Hello again, update on what I'm doing. I am now studying for my ACE Personal Trainer certification. When I pass that test I will take the ACE Lifestyle & Weight Management certification. After all that I want to get my ACSM cert too. I've decided not to instruct Boogie Box classes as I don't think my Type 1 diabetes lets me get away with teaching hour long really fast and really hard dance classes. It's like Karate which I have a black belt in, but Karate Katas in Karate are fine, but imagine doing them 1000 times faster and you will get what I would have to teach for an hour each day. Try Boogie Box and you will see what I mean. I used to teach Kenpo and that pace is just fine with me. Plus with my husband being a Orthopedic doctor and a chiropractor I have a gead start on the knowledge needed for the ACE cert. I found a great blog about ACE from a guy who keeps updating his posts so I'm going to take his advice to the T.

Well it's about time to update my blog. I'm going to be starting the class for Boogie Box instructors next Tuesday in Paco's class. Supposedly he will really give the instructors s**t when they do any little move wrong when we have to instruct 2 songs in each of those classes. But I guess that's good, I know I'll definitely catch some you know what. I've been going to Boogie Box every day, my muscles are aching like crazy daily. Well also because I work out with weights and take my dog Shaq on 2 to 5 mile runs/walks a day.

Having Celiac disease has been okay, I need to cook more Gluten Free items and since I am a pretty awesome cook (I would love to be a professional chef) I might as well start making sugar free AND Gluten Free meals. Considering I also have Type 1 diabetes I have to use Splenda or Stevia in my cooking instead of sugar which is bad for people anyway. Also Gluten free is MUCH healthier! Sure, whole grain wheat is great for those wanting to eat healthier, but who needs all those carbs?

I've been thinking a lot about my fitness modeling and the fact that I gained weight since I had all those surgeries (from being too active!) and now that I'm losing it I will have to get back into modeling in a different way, more like modeling being fit and how to exercise right and eat right. Since I've been on my new Thyroid medication Cytomel. I have been consistently losing weight AND been a lot happier, but then again they prescribe it to people for depression too! ha ha. I never had that......at least I don't think so.

Today is a gloomy day, supposed to rain after being so beautiful the past few days. I think I won't go to Boogie Box this evening as my muscles really need a break. I'll update my blog soon! Have a great day!

I have the flu...again URGH

Well I guess it's been a few days since I've posted anything new. I've been sick since alst Wednesday. That sucks because I really wanted to get my 3 days in at least this week in Boogie Box. I can barely keep my head up to type this and today I take my last dose of Zithromax. Hopefully I'll get better this week so I can make up the lost days of Boogie Box. But at least since bring on the new thyroid medication I have consistantly lost at least 1 pound a day! Whoopie! I think my metabolism is finally getting back to normal! No more freezing hands and feet, no more getting cold a little too much and I actually have more energy, even with this flu!

I need to go take a nap now so I'll write more later.

Boogie Box Round 2

In Boogie Box today we did the whole Round 2! I find it actually easier then round 1, unless it's just the fact that my doctor finally put me on Cytomel and Levothyroxine instead of just Levothyroxine. I have to take those pills for my Hypothyroidism. Yes I have that too. Bummer. But since I eat hardly anything and when I do it's all clean, and I work out like crazy every day and I haven't lost enough weight yet the doctor thinks I may be lacking on my T3 as I was just taking T4 before and I need both. Wish we weight loss luck!

Check out my fellow Test Group friend: Kerrie's Blog

Well Dede had a guy film the class on Monday night...or was that last Wednesday? Oh sheesh, my memory is going! Anyway, I hope the videos from that come out soon! I was in the front of the class, good thing I had my hair down and makeup on! ha ha. Scary. Oh and the camera makes people look 10 pounds heavier, oh my, can't wait to see that, right. Today I was beat in class, I worked out in the home gym after I got back from class last night and my legs actually started to give out on me today in class, I sweated up a storm too, lovely.

A nice lady in class named Kerrie Buncher gave me information on a book called Fiber 35 here's Kerries link to her blog: http://www.kerriesblog.com/ , it's a book about eating at least 35 grams of fiber a day. Pretty good info in it and after talking to Kerrie and Maria about....Lentils I went to Trader Joes and got some. Also bought some Almond Butter for use on Celery instead of peanut butter. Almond butter was great! I just need some recipes for those Lentils. They didn't taste so terrific with just spray margarine and a little salt. Yuck. Any ideas?

Lost more then 4lbs in 4 days!

