A personal training & food journal. Read about our weight loss progress at Train With Ron in Chicago, our nutritional habits and the life changes we're making to get in shape and stay healthy!
March 14thI learned a few things this week and one of those is that I am sorely in need of some new workout shoes. But, we’ll come back to that later. I want to update you on my progress this week.
My last entry was on Wednesday and I’ve had 2 workouts since then. Thursday was rockin’, I was feeling good and able to push myself. Saturday my calves were really sore. They tightened up Friday afternoon and I spent most of Friday afternoon massaging them and stretching them. They were a little better by Saturday’s workout but still sore. My personal trainer Saturday was DB and he showed me a few ways to ease the pain and he also adjusted my workout so that it would help loosen my calves up. The rest of my body was in good shape, I felt. Upper body went well and in general I felt good throughout the entire workout and felt that I had good energy the whole time.
Again I have to emphasize that going into each workout, as well as this whole process, with a positive attitude makes the night and day difference that lets me push myself to my max. I could spin this into a whole other topic but having all of this extra weight on me for the past few years has really put a toll on my emotional self. I don’t even think I noticed how bad it was until I began to change it. As of late I’ve been feeling like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly who’s just cracked its shell. I know I have such a ways to go in this process but I am certainly very happy that my emotional self has caught up with me and will now help me take it to the finish with a great attitude. If your brain works similar to how mine did, and you are constantly being negative to yourself about yourself, you can turn it around. You have the power to say anything you want to yourself. Choose to be positive and encouraging rather than self deprecating. It’s really as simple as that to start and by overcoming the hurdle of discouraging yourself, you will begin to do great things because you KNOW you deserve it!
After my workout Saturday I was feeling good, happy that I made it through my 4th workout of the week and accomplished that part of my goal. I still had enough energy in me to play a little Shaun White Snowboarding followed by a little Wii Fit Yoga. Both of those help me with my balance which I struggled with a little bit yesterday. I think that it was because of not enough sleep though because usually, I’m not that bad. I was leaning all over the place.
Now the nutrition: My diet this week consisted of a small portion of oatmeal, fruits or egg whites with tea for breakfast, for lunch I had either a salad or some plain chicken broth. Fruit and nuts sprinkled throughout the day for snacks, plenty of water and then steamed veggies and chicken, a salad or light whole wheat pasta for dinner. I only had a couple of cravings and I thought about what I would stand to lose if I indulged it and it quickly went away. If only everything were this easy. I also got busy with something else to take my mind off of it.
I lost 2.5lbs this week which is 1 lb more than my average weekly weight loss for the past 5 months. I’ll take that! I would like it to have been a little more but I’m happy about it and I do not want it to be out of control. (I think we have a long way to go before it gets ‘out of control’ 
) I will just have to see how I can push myself harder next week.
I have today off and it feels so good to relax the muscles!
Going back to the state of my sad little workout shoes, I have to just go out and get another pair. Now, I will say something pretty shocking here and that is…. I do not like to shop for shoes…. I know!!! What kind of woman am I? Well, the type that doesn’t like to buy a shoe to match each and every one of her emotions. (If you sense a little aggravation there then you are very perceptive.) Regardless, I have to go and buy some new ones and I think the sooner the better. The ones I’ve been wearing now are more for running only. I don’t know how they decide that but that’s what it says on the shoe and I need some more cushioning, support and balance. And I want them to be cute. Hey, I’m still a girl! So I’ll walk in, take a look around the ‘wall o’ shoes’ and let the battle of sensible vs. cute and supportive vs. sexy begin.
I think we all know who wins this game, right? Look for pictures this week to find out how I did with the shoes and my March Madness!!
March 9thSo, tomorrow morning at 7am I report to the gym for my first extra day. I’m excited, feeling good and strong. I have been doing a lot of stairs lately so my back side is a bit more sore than usual but that’s just a sign that it’s working, right? I’ll let you know how it goes. I usually don’t get up too early in the morning so the 6:30am wakeup call will be a task by itself.
Second thing I had today was a new quick lunch idea. I love to get creative with food and maybe one day I’ll list some of my silly concoctions. For now, you’ll have to be satisfied by the following.
I call it Romaine Chicken & Tomato Taco. It’s a romaine leaf of lettuce with a little bit of chicken (substitute turkey or salmon) plenty of tomatoes. I love tomatoes! Add other veggies like cucumbers and mushrooms if you wish and top it off with either a little lemon or a good dressing. Lately I’ve been trying a lot of Annie’s Naturals and Goddness one is my favorite right now.
