Day 1 - January 1, 2011

THE SKINNY...

Name:  Shonia Brown
Age: 41 years old
Height:  5'5"
Hometown:  Atlanta
Current Weight: 223lbs
Goal Weight: 150lbs
Workout Routine:  5 days a week that include 1 day of total body strength training and 4 days of high intensity cardio/aerobics with two days of rest.

THE DOWN AND DIRTY...

I've been excited about today for the past week! It's probably the first time in a long while that I've been anxious to experience a loss.  After spending the last two years in a whirlwind of stress, depression, and crisis, I'm ready for a new "me" and definitely a new attitude.  Honestly, this new attitude was seeping out of my pores by the middle of last year, when I first started to experience signs of weight loss.  However, the clarity of how I needed to continue my life didn't occur until the end of 2010.  I guess, it's probably best for me to rewind to 2010, so that this new day will make more sense. ;-)

PAUSE...REWIND...2010...

January 2010,  marked the beginning of a 5 month transition project after being in a two month training program for a new job.  The project required all of the new hires to travel from Atlanta, GA to Dayton, OH every month for a two-week knowledge transfer.  We were to learn everything the former employees knew from them before they were terminated because the company was in the process of relocating its corporate headquarters to Atlanta.  In the midst of the bitter cold weather and bitter spirits of the former employees, Dayton was challenging for this southern gurl. LOL! But I weathered the storms with a few bumps and bruises, specifically, reoccurring chest colds and stomach viruses.

Oh, I need to mention that before I took this new job, I had spent 8 months out of work and was grieving over the loss of my mother after she loss her battle with pancreatic cancer.  In addition to losing my mother and my job,  I also loss the connection with several of my extended family members and longtime friends.  I quickly learned that people handled "death" in very different ways and the way that the movies depicted "families" and "death" was completely different from my real life experiences.  So as I dealt with those losses, I tried to fill the empty spaces with sleep and more sleep, food and more food, and TV and more TV.  Suddenly, I found myself at the largest weight that I had ever been.  I even experienced a period of time that I couldn't eat after a bout with acid reflux that left my esophagus so inflamed that it was painful to eat.  But after a trip to a gastro doc and a few weeks of Aciphex, I was back to eating poorly again minus the carbonated drinks and dairy products.  Even with this food scare, I still didn't address the weight issue.  Not even when I saw pictures of myself on my 40th birthday, did I truly understand what I had done to myself.

I just bought new clothes at a much larger size when I got the new job and kept on eating the way I did until my travels to Dayton began to impact my health.  I couldn't eat a lot of fattening food without having a terrible stomach ache.  So I started drinking lots of liquids: water and grape juice and I ate soups and turkey sandwiches for lunch, and crab legs or fried rice for dinner.  Surprisingly, those foods didn't bother me as much as others did, but I still wasn't well. 

Within two months of traveling, I discovered that I had loss 20 pounds and was now able to get into a size 18 bottom and a size 22/24 top.  Previously, I was in a size 20 bottom and a size 26/28 top.  At first I was happy about this new size loss but still a little afraid about the stomach problems and chest colds. The first thing that came to my mind was that I might be suffering from the same cancer that my mother died from.  She had also loss weight drastically and had complained of stomach issues.  So I went to my internist when I returned to Atlanta and was reassured that I wasn't dying and she encouraged me to continue to lose the weight because of my hypertension and pre-diabetic conditions.

This time, I paid attention to my weight issue and began to workout more and eat better.  Within the next month, I loss more weight, and more specifically,  I loss tons of inches.  I eventually started traveling with Tony Horton's DVD workout series, P90X and noticed an even bigger change in my clothes after the 5 month transition project was over.  I was now in a size 14 bottom and a size 22 tops. The top weight wasn't coming off as quickly as the bottom weight, but I happily donated all of my 26/28 suits to a local charity and ran to the mall to buy smaller clothes.

