I am SELFISH!!!!!

Selfish is sort of a bad word no days. It’s a jab you throw at people who aren’t doing something that will benefit you in the end. It an insult you use when putting down an enemy. All together it’s just a very bad word and no one wants it to be used to describe them!

The average American is awake for 16-18 hours a day. Within those 16-18 hours they are getting  their family up in the morning, feeding  them, getting the dressed, taking kids to school, going into work, solving problems for a boss for 8+ hours, leaving work to go get the kids from school/daycare, getting home, cooking, bathes, and finally bed! To me when you stop and think of it, when do we even have time to be selfish? We are taking care of everyone else around us and not stopping to put ourselves 1^st. Yes, I will agree that our kids are VERY important to us and we need to take care of them and make money to do so… but if you don’t care of yourself, how can you take care of them for the long haul?

                I have the luxury right now that I was able to rearrange my schedule so that I can have an hour or 2 of ME (selfish) time!!! I now work 7am – 4pm, go pick Caleb up from daycare and go straight to the gym. The gym is my selfish time; it’s where I go to escape and to think. It’s okay to be selfish sometimes, because if you aren’t going to take care of yourself, then who is going to do it for you?

                If you still feel guilty that you just got off work and you are putting your child in daycare at the gym for one more hour while you workout, just think of it as you are adding years onto your life. The more you work out, the healthier you become; the healthier you are, the more years you add to your life! So think of this “selfish” time as a gift to your children later on in life. They won’t remember the 1 hour a day extra they are in the gym daycare when they are 50 years old, but they will remember how long they had their parents in their lives because they were healthy! You are also giving them the gift of being healthy, because you are teaching them to be “selfish” and to start a routine of going to the gym daily…!

       So my advice for the day: BE MORE SLEFISH!!!!!

Muscle Soreness

I have been working out a lot here lately and haven’t been getting sore. Not too worried about it because I am still losing weight and inches and every workout I am breaking a sweat to the point I could fill up a water bottle, so I know I am pushing myself. So, you know me and I believe that “google” is the answer to everything in life, so I googled it!!! And this is an article that I came across and wanted to share with my blog followers!

http://www.intense-workout.com/muscle_soreness.html

Muscle soreness is not, I repeat, is NOT an indicator of a good workout. Sore muscles the day after does not mean you had an effective workout or productive workout or a results-causing workout. Therefore, NOT being sore the day after doesn't mean your workout was bad, or ineffective, or unproductive, or useless. As far as effectiveness, muscle soreness means nothing.

So then, what's the deal? How come you only get sore some times and not others? How come you used to get sore every time, but now you hardly ever do? Well, it's all pretty simple. Muscle soreness usually occurs when you make your muscles do something that they just aren't used to doing. For example, when you first started working out, that was very likely when you experienced the most soreness. Forget the next day... you were probably sore for the entire next week! But then as your body gradually gets more accustomed to what you're doing, your body gradually experiences less and less muscle soreness until it reaches the point where you are barely sore or even not sore at all anymore the day(s) after a workout.

****So don’t worry if you aren’t sore after a workout as long as you know in your heart of hearts that you pushed yourself 110% and left your blood, sweat and tears out there on the floor! For me, I am going to start worrying about not being sore, the week I stop seeing results and hit a plateau.

Everybody and every BODY is different!

To keep the fat clothes or to not keep the fat clothes? That is the question….

Fat clothes - a pair of pants (probably something with elastic) that you keep shoved in the back of your closet or dresser JUST INCASE you eat too much or go off the deep in and don’t work out for a couple of days or more.

The other day a friend of mine was talking about how she keeps a few outfits a size bigger so that if she gains weight she has a set of clothes to fall back on. I got to thinking about this and to me it seems a bit crazy! Every time I go down a size in clothes (since I got serious about my weight loss) I clean out my closet and donate my “big” clothes. To me, keeping your fat clothes in your closet is kind of like saying “hey, it’s okay if you put on a couple of pounds and slack for awhile!” I think the fat clothes are just hindering you from getting to where you wanna be as quickly as you want to get there. If you know you have a net to fall back on, you are more likely to fall back sooner and stay there longer. If you do not have fat clothes waiting for you in your closet, you are more likely to push yourself harder because you don’t want your new and current size to get tight on you.

If you are constantly going down a size and you don’t want to keep donating your clothes because you can’t afford to buy new ones, maybe try a “Swag Party”!!! Get all your girlfriends together and tell them to clean out their closet and bring all their clothes that are too big or too small that they don’t want anymore. Host a party at your house and put all the clothes in piles according to size and each person can go through the piles and find “new” clothes! This way you’re getting rid of your fat clothes and you are getting new clothes in exchange! I think I might be hosting one of these soon, so keep an eye out for an invite!!!

