When I first started at the gym, I could only do 5 leg presses at 80lbs.  Recently, I was able to do a pyramid set of 230lbs (about 35 total reps).  Wow, what a difference right?  I also did 100 squats during a 30minute circuit training workout.  I never thought I’d be able to do that.  Never!   Also, when I first started, my trainer would have to give me 30 second breaks to catch my breathe in between sets.  Today, I rarely need to do that.  I’m seeing firmness in my butt and thigh area and muscles in my calves and arms.  I see my stamina building but what I’ve noticed the most is how my energy level has increased a great deal.  Even my son stated how he’s noticed that I wake up in a better mood and ready to go.  That makes me feel great that he’s noticing….and proud.

Meet my trainer Sarah – (I took a photo of the photo on the wall at Anytime Fitness) Ummm, yeah, I have to train with that! That should be motivation enough right? lol

This is our inspiration wall.  It’s where we can write what’s on our minds, what inspires us, encourage others.  I love it.  We just started it and today when I walked in, it had quite a few quotes on it.  Very motivating.

Today I teared up throughout the workout. I felt weak both physically and emotionally but I pushed threw.   I kept thinking about how I could not fail this time and how I couldn’t let my family down, who have been so encouraging.  Sarah said I’d have bad days and today was one but I know that as long as I give my all, I’ll make it through.

FOOD and SOMETHING NEW

I have made some incredible food (and beverage) changes since I started.  Sarah has been AWESOME at teaching me nutrition and while I don’t cut out all the “good stuff”, I have incorporated more of the great stuff.  I’ve even noticed that when I eat fatty foods, I can taste the “greasiness” in whatever it is.  And you know what else?  I rarely drink soda anymore.  I know right? I can see your mouth dropped.  I still will sometimes grab a fountain Dr. Pepper but I only get the small vs the 44oz like I once did.  I have also switched to Diet sodas but even still, I don’t drink them that much.  Only when I’m desperate for the carbonation.  I now drink TONS of PROPEL ZERO.  Remember how I drank Propel?  Well now they have ZERO which is NO calories.  I have a calorie budget of 1300-1500 and can now drink all that I want.  WOOOHOOO!

NUTRISYSTEM

Like I said, I have made some healthy and awesome food eating changes but I feel like, at 200lbs still, I need a little more help.  Being on the ranch with the boys, makes it awful hard to eat healthier things because they don’t really want that all the time, so I decided to apply for Nutrisystem’s Blogger program.  I rarely do things like this but I feel that this will really help me reach my goal faster and give me the boost that I need, all while still exercising and getting more sleep.

So I’m proud & excited to announce that Nutrisystem has chosen me and will be sending me food to get this weight loss party rockin’!!!    I’ll be honest, with the fees I’m paying for the gym (and personal trainer), this will really help my pocketbook so I’m extremely appreciative of the opportunity.

If you’ve tried Nutrisystem, I’d love to know your favorites.  I know what mine were from way back then but don’t know if it has changed since so I’ll have to start over at finding my favorites.

And that’s my update for this week.  I’m really really proud of myself.  I must tell you though, all of you who encourage me are what drive me to push threw. I think about all your comments and realize how lucky I am to have that support and it just makes me rock on through!  So thank you very much for that.

For the new year, like everyone else, I plan to work on my weight.  As many of you know, it’s been a struggle for years for me but the difference this year, is that I’ve actually learned some important things.   I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to visit the California Health and Longevity Institute where I had one on one consultations with fitness and nutrition experts.  It was an eye opener and now I feel optimistic about making small changes to live better.

I joined our new local fitness center, Anytime Fitness, where I’ll be working out with a group of friends.  It’s exactly the motivation and support I need to be successful.  I tested out the equipment last night with my friends and am always a fan of the elliptical.

I was impressed with all of it but specifically the ‘workout room with a virtual trainer’.  Now that was what convinced me to sign for a membership. I LOVE working out in a group and was excited to see this feature.  You simply pick out the workout you want to do on the screen below and walk in the room and get started. You have your own virtual trainer!!!  SO COOL!

They have an incredible weight set.

And you know I had to get a photo of me in the mirror…doesn’t everyone do this?

