My name is Amanda. I am 28 years old, have been married for 9 years, mother of 2; Kathryn, 8 ,and Jonathan, 6. They are 18 months apart. All my life, I have thought that I had a weight problem; looking back at my high school pictures, I realize I had a self-esteem problem. I would give anything to look like that now. I currently have a weight problem, and I am tired of it.
Today, I have decided to make a change. Wait; let me back up. I have decided to make this change several times before, but today, I actually sat down, wrote out my goals, my meal plans, my workout plans, which I have all done in the past, as well. Today, I have started this blog as an accountability to myself; this is what is different. No matter if I'm doing good or doing bad, I'm going to come here, and post it. Then I can read how pathetic the excuse is that my life is getting in the way of me being better for myself and my family.
I have also decided to join Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training Transformation Contest...again. Like I said, I've made this decision before; I'm just bound and determined to stick to it this time. The contest is open on May 1, but I am going to "officially" start on Monday, because that's the kind of person I am. I have to start on Monday. The contest is a 12-week contest, basically following the TT workout for 12 weeks, take before and after shots, and see who does the best job. It doesn't cost me anything to join the contest; I already have the workout plans. Bought those a long time ago. Its just another way to make me accountable to something.
I have my paper printed out already with my 12 weeks laid out, my days numbered to 84, and my highlighter ready to mark them off as good or bad. I have my monthly calender printed out, and my workouts for the month mapped out for me. I have my weekly calender printed out, and my meals for the week planned out for me. I also have a list of food that I can eat when I'm feeling like I don't know what to fix with what I have sitting in my pantry.
I have tried following low-carb before, and that has worked for me in the past; I lost 30 pounds in about 2 months. Doing that diet, I was able to learn a few things about myself; one, that I am not carb sensitive. I was so rigid on the diet in the beginning; I was so scared of regaining all that weight that I had lost. After I lost 30 pounds, I stalled, for about a month. After 2 weeks, I got frustrated, and cheated. And was scared of the scaled, but noticed that I didn't gain anything back. So I didn't have the immediate carb rush many carb-sensitive people have. All it seemed to do was stall me for a few days; and, amazingly enough, cheating, and then going back to my diet seemed to help me along with my weight loss. It was amazing. Anyway, after a month-long stall of not losing anymore, I sort of gave up, and just ate what I wanted. I wasn't eating as much as before, my stomach having gotten used to not being so stretched out, and I managed to hang on to my weight loss for nearly 6 months. Then, the holidays came around.
Over Thanksgiving and Christmas, I gained a few pounds; about 10 or 15. I decided then that I was going to get back onto my diet, before that 10-15 turned into 30-35. Then I would be right back where I started, and I hadn't even reached my goal yet!! I tried and failed several times to get back on my low-carb diet; it seemed as if I had no motivation or will power to stick to it for very long. I could go about a week or 2, drop about 5 pounds, and then get sidelined from going out with friends, or people at work bringing stuff in.
I'm on a couple of different forums, weight loss and low carb and exercise and everything in between. I joined a few challenged to help motivate me, but if I ever fell off the wagon, I wouldn't check in, and I didn't have anything or anyone to be accountable to. Its hard to check in with an "I failed today" several days or weeks in a row, so I would just go MIA for a while, lurking in the shadows, watching other people's progress or struggles, as well, and then hop back on as if nothing had happened and a month hadn't passed me by with no progress. This blog is my accountability. This is for me; it doesn't matter if anyone reads this or not; if anyone cares or not. It doesn't matter; this is for me.
So, as a way to get started, I'm going to post my goals here, what I have down, anyway, and add to it as I go. There are long term goals and short term goals, in no particular order. I will also be posting my menus for the week at the beginning of each week (Sunday), and my workout schedules at the end/beginning of a new month. The hardest thing for me to post here will be my stats; its embarrassing enough for me to know them; to have someone else know them, let alone someone I KNOW know them, will be worse. My only consolation for that is that they won't stay that way.
So, for my 12 weeks of this transformation contest, I will be doing the TT workouts, which consist of 3 days a week of a weight circuit followed by 20 minutes of interval training; on the off days, do a consistent 30 minute cardio workout. I will be throwing in some flexibility exercises, as well. I will get on the scale for the initial measuring, but I won't post my beginning weight until the end, because I will not be stepping on the scale for the entire 12-week process. I cannot allow those numbers to discourage me from following my plan; just because the numbers on the scale aren't moving doesn't mean things aren't changing. I will take measurements at the start, then weekly on Sunday mornings. I will take daily photos, of which I may or may not post here. As for my diet, I will not eat processed carbs, but I cannot allow myself to be afraid of fruits and veggies. They are completely natural, and I believe eating fruit will help me with my even worse sugar/sweet cravings. My goal is to have 2 veggies and 1 fruit at each meal, along with a protein, of course. I make no promises to this one, but I hope to eventually phase diet soda out of my diet, substituting with only tea and water. Needless to say, there will be no alcohol for me during this time period. I will be purging the house of any and all possible temptations. If its not here, I can't eat it. I will have a plan for food in place for every day of the week, hoping to cut out going out to eat, not only for me and my transformation, but also to save money. I will have a few quick meals planned out, halfway put together, or frozen for a quick reheat on the days I just don't have much time.
There are a few things, also, that I would like to learn during this process. I want to learn about cooking things, and working with herbs and spices and making up new dishes that me and my family enjoys. I want to learn more about my body; how it reacts to certain foods, like I learned how it reacts to carbs when doing the low carb. I want to pay attention to how I feel after I work out, and watch how my body changes, fast or slow, and figure out what works for me. I want to be stronger, and faster, and healthier by the time this 12 weeks is over. I want to do this to look good in my clothes, feel good about myself when I look in the mirror, be able to keep up with my kids and take care of what needs to be taken care of around the house to include the things I want to do but never feel like doing, and I want to be that strong 60-year-old woman you just can't believe is 60, and are envious of because she has more vitality and energy than you do at 30.
I will spend the rest of this weekend fine tuning and working through some things; my day 1 is not until Monday, but I am going to be spending the next few days "practicing" my workouts and my food, to get myself in the routine, so I'm ready for non-failure on Monday.
