Still in 2nd place

After yesterday's weigh in and workout, I am still in 2nd place. I have lost 5.1 % of my body weight. First place is at 5.6 %. Just means I need to step up the pace a bit. Being sick last week made it difficult for me to do my home treadmill workouts. Unfortunately, over the weekend my sore and swollen throat returned and I was quickly put on a 10 day oral antibiotic to hopefully kick it completely this time. My doctor wants to meet with me once this contest is over and possibly send me to an ENT for my throat. I can't even think of having tonsils removed at almost 45 years of age!!!

The good thing that has come out of this contest is my meal plan regimen. I really like the foods and have begun getting a little creative with it. We had a seminar over the weekend at a Whole Foods store in Palatine. There was a good statement about eating variety and not getting stuck in a rut. Your body gets bored too and doesn't break down the food in the same way if not given a good variety. I had gotten into a groove of eating the same things....probably out of convenience as much as anything else. So, yesterday I stepped that up as well and came up with a few new things for my meals to kind of surprise the system. I even made up a new "chili" that is surprisingly good. Not sure if it would be something many people would like, but I love it. It even has spinach, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, barley, and garbanzo beans. Makes you wanna run out and get the ingredients huh!! (haha) Everything in it is low sodium. To offset that I added a little extra hot sauce to give it some kick. I'm also going to add 2 egg omelets to the mix with some interesting veggies in it. Again, little salt....but loaded with flavor!!!

My challenge now is to come up with a menu that will work in my next internship. Working with 14 early childhood students with high needs will make it interesting. Stopping to eat twice in that time period is not going to be easy. I never thought I would have the challenge of trying to find time to eat!!!! :)

More to follow after tomorrow's workout. Hopefully it will be good news that my throat is feeling better and the workouts are getting a bit easier. Or at least more tolerable :)

I'm BACK!!!

Went to my workout tonight with determination! I cannot believe the workout we did. It was intense. I started with a 4 minute walk/warm-up, 3 minute job, 4 minute walk. And then Steve had me hit my workout back to back with only treadmill breaks in between. This was probably the hardest workout I have done so far. And it felt AWESOME! I can't believe that I worked so hard less than a week after having strep throat. I have never come back from something like that so quickly.

I am really looking forward to my weigh in on Sunday and really hope to see the results I have been feeling all week. Not sure what my loss will be as I do not weigh myself at all during the week. I focus on the end result instead and picture myself at the end of the 3 months.

I bought myself a new pair of jeans a size smaller than I have been wearing. I bought them on Ebay because I don't plan to wear them for long. :) I also bought TWO pair the next size smaller as an added incentive. Cannot wait to be wearing those!!!!

Today I went back to my regular meal plan. I had made some adjustments due to the strep throat. As it turned out, I need to return to my protein smoothies for the rest of the week as my appetite hasn't quite returned yet and my energy level dropped a bit tonight that was unexpected. We decided I should keep up at least my afternoon protein shake to boost the energy level until my full appetite returns.

Thanks again for reading my progress. I so appreciate hearing the postive comments and support!! You are all THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!! :)

More soon....

Back to my workouts

I went to my workout tonight for the first time since my strep throat. This morning when I woke up I felt like a million dollars. As the day went on, however, my status dropped and I was less than the 100% that I thought. But, I kept plugging at it and went to the workout. I got there early and walked on the treadmill for about 20 minutes instead of my usual 5 minutes warm up. So, by the time Steve started working with me I was already sweating and feeling the effects of the day. But....I DID IT! Granted, it was a shorter workout, but I still did every push up, every weight, every squat that he asked me to do. And, for the first time I didn't even give one "what" or "just wait" or "you're kidding right". :)

I realized on the way home that I have never really explained my meal plan. Decided to give you a basic meal plan for my day so that you can see that I am not starving myself and I am eating foods from all groups! In fact, since being sick, I have had a hard time finishing this.
Meal 1: oatmeal and 1 c 2% milk
Meal 2: 1/4 cup cottage cheese with 1 cutie tangerine and 1/4 cup almonds
Meal 3: 4 oz turkey OR 4 oz canned tuna in water, 2 tsp lite miracle whip and 1 wheat tortilla
or 1 wheat bread and carrots and celery
Meal 4: 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 string cheese and an apple
Meal 5: 4 oz tilapia, cooked broccoli/cauliflouer, 1/4 cup avocado

My workouts with Steve include lots of weights (varying weights), lots of push ups, squats, lifting, pulling.....and recovering! I also drink LOTS and LOTS of water throughout the day and have 1 or 2 cups coffee (no sweetener/no cream). That has kept me headache free from dropping all artificial sweeteners, etc.

My home workouts are treadmill work. I walk/jog 30-40 minutes every day and vary the speeds and inclines. Keeping my body guessing what I am doing makes it so that I am less likely to plateau.

I feel very good tonight. But....am planning to go to bed soon. Thanks for reading and looking forward to Sunday's weigh in again. Can't believe I even said that!! But I want to see that I am in FIRST PLACE!!!! :)

More soon...
celery

Great news!

