The last time I started a new “Blog Segment” I made the mistake of saying how many posts it was going to encompass (4) and I ended up branching out with many new ideas on the subject and ended up with a total of 14. So this time when I start fresh I am not going to limit myself because as I have come to find out, when it comes to the fitness world and getting my thoughts on paper the little mice in the cage that is my brain are constantly turning that wheel.

While in the  midst of my last set of blog posts, I was reading a fellow Designer blogger’s post, Nathan’s well written piece on Motivation, and saw something that really intrigued me; “the playlist.” And I thought to myself I will write a post about the playlist and its importance. But then when I began to think about it a little more, what playlist would I talk about.  I know that I alone have 6 different playlists for each day at the gym – in which I cycle songs in and out of. But while listening to one of these mixes I saw someone else at the gym, a significantly older man, who had his head phones in and looked like he was rocking out and really using the music to push him through his workout. Then I thought to myself I know that everyone listens to different music when working out but I wonder what types of music gets certain people going, moving and shaking at the gym.  And honestly how hard is it to find this stuff out. In my email archive alone I have tons of people that I know from all different races, ages and slices of life that would probably be able to answer this burning question for me, so of course I threw it out there.  I got a lot of responses with a lot of different playlists, so I pried even further and asked questions about their playlist and reasoning behind it, which helped me narrow down the responses that I received, and found a few that really stood out to me. 

I decided to take all of these electric correspondent interviews that were a cut above the rest and write blogs about them (of course with the consent of the interviewee) and just change the name of the person.  But in the course of doing so I realized that this might not be as enticing as I thought. To make these posts a little more intriguing I thought I would pick out a couple of my playlists that most closely corresponded with the playlists that I received and add a little blogging pizzazz to it – Ok you caught me that makes them more intriguing to me but hey it might make for a good read for you.

The bottom line behind doing this series of blogs was to determine the overall importance of the playlist to different personas within the fitness world. Who’s to say that what I use a playlist for at the gym is what others use it for? I use some playlists for motivation, some for rhythm, some for tempo, and some for empowerment. In trying to unearth the different uses and motivators that the playlist can contain, I wanted to be able to offer what I found to everyone else so that these findings might be applicable to the many different personality types that read these blogs. My main struggle with the fitness world as I have commented on time and time again, is finding the proper motivation to stay in that world. If I think of something that will serve as a little extra motivator that I need or that little piece of mind that I come across that will make my experience in the fitness sphere  a little bit easier and more enjoyable I want to pass it on because chances are someone out there might find it helpful. So over the course of these next blogs I will be exploring “the playlist” pertaining to the benefits they have on different people who are trying to keep fit. As always please feel free to comment especially on the different playlists that are thrown out there and the reasons behind them.  I will make one disclaimer, I was not able to find someone in the 58 or older category to complete this interview and am not going to chance asking someone at the gym what their age is.  So if you know someone of this age that exercises on a regular basis to some type of sound track, let me know and I will get back to you.

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This week, I want to touch on two subjects.  The first, and foremost, is that having good friends to watch my back while my relatively strict diet has been crucial to my success.  Just last night I was tempted to cheat by eating a Philly Cheesesteak, because technically I hadn’t declared Jersey Mike’s as fast food.  My friend Bruce refused to stop nagging me on how I was quitting my diet and my pledge to not eat fast food.  His dedication to my diet reminded me that I’m in this for more than just the thrills of dieting, I’m in this to prove to myself and to everyone that it’s possible for me to lose the weight.  Even though my weight loss has been good thus far, I have to keep focused, and he reminded me of that.  So instead I got a much healthier sandwich at Jersey Mike’s, and I was very proud of both myself and him for demanding such perfection.  Likewise, my friend Jessi is constantly making sure that I’m working out, even if I’m just watching TV at home.  Her dedication to my weight loss reminds me of why I’m doing this in the first place, to be a healthier person.  It’s great to know that I have friends that care this much about me.

The other thing I wanted to talk about today was the constant standing on the scale.  For years I’ve been told not to weigh myself every day because weight loss isn’t instant, and that it could be discouraging to stand on the scale and see that I’d only lost a half a pound over a couple of days, or worse, gained weight.  While it is certainly true that your weight can fluctuate quite a bit, I’ve found that keeping a month-long calendar in my bathroom, and weighing myself the first thing in the morning EVERY morning has been quite wonderful.  I’ve talked about this before, but it’s never been more evident than now.  In the course of a month I lost 20 pounds, and on the days that my weight went up from the day before I made sure to double my weight loss efforts.  On the days that my weight went down, I patted myself on the back and thought about what it was that I had been doing to help me lose that weight, like walking to school and working out, and I made sure to do it more often.  Basically, so long as you take the positive look at your weight, no matter which direction it went, you can’t be defeated! So I challenge everyone that’s trying to lose weight to start stepping on a scale every day for a month.  I prefer to do it in the morning, because you don’t have the fluctuation of what you ate that day to affect the outcome.  Yes, some days you’ll weigh more than the day before, that’s normal.  But watch your weight loss over the course of that month, and if you’re honest with yourself and work hard you can see a downward trend that will have you grinning from ear to ear by the end of May, just in time for beach season!  So until next time, keep at it people!

