Motivation

Pep Talks

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

I found myself in the car driving to see my nutritionist this morning giving myself a pep talk. If you recall from my post on 8/10 – my goal for this appointment was .7 down.

The past 6 weeks have been a little challenging – limited work outs, an unusual amount of dessert eating (too many trips to a local cupcakery) and football season started.  As I’ve mentioned before I weigh myself every day (in the AM) to help keep myself accountable and I can tell you the last 6 weeks I wasn’t seeing much movement.  I started seeing some movement about a week or so ago (and in the right direction).  Now I reported last weekend that I was down but there was a part of me that was worried either my scale was off (it has happened before) or for some bizarre reason I had regressed in a week.

So back to the Pep Talk I gave myself on the ride over – “no matter what happens, keep a positive attitude”.  “You’ve come a long way.  If you gained weight – don’t get discouraged – you have all the right tools to get back on track”.  “If you lost weight – you are doing a great job – keep it up.” Of course, the latter conversation is a much easier one to have!

After my Pep Talk, I was ready – I went in with a great attitude (and checked out of the stress from the week to focus on me).  It was a really great appointment not just because of the results – which don’t worry, I’ll tell you.  But it was more about the discussion.  As you’ve noticed, I’m a numbers person, but I was given a little different perspective today.  While numbers are important – they aren’t the only thing – feeling better, looking better (hair, skin, etc), how you clothes fit, making sure you are living your life and not missing out are part of this journey.  I probably need to remind myself that every once in awhile (although I’ll always be a numbers person) – it was still important to hear.  And I don’t feel like I’m missing out on things – which is a good thing!

I’m please to announce I busted through that .7 lbs and dropped 2 lbs for a total of 25 lbs down since May 2012!  And even better – I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen this number in 3 years (and I’ve gone down a jean size – double bonus)!  I feel great and I’m so happy.  My journey is far from over, but I’m confident I’m going to continue to see success and have a feeling my five minute drive every 6 weeks will have a pep talk involved (even if I falter – I know I will be OK).

Have a great night!

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

I have a degree in Marketing, however, I’ve spent most of my career dealing with numbers. I have some Marketing functions on my team and I remind my team all the time – no matter how great your concept is in the end – the numbers rule.

My personal journey is no different – some people have noticed my weight loss, some haven’t, they’ve noticed a glow in my complexion or something is different they just can’t put their finger on it. It is a great feeling! (and THANK YOU!)

Yesterday morning I had my pre 6 week Fall Transformation measurements and Body Metrix (this uses a sonogram type tool to measure you body fat – a lot more accurate than the device you hold in your hands).

The last time I had my measurements and Body Metrix done was early June.  To say I wasn’t happy with the results is an understatement – it was such a let down.  I had finally started feeling better post Lyme disease and I was doing all the right things – Hard Body workout, getting enough sleep, drinking my water and eating right.  Most of my numbers went up except my weight.

Unbeknownst to me, a blessing in disguise happened – right before the end of June my knee started really bothering me and my hip was twinging a bit.  I stopped my Hard Body workouts before vacation and while on vacation I joined the gym where I went 3xs the first week and 4 xs the second week to yoga and pilates classes only.  When I came back from vacation – I was keeping a similar routine.  I found out my hip issue was my SI band and I only just started back my Hard Body workouts last week for 1 day and back this week for 2 days (with keeping the impact modified).

Since my last Body Metrix, I’ve dropped 9 lbs, reduced my body fat by .7%, BMI dropped 1.7, lost 4.3 inches and reduced my risks of heart disease, stroke and diabetes by 1.6 points (with the drop in diabetes being the biggest drop).  🙂

It was a great day yesterday!  Looking forward to the next chapter of my journey as the 6 week Fall Transformation starts tomorrow.

30 Day Shift Adjustment

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If you read yesterday’s post you read that I’ve been re-energized after reading The Shift by #ToryJohnson.  And btw I heard today it is #1 on the Best Seller’s List.  

