Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 140 and thoughts on running a half marathon

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 140

Wow has my life changed for the better in just 140 days.  I was privileged enough to be chosen as participant in Team Fitness new TF+ program back in Aug 2013.  At that time I was over 100 lbs overweight and at a pretty low point in my life. Good intentions were not helping me loose weight.  I kept trying different things but with only me to disappoint (or so I thought) it was easy to give up.  I will start again on Monday.  Sound familiar?   

Now 140 days later I am 49.8 lbs lighter and so much healthier and happier.  I was telling my friends and workout buddies at Team Fitness that I have never made it this far and felt so strong and positive that I am going to do it this time.  I could never quit, I am too high on this feeling.  I am addicted to feeling the after effects of a good hard workout, the tougher the better.  It doesn't hurt one bit that every single day at least 2 people ask me what I am doing or that I look great.  Funny story; I was walking up the stairs at work talking to a coworker when another coworker coming up the stairs behind me said "Hey Tracy, your losing weight"  I smiled and thought "he's looking at my butt"  LOL I thought about saying out loud but didn't.  I just said why yes I am.  I beam inside when someone says something.  I don't want that to stop either.  I can't quit I have too many people cheering me on!

Now a note on the upcoming BMO half marathon.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a runner.  I never have been, but for some reason when Lauren asked me to run with her I thought another challenge that helps me get to my goal.  Ok, I accept that challenge.  I ran a couple of times before actually officially registering.  The second time I ran I bonked.  Weirdest feeling to be feeling strong muscle wise and cardio wise and yet your legs feel like concrete and you just can't run.  My gas tank was just empty.  I have a weight loss goal to be under 200 lbs by Feb 15th.  To accomplish this Leanne has me on a lower calorie diet.  Turns out this makes it hard to workout hard.  I do love the fact that I lost 4 lbs this week but I do need to train for this marathon.  I want both!  I want to lose weight fast and I want to be able to run.  I am going to stick to this lower calorie diet and just add a little more before I run.  See how this week goes.

After my last run I thought I might not be able to do this marathon, maybe I am not cut out for it.  After a couple days I went to the BMO website and signed up.  I am going to do this, I still had second thoughts but Lauren and I went running the Stanley Park Seawall today.  We ran/walked 8 km and then walked the last 2 km to our vehicles.  It felt great!  I now know that I can do this!

I won't be done my journey until at least September 2014 but I can tell you life is so much brighter right now, it will only get better and I am so excited about what the weeks and months a head hold.

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 123 OMG

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 123

Well I am back!!  Got a new laptop finally, went from a PC to a Mac so huge learning curve!  Did you miss me??  Haha.  I have not been blogging very often but I have been following my food plan and spending much of my free time at Team Fitness.  I am now down a total of 42.8 lbs (37.1 since start of TF+ challenge).  

I have set myself a goal of getting below 200 lbs by Feb 15th.  That means I have to lose 11 lbs in a month.  I have been following my meal plan, including now some juicing.  Love my juicer, but I must say it is an acquired taste.   I have never been a sweets lover, I am much more a savoury person.  I do think that this Team Fitness Challenge has changed me in many ways.  At the beginning of the food plan you have to give up completely flour, sugar, dairy, red meat and alcohol.  It sounds loco when you are used to eating whatever you want.  Geeze I had milk, cheese and yogurt almost every single day.  I had cream and sugar in my coffee.  I thought Leanne was nuts, how was I ever going to follow this food plan, come on lets be realistic.   Well... now seventeen weeks later I am allowed to eat bread and yogurt, red meat and red wine and yet I rarely do.  I don't need to, I don't really miss it.  OK, maybe I miss red wine but 1 glass is never enough so I choose to abstain completely. 

Because of my goal of 11 lbs before Feb 15th I have been trying to up my exercise and water intake.  Water intake has been a challenge but the exercise has been great.  I went to bootcamp on Wednesday with Zarah, there was 11 people and it was still a huge challenge.  I loved it.  Tonight is was just Lauren and I and Sarah had us going.  My muscles were still tired from last night but I pushed through.  It is such an amazing feeling when we are done. 

On that note I am wondering what is happening to our tight little group.  It is not the same without you Katherine, Tristan, Sharon, Robyn, Vickie and Cassandra.   Lets get it back together and commit to working out together at least 3x per week!

Lauren and I discussed the Vancouver 1/2 marathon again tonight.  I am both excited and nervous about it.  I have never run anything in my life and I am starting with 21 km.  Am I crazy?  Yes, maybe but it is a good incentive to  run, run and run.  