NOW… ON YOUR MARK… GET SET…. GO CLEAN OUT YOUR CLOSET!!!!

The Challenge!

I am very open about my weight, it’s just a number and if my number is going to change how you feel about me then I really don’t care to have you in my life anyways! That being said… I have officially lost 80 lbs! I started this journey at 265 and yesterday I weighed in with Lo at 185!!! After we weighed, Lo told me that next weigh in (Wednesday, February 2, 2011) she would love for me to lose 5lbs. The challenge has been set, but if you really know me then you know I am a one upper when it comes to setting goals for myself so I see her 5 pounds and raise her 1 pound!!!

Challenge: Lose 6 pounds in 14 days

I am a nerd and sat down last night and figured out all my workouts and meals and how many calories I would have to burn in order to make this happen!!!!

Workouts:

Thursday 1/20 – Train with Lo

Friday 1/21 – Elliptical 1 hour; Cardio Dance Party 1 hour

Saturday 1/22 – Burn for Bikini’s 2 hour class

Sunday 1/23 – Cycle 1 hour; Running Program 30 minutes

Monday 1/24 – Train with Lo

Tuesday 1/25 – Cardio Dance Party 45 minutes; Ab class 15 minutes

-          Caleb spends the night with Val

Wednesday 1/26 – AM: Running program 30 minutes & Elliptical 30 minutes. PM: Train with Lo

Thursday 1/27 – Train with Lo

-          Caleb spends the night with Val

Friday 1/28 – AM: Running program 30 minutes. PM: Elliptical 1 hour; Cardio Dance Party 1 hour

Saturday 1/29 – AM: Elliptical 1 hour. PM: Running Program 1 hour

Sunday 1/30 - Cycle 1 hour; Running Program 30 minutes

Monday 1/31 – Train with Lo

Tuesday 2/1 - Cardio Dance Party 45 minutes; Ab class 15 minutes

-          Caleb spends the night with Val

****Wednesday 2/2 - AM: Running program 30 minutes & Elliptical 30 minutes. PM: WEIGH IN!!!

1 pound = 3500 calories * 6 pounds I want to lose = 21,000 calories to burn. 21,000 / 14 days to burn those calories = 1500 calories needs to be negative in my backwards bank account every day!

I am going to stick to a meal plan on 1500 - 1700 calories a day (depending on my workout that day) and then with my Basal Metabolic Rate being around 1500 – 1700 a day, I should reach this goal of losing 6 pounds in 14 days! Basically my BMR and my meals are cancelling each other out and I am going to have to burn 1500 calories a day at the gym… I so got this!

Thanks for reading my ramblings!

Finding love at the gym

I bet you 1 million bucks that most of you who opened this thought that I was going to talk about a guy I met at the gym or maybe even how to meet guys at the gym… WRONG!

I use to HATE going to the gym with a passion. It was such a chore for me and it was just taking up time in my day that I could be doing something else, like eating (lol)! It wasn’t until I got plugged in, that I started to fall in love with the gym. In order to get plugged in, you have to find things that interest you. I have 4 major components that made me fall in love with going to the gym… The 1^st thing that did it for me was taking the plunge and getting my 1^st trainer, Josh. He was my accountability partner and we had great conversations, both of these things helped my love start to blossom. 2^nd thing was the regular kickboxing class that the gym offered. I use to be scared to go into the classes because I didn’t want people to think I was retarded when I couldn’t do something correctly. After going a couple of times, I realized no one was even looking at me and honestly they could care less what I was doing because they were in there for themselves! 3^rd thing was running, yep I said running! I HATED running and if you would have told me that in 2010 I would fall in love with it I would have laughed in your face! But here I am now signing up for 5k’s and paying people to let me run! Something clicked one day while I was running, that it is my time to block out the rest of the world and just to think, to pray, to just be 100% silent. When you run, you don’t have to think about what move comes next you just keep putting 1 foot in front of the other and just go into another world, go into your happy place! 4^th and last thing that made me fall in love with going to the gym is Cardio Dance Party! I think those 3 words sum it up for anyone who really knows me, but for those of you who don’t I will explain a bit more. I love to dance with a passion, one of the reasons I was a cheerleader in high school (besides getting in free to football games) was because I got to learn new dances and got to stand front and center in front of tons of people and perform them! I miss that part of my life and for the longest time I didn’t have a reason to dance, that is until I found out about Cardio Dance Party with Berns! Now I count down the days until Tuesday at 4:30 and Friday at 7:30 so I can go and destroy some calories while dancing!

