Focused! Determined! I got this!

Hey everyone! I see the STATs haven't gone down during my recess away from my GNC Total Lean journey. I'm doing GREAT!

I finally closed on that house and moved in for the most part. First mortgage payment is coming up soon...which oddly I'm excited about (who is excited to pay a bill, I mean come on!) but, I anticipate that will slowly fade!

I've since then invested in a Bowflex Xtreme 2, which should be arriving any day now and I purchased a treadmill a few weeks ago. I'm cancelling my gym membership and setting up a gym in my own home. The basement is completely finished which makes it super nice to work out in. I like going to gyms...but they take away important time from my life when it's a half hour each way.

My new routine will be get up in the morning, go downstairs, workout for an hour, shower in my own house (ahhh!) drink the shake, and head out to work.

I've been doing this with the treadmill and it's nice to not have to get dressed in a tiny changing room or share a shower with anyone. Once my Bowflex comes it will be nice to have weights to work with again.

The shake has been working gloriously for me. I took a break for a while which helped me get over my hump. Since I've started my routine, drinking the shake again, and eating as clean as possible, I've gone down approx an inch and dropped 10 or so pounds.

It's so great to see the fruits of your labor. I'm losing weight, gaining confidence, and doing it all in a home I worked so hard for.

I'm focused, determined, and I got this!

CLAs ---- Do they help you lose weight?

Maybe you've seen it as part of GNC's total lean package? CLA - aka Conjugated Linoleic Acid. The supplement boasts that it will help you build lean body mass, enhance weight loss and physique and supplement for your diet.

CLA is basically the fat that you get when you eat red meat. Here is a definition:

Conjugated linoleic acid  is a naturally occurring trans fatty acid made from omega-6 essential fatty acids in the rumens or guts of pastured ruminants such as cows, goats, and sheep. If you're hearing warning bells over the phrase "trans fatty acid," it's because trans fatty acids have recently received a lot of negative attention from health experts. However, the general consensus is that man-made trans fatty acids may not be healthy for humans. CLA, however, is a naturally occurring trans fatty acid, and is exempted from the labeling requirement because it is not considered to be harmful.

Naturally present in dairy and beef, CLA consists of subcomponents called isomers. Different isomers have been isolated in animal research as having various health benefits. For example, the isomer most prevalent in dairy products has potential anti-carcinogenic benefits, while the one most prevalent in pastured beef is potentially effective in regulation of body fat. Some research suggests other CLA isomers could have other health benefits such as protecting the heart, preventing thickening of arteries, preventing cancer, particularly breast cancer, and helping to regulate the immune system. CLA is not an essential fatty acid, so technically we don't have to have CLA in our diets in order to be healthy. However, CLA has many potential health benefits which make it a welcome addition to a diet designed to nourish and protect. CLA is unique among foods with possible anti-cancer activity because it is derived from animal products, and seems to be effective in amounts humans typically get from eating food. Unlike other fatty acids, the human body cannot make CLA. We must rely on animal and dairy products for our intake of this nutrient. Changes in food processing, farming and the modern diet have contributed to an 80% reduction in the amount of CLA we take in. Because of the reduced consumption of red meat and dairy products, many of us do not have helpful quantities of CLA in our diets. Research by the University of Wisconsin shows that the best source of CLA is dairy and meat products from pastured cows, because they produce up to 500% more CLA than cows fed typical confinement rations. Despite efforts to find ways to artificially raise CLA levels, the only thing found to significantly raise CLA was fresh grass. This causes us to point out that, yes, Organic Valley farmers improve the quality of life for their cows and for you by employing pasturing practices that meet and exceed the National Organic Program Standards.

So I've recently came into taking it. I started a few days ago. I don't see immediate results...but as I said I just started taking it a few days ago. I do notice I'm not starving or thinking about food as much which is great. Although I've been very stressed over the course of the past few days, I'm not heart pounding twitching. (I'm trying to close on a house---it's got me on the edge, man!)

I hope this does assist me in my journey. Ran out of shake a few days ago. Back to Rite Aid! Damn...it's not "Gold Card" week. Oh well made 20% discount for year 2013 through wellness program so that's a plus :)

Day: 200 something - Marching on

Well, in case you all didn't know, I'm starting over this month. I went off the deep end for two months and I need to get myself back to business.

Today I was pretty good w/my eating:

Breakfast consisted of:
Shake w/ 3 strawberries, a tablespoon of nutella, 1 % milk, and coffee.

I did steal one of my daughter's french toast sticks because I was still hungry. One step at a time.

Snack:
Fiberone Brownie

Lunch:
Lean Cuisine Swedish Meatballs
Blue berry low fat yogurt
Coffee

Snack:
Clifbar protein bar - chocolate mint.


Drinking water all day. Laying off anything with sugar...or flavoring. I've been drinking a lot of coffee to kill any hunger pangs. It works great as a defer except man, I got to pee.

Did 30 mins at the gym yesterday. I was going to go tonight but technically I have Wednesday written down as my "break day". So I'm going tomorrow morning. I'll get there around quarter to seven and do an hour and a half workout. 30 mins cardio + hour of weight training.


"Whoo-hoo! What an awesome party!" - Jim Jefferies

2013: Picking up where I left off

Holy smokes, hard to believe it has been almost 2 months since I last updated this.It's been quite the whirlwind of activity going on and I've been more stressed than I have in a long time! So here we go, I'm going to Dear Diary all of you:

From Christmas until the end of the first week of January, I had the flu. Chills, fever, feelings of death...you know the whole 9 yards.

This was followed by the purchase of a new home. I'm still in the process with a commitment now from the bank with a few conditions to be met. Which means waiting on my friends from the IRS to follow through.

Going through that process I'm sure brought on what happened next which was some STRANGE tonsil thing that put me through straight agony for 10 days, taking me out of work for 5. 3 doctors visits and 1000 dollars later, I can swallow again. No clue what it was.

Meanwhile all of this has been taking me out of the gym and awake from my shake. But  NO MORE. I started drinking the shake again on the regular last week, supplementing with oatmeal when I get bored (I know what a trade off).

So here we go again.

Goal: 10 lbs by March 31st.

Day 171: Twas the night before Christmas...

It's only a few more hours until Christmas and I have to play Santa without the kid catching on. Meanwhile, while everyone in the house is sick on Christmas Eve (lovely, right?), I am sitting here thinking about this past year.

This year has been relatively a successful one. Did I get my body I wanted? No, but, I certainly got myself to the point where I feel more deserving of having that great physique.

This past year I got the job I needed to advance myself in my career. I bought a car and now in the New Year, a new house (hopefully).

I'm 27 years old, I have a relatively successful career, a healthy and happy six year old, which in the wake of the Newtown shooting I am more grateful for than ever in my life. I have a boyfriend, who while drives me crazy, cares more about me and our family than anything, and a dog that loves me more than she loves herself and dog treats.

I can't help but feel that I am, through hard work and perseverance, meeting my goals and beyond. I feel I can achieve things. I feel that now that I am moving forward in work, home, and life, that the only thing left to achieve full force is my body.

I am not making a new years resolution---I hate those. Instead, a toast. "Thank you for my blessings this year, thank you for the support and success, and here is to my next goal of health and happiness."