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Hey Friends,

Back from vacation and back to reality. We had a great time. It was cold in Florida; we wore our winter coats to the beach! We took a boat out to watch for dolphins. We were able to spot few dolphins and it was one of the warmest days we had. Kids swam with the dolphins on another adventure but it was only 58 degrees so they were just a bit little cold. My older two kids did indoor sky diving, lots of fun! One thing I noticed on vacation is I do not over eat; nor am I stressed. I feel like having my kids live out of a suit case and only a few toys. I don’t know why but my kids do not trash grandma’s trailer. My conclusion is a few things and that is at home they do not respect our home; they have too many clothes and way too many toys, too much TV and not enough fun. Now to bring the vacation behavior back in our home!

I finally got to watch the Biggest Loser show. I missed the first one because we were in Florida and did not have access to TV. But I did get to watch the 2nd show and am very excited for the new contestants. Their success is my hope. The difference between the contestants and me is they have a support system, they have the education, they have the equipment and the trainers. So I have to figure out how to have such a system.

I did join our local Fitness 19 and I can tell, physically, I am improving every time I go. It feels good to accomplish exercising. Sometimes I wish my family would step aside and make sure I get the time to go more often. It would be even better if I could have a treadmill at home but at this point we can’t afford it so at the gym it has to be. Fitness 19 is only $12.00 a month per person so it’s affordable. I am proud to say I was able to walk on the treadmill for 5 miles at an incline 4.0-4.5 and the rate of 3.0-3.5 and I burned over 1000 calories!

Today, Fox Reality had a Biggest Loser Marathon from Season 4 when Bill Germanakos won. I wonder what ever happened to Kim the trainer.

Some cool tips I wrote down…

If it had a mother it is protein.
All meals and snacks should have a combination of Carbs, Protein and Fat.
If your body is burning sugar it is not burning fat.
Anything is possible if you put in the work.

Remember to eat, move, then rest. I used to move, eat, then rest. I had it wrong. It’s all about moving forward and working toward our mark. For years I ate next to nothing and now have learned that is not the right way. You have to eat!

Oh! oh! oH! OH! I figured out a cookie recipe using Designer Whey Vanilla Protein Powder.

Designer Whey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Kid tested!
Makes about 3 dozen

½ cup butter (room temperature)
½ cup Sun Crystals (new stevia/cane mix) or splenda
2 tablespoon regular brown sugar or 1 tablespoon brown sugar splenda
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 ½ cups of Designer Whey Vanilla Protein Powder
½ teaspoon baking soda (you can add an extra ¼ teaspoon if you like puffy cookies)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon milk (2 tablespoons if you like thinner cookies)
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate mini-chips

Preheat oven to 375. In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter and sun crystals or slenda until well blended. Add the egg whites and vanilla; beat well. In a separate bowl mix the Designer Whey Powder, baking soda, salt, slowly add to the butter mix along with the milk until well blended. Stir in the mini chocolate chips. Drop by using a teaspoon onto an ungreased non-stick cookie sheet. Bake 7-8 minutes. Remove from pan right away onto a cooling rack, Cool completely. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Version

Add ½ cup peanut butter
Increase baking soda by ¼ teaspoon
Increase milk to 2 tablespoons
Omit the chocolate chips if you want
Smash down with a fork making criss-cross design

When you first take the cookies out of oven they have the consistency similar to cake but let sit over night out and they will be crispy. It is true you can replace flour with Designer Whey Vanilla Protein Powder in baking! Yey Whey!

Have a great week friends. Watch Biggest Loser Tuesdays!

Camille

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If your training with a trainer…

LET THEM KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT AND NEED!
A few months ago I bloged about me getting a personal trainer to help me with my figure competitions. I was so excited about letting someone else figure out my training schedule and what I needed to be doing. I thought it would be fun for me and a really neat experience. Here is my story.

When I compete for these things my main goal is to learn something new about myself and of course do well. But my training failed me badly and I should have said something but didn’t. Lesson learned. I want everyone to know some signs of a bad trainer. Yes, this is what I experienced and it was very stressful for me. And my contest did not go well.

