EXERCISE BACKGROUND:
Childhood: Complete klutz and duffus in exercise/sports
18-21: Worked my butt off to learn racquetball; took classes; practiced, practiced; practiced; got into running and weightlifting (exercise 2-3 hrs a day every day)
22-23: Selected to play for ASU (Arizona State U) and got some awesome coaching; played intercollegiately (traveled) and competed in tournaments; continued to workout very aggressively in weightlifting & running to further enhance my racquetball game (exercised probably 3-4 hrs a day 6-7 days/week)
24-32: On/off weightlifted & competed in racquetball; got into aerobic type classes (obsessive)
32-33: Got more heavily into running/races with some friends; continued to weightlift (average exercise of 2-3 hrs a day daily)
34-35: Seriously hired a personal trainer (Mountain Mike) who made huge strides with me. He taught me a great deal about various weightlifting methods. So begins my journey from weightlifting into bodybuilding. After Mike, I had a series of other trainers, none of whom I connected with as well as Mike Z. (very intense exercise for long periods of time and strict eating)
35: Was pregnant with our 2nd, which was a high risk pregnancy, so had to take a break; found out I had a heart condition that was supposedly brought on by excessive exercise (0 exercise)
36: Very anxious to get back to training and came back a bit too hard, and a bit too soon. Became obsessed with this and tracked every single workout.
37: Plagued with health issues & injuries. Workouts are sporadic, stop and go. Reduced exercise time to under and hour. No longer going full bore.

Today - I'm still 37. Will be 38 in March. I've spent nearly the past 20 yrs obsessing about exercise and striving to get to my ideal. My ideal right now is a size 6 @ 15% bodyfat, or whatever is healthy for me where I will look good and feminine. Most people think that it will be at a size 8-10 and that my goal will look gross on me. I'm currently at a size 14. My bodyfat yesterday was at an appalling 31%, so somewhere in the past 3 weeks, I gained 2% bodyfat. EEEK!!!

FOOD BACKGROUND
Prior to 30: thought I could eat whatever I wanted, as long as I exercised. Wrong! Amazingly, with the very poor self-image, low self-esteem, I'm surprised I never took diet pills, resorted to cosmetic surgery, laxatives, fad diets, became anorexic or bulemic, or developed an eating disorder. I guess I loved food too much and deep down knew those things were harmful to the body. I'd never went on a diet before.
30: Learned about the Weigh Down Workshop by Gwen Shamblin. Learned that what my parents taught me about eating until you're full was WRONG. Learned how to control portions and to not make food an idol anymore. At this time, I met my current husband, who only ate to live, not live to eat.
32: Learned about Body for Life and was going to enter that contest, but I was very leery about taking supplements and the cost of them, so I just did the exercise without the supplements with one of my running partners (John). At this time, I got pregnant with our first. I had a female trainer (forgot about her earlier) that trained me in my home. We were able to workout up until the time I gave birth. I gained very little weight in this pregnancy and it was ideal.
34: This is when I started working with Mike Z (yes, the hot marine drill sargeant trainer). I learned some stuff about nutrition, but it was a few of the other trainers who taught me a lot more about nutrition. Aaron and Art took me under their wings and taught me the importance of protein and how to eat simply. But, still things didn't totally register with me. I also started Weight Watchers a couple months before training with Mike Z. I learned how to count calories, read food labels, keep a food journal.
35: I was pregnant with our 2nd. I had gotten half way to my goal but didn't realize I was pregnant for the first trimester. My eating was very strict, very low in fat. Not good for a pregnant woman. After I gave birth, I learned about Tom Venuto and became a big fan of his. I've learned a great deal about exercise and nutrition from this natural bodybuilder who is quite smart, and wants people to be informed about their bodies and to make it work for them.
36-37: During these 2 yrs, I've learned a great deal about nutrition, quality of food, types of foods, eating for your metabolic typing, pH, blood typing, portions, timing of foods, order of foods, food combining and other things. It's been amazing. I now typically eat as natural, organic as possible cutting out white flour products, refined sugars, processed foods.

SLEEP BACKGROUND
I've always been sleep deprived and prided myself on sleeping so little, yet while maintaining a very high level of energy. I'm typically up by around 3 am, not going to bed until 10:30-11 pm. Not a lot of sleep, eh? About a week ago, though many people have told me sleep is important, I blew them off because I thought they were jealous that I could do so much on such little sleep.

What I didn't know or realize is that sleep is very important in one's metabolism, pancreatic functions, endocrine system, repair & building of muscles, cardiovascular functions, and the list goes on. I remember reading this article that said if you don't get enough sleep, it could make you FAT. I'm thinking, could this be the reason why I have a hard time losing bodyfat, despite fairly regular healthy eating, exercise? Some of the articles I read had medical studies stating why it makes you fat.

