10 K

Jason and I have decided to run a 10K on June 13th. We figured it would help us towards our fitness goals. The great things about this particular race are:
It's right here in Iowa City
It's on a Saturday.

Most races are on Sunday so we never sign up for them. Also so close to home, can't get much better than that.

I just hope we can both survive through the entire race and finish. It will definately be a challenge for both of us since neither of us like to run.

Jason wants to loose 15-20 more pounds and I want to loose at least 10 more pounds so hopefully this month of training will help us with that weight loss goal as well.

another week gone by

This week I tried hard to eat right, except for today (I'll post that in a second) anyway for entire week I did well and as a result lost another pound. So I'm down to 144. Wahoo!!

Now about today. Jason and I went to Burger King, neither of us had been there for a long time and a burger sounded good, so we went there.

1410 calories later for just me (I kid you not) we left.

I had a double whopper with cheese and just that has 1010 calories, can you believe that? I had no idea. I was just super hungry for a big cheeseburger. Then of coarse I had fries and fully leaded pop and I never do that. I only know the calories because they had a huge chart on the wall by the registers which I failed to look at before I ordered. Otherwise I would have ordered around 500-600 calories which is more normal for me. I'm usually a kid's size hamburger type girl with diet pop and no fries, but today I went all out.

Thank goodness I did an hour of Step aerobics earlier today, that will help with the huge amount of calories.

Anyway a good week with a pound loss. I'm doing well emotionally and getting lots accomplished at home and for Pampered Chef.

Doing Better

Weight loss isn't fun for anyone, but I have lost another pound so I'm down 3 since my original post called "Fallen off the wagon" a few posts back. I weigh 145 and that's great for now. Would love to get back where I was in October at 137, but if not, it's okay cause I know that I still look good, and I'm happy with my body. So many people are not happy with themselves. I am thrilled to be a size 6 and sometimes a size 4. I must just be more muscular than some. It just can't be about the number.

My emotions are better, the new Birth Control Medicine, Yasmin, must be doing something for me since I'm happier overall and I want to go teach aerobics, and do parties for Pampered Chef, and I can't say that I've been happy since last August. I've had many up and down moments, more down.

I am eating less and trying to exercise better. I guess we will see how the next week goes.

Climbing back on the wagon

It's been a couple weeks and I haven't updated. I have lost 2 pounds since my last post and I'm working on more. My emotions have been much better lately than they were in October through December. I think my new BC medicine is helping my moods.

I will update in a week or so. Hopefully I'll be well on my way to recovery with emotions and weight loss by then.

Fallen off the wagon

Here it is the beginning of a new year and I've literally fallen off the wagon. With weight loss that is. Here's the story:

I was doing well in October with keeping off the weight, exercising regularly and I was super happy. Many things happened after October 16th. First, I was fired from Core Fitness in Iowa City. It was a shock to my system. I had worked there for 4 3/4 years. I loved being a fitness instructor there. I knew everyone in my classes. I also tried to learn everyone's names in the gym itself. I put my heart into that place. I felt that I'd have that job for a really long time, it was awesome. I seriously loved to teach fitness.


Then one day, My husband looked into a new gym opening up in North Liberty, Iowa. He wanted to teach there because the pay was better, plus he felt he would be treated better overall. Long story there, but basically the fitness coordinator that took over last Nov. wasn't nice to Jason. She was rotten and talked behind both our backs. (it was like High School all over again) Jason was eager to leave Core for the reason of poor management from the Owners (who fought constantly in front of gym members and staff) and for the reason of the fitness coordinator who seriously didn't know what she was doing and her unprofessional behavior was just bringing the gym down.

One day the entire fitness staff was e-mailed and in this e-mail it stated that we all had to give our availability to the fitness coordinator and also state whether or not we were looking into that new gym.

Jason being the honest guy he is, told the F.C. that he was indeed planning on leaving Core, but not for 5 more weeks and he still wanted to teach at Core.

You would think that a gym management team would want to keep an instructor like Jason. He had the highest number of attendees than any morning class ever. His step class was super popular. So you would think that the management team would offer Jason more money to stay there. Because as it was we got paid crap. We taught because we loved to teach. Definitely not for the money.

However it wasn't like that. Two days after Jason wrote his letter to the F.C., he was fired. Then I was fired.

Why???????

I struggled for that for quite a while.

