Transformation Success Story!!!

Transformation Success Story!!!

Martha! You rock! Since I started training with you - in 8 weeks I have achievedthe extreme transformation.
following: Measures: Body Fat: start 15.4%, now: 11.9%Body fat loss:

Best of all - is how I feel! My energy and mood my life - are excellent! Why is it working? Following your plans to a "T" (the diet, the cardio, the weight training and theintensities for each)! You know your stuff Martha - it's evident in how muchthought and planning you invest in your plans for each person - they are socustomized and fine tuned. It makes it a pleasure to work with them - becausefor all the sweat and discipline - the results are coming in. I see it in thosewho work with your plans. We're now in a position to tweak; we can play with things and to enjoy theprocess. We're actually increasing calories/carbs and, I'm not on anythermogenics! I might have been tempted to cheat, to cop out on cardios, settle for secondlevel intensity. But I didn't. I decided to commit. I'm inspired by the othergirls like Karma - the kindness, fun, competitiveness and generosity that comesfrom the wealth of their own dedication and personal development. So I decidedto focus on what I can build - the achievements - NOT the deprivations. And the rewards have been huge; I have never felt so fit, known I could do somuch, be so self disciplined, balanced and happy! And..... I can't wait forcompetition! I so look forward to seeing what the other girls are bringing tothe stage - their achievements and successes! I look forward to standing upwith a bunch of hardworking, gorgeous girls showing our stuff off (just before Iwup their asses - grin!) But no matter what happens on that stage - that isnothing in comparsion to the rewards of this process that I am enjoyingeveryday. Afterwards in the off season; I intend to live much as I have before; I thinkone of the things that is making this such a positive experience is that,leading up this level of training, my life has been a miniature, relaxed imageof this lifestyle. I have been training six days a week, eating clean andenjoying a weekly cheat meal since doing Body for Life in 2000. The transitioninto this training simply became a ramping up of that plan, not a totalsubstitution for my life. So there wasn't the psychological hit of disciplineand so called "deprivation"; I haven't needed drastic measures to strip fat atthe expense of building muscle and my sanity. It's become instead an extensionof a great lifestyle - I have two kids, I work full time, I have friends andfamily, I also love my alone time - I think I'm more organized, balanced andproductive in all these areas - more in control and relaxed. I don't haveguilt trip. I'm less likely to find failures when I screw up and more likely tosimply find a better way of doing it. So, in the upcoming off season I'd like touse the time to vary and play with this lifestyle - as my touch stone for myselfmy mind and my body that keeps me in sync with living - I want to taste everyfriggin drop! I didn't think their was much more juice I could squeeze out oflife - but then I looked up and realized - damn - there's a whole orchard! Below are some other little thoughts I've collected that keep me tracked - maybeuseful if we ever wanted to make a little tip sheet? We could collect goodhealthy tips? I'm keeping track of potential useful things for the concept ofdoing the article for oxygen or something for your website? (I'd like toadvertise you Girl - show you off!!!) General attitude:It's much harder to want something than to just do it. The results are bettertoo!Diet and the munchies/hunger management: Gum gum - that's what I do - especially the mint excel - the cooling effectseems to calm the appetite and freshen the mouth (clearing the food flavourright after eating seems to help make my body forget what it was nagging you onabout! ) Also a glass of very cold water sipped after the meal seems to num thetum! My last trick - I eat using the small forks and teaspoons - makes theoatmeal and stuff last! The dizzy thing is kind of exciting on stairwells - notalot you can do there (maybe avoid stairwells - but no mercy on double jumpsquats!) - and it does mean your body is going to have to go after the stuffwe're looking to shed!! So that's the solace there! That and quiet rests! managing training: One thing I find that helps me - if I think of it in terms of the weeks ahead -I feel overwhelmed. If I focus on on it in terms of "this work out", or, "thiscardio" sometimes even down to "this rep" or this "Cardio interval" it becomesmuch not only easier but creative and constructive. After that I tuck it awayand don't think of it all while I focus on totally different things for balance. I like the balance of big training picture and the utility of breaking it downinto various focuses - e.g. "this phase of training" - "this week", "this cardiosession", "this leg work out", right down to "this rep" or "this interval". Ifind breaking it down works well for quality and management - like when I'mtired and quality is at risk: maybe I feel like copping out from theuncomfortable intensity of a particular activity under the "there's time left"theory. It gives me perspective to think "actually - there's only 8 legs workouts left because there are only 8 weeks before competition" so I end up givinger hard instead of copping out - suddenly it seems much more manageable becauseits not actually 8 weeks of leg work outs - it's only 8 leg workouts in total -and I know I'd kick myself on stage if I let that few get in the way. And itworks to manage that overwhelmed feeling - like when you're tired from dieting -it's time to get up for your third 5:00am hard morning cardio - you've just gotgoing and you think - oh God still another 40 mins of high intensity cardio -can I keep this up? There are still 3 to go this week! Plus all the work outs!And then on top of that the evening cardios!". For me - by thinking in terms ofthe current focus - "only two minutes run at 8 left". Then moving to "Now - 30step ups - keep your focus on each one of those", following it with "ahh - nowit's back to a walk at 5 for two" I can get through much more easily - and getquality!" When you put all these little pieces together - they make a wellmanaged whole with the best quality results you can muster up! Then when youlook at the "whole" - it's great to think of it in the context of "and what nextyear!" I read recently where successful marathon runners do the same - in theirminds they break the marathon into segments and run each segment independentlyof the others - and they have much better performance (probably because - whenthey look at next year's it looks like a manageable experience and not sooverwhelming!) I know it might sound silly as I've never formally competedbefore - but it's the way I lost almost 90lbs and kept it off since 2007, andwhat making me feel even more charged up (rather than dragged down or deprived)as we move through these phases - Diet and training combined together as a lifestyle: The sense of deprivation and trying to find satisfaction in cheat meals! I usedto build cheatmeals up all week and then poof - they were over with - and I wasdisappointed - not as flavourful as I'd expected, not satisfied - just plainnot orgasmic. Sometimes the side effects make it all worse too - like the excessgreasy fats - now they're like a hangover! I think I was putting too much intothem and expecting too much. But hey! You know what I'm starting to find nowwith this revved up training - if it's satisfaction I'm looking for - I knowthis sounds really goofy but.....I think I found the thing I like most is justhow tuned-up/lubed-up and excellent my system feels! More than anything on theweekends after plyo and the cardio - I love the rest on the off time - the goodsleeps and the tones of water relax me, I look back and enjoy the selfdiscipline of the week - this positions me to feel recovered and then I'mactually relaxed, calm and satisfied enough to enjoy the flavours of the cheatmeals as rewards and... combining them with a schvank lil Saturday night numberetc yow! I think I'm finding I just have to put it all together to findsatisfaction!! Anyhow...