Tuesday, July 31, 2012

5 months later...my transformation story

March 2012
A week after starting the challenge
Who would have guessed the difference that a few months can make. It's been 5 months since I made the decision to change my life and get to healthier me. In March I decided to take on a 90-day Beachbody challenge and use all of "those tools" that I would read about in fitness and health magazines to find a healthier me.

I ordered the TurboFire Challenge Pack with Shakeology and made the commitment to try it out for 90 days. Instead of looking it as a 90 daunting days of working out, I made the decision to look at it as one day at a time. I made a food journal page and bought a small notebook to tape these pages into so that I could carry it with me in my purse. I scheduled my workouts for mornings, 5am!! And then it began. I took my starting measurements: Weight 164lbs, Chest 38", Right Arm 11.6", Left Arm 11.6", Waist 36.6", Hips 42.8", Right Leg 24.8", Left Leg 25". My pant size was a 14 approaching 16. I wrote these down and committed to never see numbers like this ever again.

The journey began with my friend Rachel coming over in the morning to do the workouts with me but then schedules got crazy and she couldn't anymore. This is a point when many would "fall off the wagon" but I made the conscious effort to keep on and so kept pressing play on my TurboFire workouts. I loved doing the workouts because they were fun and after a month of doing many of the routines, I found that I was able to focus on my form and make sure that I was doing every movement correctly. After 2 months of TurboFire I decided to start training for a half-marathon which then turned into a full marathon. I am up to running double digit numbers as my long runs and have crossed over to being one of those people that takes cold/ice baths after my long runs.

Working out is not the key to my success and transformation. Diet was a major part of it too. People who know me will tell you that I love tasty food and ABSOLUTELY refused to deprive myself of anything that I wanted to eat. I began following blogs that provided tasty food that was healthy. I was not afraid of google searching for healthy alternatives. Myfitnesspal became my best friend when out at restaurants because I could quickly look up food caloric contents so that I would be able to make informed decisions when eating out or traveling. As a part of the Beachbody Challenge I was also using Shakeology which i found curbed my desire for sweets as well as helped with recovery and keeping myself healthy while working out. While it is investment, it pales in comparison to where I was before in terms of my health. To this day, I have my Shakeology every day. My favorites are Chocolate Mocha or Strawberry Lime. Delicious!!

At the conclusion of the 90-day challenge which was in May, I was down around 15 pounds as well as noticed that I was gaining what has been deemed as "Turbo" arms and some tightening in my midsection. I was still wearing a size 12 pants but there was definitely some "saggy butt" going on in these pants. I submitted my results to Beachbody and received my TurboFire tank for completing the program.

I focused on my marathon training for a few weeks and then I was ready for a new challenge as well as was approached by a few people to help them on their fitness journey. I took a break from Beachbody programs to focus on helping others and it led to me helping out with a 5K training group at my church which is currently entering its 3 week of a 10 week program. I am so proud of all of the participants. With this program underway an opportunity to become a coach for Beachbody and help out others on their journey was given to me. I signed up and bought Brazil Butt Lift(BBL) which has produced some great results in people who have completed the program. I am using it on "no run" days so we shall see the changes that it produces after a month. My measurements when I started BBL, one week ago, were Weight 147lbs, Chest 35", Right Arm 10.5", Left Arm 10.5", Waist 31", Hips 38", Right Leg 21", Left Leg 21". I am currently wearing a size but I think that I will be going down a pant size in another month since these are starting to get a little loose.

Overall weight loss in 5 months is...
17 pounds and 23.4 inches 
and I'm still going.

There are not more bulges on my side and I feel confident in wearing a skin tight t-shirt dress. 5 months ago I would have worn Spanx underneath as well as covered it up with a sweater so that no one could see my stomach/hip bulge.

Faith, Commitment, and Fun have gotten me to this point in my life and I couldn't be happier. Thanks for reading my story. ~Lovebug

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