Goals

The New Year always seems to be the perfect time to set new goals. AKA.. resolutions. But, really at any time you can pause and make a list of things you want to accomplish and set goals for yourself. I don't know if it's my sales mentality or what but, I think that in order to be effective you have to have some sort of list but more importantly a plan. Having a list forces you not only to hold yourself accountable, but also to measure how far you have come. Change whether it be in relationships, work, house decor, your body, etc doesn't happen over night. One thing that I have gotten out of the 12 week program is that a multi pronged approach is helpful. The program asks you to take weekly pictures, measurements, and weight check ins. Sometimes 2 of the 3 are good or 1 of the 3 but the fact that there is progress somewhere is motivating in itself.

Back to goals... I think to some degree all the jobs that I have had post college have involved "sales" on some point. Because I enjoyed it and I was sort of naturally good at talking to people, helping them make decisions, and ultimately getting the sale I felt that tracking the sales process and tracking to a company "goal" was cumbersome. My sales were typically always good and if I had a bad day, week, or month I was confident enough that I would make it up and I usually always did.

When I sold real estate I was so busy that I didn't worry about setting goals. I felt like the sales would come and I was too busy focused on showing houses and marketing my listings that I didn't have time to sit down and chart a path. My Broker would ask me every year, "How much money do you want to make?" followed by, "How many houses do you have to sell to get to that number?".... But, as crazy as it sounds those things weren't my "motivators". Now, it wasn't my hobby and I certainly enjoyed the income but I was doing something that I enjoyed and the money came. For me it was about being the best I could be to my clients by making sure they had a smooth experience. From there, came referrals and everything sort of worked out. I had a clear marketing strategy around my listings and in the end I felt that was what mattered.

However, a few years back I had a boss that was very goal oriented. He forced me to read books by well known business motivators. I slowly started to drink the Kool-Aid. I began to write down long term goals and then break them up into monthly and weekly goals. Sometimes a big number or a major change can be overwhelming, but if you break it down into baby steps it makes everything seem attainable.

Writing things down is step one. That alone gives you a sense of accomplishment. But, you have to keep that list visible and you have to also write your progress and constantly reevaluate.

When it comes to my weight/ body image that is something that I do for me. I have a ton of other goals (professionally and personally) that I work on each day, but this blog is to share my fitness journey. If I can give any advice, it's to take WEEKLY pictures, measurements, and do a weekly weigh in. The scale is my worst enemy because it doesn't always move and sometimes when it does move, it moves in the wrong direction. But, I can tell by my measurements and specifically the way my clothes fit that I have made progress.

One other tip... don't wait until Sunday or Monday to "start over" if you stumble. Start immediately. Pour out that drink. Put down that dessert. ;-)

Now, to write down some resolutions for 2013...

Happy New Year!
Be safe...

V.

'Tis the Season....

Fa la la la la...la la...la....LA!!!!!

I promise, I have not forgotten about this blog. I just can't seem to find enough hours in the day to get everything done. Rather than be overwhelmed each day I worry / attack the things I need for the next day, then the next, then the next. But, it's the time of year of lots of gatherings, last minute invites, unexpected visitors, so even with the best intentions plans don't always play out as intended. BUT, I am ENJOYING every minute of it because as we are too often reminded... life is short. So, I am holding myself accountable to my fitness and nutrition but I have also been a bit more "flexible". HOWEVER, come Jan 1st there is a new sheriff in town... promise.

Quick update. Diet is going well. Pretty much sticking to the same plan although I have not been prepping my meals like I should so often times I end up paying $$$ to eat clean by having to order food and pick it up. But, I really am making every effort to make good choices. I have been having vodka or a glass or two of wine at holiday functions. (FULL DISCLOSURE) Again, my health is good and this challenge is self imposed. The holidays just come once a year so moderation is the key that I have been using for the last couple weeks. And I really believe it's helping because if I didn't have this little voice inside my head reminding me of my goals I would be a lot more experimental at parties and probably have a few more drinks. I can honestly say, that I feel great and I am so much happier with just one or two drinks and the ability to pop up the next day and get a solid work out in. NOTHING tastes or feels as good as your body changing. At least not for me.

