Day Six of "Accountability Journal"...Cindy Fox Fitness

Thursday, January 27th

Like most other people in New Jersey, I woke up to the "school's closed" voicemail and sound of shoveling. Luckily, I didn't have to work at the hospital because I would've been out there shoveling already too. Aside from training a few clients, which got cancelled, I was supposed to teach a spin class at VIP Fitness at noon, but that was also cancelled. Luckily, the gym where I first weighed-in at was open so I was able to go weigh myself and get in my workout
for the day. Needless to say, I was very disappointed to see the scale still at 137 after all of this cardio I've been doing.
I need to say this so no one misinterprets what my objective is here. People get so caught up on the number on the scale (myself included, sometimes). The fact is, if you recently started working out with weights and doing cardiovascular activity, you're body fat % should go done, unless you're eating more calories to compensate for the calories you're burning off. If you want to see a "change" then you need to do something differently. I was running a lot during the summer and doing less weight training and weighed 135. In the fall, my running cut back and my weight training increased and I was up to 138, all with the same amount of food intake. So my plan here is to increase my cardio without making a big change in my eating, but to be cautious of how much I'm eating. I know my body fat % can be lower and I'd feel better. When that happens, I will weigh less on the scale as well because I'm not increasing my weight training. I'd like to see what 132 lbs. looks like again. It's been about 15 years since I've seen it (after doing a fitness contest at 29 yrs. old).

Food & Workouts:

-7am 2 cups of coffee
*9:30 shoveled for 1/2 hour
-10am a Luna Bar

* weighed-in 137 lbs.....did 20 mins. of Elliptical level 7

-2pm spinach salad w/ tomatoes, 1 slice of soy cheese, and balsamic dressing
-2:45 a Full Bar

*4pm went back to Retro Fitness with Robert (Naked Cowboy) for more cardio:
---35 mins. of Elliptical level 6-8 (forward and reverse)
---15 mins. Lifestyle Stair climber level 1 (wow, that's hard! I never tried that one before)

-5:30 Protein Shake with EAS Soy protein powder, 1/2 water/1/2 soy milk, flax seeds

-7pm 1 & 1/2 glasses of red wine
(had a few mouthfuls of angel hair pasta I cooked for the kids)
-8pm baked veggies (I spray the pan with Pam cooking spray, cut up cauliflower, spaghetti squash, and sliced mushrooms; then sprayed the top with Pam and sprinkled fresh garlic, salt & pepper....yummy!)
-9pm Baked Tostitos with salsa
*10:30pm BED

****I do take daily vitamins: C, Calcium, Probiotics, B12, D, Lutein (for eyes), and sometimes Iron (slightly anemic). I used to take Chromium Picolinate daily but ran out and keep forgetting to buy more.

Day Five of "Accountability Journal"...Cindy Fox Fitness

Wednesday, January 26th

I was planning on going back to Retro Fitness definitely by Tuesday or Wednesday morning to weigh in, but that didn't happen. I had to be at St. Joseph's hospital first thing in the morning with my son for an outpatient procedure. He is fine except the poor kid had to have NOTHING but liquid for over 24 hours. I have to say, he did better than I ever did on any of my "liquid diets". He even had the option of eating some jello at night and didn't want it!

Food For the Day:

-6:30am 2 cups of coffee home (non-dairy creamer & sweet n low)
-10:30am protein bar & med. cup of hazlenut coffee with soy milk (at hospital while waiting)
-1:30pm we went to Friendly's and I ordered vegetable stir-fry with white rice & a seltzer/lemon

-2:45pm went to Walmart for some groceries and ate a Lunar Bar while shopping
-4:00pm 2 cups of coffee home

*Finally got to the gym!!! ( would definitely NOT weigh myself in the evening)
Went to Retro Fitness, which is down the block from my house, with Robert (Naked Cowboy).

* did 46 minutes on treadmill, 5 miles (walked 5 mins. then jogged between 6.0-7.5 mph)
* went on elliptical 15 mins. (2 miles) level 6-8
The perfect remedy to get rid of the "crankies"!!!

-8pm 1 & 1/2 glasses of Penfold's Rawson's Retreat Shiraz/Cabernet
-9pm Quaker rice cakes with hummus
-10pm pretzels
*10:30pm BED

Day Four of "Accountability Journal"...Cindy Fox Fitness

Tuesday, January, 25th
I will admit that I'm feeling a bit discouraged and I'm not sure if it's just PMS sneaking up on me or the fact that I didn't get to do cardio and feel like I broke my own goal of 1 hour of cardio each day for two weeks. I hear this from my clients and now you're hearing it from me. Family and work completely consumed my day yesterday into the night and I just couldn't squeeze it in.
My plan was to be out of the house by 8am to get to the gym to weigh myself and do cardio, get to the other gym to teach at 9:30, shower and get to the hospital by noon. Since we only have 1 bathroom and someone went into the shower just as I was about to, everything got pushed back and....well, I was in "a mood" for a while.

