You know by now that Wednesday is the day that I am subjected to my workout with Michelle at Fitness Together…actually, I can’t wait.  I am ready to work out and push myself harder than normal today.

I have had a good week…eating healthy has pretty much become by way of life.  I had one thing this week that I probably shouldn’t have eaten but I limited it to just a a couple bites…fried squash.  I just couldn’t help myself and I had blackened grouper with a couple small pieces of fried squash on Sunday at lunch.    I worked out hard that morning and then again that night….I hope I made up for it :). 

I thought Labor Day may be difficult but it really wasn’t.  I woke up and did a 20 minute intense workout — lunges, push ups, jumping jacks, and sit ups…then I had my protein shake and went for a long walk with Raz…the dog.  We had lunch with my grandma at O’Charley’s and I had grilled salmon and asparagus for lunch and 1/2 of a roll and then for dinner I had hamburger…no bun…steamed broccoli and some other vegetables.  All in all, it was a good day.

I am feeling so much better….so thankful that I have decided to take this journey!!

To raise money for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, our team will be holding a cornhole tournament at The Naked Oyster Company on September 25. Registration will begin at 11am and the tournament will begin at 12:30pm. You can register and pay with credit card below…or contact me and we can get you registered for the event. We look forward to seeing you on the 25th!!

Even though I am working through a respiratory infection….I still feel great!!  It is amazing what eating healthy and actually doing some type of physical activity will do for you…

Michelle, one of my trainers at Fitness Together, looked through my daily journal last night and said she was so impressed with the fact that I eat so many fruits and vegetables…and not many grains.  (For me to give up bread is like a fish giving up water so for her to say that makes it even more of an accomplishment.)  I have this eating thing down now and it is so easy!!  Of course, it is easy with Shane’s help…since he makes sure that I have enough grilled chicken for several days worth of meals.  I would not be able to do it without his help and knowing that I can just grap a couple ziplock bags from the fridge each day that has everything I need for my lunch and an afternoon snack is great.  I have found a whole new love for grilled chicken, salmon, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, grapes, apples and bananas….and the occasional salad. 

I think Michelle took it a little easy on me last night since I was a little sick but I still had a good work-out.  I am not as sore as I have been the last two sessions but I can still feel that I have worked out my glutes… :).  

I am looking forward to a busy weekend….working out with Michelle again on Saturday morning and then showing property all day Saturday and maybe Sunday to friends from California (can’t wait for you guys to move here!!)…Hope to spend a little time with the family at the lake on Sunday evening or Monday!!

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!!!

Wednesday means that I get to work out with Michelle at Fitness Together!!!  YEAH!!  I really can’t wait.  I need to push myself and I am sure that she will take care of that this evening! 

I have been a little lazy this week due to a respiratory infection that is driving me crazy.  I just haven’t felt much like working out.  I have done the occasional walk, played a little basketball with the niece and nephew and had a softball game this week, but nothing that makes me feel like I have really worked out. 

I have still been eating healthy and I have stayed on the nutrition plan that Jeff suggested when I first started.  I don’t know if anyone else can tell that I have lost any “fat” yet but I can tell that my clothes are a little looser and I feel so much better…well, except for the respiratory infection. 

One of my short term goals is to walk in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer on October 23 & 24.  We will be walking 26 miles the first day and 13 miles the 2nd day and I am sure that I will be exhausted by the end of the weekend.  As you know, this is a big step for me however it is one that I feel that I can accomplish with your support.   Please consider making a contribution…it doesn’t matter what amount….$5, $10, $20.  To Donate, please visit my page at http://avonwalk.org/goto/leslieauton.

Thanks for the continued support!!

I just finished my first week with Fitness Together and I do feel so much better at the end of the week than I did at the beginning of the week. In spite of being sore, I still have more energy and have been able to play tennis, basketball, softball, kickball, and run around with the kids.

My workout with Jeff went OK today…there were parts that were easy and parts that I thought I may die if I had to do again.  Walking lunges and step ups were not my friends today…but give me a few months and I will be knocking them out like they were nothing.    I am going back on Wednesday evening for round two with Michelle…all I can say is “bring it on” :). 

After my workout this morning, I made it to my nephew’s football game and then with the family to lunch at Pizza Hut.  Yeah, I am crazy…not sure what I was thinking but when the kids ask me to go, I can’t say no.  I was surprised that I had absolutely no desire for a breadstick or a slice of pizza…yeah!!  I just ate my salad and really enjoyed it!!   After lunch I hung out with the kids all afternoon and we played basketball and kickball…my legs were screaming “NO” but again, when the kids ask, I can’t say no!  I may not be able to get out of bed tomorrow but today was a really great day!

Ok…I had my first workout with Michelle at Fitness Together yesterday afternoon and I guess I used muscles that haven’t seen action in a long, long time!!  Once I finally figure out how to sit down, I don’t want to get back up…and vice versa!!  Still going to play tennis and do a little more cardio tonight…maybe it will help get these muscles ready for tomorrow.

I had my first workout session yesterday afternoon.  I showed up at Fitness Together with a determination to make it through the first night with no issues and I made it!!!  So excited!!  I started off with the elliptical for about 15 minutes and then went into one of the training suites with Michelle.  We did two different circuits and worked, from what I could tell, every muscle group in my body.  She said I had great form and had the athletic ability…but I just need to work on my stamina….that will come as I keep at it. 

I am going back on Saturday morning at 8:15 for my next session and I am excited and a little nervous since I will be working with Jeff Heal…can’t wait to see what else I will learn about myself this week. 

Thanks for all of the support!! 

