When people look at a woman and call her fat...and to me she's just healthy, I don't understand it. I think my sense of size may be distorted. Don't get me wrong - a lot of us are fat...but, just because a woman doesn't look like a stick with two bumps jutting out, doesn't mean she's fat! I'm not sure what attracts people to the 'model type' body. Beautiful faces, I understand - but super skinny sickly looking bodies...I just don't get that. Doesn't anyone realize these models are just there to show the clothes....the idea is to have the clothing look like they're on hangers, not a real person! Besides...in real life, who actually wears the clothes we see on the catwalk? To me, healthy is what is attractive. A fit healthy body to a curvy voluptuous (which is not the same as fat) body are much more attractive than the super skinny look. I digress...I tend to do that a lot!
So - I've been working out mainly with a program called Chalean Extreme. I LOVE it! It's created by Chalene Johnson and distributed by Beachbody. Chalene Johnson is an amazing, inspiring woman. She's full of energy and motivates me like no one else has. It's obvious that she loves what she does and has a lot of fun at it. It's great to see her laugh at herself (& others) throughout her videos. Oh, I forgot to mention this is a video based program. If you've never heard of beachbody & you're trying to lose weight - you really should consider checking them out: http://www.beachbody.com/. They offer a ton of different fitness programs - that if used right (meaning you do them) work! I'm a fan of this company because they create awesome products and recruit coaches from their customer base. Ok, so maybe they're also making a lot of money doing it - but it works! Beachbody offers you a coach and access to their forums. They are available to answer questions and help you along the way, just how much depends on what you put into it. Hmmm, all the sudden I sound like a Beach Body commercial and that wasn't my intention! Before I move on, I want to get back to Chalene Johnson. Chalene has her own company and distributes additional videos http://www.turbokick.com/. Beachbody has TurboJam, on Chalene's site she has Turbo Kick, Hip Hop Hustle (lots of cardio) & PIYO (Pilates/Yoga). Turbo Jam is FUN! It combines cardio & kickboxing which I personally love - it makes me feel strong. Sometimes I imagine that I'm kicking some ass! Ooops, did I say that? Hell yes, I said it! I may be warped, but somehow kicking my ex's butt inspires me!
Part of the program is taking before and after pictures. I've been avoiding this for 2 weeks. Finally, I could put it off no longer and took the pictures (some of which I'll post once I find the cord to connect my camera to the computer - doh!). After looking at the pictures, I'd kind of like to throw them away! I decided to take extra pictures of myself naked (No, I will not be sharing those). Really, what is more motivating than seeing how terrible you look naked? Yeah - well my friends, I look pretty bad. I think I'm going to print those pictures and post them on my fridge & cabinet! No more midnight munchies for me! I'm definitely motivated now! I'm thinking maybe I should workout five or six times a day!!
Chalean Extreme is about building muscle, 'muscle burns fat'! It's much more about lifting heavy weight than it is about cardio. I've taken it upon myself to add in extra cardio, just because I know that I need it and I'm trying to hit it hard &; heavy. What's frustrating is looking at the scale and seeing only a few pounds difference....ok, it's only been a few weeks - but I went from doing nothing & eating REALLY bad, to eating clean and working out twice a day...shouldn't there be more of a difference? I'm told that when you build muscle, especially in the beginning that you don't see a lot of weight loss and that comes later...(hmmm, something else to research).
Another really great thing about beachbody (back to the commercial break) is they offer customized eating plans and have folks that can help you out. You can purchase nutritional items like vitamins, shakes and recovery formula...which by the way, their recovery drink is awesome, it tastes like an orange creamsicle! I use a few of these products in addition to the recovery drink I use the whey protein powder and have just started using Shakeology. Some of the groups on the beachbody forums have even gotten together and pooled recipes to create their own recipe book!
Why am I writing all this? It's easy for me to journal/blog...which is not exactly something I want to do in a forum setting. Whoever wants to read my blog, can read it (or not). The idea is for me to be accountable somewhere. My goal is to post daily, with my workout details & what I'm eating. So, I'll be back later to report on my day...maybe I'll have pics by then!
I feel like I need to say a special thank-you to Marie Merritt of Momentum Fitness. I was able to work out with Marie & Andrea for a few months until I was laid off. If you're in the Jax Beach/Ponte Vedra area, I'd highly reccommend them. They will push you and surround you with tough love, while they laugh (with you) as you crawl out the door. Even though I've been unable to get back to them, Marie has kept up with me and offered words of encouragement, that helped get me out of the rut I was in and push me back on the road towards meeting my goals. http://momentum-pt.net
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