FL-From Flabby to Fit in 30 Days

heathercayman · February 27th, 2008, 09:13 PM

I'm gearing up for thirty days of clean eating and serious training! I am creating my shopping list and cleaning out my pantry and fridge, trying to banish most of the temptations. I'm bracing myself for the "before" pictures tomorrow but am confident that in a month, the "after" pictures will be great! I need to prove to myself that I can get in the best shape of my life at age 46!

**wildstang** · February 27th, 2008, 09:35 PM

how many pounds are you shooting for in this 30 days?
why not make it a lifetime goal from this point out, but still do your 30 day thing.

**Weeble29** · February 27th, 2008, 10:52 PM

make it 2 months of clean eating and training and you'll be on the right track. Hopefully you don't stop at the two month mark though...

heathercayman · February 28th, 2008, 06:31 AM

Thanks for the support! I'm taking part in a 30 day fat loss challenge, however the clean eating concepts will be embraced as a lifetime change. I intend to lose fat and gain muscle and strength.

**Italianangel** · February 28th, 2008, 09:19 AM

Nice work, yes I expect the ladies to take alot away from this for more than a month or 2......or I will find them and they will have to do hours and hours or training and eat nothing but oatmeal and chicken 24 hour per day.......mwahahahahha.
I suspect many will keep the ideas from the fat loss manual to help them through to their goals and to maintain them, create new ones and so on.......
Go heather go!!!
Linda

courtneylove · February 28th, 2008, 01:13 PM

Hi Heather! Wish you the best. Im a fellow challenger, excited to get started!

heathercayman · February 28th, 2008, 10:00 PM

Ladies of the challenge:

I am reading through the posts and am so honored to be among such dynamite women! It's motivating to read the stories and goals, and this will be a terrific journey to share together.

I'm 46 yrs old, 5'6, 130 lbs, and here are my stats, in inches:

Neck: 13
Shoulders: 35
Chest: 35.5
Right arm: 9.5
Abdomen Site #1: 29
Abdomen Site #2: 30.75
Right Thigh: 20.5
Right Calf: 14.5
Weight: 130 lbs
Body fat: 16%

To be honest I feel my bodyfat is closer to 18% -20%, just comparing my body to previous years.

I just had my pictures taken, and can see that in spite of two years of weight training and somewhat clean eating, I still have problem areas. "The Pancake Butt" is one of them, and the "love handles" are another. My history is "skinny" (up to age 35) "skinny/fat" as in low weight/high body fat ( age35-44) and now, more muscle but LOTS of room for improvement. Reading my booklet, I see my current approach of 75% effort has yielded 75% of the results I want. Stcking with this plan should get me closer to 95% of my goals : less bodyfat, bigger and defined muscles, and curvier butt!

I live in sunny Grand Cayman, so it's time to get a bikini body! Ladies, let's go get HOT and FIT!

Heather in Grand Cayman

**Belsicilia** · February 28th, 2008, 11:20 PM

hey heather!!

So awesome to read your first post!! I totally can relate to the 75% effort concept. I too know that I haven't given my fitness goals 100% or even 95% effort, and therefore have not received the best results. But we are works in progress and everything becomes a learning experience that we must utilize to achieve our future dreams.

So the way I look at it is, take the mistakes momentarily and revise your plan in order to not get back into trouble. So getting up and dusting ourselves off again becomes very important. AND thats why i find challenges like this so useful and effective. because we really are forced to take stock of where we are and then we can prepare goals for where we want to be!

All the best, and don't hesitate to send me your thoughts!

Piera
xo

**Italianangel** · February 29th, 2008, 09:00 AM

Hey Heather,
I merged the 2 threads together, now all you do is reply in this thread in order to continue on in your journal, you do not have to start a new one each time for journal entries.............although you can of course start other new threads if you wish within the forum anywhere you wish to contribute or discuss other stuff.
Linda

heathercayman · March 1st, 2008, 04:43 PM

Thanks for the kind words! Day One has been good so far; starting on a weekend made things easier. Breakfast was steel cut oats and protein powder, with fresh nutmeg. Snack 1: tuna and veggies with some jalapeno mixed in for fun, lunch roast chicken and fresh spinach. 2:00 PM : kick-butt cardio and weights, looked a little foolish trying some new things but so what!! Also I did some intense bursts of cardio (is anyone old enough to remember "Flashdance"?) and had a protein shake later. My shrimp is marinating in fresh herbs and low calorie salad dressing for dinner, yum! Tomorrow is a bulk cooking day to prep for the week. I'm sure many of you alos spent some money this weekend buying all fresh food but in the long run, health problems cost much more than any food bill!

The ripple effect is happening here; I told a bunch of my freinds what my goals are and everone is supportive and excited, and setting goals of their own. Knowing that I am accountable to this group will keep me in line more than anything!

Let's remember to love our bodies every step of the way, starting today, no matter how far we have to go for our goals. Our perfect bodies are already there, within each of us. We just need to follow this plan to get rid of extra fat, self limiting ideas, and negativity! Congrats to all of us on starting this great adventure together!

Heather

**Belsicilia** · March 2nd, 2008, 03:02 AM

hey heather!

awesome stuff! loved reading this last post of yours. yes we do have to love ourselves whever we are at. That puts us in a more positive mindset, and therefore can only help us stay on the right track

have a great rest of the weekend!

