jcorbett’s BodyBlog

Lesson 1: When love doesn’t work out, there’s always the gym and a trainer. Okay, I must admit that I wasn’t pleased with the break-up, but instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to take control and spend more time on me. Thanks to the break-up I’ve lost 13 pounds and am working with a personal trainer to lose more fat and build more muscle.  I’ve learned that there’s nothing like a good workout–it’s dependable and exhilarating! 

Lesson 2: This is the first time in my life that I have made the commitment to reduce daily caloric intake. My former philosophy was work out so that I can eat whatever I want. I now realize that eating whatever I want will only lead to an early grave; so I’ve decided to change how I eat. I’ve learned about the self-control that I didn’t I had.

I am looking forward to being in great shape in ‘08.  

Have a Happy New Year

As I said on my page, I’ve lost 10 pounds and approximately 3.5 inches. Here’s my typical food intake, egg whites & toast for breakfast, protein bar and fruit for snack, 1 can of tuna & salad (low fat dressing), egg whites and yogurt for another snack, and fish and veggies for dinner. I drink about a gallon of water a day. I walk about 12 miles per week and do weight training two days per week. It’s paying off and I am grateful, but as of late I’ve been entertaining negative thoughts. Thoughts of giving up. Isn’t it typical, when one gets close to accomplishing a goal negativity tries to distract us? Nevertheless, I will keep pressing on because it is important to me. My health requires it, and I’m feeling great these days. 

I messed up last week. I went to the Health/Vitamin Store and bought all these herbal suppliments which included a product that claimed it was for blood pressure treatment. Fri. workout didn’t go as well as planned b/c I experienced some light headedness. I thought it was due to lack of water intake, but now realize my blood pressure shot up. I’m sure the combo of a fat burner and no hypertension pills is deadly. I should know better by now, but, well there are no excuses.

On a more positive note I have lost 1 inch from my hips. I’ve been so focused on the mid section I didn’t even notice. I am beginning to concentrate on cleaning up my diet and doing the 3 meal 3 low fat snack thing, eating approx. every 3 hours until a couple hours before bed. I’m trying my best to detox from refined sugar, but it’s hard.

To date my trainer and I have worked on every muscle group–places I didn’t even know existed, but it has to be done. I also walk 12 to 16 miles per week and am leaving the car parked more often so that I can get in more cardio. I know many ascribe to running or something more rigorous, but I’m trying to make the most out of my time (which is very tight). As a full-time single parent, full-time employee, and member of the parent association I don’t have much extra time. Additonally, my kids are involved in sports and other activities that require my attention so I do what cardio I can and try to do it consistently.

I decided to take my work out to another level by working with a personal trainer. I’m fairly disciplined and go to the gym regularly, but am not getting the results that I’d like. I have trained, in the past, for a 350 mile bike ride so I’m not new to weight training. I’ve worked with trainers before, however, I’ve never committed short-term (one month due to the need to provide food & shelter to my family) and only used trainers for weight training modifications when bored with routine.

Being 40 something brings on new challenges so I thought may its time to consult with an expert. My primary goal is to reduce the waistline by 2 inches. Sidenote: I don’t know when this waist thing happened, I’ve bounced back postpartum and never really had a weight issue. What’s up with this bra area flesh??? Yuck. To add insult to injury the doctor claimed the new weight was age related–I decided that I’m not going out like that so bring on the workout. My trainer believes that I can drop 13 pounds and I’m sure my cholesterol will decrease with this loss.

Preparation: I ate all the wrong foods (e.g. fries, chips, cookies) this weekend, but was looking forward to this day.  I was so amped up I couldn’t eat that much before I met with my trainer.

The day: We did some shoulders, a little back, some squats, biceps, triceps and of course those abs.  I felt exhilarated, almost high after the workout. Those endorphins really kicked in. Kudos to my trainer. He let me know that I’m stronger than I thought.

Okay, it’s starting to hurt and I’m feeling a little stiff. Like Mr. Smith from "Lost in Space" says, "Oh, the pain".  Anybody who knows what I’m talking about, please comment. Thanks.

I went to a couple holiday parties last week and did not indulge in the “goodies”.  The office party was during my usual snack time so I had a little grilled chicken and salmon. I alerted the host at the other party of my new eating pattern and she provided fruit and salad. However, temptation is all around so I have to tap into my support network. I’m very grateful to my trainer who cheers me on. Additionally, there’s a friend on myspace who blogs weekly and keeps folks like me encouraged. I have also identified a source so that I can monitor my calorie intake. My goal remains the same– to continue trimming down so that my muscle development is more prominent. If I trim down enough, I may even consider competing. I’ll see how it goes by Aug. next year.  This fat loss thing is hard, but I guess I’m past the most difficult point which is accepting the fact that a change needed to happen and asking for help. 

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