www.size10chronicles.com

I love my life. Seeing my dad’s life ebb really makes me love living and be determined to grab and squeeze the shi* out of my own life. SQUEEZE!

It’s tough. I’ve got a lot going and the last few weeks moving into this hospice stage with dad has really pulled me out of myself. Not good. But I’m not going to stray far from me. When I do everyone is lost and I KNOW that.

So I’m going back to regular clean eating and taking care of me, continuing to train hard and such because I matter to me.

It is so funny to talk to people about weight loss. I have friends on facebook (I have like 1200) who will PM me for advice and I LOVE to give it. I like working with my clients, though I’m scaling that back for now as I focus at home for the time being. I was at a bar mitzvah this weekend and talked to a couple of people about diet and fitness. It is amazing how we women let ourselves go…and i don’t just mean get fat and out of shape…although that is the physical manifestation of it, but lose ourselves in our caring for everyone else. Every woman I speak to tells me the same story.

I was laughing with one of them as I talked about my coaching practice because I was saying I started this process when I was at a low point of connection to myself. She laughed and said she could relate. I said yes all these "round 40" women seem to have the same story. I said it is a HUGE market for me at least. HAHA.

Anyway I got a note from her yesterday saying she had gone back to the gym and was working on eating smaller more frequent meals with more LEAN protein and vegetables. I LOVE to help people along with getting themselves back.

Love,

Alissa

p.s. the invention website it up. visit it at www.impgarden.com and see the IMP–What you do with your earbuds…when they’re not in your ears. Shipping is FREEEEEEEE!
p.p.s. I think I’m falling in love with Diet Dr. Pepper. OMG!

Nothing at all against the folks who are at the top of the inspiration list, but I need some new inspiration.

First, I think Jumper11 should be up there. She looks awesome and shares and gives on Bodyspace.

Second it would be nice to see some of the people who actually contribute to the bs and interact–supporting one another up there as well.

My two cents.

So I wore the size 10s yesterday. They were comfortable as they get but not loose. I’m not getting any smaller. I know this. I think I have been "bulking" to a degree, putting on muscle and losing fat, but not getting smaller. My legs and butt are more muscular than they were 6 months ago. I’m leaner and more defined overall, but it is disconcerting not getting smaller. Have you ever noticed changes in your body like this, different but the same?  Anyway, I feel like I have enough muscle for the time being pretty much and want to scrape off some more fat to see more definition and see if I need to build more muscle to approach this ideal I have. Now I know that the only way to get off fat is to diet. Now I don’t mean a preprogrammed diet, but an approach to eating. I have too short of an attention span to do a diet. I know this!  So what it really means, which I don’t want to speak because I have been so cozy with my good carbs on a daily basis is…I have to cut carbs again…carb cycle if I want this fat off. 3 days off, 1 day on if I’m serious…which I am. Sigh. Mmmmm ezekiel bread and protein shake each morning…how satisfying. Brown rice…at dinner! OMG! Heaven! Baked sweet potato at lunch. BYE! Or I guess I’ll just say see your around…every 4th day.  So I’m back on…carb cycling. Today is my first day. It’s HARD! Even for me, who has experienced this before. Being on "maintenance" the last few months is way more comfy. But I"m not comfortable with this butt and belly fat and I do want to get on the stage next summer…and feel good about it not embarrassed or back out at the last minute. I am not going to say I’m looking forward to carb withdrawls the next few days, but I’ll get through it. And reap the rewards of it all.   Alissa  p.s. I also have to pick up the pace on cardio…the piecemeal manner in which I have been conducting that has been atrocious! Lifting is WAY more fun.  p.p.s. We’ll see how this all works out in light of my real life. My intention is good and as Napoleon Hill says, "If the mind can concieve it and believe it, the mind can achieve it."

S10C and BB.com Family! What’s up?

Another layer…what could that mean?

I’ll tell you.

I was putting lotion on my face the other day (experimenting with cocoa butter to moisurize at night) and was rubbing it in in an upward motion (supposed to lessen wrinkles…if it’s good enough for Lena Horne it’s good enough for me) and felt my cheek muscles and cheek bones.

Now when I look at pictures of me now it seems like my head is small for my body. It looks kinda scrawny to me, especially after years of looking at a chubby face. But in putting on this lotion I realized there is still another layer of fat to come off and my face is going to be even more skinny (along with the rest of me).

Weird.

Because when I look at myself now I can see that it is me (duh, who else is looking out of those eyes?) but at the same time I have never seen this chick before. Who is this narrow faced, tiny headed girl?

I don’t at all feel nostalgic for fat faced Alissa. She was nice but WEAK. I like new narrow faced Alissa a lot, but I am just getting to know her as I move along this path.

Realizing that there is another layer to come off strikes me as odd, but I guess I’ll get to know "even narrower faced Alissa" when she comes along in the next year or so. I hope she is even tougher than me now.

