Artistic Shape

It’s been a month since we started the Biggest Loser at work and I was a little nervous to step on the scale, thinking it barely moved, or perhaps I had gained.  Well to my surprise I was down 8 pounds!  Now granted, when I weighed in the first time I was wearing my uniform which is a bit heavier than what I wore to this weigh in.  But I’ll take it, and am very happy with myself.

Also too, again I have a new trainer at Snap Fitness, and she is phenomenal!  I have a new training type plan, and it helps that I have an app for my i-touch that shows a wide variety of exercises that I can do.

It basically works out to be this:

Day One

• 20 mins of Cardio
• Chest/Shoulder exercises, 3 different exercises, 15 reps of 5 sets each
• Full body exercise

Day Two

• 30 mins of Cardio
• 50 Situps
• 50 Pushups (lazy mans way as I am not very strong)

Day Three

• 20 mins of Cardio
• Leg exercises, 3 different exercises, 15 reps of 5 sets each
• Full body exercise

Day Four

• 30 mins of Cardio
• 50 Situps
• 50 Pushups (lazy mans way as I am not very strong)

Day Five

• 20 mins of Cardio
• Back exercises, 3 different exercises, 15 reps of 5 sets each
• Full body exercise

Day Six

• 30 mins of Cardio
• 50 Situps
• 50 Pushups (lazy mans way as I am not very strong)

Day Seven would be considers a Rest day, or a day that I can use in between any of the six days listed above.  My new trainer, Lisa said that this is how she does her workouts and every day she does a different set of exercises to keep it different.  If you don’t change it up, or keep doing the same routine day in and day out your body will hit a plateau.  Gotta change it up and keep on moving!
I’m getting the whole food thing routine going.  I try not to eat after 8pm, and try to eat as much protein as I can get, with every meal of course.  I try my very hardest to watch portion sizes.  But my biggest problem is I don’t eat before a workout and find that I get super dizzy during my workouts.  I really gotta change that before I seriously hurt myself, or pass out.  Definately don’t want that to happen.

The next Biggest Loser weigh-in is December 12th, so I have a month to try and get as many pounds, and inches off as I can.

These are us 4 that are all working together to achieving our goal!

Today we start The Biggest Loser challenge at work until February, where we weigh in once a month.

I really look forward to this, even more so now that I have a really challenging workout program. Started that on Friday and I’m still sore from it. But since going almost 6 days a week I have really noticed a change within myself, not only physically but mentally as well. I have more energy during the day and I’m not as irritable as I usually am.

In about 6 weeks or so I meet with my trainer again to do a re-evaluation to see what areas I’ve improved in and make any necessary changes to my workout plan. I’ve already reached half of one of my goals which is to be a size 14 by christmas. I’m currently a size 16 instead of an 18 and that was without having this workout plan.

Perhaps I will be less than a 14 by Christmas, guess we will see!

So I’ve been working really hard at the gym and changing my eating habits for quite awhile. Its finally starting to pay off. Ill admit that I’m a scale whore. I step on the scale every morning when I wake up and after all the times I do my “daily routine” in the bathroom.

What came as a shock to me today was the fact that when I wake up in the morning I usually weigh around 217ish. Well today was a few pounds lower than that and I haven’t had my daily BM yet.

Its really nice to see results like that and I do apologize if the above was TMI but I’m really super excited!

Well this is week 3 at Snap Fitness and I am so grateful that I have motivators to keep me going (see above pic).  Christine and Anita are two people that keep me going, as well as Gary and Donna.  All 5 of us go to Snap every day pretty much and we keep each other in check!

This friday, I am meeting with a trainer to set up a new fitness plan to fit my goals, then on October 17th the biggest loser at work starts.  As well as one starts at Snap Fitness in November.  It’s going to be Winnipeg Transit vs Shaw Cable.

Super excited to start both!

Last week I had to quit the Y as well as give my trainer up as I had a financial situation come up. I was very disappointed as I felt I was doing very well at the time.

But because of a kind individual I was able to get a new gym membership to Snap Fitness as a facility just opened up not far from where I work. I also get a discount at this place too.

What’s really great is a bunch of my friends joined with me and now we are doing it all together.

I had my stats done at this place and have found out that in one year I have lost 10% body fat! I have about another 10 to go.

In October my workplace is starting up a biggest loser challenge where we will weigh in once a month until February for a entrance fee, and it’ll be cash prizes. It’ll work the same as the tv show, most % lost. Super excited for that to start too!