One of thing I noticed that helped Tory on her journey was writing her goals down. Now this is nothing new, but what I liked that she did was – write it on an index card.  So that is just what I did yesterday – a little more later as to what I have on it.

For more than a year I’ve been focusing on the following:

  1. Eat 3 meals per day – this is a well balanced meal with protein, carb and veggies.  No more than 30 carbs per meal – and enough protein to get me to the next meal.  And we’ve adjusted the carbs down to ~25 per meal (and no bread with breakfast) (and I bet most days I’m much lower than that per meal)
  2. No fruit – I’m carb sensitive
  3. Drink 60 – 80 ozs of water per day.   I’ve added some hydration tabs as my last two blood tests have shown that I’m dehydrated – I sweat a lot when I work out.
  4. Limit desserts and sweets in general
  5. Exercise 3 xs per week
  6. Enjoy my food – so I don’t eat stuff I don’t like!

As I mentioned earlier, I decided  yesterday to create a 30 day plan starting to see if tweaking the above would show any changes to my weight loss (it has kind of slowed down over the last 5 weeks).  One of the things Tory did was go cold turkey not having things.  I’ve always been fairly flexible as I don’t want to feel like I’m missing out on things.  However, I’m curious for one can I do the following and two does being so strict make a difference?  Time will tell.

  1. Water, Coffee or Tea only – no Diet Pepsi and no Diet Dr. Pepper.  I really don’t drink a lot of soda but I can tell you the next month I will be tempted with some work and personal travel.
  2. No bread at breakfast – I know this is in the above; however, I’ve been known to make exceptions – especially when I’m finished with my 6 week nutritionist appointment – I use it as a reward and know better than to use food as a reward! 🙂
  3. Limit my AM coffee routine to 2 cups per morning – and if I want a 3rd cup it needs to be black.  I enjoy light cream in my coffee.
  4. No dessert
  5. Exercise 4xs per week or more!
30 Day Shift Adjustment Plan

30 Day Shift Adjustment Plan

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Shift

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

Last night I finished reading The Shift by Tory Johnson.  I loved reading about Tory’s journey.  I’ve been a big fan of Tory since her first segment on GMA.  I think it is great how she has helped women get back in the workforce or restart her career.

I really felt a personal connection with Tory while reading the book.  As I started reading it I found that the confident woman I enjoyed watching on TV had insecurites just like me.  She has struggle with her weight for a very long time – I’m fortunate that mine has only been the last 10 years or so.

Without realizing it I started my own Shift  in April 2012 when I finally had it with my weight – I made the first step – I made the nutrionist appointment!  Now I haven’t had the quickest drop in weight that Tory saw (and I won’t tell you how much she dropped – you have to read the book – it is part of the journey).  But I have dropped enought that when I had my 1 year anniversary going to the nutritionist – it was very emotional.  If I had taken that step – would I have been even heavier or the samy unhappy weight?  I’m so glad I don’t know that answer!

I found some similarities in Tory’s journey and my own – accountability – getting on that scale every morning, no fruit and a favorite statement (if you’ve read my blog before you’ve seen it before or my mantra) – ‘slow and steady wins the race’!

After reading The Shift, I’m re-energized! And the timing is perfect – the 6 week Fall Transformations starts on 9/23!  The Shift is all about getting  inside your own head – ready to commit to the best version of you (credit – Lindsay Vastola)!

 

I’m back…

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

As you’ve noticed, I get writer’s block quite a bit.

I think I mentioned previously that I’ve been dealing with a knee and IT band injury since the end of June. So not HardBody workouts since then. I’ve been concentrating on yoga and pilates. I was able to make many workouts while on my 2 week vacation; however, post vacation I’ve been making it about 2 times per week due to my schedule.

I have re-introduced walking thanks to the UP by Jawbone – gotta keep up with my teammates with the number of steps I’m doing!

The exercises I’ve been doing for my IT band have really helped – so much so I don’t need to go back to the doc unless I have a problem.  He still wants me to focus more on my upper body and core during workouts.

