Vision

Do you know your vision? Do you know what you are trying to achieve by eating right and exercsising? It helps to be able to see it visualize it. To just say I want to lose weight or look better is not enough you must see it.
Here is a picture of my vision board that I had to do for Tony. Maybe it will help you as well to make your own.
I look at it often to remind myself what I am trying to achieve and that anything is possible if you put your mind, heart and soul into it!
I am at my half way mark and going strong!

Patience

I still continue to struggle wit this word: Patience. As you know I blogged about the injury I have to my upper hamstring. I was good all weekend and did not push it. Of course I figure two days of rest it should be better, right? Running = Bad Idea. I guess I have to learn the hard way. So I am back to walking/power walking and I told myself "NO more running this week."
I guess it is hard for me to look at the heart rate and calories burned. Normally when I run/walk I can burn up to 500 calories and my heart rate can get up to as high as 150-160. Walking/power walking I am lucky if I burn 300 calories and my heart rate might get to 120 if I am lucky. But I must throw all that to the side for now and do what is best for my body to heal. I really am trying to stay in that mind set.
Tony was kind enough to put in all in percept for me. I ask him why don't I listen? He suggested maybe I struggle with the thought that if I don't do it I am a failure. That hit a big cord for me. He said that in order to move forward, sometimes we must adapt and this a true victory not failure. There is a world of difference between "adpating" and rising above from failure. This is the mark of a champion. I must see the difference because it is needed to endure. I was so happy that I reached out to him that he continue to have such power response that really get me thinking. His methods so far have been priceless to me.
I continue to follow his plan a 100% and am excited about the changes to come.
So I continue with PATIENCE!!

Set Back

I was on such a role and feeling strong, discipline, committed... and then BAM! I pulled the upper hamstring in my left leg. I am devasted and feel so defeated... Tony say "Let it go" and as I was "walking" on the treadmill Friday night I had to trust that he would help me get through this and it will all be ok. I have so many issue around trust it is not funny. I haven't quite figure out where it stems from but it is there.
So I am moving forward the best I can but this will not effect my diet. For me that is where it is at... I have been on Tony program now for starting my 6 week. I have been solid the "whole" time and it feel great. I do definately feel tighter in my abs and I do think I look leaner. The legs? Well they continue to need work and I know that it will be the last thing to go. But I will continue to focus on my plan and committment. I told myself 6 weeks ago that I was going to have a 12 week run and that is what I plan to do. I am at my half way mark. I guess some where I wanted to prove to myself that I could be a competition girl that I could have the discipline to stick it out for 12 weeks. Not sure if I would ever have the "balls" to get on stage but some place deep inside of me I will know that I do have what it take to do it if I so choose.

Discipline

Sometimes you are truly tested on your goals and today was one of them. It was so difficult to stay strong but I perserved. I have one more obstacle to get through, tonights dinner and I think I will be ok.
Since it was my husbands and my sons birthday I decided to make a cake. Let me say it was difficult to not want to takste the homemade buttercream frosting. There were many times during the process that I just wanted to shove it into my mouth. How I did it is beyond me.
There were times when I told myself it was ok just have some but another part of me said but you have gone almost 4 weeks staying on your plan why blow it now.
Does it ever get easier? Is this how I want to eat the rest of my life? I have so many questions but some times don't know if I have the answers or at least not yet.
I have signed on with another online trainer and have been with him now for almost 4 weeks. I haven't lost a lot of weight and that pisses me off to say the least. But I am not sure what I am expecting. Did I think it was going to be easy to get to my "Dream Body"? Did I think I was going to follow the plan for a few weeks and it was going to magically appear?
It takes work, it takes patience, it take committment and discipline. I feel like I have come very close many times to a body that I can be happy with but just haven't quite gotten there. Will this be my time? Will I push it to the limit and obtain it?
All these question go through my mind all the time. I think I must learn the hardest lesson of all, patience... I must and have to be patient. This is something I am not good at but one that I must learn if I want to complete this and attain my very best.

I WILL RETURN

I am still here and I have so much to fill everyone in on. I will be back soon to give you all the details.

I have a new trainer and a new resolve to finish this up!

New Lunch Box and Cycling Class

Here is a picture of my "New" lunch box I got for Christmas. I just love it and it helps so much keeping my portions in control. Tomorrow for lunch I will have brown rice topped with black beans and salsa. Snack will be cottage cheese and a cut up apple.

Well I took the plunge and joined LA Fitness. I have heard a lot about cycling classes and I thought I would give it a go. Wow! I was sweating up a storm and I think I could have even pushed it a little bit harder. I didn't go all out because I knew it was an hour class and I had no idea how I was going to be able to handle it. I really like it and it was very challenging right up my alley. This could be a regular Sunday things for me.

I had difficult with my eating yesterday but I am back on track today. Last night I got my notebook out and wrote down all my meals for the whole week. This is very time consuming but it helps SO much. I wrote all the meals and then made up a grocery list and hubby and I got the groceries. What do they say, "Fail to plan, Plan to fail"

I am looking forward to my new week at the new gym and changing things up. I think it is exactly what I need. I have schedule a free personal training session for Wednesday night. I wish so much that I could have a personal trainer again and I am hoping when things change around for us that I can. So I will probably do upper body tomorrow since I took the cycling class today, want to give my legs some rest. I will do cardio on Tuesday and then Wednesday I will have the session with the trainer.

Off to make my dinner: Taco Salad.....

Daily Goals

96-128 ounces of water Done I had 128 ounces today
- 5 serving of fruits and vegetables (2 fruits, 3 vegetables) Done, I had 3 fruits and 3 vegetables
- 30 grams of fiber Done I had 55g of fiber today
- Lower body workout Done
- 1600- 1800 calories- journal all my food Done 1,660 calories today

It great to see the progress I made today. Tomorrow I will have the same goals but I will be doing upper body and cardio tomorrow.

I also went over to LA Fitness today and look at the gym. I was very disappointed with my gym today and this may be a nice change for me. I have a free session tomorrow but it looks like I will be making the shift to the new gym. I am excited about all the wonderful things they offer there. mmm.. spinning class, yoga, pool, sauna. I was a little unsure if we could swing it with our financial situation but I talked about it with my husband and he was so supportive and helped me look at making the decision.

Tomorrow morning I will go over to my current gym do my cardio session and give them my written cancellation letter.

I think 2010 is already looking up!