Anything is Possible

A day happened that I never thought would on the weekend of Cruz's first birthday...

A little prior insight. 

In 2008 my mom was diagnosed with stage three uterine cancer. She was thankfully referred to an amazing doctor and up to now the cancer has not returned. A lot of the reason I work as hard as I do is because I am so effing scared that I will one day also be diagnosed. Weight is a HUGE contributor to our chances. As most people with weight issues myself included, my mom has been a yo-yo dieter. 

On my last trip to my parents house I was a bit shocked with how much weight my mom had gained. I really didn't want to say anything but st the same time I want to try to help her find the motivation she needed to make a one eighty turn for her betterment. I decided maybe instead of saying anything that maybe me working out everyday I was there might light a spark. I also made sure to keep on my normal ways of eating and not fall into the complacency I would normally fall into on a weekend at the folks house. 

As I was preparing to leave my mom told me she was ready to start a new diet on Tuesday once I left. I gave her a hug and congratulated her and encouraged her to walk a little bit more than the little that she does and told her I'm here for her. Mostly because it's such an emotional ride, this journey of weight loss. 

As I left I was hopeful that she would follow through...

Now to the good... No the great part... 

A little I've a week ago my parents came to help celebrate Cruz's first birthday. While we were baking cakes and prepping foods, my mom got up from her chair and walked over to my row of kettlebells. She started to pick them up one by one... Some a bit to heavy... Until she found one she felt she could maneuver. My girlfriend Kim and I just stood on the sidelines and watched her find her stance and start to swing my 8kg in between her legs. I don't think I have ever been so excited. I then walked over and proceeded to give her a kettlebell 101. 

I gave her all the materials I started with and as many suggestions that she could possibly absorb in such a short amount of time. I hoped it would be enough and most of all I was excited to see she had been bit by the kettlebell bug. 

I just got off the phone with my dad and he just let me know my mom did purchase herself a 15lb bell and she's been working out a few times a week. 

My heart is so happy right now, I hope that my mom gets as much as I have from kettlebell. As in my post yesterday, some days I can't believe I'm an inspiration to anyone but I am so glad I've inspired my mom and if I can inspire her anything is possible. 

Strong moms. 

Inspiration

I often spend hours scouring Pinterest looking up inspirational quotes, pictures, healthy recipes and cute workout wear. 

Most of the time it's to give myself the positive reinforcement that mentally I need to reassure myself that I am doing a good job on this journey of mine. When I read one that I feel depicts an accurate description of the strength I'm building through kettlebell or a quote that reinforces a belief I have about fitness it makes me feel more confident in myself, it makes me feel that what I'm doing is relevant and someone else out there feels or has felt like I do. 

Another way I look for inspiration is through the few people I follow on Facebook, Instagram and blogs who share in the same fitness and nutritional needs and goals I have. There's a lot of emotion that runs through your body when you are loosing weight and gaining strength. I look to these people for inspiration often and also for reassurance. Thier posts help me get through my emotional lows and even my victorious highs. Their progress inspires me to try new things and keep myself motivated. 

I find myself sharing photos on Instagram and Facebook of my workouts and delisuous heathy foods I eat. Occasionally I'll post a picture of the scale when I make it to another goal (I've had to set new ones, ones that I would have never ever thought I could obtain as I passed the 175 goal that I set 7 years ago and could never get to). 

What I've found by posting these pictures is two fold. 1. I did it in the beginning because the likes again have me the reinforcement I needed for my own self satisfaction in knowing that others acknowledge my progress and "like" my accomplishments. and 2. The BIG one, something that was never even a thought that never ever came to my mind before this journey is that MY posts are inspiring others. Lately I have been out publicly more often and the feedback that I have got from my friends and industry friends that I do not see often tell me that my posts inspire them. I event receive comments both on my posts and in private messages if how my pictures and posts are motivation for them. 

In the begining it was a bit awkward to hear, but I then remembered having pinned a quote I Pinterest way back before this kettlebell joirney that said... BE STRONG BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOU ARE INSPIRING. 

And there it is, the realization that I too am inspiring. I could have never imagined that this would be a feeling I would feel in my life. I am truly greatful to be in this position to be an inspiration to someone else because it is a opportunity for me to pay forward the inspiration I receive. 

That being said I am going to bed inspired, inspired to be inspirational. 

Inspiration, Progress and Results

When I started this journey I wanted to track my progress, that's when my friend suggested I start my blog. I didn't think it would take me a whole 7 weeks to get my first post up. Therefore instead of trying to recap the 7 weeks a post at a time I figure I should summerize the last 7 weeks.

I started swinging on May 21st, 2013. My first workouts I followed from #TracyReifkinds #TheSwing book. She helps you with the OTM (on the minute) workouts and I did that for two weeks. They looked a bit like this when done, a bunch of chicken scratch. 

Then I created my own workout consisting of 5 20 rep sets three times. This totaled 300 swings. It turns out the swing is a very natural motion and it didn't take me much time to figure it out and for it to be comfortable. I then purchased Tracy's "D30" video. Now talk about a butt kicker. It left me so sweaty and by the end of the week I was feeling it in all the right places. My upper body, shoulders arms and thighs and glutes. It was not a hurtful pain just a glad I feel it working ache. After two days of D30 it was my rest days but there was one "Bonus" workout left on the DVD and I could not wait for Monday to do it so I had to do it that Saturday. That's how addicting this kettlebell stuff is. That workout was like a 300 pound gorilla sitting in my room. The same happened the next week when my Top 40 video arrived. 

