Countdown to Boot Camp- T-minus 1 day!

Hi guys!

First off, I want to wish all of you a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  

Alright, I have a list of things to do before the big day tomorrow. 

1. Take my before pics. Well, that fits right in with the theme of Halloween. Pretty damn scary~

2. Take my measurements.  

3. Perhaps make my little intro video, if not today then definitely for day 1. 

I have seen a lot of you guys who have done the boot camp before me get really good results- even those of us who were less "in shape" than others.  If anything this excites me more about starting.  I admit I am a little scared to start too. I am afraid I am going to start my usual bullshit cycle of making excuses, skipping workouts, then crying later how I didn't see improvement.  That's what I've got you guys for, right? :) 

I have my calendar all written out for November- both plan for muscular structure and my cardio.  I'm sitting here as I type enjoying some bratwursts and when I do laundry in a bit, going to have me a good ol' caramel frappucino from Starbucks.  After 11:59 pm tonight, there's no turning back.  In a way, not only am I doing this to lose weight and get healthier, but to prove to the people who have told me "Oh you won't last the 30 days. I know you. You always quit. You'll never lose weight. Being fat is part of who you are". (Yes, I HAVE been told this.)  I wanna be able to open a super-duper-economy-family size can of FUCK YOU on their asses! :D

Also I have found that I do have an inner skinny girl and an inner fat girl.  The inner skinny girl is itching to start, she wants to be free from this prison that my inner fat girl locked her into.  Skinny girl's almost gotten out a couple times, only to be thwarted by the fat girl.  Time to overthrow her! 

Also in another blog I've been reading, there's mention of internal radio stations KFUK (K Fuck- all negativity, all the time) and KLUV (K Love, the opposite of KFUK) and I admit, my brain seems to be a HUGE fan of KFUK because that's what the fat girl likes to listen to and it keeps the skinny girl hiding in her prison cell.  I personally think KFUK should be just shut down permanently so nobody has to listen to their crap. 

I know I'm rambling... Sorries.  This will be my final blog before giving myself over to Tracy Anderson.  Godspeed. 

Countdown to Boot Camp- T-minus 2 days

Hi everyone!!!

Firstly I would like to thank my followers- I noticed this morning there's a little more of you!  I always appreciate your support even if I can't always comment back. 

2 days (including today) left before I begin bootcamp.  I finished reading the book- so I will share what I have learned and what I think.

My bible for the month of November. 

1. The only con- the menu is full of expensive ingredients that a lot of grocery stores don't have.  However there is a part where Tracy mentions eating clean, fresh, unprocessed natural foods, and there are so many foods like that that are commonly found and that aren't so expensive.  I am not following her diet to the letter this time, but I am going to be eating clean in other ways.  I have seen other who have done the same thing and still achieved great results doing this bootcamp. 

2. I love, love, LOVE the fact that finally, Tracy lays out clear-cut instructions for beginners, even those who are really out of shape (like me) and have never exercised before (might as well be me). She even lays out a timeline based on fitness level how to do your cardio to build up to 40 minutes by the end of the month.  A very important piece of advice- if you are out of shape and doing the dance cardio- NO JUMPING!  For the muscular structure, she says start with 20 reps and build up, but if you can't do that many even, that's fine, but build up the reps a little more each day until you are able to do 40. 

3. I like how the book is hard cover, so that I don't have to worry too much about my book getting all bent up and dogeared from reading it. :) 

4. I noticed in the book she mentions the kinds of people she helped while developing the method- notably one who had gastric bypass and couldn't afford to get a body lift.  Apparently Tracy's method worked to pull all that skin in, which is something I have been really worried about on my own body.  I am not just trying to lose 30 pounds.  Try 140 pounds. And I have always feared that when I lose all of my weight I will be left looking like a sharpei dog.

Cute on a dog, not on a woman!

I am still really excited about starting this, especially seeing the results that others have achieved after just one month!  People not nearly as overweight as I am losing almost 20 pounds (a little under 10 kg).  I can only imagine how it will work on me, with so much more to lose. 

If you haven't bought the book yet, since I can't say for myself that it works or not (not yet!), I advise you read it somehow, borrow from a friend, a library, etc and at least give it a read. 

Also, I am taking this opportunity to enjoy junk food all that I can this weekend, since it's all going bye-bye after 11:59 pm tomorrow night.

BOOOOOOOT CAAAAAAAMP!!!! :D

Hi!

Today I had originally intended to go out and buy Tracy's book, so I gave a friend of mine a call and told her I wanted to go to the book store.  So we met up and we were looking around (I was beelining for Tracy's book) and I go to pick it up and my friend (who I hadn't noticed was carrying a bag) said "I got something for you. Put that back."  

