EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeanette Balmut has been selected to participate in the Year of You, a fitness challenge hosted by The Manteca Bulletin, CalFit Manteca and CORE Athletic Performance. Balmut is keeping a weekly journal, highlighting the strides and struggles of her fitness journey.
Day 134
Week 20, and I am finally in the TEENS…UGH, finally! Yeah, and that’s NOT 119 for those of you that are wondering! I’m hoping the next 19 comes off a little faster, but I will just stay focused and keep working hard. I now have 76 days to hit my first goal. That would mean a little more than 1.7 pounds a week. I can do it! Right? I start the day not too happy. My dog jumped up on my counter and ATE THE ENTIRE bag of the homemade healthy-girl muffins I made. They were supposed to last me the entire week. I manage to come up with something good for the day and stick to my plan. After work the boys and I (Mike and Mitch) head to the gym. Antonio greets me at the door and tells me to warm up. It’s been a week so I know he’s going to ask me to really step it up. YEP, I am right. He puts me through the ringer. I was literally shaking when we were done. ALL legs and lower body. OUCH. I finished the day on the Stairmaster next to Mitch. Oh, one minor detail…while I was on the Stairmaster, a friend from the gym came up to me and said she was in the gym the other day and noticed what she thought was me working out she said to herself, “nah, that’s not Jeni, that lady is too small.” YEP FOLKS, it was me!!! Wahoo, gotta love hearing that! We went home to a great dinner of ball steaks, salad and sweet potatoes. Thank you to McKenna who is helping us this summer with our cooking.
Day 135
I can barely move today. My legs are killing me. I know it’s a “good pain” but still! I am back to walking gingerly around the office and can barely sit and stand at my desk. I feel like it’s a “vacation” at the gym today since its just cardio day. Mike and I do it together so it sure makes the time go fast when he’s with me. I start with treadmill and move on to the elliptical. I have never done more than 2200 strides on this but today, I kick butt and finish with over 3500. The last ten minutes I hooked my phone up to Amazon Music and completely rock out to some great energizing songs. I have to actually look around to see if anyone is watching me because I know I must look ridiculous with the way I am shaking it on the elliptical. It worked though, I am dripping with sweat! Grilled chicken breast, roasted Brussels sprouts with cabbage salad. SO GOOD!
Day 136
Today I show up, start with a 20 minute warm up and Antonio and I hit the upper body. Chest and arms. In between the machines, he makes me do a heart pumping exercises like jumping jacks or side to sides. I do this for one minute and then back to the weight machines. Three sets of everything. We finish the machines and head to the resistance bands and while I am working the arms, he has me do lunges at the same time. I am in so much pain from the Monday exercise that I can hardly stand it, but after a few I begin to feel better and can complete the sets. Later in the evening I go to show Mike what I did, I can’t do ONE. FEEL THE BURN! As you all have read, Mike has been coming with me to the gym every day for the past week. He is sore, but doing great. I would like to point out that he started HEAVIER than me and in just a few short days he is already LESS than me. Can we say NOT FAIR? It’s such bull. It literally makes me want to scream.
Day 137
Race home from work, change and off to the gym. I have to get my workout in before Mitch’s game. Today is weight training again but this time it’s back and shoulders. I do 5 machines, 3 sets of 15 reps each. I finish with 1.5 miles on the treadmill. We race off to the game and by the time it’s over its after 8:30 p.m. and I am so hungry I can eat my shoe. It’s so late and we don’t want to eat this late or anything heavy so we decide on just a cabbage salad. It’s not really the most satisfying thing, but oh well. Its bed time and I just deal with it.
Day 138
I debate getting up and going to the gym at 4:45 a.m. but decide it can wait till after work. Mitch has another game tonight but it’s not till 6 p.m. so I can get home from work and do my cardio before the game. Since we literally have NOTHING in our fridge for me to eat today, I am a little nervous about what I am going to have for breakfast and lunch. I stop at McDonalds, YES, you heard me…and order one scrambled egg and one piece of bacon for now and I order oatmeal to eat at about 10 a.m. It states its 270 calories on the board. I think that’s if you put all the “goodies” in with it. I hit the gym after work for cardio and I am going to do my three. I am approached by a friend at the gym who wants me to work out in the back with him and do “his kind of work out”. More like yoga than cardio. I stick with my two miles on the treadmill then move over to the Stairmaster and do 20 minutes. At about 15 minutes my friend is really working hard to get me to stop what I am doing and do his workout. He tries to convince me that what I am doing is not an all over workout and that his can help me more. I tell him to give MY work out a try and to get on the Stairmaster for five minutes and then we’ll talk. I finish my full 20 minutes and then he gets on it. At two minutes and 40 seconds he is sweating profusely and not sure if he’ll be able to complete the five minutes. I of course am grinning from ear to ear. After five he concedes and tells me that I was right and I was getting a good work out in! I finished on the elliptical another 20 minutes. I leave feeling pretty proud of myself.
Day 139
Up early to take Mitch to his SATs then grocery shopping. I load up on vegetables, fruits, salads, and a few things I need for some recipes I will be making this weekend. I get them off FITGIRL.Com and it’s got a lot of great ideas. I get home, unload and start cooking. I make “fit nuggets” for breakfast (basically like a healthy oat muffin) and I make enough for the week. We get home from Mitch’s game mid-day and McKenna and I race off to the gym. Its abs and core day and we warm up then hit the mats. We do six different ab drills and then move on to a few booty drills. Oh man, it hurts. That will always be the hardest for me since that where I carry most of my weight! We get home to a barbecues prepared by Mike of awesome rib-eyes, brown rice and a salad. Great dinner, great day!
Day 140
Today I decide I am going to get rid of my BIG GIRL clothes. I can’t tell you how many times I have done this. I usually just pack them away knowing in a year or two I will have to pull them back out since I will have gained my weight back. NOT THIS TIME! They are gone, ciao, adios, farewell, see ya, bye bye! I load them up and off they go to Goodwill. It’s a great feeling. I am going to do this again in another 5 months and get rid of even more. Not quite there yet, but I will keep going and get to my goal…and then KEEP IT OFF! I literally work ALL day in my room, cleaning and organizing and at 4:50 p.m. I realize I haven’t worked out yet. I try to tell myself that its ok, I can miss, I don’t HAVE to go to the gym. Nope, I can’t. I get ready and get to the gym by 5:05 p.m. I have 55 minutes to get my cardio in. I decide I am going to practice my 5K that I will be running in two weeks for the Lupus Run. I crank it up and get to work. I know it’s not fast but I keep it up and finished in 47 minutes. That’s with a few minutes warming up too. So my new goal is 45 minutes. I will try it again this week. I get home to the best dinner ever. Barbequed fresh turkey, corn on the cob and cabbage salad. HEAVEN!
