X Marks the Spot!

So, instead of being poetic today, I thought I would update you all on how my progress is going with P90X.

I started this journey on September 8th, making today the start of my third week. With each passing week, I’ve been feeling stronger. I love to lift weights. Nothing makes me feel more like a woman than lifting weight, okay, that’s a complete exaggeration.

Today was my third chest and back workout, the pushup workout from hell and I did a lot of them on my feet instead of my knees. Now, I’m a girlie girl. I like to look pretty but trust me there was nothing pretty about grunting out full-body pushups. Wait, I take that back. There was this pretty feeling I got knowing one day I will have a nice upper body.

I’ve been trying to do the program as designed. Operative word in that sentence is ‘trying’. Guess what? There is no trying. There is do and do not. So, under that theory, I’ve had not been eating the way I should and I have not completed all the workouts, Yoga X and Kenpo X, give me trouble for various reasons.

P90X comes with a nutrition guide and there is a portion control option. This is the best option for a girl like me—meaning someone who has to look up a recipe for boiling water. So, it should be a piece of cake right? NOT!! I can’t seem to translate those little portion control squares into full meals. I’ve been making better choices but probably not enough good choices.

So, at the start of my third week, I’m all ready feeling like a failure. I know at the end of my 30 days, there will be no difference in my size, weight, or measurements. I can feel it and I can see it---the SAME---is written all over my body. I’m trying (there is that word again)…I am focusing on the numbers even though I told myself I wouldn’t. It’s hard not to. I’m focusing on all the numbers, my clothing size, the weight, the measurements, how many workouts I complete, how many reps, how much weight did I use…and frankly…I’m drowning in mathematics.

Why am I allowing myself to be defined this way? Doesn’t it matter I have a family who loves me no matter what size my jeans read. Doesn’t it matter that I have friends who think I’m the life of the party, whether or not my scale was up or down that day. Doesn’t it matter my husband thinks I’m the best woman on the planet regardless if my tummy is not tight and cellulite has taken an almost permanent residence on my thighs. Yes, it matters, but it matters less than what I think of myself. And myself is fed up with that ‘meatloaf’ that sits on top of my pants when I sit down….and for goodness sake….I’m a vegetarian!!!

I can see definition in my shoulders and arms, a line forming across the top of my body, the parallel lines of my abs are shining through, calf muscles are starting to protrude, and my quads and hamstrings are now letting the world know they are two separate muscles. Good stuff right? I think so. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. At some point, it was under construction…. and so am I…. under construction…mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually.

P90X is more than push, pull, jump, squat, kick, and stretch. It’s more than 12 workouts designed to get you into the best shape of your life. It’s a torture ride into the soul of a woman (this woman). Do I have what it takes to be the best Reesy I can be? If I do, then the definition of who I am is not in mathematics. The definition of who I am begins with character…an X.

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What's In Your Weather Report?

Are you walking around in a fog? Most of us know one thing- we want to lose weight. We exercise regularly. We clean up our diets (for the most part), but the scale doesn’t move and our pants are fitting the same, if not tighter than before. Have you checked your weather?

Are you eating mindlessly? Are you fully conscious of the things you put in your mouth and why? Bottom line: If you are NOT hungry, you should NOT be eating.

This kind of eating is known as “fog eating”. We have all been there. You know, those times where we open up a bag of chips or cookies and eat them for no apparent reason, shoveling it in as if junk food makers are going on strike, next thing you know you are having that, I-can’t-believe- I-ate- the- whole-thing moment. If we are not careful, fog eating can have a direct effect on one’s self esteem, thus thrusting us into a vicious cycle of self-loathing, pigging out, and maybe a couple days off our plan. Was that whole can of Pringles worth this?

Food is intended for fuel for our bodies but when we think of it in these terms it sounds so boring and unexciting---so what do we do---we supplement that notion by eating foods we like to eat---in earnest and most of the time---unconsciously.

Consider this, if we eat most of the time for fuel (80%-90%), when the time comes to eat joyfully (and I advocate doing so in moderation), why wouldn’t you choose to eat, slowly, delightfully---consciously. Anything worth eating is worth enjoying every bite and know this—no matter what your joyful foods are, when you aren’t enjoying it anymore STOP EATING IT. Your waistline will thank you.

Nothing will derail you faster than fog eating. Check your weather report.

What's in today's forecast?

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Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today....

....to join this [man] and this [woman] in matrimony--to their bodies.

Today I request the pleasure of your company at my wedding.

My body all five foot, eleven inches of it, is the love of my life, my eternal soul mate, and the one person I was born to love. I'm committing to give my body my best, by eating well and staying active--the key to having a happy, healthy marriage. No more cold feet nor fear of commitment. I no longer find just cause why I shouldn't be lawfully married to my body.

Share my wedding customs.

Something Old- is the trainer and the workout I know works for me.
Something New- will be a different style of workout I’ve never tried before.
Something Borrowed- are the fitness tips and recipes from the Million Dollar Body club.
Something Blue- Beachbody.

We are ready to begin....

