Back on Track!

Sorry I have been MIA!  I spent a week in Florida for my daughter's ice skating competition. When we got back, she was testing for the next level.....then she had an asthma attack!....I am glad that I took the time off to be with her....now it's ME time!

Today I made it back to bootcamp at 615pm!  Worked my butt off...LOL...my forms are all out of whack!....It is ok....at least I was able to complete the whole workout!

I also prepared my meals for the week. yay!

B - my body is out of shape for sure!....I am so sore right now but in a good way.  I need to resume the form class as well as the workouts. 

L - my body may be out of whack; however, my eating habits have improved!  While on vacation, I managed to stay on track with my calories.  Of course, I cheated for a couple of meals but then went right back on eating healthy.  I managed to eat salads for lunch and dinner; avoided all pasta; I drank lots of water and snacks on pretzels!  When we dine out, I opt for 450 or less meals.  Thus, I was able to maintain my weigh. 

O - my oh-yeah moment:  I was happy that I finished the workout today, being so much out of shape!

G - my goals for this week:  resume my routine at the WORX and work on improving my forms!

Portion Control Commitment Continues

Last week, I started precooking my meals for the week with my NuWave oven.  Each day, my lunch was 6 onces of blacken chicken, grilled bell peppers of a bed of lettuces, fresh bell peppers, cranberries, chickpeas, and low-fat vinaigrette dressing and my dinner was shakeology with a small banana.  The first couple of days were very hard.  I had cravings and wanted to eat more than what I had prepared.  I snacked on raw almonds, carrots, celeries.  However,  I was committed to sticking to this plan; and by the fourth day, I started to get used to the routine.  I was not as hungry between meals….yay!!!.....I also completely cut half&half from my coffee, using Almond milk instead!

B – My body is feeling stronger. I can jump higher!  I am able to jog/run 3k in my neighborhood.  I still need to work on my pushups.  LOL.  I am beginning to love doing pushups, just not good at it yet.   Also I noticed that I have better postures now, especially my back!

L – Besides preparing my meals, I learned to use substitutes like Turkey/oat meals for healthier meals.   I am beginning to read ingredients as well as calories, when possible, on my food now.  I am spending more time at the grocery now.  LOL.  I actually enjoyed cooking!

O – My Oh-Yeah moment:  Had Panera Bread for dinner last night:  caught myself reading the calories on the menu….ordered a salad with less than 500 calories!!!!

G – My main goal is to continue with meals prepping, which I just prepared for this week J.  I also need to come to the WORX more. 

on to week #4!

Portion Control Commitment!

I thought I had meal portions down but come to find out I have failed!  My favorite chipotle chicken salad = 3 meals!  During my first Journey, I would have this every weekend after my workouts.  No wonder I was not losing weight!!!  Thanks Maia for pointing this out!

 
For this week, my Nuwave oven arrives……yay!!!.....I don’t cook.  My sister cooks for my husband, me, and my daughter.  Vietnamese food can be very fattening.  So this oven is going to help me prepare healthier meals.  Today, I prepared my first set of meals (dinner) for the week:  blackened chicken (gluten free) with bell peppers.  It was so simple!  Just marinate the chickens and grill them in the oven for 10 minutes!  It couldn’t get any easier than this!  For lunches, I will have greenberry shakeology with fruits.  I usually put in one small banana or strawberries.  I think if I follow this plan then I will likely to achieve my weigh loss goal, not to mention portion control!  LOL.

Another issue I have is my coffee habit.  I love half&half!...LOL….after talking to my coach Ashley, I went out to get Blue Diamond Breeze almond milk&coconut milk per her recommendation.  I will try this with my coffee instead.  I love coconut and almond, so I think this will help me.

As for workouts, my body has come a long way.  Before the WORX today, I walked for 3 miles, then work out at the WORX (oh-yeah!!!)……I felt great!  So definitely my stamina has increased so I need to keep this up.  Maia definitely worked our butts off today!

Before Journey 1 ended, I was hesitant to join this Journey.  Now, I am so glad that I joined.  If anyone asks me, I would recommend it.  During my first Journey, it was getting used to the workouts (my body was so sore!), getting used to the new nutrition plan….learning healthy eating habits (which I am still struggling!).  For me, these were too many changes at the same.  Now that my body is used to the workouts, I can concentrate on my eating habits. 

A big thank you to Ashley for being such a great coach! 

I am so greatful that I have the WORX behind me for this Journey.  Everyone is so supportive. 

I coudn't ask for a better gym!!! 
So on to week #3!

 

The Journey Continues

I am so excited to continue on this Journey with a group of dedicated coaches! 

I missed the nutrition seminar with the first Journey so I made sure that I attended it this time.  I am so glad that I did because I learned so much from it. Portions control, meal plannings, good carb vs. bad carb, Paleo, calories intake, MyFitnessPal, etc……I went home and the first thing I did was order a Nuwave oven so that I can start to cook and prepare all my meals.  I don’t know how to cook but I need to if I am going to commit to a healthy lifestyle!!   When I started the first Journey, I was on Medifast meals.  I was able to get off the meals; however, my eating habits are still very inconsistent!

My OH YEAH Moment this week so far was being able to go through bootcamp and the fitness test after being away from the WORX for 2 weeks!!! 

My goals for this week are:  resume my 4x workouts at the WORX and continue to watch what I eat until I get my Nuwave oven.

Week #4 - Goodbye Medifast Meals!

