WOW #3 Week 1- Here I am

The phantom blogger has returned with vision, motivation, and ready to kick some ass. This wow I can already tell it is going to be some much better, there is more spirit and spunk. Today even the girl next to me was kicking butt and taking names. It was really fun and that hasn't been a word I would have used to describe WOW in a while.

Kristan recommended we journal about the following things to get started with this one. I agree its so much better to start with the goal in mind!!

1. When were you at your peak physical condition?

Surprisingly I would say right now in the last few months I have been at my top physical peak of my entire life. I was always in shape in high school and played a lot of sports, but never in all around good fitness with good eating habits. Generally it was one or the other, but rarely did I sustain doing both.

2. Do you remember how great you felt both mentally and physically?

Yes do, and it is what generally keeps me going. This year I started a new job, am a full time

grad student at UNI, and have been working out at 4:30am since the end of august. Right now

kickboxing has become my prozac, and kept me sane under the pressure. And I feel sexy, lets

be honest, and it feels pretty damn good.

3. What do you have to change about your current habits to attain results like that again?

Right now I have to cut out the excessive carbs, and lower my calories to 1000 to 1200 I hope to

to lose another 25 in this WOW and in order to make a huge change like that I have to keep it

together on the eating and work my ass off.

4. What is your #1 goal for the next 10 weeks?

My main goals for this WOW are continued weight loss, I know it isn't about numbers but when I

started all of this I had a number in the back of my head (150) and I am getting there. I have to

get serious to get the serious results I want. Also, I want to work on being more active outside of

the gym, because that will lead me to developing an overall more active lifestyle and making true

change

5. What are the "solutions" you must stay focused upon in order to attain that goal?

I will not be allowing myself to get dragged into negativity during this WOW, I am going for ME

and only ME. I have a great partner this time, but I will not attribute my success to anyone but

myself. I have all the tools to reach my goals, I just need to use them. This is my mantra for this

WOW, and I will tell it to myself over and over and over if I have to. I need to focus on my own

"personal bank account" because it needs some deposits before I can help others build theirs.

My first 5k!!

So as you may remember, I had signed up for a "Sweethears 5k" for Feb. 13. Well I did it, and finished in 38 minutes and 42 seconds. My goal was sub 40 so I am very happy with those results!! It was cold, it was rainy, but it was a victory! And of course I enjoyed having my 'sweetheart' at my side! We are planning to do another one on April 10, and my goal is to be able to run the whole thing with no walking breaks. *Crossing fingers* It feels so good to have accomplished a goal like this! I've never been what most people consider a 'runner' but I feel like I am slowly making my way there.

Oh also for Valentines Day my hubby gave me a Nike +. He gave it to me a couple weeks early because I was too excited! Do any of YOU, our readers have one?? I would really like to have friends to add at the nike+ website!!

W.O.W. #2- Week 4 & 5-Halfway Measurements

Well my last post was a little gloomy about how I was feeling, but now that I am back tracking on sparkpeople, going more with calories, I am a very happy girl!! Also, this week marks the halfway point for this wow, and well let's just say I'm pleasantly thrilled with my results. I am going to put my ending results from November down so you can compare.

My measurements after (Nov. 20):

Body Fat Percentage: 38.3%

Weight: 194.6

Hips: 48"

Waist: 41 3/4"

Chest 40"

Thigh: 26"

Arm: 12 3/4

Push-ups in 1 min.: 19

Sit-ups in 1 min: 43

Halfway Measurements: (February 11)

Body Fat Percentage: 35.2%

Weight: 185.6

Hips: 45"

Waist: 38 3/4"

Chest 39"

Thigh: 26"

Arm: 13"

Push-ups in 1 min.: 27

Sit-ups in 1 min: 44

The weight is getting harder and harder to get off but the inches are still moving in the right direction!!! Yahoo!!!

W.O.W. #2- Week 3-I knew this was coming, but still not prepared

Well the 3rd week of wow is complete, and I came in UP 2.5 pounds. This is the first time that this has happened for me since the middle of July and I'll be honest...I was devastated. I knew that this WOW was going to be harder, and that the weight was going to come off slower, but UP....UP really?! I have been doing a lot of reflection the last few days about myself and my pitfalls and the pros and cons of the Zone diet. It isn't a lifestyle for me, I am going to incorporate some of its guidelines but I am going back to sparkpeople for tracking, and calorie counting. It should be similar, but for me it just isn't. I have deducted that it has something to do with me mentally because I have been on every fad diet known to man, and despite this not being one mentally I can't get over it feeling like one.