I, Reesy, take you, my body, to be my wedded body for life, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish. I will honor you, protect you, take care of you, and obey you, 'till death do us part, and hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.

Are you ready to take your vows?

Divorce is not an option.

Author- Reesy

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The Politics of Weight Loss

Looking for a change? Is it the same politics as usual?

We could argue that our campaign to lose weight is much like politics. Are you doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result, working out some days, sometimes not, eating clean sometimes, sometimes not but always getting on the scale hoping—today is the day the weight will finally, magically disappear? Do you sometimes fight dirty by taking pills or buying the latest weight loss gadget, when you knew there was no way it could deliver on its promises? You need a new way to govern yourself and your thoughts about losing weight.

On your weight loss campaign what is it going to be experience or change? Well, the politics of weight loss suggests the perfect solution is a little bit of both—doing those same ole things that work for you and turning the page to something new to take your body to another level.

Get re-energized! This is OUR time. This is YOUR time. This is MY time. It’s okay to keep doing Slim in 6 because it works for you. It’s also okay to be a maverick and mixed up as many programs as you like. No one system works for everyone. Whether you are conservative or liberal, Beachbody has a program for you. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You don’t have to be all right-winged or all left-winged. Most of us are somewhere in between. So you are free to step out on your own and rebel against those weight loss views that do not work for you and embrace those that do.

Some days you may want to kick, punch and jam with Turbo Jam and other days you may want to house your body with Rockin Body. Maybe you feel like burning it up with Slim in 6, while also feeling like a bit of Kenpo with P90X. Whatever you views, it’s your decision to make. No one is going to make the decision for you and guess what, it’s your right and your duty to take care of your self. Vote to put yourself first. Elect to cast a ballot for change. Change of your body, health, mind and spirit. Yes you can--be a success story. YOU—are the change you can believe in and with Beachbody- together we can put country first by winning the war on obesity. This is NOT a dumb war.

Author- Reesy

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Life's Hurdles

I ran into my old personal trainer today. The guy who helped me lose 25 pounds, there a stones throw away from me. If only I had special powers to be magically transported to another place. I wished for it but it didn't happen. So there I was with gained back pounds embedded on my hips, thighs, and abdomen. My stomach started to rumble as if the pounds that had returned to me were laughing at the embarrassment I was feeling. I spoke uncomfortably without giving any real eye contact and before he could engage me in conversation, I rushed off to my car, jiggling all the way--hoping he didn't notice, but feeling certain he had.

As I rode home, I'd become angry with myself. Why had I'd allowed myself to feel ashamed about gaining back weight. Sure, when any of us enter into a method of weight loss, we do so with the thought we are never going to gain it back, even the best laid plans can and--often do--go awry.

I should have been proud of myself. I am taking an active role in my weight loss. I just couldn't take that I was being scrutinized, judged, and looked upon with shame, but not by my former trainer, by ME.

Don't let others judge you and more importantly don't judge yourself. In our day to day lives, we have ups and downs and it would serve to think that our journey of weight loss will not be any different. I've learned to embrace the ups and downs as an experience that is uniquely me and to know that as long as I continue to keep moving in a forward direction, I will eventually make it to the finish line, whether I run a perfect race and jump all the hurdles, or find myself tripped up by life's hurdles, there is only one goal. FINISH!

Author- Reesy

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Does Your Weight Gain Remind You of an Episode of School House Rock?

As the song says, “Let’s play a game of hide and seek -- 5…10…15…20…25…-- ready of not here I come”.

Are those extra pounds hiding on your behind until you seek them out on the scale? Good news, you can STOP living out the lyrics of that song across your body.

Losing weight is easy right? We all know how to do it.

Eat fruits and vegetables

Eat high quality proteins

Limit sugar

Write it all down

Drink water

Take a multivitamin

Get enough rest

Exercise more; eat less

We know what it will take to make it happen. SOOOO, why aren’t we doing it? No accountability. Most of us go it alone and it’s easy to give up on ourselves when no one is watching. We talk ourselves into having that extra cookie, when we know the one we just had was more than enough. We allow ourselves to get lazy and skip one workout, then two, and before long we are having the I-need-lose-weight conversation with ourselves again, because as I said, NO-ONE-IS-WATCHING. If we are really savvy, we can almost fool ourselves into thinking our plans never existed. After all, the only person who knew of our plans didn’t tell anyone. And if you are anything like me, every time you start and restart a program, your starting weight gets higher and higher…5…10…15…20

Let’s face it. Diet and exercise can be boring and uninspiring. I get it, but we can’t escape it. Taking care of yourself will be a lifelong commitment and if you don’t find a way to not only enjoy working out, but also anticipate it—you won’t do it and you know what happens then…25…30…35…40

Enter Team Beachbody and your success is right around the corner.

Why?

Beachbody gives you all the accountability tools to triumph over past disappointments, starting with a FREE fitness coach—your personal cheerleader, the Beachbody message boards—a community of people who are taking the same journey, WOWY--Beachbody’s virtual gym (a great place to meet your friends), and so much more. If you utilize these tools and learn to exercise socially and not anti-socially, your victorious ‘after’ shots will be a couple clicks away.

