WEEK 7! THE END!

I FINISHED!!!

The big secret was, I trained and competed in an NGA body building competition as my FINALE to losing all my weight!

(I'm the one on the far left!)

I accomplished a VERY hard thing and I owe all my success to my trainer, Christy Stevenson! She was so amazing helping me look the best i EVER have and helping me when i most doubted myself! She is suh an amazing girl and she took time to answer silly questions and to make me so comfortable and make me proud of everything I've done!

I've lost a total of 47 lbs!

Thanks everyone who helped me through this journey and reminded me of my own sayings.

I CAN DO, and DID HARD THINGS!

You know who you are! 

Christy,

Thank you for making me feel beautiful.

For making me confident and helping me do something that I would never have been able to do to myself. For taking the time to answer silly texts, and helping me improve my walk and poses.

For taking the time to check on me and help me with my work outs and diet.

For helping me Love myself.

For reminding me I don't need a trophy because my weight loss this year is prize enough.

I love you for all your hard work and support! Thanks so much for spending the day with me and helping me not be scared!

Mom,

Thanks for standing behind me when I needed a hug, or to talk. Thanks for always being with me and coming to my night show with the family and showing me and reminding me of how awesome my accomplishment was.

Thanks a million for always having an extra package of cottage cheese to make me feel better when I was hungry or stressed.

Thanks for being the best mom ever. I love you I love you I LOVE YOU.

Scott (husband),

I know you weren't to happy at first with my decision to do this, but thank you so much for still helping me eat right. For reminding me what would happen if i cheated on my meals or ate that bite of a brownie. Thank you for loving me when I was grumpy and hungry and tired or sore. Thanks for the massages. Thank you for the talk last week when I wanted to quit. For letting me cry and for your sweet words of encouragement.

Thank you ALSO for spending the day with me, though the crowd at the show was making you uncomfortable, you stuck with me, and you cheered and you helped me back at the hotel by judging my walk.

Thank you for your honesty, and your support.

Thank you for the push out of bed when I was feeling too tired to go to the gym.

Thank you for helping me with my last minute purchases for stuff I needed.

Hayley, J Thug, Angie, Kaytlin and All blog readers,

Thank you for your encouraging messages. 

Thank you for the fresh produce and for calling me your inspiration.

Thank you for your love.

Thank you for asking me how I'm feeling and for caring!

Thank you for making me feel like I was doing something big and worthwhile!

You changed my outlook on life and fitness and I loved hearing about all your success stories and hearing all the sweet things you're accomplishing in your own life!

Thank you for teaching me how to put in my extensions.. haha

Thank you for everything you did to help me keep going!

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY SHOW!

I love you all and everything thing you've done for me! This is something I will never forget! 

Remember, you're stronger than you think you are

You can do, and already HAVE done hard things!

Keep going!

Love, Andrea

(Sorry yall. Picture's removed.)

WEEK 6: I'm living life. I am happy.

Last night I had a really hard time. Now that my goal is only 2 days away I'm starting to feel all the confidence I had Monday go away and I'm left with nothing but fear and doubt.
I had a break down because I still don't 100% feel confident enough to stand among people that look a million times better than me, and even though I've put in so much work, I don't feel ready. I'm scared. I kid you not, everything that possible COULD go wrong has, and when I think things are looking up, something bad happens again. This has been the hardest week, mentally, physically and emotionally. I stayed up last night crying. For the first time, it's not outside forces telling me to quit. It's my own fear, and I couldn't stop. I've felt so strong and I've built up such thick skin through all this so that "no one can tear me down". I just didn't think I'd get to the point of ever wanting to quit because of my own doubts.

I'm so grateful for Scott though. He wasn't for what I'm doing at all in the beginning and last night he was so good to tell me stuff like "You've done so much.You can't quit now you're so close!" I love him.  He helped me all through the night to feel pretty, strong etc. He listened to me cry for like 2 hours and let me ruin his MOM'S TEAM shirt with my tears.

Also grateful to my mom who after telling her how i was feeling this morning, she showed me this video. It's exactly what I needed to hear.
 "It's not about winning, It's about FINISHING"

"There are times in life when you've fallen and you don't have the strength to get back up. Do you think you have hope? ...You see, I will try 100 times to get up, and if I fail 100 times, if I fail and I give up do you think I'm ever going to GET up? NO. But if i fail, I'll try again, and again, and again... You will find that strength to get back up."

