The post about a killer workout, a sick kitty and getting blocked on Instagram...

• It's #coffeetime and this morning this part of me is going to feel the burn. Headed to the gym for leg and core day. Every day is core day. I absolutely hate working my core but it's necessary. Especially for boxing. And I am getting stronger. Every week my trainer ups the free weights I carry while doing walking lunges, squats, any leg exercises really. Today is going to be another hot one. Julien wants to go to the movies so I concur. Can't do anything outside until the evening anyway. Tomorrow we head to New York state. Going to Darien Lake for the day...

• Abs have been decimated. I'm fecken weary. My legs are toast as are my glutes. I can feel my abs whenever I move. Today I carried 20 pound dumbells during all my leg circuits. That's 40 extra pounds. And I trained outside today. Got my sweat on real good. I was drenched by the time we were done. Tony's on vacation but he kept me as his only client this week. And today he told me that I am noticeably stronger. He also told me my core is definitely improving. I'm getting better at the core drills. So that is a nice thing to hear. When I got home I fried up some eggs and ate them with tomato and avocado as my recovery meal. Non-gym related but definitely worth mentioning, I'm worried about my little cat Baby. She's not moved all morning and is deep sleeping. That's not like her. She gets up with me every single day and would have eaten and been outside by now. Maybe it's just the heat? I'm hopin so. I hate it when my animals are sick:-(

• The pic on the left was from the summer of 2011. The summer I had my moment of clarity and decided I'd had enough of living my life morbidly obese. I wasn't my heaviest there but I was holding steady at 300 pounds give or take a few pounds. The pic on the right is from an hour ago. I lost 132 pounds in 15 months following a high protein, low carb, low fat, low sodium diet. My focus now is to build my strength and get me some muscles. Losing weight is hard work. Maintenance is hard work. Being morbidly obese is hard work. I choose working hard at being healthy and fit. I have way more freedom now than I had then. I've no restrictions, and there's nothing I can't do. Becoming healthy is the best decision I ever made for myself and my son. If you dream it, you can do it..

• It's #winetime and you wanna know what my nutritionist said? That a glass of wine in moderation is fine (expecting smart ass comments about how big my glass is). It's more important that I eat frequently. So I'm sipping my wine and nibbling on some raw sunflower seeds. Eating every 3 hours is hard yo! I can't remember to snack. I need to get some good quality snacks in the house. Raw veggies and hummus should work. Yogurt with fresh berries. That sort of shizz. Stuff I haven't eaten in a while. Exciting times. I did house work all afternoon. Julien wanted to see Pixels so I sent him with his dad. I know nothing about video games. My little cat is still feeling poorly. She's not eaten all day and has slept in the same spot. That's not like her at all. At her last vet visit, we were told she had a heart issue as her breathing is labored at times. This could be an episode of that. If she's not perked up soon, we'll have to visit the vet again. Poor Baby:-(

• Well now. I've lots of reason to smile. My kitty appears to be on the mend she's back to her old self. She ate, went outside, and groomed herself. I actually think she may have had heat stroke from yesterday. She spent the majority of the day outside. Dinner was BBQ chicken quarters with this delicious side dish. That's broccoli, onion, mushrooms, a bit of sea salt, garlic and red pepper flakes. And extra virgin olive oil of course. 
• Tonight I got blocked by a big account on IG. I didn't follow her but ended up on her page searching hashtags. This woman lost over 100 pounds "naturally" and inspires over 100 thousand followers. One of them reached out for help regarding the low carb diet and she was told that she would only get "coaching" if she bought expensive shakes (at a cost of $200). Well shit. That's not even how the "inspiration" lost her weight. It was by following a low carb, high fat diet. I offered to share my experiences with low carb to the follower (very respectfully I might add) and that's when my comment got deleted and I got blocked. I thought being an inspiration shouldn't come with a price tag. Helping others should be for free.
• I'm going to say this for all of IG, Twitter, Facebook and Blogger to hear. I will never sell or promote products on any form of social media. It cost me nothing but the cost of food to lose weight. The big weight loss secret is that there isn't one. It's diet, exercise and a permanent lifestyle change. These large IG accts promoting diet products to desperate people is just wrong. I used to be one of those people. I spent the majority of my adulthood looking for the quick fix and in the process spent thousands and thousands of dollars. There is no quick fix. Getting healthy takes hard work, determination and self awareness. I will sleep well tonight knowing that I still reached out to this woman on my own page and gave her encouragement and friendship for free...