❤ BLOGILATES ❤

Here’s an email I got from a fan that truly demonstrated resilience. Rachel, I’m so proud of you for taking control of your life and making healthy decisions.

Please read her story.

“I want to say thank you more than anything, but here’s my story to explain why. I’m hoping to make it to the inspirational stories page, but in all honesty it would mean the world to me if all you do is read it 

I’m Rachel, 20 and a sociology major. I’d say my story starts around the age of 8 when I began voicing some dissatisfaction with my body. I was an active kid, in gymnastics and the local soccer league, but always chubbier than most girls, which gave me a lot of anxiety. It was around that time that I started snacking too much, but my mom made a few negative comments, so I stopped for a while. When I hit puberty, however, things really took a turn for the worse. Bipolar II disorder and OCD run in my family, and by 13 I was starting to restrict my calories. When mood swings hit, I would panic and grasp for something I could make my own, make orderly and safe. It’s cliche of course, but not eating gave me that control, or what I know now to be a false sense of it. Then when I was 14 I purged for the first time. From that day on it was a downward spiral. There were happy times, sure, but it was overall the most painful time of my life. I was so withdrawn from my family, my field hockey team and other friends, so underweight and even after a couple hospitalizations, I purged for 2 more years. To this day I’m not sure what made me stop, but I switched from one unhealthy lifestyle to another, and went from 95 lbs to a 185 in 3 years. I just didn’t want to try anymore.

This past January, at 19, I relapsed with bulimia. And…then came March. I started researching types of exercises I hadn’t given a shot yet, and when I found some POP Pilates videos, I don’t know, something about Cassey’s positive attitude, smile and determination was contagious. I felt this need to start immediately, and I did! After two weeks, I was working out for 40 minutes per day, doing a couple videos and running on the treadmill. From March to now in October, I’ve gone from 185 lbs to 140. The best, most life changing part though was my improved mood and energy. I had the natural endorphin boost as well as a lasting sense of accomplishment… I cannot even convey to anyone how much that has done for me, because without it I know I would have kept purging. I came clean to my therapist in April, who has been astonished at my progress. I eat so much healthier now and between 1200 and 1600 calories a day. Sometimes things still get very difficult. I have intense mood swings from time to time, and thoughts about purging, but I am now confident enough in my strength to keep going. I’m learning to take good care of my body and one day I know I will love it. Thank you Cassey for showing me how to believe in myself. “

Love ya Rachel and welcome to the Blogilates community <3

For more inspirational stories, come here.

• Tags
• inspirational
• overcoming ed

Hey guys!

I just woke up and am laying in bed with my netbook. It’s so gorgeous having the sunlight filter through my windows as I write this.

As most of you guys know, I workout consistently 5-6x a week, leaning more on the 6, 95% of the time. I do this because I enjoy it, it makes me feel energized afterwards, it makes me make healthier food choices, and of course burning fat and building muscle too aint so bad either. It is not necessary to workout this much though to stay healthy. I think 2-3x a week is pretty good as long as you’re going all out.

After reading Tosca Reno’s EAT CLEAN DIET book (Recharged version), I have been amazed at how she has tweaked the way I look at losing weight and building physique. Did you know that the way you look is based on:

80% DIET, 10% EXERCISE, and 10% GENETICS

What!? When I first read that I was like, no way, I thought it was all about the exercise! It all goes back to what you put into your body and how many calories you are consuming and burning at the end of the day. You need to fuel it correctly to have great energy. Now what you do with that great energy depends on you…if you want to workout and you’ve consumed a ton of protein then muscle building and lean physique is what you’ll get. You can use the energy to study or work late into the night (like I have been doing the past few nights).

But at the end of the day if you consumed your daily energy requirement and didn’t workout then you won’t gain weight. If you ate less than your daily energy requirement then you’ll lose weight. (Just don’t eat under 1200 cals or else your body will think it’s starving and store fat for fear of dying.)

The past few days have been crazy for me. I did not workout for 2 of them and much to my disappointment too. It’s been a LOT of work getting the development and production of my yoga bags and gym bags JUST RIGHT. There are 11 styles of bags and each with their own personality, colors, fabrics, trims, zippers, and pockets. Yes it is fun being a designer but it’s tough doing it all alone! I have friends helping with other aspects of the business but the design has to be done by me and I am a PERFECTIONIST so it takes a while. I’ve been staying up til 5am AVERAGE. I wake up around 8:30 or 9am the next day with a headache.