Last night was my first time back to a Hard Body workout since June.  I’ll be honest I was a little nervous.  I wasn’t sure if I would have limitations and I really didn’t want to re-injure anything, because I really missed these workouts (lots of sweat – as the saying goes ‘fat crying’!).  I have to say I felt great – it was like riding a bike.  I modified some exercises and I got a good sweat in.  I noticed I was able to do some exercises much better than before – I give all the props to yoga and pilates.

Fall is super busy for me personally and with work so now I have to figure out how to get all of the things I enjoy – HardBody, Walking (keeping those steps up is so important), Yoga and Pilates in my schedule weekly (and being consistent) since weekends are out for the next few weeks.  I’m sure I’ll figure it out! 🙂

 

UP = Insightful

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

I’ve been wearing my UP band on my wrist now for about a week.  I LOVE it!

I’m monitoring my sleep and my steps (and you can add workouts).  I tried logging my food for a day and I just didn’t feel like monitoring more – maybe I’ll look into it at a later date.  You can connect with friends who are using the UP band.  There are settings so you can include only your steps (which is what I’m doing ).  I don’t think my co-workers need to know my sleep patterns! 🙂

You monitor you activity by plugging the band in the earbud spot of your iPhone (or for you Android) – so it isn’t bluetooth enabled.  You can see pretty quickly how you are doing.  The charge on the band lasts about 10 days – a little less when you plug in more than twice a day (I know from experience)!  You can see how your are doing against your daily goals.  And you can add in your workouts too.  One of the things I love is you can set an idle reminder when you haven’t moved for awhile – mine is set to vibrate every 30 minutes I don’t move from 8 am – 6 pm.  I get quite a few reminders – even during yoga – not a lot of steps.

Sleep

You can set your personal goal of how much sleep you want (you are provided the ideal amount of time based on your age, height and weight).  I believe mine was 7 1/2 hours – I set this as my goal.

I’m doing pretty well on my sleep – last night was one of my least amount of sleep and I’m feeling it this morning.  I think what is great about this app is that is shows you your light sleep and deep sleep.

Here is a view of the best night of deep sleep (where you restore your mind and body)

Reach 94% of my sleep goal. Nice amount of deep sleep!

Reach 94% of my sleep goal. Nice amount of deep sleep!

Walking

You can set your personal goal for steps.  The recommended is 10,000 steps and the average person does about 5,000.   I’ve hit 10,000 steps or more only twice – yesterday I just made it over 10,000 and on Sunday I hit 15,000 steps (6.93 miles).  Sunday is definately an anomaly-it was our PSU Annual Freshman Sendoff – so it was a super busy day.

My work day consists of computer work and conference calls.  Major wake-up call that even though I try to move around during conference calls – it just isn’t enough.  I need to supplement my daily conference call walks with other activity.  The last two days I’ve been able to get 45 – 60 minutes of walking in so that has helped.  Going to also experiment with 10 minute walks during the day as well.

Typcial Workday steps - too much computer time not enough walking time.

Typcial Workday steps – too much computer time not enough walking time.

Yesterday with a 50 minute or so walk

Yesterday with a 50 minute or so walk

Annual Freshman Sendoff on Sunday - Wahoo - almost 7 miles.

Annual Freshman Sendoff on Sunday – Wahoo – almost 7 miles.

Daily Insights

Today my daily insights included some of the following:

  • You’ve walked a total of 53,347 steps-covering 23.1 miles with an average of 7,621 steps per day.
  • A regular bedtime means regular sleep.  When you hit the pillow at teh same time every night, you’re supporting your body’s natural rhythms and helping battle daytime fatigue.

Thank you KGK for encouraging me to try this out!

My new magic number – 0.7

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Back on May 6th, I posted my post called 20 – it was a milestone for me – but I think I was a bit premature – guess I had the original number in my head a bit higher.  Anyway if you will recall from that post – my next number in my head that I wanted to hit was 6 – well now it is 0.7.  What is the meaning of that number?  I’ll tell you at the end.