Speaking of health... I had my physical a couple of weeks ago. I was pretty anxious about it because when I booked it I realized that I totally missed last year and it had been just about 2 years since my last one. !!!! I am a hypochondriac at heart so even though I feel great I always worry that they are going to "find something" abnormal which will probe into further testing which will result of me dying of something. =( I am happy to report that I got a clean bill of health. All my lab work was normal and the only thing my doctor feels I need to tweak is to add more Vitamin D to my diet and he suggested a supplement. DONE!

Before I wrap this up I want to share a TOTAL DEAL that I found at the GOODWILL!!! I was shopping for an Ugly Sweater for a Tacky Sweater party and I saw this shinny top with tags still attached!!! Gotta love a dry fit Nike top with the thumb holes and all. It's soooo comfy. I rocked it for the first time last weekend and didn't want to take it off. #Poppin'Tags.

I suppose that my $4.97 top makes up for the DAMAGE I did today in between meetings at the Lululemon store. OH MY GOSH. But, seriously how can you put a price on a pair of pants that shrink your butt?? I don't know what kind of magic those clothes have but you put them on and your body just changes. I love a good deal, but sometimes it's worth it to splurge on certain things.

Last but not least... From a scale perspective I have dropped about 4 lbs and measurements about 3 inches in all. I can tell the biggest change in how my clothes fit and that alone gives me an incredible amount of motivation. Not to mention that holiday parties mean seeing people that sometimes you haven't seen in a year... and when people say "WOW... You look great." That feels PHENOMENAL too!!!!!

More soon... Promise.
Ho Ho Ho

V.

Holiday Party #1
December 7, 2012

TGIF... another week almost down...

Soooo busy so this is going to be quick.

Food wise, doing great. Getting sorta bored with the chicken and egg whites but fortunately, I am able to change it up when I go out to eat and make healthy / clean choices ALWAYS for lunch and  for dinner I choke down the chicken and salad and veges. My snacks this week have mainly been apples and Greek yogurt. Not at the same time, but one or the other. Those are more carbs that I want at times, but work has been nuts and grabbing one or the other is easy.

I've been able to get into the gym all week but my best work outs have been my cardio. I've been so tired at night that I have been lacking a little mojo but I plan on making it up this weekend and hitting the weights hard. Next week, I am really going to get back on track with not mixing around my days and sticking to the plan. This week I mixed up my rest day because of a conflict, but I am still IN THE GYM.

The good news is my work pants are soooooo looooose. They are falling off of me, which is crazy in part because according to my measuring tape I haven't lost THAT many inches.

Ok.. crazy busy with work, holiday stuff, and now boys basketball. Gotta run. I will update this weekend. Sorta excited to take my weekly pic. I think I will see a difference. Also, I've been using tanning lotion religiously. A little color goes a looong way.

V.

Super quick...Weigh in

I feel like I am already caught up in the madness (and fun) of the season. It's not even December 1st and I already feel like I am totally behind. Even though, my house is TOTALLY decorated (with the exception of the tree...which we are getting this weekend) and I have made a dent in my Christmas shopping. I've also managed to grab a bunch of cute little things. No idea who they are going to, but I can never pass up a funky, fun holiday gift. Next thing I need to stock up on is candles. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to have my house smelling like the season.

Good news is I am super on track this week with my diet and I got a good workout yesterday. I forgot my print out AND my workout gloves so I flip flopped my workout. I ended up doing cardio yesterday (LOVE ME SOME STAIR MASTER) and I will do arms today... Giddy Up.

