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 By: Josie St-Amour
Name: Josie St-Amour
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I remember this horrible morning when I woke up to realize that I weighed 216 lbs! "Well, that's not bad!" you could say... if you're seven feet tall. But at 5'1", I looked more like an early version of Carnie Wilson. I had gained a tremendous amount of weight in a very short period of time and kept it on for what seems like a lifetime. I went up to wearing a size 15 with 44% body fat before realizing that I had to do something. I couldn't be this fat... it wasn't me. All my life I've always been the biggest flirt so I have to admit that the main reason I decided to lose weight was to regain the attention I had lost over the years. Because at that point, the men I was attracted to wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. Oh I can already hear the "it's the inside that counts!" I couldn't agree more, but seriously, would Vin Diesel be attracted by Mama Cass?
Since people can really see me, I'm the living proof that hard work and commitment really do pay off. I'll also be entering my first figure competition in 2005. I'm also a new health & fitness writer. Being fit has changed my life: I feel confident. I walk with my head high because I've worked hard to attain my new life, and I've never been happier.
Challenge # 1 was adding exercise to my already busy life. I started going to the gym after work with a friend of mine. For almost 8 months, the gym was my priority. I even refused invitations to go out. After a while I realized that having friends and a life was equally important as being in shape. I had to make a change.
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This is where I started working out in the morning, at first waking up at 5:30 A.M. was horrible, I literally had to drag myself to the gym; the first "workout" was basically getting up to hit the snooze button but I slowly got used to it. Morning workouts increased my metabolism throughout the day. The best side of working out in the morning was the rush and feeling of accomplishment that stayed with me all day long.
When I had lost 40 pounds, I stopped losing weight; I became upset when the scale didn't budge no matter what I did. I talked to a trainer who checked everything I ate and then suggested I eat more protein, and eat five to six times a day. Once I started eating more and more often, my weight loss restarted. Before I knew it I was 100 pounds lighter.
I train a little differently every other week. But a typical week looks like this:
Day 1 - Legs & Shoulders
Day 2 - Chest & Triceps
Day 3 - Cardio Only Day 4 - Biceps & Back
Day 5 - Rest Day 6 - Butt Blaster Day or Intense Core Training
Day 7 - Rest or Cardio Only
I try to keep my diet reasonably healthy all year round, with a mini splurge once a month.
7:45 - Yogurt & protein powder 9:30 - Oatmeal or multigrain cereal 12:00 - Huge salad with chicken and mixed vegetables 15:00 - Low fat cheese or protein shakes 18:45 - Grilled salmon & asparagus or Brussels sprouts Drinking water is a must as well as sleeping. Supplements are a very important factor in my diet. I take multi-vitamins daily and a few other supplements, which I have found to work for me, including protein shakes, thermogenics and CLA.
My next goal is to help others achieve not only their workout goals but also spread the information on living a healthy life.
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Josie St-Amour Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
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