staceinspace’s Focus BodyBlog

I love Tom Venutto’s Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle.  He tells it like it is.  No nonsense.  I highly recommend this download e-book.  He cuts through all the BS and propoganda of the supplement industry and personal trainer quackery out there to tell you the truth.  (personal trainers are good overall, but some arenot so good) Look at his body for an example if you want..I do.  I don’t take advice from losers or people who dont look the part.

I am up to 5-7 days per week at least 30-45 minutes per session and I am training myself into superior conditioning.  Fat loss is a plus but I am in better conditioned shape then most people half my weight.  My arms are so strong and my legs, hips and thighs are awesome!  I will be my normal weight in a few months but with massive muscle gains and superior strength.  I am glad I never smoked.  My surgeries hit my body pretty hard but I am all about NO EXCUSES!  NOT EVEN PAIN!  I run through pain.  They taught me in physical therapy (the few times I went) that pain is good sometimes.  I listen to my body when I need a rest though and recuperate appropriately.
My weights are a constant and I do my 300 workout as well from time to time.  Venutto says the myth of low intensity for a long time is why people fail in their efforts and that 5-7 days per week is needed for people like me who lose weight slowly and it makes sense!  It is like ripping teeth out to lose weight for me so off I run!
I am in better shape now than I have ever been and I stay on the treadmill at least 30 minutes to be able to get into the fat reserves.  Anything less and you are just burning sugar and your fat is hanging on.

I am bound and determined to be in a better weight range soon.  I NEVER give up which is the hallmark of success.  I see people quit and it breaks my heart.  Pretty soon a doughnut is shoved in the mouth and then ice cream and pizza and back to a sedentary lifestyle living on a couch in between days of work.  It is in your everyday habits that excellence is forged and not in short bursts of trying.  I look at my couch and get back on the treadmill and put up pictures of where i have been and who I want to look like.  And…I DONT TAKE ADIVCE FROM LOSERS!  SO many people trying to sabotage me with lies that women cant workout as hard as men…BS!  BS!  Women have the same body minus and plus a few factors but muscle and fat are the same!  I workout like an animal and do not pamper myself.  If I aint sweating I aint losing.
Consistency, determination and rip your heart out exercise is what gets the body of your dreams..not going easy on yourself.  People, especially women are too easy and soft on themselves and fool themselves into thinking a slow stroll is better..somehow no pain no gain is bad.  NO pain no gain is good.  So many women in my family never lose weight because of this "go easy I am a woman Bullshit!"
I push myself harder EVERY workout.  No BS’s myself and no coddling.  No looking for an easy and quick fix.  Hard ass busting work until I sweat and bleed effort.

May all your workouts cause you sweat and the need for a shower.  If not..its just maintenance work…

I have been training very steadily and I enjoy it.  I am working out to just not become a cripple from pain.  Cold weather and lack of motivation makes it difficult to press on.  But as the Brittish say, keep a stiff upper lip!

Back on the treadmill slowly.  Colder weather and pain in m muscles and bones makes it slow though.

30 good mornings

100 crunches on the exercise ball

3 sets 12 reps 15 pounds

1 mile run

1/4 mile walk to recover

Protein/Omega’s 2 fat burners for energy no Purple Wraath today makes me jittery.

Looking to try White Flood.

Boy…the cold weather crept up and brought a familiar friend with it:PAIN.  I had to get on the Duragesic patch to manage my flare and the pelvic pain that comes with my Interstitial Cystitis and I am afraid to use it.  Very powerful drug. But when Vicodin no longer works and other opiates and even my attempts at homeopathic cures fail..drugs are needed from time to time to manage it.  I use the Omega’s everyday as well as my other supplements like Vitamin E and fish and flaxseed oil but sometimes the pain is unbearable and not manageable.

I ran for three days in a row last week and then did miniature sprinting which worked my inner thighs so tight I could not walk easily for the following three days.  The the cold and the pain came.I am eating less on the days I do not work out.  Since relaxing a bit and allowing myself to not feel bad I cannot control the pain without pharmaceutical intervention..I am better equiped for the psychological strength needed to endure chronic pain.

