Welcome to Kettletell | Transformation by Kettlebell

Back to Basics

Angela C. — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 00:22:41 +0000

Hi.

You might have been wondering where I’ve been. Or maybe this is your first time googling something like “kettlebell” and “workout” and you landed here.

Well, I’m glad you’re here with me, because I’m starting all over again.

Yup, that’s right, people, your girl is back at Square One.

Well… not quite Square One, but pretty darn close.

Starting with the bad news first: I have re-gained about fifteen pounds since October 2009. That’s exactly 1 1/2 pounds a month. Good Lord!

Okay, on to the happy news. During this brief hiatus, I met an amazing person, fell in love with him, and we are currently living happily together.

Fortunately/Unfortunately, he happens to be a chef. And, not just any chef, mind you. A pastry chef.

It took me over a month to finally move everything in to our place. Just walking to our doorstep means carrying my 30+ pound munchkin down a very long and uneven flight of stairs. Needless to say, my calves are still in good shape.

Since I had not been working out, the last things I moved were my pair of Warrior Hardware 12kgs and my 16kg kettlebell.

I’m not going to get all sentimental about what I did or didn’t do which got me back to this place. I’m actually the happiest I’ve ever been, in terms of having a real partner who loves and supports me, and who I can be there for.

What’s next? It’s time to get back to basics. I’ve been walking uphill with my little guy in my pack. I’m moving back to doing the plank and next up, TGUs!

I’ll keep you posted!

A Sedentary Lifestyle

Angela C. — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:18:08 +0000

It snuck upon me slowly; my new lifestyle. When I was a consultant, I was a much more active person.

In the past 6 months, it seems that I’ve been living the majority of my time either seated or lying down.

This is how it calculates on a weekday:
Commuting (sitting in a car) - 2 hours+
Desk work – 8 hours
Sleeping - 8 hours
Other seated tasks - 1 – 2 hours

OMG! That means I spend only about 4 hours a day total in a non-seated or resting position.

When I put it this way, it seems that much more important to get moving, don’t you think?

Kettlebell Lunch Break?

Angela C. — Mon, 17 May 2010 23:38:27 +0000

As I sit here on my lunch break, crunching through a tray of vegetables, I wonder- what’s so hard about working out at work?

I mean, it’s taken me, like, 15 minutes to get through lunch, plus the five it took to heat up my organic frozen indian food. I have a whole hour– where is it going?

I know, I do use my lunch hour for personal errands and phone calls, since I don’t mix my business life with my home life.

I’ve thought about leaving a pair of tennis shoes here and doing a 20 minute walk during my lunch break. I even considered bringing my 12kg kb and hiding in the sales office to complete a pre-determined number of swings.

Are there any other closet kettlebell office workers out there? Or anyone else that manages to squeeze a workout in during lunch?

What do you do? How do you do it? I’d be interested in hearing your strategies. Leave a comment!

A Love Affair with Diet Soda

Angela C. — Sat, 15 May 2010 09:53:28 +0000

I fell for you again, Mr. Diet Soda.

You, with your promises of zero calories. I could commit to you without guilt.

Even though I promised to give you up, I went right back to you. But I knew my friends wouldn’t judge me if they saw us together.

I should have known better when I first started hanging out with you again, seeing as I needed to take a shot (or two) with you. My judgment was impaired.

After a while, I started bringing you everywhere. To work. Hanging out with my guy friends. I even snuck you with me on a girl’s night out!

I just love your bubbly coolness and the way you make me feel refreshed after some time together. You mix well with my favorite vices. I mean, I can’t imagine spiced rum without you… or movie popcorn, for that matter.

And your caffeine, ooh, your caffeine. In the middle of an especially horrible work week, just hearing the swish-crack of a can being opened in the office promises me a moment of deliverance. After I’m finished with you, I can face the challenges of another long afternoon.

At the end of the night, as I lie awake, indigestion bubbling to the surface, I wonder if it was all worth it.

In the morning, I do the walk of shame, away from my button down dress shirts hanging lonely in my closet, and towards my roomier peasant blouses. After all these days with you, I feel bloated, but empty; I’m awake, but unclear. I never should have left water for you.

Oh, Mr. Diet Soda! Curse you, and shame on me!

Quick Update

Angela C. — Fri, 14 May 2010 09:03:04 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kix54UibyVc

As I used to say, “It is what it is.”

No one can really explain what that means, but isn’t that the point of an overused cliche?

I look forward to hearing your comments, or at least, reading them!

TTYL!

Battle of the MCs

Angela C. — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:50:26 +0000

Hi, kettlepeeps, tweeps and f-beeps! (Is that what you facebookies are known as?)

Okay, so like a New Year’s Resolution gone bad, I have not blogged every day. But since Dwayne Perkins and I are in a little blog-a-thon here, I might as well spit some lyrics myself. Honolulu, What?!!!

I’m not the biggest loser

But I did come here to win

So let me begin

(Battle me? That’s a sin)

Ya Girl Ang C.

Ya can’t mess with me

In Honolulu, Hawaii

Blogging on my Triple e

My name ain’t L.L.