Hurrah and Cheers!

Alissa

From someone who has actually lost weight! Visit the downloads section of my site Size 10 Chronicles for free weekly weight loss tips drawn directly from my weekly weight loss coaching calls. Enjoy!

Alissa

P.S. Drink some water right now!

So I got to the gym last night at about 7:30pm which is really late for me. I greeted PG at the desk and went to warm up. I wore the "Lift Heavy" shirt I made with my son last week. I warmed up on the treadmill and headed back downstairs, but had taken off the t-shirt at that point. I swear, how I’m dressed/looking really does effect my workout. It’s probably silly, but it is what it is. So I go with my feelings and off came the shirt. Tights and workout top. Decent.

I early in my mense so I’m still bloated (or maybe I’m just bloated) so I didn’t love that look, but at least I could see my arms and shoulders which are looking decent. Anyway when I came downstairs I said to PG as I spun around "See this?" meaning my shape. He says "Yeah, I see it". Nicely. "What should I work on, other than the obvious losing fat." He asked me when I had last worked out and what I had done. 3 days ago and full body circuit. "Well you could work your back to work on your V-taper"

Now I’m showing you an image of a dude, but you get the idea–wide shoulders and narrow waist. You have to build up the back and take the fat off the waist. See…

  He looks like a bg V.

Anyway I decided to do my full body circuit as usual, but focus on back–upper lats among what I did. I started with legs per usual. Got a belt. I also talked to PG (this dude is FULL of INFORMATION–if you ever go by Diamond go in the evening and talk to the big dude in the baseball cap behind the desk…you’ll learn something) about wrist straps. I stared wearing them when I begain including deadlifts in my routine. I started them with FT a while back and used a reverse grip. Check it. It allows you to hold onto a heavier bar better than either front or reverse grip.

Sorry for the hugeness of this image…anyway if you scroll across you’ll see the hands are alternated, one front and one reverse grip. It allows you to hold more weight comfortably. Anyway it is still heavy as hell and I had a hard time holding it so I started to use straps (which basically wrap the barbell to your wrists so even if it slips you have a hold of it).

PG was saying that he found he lost a lot of grip strenth when he used straps for a while years back. He went back to working with no straps. I thought about this and decided to try to go back to the reverse grip. It worked out fine I must say.

Anyway I did 6 sets of squats up to 150# on the barbell–drop set, deadlifts 4 sets, but they were ****ed up because I got interrupted mid-stream by a new friend who wanted to chat. I love you but don’t interrupt my sets. My muscles got cold. Damn. Sort of threw off the rest of the workout, plus it’s getting cool and I didn’t get my good sweat on–may have to go back to sweatshirts to keep warm. I did some Arnold presses and dumbell curls (up to 30# and 25# respectively), and some clean and presses up to 35#. Probably did a few other things, but my rhythm was thrown off. I was thinking…"When a workout is ****ed up do you keep going and finish it off or quit?" I did stick it out but it was basically for naught! Ugh.

On the way out stopped to pick up my little bag from the desk I had another convo with PG. We were talking about competing and he brought a good new perspective to my mind. I mentioned when I went to a couple of shows this summer that there were either no women in the bodybuilding competition or they didn’t look that good (I don’t think I actually said the second thing actually but that does happen in the smaller shows). Anyway he was saying what is the point of winning a show by yourself or without strong competition? A lot of people do well in small shows and don’t bring their best conditioning to the show, but as they progress they come up against people who have actually been working hard on their conditioning and don’t place as well and wonder why. He said, "I’d rather place lower knowing I was competing against the best out there, than win against weaker or no competition." Makes sense, eh?

See ya!

Alissa

from my blog www.size10chronicles.com

I am so over being nice. Modest. Demure. Whatever.

I made a t-shirt when my son and I were in a t-shirt decorating frenzy last weekend (hello bedazzler, fabric paint, markers?!?!?) that says on the front B.B.I.H. and on the back says, in gold fabric paint, "Baddest Bitch In Here!"

I hesitated to wear it to the gym this morning and put a sweatshirt over it. But thought as I rounded the corner to go into the gym, WTF?! What is going to happen to you if you wear that shirt? What is the worst thing that could happen? Someone might say something about it? What? And what would you do? Respond?

I got up to the treadmills on the front row and took off the sweatshirt. NO ON SAID A THING. Being nice is for wimps…that shirt is to motivate…ME!

Cheers folks!

 Alissa

from my blog www.size10chronicles.com

Hey! I just want to drop a quick note saying that FEAR SUCKS! I am in a significant growth stage–physically, entrepreneurially, and personally. Every time I hit a wall or a plateau it is because of fear.