This past Thursday was a busy appointment day – Nutritionist and Sports Medicine Doctor for an injury (turns out it is my IT band – lots of stretches and I go back in 2 weeks).

I went to see my nutritionist to see what progress I had made since the end of June (and prior to vacation).  I’m a bit neurotic and weigh myself everyday (I know I shouldn’t – but it does keep me a little bit more accountable as my body seems to be  super sensitive to foods and causing me to fluctuate) but the last time I was in my scale was off by 2 or 3 pounds so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  On top of that I was on vacation for 2 weeks – where I did exercise – yoga and pilates at least 3 days a week but I also ate foods I wanted (including Blueberry pie and cobbler) and of course adult beverages – all within reason though (I actually didn’t gain weight on vacation – I checked!).  It has been a bit more challenging since I’ve been back with work travel and other appointments – so it has been more like 2 times per week I’m getting to yoga primarily.  Pilates just hasn’t been convenient – oh and I had a bit of work travel mixed in.  If you notice – no Hardbody workouts – and this has been due to a nagging injury that started before vacation my knee and moved to my thigh while on vacation (see above – IT Band).  So what happened at the appointment?  I lost 3 pounds!!!!  And here is the interesting thing – I completely changed up what I was doing exercise wise.  I was speaking to my trainer about it yesterday and she reminded me that she reminds us all the time it is good to change things up as our muscles get used to the same routine. (I’m hoping this helps a blogger friend of mine who is thinking of changing her routine after her half marathon training ) 🙂

So what is the meaning of the 0.7 – that is how much I need to lose to get to that magic number in my head!  It is one of the many milestones I have in my head before I reach my final goal!  Stay tuned for updates – I won’t post on this until September when I go back for my nutritionist appointment – makes it more official!

Happy Saturday!!

Just got my UP

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Just got my UP by Jawbone in the mail today.  I’m so excited!!  I can get an employee discount and the black medium has been on backorder forever.  I was able to order a grey medium (close enough to go with everything) on Saturday – Wahoo!

What is the UP?  It is gadget you wear on your wrist and it tracks your steps and sleep.  You put in your vitals – sex, age, height and weight – and it monitors your steps and sleep.  You can also add food and water intake.  Over time it provides insight about you day to day activities.

I’ve already set my goal of 10,000 steps per day (a big challenge for me), 7.5 hours of sleep (I can’t wait to compare this to my sleep cycle app) per night and the notice every 30 minutes I’m not moving to get up and move around.  

I’ll keep you posted.  I’m off to bed so I can get my 7.5 hours of sleep in the first night! 🙂

Challenge Workout Results

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On our second workout of our Spring Transformation there was a challenge workout. The purpose of the challenge is to set your baseline and to see how you’ve improved over the 6 weeks. I’ve done the challenges before and knew it was coming, but I can tell you I was kind of nervous for the challenge (4/17).

The challenge exercises were as follows:

  1. Push-ups to exhaustion on toes and knees – with a requirement to go down to a weight on the mat
  2. Wall Sit
  3. Burpees (the full body workout – I used to despise – now not so much) (timed 2 minutes)

April 17, 2013 Results

  1. Push-ups:  17 (toes)
  2. Wall Sit:  1:14 minutes (with a massive headache that lasted for about 2 days)
  3. Burpees:  28

May 15, 2013 Results (not as nervous – just anticipation)

  1. Push-ups:  25 (toes) and 13 (knees)
  2. Wall Sit:  1:41 minutes (no headache – yeah!!)
  3. Burpees:  27 (bummer)

Overall Results

  1. Push-ups:  32% improvement on toes; overall 124% improvement 🙂
  2. Wall Sit:  24% improvement
  3. Burpees:  3.5% decline
  4. Overall Results:  48% Improvement – wahoo!!!

I’m very pleased with my results.  Wish I had at least gotten to my baseline on my burpees – but it isn’t the end of the world.

