April 17, 2009

Fitness Friday - Peer Pressure Edition


Brenda, at The Family Revised has been doing Fitness Fridays for some time now. The individuals who participated have all taken a little break, but now they're back on board.

So they (read = Brenda) pressured me to be part of it. Actually, I made some little comment about being "IN" and she's holding me to it. Ugh! Accountability. Whatever.

Where shall I start?

Recently, I was diagnosed with PCOS. Women with PCOS are at risk for insulin resistance.

Where there is smoke....there's fire. I'm insulin resistant.

Many who have insulin resistance develop type 2 Diabetes.

No. Thank you.

This is kind of like knowing that you are going to get hit by a car. I'd be willing to bet that there are many individuals with type 2 Diabetes who would have loved to have known before-hand that there was a chance to prevent it.

So, I requested an appointment with a nutritionist. It took me 8 months to get in with a fertility specialist and less than 15 minutes to get in with a nutritionist. Go figure.

The nutritionist (Bree) asked me what I weighed ten years ago. I answered quickly and then choked, realizing that it was a great deal different than my current weight. A GREAT deal.

Then Bree asked me how much I weighed five years ago. That number is still a far cry from my current weight. So, this whole thing has come on pretty darn fast.

The solution? Body for Life. I jokingly call it Body for Nine Months because ten years ago I embarked on the journey, had awesome success.....then bailed nine months into it. I lost about 35 pounds, went from 25% body fat to 8% body fat and had six pack abs. I was a verrrrry dumb 20-year-old.

So, it's back to Body for Life for me. For good, this time.

I'm serious about this. Body for Life is actually a fairly simple plan. In another post, I'll talk more about the program and how I plan on keeping up with it. But for now, Brenda has asked us to list out our goals.

In no particular order (because they are all equally important) here are four of my short-term goals:

1. Get to bed by 10 pm at least three days a week. (seeing as how midnight is a very early bedtime for me, this one might be the hardest goal to accomplish)
2. Work out six days a week. (they are short, intense workouts, so this shouldn't take up too much of my time at all - only four hours a week)
3. Eat six (specific, balanced) small meals a day.
4. Journal it all.

I have many goals, but those are short-term. I'm going to continue to try to get pregnant, so the weight-loss goals are subject to change, Lord willing.

I also promised Brenda that I would have this post done before midnight. It's 11:39, so I guess I should go ahead and hit "publish" for now.

Every Friday, I'm going to try to keep you updated on my progress. I wrestled with publishing this kind of information on my blog, because y'all are going to be hard on me. Hard on me in a good and loving way, though. Which is why I caved. I must make this life change. I want to be healthy. I want to be around for a long time. And gosh darnit, I want to look HOT. Is that too much to ask!? :-)

So, in true Rachel style, I'm going to go out with a bang. I'm going to have a glutton-for-punishment, binge weekend and start on Monday.

What? Don't lie - you would do it too!

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22 comments:

karly said...

So, so PROUD of you, Rachel! Thrilled you will be joining FF, and can't wait to see your six-pack abs! :)

Looking forward to hearing about your workouts, your six meals a day, and your FREE DAYS (because those were my most favoritest parts of BFL!)

So excited! Can you tell I'm excited??? :) Woohoo! :)

Uma and Wil said...

Good luck on your journey! It got me thinking about my weight 5 and 10 years ago and made me realize that I have been looking like my middle school self for a really long time now (minus the poof on my head and a flat chest, thanks to a process that brought me boobs but also left some stretch marks). Going to check out Body for Life now. Thanks for the link!

Brenda said...

Rachel, everyone will be ANYTHING but hard on you. Your family? I can't promise anything. But the FF ladies are the greatest encouragement EVER!! Plus, we all pray for each other.

Now about your weekend plans...I don't really think that's the best thing for you to...oh crap. I just dropped chocolate cake all over the keyboard...I gotta go clean this up.

TAMI said...

Happy to have you along for the journey!! I eat 6+ small meals a days as well -- amazing how content we can be with what our bodies actually need! Nevertheless, that usually work fantastic all day long until I sit down to dinner, where I'm more tempted to eat that ONE big meal and throw everything off balance just before going to bed. Eeek.

TAMI said...

Oh yeah, where I am it's only 10:20p.m. so you're W-A-Y ahead on that promised goal to Brenda!!

