fitnessprincess’s BodyBlog

This morning I was reminded of how important one person - their words and actions - can be in the world and in the lives of others.  Yesterday I worked out in the morning and then donated blood in the afternoon.  Immediately afterwards I had to rush home grab Nikki put him in his carrier and head for the vet.  We were meeting our new vet for the first time and the news wasn’t all that great though certainly anticipated - possible heart problems and maybe kidney problems and coupled with that expensive tests (echocardiogram).  Note Nikki is a 19-year old seal-point siamese and the love of my life.  Sorry guys!  LOL!  When we finally got back home I knew I had hit rock bottom.  I was ravenous and I ended up binging - badly.  Needless to say I didn’t feel very good about myself when I woke up this morning and headed off to work.  I was grabbing a cup of coffee before class when a worker at Starbucks that has always been helpful and friendly shyly moved toward me and told me that she thought I looked terrific.  I just about started bawling.  I was so floored.  All of a sudden my spirits took a complete 180.  A moment before I had felt like a failure and felt certain the whole world knew my secret and the next minute I felt so good about myself and so happy.  I went to class and class was great - no doubt in part because I felt so good about myself.  It just took one person to change my world which in turn changed the whole experience in my classroom.  The worker’s kind words affected not only me but my students as well and who knows how many people will be positively affected later today because my students feel differently about themselves and their world because I did/do.  That’s the power of one.  So go and make it a great day and rock someone’s world!

LOL! Hi Folks! Truly sorry! I have been so busy the last few weeks with the start of the new semester.  I have also been starting a new part-time job.  One I wanted for a long time.  As most of you know I lost 110 lb over 5 years ago through Weight Watchers.  I still attend meetings every week and over the course of the last year, I have very much wanted to give something back.  I am now officially an At Work WW receptionist!  I just finished my training and I am so excited.  Ultimately I want to be a leader but I think that being a receptionist is a good way to get my feet wet.  WW has great training - both on-line and in person mentoring.  As an educator I have to say I am impressed! and LOL! I was already impressed.

I have also been busy of course in the gym - training and doing a lot of cardio - mostly step mill and freeclimber - as I am doing my second stair climb competition on Saturday Feb. 2nd to benefit the American Lung Association (I wrote about this in an earlier post).

I am so glad today’s a new day and it’s a new week, aren’t you?  Both of us have a clean slate and can make a fresh start on things.  That said I am going to give a plug here for the power of reflection. 

Sigh! You would think I know better by now and that I wouldn’t repeat past mistakes. Sigh! But therein lies the conundrum: we are all creatures of habit. When push comes to shove and the pressure is on we revert to those habits that are most deeply ingrained within us. This is the reason it is so important to work hard to form healthy habits and to keep them. For most of you the change of month likely passed without too much notice but for me as I am a professor at a university, January marks the beginning of a new semester. Some of you might think: So what? After all, I made it through the fall semester, right? Yes, but the beginning of the spring semester is quite challenging for most teaching faculty as we really don’t have any time in which to do the prep. Most of us have the summer off or do research so we have ample time to prep for our fall teaching responsibilities but prep for January usually takes place during the last week or so of December during the holiday season as the earlier part of the month our focus is on last lectures, final exam prep and grading. Consequently, the first week of the semester is usually a frenetic dance in which I try desperately to keep all the balls in the air and avoid stepping on my partner’s feet too many times since we are going to be together for the next twelve weeks.

What a day!  For many of you it was just a regular workday but for me it was the first day of a new semester which brings with it alot of work and change.  This semester I am teaching two undergraduate courses.  Last semester I had graduate students.  It is always a bit of a shock switching between graduate and undergraduate as they really represent entirely different "cultures."  I can’t honestly say I prefer teaching one more than the other.  They are simply different.  Each presents its own unique challenges and pleasures as well.  I like what I have already seen of both classes and I am really looking forward to an exciting semester! 

Whenever the winter semester starts, it is super busy in the gym.  Of course, today being Monday, it was "National Chest Day" as usual and rightly anticipating that everyone in the weight room would be fighting over the barbells for chest presses and the benches and dumbells for dumbell chest presses and flyes, I opted to work my back and traps instead.  It was a great move and I had a super strong workout.  I upped my weight on the Bb sumo deadlifts and posted a PR of 7 reps @ 175 lb - good start for a new year.