Since starting on Saturday, it hasn’t been hard to eat healthy and stay on the nutrition plan that Jeff gave me to get started.  We grilled a huge pack of chicken so it makes for an easy lunch and snacks for a few days this week.  It looks like salmon and asparagus is on the menu for tomorrow night and, maybe, turkey burgers and cooked cabbage on Wednesday night.  So far, I seem to be eating a lot of grilled chicken, salmon, and broccoli and I am sure that will get old pretty quickly.  I think I will make a trip to Fresh Market while I am in Cornelius tomorrow afternoon to pick up some additional fruits and vegetables so that I have more of a variety.

I have found that eating five small meals has been somewhat of a struggle for me…I am having trouble getting on a schedule to eat that many meals in a day.   After the first couple of days, I have decided that I am just going to cook extra food at night so that I have my snacks and lunch for the following day. 

I am still craving a little something sweat after each meal but I haven’t given in to that temptation…and I don’t plan on it.   I know that eventually I will retrain my body and will no longer have those cravings but I do hope that day comes soon. J   

Tonight I am bored and this is the time that I would usually just snack on junk food to kill the time.  I am just trying to keep busy so that I don’t think about it…so far, it has worked.  I am looking forward to playing tennis tomorrow night and then working out with Michelle at Fitness Together on Wednesday evening and I am sure the last thing I will think about after those activities is junk food.  Now, I just need to find an activity for Thursday evening…

I had my initial assessment on Saturday (8/21/2010), I know the foods that I should be eating each day, and I will start working with a personal trainer on Wednesday afternoon.  I am really excited and here are my goals for this journey of a healthier lifestyle…

These are my goals for the next year…

1. Just be healthier — decrease airway obstruction issues and less aches and pains
2. Have a desire to exercise and eat healthy — make it a normal part of my life
3. Play a full basketball game with no breathing issues — actually be able to move around on the court
4. Be quick enough that I could play any position in softball
5. Be able to run in a 10K if I choose to — Cooper River Bridge Run is April 1
6. Have toned muscles — all over
7. Lose over 70 pounds of fat!!!
8. Body Fat Percentage of less than 22
9. Get back in a size 8 in clothing
10. Be so good at Fitness Together that I could be a trainer….if that is what I wanted…:)

These are my goals for the first 8 weeks…

1. 10% decrease in Body Fat Percentage
2. Lose 20 pounds
3. Increase stamina during work-outs
4. Get back into a size 16 pants
5. No need for a pinch runner in softball
6. No longer have cravings for sweets or unhealthy foods

I will be posting my struggles and successes several times per week…I am using this as a way to stay accountable to myself and to those that are reading each week…and to hopefully motivate someone else to join me in this journey of a healthier life.  

Be sure to check back around October 16 to see how I did during my first 8 weeks!!!

In 2000, I was 28 years old….and working about 60+ hours per week as a Branch Manager of one of the largest and most profitable branches at Peoples Bank.  When I left work, the last thing that I wanted to do was exercise and, even though I loved coaching, it was a struggle for me to want to go to the basketball gym or the softball field twice per week.   I had completely given up playing softball, tennis, and basketball after tearing my achillis tendon twice the year before and I just could not get myself motivated to attemp to play anything.  I used the injury as an excuse for why I couldn’t play and due to the lack of exercise, I begin putting on weight.  I was never small however I was a whole lot smaller than I am now. 

By the end of 2000 and into 2001, going through a divorce seemed to put a little life back into me…I started playing softball again and began running…if you can believe that.  I would run about 3 miles every morning before work and would go to the gym or run the hill at Spinaker Bay condos at night.  Even though I played sports competitively until I was 27, I was probably in the best shape of my life in 2001. 

In 2002, I met Shane…we began dating and the gym, running and the hill at Spinaker Bay got further and further away.  I fell in love with Shane…and with playing golf.  The time that I had been using for working out was replaced with Shane and golf….not that I am complaining….I love my life with Shane.  

In 2004, Shane and I decided it was time that we needed to lose weight and get healthier….and we did it.  He lost over 100 pounds and I lost 70 pounds and we did feel and look great.  We worked out every morning and played softball a couple nights per week.  We learned how to eat healthy and even though we felt like we had changed our eating habits and would never go back to the way we had eaten before, we were wrong.

The summer of 2005, I got pregnant….we were so excited!!   All I wanted was carbs and I needed to have something quick to eat with me all of the time…I miscarried at 12 weeks and we were devastated.  Over the following 6 months, I gained what I would have gained during a full term pregnancy because all I wanted to do was eat…and I don’t remember it being very healthy.   I still played softball and golf but I didn’t go to the gym, and exercise was not something that I felt like doing for a long time.

I had just started working out again with my friend, Jill, in 2007 when I had an issue at a doctor’s office that left me on a ventillator in cardiac care at Carolina’s Medical Center-Main for five days.  After I was released from the hospital, I found out that I had a damaged vocal chord and trachea.  I went through voice therapy to learn how to breathe and talk with a partially paralyzed vocal chord.  I still sound like I am wheezing after just the slightest amount of exertion however I am tired of using this as an excuse…I did continue to play softball and basketball during the last few years, and I did go through a time when I was obsessed with going to the gym, but I never changed my life and decided that I wanted to be healthier so I never succeed in having a healthier life. 

Several weeks ago, I was having my own little pity party about being old, fat and slow…when I realized it was time to do something about it!  I got on the scales and wanted to throw up…I weighed more than I had ever weighed in my life.  I know that I can’t do this alone and that is why I have contacted one of my husband’s friends, Jeff Heal at Fitness Together in Davidson to help me with this.  I expect to be held accountable and I need to have someone push me to acheive my goals.  By this time next year, Jeff and all of my friends will be proud of my accomplishments….but more importantly I will have suceeded in my journey for a healthier lifestyle and will be living it. ]]> http://leslieauton.com/?feed=rss2&p=211