If you aren’t in love with going to the gym, start taking classes that peak your interest. If you do this, you will start meeting people that will hold you accountable. If you aren’t ready to take classes maybe try to find a trainer and take a couple of sessions with them to help build your confidence level (let me know if you are interested in trainers, I know a few really good ones I can point you too!). Just find something and get plugged in, because once you are plugged in your love will start to grow and then the gym won’t be a chore, instead it will be a reward!

Recipe for Success!

I was making some macaroni and cheese for Caleb the other day and as I was measuring out the milk and butter, I got to thinking… Almost everything we do in life has a recipe and in order for the outcome to be correct, we have to follow that recipe. While at work we follow a recipe (plan) to get our job’s done, our relationships (marriages and friendships) take recipes in order to keep them running smoothly, and even our cars have recipes in order to keep them driving (gas, maintenance , tires etc.)… So, why would weight loss be any different?

Take macaroni and cheese for example: if you make it by the box (which I do) you will already have a box of pre measured out noodles and a packet of pre measured out cheese. The recipe then tells you how to cook the noodles and then exactly how much milk and butter you will need when the noodles are done and you are ready to mix the cheese. Of course you can tweak it a bit to make it fit your taste, maybe more cheesy or more runny.

Weight losses recipe is 80% healthy eating (life style change, NOT a diet) and 20% working out.

My weight loss recipe: Every Sunday (before I go grocery shopping) I sit down and make a weekly calendar of what I am going to eat throughout the week and then I go back and write down my workout plan next to each day. This helps me stay on track at the grocery store and only buy the foods that are on my list. When I get home I go ahead and prepare and measure out all of my foods for the week so that when I am in a hurry I can just grab it and go. When stuff is planned and measured out, it will help stop you from using the excuse “I didn’t have time so I just went through the drive thru.” Having my workouts planned ahead, helps keep me accountable and helps me not waste any time when I get to the gym.

Of course my recipe for success in weight loss will not be exactly what you need, so tweak it! The main thing to remember is without a plan (recipe) you probably aren’t going to get the correct outcome that you are hoping for.

I went to bed skinny and when I woke up, I was fat!

My biological father, David (I will go more in detail about him in an upcoming blog because he is a big part of my weight gain and loss journey!) always told me, “You didn’t put the weight on overnight, so you aren’t going to lose it overnight.” Well, he is right! How many of you can honestly say that you went to bed skinny and the next morning you woke up fat? If you can, you might wanna go see the doctor! For the majority of people, gaining weight is a whole lot easier than losing it, but neither happens overnight. Remember from a previous blog (Backwards Bank Account) 1 pound is 3500 calories. That means that even if you want to gain weight (who would want to gain weight?!) you would have to consume 3500 calories for each pound you want to gain and that won’t happen overnight!

To lose the weight 1 workout and eating right 1 day is not going to get you very far. You have to change your life style by changing the foods you eat and by adding cardio into your daily routine. The first week of doing this, you might see a big drop on the scale and then you get to dreaded week 2 and only lose 1 or 2 lbs and this is where most people jump off the boat and give up. You lost a big number the 1st week mostly due to the fact that you threw your body a curve ball and did something you aren’t use to doing. The 2nd week your body starts to adjust to the new routine causing you not to lose as much. But remember healthy weight loss is 1 to 2 pounds a week! So push past week 2 and try and spice week 3 up by doing different cardio or eating different kinds of foods. When you get to week 4, change the routine again and so on and so on every couple of weeks so that you body never gets use to the routine. This will not only keep losing weight “fun”, but it will also help you stay motivated because you are seeing either changes in your body and/or a lower number on the scale.

Another reason people give up is because they get burned out and never allow themselves to “cheat” when eating. You need to allow yourself 1 or 2 days (not in a row) off at the gym a week. You also need to be able to have 1 cheat meal a week. For me, I use to weigh in on Friday mornings so that day for lunch or dinner, I would have what I call “Fat Girl Friday” and I would eat 1 cheat meal without the side of quilt being served along with it. The big thing is, when you plan out your week of eating and cardio make sure you put “Fat Girl Friday” meal in your plan!

Remember, you didn’t put this weight on overnight so it’s not going to come off overnight! There is no magic pill, no potion, no quick fix that will last…

The 3 main ingredients to losing weight are Blood, Sweat and Tears!

Motivation... whats that?!

