I have been keeping a personal diary of sorts about me leading a healthy and fit life. One that is just for me, with my thoughts and images that affect me. Thoughts and images that can lead me astray or keep me on the straight and narrow.

Lately, I feel different and with that I feel the need to share some of my thoughts and the crooked paths I have taken to lead the life I am leading now. I am just about at my goal weight and am continuing to get stronger both mentally and physically. I look at who I am and what I can do so differently than the “old” me. The “old” me is someone who thought she couldn’t … She wasn’t coordinated, she wasn’t strong enough, she was tired. She was missing out on important connections with people nearby. She wasn’t requiring more of herself and people around her. She settled.

I looked back at my first post which recapped the first week from when I started the now famous “545a bootcamp” —

Thursday, July 3, 2008
Boot Camp Week 1

So I decided this was the year to get myself back in shape. I was feeling down on myself and realized – I have control of what is going on with me. So a friend of mine, Melissa, mentioned that she was taking a boot camp. She looks fantastic. She hooked me up with information, and 2 weeks later, I was attending my first boot camp.

5:45a Mon, June 30 – I have to admit I was nervous. I know I am out of shape, but I didn’t realize just how out of shape one can get. I do now. I am sure day 1 for newbies is easy, but this wasn’t easy for me. We started out doing squats, push-ups, jumping up and down on square boxes. This is no joke. Throw in some jump roping in there too.

545a Tues, July 1 – My soreness didn’t deter me from attending Day 2. We did a long run from studio bleu to amity rd. Seems long to me but I am sure it wasn’t even half a mile. Core training was doing push-ups with hand slaps to a partner and sit-ups with a partner. I felt bad for Melissa being my partner. She told me though my level is normal for beginners. That made me feel better. We did a bunch of football warm-ups – jump skips, push-ups, shuffles. Then the newbies learned how to power lift. That was fun. It is something I have never done and in a way you feel really powerful. The boot camp regulars had to do a lot more running and circuits. In time that will be me.

Tues, Jul 1 Weds, Jul 2 – SORE. SORE. SORE. I do not think I have ever been this sore before. Breathing hurts, stairs hurts, bending in any direction hurts. You get the idea.

545a Thurs, Jul 3 – Raring to go this morning. We started off with warm-up of 50 push-ups. It is hard to do. I did my best. Then we did a few rounds of sit ups (hands extended, feet above the ground and crunch together) combined with lying on our stomachs and crunching our heads and legs together). Then we did this circuit, where we started out with 2 15lb weights and we did squats with those, then we did powerlifting squats, then we did powerlifting leg alternating lifts, then we ran, then we did tripod alternates that are like push-ups but not really. We had our times recorded based on total reps for the entire circuit. I did the worst out of the lot, but thats ok. I can only get better.

I feel really proud of myself for being able to do this. I need a mood lifter as of late.

<—- This pic was April 2008

How far I have come…And because of how far I have come, I amd proud of myself and want to share my experience in hopes that someone will be inspired to live a better life too.

If I can do it, then anyone can do it.

Everyone who knows me knows I certainly haven’t had an easy year or so. Notice above that my first bootcamp was June 30. We found out Scott had colon cancer the 1st/2nd week of July. I started off with 3 days a week bootcamp, then added in a Wednesday group training class. And then added in weekend training. So I definitely worked my way up to my now 6x a week training program.

Someone asked me recently, what is your secret for losing the weight? The answer is there is no secret.

The answer is: On June 30, 2008, I made a commitment to change my life and here we are November 18, 2009 and I am 22lbs lighter, 6% body fat lower and am a new Stephanie… It wasn’t overnight and there were no shortcuts to get here.

My objective in sharing is for you to find inspiration and support if you choose to take this same journey knowing that everyone has to make the trip in their own way.