P90x

I so rarely ever blog, I more or less just put photos on my site here and let it run itself. I never have time. Between shooting, editing, meetings, taking care of my 5 year old, my husband and myself....I just have zero free time, so my blog is more of a grave yard for past shoots rather than a place for them to come alive.

So, to stay with tradition, I am not going to blog about photography.

In the summer of 2010, my in laws told us that they wanted to take us on a trip to St. Lucia. First, if you know me, I have never been a beach person at all...and the thought of wearing a bathing suit again terrified me since having my son. I knew I had to do something, as a girl and a rather insecure girl, I knew I would have to sit next to my amazingly gorgeous now-official-sister-in-law on the beach or by the pool. She honestly probably doesn't even know that she inspired me to get back my pre-baby body. (Thanks E!). So, I started changing the way I ate. No one even really noticed I did anything differently---I just left 2 bites of food on my plate. That 2 bites eventually turned in to half of my portion size gone in the course of about a year. By the time we went to St. Lucia in March of 2011, I had lost about 20 lbs. I wasn't starving, and I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. In fact, I ate ice cream every night and I still do---and NOT the low fat kind either!

This was me one year ago in March, Mike snapped this of me in my swim suit for aruba while we were packing:



Eugh. Cellulite. I actually thought I looked ok for that trip. And I specifically remembering being pretty proud of myself for getting to that size. I never dreamed I would think about getting smaller.

I stopped really trying to diet, but I honestly was never dieting at all. I just didn't eat as much food. I also substituted salads for a lot of meals and I did stop eating fast food. (If you knew me in 2010 you would have thought this near impossible.)

So! then, my in laws, invite us to Aruba. I knew I had lost a lot of weight since St. Lucia...and knew I would look awesome. I had come a long way.

Being the person I am, and insecure and all that stuff, I texted the ONLY person who is brutally honest to me-----my sister. If you know us, we have never been close but we had a bonding moment over my birthday this year and we were on a talking basis after years of being distant. I love her. I sent her THIS picture:



Eugh mommy belly, stretch marks. I don't care who you are as a woman, you fear this photo EVER reaching the public eye.

I asked, can I wear a bikini? Her answer

"I've seen worse at the river."

Hello!? I am not going to the river I am going to the CARIBBEAN! So, for some reason or another that I cannot remember, I went to her house and we talked for a few hours---about her journey doing p90x the summer before, and how I wanted to do something. I left her house feeling sort of proud of her and the thought flashed through my mind that SHE could TRAIN me!!! So I texted her with my idea and the crazy thing is she had the SAME idea!

So we set our first date for P90x for February.

Day 1: Shoulders and Back and Ab Ripper X.

Ok, it as not as bad as I thought it would be. I made it through the work out, and was worried I didn't do much b/c I didn't hurt! I could obviously not do everything and had to stop a few times because of some heart problems...but it wasn't SO bad.

Until the morning.
I have never felt that kind of pain. I could not cough with out a sheering ripping pain coming through my abs. Oh, not just one section, but places I never knew abs existed.

Day 2: Plyometrics:
First, plyo for those that don't know is pretty much jumping for an hour straight but using your entire body and core for strength, balance, and stability. I was scared, I worried about my asthma and my heart. And I hurt like hell. But, I did it. I showed up and started the work out. About 10 minutes in, I had my first heart episode (I still say episode bc I don't know what it is) and I kept going. We made it through 40 minutes of plyo before my sister made us stop. My heart was all over the place doing wonky things.

This was the day I realized how bad I wanted to do this. I sat on her porch trying so hard not to cry my eyes out that I had failed. I have never had a beach body in my life, I've never worked out, I've never been fit, I can't even ride a bike with my son or run with him in the yard. I had a pity party on my ride home until my sister texted me about the 10 minute trainers.

Now, we have not been perfect: I have had to go out of town for shoots, had wedding etc. On those days, sometimes I do my 10 minute trainer cardio or the cards, but most I skip.

So! Finally we make it to our two week mark:



Literally, insane results. I don't even know what to think at this point. I sent it to Sheri and she was like WOW!

I haven't weighed myself since we started, but I know I started off hovering from 129-135 depending.