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 110 - And thoughts of continuing my Journey into 2014

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 110

Funny as I go through my day to day activities I always think to myself hmm that would be good for my blog, then again another great topic for my blog...   Then I go to write my blog and I can't think of anything to say.  Like the other Team Fitness Challengers I too was not perfect over the Christmas and New Years holiday period food wise anyway. Close, but I did have just a little bit of stuffing and one spoon of the delicious dessert my Dad made on New Years day.  I also have to admit to having a tea biscuit.  So that was it, not too bad.  I really tried to make up for it by doing extra workout sessions.  I still managed to lose weight every week so it must be working!

Two exciting things are starting to happen to me, the first one is that all my clothes are too big.  Every time I put something on to wear I have to wonder if it is going to fit me or is it going to be too big!  The second thing is when I workout I am able to now do things I could not do a couple of months ago.  Three months ago I could do 1 to 3 push ups, tonight I think I did more than 12. Woot!

Much like Katherine I too watched Fat, Sick and Nearly dead along with about 6 other food related documentaries. I did get a Breville juicier and I do plan to incorporate it into my food plan.  I have not made any juices in it yet but tomorrow is looking pretty good!  Today I was at Gilford Mall in Surrey.  My son was getting his car detailed and oil change etc.  We had to kill time and at lunch I was starving.  We only had the food fair.  I didn't know what I was going to do, so I walked around to each vendor searching for something that would work.  I found a grill place that let you customize, then right next door there was a company that made custom green juices and smoothies. I think it was called Freshi or something close to that.  I ordered the 270 calorie green smoothie. It tasted really good but I have to admit I really had to wait a while before my hunger went a way.

I went to the Friday night boot camp at TF tonight.  This was not the TF+ session and it was quite a bit more intense.  Wes was awesome with encouragement and I really felt like I could hold my own with 95 % of the circuit, I also felt like I had really worked hard.  I love that feeling, I am addicted to that feeling.  Looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow morning! 

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 104 and Surviving Christmas as a loser.

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 104

Well it's day 104 on my weight loss journey.  I find the longer I am on this journey the more my life is changing.  It's not all about my body getting smaller, that is just a very positive side effect of my participation in this challenge.  The biggest change is happening in my brain. I have been successful on diets before, I lost 54 lbs in 2008.  What has never happened before is the change in my thinking.  I don't feel deprived, I simply don't want all the foods that made me fat.  I am now firmly addicted to the feeling that exercise gives me.  I am looking forward to my boot camp and almost feel excited as the time approaches.

I just survived the week of Christmas with a 2 lb loss.  It didn't look good for a loss but I really should learn to wait and see what Saturday morning holds.  The little metal box in my bathroom was once again good to me, even though I was not perfect on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Well I wasn't terrible either.  Christmas past was much more calorie rich than this year.  I had my Dad's home made egg nog both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.  It is tradition and one I did not want to go without.  My Dad just moved out here from Nova Scotia this year and I just had to take advantage of having his eggnog at Christmas. It's really not that bad.  2% milk, egg yolk and nutmeg with a merang topping. So I have not had milk in awhile and there is sugar in the merang but really not that bad.  On Christmas day I brought all the fixings for a green smoothie lunch only to find my mother in law's blender was broken.  I decided to have some of the low fat chicken noodle soup hubby was having with crackers.  Still not too terrible but yet not on my food plan.  I also had about 6 multi-grain taco chips with salsa and maybe a bit too much sweet potato on my Christmas dinner plate but I did skip the potato, stuffing and gravy.  Before bed I had one more digression.  One chocolate covered cherry for a serious treat.  In previous years I would have easily had 5 or 6 so I felt good about having one.

I had an excellent workout with Sarah on Thursday evening and I decided to check out the beginner boot camp on Friday evening.  Much to my surprise I was the only one to show up.  Even thought I offered to take off and go to the Rec Center Eric said nope you came down and we shall get to it, and get to it we did. I have never had a personal training session and I have to say I felt seriously worked out when we were done.  I was exhausted and exhilarated all  at the same time.  I am sure it made the difference on the scale Saturday morning, and I woke up feeling totally sore in my back, neck and shoulders.  I have not felt that sore after a workout in a while. No matter I got up and took an advil and had a hot shower and headed back to Team Fitness for my Saturday morning workout with Sarah and my TF+ buddies.  Tristan you were totally missed.  Where the hell have you been??  Get back on track my friend, your life depends on it.  As I said to Katherine today, I wish someone had gotten through to me 15 years ago,  Tracy put yourself first, get your weight off, eat healthy exercise, your life will be so much fuller, you will be so much happier!!  Listen!!!  

I didn't get it until now.  My young friends on the TF+ team please listen, put yourself first! Get in shape and life will be so much brighter.  Ok, off my soap box and enough rambling for today.

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 97 - Life after the Official Challenge comes to an end.

