Happy Training...

I trained my back and biceps last night around 8:30 pm. I am beginning to get used to the new gym and seeing the same people daily. Of course all the equipment that I wanted to train on was in use. I clumsily stood around for a few minutes waiting for the Lat Pull Down Cable thingy to be available. I felt a little stupid just standing around watching everyone else train as I waited for the equipment, so I went  to a machine and did some rows. This gym used PRECOR equipment/machines and I must say, I like the equipment. It is kinda heavy duty hard core machines. Cool....

Besides not having a cage or squat rack, this gym is pretty cool. I met a couple of nice couple who train hard...I mean the grunting and and eeking out every rep til failure thing. The dude is really hardcore....pushing people he is working with to their max. One of the people he pushes really hard is his cute little wife...who is a tiny little thing. But let me tell you about this tiny girl....she placed  a couple of 45's on the barbell and straight up knocked out 8 reps with no problem at all. Geez...... She is all about 100 pounds lol. So, hmmm....how much weight is that??? 135 pounds!!
She easily did 135 pounds...more weight then she even weighs. So....that got my attention...lol. Her husband approached  me and introduced himself. He complimented my intensity and form when I train. He asked me if I had a trainer and I said yes. He used to compete. His wife never competed, but she looks like she does. 

Training....

Machine Rows
Wt	Set	Reps
65	1	10
70	1	10
70	1	10

Lat PullDowns Wide
Wt	Set	Reps
70	1	10
80	1	10
90	1	10

One Arm Row
Wt	Set	Reps
35	3	10

Dead Lifts
Wt	Set	Reps
75	2	10

Nutrition Tips....

My current coach turned me on to this amazing high protein legume!! I eat edemame (SOY BEANS) whenever I am hungry or too rushed to eat something else. I munch on the entire bag some days. Super high fiber so when it is all said and done, the calorie content is low if you subtract the fiber carbs. Love this stuff!!!

Private Selection - Mukimame/Edimame

Nutrition Facts 1 Serving Calories	120	Sodium	5 mg
Total Fat	5 g	Potassium	0 mg
Saturated	1 g	Total Carbs	8 g
Polyunsaturated	0 g	Dietary Fiber	6 g
Monounsaturated	0 g	Sugars	2 g
Trans	0 g	Protein	12 g
Cholesterol	0 mg
Vitamin A	4%	Calcium	4%
Vitamin C	0%	Iron	15%

 

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depend

My Simple Chest/Shoulder/Tricep Routine

Tuesday Training Routine




Jaime Eason...I think that is her name. She is such a cutie pie and is just a sweetheart in     person. She is the girl in my exercise pictures below

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/

I am going to be a bit more specific on my training routine for a few people that are reading my blogs that I work with. Now that I have more time to blog, I am going to take advantage of my time and add as much beneficial information to my blogs as possible. I should have a few months of precious time to do fun things like this.

As I am starting to lose my weight again people ultimately notice and wonder what in the heck am I doing to lose the weight and they are surprised to see that my weekly strength training and cardio routine is quite simple. My coach emphasizes the point that I should add additional cardio when I begin to have a stall in my weight loss. Well the only reason that I have really had stalls is because I have not been on point with my nutrition. I am not really watching my macros as I should and I have had more than a few cheat days here and there.

Hopefully I am to the point that I will stay on task 6/7 days a week. I am not promising anything...but I am optimistic :)

One of my challenges is to avoid the candy jar that I pass dozens of times at work on my way to my office (that contains one of my many favorite candy goodies)



demon candy

  The Training Routine

BB Bench Press
Wt	Set	Reps
65	1	10
75	1	10
80	1	8

                                             

DB Incline BenchPress
Wt	Set	Reps
25	1	10
25	1	10
20	1	10

DB Shoulder Press
Wt	Set	Reps
15	1	10
15	1	10
20	1	8

DB Lateral Raises
Wt	Set	Reps
65	1	10
75	1	10
80	1	8

Tricep Pushdowns
Wt	Set	Reps
65	1	10
75	1	10
80	1	8

 

Bench Dips
Wt	Set	Reps
BW	3	10

Diet Tip of the day....got this one from my hubby who saw this tip on some TV program
I prepare my food for the week typically on Sundays. I try to keep my protein higher than my carbs so I do allow myself some ground chuck. What I do is this. I wrap a 5lb tube of ground chuck in foil and pop it in the oven for an hour and 20 minutes. Then I let it cool down, plop it in the fridge and cut slices off of it when I want it. It slices great and can be frozen or whatever. Makes great patties that I can easily weigh.



