shadon02’s BodyBlog

I went to Wallie World (Wall*Mart) last night to pick up a scale. Its best to weigh yourself first thing in the morning and its one of the essential items I don’t have around the house. As I approached the aisle where they were located I was thinking to myself: "Self, I’m willing to pay 20 bucks for a new scale." Self and I shook on it and down the aisle we went.

They had an ole run of the mill scale that everyone’s grandmother has owned since the 50’s for $19.99. I was thinking I could do a little better than that. Next there is a $29 dollar scale. Now we’re talking. It lights up, and has nice big digital numbers and everything, and has multiple user profiles. Sounds pretty darn cool if you ask me, but then I look up to the top shelf…(Que in angelic lights and angles singing with a harp playing in the background. )This was the scale of all scales at a whopping $39 freggin bones! This bad boy had 5 user profiles (I only need one but 5 is frekin awesome!) It has a BMI calculator, calculates your body fat % along with your bone mass (tells you how much the bones in your body weigh), the damn thing even tells you how hydrated you are! It also allows you to store your daily calculations for up to 52 days and shows you how close you are to reaching your goal weight. I think my hands were shaking as I lifted it off the shelf to place in my cart.

I set it up as soon as I got home and must have weighed myself at least 20 times. And each time was better than the last. I’m going to stand on it and drink a gallon of water just to see what numbers change (LAWD I can’t wait to test this bad boy out!) Any whoo, the thing is freggin awesome and I’m going to see how it works over the next few weeks.

So far the weight loss is going amazing! I’ve dropped 4 lbs last week alone due to some new supplements, diet and workout plan. I’ll be sure to update what I’m doing very soon. Till then, weigh yourselves America…I sure as heck am.

Goals.

One of the hardest things about working out is staying motivated. Its enduring and the results take some time and that can get frustrating so people quit. I’ve been working out consistently (minus 3 weeks off due to a crazy work schedule) since January. I can attest, there were times where I was getting bored, and wasn’t losing as much as I wanted. That’s when I started doing some research.  I looked up other workouts, and watched other people working out for new ideas to add to my own routine. I also read up a lot about nutrition, learned about fat, and how to do the math to get to your goal. For me crunching numbers set me on a more clear and defined path and it was up to me how I wanted to tackle it. Before I get any further let me explain what I mean by crunching numbers. I’m talking about learning how many calories are in a pound of fat, how many (avg) calories do you burn a day, calculating your lean body mass, BMI, how many calories do you have to burn per day to lose x amount of lbs a week… That type of stuff.

Now, on to goal setting. What worked for me was combining things I already like to do (shopping) with my workout progress. For example my current goals are as follows: When I lose 5lbs (get down to 155) I will buy myself a new workout outfit (woohooo!). When I lose 10 lbs, I will purchase the Nike+ shoes and the ipod tracker thingie. (Boo Yeah now were talking!) When I lose 15 lbs, I will purchase a heart rate monitor/Calorie tracker watch (Oh shoot, keep it commin!) When I lose 20 lbs, I will have reached my goal and will go out and purchase that bikini and or little black dress I have been working to get into.

This is what worked for me, so your motivator may be different. If you find something you love doing, you can turn it into a reward for your self to reach your goal.  Even though the rewards may seem small, it means so much more because of the work that had to go into it.

Its been a short while but I’m posting an update on my journey to my body transformation. Tonight my exercise was a 2 mile jog. I noticed a HUGE difference, boy let me tell you! The first mile was so smooth it was unbelievable. I remember jogging the same route a couple of months ago and I was only able to jog 1/4th of a mile, walk a bit, then jog to the half mile mark and back home. I used to be out of breath and dead tired when I got back home. Tonight was different. I began with a light stretch then hit the road. I was jamin, feeling good, my rhythm was fluid and I was not out of breath. Before I knew it, I had gone a mile, non stop, and in good time. 14 minutes is good, but there is definitely room for improvement. Before I started mile two, I stretched, and cooled down for a couple of minutes to get my heart rate back down. On the way back I was able to make it to the half way point before I had to slow down my pace. I was getting lightheaded and I wanted to bend over and hurl but there was something in me that wouldn’t give up. On the final stretch, it felt like my legs were screaming, my lungs were burning, my heart was pounding, but it was worth each and every step. Part of my inspiration came from applying my workout to success in my life (and for the future). I embarked on this journey (exercise) by setting a goal. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and there would be plenty of things in my way trying to stop me (physically) but in the end, determination, and the vision of success (my body transformation) would be very much worth it. It didn’t make sense to stop because it was too hard or because I was tired. Its hard now, but I know that each day I run, its going to be easier than the last, and that helps in keeping me motivated.

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