The reason for my quick update is because although I measured on Sunday, I didn't weigh in until yesterday. 3lbs down so far. But, I really don't care about the scale. I am more concerned with my measurements and I can tell my progress with how my clothes fit.

That's it for now. Crazy busy at work so I gotta run so that I can get out of here on time and get those arms in!!

Thanksgiving, another week down & more...

Sunday. Measurements day. I didn't get to the gym today, so I will have to weigh in tomorrow but I am happy to report that I am down 2 inches. It was a crazy week because of Thanksgiving but I really tried to stick to good eating and getting into the gym as much as possible. I got to the gym Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was my rest day and Thursday I was motivated to do a traditional Thanksgiving 10k by my sister. I am soooo glad I did it. I finished in 1:03:20 and according to My Fitness Pal I burned about 1200 calories so that made my Thanksgiving a little more guilt free. However, I did make fairly good choices. I filled up on salad, turkey, green beans, and only had a couple of glasses of wine. I skipped dessert but I did have a couple of handfuls of movie popcorn. (Holiday movies are a tradition). I think the drinking is what I feel the worst about because I felt awful the next day. I was really sore on Friday and missed the gym again but did a ton of walking. I ran on Saturday and skipped today. =( However, I did start to prep my meals for next week and I am committed to getting back on the workout train. Holiday travel made it tough but I wouldn't trade it. Consistency is the key and I am not going to let a few crazy days keep me off track.

1 week down, 11 to go

Just finished a huge report for a big presentation I have to give tomorrow... after spending most of the day hauling out the Christmas decor... so, this is going to be quick because this girl needs to hit the sack.

Over all, I feel very satisfied with Week 1. I made up all my workouts and then some. I hit the gym Friday night after work (good times) and saw my trainer on Saturday morning. She had some extra time before her next client so she offered to do a body fat check. It's been a while since we checked it and I think there was a part of her that wanted to know just as much as me. =) She's awesome. Unfortunantely, something was up with the computer so we weren't able to look up my last reading, but I was pretty satisfied with where I am at. She challenged me to try and go down 2%. So, that's another goal to add to the list. She & I did TRX on Saturday. SUPER AWESOME CORE work out. I felt like I had been hit by a truck on Sunday, but I met my training partner, Ellie at the gym and we did some cardio. Giddy up.

We did measurements today and they were about the same as a week ago except I lost a half and inch and 3 lbs off the scale. Good start.

I am a bit bored with the egg whites so I have to change it up this week. Outside of that I am going to do my best to stick to my plan. Thanksgiving is Thursday so it's a crazy week and prepping meals is going to be tough but I will take it day by day. There are always good choices that can be made, it's just a bit costly at times when you don't plan ahead. But, sometimes you gotta pay for time.

Have a great week everyone!! So happy to see my post counts up, which tells me people are following me on this challenge. Yay!!

V

Missed workout on Day 4

Well, the bad news is I missed yesterday's work out. Despite being adamant about sticking to the plan I didn't make it to the gym. BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS... that my BFF was in town for business and was able to squeeze in a quick dinner with me before heading back to New Jersey. Perfectly valid excuse, however if I rewind my day, knowing that there was a possibility that we would be able to hook up after work I should have worked out in the morning since I already had a lunch appointment. I thought I would be able to work out from 5-6 then meet her at 7:30, but her meeting wrapped early so she was ready to go at 6. Since I am not a morning work out person, my goal for next week is to try and get one morning work out in and start to work that into my routine. Although, next week won't be a typical week because of Thanksgiving...

The other piece of good news is that diet wise I am doing great. Even last night, going to dinner at an awesome restaurant downtown with my bff I didn't have a single cocktail, I also didn't touch the bread on the table and ordered grilled Grouper and steamed veges with a small salad for dinner.

I am doing legs to today and will add in a longer cardio and I won't take a rest day on Sunday as my plan calls for in an effort to make up for yesterday. 

My BFF :: Sue :: can you believe this woman has 4 kids? She also has the best shoes!



