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 120
I am 47 years old today. Time flies. Doesn’t seem possible when you look back at your life and think how fast it’s going. I would say the 30s were my best so far. However, I am working hard to make the late 40s and 50s the best yet. When you get overweight and tired and frumpy and lose your confidence and your zest. It makes those years seem wasted. When I get healthy and slimmer and get my old self back, I know I will feel a 100% better. That is my overall goal. Yes, I would like to lose 100 pounds, yes I would like to be fit and strong and be able to wear shorts and tank tops and maybe even a swimsuit again but really I just want to be in shape!
It was much easier to pack my lunch for the day. I have a full refrigerator with lots of fruits, vegetables, salads and all the good stuff.
Its training day. I’m ready for it! I head to the gym and bring McKenna. She is going to “watch” what Antonio puts me through. We don’t disappoint her. He drags me through a brutal workout and McKenna is actually impressed with me. That of course makes me feel great.
We finish off on the elliptical and call it a night. We get home for my birthday dinner of pork loin, salad and quinoa. YUM! No cake for me, I have weigh-in in the morning!
Day 121
I am up early and out the door by 5 a.m. for weigh-ins and measuring with Antonio. I step on MY SCALE at home before I go. I always use my scale since to me it’s the one that I am glued to day in and day out. It seems to be a little heavier than the gym one (that’s a good thing; I wouldn’t want it the other way around). So I get to the gym and jump on the gym scale and sure enough its SUPER light. It shows 220 pounds. That means I have officially lost 42 pounds if I stick with that scale, however I get on the new scale Antonio bought and its matches mine —224. Still happy with those results and I now have 24 pounds to lose in the next 88 days. I CAN DO IT! We finish taking measurements and pictures of all of it and then I hit the treadmill for a 2 mile run. I am ready for the day and feel great!
Day 122
I get to the gym this afternoon and begin my warm up and then hit the leg machines. All legs today. There are a total of six machines and I do 20 reps, 4 times each. On my last one I have a regular come up to me and he tells me I am starting to look good. It’s a great compliment. I tell him how I hate the scale, the plateaus and the fact that it takes a week to take off a pound and a day to put it right back on. He proceeds to tell me about that whatever I am doing is going to be great in the long run. He is familiar with surgery and losing quickly and that it tends to lose weight really fast and then you have a lot of excess skin that has no place to go. He assures me that slow and steady wins the race. I leave feeling a lot better about where I am at this point.
The kids and I are craving tacos so we do the best we can and end up making a great dinner. We use lean ground beef, corn and with green chili tortillas, brown rice and fresh salsa. Other than the tortilla, it seemed pretty good for us. Plus, they were amazing! I pack up the leftovers and put it over lettuce for a taco salad for lunch for tomorrow.
Day 123
Today the kids and I show up and the gym and hit the treadmill for a warm up. Both Mitch and McKenna blow me away with a 1 mile warm up at a super-fast paced. I stick to my pace and head to the back with Antonio. I knew it was going to be a tough day, and I WAS RIGHT! I start with burpees. OH MY! We then move on to lunges and ab work. I am literally dying by the time the kids come back to “support” me. I don’t think Mitch has ever seen me sweat like that. I can’t talk for him, but I think he was pretty impressed by his mom and how far she has come.
We have a great dinner of pork chops, salad and grilled asparagus. For dessert I splurged with 5 fresh picked cherries. So good!
Day 124
I am bringing the entire family to the gym tonight. It will up my pace but nothing like a little competition to bring out the best in you. Mike has a ton of endurance compared to me, he can run for miles and miles but since he had shoulder surgery, he hasn’t been able to do much with “working out”. I can show him a few things and kind of rub it in while I’m at it! He is constantly telling me that I am going to be stronger than him, well I better prove it.
They all bailed on me. I was on my own. No worries, I just got to work and did four miles on the treadmill. Up, down, fast, slow — sped up my heart rate and then I would bring it down. I have heard this is the best way to “train” for a marathon. Baby steps!
Day 125
Up early and out the door to work out with Mike. He is determined to come see what I do every day. I put him through a workout that Antonio has trained me on. We work on all upper body. We finish with dumbbells and hand weights. Needless to say, I kicked Mike’s booty! He was so proud of me though and with him recovering from surgery, he hasn’t worked out in so long he has to basically start from the beginning. It was great having a “workout partner” and even better having it be the hubby, you know us girls always have to prevail against the hubbies!
We make it an early work out because we have a busy day. We start with a double header for summer ball and then McKenna and I hit the mall. We go all day and then decide to splurge and split a Wingstop order of boneless wings. Honestly, they were so worth however bad they were for us. We then went to the movies and since we already splurged we didn’t bring or buy anything at the movies. We get home at 7 p.m. and I “sat down” for a minute on my bed and woke up at 4 a.m. Yep, jeans, shirt and shoes still on. I must have been exhausted. I guess that’s a good way to not eat —just sleep through dinner!
Day 126
Up early at to the gym again with Mike. Today it’s going to be ab day. We warm up and then head to the back to start the drills. I guess I might have gone a little too hard on Mike yesterday, he is so sore so the ab drills were even harder for him. He tells me it’s always been his weakest part. I feel pretty good. I do four sets of 20 on everything and finish with full sit ups. Mike opted out of those!!! He was full of praise and made me feel great. He did add — babe, you have a lot of muscle under that layer. Ahh, how sweet. I know it was meant to be a compliment, but seriously? Under that layer….ouch!
We finished with 2000 strides on the elliptical.
Today was another day of chances to cheat and over eat. Party after party. First party I stuck to a half of turkey burger, just the meat and then small servings of all the amazing salads. My biggest splurge was the Jell-o. I could have eaten all of it!
The second party was fully catered Mexican food. My favorite! I ended up just making a salad/taco instead of having any bread. Perfect!
The best part of today the jeans I wore were three sizes smaller than I started!!!!
As my first “goal” is creeping up fast, it’s making me a little nervous to make my target. I basically have about 22 pounds to get off by August 15. I’m trying to stay positive, focused and not stress too much. I am hoping it’s true and the muscle weighs more than fat thing is what’s happening to me. I’ll just keep working hard, eating smart and pushing on. Thanks for all your support. You all have no idea how much I need it and appreciate it.
