NotTooLate’s Boring Ramblings ;)

I’m totally stoked about my progress this last year. I know I don’t look like a beauty queen and I’m still going to be 50 in two weeks but I have made a lot of great progress that I am so proud of. I stuck to my nutrition plan through the holidays and lost weight! Today I weighed in at 125! I haven’t weighed that much since I was in my 20s and before I had any kids. Wow I still can’t believe how eating more (of the right foods) decreases fat. I am so happy. I feel 20 again haha

I think I’ve put on quite a bit of muscle in the last 7 months and even though I found out that my testosterone levels were at 2.5, on a scale of 0.5-7.5 normal for women, I must have some way to overcome a shortfall in this area. I am pretty happy about this. Still on my way to becoming a Amazonian champion lol

If ever I have done anything right in my life it’s this. I’ve always sucked at sports but this is one thing I seem to do pretty well at because I am competing only against my own mind. I look forward to more of this in 2008.

My birthday is in two weeks. One of my goals was to look pretty good for my birthday. I think I’ve done ok and am happy.

I went up in deadlift weight from 80 lbs to 100 pounds and in my bent BB rows from 55 pounds to 60 lbs. I am pretty happy! I don’t want to increase too fast on these because I have to make sure I have really strong back muscles to hold the weight so I dont damage my spinal discs more than they are now.
The bad news is that I have gone back down to 17.5 on the curls grrrrrrrrr I tried to do 20 pounds and I couldn’t cut it. I  must have just had an extra strong day last time or maybe the increase in the deadlift weight deceased my ability to curl the weight that I had added last week. Don’t know but hoping in a few weeks it will go up again.

I have upped my curls today from 1X10@17.5 pounds to 3X10@17.5 pounds and then 3X5@20 pounds.  It’s a first making it to 20 pounds. I feel like Superwoman lol

This was a memorable day. My X boyfriend said that I have noticeably more muscle in my arms than I did a couple of months ago and then he made me lift my top so he could look at my back and he said there is lots more muscle in my back too and that I have a nice tapered V shape starting there. He said I can’t notice it because I see myself every day but he can see it. Woooooooohoooooo I don’t know if it’s true but I hope so!!! lol

I started at 165 and I am now 129 lbs! 36 pounds of ugly fat gone! woohoooooooo!!! lol Now I must work on my new goal of gaining lots of muscle! I want the loose skin filled out with new muscle and I want some serious definition in my arms by next summer. I AM GOING to do it. Amazon warriors get ready for me! lol

Most of you here have inspired many people to work out but this is the first time that I have been told that someone is going to start going to the gym because of seeing my progress For months now I have been talking to my very overweight friend and trying to get her to eat clean so that eventually she could get to a gym and get her life back. I have NOT succeeded in moving her even one iota. Very depressing. However, her housekeeper that comes in once a week has told her that my progress is so dramatic and inspiring that SHE is going to start eating clean and going to the gym! Yay! lol At least someone is getting the message

This is an update on my jogging stats. 4 days ago my max jog was 1 mile without stopping. Today it was 3 miles! Whooooohooooooooooooo lol I feel like Superwoman

Gawd how would I act if I could run a marathon? lol

4 months ago I could barely walk. I have been practicing running by gradually increasing my running interspersed with power walking over a 2 1/2 mile area since I have lost weight. I have been doing the same thing on the treadmill when it’s raining outside but haven’t been able to run very far at a time without reverting to walking because of getting out of breath, maybe 1/4 mile at most at a time. Today, while I was waiting for the yogalaties class to start at the gym, I ran on the treadmill and I was able to run a mile straight and I could have run longer! Wow, it’s encouraging to see such results. Next milestone will be 2 miles straight

For a long time I had been dissatisfied with my appearance and with my rapidly deteriorating health. I had an arthritic knee, a badly scar-tissued right ankle, and degenerative disc disease in my neck. I could only walk very slowly and I was in a lot of pain. I was crying in bed every night for up to 4 hours because my neck was hurting so much that I couldn’t sleep. I knew that I would either give up trying and end up in a wheelchair or I would have to do something extreme to improve my condition. I made a decision that would alter my life forever. I decided to do everything possible to improve my health no matter how hard it seemed. I decided that I would have to lose weight and strengthen my muscles in the weak areas.
Knowing that I would become discouraged if my efforts didn’t give me some rapidly noticeable improvements I decided that I would fast for as long as I could on liquids alone to kick-start my weight loss program. I fasted for 10 days straight on juices, homemade vegetable broths, coffee, water and multivitamins. I walked all over the city every day and I had a real boost of energy from not having to metabolize food. I lost 10 pounds and was so excited that it motivated me to work harder to lose more. I put myself on a very strict diet of vegetables, skinless boneless chicken breasts, salmon, coffee with honey, muesli with skim milk, rice cakes, sprouted grain bread, and fresh fruit. I ate no fat, sugar, oil, or anything else outside of the above list. I used only lemon juice as a condiment. Later I added other foods such as egg whites, no-fat yogurt and tomato sauces.
The day I stopped fasting and started eating I joined the gym. I was weak at first so I used the treadmill for cardio and took yoga classes for strength. It wasn’t long before I had an appointment with the trainer and was following his expert advise on the machines and with weights. I saw rapid improvement in strength and was consistently losing weight. It was very encouraging! I started reading everything I could find on eating clean and was slowly adding foods to my diet that I really needed. I started reading weightlifting books and decided to use the barbells and dumbbells more than the machines once I understood proper form. I added more protein to my diet and I was still losing fat but now I was slowly gaining muscle. The muscle gain increased my metabolic rate and helped me to lose more weight. Over a 3 month period I threw out my complete wardrobe and bought a new one to accommodate my thinning body 3 different times. I worked hard on my ankle and broke down the scar tissue. I strengthened the muscles in my back which relieved the pressure on my spinal discs. I was feeling stronger, healthier and 99 % pain free. I no longer had to wear fat clothes and felt good about my appearance.

My typical week has gone from 7 days at the gym to every 2nd day training all of the muscle groups with weights and doing abdominal exercises as well as cardio days outside on the alternating days. I power walk all over the city, skip rope, sprint every now and then, and anything else that I can think of that will burn fat. Next week it’s the Grouse Grind! I have lost 31 pounds so far and I’m stronger than I was 15 years ago. Weight training has become a way of life for me now and it’s definitely given me my life back and instilled a sense of pride in accomplishment. There is more weight to lose and more muscle to gain but I am hooked.