cherry garcia's diary

[cherrygarcia]

okay, i currently weigh 146kgs (320pounds) and i'm five feet in height. I have been health eating for about two months now, and just started on week 4 of my exercise regime. I was weighed in week 1 and will be weighed again in week 6....(i'm eager to know the results)....i'm seriously thinking of buying a weighing scale for the house, the only thing that stops me is knowing that i would weigh myself 3 times a day which might take me backwards instead of forwards.

exercise: currently i would say i go to the gym about 4 times a week but would like to push it up to 5 times a week. my gym programme consists of 45min treadmill, then some weights, then another 45min treadmill (or aerobics class if its on at that time).

food: i'm currently eating every three hours, small portions of carbs/protein with lots of veges.

PROGRESS: i was doing well food-wise untill last week....the whole of last week i went back to my old ways and i'm sooo not proud of myself. it scares me because it makes me think that the junk i ate last week could totally negate the hard work i've put in over the last two months. but as of today i'm back on track....so it's fitting that i've started my diary today. this time round i'm proud of myself because even when i fail i get back up and try again. in the past i did diets half heartedly for a few days then gave up...but thats all in the past (or at least i hope it is).

TARGETS/GOALS: my goal is to loose 45kgs by the end of this year, and another 45kgs by the end of next year....my goodness, that's like shedding off two whole human beings worth of weight! But the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step...and i've definitely began.

 

[dwwise83]

Congrats on starting your journey

The first step is always the hardest, but as long as you keep moving forward you will cross the finish line.

Welcome to the family

 

[cherrygarcia]

THANKS for the warm welcome! it's so nice to be in a place where i actually feel like i belong for once. i've lived like a hermit the past one and a half years and in what i could call a semi-depressed state about my weight...(story to jot down in my diary sometime), but with everyday i work hard at loosing the weight i start to feel like i'm getting my life back. i actually joined a weight loss forum about a year ago, but never posted a thing, checked on it once or twice and never bothered again...at the time i was still down in the dumps about my weight and not doing a damn thing about it...so i had absolutely nothing to say since i was doing nothing about it. But now, i'm on the beginning of my new journey and even my attitude just feels so different and positive and i shock myself everyday when i post my experiences on here because i actually have something to say yet i'm still so new at this.

here's to new beginnings!

Congrats on starting your journey

The first step is always the hardest, but as long as you keep moving forward you will cross the finish line.

Welcome to the family

 

[cherrygarcia]

EXERCISE:
today was tough! since part of my programme consists of two 45min sessions of cardio i usually do the treadmill for the first session then an aerobics class for the second session to keep things interesting, but the aerobics classes are only held in the evenings meaning that it has to coincide with the time i go to the gym.

so today the first 45mins i did the aerobics class....and then thereafter i decided to try out the 45mins step aerobics class....the only problem is, it's immediately after the aerobics class so i only had like a 2 minute breather...but i'm thinking i'll be doing this routine maybe once or twice a week (because i find it more interesting than the treadmill).

anyway, the first aerobics class went okay. but the step aerobics class was TORTURE. as you can imagine 45 straight minutes of going up and down a step then doing a few variations of things is very difficult for me (which is why i can only do 1min on the stepper machine). but i really tried and managed to follow the step class at least 80% of the time, the other 20% i was just walking on the spot to catch my breath. it's a tough class, but i'll definitely add it to my weekly regime to keep things interesting.

since i've worked different muscle groups in that class i'm now experiencing a whole new set of aches and pains in different parts of the body, some of which i haven't before which makes me know that they are muscle groups i haven't worked in my 4 weeks in the gym....so that's good (not the aches and pains, but the working new muscle groups...lol!).

i didn't go to the gym yesterday, but thats because it was raining like crazy so i actually got on the bus to go there, got off at the bus stop (it's a 5 min walk to the gym from the bus-stop), but i took like 20 steps and i was soaked! completely drenched...so i was like forget it, i'm going home....so i walked back to the bus stop and got the next bus home. this week is a rainy week so will watch the forecast and try and watch out for the times in the day when there's no rain or only light rain and go then.

tomorrow's wednesday...i dread wednesday's because there's only a spin class (which i cannot for the life of me do at this point in time), so it means on wednesdays i have to do two 45min sessions of just the treadmill. it really does get boring, but i just keep switching walking speeds and inclines and at the end usually do very steep incline but at a very slow pace and still sweat like crazy.


NUTRITION:
ate right today...i'm glad i'm back on track, considering i fell diet-wise last week (after 2mnths of healthy eating)...but have picked myself up again and again going strong.


