My friend’s new blog

My friend Tiffany just started a new blog, The Trial and Error of Trying to Be Fit, where she is documenting her journey to fitness. Check it out!

I’m back!

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Months. I didn’t mean to let so much time pass, but blogging just got pushed down on my to-do list, beneath putting in hours at my job, completing coursework for my graduate program, and building my business. When I haven’t been working on those things–my three biggest time commitments–I have been working out, running errands, fitting in time with my husband, my sister, and other family and friends, or, on a rare occasion, relaxing. But now I see a light at the end of the tunnel! I will be finishing my graduate program in May (that’s eight months out, for those who are keeping track).

With school coming to an end in eight short months, and the prospect of earning my Master’s degree, and knowing that I will finally have some free time again, I feel like I am coming to a crossroads. I do want to continue blogging. This is one of two blogs that I currently maintain or contribute to (the other one is Sissy Roos, which is a collaborative effort with my sister). I love blogging about fitness and nutrition, but I am also considering creating something even bigger and better than what I’ve got here. I haven’t made any decisions yet, so stay tuned, and if you have any thoughts on how I could improve upon this blog, please share them in the comments.

On another positive note, in spite of my negligence in blogging, I have managed to stay committed to my fitness. In fact, today I started the final week of the ChaLEAN Extreme program! I have definitely gained strength and muscle definition. I haven’t seen a very dramatic change on the scale (I still need to work more on my nutrition), but I’m looking forward to taking my measurements at the completion of the program to see if any of my other numbers have changed much. I am also looking ahead to my next fitness challenge. I want to take at least one week for recovery and just focus on walking, yoga, and stretching, but then I want to start something new. I’ve got some ideas, so stay tuned for that as well!

Are you currently doing any particular fitness program? How is it going? Have you noticed any changes in your fitness, strength or body composition?

30-day challenge to master organization & achieve your goals

In January, I participated in the “freshman class” of Chalene Johnson’s 30-day challenge to master organization and achieve your goals. For the first month of 2011, I did daily tasks to move myself toward my goals. Since then, I have continued to practice the habits that I established in the challenge, and it has changed my life for the better! I keep an organized to-do list, and every day, I take actions to move me toward my most important goals. The challenge is so simple to do but the rewards are so great!

Now I want to share the challenge with you. If you could benefit from being more organized and goal-oriented, you’ve got to check it out. It takes just a few minutes each day, and the payoff is huge. To learn more and sign up to get started, just click on this link. And make sure to report back to me with your progress!

My weight-loss journey

I am someone who has struggled with my weight for most of my life. I first realized I was overweight when I was in the second grade, at age seven. At that time, I didn’t feel or see myself as fat, but I started to receive signals from my peers that I was. It took me a while before I developed a self-image of being overweight, but it definitely happened over time. Because I just wanted to fit in with my peers, I desperately wanted to lose weight, so I went on my first diet when I was about eight years old. Of course, at that age, I was still growing and I definitely didn’t know what I was doing, so I just ended up disappointed when I didn’t magically become “skinny,” which to me represented the ideal of beauty.

Over the years, in spite of my determined efforts to diet and exercise off the weight, it just continued to add up on me. At one point in college, I know I broke the 200-pound mark. Along the way I had picked up several bad habits, including drinking as much Pepsi as I wanted on a daily basis, smoking, and going out of my way to avoid exercise. I ate out of boredom or to make myself feel better, and I had terribly low self-esteem. When I graduated college in 2001, I knew I had a decision to make. I could either choose to change my life, or I could choose to miss out on life. The latter choice seemed worse than I could bear, so I chose to start making changes.

At first, I didn’t have much of a plan. I joined the local YMCA, and I went there several times a week. I usually used the treadmill or elliptical, and I would throw in some work on the weight machines sometimes too. Unfortunately, I was that person who walked out of the gym, got in my car and lit a cigarette, and then proceeded to drive down the road and through the Burgerville drive-through. Needless to say, my results were not dramatic. I still had some work to do.

In the summer of 2002, things finally started to come together. I saw an infomercial for The FIRM’s Body Sculpting System, which consisted of three workout videos, a nutrition guide, and a gadget called the “Fanny Lifter.” The testimonials on the infomercial were touching, and the before-and-after pictures were amazing! What really appealed to me about this system was its emphasis on strength training with dumbbells. I had learned that the best way to slim down was to combine cardio and weights, but I didn’t know how. I decided to purchase the system and give it a try.