So, now to change a lifetime of bad sleep habits. My goal is to be in bed by 8:30 pm tonight. It's tough because I like going to bed a little later, though still waking up very early.

Hopefully you won't see posts from me in the wee hours of the night. I am not an insomniac. My sleep issues are in my own head (don't like slowing down) and my 2 yr old who still gets up in the middle of the night 1-3 times.

MENTAL BACKGROUND
Prior to 30: Very poor self-esteem, no self-acceptance, little self respect, people pleaser, perfectionist, control freak, obsessive compulsive in many areas of life, worry wart
30-33: Henry came into my life and helped me see beyond some of these things. He knew how to handle me and direct my energies into more focused, productive areas.
34-37: Learned about EFT (emotional freedom technique) - this has transformed my life and allowed me to break down many of the emotional barriers I had. I've been using this for 4.5 yrs and it's done tremendous breakthroughs in my mental state. I am no longer perfectionistic, OCD, controlling. I have a good, healthy self-esteem, love who I am, respect who I am, can set appropriate boundaries with people and can say No without feeling guilty of hurting other people's feelings.
37: Learning EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing) to further help break down financial barriers as well as any other remaining issues that prevents me from clearly hearing God. Learning to use my intuition. I'm also employing reprogramming of the subconscious mind with the lies of Satan to God's truth. I'm learning to take captive my thoughts and submit them to Christ.

-------------------------------------------

Well, that's a bit about my history in 4 different areas of my life. There is obviously more, but I'll leave it at this. If at any point I've relayed some of this in a different forum or otherwise, and some of the ages/dates do not match up, sorry. This is just to the best of my recollection today. My memory may be slightly off, but I know it's not THAT far off. It's not the age that matters, rather the journey I've taken.

--------------------------------------------

To help me be more accountable and efficient with my workout time, I've hired Josh to help me. Before he will start training me, he wants to know what my VO2 max and RMR (resting metabolic rates) are. I'm also working with a naturopath (Dr. Kyle) to help balance out my hormones naturally. I'm working on getting adequate sleep. I also have worked with a holistic nutritionist (Heather) and will employ her services. My chiropractors (Dr. Hill & Dr. Bock) will help me with keep my body free from subluxations. The various massage therapists will also help with the subluxations as well as remove toxins from my body.

In all of this, I'm learning - BALANCE!!!! That's the key -- BALANCE that is unique to YOUR BODY!!! Everyone is different and they need to find out how THEIR body works and work with it to make it the best it can be.

-------------------------------------------

I will cut and paste out of my fitness journal workouts that I want to share here.

Wow, M, that's pretty indepth, sounds like your really serious,

Curious to see your Fitness Journal.

Health, Fitness, Physique, Life...yeah...I'm serious.

There are some other places I've posted my workouts, which I can also copy here. Will do probably just my lifting routines only. We'll see. I've been really short on time lately.

Gotta get to bed. Later.

I've started a blog that will journal this new fitness-health journey. I'm not wanting to publically publish this, so if you're truly interested, PM me or email me for the link. I do want to limit who views this, as some of the information is pretty personal. I'll post some more general things in here.

I'll stick to the general. just copy and paste the cold hard facts in here.


I'm thinking about doing something similiar.
I'd honestly like to take before and after Photos.

my protien powder comes in the mail today... yeah!

This is cut from a different journal I periodically post in:

What I've noticed is my body does not have a problem gaining or maintaining lean body mass, so my genetic blessing. Even when I was on a no activity and bedrest with my 2nd pregnancy over several months, I lost no lean body. Gaining fat is fairly easy for me to do and losing it a challenge. I'm starting to understand why that's the case and am working in a more balanced state to turn that around. Don't know how long that will take, but since I've been working to get to my goal for nearly 8 yrs, even if it takes a couple more years to get my body to the health state I desire, so what? I have the rest of my life. I'm not in a hurry.

Foci areas:

1. Get a minimum of 6 hrs of sleep EVERY NIGHT.
2. Raise my AT level to 140-160 bpm
3. Drop my 1 min. recovery heart rate under 95 bpm
4. Gradual calorie deficit
5. Eat a minimum of 5x/day
6. Deep breathing throughout the day
7. Workout within the intensity ranges of what my trainers/instructors direct without argument. Resist the urge (self-control) to have die hard workouts.
8. Drink an adequate amount of water throughout the day

Working on toning down my workouts at least for a bit to raise my anaerobic threshold (AT) and to bring my body into a better state of fat burning. I have one trainer who will be helping me specifically in this -- all cardio (Tyna). My other trainer will be working with me on everything else (Josh).