Hello again! I'm feeling much better today considering I've been losing over a pound a day! I believe it's from all that water I drank (not smart that I drank it all right before I was measured for the month!!) duhr. But since last Thursday I've lost over 4lbs! WOW, that 9lbs of water really made me gain water weight. I have wore out my ipod....again...and need to get another one so I can track how many miles we all go in Boogie Box. I'll use my husbands ipod tonight and tomorrow and let everyone know tomorrow afternoon how far we went in class. And

here's another silly picture of me in October 2008 running the Long Beach International Marathon. See, I'm always trying to lose weight! Luckilly I've lost 15lbs since then.

Weight Loss & Boogie Box in March

I wonder if drinking a gallon of water a day is such a great idea. I mean it weighs what? 9 lbs? I really doubt if I've peed 9 lbs worth of water even in 2 days! I heard that people are only supposed to really drink when they are thirsty and also before, during and after exercise. That's my plan for now on. I've also decided to start working out 4 hours a day. I need to lose weight and if that's what I have to do, I'm going to do it! See this picture? It's me at a Max Muscle store as I was on Team Max Muscle signing autographs along with the guy next to me (his name is Clark Bartram)...he loves himself a lot! ha ha. Anyway, that again is a picture of me at my goal weight. In this picture I was 132 lbs.

Sad today

I'm very sad and upset today. I have to call my doctor to have tests done or something as I haven't lost any weight this week. I actually gained weight. I have been drinking a gallon of water a day and no sodas. I don't know, maybe I just hold water too much and too long. I'm very sad and depressed. I feel like a fat cow. I was measured by Dede and I gained inches in some areas and stayed the same in others. That sucks.

I feel so fat and old and ugly. Nothing to do with Boogie Box, it’s just me feeling depressed that I have let myself get out of shape. I don’t want to be able to tell people I’m a diabetic and have them not look surprised. I want it the way it used to be when I would tell people I was a diabetic and they would say “Wow really? You don’t LOOK like a diabetic”, and I used to get upset and think “WTF is a diabetic supposed to look like?”. But I know they were talking about the 95% of diabetics that are out there, Type 2 diabetics who are usually overweight. Now they don’t seem surprised when I tell them I’m a diabetic and that makes me really sad.

I AM my Goal picture

Well I was thinking about how after a certain age you gain like 5 pounds a year. And I realized in 2000 I was 50 lbs lighter then I am now. WTF? That's actually 6 lbs a year that I've gained since 2000. Wow that sucks. I mean yes I'm losing it now, but it seems to take so long to lose it. I wonder every day, "what am I doing wrong?" "I didn't eat bad and I worked out hard" It makes me sad to be like this. I want to be back to my fitness model self. I have my "goal" pictures up all over, you know the ones "they" say to put up a goal picture of someone who has the body you want to have? Well they are all of me. That makes me sad, what the heck did I do, stopped working out as much, stopped eating right, having over 8 surgeries and pneumonia, cracking my ribs flying off of a horse. ? I mean are those good excuses? I don't think so. I can't blame having my daughter as I actually weighed LESS then I did before I got pregnant when I left the hospital. I was 119. That's pretty darn great. Ten years of Karate I guess kept me in shape pretty great back then along with the fact that I was....21. I'm feel really old and ugly today. Usually I'm full of energy and happy and raring to go, not today. It's drab weather and I'm feeling drab. Boogie Box is tonight, maybe after that I will feel better, I usually do. You want to see me, my goal picture of myself? Here it is on the upper left. Me at my goal weight of 135. I'm 5'6 1/2 so that's a good weight for me. Notice my hand? I'm always covering up where I give my insulin shots, How weird is that? I subconsciously do that in all my bikini pictures. I will post more after my measurements tomorrow.....

After Boogie Box yesterday morning I came home and worked in my office then took Shaq my little dog for a hike up in the hills next to my house. Here's some pictures I took, It was exhausting but great for the butt and thighs! So here are the pictures! Pretty good huh?

This one above is from the top of the hill, it was about 4:45pm, if you enlarged the picture you would see Catalina and Dana Point Harbor.

This one below is again from the top of the hill looking at

Catalina, my home and the Dana Point Harbor.

The one below is my dog Shaq, he was SUPER tired, I made him carry his backpack!

So I will take another walk with Shaq today before Boogie Box! I want to work out like the people on the Biggest Loser (granted they don't get to walk cute little doggies) but they work out 4-6 hours a day! I figure Boogie Box, hiking with Shaq, Bowflex in the my home gym along with the elliptical, treadmill and recumbent bike in my home gym besides the weight sets and punching & kicking bags I have at home I can keep busy for quite a while....now how to fit that ALL in....hmmm.