Soon after I ordered my FIRM Body Sculpting System, a coworker of mine at the library told me about a book called The Zone, by Dr. Barry Sears. I had heard of the Zone diet–I knew Jennifer Aniston followed it–but I didn’t really know much about it. I decided to check out the book from the library. During a Labor Day weekend road trip to California with my family, I read the book cover to cover. It was a little heavy on the science, but I appreciated that the dietary principles this doctor recommended were grounded in a strong scientific foundation. The book’s recommendation to eat a balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat at every meal or snack appealed to my common sense. I decided to give the Zone diet a try. I figured it couldn’t hurt, and if the diet was really as effective as Dr. Sears claimed it was, then I could potentially achieve a goal that I’d had since a very young age. So the day after we returned home from our trip, I started on the Zone diet.

In addition to changing the way I ate, I had to make a couple of other dramatic changes in my life. Dr. Sears strongly advocated giving up caffeine and smoking, two things to which I was definitely addicted. That first day, I challenged myself to get through the whole day without having a cigarette. I didn’t say to myself, “I’m going to quit smoking.” Instead I said, “I am not going to smoke a cigarette today.” The next day, having gotten through the first day without a cigarette, I said to myself, “I am not going to smoke a cigarette today either.” After a few days of not smoking, I knew that if I did smoke, I would be negating all those days where I didn’t smoke, and that propelled me forward. I am proud to say that I have never taken even so much as a drag off a cigarette since that fateful day back in 2002.

On the same day that I started on the Zone, I started doing my FIRM workouts. I started out doing the workouts every other day, and it was tough! During the cardio portions, I would get so winded that I would have to pause the video while I rested for a few moments and let my heart rate come down. I felt great when the workouts were completed, though! I kept at it, and by the end of the first month, having started on this program at a weight of 197 pounds, I lost 15 pounds! I was on top of the world about my new diet and exercise program, which actually worked!

Over the course of about a year, I lost over 50 pounds total. I began to enjoy shopping for clothing in my new, smaller size, whereas before I had dreaded it and had often come home in tears. My friends and family were amazed at my transformation. I decided that it was time to embark on a new phase in my life, and so following a month of travel, I moved from my hometown of Battle Ground, Washington to a new city: Seattle. I have been living in the Seattle area since then.

People who have been through the weight-loss journey will tell you that maintaining the loss can be just as difficult as losing the weight, and I would have to agree. Over the years, there have been times when my life got busy and full and I started to skip workouts or neglect my diet and I started to see the weight creep back on. Luckily, I have never allowed myself to gain too much of the weight back. I always recommit to my workout regimen and healthy eating, and my weight starts to come back down. But it does require determination, effort and focus to maintain a healthy weight, especially if you are like me and not naturally thin.

Shortly after I moved to Seattle, I became aware of a company called Beachbody. During my period of weight-loss, I had become active in an online forum for workout video enthusiasts. Besides the FIRM, these people (mostly women) did a lot of other workout videos as well, and it was great to read their reviews and get ideas for new workouts to try. At that time in 2003, everyone was raving about a program called the Slim Series, which was a Beachbody production. I bought the DVDs, started doing them, and loved them. I incorporated them into my workout rotation. A couple of years later in 2005, when I was to be the maid of honor in the wedding of two of my friends, I bought another Beachbody program, Slim in 6. I wanted to do something new and different, and this program was designed as a six-week program which could help you slim down quickly. With only five weeks to go before the wedding, I thought that sounded great. At a starting weight of 148, I embarked on the program. By the time of the wedding five weeks later, I had lost nine pounds and gotten down to my lowest weight ever as an adult, 139. At the wedding, a couple of people told me they barely recognized me. I was on top of the world!

A few years ago, in 2007, Beachbody launched Team Beachbody, a network of people dedicated to helping people achieve their goals and live healthy, fulfilling lives. I became a Beachbody Coach in order to help other people achieve their potential. I know what a difficult and emotional journey it can be to make the decision to change your life and then go through all the hard work of changing it. I also know that the rewards of doing so are AMAZING! I have grown so much as a person as a result of making the decision to embrace health and fitness, committing to a program, and following through on it. I have self-confidence and self-esteem that I didn’t have before. I have passion and enthusiasm and an optimistic outlook on life. I have wonderful relationships and even met and married the man of my dreams! Now I regularly set goals for myself and design action plans for achieving them. And then I get to work on achieving them!

If you are ready to make a commitment to yourself, if you are ready to embrace health and fitness, if you are ready to change your life, I would love to help you. Please do not hesitate to contact me. I would LOVE to support you in achieving your goals!

Sarah Scott
Independent Team Beachbody Coach
www.gotcoachfitness.com
www.gotshakenutrition.com

Happy New Year!

