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.  

It has been six weeks and now it is time to see how all our hard work has paid off.  Just for the record I feel like I have worked harder than Heather, but I know I could not have done this by myself, this is for sure.  I would have to give her all the credit for my success at this point.  I needed someone to help me get started and lead me in the right direction.  God knows I have tried so many times to loss the weight and some how always put it back on.  This is why I need to learn a healthy lifestyle.  This is not a quick fix, but I am making progress, (that I think will be life long), by taking baby steps.

Now, for the results!  When I started, I weighed 166 and after six weeks I weigh 172.  Now you are probably saying you need to give this up.  After all everyone is advertising LOSE 10 POUNDS in 10 DAYS and I gained 7 pounds; what’s that about?  Have you heard that muscle weighs more than fat?  Yes, I am gaining muscle!

Although, I have not lost any weight; I am feeling stronger.  I have lost 3 ¼ total inches.  Two of these are in my hips alone (amazing).  Now the amazing thing is I lost 3 percent of my body fat.  Heather says this is amazing.  It usually happens that you lose inches, then weight, and finally comes the body fat.  I told Heather, “this is because of all my good eating”.  She said, “No this is because of all of your cardio work outs”.  I do six days of cardio for 30 minutes at a time.  The question is, “Can I keep this up”? 

Remember my goal is to induct all of my new healthy eating and exercise as a premanant part of my life.  Right now it is summer and much easier for me to focus on me, but how will I keep working out and eating healthy when the kids go back to school and the demands of work.  Today I feel I can do it and you know what is great about this, I am learning that this is all I have to worry about; just today.

This week was a hard week for me.  I asked Heather what she thought I should write about this week, since I am not feeling good about anything THIS week, and I have had a heck of a time with myfooddairy.com.  She said; write about this week, people need to know what a bad week is and how you recovered yourself.

Tuesday was that day that I fell off the wagon.  I say this, because I felt like an addict who went out on a binge.  I started out fine.  I kept my first four meals at 300 calories, but could not wait for my next meal all day long.  By dinner I was starving.  I ate my dinner and thought I may have a snack later.  By the way I did exercise earlier in the day and had burned 400 calories (so I still had some room to eat). 

Within about two hours I was starving so I was back in the kitchen.  I thought what could I eat healthy?  I had half of a grilled chicken breast (110 calories).  Then I ate the other half of the breast (110 caloeries) and some left over cooked broccoli.  What happen next I do not really know for sure, I mean I know what happen, but why that is the question?  I had a hand full of pretzels, 21 mini caramel rice cakes, and then I broke.  I had 18 pieces of Brach Bridge Mix (180 calories).  The surprising thing is that the candy did not taste all that great. 

The amazing thing was I went to bed after my binge and woke up in the morning and was back on track.  I ate my bowl of oatmeal happily.  I am so proud that not only am I feeling healthier but my actions are getting healthier.  The old me would have used my moment of weakness as an excuse to give up.  No, I am learning it is okay to fall, but no time to wallow; I need to dust myself off and move forward.

Another week of working out has gone by.  The work outs are getting more intense, I wish I looked as good as I feel.  I feel like I am a size 4, but when I look in the mirror every morning I’m a little surprised what I see (14).  Heather warned me of this, so I am just going to keep on doing what I am doing.  I feel like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams,  ”Build it and it will fall off”.  I think in my past attempts to GET HEATHLY (get thin) I did what so many others do — give it two or three weeks and didn’t lose anything and QUIT!  Not this time.  This time I am in it for the long haul.  

Let me share with you how this time I am staying in the game and what tools I am using.  My first tool is my trainer, Heather Pitts.  It helps to have a commitment of three days a week every morning at 6:00 AM.  Let me add at this time that it is important to make sure that you and your trainer are a good match for each other.  I got a referral to Heather, but I also emailed and spoke to a half a dozen other trainers before I met Heather.  I spend three hours a week with Heather, not only did I she and I have to be on the same page of what I was wanting to accomplish, but I wanted to make sure we enjoyed each others company. 

I have also recruited friends and family to do my cardio with.  I can not walk the tread mill every day, boring.  I walk in the park with friends, run with my dogs in the dog park, and swim (play in the pool) to get 30 minutes of cardio (no less than three days a week).

Another tool I purchased was a heart monitor ($165).  This is great!  I wear it every time I do any exercise.  Every person has a different target heart rate, but when you are exercising in the Zone, you really feel great.  When I get finished with my work outs I record the calories on www.myfooddiary.com.  It feels so good to burn up what you ate for the day and get a smiley face (a reward you get for working hard at myfooddiary.com. 

Right now, I am working on new eating habits and just moving on a regular bases.  My weight lifting days are getting more challenging and in about 2 more weeks I will have more structured cardio work outs.  The exciting thing is that I should start to see pounds coming off around this time.  Heather keeps assuring me this is going to be happening soon.  I can say I feel awesome right now, regardless of how I am looking.

I am Stacy Price.  I am 38 years old, married, have eight children and work full time.  In the last eight years I have lost myself ( from the looks of me in FOOD).  I always said I was going to be 40 and Fabulous.  Well the clock is ticking.  Today is the day I am going on a journey and am inviting you to come with me.  I have gotten so busy taking care of everyone in my life that I have forget to take care of myself.     

I have hired Heather Pitts a fitness trainer (Business Show Advisor for the Houston Business Show) to work out with three days a week.  I have been working out for three weeks with Heather.  When I started I weighed 167 pounds.  I have not weighed in since May 19th.  I do cardio three up to six days a week too, for 30 minutes.  I will not weigh again until July.  Heather and I talked alot before we started trianing together and she told me not to expect any changes for at least six weeks.  My body is in shock right now.    

The biggest change I have made in my life is my diet.  No, not another fad diet.  I am eating five to six meals a day.  I eat each meal three hours apart; three hundred calories a meal.  How am I doing this?  Simple, I have joined myfooddiary.com per Heather’s recommendation.  This is a wonderful site that helps you keep a diary of all the nutrition you will take in a day.  I played with the site for two weeks before I started training just to see how it worked.  I was amazed that I was consuming 3000 calories a day. 

Take this tip, what you put in you mouth you must burn off every day.  I do not know why I had never understood this before.  Now if I want to eat enchiladas, I know that I need to burn at least 350 calories in my cardio work out to justify 750 calories for dinner.  My goal on this journey is not just to lose weight, but to develop good health that I can fit into my lifestyle permanently.

If you have any suggestions, comments, or more please fell free to contact via email at swalston@houstonbusinesmediagroup.com.