeping us motivated, helping push ourselves.

In addition to working out (3 mornings of bootcamp, and 5 days of cardio) we are charting our calories as well. I felt like I was starving most of the time. There were some of my weak moments where I felt like I wanted to eat an entire bag of Oreos. I can’t stress enough, that if you want to lose weight, it takes a LOT of work. I’m sure that anyone in this program can tell you that they are working their butt off. You’re hungry sometimes, but you just have to make good food choices. You are sore from working out, but you have to get back on the horse and keep doing it. You’re sleepy at 6:30am, but you push yourself to get the results that you want.

I’m so proud of myself and EVERYONE doing this Transformation Challenge. We had a tough week, but it will get easier! We are not just kicking butt for 12 weeks; we are changing to a happier healthier life. One week down, only eleven more to go!

Transformation Challenge

First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Carey. I have been battling with being overweight pretty much my entire life. I guess to me I always justified having that brownie sundae by telling myself, well I’m already fat. The harsh reality of it is that you wake up one day, and you have gained 60 pounds in the course of a relationship, and you can’t turn back time. That’s me. As a woman, I am an emotional eater, like many of us are. Break up, bad day at work; school work overload all includes giving yourself a little treat to soften the blow. Well, no more!

I am embarking on a 12 week Transformation Challenge at Equilibrium Fitness with 32 other wonderful women, of all ages and sizes. I will be documenting our journey, and trying my best to be a voice for the experience. We will be working out together as a team 3 days a week, and encouraging each other to make healthier food choices. I am so excited about this wonderful opportunity, and the fact that I get to share it with you, blog-reader.

So stay tuned to read about our journey; the good, the bad, and the ugly of our 12 week Transformation Challenge!