THE END!!!!

It's the end of Chalean Extreme! I finished my last workout Friday, July 23rd. I took my after pics Saturday morning July, 24th and I'm very satisfied with the results!

I didn't get to that 130 weight goal but I got pretty gosh darn close to it. I started this workout at 135.1 and ended it weighing 131.8 pounds. It doesn't sound like a lot but remember I traded a lot of my fattiness for muscle so even though I only lost 3.3 lbs I still got leaner and more toned (God I love muscle!).

Now I know that many are you are saying to yourself "Jeez 3 lbs in 3 months! All that work and all that sweat for 3 measly lbs????" All I have to say is that it was well worth the 3 months of work and sweat. Three pounds would suck if I was starving myself feeling miserable and depressed. But this was three months of eating, eating and more eating. This was 3 months of liberation from the United States of Starvation (not a political comment just a social one - models, actresses, media etc). I ate, I drank, I enjoyed myself and I got a more toned body, a healthier emotional state and more conceited than before :)

I'm not done yet on this health-nut journey because I start my 5 months TurboFire (yep you guessed it another round of before and after pics). TurboFire is an intense cardio conditioning workout that incorporates High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIITs are shorter workouts that consist of 60-90 seconds of super duper revved up, can't-catch-my-breath, legs-are-going-to-give out, cardio intervals. I have to say that I love these things to death. These shorter workouts fly by and I'm drenched by the end of it. So far I've been doing a modified version of the workout schedule in order to accommodate the last couple of weeks of Chalean Extreme but starting today I'm full on TurboFire!

Enough chitchat - here are the results:
First measurements then pics:

Lost 3/4 " on each bicep (1.5" total)
Gained 1/2" in my chest (woo hoo)
Lost 3/4" around my waist above my bellybutton
Lost 2.5" around my waist at my bellybutton (nice!)
Lost 5/8" around my waist below bellybutton (stubborn belly fat)
Lost 1.5" at my hips
Lost 1/4" on my right thigh
Lost 3/4" on my left thigh
Lost 1" on my right calf (holy moly)
Lost 1/4" on my left calf

Total net inches lost = 8 5/8" !!!! Not too shabby!!!

Wow that was a surprise I didn't expect. See that's why the scale can be an evil thing to worship!

Here are the pics (Before pics - zebra striped bikini, After pics - checker pattern bikini)





Obviously I haven't improved in the photogenic department but damn my body sure did. Check out the nooks and crannies...I can't really store stuff in there anymore 'cause they aren't as deep lol. My butt and legs are where I see the improvement the most. I love this working out stuff! Can't wait to see my results after TurboFire!

P.S - I know my face doesn't show it but I'm giddy w/ joy inside in these pics!!! (i love me - told you I'm more conceited!)

Fessing Up

I realized I'm full of empty promises. I started off this blog promising daily pics, then it went to weekly pics and then monthly pics. Instead of pics I gave you measurements. I'm now openly admitting that I flaked out. I'm embarrassed. Not of the pics (well a little) but of my performance.

I started this program really strong and eating right. Then I fell off the food track. Weekend BBQs evolved from grilled veggies and guacamole to cheese smothered sausage sandwiches ( oooo they're soooo good). It's so frustrating because I went from doing a Saturday cheat day back to a whole weekend cheat fest. Memorial weekend was the worst of them all. I couldn't blame it on anything else but me and my food addiction.

In preparation for a great 30th birthday celebration for a friend we bought an array of different chips and snacks to absorb the tequila that always makes an appearance at our house. Everyone had a few chips but in the end we were left w/ about 5 bags.

So Sunday and Monday Pat and I were like animals. We ate chips while watching tv, we ate chips while grilling, we ate chips when we were thirsty, we ate them while sleeping (ok probably not). It was a chip binge. The bad thing is that I ate them because part of my behavioral dysfunction is that when there is "bad" food in the house I want to eat it all to get rid of it because I feel guilty throwing it out and I don't want to tempt myself during the week. Yes I know people that it's an irrational feeling but anybody who has ever had an addiction before knows that rational behavior goes out the window.

So last night was the first night in 3 days that we didn't have chips or cake to eat (yup there was cake) and I was totally fine. I made a promise to myself that I would eat 1 small meal every 2 hours last night and I did. I ended up eating exactly 1500 calories and I ended my night with the most magnificent chocolate protein shake ever (www.shakeology.com/benjiville). I know its weird to have a protein shake at night but honestly for me it's perfect. I need that sweet fix at night. Instead of eating a cup of peanut butter (1600 calories) I had a chocolate milk shake that tastes like it came from friendly's for only 310 calories (140 cals if you make it water and nothing else).