I don't regret it one single bit. I have known Sue since I was 5 and for years she lived on the East when I was on the West then when I moved East she moved West. She's the mother of 4. She is a bad-ass business woman, CPA, Triathlete and she is fighting the system to do everything possible to make sure her son who suffers from narcolepsy has the best care possible. She is truly an inspiration and a testament that you can have anything you are willing to fight for.

I miss her already.

Off to another lunch appointment... make it a great day!

V.

Rest Day

Yesterday was Day 3 and since I am trying to be a good girl and stick to the schedule it was a REST DAY which meant, no gym. I know I said I may go in and do some core and a brisk walk, but my work day was jam packed which meant having to hit the gym before work which I HATE to do or after work which I wasn't able to do yesterday because I had a little ah...em... "procedure" done. So, no gym. I actually was glad to be able to rest. I am surprised at how sore I have felt. YAY me!

On the diet front things are great!! I actually don't feel hungry because I feel like I am eating throughout the day. Since my meals are prepped the stress is off. Planning (I think) is the hardest part and making sure everything is ready to go. I will admit that I have been chewing a lot of gum at times. ;-) Also, to make drinking H2O more fun I have been squeezing LOTS of lemon or lime into my water. I do fine chugging water during the day or at the gym but at night it's almost like a treat to have "flavored" water. I know... sounds weird. Yesterday I had a little break from my grilled chicken because I took a client to lunch. She choose a really nice place which had great fish so I got salmon with asparagus. I ended up having salmon for dinner too. YUM!

Nothing earth shattering to report. It's leg day today and I am pumped!!!

V. 

Day 2 : Ouch

Well, I woke up sore which quickly put a smile on my face. Since working out is a part of my regimen I don't always get sore unless I had a session with my trainer or I ran further than usual so the fact that after my 1st day of training on my own I was able to make my body ache gave me a sense of accomplishment.

(Rewind) Day1::  I had a break in my day so since the gym is a block from my office I ran over around lunch time with my workout sheet printed and followed it to the letter. I loved that I knew exactly what I was going to work on and the exercises were different than what I normally do so I was able to change it up. I worked upper body and ended with 20 minutes on the Stair Master (one of my favorites) which is what I was instructed to do. It was nice to fit it all in midday!!  I never ever ever use to go to the gym during my work day. It wasn't until this fall when both my kids had crazy football schedules that I started to pack my gym back in the event that a meeting canceled or a lunch meeting moved. Getting that mid day workout in is a bit of a sanity check. Sometimes it's not as long as I would like but I always feel better that I made it into the gym versus skipping all together.

A tip that's worked from me.... 

As I said, my routine was always, always, always to work out at night after work or on the weekends. I am not a morning person and I never really feel like I get a good workout in the early morning. Having said that...  I loooove my gym and having such a nice facility to train in helped me change up my schedule. The locker room is super plush and I would always see ladies using the showers, steam room, etc. But, since I workout after work, I always came to the gym dressed and ready to go. I never really used the locker room except for in the summer to change into my bathing suit or to go in the sauna.

Well, this summer/fall my boys had football practice every night of the week. Their dad was usually able to take them if he wasn't traveling but he usually travels some most weeks so I usually ended up going to practice 2-3 days a week. On those days in order to get a workout I would run around the park on the trail and I decided so that I wouldn't stress about trying to make the gym that I would try and do it during my work day. So, my tip... Always have a gym bag packed. For me, in my bag I have a set of workout clothes, shoes, and socks as well as a bag with all my toiletries ... mini deodorant, body wash, razor, lotion, and perfume.  I tie my hair up in a real tight bun while I work out and this way I don't have to wash it...that would take forever. I also keep an extra flat iron for quick touch ups and I am good to go. I have really learned to enjoy my nooners and sometimes they allow me to get in Two A Days if I am able to get back to the gym after work for a second workout, usually cardio.

