body transformation contest.
What was I thinking?! I'd never done anything like this before. I was never very successful at losing weight and I'm in my mid forties! I didn't think you could lose weight easily after 40. Sure I was 70 lbs overweight, but when my self esteem would get low I'd go someplace like Wal-Mart and look around at all the people who were 100 lbs or more overweight. Not a very good strategy for improvement, but it made me feel better none the less.
To enter the contest I needed to be the owner of an E-book called Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto. Tom is a natural body builder who has been sharing his honest approach to fitness and inspiring people to make healthy changes in their lives. Deep down we all know what to do to loose weight. Tom's book in a nutshell: We need to eat less and exercise more. Right? Sounds simple. Nothing news breaking here. He wasn't promising a new diet pill, a quick fix, or a magical way to fitness. Reading the first chapter of his book I found my "News FLASH!!", he hooked me with: How to Set Powerful, Compelling Goals That Will Propel You Forward and Charge You Up With Unstoppable Motivation. He wrote that goal setting was the most important step! If you couldn't master the mental game it was going to be next to impossible to make serious changes. This was my light bulb moment, it all made sense, it clicked. I now knew why I had failed to succeed in the past.
While reading Tom's book there were other light bulb moments for me, not the same wattage as the first chapter but still great information that helped me understand the process of transforming my body from fat to fit. The second chapter of Tom's book taught me that if you try to lose weight by restricting your calories in an extreme way without exercising that up to 40% of your weight loss will be lean body mass (muscle). Not a good thing! Muscles make us strong and fit and healthy. I wanted to loose FAT not Muscle! I wanted to know that every pound I lost was 100% fat! I learned the secret to success was adding exercise both cardio and strength training to a healthy diet high in lean protein that was only moderately restrictive in calories. The next chapter taught me that scale weight was not the best nor the only way to measure results. You could lose five pounds of fat and add five pounds of lean body mass and the scale would read zip and you would lose your motivation thinking you were not achieving any results! I learned all about how to measure my body composition, learning how many pounds of fat and how many pounds of lean body mass I was.
Okay, okay.........there was so much more I learned...... but enough about Tom's e-book Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle, if anyone is interested in reading it you can purchase it by clicking the link. He also has a book in hard copy you can purchase on Amazon called The Body Fat Solution. I didn't mean for this post to sound like a commercial, but this body transformation contest and e-book were the launch pad for my transformation from fat to fit. I have many mentors guiding me in my quantum quest for health, wealth and happiness but Tom Venuto was one of the first.
For 14 weeks I dedicated myself to burning the fat and feeding the muscle in my own body. I focused my mind on my goals. I ate healthy. I jumped on my mini trampoline for cardio. I did lunges, squats and pushups for strength training. I hula hooped for my core. I did yoga for flexibility. I meditated for inner peace. I wrote everything down in my journal. Every goal, every meal, every workout. I tracked my results from week to week and made adjustments when necessary . At the end of 14 weeks I was totally transformed! I WAS A WINNER! Did I win the grand prize trip to Maui? No, but I came in third place out of thousands of people who entered the contest. To me that was still an awesome achievement!
Check out my before and after pictures at the bottom of this post!
In 98 days I lost 34 pounds! I went from 219 pounds to 185 pounds. My body fat percentage went form 46% to 31%. I Gained 9.3 pounds of lean body mass and melted 43.3 lbs of FAT! I trimmed over 8 inches of fat off my waist and 5 inches of fat off my hips! The before pictures horrify me. I'm embarrassed for anyone to see them. No one would be seeing them if it wasn't for the fact that they document how much I achieved in 98 days.
The journey continues. I'm still achieving my fitness goals! I'm going to loose another 35 lbs and see where I am then. I've entered my first 5K race, it's October 23rd in Myrtle Beach, SC. One of my ultimate goals is to run a marathon and another is to compete in a triathlon when I turn 50. You can support my progress by signing up to follow my blog by entering your email in the box on the upper left hand side of this page. I would love one day to have hundreds of blog followers. Thanks for taking the time to share in my journey.
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