I guess like an addict I'll have to take this eating thing day by day. I promise to reward myself for my tiny successes instead of feeling guilty that I didn't hit any huge ones. I'll also promise to post a pic when I hit 130lbs. There! 130 is a nice solid goal to go by. You may not see a difference because it's only 5 lbs from where I started this journey but at least it's a marker of when you'll finally see a pic.

I struggle with the feeling that after a month and a half of doing Chalean Extreme I have nothing huge and extravagant to report. I feel guilty because I know that the workout program is truly amazing but I'm messing myself up with the nutrition part. On a positive note - even though I self sabotage myself on the weekends I'm still seeing inches lost in the right areas every time I measure myself. So the program works but it's true that the right foods play a HUGE part with overall success.

So today I start day 2 of good eating. Wish me luck for this weekend :)

Starting a New Phase!

It's been a while I know. Nothing crazy to report. No drunken excesses, no sober excesses, just good old fashioned working out and eating great (sort of).

Today I start my first workout of Chalean Extreme's Push phase. I haven't previewed the workout so it's going to be a surprise. I'm sure it's going to be challenging and fun.

Day 1 I started at 135.1 pounds and today my weight is 132.5. I lost 2.6 lbs. I know that doesn't sound like much but I'm not discouraged and hopefully this won't discourage others. I have to say that the first month of C.E. was a month of celebrations and lets be honest - eating. Lots and lots of eating. My family was here from Florida during week 2 and of course I ate a lot, Week 3 I got sick for a week (so no workout), Week 4 - Italian buffet for Mother's day. Week 5 - buffet at baby shower and 80's birthday party on the same day. So basically the extra large food cheat days and the one week of no workouts was my downfall. Putting all of that into perspective I didn't do half bad AND this month will be better because there are not a lot of huge eating events coming up so we should see some great results.

To summarize:
Day 1 - 135.1 lbs Today - 132.5lbs = 2.6 lb loss
Right Bicep - 11 3/4" Today - 11 1/4" = 1/2" loss
Left Bicep - 11 2/4" Today - 11 1/4" = 1/2" loss
Chest - 33" Today - 34 1/2" = 1 1/2 " gain
(not a bad place to gain inches!)
Above Belly Button - 28" Today - 28" = No change
At Belly Button - 32 1/2" Today - 30 3/4" = 1 3/4" loss
Below Belly Button - 34 3/4" Today - 33 3/4" = 1 " loss
Hips - 38" Today - 37 3/4" = 1/4" loss
Right Thigh - 23" Today - 23" = no loss
Left Thigh - 23" Today - 22 3/4" - 1/4" loss
Right Calf - 16 1/2" Today - 16" = 1/2" loss
Left Calf - 15 3/4" Today - 15 3/4" = no loss

So in 5 weeks (but only 4 weeks that I worked out) I lost 2.6 pounds and 4.75 inches. Overall I think this is great considering the obstacles.

I really can't wait until the end of push phase because I really believe the next 4 weeks is going to result in a huge transformation. I'm looking forward to taking pictures because I know you'll see a difference then. It is amazing what a challenging workout can do for you physically and mentally. I feel I can conquer anything. I've already planned my workouts for the rest of this year. After C.E I will do p90x for 90 days, then (hopefully) Turbo Fire , then Insanity for 60 days. After all of that who knows what will be out there to try but I can't wait to find out! I'm unstoppable! If there's nothing new interesting by 2011 I'll just start all over again :)

C ya!

Week of Excess

It's been a little while since my last post and since then a lot of not-so-healthy stuff has happened. I took a little vacation from work because my parents and sister arrived from Florida on Thursday.

I was doing great at first. My sister has embarked on the P90x adventure so she brought her dvd set with her so we could work out together. We did the one hour long core workout. It was fantastic. It was chock full of push-ups and crazy core wrenching moves. We sweated and laughed at each other. That was the end of my good start.