Jessica P. said...

Good luck Rachel! As you know I am a huge fan of "portions" as I call it. I am still keeping up with my goal of 3lbs a month with that. I was going to start excercising once I hit the 10lb mark but fell off track with that, but it's because my schedule has been hectic (and I spend waaaaayyyy too much time on Bejeweled trying to beat you). Once things get more rountine I plan on adding in exercise because I want to kick it up a notch-I came across a picture from the beach in L.A. from 5 years ago and I want to look like that again! So with you on the 10 years and 5 years ago thing. Go Rachel!

The Hoags said...

Way to go, Rachel, writing it all down is like a tangible conscience--it always helps me. I still can't believe how late you go to bed and then get up to entertain a 2 year old all day!

Elspeth said...

Okay, not to be hard on you, but one of the worst mentalities you can adopt is the "I'll start on Monday" mentality, Rachel.

Now I'm off to pick at Brenda about her chocolate cake stained keyboard!

Oh, and welcome to Fitness Friday. It's fun. You'll like it, I promise.

Lucky Irish Gal said...

You can do it!

Lexie said...

All I have to say is that I went on a indulging food phase when Laney was in the hospital and still haven't quite gotten out of it.

The good news is that I managed to run about 5 miles on Thursday night (first workout out in 2.5 weeks. The bad news is that I had some issues because MY THIGHS WERE GETTING CHAFED FROM RUBBING AGAINST EACHOTHER... It was really fun to admit to the rest of the running group. (I can't believe I just admitted that on someone else's blog!)

Needless to say, my body was clearly not ready for the running shorts (back to the long basketball ones) and I think I will start eating healthy again (once I finish the ice cream, chips, dip, cookies...)

I think its over... soon.

Unknown said...

Good for you!

I want to do it to... I think I'll start on Wednesday, when I amazingly lose somewhere around 15 pounds in one day! ;)

Mrs. Fabulous said...

Good for you! Accountability sucks though!
Reading your posts might help me get back into my groove too!

Luanne said...

I totally laughed at the binge weekend!!! I do the same thing...that is soo bad. We need to stop that!! I am totally fired up with you...let's do this together, ok? WE can totally be HOT!! Can't wait to meet back up next week! Have a great five days working hard (assuming you start on Monday!)

Megan said...

Ha! Welcome to the bandwagon! It's funny you should mention Body for Life - I just heard someone talking about it yesterday, and I'd never heard of it before. Maybe I should check it out...I realized recently I do much better on a specific plan for other aspects of my life, so why not fitness? But it sounds like it's very rigorous, so it may not fit into my current situation.

Looking forward to encouraging each other on this journey!

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh... sichingly... i am soooooooooo there. drinkingly. eating. breathing. i'm ill. BUT i think about 10 months from now. WE are going to be seriously HOT BITCHES!!! I'm looking forward to the success!!!!!! Let's do this. YEAH!!!!!!!!!

Baby Kry said...

And you make me smile!!! My sis-in-law was doing a weight loss on her blog, that they signed in to help support each other. I will be supporting you 100% every Friday whether you want me to or not..hehe.
Love you girl!

Mixed Up Chromosomes said...

Congrats, I have self diagnosed pcos, gotta love the adult acne and super hot facial hair, thanks to whatever parent's genes I inherited that from!!! Anyway, I didn't have weight issues until the little on was born so now I've started walking. Actually, I have my jogging stroller and have taken about 4 walks in the past month and yesteday walked a mile in my flip flops! So I'm going to see what this body for life (is that from oprah?) is about and maybe I'll join ya! I say this all as I'm baking cookies...

The Fortenberrys said...

Is your goal your old fridge picture? I still remember that. Andy and my favorite part of your post was, "And gosh darnit, I want to look HOT,"

Proud of you!

stormhuse said...

So proud of you!!! Do they have Body for a Few Hours?? I'm interested in being healthy a few hours in between each meal of stuff I shouldn't eat...

Anonymous said...

Rach,
Gurrrl, you know I'am proud of you.
Take care of that body !!!

I got your back.

Luv ya ta death !

Alyssa's aunt helen

Elizabeth Byler Younts said...

the best best of luck to you with your goals. just by what i have read about you...i am totally convinced that you can do it! keep your positive attitude...I know that will remain a huge asset to you.

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