Thank you everyone for helping me. Today's gonna be rough but I'm going to face it with no fear and no doubt.

I can do hard things.

I love you all.

WEEK 6: 4 days left...

To say the least, I'm FREAKING OUT.

There's been so much good coming out of this challenge and I can't wait to finally finish and reveal why all the crazy working out and dieting!
UNTIL THEN, I only have 4 days to eat better than ever, and workout three times as hard as I have these last few weeks.
I've had a few health punches in the face this week so far, but there's NOTHING getting in my way of making everything happen THIS SATURDAY!
I just wanna shout out to all my friends and everyone who's helped me in this so far. A lot of people have given me TONS of produce, and have been calling me at like 5 AM and asking if they can help me workout that day or something and just crazy things that people have been doing to be a help and support!
It for sure out weighs all the haters from the beginning of my Six Week Secret, which I'm so glad for. It's kind of hard to understand the reasoning behind me doing this and why it's even worth it, because it's been so hard and is just so "ridiculous" and stuff, but my main reason is... Say it with me...
I'm doing this because I can do hard things. 
There have been days that I've gotten so discouraged and have seriously just cried and wanted to give up. People being mean, or me wanting to eat "real food" and just different obstacles have gotten in my way, but like I said, thanks so much to all of you who have continually been cheering me on, though a lot of you don't even know what I'm working for! Haha it all means the world to me. YOU mean the world to me.
I love you all!

I'll fill you in a little more  throughout the rest of the week!

WEEK 5, Day 7!

OKAY PEOPLE! ONLY 8 DAYS LEFT TILL MY GOAL DATE!

I'm seriously FREAKING OUT! 

There's so much left to do still! But here's what I've got.

1)The suit... :)

2)Hoochie Shoes!

3)Right Body Fat and BMI!

4) HURR Extensions!

5)Bleached Teeth! 

6)The Tan

All I've got left to do is to continue how I've been going these last few weeks! Scott's been doing great at helping me fight temptations with foods and he's been so good to help me find good food when I'm starving! He's been so supportive! All you gents take note! He's been such a great help through all this and as my goal is getting closer, the more artificial I become, yet he's still called me pretty! He's still in shock as I am with the new hair and the tan. He was joking yesterday that people in our neighborhood are probably going to start thinking he's cheating on me with some long haired hoochie.. oh wait.. I'm the long haired hooch. Hahaha! I love his humor.. :)
Something else that was totally awesome, I went to BodyPump with KT Smith this morning which was the body shock I've needed! I thought after lifting so heavy in all my training, that I'd be way stronger than I really am! I was still so sore from my upper body workouts this week that I could hardly lift any weight! I'm such a wuss, it's so embarrassing!

OH! Another way Scott's been supporting me. Push Up Contests. He's gotten quite the ego knowing that even though I work out every day, He still dominates at the push ups! He even "One ups" me by doing the DIAMOND PUSH UPS! OUCH! I love a good challenge though, and I'm proud to say that now I can do 21 REAL push ups in a row... up from 13ish? Less?

Things are going to great! I've also created quite the following here as well as within friends! I have the biggest support group! I've had produce mysteriously left by my car, I've had anonymous texts from people saying they're starting their workout goals because I inspired them or something. Seriously, I'm walking on cloud 9 with how amazing these last few weeks have been! I'm so happy with how I look and feel and I've set ANOTHER goal after this! Same thing again, but in the Spring! More on that to come!

Something else I wanted to mention is, I've done this whole transformation with absolutely NO DIET SUPPLEMENTS or Weightloss things or miracle supplements! 

All it takes to gain the body or fitness level YOU WANT is TIME, HARD WORK, and DISCIPLINE and a GOAL. 

One of my new favorite quotes I just saw a week or so ago, is "The best way to make your dreams come true, is to wake up."So wake up everyone! Start today! Set a goal and a date to finish and DO IT! I'm here to help! 

Bragging time... I just got my personal training certification! So Now I can help you and everyone else achieve what they've always wanted to be. Which is, The best version of you. No one else, but you.

