Mission Hotness

In the past few weeks, I have physically been very dedicated to reaching for my goals. I am very close with only 20lbs to lose before I will feel healthy and beautiful. So close, I can taste it. I have been to the gym almost every day, giving it no less than 110 percent. With running, resistance training, and yoga; I feel my routine is well rounded and I should be seeing results. But, I stepped on the scale, and guess what… I’ve gained weight again, AGAIN. That is discouraging. For most of us, stepping on the scale is the biggest fear and not to mention the hardest part of our weight loss journey. Facing that number.
Feeling defeated tonight, I found myself halfway through a large bag of the most delicious tortilla chips ever created. YUM. Boy did it feel great to indulge!
Yeah, great for a few minutes, until I realized that this is why my hard work is not paying off. Coming down from that high, I began to recognize that our lives are filled with many moments where we give in to our demons for the hope of that wonderful feeling of instant gratification. Gratification, like all emotions, is a motivator of behavior and sometimes we think that this impulsive behavior will somehow satisfy the pain we are feeling. It comes in many forms, for everyone that little demon may be slightly different and not necessarily in all cases related to food. A few examples: Buying that expensive purse you have had your eye on (even though your rent is due tomorrow), Putting another twenty dollars down on the blackjack table (while you know you are going to be late for dinner with your family), Pouring yourself another drink (because man did you have a rough day), or eating that second piece of cake at the party because well… you deserve it, right? But tell me, how does the aftermath effect you? Do you still feel great while you are promising your landlord that next months rent will be on time, while you are making excuses to your family for your tardiness, while you just need to lay down because now the room is spinning, or when that cake makes a second appearance in that famous number on the scale; still feel great? Nope.
We have just given in to something for nothing. Deal breaker. Two steps forward and one ridiculous step backward. We are better than this.
The point I am trying to make is this: Let those moments when you feel discouraged empower you to be better. In whatever we do, the times when we feel our weakest are the instances in which we need to push forward stronger than ever. Consider this… Pay your rent on time and create a respectful rapport with your landlord, show up on time for your family and strengthen their faith in you, push away the last drink for a glass of water and the next day will not be nearly as rough, or be satisfied with that one small piece of cake because you respect your hard work and you deserve to see results. These situations in the positive reverse keep on giving and keep on making you feel great. While maybe just knowing the significance of your actions isn’t readily gratifying, as a person in doing these things, we will be stronger. The effects will be long lasting and we are able to touch more lives with our inner strength. People notice.
We need to remember that we are role models. Sometimes we might not think that people are watching, but they are. The people who know your goals and look up to you for your motivational qualities in sticking with the routine, they are watching you. Think about someone that inspires you. Have you told them to their face that you admire them for achieving or reaching toward their goals or do you just study their actions from afar? In most cases, it’s from afar. Point in case; you too are that person to someone else. Just keep that in mind the next time you feel compelled to polish off a half a bag of tortilla chips. What did I do? I wrote this. And I feel much better. I am ready to hop back on board.

Jamie

Let me introduce you to Dr. Bill.
This is a story relayed to me by my nutrition teacher last Semester. I'm sure I won't do it justice, for all that I can remember of the story is as follows...
Dr. Bill is an 80 year old cardiologist. I do not personally know this man, but through this story he inspires me even so. So Dr. Bill, being a doctor, has always maintained his health as a doctor should. On his 78th birthday, he decided he was going to bike up the highest mountain in North Western America. I can't remember the name of the mountain, but that's irrelevant. Dr. Bill had never taken up biking before so his plan to bike up this mountain would prove to be quite a challenge.
Knowing that he needed to rely on other's expertise, Dr. Bill started training in April with a bike team. The quest was to take place in August. So he and his team of expert bicyclists met every Sunday morning for several weeks to build up the endurance he was going to need. At first Dr. Bill was feeling overwhelmed, realizing that this task might require much more effort than he intended. His bicycle was old and rusty, with squeaky gears, and it seemed that he always finished last.
As the weeks passed, Dr. Bill kept his eye on the goal and pedaled in last place over and over again. By mid- July, he had greatly improved and embraced bicycling as best he could, even enjoyed it. But he and others on the team collectively wondered; would biking this great mountain be too much for this old man? Fears aside, August came and Dr. Bill biked up that entire mountain which took several hours. Surprisingly enough, he didn't finish last! Once at the top, looking down at the world below, he said it was "the greatest feeling of accomplishment he has ever felt". Being 78 years old with a heart rate of a 30 year old! Can you imagine that feeling?
Dr. bill encouraged me to stick with my goals, to get my life back on track, not to let coming in last get me down, and to show others that even when the odds are against you; you can beat them. Sometimes everyday life seems like too much but then a story like this comes along and puts things into perspective. I know the reasons why I do certain things, believe in certain ways, and love with all the passion i've got. it really doesn't matter if there are people out there who don't understand it. I do what is important to me and set my goals and standards high because I know I'm better than to be just average, not to mention I'm worth more than that. There are so many people in my life whom I wish I could inspire like Dr. Bill to me. Some days, it all makes sense. It's just the journey getting to that light bulb moment that is the hard part. For a couple of weeks my bike had squeaky gears but you better believe that now I'm ready to reach the top of that mountain.

