What's Your Secret?

The more people I talk to and the more people that ask me, "What's Your Secret?", the more I realize there are many, many of us who just don't know what to do to get the weight off.  

I wonder how many of you have a DVD/VHS library or a book library or a cookbook library that looks like the above photo.  I know I do.  I tried many, many plans over the past 20 years with minimal success.

What I am doing now, I do NOT call a diet.  Not at all.  I follow a nutrition plan.  I knew 1% of how to eat correctly just over a year ago.  I have been taught a lot.  But I cannot just tell you what I am doing and BAM you'll lose weight.  Each person is different.  Your age, your exercise level, your health (and medicines you may be on), your resting heart rate -- all of these things need to be taken into consideration when coming up with a recommended calorie intake and macronutrient guide.

I get frustrated when I meet doctors or chiropractors or others that practice medicine and they have THE ANSWER for me.  The thing is they have the answer for me without asking me ANY questions AT ALL.  My orthopaedic doctor told me that I would have the "runners knee" for the rest of my life and basically I needed to "deal with it."  My husband asked, "what if she loses 50 more pounds?"  "Hmmmm.  Yes it could get much better if she lost 50 more pounds."  A chiropractor told me that cutting my carbs to almost non-existent and upping my fats and protein was THE way to lose weight.  (I did not ask his advice.)  Does he know I sometimes work out 2.5 hours in one day?  No.  He never asked.

While clothes shopping about a month ago, when I told the sales clerk I had recently lost 60 pounds, she asked if I had been sick.  When the same conversation came up at the checkout, the gal there asked if I had had the surgery.  It seems that weight loss is so foreign, that we automatically think someone must have been sick or had the surgery to lose weight.  Surely they didn't do it on their own.

When I do get the chance to talk to someone about what I am doing, they usually say either 1) Oh, I could never do that.  I like to eat too much.  or 2) Oh I could never exercise that much.  or 3) Oh, I want a "quick" fix.   My thought and sometimes my reply (it slips out) is "Oh really?  Well I want to live.  So I totally think it's worth it."

I want to see my kids get married.  I want to meet my grandchildren.  I want to grow old with my husband.  I want to live!

If you are willing to put in the effort and you are patient to see the results and you want to know more, contact me.  I can recommend someone for you to talk to.  Some weeks my progress seems slow, but in one year I have gone from a size 24 to a size 14.  My younger sister in New York was inspired to make changes and in one year she has gone from a size 16 to a size 6.  And no, we did not have the surgery!  We just want to LIVE.

He Speaks a Different Language Than Me - BO DB Rows, LM OHP, RMR, HIIT, EMOM, etc.

Today concludes three weeks of training solely with Ryan at Knock Out Kickboxing and Main Event Fitness.   I'm thinking some of you might be wondering how it's going.  Let me just say that it is hard af.  Let me ask you a question.  Let's say you are doing cardio on the rower.  If your trainer walks up and starts watching you, do you row harder?  I think most people would say yes.  Well I no longer have that luxury (of slowing down when I'm not "feeling" it).  Because he is always watching.

My typical week has been Monday and Wednesday I go to Main Event Fitness at 9, Kickboxing at 9:45 and train with Ryan at 11 (lifting).  Since I'm there all morning those days, I have to think through my food and my coffee (so I bring my own cup.)  Here he's enjoying my cup/his coffee/ while I suffer through the workout.

He looks a bit too happy.

Tuesday and Thursday I train at 11 with Ryan and we do strictly cardio.  Oh just for fun let me tell you what we did this week.  On Tuesday:  45 rope slams, 45 step ups each leg, 45 thrusters with the bar, 45 rows with the bar, 45 kettlebell swings, 45 v-ups.  He timed me.  I got it done in 17:17.  He said, "Take 5 minutes rest."  Now you're going to do it again and beat your time.  WHAT??!!??  So I did and I beat my time - by 2 minutes.  "Take 5 minutes rest."  To end the workout you will do 15 minutes of suicides.  I thought he was crazy.  I actually reminded him that I was not Marivel and I was not training for a marathon. He didn't care.

What's funny is my daughter called me after that workout and I was trying to complain to her about what I did.  Her response, why 45?  Doesn't he know you are 55?  Gee thanks.

Suicides?  My Name is Patty!

Thursday--1 suicide, 20 kettlebell swings, 1 suicide- 19 kettlebell swings, and so on and so forth.  I'm a swimmer not a runner.  Doesn't care.  Here's where you had better know the lingo - then we did EMOM - 40 rope slams, 20 step ups each leg.  Then TABATA - shuffle down, 2 burpees, shuffle back.  TABATA throws me EVERY time.  That just gets me more TABATA.  Give me a pace clock on the wall, I can do just fine.  Make me listen to beeps and whistle type noises and I struggle.  All of this is sure to cause EPOC all day long.   These cardio workouts have me burning 550 calories or more.

There are lots of fancy terms and sayings.  I write them all down and keep them on file.  One day they will be like second nature to me.