Last night at around 10:30pm, I asked myself to workout. But my body said no. I was tired. So I went to bed. Sleep is also something Tosca Reno said we should get enough of or else it will counter our journey to weight loss. Sleep is essential to having energy. And energy is essential to making the right food choices to fuel a good workout.

I felt pretty horrible about not working out for 2 days in a row. Now don’t get me wrong here, NO ONE should feel GUILTY about not working out. If you made the choice to not do it, then so be it, and work out harder the next day. I just DID NOT HAVE TIME. I felt horrible because I know that if I lose my rhythm, my run today will be slower. I’ve yet to get my butt outta bed and go for that run. I’m thinking 4 or 5 miles today. Got the Disneyland Half Marathon on Sunday! Anyone gonna be in Anaheim?

There’s a difference between not working out because you physically cannot get to it and not working out because you are not motivated and instead are choosing to self destruct and eat a bag of fried oreos while watching Jersey Shore.

If you miss a workout or 2 or 3 or more due to certain complications that week, IT IS OKAY. I had to keep telling myself that. I made sure to focus on an EXTRA CLEAN diet. That way you’re not going to ruin months of hard work. And you know what? I did not gain weight or lose muscle…in fact for some reason I seemed to have leaned out a tiny bit. Maybe my body needed to break anyway.

Thanks Tosca for reminding me that being lean is not JUST ABOUT working out, it’s 80% diet.

But take that with caution though! You still do need to get moving for heart health, to prevent muscle loss, and to build bone strength. I know most of us reading this probably are thinking about bikinis not bone strength, but at the BARE MINIMUM please workout at least 2-3x a week (even if it is 30 min) to keep your body in check. Think of a car. You gotta use it once in a while or else the engine won’t even start!

But for those of us looking to earn tighter abs, toned legs, and slimmer arms, then I’d say working out is essential. Especially if you want FASTER RESULTS. Tosca is right about the 80/10/10 rule but don’t go crazy over it. Even if you eat clean and you eat “too many good foods”, you’ll still gain weight. So workout to burn some calories and feel good about it.

I bought The EAT CLEAN DIET Recharged, it’s about $20 at Target. You can find it here. It is honestly one of the easiest books to read on nutrition PLUS it has meal plans for all types of diets including gluten free, vegan, and an intense quick results one.

That’s all I have to say! Workout hard when you do but when you can’t, eat extra clean!!!

Time for that run! New route today! Woohooooo!!! Oh yeah and I think I am dressing up a Pocahontas for the Disneyland Half Marathon. I need to make my costume still. Any ideas or other princesses I should be besides Pocahontas?

Source (I don’t know who that is but she looks pretty and my hair looks the same)

Source (Some more pics to get you inspired)

***PS - if you can’t figure out how to comment, there’s a “comment” thing you can click on at the top of this post on the right. It’s in gray and there’s a heart.

• Tags
• inspirational
• taking breaks
• the eat clean diet
• eating clean
• tosca reno
• disney princess
• half marathon
• pocahontas
• losing weight

I originally was going to post this last Wednesday but opted not to because after reading, I felt like such a whiny loser! But as I was going through some of my comments on facebook, I saw that a few of my fans were feeling alone and discouraged in their weight loss journey. Well guys, believe me when I say YOU ARE NOT alone. Even a fitness “guru” can fall. And choose to not get back up.

Now, for those of you that are regular readers of Blogilates, this is not a normal post. It is not inspirational or motivational. But it’s real. And it’s feelings. And I want to share with you what was going through my head last week when I CHOSE NOT TO WORKOUT because I hated how I felt and how I looked. 

You’re probably thinking, what? Cassey had a negative thought and let it get to her head? Yes. I let it get to my head. My willpower was completely gone.

THE BACKSTORY:

Read more

• Tags
• bloated
• can't get to the gym
• don't want to exercise
• feeling fat
• inspirational
• losing weight
• motivational
• working out
• interesting