So that's the beginning of the story.

Then we went to Utah for Jason's brother's wedding. I didn't want to go. Well I did, but I didn't. See it this way . . .

Traveling by Van loaded with 6 children all smashed together in the back. Fighting almost the entire way and on top of that, we really didn't have the money to go on this trip. Several financial things had happened to us that same week.

However I knew that since his parents hadn't visited us in Iowa since we started living there and it had now been 8 years that if we didn't make the trip to Utah, then our children may go another 2-5 years without seeing their Grandparents. That's not fair to any child.

It ended up being a very depressing trip overall. I was suffering emotionally over being fired just the week before and I was crushed more than I thought. Then my mother-in-law asked if I was going anorexic. By the way I'm 5 foot 4 inches tall, so 137 pounds (which was my weight when I was there) is far from anorexic. Still totally within normal range. I really don't understand why she asked me that?????????

I was also on 3 medicines (Allegra, Premarin, and a B.C. pill) Apparently I was taking too much estrogen, and it messed with my system. I became super depressed. I think between the combination of being fired and emotionally drained, and then the trip to Utah I didn't want to make but did anyway, then the medicine I was on that wasn't right for me is what made me stop caring for a while.

I became more and more depressed. I recognized this one night and called the hospital. I just wanted to talk to a nurse. All said and done, I have now seen my doctor, gotten off all the medications I was on, started on a new birth control pill called Yasmin, saw a psychologist, talked to a really good friend, journaled my emotions, exercised more and I feel 8000 times better.

Between October and now I have eaten so many sweets and bad things for my body it's completely crazy. I have not been nice to my body. I have let my body gain 11pounds. Today at the plasma center where I donate I weighed in at a whopping 148. Just 3 months ago I was 137.

Time to recover emotionally and physically.

I am ready to start over. Next week I will blog how my week has gone and hopefully I'll report at least a pound gone and still happy emotions.


Everyone deserves a new start. Here is mine . . .

Am I fit?

Occasionally I get people asking me how they will know if they are fit. Although we generally use our physical appearance as an indicator, that isn't always accurate. It is possible to be carrying 15 extra pounds and be fit. Actually, it is better for your cardiovascular system to be a little (and I stress a little) heavy and fit than it is to be thin and out of shape. I remember, during high school wrestling season, why it was that every match was so darn hard when I could do pushups, crunches, and mat drills until the cows came home. I could run and run (although I didn't like running then any more than I do now) but after 6 minutes on the mat I thought I was going to die. My coach said that being fit is not about not feeling tired but being able to push through the fatigue. How right he was. I remember the first time I did Body Step. I hated it. I hurt. But I kept at it and as my fitness improved, I found that it wasn't quite so bad. I actually began to enjoy the feelings associated with a good workout. Not so much the lactate build up that comes with anaerobic exercise (think how you feel during song #9 of any Body Attack class) but the post workout rush is fantastic.

One of the things I battle with as an instructor is class members who do just enough to get through. Not that just getting through isn't a worthy goal but after they know they can make it, some of them continue to just barely get through. My goal is for everybody to be pushing themselves every class as far as their body will allow and then pushing just a little bit more. Let me give you an example. The other night I went to my first spin class in quite awhile. I don't particularly like spin very much because you're not moving. The instructor (Kris Mowatt, at Performance Health and Fitness) had a climbing drill that about killed me. It was a 12 minute climb that started easy and got really mean. The last 6 minutes was entirely standing. After 11 minutes I wanted to cry. The room was hot (the ceiling fans are not in yet), I was dripping with sweat, and my quads were on fire. At 11.5 minutes I almost dialed the resistance back and sat down but I realized that this is what I was battling against. How can I expect my classes to push themselves to the limit if I am not willing to do the same thing? I stayed out of the saddle and finished the drill. The feeling of accomplishment was enough to make me want to go back for more. Each time I push myself a little harder, I am getting fitter.

Healthy or not?

Some people think thatyour BMI number rules and determines if you are healthy or not, and that if you have a high BMI number then you must not be healthy. Well all BMI stands for is Body Mass Index and it isn't the best way to measure one's health. For instance you could have a high number BMI, but be a very muscular person and super healthy. Remember muscle weights more than fat.

A better way to measure health is by how you feel. Are you on tons of medication for things that could be controlled by some weight loss? Do you have diseases that are curable with weight loss?