On Friday mornings I have decided to swim the Masters swim workout at Colorado Mesa University.  I went last Friday and there were about 12-15 swimmers there.  They welcomed me warmly and I kept up okay.  For the last 15 minutes of practice last Friday they jumped in the diving pool and played some water polo.  I hadn't played water polo since college, but it came back to me.  It was fun.  I'll go there again each Friday.

As much as I kid and complain, I really am enjoying the change up in my routine.  I love the Kickboxing crew, I'm meeting new friends, I'm learning new things, and I'm getting my a$$ kicked each day (AND I pay money for that.)  So I'd better like it.  In all seriousness though, just look at this next picture and you will see why I believe in Ryan so much and yes I know he lays the path before me and it's up to me to walk down it.  But I'm very thankful he is laying the path before me.

Learning How to Eat Correctly

I've been thinking a lot about how far I've come in the past year and why I've been able to be so successful.  Bottom line is I was never taught how to eat correctly.  Let me take you back in time.  We moved to Grand Junction in August of 2003.  I have a Weight Watcher booklet from 2004 that puts me at 227 pounds.  What that means is that I weigh less now than I did 13 years ago.  From 2004 on, all I did was gain weight every year.  So how come?  How come I didn't know how to eat correctly?

2004 - I am just now -13 years later weighing less than I did 13 years ago.

Growing up in a family of 9 on a very limited budget, our meals consisted of spaghetti (pretty sure you could make that for $2.00 or less), Spanish Rice (white rice w/tomato sauce and maybe 4 pieces of bacon cut up), Liver (yum), and on Sundays we would occasionally get pot roast.  That was delicious.  I was a busy kid because I swam competitively, but I did try to help out with meals as I got older.  But my contribution would be "pigs in a blanket" (hot dogs wrapped in Bisquick.)  Delicious, right?

I began to gain weight once I moved out on my own AND I stopped swimming/exercising.  I kept eating like I was swimming and the weight gain began.  Then from 1986 - 2003, I lived in a "Staff" situation with a Christian ministry.  What this meant is you could simply go to the dining room for each meal (breakfast/lunch/dinner) and eat your meal.  I NEVER had to cook.

So in the fall of 2003, when we moved to Grand Junction, I was responsible for planning meals, shopping for meals, cooking the meals, cleaning up the meals.  I know that sounds crazy to you all, because you all did this since you were kids most likely.  I was 41 years old and trying to learn how to do this while raising three small children and starting a business with my husband.  I could prepare your income taxes.  I could edit your story.  But I could not cook.

When the kids were little, we practically lived at Lincoln Park pool.  We'd hit Sonic on the way to the pool and McDonalds on the way home.  It was fast.  It was convenient.  But I did not do myself any favors nor did I do my kids any favors.  Anyway, enough about all that.  I'm thinking right now, you are saying "mind blown."

If I would go to Weight Watchers or Nutri Systems or Jenny Craig or Curves or Metabolic Center, no one took the time to help me learn how to eat correctly.  I could buy their products and their supplements and that was the magic potion (so they said.)

Ryan taught me "how" to eat correctly (step by step.)

So this is who I was one year ago when Ryan said he would help me.  I don't really even know if he knows all of that back story, but he does know that I repeatedly said, "You are going to have to teach me.  You are going to have to write it out step by step."  And do you know what?  He did.   He was a 25 year old guy teaching a 54 year old woman how to eat correctly.  He took me to Pinterest and showed me recipes.  He taught me about macronutrients.  He taught me to eat enough - something I still at times struggle with.   My entire family has benefitted from him teaching me.  At first I would make "my" food and then "their" food.  Now everyone eats the way I do and everyone is in much better shape.

Feeling better and better every day!

Ryan and I set a weight loss goal for me.  I am 3/5 of the way there.  I recently approached him and asked if I could come back and work with him exclusively.  (Since October I've been trying to make this work with Golds and with Ryan.)  Ryan said yes, absolutely.  So I have cancelled my NLP membership at Golds.  I still have my basic membership and I will still be there occasionally.  I know I've made tons of friends there and I will miss seeing you every day, but please know that you can still message me, send me an e-mail, and we can still get together for coffee now and again.

You just have to understand that I've never had someone so willing to help me, to be patient enough to teach me, to never talk down to me, and to genuinely want to help me reach my goal until I met Ryan.  I need to do this for me.  One of my 2017 goals is to "fight for myself" more.  I am very much a people pleaser and I am trying to say to myself, "This is what I need to do."  It seems selfish to me, but I know it's right.

I will still be blogging.  I hope you continue to follow my progress and cheer me on.  I will be swimming more at Golds and that means I get to hang out with my swimming lady friends more often.  So it's all good - I hope you see it that way too!

It's Not Always Easy

I would describe myself as a pretty easy-going person who loves to smile and laugh and have a good time with friends.  That being said, I do have "bad" days.  This is not an easy journey.  This is definitely a marathon and not a sprint.  Wednesday was one of those "bad" days.