Ok, back to my recap...

Yesterday I got my workout in at lunch and since my boys were all caught up on homework and wanted to shoot hoops at the gym I went back for more cardio and abs. Again, I LOVE my gym which is more like a club so they boys LOVE it too... less mom guilt because I don't have to drag them there.  When we got home I prepped my meals for the next few days. It was a relief to get that done. So, when I got up this morning I had my hard boiled eggs, grilled chicken, protein shake, and green beans all ready to go. Ohhh and one thing that I won't give up... my daily Starbucks.  I don't do any fancy drinks, just a Pike Place with half and half and sweet and low.  I don't use much half and half, so it's staying in the diet. I did have to run to the store in the afternoon to grab a Greek yogurt because after my workout and even after eating lunch I felt "off".  I had a queasy feeling come over me like my blood sugar was low.  It helped.

Day 2:: My workout today was cardio. I went back to the stair master and also did some rowing and finished up on the treadmill. Typically if I am doing just cardio I like to stay on the stair master for 45 minutes. The first 20 minutes are the hardest. ;-) According to my plan tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, but I think it will be hard for me to do that.  I will probably do some core and a brisk walk on the treadmill.

One of the hardest parts of my day was serving up dinner to the boys which was whole wheat penne pasta with chicken and vodka sauce and NOT taking a bite or two. Luckily, I had my chicken and spinach first so I wasn't starving but boy did it smell good!!!

Ok, gotta go work on spelling words...

V

Link to Plan

One more thing...

Several of you have asked for me to repost the link to the plan I am going to follow.

It can be found here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/guides/female-20to39-fat-loss/intro

For me, it's helpful to have a plan when I go to the gym. To know which body part/ group I am going to work. I think that her workouts are easy to follow. I am going to do a combination of a couple of her plans to change things up. The key for me is to go to the gym prepared and work the entire body on a weekly basis because I tend to be a lower body girl. LOL...

T- minus 30 minutes until first workout!! Since I am not taking a client out for lunch today I will be able to get a nooner in. This is something I NEVER use to do because I hated getting ready at the gym. I now embrace this because the feeling of getting "some" work out in rather than no workout because of busy kids' schedules is something I can control.

Giddy up!

V.

Day 1 of 84 :: Food Prep

Guilty. ..of not starting out on the right foot. Busy mom doesn’t even begin to describe it but the truth is in hind side, I did have time this weekend to do some things I procrastinated about but I spent a little too much time running around instead.  Since I work Monday through Friday my weekends are full of errands to get ready for the next week and this weekend in particular we had 2 parties for the end of football season in addition to trying to work in some fun as well as the day to day. I accomplished everything I set out to from the measurements and purchasing food perspective. Then rewarded myself with new workout stuff, but I didn’t prep my meals like I had planned Sunday night and I am feeling TERRIBLE about that. If there is ONE thing that should have been done it was the MEAL PREP.

DISCLAIMER… I am not a trainer. All my opinions and suggestions come from MY personal experience and my struggles with jumping on the fitness wagon. If there is ONE thing that I firmly believe that is, you can work out till the cows come home, but until you are willing to change your diet you are NOT going to see the results you are capable of. Once I really embraced that, I started to see a major change in my body.

I get so frustrated when I see my sister and some of my friends spending hours at the gym, hours running, hours doing races on the weekends and then see their disappointment because they can’t seem to lose weight. I had the same challenges myself and my trainer would tell me over and over what I was doing wrong, diet.  So, when I got serious about changing up my diet she put together an easy plan for me to follow where I saw immediate results. I plan on following her plan and incorporating some of the diet samples found on the Bodybuilding.com site. For me, I really have to control my carbs. They are my enemy but I know that good carbs are essential.

So, the plan that I follow is basically:

Breakfast or Meal 1 : 3-4 Egg Whites and half cup of oatmeal. I am going to try to eat the oatmeal. Again, carbs make me nervous.