The energy in our class was a little blah at the beginning on May 15th – post warm up we had a visit in our class – a squirrel – I think he helped get our adrenaline up.  Everyone had great results and were cheering everyone one – particularly our last two standing (more like sitting) on the wall sits.

Really happy and proud of my results!!

20

Posted on by keepingupwithkate91

Last April I made the best phone call I’ve made in a long time.  I made an appointment to see a Nutritionist.  I was at my whits end – I was at one of the best fitness levels in my life (except when I was played sports in HS and College) and not losing any weight – and in fact I was gaining weight – something had to be done!!

If I’m honest with myself – the weight gain started in 2001 – 2003 when I was traveling quite a bit for work and had no real workout routine – I was working crazy, crazy hours and just not eating right.  I had a short stint where I lost some weight and I was in NYC at least twice a week for work where I walked everywhere – which helped.  Then in 2005, I bought a condo, moved further south (so my NYC trips declined) and my job changed (not that I haven’t gone through a lot of job changes at work) – there was just less and less time for ME.  I think I finally had enough and started BP in 2007  / 2008 (not sure of the timing).  I loved the workouts and all the great people I met.  I’ll be honest I wasn’t a fan of the timing – 6 am workouts (wake-ups at 5:15 am) and I’m not really a morning person.  I’d do really well during the transformations but then they would be over and I’d get bored or just talk myself out of getting up in the morning (I was pretty good at it too).  I stopped eating many processed foods, eating fast food and not going out to dinner as much but I still wasn’t losing weight.

Now fast forward to last spring during the Spring transformation and there was a special guest speaker – a nutritionist set to speak to all of us.  I was traveling for work and wasn’t sure I was going to make it – my trainer – really encouraged me to go (she thought it would really help me – Thank You Anna!!).  I made changes the next day after the seminar – I went from 3 meals and two snacks to 3 meals a day (with that 3 pm craving still there).  I finally got around to making an appointment in April – the date was set for early May 2012.

I got on the scale and I was the heaviest I’ve even been in my life (and I will never see that # again) at that first appointment.  Quite honestly, I’m too embarrassed that I let it get so out of control that I still can’t even put that number on this blog! (and probably never will!)

After that first meeting in May 2012 – my nutritionist started treating me as pre-diabetic so no more than 30 grams of carbs per meal, protein and veggies at every meal.  No salads as a meal and NO FRUIT (due to the sugar).  The first month I lost 6 lbs.  I did start having energy issues – I don’t recall if it was in June or later in the summer (as I reflect back – it was probably the start of my Lyme disease symptoms and I thought it was my body adapting to my new eating pattern).  I’ve gone every month for the last year – most months I’ve lost weight – had a little bit of a hiccup in December/January and got back on track.  We’ve adjusted what I’ve been eating so 1.  I don’t feel like I’m missing out (i.e. I went to 5 of 6 PSU home games this past fall and I tailgated – ironically the fall had some good weight loss mths) 2. Removed carbs from breakfast as I’m very carb sensitive (this was the past 2 mths). 3.  Eat when I’m hungry – so I don’t eat breakfast when I first get up and today I just had coffee and ate an early lunch.  Everyone is different and you have to find out what works best for you.

So why this really long blog entry and what is the deal with the title of this post??  Well I went last Thursday and I hit a milestone – I’ve lost 20 pounds!!!  I know some are reading this and thinking really – 20 lbs in a year that really isn’t that much – a year or so ago I would’ve said the same thing (heck I bet even 6 mths ago I would’ve said that).  I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past year – to be PATIENT, that this isn’t a diet and I’m making changes that will be permanent.  I actually haven’t told a lot of people – I shared my success with a few people I worked out with last Thursday over lunch and I got a little emotional.

No on to my next milestone – it is a small one, but I think a really big one for me – it is the #6!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race – I’ve posted this before and this will continue to be my mantra (although I’m not opposed to a couple of windfalls either)!  In the end this post is for me – just an opportunity to see in a year what else I’ve been able to accomplish.

Thanks for reading and remember you can do anything if you put your mind to it (oh and a little patience always helps)!!