My early Christmas giftie- My very own copy of the book!!!!!

She told me that she saw Tracy on TV and thought the workout looked pretty neat.  I then informed her of one little detail- That blog you keep hearing me talk about... This is what it's about! I've been trying to tell you for months! 

So now, I have a new recruit!  We will both be doing the bootcamp starting November 1.  We aren't going to follow her diet exactly THOSE recipes but (at least I) will be eating as clean as possible. I know it's going to be tough. No more fast food, no more diet soda... No more Sundays off, at least for 30 days.

At the end of the bootcamp, I will continue on with the PD series like it says but I will take my Sundays off, thank you.  She even mentions in the book for the bootcamp it has to be daily, but for the long term, DO take a day off a week.

On another note, I love how she breaks the method down by fitness level. Really good advice for beginners.  She has schedules for Absolute Beginners/People who are totally out of shape~ (like me!) to the super advanced~ Something for everyone!  

I will also be taking a new before pic, new measurements, new weight, and will start tweeting and video blogging all along the way. 

I do admit, I am taking this weekend to enjoy all the junk food I can (within reason) before I say bye bye for a whole month, at least.

If any of you are also starting boot camp on November 1, let me know!

YouTube Channel and Twitter!

Hey guys!

I decided it's finally time to go get Tracy's book!  I want to blog and vlog my way through the boot camp beginning November 1. 

YouTube Channel- http://www.youtube.com/user/teenytinyquest

Twitter- https://twitter.com/teenytinyquest

I'm really excited to be starting. I'm hoping to go pick up the book tomorrow.  Going to redo all my  measurements and everything. :) 

Just a quick post to let you guys know!

Exercise ruts and some ways to bust out!

Hi guys!

Many of you may know me from the Tracy Anderson Method group on facebook where I post fairly often.

One of my recent posts was about my exercise and diet rut that I seem to be stuck in.

As you can see I used to be very actively doing exercise and somewhat dieting.  This lasted about a month or so and then I got sick, and I took off from exercising.  This turned into over a month now of excuses and laziness.  I just haven't felt like exercising or eating well really. 

Giving it some thought, I thought of some reasons for my lack of motivation.

1. Lately my sleep schedule has been really off kilter.  When I was into the exercising, I woke up at a reasonable time and went to bed around midnight. Now its more like sleep at 4 am, sleep all morning until the afternoon, feel like crap for the rest of the day, repeat.   Today I woke up at 7:30 am, and have been forcing myself to be awake for the rest of the day in an attempt to get this back on track.

2. I have been feeling really stiff, bloated, and like I've aged 60 years.  Also my lady friend is all off kilter too. Both I believe are attributed to my first thing. 

3. Stress I don't think is too much of a factor, at least in the mental kind of way, but I guess the lack of sleep could be physically stressing.

So the bottom line- GET  MY ASS TO BED!!!!  Haha. All kidding aside, I got a lot of helpful advice and support from my friends in the TA group.  This advice really goes for any kind of exercise rut, not just TA.

- Choose a day to work out and just do it- with the mentality that next time will be easier. 

- Start small- build up the amount and intensity gradually until you are back in your old swing of things.

- If the reason for your rut is plain old boredom, switch up your exercise.

- (A funny one) Get naked and do yoga in front of the mirror- ew! Hahaha!

- Keep yourself accountable to someone- be it online or one of your friends. Preferably someone with similar fitness goals/type of exercise that you are doing.

- (For those who are doing TA like I am) Try her boot camp book that just came out. 

Speaking of book, that is the number one thing I want for Christmas this year, even if it's ALL I get. 

 Today I am going to take a walk outside and stretch. I feel too stiff and weird to do TA today, especially in my hips. Ouch!  I think I will hit the Tracy Wagon full force by  Monday, taking today - Sunday to stretch myself out and re-calibrate my sleep.

How do you guys get out of YOUR ruts? 

My apologies for the sporadic posts this week!!

Hi guys!

I haven't posted much this week (which is actually pretty unlike me) because I  have been having some really annoying problems with my internet connection.  It's still not 100 percent fixed, but at least I can  get on, for now anyway. :)

So far this week with weight watchers has been really good,  I did eat all of my flex points but nothing over that, and I am getting better at staying within my daily points range.  

I did receive a question from a reader- are the journal pages helpful? 

For me, they are.  What I did was copy the format of the journal pages into a blank notebook I had laying around. 

Here's the link to where I got my format-

http://www.starling-fitness.com/archives/2007/06/15/weight-watcher-form/

Click the first link (for the excel file) and that's what I use.  

Also Weight Watchers is making me realize I actually did eat way too much.  I have 33 points, which may seem like a lot, but it somewhat isn't, especially when it comes to eating out, or eating something not-so-healthy.