1. When your trainer can’t remember if it’s an arm or leg day.
2. When your trainer can’t remember your last name or how to spell it.
3. When your trainer is at least 7-10 minutes late EVERY SESSION.
4. When you pay for private training lesson and your trainer brings another girl without asking you and you end up paying for her to workout with you when you wanted a one on one.
5. When after working with your trainer for a month they can’t remember what weight you need for a 12 rep bicep curl.
6. When you want to workout with your trainer one week before contest and he/she doesn’t want to come in at 8am because it’s too early. Then you miss 4 workouts that you really needed the support on.
7. When your trainer tells you not to do cardio. (Weird one)
8. When your trainer makes fun of everybody in the gym and doesn’t pay attention to you.

I should of stopped training with this guy as soon as he said that he thought Designer Whey protein drinks would make me bloated… RED FLAG RIGHT THERE!!!!! I think the only thing that kept me sane during this time was my Designer Whey drinks and protein powders!!! Yes… that’s pretty sad but my drinks got me through.
I think I was just trying to be nice but ended up losing in the long run.
So as a trainer I learned a lot with this horrible experience by making sure I’m smart with my clients!

So be aware of these trainer downfalls and if you experience any of these… RUN!!!!!!!!!!

Trainer Becs

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Hey Friends!

Hope this finds you healthier then the day before. Today is National ‘start eating healthy day’. So I ask you, what changes are you going to make to eat healthier? Me, I started eating breakfast again. I discovered I like Greek yogurt with frozen fruit and a little granola for some crunch. Greek yogurt is packed with protein! I also have 1 cup of skim milk with a scoop of my Designer Whey Protein Powders. I mix up the flavors for a variety. Some days I have chocolate, some day’s vanilla, some day’s strawberry and some days The Biggest Loser brand. I like the variety. I find that when I do this I have fewer cravings for sweets and for me that is a major plus! I have been packing my lunch and snacks. Lately I been packing whole wheat 100 calorie bagel with good turkey slices and just a smidgen of low fat mayo (I don’t like mustard) along with fruit and a string cheese for my snack. My kids love the 100 calorie bagels.  They think they are cute! Hey, if cute has them eating better… Go for it!

Did you watch the Biggest Loser this week? Wow, they were at The White House this episode.

At The White House

All the people who came out to exercise with Bob and Jillian and the contestants were amazing! This proves Americans are not lazy we just need a plan and guidance. I am disappointed our President did not come out with his family that would have been the frosting on the cake. I felt bad for Tracey for all the havoc she took for doing what she did to remain in the game. I probably would have done the same. Did you see Tracey’s “How are they doing now” segment? Holy cow! She looks great. I cried when she re-ran that mile that the contestants ran on their first challenge. And Daniel almost at the 200 pound mark, Shay under the 400 pound mark! Wow, what opportunity! Like Bob said, this is the “Biggest Loser Movement”

I recently bought the Biggest Loser Jump Start book and Jillian Michael’s Master Your Metabolism; still have to read them. But one cool thing is you can look up the old contestants and request to be their friend on Facebook. Designer Whey has a Facebook fan page as well. You will want to add Designer Whey to your friends list because they will let you know when coupons are available or special promotions. They have recipes, encouragement and lots of great people to support you. Plus it can save you a few bucks and that is always good!

I got the Biggest Loser Wii game and so far my kids are doing the game and they love it. I need to find time for my time to play too! The other day my 9 year old sweetheart got my Jump Start Book out and my Biggest Loser music CD. She went in our living room popped in the CD and was reading how to do the exercises. Then got a towel for her mat and was doing the exercises. So I asked her what made her just start doing the exercises and she said, “well, mom first of all its fun and second I want to stay fit. Why don’t you come do some of these with me sometime”, bless her heart! Maybe it’s that easy, think exercise as being fun and wanting to be fit… hmmmm OK, Note to self… Exercise is fun and keeps you fit.” end of note.

Have a great one friends, today day a great day to drink your whey and start eating healthy.

Camille

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Hey Friends,

I hope this finds you healthier then the day before. I have been extremely busy. Too busy and that stresses me out! There never seems to be peace in our house, something is always going on. I even have had to record my favorite show and watch it later. Which I don’t like because then I hurry through it and miss a lot of valuable info.

Oh, I discovered a great new mix using Designer Whey 100 Calorie Strawberry protein powder . I bought a bag of frozen fruit mix which has pineapple, strawberries and mango. It mixed up in a blender so creamy it was like ice-cream… A very good combination. 

