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!