BENEFITS

i'd like to say my clothes feel loser or i feel lighter...but i'd be lying. those things for me will come with time.

but what i can enjoy for now, are the little benefits that i feel that the outside world doesn't see. i'm now able to walk long distances without breaking into a sweat or huffing and puffing....during my first week, just going to the gym in itself was an EFFORT because it involved quite abit of walking to catch the bus etc etc....but now, it's second nature to me. I HATE SWEATING IN PUBLIC and i always have, it's always so embarassing if i'm with someone i know and we climb like 5 stairs or walk for like 3 mins and i'm sweating already...but that was in the past...and is no longer a problem...that means the WORLD to me.

second, i've ALWAYS had a problem scalp, it has always itched and flaked, so for the past year in particular i've worn a head band daily for two main reasons: to cover the dry flaky hairline, and second to absorb the sweat because it felt like i was always breaking out into a sweat. But since i started my health eating the itchy scalp and flaking have dissappeared, and from only 4 weeks of exercise the sweating problem (as i mentioned earlier) is down to a minimum (only now when i really exert myself at the gym).

so i'm revelling in my little benefits...the things that have plagued me for years and i've never told a soul...and they may seem like little things to others, but for me, they are monumental... So untill i begin to see the big benefits like going down clothes sizes....i am keeping myself motivated by the little things.

 

[cherrygarcia]

wow, i feel like sh*t today. first of all, i've had a killer headache all day that wasn't being sorted out by painkillers, so wasn't even going to go to the gym, but the only reason i did was because i had an appointment with the trainer (they are scheduled once a week just to make sure everything's going ok), so i was like, you know what? i don't think i can wait another 3 weeks before i find out my weight...so can i check my weight today? so he was like sure! so i step on the weighing scale but it kept bringing an error, so i tried a second scale and "ERROR", a third scale then showed that i weigh 150.1kgs (330 pounds) then went on "ERROR", at this point my eagerly awaited moment of knowing how much weighed i'd lost had QUICKLY turned into a NIGHTMARE, my eyes started to well up i almost couldn't believe it, then the trainer was like no lets try a different one, the only one left was the calibrated scale and guess what? it only goes to 150 and thats where the pointer had shot up too, infact it probably wanted to go higher but couldn't because of the limit, so he was like he thinks it means i''m at 150.1kgs (as the other scale had said) but he said he shouldn't think so because he's seen how hard i've been working. he then added that the other weighing scales apart from the one that showed 150.1kgs only go upto 150kgs so that could be the reason why they are giving an error. he then started trying to say stuff to encourage me but i couldn't hear a thing, my eyes had welled up, i just wanted to get the hell out of there, i didn't cry but I JUST FELT LIKE SH*T! i wanted to scream WTF is going on?

i'm now telling myself that i'm building muscle which is why i have the increase, because there's NO WAY it's because of my exercise or nutrition. I've been busting my a$$ exercising 4 times a week for like 2.5hours everyday. And have eaten properly for 2months apart from last week when i reverted to my old ways...but i know there's NO WAY IN HELL that one week of eating could take me back to square 1...or should i say square zero...i mean my weigh-in just four weeks ago put me at 146kgs (320pounds) so apparently the last 4 weeks i've gained 4kgs (10pounds) that's bleeding ridiculous! so i'm telling myself it's muscle.

after i found out my weight, coupled with my headache i was so out of it i just did 45min on the treadmill at a really slow pace the entire time which i never do, and i just kept counting down the minutes like when will this end...after that i was like the hell with this, i'm going home.

i've never felt so down and out since i started my new beginning....but today, again i say it, I JUST FEEL LIKE SH*T!

this is also probably the reason why i shouldn't buy myself a weighing scale...if i'd been weighing myself everyday and was seeing a steady increase in weight i'd have given up a long time ago. so for now, i'll wait another 3 weeks to see if i loose anything. this is effing ridiculous, i just want to go make dinner, have an early night and cry myself to sleep. tomorrow is another day...a new day.
__________________

 

[cherrygarcia]

crap crap and more crap

I've been on the forum for about a week now and have pretty much been positive throughout untill the lousiest day i had on wednesday. The short version is that i've just found out that i weigh 11kgs (24pounds) more than i thought i weighed. The long version of the story is below:

On wednesday I had asked my trainer if i could weigh in at the gym since i didn't have a weighing scale at home but all 4 scales i tried kept bringing errors and one quickly flashed 150 kgs before showing an error (note that my starting weight was 146kgs and now that i think of it the weighing scale at the time also quickly flashed 146 before bringing an error but i thought nothing of it at the time) and i knew i had been eating right for the most part and working out like crazy. so i knew i couldn't have added weight.