Now this is all great but the fact is, I can’t drive to town every single day to workout so I’ll have to do workouts at home too.  I’ll also need to use some FREE health & fitness tools to keep me on track.  For this, I’ll be using Walmart’s free tools.  I started by entering some info, including a motivation note to myself.

There are discussions for support and to help answer some of your questions, you can track your progress on your mobile phone, and you can create reminders using your calendar like google or ical.

Since I have learned so much about nutrition, I’ll be using the the personalized diet evaluator. Wow, this was awesome. It took a few minutes to fill out the survey but seeing the end results were worth it. Based on my information, it calculated that I need to reduce my calorie intake by 233 and burn 700 calories to lose one pound per week.  That is realistic and I like realistic. I feel like that’s doable and when I take that small change and adjust to it, I’ll be able to perhaps even burn more calories at some point.  It’s a very handy tool!

If you want to see my full report, I downloaded and uploaded to my files for you to see. Nothing to hide here!  See my report!

So there’s a rundown of some of what I’m doing to live better in 2011. What are YOU doing?  Even the smallest changes matter.  They truly do!

Disclosure: Walmart has provided compensation for my time & efforts to create this post.  Fitness has been a big struggle so I was excited to participate in this campaign.  I truly want to be healthier!  As always (and you should know this by now), opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

I got my treadmill the other day from Walmart and I have to say, it’s wonderful!  I really enjoy working out on it. I put my TV on Food Network (ironic huh!) and then go!  I keep a water bottle close by so that I can stay hydrated throughout my workout.

The treadmill has the essential features that I wanted which was a fan and the incline.  It runs smooth and folds up for easy storage but I leave my down and right where it is so that I can hop on it daily! It’s a Gold’s Gym and was inexpensive compared to many other treadmills I saw.

The video is basically a whole bunch of rambling sadly.  I went on and on and on. And sorry about the bra strap. GAH!

I’m walking on the treadmill at least once a day, doing a 30 minute workout.  I’m going about 1.51 miles and burning just over 200 calories.  I’m stepping it up tomorrow!

• Starting Weight: 189
• Current Weight: 187
• Goal Weight: 145

Watch at your own risk of boredom;)

I’ll be using Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Trainer, taking diet pills, and drinking my trusty Propel.  I think I can manage the 10 minutes for sure and depending on how well my body takes it, I can also do more.

http://www.youtube.com/v/SDOGalg1euo

Join in Taking it Off Tuesdays with Leigh.

I didn’t really do much else this week to talk about.  The video says it all I guess.  I hope everyone is doing well in their weightloss journey!!!  Keep up the good work and if you fell off the bandwagon, just jump back on!

Let me know what your results are in the comments!

[youtube]XisDJ7GRm28[/youtube]

• JENNY 867-5309 is joining in too! WOOHOO
• Leigh (who started a weightloss blogroll!!)
• Michelle who has a great idea for a challenge of sorts!  I think a challenge with a prize would be an awesome thing!  I’ll have to think on it!
• Drew will be joining in as well so go give support!  It will be on a different blog, not sure which one though.

Do any of you have an idea for a challenge and perhaps a prize???

If I missed anyone, please let me know in the comments so I can show you some love:)

Okay, now on to what I’ve been doing.  I missed my workout yesterday, so I did it today.  My legs feel like jello and I’m still breathing hard!  NOT ONE single soda!! WOOHOO:)  All Propel water baby!  I bought some of those 100 calorie snacks for when I’m dying from the munchies.  I bought some chicken and Special K cereal.  I’ve done really good so far.  The only thing I ate that I shouldn’t have, is a little bitty pecan pie that my niece made.  I couldn’t let her down! 

My husband has been awesome through this, even joining in some too.  I’ve stayed away from the computer a little more to be active.  I’m feeling good!

Again, I appreciate the support from EVERYONE and wish you all the same!  Now I’ve got to update one more blog and do a load of laundry so I better make like a banana and split!

And here is the video!

Measurements are as followed:

Bust-44
Waist-43
Hips-50
Thigh-25
Weight-197

Well, I better git.  I’m gonna go rest while Truett’s napping.  Take care and enjoy the day!!