www.size10chronicles.com

How awesome!  I am in LA for work, but I think I will drop by the Ironman.  Yeah!  Anyone else here want to connect?

I have been running around the last few months, tweaking this and changing that in my routine, eating less, eating more, eating clean, carb cycling, not carb cycling, training hard, doing cardio, not doing as much cardio as prescribed, reading this magazine, adding that routine in, taking this supplement and asking about that one.  Basically driving myself crazy.  But the thing I have come to understand is the basic program I am on–carb cycling, training 3 days a week, cardio 1 or 2 a day, one day off for rest, not going crazy with the cheats is what has gotten me where I am, which is about 50 pounds lighter than when I began 9 or 10 months ago.  I am now losing about 1 pound a week.  Not phenomenal, but steady and ongoing.  I want to lose probably about 20 or 25 more which will put me right where I want to be for swimsuit season.  I will be working my abs and ass to particularly get them tightened up for the season, but otherwise I’m just gonna keep on truckin’…because it works.  WHEW!

Ok folks.  I am ON IT for Summer 2009!  The bikinis are in the stores!  It’s all about ass and abs in my bikini at the town pool this summer folks.  I’m getting a shirt made "Team Ass and Abs!  Summer 2009!"  LOL.  Told Dwayne (my trainer) about the goal, and he said "Sounds like a good workout for us tonight!"  And that’s what we did.  Hardcore ass and abs.  OUCH, but baby it hurts SO good!

Has anyone noticed that the Latest Profile Pics have changed lately…they are actually new people.  Hmmmm.  Someone wrote about this a while back and it seems to have had an effect.  Interesting.

Today shoveled snow with my 3 year old (so you know I was shoveling everything twice!) and then wanted to run so I went over to Diamond and jumped on the treadmill.  I have been wanting to work on my functional fitness in addition to just body shaping work.  Running is part of that for me.  Although I wanted to run a mile or so (I’m NOT a runner, ok?!) and fill in the rest of the 45 minutes with walking, but ultimately I ended up doing a HIIT type of workout.  I put myself on a hill workout and whenever the treadmill went down to a zero incline I would run.  I ran at 6 and 7 and walked at 4 uphill.  Ended up doing about 3 miles in 45 minutes.  I felt good doing it.  The running wasn’t hard.  Although running doesn’t burn fat, I want to do something else to mix things up for me, keep the body guessing right?

I’m frustrated with all the calculators and numbers out there.  Body fat.  BMI. Weight.  Waist size…  Ahhh!  If you use one your body fat is one thing.  If you use another it’s another (which is why if you look at my stats my body fat just went up.  It was probably wrong the second time I entered it, but I don’t know if it’s right now).  If you pinch one way you get one reading and if you’re dehydrated you get another reading.  What do all these numbers mean?  Weight is meaningless.  Most bodybuilders would be obese by BMI stadards because their weight to height ratios are so high.  Even if they have very low bodyfat.  Even under the most generous standards my weight is supposed to be in the 150s.  Maybe it’s true and I do have a big frame and am pretty musclular, but 150 pounds is 45 pounds from where I am now (and yes I am SO psyched to be under 200 pounds for the first time in 20 years) and I know I have more weight to lose, but 45 more pounds seems like a lot and I don’t think I would look very good that thin.  I’m all for lean and tight, but I don’t think those formulas mean much to me.  When I lose 20 to 25 more pounds I think I will look pretty awesome.  But bottom line I’m just going to have to go by what I look like and how I feel.  These numbers just make me confused and I don’t trust them anyway.  From the begining my trainer told me to ignore weight and banned me from the scale.  He’s right.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!  Thirty-nine is higher, tighter, leaner, and hotter than ever.  You go me!

Who would have ever thought that I would be in a situation where I was undereating.  Moi?  Evidently I have been doing that, which is kind of a bummer since I was so excited by the M and F diet I took up.  How did I learn that I was undereating?  I have been freezing all the time for the last few days.  My house is like 74 degrees all the time and I was walking around my house with a hat on or my hoodie pulled up.  I was low energy too, but figured that was because I was eating very clean on low carb days.  Anyway I sent a note to Dwayne the other day about it and followed up with him about it last night before we started to train.  He told me that I wasn’t eating enough calories and my metabolism has shut down.  "You’re starving yourself."  Oh snap!  What?  I guess that explains why I felt so weird.  Strangely, I wasn’t hungry during this time, and told him this as well.  "That’s because your metabolism has shut down."  Oh. 