Food:

9am Luna Bar (on way to teach a class)
*9:30am taught 1 hour Powersculpt Class at Quest Fitness, Hasbrouck Hts.
11:45 mixed grilled veggies (From Cafe' Policastro before work
1:15 Odwalla Bar at work
2:30 handful of pretzels with some hummus at work
4pm Iced Coffee from Starbucks
7pm Luna Bar on way home from work
8pm Penfold's Rawson's Retreat Shiraz/Cabernet (1 & 1/2 glasses)
*practiced on guitar 1/2 hour
9pm rice cakes with hummus and Tofu
10pm some pretzels
*11pm BED

Day Three "Accountability Journal"...Cindy Fox Fitness

Monday, January 24th

My day started at 6:30am the usually way with 2 cups of coffee and ate a protein bar (9:15am) on the way to the Secaucus Recreation Center, where I taught a class.

-9:30am taught a 45 min. sculpting class using dumbbells and a mat for floor exercises

-went to VIP Fitness in Lyndhurst to use their studio, which has a big flat screen t.v. and DVD player. I popped in my Les Mills Body Attack 71 DVD, for the first time and got a cardio workout

-1pm Protein shake with half water, half soy milk, 2 tbs. flax seeds, 1/2 banana (ate the rest)
-2:45 2 Boca Burgers w/ 2 slices of soy cheese, pickles and ketchup (no bread)
-4:15 Protein bar on way to Harmon Cove Towers to train a client for 1 hour

*was out of the house with 2 back-to-back clients, a meeting 7-8:30, the vegetable market, and CVS (got home close to 9pm)

-8:30 ate a nut & fruit bar (from Starbucks) on the way home. Luckily, I had it in my bag (I was getting hungry)
-9:30 ate the 1/2 pint of white rice (with salt) that was left on the counter from the Chinese food the family ordered. I usually try to avoid starchy foods before bed
-10:30 should've just gone to bed, but nooooo, I had to start munching on those darn honey mustard pretzels again (not too much though)
*11:30 Bed

I think my next weigh-in will be Tuesday morning since I don't think I can get to the gym Wednesday morning and i want to be consistent with the same time on the same scale. If I didn't lose 1 pound, it's because of all of the snacks I had been eating at night....we'll see!

Day Two of "Accountability" Journal...Cindy Fox Fitness

Sunday, January, 23rd

I started the morning with my usual 2 cups of coffee at home while waking up and checking emails. I decided to workout on an empty stomach so my body would start burning the "stored" sugar and fat, rather than have extra calories to work off. I don't always do this though.

Workout of the day:

-walked on treadmill with slight incline 14 mins. doing one mile (a good warm-up)
-3 sets of dumbbell flys: 20lb D.B's/30 reps, 25lb's. D.B./15 reps, 25 lb. D.B. 12 reps
-3 sets dumbbell bicep curls with 20lb. D.B's
-3 sets tricep press downs with cables (single arm) 20 lbs. 12-15 reps.
-3 sets of "kickbacks" on machine for glutes and hamstrings (although I felt my quads on this particular machine)

-jogged 3.35 miles on treadmill in 30 mins.
-15 mins. on elliptical (1.5 miles) on levels 7-9

Food:

-protein bar (was meeting my mom, aunt Barbara, and friend Miriam at diner and knew there would be nothing there I should/would eat...just had 2 more cups of coffee there)

-2 Tofu hot dogs with a slice of soy cheese on a mini-wheat bagel with ketchup (at home)
-bowl of spinach leaves with a tomato and balsamic dressing

-Starbucks iced coffee with soy milk, peppermint, and sweet n low (at Barnes & Noble with Robert and my Godson, Joseph)

-2 glasses of red wine
-cheddar cheese pretzels

-a whole bag of Quaker Rice Cakes (Lemon and Rosemary flavored) with Hummus (a bit too much)

Day One of "Accountability" Journal...Cindy Fox Fitness

For anyone reading this that doesn't already know, I'm mostly vegan with the exception of occasionally using half n half in my coffee if I can't get soy milk. If I'm home I use non-dairy creamer. That means I don't eat animals or anything made with eggs or milk, and the only fish I'll eat is scallops, mussels, clams (if cooked) and of course, Blue Island Shellfish Farm's Naked Cowboy Oysters! Most of my protein intake is from soy products, chickpeas, beans, soy protein powder, and protein bars not made with milk or eggs.