I should also add that i highly doubted that i weighed 146kgs, and suspected i weighed more because of how badly i'd been eating the past one and a half years, but i thought nothing of it...of course until i found out all the gym weighing scales are the really cheap ones that only weigh people upto a certain weight.

The trainer then told me that their weighing scales only go upto 150kgs....(first i was thinking, the bastards!), then the more i thought about it, i started to think that the initial reading that was given was wrong. So yesterday i set off to buy my own weighing scale....and luckily found a really good scale that weighs upto 180kgs.

So i weighed myself and guess what? I actually weigh 157.7kgs (347 pounds). And i know that this is my true weight and from now will be my starting weight.

I feel really bad because it is 11kgs (24pounds) more than i thought i weighed...this has wrecked havoc in my mind and its been hard to get back to my normal programme.

On one hand i'm relieved because i know all my hard work didn't go to waste and definitely know i've lost some weight the past couple of weeks, but on the other hand i just feel like my goal has just been pushed a whole lot further...plus i have no idea how much i've lost. It always helps to know you are reaping benefits from your hard work, so now i feel like i'm back to square 1...no more like square zero.
__________________

 

[dwwise83]

Oh Cherry, I am so sorry to hear about all of the scale issues! That really sucks! But, you are definitely not at square 0 - you have been working SO hard and you deserve credit... please give yourself some credit You can't let this interfer with your goals, even if your goals have to be revised and altered a little bit. Regardless of what your starting weight is you have done a really wonderful job and you shouldn't let a number prevent you from moving forward.

You have the potential to be a great success story on the forum - and a true inspiration to the rest of us. You said above "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step...and i've definitely began." See, there is no way a number can take that away... you are already several miles down that road and no one can take that from you!

 

[cherrygarcia]

hey dwwise83,
thank you ever so much for your support...i really think i found this forum just at the right time, it really helps to know that there's others fighting the same battle as me and who are there to help catch me when i fall...so at least i don't feel so alone in this now. i've taken today off to chill out and just get my mind right....i'm not going to let this ruin the hard work i've put in so far. thanks again

Oh Cherry, I am so sorry to hear about all of the scale issues! That really sucks! But, you are definitely not at square 0 - you have been working SO hard and you deserve credit... please give yourself some credit You can't let this interfer with your goals, even if your goals have to be revised and altered a little bit. Regardless of what your starting weight is you have done a really wonderful job and you shouldn't let a number prevent you from moving forward.

You have the potential to be a great success story on the forum - and a true inspiration to the rest of us. You said above "the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step...and i've definitely began." See, there is no way a number can take that away... you are already several miles down that road and no one can take that from you!

 

[cherrygarcia]

new week

i'm sooo over the whole weighing scale debacle last week. as of today i'm back to kicking butt at the gym.

it actually felt really good to be back to the full schedule, it makes me know i've definitely become fitter, but the aches and pains are still there, so still getting used to it.

did:
- 45min treadmill
- 45min combat class
- weights and squats

i've also signed up for the WLF super awesome mega challenge...starts 6th april...i'm scared yet excited....i wonder what i'll look like at the end of the challenge...ie september 6th. hmmm...

 

[cherrygarcia]

Weigh in's

HIGHEST WEIGHT: 159.1kgs (350.7 pounds)
CURRENT WEIGHT: 153.8kgs (339.1pounds)
TOTAL WEIGHT LOST: 5.3kgs (11.6pounds)
===================================
Friday: 27/03/09 - 157.7kgs (347.6pounds)
Sunday : 29/03/09 - 159.1kgs (350.7pounds) - weight gain from poor eating over the weekend but got back to serious biz on monday
Monday : 30/03/09 - 158.4kgs (349.2pounds)
Tuesday : 31/03/09 - 157.6kgs (347.4pounds)
Wednesday:01/04/09 - 156.7kgs(345.5pounds)
Thursday: 02/04/09 - 156.2kgs(344.4pounds)
Friday: 03/04/09 - 155.8kgs(343.5pounds)
Saturday: 04/04/09 - 155.3kgs(342.4pounds)
Sunday: 05/04/09 - 155.3kgs(342.4pounds) - stayed same because saturday was my cheat day and had some junk food
Monday: 06/04/09 - 155.7kgs(343.3pounds) -had slight increase because i drank during a night out with friends on sunday
Tuesday: 07/04/09 - 155.3kgs(342.4pounds) -got back to hard work on monday so back to where i was on saturday

last week was a bad week, went back to my old eating habits. cleaned up this week. it's like i have one good week then one bad week...i really need to clean up my act for good because it's like i'm taking two steps forward and two steps back!