I hope you’ve had a wonderful 2010. One of my goals for the new year is to spend more time writing, which includes keeping up this blog. So stay tuned for future updates.

Looking back, I did pretty well this past year with my fitness. I lost about 16 pounds total, and I have maintained it for several months. I feel like I have reset my body’s set point, so as we embark on 2011, I am setting a goal of losing another 15 pounds and maintaining it for approximately six months. That will reset my set point once again, so that I can finally embark on the (hopefully) final leg of my weight-loss journey to get to my ideal weight. It takes a lot of hard work, focus, determination, and consistency in making good choices, but I know I can do it.

I started a new fitness program yesterday, Beachbody’s RevAbs program. So far, so good. I’m hoping that by changing up my routine I can get my body into weight-loss mode again. I will post updates as I progress through the program.

Happy New Year!

My one-month TurboFire results

I’m just about done with my first four weeks of the TurboFire rotation. It has actually taken me a bit longer than four weeks because my husband and I went out of town for a few days and I missed workouts, so I repeated week 3 from the beginning. I’m really excited, though, because I am already getting noticeable results. Since day 1, I have lost about 2.4 pounds. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but I have busted through a plateau that I had been on for a LONG time. Also, I am definitely noticing a loss of inches in my waist and thighs. A couple of days ago, I tried on some jeans that I haven’t worn in a long time because they had just gotten way too tight. They fit comfortably! I am also starting to be able to do pushups on my toes, something I have always struggled with. I can’t wait to be able to bust them out with really good form!

One thing that I love most about this program is how FUN it is! The music gets me pumped up, and Chalene Johnson is so motivating and energetic! There are some workouts that I’ve done where I got through them through sheer force of will. These are not like that! The time flies by, and the sequences are FUN! I sweat buckets, and afterward, I feel amazing. I am so glad I decided to give this program a try. At first, I hesitated because I thought I didn’t have the time in my busy schedule. Now I am making the time and finding that doing these workouts is one of the best ways I can spend my time. If you’ve been thinking about trying this program, GO FOR IT! You can order it here. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

TurboFire

Beachbody’s newest fitness program is HOT! Check out this video to learn more about Chalene Johnson’s TurboFire. It’s flying off the shelves!

Turbo Party in the NW!

Yesterday I had the good fortune to attend a rare event, a live workout with Chalene Johnson at the 24-Hour Fitness club in Lynnwood, WA, just north of Seattle. In case you’re not familiar with Chalene, she is the trainer behind several of Beachbody’s popular in-home fitness programs, including Turbo Jam, ChaLEAN Extreme, and TurboFire, as well as a successful businesswoman, music mixologist, wife and mother, and motivational dynamo. After she arrived and posed for photos with everyone in attendance, Chalene led us in a Turbo Kick workout as well as a Hustle workout. The workouts were awesome and everyone was drenched in sweat by the time we were done! Chalene was also an extremely gracious guest and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to meet her and work out with her.

Keep It Up

So I decided to do Keep It Up on Friday. That’s the workout designed to be used after completing Slim in 6. It’s kind of intermediate between Slim in 6 and Slim Series. I love that it’s only 40 minutes long but I feel so worked out afterward! My legs and arms were literally screaming by the end of the floorwork and pushup segments. I’d like if there was a little more ab work integrated throughout, but it’s pretty easy to tack on an ab workout at the end. Yesterday I felt so wiped out that I just called it good after completing the 40 minutes.

Tonight after work I’m going to a birthday party, so I probably won’t have a chance to work out, but I plan to get in another good one tomorrow!

My Turbo Jam/Slim Series Rotation

This week I finished my summer class, and I have a two-week break from school before I start my fall classes. I figured this would be a great opportunity to recommit myself to my fitness and nutrition regimen and re-establish my healthy habits before things get busy again. My goals are to slim down and tone up, so I’ve decided to do a rotation incorporating workouts from two of my favorite programs: Turbo Jam and Slim Series (with which I am lumping in Slim in 6 as well). I love both Chalene Johnson and Debbie Siebers as instructors and both of these programs are super-effective, so I’m hoping to see some results pretty quickly.

Here’s the rotation I started this week:

Wednesday: Mix It Up (SS)
Thursday: Cardio Party 2 (TJ)
Friday: TBD – maybe Burn It Up or Keep It Up

I haven’t really planned out specific workouts for specific days at this point. I’ll probably be spontaneous in choosing them, unless I change my mind at some point, which is entirely possible! I’ll keep you posted on my progress!