Jamie

Moving North


Perhaps it was the fact that everything here was available and at hand's reach. Or maybe because I felt homesick a lot and found comfort in rich foods and tasty, sugary treats. Three months into starting my new life in Boston, the newest import from Lima, Peru, I also debuted a new weight - ballooning at almost 200 lbs. To me, having been teased as a child and as a teen for being "chubby", it was no real surprise. I always knew I would never be skinny, and I accepted this fact as a reality that would accompany me for the rest of my life. In my new life in North America I fell into a sedentary routine, and with no physical activity other than going out to feed my jerk of a boss's meter - and then back to my desk where I would spend a good 7 hours booking trips and Caribbean vacations for la-di-da Harvard students - my ass grew to almost biblical proportions. At 5'4", and with a tendency to put junk in my trunk, you can only imagine how difficult it could be to fit between two people on the bus. Going up four flights of stairs felt like attempting a marathon with no previous training, and fitting into clothes, well, let's just say I couldn't be particularly fashionable. Or picky. My philosophy was, if it covers the bum and hides the belly, it's a keeper. It was rather depressing, but I learned to live with it and managed to convince the world I was comfortable in my own skin.

Coming from Peru, which once was considered a Third World Country, I was never one to waste food. My grandmother taught me that bread was sacred, and that God would be sad if it ended up in the trash. I did not want a sad God. My grandparents grew up in a time when resources were scarce, and both knew what it was to go without in order to feed someone who needed it more. They worked very hard to get ahead, building the upper middle-class home into which I was born. And even when their financial situation improved they kept a humble view on life; we were always reminded of how lucky we were. Meals were, to us, an opportunity to sit down as a family and showcase our culinary talents, or a damn good excuse to entertain guests.

Our relationship with food was always a positive and healthy one. We ate sensibly and in moderation. The biggest meal of the day was lunch, and we always had breakfast. Fruits and vegetables were staples and always available for snacking in- between meals. We got plenty of exercise by playing outside with our friends. All in all it was a completely different lifestyle, and sometimes I wondered how oh how I drifted so far from it.




Hello Boston, nice to eat you!


Looking back at my eating habits, it's no wonder I gained weight steadily and rapidly. I had the (mis)fortune of befriending the local Au Bon Pain girls, and my A.M. binges were "sponsored" by their generosity. Every morning I would scarf down two bagels with cream cheese and a large coffee (plenty of cream and sugar please!), followed by a mid-morning snack consisting of a Big Kat - that's an extra large Kit Kat for all you non junk-foodies - and soda. Regular, high fructose corn syrup infused soda.

For lunch, nothing could beat an extra-large chicken salad sub with all the fixings, prepared with "extra love" by the Haitian deli guy who also thought my boss was a dipshit, along with a bag of chips, a piece of candy, and a large coke. More candy/soda/coffee would keep me going for the rest of the afternoon.
On my walk to the train I would pass a Dunkin' Donuts where another casual friendship provided me with free donuts for my lonely ride home. Dinner? nothing to beat the blues like a couple slices of pepperoni with extra cheese. It only got worse once I started attending school full-time - in addition to my full-time job. With absolutely no time (or money) in my hands, anything and everything I ate was processed, loaded in fat, sugar and calories, and sometimes free of charge. Talk about a recipe for disaster.



Walking (and biking) my ass off. Literally.



It took 3 years for me to decide enough was enough. I started a new job in a completely different field: I became a live-in nanny for a boy that needed to be walked to and from school every day, and lived in a house that offered vertical living - meaning I had to go up and down four flights of stairs just to get things done. And my bedroom was on the fourth floor, per my request.
By living with a foreign family, I had no other option by to adopt their equally foreign (at least to me) eating habits. Without much effort other than the daily routine, I started shedding pounds as steadily as I once gained them. In a period of 4 months I dropped a full size. This was extremely encouraging to me, and I did my best to try to keep it up after my time with them ended. At that point, I hadn't started a fitness program or joined a gym, so when I realized I had hit a plateau, that was the first thing I did.
A few years later I hit the jackpot when I paired with a vegetarian family who happened to be fitness enthusiasts. Their love for the outdoors quickly rubbed off on me, and I found myself not only hitting the gym first thing in the morning, but biking to and from work, clocking in over ten hours of cardio and five of strength training weekly. I was amazed at how quickly my body changed, and was determined to keep it that way.