Ooh I got weighed today and lost 3 pounds! Oh yeah! I didn't measure myself again but I will have that done on either March 3rd or is it the 10th? I forget. I'll figure it out and let ya all know! Class was terrific this morning as usual. I missed last night so I will have to figure out where to go on Friday. I think I will drive out to Tustin to try Kathy's class!

Went 1.23 miles in Boogie Box on Thursday morning in Boogie Box! My Nike Plus sensor recorded it today, I’ll wear it again on Saturday or Monday to see how many miles we go!

I thought last week it was that time of month, but it MUST be this week. I know, it sounds weird, I should know that BUT I had a surgery called Novasure www.novasure.com/ on November 21, 2007 which removes the lining of the uterus. I had it because no more kids, not wanting a hysterectomy and not in menopause but I didn’t want such heavy bleeding and hemorrhaging each month. I haven’t had bleeding since…but I still have the period symptoms, so I’m actually feeling the symptoms now, plus the water weight. I will have this happen every month, that hasn’t changed unfortunately. For some reason I always gain 4-8lbs in one week then I lose it then “that time” is over. So hopefully later this week it will all be gone.

I weighed myself today and lost 2lbs since yesterday so maybe the "that time of month weight" is finally coming off, every month without fail my body gains like up to 8lbs of water and then a week or week and a half later it's gone all in a couple of days. So weird.

I feel like the eating more doesn’t work as I gained weight this past week instead of losing and now I’m back to losing. Maybe it's just the water weight, maybe not, I guess I'll see.

On Thursday after Boogie Box I went to the hairdresser and I got my hair darker with just blonde streaks instead of being the blonde with dark roots! She will have to add more dark streaks in 6 weeks but for now it's much better and healthier looking. Got to have the healthy hair with the healthy body! When I got home from getting my hair done there was an electrical outage in our neighborhood so it was the prime opportunity to take my dog Shaq for a walk/hike through the hills where I live, We only went 2 miles, but it was all really steep hills, and this time I wasn't out of breath like I used to be before Boogie Box. It was as though I was a different person going up those hills! YAY!

I have cramps but no bleeding from my periods since the Novasure surgery. Weird, it’s a bummer because I gain all this water weight, my breasts hurt and I have cramps and have cravings for salty things, bad very bad. Then after I ate the bacon wrapped artichoke hearts I got a bad headache like 5 minutes later! I looked up online “Does bacon give you a headache?” and I thought nothing would come up, BUT I got a LOT of links regarding why it DOES! Because of the Nitrates in it and other cured meats. MSG also of course is bad and cause headaches. SO no more bacon for me, it’s too fatty anyway, even the low fat bacon we have. Urgh. Cramps hurt too much even to walk my dog!


I'll post more in a couple of days!

When I got home from getting my hair done today there was an electrical outage in our neighborhood so it was the prime opportunity to take my dog Shaq

for a walk/hike through the hills where I live, We only went 2 miles, but it was all really steep hills, and this time I wasn't out of breath like I used to be before Boogie Box. It was as though I was a different person going up those hills! YAY!

Today there is no Boogie Box, but since I have taken thhe instructor workshop I will do all the rounds from Group 1 on my own to the DVD that comes with taking the instructor course.

I'll post more on Sunday!

Here are my pictures as promised, the first one of course you saw before is my "starting" picture when I joined the test group. The second picture I took today 02-17-09 when I was feeling sad about not losing weight this week, but I think I look better then the first picture, what do you think? Here are my notes for today:

Hello all! Today I am depressed because I didn't lose weight this week. I didn't gain, but I didn't lose. Urgh hopefully it's just water weight so I've been drinking a lot of water to clean myself out. It's good for everyone and it helps keep you refreshed. I can see that I've lost a lot around my middle, thanks also to Dede who keeps reminding everybody in the classes to "tuck it in" and "tighten those abs", etc. I've been going to every class except for Fridays and Sundays, but doing Boogie Box at Fashion Island sounds like fun for this upcoming Sunday!! We are working on Round 2 now and it kicks my butt! Trust me guys and gals there is no turning back and your body will not plateau with Boogie Box!

I will try to put bigger pictures on the blog next time, this is the first time I've done a Blog so I apologize for any mess ups I do.

I will check back in on Thursday!

Hello, my name is Eileen and this is my blog regarding how great Boogie Box is and since I'm in the test group I can give updates to this blog with my weight loss, Boogie Box info, etc.