 The last two Biggest Loser shows have been so emotional. Man, its draining. But I am happy to see the contestants break through difficult emotions that they have carried in their lives. I am blown away by Abby’s break through. She’s an amazing person to give up her spot. She said in her ‘how are they doing now spot’, ”Even in your darkest hour, there is always hope.” I love that saying. I counsel people addicted to crack cocaine and tell people who I am working with, ”No matter how low you go there is always hope and sometimes hope is all we have left” As long as we are breathing, we can change, we can make a difference, we can overcome, we can try new things. Go to new places and if we embrace each day with that attitude we can make our own break throughs.

Take Care Friends,
Camille

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Hey Friends!

I know you all are watching our favorite show that our favorite protein powders.…Oh yeah baby… The Biggest Loser show has begun and Designer Whey is the chosen protein meal! I love it and it’s good for us too!

Biggest Loser Proteins 10oz and 2GO

This season is so full of emotion, challenges and people over coming difficult past life experiences that have contributed to their weight. For me, I have never experienced being thin. I was a fat baby, a fat child, a fat teen, a fat adult, a fat mom and am a fat wife. Biggest Losers Season 8 sure has had a ton of information. So much information that I had to watch the shows two times to get the info down. I wanted to share some of my notes.

·        You can do it!
·        Realize how ill we are being obese
·        Let go of the past
·        Say you deserve to be happy
·        A lot of pounds are wounds that need healing
·        Must have plans… eating plan, exercise plan and recovery plan
·        A calorie is a unit of energy
·        Read the labels
·        Weigh your food on a scale
·        Keep a food journal…all food and all drink
·        Plan 3 meals and 2 snacks a day
·        Prepare meals ahead of time for the entire week
·        Use Ziploc bags for prepared meals and mark each meal
·        Proportion control every meal
·        3-4 ounces of meat
·        Cook your food by baking, poaching, steaming, grilling on non-stick grill or broil
·        When eating pasta eat ½ cup and fill in the rest with veggies
·        Snacks with protein are a must
·        No Soda
·        Weight loss foundation for any plan…calories in calories out
·        The way we manipulate our diet will determine the most calories out before we even start to exercise
·        To accelerate calories out…exercise
·        Circuit training for a variety
·        Protein refuels muscles, gives fullness feeling, and maintains blood sugar
·        After you workout you must get protein in to keep the body burning calories. Bob suggests 2 scoops of the Designer Whey Biggest Loser Protein Powder with 16 ounces of water
·        The contestants are just like you. They are doing it and you can do it too!
 
Well, friends keep watching… keep drinking (your designer whey that is)

I am on my Whey!
Camille

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The Ultimate Protein Shake

   Ok if anyone does follow actually follow my blog on a weekly, my apologies for breaking up the gym etiquette segment, but I feel like I need to share a few new things that I have discovered coming from none other than our favorite protein company Designer Whey and a couple of creative minds. The gym etiquette segment is not finished, believe me there are plethora of things left to gawk about. But I figured I would throw a few positive things in the mix so that I don’t seem like such an elitist negative Nancy. I wanted to share with all of you this week, the ultimate health protein shake that will kill that hunger craving and will help build muscle through quicker recovery.

   To start you are going to need a blender – yes this is going to take a little more effort than just a spoon and a cup. Once you find the blender make sure you wash out all of the margarita residue from last weekend: the point of this shake is the amazing taste. Grab a cup of Ice to start and dump it in the blender. Then pour in about ¾ of a cup of water (you can use Milk but it just fills you up that much more) on to the ice. Now for the next part go out and get yourself Designer Whey’s chocolate and chocolate caramel protein powders . When adding the protein powder, add to your liking. Meaning, if you are using protein shakes as a form of dieting or to speed up your metabolism only use about 1 to 2 scoops but if you are trying to gain mass and build muscle use 3 to 5 scoops. What I do is I take two scoops of the chocolate powder and two scoops of the chocolate caramel powder (or if I feel like mixing it up two scoops of chocolate and two scoops of vanilla) and put it on top of the ice and water mixture. Then I take a scoop of cookies and cream light frozen yogurt and drop it in there with a spoon full of peanut butter.

   Now I am going to throw in a warning here about the peanut butter. I love crunchy chunky peanut butter way more than creamy but it does not work so well in this shake. I say this because even with a high grade blender you will still get those little chunks of peanuts floating around and although they are delicious they make you choke and who really wants that. So my suggestion is suck it up and get creamy peanut butter, it gives you the same great flavor. I also say spend the extra dollar and fifty cents and get the lower fat peanut butter.