Sunday: 12/04/09 - 157.6kgs(347.4pounds)
Monday: 13/04/09 - 156.2kgs(344.4pounds)
Tuesday: 14/04/09 - 155.2kgs(342.2pounds)
Wednesday: 15/04/09 - 154.5kgs (340.6pounds) - yay! it means at this rate by tomorrow i should be in my 330's...goodbye 340's!
Thursday: 16/04/09 - 153.8kgs (339.1pounds) -YAY....i'm in the 330's baby!
Friday: 17/04/09 - 153.5kgs(338.4pounds)
Saturday: 18/04/09 - 153.0kgs(337.3pounds)
Sunday: 19/04/09 - 153.0kgs(337.3pounds)
Monday: 20/04/09 - 152.7kgs(336.6pounds)

 

[dwwise83]

i've also signed up for the WLF super awesome mega challenge...starts 6th april...i'm scared yet excited....i wonder what i'll look like at the end of the challenge...ie september 6th. hmmm...

I'm really excited too... I can't wait for my before pics to be a thing of the past!

 

[cherrygarcia]

I'm really excited too... I can't wait for my before pics to be a thing of the past!

thanks for checking in at the 'hotel de cherry garcia' ! i know what you mean, one day i no longer want to have 'before' and 'after' pics....i just want to have NORMAL me pics...lol!

 

[cherrygarcia]

progress...

today i wasn't feeling too well, i had a bit of a headache that i think is related to my body still recovering from the unhealthy foods i'd had last week, even though i cleaned up my act yesterday. i'll monitor it today and hoping it'll be gone by tomorrow.

i otherwise ate right yesterday and today and did a whole bunch of health food shopping today...i feel like such a health freak now. just 3 months ago i'd NEVER have had anything like wholemeal bread/pasta/rice, skim milk etc...now it's all healthy stuff....i won't lie though, it's been over two months and its still taking me a while to get used to it all, but i'm learning new ways everyday to make my meals a little more interesting.

i was sooo tempted to not go to the gym, but tuesdays is a good gym day because they schedule two really good aerobics classes back to back.

so first i did the 45min aerobics class. then thereafter i did the 45min step-aerobics class, today we had the same instructor who also takes us for the combat class. she's really good, has lots of energy and most importantly has really good music to keep us all psyched up throughout the class.

by the end of the two classes i was sweating like crazy, i think it has to do with the fact that i quickly grabbed the wrong top before i left the house, once at the gym i unpacked only to find a heavy-ish long sleeved black shirt instead of a black t-shirt i had laid out. i was so not amused with myself but it was either that or go home, but decided not to quit just because of a shirt. i've made a mental note to ALWAYS cross check what i carry from now on.

 

[cherrygarcia]

Ticker adjustment

today for the first time i actually get to adjust my ticker. now that i've had my weighing scale for just a few days i'm weighing in every morning, and i've currently lost two pounds since friday! YAY! and my progress is HERE

 

[cherrygarcia]

week 5: wednesday

now that i have my weighing scale i can track progress on a daily basis. according to the scale, i've lost 1kg since friday! this is sooo exciting that i can finally put numbers to my goals, so can start knocking off kg's one by one. i only wish i had bought my scale sooner because i would have been able to say i've lost X amount of kg's in 4 weeks but now i'll never know since their scale was bogus. but that doesn't matter anymore because now i'm so pumped up and psyched to eat right and exercise right everyday so that each morning when i weigh myself i can see i've lost a couple of decimals that add up day by day and become kg's and more kg's lost. so this is yet a new starting point for me.

today did:
-45min treadmill
-45min combat aerobics class

 

[cherrygarcia]

workout

so today was different. i started by doing the 45min aerobics class that i usually do, of which i've gotten really good at and i'm so proud of myself for it, i'm now able to go from beginning to end doing all the motions correctly.

thereafter i decided to try out a new class called 'body pump'. it's also 45min session and it was HARD! it's basically lifting weights on a bar (increasing and decreasing the weights for various motions), but just lifting the weights in tune with the music...but it just goes on and on and on! by the end of it we'd done like a couple of hundred reps...it's crazy! i was exhausted by the time we were halfway and couldn't believe how difficult it was, yet the class was packed with everyone doing the entire session from beginning to end. i've decided this is one class i won't go for again anytime soon. instead what i'll do for now is do the same motions but on my own so i can do them at my own pace and after i've built and strengthened my muscles then i'll join in.

so for now in regards to cardio i'll stick to the treadmill, the aerobics class, step aerobics class and combat class. then increase the variations of weights i'm doing so that i can build enough muscle to be going for the body pump class as well.

weighed in again today morning and had lost an extra 0.5kgs since yesterday so i'm really happy about that...and again i see, it feels so good to finally be able to put numbers on the weight loss instead of being clueless like i was before.