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 97

Well the official 90 day challenge is now done and life goes on. I have a much longer journey to meet my goal but I am definitely up for it.  I am now down 37.8 lbs and have 75.5 lbs to go to reach my goal.  I am getting stronger, I am finding exercising really enjoyable almost to addiction.  I love how I feel when I have finished the boot camp and 20 minutes of cardio.  

I can hardly wait to get to Team Fitness so I can earn that feeling once again.  I guess like any other addiction I need more and more, harder and harder workouts to achieve the same feeling.  I love the group of people I workout with on the TF+ nights but they are not always the most challenging.  I find the Sunday boot camp just a little more challenging.  I have signed up for another 3 months, this is the first thing that has worked for me in years and I am not quitting.  I will reach my goal this time! 

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 90. Wow Day 90 I can't believe the Official Challenge it over....

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 90

 

 

It is so hard to believe that I have been doing the Team Fitness Challenge for 90 days.  The whole experience has be fantastic.  I wake up everyday feeling fitter and stronger, I look forward to working out, when I don't have a Team Fitness workout scheduled I am looking for something else to do.  Part of my success is my connection with the trainers the other part is my connection with the other participants.  Nothing like working out and receiving encouragement from your friends.

 

Last night I was getting ready to go to my husband's work Christmas party get together.  The one thing I always dread about getting ready to go out is getting dressed.  My clothes don't look nice on my, they just cover my body.  The other issue is my nice clothes don't typically fit.  Well this year I am 35lbs lighter than last year.  I put on my green shinny blouse that I only wear on Christmas and it was way too big, so I put on another shirt I hadn't worn in a while and hubby said that one is too big too, what do you have that is smaller?  I pulled out a red blouse I had not worn in a very long time and put it on.  It fit great!!

The Christmas party was at Browne's.  We had the upstairs to ourselves.  The food was an endless stream of appetizers including 3 different types of chicken wings, sushi rolls, quesadillas, pizza, etc. and so on.  I ordered grilled chicken, grilled seasonal veggies and leafy green salad with oil and vinegar on the side.  It was very good.  I for real was not even tempted by the other stuff. That stuff made me fat, I don't want it anymore. :-)

 

I have only just began my weight loss fitness journey with 78 more pounds to lose.  The first 90 days is done and I look forward to the next 90 days and all the adventures that lay a head of me.

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 86 - And thoughts on getting out of my fat suit...

 

Welcome to My Personal Fitness Challenge Day 86

 

 

Well I have not written a blog for a few days. My laptop died :-(  making it much more difficult to blog while watching TV.  Oh well, now I have the password to my son's laptop so until I buy a new one I am back on track.  Weighed in on Saturday with a 2.5lb loss this week.  I am very happy with that.  This gives me a total of over 28 lbs. in 12 weeks and 34 lbs. from my top weight.

 

Saturday's workout was good, really did feel like I worked out.  We did "super sets" with Sarah.  My shoulders are still sore from the chest press exercise.  That is one set of muscles I have that need a lot of work.  I received my new nutrition plan from Leanne after my Saturday morning check in.  High breakfast, Low lunch and an almond milk and protein powder shake for dinner.  Hmmmm... not sure how well it's going to go.  A shake for dinner just does not feel like dinner.  Just might be a recipe for falling off the wagon.

 

Sunday I had every intention of going to the boot camp at 10 am but I woke up with a headache and I was tired so I didn't go.  I kind of felt guilty.  Just goes to show, left to my own devices I don't push myself as hard as I get pushed by my trainers.  I need your guys to kick my ass every time!

 

Today is day 3 of the milkshake for dinner routine.  I came home from my Monday night TF+ workout.  Eric worked us out hard.  Maybe me a little more.  I always set myself up to get my ass kicked, and I am always thankful when I do.  I had to do so many stairs!!  Followed by my extra 20 minutes on the treadmill as prescribed by Leanne.  I seem to always be the one on the treadmill after our workouts on my own.  Maybe the others are more disciplined than me but I believe if I don't do it right after the workout I might not get it in later and I don't want to take that chance.  No matter how tired I am I ask myself how bad do I want to shed this fat suit? The answer is always the same "really badly" and I get on the treadmill at 6 or 7 incline 3.5 speed and I do 20 minutes and when I am done I feel good!  I got home, had my almond milk shake with protein powder, watched TV for a bit and went to bed hungry.

 

Tonight is not so bad.  I saved my snack and ate it with my liquid dinner.  I just needed to crunch something.  I then when to the Rec Center and did 30 minutes on the treadmill and 15 minutes on the elliptical.  I didn't do weights, since my department Christmas Party has been delayed until after the New Year I will be doing weights with the trainer at Harry Jerome tomorrow night and my Team workout at TF on Thursday.  Now off to my son's hockey game.