I love you all. :) Next week begins the FINAL HELL WEEK! Bring it.

WEEK 5! Chances are..

If you see me in the street or anywhere for that matter, I'm in workout clothes. Either my Zumba attire right out of teaching a class, or in shorts and a T-shirt cause I'm headed to or back from the gym/tanning salon.
If you see me at the mall, I'm looking for athletic wear or new shoes cause all this training has pushed my dinky shoes to the limit...
If you see me shopping anywhere else, it's probably for fresh produce. I think I spend, without Scott eating, a good 45-50 a WEEK on just my food. Sometimes more or less thank goodness... for the lesser times...
If I'm ever at the gym, yeah you've probably seen me or know my name. Everyone sees me often enough that they're like "what's up Andrea" or "your tan's already ready for you Andrea"(before I even walk in). It's awesome cause I feel like a celebrity, but it also means I'm EVERYWHERE a LOT.
If you ever walk into my apartment, it's a disaster. Scott and I have both been lacking on time to clean ANYTHING! Labor day, we did a pretty deep cleaning and the next day, I kid you not, it was back to the way it was the previous morning.
If I tell you I can't hang out, don't be offended. I have ZERO TIME and any time I do have, which is only at night, I spend it sleeping. I'm so physically WORN! Don't be offended! Not against you at all!

Bottom line, if there's any thought I'm in this 6 Week Project for myself and my own vanity, I'll admit, that's how it started out. But at this point, it's just something I'm fighting for like CRAZY as a goal and I'm down to the wire! The pressure is on and I'm all for any challenge now! But seriously, looking the way I do, as in no make up, no cute clothes and always in tennis shoes, That's NOT NEAR how I'd be looking if I was in this for my own looks and Vanity. I would have stopped a LONG time ago! Haha!

Anyways, updates on everything..
Last week I was so tired. Every time I sat whether in the car, or at work, or anywhere I'd start falling asleep and just be so worn out. In talking to the father figure, he told me it's probably a lack in carbs seeing as I'm burning almost twice the food I'm actually taking in. I decided to increase my carbs by taking in more FRUITS AND VEGGIES! Not breads ya'll! WRONG CARBS! So I've added some steamed veggies to my portions including my mid morning and afternoon snacks. I just don't have enough energy no matter how much I've slept! I was seriously feeling my whole body just shut down so by Friday I was too tired to stand on my own and to focus on ANYTHING! Make sure everyone that you're always eating the RIGHT amount of calories and often to keep you going! I always keep a protein shake on hand just in case I start feeling that weakness or cravings kicking in. Don't let yourselves ever get to the point of feeling hungry. Always carry snacks and eat ever couple hours even if you're not feelin that hungry. That's a HUGE secret to weight loss is BLOOD SUGAR REGULATION.

Anyway, pictures to come this week I hope! I love you all! Have the best week EVER!

Week 4: The Schedule...

My weeks have been getting so crazy I don't know what to do anymore. I've had to bump up my workouts to 5:30 to be able to get them done before going on and facing the rest of my day.. Here's my weekly schedule, except this week was semi different seeing as yesterday was a holiday...

Monday:
5:30-7 Gym time at 24
7 Breakfast
9-5 clean and get all the house chores done, etc. (My only catch up day)
6 Teach Zumba at BYU

Tuesday:
5:30-7 Gym Time
8 Zumba Curves
10:30 PGCC
1-5 Work, Tomlinson Graphics
6:30 Zumba Curves
8 Dance Party.. (New class starting tonight at the PGCC)

Wednesday:
5:30-7 Gym
8-2 House stuff, produce shopping and weeks lunch prep)
3-5 Tomlinson Graphics
6 Zumba BYU
8-10 Softball (PG league)

Thursday:

5:30-7 Gym Time
8 Zumba Curves
10:30 Curves PGCC
1-5 Work, Tomlinson Graphics
6:30 Zumba Curves
7:10 Zumba PGCC (Also New)

Friday:
5:30-7Gym
8 Train
9 Train
3-5 Tomlinson Graphics
SLEEP.

