The View from the Classroom

Early on in my bodyspace blogging, I wrote a blog about a response I got from a fellow teacher.  After telling her how I lost weight and continue to transform my body, her response was "But, you make it sound so simple."  To me, it is simple.  Make the choice and do what you need to do everyday to get to where you’re going.

Once again, I’ve been thinking deeply about choices which led me to start reflecting upon that earlier blog and wanting to revisit it.

While I still think it’s a simple matter of making a choice and doing what it takes to get there, I now see that it is not one choice, but a series of small choices made every single day that get you to where you want to be.

This is not just true for losing weight,  building muscle or otherwise transforming your physical self, but for anything in life that you really desire.  If you know where you’re going, every choice you make either gets you closer to that destination or takes you further away from it.

In order to make the choices that take you closer to your destination or goal, however, you must first know where you’re going and second, make CONSCIOUS choices, always asking "Will doing this get me closer to my goal or take me further away from it?"

Too many times, we don’t keep our destinations, our goals, our visions right in front of us and we forget about them.  We get home from work, stressed, tired, whatever and reach for the bag of chips without being fully conscious that we are choosing something that will take us further away from our goal.  And what happens?  We soon feel guilty, ashamed, disappointed that we ate the whole bag or that the scale is moving in the wrong direction and we give up.

If instead we had stopped to ask "Will eating the bag of chips get me closer to my goal or take me further away from it?" and we base the choice on that simple answer, we end up moving in the right direction. 

Easy?  Some days, yes and some days, no.   If it was always easy, EVERYONE would be exactly where they want to be with exactly the body they want making exactly how much money they want, etc.

So…if you are one struggling with something in your life, be it weight, work, relationship issues or whatever, decide what it is you truly desire in that area.  Do what you need to do to keep that vision in front of you, be conscious of every choice you make and ask yourself with every single one of those choices "Is this decision going to get me closer to my vision or take me further away from it?"

I LOVE going to the movies and like some of you, I just HAD to go see Pirates (bad reviews and all) this weekend.  I also absolutely LOVE popcorn…one of those things that’s REALLY hard for me to pass up.  In fact, the only way for me NOT to give in to temptation is NOT to have it in the same room as me at all.

With the movie at almost three hours long, me being in pre-contest mode and knowing that hubby would HAVE to have popcorn, I knew I had to devise a plan.

So…I asked hubby (really just a courtesy…he knows better than to say no cause I’d be taking it regardless of his answer) if he would mind if I took some tuna to the movie…"Tuna?" he asks with an "are you serious" kind of tone to his voice though he KNOWS I’m dead serious…"No, I don’t mind.  You might need to take a restroom break, though, when you’re ready to eat it." he says matter of factly.

So…I put the tuna in a plastic container with some chopped veggies, grabbed the plasticware, put it in my purse and I’m set. 

Now I’m on to eradicating the popcorn temptation for which I need to enlist hubby’s help.  No, I’m not asking him to not buy popcorn, that wouldn’t be fair…just to not give me any, no matter how much I beg and plead and no matter what I OFFER to do, lol…for or to him…lol…NO MATTER WHAT, I tell him, don’t let me have even one piece.

The first time I asked, he did good.  BUT…he was taking SOOOO long to finish that little bag of popcorn that I just had to ask again.  I did a teeny tiny bit of begging…and he caved…I can’t lie…I had just a little bit…maybe two/three bites tops.  I told him I was disappointed in him…he should have held out for some kind of offer, but instead, he got nothing out of the deal…and, without uttering a single word, he sat there smelling the tuna that I so proudly feasted on.

I think he’s finally getting that I’m serious about the diet thing.

I guess my physique is very deceiving when wearing regular, everyday, non-skin showing clothes. 

Yesterday, I had to go to school to pack up the classroom…students are done for the year, so dress code is gone.  I wore one of my faves…destroyed blue jeans and a tank top.

From the moment I walked in the school until I left it was nothing but…

"You’re all muscle!"

"Look at your muscles!"

"You’re cut!"

"DANG…!!!"

And my absolute favorite…"I gotta start working out!"  Honestly…I hope that at least one of my fellow coworkers was motivated enough by my progress to get started on their own transformation this summer.  Knowing where I was a year ago and how far I’ve gone through bodybuilding, the thought of my journey inspiring someone else would just tickle me pink!!!

In exactly 7 weeks I will be strutting my stuff on stage in 5-inch heels and a bikini…at the age of 40…God help me!!!!!!

Progress is slow, but there.  I’m gradually reducing the carbs…100g per day this week…not too, too bad, but starting tomorrow I’ll be at 75g per day.  By itself, that won’t be too tough, but I’m also amping up the cardio…5 days next week when I’ve only been doing 3.

So that I keep my sanity and since I enjoyed my run sooooo much the other night (read my blog titled "Changed up the Cardio"), I think I will mix it up some and do at least one or two days of running, sprints included.

Ordered the suits today…yes that’s plural…need a one-piece and two-piece…styles are shown below…colors are emerald green on the one-piece and coral on the two-piece.

Of course I need to teach summer school to pay for them…who knew suits were sooooooo damn expensive????  (JK on the summer school thing…I’m enjoying MY summer.)

School’s out for summer!!!!  School’s out forever!!!!!! (I wish)  

Now, just so y’all don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my job.  BUT, I didn’t totally get the summer break thing until I actually started teaching.  In my previous life, I was one of those parents thinking that year round school would be so AWESOME, a truly GREAT idea.  I mean, I wouldn’t have to worry about what to do with the kids in the summer or feel guilty for choosing to work when I could be at home being a "good" mom.  After all, I work the whole year, why not let my kids go to school the whole year?  Like I said…AWESOME idea.  

