Stacy Price

Never, Never, Give Up; The Weight Will Fall

stacy — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:15:52 +0000

The first of the year Heather (my trainer) and I set a goal to break my plateau of 156 pounds by Valentines Day. I shook my head up and down letting her know I agreed, but in my mind I was thinking I am not sure that I was going to pull it off. After all, I had been at a plateau for 12 weeks. As I thought about it; I had hit this same plateau in the last five years many of times and eventually gave up and went back to my old habits. I would eat out of control and never work out.

I had even told myself (for a second) that if I did not meet this goal by Valentine’s, then I would tell Heather that it had nothing to do with her, but I know my body and it was not going to lose any more, so I quit. Now thinking back, it is funny to me. Isn’t it funny how we tell ourselves junk like this. I’m glad that this time I only thought it and did not act upon my thoughts.

The good news is that I lost eight pounds (before Valentines Day)! The loss of inches has slowed down along with body fat. My body fat when I got started was 38.2%; at my last weigh in was 27.6% and is now at 26.7%. Heather says that, now that the body fat and inches are slowing down, I should really start dropping the poundage.

I signed up for a half of marathon (13 miles) that I am running in April. It is really great because it will be Heather, Cindy (someone else that trains with Heather) and a friend of Cindy’s. The race will be held at Lost Pines, just outside of Austin, TX. We have made sure that not only are we working on getting and staying fit, but we are going to enjoy ourselves too. We booked two suites at the Hyatt and plan on celebrating our victory over dinner and gal talk. I would advise anyone who has a hard time commiting to themselves, or can not afford a trainer. Commit to a friend. It is harder to quit something if you have someone else counting on you. Most importantly have fun!

Building A Body With Weights

stacy — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:25:36 +0000

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.

Having A Strong Mind Is Having A Strong Body

stacy — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:08:17 +0000

I have written before about how this journey is becoming more of a change for me on the inside than it is a physical change as it was when I first started. I know that I needed to do something and the most obvious was my weight.

What I love most about my life is that as long as my eyes open everyday and I get out of bed, I am given the grace to live my life better than I did the day before. This is exactly what I try to do everyday of my life. It seems as though much of the time I have no idea how I am going to do this, but I am always open to what opportunities each day has for me.

The Headstrong workshop that was going to happen on September 18^th and 19^th was canceled due to Hurricane Ike, when Christine Maddox let me know that she was having a workshop called Investment to Excellence in Greenville, South Carolina in October and November, what got my attention; was the description of this workshop: “This is not motivation, this is mental technology”. This is all I needed to know. I have two tickets to “Paradise,” well I’m sure those who live in South Carolina think it is paradise.

I asked Christine what I should do to get ready for the workshop. Her advice was to ask myself what I want and then why I want it. She did not suggest worrying about how I would get it done, because she would give me all the information I would need to know how to do anything I wanted to. Now what do you do if you can not find out what or why you would want? I have finally resided to just go and be open to what possibilities await me!

Let’s Lose Body Fat If Not Weight

stacy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:16:44 +0000

Well, this week was measuring week. I again maintained my weight at 157 pounds. I have not lost any weight in eight weeks. This really makes no sense to me; especially when I am working my butt off. The last eight weeks have been weight lifting and cardio combined which are killers. One would think that the more cardio you would do the more weight one would lose.

Now, I will stop my whining and give the good news! When I started I had a total body fat of 38.2% and today I have 31%. This is really good because body fat is the hardest part of the losing process. Although I still have a butt; my hip measurements have gone down from 45.5 inches to 41 inches. What this really means is I am wearing a size 10. I am pretty happy with those results.

Heather Pitts (my personal trainer) says that eventually, the weight will come off. I thought this was interesting that we lose our weight from the outer limbs and it works up to our mid section. Also, our muscles have memory, so this is why it is important to change up your work out routines regularly. That being said, it gives me hope and makes me feel a whole lot better. I’ll be at the gym Monday and I will soon let you know how it is going.

Running Is It Body Or Mind

stacy — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:48:23 +0000

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.

We ran one time around and when we stopped I asked her how far it was. Now this just shows you how much wh at we believe is possible and what we can really make possible. I ran 2.8 miles, now if she had said before we got started I was going to run 2.8 miles I would have been sure that I could not do it. My thoughts would have been I am only running a mile right now.

The only thing holding me back is me. I ran that first mile and then I walked the rest of my cardio. Not because I am tired or sore, but just because I THINK that. The whole reason why I ran the first mile to begin with is because Heather told me to. I believe if I am going to make this a life changing event I need to start doing this for me.

Don’t get me wrong I think it is great to have cheerleaders involved, but my concern is if someday I don’t have Heather or friends to work out with. I want to get up and do it for me. Now I am not sure how this new thinking comes about, but I have been told that to have awareness of change is a good start. I also am aware that I feel great! So I will just keep working.

How Powerful The Mind IS

stacy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:22:46 +0000

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.

My Food Dairy and Healthy Choices

stacy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:54:10 +0000

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.

Finding Balance and Holding It

stacy — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:18:08 +0000

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?

NO PAIN, NO GAIN, THIS IS NOT EXACTLY TRUE

stacy — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:26:01 +0000

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.

The Truth About My Size

stacy — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:36:17 +0000

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.