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