Wrap in foil and bake :)

I will try to be good at logging my nutrition daily....just click on my Nutrition tab at the top of my blog and hopefully it directs you to my fitday page. I will post some progress pictures each time I hit the 5 pound weightloss mark. Next progress pictures that I will post will be when I weigh 145 pounds.

My First YouTube Video....of myself :)

Today I was inspired to take the plunge to do my very first youtube video. I have been wanting to do a YouTube video for quite sometime, but never felt confident enough to do a video. I was waiting for the right camera, right lighting, right place, right time, right weight, right hair, and all the stars aligned in the right way...lol. So, I suppose if I waited for all the right things to be in place, then I would NEVER do the YouTube thing.

Click on the link below for my first YouTube video

My YouTube Video Debut :)

 I was inspired by this young man on one of my fav body building forums.... Bodybuildingrevealed. His name is Derreck....I am probably spelling his name wrong, but anyway, he put up a video introducing himself. I really enjoyed the video because this was the first time I actually got a glimpse of the young man that I sorta was familiar with in the forum. I have read alot of his posts and after a while, you kinda feel like you know the people (in regards to training). I have grown to like Derricks forum posts over the year so it was nice to see him in the video.

So I copied Derrick....hehehe....not really, he inspired me to do the same. There is nothing special about my video. I recorded it on my iPad mini in my bathroom after work. No editing, just plain simple me. But, I hope that in my upcoming videos, I can inspire someone to make a positive change to their life in some way.

Training and Diet

I ate anything I wanted Saturday/Sunday/Monday. I don't feel bad about it either....but I better be good this week lol if I want to ever reach my goal of 135 pounds of lean body mass :)

Training last week....THUMBS UP!!!

Come On Annette...Step it up GF!!!

Quick overview of my training and nutrition past couple of days. Training is going well. Diet could be better. I am not eating nowhere near my macros 1500 calories @ 40p/30c/30f ratios....I need to step it up and get on with the program, right??? Hehehe.  I am enjoying heading to the gym daily so far. My workouts are quick...between 30-40 minutes or so. I am not killing myself, as you can see.

My food is prepared, but unfortunately I am not eating everything that I have prepared. I am not hungry at all.

Nothing special to report.....my life is quite mediocre at this moment...BUT.. I am happy and motivated!! Below are pictures of my training and diet. Under diet, i simply log everything under breakfast, but it is actually all the food for the day. I am not a fan of logging calories and training, but it helps when I review my progress pictures. When I whine that I am not losing fat, all I have to do is look at my logs. I can get an accurate picture of what may be going on when I keep detail logs.

Today I am in a bit of an irritable mood. No reason for the mood....can't blame it on my period....I am almost done with it. I can't blame my irritability on work or anything else...all is going great. But still I am just grrrrrr.....

I am writing this blog while on my lunch break at work. I really need to eat, but I am not hungry yet, so I am blogging. I needed to get away from everyone because I am finding that my patience is running thin and I am not my usual smiley nice self when people bring me issues. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!!

So, I need a break and blogging helps. Then I will go and freshen up my makeup and hair and put the smile back on my face for the rest of the work day. Time to go freshen up....



Training and stuff....

It is nice to be back at the gym using a split schedule. When I am splitting my routine, I am in and out of the gym between 30-45 minutes depending if I do a little cardio at the end. Mondays workout was around 45 minutes total....

Training...

Monday Chest/Shoulders/Triceps

Chest

Flat BB Bench Press

#65 X 10

#75 X 8

#75 X 8

Incline DB Presses

#25 X 10

#25 X 10

#25 X 8

Machine Flyes

#55 X 10

#60 X 10

#65 X 10

Shoulders

Shoulder Press

#15 X 10

#20 X 8

#20 X 8

Lateral Raises

#10 X 10

#10 X 10

#10 X 10

Triceps

#40 X10

#40 X10

#40 X10

Cardio 

Aerobics 20 Min

         Janelle Monae'
 

I Love her video....She is BEAUTIFUL and fresh.. Check out the video if you want. It is really cool and to make this video even more awesome, she features my girl Erikah Badu! I love her too!

http://youtu.be/tEddixS-UoU

I think the video is artistic, weird in a good way and simply fantastic.