Week #4 has been good to me.  I replaced my Medifast meals with normal healthy  snacks and meals:  white eggs for breakfast, salads with low-fat dressings for lunch, greenberry shakeology (with fruits) for dinner, and for snacks: natural peanut butter with carrots, almonds, and yogurt.  A special thank you to Ashley for coming up with a meal plan for me to follow.  The food cravings are gone since I started eating normal food.  So good bye to Medifast for good!  Also a shout-out to Sarah Pham for offering me paleo meals.  I will definitely take on her offer soon!

My body continued to shrink! (at least I felt that way with my clothesJ)  I attended the first foundation class last Wednesday and walked away with better forms.  So that is another goal for me to work on:   better forms!

My oh-yeah moment was when I told myself that after The Journey ends, I will make WORX as part of my daily routine, 3x a week.  Coming here 4x a week has become a normal routine now.  When I first started The Journey, I was not sure if I could keep up with the commitment of coming to class 4x a week.  Well, here I am.  I have been coming deligently every week for four weeks now!!!  WOW! 

Moving forward to week #5! 

Week #3

I was busy with project deadline for Week #2 that I didn’t post any.  Sorry about that!

Week #3 has been hard for me.  My body started craving for sweets,etc…. so I know I am not doing something right.  I will make a point to discuss this with Ashley.  I gave in to ONE egg roll!!...LOL

Physically, my body is feeling great.   I actually enjoyed working out with such a nice group of peeps!  Even though I have not lost any pounds, my clothes fitted loosely now!  This is my biggest encouragement to continue this journey.

My oh-yeah moment was yesterday when I worked out two sessions:  bootcamp and kickboxing!   I will continue to work on increasing my stamina.  I have completely replaced one of my meals with Shakeology.  However, I still need to work on eating right and healthy as I am dependent on those Medifast meals L(  At the Thursday night’s mixer, I realized I was eating a lot.  So I need to work on portions!!!  I don’t cook for my family.  My sister cooks for us so my husband is used to all these Vietnamese dishes.  I think I need to start learning how to cook so I can try out those paleo recipes that I am seeing on facebook J)  One of my concerns is that when I stop eating these Medifast meals, I will go back to my unhealthy eating habits :-((

Oh well, moving forward to week #4!  I am determined to change my eating habits and staying fit!

First Full Week of The Journey!

WOW!  What a week it has been!  So much to write (as opposed to three sentences last weekJ) about this week!

For one thing, I showed up at the WORX five days and worked my butt off for an hour each time!  That is an accomplishment I thought I couldn’t keep up when Sarah Pham asked me to join her on this Journey.  My special thank-you to Sarah for introducing me to this group and to this program.  The last time Sarah made such an impact on our family was when she introduced my daughter Kimmie to ice skating.  That was four years ago, and Kimmie is still skating her ways to competitions!

My Oh Yeah moment? – I could wear my size small workout clothes today!  I went from size extra-small to small to medium over the past ten years.  I have been stuck at size medium for a few years now.  My husband nodded his head this morning when he saw me!  Enough said!  Thank you Maia for the support hug this morningJ)

Ok…..let me pause and tell you my story before I continue….LOL

After I had Kimmie in 2001, I had been on a weigh war with my body.  I tried all sorts of diet programs, from Jenny Craig to Weight Watcher to Almase to you-know-what!  I would lose half the weigh but then gain them all back when I got tired/bored from eating their food.  Two years ago when I turned 40, my doctor told me that it was imperative that I lose these 35 pounds to be healthy!  My ideal weigh is 115lbs.  At that time, I weighed around 150 lbs.  I have one year to lose these 35 pounds.  I went home, not sure how I am going to lose all that weigh L(  I didn’t want to go on any diet programs, so I started walking.  I walked 3 miles a day, 4 times a week.  Slowly, my weigh started to shred.  I walked ..ate junk food….walked ….ate junk food…. walked ….so after 2 years, I only lost 13 lbs.  When January 2013 arrived, I was desperate to lose the last 22 lbs that I signed up yet for another program called Take Shape for Life.  When the food arrived, I took a picture of them and posted on my facebook.  Two days into the program, Sarah saw the post and called me.  So here I am!

So that is my story…..moving forward J

Ashley is my coach.  I have had two very inspiring conversations with her.  She is my role model as well as Maia.  Every time I wanted to give up or skipped my workout; I reminded myself that if Ashley/Maia/Flo (to name a few) can do this, then there are no excuses for me.  I signed up for change, so I have to embrace it!  We have such a wonderful and supportive team.  I always feel welcome when I come for classes.

OK…enough with the excitement!  What are my goals on this Journey?

1.       Respect my body (would be nice to see a size 2 again!)

a.      Learn how to eat healthy (I am slowly replacing with healthy food and shakeology!)

b.      Learn how to keep it healthy physically through attending WORX’s classes

2.      Learn to say ‘I can’t do this’ less and more of ‘I can do this!’

3.      Learn from others

4.      Make new and lasting friendships

Ok….enough about my goals!  Last Monday I was so exhausted/dehydrated during class that I couldn’t keep up.  The next day, I was talking to one of my coworkers about the Journey at WORX and how I couldn’t keep up.  She gave me an energy drink she got from Whole Food.  It has chia seeds and kombucha tea.  I took the drink and noticed that I could work my way through the entire class.  I was not tired or exhausted or dehydrated.  So I went home and started reading about Chia Seeds.  So here it is… http://www.nuts.com/cookingbaking/chia-seeds/premium.html. I hope this helps!  You can get them at Costco for about $4.99 a pound.  That is the best price for this.

See you all in class!

Journey 2013's first workout

just got back from the first work-out!  feeling great but soooooo sore!  I was so proud that I didn't give up and kept up with my team for the whole hour!!!......looking forward to Monday's workout!