It's crazy cause it may not even seem like that much, but every day I take forever trying to fall asleep just thinking about how much I have to do the next day. I'll tell you what though, I'm grateful and totally value time with my husband that we can both be home and just be together. Any time to just sit and think about anything but work is like better than Gold... That is, unless you offer my gold I'll still happily take it off your hands...
Anyway. It's crazy.
Also my diet is going a lot better. I'm just struggling with making time to prepare it. I've already downed all my food that I thought would last another WEEK! I can't believe how much food my diet calls for! At least it's easy cause I know what I'm having everyday, so I don't have to waste time or money on fast food!
My skin has been clearing up and I'm feeling super healthy! I'm not gonna lie though, I miss eating the fatty food.
I'll make a confession. My mom made the most AMAZING looking brownies.. And PS, Might I just add that if you EVER consider going on a diet, just live with my husband, Scott. He's great at making you not want ANYTHING!
Back to the story, so I'm eyeing these AMAZING brownies.. just dripping with this shiny frosting fudge deliciousness, and I'm just thinking... "Maybe just a bite.. maybe like half of a half of one.. Maybe just..." Scott caught me -"You realize that if you eat that brownie, it will quadruple in your stomach immediately and you'll have to put in another 8 hours at the gym and skip your free meal this week.. But it's totally up to you.."
I gave him the stink eye.. and as soon as he left the room.. I did it. I ate just a corner of a brownie.
Not even kidding.. I felt sick in MINUTES. Not only from the guilt, but from the brownie itself! I've gotten so used to eating so well that this tiny sliver of sugar just killed me! I was on the verge of throwing up all night long..
I tried to be strong..ish though so Scott wouldn't be able to tell. We went to sleep and when woke up in the morning, I was looking at myself in the mirror and noticed  the pooch I've FINALLY started seeing change in was back.. Scott walked in the bathroom and saw and he was like "I told you that would happen.. hit the gym."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" 
HOW is it that just a SLIVER of a brownie could make such a huge effect so fast!?
So for reals. No more cheating. I can't handle what it does to my body and how I feel after.. That little brownie was sure delicious though.. That darn MOM! Why do moms have to be so good at cooking/baking?

Today i make a for real vow to all of you. No brownies. Only the healthy stuff FOREVER!! I'm trying to figure out if even after these 6 weeks are over if I still might stay on a relatively close diet to this one just because I love the way I'm feeling/looking... I will not turn down my occasional Panda Express or Fried chicken though...
I love you all. Have the best day ever!

WEEK 4: "A thing of vanity"

The neat thing about weight loss is how much better you look.. the terrible thing is how NOTHING fits anymore. I've had to go get a new bra 2 sizes down from my normal size.. I have yet to buy a new sports bra cause not even my size small sports bra fits anymore.. My gym shorts and even stretchy workout pants are getting loose which really is a thing to celebrate except I don't have moneys to buy anymore gym clothes! Haha!

This challenge so far has been crazy fun! This begins the next 3 "Hell weeks" though. I've planned to make these last 3 weeks the hardest so far by:
1. STICKING TO MY DIET FOR REAL! No more temptation!
2.Working ALL THE WAY TO FAILURE.
3. That's all I've got...

So with that said I just wanna add how awesome it is to see progress. I met with Christy, the trainer, last week and she gave me a HUGE motivation boost that made me leave with even more excitement that before. I was totally embarrassed when I walked in, but she's got this excitement and joy about everything that just makes anyone think we can achieve anything. She's so great!
I also had an awesome experience today at the gym when a guy I see all the time who's this HUGE body builder, He walked up to me as I'm like covered in sweat and on a rest and he was like "I've been watching you since the beginning of the year, and I just want to say that you look so great and have done such a great job working out every day and pushing yourself so hard! Keep it up girl! What ever you're doing, you're doing great!" He gave me a high five and left the gym. I felt so pumped that I repeated my entire workout again. hahaha!! What an amazing guy. I love compliments and recognition. I mean, who doesn't?
I just want to say for all of you who are working on any goal, whether in your health and fitness, or in school or spiritual goals even, You can do anything. There are so many haters out there that just don't understand what you're doing or why and they don't see the beauty in setting a goal and following through. You can do hard things. Keep going and always remember for every hater criticizing and being mean to you, there's someone else watching you and you're their inspiration and reason for following their own goals.

I love you all! We're getting so close!