We went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch and of course there was the dreaded basket of chips and salsa waiting for us on the table. It wasn't until there were three chips left in the basket that I had the bright idea to move the stupid basket to the other side of the table. As my real meal I ate two small bean burritos and a bowl of black bean soup. Not the most unhealthy choices I could make but I definitely overate. It doesn't end here. The question of dessert came up. According to my older sister the most wonderful cupcakes are sold just down the road at a quaint little bakery. Who can resist "the most wonderful cupcakes" ? So we went. One cupcake can't be too dangerous. No it wasn't, but when you have my other sister and I going into a bakery full of carbs we become the dangerous ones. Lets see - we ordered two cupcakes (one that was supposedly for my father), a mini brownie mud pie, and a chocolate chocolate chip sandwich. We did save a little face by not devouring every last morsel but it was still early in the day. After stuffing our faces we went back home, took a two hour nap, and psychologically prepared ourselves for dinner.

Thai food. Wonderful wonderful Thai food. A whole buffet of Thai food at the house. Then another round of dessert. Mind you this was only one day of excess...there's still 3 days to go.

Saturday - family party. Lots of drinking and not enough food in my system - a recipe for disaster. The occasion was my Grandmother's 90th birthday. She gave birth to 5 sons and 5 daughters and now has about 90 grandchildren and great grandchildren combined. So you can imagine my excitement of seeing all of these people that I don't see often. As soon as we walked in we did a celebratory shot (my stomach is turning right now). While everyone was somewhat pacing themselves I didn't. I hadn't eaten much all day because I expected to eat a ton at the party...but that didn't happen because my stupid self decides I don't have a damn appetite. The one day I NEEDED to have an appetite and it was gone. You can imagine what happened next. Well you'll have to use your imagination because unfortunately I don't remember what happened next. I remember being super duper happy then I remember crying. Everything in between is unknown. According to my loved ones I had a great time, they had a great time, no apologies are necessary.

I do owe a big apology to my body. Ugh I feel like I let myself down. Sunday was terrible. I couldn't stomach even a glass of water. My body turned against me. Later that day my appetite returned and I had some french toast and more Thai food for dinner (I love that stuff).

Monday - Atlantic City time. We went to Denny's for breakfast - nope I didn't make any healthy choices there. We gambled, I lost big, and then we ate at a buffet. Strangely enough I didn't feel like having more dessert. Here is when my body really decided to teach me a lesson - my immune system shut down and now I have a head cold. So today I feel like crap. I deserve it. It's all about Karma for trying to ruin my body temple.

I'm not going to work out this week because I think I just need to detox, relax, eat some healthy stuff and get ready for next week's workout.

I am curious to see what this week's excessive behavior has done to my body. Here are the measurements:

Right Bicep = 11.5" (1/4 inch loss)
Left Bicep = 11.5" (1/4 inch loss)
Chest = 35 (no change)
Above bellybutton - 28.25" (1/4 inch gain)
At bellybutton - 32.25" (3/4 inch gain- yikes)
Below bellybutton - 34.75" (no change)
Hips - 37.25" (no change)
Right Thigh - 23.5" (1/2" gain)
Left Thigh - 23" (1/4" gain)
Right calf - 16 "(no change)
Left calf - 15.75" (no change)

Last Monday I was 131.6 and today I'm 135.1 lbs. The result of my excessive behavior was as expected - gained 1.75" in the wrong places, lost 1/2 " in the wrong places and gained 3.5 lbs. Moral of the story - treat your body badly and you'll pay for it in the end- DUH!

I'm taking a nap - C ya.

Strange Places to Gain and Lose Inches

It's about a week since I took my last measurements and I was pretty surprised when I saw today's numbers. I lost in places I didn't expect to lose and I gained in places that I didn't expect to gain.

Here they go:
Right bicep = 11 3/4" (no change)
Left bicep = 11 7/8 "(tiny gain yay)

Chest = 35 " - Ok! HELLO! I gained 2 inches in my chest?! What is up with that??? (one more - ?)
I think I may have made a mistake last week? But then again I check my measurements twice because I love the numbers (that's my vain side). So who knows what happened. Maybe push ups are a great alternative to implants? Now if only we could find an exercise that results in a breast lift and increased cup size (I would seriously have to quit my job and just do that excercise all day - start inventing folks 'cause i'll be your #1 customer).

Above bellybutton - 28 " (no change)
At bellybutton - 31 1/2 " ( Lost a whole inch yay!)
Bellow bellybutton - 34 3/4" (no change - damn bulge holding on for dear life)

Hips - 37 1/4 ( lost 3/4 of an inch )

Right thigh - 23" (no change)
Left thigh - 22 3/4" (lost 1/4 an inch)

Righ calf - 16" (lost 1/2 inch) - Another big surprise for me because now I have hope that my tree trunks will whittle down to just large tree limbs :)
Left calf - 15 3/4 (no change)

At the end of one week I gained 2 1/8 inches in all the right places and lost 2 1/2 inches in all the right places. I gotta say that looks like a pretty successful week. Chalean Extreme once again proves to be amazing! Come join the cult and get bigger boobs naturally (I still think it was a fluke but whatever I'm going with it)!