Starting the Tracy Anderson exercises again on Monday, yesterday I was out running errands and walked about an hour, today I walked a lot too.  My goal is to do Tracy at least 4 times a week, building up to 6.

I'll blog again later tonight about how my day went in more detail- (it's not over yet!) 

Back to the drawing board.

Hello-

I'm a bit disappointed in myself.  These past couple days I have been totally feeling out of control of my eating, and I totally wrecked my diet for the rest of the week.  I used up all of my weight watchers points and THEN some. Today and yesterday I was just feeling like I was stuck on an emotional roller coaster- mood swings galore! (my monthly buddy is on the way, and this time he's acting out~!)

I decided to take these few days until Monday to prepare to begin Weight Watchers again, clean slate. I even dug up an old empty notebook I had.  I looked up online what exactly is in Weight Watchers journals, and as of now, wrote up journal pages for two weeks beginning October 25, which is this Monday.  

I am going to try to calm my body down over the weekend.  I feel SUPER bloated (which isn't helping matters) and from what I have read, drinking more water and green tea is a great way to flush it out. So attempt I shall!

Earlier today I was feeling pretty hopeless, like can I EVER start dieting and STICK WITH IT?!  I hope this next time isn't such a misadventure as this past month has.  

Your support here and on facebook is also greatly appreciated as always. 

The new Day 2- 10/12/10

Hey everyone!

Today was a half good, half bad day.

Bad news first- I overate a teeny bit on my diet.  My friend and I went to 7-11 and decided to try some new treats.  And, I snacked a lot during the day. Then again that time of the month is very very near so I am not going to beat myself up.

The breakdown-

Breakfast-

Oatmeal- 2 points

Snacks-

Lemonhead candy- 2 points

A lot of rice cakes- 5 points

Deli salami (I was really craving this today and I ate a lot of it... ) 7 points

Lunch-

1/2 of a ramen bowl- 4 points

3 ounces of roast beef- 5 points

Dinner (or "Dinner")

2 corn dogs- 16 points

1 pizza roll- 7 points

1 can of regular coke- 3 points

Total points today... 49, 16 over my 33 limit.

However, all is not lost.

Weight watchers allows an extra 35 points during the week for slipups, or to save for eating out.  But before I took off points for that....

We have what they call Activity points- extra points earned from, you guessed it, activity.

My activities for today-

Cleaning my apartment- -1 point

Tracy Anderson Beginning Dance Cardio- -6 points

Points are calculated based on your weight, intensity, and how long you did it.   Also as a rule, only eat 4 points worth of these activity points max, then deduct the rest from your weekly points. 

So the end result: 33 daily, 4 activity (eaten), and 12 weekly points gone.  On a side note, weekly points are purely optional, as are activity points. The extra 4 points you can eat are if you WANT to have a treat.  However,  you should always eat all of your daily points.  (I hope this makes somewhat of sense...)

On the subject of exercise:

I accomplished doing BDC through the warmup and combos 1-3. I do take breaks between songs but then I go back at it.  And yes, I do tire now and then, especially during the up tempo-with music parts, in which case I do sidesteps and grapevines back and forth to the music engaging my arms until I am ready to get back into the actual routine.  I would have done combo 4 but it's late, and I don't want to pester the neighbors.  I do feel it in my lungs still, for sure!  No Perfect Design today, but tomorrow morning/afternoon I aim to do PD1 first, then get through at LEAST combos 1-2 of BDC.

10/11/10

Hello everyone!

Started weight watchers today- beginning with my first weigh in. I wasn't pleased. 

New starting weight- 262.5 pounds / 120 kg... Uggghhh..... I have never weighed this much, ever. Well, it's a starting point.

Daily Points- 33

For those of you unfamiliar to Weight Watchers, food is assigned a points value based on a calculation of its calories, fat and fiber.  As you lose weight, your daily points value will go down, causing you to eat less or eat more healthy stuff. 

At the beginning, 33 is kind of a lot, gives a lot of leeway as to what I can eat.  Another good thing about weight watchers is no food is off limits as long as you stay within your points value. Also they give you 35 extra per week for splurges, but those are optional.  You can also earn points by exercising, eating those are also optional. (I'm going to try not to)

So here's how I ate-

Breakfast-

Oatmeal- 2 points

Lunch-

McDonalds Quarter Pounder- 12 points

Dinner-

6 inch subway BMT sandwich- 13 points

Extras-

2 cans of coke- 6 points

Not healthiest but Mondays I am stuck at the office/school for almost the entire day.

I did manage to get a good brisk 10 minute walk doing errands for work, and about 5 minutes brisk walking to the bus to go to work.  That earned me 1 activity point which I am not going to eat.

