Starting Jamie Eason’s 12 week trainer today! Cooked up the recipes yesterday and started the meal plan. Lean down operation Summer 2013 is underway…and I have a lot more muscle started this time!

I have been slacking on making actual structured plans and goals for fitness the past few months. I have been more random in picking my workouts because I felt I needed a break from the schedule routine and lately especially I wanted to really enjoy being outdoors hiking and running on trails. I will continue to do that but I need to start scheduling them out better. The past two weeks I have definitely stayed active, but it’s been harder to know when my rest days would be and then taking one messed up the rest of the week and making up for it among other things.

Revisited my daily diet today and really I do well with it…except on weekends. I have been snacking a lot more on weekends with bad stuff, and more serving sizes. This is why I need to keep being more active because it’s definitely just easier since I’m around the house. Last winter was easier to eat well because I was on a weight loss track. Now that I’m not fat I am really noticing some old habits coming back from snacking on the weekends. That is where I used to get myself in trouble and struggle to keep active; maintaining. I’m way past where I used to be mentally so I’m not really worried I will become lazy again, but I do need to clean up and keep my head in the game on weekends.

Working on mixing up my snacks. Something tasty, healthy yet new is just what I need.

I LOVE that my fitness goals are finally performance based and no longer visual/weight/size based.

First of all, I don’t want this to sound wrong so let me say off the bat that I have plenty of fat to burn and know I’m not perfect. 

However, I am finally happy with my body where it is for the most part. Besides getting a little bit more lean, which is extremely hard to quantify as a goal, I’m struggling to find something to motivate my routines specifically besides overall body and strength training and adding up my workouts on Fitocracy. I LOVE all of the above and balancing all body parts sounds easy but without feeling like I have a ton to go yet it’s harder than before to motivate myself to really push. I hope that makes sense.

Leveling up on Fitocracy is fun, but I still need to have a method to my training that makes sense to a goal. Besides weight goals and how clothes fit does anyone have an idea how to quantify and measure a goal to get leaner and build a little more muscle definition? I suppose what most fit people do is just some type of exercise every day. I am not interested in competing or group classes but have thought about water sports for the summer for fun activity. My underlying goal will always be to work out somehow every day with a chosen rest day on tough weeks. I am SO happy that this has become a lifestyle for me - that was my original goal above and beyond losing weight and that’s really not a battle anymore. I am very proud of that.

I think I’m going to start working out in the morning. This heat is killing my motivation and making me so sleepy by the end of the day. I’m also going to go through my stack of M&F Hers to make a new and balanced plan. Tonight I’m going to do some legs and stair machine then upper tomorrow followed by intense HIIT.

I DO have a goal to do 10 pull ups in a row by the end of summer, but I’m debating what is a fair date to set that for. I just bought a pull up bar for my house which will aid in that between gym visits and upper body days.

So I’m cutting this week before the beach, and I know I have enough cals in my plan to see me through the day and my workout. That said, I’m snacky! I’ve tried drinking tons of water and eating fresh veggies. I’m in a meeting and trying to concentrate on that instead but all I can think about is eating some carbs. lol

Can’t wait for my workout tonight!

Heavy squats and love handle melting are my June loves.

Was off track more than normal the past week with a busy travel schedule. Need to get back on track and really kill the gym the next 4 days before I’m in my bikini!

It’s nice having some “play” now where I don’t look like a cow in a week if I slip up. But, I know that is usually where I start to lose my progress; I start to feel good about myself and I slowly care less about nutrition. I’m not doing that to myself again!

Back on the fast track of low cals and lots of veggies.

I love mornings, but I’m not a perky morning person as you might picture. I’ve always enjoyed being up while things are quiet and drinking a cup of coffee or just walking around outside. However, I really don’t enjoy working out in the morning. I get more out of a work out late in the day, and I feel like I miss out on the stillness of the morning when I jump right into ass kicking. It’s also a great time for me to talk with God and keep focused on the right things. 

This morning I’m still away for business but I forced myself to get a HIIT workout in because I am busy until late tonight when I drive home. I actually did pretty well and feel glad I did, but my stomach was pretty upset with me for being so starved even though I had a small snack first. 

Anyway, yay! Here’s to a great day that I don’t have to worry about working out all day long. Cheers to all! The next time I write I will be a certified Pragmatic Product Marketer. lol

So the last few weeks included a vacation and memorial day weekend. I did pretty good keeping up workouts and eating well on all of these, with just a few extra indulgences. My gymboss, resistance bands, and running shoes gave me plenty of what I need while traveling.

That said, I am proud to say I kept my weight where it was the whole time and as of this morning finally am 125 lbs. I’m not watching the scale but I do keep an eye on it from time to time. I have been doing more leaning down type workouts and meal plans than building as much muscle since the beach is approaching, etc. so I’m sure that’s contributing but either way I’m smaller. This week I hit training and nutrition hard and am really stoked about the results, especially since it’s becoming harder to take off fat at this point. 

That means I officially met my goal of 125 before bikini! Reassessing now. I would like to see more roundness in my arms and legs so will probably throw in some heavy weight sessions coming up too. Also more to whittle away at around my waist, particularly love handles. I could live with my stomach where it is.

Hitting this back up in order to get fitter this summer! See you there.

fitocracy.com/profile/danelle

Absolutely favorite month of the year. Best weather, favorite annual trip to the beach, my hubby and I started dating this month, me and my puppy share a birthday, all of summer to look forward to…. 

