Rachel’s Life Transforming BodyBlog

I’m starting a 30 day test of Lean-Rescue. Make sure you follow my progress on the Sponsored Supplement Logs!

OK, admittedly, the guy’s pretty cute. But that’s not why he’s my hero.

It goes back to the Beijing Olympics. Yes, I’m addicted to the Olympics and watched them just about every second they were on the air (except basketball. Just never been a fan.)

Swimming and gymnastics. Those are my things.

So I’m watching Mike Phelps. He’s going for yet another gold and yet another world record. And about halfway through the race, I realize something’s wrong. His form is off. He’s not blowing the competition outta the water like he normally does. In fact, he barely makes it into the first place slot. WTF?

Is he tired? Has he lost his touch?

He comes outta the water, throws his goggles, and has an angry look on his face. Yes, something’s definitely wrong with my Mikey.

A later interview revealed that when he dove into the water, his goggles began to fill up with water. Halfway through the race he couldn’t even see anymore.

So how did he win? How did he take yet another gold medal?

(This still amazes me) He knew exactly how many strokes he needed to take to get from one end of the pool to the other. He was counting. He couldn’t see, didn’t know if he was swimming straight or not. He was just counting.

He practiced so hard and for so long that when he couldn’t see how much more he needed to do in order to win, he just counted until he knew when to reach out and touch the wall.

I wanna be that determined and driven that I practice so hard that I know exactly how many steps I need to go to finish the next 5k I race in, how many reps to complete the set that creates the muscle which leads to the body I want to achieve.

I wanna be like Mike.

I filled out a survey recently to test a new fat burner and had to give a ’snapshot’ of my daily life. I thought it’d be fun to post here too:

Let’s start with nutrition (since that’s the key to 80% of your weight loss right there!):

Breakfast -
1 whole, free range organic egg, lightly fried over whole wheat toast
1 large cup of coffee with organic, soy milk instead of creamer (its my only vice)

Mid-morning snack -
Either a Berry Soyjoy bar, or a Banana Manna Pure Organic Fruit and Nut Bar (by Dr. Andrew Weil), or a large banana

Lunch -
1 Morning Star Asian Veggie Patty, 1 sheet dried seaweed, 1 cup cooked brown rice

Mid-afternoon snack -
1 apple or any of the snacks previously listed

(Typical) Dinner -
Homemade organic white bean chili with chicken and tomatoes, onions, and garlic

Mid-evening snack -
1 seedless organic orange

Other than the 1 cup of coffee in the morning, I drink nothing but water the rest of the day, no exceptions. Ten 8oz glasses, approximately.

Now, for the workout:

Monday:

Weights - Legs, Triceps, and Shoulders - approx 1 hr in length, with dumbells (never more than 10lbs lifted per dumbell)

Cardio - Briskly walk 30 minutes

Tuesday:

Weights - Arms, chest, and back - approx 1 hr in length, with dumbells (again, never more than 10lbs each)

Cardio - Briskly walk for 30 minutes

Wednesday - Run 5k, no weight training (personal best time: 25 minutes)

Thursday - Repeat Monday’s routine

Friday - Repeat Tuesday’s routine

Saturday and Sunday - rest.

Supplements:

Morning -
Creatine
Fish Oil (half dose)
Milk Thistle (half dose)
Stinging Nettles (I have seasonal allergies) (half dose)
Daily multi (with no iron!) (half dose)
L-Glutimine (half dose)
Vitamin C (half dose)
Rhodiola
St. John’s Wort (half dose)

Evening (so I don’t pee them all out during the course of the day)
Fish Oil (half dose)
Milk Thistle (half dose)
Stinging Nettles (I have seasonal allergies) (half dose)
Daily multi (with no iron!) (half dose)
L-Glutimine (half dose)
Vitamin C (half dose)
L-Tryptophan
St. John’s Wort (half dose)

I am about a week away from taking my PFT exam via NESTA to become a certified personal trainer, so nutrition and fitness are a MUST in my future line of work.

I am 34 years old, live in Tennessee, eat organic as often as possible, and have 3 children. I am a copywriter, so I write for a living.

I weigh 144 pounds and according to the scale in the bathroom, am at 30% BF. However, when chosen I will have my BF professionally measured to ensure accuracy.

Considering I lost the first 60+ pounds on my own, getting rid of the last 14lbs would be fantastic! I would love to attribute the final pounds of weight loss to "Lean-Rescue"!

Fat burners I have used in the past (but have not taken in at least 6 months):
Six Star Rapid Lean
EFA Lean Gold
Hydroxycut
24hr Hollywood Diet
SlimQuick
Well? Whatdya think?

Five days til my first 5k in quite some time.

The last time I ran a 5k was October 13, 2007. I finished the race, came home, and found out that my best friend (a 35 year old male) had a brain aneurysm and had stroked out in the emergency room lobby at Crawford Long in Atlanta.

I dropped every single thing I was doing for 4 months, shut down my business, and stayed by his side. He was originally given a 10% chance of recovery when they brought him into Emory. To this day, he has the mental capacity of a 15 year old and will never get beyond that.

At one point, I wore the t-shirt I’d gotten from running (ok, walking too - admittedly) in that race. It had the date of the race on the front of the shirt. He was still so disoriented that he couldn’t remember from one second to the next (literally) what the date or time was, where he was, or who most of the folks in the room were - including his own father. But he remembered me.

At one point, he looked at the shirt and asked me why it had October 13, 2007 on it if it was only October 11th. He became very upset, confused, and aggitated. I haven’t worn that shirt or thought about racing since.

That race was the 3rd one I’d run in 60 days.

This Saturday, I do this for me. I will give it my best, my 100%. Wish me luck!