Maximum Weight Loss Challenge

I promised a post about beginning stats and my Week 1 plan, so here it is.  But let’s back up a minute, first.

What exactly am I doing?  I created a “Maximum Weight Loss Rotation” full of workouts for 12 weeks.  They’re hard, and there’s a lot.  It starts off a little slow, then quickly moves to 1-2 workouts/day.  Along with this, I also purchased the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan.  I absolutely love it, and I think that it was worth the $150 I spent on it. 

I really do recommend it.  The only thing I don’t like is that most of the recipes just aren’t “me,” if that makes sense.  So I’m taking the core of the plan and adding my own spin to it.



Anyway, here’s the plan for week 1.  Week 1 includes 4 cardio workouts, and 2 full body strength workouts.  I’m using a mixture of Cathe Friedrich workouts (where I got the rotation) and Tone It Up workouts.  On strength days, I’m really supposed to do the cardio workout in the morning, and the strength workout in the afternoon, but everyone knows I’m not a morning person.  I’m lucky if I can get up a half-hour before I’m supposed to leave for work.  So right now I’m doubling up after work.  The links below will take you to a preview of the Cathe DVD’s, and to the Tone It Up page that includes the TIU cardio workout.

Cardio
Party Rockin’ Step #1
Spring Into Summer
Low Impact Circuit – Cardio Blast (Premix 1)  **doneMaking Waves Cardio

Strength
Step, Jump, and Pump Weights Only premix
Low Impact Circuit Body Sculpt Premix  **done

I did the Low Impact Circuit workouts last night. 

Now – every week, on Sunday (nights), I’ll be posting how my week went, including what I ate.  On Mondays I’ll be posting my plan for the upcoming week.  And then there will be room for other fun stuff on days in between there.    :)


Last night I used my new grill for the first time.  It was a little intimidating at first.  I live in an apartment building, and the yard that you see there is like a courtyard, so there are apartments all around me.  Kind of like a college dorm, really.  So I was worried about people watching and making fun of my non-existent grilling skills.  I made some chicken breasts for my lunches, and a couple hamburger patties.  It went well, but I had a little trouble with keeping the briquettes hot.  I think next time I’ll use more.  But I’m so excited to be able to put this in to good use this summer!  It’ll definitely come in handy when trying to prep healthy meals!

And then there are my starting stats.  Here they are.....

As of 6/18/2014
Left Arm - 12"
Right Arm - 12.5"
Upper Chest - 40"
Chest - 40"
Ribcage - 37"
Waist - 37.25"
Abs (love handles) - 43.75"
Hips - 42.5"
Left Thigh - 24.5"
Right Thigh - 24.75"

Not a pretty sight.  I still have my measurements from back in September of last year, and I've gone up everywhere, with an exception of my thighs.  My legs have always been toned.  I'm assuming from all those years of dancing.  But I have noticed they were starting to get less toned.  Can't let that happen!!

I didn't weigh myself.  I don't plan on weighing myself for a while.  Maybe once a month?  In the past, the scale has really made me lose motivation and set me up for failure, so I'm trying to stay away from it as much as I can.

That's it for today.  Happy Wednesday everyone!

Bad Blogger Award Goes To Me!

I am such a terrible blogger!  I really need to get on that "schedule" train that so many bloggers are on - you know, the ones who actually think about and schedule their posts?  Rather than just opening their Blogger and writing?  Ha!  Totally me.  I just need to get on a writing schedule I guess.  I used to be able to blog at work, but once I got this new job, it has been next to impossible to get any free time - not to mention take a lunch break!
I do plan on getting on the blog tonight and writing out my first week's meal/exercise plan of the "Maximum Weight Loss Challenge" I have going on for myself.  I wanted to do it today during my lunch break, but of course my schedule and stats and everything are all at home.  Another blogger fail.  
So for now, I thought I'd share some funny memes I've seen lately.  Enjoy!

Random

It's been a minute, so I figured it's time for an update!  I'm still here, still working (a lot), and still working at losing weight.  This whole losing weight thing seems to be a constant in my life, and I can't wait for the day that it doesn't have to be my main focus.  When I can finally be comfortable in my skin, and not constantly worry about how I look.  When I can finally just enjoy my life....and just be.
Now, I know that it doesn't come just by losing weight.  This blog is called My Inner Butterfly for a reason.  I created this blog to finally learn to love myself, regardless of how I look.  Looking inside myself and finding peace is what I want more than anything.
How do I do that?  I'm not sure yet.  I could dive in to as many self-help books I can find.  I could go to therapy.  There's lots of ways.  But going forward, this blog is going to have a lot more of that type of stuff, not just weight loss stuff.  I really do think that when we find peace within ourselves, that's when everything else just naturally happens (like weight loss).  
I really don't know where this post is going, ha.  But that's where I'm at now.  
The last few weeks I've been working on getting a plan in place.  A hard-core plan.  I was browsing the Cathe.com forums (love her!) and came across a really good thread where Cathe herself made up a maximum weight loss rotation for someone who was looking to lose as much weight as possible in 3 months.  I took the plan, and made it my own.  It's tough, but I know I can do it.  The good thing is that it starts off pretty slow, and gradually works up to working out twice per day.  
I'll be sharing the plan each week, and at the end of each week, I'll go over how well I did.  Stats and everything will come on Monday.  
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

See Through Shorts

Let me preface this post by saying I had an AWESOME Memorial Day Weekend (and birthday – my birthday fell on Memorial Day this year….love when that happens)!  However, the majority of it was ruined by one little thing.

My see-through shorts.

Let’s back up for a minute.

My boyfriend and I were planning on staying home because he had some stuff going on.  But then at the last minute he decided to skip it, and we were off and packing. 