Mondays are also the hardest days for me to do the Tracy Anderson Method because when I get home I am so exhausted, they are my work- class days.   Tomorrow I will crank out some TAM! 

So all in all, I did alright today. Alright, off to bed. See you tomorrow~

10/10/10

Hey guys!

Well, today is 10/10/10, and it won't happen again for another 100 years!

Anyway, tomorrow begins my next dieting attempt, this time with Weight Watchers until I get within 30 pounds of my final goal, where I will then likely do Tracy's 30 day boot camp/lose 20 lb in 6 weeks diets to get that last little bit off. 

Also another resolution this time- NO EXCUSES!! Even if I feel sick, do SOMETHING, even if it's just for a walk around the block. As someone commented on my blog before- ANYTHING is better than nothing, even if it's just 5 minutes.   It's really ridiculous how easy I just make excuses for anything. I have to really really stop. Not just on weight loss but in general. Ugh.  I guess the only way to stop making excuses is... well... STOP MAKING EXCUSES! :) 

Alright- tomorrow is Day 1 again, hopefully my plan works.  I'm glad I have people both in real life and online as support! Thank you so much!!!!

Updates updates, updates!

Hey guys!

A little update for you since I haven't posted in a while.  It seems this whole week my sinuses have decided to put me through my annual autumn hell.  As I write this now, the right side of my face feels swollen/pressurized and my whole front of my head hurts.  My old go-to, Sudafed, isn't doing it this time. That's the main reason I haven't been exercising, I just haven't been feeling up to it. 

On another note, I'd like to discuss the idea of going on Weight Watchers while exercising with the Tracy Anderson Method.  For me, at this time, her diet seems way too restrictive for me because I have a LOT to lose, being on her diet would have to be for the long term, and she says being on the restrictive eating plan is really for the short term.  My idea- go on Weight Watchers until I get to about... 150 pounds/70 kg and THEN adopt Tracy's short term diet to get me the rest of the way down.   

I have tried Weight Watchers before and I did lose weight- an average of 4-6 pounds a week, without having to say no to any "bad" food.  I did notice my portions in general were smaller and that I was much more mindful of my eating.

A couple girlfriends and I are going to be doing Weight Watchers, each with our own form of exercise- one wants to ride her bike more and walk, one wants to do the elliptical at her job, and I will be doing TAM.  It would be interesting to see how it works for us too.

Well, that's it for now, can't wait until Monday when I try yet again... (I hate that I keep falling off and not doing something too.  I feel really bad about it to be honest.)

Have a great weekend!!!!

10/6/10

Hello!

This is my first day back to being healthy in QUITE a while. Just been going through a lot, mostly being sick in some way or another. 

The bad news- I didn't exercise. However, the good, no, GREAT news- I kept to the diet very well!  I was just super busy today and didn't have the chance to work out, and at night I am usually tired, a workout wouldn't be worthwhile if I half ass it because I am tired.

Breakfast:

1 bowl of oatmeal

Lunch:

2 cups of romaine

2 Tbsp of Italian dressing

3 oz of lean beef roast

Snack:

1 cup of raspberries

Dinner:

3 oz of lean roast (these are leftovers from the weekend)

1 cup of steamed broccoli

Water- 7 cups

I'm pretty proud of myself. No snacking, only 2 cans of diet coke, and that's it!  Tomorrow I will be doing my workouts. 

I also heard Tracy was on the radio today and I MISSED IT.  A couple of people I communicate with on the Tracy Anderson facebook board were on the show! So cool! I'd be so pumped to talk to Tracy myself!

Alright, off to bed now! See you all tomorrow and I'm glad to be back on the Tracy wagon~

Getting back in it...

Hello!

I know it's been a while since I posted or worked out.  I was going to work out starting Monday, but the past couple days I've been sick.  So, I am going to start working out tomorrow (wednesday) but start my new official day 1 on Monday, with measurements/weight.  Tomorrow I am going to do a little kick start, get my system sort of cleaned out and back on track. Lately I have been eating waaay too much and I'm admitting it. I am still holding myself accountable after all.  If I am going to screw up, I am going to let you know, no matter how embarrassing it may be.

I am going to following a diet very similar *but not exactly, it's a bit TOO restrictive, I will follow it as much as possible* 

Lose 20 pounds in 6 weeks diet

Exercise will be my usual Perfect Design 1 (still have yet to master it but I am getting there... I think!) and rebounder cardio as seen here:

Tracy Anderson Rebounder Workout

Well, lets hope I feel well enough tomorrow to start doing it.  Also, I am going to make every attempt to work out as early as I can, as in in the morning about an hour after breakfast.  The more the day goes on, the lazier I get and the less likely I am to do my workout.

Alright, see everyone tomorrow!