Week 1: Potato Gets Off the Couch

As promised, real-life, real-time results (photos to the right, measurements below):

DATE 5/14/2010

CIRCUMFERENCE MEASUREMENTS
neck 13 1/4"
shoulders 16"
chest 37 3/4"
bicep ® 12 1/4"
bicep (L) 6 1/2"
forearm ® 10"
forearm (L) 9"
waist 32 3/4"
bellybutton 35 1/4"
hips 40"
thigh ® 19 1/4"
thigh (L) 23 1/4"
calf ® 14"
calf (L) 9"

waist to hip ratio 32.75:40

BODY COMPOSITION

fat lbs 52.6
% fat 34.0%
LBM 102.0

height 5'5 3/4"
weight 154.6

STRENGTH TESTING
max push ups 60 seconds 12 off knees
13 on knees
CARDIO TESTING
12 minute Cooper treadmill (distance) .76 miles

So. I'm 30 lbs. overweight. After months of speculating on how and why this happened to me, I decided to get a hold of Casey. I've known Casey for a decade; she has a lot of acronyms after her name that mean she knows everything there is to know about food, fitness and yoga. She is an impressive specimen of a woman. I'm sure she can help me. We email. She lives in California, I do not. But, she can help me.

(She can help you too...here she is):
Michelle Casey, RYT, CPT
Fitness, Nutrition and Yoga
408.372.6689
bodybymichelle.net
fitfoodiekitchen.blogspot.com

I can't afford her, I can't afford not to afford her. I send her money. We begin. She is very thorough and wants to know a lot about everything. She is wonderfully encouraging. She is one person I know who will not shame me into doing this. That fact makes me want to do this even more. I fill out the questionnaire. Casey says I am not my numbers; when I get measured and step on the scale I want to cry anyway. Casey schedules my workouts with me a week at a time and we have a weekly phone sessions to check in live and see how I'm coming along. I send her my measurements, test results and the dread "before" photos (see above). Yes, I felt as miserable as I look in that picture. After our first phone call, I go running with my girl friend on a Saturday afternoon. It's hot and I still smoke and I run for 3 minutes. Maybe not even 3 minutes. That's all I've got. Then I walk, and run and walk and run and before either of us realize it, we've been gone for more than 2 hours. Cardio is quickly replacing cigarette in my vocabulary now. I text Casey every time I get out and move during the week--I love this. Wednesday evening (during a week I had finished 4 finals for school), I suggest to my boyfriend that we go for a walk instead of staying on the couch to watch one of my favorite movies. We walk. It feels awesome. I'm pinching myself to make sure it's still me. I love this.