And think about, almost everything is more enjoyable when performed with a buddy--dining out, going to a movie, shopping, taking a long drive, just to name a few. Why not add exercise? It’s the best buddy activity of all.

Accountability is the key to moving beyond yet another failed attempt to get in shape. By being accountable to someone else, you allow a person to invest in you, to support you, to celebrate you and to celebrate with you, to cry with you, to believe in you and most of all to have fun with you.

So, get your butt up off the coach. Reach over and turn off the School House Rock, the sooner the better—did I mention the numbers in that song goes all the way up to 100? Yikes! .

Find a new set of lyrics to scribble across your body.

How about I’m too sexy for my____________? You decide.

Author- Reesy

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Shaun T’s Rockin Body

Last night, I did the two-step with Shaun T, in my first Rockin Body workout. I received the DVD's yesterday and couldn't wait to get home and get moving. I was literally undressing as I walked up the stairs to my apartment. Did I mention I was excited?

I decided to forgo my usual attire of long sweats and almost equally long t-shirt, in exchange for short shorts and sports bra. For 15 minutes, I marched in and out, shimmied, did the cha, cha, cha, the grapevine, and a number of other dances. My living room had morphed into the set of the hottest music video and I was the star. I didn't feel self conscious nor self deprecating. I felt sexy, vivacious, and oddly powerful.

As I prepared for the workout, I decided I was going to make this all about ME. Working out is about feeling good about YOU. It's your ME-time.

Yesterday it was my time to throw caution to the wind and accept myself right now as I am, while mentally and physically preparing myself for the better me, soon to come. We all have those parts we love. I think I have great legs. We have those parts we don't like so much. Did I mention my gut? But I am not my legs, nor my gut. I am the sum of all my parts and all my parts--together--make for one Rockin Body.

Order Rockin Body here.

Author- Reesy

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Tony Horton says Give Him 10 Minutes and He’ll Give You Results

Seriously??? A couple of months ago, I was feeling depressed because once again I was gaining weight. I’d recently worked hard to lose 25 pounds by going to the gym. I stopped going to the gym, figuring I could manage things on my own. Slowly, the weight starting coming on again, when I finally got on the scale to survey the damage, I’d gained back 19 pounds of the 25 I’d lost. I knew I had to do something but WHAT? I knew I didn’t want to join another gym nor hire another personal trainer but I also knew—sometimes-- I could find it hard to self motivate. A friend of mine, who was also a gym buddy, saw how depressed I was (or at least got tired of hearing about it) and said to me ‘You know Tony Horton makes a ten minute workout.’ HUH? WHO? A WHAT? My friend had just purchased P90X and was very excited because he also didn’t want to go to the gym anymore, P90X was freeing him from those chains. I’d heard of Beachbody and had been a member of their community years ago. I’d done a number of their programs, Slim in 6, Slim Series, Power 90, Project You, Turbo Jam, and yes even P90X. They were all good programs. I didn’t work any of them as I should have, refusing to change my diet, and thus receiving marginal results and of course, blamed the program. When I heard about this ten-minute workout, I was intrigued. I scoured the TV looking for the infomercial (since my friend didn’t know what it was called), no luck. I goggled it—got the name of the program—Ten Minute Trainer—then scanned my television's program guide for the next showing of the infomercial. There was one set to come on in ten minutes (really I’m not making this up).

As I watched the infomercial, it was being marketed to ‘the busiest people or people short on time’. I remember thinking or ‘the laziest’, which is the category I fell into. I was excited at the claim I could work out for 10 minutes a day and get results and because it was Tony Horton and Beachbody, I knew there had to be some truth to it. After watching the infomercial, I still pondered the purchase for a week. Fear and laziness--I knew if Tony was saying he could give me results in 10 minutes, it was going to be a tough ten minutes. I was still trying to get something for nothing or at least for very little work, which is why the ten minutes appeal to me in the first place.

I finally ordered it. On July 24th, days after receiving Ten Minute Trainer, I gave Tony 20 minutes, but not before I logged onto Beachbody.com and reactivated my account and started posting to the message boards. I found people to share with, laugh with, support and encourage and it kept me on my program, not perfectly, but pushing play daily, with each day being better than the day before. I’d decided to do a six-week rotation- a hybrid of the basic and accelerated plans. Halfway through, I was down six pounds and feeling like I was really making a difference. Ten Minute Trainer was the jump-start I needed to get back to working out. Yes, I’d still kick myself from time to time for having to re-lose the 19 of the 25 pounds I’d lost, but at least it wasn’t the whole 25.

The moral of the story, I gave Tony Horton 10, 20, and sometimes 30 minutes but he didn’t give me results. I gave the results to myself by taking the tools he’d given me through Beachbody and putting them to work.

Now I’m ready to move on to a new challenge. Shaun T’s Rockin Body.

Order Ten Minute Trainer here.

Author- Reesy

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