I am confidant that the new workout  regimen I must devise has to include new techniques and a slower pace for the fall and winter when the cold creeps into my bones.  With my arthritis and abdominal adhesions from 6 surgeries..old man winter always brings old man pain.

Halloween Haunts and Scary Fun!
I am off to Homer Michigan for the number 1 rated haunted house in America..The Homer Mill.  Check it out on the web, even Alice Cooper loves it and they have a specially made chair for him there.  I am a HUGE HALLOWEEN fan.  My yard reflects it.  I will post some pics of it later.  My family and I will be staying the night there near the historic and mill and eat dinner in their restaurant.  Then we will swim at the indoor heated pool.  Looking forward to a much needed break from the daily grind.  Even though we live near Ann Arbor a hour away we are still getting a hotel so we can relax and swim at the pool and then come home tomorrow.
I want to go to Transylvaina where they have this tour and weekend getaway package for Halloween someday.  Christmas is fun too but Halloween is the only legal time you can scare people and not be in trouble.  I love the creativity of Halloween and the people who get into it and make their yards fun for the kids.  Going over the top is my style in life and I believe people love over the top for fun!  Birthday gifts, holiday decorations and style of clothes and fair is awesome over the top!  Life is all about play and when you forget ho to play and lose the ability to be frivilous and frivolity abandon you..you are old.  I think having fun and playing sometimes as an adult keeps people sane.  That is why I also love bodybuilding as it makes me feel like I am playing and having fun and not just working out.  Plus the benifit of how good I feel after I workout is like being young.
Well,, of to walk a bit on the treadmill and get used to my new black hair.  I will go red in a few months and then return to blonde in the spring.  Hate being the same all the time so I like to liven up my look.  I am also confidant that I will lose this weight into the new year and will maintain the loss.  Since I lost the weight so slowly it will not return.

I AM TELLING ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED THAT LONG TERM WEIGHT LOSS IS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL WHEN YOU KEEP YOUR CALORIES UNDER 1800 OR LESS A DAY OR AVERGAE THAT EVERY WEEK.  YOU WILL NOT GAIN IF YOU ARE COGNICENT OF YOUR CALORIC INTAKE.  People believe it is a fat and sugar game or a exercise game but the truth is calorie deficits and calorie watching and recording prevent gain.  I am living proof of that, especially since losing weight for me is extremely difficult as a meso body time.

The one plus about my body shape is that I am evenly proportioned and have incredible muscle.  Now if I can just get all the fat off my lower have so you can see it as well as you can the upper half of me!

Good luck and hope to all you working out consistantly and patiently.  Slow and steady wins the race and monitoring with a food journal (keep it in the bathroom near the toilet) and you will find it is easy to just scrawl down a brief records of what you ate and an approximation of how much.  Just writing down things like "I had a bologna and cheese sandwhich" or "I ate three mini snickers" keeps you more aware of what is passing over the lips and onto the hips!  IF you add it up mid day you can see how many calories you have left the rest of the day.  It works for me and I have not gained any weight in 2 years as proof.  I also have a mini metal flip open notebook the size of a cell phone I use for work or when I am away to keep track.  It works if you work it!
I bought my black journal (a blank paper artist sketchbook really) at Borders for under 10 bucks.  It is hard cover, huge and worth every penny.  I keep it in the bathroom and as I go about my rituals I keep a pen inside and jot down food.  It seems tiresome but when you can also write down how you feel, what exercise you did, you can go back and leaf through and see your patterns of eating, drinking, sleeping, exercising and mood and understand yourself better.

I am proud of my weight loss and have lost close to 40 pounds.  I eat whatever I want, I would say 70% healthy and 30% snacks, fast food and fatter content food.  Because I dont restrict myself to an impossible diet like I tried before with chicken until I grew wings and veggies and plain food I am successful.

Eating prepackaged food like Jenny Craig is never good as when you go back to eating what you normally eat the weight comes back.  I have several freinds who do this and it never fails to result in weight loss after they eat thier own foods again.  Its Halloween and I know candy (especially my fav of chocolate) is everywhere so why fight it?  I buy the mini candy bars and eat a few throughout the day when I am craving as it seems so much more.  But I know the calories in a serving so stop after I had "one serving".  It works.

I intend however to eat more clean and exercise twice a day now even if it is just a walk at night.