This last weekend was a prime example because John and I had the day off to spend together, we went shopping and just hung out. But I didn't feel like there was anything for me to eat because I was so exhausted that I just couldn't think. I went to McDonalds and tried to do what the Zone says about getting the two hamburger patties and ditching the top of the bun...but I felt ridiculous. And then by the end of the day I was starving and talked myself into a piece of pizza...really?! Then Sunday I spent the day pretty much beating myself up for all my bad choices on Saturday, which was about as productive as trying to get the snow off my driveway in January. But now looking back, the zone just brought to life many of the obstacles that stopped me from weight loss for so long...I can eat what I like, just in moderation. There are better choices to make sometimes, but adding a salad to that hamburger and adding a pile of green beans to that piece of pizza would have been better.

I will continue to eat more protein than I did in my first WOW but 78 grams a day is just too much because I'm not doing enough strength training to need all of that right now. Also, I understand the importance of good carbs over bad carbs. I know that you want to stay in the zone and it doesn't always happen, but this diet just made me fall into many of my old habits like feeling like I was sneaking food if I had a potato or feeling guilty because I wanted spaghetti. Its a great diet...but for me it is not my way of "getting my healthy on" its my way of having all my perfectionist tendencies come to life and to lose confidence in being able to reach my goals.

Wow, that was a lot longer than I was anticipating, but after deciding that Monday morning, here it is Wednesday already and I am down that two measly pounds but I have a sense of freedom that I had before. I'm not where I want to be in WOW, but I'm feeling like I am back on the right track.

W.O.W. #2- Week 2

This week has been so much better, things are getting to a point of normal. My total loss at this point is 7.8 pounds in 2 weeks, which is pretty awesome. I am definitely feeling the difference of having the protein added in and making sure that it stays there is sometimes the challenge because it is the biggest thing that you can eliminate to save time, which is something that just can't happen.

My breakfast this morning comprised of 1 whole hard boiled egg, 2 hard boiled egg whites, 1/2 Cup of oatmeal (dry with 1 cup of water added, 2 tsp brown sugar, and 9 almonds. Yes you read that correctly and I am LOSING WEIGHT with all that food. It is crazy, and the tone in my muscles is getting much more defined.

well here comes another week!!

W.O.W. #2- Week 1-WOW as an adjective

Well with one week of the second wow underway, all i can think about is all the ways the WOW has become an adjective in my life. Such as, wow my body is soooo happy that i am working out again at this intensity level, wow my body was exhausted all week, wow zone dieting is hard if you ever leave the house, and wow i have lost a ton of weight.

It is so hard to do this zone diet, because that is exactly what it feels like...a diet. Knowing my track record I don't stick with diets, and I don't want to feel like I am on one. I am trying to make a lot of healthy changes, or eating better foods, but I also got into the habit of eating the same thing over and over and over this week. This attitude I am feeling is hard to deal with because I NEVER felt that way in the last wow, but I just have to keep telling myself that I know Kristan would never give me a task I couldn't accomplish or set me up for failure.

The positive side of the Zone diet is the amount of food I can eat, and my level of satisfaction that I have after meals, as well as how long that satisfaction lasts. I can make it easily between meals instead of struggling to get to the next one. The down side is that I spend FOREVER planning and preparing. Also, I feel like there are so many things I can't have.

The positive side of the week is that I started at 194.4 Monday (which is the result of a few bad weekend choices) and today am at 188.4....which is a 6 pound loss this week!!

Here goes week two...i hope it gets a little easier.

Please help...

I know money is tight everywhere, but I don't know anyone who can't sacrifice $10 to help aid those in Haiti right now whose lives have been shattered in the earthquake.

I know if I were there, I would be on my knees begging God, praying for help from people like you and me. We are all so blessed people!!! We can't sit here and allow those people to suffer without offering the slightest bit of help.

Right now is the time to help.

Read this article.

Really, just take the 5 minutes and read it please.

Did you read the part that states there could be as many as 100,000 dead? Or maybe even up to 500,000 dead?? Or more???? I can't even imagine the heartache involved in such a disaster.

For those interested in helping immediately (YOU AND ME!), simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill (I checked it out and it's 100% legit. It's sponsored by the mGive Foundation and Every penny of that $10 goes straight to the Red Cross).Once you text, they will text you back asking to confirm. Reply "YES". They will send you 2 more texts and you just reply "STOP" to never hear from them again. Simple as can be.

Or you can go online to organizations like the Red Cross and Mercy Corps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.