Meal 2 : some sort of protein & fruit. I am not a huge fan of protein shakes, I prefer whole foods.

Lunch or Meal 3: Lean Protein & veggies or Lean Protein & starchy carb

Meal 4: same as Meal 2

Meal 5: Same as Meal 3 except no starchy carb at night

I had EVERY intention on grilling my chicken and steaming my broccoli last night. I purchased all the Tupperware containers, everything was ready to go. But, after I finished a report I was working on I tucked my youngest in bed and after reading together a bit I was soooo tired. I set my alarm to give myself a little 45 minute nap before starting to cook but when the alarm went off I was so tired that I decided to call it a night. I decided that I would just wake up really early and cook before going to work. But, as you will soon discover from this blog I am not a morning person. I hate working out in the mornings and leaving anything to “the morning” is dicey. I am never late but I will cut corners when it comes to things for myself in order to hit “snooze”. Yes, I am the woman you may spot doing her make up at a red light.

The alarm went off and I decided that I would  just run over to my gym in the morning and pick up some hard boiled eggs and buy some grilled chicken from a restaurant close to work so that I didn’t have to get up and cook. So, that is what I did today but I am committed to cooking tonight when I get home and prepping my meals for the next few days. Can I just say, before I wrap this up how much I love my gym? Lifetime Fitness has the best café.

Oh… and I am using MyFitnessPal.com to track all my food. It’s a huge help. I used it in the past and I love being able to look up foods from my phone when I am out and about. For this diet, I plan on sticking to the same stuff as much as possible but since for work I often have to take clients out that may not always be possible so having an app like that helps.

Ohhh... one more thing... buy gum. Sometimes it helps to have something to chew on. LOL

That’s it for now.

Day 1… of 84!!! Eeeks.

V.

12 week challenge starts tomorrow ....

11.11.2012

Ugg... I have been meaning to update this blog allllll weekend but both boys had their football end of season parties and here it is Sunday night and I failed to update. Boo!

Most importantly, I want to post that the program that I am following can be found on Bodybuilding.com. If you go to the left tool bar column there is a tab for "pick a plan" and once there it will walk you through several plans based on gender, age, and goals. For me, I am going to do a combination of a couple of plans. My goal is fat burn but I am not super crazy about the diet. However, after spending lots of $$ on training and LOTS of time at the gym I can honestly say that creating body changes starts in the kitchen. It's probably 75% kitchen and 25% gym. So, diet is SUPER important.

My trainer put together a diet for me when I wanted to drop weight before my 20 year reunion so I plan on following a combination of her diet and the diet on the site. They are both similar in that they limit carbs. It's a high protein, low fat, low carb combo.

I have my measurements done. I bought my food for the week and rewarded myself with some new workout digs. Giddy up!! In the spirit of full disclosure I was bad this weekend. Friday night at my oldest's football party I had a couple glasses of wine, on Saturday I had Chik Fil A on my lunch date with my little guy, sushi for dinner and on Sunday I started the day with a bagel, I had a hot dog from Five Guys for lunch and a sliver of pizza for dinner at my youngest's end of season party. That is more carbs than I am use to but I figured I would go out with a bang. However, I sorta felt gross. I really am not use to eating like that and while it tasted good at the time now I feel like I should remeasure. I feel nasty.

I have so much more I want to write but I have a huge report I need to finish so I have to wrap up. I am sooooo excited that so many people have requested to follow this blog and have a core group that are actually going to challenge themselves! Yay. I look forward to your posts as well!!!

Let's do this!

V.

Here's my reward....

My first entry!!!

INTRO

My first blog. Well, that's not true. I did keep a quasi family blog way back when I first discovered the Internet. Amazingly, it's still out there. (Bonus points to anyone who can find it..lol) I also kept a pregnancy blog with I was prego with my first. That one, I can not find.