Will probably get a private yoga instructor to help me learn how to breathe more effectively in my exercise. The 1:1 will give me the attention I want, rather than compete with other class members. I'm thinking about doing this 1x/wk. Just trying to figure out how to fit that into my already jam packed schedule.

--------------------------------

T, 13-Dec-2005, LTFG VO2 MAP Test (Holly H)
Some of the results of my VO2 MAP (Metabolic Assessment Profile) are:

ZONE 4
above 124 bpm = 9 cal/min = 0.1 fat cal/min (1% calories burned from fat)

ZONE 3
@ 124 bpm = 7.9 cal/min = 0.8 fat cal/min (10% calories burned from fat)
@ 118 bpm = 7.6 cal/min = 1.7 fat cal/min (22% calories burned from fat)

ZONE 2
@ 112 bpm = 6.5 cal/min = 3.2 fat cal/min (49% calories burned from fat)
@ 100 bpm = 4.9 cal/min = 2.4 fat cal/min
@ 87 bpm = 2.1 cal/min = 1.0 cal/min

For a little bit, Tyna has me doing cardio in the Zones 2/3. She's planning on retesting me Tues 1/17 (I think). That will give me 12-13 O2 sessions completed in a 4 week period.

--------------------------------
T, 20-Dec-2005, LTFG, Afternoon
Total Time: 1 hr
Calories Burned: 431

Distance:

% Fat Burned:

Cardio Activity: Treadmill
O2 Training: Strength #1 Session 1

Max Heartrate: 143 bpm
Avg Heartrate: 119 bpm

RPE (1-10): 1, very easy

Speed Range: 1.0 - 2.5 mph
Incline Range: 6-10%

-------------------------------

Got Sick

-------------------------------

T, 12/27/05, LTFG, early afternoon
Total Workout Time = 1 hr 7 min
Total Calories Expended = 486

Avg Heartrate = 124 bpm
Max Heartrate = 131 bpm

AT (target heartrate) = 124 bpm

Distance = 3 miles plus 5 min. warmup, 5 min. cooldown
Time to do 3 miles = 56:06 min.

Speed Range = 2.7 to 3.6 mph walk
RPE (1-5) = 2 (fairly easy)

% Calories Fat Burning = 55%
Time in Zone = 44 min.

-----------------------------

Th, 12/29/05, LTFG, early afternoon
Total Workout Time = 58:22
Total Calories Expended = 370

Cardio Activity: Treadmill
O2 Session: Strength #1, Session 2

Avg Heartrate = 116 bpm
Max Heartrate = 132 bpm
AT (target heartrate) = 124 bpm

Distance = 1.54 miles

Speed Range = 0.5 to 3.0 mph walk
Incline Range = 2% to 8%

RPE (1-5) = 1.5 (fairly easy)
% Calories Fat Burning = 55
%Time in Zone = 37:52 min.

Other: Intervals - 3 min. @ Zone 3, 1 min @ Zone 2 with varying % incline

-----------------------------

Fri, 12/30/05, LTFG, early afternoon
Total Workout Time = 1:20:56
Total Calories Expended = 472

Cardio Activity: Treadmill
O2 Session - Aerobic Base Test

Avg Heartrate = 112 bpm
Max Heartrate = 133pm
AT (target heartrate) = 124 bpm

Distance = 2.73 miles

Speed Range = 2.8 to 3.4 mph walk (not including warmup and cooldown)
Incline Range = 2%
RPE (1-5) = 2 (fairly moderate, just a little bit of sweat, but mostly glistening)

% Calories Fat Burning = 55
%Time in Zone = 42:06 min. (110-125 bpm)

Other: No intervals today. Time seemed to pass by real slowly. Intervals are more fun. There were 8 minutes of opportunity to be in the "Zone". Spent 84% of the time that I was supposed to be in the 110-125 bpm. Still room for improvement, but getting there. Praise God!!

I did 10 min. of stretching before and after the cardio session.

---------------------------------------------------

Mon, 1/2/06, LTFG, early afternoon
Total Workout Time = 1:40:37
Total Calories Expended = 538

Cardio Activity: Treadmill

O2 Session - Strength #1, Session 3

Avg Heartrate = 108 bpm
Max Heartrate = 135 bpm
AT (target heartrate) = 124 bpm

Distance = 2.13 miles

Speed Range = 1.7 to 2.8 mph (not including warmup and cooldown)
Incline Range = 2%, 6-10% (2 min. per 1%)
RPE (1-5) = 2 (fairly moderate, just a little bit of sweat, but mostly glistening)

% Calories Fat Burning = 55
%Time in Zone = 42:08 min. (110-125 bpm)

Other: 5 bigger intervals over 60 min.