I hadn't slept well Tuesday night and was awake from like 2:00 a.m to 4:00 a.m.  I started thinking, "Why am I doing all of this?  This is crazy.  My body hurts.  It's almost all I think about.  What's the use?"  Not a good place to be mentally - not at all.  Then I have my weekly weigh in and my weight is up.  Sometimes that doesn't get to me, but being in the frame of mind I was, it just added insult to injury.  I had gone out to eat that week and it makes me think, "Oh great, I can never go out to eat."  I'm one of those all or nothing thinkers (and yes I know that's not good either.)

I'm writing this because I think you need to know that this journey is not without struggles.  I try to write only the positives because that is what I believe in portraying.  I don't believe I need to spew all the negatives out there on social media.  But I want you to understand that I do struggle and it's okay.

I want to say that first thing in the morning, my husband knew I was off.  We have a marker board on the refrigerator and he went and wrote a scripture on the board for me to put in my head.  (Isaiah 50:7).  I headed to Main Event Fitness and did my weigh in and measurements with Ryan.  He can pretty much tell right away when I am off also.  I worked out with my friend Jenna and tried to have some fun with her during kickboxing even though we were on opposite sides of the room.  (By the way, she's getting so good at kickboxing.)

After the classes, I stick around for a one-on-one training (lifting) session with Ryan.  So what I really want to do here is give a shout out to the trainers out there.  Not only do you teach us how to make our bodies strong, you also teach us how to make our minds strong.  Ryan has been training me for over a year.  He has a pretty good feel for when I just need to push through a workout and when maybe it's time to sit and talk.  Wednesday, we sat and talked.  We went over the entire nutrition plan, tweeked a few things, and talked.

One of the things that really stuck with me this time was this.  I must ask him at least once a month what my heartrate should be for cardio.  He tells me every time and then I keep it at 135.  So I asked again and he patiently worked it out again.  He said 140 (it's always been 140 - I just think that's too high so I keep it at 135.)  Then he said, "Only you know how hard you are pushing."  My reply?  "Well, I push hard enough to beat the person next to me."  His reply?  "Well how about beating yourself?"    Hmmmm - giant lightbulb goes off in my head.

I appreciate how he knows me well enough to know the right thing to say at the right time.  Sometimes all his fancy talk of macros/equations, HIIT training, 15,12,12,8,8, Calories in/Calories Out may go over my head.  But if he says "How many calories do you think Michael Phelps has to eat?"  I'm like, "Oh, I KNOW THAT ANSWER."  and then I subtlety realize, "Oh, that's why I need to eat more."

Well during that conversation, my worst nightmare came true (well I may be exaggerating.)  Right now, I work with Ryan on my nutrition and my strength training and I work with Semaj on my cardio and physical therapy (for my legs).  It's that cardio piece that I know I can push harder on, but I don't.  I don't because I think 135 hr is good enough.  I don't because sometimes Semaj will say, beat your time next time.  So if that's what he's going to say, I'm going to go slow the first time, so I can beat my time next time.   And sometimes Semaj has me on a machine for 30 minutes so I'm like I need stamina so don't push too hard.  All in all that 135 hr lets me keep talking and having a good time.  It works for me (except for when it doesn't - like that number on the scale.)

Ryan says, "I'm going to message Semaj."  Fear strikes in my heart.  Up until now the two of them haven't talked.  Semaj has been super gracious with me.  Poor guy.  When I met him, I was like, "I have a trainer working with me on my nutrition and my goals.  That's who I plan to meet with.  I'd love for you to help me on my way, but I'm listening to him for nutrition/goals.  Do you take the deal?"  Well not quite like that, but almost.  Semaj was and still is super gracious and only wants to help me achieve my goals.  But the thought of them working together scares me actually.

Thursday, I went into Golds and asked Semaj if he and Ryan had communicated.  Yes they had.  He wouldn't give me much info, but let's just say my heartrate got into the "I can't talk" zone.  I got it up to 145-148  AND I didn't die.

Semaj also is great with saying the right thing.  They both are.  It's just funny what sticks with you.  Semaj always says (and I heard it this time) weight loss is not a linear equation.  I'm a numbers girl and I was like- Oh that makes sense.  I actually graphed it out last night so I could see there were some hills along with those valleys.

Weight loss is not a linear equation.

What actually helped pull me out of my funk was Thursday morning, I say Tish and Cindy.  I told them how I was feeling.  How I was feeling like I needed a break.  They both said, "We've been thinking the same thing."  And I was like, "WAIT, WHAT?!  NO!  Don't do it."  Then I said to myself, "Self - listen to yourself."  Cindy pulled out her phone and read Hebrews 12:1 and 2.. "let us run with patience the race that is set before us."  BOOM - funk ended!

Thank you is never a strong enough word but thank you to Ryan and to Semaj.  You two don't need to communicate anymore.  I'll be fine.  :)