If I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me where I got my motivation from, I could quit my job and retire (well maybe not retire, but you get the point)! Motivation is a VERY tricky thing and it comes in different shapes, sizes and colors for everyone. Motivation is kind of like a snow flake where as no 2 snowflakes are alike neither are no 2 people's motivations!

My Motivations:

1. Caleb Scott - I have to get healthy for him and him alone. I want to be out in the mist of things when he is playing sports and not taking a back seat because of my weight. I never want him to be embarrassed to be seen with me due to how big I am. I want to be there to watch him graduate and get married. I want to be able to get on the ground and roll around with my Grandchildren on day. I have to get healthy or he might not have his Mom in his life as long as he deserves to!

2. Michelle - I am very competitive and I am NOT going to sit around and be the fat friend while she gets skinny mini...! LOL... When I am ready to give up and quit, I think of her and boom there comes the motivation!

3. The BEFORE picture - I have this hung on my fridge and well it speaks for its self! I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THIS, EVER!!!!

NOW... Go and find your motivation, its waiting out there to be found!!!

Races - March, April & May 2011

You all have been asking and so here they FINALLY are!!!!

March 5th @ 8:00am - Boopa's Family 10k

www.active.com/running/fort-worth-tx/boopas-family-5k-and-10k-2011

March 19th @ 7:00am - Love Compassion & Hope 5k

www.active.com/running/fort-worth-tx/love-compassion-and-hope-childplacing-agency-rock-and-roll-fun-run-2011

March 27th @ time TBA - Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon!!!!

www.dallas.competitor.com

April 9th @ time TBA - Mud Run Obstacle Course

www.mudrundfw.com/ms/

April 16th @ 9:30 - Warrior Dash 5k Obstacle Course

www.warriordash.com/

May 7th @ 8:30am - Buffalo Boogie 5k

www.active.com/running/fort-worth-tx/buffalo-boogie-2011

May 14 @ TBA - Run for Sarah (very emotional race!!!)

www.active.com/running/north-richland-hills-tx/run-for-sarah-2011

Let me know if you know of any other 5k's or 10k's and I will look into them! If you wanna join me on any of these races, let me know!!!!

Partners in Crime!

Partners in Crime

The President has his Vice President, a Pilot has a Co-Pilot, a Doctor has an Attendant, a Husband has his Wife, and well even Oprah has Gayle! In life, no matter how successful we are at any one thing, it seems we always need to have at least 1 person next to us saying "you got this, don't give up now!"  Why should losing weight be any different?

Michelle (aka my Partner in crime emotionally): August 2009 Michelle decided to start her weight loss journey by using Weight Watchers. She was very nervous at 1st, so I told her I would go with her (since I have been so many times before). I was on bed rest and had a little over 1 month left before Caleb was due. Every week there we sat, "big" Michelle and preggers! I remember the 1st time she got a compliment for losing weight (at least the 1st one I had heard). We were in the hospital room September 21, 2009 waiting for me to deliver Caleb and my Mom looked at Michelle and complimented her right there in front of HUGE PREGNANT me. Two emotions ran over me, 1. I was so happy for her and 2. I was SO jealous! Here I was 265lbs about to give birth to a 9lb baby, and my best friend is melting away! That was my 1st breaking point (I will talk another day about my second big breaking point)!!! After my 6 weeks of healing, I decided I was NOT going to let Michelle beat me (even though it wasn't a race at all, but it was to me). Michelle motivated me more then she will ever know, she kept me going! She was there for me to talk to when I felt like I wanted to give up. She gave me tips on what to do to push myself harder. Our relationship has changed so much now that we are both healthier, and its for the better! I honestly can say if Michelle wouldn't have started her journey before me and then supported me when I started mine, I don't know that I would be where I am today.

Samantha & Lo (aka my Partner's in crime in my workouts): These two women have pushed me to my limits and back, and that was just in one hour of working out!

Samantha: one of my dearest friends who I work out with at the gym. We are so much alike, that it is scary! When I am working out with her, she makes me strive to go harder, go faster, go longer! Example: we have a run/walk program we do on  the treadmill and we decided that the last run cycle we would run for 2 minutes at a 6.5 speed. Well 45 seconds in, she bumps her speed to a 7.0! HECK NO I AM NOT GOING TO LET HER BEAT ME, so I bumped mine up too!

Lo: my trainer/friend who has been down the same road I am going down now. Lo is the type of person who has seen all the holes in the road and knows that  there is a hill ahead, so she pushes you because she knows you can make it! When people workout they don't like to be pushed outside their comfort zone, but to lose weight and tone, you have to be pushed outside that comfort zone and Lo is that person who pushes me! 2 words will sum it up: JUMPING JACKS! I HATE jumping jacks, so guess what Lo makes me do?!...