   Once you have the ice cream and peanut butter in the mix with the protein and ice water, you add what I like to call the non-topping toppings in. The first of these two is the banana. Cut the banana in half, peel it and then cut one of the halves into sevenths and them drop into the blender. Next throw in a couple of squirts of Hershey’s light chocolate syrup. If I could guess right now you are probably thinking to yourself, how is this shake healthy and the answer is simple. Almost all of the caloric content of this drink (with the exception of the light chocolate syrup) are “good for you” calories, meaning that they are easily burnt off and highly utilized within the body. Not to mention that 95% of the ingredients in the shake help speed up the muscle recovery – which is why it is the perfect drink for after the gym. And on top of everything sprinkle in three to four dashes of cinnamon. Cinnamon has also been proven to help speed up and better glucose metabolism which gives it a lot of value in this shake and makes it a little healthier for you. The only two things missing from this shake to make it the ultimate protein fix is a spoon full of tuna and an egg. But we won’t put those in because the idea of this shake is to gain nutrients not to expel the nutrients that you have acquired during the day, with a horrifically induced vomiting session from the taste of this thing.

   Now that everything is in there go ahead and blend to your liking. I like to get it to the consistency of a restaurant style milkshake. This shake is ideal for taking within 30 minutes of any muscle workout longer than 30 minutes in length. If you are trying to build muscle or gain mass this shake has got everything that could want. Give it a try: it’s delicious.

Posted in Lucas Hart, Real People | 2 Comments

DW Weight Control French Vanilla

Hey Friends,

I am so sorry to have disappeared on you all. I know I had some of you wondering. All is well, Friends. I have had the busiest 3 weeks ever! I could not even find the time and energy to blog and that is NOT like me. It has been one thing after another. End of the year school things, party after party it seems, death in the family bomb…bomb…but things are looking better and I am finally feeling less stressed. I thought I would gain everything back! But I am glad to say under all the pressure and stress I stayed the same weight since I last posted. The good thing is my biggest size pant (28 Plus Size) now can be slip off with out being unbuttoned. YAY!

I could have not made it with my weight control powders.  I start every day with a glass of milk, 1 scoop of vanilla flavored weight control and 1 scoop of chocolate flavored weight control powder. Grab some fruit and coffee and I am good to go for the morning. I still carry in my car the 2GO packets. Every where I go the 2GOs go too!

I have to admit it has been hard. I am working by cleaning houses, kids school events, even selling some stuff on the worlds largest E auction site, trying to keep it all together and organized has put a lot of stress on my plate. I have to get back to my free diet plan exactly like I had it the first time I lost 8 pounds. I tweaked it too much! I was trying to be perfect and am finding I just need to stick to the plan that was working and not try to have everything perfect.

Oh geez, today I mixed up my morning breakfast and forgot it on the counter so I stopped at a gas station and they had those be slim so fast drinks…I used to love those OMG YUCK! It coated my tongue, extremely sweet, slimy in my throat and I felt sick after drinking it. I used to buy the ready made cans by the case…no wonder they never helped me.

Designer Whey Powders are pure tasting, they never leave a film on your tongue and all the powders are great tasting as well. I will never go back to anything else. I would be better off skipping the meal then drinking those awful ready made in the can get you slim very fast garbage!

Cool thing, my husband said I am looking good! I am like, huh?, I was not good looking before?? You know us girls can be touchy about that stuff! But it felt good that he commented.

I am not even sure if I posted a comment about the “Biggest Loser” Finale. I thought for sure Mike was going to win but Helen, the little turkey, pulled it off! Good for her, my fellow Michigander! I saw Helen and Tara on the cover of a magazine showing off! I would too. Oh, did you know that Jillian the trainer was ‘The Fat Kid’ in school? My daughter is reading one of her new books about hormones and metabolism. I would have never known that.

Well friends I will try not to be so few and far in-between posting! It’s not fair to you and it’s not good for me. I need my friends cheering me on.

Drink your whey it’s the only way! 

Blessings to you,

Camille

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TBL Winner Helen

Alright, I am going to start right off with the winners…Helen won the Biggest Loser Competition and $250,000. Who knew!!!! Her final weigh in was 117 pounds. Tara came so darn close and as most people expected her to win. And the winner of the $100,000 was Jerry. He was booted off in the second week and the oldest contestant TBL has ever had. He lost 177 pounds! That is true motivation that you can do this at home.

The Biggest Loser Protein by DESIGNER WHEY

The public also got to vote in either Amanda or Erin to next seasons TBL. Amanda won and we wish her luck. To everyone who is going for health we wish you much success in your endeavors and don’t forget to include Designer Whey Protein in your meal plans.

See you next season!

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