A Healthier Me. (it has pics...i promise)

Hello again my friends. Thank you for stopping by and seeing what I am up to now. As the title suggests, this is about what I am doing to get a healthier me. Usually I take care of everyone else and neglect myself. Well I am still taking care of others BUT I am now more concentrated on myself.

Those of you who have been following my blog know of the things I have overcame in my life. I struggled with severe anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. Stayed in my room for a year and stayed in my house for 6 years. In the past 2 years I have been getting out and about and doing things I never thought I would do again.

Those years wreaked havic on my body. You all have read the story of my teeth troubles. I am happy to say that I am very glad I made the decision I did and had them all pulled and got dentures. I still hope to get implants someday but until then I am very happy with my smile.

I also have a cyst on the right side of my face beside my nose. This is an external epidermal cyst. I am making an appointment on Tuesday to my family doctor who said he should be able to remove it (yay..it is all I see in my pictures and I hate it).

Everyone is also aware of the cervical cancer issues I have had and overcome so.....

Now I am off to a new issue. All those years being depressed, down on myself, feeling like Shit (excuse my language) left me with a body I am not used to. In school I was 100 lbs soak and wet and very athletic. Well that definately isn't the case anymore.

Here is a story. Last year at this time I went to visit my dad. He lives on top of a hill out in the country. The daffodils were blooming and I wanted to pick some and dig up some to bring home and plant. Well I like to have never made it up that hill (huge hill) back to his house. I used to run up it!!!

Well I exercised pretty regularly until June of last year. The reasons why things got so mixed up is a blog post in itself and if you wanna know it let me know and I will post about it.

Well, now I am ready to get in shape. Here is the deal. I am 5'2" tall. I am petite. I have a small frame. Well my ideal weight is between 110-120 lbs. I weigh 141 lbs. This is considered obese for my body type. YIKES. My chest measures 36 1/4 inches, my waist above my belly button (at the narrowest point) is 31", my waist across my belly button (where my spare tire is) is 34" and my hips are 38 1/4 ". That may not sound too bad but on my frame it is. Oh and I am in a size 8/10 clothes.

My Goal is by June 1st I would like to be between 120-125 lbs. I would like my waist to be 26" which is a size 6. I would love to be a size 6 without a muffin top. This is still a little big for my frame but I don't want to be all skinny minny again.

So here is what I am doing......

 I ordered this thing. It is like a Total Gym but at a fraction of the cost AND it has more accessories. It is called the Total Body works 5000 made by Weider.

 Here it is put together and the exercise chart that comes with it is on the right of the picture. I LOVE THIS THING. I use it every other day. I do 12 exercises, 20 reps each and one set of them all. I am going to work my way up to more sets as I get stronger. I do these exercises every other day in the morning or early afternoon.

 Here is the monster from the top (incline side) looking down. It is amazing.

 I love exercise balls. I don't exercise on them because I don't have the balance to do so BUT I love to sit on it. I sit on it all the time (I am right now) and I lay over it on my back to stretch my back out. Love it.

 This video will kick your booty. Jillian Michaels is one of the trainers from Biggest Loser. This dvd has 3 workouts. Levels 1, 2, and 3. They get progressively harder. You do level 1 until it becomes less of a challenge and then you move to the next level. I am on day 10 of this video and I have done level 2 twice. I love it. I am doing this at night...every night.

 I have the whole p90x set. I do love it but I am not good at sticking to the diet or the whole layed out exercise routine thing. There are some foods I just cannot tolerate so it is a little hard to stick to. However I love every dvd in the set but my favorite is yoga x! It is an hour and a half + of yoga and it works and bends and stretches you. On days I am completely frazzled I can pop this in and chill out.

 Zumba is all the rage now. It is fun dance aerobic, sculpting exercises. I ordered a complete set from zumba.com. It is awesome.

 It comes with all you see here. 2 toning sticks and several dvds.

 IN this pack there is Zumba Fitness Basics. It breaks down the moves for you, Zumba fitness 20 min express, Fitness cardio party, fitness sculpt and tone/

In this purple one there is zumba fitness live and flat abs.

So you know my goals and here is my plan. I started on February 10th. On one day I will do the total body machine exercises in the morning and the 30 day shred workout in the evenings. The next day I will do Zumba in the mornings and the 30 day shred in the evenings. I am going to keep up this alternating pattern until the 30 days is up on the 30 day shred. Then I will be doing Just the Zumba and the total body machine. One in the morning one in the evening. Just depending on which I feel like doing at each time. I will take every Sunday off to give my body a rest. I may take Wednesdays off too depending on the muscle fatigue I feel.

I am also watching what I eat. I am keeping track of calories. I should eat not more than 1400 good calories daily to lose fat and to keep my body running tip top. I eat 3 meals a day plus snacks. Each meal has low fat protein, complex carbs, and good fats in it. I also add a source of fiber.  I drink 84 ounces of water a day at least. Some with Crystal Light some without. Just depends on what I am in the mood for.

I can tell you I feel wonderful. Strong. I am loving it.

Well that is what I am doing. I have done tons of research and I think this will work for me. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Thank you all for reading this long post. I love you all and until next time peeps...be blessed.