2010 98 Day Summer Big Burn Results

Here are my final results of the Big Burn contest. The judges are looking to announce the winners sometime shortly after September 12. The scoring is 1/3 measurements, 1/3 pictures and 1/3 essay.

Measurements:

Front view:

Essay:

Growing up active in the country keeps a kid from having to worry about their weight. During the school year, I played basketball and softball; and every other sport known (and unknown) to man on recess. During the summer, I played softball and spent the rest of the time outside with my brother exploring the eighty or so acres we lived on. Playing softball lasted through my sophomore year of college. After that, the weight slowly climbed. So slowly that I had a tendency to not notice how big I had gotten.

At the end of July 2007, I had finally hit the tipping point. I refuse to buy bigger pants! But how to get rid of this jiggling mass? I was cruising the internet, trying to find a quick fix, when I stumbled across Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. But did I really want to spend money on a book? Something I had to read? Then I thought to myself “you were willing to spend money to buy pills that you knew in your heart wouldn’t work...” I bought the e-book and read it that very weekend. On July 30, 2007, I started my journey to be the fittest me.

When Holiday Burn 2009 came around, I was coming off of a personal contest and I didn’t really have the right mentality to give it the necessary effort. When the member poll was taken to see how many might be interested in a summer contest, and after seeing the success accomplished over the holidays, I voted positively.

Shortly after the contest began, I found it less daunting to break the time down into a week, and even a day, at a time. I did a good job of planning my meals a week ahead. This is something I had always started out doing well, but would go by the wayside a couple of weeks in.

I made two important food-related purchases during the contest; a digital scale and a rice cooker. Both have caused me to ask myself “why didn’t you do that sooner?”. Like all things, weighing food becomes a habit and can be done quickly. As my family can attest to, I’ve always been a stickler about my food touching. Now I have found that foods aren’t so bad mixed together and foods that might not otherwise be thought tasty with one another are excellent.

I’ve always joked that I played sports so that I didn’t have to exercise. As grown-ups, life often gets in the way of playtime. Fortunately, I was able to join a softball league during the contest. Unfortunately, I did have to run to burn off most of the calories. Most of my time was spent on a treadmill, and on occasion I ran on the country road beside our house.

I have a wonderful support group in my husband, family and friends. My husband joins me in a good number of my meals. When he doesn’t, he never complains about fending for himself. He doesn’t mind when I get up an hour earlier than him to put in my time on the treadmill, even though it has to be noisy owing to the fact that we live in a trailer house. His compliments and encouragement have boosted my spirits on more than one occasion. My family and friends have given me no small measure of good natured ribbing about my healthy lifestyle, but they also make it plain that they support me and are happy for me. I strive to be a good example for my thirteen year old sister and my nieces who are aged thirteen and eleven.

I am, without a doubt, in the best shape of my life…at thirty-two years old. I often find myself shocked when I see my reflection in a mirror or window. I have muscle definition I’ve never had before. I can handle the Oklahoma summer heat better. I can work at physical tasks much longer without tiring. It’s such a wonderful feeling! There’s no way that I can say that it was easy. It takes work, discipline and a bit of stubbornness, which I have in abundance. But like everything that takes hard work, the reward is that much sweeter.

While writing this essay, I was thinking about the question “Why are you a winner?” and realized I had been reading it as “Why are you ‘the’ winner?”. “The” winner can only be picked by the judges. I’m “a” winner because I meet expectations I have for myself. Even when my mind and body cries for another hour in bed, I get up, strap on my shoes and do the cardio. At the end of the day, when I’m mentally drained, I head to the gym and lift weights. When I’m planning to be at an event, I have my prepared meals waiting in the cooler. Before I go into a restaurant, I know which meals I will eat. When it might be so easy to eat that cookie, I pass it by. I look in the mirror and overlay what I want my body to look like on top of what is really there and the difference is smaller than I ever imagined possible. I’m “a” winner because I’m submitting this to the completed challenges thread.

Now it’s up to the judges to determine if I am “the” winner, which will give me and my husband a wonderful 10th wedding anniversary trip.

Big Burn Progress

I entered Tom Venuto’s Big Burn 2010 contest (http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com/public/Burn_The_Fat_Summer_Challenge.cfm). It’s nearing the end now, so I thought it would be cool to post my progress so far. I started the contest on 5/24/2010.

I’ve lost 9.27% body fat.
I’ve lost 14.55 lbs. body fat.
I’ve gained 6.75 lbs. lean muscle.

John Wooden Quotes via Tom Venuto

http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2010/06/john_woodens_success_advice.php

• There is no substitute for hard work.
• Discipline yourself and others won’t need to.
• Hard work is the difference. Very hard work.
• There is a price to be paid for achieving anything.
• Being average means you’re as close to the bottom as you are to the top.
• You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you react.

A Fat Loss Expert’s View of The Biggest Loser

http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2009/09/the_biggest_loser_pros_and_con.php

Tom Venuto weighs the pros and cons of The Biggest Loser reality television show.

Tom Venuto: Why Time Magazine Owes the Fitness Industry a Big Fat Apology

http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2009/08/why_time_magazine_owes_the_fit.php

Slowing Progress

My diet progress has slowed down in the past two weeks, but so has my cardio workouts. I skipped a few because of shearing and getting cows out of the creek caused by the tropical weather we had. I'm back on schedule this week and I'm going to increase it and see if that makes a difference.

Here are the totals so far:
Body Weight Loss	5 lbs
Body Fat Loss	12.99 lbs
Lean Body Mass Gain	7.99 lbs

Week 3

I've slowed down on losing this week, although my middle "feels" quite a bit smaller, but I still lost some fat and gained some muscle. I bought a smaller belt Monday, but I didn't buy small enough. I'm already close to the last hole.

What crazy weather we have had. The "tropical storm" came through Saturday night/Sunday morning and Oklahoma was flooded. The Washita River is totally out of it's banks around here. A lot of people had their houses flood. Unfortunately there were also deaths. My heart goes out to those families.

Diet Update

The diet is going well. I lost almost 5 more pounds of fat. Didn't gain as much muscle as last week, but I didn't lose any either, so I can't complain. Going to have to put another hole in my belt. I'm thinking I might just have to get a new one...

Sheared the show lambs last weekend and they look gooood. But I can never tell how good they really are until we get to the first show.

Man, it's hot. The seasons seem to be skewed. We're now having the middle of summer when we should, it seems, be winding down. We could use another rain as well. You wouldn't have thought we'd say that after the first of the summer, but like my Grandpa always said "In Oklahoma, don't cuss the rain cause it's gonna stop one day and it'll be a long time before it comes again".....or something like that. ;)

New Diet

Welllll, I started a new diet last week. It's Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto. It's a bodybuilding diet. It's all about learning the right stuff to eat, and how much, with weight lifting and cardio. Yesterday was my weigh in day and I haven't lost any weight....but I lost almost 5 lbs. of fat and gained that in muscle. It kinda makes me worry that I'm not reading the measurements right, but I do see a difference in my body shape. I still have a long way to go, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Stock shows are getting ready to start up. I'll be shearing the next two weekends to get ready for the first show the second week in September. The lambs are looking good and have been healthy so far this year. After last year, that's a major accomplishment.