It only took 1 year of teaching to change my mind on THAT.   I mean, think about it, spring time, 12 & 13 year olds, hormones just kicking in, love is in the air (it’s definitely not love for their teachers), attitudes just starting to develop, standardized testing has been done for over a month so the brains that for some were barely functioning before are completely turned off.  Keeping them engaged in Math?  Forget about it!!!  I’ve been merely trying to keep my sanity!!!!!  

For the last six weeks, I have longed for this day, anticipated it, and wondered why it was taking so dad gum long to get here.  You know the feeling…just think back to childhood.  You ALWAYS knew the date and at some point you probably started counting down the days.  You started making your summer plans…where were the parties gonna be?  Whose house was everyone gonna be hanging  out at???  All those important decisions on how best to do absolutely nothing without being bored.  

As a teacher, it means some of the same things…a chance to do nothing if I so choose…to get into a morning routine that goes something like this…breakfast, read paper, workout, eat, do nothing, eat, do nothing… to catch up on the reading that I love to do…to hang out at the pool now that thought of being seen in a swimsuit doesn’t make me sick to my stomache…to cook real meals (not that I’ll be doing so with the contest coming up, but the thought of being able to is nice)…to actually have time to do all the laundry and cleaning so hubby doesn’t have to help out (yes, he gets spoiled in the summer)…to recharge my batteries so that come August 27 I’m fresh and motivated with my love for teaching rekindled, looking forward to teaching another group of AWESOME kids that I know will be eager to learn from me.  

The last day of school makes me feel like a kid again…I’m all smiles…just what am I gonna do for the next three months??????

Been doing the stairmaster for cardio for the last few weeks and I’m totally sick of it.  So…decided to change things up a bit tonight.  Did 30 minutes of HIIT on the treadmill incorporating 1 minute sprints throughout.  On the last sprint, I totally felt like I was gonna puke…so much better than the stairmaster…never thought I would say it, but I’ve missed running.  It was absolutely, no doubt about it the BEST cardio session I’ve had in a long, long time.  This from someone who just one year ago was saying "I HATE RUNNING!!!!"

Picture it…Saturday afternoon…warm, sunny day…driving down the road with the window down, nice breeze, music just a little loud, when, as soon as I see him, I know I’m busted…I ease off the gas hoping he didn’t get me, but knowing he did. 

Continuing down the street, I check my rearview mirror and sure enough, he pulls in behind me.  I know it’s me he’s after, so I pull over into the right lane and yes, his lights go on as he follows suit.  "Damn" I say…I pull over.  He gets out and walks cautiously to my door, asks for my license and insurance card which I already have ready.  "Do you have the current insurance card, this one’s expired?" he asks.  Shocked, I look and sure enough it is.  I open the glove box back up and pull out all the crap that one keeps in the glove box and find the current one.  In the process, however, all that crap falls to the floorboard.  He asks me where I work and I respond with the name of the school I teach at.  He asks me if I know why I’m being pulled over to which I say (very humbly I might add) "I was probably going just a little fast."  "You were going 52 in a 35." he replies.  I’m thinking, yeah that’s probably about right, but please don’t give me a ticket.

So he calls it in as I watch in my rearview mirror.  When he’s done, he walks back to my car, we finish our business and he sends me on my way. So I’ve been pondering this little incident and really wondering what was going through the officer’s mind…hmmmm…a woman looking quite cute in a short little destroyed blue jean mini-skirt showing just enough leg and a polk-a-dot tank top showing off some well-toned arms…17 miles per hour over the speed limit…a teacher…admitted why she was being pulled over…like a nervous fool dropped all the crap from the glove box all over the floorboard…and who knows what else…whatever he was thinking, I know this, I was extremely thankful when he uttered the words "just slow down" instead of choosing to write that ticket.   So, I say "thank you!!" and I am truly grateful that he did not choose to give me that ticket.

Worked the legs hard today.  Felt strong…don’t know if it was the pre-workout shake which I don’t usually have or just my mindset, but here it is…

7 minute jog to warm-up

Squats:  1 x 95, 115, 125, 8 reps each

SLDL:  1×95, 115, 135, 8 reps each

Walking Lunges w/25lb plates: 4 sets of 24 steps

Extensions: 1×180, 135, 90, 45 (Trying something different), 5, 8, 12, 20 reps, respectively

Lying Ham Curls (YUCK!!=most needed):  1×60,70,80, 8 reps on all except last one, could only manage 5

Hip Adductor (don’t usually do this, thought I would try it): 1×70,80,90, 8 reps each

Standing Calf Raises: 1×240, 180, 120 (something different here too), 8 reps on first two sets and 16 on last set

Then…as if that wasn’t enough…managed 10 minutes on the stepper…Dawn Melanie, you should be proud…

So….I’m 10 weeks away from my first contest.  I was so excited the other day when my heels came in the mail!!!  See my new profile pic…also posted it in my photo gallery and progress pics…me in my bathing suit and heels.  Tried, but for some reason couldn’t get it to upload into my blog.  Anyway…feedback welcome!

Haven’t ordered the suit yet because I figure I have a little time and I’m having a hard time deciding on color…I’m thinking reddish-orange/coral, green or royal blue…leaning toward green, not emerald green, not kelly green, but more like the green of the tank top I have on in my profile pic. only a little brighter, maybe this green….    Input anyone?

I’m following Dawn Melanie’s advice and incorporating three stair master session into my workouts.  I’m up to 40-45 minutes each session…Pure torture is what it is, but I have faith that results will come…

Haven’t really changed the diet.  Just eating clean as usual.