Burn Intervals today

We did the "Burn Interval" workout today. It was excruciatingly wonderful. The workout consists of spurts of cardio then working with super light weights. Let me set this up for you - I finish the 2 minutes of cardio. I'm huffing, i'm puffing, and she says "pick up some light weights". I pick up 5 lb weights. I'm thinking "crap this is going to be way to easy" then we proceed to do shoulder presses. Simple up and down with rinky dinky 5lb weights. After 3000 reps I want to scream and collapse. I never thought five pounds could hurt so bad. At this point I'm hating Chalene (it's a temporary hate). I'm confused, I'm scared, I'm angry. WHY CAN'T I DO 5 POUNDS?! After I had my mini internal emotional breakdown I loved her once again. I loved every minute of this workout. I felt my muscles work in such a different way and actually burn. I'm addicted to the burn.

After "Burn Intervals" I did the ab workout. That wasn't as intense but still a hell of a workout. It's the first time in my workout career that I was able to do abs in good form without shaking. In the past I looked like I was going into convulsions because my abs were so weak. Not this time!

So there it is folks another wonderful workout day :)

C ya.

Update on the Workouts

Tuesday we did "Burn Circuit 1", Wednesday it was "Burn it Off", and today we did "Hell" ...I mean "Burn Circuit 2". Burn Circuit 1 wasn't easy but I didn't pick weights that were heavy enough. Don't get me wrong I sweated, I stank (or stunk?) , I grunted (in a very unladylike way) but I could have done heavier weights.

"Burn it Off" is the cardio work out and it was great all the way through. It was by far the funniest workout for me because I could sense how uncomfortable Pat was. First of all he hates the warm ups because of the swinging of the arms and keeping up with the beat junk. Now here we are ready to do 28 minutes of swinging the arms and keeping up with the beat. So immediately I get the giggles. I'm trying to look out the window when the flailing begins and I have a big smile plastered on my face trying to hold in the laughter. I can't look at him. Then I can't resist...I must have one peek...I can't look out the window forever. So slowly I try to turn my head hoping he doesn't look at me. I feel the first signs of pressure building up in my stomach, it moves up to my chest, then with my lips closed as tight as they can be my cheeks puff out and the laughter ensues. I wasn't laughing at him because he looked fine. I mean the workout is not a jumpy, dancy, cheerleader workout so he didn't look stupid doing it. I think I was just so nervous that he would quit on me that it translated to laughing in his face. I swear I didn't mean to. So he turns and with a nervous smile he asks, "What?" so I said "You really hate doing this don't you?" He admitted he did, the giggles died down and Chalene started kicking our asses.

After a few moves Chalene got into these side lunges where you hold a light weight and you do a side lunge with the opposite leg. Then after you lunge you lift that leg while also lifting the weight over your head (sort of). So not only are we lunging but we're flailing w/ a deadly weapon next to each other. Our living room is big but we have over sized furniture that is inappropriate for that room which leaves us little space to work out. So here we are in tight quarters holding weights, standing side by side, and we begin this workout. I lunge to the left and I'm standing too close to the window when I finally stand up and I almost break the window with this damn weight . Then I go back to landing in a lunge but since I'm not paying attention to Pat at this point I didn't realize that he was flailing the weight as I was lunging. So while I'm attempting to bust out windows he's attempting to bust my head. I swear I saw my life pass before my eyes for all 12 reps of that exercise. Then we switch lunging sides and I begin my set of involuntary man slaughter. The workout ends and to keep the good times rolling I ask him, in between breaths, and with a wheezy voice "Doesn't this feel good?" and he looked at me and said a big fat "no" So to sum up cardio day I ended the workout wheezing, unable to really talk, I lost my voice for a little bit, we didn't get concussions and our windows are still intact. It was a success!

Today's workout was less dangerous and not as funny. I picked heavier weights, I sweated a lot more, my muscles wanted to peel off the bones after each set. All in all it was an awesome workout!

I've also decided to post a pic once a week instead of everyday since maybe the changes will be more noticeable. Or maybe I'll do it every other week. Not sure yet.

K see ya!