And this May, it’s been 6 months since I committed to this fitness lifestyle. I have made lots of progress, learned a lot about myself in the process and made tons of progress in sticking with it most importantly. I’m happier than I have ever been in so many aspects of my life. My goal this month is to stick with the new workout routine and meal plan I picked for myself, but to really enjoy who I’ve become with friends and family.

Thanks everyone who’s inspired and pushed me! Here’s to a kick ass summer!

http://whatsbeautiful.ua.com/

Hope this helps anyone starting out with some things I could have used more clarity on! This is my personal experience and opinion.

1. When you hear people tell you that it takes a lot of patience and not to give up, realize it’s true but also realize what exactly that means. That means it could take weeks to see real results. It was hard for me to to learn what “waiting and keep going” actually meant. Is it a week before I adjust things? Do I wait 6 months to decide it isn’t working? Of course everyone is different, but there are still extremes either way. I got so used to seeing results up front that I would see that advice and think that I was already being patient but then realized that two weeks wasn’t enough to wait sometimes. Sometimes it took a month to see a change I was looking for. Yes, you need to be aware if you’re truly not being honest with yourself with diet or workout intensity but give it a chance if you really are kicking ass. Depending on your goals it could take 4+ weeks to really see or feel much. This doesn’t mean it isn’t working, either! Sometimes after that time period your body kicks into overdrive and almost seems to catch up with all of your work and shows even more results than you anticipated!
2. Kicking ass (intensity level) means something different to everyone. I personally really benefitted from following some sort of pre-written weekly routine by Muscle and Fitness Hers for most of the past 6 months of my journey. It helped push me, but it also helped me realize that 20-30 minutes of HIIT was enough and that kept me less overwhelmed.
3. Protein doesn’t make you lose fat. It helps to preserve muscle and keep you feeling full longer, which helps you keep your calorie intake in check and grow muscle, which helps to sizzle fat.
4. Lift heavy. What exactly does that mean? Heavy is also subjective. But, try to challenge yourself on the 3^rd set of all exercises. That worked for me to keep growing even if I can only do a few with the heavier weight I still finish my reps no matter what by going back to the weight I can handle to finish up. The only way you “bulk up” is if you aren’t being realistic with yourself on your fat loss. You need to keep cardio up and burn fat while building muscle to lean down at the same time. Either way you barely bulk, but I suppose that’s the excuse not to lift heavy as it’s said a lot of the time.
5. Eat clean, learn to love it, and be creative. Diet is really 80% of results. Diet is what you eat, diet to me isn’t being on a “diet”. Not only does a diet geared toward your goals help you create the deficit you may or may not be looking for, but it helps FUEL your activity. I personally eat meat, dairy, and complex carbs etc. but have stuck to clean eating with major portion control and it’s made me healthy and happy. I don’t feel deprived of anything besides a little hungry on days I’m cutting calories a lot which is just a fact of cutting. I eat 6 times a day.
6. Be realistic when setting dietary need goals. For me a very low calorie day is 1400 and I can barely handle that without feeling starving to the point where I can’t think or even sleep. Right now I’m 5’4” and 129 lbs on a good day. A high/cheat day is as much as 2000. If you’re really active with intensity and heavy weights, don’t try to cut calories any lower than 1400 (talking women here). Eat for intensity and energy and fat will burn from your workouts. If you can’t be intense during your workouts because you’re not fueled enough, why bother?
7. Planning ahead means lifestyle change. Know what workouts you are doing for the next 4 weeks. It flies by. Also get used to packing healthy foods for days away/traveling. I suggest having a rough plan for a few months or even the year ahead of high level goals (get lean, build muscle, lose 10 lbs of fat, etc.)
8. Get used to handling comments from other people without losing all of your friends. I have found it way less effective to “preach” my lifestyle than by just keeping my mouth shut and leading by example. I could care less if my family or friends don’t want this lifestyle or eating habits, it’s for me. I’m not pushing anything on them. They are getting used to me bringing food and understanding it’s not to offend them the more I’m showing how serious I am about it over time. It’s becoming more normal. I try to make my cheat meals occur when I’m with other people so they see I’m not obsessive and it helps soften that too. It shows the moderation side of this lifestyle (at least how I chose to live mine).
9. Don’t count every calorie. Life is too busy to keep that up and commit to eating healthy. Something that I do is find pre-written meal plans to stick to which already have calorie counts figured out (give or take). The more you pay attention the better you get at knowing how many calories things are over time. The fact is if you are trying to lose weight you DO need to know to make a deficit but this is, in my opinion, a healthier way to do it long term.
10. A calorie deficit is made by eating less AND working out. You can’t workout and decide to eat more because you made a little dent in deficit. Yes, this can happen and possible not effect your results by much, but it can’t be your plan. You can’t work off a bad diet. “Bad diet” would also include too many calories to create a significant enough deficit for your goals, even if it’s clean food.
11. Healthy means many things. It’s all about your goals. Know what your goals are and eat and train accordingly, it is different for everyone.
12. Be specific on goals. This one I struggled with at first. I thought I wanted to lose weight, period. I soon realized that really meant getting lean. After that I wanted to concentrate on muscle building, which also helped torch fat. Now, I’m back to leaning down again for summer. I still have weight goals in mind but am allowing a lot more time for them to come with my muscle gains and better physique and size. I feel healthy now and the rest is more vanity and personal preference at this point. 

It’s been 6 months since I committed to this lifestyle and I’m so proud. Couldn’t be happier with my life and I know I will continue this. I have made an effort to get a hold of many tools to assist with this and my body has changed a lot in the past half of a year. I will be doing a post of lessons learned this week. 

As far as my new workout routine I started yesterday, I’m already sore! It feels so good to feel something new and challenging that I know will get me results.