I realize people have been putting things into lettuce leaves for a while now but I though this taco shape was a little different. Boston lettuce is great for more ground meats and smaller ingredients. That allows you to cup it in your hand where as the taco is more sturdy for holding in one hand. Try either, or both. Just try to put good stuff in ‘em.
Stay tuned …
February 18thFinally I have a progress picture to share! Taken in our lovely hallway (where it’s not 20 degrees) 
Pictures Notes: I am really critical of myself and I put that aside to post this progress picture.I love my progress, don’t get me wrong. I haven’t felt better in years and I knowthat I am doing the right things. I just have hated taking pictures of myself these last few years and it’s really difficult for me to post it up for all to see. Especially the before picture below. Ugh! If that doesn’t motivate me to keep going to the gym and working out with the guys, I don’t know what would!
The picture on the left was taken in April 2009. We started working out at Train With Ron in October of 2009.
Birthdays & Valentines Day Notes: February is like the ‘perfect storm’ for us. It has been forever for me, but being with Dan it just upped it a couple of notches. Let me explain. Here are all of the birthdays I have going on in February; my older brother Gabor’s, 2 of my cousins’, Dan’s, our friend’s daughter Brooke’s. 3 friends and my own birthday. Add to that Valentines day and all I’m seeing is swirling & twirling cupcakes in my head. It’s hard not to with all of the celebrations. Oh and thanks February for the short month to squeeze all of this into!
The key is to be strong and think of the damage that could be done with going over board.
With that being said, Dan and I did celebrate my birthday with a nice sushi meal at Japonais. I love sushi! I added a couple of glasses of champagne and we split a dessert. That was the splurge. It made working out a bit more difficult the following evening but the motivation to erase any small amount of damage I may have done with my birthday meal was certainly my drive.
DB frequently talks to us about how changes in our diet can effect our workout and energy levels. This is so true. Smaller changes are harder to notice but it’s crazy how my body cannot handle the foods I used to eat a few months ago. Just having a slice of pizza or a soda will send my body into shock and I can even feel ill.
Closing notes: Dan and I are going to Hawaii at the beginning of April and we are looking to really shed some extra pounds over the next month and half. Not that I haven’t so far but if I can push myself even more at the gym, I will. It’s great to feel that now when I do pull ups on the bar I can actually do 6 in a row properly rather than the sloppy one I used to when I started.
Talk to you soon!
December 22ndDAY 78:
Hi all, it’s now 11 weeks into the game… and WOW have some serious changes taken place. First of all: last week, I had meetings for work, Monday through Thursday, early starts and late endings with lunches and dinners part of the deal. I showed up with my little Tupperware container of celery, carrots, nuts, raisins, a turkey wrap, yellow bell pepper, and an apple… people were giving me some serious quizzical looks as I passed on tri-tip, herb buttered chicken, garlic mashed potatoes (that one was tough) and gnawed my “rabbit food”. “What are you eating?” they asked… a little note of disdain in their voice, like you might hear in the school cafeteria from your school-lunch eating friends, when you brown-bagged some PB&Js. I explained the contents of my Tupper, and they replied, “Oh, so you’re dieting.” … “No,” I replied, “I’m changing my diet, completely.” When I told them about my results so far, the disdain turned to interest.
I explained how whole foods have stayed with me longer, taking longer to digest, not being hungry as often, how I all but eliminated processed flour and sugar from my diet. I went on to talk about the food industry, and how they have us fooled, feeding us cheap, empty fuel that we will burn through quickly, our bodies consistently requesting more and more to sate the hunger that cannot be quenched by empty calories. Everyone at the table listened intently… I was a little taken aback. I then talked about my training, the exercises I do with Ron, Matt, and DB… some of them were astonished and others said, “Oh, I can’t do THAT”, to which I replied, “Yes, that’s what I said… but I did do it, and you certainly can too.”
I have to admit, when Ron first told me about changing the way I eat, I balked. “NO WAY am I giving up (insert sweet food here) or (insert fast food item there).” Well, it was MUCH easier than I could have imagined. Watching the movie Food Inc. helped a ton – I realized that I was living inside the food “Matrix”, and today I choose not to allow the food industry to manipulate my body any longer, not without my personal say so.
Tonight I did single arm rows with 40 lb dumbells (most weight I’ve used for that yet) and blasted through my sets with flying colors… ran 4 flights of stairs after doing 25 leg presses, and really never lost my wind or energy. It was truly the first workout at Train with Ron that I felt like I truly handled… most of the time I have to stop, slow down, take extra breaks, or otherwise “slack off” – but tonight, I did everything one movement right after the other with little down time. I felt AWESOME!