------------------------------

Tues, 1/3/06, LTFG, early afternoon
Total Workout Time = 1 hr 20 min
Total Calories Expended = 381 (only for cardio portion = 60 min)

Cardio Activity: Treadmill

O2 Session - Strength #2, Session 1

Avg Heartrate = 116 bpm
Max Heartrate = 131 bpm
AT (target heartrate) = 124 bpm

Distance = 1.73 miles

Speed Range = 1.0 to 2.5 mph (not including warmup and cooldown)
Incline Range = 2%, 6-12% (2 min. per 1%)
RPE (1-5) = 2 (moderate )

% Calories Fat Burning = 55
%Time in Zone = 35:42 min. (110-125 bpm) - max opportunity to be in zone was 52 min.

Other: 5 bigger intervals over 60 min.

10 min. stretching before cardio
10 min. stretching after cardio

Md, so you are now kinda switching from a workout routine that was heavy in resistance training, to a workout routine that is more focused into Cardio/fatburning exercise ??

Patrick, No.

The first few weeks is to develop a good aerobic base, which is what I'm doing now. Near the end of next week, I will start back again with weightlifting, but only 2 days/wk.

Because of the exercise abuse over the past 20 yrs to my body, it needs a lot more recovery time than when I was in my 20s. I am looking only to maintain my LBM, as I already have a lot. I just need to lose the bodyfat.

What my schedule probably will look like in terms of workouts is:

Mon - Rest
Tues - Weightlift
Wed - Cardio
Thur - Weightlift
Fri - Cardio
Sat - Cardio & maybe Yoga
Sun - Rest or Yoga

I would do the cardio after my weightlifting, but if I have either of my children in childcare at the gym, there is a 2 hr max. I cannot get the cardio & weightlifting done in 2 hrs due to the training programs.

I was looking for this thread and I'm wondering where it went.

Just a quick update --

Lost 9.8 lbs of bodyfat, which is 4.2% bodyfat in the past 4 weeks.

Since I started a little after Thanksgiving, I'm down actual weight 11.5 lbs.

7 weeks ago I started tracking my measurements and I've lost a total of 16.25" overall. The measurements I take are:

neck
breasts
just under breasts
smallest part of waist
tummy (2" below belly button)
hips (widest part)
biceps
forearms
thighs (widest part)
mid-thighs
calves

The areas I've lost the most are my tummy, hips, just under the breasts, and thighs.

I've been doing well with both of my trainers. Tyna helps me with the cardio portions and I've been doing these 3-5 times per week with 55-60 min. at a time. My anaerobic threshold increased from 124 bpm to 137 bpm. I've been at the new AT for the past 2 weeks. It feels good to be able to do cardio at a higher AT. My goal for this is to get it into the 160-170 bpm range, which may take 6 months to a year.

Josh is my trainer for everything else. We workout 2 days/wk in hr long sessions. He has me doing full body functional core training and I love it. He's great to work with and we have loads of fun. The workouts are challenging and provide me with a lot of variety. I started working with Josh 4-5 weeks ago.

I've been eating 5-7 times per day and in the average of 1700-1900 calories a day. There are some days I drop below this and go above it, though.

I've been usually getting at least 6 hours of sleep, but the past 2 nights I've gotten fewer than 6, closer to the 5-6 hr range.

Been working on deep breathing, learning to take breaks every 90 min. at work or when I'm working at home, rather than go long periods without breaks.

When I post pics in my other bodybuilding forum, I'll post them here, too. I expect to take some pics in the Easter timeframe. My bodyfat right now is 28.8%. I had a setback for some unknown reason and my bodyfat shot up to 33%, so I had to backtrack. I'm going to shoot for a goal of low 20% range by Easter, which will allow me to be in a bikini. My longer term goal is 15%.

I haven't had time to really keep up with others journals, so I hope ya'll doing great. I'll try to drop in more often.

.
.
Congrats...sounds like your doing VERY Well...

Should have joined the contest...probably would have blown away those other "cake-eaters".

Larry,

Thanks. I had originally thought about it, but in contests, I tend to go overboard and do things I wouldn't normally do otherwise -- going to extremes. I cannot afford to go to extremes, as that's been a bad habit of mine. I am trying to take a more balanced approach, turtle steps, slow and steady.

I think for some, it was to get moving, or to begin to be more aware of their eating and go towards healthier. Those weren't my issues. Mine were to slow down, which is what I'm doing.

Besides, to me, anything achieved by anyone that is a healthier habit in my eyes is a winner.