I love my automatic!

I sincerely think that after this morning's boot camp, if I had a standard vehicle, I would still be sitting in the driveway at boot camp! Wowzers! It was HARD! We started out with a baseball game. Sounds great right? WRONG! This is after all Ben's Boot Camp baseball! To get to each "base" you have to complete the following: First Base, 10 Burpees, Second Base, 10 wood chops, Third Base 10 squats, and Home plate 10 push ups! After getting to home plate, we placed a point on our score board and started back at first base. I don't even know at this point how long we played "baseball" for. It must have been at least 20 minutes! The first round, I didn't do so great, but the second round I pushed harder to not let down my teammate. I worked hard, and got it done, however there was NOTHING easy about it. Nevertheless, I am so proud of myself for getting through it. I was definitely wishing that I had on my purple bracelet today to keep pushing me, but where there wasn't a purple bracelet, there was Ben, and 3 other fantastic MOOsers!

After that "game" the abuse wasn't over yet! We did another circuit of exercises that was 30 seconds each, 5 seconds to get to the next one and 30 seconds at that station. 30 seconds may not be long, but just to try it out, put yourself in push up pose (no knees) for 30 seconds and hold yourself there. Go ahead- I dare ya! You will gain a new found respect for the second hand! For this circuit we did plank poses (as described above), wall sits, kettlebell lifts, and I can't remember what the last one was called, (squat presses maybe) but you do a mini-squat with weights and press the weights up on the upward movement. Ben had us using 15lb weights in each hand. I am sure that Ben will post all of these exercises on his blog, so make sure to check them out there, as he knows better than I do just what we did!

The Push: Clearly, all of this is a struggle for me. I have a lot of weight that I am moving around. Today, when I was doing the plank poses, as usual, I was having a hard time staying up. Ben placed his timer on the floor in front of me so I could see the time ticking down. It's amazing how that helped me. I would think "only 8 seconds left, 7... 6... 5...." and then I was done. Sure it was a painful 8 seconds, but it was DONE! The last time Ben placed the time where I could see it there were 18 seconds left. He announced that if I were to stay up in that plank pose until the time ran out then it would be our last time around. Talk about PRESSURE! It worked! I worked, and I stayed up for the full 18 seconds. It took every single ounce of strength and determination that I had, but I didn't let my girls down! We went through one more circuit and then we finally got to cool down!

Monday down, only 4 more days of boot camp this week! It feels great!

Inspirational...

I got up this Sunday morning feeling quite good only to open my email and feel even better! I want to encourage, and inspire through this journey and it has already begun! Check out this awesome email I received: (I hope she doesn't mind that I'm quoting her!)

So since having the baby 7 weeks ago, it was time to get my ass in gear. Although your workout sounds excruciating,(hats off to you) you were my motivation yesterday on my treadmill. I had 6 minutes left…6! I was ready to call it quits, but I thought of your journey and took a big swig of water and kept going. I thought OMG 6 friggin minutes you wuss, imagine what Christine is doing!

So thank you!

Reading that gave me such a warm fuzzy feeling!

I also want to give a HUGE shout out to Ben Warstler, our trainer. I don't think I have really thanked him yet. I mean, I have said "thanks" but what I really want to say is: Ben, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I may tell him that I hate him every now and then, but I really just hate the workouts! Ben is being very selfless in this process. We might whine and complain about being there 6 days a week, but he is also there! He is taking time from his family to make our lives with our families better! I don't think I could ever thank him enough!

A bit of an emotional day...

I guess before I get into today's emotional day, I will comment on yesterday's kick ass workout. When I say kick ass, I don't mean it was awesome, I mean it kicked my ass! I actually found it to be a bit more "fun," if you can really call it that, than our first class. Luckily for me, Ben has already blogged about it so I will let you read it directly from his blog. There is even a little video snippet there for your viewing pleasure! Oh the joy! Let me tell you, I was in some serious pain last night. I wasn't quite sure if I would be able to get comfortable enough to go to sleep. But I was, and I slept like a baby. You know, the good kind of baby! I managed to make it through the entire hour without running to the bathroom to vomit! Yes, SUCCESS! I was, however quite nauseous during the resting periods. Ben gave us an awesome nutrition tip that focused on how to burn more calories without doing anything extra! It's called the Thermic Effect and you can also read that on Ben's Blog. Read it, it has some great, smart and useful information.