I am also getting more serious about my cardio as I am stair climbing for the American Lung Association for the second year in a row on Saturday February 7th. Yesterday I did an hour of stair climbing for my cardio workout and today my pre- and post-workout cardio was stairclimbing as well.  I am really excited about participating this year as I had so much fun last year and I met some truly awe inspiring individuals.  I also saw some of the best butts and legs I have ever seen!  LOL!  If you feel led, I would be honored to have your support.  Youu will find my fundraising page for the Feb. stair climb at URL:  http://www.mrsnv.com/evt/e01/part.jsp?rid=722036&id=2160&acct=8013403037

I hope you have set some goals.   If you haven’t identified any, now is a great time to reflect on the past year, to assess your progress and to identify new goals.  If you have goals, are they SMART?  If they aren’t then you may never actually follow through and achieve any of them.  Goals that are specific, measureable, attainable, realistic and timely have been shown to have the greatest likelihood of success.  Below I will briefly discuss each point.  Read each one and think about the goals that you have set.  If they don’t measure up take a few minutes and tweak them.  Then write them down and post them some place prominently so you can follow though.  Posting your goals here on your Bodybuilding.com blog would be a great way to build in accountability.
Specific – If your vision for your accomplishments is vague and poorly defined you are less likely to actually follow through and reach your goals.  What specifically do you want to accomplish/achieve? When do you want to reach your goals?  Why do you want to do this – how, specifically, do you expect to benefit?  What, if any, resources will you need in order to achieve your goal? 
Measurable – you will never know if you achieved your goals if you don’t assess your progress in some way.  If your goals are weight loss for example, a measureable goal would be losing X pounds of bodyweight or losing X% bodyfat.
Attainable – If you set a goal that is out of your reach, you are likely to give up in frustration so it is important to make sure that you set goals that you can attain with effort, time, and the appropriate resources. 
Realistic - You may never see the light at the end of the tunnel if you don’t have goals that are realistic for you in your present circumstances and with your abilities and resources.  Don’t make assumptions.  Don’t base your expectations on what others have achieved.  Do your research and then set goals that you make you reach but which you with consistent hard work you will be able to achieve.  If you underestimate what you can accomplish, no problem!  Just set a new SMART goal!
Timely – if you want to accomplish something you need to identify a deadline even if the deadline is artificial and one you impose on yourself.  Goals that don’t have deadlines lack a needed sense of urgency
I am going to close my blog today by sharing my own reflection and my goals for the new year.  Here’s to all of us achieving every one!
Personal Reflection:  This year I achieved my original goal of getting up on stage.  I did it not only once but twice.  In the process I realized I have a lot of work to do.  I was obsessed with my lower body and failed to realize I need to work on what’s up top, too.  I need shoulders, biceps, triceps, and a back – LOL!  I also need to continue to work on my legs, which are where I hold all my bodyfat.   I need to build more muscle so my legs will have shape.  I had a rocky trip to both competitions due to my struggles with dieting and binging in particular.  However I have successfully identified some of the underlying issues:  failure to make my macros, not realizing when I am overtired, eating food that I don’t really enjoy, and being too dogmatic/rigid (forbidding myself certain foods).  I also learned through competing that posing is really important and challenging.  I need to work on quarter turns and the model walk. 
New Year’s Goals
*Lift heavy, lift consistently (4 days each week M chest & shoulders and abs, T legs, Th back & traps and calves, and F bis & tris nnd abs)
*Focus on lagging body parts such as arms, shoulders, back
*Eat like it’s my job:  make my macros each day - don’t undereat, don’t overeat.
*Maintain a bodyweight of 130+2 lb throughout the year.
*Listen to my body and rest! when needed.
*Practice posing at least once each week for both fit body and figure, and practice the model walk for each
*All of this with the overall goal of competing November 2009 in the INBF Monster Mash in figure.
 

Mine was pretty terrific. I ate tons (literally!) of very, very bad food - everything I haven’t been able to eat for too, too long and I don’t feel at all bad about it. Definitely needed: I was pretty run down by the end of finals - got hit with intestinal flu/food poisoning followed shortly thereafter by a bad cold and laryngitis (fortunately the laryngitis came right at the end of classes!), and low iron (that diagnosis really hit me hard because I have been working so hard to follow a healthy lifestyle). I feel so much better now - though I am definitely! pretty pudgy! LOL! Gonna have to take off some of what I put on over the last two weeks. Right now I don’t know how much that is and honestly I do NOT want to know. My goal is to get back on track and eat clean through the weekend. If I can make it over the weekend hump then I tend to do well during the week at school. Not sure why - if it is simply the fact that I have so much else to do but I do think that I need to explore this soon as I really need to figure out how to make the weekends work for me instead of against me.

Mine was pretty terrific. I ate tons (literally!) of very, very bad food - everything I haven’t been able to eat for too, too long and I don’t feel at all bad about it. Definitely needed: I was pretty run down by the end of finals - got hit with intestinal flu/food poisoning followed shortly thereafter by a bad cold and laryngitis (fortunately the laryngitis came right at the end of classes!), and low iron (that diagnosis really hit me hard because I have been working so hard to follow a healthy lifestyle). I feel so much better now - though I am definitely! pretty pudgy! LOL! Gonna have to take off some of what I put on over the last two weeks. Right now I don’t know how much that is and honestly I do NOT want to know. My goal is to get back on track and eat clean through the weekend. If I can make it over the weekend hump then I tend to do well during the week at school. Not sure why - if it is simply the fact that I have so much else to do but I do think that I need to explore this soon as I really need to figure out how to make the weekends work for me instead of against me.

Ingredients
1 package of ******** protein pudding powder
2/3-c water
2-3 small peppermint candies (red & white striped ones and green & white striped ones for more color)
optional: ff cool whip