Well, that packing part worried me a little.  Because lately I haven’t been fitting in to anything.  I have nothing to wear.  I wear the same black pants to work every day, and rotate between 5-6 shirts every week.

I looked in my summer drawer where I keep my shorts.

“Hmmm,” I thought.  “Maybe I should try these on before I put them in the bag.  They were a little loose last summer, so if anything, they should fit.”

They didn’t fit.  Whoa.  I realized I gained weight this winter, but now my shorts (that were loose last year) didn’t fit.

What was I going to do??  We were leaving that day, and I couldn’t go to the store.  I certainly didn’t want to tell my boyfriend that my butt expanded so much that I have nothing to wear.  Then I remembered something.  I looked in to my pajama drawer.  I had a pair of really really old black shorts that could pass as regular shorts.  They were a little worn out, but – better those than nothing!  So I threw them in my bag with everything else and we went on our merry way up to the cabin to meet my family there.

The very first day, after we had all gone fishing, my sister-in-law asked, “Are you wearing pink polka-dot underwear?”

Yeah, well, I most certainly did not look like that.

You could completely see through my shorts.  And of course I hadn’t packed any black or tan underwear to at least make it less noticeable.  And to make it worse, all the underwear I did pack were very bright colors. 

Sigh.

So I went in my room and cried.  Then I changed in to my black capri leggings and sweat the entire day in the 80 degree weather.

The rest of the weekend I decided that it was way too hot to wear those capris, so I wore the shorts with a sweatshirt tied around my waist.  How fashionable.

Like I said, I did have a good time.  But none of that mattered to me.  I was so self-conscious the entire weekend, feeling sorry for myself, wondering how my boyfriend could ever find me attractive, etc.

What a wake-up call.  I need to do something about this weight.  It’s not good for my appearance, and it certainly is not good for my health. 

Begin Again

I can’t believe I’m writing this post.  I feel like this blog is back to square one – only further back.  Does that make sense?  Since I started this blog, I have seen myself lose weight, gain weight, lose it again, and now back to gaining weight.  Only this time I weigh more than I ever have in my entire life.  Even more than I did when I was complaining at the beginning of the year when I hit the 160s, which I had never done. 

I’m now in to the 170s.  I’m only 5’1”. 

Seriously?  Am I really at that point?  It was exactly a year ago that I ran my first 5K.

It was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on Mother’s Day.  I was hovering around 150 here – getting so close to the 140s.  I was getting so excited that I’d finally be in the 140s again soon. 

But after that race, things just went downhill.  Not only with my running and weight loss, but also with my personal life.  Slowly, but surely, I gained all the weight back that I had been working hard to lose.  And then some. 

The last time I stepped on the scale (earlier this week), I was at 172.  Yuck.  That’s all I can say.

I took yet *another* set of before pictures this past weekend.  I look more terrible than I thought.  Sure, I knew my clothes weren’t fitting.  I pretty much wear the same clothes every week (hesitantly, because I don’t even feel comfortable in the clothes that I feel most comfortable in).  I haven’t gone shopping in months, yet I’ve thrown away so many clothes that got rips in them, or just plain didn’t fit anymore.

“It’s the dryer,” I said.  “The dryer at the apartment sucks and shrinks everything.”

While that certainly may have been partly true, pictures do not lie.  And here they are, in all their glory (sorry, I’m not the best at taking pictures of myself). 

I find it quite ironic that my “before” pictures include the leis that I got at my first 5K, hanging on the mirror.

So I guess you could say I’m back.  But not for good reasons – I’m back because I need that kick in the pants and the means to stay on track.

But now is not the time to have a pity party.  I put myself here.  And I most definitely can get myself out.

 

PS – I know I mentioned in my last post that I’d be starting something “new”….but I just couldn’t part with this blog.  So this blog will be sticking around.  For quite a while, judging from these pictures.    :)

Going Away

This blog has officially gone down the drain.  And I don't feel like this blog has much of a future.  So I've decided to stop blogging here.....and start a new blog!  I have lots of ideas of what I want to do and where I want to go with blogging, and I don't feel like this blog will allow me to do that.  So a whole new name, brand, image....whatever you want to call it.....is coming.
Stay tuned......

Work In Progress

Hey everyone, and Happy Friday eve!!  
I always find it so hard to come up with post topics.  My life is completely boring, and well, I don't want to always talk about losing weight.  That can get boring too.  I suppose I should try to be all "official" and "professional" and get like a blogging planner or something.  Yeah, like that'll ever happen!    :)
So for now, I'll just talk about the challenge.  I'm doing pretty good.  I have gotten bored with my lunch though.  I only had that quinoa mix twice this week.  The other two weeks I hit up the salad bar at Kawalski's.  Sure, the salad was healthy, but not so much the pasta that I got along with it.   Oops.  I'm thinking next week I'll need to come up with a couple different lunches.  Because who wants to eat quinoa 5 days a week?!
Another thing I'll need to change up is my fitness routine.  
Well, you might as well just come up with a whole new plan, Heather!  Geesh!
I know, I know.  But that's who I am.  I gotta change things up to keep things interesting.  I did get up early to do my first workout on Monday.  But that hasn't happened since.  Which is no big surprise.  I've never been a morning person, and never will be.  I don't know why I though this time would be different.  
I also decided I do actually need to go to the gym to workout.  The videos are going great, and I've been following week 1 nicely, but I just don't like having to move everything around in my living room, and then having my dumbbells, shoes, and tubing laying everywhere because I'm always so lazy to put everything away.  I'm high-maintenance, I know.  I'll still continue with the plan for the week, but there will be some changes next week.
And that's what this journey is all about.  Trying a ton of different things to see what works for you!  I'll get there eventually.   :)