November Photos

I'm making some progress, but I need to keep plugging away.  My exercises schedule hasn't been as consistent as I would like it to be, but I'm hanging in!

That's my biggest piece of advice to others.  Things in life will throw you off track from time to time, but you have to get back to it.  Doing something about health and fitness is better than doing nothing, so even if you aren't seeing the results as quickly as you'd like, or if you miss a week exercising for any number of reasons that life throws your way, don't let that take you off course.  Jump back in!  Keep going!  You'll see the results soon enough.  What's really true is that you won't see ANY results if you do nothing!

P.S. Don't pay any attention to my REALLY ashy legs and my jack up hair!  lol

weigh in 11/9

169.25!

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Work Out Plan week of 10/11

This week, I want to kick up my fat burning, so I'm going to kick up my cardio. I'm calling this workout 45 + 2. I'm going to do 45 minutes of cardio (30 before weight training and 15 after) plus I'll train one large muscle group and one small group (e.g. legs and shoulders), hence, 45 + 2. :-)

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Weigh In 10/8/10

Today I weighed in at 175.5. I'm up from last week, but my clothes are fitting much better which means my body composition must be changing. I only got two days of workout in so far, so I have to make sure to hit it hard tomorrow.

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Preparation - Exercise Plan for 10/4/10 to 10/10/10

Like my good friend and Boot Camp for Women - BBK trainer Ken Williams always says, "Preparation is the key to success."  We prepare for everything in our lives.  We prepare for our jobs, our kids, our families, our vacations, and our shopping sprees, but we don't always take time to prepare for taking care of our health.  So, I'm not only going to try to make a plan for what to eat everyday, but I'm also going to plan for how I will exercise.  Going into exercise with a plan helps you to focus your workouts, save time, and train your body more effectively and efficiently.  This is my plan for the week.

Three Days

10 minute cardio warm up (treadmill or elliptical machine)

Terrible Twos Workout (This workout consists of doing two exercises for each muscle group during one workout.  These exercises should be done in supersets which means that you do one set of one exercise then move swiftly into a set of the other exercise without a rest period).  Do a set of 10-25 reps of abdominal exercises before transitioning to another body part.

• Legs - Squats 3 sets of 25 + Step ups 3 sets of 25
• Chest - Bench Press  3 sets of 10 + Dumbell flys 3 sets of 10
• Back - Pull ups 3 sets of 10 + Bent over rows 3 sets of 10
• Arms - Bicep curls 3 sets of 10 + tricep extensions 3 sets of 10
• Shoulders - Dumbell overhead press  sets of 10 + Twenty ones 3 sets

30 minute cardio finisher (elliptical machine)

Days Four and Five

40 minutes of Cardio + Ab Work 

or

Take a one hour exercise class

Days Six and Seven

Rest or light homework

Healthy Meal Plan

This is a very general sketch of what I eat.  I try to eat like this 90% of the time, and I give myself 10% wiggle room.  It takes discipline to do it this way, so if you're a fall off the wagon type, try to stay clean 100% of the time.  It is important to make a plan that you can live with.  You have to prepare yourself, and you have to incoporate things that you really enjoy eating. 

For this meal plan, you can switch out any lean protein for another.  Chicken.  Turkey.  Fish.  Chicken.  Turkey.  Fish.  Got it?  Let's go!  Oh, yeah!  Tofu.  =-)

Sample Healthy Meal Plan

Meal 1 – 5:30 a.m. – six egg whites + 1 baked sweet potato w/ Splenda and cinnamon or protein shake and oatmeal or any lean protein and complex carb  - 2 flax seed oil pills, 1 CLA pill, 1 L-Carnitine pill

Meal 2 – 8:30 a.m. – Protein shake and fruit or apples and natural peanut butter

Meal 3 – 11:30 a.m. – Grilled chicken salad with low fat dressing or chicken breast with brown rice and green veggie, or turkey sandwich on wheat w/ fruit or small salad  - 2 flax seed oil pills, 1 CLA pill

Meal 4 – 2:30 p.m. - Protein shake and fruit or apples and natural peanut butter

Meal 5 – 5:30 p.m – lean meat (poultry or fish), complex carb (rice, potato, or wheat roll), and green veggie  - 2 flax seed oil pils, 1 CLA pill

Meal 6  - (if you’re hungry) – 1 can of albacore tuna, veggies, or protein shake w/ veggies

Drink 1 gallon of water spaced throughout the day

Other tips –

1. Try to drink at least one gallon of water/day.
2. Try to eat your fats as far away from your workout time as possible.
3. Eat slow digesting carbs (brown rice, sweet potatoes) early in the day. 
4. Eat fast digesting carbs (fruit, white rice, white potatoes) immediately before and immediately after workouts.
5. Eat protein and fruit or veggie with every meal.
6. If you are weight training, try to do 10 minutes of cardio before lifting.  Follow your weight training session with 20 – 30 minutes of cardio as well.
7. If possible, do 30 minutes of cardio, a couple of times per week, soon after you wake up and on an empty stomach.

Supplements – You can get all of this at GNC or any supplement store.  You can buy the L-Carnitine at the drug store.

Fat Burner – Atro-phex by BSN - Follow the instructions on the label – I highly recommend this one.  It’s the best I’ve ever used.

Protein Powder – Syntha 6 by BSN – It tastes great and has a mix of whey (fast digesting) and casein (slow digesting) protein.

CLA - Conjugated Lineolic Acid - It's a natural fat burning aid.  It's especially good for belly fat.

L-Carnitine - An amino acid that is also great for belly fat burning.