I also noticed my bra sizes were steadily decreasing but with the loss of fat in my chest, I discovered one of my new frenemies, my stomach!  LOL! Even though I was really enjoying the endorphin rush every time I worked out, seeing just how big my stomach was and overall upper body in comparison to my new sculpted legs and bottom half was depressing. ;-(

 My second frenemy added to the depression: physical illnesses.  When you see shows like The Biggest Loser that document drastic weight loss and health improvement for the participants within 90 days, you believe that this can also be accomplished in an ordinary situation.  But I soon learned that what's made for TV wasn't necessarily made for me. First, there's no way that I could devote 8 hours a day to working out unless I quit my job and had a sponsor who paid my rent, my telephone bills, my car note, etc. LOL! And the medical issues that I've struggled with most of my adult life isn't going to vanish so quickly just because I started eating better and working out more. In fact, I soon learned that more issues would arise during this new weight loss regiment.

Everytime I thought I was doing good with the weight loss or a new workout routine, two months into this new program, I would become fatigued, or my hypertension or blood sugar levels would spike. These problems always halted my weight loss because I would have to take a 30 day break to get proper rest or change/add medications.  I had this same issue again for the third time in October of 2010, and decided to take off the next two months from my routine and go completely beserk with poor food choices even after getting down to a size 12 bottom and size 18 top! ;0

What I noticed during this hiatus from my routine was a return of the depression and a complete abandonment of a regimented food routine. I filled up on desserts, fried foods, juices, and anything I could get my hands on that wasn't nutritionally smart.  Surprisingly, I also noticed that many of the stomach issues and food allergies that I had been plagued with most of my adult life, didn't bother me during this free for all splurge and I can only attribute that to the power of the previous weight loss routine. But slowly and surely, the pounds and inches, the cramps in my knees, the winded breath, and the lower back pains returned.  Because of these side effects and many other reasons, I promised myself that the new year would not enter with me continuing this self-destructive behavior.

FAST FORWARD TO PRESENT DAY...

So now that you have a glimpse of where I came from, you will understand more about where I'm going...and I'm not doing it alone.  I've enlisted the help of others, especially my internist and dietitian, more on that to come.  I also have a workout partner and three dogs that will help encourage me to stay active.  This morning we started with an evaluation of our current physical state, a pre-workout meal of a great smoothie (read the recipe below and try it), 43 minutes of strength training and cardio/aerobics with Billy Blank's Boot Camp DVD, and our grocery list armed with healthy protein, fruits, and vegetables to acquire for our first week of the new beginning of the rest of our lives.

One of the most important things that I've learned during this journey thus far, is that there are three key factors to a healthier me:  consistency, diet, and exercise. It's clear to me now that in order to be successful with recreating a healthier me, I have to remain consistent with what I eat, how often I exercise, and how I nourish my mind and soul.  The workout and exercise log that I'm using encourages you to focus on these areas each day  of  your workout.  I plan on arming myself with other tools that will help me with this as well. More to come on that subject too. ;-) 

The food that I intake is also important and must remain consistent.  I'm not on a special fad diet or using the latest diet pills or supplements.  I'm eating to nourish my body not my emotions. I'm eating the way I plan to for the rest of my life not just a designated period of time to lose the weight. 

Exercise is imperative as well.  Many of the diet programs that we see advertised on TV and in magazines, glaze over the importance of exercise and focus more on reducing your calories or counting points, etc.  But exercise is a kindred spirit to your diet. It's the strength and beauty factor you need to get an overall healthy physique. It also helps you to age gracefully and not become riddled with broken bones or fatigue.  A combination of strength training and cardio is an excellent exercise program and one that is often debatable, but not for me.  I've seen what strength training can do to help me lose tons of inches even when I'm not losing tons of pounds. I've also seen how strength training can tone and fortify my body to remove aches and pains from my knees and back. It's given me the power to open heavy doors or tight bottles with ease.  It's also reshaping my body into a more sculpted and attractive physique.  But don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking cardio either. I've seen the exciting results that come from the endurance, weight loss, and flexibility of a cardio program.   I could go on and on about this, but I won't. I'll end today's Blog with my word for today and the smoothie recipe that I promised, as well as this thank you to those who read this, leave their feedback, and become inspired to make a difference in their lives.

My Word for Today:  Inspired


Pineapple Cocktail Smoothie 

Ingredients:

1 cup of Rice Dream Milk (non-dairy)

2 oz of Nasoya Silken Tofu (non-dairy)

2 caps full of a liquid vitamin of your choice

½ cup of frozen Dole Pineapple chunks

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a mixer/blender.

Single Serving Size: 

1

Total Servings:

2

Calories:

137.5