All in all I’ve been doing more clean eating and working out everyday now and have felt a tremendous difference in myself. I really do feel that I can accomplish my goal by my 30th birthday!

So last night I started meditation to go along with my diet and fitness program.  The first youtube video was only about 9 mins long.  I then decided to tackle the spirit guide one and fell asleep within two minutes.  I am hoping tonight after watching the series finale of Big Brother that I will stay awake for it.  After just doing the one time last night, I felt more at peace with myself today and less irritable than I normally do.  So if this worked this much in one day, just imagine what it would be like if I did it every day?

I also decided to do this virtual model thing to show my progression.  As you can see, in March I started out at 230 pounds which is so not healthy for me (I’m sure before March i was much more!).  Currently I stand at 207 pounds, which is a total loss of 23 pounds.  I’m very happy with myself on how much I have accomplished so far.  170 pounds, or size 11 is my goal size, where I will be the most happiest.  I’d love to be able to shop at regular stores instead of plus size stores.  So far i’m between a size 16-18 and my goal is to be a size 16 in the next couple weeks.  It’s a shame that I just bought a couple pairs of new jeans that I don’t think I will fit for much longer lol.

Either way I feel really good about myself and I can feel my self esteem climbing higher and higher every day!

Wow, after a few months of struggling being the same same weight, I finally over the past week or so, broken my plateau!  I was always around 210-212, and couldn’t get any lower than that.  I stepped on the scale last week, got down to 210, then a couple days ago got down to 209, and this morning, 207!  I don’t feel so bloated, and my mid-section seems to finally be getting smaller, even if its just a little bit.  It’s enough for me to notice.

My goals for the week:

• to lose 1 pound
• meditating every night before bed for at least 10 mins or so
• finish my one art commission that I posted a work in progress pic of

Goals for the month:

• To have more endurance and stamina than normal (and for only doing 3 workout sessions with Andrea, I already do than I did when I started!)
• Hopefully get down to a size 16 comfortably.  I’m almost there.  I can do up size 16 pants, but they are a bit tight.

Along side with these goals, I constantly tell myself 3 things:

• I am beautiful
• I can do this, I can lose the weight and feel better about myself
• I will go to the gym and try my hardest to do my workout

With these goals, my affirmations, the support of my friends and my family, and my wonderful trainer Andrea, I KNOW I can reach my goal of getting to a size 11 before my 30th birthday in March!

I’ve decided to create my own blog for writing down thoughts and feelings when it comes to my artwork and my fitness accomplishments and goals.  I’ve never been much of a writer, and have a hard time expressing my thoughts with words, which is why I do artwork.

One of my biggest goals is to get in touch with my spirituality side.  I used to be big into meditating and found I was to be a more calmer person.  But working the stressful job that I do, I find im more irritable and moody than I used to be and i don’t like that side of me.  I’m constantly finding mediating music to listen to even when I’m just browsing the internet or working on art.

So I guess you could say one of my biggest goals (other than losing 50 lbs and feeling happy again with myself) is to become more at peace with myself by redefining my spirituality and sense of self-direction.

I am grateful to finally have a routine to follow at the gym as well (thanks to my wonderful trainer, Andrea).  She has made the exercises I do every day tolerable and easy to follow, and very motivating.  It’s such a great feeling to walk out of the gym, even if it is just a half an hour, exhausted, sore but energized for the rest of the day.

I used to be this about 5-6 years ago:

I was about a size 7 to a size 9 roughly around that time, which was a bit too thin for my liking, but I would like to be a size 9 – 11 now.  Currently I’m a size 18, and not very happy about that, but with the right help, i’m SOOOOO hoping by my 30th birthday which is in 6 months, that I can attain my size 11 goal.

So that’s it for the fitness/mind part of it, now onto art.  I’ve been an anime artist for over 10 years and decided to use this blog as well to showcase some works in progress and such.  I have a deviantart site that I post finished products and such, but I think I will post some of it here as well.  Over the past year it has really taken off.  I have people wanting me to draw stuff for them, and being commissioned and such.  It feels really great to have people appreciate the work you do.  It’s long hours for one picture, but to me, it’s well worth it in the end!

This is what I am working on currently.  It’s a commission for a friend of mine as an original character.  It’s just a sketch, but I am working on the lineart of it:

It’s of an original character of his.  This guy has commissioned me a bunch of times, and I’m very happy to continue to do some work for him!  I’m really looking forward to finishing it this week sometime!

Well that’s it for now, I think I’ll be heading to bed.  5am comes way too early!