My body is so tired.  My work outs have been really hard.  Almost every work out I have been sore.  Honestly I like felling sore, because I feel that I have gotten a really good work out.  My sore muscles are a constant reminder for me to make good healthy choices; it’s easy when it hurts to bend over to tie my shoes.

My work outs mostly consist of three sets of increasing the weight in each set.  For example I could be bench pressing my first set of 15 at 45 pounds, second set of 12 at 50 pounds, and the third set of 10 at 55 pounds.  I like this kind of work out too because each week I see how strong I am getting by the increased amount of weight I can lift.

Another reason why these work outs have been killing me is that I have had to do several work outs back to back to get all of my work outs in, since my schedule has gotten crazy with the holidays coming up and traveling out of town.  I am not sure why but I have really been tired lately.  The good news report is that my body is shirking again.  I have not lost any more weight, but you can tell that my body fells firmer and looks smoother. 

For the most part I survived Hurricane Ike.  I did not get to go to the gym at all for a week because there was no power any where.  For the first four days I simply ate, after all I was in survival mode.  By day five I was feeling really ugly and something had to give.  

I put on my running shoes and I was out the door.  Exercise is so therapeutic.  I am still doing cardio for 30 minutes, five times a week, but now I have made it mandatory that I run at least one mile during my cardio. 

In the middle of the week Heather Pitts (my trainer) sent out an email that whoever wanted to meet her at Memorial Park to run, she would be there.  I showed up and was a little scared that I would never be able to keep up because Heather is always running 5Ks’ on the weekends.

I have been working out for about 14 weeks now and it is amazing to me, how if I am told to do something by Heather I just do it.  I have gotten comfortable enough to tell her when I do not like it, but do it any way.  The truth is, I have a problem at times that changes are not happening fast enough.  My mind tricks me into telling me that I should make it easier on myself and just meet with a plastic surgeon.  Yet, I really do not believe this is true, I know too many people who have gone out and done this and not changed any of their present lifestyle habits and ended up, in a very short period of time after surgery, having the same issue or worse issues than before.

I decided I needed to seek some help on the way I was thinking about all this.  I needed a work out for my mind as well as my body.  I know if all of the work I am doing is going to stay with me, I need to work out what I think and why I think the thoughts that I do.  At 38 I am surprised I am who I am yet, not disappointed about it, but not always sure who that is and always wanting more.  Even more surprising is, since I started this journey, I have talked to alot of women about how I feel and many of them feel the same way.

From a referral of a friend I was told about www.headstrongusa.com.  This is the answer I was looking for.  I emailed Christina Maddox, co-founder of headStrong, and through several conversations we decided to work together to put conduct a workshop here in Houston on September 18th and 19th (anyone interesed can go to the website and register). 

I actually had lunch with Christina and asked her to explain to me how what she did different from me just reading a self-help book.  What she said made a lot of sense; she said that all people are capable of making changes for themselves for short periods of time, but we usually go back in time to what we are most comfortable (or familiar with).  She gave an example in that she has worked with Lance Armstrong and George Hinpacie.  What is the difference between them and other cyclists?  Nothing really, except the way they think.  She told me to think about who I want to be and why I want to be that.  She could teach me how to this.  I think at age 38 it is time to be who, I want to be and not what everyone wants me to be.  Please email me if you too are have some of the same challenges.          

This week Heather asked me to keep track of my food intake.  I have not tracked my eating habits for about four weeks.  Since I have lost a few pounds my calorie intake has decreased from 1521 calories a day to 1496 calories a day.  I knew this would happen once I started losing weight; to continue losing I would have to decrease my calorie intake.  I thought it would be much fewer calories than 1496, I can still live with this.

Of course the week she ask me to count calories was not a routine week for me.  We left town on Thursday and I did not have control of my schedule like I usually do.  We were traveling with our kids.  This was hard for me because I do not normally eat at fast food places or much of the junk kids love to eat. 

I did plan the menu for when we got to where we were going and I made a huge salad and had lots of fresh fruit on hand for when I wanted to snack on something.  This helped with the temptation that could come from the potato chips and cookies I packed for the kids.  Most of the time I did well.

What was really good was as soon as I got home I went for a run.  It is good to relax and take time off.    