After my ass-whoopin' at the gym, I headed to a doctor's appointment for a follow up from last week. I don't own a scale but the doctor's office of course forces us to step onto the dreaded thing. Ben tells us not to weigh ourselves, It's not all about the scale and it will discourage us, but I am so excited about this I have to share... from Friday last week to Friday this week, I lost 3 pounds. Now, I know that is most likely water weight, but I don't care! It's weight! It is just proof to me that I am doing something right. Not only that, but I didn't start the nutrition and workouts until Wednesday. That is both motivational and exciting!

Today we had our first Metabolism Makeover meeting. I had to be in Derby for 8 on a Saturday morning, but there was no workout, so no problem! We discussed ways that different things can affect your metabolism, both positively and negatively. We also discussed the different weight loss programs and fads out there and why they don't work. It is so amazing seeing it all in this new light. A big focus today was our goal tracker. The goal tracker is simply a sheet of paper that each MOOser needed to fill out stating our goals, reasons, how we will achieve them, obstacles, solutions to obstacles, who will help us out along the way, when we will start, when we want to meet our goals (short and long term), and also how we will reward ourselves for making progress toward our goals. This is where it became emotional.

I won't disclose what the other MOOser's goals are because those are personal, and I don't feel it is my place to expose them. However, I will certainly share mine, because the more I am saying it, the better it sounds, the better it feels, the more sense it makes. Plus, I know that YOU are the people that gave me this fantastic opportunity, so why not? I kind of feel like I am at that place (all of you mothers out there will know exactly what I mean) where you are a first time mom, and you're worried about everyone seeing your stuff when you give birth. But then suddenly you're there. And you just want to do it, and it hurts and sucks, but now you don't care who sees your stuff because it's going to get you where you need to be. This is me showing my stuff to get me to where I need to be. Only this time- I have all of my clothes on!

Initially I had written that my goal was to become a healthy and attractive weight/size (because we know we can't count solely on the scale). But ultimately my goal is to know that if I want to take my precious daughter, Liberty to Santa's Village, I can hop on the ride with her and not worry if I will fit. I don't want to have to stand on the side lines while Alex and Libby live their lives without me. I want to give Alex back the wife he once had, that was bubbly, energetic and full of life. A short term way of knowing that I am progressing toward my goal will be when I take Liberty to her weekly Kindermusik class and I am able to get up and down off of the floor and dance around comfortably and easily. That is my 6 week goal. I will BE THERE! My long term goal for 6 months is to lose 80 pounds. It might sound like a big dream, but why not? Every Goddess knows how important it is to go for our dreams! Dreams cannot be caught if you don't chase them! Something else that is very important to me is teaching my daughter the healthy way to live, so when she is 29 years old, she is not going through what I am!

My celebration and reward for making my goals will of course be hopping onto that ride this summer at Santa's Village, and never hesitating.... It might sound simple to people who have never been in my shoes, but to me it's the world. SHE is my world & HE he is my world. And it's time I give them what they deserve. ME! In return, I will have THEM!

My Before Picture...

I figured I should throw this in there, eventhough I really don't like it! It will never be the same again!

Apparently, I'm a puker... (warning for those with weak stomachs)