Piera

MsMarvel · March 2nd, 2008, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heathercayman

Also I did some intense bursts of cardio (is anyone old enough to remember "Flashdance"?)

I AM, I AM, and refering to Flashdance is perfect, we all have it in us to achieve the goals we dream of, we just have to find the inner strength and have enough courage to believe in ourselves to obtain them.

MAKE IT HAPPEN....

Cindy (MsMarvel)

jsnamaste · March 2nd, 2008, 06:43 PM

Hi Heather,

I can picture the flash dance moves right now. Wicked !!! hahah. You are doing so great. Keep up the good work. I just wanted to say hi and good luck. Keep up the dancing

Jeannette

jsnamaste · March 2nd, 2008, 10:40 PM

Hi Heather,

Thank you so much for all the great advice. I really suck at diet and exercise and appreciate all the help I can get. Your support makes me feel a lot better and I will keep you posted on my journey

Thanks again and will be trying out all that great advice.
Jeannette

heathercayman · March 4th, 2008, 09:05 AM

Yesterday was a challlenge, I had a tough day at work and wanted to just come home and curl up with some white trashy carbohydrates. Like many of us, I associate food with comfort sometimes. Rather than jumping off the diet entirely, I had some low fat no sugar yogurt with some granola (sugar, I know that's bad) and that actually staved off a Wonder Bread/ banana/ peanut butter fantasy I was having. My husband is 6'6 and can eat anything he wants, so I can't just banish all the treats in the house. I did put the "tempting" things on one shelf, high up where I can't get to it! I also put some Oxygen Magazine fitness pics all over the fridge to remind myself that all my mentors have the same 24 hours a day I do, and face the same temptations I do. Many of the succesful fitness competitors travel, run businesses, compete in contests, raise kids, have personal training clients, and still manage to follow the "Linda" principles. I am finding the workouts to be very empowering and exciting! Please keep posting ladies, it's tremendous to have you all along the journey with me. Have a healthy day! Heather

heathercayman · March 4th, 2008, 05:39 PM

Hi Ladies: I am inspired by all the clean eating going on, and workouts! Here was my day:

6:45 Vitamin C, Multi Vitamin, big bottle of water
7:00 Coffee (OK.I can't lie, I had half/and half in it...trying to kick that habit!)
Oats, a few blueberries
9:45 Protein Bar (I make my own, and will post the recipe)
12:00 Turkey Stew and one HEAVENLY potato...plus tomatoes and peppers
2:30 Protein Shake made with frozen Crystal Lite ice cubes
5:45 Dinner : Snapper, veggies, water
9:00 plan: no sugar no fat yogurt

I worked out at the gym with two coworkers, we packed it into 50 minutes and were busting our butts! We worked out 1:00-2:00 so the gym is empty then.

I have a client "happy hour" shortly, I will avoid all the temptations at this event. I don't drink but the free buffet of fried food and dim sum will be ignored!

I will read the posts tonight and look forward to good news!

Heather

**Italianangel** · March 4th, 2008, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heathercayman

9:45 Protein Bar (I make my own, and will post the recipe)

That would be awesome!!!!!!!
I usually suggest nitrotech since they are the closest to the numbers I look for, and for meal replacement I suggest pvl whey too good bars but I am interested to see your recipe and may refer to it often if I like it, I always have clients asking about that.
I have one recipe in the muscle recipe book which was a free ebook but like to have more recipes and who knows, maybe some of the other ladies have some recipes too. it is very hard to get the kind of numbers I am asking for in a protein bar!!
Linda

MsMarvel · March 4th, 2008, 06:23 PM

YES!!! Definitely post the recipe when you can please. I have a wheat intolerance, along with dairy, so I have to play around with recipes and change the flour type. It is very very difficult to find a wheat free protein bar so I just carry an extra protein mix with me whenever I go but a bar would fit into my purse much easier.

Cindy (MsMarvel)

TrimminTracey · March 5th, 2008, 07:33 AM

I also have a gluten and dairy sensitivity and I found the Protein Edge bars to be really tasty and I didn't have any issues with them. The protein is 26g, Fat 5g, and Carbs 7g. That was the closest numbers I could find to what was recommended. I don't have an allergy to dairy, so if you are more sensitive to it then me then you might have a problem with them. I just wanted to let you know about these ones as well...

Have a great week!

Tracey

heathercayman · March 5th, 2008, 09:18 AM

Hi ladies! This recipe might have too many carbs for this challenge, but I did want to share this recipe anyway.

Protein Bars (adapted from a recipe on about.com)

What You Need:
3 cups quick oats
1 1/2 cups powdered non-fat milk
4 scoops low carb chocolate or vanilla protein powder
1/2 cup sugar-free maple syrup
6 egg whites, beaten
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce or mashed sweet potato

Preheat over to 325 and spray a cookie sheet or 9x12 baking dish with non-stick spray. The 9x12 baking dish will yeild thicker bars.
Mix oats, powdered milk, and protein powder in bowl and blend well.
In separate bowl, combine eggwhites, water, applesauce, and the sugar-free syrup and blend well.
Stir liquid mixture into dry ingredients until blended. The consistency will be thick and similar to cookie dough.
Spread batter onto pan and bake until edges are crisp and browned, about 20 minutes.
Cut into 10 bars and store in airtight container or freeze.
Nutritional Information Per Bar: Calories-140,Carbs-18g,Protein-18g,Fat-.5g