 

[cherrygarcia]

weight loss progress

so i'm going to make a correction to the total weight i've lost, since sunday i've lost 2.9kgs and this is the figure i'll be using from now on.

Let me explain. I've actually found out that my body gains weight very quickly and for now i guess as long as i'm doing everything right ie exercise and nutrition, it appears i'm also loosing weight quickly (i guess thats how it is initially especially for the bigger a person is).

So basically due to my bad eating i checked the scale on sunday morning and it was up by a little. i was actually shocked because now i'm able to see consequences of my actions on the scale. so anyway, if i use the highest weight i was at on sunday and minus the weight i was today...the total weight lost is 2.9kgs!

however if i use the original weight i was from friday and minus the weight i was today it will be less ie 1.5kgs because it does not reflect the weight gain on sunday.

yes i know i'm horrible at explaining but hope it makes sense. so to cut a long story short, i'm going to use the 2.9kgs weight loss figure from now on and build on it because i've worked so hard to achieve it. it's very encouraging and i pray i can keep up the discipline i've had this week.

 

[dwwise83]

so today was different. i started by doing the 45min aerobics class that i usually do, of which i've gotten really good at and i'm so proud of myself for it, i'm now able to go from beginning to end doing all the motions correctly.

thereafter i decided to try out a new class called 'body pump'. it's also 45min session and it was HARD! it's basically lifting weights on a bar (increasing and decreasing the weights for various motions), but just lifting the weights in tune with the music...but it just goes on and on and on! by the end of it we'd done like a couple of hundred reps...it's crazy! i was exhausted by the time we were halfway and couldn't believe how difficult it was, yet the class was packed with everyone doing the entire session from beginning to end. i've decided this is one class i won't go for again anytime soon. instead what i'll do for now is do the same motions but on my own so i can do them at my own pace and after i've built and strengthened my muscles then i'll join in.

so for now in regards to cardio i'll stick to the treadmill, the aerobics class, step aerobics class and combat class. then increase the variations of weights i'm doing so that i can build enough muscle to be going for the body pump class as well.

weighed in again today morning and had lost an extra 0.5kgs since yesterday so i'm really happy about that...and again i see, it feels so good to finally be able to put numbers on the weight loss instead of being clueless like i was before.

Body pump is a great class - but like you said, very hard. The first time I took it I literally could not wash my hair the next day, I could not lift my arms what-so-ever. I think your plan sounds wonderful - it will definitely make you healthy in NO TIME! I'm actually looking forward to my hardcore workout weekend.

 

[cherrygarcia]

yeah, that body pump class is definitely a killer, i'll first build up some muscle before i attempt it again!

Body pump is a great class - but like you said, very hard. The first time I took it I literally could not wash my hair the next day, I could not lift my arms what-so-ever. I think your plan sounds wonderful - it will definitely make you healthy in NO TIME! I'm actually looking forward to my hardcore workout weekend.

 

[cherrygarcia]

Fabulous friday

Today morning i checked the scale and had lost another 0.4kgs bringing my total weight loss to 3.3kgs for the week! again i say i'm so amazed. I'm now at 155.8kgs (343.5pounds) and I have such a long way to go, but it feels so good to start knocking off kg by kg slowly by slowly. The initial few weeks there will be rapid weight loss then it'll start to slow down after that...so as long as i can keep it up, i should be okay....but that's alot easier said than done so will keep praying for the strength to keep going on day after day.

This week i can say i've been very disciplined and eaten right the entire week and gone to the gym everyday of the week! The past couple of weeks i've been averaging about 4 times a week but can never get the momentum to push it up to 5 times a week.

But this week i've also been really encouraged every morning when i check the scale to find it's gone down by a little, and so it makes me work really hard to keep things right.

Today at the gym was tough because there's no aerobics classes on friday which means i have to do two treadmill sessions instead...and as much as i got used to it the first week or two, i've since been doing alot more aerobics instead, so staying on the treadmill that long wasn't as do-able as it was before, but i still kept going on.

So today did:
-60min on the treadmill (varied inclines)
-weights, and i mean lots of weights till my hands felt a little like jelly...i guess it's because i was working new muscle groups today so was getting used to them.
-then completed with another 60min on the treadmill (steep incline but at slow speed).

I'm glad i gave my 100% today because when the weekend comes i'll be recovering and recharging for next week knowing that i didn't slack off this week.