Man plans, God laughs


By the time I met my now husband, I was 138 pounds of fit, Latin hotness (or so he made me believe). I had never felt better, or more attractive, than during the time we were dating. I was religiously working out, still biking to work - this time an ever greater distance - and had the love of my gorgeous, sweet boyfriend with whom I would enjoy weekend meals at all sorts of restaurants around the city. The best part was, I could actually eat what I wanted, and I enjoyed the food as much as the company. This time, I knew my body could take it.

Then the big surprise came, and with it a string of bad choices taken under the lame excuse of "I'm eating for two!" Nothing prepared me for the ravenous appetite I acquired when I got pregnant. No bit of food was safe if left near me. I felt that, after all that hard work to keep my weight down over the last few years, I deserved a little break and was entitled to enjoy my pregnancy to it's fullest, whole pints of ice cream and all. Big, super-sized mistake.

At the time of my last prenatal check up, about a week before Emma was born, I weighted in at 192 pounds. Convinced I would deliver a giant 20 pound baby and the rest would be water weight, I was crushed when I learned my little bundle of joy was a mere 6 pounds, 8 ounces.

I started working out again as soon as my doctor gave me the green light, but the problem now was that I hardly had any time for myself. My workouts were usually cut short and very seldom. A year later, I still had 26 extra pounds that were so attached to me, they wouldn't leave.

Nowadays I work as a part-time nanny, and I've been trying to blend my exercise routine into activities that I already do, such as taking the kids to and from places (I "power walk" pushing the stroller), or going back home. The later proves to be the most efficient. Once a week, weather permitting, I bike both ways totalling 14 miles. The other two days, I try to run most of the 7 miles it takes to get home. And the fact that I now have a child helps keep our diet healthy and balanced. Sure, we have the occasional pizza night, but we reserve it for times in which there really isn't any time to whip up something better.

I'm still struggling to lose those last 26 pounds. At this point my routine only prevents me from gaining any weight - which is helpful given an unfailing sweet tooth - but it hasn't really helped me to lose it. I know I have hit yet another plateau, although I have to confess to have slacked in the last 6 months. Now that I have Jamie as my inspiration, I also have a new found confidence in myself, and I know this time around the effort will pay off!

Hello everyone, and welcome to our blog!
We are thrilled to share with everyone our journey to a healthier and more fit lifestyle!
Our mission is not only to feel and look fabulous from the inside out, but to also be more aware of our bodies and nurture them the way they deserve. Our main objective is to achieve the one thing that will not only help our weight related issues but every aspect of our daily lives: balance.

Now let's think about that little word for a moment. We think it is probably the one word that embodies every single New Year's resolution anyone has ever thought of. Lose the weight, drink less, quit smoking, eat healthier, have more time for my kids, be more organized, stop slacking at work... If we think about it, it all comes down to how we make everything in our life fit, like a puzzle. Once we find the right place for each piece, that's when our lives feel more put together. That's how we feel "balanced". With balance, everything goes from chaos to peace, regardless of what we apply it to. In this particular case, we would like to find it in our exercise routines, our diets, and our overall state of mind. Balance, in our opinion, should be the one and only resolution, year after year, that we should fiercely pursue.

The first step in any potential life changing experience is to become aware of the situation and accept the facts surrounding it. Understand that the only one that can make significant changes in your life is you and only you. Take control of your life and not let life control you. It's very easy to get caught up in the routine of our busy lives and neglect ourselves, and getting back on track can be challenging. But once we find ourselves in the right path, and we're really committed, there's no turning back. Our bodies have spoken, and we have finally understood. Now it's time to act.

It's important to know that there will never be only ONE way to achieve the main goal of a healthy weight. What works for one person won't necessarily work for another. There are many factors that can make this process easier or more challenging, be it our metabolism, lifestyle, or time allowance. We are extremely aware of this, and we realize we will need to tailor our own "program" according to our needs and the time we each have to devote to activities related to it. Having this mindset will help us accept the fact that this process will take its due time, and we will be able to set realistic goals and have equally realistic expectations.

We think this blog could be particularly helpful, should we spark other people's interest, since each of us represents a different side of the coin: Jamie is a lively single girl, who works night shifts on the West Coast, and Carolina is a happily married gal, mom to an active toddler, who works part-time on the East Coast. Our personal stories couldn't be more different. But our hopes and goals are the same, and so we decided to start this journey together, and vowed to be each others motivation and inspiration source!

We truly hope we can inspire others the way we have inspired each other along the way. We will be posting our progress on a weekly basis, as well as ideas and resources that could help others get started. We are looking forward to share our experiences and hear those of others.

Mission Hotness has officially started. It's time to get our mojo back!!!