Just as an afterthought… this week I put on 2 pairs of jeans I hadn’t worn in months. I also happened upon 2 nice pairs of dress slacks I had put aside for donation because they just didn’t fit anymore… but they do now, so instead of Goodwill, they’ll be going to the dry cleaners. I’ll donate ALL my clothes once I lose another 20 or 30 lbs and nothing fits anymore! My clothes look good on me and I feel amazing… yet I have such a long way to go… but the results have really been dramatic, I just can’t get over it. I just started using RankYourWorkout.com through TWR and discovered that I gained 17 pounds of lean body mass… WHILE losing 25 pounds… amazing!
I also played a full game of hockey last week for the first time in 5 years… I didn’t play well, but I did play the whole game… and soon I’ll be playing out again in a cover band. My goals are being reached… it’s time to set even more goals for 2010, I’m achieving them faster than I can conceive them! What a FANTASTIC feeling… I’m hooked!
November 21stDAY 46: 11/21/09
It’s been a while since I wrote, so I’m going to start this entry with the Facebook status that I entered this morning, followed by comments from some of my friends:
Me: “Changed my diet and started working out on October 5th – 45 days ago. I have lost 17 lbs and reduced my body fat % by about 12%, I’ve lost 2 inches off my waistline and best of all I FEEL GREAT!!!”
Paula, Philip, Martha, and 3 others like this.
Lincoln: way to go, Dan!
Dan Arturi: We’re going to be adding a 3rd day to the personal training after Thanksgiving. That should really kick things into high gear. I might be ready to play hockey by end of January… if I can get down to my playing weight by then…
Renee: You’re a rockstar Dan!!!!!!! That’s awesome!!!!
Martha: Great job!!!
Chuck: Trudge Danno! Trudge! Congrats!!
Philip: Good Job Man!!!
Dave: Excellent Dan!
Mike: Holy fitness Batman!!! Dude, that is awesome 
)
Eric: Damn dude! That is awesome. Now if only I could do that.
Paula: Totally Awesome!
You know, it just makes me feel so amazing to have my friends supporting me in this. It’s not easy, it requires some discipline because I was so used to eating a lot of sweets and a ton of processed foods. I didn’t eat a lot of fast food, maybe 2X a month, but I crave it at times. I was telling Monika this morning that I couldn’t do this without her… there are times when I’m working and really hungry and the fruits and nuts just aren’t getting me feeling full, and I want to go to Wendy’s and just say “screw it” for a day… but then I think of her and how hard she’s working too, and I just can’t let her down or cheat.
So, since my last entry, I’ve been working very hard and also I caught the flu, which took me down for about a week. I only missed one workout, but that combined with the weakness of being sick took a heavy toll on my ability to really go at it for the full hour in my workouts at Train With Ron. Today was the first day since getting well, where I got through the full hour without taking a 10 or 15 minute break.
Ron, Matt, and DB have been splitting Monika and I up lately, presumably because Moni is able to do more than I can. She’s doing some more advanced moves now, agility walks with weights, things like that. Today we were together, though, and we had some stair work. This is kind of tough, especially when interlaced with weight training and some jogging.
As far as food is concerned, we have remained very consistent – whole foods only. Moni and I haven’t been eating oatmeal in the morning, my breakfast has been a fruit (apple or banana) this week. Lunches I have done extremely well, even when involved in work functions, at staying with vegetables and salads, with very little dressing, if any. Monika has been cooking very healthfully, as usual, and once per week we go off-roading, but even then we have small portions and keep it to a minimum. No desserts, either. The only liquids I drink anymore are water and my daily cup of coffee.
So when I started, my weight was exactly 275 lbs. and my body fat was a whopping 44% if I remember correctly. Today was day 46… I weighed in at 258 lbs (in sweaty clothes) and body fat of 32.7%. I’ve lost about 2 inches off my waistline and when I put my clothes on in the morning I can see and feel a big difference. I’m not the only one though…
One of my co-workers plays a lot of hockey and anyone who knows me knows I used to play a lot too… I want to get back to it! If I can get down to about 230 or so, I think I could start to skate effectively. The ultimate goal for me is to get down to 200 lbs with 10% body fat. I think that is reasonable and very achievable.
I’d also like to get back into a band and get on stage! That would be awesome, but there is no way I’ll try that until I am comfortable with the way I look. So, my two workout goals will be a) to get back to playing hockey EFFECTIVELY (not dragging my butt around the rink) and b) get comfortable enough with the way I look that I could go on stage and not think twice about how I look up there.
I’ll keep on working on it… thanks for reading!
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