 Physically. I took pictures which were featured in the September Body Review Video which evidently stressed me out and (aside from having a head cold) kept me out of the gym most of the week ( I did some cardio on Saturday and will be lifting tonight…back on schedule)…I saw progress! I saw muscle definition (Did you see my quads?!). I saw the beginings of my bodybuilder body! Oooo I’m scared! Run Away!

I’m getting what I want! Run away!

I have mentioned from time to time this invention of mine. Well I ordered my first batch from the manufacturer on Friday and sent them the money for it. They had been talking minimums and such which were styming me. I finally just said, "Look, I have $X to spend…including shipping…what can you do with that?" They figured out what to do with it and my first product will be coming in the middle of October!

Now I have been talking to them since December of last year, but I FINALLY got around to asking for what I wanted, based on what I could do and the project is moving! Of course I’ll let you guys know when it is out. I KNOW you’re going to LOVE it! So cute and useful. Helpful for fitness and life! Yay! And the universe was totally supporting me in this I found out. Because I had save a certain amount of money for the order but said to them I had that amount plus $500 for the order. I didn’t know where I was going to get that money…I figured I would just skimp out of a paycheck to get it.

When I went to bed the night before the money from my savings was going to hit my regular checking account I asked the universe to help me out. Where will that money come from? I wonder? I need help. I woke up at 2 am and thought about a refund I was owed from our former garbage company that I had requested months ago. I was annoyed because I hadn’t recieved it and though "I’m going to call them in the morning to see where my money is!"

It then occured to me that there was an envelope from that company on the kitchen counter that had been there for days . I hadn’t opened it. I figured it was an advertisement or something. I jumped out of bed and ran down to the kitchen and ripped the envelope open. $587.61 (mfing) cents! WHAT!? Thank you universe! Ask and you WILL recieve! WHAT?!

Personally is the hardest things for me. I’m working on having confidence in me as a brand. Alissa as a brand? WTF? I think I have something to share and offer to people something concrete and good about weight loss. I see it every week when I’m working with my weight loss coaching clients. They are getting substance from what I share.

It starts with me and I am valuable now…not when I’m "finished". People stop me in the street, email me, and tell me to my face how my weight loss has inspired them. People tell me all the time about what they eat, what exercise they did or ask me about diet or exercise. This is serious business and I have to take my value seriously!

WHEW!

have you noticed that all the top profiles for men on bb.com are selling services and none (ok, one sorta) of the women are selling anything? I wonder why?

So yesterday while trolling bodybuilding.com I happened on a comment about the blood type diet. I don’t know why that caught my eye, but it did and I googled it to see what I could find. I looked at type O which I figured was my blood type and the diet and food list recommended resonated with me. I then went on to track down my blood type. My primary care doc didn’t know, so I called my Gyno who has performed 2 surgeries on me so I figured she would likely know. And when her nurse called me back they did know. O+ evidently. Cool! So then I was sure. This is what I found from the first website that came up from my google search:

I don’t digest dairy too well and grains especially wheat has always been my downfall. I know this and have implemented it, without knowing about the blood type diet mostly for the past year and a half when I was working from the diet FT gave me–lean protein and vegetables mainly. It works…for me. The reason this is called "easily influenced" is because two things happened in my brain upon reading about this…1. I reconnected and labeled my love of hardcore training–I love lifting those heavy ass weights and sweating it up doing cardio. Suddenly last night, not different from any other night really, I was going to town on my treadmill. Tearing it up and feeling great. "Well I THRIVE on intense physical exercise you know!", so that’s what I did. 2. I totally saw myself ripping through these last 20 pounds (that’s a whole nother story), I saw myself implementing this eating plan and getting totally RIPPED! FAST! "Eating this way will help me get to totally RIPPED. It’s so obvious that this is how my body works optimally." But this shift happened in my brain (I’m telling you folks that’s where the action of weight loss is…in the head).

I had been training hardcore and eating well for a long time, but again the power of suggestion is strong. And I’m easily influences…in good ways. I always believe the best about me and if I believe something it’s believed and that’s pretty much it–espeically for personal things. All the other articles about the blood type diet call it total BS! Unscientific! People will be malnourished if they eat according to this plan. The funny thing about those statements is most people don’t eat balanced diets now. Fast food. Too many carbs and sugar. Too many bad fats. Too little or too much protein. So how can you say this would be worse for most people if it is an improvement…over iceberg lettuce and maybe a tomato (although many of those get peeled off sandwiches I think). Burgers and fries as diet staples. Whateva! I read them all and totally debunked them in my own head. Scientific? Who really eats scientifically. Maybe 1% of the population. Everyone else eats like my friend who has come to me for diet advice. I asked her what she eats, and she said, "Whatever I come across." Not scientific. And common. So again, whateva! I don’t know if I believe all the mumbo jumbo behind why I’m supposed to eat this way, "What’s a leptin, anyway?" but I know eating CLEAN in this way has helped me lose weight and feel super fantastic! And that’s enough for me.

Con mucho amor.

Alissa