It's the Holiday Season...

Happy Holidays to everyone! Sorry for the delay in posts but I was finishing up school for the semester and work has been exceptionally busy. At long last I am done with school until the second week of January & if I pass my finance final I will be a very happy girl. I'd also like to give a huge welcome back to my cousins who are back from med school in the caribbean for 3 weeks! And my best friend Danny, a CECB in the US Navy was granted leave for Christmas & got home this morning! Santa out did himself already!

Well, last week was my weigh in & here are the results with November's numbers in parentheses.

Hips: 41 (42)
R Thigh: 21 3/4 (22)
Waist: 32 1/4 (32 1/2)
R Arm: 11 (11 1/4)
Shoulders: 40 (40)
Body fat: 28.1% (30.8%)

In two months I'm down about 10 pounds, my body fat went from 34% down to 28.1% and I've shed around 6 inches. I have to say I'm pretty happy with those results. When you are overweight, you can feel like you will never lose that excess weight. Once you start to lose it, you feel pretty incredible, but most of us know that once you see results, that doesn't mean you can slack off.

Joe was concerned that perhaps I'm not enjoying my food as much as possible, but instead of sounding like a psycho I just said it wasn't so bad, when the real truth is I have to be tough on myself with my food otherwise I'll start to slip. When you're watching what you eat, the food can get boring after awhile. Joe suggested that maybe I try some new recipes, which I'm always up for and even offered some suggestions. For example, for lunch or dinner he recommended having a piece of pizza with a side of chicken and vegetables or salad. It basically hits all of the food groups and is a nice change of pace from the standard turkey or chicken and salad.

Now for anyone who has struggled with their weight, you know how your wardrobe changes throughout the battle. When you're overweight you wear things to hide yourself and not draw attention to your problem areas which to you usually feels like everywhere on your body. Once you start to lose weight you hate all of your old clothes because they don't fit you right or they make you look bigger than you want to look. Getting dressed becomes a problem not because you're trying to cover yourself up, but because you are trying to show off a little more of yourself so you just hate everything in your closet. Then there's the whole idea of "getting a new wardrobe" but how realistic is that? Most of us spend a long time piecing together the clothes that make up the closet, we can't just go out and purchase a whole new wardrobe.

My work outs have been full of sweat & pain. 15 is officially my least favorite number right now. Joe loves to make me do 15 reps of some of the most challenging exercises. Whatever happened to 10 or 12? Why should they be neglected?

Yesterday was no different. 15 reps on a chest press with my legs extended in the air, 15 on the bent over rows with the barbell and so on. The good thing is Joe does tend to decrease the reps in some of the sets, but needless to say by the 3rd exercise and all those reps my arms were shot. Then came the worst part... Joe thought it would be a good idea to do some core exercises with the upper body, which I figured wouldn't be so bad. WRONGO! I had to do forward AND side planks! No one should have to do forward & side planks in the same work out! I was shaking so much I could hardly hold myself up. My shoulder has been bothering me lately and I haven't said anything, but after you've had one cortisone shot it kinda lingers in the back of your mind that another one could always be necessary. I don't think I'm at that point, but one thing is for sure Icy/Hot patches are my new best friends.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic Christmas & enjoys good food and family and friends! I will probably post before the New Year after the Christmas feast. Until next time...

Marisa