YOU!!! - Who is your Partner in crime? Do you have one? Do you need one? YES! I am a firm believer that God put us here on this Earth together so we can help each other, and who says that it has to stop when it comes to losing weight? Part of being healthy is having friends and family in your life to be there and to support you. It is so much easier to get up, get your booty to the gym, and push yourself past your limit when you know your friend is standing right next to you holding your hand and saying "you got this, don't give up now!"

Backwards Bank Account - New way of looking at weight loss!

Backwards Bank Account:

We've always been taught to save our money if you want to buy the thing you desire. It started back when we were 5, wanting to buy that toy in the window of our favorite toy store! We had to save our birthday and Christmas money just to afford it! Then again when we were 16, and we had to babysit and mow lawns so we could buy our dream car (only to find out the Honda was WAY cheaper so we got that instead)... and its a never ending cycle that will continue on in life!

Well weight loss is NO different! Let me break it down to you...
*The "bank" is your body
*A "deposit" is when you eat
*A "withdrawl" is when you workout
*1 pound = 3500 calories (crazy huh?!)
*Average height (5'7) and weight (130) of a woman will burn about 1600 calories sitting still all day long
*If you are wanting to LOSE weight then obviously you have to burn more calories then you eat.
*The average calorie intake SHOULD be 2000 calories a day (look on the nutrition facts on ANY food!) So, we are going to use that for a base even though your calorie intake might be less or more. For me I eat around 1500-1700 calories a day. If you need help figuring out how many you need, message me and I will help you!

Okay now that we know that major stuff we are ready for our backward weight loss bank account!

Everyday you go to the "bank" and make a "deposit" of $2,000 (average calorie intake). Your "bank" takes $1,600 everyday just for fun, leaving you with $400 at the end of the day. In 9 days your bank account will be at $3,600 (meaning you gained a little over 1 pound).

BUT you can stop this from happening by making "withdrawls" each day!
Monday - Dance 1 hr spending $700
Tuesday - Elliptical 1 hr spending $500
Wednesday - Run/Walk1 hr spending $500
Thursday - Elliptical 1 hr spending $500
Friday - Dance 1 hr spending $700
Saturday & Sunday - Rested
And you do this for 9 days (until the next Tuesday) When you go to make your withdrawal you will be withdrawing $4100 from your "bank".

Math:
$400  * 9 days = $3600
$3600 - $4100 = -$500

NEGATIVE IS GOOD!!! That means, you didn't gain weight!!!! If you do this 7 times, you will lose 1pound. Of course there are ways to speed it up:
1. being lower the initial 2000 calorie intake a day.
2. working out longer and harder and not taking two days off at a time.
3. do not sit still for long periods, get up and down more so your body is burning more while you are sitting still.

I hope I didn't confuse anyone, just a fun way of looking at it!!! Let me know if I don't make sense!!!

Have a healthy and happy night!!!

Welcome to F.I.T. by Jordan

F.I.T. - Finding Inspiration Together!

A little insight to me and why I am dedicated to help others now:

I decided to start this journey October 2009, really picked up the ball in March of 2010, and here I am today (January 2011) 30 pounds away from my ultimate goal of losing 110 pounds! Like almost everything in my life, weight loss did not come easy to me (I guess that is why God made me a fighter)! I have had many high's along the way with just as many, if not more, low's. But with each punch thrown at me, I decided to just start taking them. I might have been sore the next day, but none of them killed me (the saying is true 'what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger'). I have been inspired by so many stories of people waking up one day and changing their lives, of people reaching their goals, and of people who do the impossible. Now that my peers, family, co-workers, and even some of my enemies have put me in that category of changing my life, reaching my goals and doing the impossible; I want to start paying it forward.

Looking ahead:

My sweet friend, Brittanie Bailey, texted me and told me that I should start a blog... so here I am! This blog is going to be a place I can come and share my thoughts, workout tips, eating habits, success, and even my frustrations. As I build up 'Followers', I want to be able to use this blog to answer questions asked by any of you. I want this to be a space that I can share the dates of my upcoming run's I will be participating in and when I complete one I will be posting pictures and times for everyone to see. Lastly, I want to use this blog to INSPIRE those around me and those who aren't around me but have stumbled across this somehow. I want to share pictures (of me and any of my 'Followers') for people to be inspired and to know they too can reach their goals!!!

Thank you all for taking the time to read what is on my mind, check back daily for updates!