A Sense of Purpose

 

I love it when my mind and my will get on the same page. That is when I really start to see results in whatever I set my mind to do. So now, I am focused once again to getting my shape back. Praise God that I have been disciplined enough to not let myself totally regress in the arena of diet and nutrition, but I do have a need to move forward in my fitness goals. Work has been my priority, deservingly so since I have a new job....it was a year in April. 

 My BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS JESSICA AND ERICA

Funny thing about the job....a co-worker approached me in a humble manner apologizing to me about some misinformation that she heard and believed about me when I first started the job. She heard that I was forced out of my management position at my previous job and so I took my current job...which is  not a management job. She said that she had me pegged as a problem child bringing her problems to the team. Well, I was surprised and not surprised by the "story". What surprised me was that a person on my team would even lie about something so lame, (not the person who shared the info) but what wasn't surprising was the fact that I left a management position to pursue a different career path. Why would someone do something like that? Most people would ponder that question.

  MY SON NICK

Well, for people who know me, I am a risk taker and I am confident in my abilities to start anew and be successful. I have been successful in my previous job...and of course I left on GREAT terms and on my own accord, and I am currently successful at my new job in IT. I love my new job and I am glad that I made the move. The only thing I lost in the move was the burden of having to be on-call 24/7 and I miss the people at my prior job. But I have gained the following in the move to a new position:  I have met an amazing group of new people to add to my friend list, I have gained another amazing skill in clinical informatics, I have successfully lead 3 huge IT projects in a matter of one year and I have learned a lot about me. Some people would see all that spouting off as bragging.....and by no means am I bragging. I am just stating the facts. Sometimes we need to move out of our comfort zone to realize our full potential. And if a person is successful at one job, the chances that a person will be successful at another job to his/her choosing is highly likely.

   MY DAUGHTER KATHY

But I digress.....back to training. I have the summer to get my body back to a state of leanness that I am proud of. I am so excited about this NEW transformation. This time, I am not transforming for a contest or for photographs or anything special. I am transforming for ME!! In the mean time, I have acquired all kinds of knowledge, tools, and great people to help me along the way. Although my first priority the past year has been work, I have been blessed to have the knowledge and the right people in my life to make this transformation WAY easier than previous transformations. But the true KEY to this transformation is my frame of mind. The transformation has already occurred in my mind. It is done. All I have to do is ACT on the things that I know must be done. The vision is there... The action will follow. 

I have never been so in the zone with my mental focus. I have visualized my goals, I have written them down, I have rehearsed them, and now I am acting on those goals by preparing my training routine, preparing my meals, and surrounding myself with like minded positive people and declaring my intent publically. And...I will blog more, because that helps me stay focused, I will pray more...that gives me strength, and I will find a person to help out along the way...that gives me reason to keep on keeping on.  Oh yeah....I will reward myself abundantly with all kinds of goodies as I see improvements. 

Training....

I will post my training routine with my next blog. 

Nutrition.....

On point. A lot of protein and veggies, and perhaps a glass of wine as a reward :)

Week 9.....

,Starting Monday, I plan to step up my training and nutrition regime quite a bit. I have 14 pounds of fat to lose. Work has slowed down quite a bit, so I have no excuses at this point to not get back to the grind. 

It has been a challenge not being home during the week especially when it comes to training. For instance, let me tell you about this weeks gym experience.

I decided to get another gym membership in Toledo at the YMCA to train when I am out of town. I got 50% off the membership fees for being an employee of ProMedica Health System. With this membership I can train at sister YMCA's. 

So I decided to train at a YMCA in Michigan. The free weigh area was small. It had a squat rack, ONE flat bench, ONE bench that inclines, 3  45 pounds barbells...one for the squat rack, one for the flat bench, and one for the incline bench. The dumbbell selection was awesome and they had one of those multipurpose racks with pulleys....you know what I mean. 