First, I want to establish that I am not blogging for any reason other than accountability. I have been working on my fitness for a while, but I am ready to really put some hyper focus and sacrifice into it so that I can see some results and after all my reading/ research I agree that you must be held accountable. I think posting on Facebook can get annoying so I decided to create this blog so that I am forced to hold myself accountable and also I hope that it will serve as inspiration for anyone, like me who wants to take on a 12 week challenge. That, is the simple reason....so, don't look any further than that.

ABOUT ME

I am in my (eek) late 30's, I have 2 amazing boys, and work full time as a Senior Account Manager for a Global IT consulting company. Work / life balance is something that I work on every single day. My kids are super active, I have a close circle of friends, and I am very career driven. I also dabble in real estate and social media consulting (in my spare time) only because I have a passion for both.

ABOUT MY FITNESS

Well, let me give you a little history. First, I am 5' 9 and a half. I have always been tall. When I was in high school I got called Olive Oil because I had long skinny legs with bony knees and ankles. I played softball but wasn't coordinated enough for basketball but in general sports was not my thing. I hated to run and really hated any sort of PE activity. I never really had to work out because I was just tall and thin and that continued for a while.

Even though I gained 60 yes, 60 pounds with my first pregnancy it all came off and I think because of breast feeding I was thinner when my son was 6 months then I was before I got pregnant. But, I think when I hit my 30's I started to see a "change". It wasn't as easy to drop 5 pounds and my clothes started to fit different. However, when you are a little over 5' 9" it's pretty easy to "hide" a few pounds here and there. By  then I had 2 kids and a very successful real estate career and even though I could set my schedule and going to the gym would have been easy, I didn't really make time for it because it had never been my thing. Don't get me wrong, I always had a membership but my attendance was sporadic, at best.

I don't want to bore you with all the details, but fast forward to about 3 years ago. I found myself single, feeling frustrated with my body image, and also started to see a lot of my friends take up major fitness specifically, running. My bff, Sue in particular had drank the Kool Aid. She was bouncing all over the country to run marathons and this year she competed in her first Tri. At first I thought everyone was nuts. Fanatics. I am not sure what the turning point was but I felt like if my sisters and friends can carve it time to get to the gym and make it a lifestyle then I was going to give it a shot and I did. It wasn't easy. I would find myself going to the gym and not really knowing what to do. I did a lot of standing around or I would do the same things over and over. I always found security walking on the treadmill or taking a stair class. Even though I was going often and I would stay for about an hour I wasn't really seeing any results.

Then one Christmas my ex decided to get me some training sessions from the kids for Christmas. I guess now as I type this I guess that was the turning point. When I first met my trainer, Kat I felt like I knew my way around the gym, I had been putting in my time, but I was frustrated. By then I was doing what I thought was "a lot" of running, which was about 2 miles. But, I had run my first 10k. But, cardio is not weight training.

Anyway, she quickly helped me understand that I was not really working hard and that changing your body starts in the kitchen. I spent several months training with her and seeing some change in my body but it wasn't until right before my 20 year class reunion (last October) and getting really serious about my diet that I saw a drastic change and since then I have been HOOKED.

Hooked to training hard and eating clean. So, in the last year I have seen a major transformation. The other day my trainer said she wishes she had taken "before" pictures and I couldn't agree more. But we didn't so last night before I kick off this 12 week program my workout buddy, Ellie took my pictures and measurements. Again, it's about keys to success. I am really going to try and incorporate the tips the program encourages. Such as 1. having a workout partner 2. setting goals 3. holding yourself accountable 4. taking measurements 5. photo evidence... to name a few.

I have to wrap this up but I will share more over the coming weeks. Promise. I will not abandon this blog. I am going to kick my program off on Monday. I plan on  working on written goals this weekend and Sunday I am going to buy all my fuel (food). Be on the look out for pictures!!! Woop woop.

No excuses...

V.