Learning to LOVE Sweat!

So I haven't given up yet! I sort of shocked myself. I give up on a lot. I want to keep a journal, I give up. I want to learn new hairstyles, I give up. It's sort of my thing. But I am making progress and I can already tell. I'm pumped. I kind of feel like doing the Jersey Shore fist-pump... I know, I'll refrain.

So anyways this is my new home away from home. My safe haven. My mini vacation spot. You ready for this?

Ok so it looks a little more like this... but I love their logo. Yup I'm a little nerdy.

That's better. I love this place. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. I even signed up for a personal trainer. Yea you heard me right. I didn't just test the waters. I jumped head first into this new journey. That's the only way to do it though, right?

So I met with my trainer Curtis. He set up a plan for me along with the three other people who decided to peel open their eyelids and hop out of bed before 6 am. I was happy to find though that he isn't someone who has been this way his whole life. Sure he's a veteran and all that, but he had to train himself to change too. This dude seriously looked like he was in his early to mid thirties and come to find out he was in his fifties.

Look no further people of the world! You don't need a fountain of youth, you just need to get fit!

A few friends of mine have liked my posts on Facebook about the advice Curtis gives. So I figured I would lay it all out there. This is by no means a program I created myself and I own no rights... blah, blah, blah. And all that good stuff. Also this is just the beginning of what he is teaching me. However, he says everyone should come see him and he will help get you in shape!

First we talked about nutrition. Yea.... don't stop reading yet. I know. Here is the gist of it.

• Eat breakfast within one hour of waking up. 
• Weight loss is more psychological. 
• Eat 5 meals a day
• 2-3 or 3-4 hours apart
• This keeps your blood sugar and energy level stable
• The last two should be your smallest meals because your body is winding down for the day. 
• Cut off food 2-3 hours before bed. 
• Drink one gallon of water a day. 
• If you have to eat after the cut off time, eat a salad (oil and vinegar are better). 
• FIBER, FIBER, FIBER! (all veggies and fruit and whole grains)
• BTW eat real wheat bread. Law only requires wheat bread to be called that if it is 1%, yes 1% wheat bread. Most are mainly flour, a little wheat and caramel coloring to make it look wheat. 
• it's not real wheat bread if it has any of these four ingredients listed in the first three to four of the ingredients list
• fortified flour
• enriched flour
• bleached flour
• sugar 
• THANK YOU LYING LAWMAKERS!!!

• GOLDEN RULE TO WEIGHT LOSS*** Prepare your meals in advance. 
• My instant thought... PINTEREST

Next he went on to tell us about the three main things we need in all our meals. Ready and go!

• Protein
• need it to build muscle which helps burn fat
• fish
• eggs
• chicken
• turkey
• pork
• tofu (absolutely not!)
• dairy products
• beans 
• nuts
• protein powder, bars, and drinks
• beef (not the healthiest of all)  
• Complex Carbohydrates
• primary source of energy a fuel
• veggies
• fruits
• whole grains (only true whole grains)

• Healthy Fat
• lubrication of joints, skin, brain, etc. 
• fish
• nuts
• avocado
• ground flax seed
• olive oil
• coconut oil
• peanut oil
• fish oil/flax seed oil pill
• ONLY 1 OR 2 MEALS

***NEED A PROTEIN AND COMPLEX CARB WITH EVERY MEAL!!!

Try www.eatingwell.com

So now that we have that part out of the way, on to the fun part! Yes, it's fun!

WORKOUT SCHEDULE

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

• Start with a 10 minute cardio warm up. (That's like listening to three of your favorite songs back to back. You can do it. Rock it out!)
• Elliptical, treadmill, arc trainer, steps, running, walking, dance, etc. 

• Then the circuit total body work out area. It's sort of like curves. You start on a aerobic step. You can step up and down any way you like. V-step, kicks, whatever you like. You do that for about a minute. Then you have about a 30 second break to get to a machine and work on that for another minute. I'm not sure what exercises you could do other than the machines. But this is what I do. The rest are just the machines I use that the weight that I set them on. There are no set amount of reps, just go for a minute. Then step again. 
• Chest Press
• 25 lbs
• works your chest
• Wide Grip Lat Pull down/Close Grip Lat Pull down
• Its the same machine. If you chose the wide grip pull down, you will be working your biceps and shoulders. It you chose to close grip, you will be working your triceps (you know that area of your arm that is determined to keep waving at people after you stop) and your shoulders.
• 40 lbs 
• works your back mainly
• Row
• 25 lbs
• works your back
•  Overhead Press
• 25 lbs
• works shoulders
• Arm Curl
• 25 lbs
• works biceps
• Arm Extension
• 15 lbs
• works biceps
• Leg Press
• 40 lbs
• Leg Extension
• 30 lbs
• Leg Curl
• 40 lbs
• Ab Bench
• 40 lbs

After this I end with 30 minutes of cardio. Any of the examples I mentioned earlier. I also have some bands that I use at night from Jillian Michaels. I haven't quite figured all that out yet, so I can't help you there.

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday

• One hour of cardio. 
• Ab work out
• Plank
• 30 seconds

•  Side Plank
• 30 seconds

• Abdominal Isometric Hold
• 30 seconds

•  It doesn't have to be this high and extreme. 

• Bird Dogs
• 30 seconds each side

• Hip Bridge
• 12 reps

• Reverse Crunch
• 12 reps
• Yes, your booty will make you scoot down the mat!

• Russian Twist
• 20 reps

 Then at night I do a lower body and abs pilates routine.


I told you I jumped in head first. Oh and if you work your abs/core, you have to do it every other night. Your abs have to have a day in between to rest.

After I work out the real fun begins. I use the Total Body Enhancement bed which has red light therapy. The stand up booth looks a little like this...

 You get in and hold the bars above your head. You have to wear the same eye wear as you would tanning though. Dr. Oz, who I love has talked about this therapy a lot. Here is a link if you want to hear more about it, though it's not a Dr. Oz link.

***Disclaimer: Ignore the person snorting in the background.... www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwipMPMLJgw

So it takes awhile to see results, but if anything it is extremely relaxing!

So that's about it. I haven't weighed in the past two weeks, but I will this week and I hope to have some good results!