I actually think the diet/menu was good, just not for me.  It was designed for a woman who weighs 140.  I weigh like 190, so obviously the number of calories calculated for "her" are not enough for me.  I need to add about 500 calories a day.  I ate carbs with my protein last night when I got home from training because I just wanted to stablize my bod a bit.  today I am having some clean carbs (half a sweet potato) with my protien and veg.  I am toasty warm and don’t feel like a limp noodle now.  I think I will retain the basics of the diet, I loved the structure and the ideas, but will enhance it with a few more calories spread throughout the day.  Whew!

I still find it hard to believe I wasn’t eating enough (which Dwayne says is the trap that most American’s fall into "Just cut your calories" doesn’t work), but I guess I was.  I hope I didn’t go catabolic during that period (which was only like 2 weeks or so), but I probably did.  Oh well back to the kitchen and the gym to make it up.  I LOVE how much I’m learning with this process.  I do wonder how this will affect my jeans try on tomorrow.  Will I be closer or farther away from zipping up those size 10s?  Visit the new website over the weekend to see.  I should have the video up by then.

Cheers!

Alissa

www.size10chronicles.com

Ok, so folks have been asking me for my New Year’s resolution. Honestly I don’t believe in them, but you ask for it, you got it! My New Year’s resolution is to get my body tight enough to star in a home sex tape. Not that I’m going to actually do a sex tape, but the bod will be tight enough to be in one (that I would actually look at and not cringe or gag).

Now I’m sure you’re thinking, a sex tape? You? Alissa, you’re so demure and proper! I am shocked! But let me tell you ladies, and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, this request is quite common from the men in our lives nowadays. When I was single, five hundred years ago, dudes I was dating would always be asking to ‘video it’. Here’s my response, “F*ck no! When we break up, that s*it will just end up on the internet!” Back in the days when the internet was young and fresh and filthy! Even my own dear husband is not above looking to create some home movies. Him, “Come on, it would be fun!” Me, rolling on the floor laughing holding my (then substantial) belly, “No! Who want’s to look at that?! And anyway, that stuff will just end up on the internet.”  Even though the internet is all boring and corporate nowdays.

Now specifically what this resolution means for my body is there will be nothing hanging, sagging, rolling or jiggling in an untoward manner from a variety of angles. My skin will have to be “saran wrapped” over the muscles. Tight! Additionally, the bod will have to be able to take the extra 10 pounds put on by the camera. So that’s my resolution. I’m excited. What’s yours?

Alissa, The REAL Fitness Diva
www.size10chronicles.com

So i mentioned eating, quite a bit recently. It’s important. Today I failed to do very well what I know is critical for my success. Fully prepare my food in advance. Now I begin to understand what those figure girls (contestants) are talking about, prepping the food for the day or week in advance. Now I have cooked for the week in Sunday’s for a while, but not with a complete menu for each meal in advance. Since adopting this diet/menu from M&F Hers I know just what I’m to eat at each meal throughout the day. Yesterday I did pretty well with it and made a good choice when pushed off program. Today, so far I consider somewhat less successful. Not that I have deviated from my eating plan much. Didn’t have timw to prep eggs this morning so substituted beans (alone) for eggs and turkey bacon. Not a great sub, but not terrible. When I got to work I had an ounce of walnuts (on plan) and water. I’ve certainly been down water the last two days. Bad. I was supposed to eat 4 oz shrimp. I packed the shrimp in my bag and took them to work. I wasn’t inspired to eat them though. I ate one. Then ran to the train to get home early (it is New Years Eve after all). It was lunchtime. I again thought of pizza, but decided against it. Another Lean body. Drank some of it. I wanted food, not a shake. But the idea of a cold salad didn’t appeal after coming in from the snow. Brrrr. But in the end a salad is what I bought. I got a few bites before getting on my train home. I don’t feel like eating a salad propped up on my knees on the somewhat crowded train, so I guess I’ll just wait. The problem today is undereating. Just as bad as overeating, as it can weaken my resolve to stay on point. Not so far but I’ll have to keep an eye on consumption today (like every day actually). Fingers crossed. Happy New Year!

Alissa, The REAL Fitness Diva
www.size10chronicles.com