I have lost 8.5" in one month of being in the test group! That is more then I lost in a whole YEAR of going to a local OC Bootcamp! I will post an updated picture on Tuesday the 17th (a weigh in day for test group people!) and will continue to do so each month. Before I continue, I'll let you learn more about me and my struggles with weight gain, exercise and so on.

Here's my story:

I am a Type 1 Diabetic with Hypothyroidism and Celiac Disease. I got Juvenile (Type 1) Diabetes when I was 9 years old. I've always been skinny and as I grew older even now I love working out. There was nothing like Boogie Box growing up, in my 20's or 30's. Now I'm 41 and this is all I want to do! I continue to do marathons but they tend to wreak havoc on the knees and calves and since starting Boogie Box I have not had any knee or calf pain!


Sorry I got sidetracked! So back to my story.... I had been modeling since I was a teenager and fitness modeling in my 30's for different fitness and swimwear companies and appeared in many fitness magazines, autograph signings and so on. I have a 1st degree black belt in Kenpo, Kung Fu and Jujitsu. I am a pilot (only Cessna and small planes) as unfortunately I am not allowed with Diabetes to fly commercial planes. I am a master scuba diver (licensed in 1990), and I love to keep active by golfing, working out at the gym, taking my dog for walks and runs, etc.


See picture below: Women's Running Wild 5k in Palm Springs 2008 in which I actually weighed 20lbs more then the picture above!

So after all my activities and the fact I was getting older I started getting injured more often. I ended up having a shoulder surgery, 4 sinus surgeries, ankle surgery, 4 hand and wrist surgeries, fibroids removed and pneumonia. Between having all of these surgeries and being ill I couldn't work out and ended up gaining 50 pounds of fat.

If you have gained a significant amount of weight, then you know how it can be depressing and brings you down. Well that's an understatement! I have been looking for so many ways to lose the weight I gained and the scale never seemed to budge. What is wrong? What could it possibly be? I do realize that since I got married 10 years ago I ate pretty much what my husband ate, just in smaller portions. I don't get hungry very often so food is not something I crave, but I would make bad food choices and just adjust my insulin pump levels to make up for the fact I was eating more carbs, more sugar, etc. Instead of the Freshman 15 I gained the Married 50! The combination of poor food choices, stress, not being able to exercise just did what? Made me fat!

I joined many different gyms but found that I didn't go too often as they are usually out of the way. Previously when I was modeling I had a personal trainer and during my weight gaining times I didn't. I like to be pushed hard to work out not only to my maximum but also in a safe way. I joined the VIBC program at Adventure Boot Camp aka ABC out of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA in January 2008. I lost a total of 10 pounds in a year. Again, I missed many days because we were always outside working out at 5:30am (waaaayy too early for me) and also rain, sleet or snow! So many women were getting sick from being wet from the rain, sweating, etc. which caused us to miss too many days. The people at ABC do nothing to provide a nutritionist or dietitian to help guide women in eating balanced, good for you meals.

The beginning of this year January 2009 I started the test group with Boogie Box Fitness, Dede has been an inspiration to me as I have watched her transform herself and she looks even more spectacular every time I see her. I love her energy! When she starts instructing the classes, everyone gets pumped up and smiles are happening all around! Most importantly, she is understanding, kind, so nice to everyone and always there providing the best workout ever!

With the help of the nutritionist Tina Pretsch I have learned to eat more often as my body was more then likely holding onto fat because it thought I was starving myself. I am learning to eat more throughout the day and it seems to help me lose more. I provide a journal of my meals not only to who I'm supposed to in Boogie Box, but I also gave a copy of them to my Endocrinologist who was VERY impressed with how I ate. Thank you Tina for getting me on track.

My doctor was also VERY impressed with my cholesterol that he said "Whatever you are doing for a workout now is really showing, it is obvious that you workout hard and it shows!" He actually called me to tell me that!

I love the fact that my clothes are getting loose on me, I have had to retire the pants pictured above as they are way too big now! I can fit into my size 8 pants and have brought my size 4 and 6's out of hiding to be ready for me when I get down to those sizes again. I KNOW I can do it with Boogie Box. I actually enjoy working out, I never used to sweat before, but wow I sure do now!

I will update this blog weekly and I hope you all respond, put in your stories, etc. We can all do it and Boogie Box is behind us! It's up to us to do it and we can!

Thank you Dede for providing the best, butt-kicking, awesome, fun way to workout with great music too!!

To see Dede and the gang please visit: http://www.boogieboxfitness.com/ be sure to check out all the great videos!