Today was the first class. I wore my "they're real and they're spectacular" t-shirt, with instructions to Ben from my husband Alex to sculpt my body, but leave the boobs alone! So to the workout: OMG, are you kidding me??? It was extremely difficult. But, I got through it. I was a little disappointed in myself because I was unable to complete pretty much everything, but Ben promises that will change. Of course, I lost probably a good 5-7 minutes (1 hour workout) of working out due to 2 bathroom trips. The first one to almost puke, and the second to let it all go. I don't think I have EVER vomited so much at one time before. We were warned to eat breakfast, and I did, but my little breakfast was no match for the intense event that was to follow. One of the other MOOsers found herself in the bathroom for several minutes dry heaving. When I signed up for this I had visions in my head of treadmills and elliptical trainers... oh no, was I wrong! There is only one cardio machine in the building! This is ALL resistance training, with some good old fashion cardio. We started out with 'stretching' which consisted of high knees (bringing your knees to your chest one at a time in a jumping motion), leg pulls, leg lifts (those were the best), mountain climbers and jumping jacks. Stretching... what? I thought that was the workout!!! We then did push-ups, kettlebells (weighted 'bells' that you squat and swing), squat presses (holding 10 lb weights in each hand squat, then raise the weights over your head), and rowing (holding onto a bar from underneath with your feet on the ground and pulling yourself up). We continued to do these throughout the class, in intervals at 30 seconds, then timing ourselves to match what we could do in the 30 seconds. We went on to do some plank poses and sitting against the wall followed up by stretching. Needless to say- the longer the class went on the more and more difficult these tasks became.

We were given a fitness tip for the day- this one was all about water. Ben says that we need to consume half of our body weight per day in ounces of water. ie, a person who weighs 200 lbs should drink 100 ounces of water a day. Talk about spending time in the bathroom! I'm not sure if I should drink more today to compensate for all that I lost earlier!

I'm definitely feeling some pain, but I know it will be worth it in the end. Funny thing is, my chest hurts more than anything I think. I feel like I have smoked a pack of cigarettes. Most likely from the grunting and yelling I did to push through the pain! Pretty soon it will be naptime for the baby in this house, and I am planning to join her!

I can't wait to be a skinny bitch!

I am a big MOOser, or at least I hope to be! I entered a weight loss contest. (To find out more about the contest click here.) I decided that I would start blogging (something of which I know nothing about), so that those of you who want to follow my progress can. I am hoping to do well enough to actually inspire someone. I know I can, and in fact I will!

I have so many wonderful people supporting me that I feel like I would let everyone down if I fail. There were a lot of people who tried out for this contest, so just the fact that I have this opportunity pushes me to be motivated. I definitely feel like I am under a microscope, and I am so grateful for that! It is the accountability that I need to make this transition successful!

Last night was the first meeting of the 5 contestants with our trainer Ben Warstler. From what I have heard, he is a pretty tough cookie. I guess it's not called Ben's Boot Camp for nothing. The first meeting was pretty straight forward. We scheduled our work outs and Ben took our measurements. I was surprised and pleased to find out he does not have a scale at the studio! In fact, he doesn't want us weighing ourselves more than every 4 weeks. However, I just had a doctor's appointment last week so I am quite aware of my weight... I am not willing to give you that information right now though! Maybe when I have lost a hundred pounds or so I will be willing to share!

We were sent home with a binder for the Metabolism Makeover program and some homework. One of my new daily tasks is to enter all of the foods I eat into this pretty cool website. It adds and keeps track of your calories for you. It also shows the percentages of your carbs, protein and fat, which is good because apparently that is the whole secret to the metabolism makeover- that and some hard core work in the gym. Ben emailed me today with my new nutrional numbers. My calorie intake is not to be more than 1620 (I can live with that), carbs at 45%, protein at 35% and fat (my favorite of course) at 20%. I'm at the end of day one and I have consumed 1531 calories, carbs 42%, protein 32% and fat at a whopping 26%. The percentage thing is a bit tricky. Ben said it would take about 3 weeks to figure it out really well. At one point in time today I was exactly where I was supposed to be, but one food item really changes the figures.

Tomorrow morning is our first workout. 7 o'clock is going to come early. I have to eat breakfast before I go. We were warned that if we do not eat a little something we would definitely throw-up!! I will let you know how it goes. I plan on napping when my 2 year old does tomorrow afternoon!

Before I finish for tonight I just want to end by saying thank you to all of you who voted for me to get me into this competition. All of my family, friends, fellow goddesses, adoni and customers. Because of YOU, I am able to have this opportunity to change my life...