So, we continued on...and the best part of all of this has been a few things:

1. My sister and I are BFF. If we did not work so much, we'd probably hang out all the time. I am so grateful that our goal to have warrior bodies has given me back my sister. I always wanted to be your best friend Sheri.

2. My dad took me and Perrin to Busch Gardens and I ran up about 40 steps. Ran. Yes, I ran up them and I wasn't even winded. Oh, I also ran a mile for the first time in my life. Every day things that would hurt or exhaust me no longer do that.

3. I feel so full of energy. The days we skip, I feel lazy and like crap. The days I get up and do it (which is daily!) I feel like I am on fire all day. I forget to drink my coffee.

4. The CLothes. Ok this is a down side too. I never realized that before I bought clothes because they fit, not because I loved them. It was hard for me to figure all of this out. I am now in a size 2 in most clothing lines.

5. I bought bikini's because I loved them, not because they were the only ones that fit. Yes, I said BIKINI!!!! 3 of them.

6. I feel like I have more confidence to do things I would not normally do, like running the mile. Or for my husband, considering geocaching with him. It's amazing when you spend a whole day running around a theme park and you don't feel utterly exhausted at the end of it.

7. I feel sexy. I am not saying I still don't have a ways to go, because I am committed to having a warrior body! But, I did have a funny thing happen to me in the mall a couple of weeks ago: I was walking through the mall and caught a glimpse of this girl walking past me and I turned my head because I thought she looked cute. When I turned, I was looking at myself in one of the store windows. Embarrassing, blonde, and goofy I know...but that's when you KNOW you are where you are supposed to be!


If you ever doubted working out and it's benefits...seriously, I know where you are. I would NEVER have done this on my own. I never did work out in my entire life. Ever. I was the kid on the bleachers not being able to participate in PE because of my asthma. I grew up on steroids and always battling my weight and my self image. I have been on dieting roller coasters my entire life until October of 2010.

My results?






I have a ton of results photos, they are all horrible cell phone photos, which is sad b/c I am a photographer. But really, I just want them for myself...to flip through and find motivation. I tell girls who are asking about this that they HAVE to do photos to stay motivated. Every Tuesday, I take new shots, usually in the same bikini until my first one (the black and white) no longer fits me at all!

I've gotten a ton of emails and response/support from so many fans. Thank you for that! So if you ask what I have been doing this is what I did exactly:

2010 October: Started portion control. I left 2 bites of food, and just left more and more as time went on. Just about few days I would put another bite on the "do not eat pile." I literally eat ONE portion size of food. I eat ice cream EVERY night. If you want some good ones that are high protien and ah-mazing, let me know. Mostly though, I actually eat the great value nutty buddies because they are the bomb. Seriously. Try them. The ice cream is a reward for me and says HA I can work out, eat ice cream, and STILL lose weight (or tone or whatever).

February 2012: P90x. We started with full p90x but because of time constraints and my heart issues, we got the Tony Horton Ten Minute Trainer work outs. We bought the first set (abs, lower body, total body, cardio, yoga flex) and we've pretty much mastered that. So, we got 10 more of the 10 minute trainers that are far more intense and includes Lowerbody 2, Cardio 2, and Plyometrics.

We do 2-3 work outs a day, with the exceptions of pretty much all Saturdays. I have weddings. We have of course had to miss some days because of being out of town or whatever...but on those days, I was getting a crazy work out with squats...so I was still going.

Now, once I started the p90x and especially the last 2 weeks, I am starving all the time. So, I had to invest in healthier food and higher protien food, lower carbs. I eat almonds instead of chips, natures own protien bars for breakfast/snack and ice cream. I am not giving up my ice cream. I still eat salads, so I really don't feel like I changed my diet hardly at all, but added in the protien instead of the carbs on things like chips/candy/snacks. Almonds taste better anyway.

I should also mention some days are harder than others---you wont want to pick your feet up, they feel like lead....but, the next day you come out like a banshee and you rock the entire session like no body's business. And some days, like with the work out, you want to pig out and eat everything in sight. Apparently, this is your metabolism adjusting so you just have to eat. I don't even know how it's possible, because I am actually eating several times a day and managed to lose 10 SOLID pounds.







And we leave for Aruba in 6 days. 6 long days to go. But 5 more days of P90x!