Andrea’s Blog 4

Wow! Is it seriously already March?? What are we doing here so soon?! I’ve been in constant communication with Andrea – thanks to the ease of texting – but, her fantourage is being denied all of the daily updates…and let’s just say folks…since recovering from the January “crud”…she’s not tripping the light fantastic, she’s raising the roof!!!!

As of TODAY, while we don’t have 45 days worth of “before” and “now” measurements – I just had her give me them in early Feb. after she got over her “bug” – Andrea is just shy of a 20 pound weight loss—and EXCITED about competing in a pageant, in April! Initially she wasn’t even having that as a “to do” item for the first half of the year. But, NOW with all of her new-found energy and self confidence, she’s ready to grace the stage! While I do NOT place an emphasis on numbers (i.e, the scale), I do say that how your clothes fit is very reflective of the hard work that’s being put forth. Andrea is comfortably in a size 14…which used to be a 16/18 and is anxious to get back to her ideal of the size 12s that pack her closet. While she is yearning to get to a size 10, given she’s on the tall side at 5’9”, I think a curvy, muscular size 12 is just dandy! She’s learned – but validating what I usually already tell her – that the resistance training is KEY to building lean muscle mass and in turn displacing that body fat WITH muscle which will end up burning more calories at rest and creating a less fluffy figure. She’s decreased the boredom factor by getting out of her comfortable cardio machine routines and home workouts and stepping out of her comfort zone by taking Body Pump and Body Flow classes—YES!! The variety keeps her motivated and her results are starting to hasten! And, while getting all of her calories in has been an earlier challenge, now with her 5-6 day a week workouts, she’s speeding up her metabolism and feeling the need to feed herself for ENERGY! And boy, does she have a LOT these days!

The coincidence with her upcoming pageant is that it’s the same one I actually was honored enough to judge at its national level last year! It’s a wonderful system and I know Andrea is going to have a FABulous experience competing for the title of Mrs. Texas Elite U.S.A.! Thus, while I’ve been lazy about sharing all of Andrea’s progress – that shall be no more as with the mere 6 until her big pageant weekend – I’m committed to our weekly blogging and so is she…ready? Let’s GO…..!!!!!

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I finally got on the scale last week and I lost 15 pounds.  Pretty good, since Angela has advised me to only lose 2-3 pounds per week.  I was very happy about this, and finally feel like I am getting somewhere on this journey.  I have really been reading up on losing weight and toning the body.  I have found that my best results are from me balancing out cardio and weight training.  I had a hard time getting to the gym last week, but that did not stop me from working out at home.  I worked out 6 days last week.  Three of the days I did an hour of cardio on my stationary bike, the other three I did 30 minutes on the bike and spent an hour working on my arms, legs, and abs.  At home, I have a stability ball and 10 pound dumbbell, so I can still get a good sweaty workout without being at the gym.  It is amazing how you start to wake up muscles you have not used in a long time when you start a new fitness program.  I did 3 sets of 15 reps of simple side bends on each side while holding a dumbbell.  Boy, was I sore!  We just do not realize how much we ignore our poor bodies, sometimes.

 I did splurge a little bit over the weekend.  In my first blog, I declared my love for beer, but since I have been focusing on being healthier, I have not had any alcohol in two months…..until this past weekend.  I was feeling a little guilty about it, but Angela reminded me that I have to learn to forgive myself, move on, and get back on track, and I must say, a night out with the girls was just what I needed.  So I need to learn how to work on allowing myself to “mess up” here and there.

 One final thought…I have had trouble meeting my entire 1800 calories each day, and “my fitness pal” keeps yelling at me, declaring I am not getting enough calories. So, I added two Soy Protein Shake snacks to my daily menu.  This has helped me to reach my needed caloric intake for each day, while curbing hunger.  And so, my journey continues, and I am feeling great!

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