I went in today for my weigh in and guess what....I AM IN FIRST PLACE! I have lost 5% of my total weight in only 3 weeks in the contest! This is especially incredible seeing that I have only worked out with Steve once in the past week! First on Tuesday I had flu like symptoms and then Friday night, out of the blue my throat became swollen and I was very feverish. After a doctor visit the results were strep throat, ear infection and sinus infection. Yikes. All in one week. But today Steve put that all into perspective for me. This is all minor stuff. A broken bone would be a major setback. This is all only minor.

My main objective for this week was to continue my meal plan no matter what. And it has paid off. I have tried to keep up with my 5 meals a day. This has been especially difficult with this lates strep bout. I have had to make protein/fruit smoothies and low sodium chicken soup. Things I can swallow. Trying to keep that up has been hard. Strep throat has been a recurring problem for me for years so recovery is not something new to me. The quick recovery is though. I attribute so much of this to my new lifestyle (even as short as it's been). I am grateful to have today and tomorrow yet for some rest and relaxation and hope that I will be closer to "normal" by Tuesday.

Can I say that this contest totally ROCKS!!! Once I am back to 100% Steve and I are going to go through the roof on this and will go further than any of the contestants last year!!! Yeah for positive attitude. But for now.....it's back to bed.

Rough week

I missed my workout on Tuesday due to having the flu. Still not feeling 100% but I went to my workout. Cannot believe this but during my warm up I actually jogged for 3 minutes without a stop. I know....not much right. But that is really big for me! I have never ever jogged in my life (except to a buffet line...haha) and I was so proud. I also did more tonight in my workout than I have done yet. And that was not feeling well!!!! We're going to weigh me in on Sunday to see my results. Can't wait to see how I've done. I didn't get to weigh in for week 2 because of my illness, so it will be super interesting.

In spite of being sick I have really stuck to my meal plans. I haven't strayed off of the plan since the beginning of the contest. It's been easier than I ever imagined. No Diet Coke, no chocolate, no white bread. And I feel better than I have ever felt in my life!!! I see so many benefits to this plan and really plan to continue this once the contest is over. Not sure if it will be as strict as it is now....but then, I want to win this contest!

I have been more than mildly overwhelmed with the attention I have received from this contest. I have received emails, phonecalls and FB messages from people that have seen it. One of the ladies at the center I work even saw the article. It is quite humbling. I just wish people realized that THEY are MY inspiration and not the other way around.

Looking forward to this weekend. And looking forward to my workout Sunday!! WISH ME LUCK!!! :)

Very minor setback

This morning during one of my torture exercises I pulled a muscle in my calf, right behind my left knee. I was jumping to an 18 inch step and when I stepped down I didn't buffer it so it pulled the muscle. It wasn't as bad as it could have been....but it really hurts. I'm icing it today and tomorrow, taking it a little easy, and hoping that I will be back to new for my workout on Monday. Thankfully we changed tomorrow's workout to Monday already, so I have tomorrow off to do an easier workout on the treadmill. Or maybe the kids and I will do some Wii Fit.

I continue to feel so much better! I can't believe what a difference I feel in myself in such a short time. I think the biggest accomplishment is in the food choices I make. Believe it or not, I don't even have cravings for things I'm not supposed to be eating. Wonder if it'll last for the whole 3 months. PLEASE last the 3 months!!!

Besides the food I am also drinking a lot lot lot of water. Thankfully I stopped drinking Diet Coke weeks before the contest started or this could be super killer. Today we went to Sam's Club and while Joe and Joey bought soft drinks I opened the water bottles we bought and it tasted the best EVER!!! Keri and Sami even joined in with me and had water. So proud of my girls!

Weighing in for the 2nd time on Tuesday. Fingers crossed that I continued with the weight loss this week!!! More soon...

Training rescheduled

Steve had to reschedule my workout for tonight. Have it admit, it was difficult to get motivated tonight to get on the treadmill. Especially with the new schedule he gave me on Tuesday. It was HARD...but I did it with the help of my 2 mini trainers, Joey and Keri. I actually ran in 30 second intervals. (doesn't sound like much, I know. But it's A LOT for me)

My meal schedule has really been perfect for me. It takes a lot of planning each day to make up the meals and have them in my little lunch bag. But it makes it so much easier as the day goes on to grab the meals, even on the go. And I don't feel hungry. That's probably the best part of it all.

I will admit that today in the lunchroom at my internship there were brownies there that looked very good. So, I just marched my butt to the other end of the table and didn't eat one. Last year's winner, who my trainer also worked with, emailed me this week and we have been writing back and forth. She is giving me pointers and has asked if she can be my added support and "go to girl" for advice. How nice was that of her!! She also said she is joining in the 3 months and working out more as well as journaling her workouts and eating schedule again. (just in case she has to make an appearance at our final day). She has given me some great advice. Oh, and I see that I have 2 people following me on here now!!!! I am still a bit overwhelmed by all of this and more than a little humbled. And even more honored to have so many good and caring people cheering me on and following this road with me. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!