Well, well, well, we’re baaaack! After a hiatus of downtime and a holiday (and now staring at yet another) it is without surprise and with great delay that I officially have bid adieu to Ms. Kelly and her amazing 16 week journey earlier this year! I chose to have Kelly go beyond the standard 12 week transformation period to honor her friendship and, one of the greatest feats on Earth—turning 40 years “young”! 
She officially closed our chapter in mid-October and I look forward to having her update us next month on her holiday experience and fitness goals for 2013!
Kelly, like other clients I’ve worked with, is/was an ‘emotional’ eater – changing habits as they relate to external stresses in her life and, as a type-A personality, she’s an overachiever who is often very harsh on herself, even in spite of great successes! She definitely learned to incorporate healthier food choices over our time together and experienced the value of resistance training—with good ole fashion iron! Ladies, learn to utilize weights and/or equipment in reaching your fitness goals; after all, muscle burns MORE calories at rest than fat ever can and gives you shape!! Healthy curves are the BEST!
To summarize Kelly’s journey in a word would, of course, be “success!” As I tell everyone, because I’ve all too often had to be reminded of it myself, progress is a process; plain and simple! Kelly needs to continue to embrace what she’s learned and apply it day by day. Although she must be forgiving with herself during those occasional “oopsidaisies” and/or setbacks—that’s life! And during “life”, there are several reasons for weight gain, everything from medical conditions or ailments and lifestyle habits. Not everything is in our control, but regardless of what we can change—we must always continue to learn and improve!
And speaking of improvement, I enjoyed a great read during Kelly’s last month, “Bull’s Eye” authored by the fitness enthusiast and publishing icon, Robert Kennedy. He brought to my attention a great word from the Japanese language, “kaizen” which simply means “continuous improvement.” It’s now part of my Facebook as well as my vision board for 2013! And I believe Kelly has truly adopted the meaning as well. So, here is how Kelly summarized her journey…and thanks for following her. Next up (drum roll please)…..Andrea! Stay tuned – stay focused and get fit!
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Kelly’s Blog – Final Blog
Hi readers! First, I would like to say thank you to those that have followed my journey. It has been fun being committed to the blog, which has really helped me to stayed focused. I did lose a bit of focus once school started back and my life became extremely hectic again, but I have at least been able to maintain this past month (losing a little bit more in inches). I started off at 160.5 lbs and I am ending this four month time period at 137.0, for a total loss of 23.5 (but in February of this year I was 174 lbs, so since the beginning of the year, I have lost 37 lbs). I am including an inches chart, but it may not copy over nicely to the blog site…but in summary I am 16” smaller across my total body. I finally got my body fat done (at Angela’s request)! I probably should have done that at the beginning too, but I think it would have been too depressing. My body fat is just under 21%, which puts me, according to most standards, in the Lean/Fit category!! Super exciting!!
6/11/2012 9/19/2012 10/12/2012 Difference
Neck 13.5 13 12.75 0.75
Arm 11.25 10.75 10.5 0.75
Chest 39 36.25 35.5 3.5
Waist 32.5 29 29 3.5
Hips 42.5 38.75 38.25 4.25
Thighs 26 23.5 23.5 2.5
Calf 15.5 15 14.75 0.75
16” Total
My trip to Jamaica was amazing!! I taught an average of 1.5 classes a day and scuba dove twice daily. We worked out a lot, played a lot, and ate a lot!! I was a bit worried when I got home that I had really done myself in with the food, but after two days of normal eating (and relieving myself of my food coma), I was right back to where I started. It is nice to know that once you develop good habits, even when you cheat…you can easily get back on track. I did eat a lot of fish on the trip and did make conscious decisions (I didn’t eat everything in sight, but I didn’t deny myself the amazing looking desserts either).
The food plan that Angela provided with more focus on protein and nutritious carbohydrates was definitely what took me the farthest on this journey. My food has always been my stumbling block and I feel like I have such a better understanding now (both about healthy portion sizes and the types of foods you should eat to make you feel better). I am telling you, when I came back from the trip, I felt like I was detoxing from sugar all over again…I WAS GRUMPY! Plus I was in PVD – Post Vacation Depression.
I also like the weight training workouts that Angela gave me (including mixing things up with pyramid sets). It was a good reminder that weight training is a NECESSARY part of this journey. Because I had the issues with my knees, my cardio had been very limited until recently. The weight training has really been all that I have been able to focus on (along with some low impact stuff), but today I really did realize what a difference it made. I haven’t run (with the exception of 3 or 4 times) in the past year. I put on my shoes, went outside, and completed 4 miles in 40:27. There is no way that would have been possible without toning my muscles during the past few months.
I know I will always be focused on the numbers, but I do feel much better and I will continue on this journey of continued health. I give a lot more thought to what I am actually eating now. Even if I am cheating at times, I recognize if for that and try to regain focus. My biggest issue now is being able to manage my time effectively, not let the stress of all our activities get the best of me, while continuing to make good choices and get in my workouts.
Big thanks to Angela for her continued encouragement during this time!! The nutrition & training plans along with the additional educational reminders (plus keeping me from being my own worst enemy) truly made this an enjoyable journey. She was a beautiful, amazing person when we were friends over 20 years ago and she is even more so now!! What an inspiration!!
P.S. This started as a short blog…but then I found I had a lot more to say. I will be checking back in before the end of the year. Hoping to hit that 50 push up mark and be at my final goal weight/size, but NOT stressing about the numbers!!
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