But I’m here to rock them bells

And if you couldn’t tell

I’m not here to sell

A d*mn thing-

I just came to swing

My 12 kg kettlebell and sometimes my 16!

Okay, word, that was just toooooooo hard. I’ll leave the rapping to Dwayne and keep myself occupied in the gym.

Peace! (and aloha!)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Angela C. — Mon, 10 May 2010 00:10:58 +0000

I just wanted to wish each and every mom out there a very Happy Mother’s Day!

Our rewards don’t come in dollars or even cents, because the time and energy that we put into our children is priceless.

I hope you enjoy(ed) your special day.

Welcome back to kettleworld!

Angela C. — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:26:11 +0000

Hi, everyone!

Angela C. here. I’m back in the game.

I’m looking forward to engaging in a blog-a-thon this month with my homie Dwayne Perkins. It’s a challenge of sorts, although he is an actual comedian while my trials and tribulations might be classified as just comedy.

Look for a daily post from me about my workouts, whether they are quickies or full-fledged, kettlebell swinging, heavy-rope-jumping sweat fests. I can’t wait to share my progress with you! Thanks for staying on the journey with me.

Changes are happening in kettleworld!

Angela C. — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:52:19 +0000

Aloha, everyone!

I am making some slight adjustments, both to my kettlebell workout plan, and to my kettletell blog.

If you have already signed up on my e-mail list, you will receive a request today for you to confirm this. Please say yes! (By clicking the link.)

I’m also getting much more active on twitter and facebook. When you confirm your signup, you’ll see my facebook page. Feel free to connect there, as well!

I look forward to hearing about your journey, your plans, and of course, seeing your “before and during” pictures! Send them my way!

With aloha,
Angela C.

Using Food to Fill the Void

Angela C. — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:47:29 +0000

Hey, folks!

It’s Sunday, stats day, and I’m behind on the blog. Before I begin, I just want to say thank you to each and every person reading this blog! I know we’re all busy, and I appreciate the time you take to read, comment, Tweet, post, and otherwise engage with me online.

That being said, I could use a little encouragement! Some of you may recall my post in November where I talked about the measuring tape being the most effective way of demonstrating my progress.

Well, today, I barely squeezed my tush into a size 12 bathing suit and went off to a birthday party. Later in the evening, I tried on some size 14 “designer” pants, and was mortified. My hips don’t lie. I’ve fallen of the wagon.

A while back, I was talking to a personal trainer who had lost a huge amount of weight. He mentioned sometimes still feeling and acting like that person carrying all those extra pounds.

It’s hard to imagine myself looking like this:

When right now, I feel that I look like this:

I don’t want to give you the impression that I think there’s anything bad about being my size, and ladies, if you got it, work it!

I’m just struggling with consistency, and that’s likely fueled by my inability to imagine myself anything but where I’m at right now.

To help me visualize a new me, I took a minute to reflect on the old me! In 2003, I left a well-paying job and began a venture in independent sales. Concurrently, I changed my eating habits and made the decision to never again work in a career where I had to sacrifice my personal health and well-being. In 3 months, I lost 30 pounds.

Although the business didn’t work out, I did stay on the renegade track for 2 years. I quit drinking alcohol, and for a while, even stopped drinking coffee! I switched to soy instead of cow’s milk, and began a vegetarian lifestyle.

At the time, I infrequently would take hikes, long walks and the occasional aerobics class. When my car finally gave out, I started walking everywhere, and taking the bus.

The picture on the right is of me, three years into this change (Spring 2006). A little while after this photo was taken, I became pregnant!

As a single working mom of a child with a major developmental delay, my lifestyle since then has completely changed. And I know I’ve resorted to the older habits that got me into trouble in the first place.

I started eating meat again when I was in my 1st term of pregnancy. I started drinking alcohol again when I moved to Honolulu. I’ve been using sugar and caffeine as “uppers” ever since I had a newborn!

But the bigger threat to my health and well-being is comfort food. My vices can be salty or sweet, creamy or crunchy, dark chocolate or milk chocolate. It’s just too easy to ignore the consequences and choose something that feels good in the short term.

I’m filling the void with food!

I suppose I’m jumping on the blog today to reach out, and ask for some encouragement. I didn’t even want to weigh in or take my measurements today. I know I’m back in the 190′s, and I know that my measurements last week were 39, 39, 43. And I’ve had only one workout with kettlebells in the last 9 days.

The first practice that I believe will make a difference is starting my day with an attitude of gratitude. One of my friends exchanges e-mails with me every day. We share one or two sentences answering the question: “What are you grateful for?” This helps me frame my day with positive expectation.

I asked another friend to do the water challenge with me. We’re going to shoot for 64 ounces of water a day (although another friend of mine suggests 1/2 my weight in water, which would be a whopping 95 ounces!)

As for accountability, I may need to ask Dwayne Perkins to do another blog-a-thon with me. I found that when I had to check in here daily, I wanted to report progress!!!

Maintaining a positive attitude is where you come in. Sometimes I’ll just spend a minute looking at Facebook or reading other people’s tweets to see what good news they might bring.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you, and I promise, there will be blogs with more “action” to come! Please take a moment and give me a shout out! I appreciate it in advance!