Monday was my thirteenth week.  We take my measurement after every six weeks.  I have to say I was happy with the results.  I lost 11 pounds since we got started.  Remember, I gained weight at the end of my first six weeks (muscle).  I lost 6 1/2 inches (total all over body).  The big loss was an other 2% body fat!  I am really happy with the results.

What is really great is not only does my physique look better, but I am guessing from all my healthy eating I have noticed my complexion looks better too.  For the most part I eat really healthy, but I did break down the other day and had a hambuger from a place called Mytibuger with the family after church.  This was not the end of the world.  I did not tell myself ”you messed up so, lets just throw everything out for a healthy  today and start doing it again tomorrow”.  That night for dinner I had a healthy balance meal and so on and so on.

You want to know why, life does not give us do overs.  We have to make the best decisions for today.  Some times for that moment.  My decision to have that hamburger was made because I need to have balance in my life and the only way to create balance is to practice balance.  I’m going to let you think about that.  Where in your life do you need balance?   

My workouts have gotten really hard.  I am sore about once a week.  I was worried that maybe I was not working hard enough, because for the first seven weeks I would come into the gym and Heather would say “Are you sore” and I would say “No.”  This is not the case any more.  I can count on at least one day a week that I can not move a muscle with out a grimace.  For me this is really good.  I am now felling the progress.

On Wenseday of this week I thought I was going to have a set back.  I was doing lunges (good for the butt) and all of the sudden I felt a pop in my hip.  Heather asked if I was okay and, of course, I can’t stop my working out so I say “I’m fine”.  There was nothing fine, I was in a lot of pain.  Thank goodness Heather knew me well enough that she said “stop, let’s do a different exercise, that will still work the same muscle group”.

Wow, it was great for me to know, that you can get around obsticles while working out.  You do not have to do just one thing to get good results in our workouts.  The no pain no gain, is not exactly true.

Last weekend was a great proof of my progress.  We were at a conference in Austin and I had only packed one pair of jeans for casual dress.  What’s the big deal, you ask?  Well, the big deal is that I have gone down two sizes.  I had to keep pulling my pants up all night, awesome!

If someone would have asked me what size I wore before I started this journey, I would have said a size 14.  My Truth is I was really a 16 forcing myself into a 14.  I know about week six Heather asked me if my cloths were fitting looser since I had lost 3% of my body fat.  I thought about it and it was weird that my cloths were not looser.  Well this is why; for the last year I had refused to buy anything new until I lost weight, which I never did and just keep stuffing myself into a 14, because I could not bare to wear a size 16.  Don’t act like you haven’t done this yourself, or don’t know someone who is squeezing into a size10, but is really a 12.

What I am finding is that if I want life long change, I need to be honest with myself.   I am today going to be honest, I am a size 12.  More importantly I am feeling healthier and happier every day.  I have heard people say that when they took control of their eating habits and exercise patterns, they felt more confident.  Let me tell you I am truely surprised how empowered I feel about who I am and what I want.   

I have been working out now for about eight weeks now and for the longest time I wondered if I ever was going to be sore after working out.  Well, the day has come!  Heather is now bumping up the weights.  About once a week I am sore.  This is good, each time I wake up sore, it is a reminder to me that I am making further progress to becoming the healthier me.

It has surprised me that when I workout and eat healthy how empowered I feel.  I am finding that working out is more about my mind than it is my body.  I have dozens of reasons why I can’t work out.  I have to make it a priority every day that excercise ( just 30 minutes) and healthy eating is a part of my life now. 

After a couple of weeks Heather said she was concerned about how I would learn to train my way of thinking for a life change and not just ”quick” weight loss.  From day one I have done everything she has told me to do.  I chose her because I trusted her, although I have had many questions for her about the method, but did it because I trusted her.  Last week she told me to stop using my food dairy.  I did it, but was not happy about it.  By Wenseday I aksed her why did I need to stop using the food dairy.  She said, “because you came to me wanting to make this a life change.  You are not going to record your food every day of your life.  You know how to eat five healthy meals, so you do not need it now.”  All of what she said was true.  She also added that if life gets crazy I can always go back to using it just to check in to see if I am in balance with my eating.

I felt really good that Heather gets me.  I have for years lost weight and always gaini it back.  I have always been able to follow direction, because of this I have been able to do any diet.  I have even been at time the queen of exercise.  I really can not remember ever combined both at the same time.  Even if I did, I was bound to fail, because neither practices were meant to be a way of life.  What do you know, a life change is mind, body and soul.