 

Lucky for me motivation is not a quality I lack. Since I discovered I like to exercise it is now just part of my daily life and when I don't exercise I don't feel whole. I do however spend allot of time on Pinterest and the Internet looking at fitness quotes, apparel , shoes because having fun workout wear makes it more fun to workout (theres not much in the way of xxl however but when i find it I buy it ) etc. I like to save the quotes that inspire me and I have created a collage of some of my favorite that I look at every now and then. 

Since I started kettlebell I have lost 10 pounds and and quite a few inches around my midsection (that's where I carry all my weight) and slowly but surely my old clothes are starting to fit me. I have so much reason to keep going with the kettlebell. Mostly are the results that I have seen in just such a short time. Here is where I was as of Friday when I completed my 7th week of working out with kettlebell in conjunction with healthy eating, I use the weight watches plan, which is what I found works best for me. I like that I know how many points I have and the etools that I can use on my iPhone are a bonus. Now if they could get kettlebell as an exercise in their database we will be rolling. 

As I post this I feel very positive in where my weight loss journey is going, I have just seven pounds to reach my pre pregnancy weight which is my first personal goal I set when I rejoined weight watchers two weeks after I gave birth to my little Cruz man. Once I reach that I will be stepping up my journey to my next goal. 

I bare all hoping to inspire others to join me in the Kettlebell revolution, all women have the right to be strong women and to take their lives into their own hands and realize if they really want to there are avenues to reach weight loss goals and fitness goals. If its not kettlebell that's okay, everyone is different but once you find what works for you just keeping positive. For me I just keep telling myself slow and steady win my race. 

Who I was, Who I am and where I'm going. My kettlebell leading the WAY.

Its been a long journey accepting my body and maybe I still have not. Having always been the largest one in any social group I have always been self conscious. I figured I will always be FAT thats just the way I am. 

That was until 2007 when my then boss who was only about a size 6 walked out of her office where a co-worker and I were about to dig into elephant size burritos a bag of Hawaiian Potato chips and HUGE coke and said to us "I think I am going to go to Weight Watchers tonight, I'm feeling really fat". 

My co-worker and I looked at each other, both of us way above 200 lbs each and both  said instantaneously, if she thinks shes fat we are whales and that was what ignited my weight loss journey. 

I went to Weight Watches that night with my boss and weighed in at 216.8 lbs. I learned alot about myself in the months and years to come.

In the past I did not ever really account for the food that I was putting into my mouth and its effect on my body.Through Weight Watchers I learned how to fuel my body in a way that was a.) so much healthier and b.) a lot more food than I was currently eating.

The next part of the journey was exercise. I never in a million years would have ever thought I would WANT to exercise. I started with baby steps, meeting up with my then boss at the local State Park after work. She would run the "loop" and I would walk the "loop". She was such a rock in my fitness foundation. She would tell me "We start at the same time and finish on the same day". We did this for some time and then I decided I wanted to try to jog, and I did. The next thing I knew I was being fitted for my first pair of REAL tennis shoes (not some from Ross or Costco) they happen to be be MIZUNO brand and then I was signed up for my  first run, the BSIM 5k. I was hooked, that 5k turned into a 10.6 mile run, then a half marathon and from there a 21 mile run. In the interim I started to hike all the local trails (Yes, I live in a hikers paradise, Big Sur CA) where I would go on almost daily hikes after work carrying my then 3 year old daughter on my back and somewhere in there I decided to try to surf and even played on a womens soccer league (never thought I would have been able to do that either). I took that preconceived notion I had of "I can't do that" to "let me try", and trying has lead to doing. 

At my lowest weight loss at weight watchers I was 176.8 pounds. I had lost 40 pounds in a year but it was pretty short lived. My mom was diagnosed with cancer and we lived through a  major fire and some of my weight came back. I managed to maintain a weight of 190 pounds over then next 5 years which brings me to where I am today. 

I have just given birth to my third child almost 4 months ago and I am back on the weight loss journey. I had gained 44 pounds during my pregnancy and now am setting weight loss goals in increments starting with getting back to 190 pounds. During my pregnancy a now dear friend of mine Meredith shared with me her discovery of the "kettlebell". Knowing I needed to wait until my baby arrived and I had recovered from childbirth she gave me a starting point, where to buy the kettlebell and a book called "The Swing" by Tracy Reifkind.

After Cruz was born I was ready to start swinging. Once the book arrived from Amazon I read that thing from cover to cover in one night. Tracy's story inspired me so much and hit me on a very personal level as well. I could associate all of her life experiences with my own and I was inspired and ready to swing.

I sit here today composing this blog (something else I never thought I would do) because a good friend suggested I blog about my new kettlebell journey.  Below is a photo of day one. Not my proudest moment but just the same its the real thing, me post Cruz and the body I was left with. Also the body that is going to take me through life and the body I am going to transform using this new fitness tool, the kettlebell. 

I hope that my journey will inspire someone else who may think they may not be able to loose weight the way I have been inspired by my boss or now by Tracy. I have faith this time that it will be the last time I see myself this large. I have adopted the mentality of this is a lifestyle and not a diet and I really believe it. Wh