Saturday, January 22nd (mentally preparing, but NOT weighed in until Sunday)

7am- 2 cups of coffee (sweet n low and non-dairy creamer)
9am- Protein Bar (new one...was sent a case to try)

workout (Retro Fitness)
-light weight workout with machines...7 sets in total and some abdominal work on mat
-36 minutes on treadmill (4.1 miles)
30 minutes on elliptical (forward and reverse), level 6 (3.08 miles)

-11:45am... soy protein shake w/ half water/half soy milk light & 2 tbs. of flax seeds
-1:30pm... bowl of green beans left in fridge (I think it had margarine on it)
-2:30... (wanted to eat, but got a coffee instead) Starbucks grande iced coffee with peppermint, soy milk & sweet n low
-3:00... a Luna Bar while food shopping

-6:30... pm started drinking wine (red, 2 & 1/2 glasses with ice throughout the night) and practiced guitar for 45 mins. (I had been slacking)
-8pm... (getting into the bewitching hours...the snacking begins) started snacking on honey mustard pretzels while cooking for family (chicken, rice, and mixed vegetables). Unfortunately, I still have to cook things for them that I don't eat, but I made myself grilled eggplant, red pepper, and mushrooms and ate a few mouthfuls of white rice
-9:30... 1/2 bag (the bigger one) of Quaker Rice Cakes (lemon and rosemary flavored) with hummus
*Bed by 11pm

First Weigh-In Sunday morning at Retro Fitness (will only use the same scale with clothes and NO shoes, in the morning, every 3 to 4 days)....137 lbs.

* just for perspective...I weighed 128 when I graduated high school, went up to 150 by 19 yrs. old, down to 125 for a bodybuilding, and have fluctuated between 134 and 148 during my bulimic days. Since I became vegetarian 2 years ago, I dropped down and maintained an average of 135-139. I'd love to see what 130 looks like again:)

From Fit to Fabulous in Fourteen Days!

I'd like to start this blog by saying, "I know I'm not FAT, under most people's description of the word, but when you're in front of a camera and possibly on TV, there's no room for error". When you're wearing revealing clothes (like a bikini), standing in a certain positions can make a "roll" in the mid-section or a shadow that accentuates cellulite, even if there's very little. Just take the tabloid magazines for example; some of the hottest celebrities have been put on the cover in the most unattractive photos.
With that said, I am giving you just a little background of my dieting history so you realize I can TOTALLY relate to what any of you go through with your attempted weight loss. After this first blog, the rest will be more up a journal-type entry with food intake and workouts of the day, and weigh-ins about every 3-4 days, which I usually do only a couple times a month.
All through school I was very active with gymnastics, cheer leading, softball, and by senior year I was an "aerobic instructor" too. I ate whatever I wanted (and I ate a lot!) and never worried much about my body until my senior year when I was nominated "class pin-up", which made me pay attention to my figure. Once I graduated and got an office job where I sat on my butt most of the day, I put on a quick 10 lbs. and NOTHING fit me or looked good anymore. I got very depressed about my job and my chubby body and turned to food for enjoyment. This is when I became "obsessed" with food and my body. Almost all of my thoughts were consumed with what i ate, was going to eat, shouldn't eat, and how much I needed to workout to burn if off.
I tried diet pills, laxatives, Slimfast drinks, starving and then binging, and induced vomiting. I even ended up in the intensive care unit at 18 for taking an overdose of Maximum strength Dexatrims (with caffeine) with the intentions of getting sick and not eating for a few days for a quick fix. I was bulimic from 19 until about 4 years ago (off and on). So I DO KNOW
HOW YOU FEEL!
I have learned to avoid what triggered my binges, which for me was sugar; kind of like an alcohol who can't have JUST ONE DRINK. It's not the 300 calories in a piece of cake that did me in, it was the other 6 pieces that followed. Any EXTREME diet, like liquid diets make my start obsessing and work against me instead of for me. I have decided to do "the best I can do" over the next two weeks without making myself crazy and see what difference it makes. I am calling this "accountability journal" From Fit To Fabulous in Fourteen Days" and will try to log in daily with my initial weight, may daily food intake (good and bad), and my workouts for the day. Stay tuned if you're interested.