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.
Hi Viviana! May I say, you look fabulous! I'm inspired that you are challenging yourself to take your fitness goals to the next level. I also have two little kids and work full time. My weight has steadily crept up over the years and it will keep creeping unless I take serious action! My strategy is to "reprogram" myself to make healthy diet and lots of exercise of the highest priorities! So thanks for sharing your 12 week challenge...you are putting yourself out there and inspring others which takes GUTS! ~Marisa
ReplyDeleteThank you!!! I was a bit hesitant at first to create a blog but I really am doing it to hold myself accountable and to hopefully inspire someone out there that may be on the fence at trying something like this. =)
DeleteGlad you are following my blog!!!
V.