Of course, the cardio room was HUGE and filled with all the latest and greatest cardio equipment, and it also had a sizable Cybex machine room...blah. So, of course I went straight to the free weight room which was busy. Each bench was in use with sweaty guys, I looked around for the towels...thank goodness there were some towels available. Awkwardly I gazed around the room to see where I could possibly start my training. You know the feeling...new person in the gym, some dudes checking the new girl out between their sets as they SIT ON THE BENCH THAT I WANT TO USE!!  I wanted to work my chest shoulders and triceps and I typically like to start with flat BB sets followed by inclines...BENCH  exercises, so the only way I was going to get started was to work in with the sweaty bench hog. I politely asked and the guy was very nice and accommodating....I no longer viewed him as a hog. But he was a sweaty gross mess and it sickened me to use the bench after him even though he politely wiped it off. So I got my flat BB done and the guy was so nice...unloading hits plates and helping load my meager weight. 

Then I needed the incline bench and I asked to work in with another less sweaty hog. He was using the barbell  and all I wanted to use was the bench with my dumb bells. That dude was not so nice. He let me work in but he was visibly irritated, which was not nice. So instead of me taking the high road and ignoring him and not taking it personal, I extended the number of my sets just to be more irritating...not nice. I usually do 2-3 sets, I did 5 sets. Shame on me.

 I wanted to do a full body workout, but because the gym was so full I did my upper body only.  The next day I returned to do my lower body.  The gym was less full, but someone was working on the squat rack with some serious poundage on the bar, so I did not ask to interrupt that dudes routine. So, I decided to do leg presses....they have a great machine for that, but what I encountered was a person  that smelled really, really, really bad and he was stinking up the entire room, especially the corner he was training. I am REALLY sensitive to smell....I have a keen sense of smell to the point that I can tell when another woman is on her period no matter how clean she is. It is a blessing and a curse. So in this case, when the smell is horrible it makes me nauseated. So I could not even train in the free weight room. I ended up leaving that gym and traveling to another YMCA to train. I get to YMCA #2 and guess what.... NO SQUAT RACK!!!  I wanted to scream!!! But at least the area was free of smells. NO FREE WEIGHT LEG PRESS!! AGH!! Oh well, they had a machine leg press machine. 

So I ended up changing up my leg routine since the gym did not have all the equipment that I needed for my normal routine....so, ended my leg routine with  single leg lunges....3 X 10 each leg. I did the lunges with a 30 pound weighted bar. Seemed easy enough until the 9th rep on my right leg, 3rd set. I was shocked when my muscle went to complete failure and my leg went down to the floor. Thank God the only injury I sustained was a hurt ego.

 I was having a conversation with a friend about appearances and how (sadly) appearances help in attaining certain positions etc. My friend told me about Mexican weather girls. I never paid attention to the women that typically do the weather. My friend is a male and he told me to check out Mexican weather girls and I was surprised to see some of the attire that these girls wear on TV. But then I found this vid that pointed out that it is not uncommon in the states as well to see weather girls sporting body hugging, cleavage spilling attire. Sex sales.  See link......

http://youtu.be/SAWMGsZm7QY

As a society, many of us have become so appearance driven.....beauty on the outside. I wish that I could honestly say that I don't see people as ugly or beautiful. Truth is that I do initially look at appearances, as sad as that is, but what I can say is this......after the first external impression, I do focus on the inner person and it is the inner person that means the most to me. 

We know that beauty sales....look at the cosmetic industry. Many of us are striving for that beautiful image...dye our hair, makeup, lose weight, tan, etc. How do we stop being so appearance focus? How do we stop the insanity and raise our new generation to not be so vain? Just a thought.

   my 13 month grandson :)

   My 24 month granddaughter :)

    My super cool workout outfit that I will look smashing in by mid July

The Truth Behind the Avatar/Profile Pic.....

I visited a social website today that I had not been on for several months. I had several messages that had been left in my comment box and private mail box. I shuffled through all the comments and I added several people that requested "friend" requests. I left my usual polite messages to each person thanking them for the friend request but one of the people that I friended a while back had questions about my weight loss journey. She was really impressed with my transformation and my profile picture....which I don't look like anymore. (I need to change that picture to a current one).