For instance. When I weighed between 215-220 I had asthma. I was on an asthma medication and had an inhaler for sudden symptoms. I also had severe back problems and usually took pain medications for those on a regular basis.

Since loosing 80 pounds I have been able to go off all my asthma medication, in fact I was declared to not have asthma anymore and not even need a perscription for the inhaler. I also don't need back medication anymore. All this due to weight loss, or so the doctor's say.

Now am I healthy? That's a good question that I've asked myself many times.
A couple days ago I was with a friend of mine in her office and she has one of those special scales that measure Body Fat. She is a personal trainer and we talked about weight and body fat, etc.

I stepped on her scale to see what it said for my body. According to the scale, I currently weigh 138.4 and my % of fat was .258, which means my percentage of lean weight is .742 or in simpler terms my pounds of fat are 35.70 and my lean pounds were 102.70

The healthy range for % of fat is 21-33% and since I'm a 25.8% of fat I fall in the healthy range. That was so comforting to know.

If I wanted to be at the bottom of the healthy range at a 21%, but still be healthy then I only need to loose 8.4 pounds. And that would make my weight 130

So all those charts on the internet that say I should be 120 are full of crap. For my height I should be 130 at the lowest. So glad I found this out. 8.4 pounds will be a lot easier to take off then 18.4 pounds and I'll feel tons better about it.

Week 7 of 7 Final

Ok, here we are at the end of the contest. We can't declare a winner. Why?????

Because of one main reason. We don't have a scale to weigh on. Here's the story:

Jason always weighed in at Core fitness after his Body Step class on Monday mornings. I always weighed in at the Plasma center on Monday afternoons.

Last week a blood test I had taken came back as low protein so I was required to have a new blood draw. I did that and until the results come back, I am denied for 7-10 days, which ultimately means no getting weighed on their scale and no donating plasma for extra income.

Kinda bites big time (not the weighing in part, but the no donating part because there's no extra income)

Then since bad luck seemed to be all around last week. Jason and I both got fired from our fitness instructor positions at Core fitness last week, this was due to reasons we don't understand. This also means we can't teach classes ever again at that facility and we won't be weighing in on their scale.

So there's your story and I'm sticking to it.

Now someday if we decide to actually buy a scale for our home, then we will weigh in again and perhaps start a new contest. I happened to like only weighing in once a week somewhere other than my home.

I personally believe that if you have a scale in the house you will weigh in all the time which can be emotionally draining or lead to eating disorders, just from what I've read. I know personally when I had gained just 1 pound I would cry, now why I'd cry would baffle me greatly since seriously it was ONLY 1 POUND and could have been so much worse. Heck I used to be 80 pounds heavier so why would 1 pound bother me so???

So I have chosen in the past to not have a scale in the house which means we had to forfeit this contest.

Either way in these last 7 weeks, both Jason and I have been eating better overall and have tried some new exercise that we hadn't tried before thus leading to better heath in the end which was the goal at the start.

Check back often for health tips and perhaps a new contest someday!

Week 6 of 7

We are almost there and this past week we actually both didn't do well. I made this Spiced Apple Banana Cream Cake over the weekend and we both ate more servings than anyone ever should, and we both gained a pound this past week. So sad, in fact, so sad that we both decided to weigh in again on Thursday just to see if life got any better for us by then. So we will have a week 6 1/2 update for you in a day or so.

Totals are

Michelle at 139 lbs. total loss of 5 pounds overall
Jason at 200 lbs. total loss of 1 pound overall


Also I have to add that Jason is just looking so hot these days and even though the scale is being extremely rude to him, it doesn't at all reflect how he looks. He has toned so much and I know that since he lifts super heavy weights that he is replacing muscle with fat. He has gone down a size to a 34 waist instead of a 36 so that says more than some stupid scale.

As for my weight, not sure why I gained this week. I did feel bloated and not super well. And I have had some stress, which I'm not sure if that reflects on the scale or not.

But anyway, it's back to the hard work and dedication to hopefully have our last week be very positive for both of us.

Week 5 of 7 in Weight Contest

Well it was a hard week full of treats and although it started out well, it ended bad.

Jason stayed the same weight as last week
Michelle gained a pound

So the weight totals are:

Jason is at 199 he has lost 2 pounds total
Michelle is at 138 I have lost 6 pounds total

Here we go again. Two weeks left.