Welcome Kary to the Blog!

If you want to add your story to our blog and have the support and accountability it will bring to you, just  contact Tasha or Erin at The Fit Stop and we would be happy to get you started!

Kary:

weight:  224lb

body fat: 38.8%

Goal:  30% body fat

Live by the scale....and your motivation will die by the scale...

Erin and I had our first weigh-in this morning!  Both of us had a decrease in the scale of about one pound.  We could let this get us down, but there are a few things we must keep in mind to maintain motivation and focus.  When anyone begins a new exercise program and diet change, the body needs time to adjust and in a way recalibrate itself to the new routine.  Give your body a few weeks or even longer to adjust before you become critical of yourself.  We are also doing a lot of weight training and muscle endurance exercises, this means we are building muscle.  Muscle is more dense than fat, so that means it weighs more.  If you aren't losing fat as quick as you are building muscle, then you aren't going to see the number on the scale decrease very quickly.  Every single pound is a milestone and you must recognize and appreciate the small victories!  Erin and I may have not seen huge decreases on the scale yet, but we are without a doubt more fit today than we were when we began.  We have more energy, more endurance for our workouts, more confidence, and our pants are fitting better!  The scale is not what we base our success on, it is merely a tool to help monitor changes in our bodies.  We also took measurements of our waist, chest, legs, and arms.  We will be measuring to see how many inches we have lost on week three.  Remember, stay focused on your goal and be patient.  You didn't gain that weight overnight and it is not going to melt off overnight.  Recognize the small victories.  Every minute spent working on your fitness is an investment towards your future!

Tasha Larsen

weight:  147 lbs

body fat:  21.8%

Erin Niederhauser

weight:  157 lbs

body fat:  24% 

(Check post one for our previous weight and body fat.  Good job to Erin on her body fat decrease!)

Lunges and Jumps

Happy Monday everyone!  We started off our week with a great workout and our motivation is increasing as we start to feel our bodies and conditioning improve. 

Today's workout was called Lunges and Jumps:

(used a dumbbell for the lunges and a weight bench for the burpee box jumps)

>20 Walking lunges w/ weight in right hand
>3 Burpee box jumps

>20 Walking lunges w/ weight in left hand
>3 Burpee box jumps

>15 Walking lunges w/ weight in right hand
>6 burpee box jumps

>15 Walking lunges w/ weight in left hand
>6 Burpee box jumps

>10 Walking lunges w/ weight in right hand
>9 Burpee box jumps

>10 Walking lunges w/ weight in left hand
>9 Burpee box jumps

>5 Walking lunges w/ weight in right hand
>12 Burpee box jumps

>5 Walking lunges w/ weight in left hand
>12 Burpee box jumps

After we completed the lunges and jumps we had a 20 min. cardio session on an Elliptical machine.  Our entire workout took about 45 mins.  I (Tasha) wear an Experspy to track my calories burned throughout the day, and during those 45 minutes I burned 408 calories!

50-40-30-20-10

Here is a clip of our saturday morning workout.  We warmed up with 30 mins on the treadmill and then headed into the Group Ex room for a series of jump squats and jump rope.  It was hard to jump by the end!  (The sets were 50-40-30-20-10 of both jump squats and jump rope.) 

Sausage Biscuit.. Busted!

This morning's breakfast!  430 calories...27 grams of fat.

The Struggles We Face

Okay let's talk about how the last week and a half has gone for Erin and myself.......  I am going to admit that weight loss is a challenge!  Okay now that that's out of our way let's talk about the struggles we face when we embark on weight loss adventures.  We have been pretty consistent at waking up for our early morning work outs.  Getting up and working out first thing in the morning helps us have more energy throughout the day and it helps keep us focused on eating healthy.  There have been a few mornings where we said we would just workout later in the day and skip the morning work out..... guess what?  We didn't end out working out at all on those days.  We are learning quickly that sticking to our plan is the key to our success.  You have to make it a priority to get into the gym or it isn't going to happen!  Overall though, the exercise part has been enjoyable and something we look forward to every day.  Nutrition, on the other hand, has been a bit more of a struggle for us.   Pizza, french fries, donuts, cookies, and diet coke........ yes, between the two of us, these are some of the items we have possibly over-indulged on already.  Whoops.  Our diet is a work in progress and it is about developing an entirely new healthy life style and ending bad habits.  We have allowed ourselves some of these treats to maintain our sanity (cheat meals).  Your diet is going to be 80% responsible for your success at weight loss.  We all know that we have to burn more calories than we bring in to lose weight.  So how come so many of us can't seem to get it right?  I know, personally, I try to deprive myself of the foods I like, so I end up eating way too much of it once I crack. You can eat anything you want, you just can't eat EVERYTHING you want.  This is a good principal to follow and will help you find a healthy balance in your diet. Giving in to your favorite dessert or a slice of pizza here and there isn't the end of the world.  Just track those calories and make sure to hit the gym for a good sweat session!

We are going to release some information that us women usually hide at all measures....our weight and body fat percent.

Tasha Larsen: 

Starting weight:  148lbs
Body Fat:           21.8%

Erin Niederhuaser

Starting weight:  158lbs
Body Fat:            25%

We are having a first weigh-in on Tuesday, January 25th.  Leave us your comments and suggestions!  We need your support and would love to hear some of the things you guys struggle with!

We will be posting some videos soon of some of our workouts, stay tuned!