Inferno Day 4/5 & Results

Day 4 and 5 came and went and I have to admit I got a little lazy with the pictures.  But the meals were fantastic as they were with the rest of the week.  I ended the week feeling great.  I very obviously lost weight and I felt so healthy and energetic.  It makes me wonder why I torture myself with the fast food and crap that I eat sometimes.  It's so easy to eat well, it doesn't have to be complicated!  And you don't have to deprive yourself of great tasting food.  With a little preparation and planning ahead, anything is doable. 

At my post inferno weigh-in, I'd lost 3 lb. and 1% body fat.  All by eating 5 meals a day and no junk food. I feel so great I'm going to do it again next week!!!

Inferno Day 1

Today was day one of the 5 Day Inferno from my TurboFire workout and it was awesome!  Breakfast was an egg and turkey bacon sandwich with tomatoes.  Got my morning started just right.  Then I had a snack of a banana and a handful of almonds.  The plan called for walnuts but I don't like walnuts, so almonds did the trick.  Lunch presented my first temptation.  We had a big department meeting and lunch was provided for us.  I came armed and ready to resist the standard boxed lunch from Panera or Corner Bakery.  Then the lunch trays were brought in.  Oh man, it was MEXICAN FOOD!  Why would they do this to me?  Anyone that knows me well knows that I die for Mexican food.  Or maybe I live for Mexican food.  Ok, I LIVE AND DIE for it.  Trays of chicken, ground beef, tortillas, tostadas, chips and salsa, cheese...  But I was good, I sat and watched everyone devour their lunch while I ate my little salad with scallions and tuna.  I got a few weird stares.  One lady even looked at me with pity and went "awww".  But I proudly announced that I had challenged myself and my friends to no takeout/fast food this week.  I held my head high, and guess what, I felt great when it was all said and done!

Snack was a chocolate Shakeology.  Then I did my workout, ChaLEAN Extreme Burn Circuit 1.  Followed by my dinner of honey mustard chicken and steamed broccoli with parmesan.  I feel light and satisfied :)

Time to get a good night's sleep!

5 Day Inferno

So I’ve been in a bit of a workout and diet slump.  I spent the better part of 2010 being very disciplined.  I ate well, worked out 6 days a week.  In spite of having a full time job and being alone with Novali, I made it work.  For a whole year, I could count on one hand how many workouts I missed.  I was on fire!  And it was easy to eat well, because I’m a creature of habit.  I could eat chicken breast and veggies every night and it wouldn’t phase me.  Now that Syed and I are living together, I feel like I need to provide more variety with my meals, which means more time to plan and prepare foods.  So I’ve let myself slack a bit.  I’m still working out 5-6 times a week, but I’ve slacked on the eating part.  I wish I could say that working out was enough, but clearly it’s not.  I also think that I became comfortable in that I maintained a very steady weight all last year.  Again, because I was consistent in my efforts.  In the past few months, I’ve gained a few pounds. Not a lot, but enough where I’m feeling the effects. I’m experiencing that dreaded “none of my pants fit” feeling.  At least not the pants I’ve been wearing the past year.  And I do NOT want to go back to my pre-weight loss clothes.  So it’s time to re-evaluate and focus!!!  Hey, I’m human, I probably burned out on my efforts and it’s time to get serious and back on track so that I’m ready for the warm weather clothes!  Not to mention, so that I feel healthy and confident.  

Starting tomorrow, I am going back full force to my favorite workout program ChaLEAN Extreme. Chalene didn’t let me down the first time around, and I’m sure that if I focus on my eating, I will be back at my goal weight in no time!

In addition to that, I’ve challenged myself and friends to a week of no fast food/take out.  To help me with that, this week I will be following the 5 Day Inferno meal plan that came with my TurboFire.  It’s an eating plan that is designed to cleanse your body and change your daily eating habits.  I will be doing it with Syed Ahmed and Grisel de la Torre. Grisel will be following the actual TurboFire 5 Day Inferno workout schedule.   Syed is in the middle of P90X and will follow his regular routine.  

I’ll be blogging all this week about my meals and workouts.  I appreciate any support and motivation!  If anyone wants to join me for the next 90 days, we can help keep each other accountable!

I took my starting stats this morning on my digital scale and they were:

Body Fat: 25.3%

Body Muscle: 41.8%

I will take my before pictures and measurements tonight.  Now it’s off to the grocery store to get everything I need for the week!

Full Circle - How I Lost 20 Lb. & Will KEEP IT OFF in 2011!

One year ago today, I was pretty much in the best shape of my life, and proud of it.  I’d gone from my heaviest ever at 128, to about 115.  Now to a lot of you, 128 might not seem like a lot, but keep in mind that I am barely 5 ft. tall.  128 was a lot of weight for ME.  

My best friend Grisel and I had been doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Slimdown, which consisted of 30 Day Shred, No More Trouble Zones, and Banish Fat Boost Metabolism.  We’d both had amazing results and as of 1/1/10, I’d lost about 12-15 lb. We were ready to step it up.  So we did our research, well SHE did the research, and found a program called ChaLEAN Extreme.  She purchased it for me for Christmas, and that was the beginning of a total life change for BOTH of us.  I started it on 1/1, and I was hooked.  Chalene Johnson is a phenomenal trainer and I loved working out with her!  This program changed my body, I lost another 5 lb., doesn’t sound like a big deal but it was to me!  But what amazed me is how STRONG I felt!  It transformed my body.

Even better was that I could do it all at HOME!!!  I’m a busy mom, at that time I was a SINGLE mom working full time, with a 2 hour commute.  It was just me and Novali.  Which meant it was not realistic for me to go to the gym.  So what I would do was, I’d come home after work, start a quick dinner, and workout while dinner cooked.  I had a tiny place so it was easy for me to keep a eye on everything.  Novali had dinner first, and then I would eat after my workout.  It was the only way for me to be able to balance it all.  And I was determined.  

After ChaLEAN I went on to do several more at home programs, including Insanity, P90X, and now TurboFire.  They kept me in great shape.  But ChaLEAN was the program that inspired me, and still it is my favorite.  It’s my soulmate workout.  

2 months ago I started TurboFire, also by Chalene Johnson.  I LOVE it.  But I’ve realized that the best workouts for me are the ones that incorporate a lot of resistance training.  I love to lift weights and my body responds better that way.  In the past few months, I’ve gained a few lb. back, and I’m determined to get back to where I was with ChaLEAN.  

So in honor of my soulmate workout, I’m going to come full circle for 2011.  I will continue TurboFire, but I am going to do the ChaLEAN Extreme/TurboFire Hybrid.  The best of both worlds!  I know that this will get me the results that I want…  Tomorrow morning I will take my before pics and measurements so that I can compare in 3 months and see how far I’ve come!