St Jude's Give Thanks Walk 2012!

This year the St Jude Children's Hospital Give Thanks Walk was again held in San Jose at the Oakridge Mall. This is an indoor walk, 5 laps around the mall. There were many volunteers, I think even more than I remember last year, cheerin us on all along the way, handing out water bottles and high-fives.

Upon registration you get your prizes, after $35 raised you get a T-shirt, the next goal hit you get a tumbler, then a bag. I got up to the first 2 prizes.

 

Last year team NMT Fitness Tri Delta Gamma Theta raised $471 for St Jude. We had 7 registered participants, 3 ended up walking. My goal was to beat last year by raising $500. With a couple clients, Bally class members & friends, we more than DOUBLED it1 We ended up with 7 registered walkers at the event, raising $1,050.00!! 

Ok, now this is going to sound a bit nuts to some, but if you're like me, you'll understand. I started with St Jude's as a philanthropy in college at USCB. I am a Delta Delta Delta alumni and that was our philanthropy. So when I started my little business, it was important to me to do something. Around that time, I received something from St Jude and it just made sense.

Here's where I may lose a few of you, but read through. In May I found out my cat Tuffy had Cancer, caused by the Rabies vaccine. Cats are more succeptable to this than dogs. The warning is "may cause Cancer at the injection site." Well, it happened. I thought it was a bite, or a cyst, but it was Fibrosarcoma. I approved the first surgery thinking it was a precaution, but the results came back and I needed a specialist. You can read the full story, Tuffy's Fight,  but the short version is it was a month of hell, and she ended up having her leg amputated. But as I was going through this, I had my furball(which is like my child) and I was faced with the decision of if and which surgery to go with($4-5k), whether or not Radiation would be needed($7k), etc. To be faced with the decision of, 'we MAY be able to save her'...BUT it's all this money you don't have. . . my first thought came back to St Jude. What I was going through, is what these parents go through, with their Children! Children who are aware, ask questions, have fear. How can someone  possibly be in that situation, with their own child's life in their hands, not knowing/able to pay to save them?! It made this cause all the more real to me. That a parent can be helped, and get ALL the help they NEED without having to worry about the cost. Knowing that they are doing ALL that can be done. That is everything.

Journey through competitive fitness and coaching: November 2012 - Training

Journey through competitive fitness and coaching: November 2012 - Training: After coming back from the NPC Sac Show on the 3rd, I realized I was in one of my 'non-eating' phases. Basically I've always had a cycled ea...

November 2012 - Training

After coming back from the NPC Sac Show on the 3rd, I realized I was in one of my 'non-eating' phases. Basically I've always had a cycled eating pattern. I'll eat more for a few weeks, and then I'll basically have no cravings or desire to eat. So I decided to use that to my advantage. Even though I'm building right now, I just don't feel comfortable at this high of a weight. I was at my all time high of 144lbs. (My previous high was always 140). The stress and mess I had to deal with in the last few months took a toll on my eating and working out.

I decided to tighten up my diet and drop a few pounds. I didn't plot it out, I just modified what I was already eating by cutting my pre-workout PB&J in half, and replacing 2 of my meals for super clean ones: tilapia & asparagus, and salmon & asparagus. It ended up being high protein and low carb, about 105g carbs. I will also say I did have a few add-in items. Monday I had my friend's leftover bread pudding she had made from scratch for me. Tuesday night I had my 2 mini sliders leftover from Chili's. Small bites, made me happy. If i run out of food I throw in a Lean Cuisine at the end of the week. So, I'm down 3lbs. I would've liked another to be down to 140, but I'm pretty happy. I took my measurements and photos. I'm guessing I'm down about 1 lb of fat, and 2lbs of water. I feel better about how I look, though I definitely have a long way to go. But I'm happy to lose it slower and keep the muscle I am working SO hard to build. I most likely will bring the food back up this week to my 'maintenance' level and continue. I would like to do another drop week at the end of Nov/Beg December. I am guessing my competition weight will be around 125. We will see how much I can actually build and what that looks like when I lean out.

I am still using the M&F Trainer for my workouts and loving it! I lift 5 days/week. I don't do any 'cardio' per say, but I teach 2-Cycle classes and 5-Aqua classes per week, so it's there! ;)  Yesterday was legs & shoulders and my butt is definitely sore today! I really had to force myself through that workout last night. My basic diet for the last week, my drop week, is below. It's about 1400 cals. If I had sat down and figured it out the ratios would have been better, I just wanted to drop and didn't mind going strict, especially because I let myself keep my favorites.

 

Current stats: 141lbs, 22%BF (31lbs), 110lbs LBM.
 - I take this all with a grain of salt, because the BIA measurements fluctuate greatly, and unfortunately some fat caliper measurements you just can't take on your own. At the higher weight it read i was 112LBM, which I'm sad about because I was working to 115, but now looks like I'm back down to 110. We will see, I just HAVE to keep my lifts in, even though I am completely SLAMMED at work!