Diary of a Fitness Fiend

The New Year started off decently enough. I was at the end of a week long battle with the flu and my roommates were being homebodies, so we stayed in for New Years Eve and challenged each other on Guitar Hero. We all sucked so we tried to find the hardest song ( on the easy level of course) and then laughed at each other when we crashed and burned. With 20 minutes left until the New Year, we ran around and got out of our pajamas, kidnapped J and drove to the nearest open bar. We got there at 11:52pm, hustled inside, got free champagne (yay!), did a little dance and toasted the NY. After J slyly grabbed us a few extra champagnes we left and as any American should, got some drive-thru at Whataburger haha. After a week of barely being able to workout, much less stand up and get out of bed, I convinced myself it’d be good for me to workout. I started with my new trainer, Mike Davies, in mid-December and I have to say, I think I finally found my trainer!!! My body is pretty finicky and sensitive to changes and I feel as if the thought of muscle causing me to bulk up. For some people that’d be the answer to their prayers, for me, I’m already 140lbs lean muscle and I don’t need or want anymore. I love weight training but geez I also don’t want to buy a whole new wardrobe. Anyway, I really enjoy ( yep, enjoy!) his workout plans and his cardio is fun, believe it! My meal plan has me eating 9 times per day an it literally took me two weeks to finally have a day that I got all my meals in. I’m mad at myself because I’m a perfectionist and vowed to be perfect with this diet and training, and haven’t been. I have honestly tried my hardest but things are sometimes out of your hands. Here’s a breakdown of my weeks “back on the plan” so far: Week 1) - Cooked all my food an quickly realized this was gonna be difficult - didn’t even get in 5 meals until about 4 days in - the workouts were awesome, they use a more plyometric approach and they kicked my butt in a different way than usual. Give me a 600lb leg press, no problem. Make me do 15 lateral raises and I’m screwed. - almost got all my cardio in

Week 2) week of Christmas - got all my weight workouts in except chest, didn’t get all my cardio as a result of going home and not having access to a gym. I tried to run outside but with my asthma it wasn’t working out - I really struggled with the food and Christmas. I even packed food for the weekend and told my mom my diet. Honestly it probably would have been best to relax and just let myself have a good time and eat like a normal person. Instead I restrained myself and then ended up just binging on sweets, ugh. Once you pop you can’t stop… - the day after Christmas I got the flu full out

Week 3) This week was awful. I was bed ridden with the flu and noone to help. Let me tell you that I am the most independent, self- motivated person you will meet and I could NOT take care of myself. When I got home on Monday night, I curled up in the couch and just fried away with a 103 temperature for hours. I couldn’t do anything about it- couldn’t go to the bathroom, couldn’t get water, couldn’t get a cold towel,and most importantly I couldn’t get medicine. I was so hot that my eyes were watering like I was crying to try and protect my body. A few times I tried to sit up but couldn’t. Eventually my roommate came up with an excuse of why she needed to go to the drug store and then seemed to realize she could get me medicine while she was there. Thank God, otherwise I probably would have ended up in the hospital. Point being, I was really sick and eating and working out was not an option this week.

Week 4) -I started back on weights and cardio on New Years Day. I successfully got in all my workouts before leaving for Ohio on Friday. - I started back on the meal plan. I was about 80% successful throughout the week. For the weekend trip to Ohio I packed all my food for the weekend and was prepared to stick to the diet all weekend. It failed. I tried my hardest but between long rehearsal hours, plane rides, meetings, following the crowd, etc, it didn’t work out as planned. I did eat most of my food and ate out 3 meals. For those 3 meals I made good choices though- chicken and broccoli bowl, pulled pork sandwich w no bun and vinegar instead of BBQ sauce, chicken salad with feta and walnuts. - I intended to try to get a plyo workout in on Saturday but there wasn’t any time with our schedule. Today, Sunday was a quick morning rehearsal followed by flying all day.

And here I am. Same body fat as month ago, which perturbs me. I think I need to talk to my trainer about combining some of my meals because there literally isnt enough time in the day! Between back to back clients, working out, soon to be grad classes and football training… 9 meals isn’t goin to happen. Believe me, I’ve tried hard but eating cold chicken breast from a baggie, in class or a packet of tuna and a whole sweet potato on the airplane, does not go over well!

This year has already been quite a whirlwind. They say it helps to journal your thoughts when in tough times. All summer I have told myself I’m going to start blogging about my Drum corps summer tour with the Bluecoats. Obviously I have not! Let’s start with the hardest subject- on June 10,2010 my little brother shot and killed himself. There are no words to say about this or to comfort someone in this state. He left behind his 20 year old wife and 2.5 year old baby. The reality of the situation still hasn’t hit me and I still don’t know how to handle it. I haven’t had a full nights rest or a night without bad dreams since it happened. Since I’m tour it’s hard because I’m on the go all the time and have noone to connect with, which is making the recovery process excessively difficult. Sigh On another family note, I’m going to Six Flags with my “Dad” today in Ft. Edwards, NY. I haven’t seen him since my college graduation in 2007, and I’ve only seen him 3 times ever. I’m nervous about seeing him, as meeting your 26 year old daughter has to be nerve wracking and he’s not the most talkative when we have been together. Moving along, it’s been 5 weeks since I’ve worked out and I’m getting very soft. I’ve started to worry about losing all my hard work. I realize that worrying and working out right now are not going to help my health recover from overtraining or help my hormones regulate! Alright, I’m not much of a writer and I’m running out of fuel. Goodbye till next time!

My brother died Thursday.

It was great! I felt amazing and true not to focus on food. Here are some of my foods/ meals today: Muesli- nuts, homemade granola, raisins, cinnamon, fruit, Greek yogurt Tuna salad and cucumbers Bison salad with veggies Protein shake and banana Sweet potato risotto and lean beef burger patty Protein brownie made with soy milk

Yum!