Well we private messaged back and forth and I shared some pointers with her and also told her that I don't look lean like my profile picture all the time. I explained that I am a yo-yo dieter like many women but I have tried to keep my fluctuations of poundage plus or minus 10 pounds...so optimally I would not weigh more than 145 pounds...but today I weigh 148 pounds and that is 10 pounds less than I weighed 6 weeks ago. I shared some recent pictures of myself with her and she proceeded to share her story.

This woman is in her 40's and about 30-40 pounds overweight, fairly attractive, and has a body that has amazing potential with some hard work and commitment to a training and nutrition plan. Her profile picture is very ordinary with no makeup, but nevertheless, she was still fairly attractive. With makeup, she would probably be a bombshell. She saw herself as unattractive and hopeless....she had lost18 pounds and was at a stall. I encouraged her to keep training and I gave her a few nutrition tips and I told her she will get past the stall and in time will have an amazing body. She stated that it was easy for me to say because I am not where she is and that I am pretty even with what I perceived as extra weight.

Now, the truth be told, I am quite average and so is 95% of the woman my age. After age 40 things just go south. My "pretty" pictures are the result of makeup. I always laugh when people comment on my looks. IT IS FAKE PEOPLE!!! All those beautiful women on tv and in the magazines... IT IS FAKE PEOPLE. Especially women over the age of 40. There are exceptions...but I am just sayin.

NO MAKEUP AND WITH MAKEUP IN DIFFERENT LIGHTING

So for my beautiful friend, beauty is what truly is on the inside. Outside beauty can be bought. I am living proof...makeup is my friend and I usually don't leave home without it.

And for all the beautiful profile pictures on these social networks.....most of them are FAKE. Anybody can post a pretty picture with the right makeup, right lighting, and right angle. Also, the more pictures you take, the greater chance you will find one in the bunch that you can post.

Some people post old pictures that don't even reflect their current appearance. I see this often. It is so easy to be who you are not over the Internet. Heck, I do it at times. I need to change my bodybuilding.com picture and stats which currently state that I am 138 pounds and 18% body fat. I wish I was 138 pounds....today I am 148 pounds and probably 28% body fat. And I get all these comments about how good I look....yeah right! I believe that the picture on the left, I was around 130 pounds. Today I am 18 pounds heavier!! And the picture on the right is my current profile pic...lol. I AM A FAKE!!! Hehehe.......

I hope I got through to my new friend.

Crazy Busy and trying to keep it simple

Maintaining my weight between 148 pounds and 150 pounds has been my goal this past couple weeks as I am crazy busy with my work schedule. For people in the IT world we know that when ever we have new applications to push and educate on or updates to install our world can be just plain crazy.

In the world of hospital informatics, bringing clinicians, ancillary services, nurses and physicians online can be a major challenge....especially when the learning curve is great and our patient flow is great as well. Patients don't stop coming in as we learn how to use the technology but we have to introduce the technology in a way where we can support the end users to manage the learning curve at the same time as safely taking care of patients. That requires a lot of support and planning.

In addition, going from paper documentation to electronic documentation and management of data requires a HUGE amount of process changes that amount to many hours of mind numbing meetings to put things in place for a successful launch.

Well that has been my world the past 6 months living away from home Mon-Fri since November. April 30th we launched the major physician order entry application with the nurses doing the order entry and this past Tuesday we brought the docs online! Major Launch!! Whew!! Four more weeks of supporting this launch and then we will go into stabilization and optimization phase....which will allow me to get my life back and live at home. The launch has been very successful and I am pleased. All the hours of hard work is paying off.

So nutrition and training has been important, but not my priority. I have lost 10 pounds, however, I am not training nearly as often as I need to train and my eating has been slightly compromised but I am managing to maintain my loss. Starting mid June, I won't have any excuses and I can train and eat right.

No work and no play is not an option...so I have managed to get some grandma time in. 

 

 

 

 

And of course, I did some shopping....mainly makeup....I LOVE MY MAKEUP.

 

Of course I bought other stuff but I better stop confessing about my shopping sprees just in case my husband decides to read this blog....which he rarely does thank goodness :)